Ioncinema

We have long admired the cinema of Brazilian filmmaker Gabriel Mascaro. His films amplify the social frictions embedded within systems that quietly erode personal freedom, crafting works that feel both observational and subtly political. Working with themes of freedom and institutional control, aging with dignity in a society that often renders the elderly invisible, and the idea that self-determination and community — even unexpected solidarity — can coexist, in The Blue Trail (O Último Azul), Denise Weinberg plays Tereza, inhabiting a sliver of dystopia as a woman who first confronts, and then begins to navigate her way out of, the rules imposed upon her by society — revealing self-determination in its purest form.… Read the rest

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They say no news is good news, but in this case a little news goes a long way: Chicoutimi-based filmmaker Sébastien Pilote appears to be gearing up for his next project, once again with his muse Gabriel Arcand. In a friendly chat promoting the recent 30th anniversary edition of festival REGARD, Pilote mentioned he is outlining a new film project that feels like the old guard at life’s apogee.

A film that sounds tonally closer to his first pair of films, this is about a theatre critic who loses his job, regresses and has a chip on his shoulder. Pilote’s feature debut Le Vendeur was selected for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, and his sophomore feature in 2013’s Le Démantèlement was a Cannes Critic’s Week selection.… Read the rest

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It has now been a full two months since Sundance Film Festival closed out its final run in Park City, and so far only four titles from the U.S. Dramatic Competition have secured distribution deals. While Carousel, The Friend’s House Is Here, The Musical, Run Amok, Take Me Home and Union County are still looking for homes, three distributors brought out their chequebooks for 2026 calendar release grabs. Comparatively, the slow sales match the previous years — there has been a bit of a decline in sales since post-pandemic 2022 and as we previously pointed out, films are now reaching the market with different game plans from traditional buys to DIY strategies.… Read the rest

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It what might be considered one of those smart Cannes Film Festival competition pre-buys, Variety reports that the folks at MUBI have landed North America (plus other territories) rights to Andrey Zvyagintsev‘s highly anticipated Palme d’Or buzz title Minotaur – the comeback film from the Russian filmmaker who was so gravely ill that he was hospitalized for almost an entire year post pandemic. As we know, this project bypassed What Happens/Jupiter, and was written alongside Semen Liashenko. Production took place last September and he re-teamed with cinematographer Mikhail Krichman on what is being considered another piece of (music to our ears) bleak cinema.… Read the rest

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Crimes of the Future: Mascaro Envisions Trouble Ahead

“Getting old ain’t no place for sissies,” a quote often attributed to Bette Davis (or similar variations of the sentiment) easily applies to The Blue Trail, Brazilian director Gabriel Mascaro’s fourth feature which depicts a near-future world where the elderly are conscripted against their will to an isolated concentration camp so the country’s youth can more easily focus on working. While darkly comedic in tone, it’s also a life changing odyssey for its central protagonist, a spry seventy-seven-year-old woman who is unwilling to obey these newly imposed orders. Pleasurably mordant in its critique of governmental propaganda disguising violence and inhumanity, Mascaro showcases lead Daniela Weinberg (of Armando Praça’s Greta, 2017) as a witty, resourceful woman who is far from ready to walk gentle into that good night.… Read the rest

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“Tracking Shot” is a top of month featurette here on IONCINEMA.com that looks at the projects that are moments away from lensing. The first wave of titles that’ll move into production this month are gunning for a 2027 Cannes Film Festival drop here we find some likely candidates with just that aim. Continuing in their Cannes trajectories and each launching into their fifth feature films with starry casts, we find Alice Rohrwacher‘s book-to-film project — and adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger’s novel Three Incestuous Sisters which will likely explore notions of revenge while Justine Triet returns to huis clos mode with Fonda – with themes of grief and obsession in the DNA.… Read the rest

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Claire Denis will receive the Carrosse d’Or Award on May 13, 2026, in Cannes, during the Directors’ Fortnight opening ceremony. Established in 2002, this award honors a filmmaker whose freedom of vision and strength of direction have profoundly influenced cinema. Kelly Reichardt and Todd Haynes are some of our recent favorite recipients.

“From Chocolat to Stars at Noon, from Beau Travail to 35 rhums, from Trouble Every Day to High Life, your cinema has continually explored territories – geographic, intimate and political – where relations of domination, desire, memory and exile are played out. Your work is marked by a rare attentiveness to bodies, silences and gestures, to what circulates between beings rather than to what is spoken.… Read the rest

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Selected for 2025’s Berlinale where it won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize, Gabriel Mascaro‘s dystopian-dipped drama The Blue Trail finally drops stateside (this Friday at the Angelika Film Center and Landmark Nuart Theatre) via the Dekanalog folks. Working with themes of freedom and institutional control, aging, dignity, and invisibility, with a dash of escape and self-determination, in the exclusive clip below we find Rodrigo Santoro’s character giving up the reins of his riverboat to an ally in Tereza (played by Denise Weinberg) reinforces the idea of community, unexpected solidarity in the natural surroundings. Here is an exclusive clip below!… Read the rest

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IONCINEMA.com’s Top 3 Critics’ Picks offers a curated approach to the usual quandary: what would you recommend I see in theaters this month? Sight unseen, this April we have the highly anticipated (and earning mixed reviews) The Drama that the A24 folks are opening wide and choose not to go the film festival route — a bold move since Kristoffer Borgli saw his first two features premiere at A list fests with calling card Sick of Myself (2022) hitting the Croisette in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section, while Dream Scenario (2023) was showcased in the Platform section at TIFF. This month we find three solid offerings.… Read the rest

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French filmmaker Pierre Salvadori will open the 79th edition of Cannes with his 11th feature film — a period piece set in 1928’s Paris that is actually based on an original idea by Cannes vets Rebecca Zlotowski and Robin Campillo. The starry cast of La Vénus électrique includes Pio Marmaï, Anaïs Demoustier, Gilles Lellouche, Vimala Pons, Gustave Kervern and Madeleine Baudot in a tale about a grieving painter suffering from creative paralysis after his wife’s death regains his inspiration through a series of staged séances orchestrated by a carnival worker posing as a psychic, only for their deception to grow complicated as she falls in love with him, exploring themes of grief, artistic rebirth, and the blurred line between illusion and emotional truth.… Read the rest

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