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Alice Englert as Dylan and Jennifer Connelly as Lucy in Bad Behaviour Photo: Matt Henley

A sometimes mystical, sometimes ferocious mother/daughter comedy which includes one of the most satisfying scenes of violence you’re likely to see all year, questionable though that sentiment is in context, Alice Englert’s Bad Behaviour is a real treat. It’s the feature début, as writer and director, of Alice Englert, who also stars in it as young stunt performer Dylan, whose mother Lucy, played by Jennifer Connelly, is attending a retreat in an attempt to expand her mind, but struggles to deal with another attendee. There’s great support from a cast which includes Ben Whishaw and Beulah Koale.

If you’re already familiar with Alice, it’s probably because of her acting career. She utters a little gasp of excitement when I tell her that I loved her work in Goran Stolevski...

U.S. director-screenwriter Paul Schrader will serve as president of the features jury of the 30th Sarajevo Film Festival, which runs from Aug. 16 to 23.

Schrader will be joined on the jury by Swedish actor and producer Noomi Rapace, Finnish director-writer Juho Kuosmanen, Sarajevo-born, Paris-based director, writer and editor Una Gunjak, and Slovenian actor Sebastian Cavazza.

The jury will announce the winners of the Heart of Sarajevo awards on Aug. 23.

Schrader first made his mark as a screenwriter with “Taxi Driver” (1976), directed by Martin Scorsese, and his collaboration with Scorsese continued with films like “Raging Bull” (1980).

He made his directorial debut with “Blue Collar” (1978) and went on to direct critically acclaimed films such as “American Gigolo” (1980) and “Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters” (1985).

In 2017, he wrote and directed “First Reformed,” which earned him an Academy Award nomination for best original screenplay.

Recent projects include “The Card Counter” (2021), “Master Gardener” (2022) and “Oh Canada...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas) has invited 487 artists and executives to become members, with Sandra Huller, Justin Triet, Celine Song and Da’Vine Joy Randolph among the high profile invitees.

Also invited to join are actors Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Fiona Shaw, directors Alice Diop, David Yates and S S Rajamouli, and writers Arthur Harari and Tony McNamara.

Executives invited to join that branch of the Academy include British Film Institute CEO Ben Roberts and Fifth Season co-CEOs Chris Rice and Graham Taylor.

Among those invited to join the costume designers branch are Holly Waddington and Małgorzata Karpiuk.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas) has invited 487 artists and executives to become members, with Sandra Huller, Justin Triet, Celine Song and Da’Vine Joy Randolph among the high profile invitees.

Also invited to join are actors Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Fiona Shaw, directors Alice Diop, David Yates and S S Rajamouli, and writers Arthur Harari and Tony McNamara.

Executives invited to join that branch of the Academy include British Film Institute CEO Ben Roberts and Fifth Season co-CEOs Chris Rice and Graham Taylor.

Among those invited to join the costume designers branch are Holly Waddington and Małgorzata Karpiuk.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Tuesday that it is extending invitations to 487 to join the membership ranks of the Oscar organizer. If all accept, it will bring the Academy’s total membership to 10,910, of which 9,934 would be voting members.

This year’s list across 19 branches include 2024 Oscar winners Da’Vine Joy Randolph from The Holdovers; Poor Things costume designer Holly Waddington and production design team James Price, Shona Heath and Zsuzsa Mihalek; 20 Days in Mariupol director Mstyslav Chernov, War Is Over! producer Brad Booker; The Zone of Interest sound duo Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn; the Godzilla Minus One VFX team Tatsuji Nojima, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Takashi Yamazaki; American Fiction writer-director Cord Jefferson; and Anatomy of a Fall writing duo Justine Triet and Arthur Harari.

Jefferson and Triet are among eight names on the list who were invited to more than one branch (noted...

“Being good or bad isn’t a choice a woman gets to make by herself,” filmmaker Elizabeth Sankey narrates in her spellbinding new documentary, “Witches.” It’s an incisive perspective on an age-old cinematic question that’s never had a good enough answer: “Are you a good witch or a bad witch?” as Glinda once asked. As Sankey might see it, the question itself put Dorothy in danger.

Our ever-shifting sense of women’s autonomy resonates in countless contexts, and that’s worth keeping front of mind throughout this feature-length consideration of postpartum mental health and the historic persecution of women. Weaving personal experience and keen anthropological theory into a lush and haunting tapestry of magical portrayals from pop culture, Sankey achieves an intricate archival exposition backed with tremendous feeling. She uses old film footage, insightful interviews from experts and friends, and select theatrical scenes (all silent) shot specifically for...

