Variety has been given access to the teaser (below) for “Murals,” an immersive 3D documentary that has its world premiere on May 18 at Cannes Next, a sidebar to the Marché du Film in Cannes.
The experience, which is created in Unreal Engine and displayed on LED screens, features murals by Banksy, created following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The project was initiated by Artem Ivanenko, a 3D artist from Irpin, Ukraine, which was one of the first towns to be hit during the Russian invasion. Later, when the Russians withdrew, Ivanenko returned to Irpin to record the devastating destruction using 3D scanning.
The directors are Alex Topaller and Dan Shapiro of the New York-based production company Aggressive, alongside Ivanenko. Spain’s Tigrelab handled art direction and CG/Unreal animation.
In a statement, the filmmakers said: “An audacious war of conquest is being waged in the heart of Europe, a criminal,...
The experience, which is created in Unreal Engine and displayed on LED screens, features murals by Banksy, created following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The project was initiated by Artem Ivanenko, a 3D artist from Irpin, Ukraine, which was one of the first towns to be hit during the Russian invasion. Later, when the Russians withdrew, Ivanenko returned to Irpin to record the devastating destruction using 3D scanning.
The directors are Alex Topaller and Dan Shapiro of the New York-based production company Aggressive, alongside Ivanenko. Spain’s Tigrelab handled art direction and CG/Unreal animation.
In a statement, the filmmakers said: “An audacious war of conquest is being waged in the heart of Europe, a criminal,...
- 5/2/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Producer Ilya Stewart has launched an independent studio based in Europe that will operate on a global scale, working with international talent and focusing on English-language feature films and television series, Variety can exclusively reveal.
Hype Studios is the new venture from Stewart, the formerly Moscow-based producer who in recent years has been a fixture at the Cannes Film Festival, where his collaborations with Russian auteur Kirill Serebrennikov, including “Petrov’s Flu” and “Tchaikovsky’s Wife,” have premiered in competition.
Among the co-productions with American and European partners currently on Hype Studios’ slate is Zach Wigon’s “Sanctuary,” starring Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott, which premieres as a Special Presentation next month at the Toronto International Film Festival and was produced with Rumble Films and Mosaic Films, along with Charades. Also on the slate is Pietro Marcello’s French-language “Scarlet,” produced in partnership with CG Cinéma’s Charles Gillibert, which opened this...
Hype Studios is the new venture from Stewart, the formerly Moscow-based producer who in recent years has been a fixture at the Cannes Film Festival, where his collaborations with Russian auteur Kirill Serebrennikov, including “Petrov’s Flu” and “Tchaikovsky’s Wife,” have premiered in competition.
Among the co-productions with American and European partners currently on Hype Studios’ slate is Zach Wigon’s “Sanctuary,” starring Margaret Qualley and Christopher Abbott, which premieres as a Special Presentation next month at the Toronto International Film Festival and was produced with Rumble Films and Mosaic Films, along with Charades. Also on the slate is Pietro Marcello’s French-language “Scarlet,” produced in partnership with CG Cinéma’s Charles Gillibert, which opened this...
- 8/25/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Younger filmmakers including Egor Abramenko and Philiip Yurev are speaking out.
Young Russian filmmakers are coming together in significant numbers to protest against the invasion of Ukraine.
Signatories to an open letter which began circulating yesterday (March 1) include Egor Abramenko, director of 2020 sci-fi horror film, Sputnik, and Philip Yuriev, director of The Whaler Boy, which was a world premiere in Venice’s Giornate degli Autori in 2020.
They are calling for an immediate halt to the war and describe “the reckless and barbaric actions of Russian authorities.”
“Russia has always taught us: there is nothing more valuable than a peaceful sky above our heads.
Young Russian filmmakers are coming together in significant numbers to protest against the invasion of Ukraine.
Signatories to an open letter which began circulating yesterday (March 1) include Egor Abramenko, director of 2020 sci-fi horror film, Sputnik, and Philip Yuriev, director of The Whaler Boy, which was a world premiere in Venice’s Giornate degli Autori in 2020.
