city Venice: Last News

Lebanese Canadian director Katia Jarjoura’s drama Robbing Beirut has won the top $75,000 in-development prize in the Red Sea Souk project market, presenting 31 feature films and seven series projects within Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival.

Guy Lodge Film Critic In Rusudan Glurjidze‘s weathered, wintry sophomore feature “The Antique,” the title could refer to any number of withering relics: the handsome, richly patinaed items of furniture that Georgian immigrant Medea (Salome Demuria) illegally imports from her homeland to Russia to sell; the once-grand but disintegrating Saint Petersburg apartment that she buys at a reduced price, on a peculiar condition; or Vadim (the late Sergey Dreyden), the apartment’s elderly, crotchety former owner, who insists on living there even after the deeds have been transferred. Or it could just be Russia itself, a venerable state resistant to an evolving population, captured here in the midst of an aggressive 2006 drive to expel or eliminate thousands of settled ethnic Georgians.

Alex Ritman “There’s a real honesty and integrity to it all,” says Felicity Jones, looking out across a sea of concrete. “You can really see the correspondence between the psyche coming out of the Second World War and the architecture.” The British actress is taking in the view at the Barbican, perhaps London’s most famous Brutalist construction and a labyrinthine maze of monolithic blocks and walkways connecting residential units, public spaces and one of the capital’s best-known cultural hubs. It’s a delightfully contrived location to discuss her latest film, “The Brutalist,” and one she thoroughly approves of.

The internationalisation of U.S. awards continues apace with a bumper crop of nominations for Cannes and Venice at the Golden Globes.

Martin Dale Contributor Algerian director Merzak Allouache received the Variety International Vanguard Director Award at the Red Sea Film Festival over the weekend, prior to the premiere of his social comedy, “Front Row,” about a feud between matriarchs vying for the best spot at the beach. Allouache is Algeria’s best-known director, with a career spanning six decades and around 40 feature films that began with “Omar Gatlato” in 1976.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Music Box has acquired North American rights to “Familiar Touch,” Sarah Friedland’s feature debut which won three major awards in Venice including the Lion of the Future prize. Represented by Memento International, “Familiar Touch” also won best actress for Kathleen Chalfant, and best director in the Horizons section at this year’s Venice Film Festival.

Ben Croll Scandar Copti’s “Happy Holidays” won top honors at the Marrakech Film Festival on Saturday, capping an emotional and politically resonant ceremony, while adding Marrakech’s Étoile d’Or to a list of accolades for the film that also includes best screenplay from Venice’s Orizzonti and best in show from the Thessaloniki Film Festival. The acclaimed title also claimed a shared best actress prize for leads Manar Shehab and Wafaa Aoun.

In Dovecote, an atmospheric drama short film by Italian filmmaker and artesian Marco Perego, the camera fixates on society’s often unseen citizens: the women confined to a seaside prison in Venice. Filmed inside Giudecca’s working women’s prison on an island in the Venetian lagoon, the story centers around a woman (Zoe Saldaña) during her final moments before being released. The film was chosen at the 60th Venice Biennale as part of the Vatican Pavilion.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent French-Palestinian-Algerian filmmaker Lina Soualem, whose documentary “Bye Bye Tiberias,” featuring her mother Hiam Abbas (“Succession”), launched positively from Venice and Toronto, is set to make her feature film debut with “Alicante,” a drama starring her sister Mouna Soualem (“Oussekine”) as a young woman on an existential journey that takes her to Spain. After exploring her Algerian grandparents’ break-up in the doc “Their Algeria” and delving into how Hiam Abbas and her family were displaced from the city of Tiberias by the 1948 Arab-Israeli war in “Bye Bye Tiberias,” Soualem will now be putting a somewhat lighter tale on screen, albeit one that continues her exploration of “questions of belonging and transmission and exiles between generations” and “finding your place in the world,” as she puts it.

Ivona Juka’s drama Beautiful Evening, Beautiful Day, which is Croatia’s Oscar entry this year and is screening in L.A. today as part of a guerilla awards campaign, breaks fresh ground for its exploration of the persecution of Yugoslavia’s LGBT community under Tito in the 1950s.