Goran Stolevski’s third feature is a deft and unsentimental family drama about an unlikely tribe of misfits trying to make a place for themselves

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Each of Goran Stolevski’s films thus far has marked a departure from the last: the bewitching horrors of his debut You Won’t Be Alone; the acidic heartburn of his queer romance Of An Age; and now Housekeeping for Beginners, an amorphous family drama that marks the North Macedonian-born, Australian-raised director’s return to his home country.

Set in contemporary Skopje, Stolevski’s third feature follows a menagerie of queer misfits living, loving and fighting in a household which threatens to burst at the seams. His band of outcasts are bound together by survival – beneath their raucous capers, there’s the constant spectre of danger, peering through the curtains.

Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads,...

Exclusive: Blu Hunt (The New Mutants) and Peter Vack (Pvt Chat) are in production in North Macedonia on Replay, the sophomore feature from veteran music video director Jason Lester (High Resolution), which has unveiled a first-look still.

Specifics as to the plot of the film are under wraps, though it’s been described as an unconventional romantic drama following a young couple on a trip through North Macedonia. Also starring Sara Klimoska (You Won’t Be Alone), Morgan Krantz (In the Dark), and The Ion Pack podcast’s Kj Rothweiler (Salamander Days), pic’s written by Lester and Hunt.

Manuel Inacker, Sara Ferro, Stephen Belden, Lester and Hunt are producing alongside EPs David Lipper, Robert A. Daly Jr., David Grove Churchill Viste and Jayne Sullivan.

“It’s been incredible getting to film Replay in North Macedonia, a country that could not be more thematically appropriate for the story we’re telling in the film,...

Sony Pictures Classics’ Wicked Little Letters grossed an estimated $1.5+ million in a big second week expansion for the R-rated British period comedy to 1,000 screens from five. The Thea Sharrock-directed film starring Olivia Colman (also a producer) and Jessie Buckley, no. 8 at the domestic weekend box office, has a $1.6+ million cume.

Colman and Buckley have been out actively promoting the film, based on an actual scandal, about a police investigation into the anonymous author of crude letters sent to the residents of a British seaside town.

The number is on the high end of SPC’s expectations, and the Sunday estimate may be conservative.

Audiences for Wicked Little Letters are 60% female, 40% male, with a range of women age 30-plus, unusual for a period film as they skew older. It’s playing especially well in major cities and college towns but also popping in smaller markets like Seattle. Word of mouths is terrific,...

Goran Stolevski is the rare rising filmmaker who is three-for-three with his movies “You Won’t Be Alone,” “Of an Age,” and “Housekeeping for Beginners,” all set up at Focus Features. For Venice premiere “Housekeeping for Beginners” (out April 5), a chaotic portrait of a patched-together found family, the Australian director returns to his birthplace, North Macedonia, using a rowdy household as a microcosm for the country’s politically fraught melting pot of Macedonians and Roma people.

For this true cinéma vérité tale — true in the sense that it shot on real locations, without rehearsals, and with many unknown actors — Stolevski had a lucky stroke of dream casting led by “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” star Anamaria Marinca, who worked with him on “You Won’t Be Alone.” She plays healthcare worker Dita, living in modern-day North Macedonia in its capital of Skopje with her Roma girlfriend Suada’s (Alina Serban) children and their friends.

Plot: An astronaut who returns to Earth after a disaster in space only to discover that key pieces of her life seem to be missing. The action-packed space adventure is an exploration of the dark edges of human psychology, and one woman’s desperate quest to expose the truth about the hidden history of space travel and recover all that she has lost.

Review: Man, the International Space Station is getting trashed lately. For years, films like Gravity and The Cloverfield Paradox as well as countless others have used the station as the setting for disaster, but this year alone has had more than one project featuring it. First, the horror film I.S.S. made the triumphant existence of a joint space station a thing of terror and now Constellation fills viewers with a sense of foreboding surrounding the orbiting satellite. The resulting series is a psychological thriller that combines elements of horror,...

Welcome to Deadline’s International Disruptors, a feature where we shine a spotlight on key executives and companies outside of the U.S. shaking up the offshore marketplace. Today we’re talking to Stephen Kelliher, co-founder and MD of established London-based sales and film finance outfit Bankside Films. The company played a key role in getting Australian horror hit Talk to Me off the ground and Kelliher walks us through how that project came together as well as Bankside’s hefty EFM slate this year.

Stephen Kelliher is in a good mood. The Bankside Films co-founder and managing director is coming off of the back of a banner 12 months with his London-based sales and film finance outfit, a company that not only repped worldwide sales on Irish-language Oscar nominee The Quiet Girl but also played an integral role in getting Aussie breakout supernatural horror hit Talk to Me off the ground.

