Qumra master Atom Egoyan has expressed his desire for a new “wave” of Armenian filmmakers and encouraged international projects to consider the region for post-production.
Speaking to Screen following his Qumra masterclass at the Doha incubator, Egoyan – who is Canadian, born in Egypt and of Armenian heritage – described Armenia as “an extraordinarily resilient, stubborn country” with “a rich cinema history”.
“I’m nothing but positive about the ability to make films in Armenia,” said Egoyan, who did acknowledge “political instability” following the Azerbaijani military offensive in the disputed Artsakh region on September 19 and 20 last year, which has been classified as...
Speaking to Screen following his Qumra masterclass at the Doha incubator, Egoyan – who is Canadian, born in Egypt and of Armenian heritage – described Armenia as “an extraordinarily resilient, stubborn country” with “a rich cinema history”.
“I’m nothing but positive about the ability to make films in Armenia,” said Egoyan, who did acknowledge “political instability” following the Azerbaijani military offensive in the disputed Artsakh region on September 19 and 20 last year, which has been classified as...
- 3/7/2024
- ScreenDaily
Qumra master Atom Egoyan has expressed his desire for a new “wave” of Armenian filmmakers and encouraged international projects to consider the region for post-production.
Speaking to Screen following his Qumra masterclass at the Doha incubator, Egoyan – who is Canadian, born in Egypt and of Armenian heritage – described Armenia as “an extraordinarily resilient, stubborn country” with “a rich cinema history”.
“I’m nothing but positive about the ability to make films in Armenia,” said Egoyan, who did acknowledge “political instability” following the Azerbaijani military offensive in the disputed Artsakh region on September 19 and 20 last year, which has been classified as...
Speaking to Screen following his Qumra masterclass at the Doha incubator, Egoyan – who is Canadian, born in Egypt and of Armenian heritage – described Armenia as “an extraordinarily resilient, stubborn country” with “a rich cinema history”.
“I’m nothing but positive about the ability to make films in Armenia,” said Egoyan, who did acknowledge “political instability” following the Azerbaijani military offensive in the disputed Artsakh region on September 19 and 20 last year, which has been classified as...
- 3/7/2024
- ScreenDaily
Qumra master Atom Egoyan has expressed his desire for a new “wave” of Armenian filmmakers; and encouraged international projects to consider the region for post-production.
Speaking to Screen following his Qumra masterclass at the Doha incubator, Egoyan – who is Canadian, born in Egypt and of Armenian heritage – described Armenia as “an extraordinarily resilient, stubborn country” with “a rich cinema history”.
“I’m nothing but positive about the ability to make films in Armenia,” said Egoyan, who did acknowledge “political instability” following the Azerbaijani military offensive in the disputed Artsakh region on September 19 and 20 last year, which has been classified as...
Speaking to Screen following his Qumra masterclass at the Doha incubator, Egoyan – who is Canadian, born in Egypt and of Armenian heritage – described Armenia as “an extraordinarily resilient, stubborn country” with “a rich cinema history”.
“I’m nothing but positive about the ability to make films in Armenia,” said Egoyan, who did acknowledge “political instability” following the Azerbaijani military offensive in the disputed Artsakh region on September 19 and 20 last year, which has been classified as...
- 3/7/2024
- ScreenDaily
The second of two panels hosted by The Hollywood Reporter at the Palm Springs International Feature Film featured a breadth of official Oscar submissions from around the world. The discussion, moderated by The Hollywood Reporter’s Mia Galuppo, highlighted how these films varied greatly in both tone and scope.
One such film is Germany’s entry, The Teacher’s Lounge, directed by İlker Çatak, which focuses on a teacher caught between wanting to help a student accused of theft and the rigidity of her own school’s rules. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mstyslav Chernov’s 20 Days in Mariupol, Ukraine’s official Oscars entry, is a documentary about the Russian invasion within the besieged city of Mariupol. Michael A. Goorjian directs Amerikatsi, Armenia’s selection, a comedy-drama about an Armenian-American locked up in a Soviet prison.
Other films featured include Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters, from Tunisia, a documentary about...
One such film is Germany’s entry, The Teacher’s Lounge, directed by İlker Çatak, which focuses on a teacher caught between wanting to help a student accused of theft and the rigidity of her own school’s rules. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mstyslav Chernov’s 20 Days in Mariupol, Ukraine’s official Oscars entry, is a documentary about the Russian invasion within the besieged city of Mariupol. Michael A. Goorjian directs Amerikatsi, Armenia’s selection, a comedy-drama about an Armenian-American locked up in a Soviet prison.
Other films featured include Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters, from Tunisia, a documentary about...
- 1/24/2024
- by Hilton Dresden
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
On the eve of Sundance and Berlin, XYZ Films has hired former STX, Studiocanal and Wanda executive Celine Lin as SVP of international sales and distribution.
Lin will spearhead distribution and licensing strategy across the Apac region and select European markets. She will report to XYZ president of international sales and distribution Tatyana Joffe.
Lin most recently served as SVP of international sales at STX Entertainment in London. Prior to that she held senior executive posts at Studiocanal in Paris and Wanda in Beijing. She began her career managing international sales for Coproduction Office.
Joffe said, “We are thrilled for...
Lin will spearhead distribution and licensing strategy across the Apac region and select European markets. She will report to XYZ president of international sales and distribution Tatyana Joffe.
Lin most recently served as SVP of international sales at STX Entertainment in London. Prior to that she held senior executive posts at Studiocanal in Paris and Wanda in Beijing. She began her career managing international sales for Coproduction Office.
Joffe said, “We are thrilled for...
- 1/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
Company premiering Skywalkers: A Love Story, Krazy House in Sundance.
On the eve of Sundance and Berlin, XYZ Films has hired former STX, Studiocanal and Wanda executive Celine Lin as SVP of international sales and distribution.
Lin will spearhead distribution and licensing strategy across the Apac region and select European markets. She will report to XYZ president of international sales and distribution Tatyana Joffe.
Lin most recently served as SVP of international sales at STX Entertainment in London. Prior to that she held senior executive posts at Studiocanal in Paris and Wanda in Beijing. She began her career managing international sales for Coproduction Office.
On the eve of Sundance and Berlin, XYZ Films has hired former STX, Studiocanal and Wanda executive Celine Lin as SVP of international sales and distribution.
Lin will spearhead distribution and licensing strategy across the Apac region and select European markets. She will report to XYZ president of international sales and distribution Tatyana Joffe.
Lin most recently served as SVP of international sales at STX Entertainment in London. Prior to that she held senior executive posts at Studiocanal in Paris and Wanda in Beijing. She began her career managing international sales for Coproduction Office.
- 1/17/2024
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The Scream franchise has lost a lot of blood in recent months, but the beloved star who has played Sidney Prescott in five films over 25 years isn’t ruling out a return.
The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Neve Campbell on Saturday afternoon at the BAFTA Tea Party in Beverly Hills, where she offered up a “we’ll see” as to whether she would reprise her franchise-leading role in the near future. The next installment, which is currently in the works, has been in peril since November when Melissa Barrera was fired over social media posts regarding the conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas. Days later, it was revealed that her co-star, Jenna Ortega, had also exited the next film. Then, a month after that, director Christopher Landon parted ways on the project, going so far as to say that his “dream job turned into a nightmare.
