Noticias

Mubi’s May 2025 selection has arrived, featuring a Rooney Mara double-bill of perhaps her best film (Carol) and most recent effort (La cocina), Cannes-selected Latin American cinema, and a program curated by Magic Farm‘s Amalia Ulman.

As Kent M. Wllhelm said of Magic Farm in his review, “I was sold on the premise of satirizing opportunistic content creators who play dress-up as journalists, but weaving that into the storylines of the ensemble cast is no easy task for a sophomore feature. The plot gets lost; when it feels like there’s too much going on, nothing gets to shine. There’s nevertheless fun to be had in Magic Farm; importantly, Ulman’s voice and perspective are what stick with you after the credits roll. It’s encouraging to see a young director experiment, venturing into new narrative and stylistic territory.”

Check out the lineup below, and get 30 days free here.

Rooney Mara drama “La Cocina” by Alonso Ruizpalacios has been snapped up by boutique movie distributor Mubi to stream exclusively in the U.S. starting May 2.

Mara stars opposite four-time Ariel Award winner Raul Briones in this intense black & white kitchen drama which Variety described as a “chaotic symphony of nearly two dozen characters…” that “mixes biting social critique with stylistic bravura.”

Based on the seminal 1957 play “The Kitchen” by Arnold Wesker, the drama takes place in a hectic Times Square kitchen where a staff of mostly immigrant workers battles the heat, the pressure and the weight of dreams carried from distant homelands.

Drama premiered in competition at the 2024 Berlinale and was nominated for best director and best cinematography at the 2025 Film Independent Spirit Awards.

It was shot on location in New York City and at the venerable Estudios Churubusco in Ruizpalacios’ native Mexico City.

“We couldn’t be more...

Disney’s “Snow White” took the crown at the U.K. and Ireland box office over the weekend, debuting with a strong £3.8 million ($5 million), according to Comscore. The reimagining of the classic fairy tale led a competitive field of new releases and set the tone for the upcoming Easter holiday period.

In second place, Trinity Filmed Entertainment’s animated fantasy sequel “Ne Zha 2” earned $1.6 million. The Chinese blockbuster, which continues the mythological story of its 2019 predecessor, became one of the highest openings for a Chinese film in the territory. It has earned more than $2 billion worldwide and is the highest-grossing animated film of all time and the fifth highest grosser ever.

Universal’s “Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy” continued its remarkable run in third place, earning $1 million in its sixth weekend. The romcom sequel has now grossed $57.6 million, solidifying its position as the highest-grossing U.K. release of the year so far.

Fans of the biblical series House of David, behold, as the tale continues in a newly greenlit second season. Deadline is now reporting that the show, which is a reimagining of the David & Goliath tale, is going to return at Prime Video. The series drew a big number with 22 million viewers in its first 17 days and has become one of the streamer’s Top 10 new series debuts in the U.S. to date. New episodes of this premiere season are still being released weekly, leading up to the year’s finale on April 3.

The official description of the show reads,

“House Of David tells the story of the ascent of the biblical figure, David, who eventually becomes the most renowned and celebrated king of Israel. The series follows the once-mighty King Saul as he falls victim to his own pride. At the direction of God, the prophet Samuel anoints an unlikely,...

Film Independent handed out its 2025 Spirit Awards on Saturday afternoon (February 22), in a Santa Monica ceremony that saw Anora claim three prizes for best feature, director Sean Baker, and lead performance Mikey Madison in the gender-neutral category.

Sean Wang’s Didi took two prizes for best first feature and first screenplay, whileGints Zilbalodis’s Latvian animation Flow won international film and No Other Land was named best documentary. A Real Pain also nabbed two awards for screenplay and supporting actor Kieran Culkin.

While it is too late for the Spirit Awards to have any bearing on the Oscars next weekend...

The 2025 Film Independent Spirit Awards have wrapped! And now we know, as the full winners list for the Spirit Awards has been revealed, just how much momentum “Anora” has going into the Oscars: a lot. It already got the most Spirits nominations with six, and it ended up winning Best Feature, Best Director for Sean Baker, and Best Lead Performance for Mikey Madison.

Kieran Culkin won Best Supporting Performance for “A Real Pain,” which also won Best Screenplay. “No Other Land” won Best Documentary, and the extraordinary animated film “Flow” won Best International feature.

“Baby Reindeer” collected the most prizes on the TV side with Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series going to Richard Gadd, Jessica Gunning won Best Breakthrough Performance in a New Scripted Series, and Best Supporting Performance in a New Scripted Series went to Nava Rau. “Shogun” won Best New Scripted Series.

Host Aidy Bryant...

The 40th annual Independent Spirit Awards took place in Santa Monica on Feb. 22, with Aidy Bryant as host for the second year in a row.