One year on from its Berlinale Special screening Australian horror Talk To Me has grossed nearly $100m at the global box office and sellers have heeded the call: EFM 2024 is packed with “elevated genre” titles.

Neon snapped up Steven Soderbergh’s Lucy Liu ghost story Presence in Sundance and the international division has kicked off talks in Berlin. Neon International also has Cuckoo, Tilman Singer’s horror that premieres in the Berlinale Special section and stars Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens.

A24 is selling I Saw The TV Glow, Jane Schoenbrun’s take on gender dysphoria and teenage isolation...

A Portuguese production, the psychological thriller horror movie Amelia’s Children had its premiere at the MOTELx Lisbon Horror Film Festival last year, then received a theatrical release in Portugal last month. Now Magnolia Pictures is gearing up to give the film a VOD and limited theatrical release in the US on March 1st – and with that date just one month away, we’ve got a trailer for Amelia’s Children embedded above.

Written and directed by Gabriel Abrantes, who previously made the comedy Diamantino with Daniel Schmidt, the film has the following synopsis: When Edward’s search for his biological family leads him and his girlfriend Ryley to a magnificent villa high in the mountains of Northern Portugal, he is full of excitement at meeting his long-lost mother and twin brother. Finally, he will discover who he is and where he comes from. But nothing is as it seems, and Edward...

Family isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be in the haunting new trailer and poster that debuted today for Amelia’s Children, a supernatural horror film from writer/director/producer Gabriel Abrantes.

Magnet Releasing will release the psychological, ghostly horror movie in theaters and on VOD on March 1, 2024.

In Amelia’s Children: “When Edward’s search for his biological family leads him and his girlfriend Ryley to a magnificent villa high in the mountains of Northern Portugal, he is full of excitement at meeting his long-lost mother and twin brother. Finally, he will discover who he is and where he comes from. But nothing is as it seems, and Edward will soon learn that he is linked to them by a monstrous secret.”

The horror film stars Brigette Lundy-Paine, Alba Baptista, and Carloto Cotta.

All three actors have a background in horror, with Brigette Lundy-Paine recently starring in...

Noomi Rapace in “Constellation,” premiering February 21, 2024 on Apple TV+. Apple TV+ has unveiled the trailer for “Constellation,” an upcoming eight-part conspiracy-based psychological thriller drama series starring Noomi Rapace and Emmy Award nominee Jonathan Banks. The action-packed space adventure will premiere globally on Wednesday, February 21, 2024 with the first three episodes, followed by one episode weekly, every Wednesday through March 27 on Apple TV+. Created and written by Peter Harness, “Constellation” stars Rapace as Jo – an astronaut who returns to Earth after a disaster in space – only to discover that key pieces of her life seem to be missing. The action-packed space adventure is an exploration of the dark edges of human psychology, and one woman’s desperate quest to expose the truth about the hidden history of space travel and recover all that she has lost. The series also stars James D’Arcy, Julian Looman William Catlett, Barbara Sukowa, and introduces Rosie and Davina Coleman as Alice.

Apple TV+ today unveiled the trailer for “Constellation,” an upcoming eight-part conspiracy-based psychological thriller drama series starring Noomi Rapace and Emmy Award nominee Jonathan Banks. The action-packed space adventure will premiere globally on Wednesday, February 21, 2024 with the first three episodes, followed by one episode weekly, every Wednesday through March 27 on Apple TV+. Created and written by Peter Harness, “Constellation” stars Rapace as Jo – an astronaut who returns to Earth after ... Read more...

In a David Sedaris essay from Calypso, he mentions cussing across the globe, stating: “The Romanians really do lead the world when it comes to cursing.” Well, David, I wouldn’t be so sure. Australian-Macedonian director Goran Stolevski, whose thriller You Won’t Be Alone deservedly garnered much acclaim, has returned to his homeland of North Macedonia to make Housekeeping for Beginners, a swear-filled, raucous and deeply moving tale. In it, the director deals with the notions of family, institutional racism, LGBTQ rights and the meaning of love as viewed from the perspective of a dysfunctional ad-hoc household made up of potty-mouthed outcasts and misfits.

The story revolves around the matriarch Dita (the excellent Anamaria Marinca) who lives with her girlfriend Suada (Alina Serban), a Roma woman, and Suada’s daughters – the perennially angry teen Vanesa (Mia Mustafa) and the delightful six-year-old Mia (Dzada Selim). Also living in the house is...

Macedonian Australian film director and screenwriter Goran Stolevski is quickly becoming quite the name and a prodigious one. While he may not have been on a lot of radars before, given he was working in short films and TV, but he caught everyone’s eye with 2022’s witch/metamorphosis horror “You Won’t Be Alone” starring Noomi Rapace, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival to much acclaim, with critics noting its Terrence Malick-like approach.