They are calling for an immediate halt to the war and describe “the reckless and barbaric actions of Russian authorities.”
“Russia has always taught us: there is nothing more valuable than a peaceful sky above our heads.
- 3/2/2022
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Chukotka, where Indigenous teenager Lyoshka lives a hardscrabble life in a remote whaling village, is the easternmost part of Russia. Beautiful in a forbidding, raw-boned way, with about half its territory above the Arctic Circle, it is separated from the westernmost Alaskan reaches of America by just 86 kilometers. But the cultural distance is immeasurably more vast, and only increased when Lyoshka’s village gets the internet, and, in an amusing tableau worthy of Aki Kaurismäki, burly men in weathered oilskins cluster round a glitchy screen on which blond camgirls pout in pink bedrooms for pay-per-minute customers.
The clash between the bleak traditional lifestyle of the villagers, who still use hand-tossed harpoons to secure their catch, reddening the sea, and the futurist fantasy of a Detroit-based online sex work enterprise is explored in uneven yet stirring ways in Philipp Yuryev’s feature debut, “The Whaler Boy.” , which perhaps convince most when they do not cohere.
The clash between the bleak traditional lifestyle of the villagers, who still use hand-tossed harpoons to secure their catch, reddening the sea, and the futurist fantasy of a Detroit-based online sex work enterprise is explored in uneven yet stirring ways in Philipp Yuryev’s feature debut, “The Whaler Boy.” , which perhaps convince most when they do not cohere.
- 1/15/2022
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Yuri Bykov’s 2014 Russian-language film “The Fool” has been acquired by MGM’s Orion Television to be adapted into an English-language series.
The film follows Dima Nikitin (Artyom Bystrov), an ordinary honest plumber who suddenly decides to face the corrupt system of local politics in order to save the lives of 800 inhabitants of an old dormitory, which is about to collapse.
“The Fool” had a stellar festival run and won multiple awards at the Locarno International Film Festival and Les Arcs European Film Festival, besides many other accolades worldwide and at home in Russia. It was produced by Rock Films, Alexey Uchitel and Kira Saksaganskaya.
Bykov’s 2013 Cannes title “The Major,” also produced by Rock Films, was previously adapted by Netflix into the Emmy winning series “Seven Seconds,” winning Regina King the Primetime Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a limited series or movie and a Golden Globe nomination in the same category.
The film follows Dima Nikitin (Artyom Bystrov), an ordinary honest plumber who suddenly decides to face the corrupt system of local politics in order to save the lives of 800 inhabitants of an old dormitory, which is about to collapse.
“The Fool” had a stellar festival run and won multiple awards at the Locarno International Film Festival and Les Arcs European Film Festival, besides many other accolades worldwide and at home in Russia. It was produced by Rock Films, Alexey Uchitel and Kira Saksaganskaya.
Bykov’s 2013 Cannes title “The Major,” also produced by Rock Films, was previously adapted by Netflix into the Emmy winning series “Seven Seconds,” winning Regina King the Primetime Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a limited series or movie and a Golden Globe nomination in the same category.
- 1/14/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
"Take me home." Film Movement has unveiled the official US trailer for an indie coming-of-age film from Russia titled The Whaler Boy, marking the feature directorial debut of filmmaker Philipp Yuryev. This first premiered in the Venice Days sidebar at the 2020 Venice Film Festival, and won the Director's Award there. It also played at numerous other festivals around the world through the last year. The film follows a young hunter, living in a male-dominated whaling community, who sets off an a journey to find a webcam girl he saw on his computer after the internet arrives in their town. Featuring stunning photography of the dramatic landscape, and punctuated by some off-kilter humor, "there’s an almost fable-like simplicity to this atmospheric coming of age story" about the division between two worlds. The small cast includes Vladimir Onokhov, Kristina Asmus, and Arieh Worthalter. This looks quite compelling, I need to check it out.
