European Film Market
Berlin: ‘The Teacher’s Lounge’ Wins Best European Film Prize
İlker Çatak’s The Teachers‘ Lounge, a German drama set in a primary school, has won the Europa Cinemas Label as Best European film in the Panorama section of the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival. Leonie Benesch (Babylon Berlin, Around the World in 80 Days) stars in The Teacher’s Lounge as an idealistic and ambitious young […]
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Berlin: Spanish Drama ‘Ivan & Hadoum’ Wins Euroimages Co-Production Award
Iván & Hadoum, a Spanish feature film project, to be directed by Ian de la Rosa, has won the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award, along with a $21, 000 (€20,000) endowment, beating out the more than 30 pitches at this year’s Berlinale Co-Production Market. Spanish producers Avalon PC took the top prize, presented by European film […]
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Berlin: Eritrea Filmmaker Nahom Abraham Wins Berlinale NEFTI Award for Short ‘Home’
Nahom Abraham from Eritrea has won the top prize for best film, and $5,000, in the Berlinale’s 2023 NEFTI award for his film Home, a drama about a couple longing to be reunited. Mihk Vergara and Miko Livelo from the Philippines took the NEFTI Audience Viewers Choice award, along with the $2,000 prize for You […]
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Berlin: Rolf de Heer on How COVID and BLM Shaped ‘The Survival of Kindness’
Questions of authenticity and authorship in cinema – who gets to tell what stories — are thorny ones. With his trilogy of films on the Aboriginal experience, The Tracker, Ten Canoes and Charlie’s Country, Dutch-born white Australian filmmaker Rolf de Heer has managed to avoid charges of cultural appropriation. This is due in large part […]
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Berlin: Simon Rex Joins Heaven’s Gate Cult Drama ‘The Leader’ (Exclusive)
The Leader, the upcoming biopic about the Heaven’s Gate cult set to star Tim Blake Nelson and Vera Farmiga, has lured another big-name follower. The Hollywood Reporter can reveal that Simon Rex has joined the real-life crime drama, unveiled earlier this week at the European Film Market in Berlin, where The Exchange is introducing the […]
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Building a Better Backlot in the Baltics
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, the three nations that stretch along the Baltic Sea coast, jammed in between Poland to the south and Finland across the water to the north, are barely the size of Missouri and, with a combined citizenry of 6.2 million, rank up there with Denmark in terms of population. But since reclaiming […]
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Kristen Stewart Joins Iran Protest in Berlin as Politics Seizes the Spotlight at 2023 Festival
At this year’s Berlin Film Festival, politics and protests, not cinema and celebrities, have gotten top billing. The activist uproar, whether its protesting environmentalists, demonstrations on the rights of women in Iran, or shows of solidarity with the embattled people of Ukraine, has created a media echo that has often overpowered what has been happening […]
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Berlin: StudioCanal Takes Mike Leigh’s Untitled Next Feature for U.K.
StudioCanal has acquired U.K. rights to Mike Leigh’s secretive and untitled next project, marking the first time the distributor has worked with the iconic director. The deal sees StudioCanal take over from eOne, which had been handling U.K. on the project in 2020 before it was stalled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Bleecker Street still […]
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Berlin: Sean Penn Makes Plea for Greater Arms Support for Ukraine
For those paying attention to his year-long campaigning in support of Ukraine, Sean Penn covered a lot of familiar ground Saturday at the Berlin press conference for his latest film, Superpower, a documentary profile of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The actor-director spoke of Zelensky’s heroic wartime leadership, the Ukrainian people’s inspiring and universal fight for […]
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Berlin According to Brightlight Pictures’ Emily Alden
Emily Alden is back in Berlin this year, heading to its market in her role as vp of originals at Vancouver’s Brightlight Studios. The Good Doctor producer had hired Alden in 2020 as vp of development with a mandate to expand its film and TV slate, which has also included the likes of Firefly Lane for Netflix and Upload for Amazon Studios. […]
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Berlin: Kino Lorber Bringing Italian Crime Trilogy ‘Diabolik’ to U.S.
Kino Lorber has picked up all rights in the U.S. to a trilogy of stylish Italian crime movies — Diabolik, Diabolik – Ginko Attacks! and Diabolik – Who Are You? — based on the popular Italian comic book of the same name. The series follows the adventures of Diabolik, an infallible, ruthless master thief. All […]
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Berlin: Independents Plan a New Future for Iranian Cinema
Iranian cinema got a rare bit of good news recently. Earlier this month, two of the country’s most famous dissident directors —Jafar Panahi (Taxi, No Bears) and Mohammad Rasoulof (Berlin Golden Bear winner There Is No Evil) were released from prison after months behind bars. The elation surrounding their release was short lived: Rasoulof was […]
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