Continue reading ‘Housekeeping For Beginners’ Trailer: ‘You Won’t Be Alone’ Director Goran Stolevski Returns With A Family Drama at The Playlist.

Goran Stolevski is the rare rising filmmaker with three strong features right out of the gate in the last few years. He made a splash at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival with his witchy, body-jumping folk horror parable “You Won’t Be Alone,” starring Noomi Rapace, and immediately followed it up with the decade-spanning gay romance “Of an Age” and, now, has North Macedonia’s entry for the 2024 Academy Award for Best International Feature, “Housekeeping for Beginners.”

All three films have been housed at Focus Features, which releases the Venice Film Festival premiere “Housekeeping for Beginners” in theaters in January. IndieWire shares the trailer for the film exclusively below ahead of the Oscar shortlist announcement next week on December 21. Stolevski returns to his Macedonian roots (he now lives in Australia) for “Housekeeping,” a raw cinéma vérité tale of unlikely found family led by what was certainly dream-casting for the director: “4 Months, 3...

Apple TV+ has an impressive array of scripted originals that will be expanding in 2024 when Constellation touches down.

The streaming service on Thursday announced that its latest space drama will make its global debut on February 21, 2024.

But what sets it apart from the many other offerings out there?

What is Constellation About?

Constellation is headlined by Noomi Rapace, who plays "Jo - an astronaut who returns to Earth after a disaster in space — only to discover that key pieces of her life seem to be missing," reads the official logline.

"The action-packed space adventure is an exploration of the dark edges of human psychology and one woman's desperate quest to expose the truth about the hidden history of space travel and recover all that she has lost."

Seal Team is Ending a Season Too Late

Constellation Season 1 Cast

Rapace stars opposite Breaking Bad's Jonathan Banks in the upcoming drama series.

Focus Features has set a Jan. 26, 2024 theatrical release date for Goran Stolevski’s latest, Housekeeping For Beginners.

It premiered in Venice as part of the official “Orizzonti” (Horizons) competitive section, securing the prestigious Queer Lion Award. See Deadline review. It was selected shortly after as North Macedonia’s international Oscar submission.

The film explores the universal truths of family, encompassing both the bonds we inherit and those we create. The narrative revolves around Dita, who, despite never aspiring to be a mother, finds herself compelled to raise her girlfriend’s two daughters—Mia, a tiny troublemaker, and Vanesa, a rebellious teenager. As their individual wills clash, a heartwarming story unfolds about an unlikely family’s struggle to stay together.

Stars Anamaria Marinca, Alina Serban, Samson Selim, Vladimir Tintor, Mia Mustafa, Dzada Selim, Sara Klimoska, Rozafë Çelaj, and Ajse Useini.

This is Focus Features’ third collaboration with Stolevski, a rising original voice,...

Focus Features’ upcoming title “Housekeeping for Beginners” is scheduled for a limited theatrical release on Jan. 26 and will expand to more theaters in subsequent weeks.

Per the film’s synopsis, Goran Stolevski’s latest feature “revolves around Dita, who, despite never aspiring to be a mother, finds herself compelled to raise her girlfriend’s two daughters — Mia, a tiny troublemaker, and Vanesa, a rebellious teenager. As their individual wills clash, a heartwarming story unfolds about an unlikely family’s struggle to stay together.”

“Housekeeping for Beginners” had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in the official “Orrizonti” (Horizons) section, taking home the Queer Lion Award. It has also been selected as North Macedonia’s international Oscar submission.

In Guy Lodge’s review for Variety, he wrote, “This study of domestic, romantic and generational conflicts in a crowded queer household (instead) embraces a spirit of antic chaos, both in subject matter and jagged,...

Causeway Films, the Australian film production house behind recent breakout “Talk to Me,” has opened a U.K. operation.

The company has hired Daniel Negret, formerly of Head Gear Films, as its CEO.

Causeway Films was established by producers Kristina Ceyton and Samantha Jennings in 2014, launching with Jennifer Kent’s Sundance hit “The Babadook.” It followed that by producing Kent’s follow up feature “The Nightingale,” which won the special jury prize at the Venice Film Festival in 2019.

Innovative horror film, “Talk to Me,” from filmmaking duo Danny and Michael Philippou screened in Sundance, Berlin and SXSW 2023 and was acquired by A24. It became A24’s top genre release in North America with a box office of $48.1 million to date, taking the film’s global box office to over $89 million.

In 2020-21 Causeway completed four other features. These included “You Won’t Be Alone,” by the Serbian Australian director Goran Stolevski...

