Ioncinema

Loads of savoury Cannes Film Festival titles, two dozen world premiere items, with some Venice Film Festival notables from Muayad Alayan, Rami Kodeih, Yonfan, May el-Toukhy, Manuel Wetscher and Rubaiyat Hossain are part of the line-up for the Centerpiece TIFF selections. Cannes award winners in Zou Jing‘s A Girl Unknown, Marie-Clementine Dusabejambo‘s Ben’Imana, Abinash Bikram Shah‘s Elephants in the Fog, Sandra Wollner‘s Everytime, Louis Clichy‘s Iron Boy, Marine Atlan‘s La Gradiva and Valeska Grisebach‘s The Dreamed Adventure will have North American premieres. Several of these will be headed NYFF shortly after.… Read the rest

Continue reading…

Some Monday sleuthing from the folks at World of Reel again pin points to a totally under tha radar project mounted by David Lowery — who might be returning to his distinctly micro-indie independent filmmaking roots with a more intimate, small-scale production a la A Ghost Story. Filmed in Italy, Euro-flavored cast headlined by Noémie Merlant, Isabella Rossellini, and Mark Strong appear to be the main trio in Poor Clare. A 2027 drop date is in the cards – — we currently await for the synopsis and producers that (most likely includes Toby Halbrooks and James M. Johnston) boarded the project.… Read the rest

Continue reading…

Every so often, cinema offers a glimpse into the experience of living with a speech impediment—one of my favorite portrayals being the chaotic struggle of Steve Buscemi’s character in Fargo. Part of a Los Angeles based collective Video Expert, in Sabrina Greco‘s feature debut, the micro-indie and mostly nocturnal Lockjaw, Rayna (Blu Hunt) embarks on a public comeback. Her journey is complicated not just by having her jaw wired shut, but by the mechanisms and mannerisms she exhibits in social settings. I had the chance to speak to Sabrina Greco in Wroclaw. [Update: Magenta Edge Films are releasing Lockjaw on August 8th.… Read the rest

Continue reading…

A Pulitzer Prize winner and MacArthur Fellowship winner before she decided to move behind the camera, after Kelly Reichardt and Eliza Hittman, we add American playwright turned filmmaker Annie Baker to the list of filmmakers find hidden drama in ordinary life. Only one film into her filmography, Janet Planet premiered at Telluride Film Festival ands NYFF and showcased that she has a penchant for connection, observation and loneliness. A New York Film Critics Circle’s award winner for Best First Film, the debut also received noms for Best First Feature, Best First Screenplay, and Best Cinematography at the Indie Spirit Awards. We look forward to her sophomore feature.… Read the rest

Continue reading…

Known for working in themes of emotional or physical isolation featuring pockets of people (sometimes ordinary Austrians) with his fiction and docu film POVs looking at hidden obsessions, hypocrisies, religious extremism, and sexual desires — there is a beautiful ick factor to the cinema of master filmmaker Ulrich Seidl. He began in the 90s with docu cinema until his 2001 break out film Dog Days won the Grand Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival – he would revisit the Lido several times over. 2017’s Import Export brought him to the Cannes Film Festival for the first of his two trips, and so after the Paradise trilogy he would then offer more docu cinema until returning to the world of fiction with Wicked Games being split up into two films in the same year with the 2022 Berlinale preemed Rimini (read review) and then the San Sebastián showcased Sparta.… Read the rest

Continue reading…

Shaping up to be one of our most anticipated feature directorial debuts of 2027, Mathieu Volpe‘s transition into fiction arrives with an exceptional producing team behind him and an exciting cast of new faces performers poised to bring his vision to the screen. The Cineuropa folks report that L’Or Rouge will find Souleymane’s Story‘s Abou Sangaré, Io Capitano‘s Seydou Sarr with Fatou Hane as the film’s lead. Producers include Les Films du Fleuve’s Delphine Tomson and the Dardenne Bros with Les Films de Pierre’s Marie-Ange Luciani. Production begins next week Bari, Italy. In his shorts and only feature docu, Volpe has explored migration, undocumented workers being caught between countries, cultures, and identities.… Read the rest

Continue reading…

A small French indie debut that will certainly be offered to Cannes programmers in 2027, after cutting her teeth on the short form and via editing gigs, Marie Loustalot is set to begin production on Enfin seuls. The Cineuropa folks reports that production begins next month with a cast comprised of youngsters Patience Munchenbach, Joseph Engel and Hannah Jallon along with actress-filmmaker Sophie Letourneur and Grégoire Colin. Jonas Films’ Elsa Klughertz is producing. Some of Loustalot’s recent work as a film editor include Léa Mysius’ 2022’s Les Cinq Diables (read review) and Morgan Simon’s Une vie rêvée (2024). This project reminds us of the Kore-eda film, It’s Raining in the House (Il pleut dans la maison) and others in the abandoned children sub-genre.… Read the rest

Continue reading…

For those taking notice, NYFF Artistic Director Dennis Lim has been increasingly moving towards giving indie studios an extra “option” for their world premiere destinations. Last year, A24’s Marty Supreme snuck into the fest, and this year, Searchlight have two horses in the race with Wild Horse Nine hitting up Venice and Telluride, and now Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth! is going the NYC city route. The fest announced that the film (to be released in December) will begin its red carpet run as a Centerpiece selection of the 64th New York Film Festival – world premiere is October 2nd. Let’s see what other world premieres they manage to steal away from Telluride/Toronto.… Read the rest

Continue reading…

It’s been a thrill watching Little Rock, Arkansas native Jeff Nichols evolve into one of the defining voices in American independent cinema. He announced himself with the slow-burning powder keg that was Shotgun Stories (Sundance passed on the film, the Berlinale didn’t) before cementing his arrival with the apocalyptic brilliance of Take Shelter. Over nearly two decades, Nichols has built an impeccable filmography rooted in family, faith, and the fragile ties that bind us, effortlessly weaving together Southern Gothic, science fiction, romance, crime, and historical drama. Whether it’s Mud (2012), 2016’s Midnight Special and Loving (read review), or The Bikeriders (2023), his films return time and again to three defining obsessions: the mythic landscapes of the American South, fathers and sons navigating fractured relationships, and ordinary people confronting extraordinary forces—be they supernatural mysteries or history-changing battles for justice.… Read the rest

Continue reading…

Son of acclaimed Temur Babluani, Georgian-French filmmaker Géla Babluani blasted out of the gates when his feature debut 13 Tzameti traveled to the Venice Film Festival winning Luigi De Laurentiis Lion of the Future for Best First Feature in 2005 and the then making a rare splash at Sundance in 2006 winning the World Cinema Jury Prize (Dramatic) at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. His films look at fate, chance, isolation and violence as a social system, Babluani is one of the rare filmmakers to remake their own film for English speaking auds (13 was launched in 2010). His other films 2006’s L’héritage (co-directed with his father) and 2017’s Money weren’t as widely acclaimed but this next project might put the filmmaker back on the map.… Read the rest

Continue reading…