Tuesday, March 12, 2024

THE 96TH ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARDS


After two lengthy strikes last year that brought the movie business to a grinding halt, the industry is ready to get back to work and celebrate themselves. The 96th annual Academy Awards brings an official end to award season and honors the best in cinema from across the globe.

For his fourth time as host, Jimmy Kimmel seemed even more at ease, playfully joking with his irreverent humor about this year's movies and nominees. The host was in great form and offering nothing too mean spirited except a bit later in the show with him reading aloud a nasty comment about him made on social media by a former President with Kimmel delivering a well deserved, perfect comeback. Following his monologue, Kimmel paid tribute to the below-the-line crew (the folks who handle much of the technical work behind the camera and who are on the cusp of their own contract renegotiations with the studios) and brought out to the stage the show's own crew.

It was fifteen years ago the first time when five previous Oscar winners came out together to present in each of the acting categories. It was thrilling and deeply moving at that time and the return of this remains highly effective. My favorite moment from this was when the amazing ninety-two year old, Rita Moreno was speaking about Best Supporting Actress nominee, America Ferrera and sang a few bars of "America" from the movie version of the musical, "West Side Story" which she won her Oscar for her performance. Now I'm not sure if I would really want to see this every year, for I do enjoy seeing clips from the nominated performances, but this is still a wonderful thrill to witness and honor Oscar winners from the past.

In the most shocking moment of the evening, Emma Stone received Best Actress over the front-runner, Lily Gladstone for her performance in "Poor Things", making her become a two-time winner. It is certainly disappointing for Gladstone but I still strongly believe that she was in the wrong category as her role in "Killers of the Flower Moon" was much more supporting than lead. And if Gladstone had been competing for Best Supporting Actress, it would have been even more of tight race against Da'Vine Joy Randolph who won the award for her emotional performance in '"The Holdovers" and gave one of the most touching speeches of the night. 

"Oppenheimer" had lead with the most nominations with thirteen and ended the evening with the most wins at seven which included Best Picture. Now this would not have been my pick for this award (that would have been "Killers of The Flower Moon") but it is a solid choice and certainly will not be looked back years later as an unfortunate Best Picture selection. Christopher Nolan finally received the Best Director award while his wife, Emma Thomas shared the win for producing the movie. Cillian Murphy won his first Oscar for Best Actor playing the real-life theoretical physicist while Robert Downey, Jr. received Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Lewis Strauss, a high-ranking member of the US Atomic Energy Commission.

One of the biggest hits of last year, "Barbie" managed to take home only one award for Best Original Song for Billie Eilish and her brother, Finneas O'Connell who also became two time winners this night. But another nominated song from "Barbie", "I'm Just Ken" was performed on the show with a very game, Ryan Gosling capturing the spirit of the film. In one of the most rousing performances of the nominated songs, Gosling sang and danced in an extravagant production number surrounded by co-stars, Simu Liu and Kingsley Ben-Adir, a large number of dancing men with even Slash, the guitarist of the band, Guns N Roses, making an appearance. Another moment on the program was when stand-up comedian, John Mulaney came out to present Best Sound. I was wondering why he was actually there (in fact, I don't he's even been in a movie) but Mulaney was hilarious with his bit on "Field of Dreams" that was a highlight of the show. Perhaps he was auditioning for a chance to host a future Oscars? If so, I say give him a shot.

There were a few disappointments; The traditional In Memoriam was poorly conceived this year with the segment feeling extremely rushed with some Oscar winners and nominees omitted while other performer's names were regulated to small print on a screen blocked by the dancers on stage. And when Al Pacino arrived on stage to announce Best Picture, he simply opened the envelope without mentioning the nominees or any acknowledgment of the producers involved in each movie. What makes this even worse is that Pacino has later stated that the producers of the show instructed him to just say the winner.


