Latest in Festivals

The first movies in the lineup for the Montclair Film Festival were unveiled Friday, with the 10th annual New Jersey fest to open with Wes Anderson’s The Last Dispatch on October 21 and close October 30 with Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog. The fest, which will be in-person with attendees vaccinated and masked…

‘Tis the season.  Well almost. And perhaps that is why AMC+ and RLJE recently swooped in and took the new holiday-themed dramedy Silent Night off the market (domestically at least) before its Toronto International Film Festival premiere tonight.  Who doesn’t love a good ‘ol Christmas movie, perhaps the most reliable…

I am not of fan of movies that resort to breaking the fourth wall, as it were, and letting their key characters talk incessantly to the audience. It is a device that generally feels lazy, a writer’s crutch to explain away story points instead of letting us discover for ourselves. The recent annoying pandemic comedy Tog…

Leading US genre festival Beyond Fest has set a slate of programming comprising 39 features ahead of its return to theaters between September 29 and October 11. The festival will open with the West Coast premiere of Julia Ducornau's Palme d'Or Winner Titane, which will be screened from a never-before-seen 35mm print…

Encounter is more of a promising indication of things to come from rising star Riz Ahmed and British director Michael Pearce than a satisfying work in its own right. A not-entirely-felicitous combination of family melodrama and sci-fi bug invasion, the roots of this Amazon feature stretch straight back to the…

Warner Bros’ King Richard, the Will Smith-starring drama about Serena and Venus Williams’ father and how he raised a pair of tennis champions, will close AFI Fest this fall. Organizer American Film Institute said Wednesday that the pic, which world premiered earlier this month at the Telluride Film Festival, will wrap…

EXCLUSIVE: Ori Segev and Noah Dixon's debut feature Poser, which premiered at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, is getting a U.S. theatrical release, after Oscilloscope said Tuesday that it acquired North American rights. Set in the real-life underground music scene in Columbus, Ohio, the pic centers on Lennon Gates…

Alanis Morissette has torn into the documentary about her landmark Jagged Little Pill album that's set to world premiere Tuesday night at the Toronto Film Festival. On a short break in her tour with Garbage and Cat Power, the Canadian-born Morissette shed more light on her absence from today’s Roy Thomson Hall debut…

Directed by Jean Luc Herbulot and produced by Pamela Diop, Saloum is a Toronto Film Festival’s Midnight Madness selection that premiered this past week. The film weaves together supernatural horror elements with comedy and suspense. All aspects come together to create a unique story about how the cycle of revenge can…

The Marrakech International Film Festival has opted to postpone its 19th edition, citing the current global health situation. However, the Festival Foundation will continue to present its industry and talent development program with the fourth edition of the Atlas Workshops to be conducted online from November 22-25…

The remarkable true story of Harry Haft is made even more pertinent by the simple fact that his story has not been the subject of a large-scale feature film — until now. It took a script from a young Australian, Justine Juel Gillmer (who also boxes), to generate interest for Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson (Rainm…

Rebeca "Beba" Huntt self-reflects on her upbringing and lingering generational trauma in her debut documentary film Beba which premiered at TIFF this weekend. Shot over eight years, Huntt opens up her world to show the tragedy and triumphs of her home life. Beba is also a New York story. As the audience views the…