“Anora” was the biggest winner of the day, being named best feature while Sean Baker and Mikey Madison took home individual trophies for best director and lead performance. “Baby Reindeer” also won big, with Richard Gadd, Nava Mau and Jessica Gunning clinching the awards for lead, supporting and breakthrough performance, though “Shogun” won best new scripted series. And Sean Wang’s “Dìdi” clinched both awards in the debut film category: best first feature as well as best first first screenplay.

See the full list of winners below.

Best Feature

“Anora” (Winner)

“I Saw the TV Glow”

“Nickel Boys”

“Sing Sing”

“The Substance”

Best First Feature

“Dìdi” (Winner)

“In the Summers”

“Janet Planet”

“The Piano Lesson”

“Problemista”

John Cassavetes Award – Given to the best feature made...

“Anora” won Best Feature at the the 40th Annual Film Independent Spirit Awards, which took place on Saturday afternoon in Santa Monica and was hosted for the second year in a row by Aidy Bryant. “Anora’s” Indie Spirit win follows its recent triumphs at the DGA and PGA awards and boosts its chances for Oscar glory next week. “Anora” also won Best Director for Sean Baker and Best Lead Performance for Mikey Madison. Repeating her victory at the BAFTAs, Madison beat Demi Moore, who had been considered the solid frontrunner.

In many ways, the Indie Spirit Awards followed a pattern it has shown in recent years: Anytime its voters can give a statuette to an Oscar-nominated film or performance, they do. This year’s Spirit nominations included Oscar nominees in seven different categories — and in every one of those categories, the Academy-approved entry won.

Aside from the three big wins for “Anora,...

Film Independent handed out its 2025 Spirit Awards on Saturday afternoon (February 22), in a Santa Monica ceremony that saw Anora claim three prizes for best feature, director Sean Baker, and lead actor Mikey Madison in the gender-neutral category.

Sean Wang’s Didi took two prizes for best first feature and first screenplay, while Gints Zilbalodis’s Latvian animation Flow won international film and No Other Land was named best documentary. A Real Pain also nabbed two awards for screenplay and supporting actor Kieran Culkin.

Baker gave an impassioned speech calling for higher upfront fees for independent directors who he said take...

Actor, producer and director Diego Luna will direct “Ceniza en la boca” (“A Mouthful of Ash”), a film adaptation of Brenda Navarro’s novel of the same name.

The story follows Lucila, a 21-year-old young woman trying to find her place in the world while facing family pressure, misogyny and racism. Together with her younger brother, Diego, she travels to Spain to reunite with their mother, Isabel, who emigrated eight years earlier in search of a better future. Lucila’s arrival is anything but peaceful. The challenges she faces daily constantly remind her of her origins, for better or worse. This burden awakens in Lucila the need to emancipate herself, to live a life befitting her age, to stop being a surrogate mother to her brother, and to escape poorly paid jobs.

She soon realizes that reality cannot be molded to her will. Her attempts to take control of her...

Prime Video has revealed the official trailer and key art for its epic House of David series, which will premiere on February 27 with the first three episodes. One episode will debut weekly thereafter in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.

House of David tells the story of the ascent of the biblical figure, David, who eventually becomes the most renowned and celebrated king of Israel. The series follows the once-mighty King Saul as he falls victim to his own pride.

At the direction of God, the prophet Samuel anoints an unlikely, outcast teenager as the new king. As Saul loses his power over his kingdom, David finds himself on a journey to discover and fulfill his destiny, navigating love, loss, and violence in the court of the very man he’s destined to replace. As one leader falls, another must rise.

The series is based on an idea by Jon Erwin...

It’s perhaps the greatest underdog story next to Rocky. Heck, it’s used as a phrase to describe a match-up that seems so unevenly matched. The David and Goliath tale is one of the most popular stories in the Bible. It tells of a normal man who went up against the fiercest warrior in the land in the biggest size difference imaginable. Amazon’s House of David is a series that will retell the story in eight epic episodes. Three episodes will premiere on February 27, with one episode weekly thereafter. The trailer has just been released.

The official description reads,

“House Of David tells the story of the ascent of the biblical figure, David, who eventually becomes the most renowned and celebrated king of Israel. The series follows the once-mighty King Saul as he falls victim to his own pride. At the direction of God, the prophet Samuel anoints an unlikely,...

Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez” leads the 7th annual Latino Entertainment Film Awards with an impressive 17 nominations, including best picture, director, and four acting nods for Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz and Zoe Saldaña. Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi sequel “Dune: Part 2” follows with 10.