Safehouses, where people come together out of necessity, are not known for being orderly places. Throw in a resentful teenager and a particularly exuberant five-year-old and you have a recipe for chaos. After the thoughtful, steady pacing of You Won’t Be Alone and Of An Age, this is quite a departure for Goran Stolevski, but despite the very different structure and tone of the film, there is no lapse in the quality which viewers will have come to expect from him. Like its predecessors, the film is immersive, emotionally intense and intellectually stimulating.

The aforementioned safehouse is run by Dita. She lives there with her partner Suada (Alina Serban) and Suada’s two children, Vanesa (Mia Mustafa) and Mia (Dzada Selim), as well as assorted other LGBTQ+ people who need a place of refuge in the frequently hostile environment of North Macedonia. We...

Unorthodox family structures yield correspondingly unpredictable drama in “Housekeeping for Beginners,” a vital, febrile multi-character study that further confirms writer-director Goran Stolevski as a talent to be reckoned with. Departing radically from the poise of his folk-horror debut “You Won’t Be Alone” and the gentle intimacy of its swift follow-up “Of an Age,” this study of domestic, romantic and generational conflicts in a crowded queer household instead embraces a spirit of antic chaos, both in subject matter and jagged, hit-the-ground-running execution. Selected as North Macedonia’s international Oscar submission shortly after its premiere in Venice’s Horizons strand, the film has already been picked up by Focus Features for its Stateside release, which speaks to the crossover appeal of its offbeat but energizing storytelling.

Following the Melbourne-set “Of an Age,” “Housekeeping for Beginners” sees the Macedonian-born, Australia-based Stolevski returning to the motherland — not the historical back country of “You Won’t Be Alone,...

Actress Brande Roderick heads behind the camera for the upcoming Wineville, and Bloody Disgusting has been provided with exclusive first-look images today. Additionally, Roderick has sent over a statement that further previews the upcoming movie, which is said to be in the vein of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

Check out the images below and read on for Roderick’s statement.

“People might not know it to look at me, but I’ve loved horror films my whole life,” Brande Roderick tells Bloody Disgusting. “I have clear memories of sitting on the sofa sharing popcorn with my mother, who was letting me watch The Exorcist for the first time – at the age of six.

“You could argue six is too young for that movie, but ever since that night, I’ve loved everything that goes bump in the dark. I’ve worked as a model and an actress for most of my life,...

Focus Features has boarded Goran Stolevski’s anticipated next project, “Housekeeping for Beginners,” ahead of its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in the Horizons section.

Focus will be distributing the film in the U.S. with Universal Pictures handling international distribution (excluding Eastern Europe). “Housekeeping for Beginners” reteams Focus Features with the critically acclaimed Macedonian-Australian director following his first two films: “You Won’t Be Alone,” which premiered at Sundance in 2022 and represented Australia in the Oscar race, and his sophomore outing “Of an Age,” which kicked off Melbourne festival.

Stolevski, who was born and raised in North Macedonia before migrating to Australia as a teenager, was featured in Variety’s annual 10 Directors to Watch list earlier this year.

Represented internationally by New Europe Film Sales, “Housekeeping for Beginners” stars Anamaria Marinca as Dita, a queer woman who never wanted to be a mother and finds herself forced to...

Hattie Hook, Elias Anton and Thom Green in Of An Age Photo: courtesy of Organic

Goran Stolevski wowed critics last year with his mysterious Eastern European fable You Won’t Be Alone, so when I heard that he had completed his second film, I had to talk with him about it. Of An Age is set in the suburbs of Melbourne in 1999 and then later in 2010, and it follows young Serbian-born immigrant Kol (Elias Anton), a ballroom dancer who is due at the final of a big competition when his dance partner Ebony (Hattie Hook) phones him to say that she has woken up on a beach in an unfamiliar town following a night of heavy drinking. Plans are thrown into disarray as Kol goes to find her, but it’s what happens between him and her brother Adam (Thom Green) along the way which will change the course of his whole life.

A pair of actors who hail from Cannes Film Festival award-winning projects — Anamaria Marinca (Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) and Jean-Marc Barr (Lars Von Trier’s Europa) — are teaming to star in a new film that marks an official collaboration between France and Ireland.

The project is White Friar and will mark the feature directorial debut of actor-turned-filmmaker Ivan Murphy. Described as a romantic thriller, White Friar is inspired by the life of Father Tom Murphy, an Irish Catholic priest who also served as a wing commander in the Royal Air Force during WWII and his relationship with Eva Hofer, a Hungarian Jew living in Vienna. Per the official synopsis, the film “examines morality, sexuality and identity.”

Jean-Marc Barr

Ivan Murphy, who happens to be the grand nephew of Father Tom Murphy, penned the screenplay. He turned up in Cannes on Friday to sign the co-production agreement...