The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Neve Campbell on Saturday afternoon at the BAFTA Tea Party in Beverly Hills, where she offered up a “we’ll see” as to whether she would reprise her franchise-leading role in the near future. The next installment, which is currently in the works, has been in peril since November when Melissa Barrera was fired over social media posts regarding the conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas. Days later, it was revealed that her co-star, Jenna Ortega, had also exited the next film. Then, a month after that, director Christopher Landon parted ways on the project, going so far as to say that his “dream job turned into a nightmare.
- 1/14/2024
- by Chris Gardner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
So many celebrities stepped out to attend the 2024 BAFTA Tea Party presented by Delta Air Lines, Virgin Atlantic and BBC Studios Los Angeles Productions on Saturday (January 13) at The Maybourne Beverly Hills.
The star-studded event featured appearances from more than 100 stars, including the likes of Julianne Moore, Jonathan Bailey, Mark Ruffalo, America Ferrera, Fantasia Barrino, Cillian Murphy, Sam Claflin and Eva Longoria.
Since it was such a big event, we pulled together photos for you to easily scroll. That way you can easily see who was there and what they were wearing!
Head inside to see photos of all of the celebs on the red carpet at the 2024 BAFTA Tea Party…
Keep scrolling for photos of more than 100 celebrities at the BAFTA Tea Party…
Brian Cox and Nicole Ansari-Cox
Diane Warren
Calah Lane
Greta Lee
Fyi: Greta is wearing Loewe.
Tracy Ifeachor
Emily Blunt and Cillian Murphy
Fyi: Emily is...
The star-studded event featured appearances from more than 100 stars, including the likes of Julianne Moore, Jonathan Bailey, Mark Ruffalo, America Ferrera, Fantasia Barrino, Cillian Murphy, Sam Claflin and Eva Longoria.
Since it was such a big event, we pulled together photos for you to easily scroll. That way you can easily see who was there and what they were wearing!
Head inside to see photos of all of the celebs on the red carpet at the 2024 BAFTA Tea Party…
Keep scrolling for photos of more than 100 celebrities at the BAFTA Tea Party…
Brian Cox and Nicole Ansari-Cox
Diane Warren
Calah Lane
Greta Lee
Fyi: Greta is wearing Loewe.
Tracy Ifeachor
Emily Blunt and Cillian Murphy
Fyi: Emily is...
- 1/14/2024
- by Just Jared
- Just Jared
The “Scream” franchise is in trouble. Between the firing of reboot star Melissa Barrera over her pro-Palestine social media posts in November, the subsequent departure of co-star Jenna Ortega, and the lack of a director now that Christopher Landon has left the building, the future for the seventh entry in the scream queen all-timer isn’t looking great. The original “Scream” star Neve Campbell did not appear in the sixth movie from Spyglass and Paramount, which opened and closed in spring 2023 to a $168 million total box office, due to pay disputes. Campbell did appear in 2022’s fifth “Scream” film, reprising her role as final girl Sidney Prescott.
IndieWire stopped and chatted with Neve Campbell at this weekend’s BAFTA Tea event in Los Angeles, catching up on her feelings about where the franchise is headed.
“It’s sad to me that they’re struggling at the moment. I would imagine...
IndieWire stopped and chatted with Neve Campbell at this weekend’s BAFTA Tea event in Los Angeles, catching up on her feelings about where the franchise is headed.
“It’s sad to me that they’re struggling at the moment. I would imagine...
- 1/14/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio and Vincent Perella
- Indiewire
Neve Campbell announced in June 2022 that she was leaving the “Scream” franchise because she didn’t feel she was being properly compensated to reprise her role of Sidney Prescott in the sixth movie.
Even so, she could see herself coming back some day “under the right circumstances,” Campbell told me Saturday at the BAFTA Tea event at the Maybourne hotel in Beverly Hills.
That said, it’s unclear what is happening with the franchise at the moment after director Christopher Landon dropped out of the seventh film. Landon’s exit came shortly after star Jenna Ortega announced she was not return due to scheduling conflicts with her “Wednesday” production calendar and co-star Melissa Barrera was fired over social media posts about the Israel-Palestine conflict. Both actors starred in the fifth and sixth “Scream” films.
Campbell hopes the franchise will continue. “I honestly don’t have no idea what their plans are,...
Even so, she could see herself coming back some day “under the right circumstances,” Campbell told me Saturday at the BAFTA Tea event at the Maybourne hotel in Beverly Hills.
That said, it’s unclear what is happening with the franchise at the moment after director Christopher Landon dropped out of the seventh film. Landon’s exit came shortly after star Jenna Ortega announced she was not return due to scheduling conflicts with her “Wednesday” production calendar and co-star Melissa Barrera was fired over social media posts about the Israel-Palestine conflict. Both actors starred in the fifth and sixth “Scream” films.
Campbell hopes the franchise will continue. “I honestly don’t have no idea what their plans are,...
- 1/14/2024
- by Marc Malkin
- Variety Film + TV
Armenia has been submitting films for the Best International Feature Film Oscar here and there since 2001, but never has the West Asian country been nominated. This year, that could change with Michael A. Goorjian’s hopeful fable of Soviet Armenia, “Amerikatsi.” For the first time, Armenia’s Oscar committee got their film on the shortlist of 15, thanks to a groundswell of support that started at the Woodstock Film Festival last year, and with the trumpeting of Canadian-Armenian filmmaker Atom Egoyan.
Many multi-hyphenates star in films they directed in service of getting the movie made at all. For actor and writer/director Goorjian, the Bay Area-born artist whose father was Armenian and whose paternal grandparents survived the Armenian genocide in World War I, it only made sense to play Charlie Bakhchinyan himself. In “Amerikatsi,” Charlie is an Armenian-American who repatriates to his homeland in 1948, when Armenia was in thrall to Soviet Communism.
Many multi-hyphenates star in films they directed in service of getting the movie made at all. For actor and writer/director Goorjian, the Bay Area-born artist whose father was Armenian and whose paternal grandparents survived the Armenian genocide in World War I, it only made sense to play Charlie Bakhchinyan himself. In “Amerikatsi,” Charlie is an Armenian-American who repatriates to his homeland in 1948, when Armenia was in thrall to Soviet Communism.
- 1/11/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
“Going into making the film, I always had in my head that it would be great to get to represent the country and help it have more of a voice in terms of world cinema,” says Michael A. Goorjian, the writer, director and star of “Amerikatsi,” Armenia’s submission for Best International Feature at the 96th Academy Awards. “Not a lot of films have been made in Armenia, partially because it’s a post-Soviet country, and when the Soviet Union collapsed, a lot of the infrastructure for film fell away. It was one of our goals with the film to help showcase what’s possible in Armenia. I’m very excited about it.” Watch the exclusive video interview above.
The film follows Charlie (Goorjian), who escapes the Armenian genocide as a boy by fleeing to the United States. When he returns as an adult and is arrested, he watches an...
The film follows Charlie (Goorjian), who escapes the Armenian genocide as a boy by fleeing to the United States. When he returns as an adult and is arrested, he watches an...
- 1/5/2024
- by Denton Davidson
- Gold Derby
Want to know which international features vying for Oscar gold are worth watching?
Variety‘s team of critics has been on the ground at Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Toronto and other major film festivals, on the hunt for the best of the best. In December, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled its shortlist of 15 films eligible for the second round of voting in the best international feature film category. Those Oscar contenders include “The Zone of Interest,” a United Kingdom-backed look at the Holocaust that’s received rave reviews, as well as searing dramas such as “Io Capitano,” Italy’s entry about two Senegalese migrants, and “Four Daughters,” a mixture of narrative and documentary from Tunisia.