The Latino Entertainment Journalists Association (Leja), which celebrates the year’s best in film and Latino talent, was also fans of Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance” and Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked,” which earned nine nominations each. These films join other best picture nominees, including “Anora,” “The Brutalist,” “Conclave,” “I’m Still Here,” “Nickel Boys,” and “Sing Sing.”

“I’m Still Here” from Sony Pictures Classics surprised many with its robust Oscar showing, including a best picture nomination. In addition to recognition for Fernanda Torres in best actress, the Brazilian drama also earned nods for director (Walter Salles), adapted screenplay, cinematography and editing.

Leja also announced...

What Do We Know About the upcoming second season of the Disney+ Star Wars series Andor? More than you may think. The acclaimed prequel to Rogue One, Andor’s first season, became one of Lucasfilm’s most critically acclaimed projects since Disney acquired them. With production wrapped on the second and final season, let’s dive in and take a look at what is coming up next in Andor.

Season two follows the four years before Rogue One.

The first season of Andor followed a single year in the life of Cassian Andor, played by Diego Luna, reprising his role from the prequel feature film. Since we know the first season of Andor is set five years before Rogue One, four years of plot need to be compressed into the twelve episodes comprising season two. The final three episodes of Andor’s second season will cover the three days before the start of Rogue One.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced on Monday the 207 feature films eligible for Best Picture consideration, two days before voting for the 2025 Oscar nominations begins.

There are 323 feature films eligible for the Academy Awards, but just 207 met the Best Picture competition eligibility requirements.

As stated by the Academy in a press release, “To be eligible for consideration in the general entry categories, under rules implemented for the 97th Academy Awards year, feature films must open in a commercial motion picture theater in at least one of six U.S. metropolitan areas: Los Angeles County; the City of New York; the Bay Area; Chicago, Illinois; Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas; and Atlanta, Georgia, between Jan. 1, 2024, and Dec. 31, 2024, and complete a minimum qualifying run of seven consecutive days in the same venue. Feature films must have a running time of more than 40 minutes.”

But Best Picture eligibility is different. Films under consideration...

Sorry, Hollywood. Indie studios have officially taken over the poster game. Of the 25 films listed below, I can count the number of legacy studios on one hand (even that’s putting Focus Features under the Universal umbrella). Yes, some of that has to do with a strike-enforced lack of releases beyond true tentpoles and their glossy, Photoshopped marketing campaigns, but it’s also a continued reluctance to take risks in all facets of production. I get that they don’t need to––those types of films sell themselves––but a bit of ingenuity still increases public perception.

Some of it probably has to do with the strain of contractual obligations as far as billing and credits go with blockbuster fare (why most of the best posters are teasers rather than finals), but there are ways around such stipulations if you’re willing to push the envelope. We know the designers...

Gone are the days of movies released in theaters being a tight 90 minutes. We’re now in an era where some of the biggest films of the year are clocking in at close to three hours long.

That holds true for 2024 too. If it felt like you were in the theater for a long time when you went to see a movie, it could be because, well, you were. But if you’re curious just how long it was, we’ve got you.

We’ve rounded up the 20 longest films released in U.S. theaters this year. You can check them out below, from shortest to longest.

Adam Driver in “Megalopolis” 20. Megalopolis

Francis Ford Coppola’s epic fable “Megalopolis” is a retelling of the Roman Empire starring Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza and more. It clocked in at 2 hours and 18 minutes in total.

Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga in...

Cinema Tropical, the premier presenter of Latin American cinema in the United States, has announced its annual list of the Best Latin American and U.S. Latinx Films of 2024. This year’s prestigious selection showcases 32 exceptional films—26 from across Latin America and six from U.S. Latinx filmmakers—representing a vibrant spectrum of contemporary storytelling. These films will compete for the 15th Annual Cinema Tropical Awards, with winners to be revealed on January 14, 2025, at a ceremony at Film at Lincoln Center in New York City.

The selected films span diverse genres, themes, and countries, highlighting the creative and cultural richness of Latin American cinema. Festival favorites such as La Cocina by Alonso Ruizpalacios, The Delinquents by Rodrigo Moreno, Pepe by Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias, and Sujo by Fernanda Valadez and Astrid Rondero are among the contenders for top honors. The winners will be recognized in categories including Best Film,...

Screenis listing the 2024 release dates for films in the UK and Ireland in the calendar below.

For distributors who wish to add/amend a date on the calendar, please get in touch withScreenhere.Screenis also running a calendar for festival and market dates throughout 2025here.

January

Wednesday, January 1

Nosferatu(Universal),2073(Altitude),Vanangaan(DJ Tech),Game Changer(Dreamz),We Live In Time(Studiocanal)

Friday, January 3

Nickel Boys(Curzon),Rocco And His Brothers(BFI),Diabel(Magnetes)

Wednesday, January 8

A Real Pain(Disney)

Friday, January 10

Babygirl(Efd),The Girl With The Needle(Mubi),Maria(Studiocanal),The Damned(Vertical/Miracle),It’s Raining Men...