Eo, the Sideshow/Janus films release told from the point of view of a donkey, is set to pass the 1 million mark in week 14. The Cannes-premiering film by Jerzy Skolimowski, Academy Award nominated for Best International Feature, will gross an estimated 27.6k for the four-day President’s weekend on 37 screens for a cume of just over 1M.

The three-day estimate is 23.1k and a 997 cume for Eo, which has been exclusively in theaters. It arrives on VOD and streaming on The Criterion Channel Tuesday. Similar to the rollout for Janus/Sideshow’s Best International Film winner Drive My Car last year, Eo grew through word of mouth and awards momentum at over 250 independent and art house theaters only. No runs at a major U.S. chain.

Focus Features’ Of...

The title that saw Riz Ahmed stifle laughter, the press room crack up and Allison Williams murmur “no comment” at Oscar nominations last month hits theaters today as ShortsTV presents Oscar Nominated Short Films at circa 380 locations in 75 markets.

The program, three feature-length presentations of the five nominees for Live Action, Animated and Documentary short films, will expand to 500-600 screens by Academy Awards week. Exhibitors can play any or all of the trio. Some are splitting the doc shorts, at 160 minutes, in two. “We leave that up to theaters,” said ShortsTV founder-ceo Carter Pilcher. My Year Of Dicks is an animation entry.

ShortsTV has been releasing these theatrically for 18 years and they do pretty well, hitting 3.5 million in box office pre-Covid. That fell to 1.8 million in 2021 but Pilcher is hoping for a rebound, calling this year’s crop “absolutely some of the best and most audience-friendly films we’ve...

The writer-director Goran Stolevski, who made nine short films before his feature debut at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, shows no signs of slowing down. His first feature was “You Won’t Be Alone,” a feral witch epic that overflowed with ideas. Though that Noomi Rapace-led bildungsroman was ultimately too unwieldy, it introduced a director with staggering vision.

Stolevski’s second full-length film, “Of An Age,” shows off his expansive sensibility on a more intimate scale.

Continue reading ‘Of An Age’ Review: Gorgeous Tale Of Gay First Love Is A Little Too Perfect at The Playlist.

For fans of “Weekend,” “Before Sunrise” and other regret-tinged romances about what-might-have-beens and what-were-nots, “Of an Age” just might be the devastating cinematic kick you need — and a reason to rue the one who’ll never get away.

Its director, Goran Stolevski, made a modest splash at Sundance and in theaters last year with his directorial debut, the witchy, body-jumping folk horror tale “You Might Be Alone” for Focus Features. He reteams with the prestige distributor for “Of an Age,” which finds the director switching up genres but still laying down a throughline: The sexy Aussie-set gay romance is about bodies, after all, and the way they bend toward time and desire.

“All my films could really be called ‘You Won’t Be Alone,’” the Macedonian-born, Australian-based filmmaker told IndieWire over a recent Zoom interview. “It’s just that I’ve already used that title.” The out-gay director is charmingly self-effacing.

Exclusive: Warsaw-based New Europe Film Sales has boarded international sales on Goran Stolevski’s Housekeeping For Beginners starring top Romanian actress Anamaria Marinca as an unmaternal, gay woman who suddenly finds herself responsible for her partner’s two young daughters.

The drama is one of the buzziest productions to come out of Southeastern Europe this year and brings together a host of hot indie producers from three continents.

Australian-Macedonian director Stolevski’s star has been rising ever since Focus Features pre-acquired world rights to his debut feature, the Serbian mountains-shot horror You Won’t Be Alone, featuring Marinca, Noomi Rapace and Alice Englert in the cast.

After a Sundance debut, the film launched theatrically in the US in April 2022, via Universal. Focus Features also pre-acquired Stolevski’s Australia-set second feature Of An Age which opens in the U.S. on February 17.

Marinca plays the character of Dita, whose mansion in the...

Writer/director Goran Stolevski dreamed up one of 2022’s most haunting films with the Sundance horror movie You Won’t Be Alone. Of an Age is his sophomore effort, which taps into a brief romance that comes with a lifetime of sentimentality. Stolevski demonstrates versatility as an artist, instilling nostalgia and heart into this deeply intimate, yet imperfect tale.

‘Of an Age’ splits a love story into two moments in time L-r: Hattie Hook as Ebony, Thom Green as Adam, and Elias Anton as Kol | Ben King / Focus Features

During the summer of 1999, teenaged Kol (Elias Anton) receives a panicked call from his longtime friend, Ebony (Hattie Hook), who suddenly woke up after a long night out in unfamiliar surroundings. It’s the morning of the dance finals they prepared for, and they need to find a way to pick her up and get to their destination in time. Kol seeks...