- 12/20/2021
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
The winner of the Venice Days Director’s Award at the 2020 Venice Film Festival, writer-director Philipp Yuryev’s immersive coming-of-age drama The Whaler Boy finds a unique location to tell the coming-of-age story. Set in an isolated village on the Bering Strait, the film follows a 15-year-old boy who is a whale hunter that starts to dream of the outside world when the internet comes to his village and he discovers a webcam model. Ahead of a January 14 release in theaters and Virtual Cinema via Film Movement, we’re pleased to debut the exclusive trailer.
Rory O’Connor said in his review, “To skin a quote from The Social Network, it’s probably better to be accused of necrophilia these days than to be accused of whaling. Less so in the world of The Whaler Boy—a new Russian film tantalizingly set in that vast nation’s furthest reaches—wherein a...
Rory O’Connor said in his review, “To skin a quote from The Social Network, it’s probably better to be accused of necrophilia these days than to be accused of whaling. Less so in the world of The Whaler Boy—a new Russian film tantalizingly set in that vast nation’s furthest reaches—wherein a...
- 12/20/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Austria Selects Great Freedom For Oscars
Austria has selected Sebastian Meise’s Great Freedom as its official submission for Best International Feature Film for the 94th Academy Awards. Set in post-war Germany, the movie tells the story of Hans who is imprisoned time and time again for being homosexual. Due to Paragraph 175, which prohibited homosexual acts in Germany, his desire for freedom is systematically destroyed. The one steady relationship in his life becomes his long-time cellmate, Viktor (Georg Friedrich), a convicted murderer. The film stars Franz Rogowski (Victoria) and Berlinale Silver Bear awardee Georg Friedrich (The Piano Teacher) in leading roles, with a screenplay by Thomas Reider and Meise. Producers are Sabine Moser, Oliver Neumann, and Benny Drechsel. The 2021 Cannes entry and Un Certain Regard Jury Prize winner will be released by Mubi theatrically in the U.S. and UK on March 4, 2022. Meanwhile, per the Japanese Filmmakers Federation, Japan has...
Austria has selected Sebastian Meise’s Great Freedom as its official submission for Best International Feature Film for the 94th Academy Awards. Set in post-war Germany, the movie tells the story of Hans who is imprisoned time and time again for being homosexual. Due to Paragraph 175, which prohibited homosexual acts in Germany, his desire for freedom is systematically destroyed. The one steady relationship in his life becomes his long-time cellmate, Viktor (Georg Friedrich), a convicted murderer. The film stars Franz Rogowski (Victoria) and Berlinale Silver Bear awardee Georg Friedrich (The Piano Teacher) in leading roles, with a screenplay by Thomas Reider and Meise. Producers are Sabine Moser, Oliver Neumann, and Benny Drechsel. The 2021 Cannes entry and Un Certain Regard Jury Prize winner will be released by Mubi theatrically in the U.S. and UK on March 4, 2022. Meanwhile, per the Japanese Filmmakers Federation, Japan has...
- 10/12/2021
- by Andreas Wiseman and Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
The award goes to a director for a first full-length feature film.
Lamb, Promising Young Woman and Pleasure are among the six films nominated for the Discovery 2021 – Prix Fipresci award, which will be presented to a director for a first full-length feature film on December 11 as part of the European Film Awards.
Vladimir Johannsson’s debut Lamb premiered at Cannes and follows a childless couple that discover a strange newborn on their farm and adopt the baby as their own. It has just set a record in the US, where it grossed more than $1m in its opening weekend, an...
Lamb, Promising Young Woman and Pleasure are among the six films nominated for the Discovery 2021 – Prix Fipresci award, which will be presented to a director for a first full-length feature film on December 11 as part of the European Film Awards.
Vladimir Johannsson’s debut Lamb premiered at Cannes and follows a childless couple that discover a strange newborn on their farm and adopt the baby as their own. It has just set a record in the US, where it grossed more than $1m in its opening weekend, an...
- 10/12/2021
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Film Movement has acquired North American rights to Olivia Peace’s “Tahara,” a coming-of-age starring Rachel Sennott (“Shiva Baby”) which played at Slamdance and TIFF Next Wave.