Today, Prime Video announced the premiere date for the upcoming biblical drama series, House of David, and revealed eight first-look images. House of David comes from visionary filmmakers Jon Erwin and Jon Gunn (Ordinary Angels).

The series will premiere on February 27, 2025, on Prime Video with three episodes and one episode weekly thereafter in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.

The series stars Michael Iskander as David, who was cast following a four-month international search and is fresh off his role in the Tony Award-winning musical, Kimberly Akimbo.

House of David also stars Ali Suliman as King Saul, Ayelet Zurer as Queen Ahinoam, Saul’s trusted wife, Stephen Lang as Samuel, and Martyn Ford as Goliath.

House of David tells the story of the ascent of the biblical figure, David, who eventually becomes the most renowned and celebrated king of Israel. The series follows the once-mighty King Saul as he falls victim to his own pride.

Sean Baker’s Anora and Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw The TV Glow lead the 2025 Independent Spirit Award nominations with six each.

Both films were nominated in best feature, best director, best lead performance, best supporting performance and the producers award while I Saw The TV Glow also picked up best screenplay.

Sean Wang’s Didilanded four nominations including best first feature and best first screenplay. The Apprentice is up for three awards – best directing, best editing and best lead performance for Sebastian Stan.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Santa Monica on February 22, 2025.

Earlier this week...

Nominations have been revealed for the 2025 Film Independent Spirit Awards, which will take place in Los Angeles on February 22. The film nominations were led by “Anora” and “I Saw the TV Glow” with six each. In the television categories, “Shōgun” garnered the most nominations with five, followed closely by “Baby Reindeer” and “English Teacher” with four apiece. Watch the announcement here and see the full list below.

Julio Torres did well here with four nominations across his feature directorial debut “Problemista” and Max series “Fantasmas.” Indies like “Dídi,” “Janet Planet,” “Sing Sing,” “Ghostlight,” “The People’s Joker,” “In the Summers,” “The Substance,” and “Nickel Boys” also had a good day, racking up multiple nominations across the board. Netflix enjoys multiple nods, for “The Piano Lesson” and “His Three Daughters,” two movies poised to enter into the Oscar race.

The 2024 Spirit Award winners were led by “Past Lives,” “The Holdovers,” and “American Fiction,...

With six nominations apiece, “Anora” and “I Saw the TV Glow” led all nominees in the film categories for the 40th Anniversary Film Independent Awards, which were announced on Wednesday morning. The ceremony will take place on Saturday, February 22, 2025. As previously announced, Aidy Bryant will return as host.

Directed by Sean Baker, “Anora” has been on a winning streak since it premiered in Cannes in May, where it won the Palme d’Or. Jane Schoenbrun’s less well known horror movie “I Saw the TV Glow” gave it some stiff competition, tying it for the most nominations among film entries. “Didi” got four nods, while “Sing Sing” and “Janet Planet” tied with three nominations each.

Because the Indie Spirit Awards use different nominating committees for different categories, it’s usual for the choices to be inconsistent. That was certainly the case this year, with “Anora” and “I Saw the TV Glow...

The 40th Annual Independent Spirit Awards nominations were announced live on Wednesday, Dec. 4, at 7:00am Pacific/10:00am Eastern on Film Independent’s YouTube channel. Scroll down for the full list of contenders, and find out who wins during a ceremony hosted by comedian Aidy Bryant on Feb. 22, 2025.

The Spirit Awards honor the best achievements in low-budget American filmmaking and and now breakthrough TV programs as well, as decided by the members of Film Independent. The nominating committees comprised writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, editors, actors, critics, casting directors, film festival programmers and other working film professionals. Winners are chosen by film industry insiders as well as everyday film lovers who pay their yearly dues to be part of Film Independent. Members have access to Film Independent’s exclusive nominee screening room online, as well as a number of awards season experiences including special screenings and Q&As.

Film Independent...

Exclusive: Spenser Granese (Dope Thief) is the newest addition to the cast of Marty Supreme, director Josh Safdie’s new film for A24, starring Timothée Chalamet, sources tell Deadline.

Character details are under wraps, as with the film’s plot, though the project supposedly takes loose inspiration from the story of professional ping pong player Marty Reisman. Sources close to the production have stressed, at the same time, that it’s a fictionalized original, rather than a biopic.

Pic’s eclectic ensemble also includes Gwyneth Paltrow, musician Tyler, The Creator, Odessa A’zion, magician Penn Jillette, Shark Tank panelist and entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary (aka Mr. Wonderful), Fran Drescher, Sandra Bernhard, and filmmaker Abel Ferrara.