Legal docudrama Saint Omer was voted Best Picture at the 34th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, which announced this year’s juried award winners today.

Saint Omer wins for its ability “to expertly interrogate issues of society, culture, race, and gender,” the festival release stated. “Alice Diop, as screenwriter and director, delivers a film that explores different dynamics of Black women in contemporary France, drawing empathetic lead performances from Kayije Kagame and Guslagie Malanga. By harnessing the skills of her technical team, Diop turns Saint Omer into a shrewd, cogent, ambitious, and overwhelming film which teases a metafictional awareness while remaining clear-eyed and unsentimental.”

The Palm Springs festival took place from January 5-16 and screened 134 films from 64 countries, including 27 premieres. The lineup includes 35 of the International Feature Film Oscar submissions.

The jury award categories included the Fipresci Prize for films...

One of the most curious cases in cinema this year was the reception of Goran Stolevski’s debut feature You Won’t Be Alone. While widely praised, even landing on a handful of best-of-the-year lists, the frustratingly turgid Malick rip-off held firm as my least favorite film of 2022––at least until a recent viewing of Jaume Collet-Serra’s career nadir. So, the emerging Macedonian director can only go up from here.

With the arrival of the new trailer for his follow-up Of An Age, it certainly looks like he has, entering the realm of more grounded drama with this story of queer romance. Led by Elias Anton, Thom Green, and Hattie Hook, the film is set in the summer of 1999 as a 17-year-old Serbian-born, Australian amateur ballroom dancer experiences an unexpected and intense 24-hour romance with a friend’s older brother.

Ahead of a February release, see the trailer below.

Of...

"Will it last a moment… or a lifetime?" Focus Features has revealed an official trailer for an indie romantic drama titled Of An Age, the next film from director Goran Stolevski, who also premiered You Won't Be Alone earlier this year at Sundance. Of An Age recently premiered at the 2022 Melbourne Film Festival and will be out in US theaters in February. The film stars Elias Anton as Kol, a Serbian immigrant in Australia who enters a brief but intense gay romance with Adam (Thom Green), the brother of his ballroom dance partner Ebony (Hattie Hook). He is an ambitious young dancer who gets caught up in "an unexpected and intense 24-hour romance with a friend's older brother." Sounds spicy. It's described by the festival as "a heart-meltingly tender, quintessentially Melbourne queer coming-of-age tale that will make you swoon from beginning to end." From the looks of it, this looks...

Coming-of-age romantic dramas are all over the place in the world of film and TV. However, you’d be hard-pressed to find one with more style and heart than the upcoming film, “Of An Age.”

Read More: ‘You Won’t Be Alone’ Review: Folklore Fairytale Horror Mixes With Terrence Malick Poetics About Humanity [Sundance]

As seen in the trailer for the new drama, “Of An Age” follows the story of a teen boy who finds himself involved in a quick, but really emotional romance in the summer of 1999.

Continue reading ‘Of An Age’ Trailer: Goran Stolevski Returns With An Emotional Coming-Of-Age Romantic Drama at The Playlist.

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

The Banshees of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh)

Martin McDonagh’s fourth film marks an In Bruges reunion between the writer-director, Farrell, and Brendan Gleeson. It again finds the two leads as another mismatched, in-a-rut couple of men serving up heaping portions of existential despair and black comedy. But this rut is of a very different ilk—much smaller in scope, lacking villainy, almost cute… until it isn’t. Banshees is McDonagh’s A Straight Story, but he doesn’t go full monty. He works in a few comically violent McDonagh beats that rip us out of the ordinary. But it’s the permeating sense of normality, routine, and unremarkableness that gives them their punch. To note the simplicity, he opens on a white...

Rita Moreno, Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Sally Field star in ’80 For Brady’ from Paramount Pictures.

The world premiere of 80 for Brady starring Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Rita Moreno, and Lily Tomlin will open the 34th Annual Palm Springs International Festival on Friday, January 6, 2023, and The Lost King from director Stephen Frears will close the festival on Sunday, January 15th. In between, Psiff will screen 132 films including the world premiere of the documentary Shot in the Arm.

“We are beyond excited to welcome back our beloved audience and filmmakers in Palm Springs. We’re especially thrilled to be joined by all four leads of 80 For Brady. The film is brimming with joy and heart, and it’s a perfect film to kick off our 34th edition,” said Artistic Director Lili Rodriguez. “Our programmers have dedicated almost a year to scouting the world for the films that make up this edition.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has named the Animated, Documentary and International Features eligible for consideration at the 95th Academy Awards.

27 animated features have been placed before voters, along with 144 documentary features and international features from 92 countries.