Here are reviews of all of the movies eligible for the Oscar for Best International Feature.
20 Days in Mariupol (Ukraine) — Director Mstyslav Chernov and other AP journos document Russian Federation forces...
Variety‘s team of critics has been on the ground at Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Toronto and other major film festivals, on the hunt for the best of the best. In December, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unveiled its shortlist of 15 films eligible for the second round of voting in the best international feature film category. Those Oscar contenders include “The Zone of Interest,” a United Kingdom-backed look at the Holocaust that’s received rave reviews, as well as searing dramas such as “Io Capitano,” Italy’s entry about two Senegalese migrants, and “Four Daughters,” a mixture of narrative and documentary from Tunisia.
Here are reviews of all of the movies eligible for the Oscar for Best International Feature.
20 Days in Mariupol (Ukraine) — Director Mstyslav Chernov and other AP journos document Russian Federation forces...
- 1/5/2024
- by Variety Staff
- Variety Film + TV
Three decades after the 1915 Armenian Genocide, an optimistic American Armenian returns to his Sovietized homeland, only be thrown in prison under flimsy circumstances. From his squalid jail cell, he peers daily into the home and inner life of one of his Armenian prison guards, and inadvertently finds the cultural connection he’d been searching for. This broad premise informs the sentimental comedy-drama of “Amerikatsi” (or “The American”), Armenia’s shortlisted international Oscar submission. Written and directed by Michael A. Goorjian, who also stars in the leading role, it’s a moving work about diasporic yearning, coming to us as history repeats itself, after more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians were forced to flee Nagorno-Karabakh earlier this year.
The movie’s dreamlike prologue follows a young Armenian boy escaping the brutality of the Ottoman Army during World War I, peering out of a tiny hole in an ornate luggage trunk. The interior of...
The movie’s dreamlike prologue follows a young Armenian boy escaping the brutality of the Ottoman Army during World War I, peering out of a tiny hole in an ornate luggage trunk. The interior of...
- 12/28/2023
- by Siddhant Adlakha
- Variety Film + TV
The shortlist of 15 films set to vie for a Best International Feature Film Oscar nomination only has a few surprises in the mix.
Firstly, there are a couple of crossovers with films also included on the documentary shortlist: Ukraine’s 20 Days in Mariupol and Tunisia’s Four Daughters. At the same time, Morocco’s The Mother of All Lies, also eligible in documentary, landed a shortlist slot only in International Feature.
For Ukraine, this is the first inclusion on an International Feature shortlist. For a narrative feature, same goes for Armenia with Michael A. Goorjian’s Amerikatsi.
Bhutan, here with The Monk and the Gun, is a comer. After landing the country’s first advancement in 2021 with Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, director Pawo Choyning Dorji is again in the mix.
Related: Oscar Doc Shortlist Scores & Shockers: ‘American Symphony Earns Trifecta, But Two Doc Legends Snubbed
A surprise here is Iceland’s Godland,...
Firstly, there are a couple of crossovers with films also included on the documentary shortlist: Ukraine’s 20 Days in Mariupol and Tunisia’s Four Daughters. At the same time, Morocco’s The Mother of All Lies, also eligible in documentary, landed a shortlist slot only in International Feature.
For Ukraine, this is the first inclusion on an International Feature shortlist. For a narrative feature, same goes for Armenia with Michael A. Goorjian’s Amerikatsi.
Bhutan, here with The Monk and the Gun, is a comer. After landing the country’s first advancement in 2021 with Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, director Pawo Choyning Dorji is again in the mix.
Related: Oscar Doc Shortlist Scores & Shockers: ‘American Symphony Earns Trifecta, But Two Doc Legends Snubbed
A surprise here is Iceland’s Godland,...
- 12/21/2023
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Shortlists announced in 10 categories for 96th Academy Awards.
The Academy has announced shortlists in 10 categories for the 96th Oscars in March 2024, with The Taste Of Things (France), Fallen Leaves (Finland), The Zone Of Interest (UK), Totem (Mexico), and Amerikatsi, Armenia’s first entry on the shortlist, among those making the cut in the international feature film category.
The international contest also sees Pawo Choyning Dorji’s drama The Monk And The Gun becomes Bhutan’s second film to make the shortlist after his Oscar nominee Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom from two seasons ago.
A strong showing by European...
The Academy has announced shortlists in 10 categories for the 96th Oscars in March 2024, with The Taste Of Things (France), Fallen Leaves (Finland), The Zone Of Interest (UK), Totem (Mexico), and Amerikatsi, Armenia’s first entry on the shortlist, among those making the cut in the international feature film category.
The international contest also sees Pawo Choyning Dorji’s drama The Monk And The Gun becomes Bhutan’s second film to make the shortlist after his Oscar nominee Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom from two seasons ago.
A strong showing by European...
- 12/21/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Shortlists announced in 10 categories for 96th Academy Awards.
The Academy has announced shortlists in 10 categories for the 96th Oscars in March 2024, with The Taste Of Things (France), Fallen Leaves (Finland), The Zone Of Interest (UK), Totem (Mexico), and for the first time Armenia (Amerikatsi) among those making the cut in the international feature film category.
The international contest also sees Pawo Choyning Dorji’s Bhutanese drama The Monk And The Gun become the country’s second film to make the shortlist after his Oscar nominee from two seasons ago.
A strong showing by European films besides the aforementioned comprises J.A. Bayona...
The Academy has announced shortlists in 10 categories for the 96th Oscars in March 2024, with The Taste Of Things (France), Fallen Leaves (Finland), The Zone Of Interest (UK), Totem (Mexico), and for the first time Armenia (Amerikatsi) among those making the cut in the international feature film category.
The international contest also sees Pawo Choyning Dorji’s Bhutanese drama The Monk And The Gun become the country’s second film to make the shortlist after his Oscar nominee from two seasons ago.
A strong showing by European films besides the aforementioned comprises J.A. Bayona...
- 12/21/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Wim Wenders' Perfect Days has made the 96th Academy Awards Oscar Best International Feature Film shortlist Photo: Anne Katrin Titze
From Tunisia, Four Daughters (Les Filles d'Olfa), Kaouther Ben Hania director; United Kingdom, The Zone Of Interest, Jonathan Glazer director; Ukraine, 20 Days In Mariupol, Mstyslav Chernov director; Italy, Io Capitano, Matteo Garrone director; Japan, Perfect Days, Wim Wenders director; France, The Taste Of Things, Trần Anh Hùng director; Armenia, Amerikatsi, Michael A Goorjian, director; Germany, The Teachers’ Lounge, llker Çatak, director; Finland, Fallen Leaves, Aki Kaurismäki director; Spain, The Delinquents, Rodrigo Moreno director; Mexico, Tótem, Lila Avilés, director; Denmark, The Promised Land, Nikolaj Arcel, director; Morocco, The Mother of All Lies, Asmae El Moudir, director; Spain, Society Of The Snow, Ja Bayona, director; Iceland, Godland, Hlynur Pálmason; and Bhutan, The Monk And The Gun, Pawo Choyning Dorji director are the 15 films selected for the International Feature Film shortlist.
Kaouther...