Rob Rinder has joked he is 'jealous' after Rylan Clark teased his next move with his 'best friend' - and it wasn't him. The TV and radio star returned to the UK last month after leaving for his latest trip with his pal and fellow TV star Rob.

Justin Kurzel started touring festivals with neo-Nazi thriller The Order – starring Jude Law, Nicholas Hoult and Tye Sheridan – in Venice in September where the film world premiered in Competition to strong reviews.

Meghan Markle is preparing to launch a new Netflix show featured on "cooking, gardening and entertaining" in "early 2025”.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Georgian drama film “April” took double honors on Saturday at the annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards, winning the best film prize and the best performance prize for Ia Sukhitashvili. Directed by Dea Kulumbegashvili, the film portrays the determination of an obstetrics and gynaecology provider in the face of accusations about the death of a newborn child. The film premiered at the Venice and Toronto festivals in September, earning a special jury prize in Venice and the best film prize in the Zabaltegi-Tabakalera competition.

Catching up to three big name festival films that opened Wednesday at the specialty box office to start the extended U.S. Thanksgiving holiday weekend – Luca Guadagnino’s Queer from A24 starring 007 Daniel Craig; Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas in Pablo Larraín’s Maria from Netflix, both of which premiered at Venice; and Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed Of The Sacred Fig, which won a clutch of awards Cannes including a Special Jury Award.

The “Saltburn” star, 27, debuted a full beard and a shaggy ’70s style hairdo that contrasted sharply with his usual visage.Elordi’s dark brown hair was pushed back and parted in the center. His robust beard was rough and tumble, more scraggly than manicured, and was a few shades lighter — and redder — than his mop.Elordi is in the Northern African nation as a jury member of Marrakech’s film festival.

BBC weather presenter Carol Kirkwood has opened up about her "perfect wedding day" on The One Show.The 62 year old TV star tied the knot for the second time with police officer Steve Randal last December. Although the day was perfect, the weather was not on the couple's side.The pair, who first set eyes on each other seven years ago, have been inseparable ever since.

This is… odd.

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor “Spring Came on Laughing,” the only Egyptian film in competition at the Cairo Film Festival, is the debut feature of Noha Adel. It is rich in music and messy, full of noisy life, taking the form of a series of conversations between women where a drama rapidly escalates into a jumble of tragedy and dark humor. The film’s wisdom might come from the fact that Adel came to directing later in life.

Cate Blanchett has commented on the sexism allegations lobbied against the Camerimage Film Festival – see what she had to say below.Last week (November 12), the Camerimage Film Festival found itself in controversy after its director Marek Żydowicz penned about female filmmakers that led to claims of misogyny.Per Variety, Żydowicz appeared to suggest that more female cinematographers and directors being showcased in film festival programming could lead to the inclusion of “mediocre film productions” at the expense of “works and artists with outstanding artistic achievements.”He wrote: “Should we reject what is esteemed and valuable just to ‘make space’ for the necessity of social change? Whilst festivals like Cannes, Berlin or Venice are criticized for their selections due to succumbing to or promoting [political or ideological trends], Camerimage remains committed to artistic values as the foremost criterion for qualifying and promoting film art.”Blanchett – who will serve as the festival’s competition jury president for 2024 – has since confirmed that she will still attend the event and fulfil her duties, but in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter expanded on the controversy.Now, she’s said to THR: “As Anna Higgs, who is also on the jury with me, put it: ‘The work is never done.’ Festivals are an opportunity to unpack that stuff and to have meaningful conversations. Festivals provide a chance to do this in a public-facing way but also privately because they bring us together as an industry.

Rylan Clark has been gushing about his 'brilliant' travel buddy Rob Rinder after their recent escapades filming together.The dynamic duo first teamed up for 'Rob and Rylan's Grand Tour,' which saw them exploring the picturesque landscapes of Italy, from Rome to Venice and Florence, giving fans a glimpse into their friendship. Following the success of their Italian road trip, the pair embarked on a new adventure through India for an upcoming series.