This year, the show began an hour earlier and ran about twenty-three minutes over the intended three hour runtime. Yet the ratings were up by 4% this year with 19 million viewers tuning in. This uptick of viewership might be the "Barbenheimer" effect but who can know for certain. During this ceremony, there was no slapping, no opening of the wrong envelopes, no overtly political speeches and no streaking (boooo, John Cena). What we had was a fairly standard, traditional Oscars telecast. Now this perfectly fine with me however as we closely approach the centennial of the Academy Awards, what will it take to keep viewers engaged with the Oscars? I do believe the concept of "Barbenheimer" with two original films in the marketplace at the same time is one answer but another bolder vision is what Best Adapted Screenplay winner, Cord Jefferson said in his acceptance speech which in essence is that studios might want to get back to investing less money on films and take a chance on a new filmmaker with a fresh, innovative script.

Here is the complete list of the winners of the 2024 Academy Awards:

Best Picture: "Oppenheimer"
Best Director: Christopher Nolan, "Oppenheimer"
Best Original Screenplay: Arthur Harari and Justine Triet, "Anatomy of a Fall"
Best Adapted Screenplay: Cord Jefferson, "American Fiction"
Best Actress in a Leading Role: Emma Stone, "Poor Things"
Best Actor in a Leading Role: Cillian Murphy, "Oppenheimer"
Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Da'Vine Joy Randolph, "The Holdovers"
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Robert Downey Jr., "Oppenheimer"
Best Cinematography: Hoyte van Hoytema, "Oppenheimer"
Best Editing: Jennifer Lame, "Oppenheimer"
Best Production Design: James Price and Shona Heath, Production Design; Zsuzsa Mihalek, Set Decoration, "Poor Things"
Best International Feature: "The Zone of Interest" (United Kingdom)
Best Animated Feature: "The Boy and the Heron"
Best Animated Short: "War is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko"
Best Documentary Feature: "20 Days in Mariupol"
Best Documentary Short: "The Last Repair Shop"
Best Live Action Short: "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar"
Best Original Score: Ludwig Göransson, "Oppenheimer"
Best Original Song: "What Was I Made For?" from "Barbie" Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell
Best Sound: Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn, "The Zone of Interest"
Best Costume Design: Holly Waddington, "Poor Things"
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston, "Poor Things"
Best Visual Effects: Takashi Yamazaki, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Tatsuji Nojima, "Godzilla Minus One"

Academy Honorary Awards
Angela Bassett
Mel Brooks
Carol Littleton

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award: Michelle Satter

Sunday, March 10, 2024

COMING SOON


A new teaser trailer has just dropped for "The Fall Guy", an upcoming action-comedy that features two of this year's Oscar nominees, Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt. It's a modern revisit of the '80's television show starring Lee Majors about a Hollywood stunt man who moonlights as a bounty hunter. Gosling stars as Colt Seavers, a veteran action choreographer working on a film when the leading man, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, mysteriously disappears. Seavers begins to investigate to find him and save the film for the director (Blunt) who also happens to be former girlfriend of Seavers and the current girlfriend of missing actor. The director David Leitch is a former stunt man turned filmmaker (behind the first "John Wick", "Atomic Blonde, "Bullet Train") and "The Fall Guy" seems like the perfect fit. And Leitch looks like he's using the irresistible charm, comedic timing and sex appeal of Gosling to the full advantage of the film.

"The Fall Guy" is due in US theaters on May 3, 2024

Friday, March 8, 2024

OSCAR MADNESS


In a matter of days, we will finally know the winners of The Oscars. In the meantime, here's a bit of information regarding the film industry that I found interesting:


The Criterion Collection has long been considered the gold standard for films as they focus on recognizing and preserving classic and contemporary films from across the globe. With their collection of over 1200 thoughtfully curated movies on DVD, filmmakers long to be a part of their prestigious catalog while cinephiles covet to collect each of their selections. Criterion pioneered the special features found on DVDs that included the use of trailers, deleted scenes, alternate endings and, most importantly, commentary tracks. The New York Times has examined the company, founded in 1984, from when Criterion began with laserdiscs, the short lived, home video format and has grown to now having their own subscription streaming service.