From Tunisia, Four Daughters (Les Filles d'Olfa), Kaouther Ben Hania director; United Kingdom, The Zone Of Interest, Jonathan Glazer director; Ukraine, 20 Days In Mariupol, Mstyslav Chernov director; Italy, Io Capitano, Matteo Garrone director; Japan, Perfect Days, Wim Wenders director; France, The Taste Of Things, Trần Anh Hùng director; Armenia, Amerikatsi, Michael A Goorjian, director; Germany, The Teachers’ Lounge, llker Çatak, director; Finland, Fallen Leaves, Aki Kaurismäki director; Spain, The Delinquents, Rodrigo Moreno director; Mexico, Tótem, Lila Avilés, director; Denmark, The Promised Land, Nikolaj Arcel, director; Morocco, The Mother of All Lies, Asmae El Moudir, director; Spain, Society Of The Snow, Ja Bayona, director; Iceland, Godland, Hlynur Pálmason; and Bhutan, The Monk And The Gun, Pawo Choyning Dorji director are the 15 films selected for the International Feature Film shortlist.
Kaouther...
- 12/21/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Filmmaker Michael Goorjian set out to create a different kind of film about Armenian nationality when developing “Amerikatsi,” the country’s submission in the international feature category for this year’s Academy Awards. Along with directing, Goorjian also stars as Charlie, an American who repatriates to Armenia after World War II — but ends up in a Soviet prison for simply wearing a tie. The circumstances are absurd and bleak, but Goorjian was intent on finding a light, affirming tone for the story.
“There had been a lot of Armenian films usually focused on the genocide. I just wanted to make something that would be hopeful. But also I wanted to make a film that Armenians could be proud of, but wouldn’t be hard to share — that was enjoyable to watch,” Goorjian shared in a conversation with fellow director Atom Egoyan. “Today there’s so much crazy stuff going on.
“There had been a lot of Armenian films usually focused on the genocide. I just wanted to make something that would be hopeful. But also I wanted to make a film that Armenians could be proud of, but wouldn’t be hard to share — that was enjoyable to watch,” Goorjian shared in a conversation with fellow director Atom Egoyan. “Today there’s so much crazy stuff going on.
- 12/19/2023
- by J. Kim Murphy
- Variety Film + TV
The shortlist of 15 films to vie for a Best International Feature Film Oscar nomination is set to be announced on December 21. In all, movies from 88 countries are eligible this year, and as we regularly see, they offer up a rich treasure trove.
Below, we take a closer look at the potential candidates for the early cut. They include prize winners from Sundance to Berlin, Cannes, Venice and myriad other festivals and awards bodies.
Deadline, through its various Contenders events as well as separate interviews, has spoken with filmmakers behind many of the entries while all of the titles on the main list below have been reviewed by Deadline’s critics as we continue to grow our focus on international films.
To note, we have not highlighted films which are also eligible in Animation and Documentary, though our picks for possible crossovers are at the end of the main list, as are our Special Mentions.
Below, we take a closer look at the potential candidates for the early cut. They include prize winners from Sundance to Berlin, Cannes, Venice and myriad other festivals and awards bodies.
Deadline, through its various Contenders events as well as separate interviews, has spoken with filmmakers behind many of the entries while all of the titles on the main list below have been reviewed by Deadline’s critics as we continue to grow our focus on international films.
To note, we have not highlighted films which are also eligible in Animation and Documentary, though our picks for possible crossovers are at the end of the main list, as are our Special Mentions.
- 12/17/2023
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
There’s a lot to take in and even more to process in American-Armenian director Michael Goorjian’s ambitious period piece: What he’s tilting at here is not beyond the realms of comedy, as Armando Iannucci proved with his 2017 jet-black satire The Death of Stalin. But tone is crucial, and Amerikatsi has a waywardness that too often undermines its intent — there’s a lot that works here and so much that doesn’t. There are moments that are sensitive, thoughtful, and really quite moving — in an elegant, silent-movie way — but the framing is so dark in its humor that many viewers may never make it to them.
In Eastern European literature, the greenhorn caught in the crosshairs of bureaucracy has long been a staple, and Amerikatsi pushes that tradition by placing an emigrant American at the heart of its drama. The film opens in 1915, in what was then the Ottoman Empire,...
In Eastern European literature, the greenhorn caught in the crosshairs of bureaucracy has long been a staple, and Amerikatsi pushes that tradition by placing an emigrant American at the heart of its drama. The film opens in 1915, in what was then the Ottoman Empire,...
- 12/17/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Every year since its creation in 1956, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) invites the film industries of various countries to submit their best film for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. The category was previously called the Best Foreign Language Film, but this was changed in April 2019 to Best International Feature Film, after the Academy deemed the word “Foreign” to be outdated.
The award is presented annually by the Academy to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-English dialogue. For the 96th Academy Awards, the submitted motion pictures must be first released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline for submissions to the Academy was October 2, 2023, and 92 countries submitted a film. The 15-film shortlist will be announced on December 21, 2023, followed by the official nominations on January 23, 2024.
Here are this edition's Asian Submissions for Best International Feature Film.
The award is presented annually by the Academy to a feature-length motion picture produced outside the United States that contains primarily non-English dialogue. For the 96th Academy Awards, the submitted motion pictures must be first released theatrically in their respective countries between December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline for submissions to the Academy was October 2, 2023, and 92 countries submitted a film. The 15-film shortlist will be announced on December 21, 2023, followed by the official nominations on January 23, 2024.
Here are this edition's Asian Submissions for Best International Feature Film.
- 12/11/2023
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Shortly after actor-director Michael Goorjian wrote the script for “Amerikatsi,” which is Armenia’s candidate for the international Oscar, he turned to System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian – who is also of Armenian descent – for feedback on the tale of an Armenian-American who repatriates in 1948 to what has become Soviet Armenia.
The Grammy-winning musician and political activist then became an executive producer on the film, which uses an ironic Chaplin-esque tone to depict the dream of the Armenian diaspora to reconnect with their roots.
Goorjian, who wrote and directed the movie, also stars as Charlie, an Armenian immigrant to the U.S. who returns to his homeland, now under Soviet rule, and almost immediately gets thrown into jail. But from his cell, he can see a prison guard’s home. Gradually, his life and that of the Armenian guard and his wife become vicariously entwined.
Goorjian and Tankian spoke...
The Grammy-winning musician and political activist then became an executive producer on the film, which uses an ironic Chaplin-esque tone to depict the dream of the Armenian diaspora to reconnect with their roots.
Goorjian, who wrote and directed the movie, also stars as Charlie, an Armenian immigrant to the U.S. who returns to his homeland, now under Soviet rule, and almost immediately gets thrown into jail. But from his cell, he can see a prison guard’s home. Gradually, his life and that of the Armenian guard and his wife become vicariously entwined.
Goorjian and Tankian spoke...
- 11/23/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The submissions for this year’s Oscar for best international feature include some of the best of world cinema. Below is a rundown of the entries for the 96th Academy Awards. The 15-title shortlist is slated to arrive on Dec. 21, prior to the nominations announcement on Jan. 23 and the ceremony itself, which is dated for March 10.
Albania
Alexander
Director: Ardit Sadiku
Logline: A documentary about an engineer who, after being fired by the navy for dissidence, hijacked a warship to get himself an dhis family to freedom.
Prodco: Ardit Sadiku Film
Argentina
The Delinquents
Director: Rodrigo Moreno
Logline: A ticklish, gently surreal saga following two colleagues who collude in robbing the bank where they work.