Production is currently underway, with Safdie working from his script written with Ronald Bronstein. The duo produces alongside Eli Bush, Anthony Katagas, Chalamet and A24.

Currently, Granesa can be seen starring alongside Rooney Mara in the drama La Cocina,...

Hailing from the great Mexican director Alonso Ruizpalacios, ‘La Cocina’ (2024) is a recently released multi language film that shows the struggles and stress of working as a cook in a kitchen. Many of us have some kind of insight on the topic due to the multiple Gordon Ramsay shows that exist, but ‘La Cocina’ is a very special look on this topic as more of the focus is placed on racial differences, busy hour rushes, and the lingering idea that the work put in by individuals striving for better lives will not be appreciated at the end of the day. It is an artfully done portrait of this world that is in parts somber and distressing while also injecting a stressful energy. Things to do: Subscribe to The Hollywood Insider’s YouTube Channel, by clicking here. Limited Time Offer – Free Subscription to The Hollywood Insider Click here to read more...

Mubi has pulled the rug out from under its annual Mubi Fest Istanbul only hours before its opening night screening of “Queer.”

The indie distributor and streaming platform announced on social media that its festival in Turkey will no longer take place due to local authorities banning a screening of Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer.” The Kadıköy District Governor’s Office deemed the film a “threat to public peace” because of its core storyline involving a gay romance.

“Hours before the opening of Mubi Fest Istanbul 2024, which we have been meticulously planning for months, and which was announced a few weeks ago and sold out days ago, we were informed that the screening of ‘Queer’ — the festival’s opening film — has been banned by a decision of the Kadıköy District Governorate of Istanbul,” a representative for Mubi wrote in a statement shared with IndieWire.

The statement continues, “The decision states that...

Argentinian coming-of-age drama Los Frikis by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz won best film at the 13th Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival (Emiff) at the closing ceremony on November 5.

Set in Cuba in the early 90s, the film follows a group of punk rockers who deliberately inject themselves with HIV so they can live in a treatment home.

Alonso Ruizpalacios’ black-and-white feature La Cocina walked away with both best director and best cinematography (Juan Pablo Ramírez) after opening the festival on October 30. Rooney Mara and Raúl Briones star In the Berlinale premiere surrounding a kitchen in New York.

Saoirse Ronan...

Since 2016’s Fences, Denzel Washington has served as the cinematic midwife for August Wilson’s Century Cycle, a sequence of 10 plays depicting African American life in Pittsburgh during each decade of the 1900s. Following that first foray, which Washington starred in and directed, came George C. Wolfe’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and now, with Malcolm Washington at the helm, The Piano Lesson. One of Wilson’s most acclaimed and popular works, the play is set in the late 1930s and introduces a strain of magic realism that will run deep throughout the rest of Wilson’s plays in the cycle.

The Piano Lesson’s central conflict converges on the Charles family’s ancestral inheritance: a piano once traded for two of their enslaved forbears, and later absconded with by a descendant. Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler), who lives with her uncle, Doaker (Samuel L. Jackson), and daughter, Maretha (Skylar Aleece Smith...

Exclusive: Chinese producer-distributor Hishow Entertainment has been on an acquisitions spree, snapping up several prestige festival titles for distribution in mainland China, including Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, which it plans to give a wide theatrical outing before the end of the year.

The film, which premiered in competition at this year’s Cannes film festival, will first screen at China’s Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival, taking place in Xiamen, November 13-16.

Hishow has also acquired French director Laetitia Dosch’s Dog On Trial, a highly-acclaimed debut feature that premiered in Cannes Un Certain Regard; Rooney Mara starrer La Cocina, from Mexico’s Alonso Ruizpalacios, which premiered in Berlin; and Matteo Garrone’s Io Capitano, a Venice 2023 competition title that was nominated in the Best International Feature category of this year’s Oscars.

Starting with Megalopolis, the company is planning to roll these titles out theatrically in...

It’s suddenly been, if not an embarrassment, then for sure a nice flush of riches in the indie film space as high-profile festival and well-reviewed fare continues releasing into awards season. This week we’ve got a return guest with wide re-release of Godzilla Minus One.

Emilia Perez is hitting 125 theaters, quite a few for Netflix. This weekend Apple opens Steve McQueen’s WWII-set Blitz, starring Saorsie Ronan on three screens in London, two in NYC and one in LA. Warner Bros. is launching an Academy run for Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2 starring Nicholas Hoult and Zoey Deutch. Disney is doing the same for Laurent Bouzereau’s documentary Music by John Williams at the El Capitan in Hollywood and Regal Union Square in Manhattan.

La Cocina, Memoir Of A Snail and doc Black Box Diaries expand in week 2.