Please click below to read:

How the Criterion Collection became the film world’s arbiter of taste


After many years of campaigning for recognition by the Oscars, casting directors have finally succeeded and the Academy have created a new category (the first in twenty-four years) for Best Casting and will be presented during the 2026 ceremony. Another group that have also been vigorously fighting almost as long to have a category for themselves during the Academy Awards are the stunt people, the men and women who have risked their well-being to create realistic looking falls, fights and crashes. So far, they remain unsuccessful but with casting now being honored, hopefully stunt work will not be far behind and will soon have their moment. In the meantime, Vulture have created the Stunt Awards to make up for this oversight. This began last year and was such an astounding success that the awards has been expanded with more entries and a larger voting body.

Please click below to read:

And the Winners of the 2024 Vulture Stunt Awards Are …



Here's a photographic look back at the history of one of the most coveted afterparties on Hollywood's biggest nights; Vanity Fair's Oscars party. The magazine looks back at their first party in 1994 which came together not long after the passing of talent agent, Irving "Swifty" Lazar who had held an exclusive Oscars viewing and after party for many years. Graydon Carter, then the editor of Vanity Fair, and the producer Steve Tisch came together to fill the void and these parties have been going on, becoming bigger and more glamourous, ever since. They have put together an incredible collection of photos from these gatherings with all of the beautiful movies stars, athletes, musicians and celebrated figures of the day all having a grand, extravagant time.

Please click below to read:

30 Years of Vanity Fair’s Oscar Parties


And finally, Vulture has ranked fifty of the most memorable, crazy, thought-provoking and moving acceptance speeches from all of the many awards shows over the last fifty five years. Not surprising, The Oscars have a large number of entries here but all of them are wildly entertaining.

Please click below to read
:

The 50 Greatest Awards-Show Speeches

Sunday, March 3, 2024

AWARDS NEWS: THE FINALS

As we are quickly approaching the final awards presentation which will bring an end to award season: the Oscars, here is a rundown of the many awards given out by guilds and film organizations over the past few weeks:


The acting branch, which is represented by the Screen Actors Guild, handed out their awards on February 24th. The 30th annual event gave the actors in "Oppenheimer" the top prize of Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. The rest of the acting awards in the film categories were given to the front runners throughout award season:

Here are the winners of the 2024 Screen Actors Guild Awards (Film):

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture: "Oppenheimer"
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role: Lily Gladstone, "Killers of the Flower Moon"
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role: Cillian Murphy, "Oppenheimer"
Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role: Da'vine Joy Randolph, "The Holdovers"
Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role: Robert Downey Jr., "Oppenheimer"
Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture: "Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning"


Celine Song and her melancholy romantic drama, "Part Lives" took the top prizes of Best Feature and Best Director at the 39th annual Film Independent Spirit Awards, held on February 25th on the beach in Santa Monica, CA. with host, Aidy Bryant. A. V. Rockwell received Best First Feature for her moving drama, "A Thousand and One".

Here are the winners of the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards (Film):

Best Feature: "Past Lives"
Best Director: Celine Song, "Past Lives"
Best Screenplay: Cord Jefferson, "American Fiction"
Best First Feature: "A Thousand and One"
Best First Screenplay: Samy Burch, "May December"
Best Lead Performance: Jeffrey Wright, "American Fiction"
Best Supporting Performance: Da'Vine Joy Randolph, "The Holdovers"
Best Breakthrough Performance: Dominic Sessa, "The Holdovers"
Best Cinematography: Eigil Bryld, "The Holdovers"
Best Editing: Daniel Garber, "How to Blow Up a Pipeline"
Best Documentary Feature: "Four Daughters"
Best International Feature: "Anatomy of a Fall" (France)

The Producers Guild of America Awards
were established to honor the visionaries who produce and execute motion picture and television production. Christopher Nolan, his wife, Emma Thomas and Charles Rovan received the top prize for Outstanding Producers of Theatrical Motion Pictures for their work on "Oppenhiemer.