U.S. distribution: Mubi
Armenia
Amerikatsi
Director: Michael A. Goorjian
Logline: An Armenian-American relocates to Armenia after WWII and ends up in a Soviet prison for the crime of wearing a tie.
U.S.
Albania
Alexander
Director: Ardit Sadiku
Logline: A documentary about an engineer who, after being fired by the navy for dissidence, hijacked a warship to get himself an dhis family to freedom.
Prodco: Ardit Sadiku Film
Argentina
The Delinquents
Director: Rodrigo Moreno
Logline: A ticklish, gently surreal saga following two colleagues who collude in robbing the bank where they work.
U.S. distribution: Mubi
Armenia
Amerikatsi
Director: Michael A. Goorjian
Logline: An Armenian-American relocates to Armenia after WWII and ends up in a Soviet prison for the crime of wearing a tie.
U.S.
- 11/7/2023
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Oscar voters in the Best International Feature Film category have received their group assignments for this year’s initial round of voting, with 89 films included on the seven lists that the Academy has sent to members.
The lists, which were obtained by TheWrap, include presumed favorites “The Zone of Interest” (United Kingdom), “The Taste of Things” (France), “The Promised Land” (Denmark) and “Perfect Days” (Japan), along with a number of documentaries, among them Estonia’s “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood,” Brazil’s “Pictures of Ghosts” and Ukraine’s “20 Days in Mariupol.”
The 89 films are four short of the record of 93 qualifying films in the category. The list of group assignments does not make up the Academy’s official list of eligible films; it’s possible that assigned films might still fail to qualify before first-round voting begins on Dec. 18. For the most part, though, films that are included in the group...
The lists, which were obtained by TheWrap, include presumed favorites “The Zone of Interest” (United Kingdom), “The Taste of Things” (France), “The Promised Land” (Denmark) and “Perfect Days” (Japan), along with a number of documentaries, among them Estonia’s “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood,” Brazil’s “Pictures of Ghosts” and Ukraine’s “20 Days in Mariupol.”
The 89 films are four short of the record of 93 qualifying films in the category. The list of group assignments does not make up the Academy’s official list of eligible films; it’s possible that assigned films might still fail to qualify before first-round voting begins on Dec. 18. For the most part, though, films that are included in the group...
- 10/31/2023
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Explore where to stream the best films of 2023.
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.
Amerikatsi (Michael A. Goorjian)
If “Rear Window meets Life Is Beautiful” sounds like an all-timer of a cursed elevator pitch, then there’s nothing Michael A. Goorjian’s well-intentioned crowd-pleaser Amerikatsi will be able to do to win you over. A stubbornly unfashionable blend of broad comedy and highly sentimental prisoner-of-war drama, it’s paint-by-numbers middlebrow cinema of the kind the Weinstein Company would release regularly, albeit on a much more contained budget. While there is some brief novelty factor that movies of this distinctively Weinsteinian vintage are still getting made outside Hollywood, even as the broader cinematic landscape has moved past emulating that studio’s tried-and-tested formula in the hopes of awards success,...
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.
Amerikatsi (Michael A. Goorjian)
If “Rear Window meets Life Is Beautiful” sounds like an all-timer of a cursed elevator pitch, then there’s nothing Michael A. Goorjian’s well-intentioned crowd-pleaser Amerikatsi will be able to do to win you over. A stubbornly unfashionable blend of broad comedy and highly sentimental prisoner-of-war drama, it’s paint-by-numbers middlebrow cinema of the kind the Weinstein Company would release regularly, albeit on a much more contained budget. While there is some brief novelty factor that movies of this distinctively Weinsteinian vintage are still getting made outside Hollywood, even as the broader cinematic landscape has moved past emulating that studio’s tried-and-tested formula in the hopes of awards success,...
- 10/27/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Predicting the eventual five Oscar nominees for Best International Feature is made difficult by the three-step process that begins after the October 2, 2023 deadline for countries to submit entries. To be part of the selection process for this category, which was called Best Foreign Language Film before 2020, requires a great deal of dedication. (Scroll down for the most up-to-date 2024 Oscars Best International Feature predictions.)
In the days following the deadline for submissions, the academy determines each film’s eligibility. Then the several hundred academy members who serve on the International Feature screening committee are divided into groups and required to watch all their submissions over a six-week period that ends in early December. Their top 15 vote-getters will make it to the next round. That list of semi-finalists will be revealed on December 21, 2023.
These 15 films will be made available to the entire academy membership who can cast ballots for the final five...
In the days following the deadline for submissions, the academy determines each film’s eligibility. Then the several hundred academy members who serve on the International Feature screening committee are divided into groups and required to watch all their submissions over a six-week period that ends in early December. Their top 15 vote-getters will make it to the next round. That list of semi-finalists will be revealed on December 21, 2023.
These 15 films will be made available to the entire academy membership who can cast ballots for the final five...
- 9/25/2023
- by Paul Sheehan and Jacob Sarkisian
- Gold Derby
The Oscars Best International Feature Film race landed two major frontrunners on the same day on Thursday, with the United Kingdom submitting Jonathan Glazer’s chilling World War II drama “The Zone of Interest” and France following with Tran Anh Hung’s rapturous “The Taste of Things” in the one-film-per-country competition.
“The Zone of Interest,” set among German families who live on the outskirts of Auschwitz, won the Grand Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and won raves as one of the most original and unnerving films to deal with the Holocaust since “Son of Saul,” which won the Oscar in this category eight years ago. It was considered the obvious choice for the U.K. to submit.
France, on the other hand, had an extremely difficult choice between Palme d’Or winner “Anatomy of a Fall,” starring Sandra Huller as a woman on trial for murdering her husband,...
“The Zone of Interest,” set among German families who live on the outskirts of Auschwitz, won the Grand Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and won raves as one of the most original and unnerving films to deal with the Holocaust since “Son of Saul,” which won the Oscar in this category eight years ago. It was considered the obvious choice for the U.K. to submit.
France, on the other hand, had an extremely difficult choice between Palme d’Or winner “Anatomy of a Fall,” starring Sandra Huller as a woman on trial for murdering her husband,...
- 9/21/2023
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
With than less than three weeks left for countries to submit their candidates for the Best International Feature Film category of the 2024 Academy Awards, announcements are falling thick and fast.
Czech Republic and Iceland both unveiled their candidates on Tuesday.
The Czech Republic has submitted Tomáš Mašín’s drama Brothers, about five teenage boys who attempt to flee communist Czechoslovakia in 1953 with the aim of joining the U.S. Army in West Berlin.
The film follows their exploits as they cross the heavily guarded border into the East Germany, triggering an extensive hunt. Two members of the group are caught and later executed. The remaining three boys, the Mašín brothers and their injured friend Milan Paumer, make it to West Berlin, but not without consequences for their families.
Mašín, whose previous feature credits include 3 Seasons In Hell, Wilson City and Exhale, spent more than eight years working on the film. The...
Czech Republic and Iceland both unveiled their candidates on Tuesday.
The Czech Republic has submitted Tomáš Mašín’s drama Brothers, about five teenage boys who attempt to flee communist Czechoslovakia in 1953 with the aim of joining the U.S. Army in West Berlin.