Shortlists for Documentary and International Feature will be announced on December 21st, with Oscar nominations to be unveiled on January 24th. This year’s ceremony will be broadcast from the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood on March 12. Check out the lists of titles continuing along their journey toward Oscar below.

Animated Feature Film

“Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood”

“The Bad Guys”

“The Bob’s Burgers Movie”

“Charlotte”

“DC League of Super-Pets”

“Drifting Home”

“Eternal Spring”

“Goodbye, Don Glees!”

“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”

“Inu-Oh”

“Lamya’s Poem”

“Lightyear”

“Little Nicholas, Happy as Can Be”

“Luck”

“Mad God”

“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On”

“Minions: The Rise of Gru”

“My Father’s Dragon...

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has announced the list of eligible films for the animated, documentary and international feature categories for this year’s 95th Oscars. Among the films in the running are Amazon’s documentary “Good Night Oppy,” Netflix’s German remake “All Quiet on the Western Front” and Apple’s animated collaboration with Skydance, “Luck.”

Both major and independent studios are well represented across the board. A24 is going forth with confidence after its NYFCC win for animated gem “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On,” which qualified for consideration. Documentaries are littered with harrowing stories from Neon (“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”), Sony Pictures Classics (“Turn Every Page – The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb”) and IFC Films (“Bad Axe”).

The international feature category has the strongest slate of contenders in years, including Belgium’s “Close,” Denmark’s “Holy Spider,” France’s “Saint Omer,...

Horror fans looking for something new to stream this October are in luck, as we’ve got the rundown of where to stream 79 horror movies from 2022.

The slasher “X” and “The Black Phone” with Ethan Hawke — which are both set in the ’70s — are now on streaming, as is Jordan Peele’s “Nope,” David Cronenberg’s “Crimes of the Future” and Rob Zombie’s take on classic ’60s sitcom “The Munsters.”

And you may have missed these foreign films: “The Innocents,” a Norwegian movie about children who misuse their supernatural powers; Austria’s “Luzifer,” which earned lead Franz Rogowski a Best Actor award at Fantastic Fest; Dutch folk horror film “Moloch;” “The Sadness,” an extreme body horror/zombie movie from Taiwan; “Saloum” from Senegal, which The Guardian called “slick gangster horror in wild west Africa;” and “Speak No Evil,” in which a get-together with a couple from Denmark and one...

The director was recently prevented from leaving Iran by authorities.

Berlin-based Films Boutique has closed further deals on Iranian drama Subtraction directed by actor/filmmaker Mani Haghighi.

The film, which screened at Toronto and the BFI London Film Festival earlier this autumn, has now gone to Trigon for Switzerland, Mayfly for Poland and Megacom for ex-Yugoslavia. It had previously been acquired by Diaphana in France and September Films in Benelux.

Subtraction is produced by Majid Motalebi and stars Taraneh Alidoosti, Navi Mohammadzadeh, and Esmail Poor Reza. The Iran-France co-production follows a driving instructor who sees her husband on the streets...

The director was recently prevented from leaving Iran by authorities.

Berlin-based Films Boutique has closed further deals on Iranian drama Subtraction directed by actor/filmmaker Mani Haghighi.

The film, which screened at Toronto and the BFI London Film Festival earlier this autumn, has now gone to Trigon for Switzerland, Mayfly for Poland and Megacom for ex-Yugoslavia. It had previously been acquired by Diaphana in France and September Films in Benelux.

Subtraction is produced by Majid Motalebi and stars Taraneh Alidoosti, Navi Mohammadzadeh, and Esmail Poor Reza. The Iran-France co-production follows a driving instructor who sees her husband on the streets...

Goran Stolevski’s debut feature You Won’t Be Alone is Australia’s official submission for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Produced by Causeway Films’ Kristina Ceyton and Samantha Jennings, the supernatural horror, set in 19th century Macedonia, stars Noomi Rapace, Anamaria Marinca, Alice Englert, Carloto Cotta, Félix Maritaud and Sara Klimoska. It first premiered at […]

The post ‘You Won’t Be Alone’ Australia’s submission for Best International Feature Film Oscar appeared first on If Magazine.

Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is...

Ninety-two films have been entered in the Oscar race for Best International Feature Film, one less than the category’s record of 93 set in 2020 and tied last year.

The 92 films do not constitute the Academy’s official list of qualifying films, which will likely be announced in early December before the start of shortlist voting. But Academy members who volunteered to participate in that first round of voting have been split into 11 different groups, and those 92 movies make up the films that voters have been asked to view and consider.

The group assignments were emailed to Academy members on Friday, and TheWrap has assembled this list from the films assigned to the 11 different groups.

There is still a chance that some films could fail to meet all of the qualifying criteria and be dropped from the final list. Last year, though, every one of the 93 films assigned to voters ended...