Here are the winners of the 35th annual PGA Awards (Film):

Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures: Emma Thomas, Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan, "Oppenheimer"
Award for Outstanding Producer of Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures: Avi Arad, Amy Pascal, Phil Lord & Christopher Miller and Christina Steinberg, "Spider-man: Across The Spider-Verse"
The Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Motion Pictures: Lauren Domino, Matthew Heineman and Joedan Okun, "American Symphony"


The 77th annual British Academy Film Awards
were given out on February 18th which honors the best national and foreign films of the previous year. Christopher Nolan's biographical thriller, "Oppenheimer" began with the most nominations at thirteen and left the ceremony with the most wins with seven, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor for Cillian Murphy. The actress, Samantha Morton received this year's BAFTA Fellowship which is a lifetime achievement award.

Here are the winners of the 2024 BAFTAs (partial):

Best Film: "Oppenheimer"
Best Director: Christopher Nolan, "Oppenheimer"
Outstanding British Film: "The Zone of Interest"
Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer: Savanah Leaf, "Earth Mama"
Best Original Screenplay: Justine Triet and Arthur Harari, "Anatomy of a Fall"
Best Adapted Screenplay: Cord Jefferson, "American Fiction"
Best Actress in a Leading Role: Emma Stone, "Poor Things"
Best Actor in a Leading Role: Cillian Murphy, "Oppenheimer"
Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Da'Vine Joy Randolph, "The Holdovers"
Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Robert Downey Jr., "Oppenheimer "
Best Film Not in the English Language: "The Zone of Interest"
Best Documentary: "20 Days in Mariupol"
Best Animated Film: "The Boy and the Heron"
Best Casting: Susan Shopmaker, "The Holdovers"
Best Cinematography: Hoyte van Hoytema, "Oppenheimer"
Best Editing: Jennifer Lame, "Oppenheimer"
Best Production Design: Shona Heath, James Price and Zsuzsa Mihalek, "Poor Things"
Best Original Score: Ludwig Göransson, "Oppenheimer"
Best Sound: Johnnie Burn and Tarn Willers, "The Zone of Interest"
Best Costume Design: Holly Waddington, "Poor Things"
Best Make Up & Hair: Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston, "Poor Things"
Best Special Visual Effects: Tim Barter, Simon Hughes, Dean Koonjul and Jane Paton, "Poor Things"


The César Awards
are the national film award of France and the 49th annual event was held on February 23rd. "Anatomy of a Fall", Justine Triet's riveting courtroom drama, swept the awards, winning six Césars including Best Film and Best Director, making Triet only the second female filmmaker to receive this award. French filmmaker, Agnès Jaoui and British filmmaker, Christopher Nolan both received Honorary Césars.

Here are the winners of the 2024 The César Awards (Partial):

Best Film: "Anatomie d'une chute (Anatomy of a Fall)"
Best Director: Justine Triet, "Anatomie d'une chute (Anatomy of a Fall)"
Best Original Screenplay: Justine Triet and Arthur Harari, "Anatomie d'une chute (Anatomy of a Fall)"
Best Adaptation: Valérie Donzelli and Audrey Diwan, "L'Amour et les Forêts (Just the Two of Us)"
Best First Feature Film: "Chien de la casse (Junkyard Dog)"
Best Actress: Sandra Hüller, "Anatomie d'une chute (Anatomy of a Fall)"
Best Actor: Arieh Worthalter, "Le Procès Goldman (The Goldman Case)"
Best Supporting Actress: Adèle Exarchopoulos, "Je verrai toujours vos visages (All Your Faces)"
Best Supporting Actor: Swann Arlaud, "Anatomie d'une chute (Anatomy of a Fall)"
Best Female Revelation: Ella Rumpf, "Le Théorème de Marguerite (Marguerite's Theorem)"
Best Male Revelation: Raphaël Quenard, "Chien de la casse (Junkyard Dog)"
Best Cinematography: David Cailley, "Le Règne animal (The Animal Kingdom)"
Best Editing: Laurent Sénéchal, "Anatomie d'une chute (Anatomy of a Fall)"
Best Documentary Feature: "Les Filles d'Olfa (Four Daughters)"
Best Foreign Film: "The Nature of Love" (Canada/France)
Best Animated Feature Film: "Linda veut du poulet! (Chicken for Linda!)"