The film follows their exploits as they cross the heavily guarded border into the East Germany, triggering an extensive hunt. Two members of the group are caught and later executed. The remaining three boys, the Mašín brothers and their injured friend Milan Paumer, make it to West Berlin, but not without consequences for their families.
Mašín, whose previous feature credits include 3 Seasons In Hell, Wilson City and Exhale, spent more than eight years working on the film. The...
- 9/12/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.
Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) 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 December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...
Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) 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 December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...
- 9/12/2023
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Screen is profiling every submission for best international feature at the 96th Academy Awards.
Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) 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 December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...
Entries for the 2024 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
The 96th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 10, 2024 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) 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 December 1, 2022, and October 31, 2023. The deadline...
- 9/12/2023
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
The specialty market had a Shah Rukh Khan-nice weekend as Yash Raj Films’ Jawan pulled in an estimated $6.2 million in 813 theaters — a per-theater average $7.6k — taking the no. 4 spot at the North American box office. That’s a $7.56 million cume for the Bollywood action thriller including Thursday shows.
Srk plays a man facing down a villanous foe as he sets out to rectify the wrongs of society, driven by a personal vendetta, and a promise made years ago. Directed by Atlee Kumar, it also stars Nayanthara, Deepika Padukone, Vijay Sethupathi, Sunil Grover and Sanya Malhotra. The film by Red Chillies Entertainment is playing in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu versions, each with English subtitles, in all top U.S. markets, including some Imax screens.
Expansion: Notably, Bottoms from MGM, rounded out the top 10 (at no.
Srk plays a man facing down a villanous foe as he sets out to rectify the wrongs of society, driven by a personal vendetta, and a promise made years ago. Directed by Atlee Kumar, it also stars Nayanthara, Deepika Padukone, Vijay Sethupathi, Sunil Grover and Sanya Malhotra. The film by Red Chillies Entertainment is playing in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu versions, each with English subtitles, in all top U.S. markets, including some Imax screens.
Expansion: Notably, Bottoms from MGM, rounded out the top 10 (at no.
- 9/10/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Lesson reinforced: If you release the ninth film in a series, make sure there’s a smaller number in the title.
“The Nun II” (Warner Bros.) is the ninth film in the studio’s long-running “Conjuring” series. The decade-old franchise was created by James Wan. All films had low-end budgets and usually were profitable.
With a $32.6 million domestic opening, this one will follow suit. Beyond its studio, the film is a real win for theaters. With last week’s $34 million debut for “The Equalizer 3” (Sony), that gives September two openings over $30 million in a month that often has none.
New Line Cinema, which produced “The Nun II,” has a track record for horror movies released in early September. These include “It” (2017) and “It Chapter Two” (2019) as well as “The Nun”(2017), all of which opened to over $50 million. Initial foreign dates for “The Nun II” came to nearly $53 million, so...
“The Nun II” (Warner Bros.) is the ninth film in the studio’s long-running “Conjuring” series. The decade-old franchise was created by James Wan. All films had low-end budgets and usually were profitable.
With a $32.6 million domestic opening, this one will follow suit. Beyond its studio, the film is a real win for theaters. With last week’s $34 million debut for “The Equalizer 3” (Sony), that gives September two openings over $30 million in a month that often has none.
New Line Cinema, which produced “The Nun II,” has a track record for horror movies released in early September. These include “It” (2017) and “It Chapter Two” (2019) as well as “The Nun”(2017), all of which opened to over $50 million. Initial foreign dates for “The Nun II” came to nearly $53 million, so...
- 9/10/2023
- by Tom Brueggemann
- Indiewire
Jawan, a Hindi action thriller with Bollywood royalty Shah Rukh Khan set opening day records in India that are echoing Stateside. The Yash Raj Films release grossed more than $1.36 million on Thursday at 764 locations, meaning it was the no. 2 movie across North America behind wide release The Eoqualizer 3 with Denzel Washington. It edges up to 827 screens today.
The film directed by Atlee Kumar — about a man driven by a personal vendetta to rectify the wrongs of society and keep a promise made years ago — had some Imax screens too, including NYC’s AMC Empire in Times Square.
Shah Rukh Khan has now broken his own record in India. He also starred in Pathaan, released in January, which topped the local box office for a Hindi-language film.
Indian fare, long a staple of the U.S. theaters, has been even more crucial since Covid given the reliability of audiences that stream...
The film directed by Atlee Kumar — about a man driven by a personal vendetta to rectify the wrongs of society and keep a promise made years ago — had some Imax screens too, including NYC’s AMC Empire in Times Square.
Shah Rukh Khan has now broken his own record in India. He also starred in Pathaan, released in January, which topped the local box office for a Hindi-language film.
Indian fare, long a staple of the U.S. theaters, has been even more crucial since Covid given the reliability of audiences that stream...
- 9/8/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
If “Rear Window meets Life Is Beautiful” sounds like an all-timer of a cursed elevator pitch, then there’s nothing Michael A. Goorjian’s well-intentioned crowd-pleaser Amerikatsi will be able to do to win you over. A stubbornly unfashionable blend of broad comedy and highly sentimental prisoner-of-war drama, it’s paint-by-numbers middlebrow cinema of the kind the Weinstein Company would release regularly, albeit on a much more contained budget. While there is some brief novelty factor that movies of this distinctively Weinsteinian vintage are still getting made outside Hollywood, even as the broader cinematic landscape has moved past emulating that studio’s tried-and-tested formula in the hopes of awards success, that nostalgia for films that weren’t particularly good in the first place wears off quickly.
Highly likely to be Armenia’s submission for the Best International Film Oscar––although, judging by how much of the movie is in English,...
Highly likely to be Armenia’s submission for the Best International Film Oscar––although, judging by how much of the movie is in English,...
- 9/7/2023
- by Alistair Ryder
- The Film Stage
"I can see you better than you." Variance has revealed the trailer for an Armenian film titled Amerikatsi, made by filmmaker Michael A. Goorjian. This premiered at last year's Woodstock Film Festival, and it also played at the Hamburg, Glasgow, Fargo, and RiverRun Fests recently. The comedy-drama film was shot in Armenia by People of Ar Productions. Amerikatsi is about hope and the art of survival in the worse of conditions. Armenian-American repatriate, Charlie Bakhchinyan, is arrested for the absurd crime of wearing a tie in Soviet Armenia. Alone in solitary confinement, he soon discovers that he can see into an apartment building near the prison from his cell window. By always watching the native Armenian couple living in the apartment, day in and day out, Charlie soon discovers everything he came back to Armenia for. The film stars Goorjian as Charlie, also with Hovik Keuchkerian, Nelli Uvarova, Mikhail Trukin,...
- 8/9/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Exclusive: Indie distributor Variance Films has snapped up North American rights to the period drama Amerikatsi, written and directed by and starring Michael A. Goorjian, slating it for an exclusive theatrical release in New York and L.A. on Friday, September 8, with a national rollout to follow.
Shot in Armenia by People of Ar Productions, Amerikatsi centers on Charlie (Goorjian), who returns to the country in 1948 — decades after fleeing to the U.S. as a child, due to persecution by the Ottoman Empire. What he finds in doing so is a country crushed under Soviet rule. And after being unjustly imprisoned, Charlie falls into despair, until he discovers that he can see into a nearby apartment from his cell window — the home of a prison guard. As his life unexpectedly becomes entwined with the man’s, he begins to see that the true spirit of his homeland is alive in its passionate people.