Jumping in with Searchlight Pictures’ Jesse Eisenberg written-directed comedy A Real Pain...

Sujo, Mexico’s Oscar submission, topped the Morelia International Film Festival with three wins across Best Screenplay, Direction and overall Fiction Feature film. It’s a good start to the international film contender, following up its nabbing of the Sundance Film Festival’s Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema.

From filmmakers Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez, the drama centers on the eponymous beloved son of a small-town cartel gunman who narrowly escapes death when his father is murdered. When his aunt takes him in and raises him in the isolated countryside, he must contend with hardship, poverty and the constant peril associated with his identity.

Rondero and Valadez shared the awards for Best Mexican Fiction Feature Film Screenplay, Best Direction of Mexican Fiction Feature Film and Best Mexican Feature Film overall. In September, The Forge acquired the North American rights to the pic, which will hit select theaters beginning Nov.

Alonso Ruizpalacios’s “La Cocina” (English Title: The Kitchen), adapted from Arnold Wesker’s play The Kitchen, is a feverish live-wire immersion into a restaurant serving tourists at Times Square. Opening with the arrival of a young Mexican woman, Estella (Anna Diaz) seeking a cook’s job at the restaurant The Grill, there’s a note of anticipation tempered with grungy realism. But she’s not the primary character in the narrative, just an entry point. Quickly, the film swerves into one of the other cooks, Pedro (Raúl Briones), who shares a family history with Estella though initially he struggles to recall her. Their families have known each other since they were kids.

Pedro is a magnificent flirt, with an easy way of skidding around another’s sour mood by dialing up his casual humor and allure. In one of the most sexually bristling scenes, he pacifies his pregnant white American girlfriend,...

Elizabeth Woodward saw an opportunity in the indie film market and ran with it. The founder and CEO of production shingle and distributor Willa is poised to break into bigger endeavors with Alonso Ruizpalacios’ “La Cocina,” which it will release Oct. 25 in New York and Nov. 1 in Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco. The film then rolls out nationwide Nov. 8 in over 75 markets.

The film embodies Willa’s mission of finding great material with a social conscience and tailoring the release strategy to not only bring in audiences but really reach them through events around the film. With “La Cocina,” which played in the Berlinale competition, that strategy entails an urgency spurred by the current election campaigns, from the presidential race to races on local levels.

Woodward strives to make films that move audiences, and because she came into the industry during a time of change and transition, “I’ve...

Soap Kitchen: Ruizpalacios Underwhelms & Over Bakes Food Drama

Making his English language debut with fourth feature La Cocina, based on the notable stage play by Arnold Wesker, Alonso Ruizpalacios presents an absurd, impulsive microcosm of oft invisible experiences. Taking place behind-the-scenes in what appears to be a mediocre tourist mainstay in Times Square (set in an era before cellphones), a teeming community of workers tossed together like a makeshift family goes about the daily grind. As circumstances dictate, the focus is one particularly grueling lunch shift in which various coinciding dilemmas come to a show stopping head.

Much like his exceptional 2018 title Museo, Ruizpalacios gravitates towards the power of process, drifting into tangentiality of the narrative to collect the milk of human experiences.…...

Seine Pictures turned 12 this year, and to mark the occasion, the upstart, Latino-led production company released three films in 2024: the 2024 Cinema for Peace Award-winning documentary, “Invisible Nation”; “La Cocina,” starring Rooney Mara and Raul Briones, which premiered in North America at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival in June; and “Mistura,” an original period drama from Ricardo de Montreuil set in company founder Ivan Orlic’s home country.

“Having three films in one year for a company our size is quite an achievement that we’re very proud of and have worked very hard to achieve,” Orlic told TheWrap for our latest Office With a View Q&a.

At first glance, Orlic doesn’t make your everyday film producer. A Peruvian marine scientist-turned-filmmaker, he authored two college-level biology textbooks before combining his family’s fishing tradition and his own love for film for a career pivot in 2012. To date, Seine Pictures...

Alonso Ruizpalacios established himself as a keen observer of life in Mexico beginning with feature-length directorial debut, 2014’s Güeros. Shot in luminous black and white, the shaggy dramedy abounds as much in potshots at Mexican culture as it does in homages to cinema. His subsequent films are no less playful with form, including 2021’s docudrama A Cop Movie, a galvanizing portrait of police work that subverted genre conventions.

Ruizpalacios’s fourth feature, La Cocina, which premiered at the Berlinale earlier this year, isn’t set in Mexico, but many of its characters hail from the director’s country of origin, and their immigrant dreams are as much the subject here as the exploitative nature of capitalism. The film, based on Arnold Wesker’s 1957 play The Kitchen, is set almost entirety in a Times Square restaurant, and it finds Ruizpalacios tackling political issues from a personal perspective.