Monday, February 26, 2024

WINNERS OF THE 2024 BERLIN FILM FESITIVAL


"Dahomey", the documentary by French-Senegalese filmmaker, Mati Diop, received the top prize of the Golden Bear at the close of the 74th Berlin Film Festival. The film tells the story of the African artworks that were looted from Dahomey, an area that was the former West African kingdom located in the south of today’s Republic of Benin, brought to France and the journey of the art returned to Benin. The Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize went to Hong Sang-soo and his latest, "A Traveler's Needs". Isabelle Huppert stars as a French woman who ends up in Korea and with no previous experience, begins to teach French to the locals in order to make a living.

Here is the list of winners from the 2024 Berlin Film Festival:

Golden Bear: "Dahomey"
Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize: "여행자의 필요 (A Traveler's Needs)"
Silver Bear: "L'Empire (The Empire)"



Best Director: Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias, "Pepe"
Silver Bear for Best Screenplay: Matthias Glasner, "Sterben (Dying)"



Best Leading Performance: Sebastian Stan, "A Different Man"
Best Supporting Performance: Emily Watson, "Small Things Like These"



Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution: Martin Gschlacht, cinematographer for "Des Teufels Bad (The Devil's Bath)"

Sunday, February 25, 2024

MY LEAST FAVORITE FILMS OF 2023

Cinema has always been subjective. For every movie that I love, there will be viewers of that same movie who will only not like it but could absolutely loathe the idea of it's very existence. And of course, the films that I was unable to find much pleasure, there are folks out there who love these movies. With that in mind, here is a list of my least favorite films I watched last year:


"ANT MAN AND THE WASP: QUANTUMANIA"

Last year was not so great for the super-hero franchises as most of them failed to generate much excitement or interest. But one of the least engaging (and biggest disappointment) that I saw was "Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania", the second sequel of the reluctant hero who can shrink to the size of the powerful, tiny insect. Paul Rudd returns as Scott Lang, the former thief who has become the crime-fighting, Ant Man. After his time fighting with the Avengers to defeat Thanos, he has gone on to living quietly and enjoying his life with girlfriend, Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly) and his teenage daughter, Cassie (Kathryn Newton). During a visit with Hope's parents, Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) and Janet van Dyne (Michelle Pfeiffer), who were the original Ant-Man and the Wasp, Cassie announces that she has a device that can make contact with the Quantum Realm, a universe that exists outside of space and time. Terrified after being trapped there for thirty years, Janet tries to shut it down but it's too late; the message was received and all five are forced through a portal to the realm. Once there, they must work together to stop the Quantum Realm's new ruler, Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors). There's a lot more involved in this convoluted plot but the script by Jeff Loveness is confusing and monotonous. With the focus of the film on multiverses, alien beings (the less said about M.O.D.O.K., the better) and a mystical, end-of-the-world crisis, director Peyton Reed struggles to find an engaging human element that made his previous "Ant Man" films so successful. But the real problem with "Quantumania" is that it lacks a genuine sense of spirited fun and inspired adventure.