Shot in Armenia by People of Ar Productions, Amerikatsi centers on Charlie (Goorjian), who returns to the country in 1948 — decades after fleeing to the U.S. as a child, due to persecution by the Ottoman Empire. What he finds in doing so is a country crushed under Soviet rule. And after being unjustly imprisoned, Charlie falls into despair, until he discovers that he can see into a nearby apartment from his cell window — the home of a prison guard. As his life unexpectedly becomes entwined with the man’s, he begins to see that the true spirit of his homeland is alive in its passionate people.
- 8/8/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
[Warning: The below contains Major spoilers for all of The Lincoln Lawyer Season 2 Part 2.] Mickey (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) is ready to leave one case behind him (especially considering how messy it got with Lana Parrilla‘s Lisa), only for The Lincoln Lawyer Season 2 to end with a tragic surprise at the morgue. When Mickey calls Izzy (Jazz Raycole) to check on the car that Alex Grant (Michael A. Goorjian) was driving — after nearly getting run over by one — she informs him of a new client, Julian Lacosse, being held at the West Hollywood sheriff’s station. He’s being charged with murder and said he can pay Mickey’s fee, no problem. Julian tells him that a friend, Giselle Dallinger, recommended him. Mickey doesn’t recognize that name, but Julian insists he has to know her, and she said if he was ever in trouble, to call him because he’s the best lawyer in town. Now, Giselle is dead,...
- 8/3/2023
- TV Insider
Amerikatski
Introducing Amerikatski at 2023's Glasgow Film Festival, director/writer/star Michael A Goorjian talked about the struggles and rewards of film-making across Covid restriction. Opening with "I feel like singing," he talked about how "film festivals keep us going" and said that the pleasure of showing films "to an audience [in theatre]" was "why we do it it." Closing his remarks before the film he said that while it had taken over seven months to finish a film whose small scale belies its ambitions, "despite the obstacles [they] did their best to find the opportunities [in all] the challenges."
After the film, in Q&a hosted by festival co-director Allan Hunter, Goorjian explained that in addition to the film being dedicated to his grandfather, parts of the story were inspired by family history. While Amerikatsi's protagonist escapes from the Armenian Genocide, his grandfather had escaped by similar means in 1905, when "earlier...
Introducing Amerikatski at 2023's Glasgow Film Festival, director/writer/star Michael A Goorjian talked about the struggles and rewards of film-making across Covid restriction. Opening with "I feel like singing," he talked about how "film festivals keep us going" and said that the pleasure of showing films "to an audience [in theatre]" was "why we do it it." Closing his remarks before the film he said that while it had taken over seven months to finish a film whose small scale belies its ambitions, "despite the obstacles [they] did their best to find the opportunities [in all] the challenges."
After the film, in Q&a hosted by festival co-director Allan Hunter, Goorjian explained that in addition to the film being dedicated to his grandfather, parts of the story were inspired by family history. While Amerikatsi's protagonist escapes from the Armenian Genocide, his grandfather had escaped by similar means in 1905, when "earlier...
- 4/5/2023
- by Andrew Robertson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Kirstie Alley, the Emmy winning-actress who starred on sitcoms “Cheers” and “Veronica’s Closet,” has died at age 71, her daughters announced on Monday.
Her daughters, True and Lillie Parker, announced the news on Instagram that the actress had died after a battle with an undisclosed form of cancer.
“To all our friends, far and wide around the world, We are sad to inform you that our incredible, fierce and loving mother has passed away after a battle with cancer, only recently discovered,” they wrote.
pic.twitter.com/g4nAItrR5x
— Kirstie Alley (@kirstiealley) December 6, 2022 Also Read:
Bob McGrath, Original ‘Sesame Street’ Star, Dies at 90
“She was surrounded by her closest family and fought with great strength, leaving us with a certainty of her never-ending joy of living and whatever adventures lie ahead. As iconic as she was on screen, she was an even more amazing mother and grandmother.”
They thanked...
Her daughters, True and Lillie Parker, announced the news on Instagram that the actress had died after a battle with an undisclosed form of cancer.
“To all our friends, far and wide around the world, We are sad to inform you that our incredible, fierce and loving mother has passed away after a battle with cancer, only recently discovered,” they wrote.
pic.twitter.com/g4nAItrR5x
— Kirstie Alley (@kirstiealley) December 6, 2022 Also Read:
Bob McGrath, Original ‘Sesame Street’ Star, Dies at 90
“She was surrounded by her closest family and fought with great strength, leaving us with a certainty of her never-ending joy of living and whatever adventures lie ahead. As iconic as she was on screen, she was an even more amazing mother and grandmother.”
They thanked...
- 12/6/2022
- by Sharon Knolle
- The Wrap
Controversial director Ulrich Seidl attended a screening of ‘Sparta’.
Films by Emmanuelle Nicot, Lucas Dhont and Michal Blasko were among the winners at the 30th edition of Filmfest Hamburg which came to a close on Saturday evening with the German premiere screening of Moroccan-born director Maryam Touzan’s The Blue Caftan.
In the awards ceremony before the closing film, the €5,000 Ndr young talent award, sponsored by local public broadcaster Ndr, went to French director Nicot’s debut feature Love According To Dalva which had premiered in Cannes’ Critics’ Week earlier this year.
The film, about a 12-year-old child who has...
Films by Emmanuelle Nicot, Lucas Dhont and Michal Blasko were among the winners at the 30th edition of Filmfest Hamburg which came to a close on Saturday evening with the German premiere screening of Moroccan-born director Maryam Touzan’s The Blue Caftan.
In the awards ceremony before the closing film, the €5,000 Ndr young talent award, sponsored by local public broadcaster Ndr, went to French director Nicot’s debut feature Love According To Dalva which had premiered in Cannes’ Critics’ Week earlier this year.
The film, about a 12-year-old child who has...
- 10/10/2022
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
Two MTV Documentary films vying for Academy Awards attention — Ondi Timoner’s “Last Flight Home” and Tanaz Eshaghian’s short “As Far as They Can Run” — garnered the top nonfiction honors at the 23rd annual Woodstock Film Festival.
“Last Flight Home,” about Timoner and her family’s last days with her father, won the best documentary prize, while “As Far as They Can Run,” about disabled children in rural Pakistan who have been deemed “useless” by their communities, took home the fest’s best short documentary award.
“Last Flight Home” premiered at Sundance earlier this year before opening the Telluride Film Festival in September. This year marked Timoner’s first time at the Woodstock fest.
“The greatest joy I have is sharing my work in person,” Timoner told Variety. “The reason I make films is to impact people and this film is doing that more than any other film I’ve made.
“Last Flight Home,” about Timoner and her family’s last days with her father, won the best documentary prize, while “As Far as They Can Run,” about disabled children in rural Pakistan who have been deemed “useless” by their communities, took home the fest’s best short documentary award.
“Last Flight Home” premiered at Sundance earlier this year before opening the Telluride Film Festival in September. This year marked Timoner’s first time at the Woodstock fest.
“The greatest joy I have is sharing my work in person,” Timoner told Variety. “The reason I make films is to impact people and this film is doing that more than any other film I’ve made.