At the start of the film,...

Set at a restaurant that caters to tourists in Times Square, Alonso Ruizpalacios’s La Cocina, adapted from Arnold Wesker’s 1957 play The Kitchen, revolves around Pedro (Raúl Briones), an undocumented Mexican line cook, and Julia (Rooney Mara), a white American working front of house. When $800 goes missing from the till, triggering an investigation by restaurant management, their love story derails. Throughout, Ruizpalacios allows the Grill to be both exactly what it is—a specific workplace with its own Kitchen Confidential-style rituals and pecking order—and a microcosm of American capitalism. “American” in the broadest sense since, as Pedro reminds us, “America is not a country.”

In an important scene, the Grill’s second-generation Mexican American manager, Luis (Eduardo Olmos), is interrogating Pedro, whom he suspects of having stolen the money to pay for the abortion that Julia wants and, coincidentally, would cost $800. While the intransigent line cook sidesteps Luis...

Mexico’s Guadalajara International Film Festival (Ficg) is one of North America’s biggest festivals, and for the last five years, it’s had a satellite festival in Los Angeles, the GuadaLAjara Film Festival. Not only is a showcase for some of the best films from the Og Ficg, but it also supports Latinx filmmakers from all over.

This year the festival is trying some new things that are a benefit to both its audiences and its filmmakers. Opening night at the Million Dollar Theater in Dtla will feature a 35mm print of Mexican Oscar submission Sujo, made especially for the fest. The print will be available for the film’s distribution going forward as well.

The festival is also expanding where it’s screening films, trying to meet the audiences where they are. As well as some beautiful downtown locations, films will be show at Vidiots in Northeast LA,...

Argentinian filmmaker Luis Ortega’s Venice title Kill The Jockey, German filmmaker Nora Fingscheidt’s The Outrun starring Saoirse Ronan and a series of special spotlight screenings including Stephen Frears’ The Grifters and Damon Gameau’s climate-change documentary 2040 are among the titles that will screen at the 13th edition of the Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival (Emiff).

Alonso Ruizpalacios’ La Cocina will open the festival on October 30, while Thomas Napper’s Widow Clicquot, the biopic of the grand dame of champagne, Veuve Clicquot, starring Haley Bennett and Tom Sturridge, will close it on November 5.

Annette Bening will collect the...

Carlos Marques-Marcet’s Toronto-winning musical drama They Will Be Dust, will open the 69th edition of the Valladolid International Film Week, also known as the Seminci, on October 18.

The end of life drama starring Alfredo Castro and Angela Molina won the Platform section at TIFF last month.

Valladolid, headed by José Luis Cienfuegos for a second year, is a key launchpad into the Spanish market for local and international films.

There are a total of 22 titles in the running for the festival’s top prize, the Golden Spike that comes with a €70,000 award for the Spanish distributor. The Silver Spike...

Festival hits Anora, Emilia Perez and Maria, a new Stockholm Series strand for TV works, and a theme of ‘Men in Crisis’ are among the highlights of this year’s Stockholm International Film Festival (November 6-17), the programme of which has been announced today (October 9).

The international feature competition includes Alonso Ruizpalacios’ Berlin title La Cocina; RaMell Ross’ Telluride premiere Nickel Boys; and Gustav Moller’s Denmark-Sweden-France co-production Sons. It has an even split of 10 titles directed by women, and 10 by men.

Scroll down for the full list of Stockholm Competition titles

The 16-title documentary competition includes the world premiere of Garbo: Leave Me Alone,...

A decent September saw the UK-Ireland box office reduce its year-on-year deficit from -15% at the start of August 2024, to -10% by the end of September.

Although still down on last year at this stage, the four weeks in September 2024 brought in £60.1m, up 21% on the equivalent weeks of September 2023.

UK-Ireland top 10 titles September 2024 Rank Title Distributor September gross Total gross Release date 1 Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Warner Bros £21.6m £21.6m 06/09/24 2 Speak No Evil Universal £4.4m £4.4m 13/09/24 3 Lee Studiocanal £3.1m £3.1m 13/09/24 4 Prima Facie - Nt Live 2022 (2024 re-issue) National Theatre Live £2.6m £2.6m 06/09/24 5 Deadpool & Wolverine Disney £2.1m £57.4m 26/07/24 6 It Ends With Us...

Paddy Duffy’s The UnHolylands starring James Nesbitt is among the world premieres at the 24th Belfast Film Festival (October 31-November 9).

Duffy’s coming-of-age comedy sees two brothers attempt one last house party before their university days are over. It also stars Ciaran McCourt, Peter Jeffries and Sean Daly.