"ASTEROID CITY"

I have a complicated relationship with the cinema of Wes Anderson. While I admire his whimsical style and the dry, offbeat humor, I have difficulty connecting to most of his films on an emotional level. Of Anderson's films, there is one that I absolutely love ("The Royal Tenenbaums"), a few that I really enjoyed ("Rushmore", "The Grand Budapest Hotel", "Isle of Dogs") but the rest I am left feeling indifferent towards. With Anderson's latest, the beautifully rendered, "Asteroid City", I really struggled to find a way into Anderson's singular world, but I just couldn't get past the artificial construct. Set in the 1950's, we are introduced to a television host (Bryan Cranston) who introduces a documentary about the making of a play by famed playwright, Conrad Earp (Edward Norton). The plot of the play involves a youth astronomy convention held in the desert town of Asteroid City with war photographer, Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman) heading there with his son, Woodrow (Jake Ryan) who won a Junior Stargazer prize. Midge Campbell (Scarlett Johansson), a famous yet weary actress arrives with her daughter, Dinah (Grace Edwards) who also won the award. A romance develops between these parents and their children then a UFO appears with an alien to reclaim a fallen meteorite. "Asteroid City" is another film with an overly complicated plot filled with random thoughts that ultimately doesn't add anything meaningful to the narrative. The film is bursting to the seams with a starry, celebrated cast (Tom Hanks, Tilda Swinton, Steve Carell, Jeffrey Wright, Margot Robbie to name just a few) yet they all feel wasted with the actors forced to deliver their lines in the same deadpan, monotone style. I have to add that I far more enjoyed Anderson's short film collection, "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" also released last year and based on the work by Roald Dahl. But I do think it's largely because each film was not much more than twenty minutes long, making it the ideal length for me to appreciate Anderson's distinctive cinema.

"NO HARD FEELINGS"


I grew up during the time when teen sex comedies were all the rage in the 1970's and 1980's. These movies were filled with raunchy gags and almost always about horny teenage boys who were desperately trying to have sex or, at the very least, see a live naked woman. These films have largely fallen out of favor but "No Hard Feelings" has attempted to bring back the wild spirit of the classic sex comedy. But this movie fails to deliver the laughs, just coming across awkward and cringy, while the sex to be found is just sad. Jennifer Lawrence plays Maddie, a financially strapped young woman who had her car repossessed and on the verge of losing the house she inherited from her mother. Looking for some quick, extra cash, she answers an ad from concerned parents (Matthew Broderick, Laura Benanti) seeking a woman to "seduce" their shy teenage son, Percy (Andrew Barth Feldman) before he heads off to college. With the payment being a used car, Maddie accepts this offer and tries to sexually entice (and have sex with) the unwilling Percy. Even by teen comedy standards, this plot is completely bonkers and the script by director Gene Stupnitsky and John Phillips is unable to make it remotely plausible or humorous. Lawrence gives it her all, displaying her expert timing and gift for physical comedy, yet there is only so much she can do to try and salvage this painfully odd comedy. While there may be a sweet center, with these characters trying to help each other make a true connection, "No Hard Feelings" is just too weird and muddled to work as a timeless coming-of-age comedy.

"WONKA"


"Wonka" is the rare, original contemporary movie musical that became an unexpected worldwide box-office smash. But this origin story based on the classic character created by Roald Dahl never manages to feel necessary and the film's charms are minimal at best. Timothée Chalamet plays Willy Wonka who at this point of time is just a young, aspiring chocolatier who arrives to a nondescript European city to try his luck at opening a shop at the famed Galéries Gourmet. After his meager funds quickly run out, Wonka is misled into signing a contract to stay at the boarding house of Mrs. Scrubitt (Olivia Colman) despite a warning from Noodle (Calah Lane), the orphan who lives there. Now because of hidden fees, Wonka is forced to work in Scrubitt's launderette alongside other captives. His only hope to escape is to find success selling his chocolates but a trio of corrupt, rival chocolatiers (Matt Lucas, Paterson Joseph, Mathew Baynton) who work together to stop Wonka from opening a store. This version of "Wonka" is far removed from Dahl's eccentric tale with director Paul King delivering a safe, feel-good yet banal take of this character. The original songs by composer, Neil Hannon of the band, the Divine Comedy and written by King and co-writer of the screenplay, Simon Farnaby are serviceable yet unmemorable. As the third actor to play Wonka on the big screen, Chalamet presents him as innocent and sweet-natured, making him relatively bland compared to the kind yet eccentric interpretation played by Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp's darker, more oddball creation. And the actor is certainly able to carry a tune, but I wouldn't call him a "singer". "Wonka" is a CGI heavy fantasia that just doesn't have enough magic to make it a truly tasty treat.