- 10/2/2022
- by Addie Morfoot
- Variety Film + TV
The Movie: "Slc Punk"
Where you can stream it: HBO Max
The pitch: Growing up is hard to do, but it's hellish when you're a punk kid trapped in a puritanical place like Salt Lake City, Utah. "Slc Punk" is a coming-of-age story about Stevo (Matthew Lillard), a twenty-something punk living with his best friend Heroin Bob (Michael Goorjian) in a bare-bones warehouse apartment. Stevo's dad (Christopher McDonald) wants him to go to Harvard and become a lawyer, and Stevo had the grades for it but refused to "sell out." The movie follows Stevo as he tries to figure out what to do with his life, because the punk anarchy lifestyle isn't all that sustainable and he feels like he's spinning his wheels. Along the way we meet an entire cast of crazy but lovable characters, including Mark (Til Schweiger), a German drug dealer who just wants someone to talk to,...
Where you can stream it: HBO Max
The pitch: Growing up is hard to do, but it's hellish when you're a punk kid trapped in a puritanical place like Salt Lake City, Utah. "Slc Punk" is a coming-of-age story about Stevo (Matthew Lillard), a twenty-something punk living with his best friend Heroin Bob (Michael Goorjian) in a bare-bones warehouse apartment. Stevo's dad (Christopher McDonald) wants him to go to Harvard and become a lawyer, and Stevo had the grades for it but refused to "sell out." The movie follows Stevo as he tries to figure out what to do with his life, because the punk anarchy lifestyle isn't all that sustainable and he feels like he's spinning his wheels. Along the way we meet an entire cast of crazy but lovable characters, including Mark (Til Schweiger), a German drug dealer who just wants someone to talk to,...
- 9/8/2022
- by Danielle Ryan
- Slash Film
“In a country of lost souls rebellion comes hard. But in a religiously oppressive city, where half it’s population isn’t even of that religion, it comes like fire!”
Slc Punk! screens Wednesday night February 3rd at Schlafly Bottleworks at 8pm
Last month at Webster University’s Strange Brew Film series, we went back in time to 1976. This month, we go back to 1985 for a look at punk rockers adrift in a city of confounding religious values.
Writer-director James Merendino’s Slc Punk! (made in 1998) is a tour through Salt Lake City through the eyes of two punks, Stevo (Mathew Lillard), an intellectual punk rocker devoted to anarchy and Heroin Bob (Michael Goorjian) circa 1985. Stevo makes it clear early that Heroin Bob’s name is ironic for the fact that he is petrified of drugs, needles in particular. Stevo narrates the movie in the style of a documentary about punks in the Utah area,...
Slc Punk! screens Wednesday night February 3rd at Schlafly Bottleworks at 8pm
Last month at Webster University’s Strange Brew Film series, we went back in time to 1976. This month, we go back to 1985 for a look at punk rockers adrift in a city of confounding religious values.
Writer-director James Merendino’s Slc Punk! (made in 1998) is a tour through Salt Lake City through the eyes of two punks, Stevo (Mathew Lillard), an intellectual punk rocker devoted to anarchy and Heroin Bob (Michael Goorjian) circa 1985. Stevo makes it clear early that Heroin Bob’s name is ironic for the fact that he is petrified of drugs, needles in particular. Stevo narrates the movie in the style of a documentary about punks in the Utah area,...
- 1/27/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Cinedigm has acquired the North American distribution rights to “Punk’s Dead: Slc Punk 2,” the distributor announced Wednesday. The sequel to “Slc Punk,” the 1998 cult classic starring Matthew Lillard and Michael A. Goorjian as two punks battling adulthood in Salt Lake City, will be released in theaters in early 2016, followed by digital, TV and VOD distribution. The film follows the next generation of outcast misfits through the Utah Hinterlands. The teenage son of Heroin Bob (Goorjian), Ross, along with his friends Penny and Crash, embark on a road trip to see a huge punk show. Also Read: Cinedigm Appoints...
- 9/9/2015
- by Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Wrap
"I thought you guys had no rules. I thought you lived life and took risks and fucked systems." We've already seen a teaser trailer for the surprise follow-up to the cult classic Slc Punk!, but now the full trailer for the indie sequel Punk's Dead: Slc Punk! 2 has arrived. Heroin Bob's son Ross (Ben Schnetzer) is the focus this time, and it looks like he's having some kind of existential crisis. But it looks like his father will offer some slices of wisdom from beyond the grave, and there's other familiar faces like Devon Sawa, Michael Goorjian, Adam Pascal and James Duval. It seems to have its heart in the right place. Watch! Here's the full trailer for Punk's Dead: Slc Punk! 2 from the film's YouTube page: You can still watch the teaser trailer for Punk's Dead: Slc Punk! 2 right here. Punk's Dead: Slc Punk! 2 is...
- 12/26/2014
- by Ethan Anderton
- firstshowing.net
The original members of the Ramones may all be dead now, just like the music they played, but man do they and that music still sound great in a movie trailer. This time it’s “Cretin Hop” over part of the new teaser trailer for Punk’s Dead: Slc Punk! 2, a sequel that we’ve been waiting to see come to light for the last year. This is proof that it’s looking like a worthy follow-up for all the fans of the 1998 original. Of which I am definitely one. Still, in punk rock fashion, it ends with a proper “Fu” directed right at all of us. This first spot also shares a good indication of what the plot entails. It’s 2004 and “Heroin” Bob (Michael Goorjian) is indeed still dead, but he apparently is still cursing us out from the afterlife. Meanwhile, he’s left behind a very pretty son (Ben Schnetzer) who is now about...
- 7/24/2014
- by Christopher Campbell
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Heroin Bob might not be in such great shape these days — given that he's dead and all — but that doesn't prevent him from introducing his son's adventures in the teaser trailer for Punk's Dead: Slc Punk 2. Photos 19 Sequels That Outgrossed the Original Movies Drugs, partying and swordplay abound in the trailer for the sequel to 1998 cult hit Slc Punk. The new film centers on Heroin Bob's son, Ross, who deals with his dad's death by swallowing a ton of shrooms. Plus, Heroin Bob (Michael Goorjian) shows up from beyond the grave in the beginning of the
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- 7/23/2014
- by Ryan Gajewski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Is Annie Walker about to get caught in a “nyet”? Perhaps, seeing how Covert Affairs has cast X-Men Origins: Wolverine‘s Lynn Collins in the recurring role of a “formidable” Russian agent who’ll continuously cross paths with Piper Perabo’s protagonist spy, TVLine has learned exclusively.
Related Fall TV 2014: Your Handy Calendar of 99 Season and Series Premieres
Collins, best known to TV fans for her role as True Blood‘s Dawn, will play Olga Akarova, an Fsb operative “who does not shy away from taking on any opponent who gets in her way.”
Other guest stars slated for...
Related Fall TV 2014: Your Handy Calendar of 99 Season and Series Premieres
Collins, best known to TV fans for her role as True Blood‘s Dawn, will play Olga Akarova, an Fsb operative “who does not shy away from taking on any opponent who gets in her way.”
Other guest stars slated for...
- 7/22/2014
- TVLine.com
Hey posers, I got something for ya! Director James Merendino has released a teaser trailer for Punk's Dead: Slc Punk! 2, the upcoming sequel to his 1998 cult movie Slc Punk! Although Matthew Lillard and Jason Segal won't be back for the follow up, Michael Goorjian will return as Heroin Bob, and he will also be the narrator this time. The film also stars Ben Schnetzer (Warcraft) as Bob's son Ross, as well as Hannah Marks (The Amazing Spider-man) and Sarah Clarke...
- 7/22/2014
- by Jesse Giroux
- JoBlo.com
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