Further world premieres include Michael Head’s comedy The Spin starring Derry Girls’ Tara Lynne O’Neill and Will McConnell’s experimental drama Beautiful And Loud And Clear.

Competition

Eight films comprise Belfast’s third annual international competition including Xiaoxuan Jiang’s To Kill A Mongolian Horse, winner of best directing and...

As we go deeper into the fall movie season, October often offers the cream of the cinematic crop. This year is no different: with this year’s top winners at Berlinale and Cannes, and much more, there’s plenty to enjoy. As many of these will begin in limited release, look for them to expand in the weeks to come.

10. Black Box Diaries (Shiori Ito; Oct. 25)

A personal and harrowing exploration of sexual assault, Black Box Diaries was one of the best documentaries of Sundance this year. Lena Wilson said her review, “In the middle of Black Box Diaries, journalist Shiori Ito’s debut documentary, Ito grins at the camera as she strolls through downtown Tokyo on the day of her book launch. It’s October 18, 2017. The New York Times broke the Harvey Weinstein news two weeks ago. Alyssa Milano popularized the hashtag #MeToo two days ago. Ito, fresh-faced and...

The 14th GuadaLAjara Film Festival (Glaff) in Los Angeles running November 1-3 will open with Mexican Oscar submission Sujo.

The Forge holds North American rights to the Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner from Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez about a youngster growing up under the shadow of the murder of his cartel hitman father.

The festival will close with Prime Video’s post-#MeToo series La Liberación from Alejandra Marquez Abella, about three women who team up to persuade a young actress to drop an allegation of sexual harassment against a film director.

The Dia de los Muertos centerpiece gala...

The GuadaLAjara Film Festival (Glaff) will return to Los Angeles for its 14th edition, running from November 1-3, 2024. This year’s event promises a dynamic blend of films and events featuring a stellar lineup of talent, including Zoe Saldaña, Rooney Mara, Raúl Briones, Dylan O’Brien and Nava Mau.

The festival will open with “Sujo,” a Spanish-language drama from directors Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez. Selected as Mexico’s official submission for the Oscars’ best international feature category, “Sujo” delves into the life of a young man growing up amid the violence that looms over rural Mexico. The film is set for a U.S. theatrical release in Dec. by indie distributor The Forge.

Glaff’s short film selections will include standout projects such as “All the Words but the One,” directed and starring recent Emmy nominee Nava Mau (“Baby Reindeer”), and “Dovecote,” produced by and starring Zoe Saldaña, who is...

Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio’s coming-of-age saga “In the Summers” took top honors at this year’s 50th edition of the Deauville American Film Festival, claiming both the Grand Prize and the Fondation Louis Roeder Revelation Prize, awarded by a parallel jury.

At once intimate and expansive, the film traces a Latin-American family portrait, using four vignettes to span two decades while following the evolving and often challenged relationship two siblings share with their father, played by Puerto Rican rap great Residente. “In the Summers” had previously won the grand jury prize and the director award out of Sundance, and is set for release by Music Box Films next week.

“I’ve always been a huge fan of French cinema so it was already an honor to show my film at the Deauville American Film Festival,” the director tells Variety. “To win was unbelievable; [I’m] incredibly grateful. I hope this allows more...

Rapper and singer René Pérez Jogger, also known as Residente, leads the cast of In the Summers, top prize winner at the Deauville American Film Festival Photo: Deauville American Film Festival The Jury of the 50th edition of the Deauville American film festival, presided over by Benoît Magimel, with Ludivine Sagnier, Emilie Dequenne, Agathe Riedinger, Damien Bonnard, Lou Lampros and Martin Bourboulon have awarded the Festival’s top prize to In The Summers, by Colombian American writer-director Alessandra Lacorazza for her debut feature.

Already noted at the Sundance Film Festival earlier in the year, the film relates the story a broken family dynamic through the eyes of two young girls during their formative years. René Pérez Joglar (also known by his rapper/singer stage name Residente) leads the cast.

The honours were bestowed at the Festival’s closing ceremony last night.

Full list of awards:

Grand Prix: In The Summers...

If you don’t already know the name Alonso Ruizpalacios, “La Cocina” will likely put him on your radar. An acclaimed Mexican filmmaker known for critically acclaimed and awarded films like “Güeros” (2014), “Museum “(2018), and “A Cop Movie”(2021), Ruizpalacios has been building himself up as an artful indie auteur. And over the years, he’s also been catching Hollywood’s eye, tapped to do TV work on excellent shows which he elevated like “Outer Range,” “Narcos Mexico,” and the upcoming second and final season of “Andor.

Continue reading ‘La Cocina’ Trailer: Raúl Briones & Rooney Mara Lead Alonso Ruizpalacios’ Acclaimed Kitchen Drama at The Playlist.