Wednesday, February 14, 2024

2024 BERLIN FILM FESTIVAL


The 2024 Berlin Film Festival is set to run from Feb 15th to Feb 25th. Now in its seventy-fourth edition, the Berlinale is a film festival that began during the post-war period as a platform for the cinematic exploration of social issues. This fest continues to have a diverse, independent and politically minded spirit to showcase thrilling new feature films, documentaries, shorts, experimental and restored classic cinema.

The Opening Film is the drama "Small Things Like These" from director, Tim Mielants. Oscar-nominee, Cillian Murphy stars as an Irish father in the 1980's who discovers startling secrets about one of the Magdalene asylums in his town. This was a horrific place from the past which were laundries run by the Roman Catholic church who claimed their intentions were to reform "fallen" young women but in reality, these girls were just abused and used as free labor. This world premiere is one of the selections in the Main International Competition.

A total of twenty films have been selected in the international competition for the Golden Bear and includes new works from Mati Diop ("Dahomey"), Olivier Assayas ("Hors du temps (Suspended Time)"), Bruno Dumont ("L'Empire (The Empire)"), Piero Messina ("Another End"),  Abderrahmane Sissako ("Black Tea"), Alonso Ruizpalacios ("La Cocina"), Claire Burger ("Langue étrangère"), Matthias Glasner ("Sterben (Dying)") and Hong Sangsoo ("Yeohaengjaui pilyo (A Traveler’s Needs)").

Oscar-winning actress, Lupita Nyong’o will preside as President of the jury for the Main Competition. The rest of the jury members who will decide which films will be awarded prizes are American actor and filmmaker, Brady Corbet; Hong Kong filmmaker, Ann Hui; German director, Christian Petzold; Spanish filmmaker, Albert Serra; Italian actress, Jasmine Trinca and Ukrainian novelist, Oksana Zabuzhko.

The Berlinale Specials highlights exciting new films not in competition and the line-up will include the world premiere of Johan Renck’s sci-fi feature, "Spaceman" which has Adam Sandler as an astronaut in space. However, this is not a comedy but a drama and features Carey Mulligan, Paul Dano and Isabella Rossellini. Following the premiere in Berlin, "Spaceman" will be released worldwide on Netflix on March 1st.



"Sasquatch Sunset", a surreal comedy by the Zellner Brothers, stars Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg as the heads of a family of these mythical creatures. But what makes this film particularly intriguing is that the actors are completely concealed in full body hair and do not speak.



Abel Ferrara is set to premiere his latest, a non-fiction feature, "Turn in the Wound" which documents the American filmmaker's travels to Kyiv and Ukraine to explore what remains of these countries after two years of Russia’s brutal invasion. The rock musician. Patti Smith also appears in the film. "Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger" is a feature documentary, making its debut in the Specials sidebar, about the influential British filmmakers, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, examining their significant works of cinema that includes "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp", "Black Narcissus" and "The Red Shoes". The doc is narrated by an impressive filmmaker in his own right, Martin Scorsese who has stated many times how much this team and their films have inspired his own work. And Scorsese will receive this year's honorary Golden Bear Lifetime Achievement Award and will be honored in the Classics program with a screening of a digital restoration of his 1985 feature, "After Hours".