The film will be released theatrically in North America in 2022, followed by a roll out on home video and digital services. “Tahara” follows Carrie Lowstein (DeFreece) and Hannah Rosen (Sennott) who are best friends. When their former Hebrew school classmate, Samantha Goldstein, commits suicide, the two girls go to her funeral as well as the “Teen Talk-back” session designed to be an opportunity for them to understand grief through their faith. But, after an innocent kissing exercise turns Carrie’s world inside out, the pair finds themselves distracted by teenage complications.
On top of playing at Slamdance and TIFF Next Wave, the film won the Grand Jury Special Mention at Outfest as well as the best feature debut award by a Black LGBTQ+ Filmmaker at NewFest.
The film will be released theatrically in North America in 2022, followed by a roll out on home video and digital services. “Tahara” follows Carrie Lowstein (DeFreece) and Hannah Rosen (Sennott) who are best friends. When their former Hebrew school classmate, Samantha Goldstein, commits suicide, the two girls go to her funeral as well as the “Teen Talk-back” session designed to be an opportunity for them to understand grief through their faith. But, after an innocent kissing exercise turns Carrie’s world inside out, the pair finds themselves distracted by teenage complications.
On top of playing at Slamdance and TIFF Next Wave, the film won the Grand Jury Special Mention at Outfest as well as the best feature debut award by a Black LGBTQ+ Filmmaker at NewFest.
- 9/17/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
A selection of Russian films will screen in-person during the Beijing International Film Festival (Bjiff) through a collaboration with the new Russian Film Festival, part of an effort by both governments to promote Russian cinema in China and cultural exchange.
The Chinese festival is set to run from Sept. 17 to Sept. 30 as an in-person event after being pushed back from its typical April release date due to the pandemic. Given its close ties to Chinese film authorities, it is often a platform to showcase works from countries with which China hopes to strengthen political ties.
The Russian Film Festival is a program targeting international audiences via a series of online screenings organized by state-run Roskino and backed by Russia’s ministry of culture, in response to the global shutdown of cinemas amid the pandemic. Last year, the festival was held online in Australia, Mexico, Spain and Brazil. This year, it has gone up in Argentina,...
The Chinese festival is set to run from Sept. 17 to Sept. 30 as an in-person event after being pushed back from its typical April release date due to the pandemic. Given its close ties to Chinese film authorities, it is often a platform to showcase works from countries with which China hopes to strengthen political ties.
The Russian Film Festival is a program targeting international audiences via a series of online screenings organized by state-run Roskino and backed by Russia’s ministry of culture, in response to the global shutdown of cinemas amid the pandemic. Last year, the festival was held online in Australia, Mexico, Spain and Brazil. This year, it has gone up in Argentina,...
- 9/15/2021
- by Rebecca Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Films include Emerald Fennell’s ‘Promising Young Woman’ and Blerta Basholli’s ‘Hive’.
More films than ever before are eligible for this year’s European Film Awards’ feature film and documentary film selection, with 40 feature films and 15 documentary films, and further feature film titles to be revealed in September.
Titles in the feature film selection include Blerta Basholli’s Sundance hit Hive and Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman. The latter is eligible despite being listed as a film of US origin. The European Film Academy (Efa) told Screen this was because the film reaches the number of points in...
More films than ever before are eligible for this year’s European Film Awards’ feature film and documentary film selection, with 40 feature films and 15 documentary films, and further feature film titles to be revealed in September.
Titles in the feature film selection include Blerta Basholli’s Sundance hit Hive and Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman. The latter is eligible despite being listed as a film of US origin. The European Film Academy (Efa) told Screen this was because the film reaches the number of points in...
- 8/24/2021
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Titles from Cannes, Sundance among the international selection.
Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or winner Titane and Prano Bailey-Bond’s horror Censor are among 17 titles selected for the Kinoscope programme of the 27th Sarajevo Film Festival (August 13-20).
The selection is comprised of international titles, and is split into three strands. Kinoscope Real titles will debut each day at noon; Kinoscope, for crossover arthouse films which will premiere in early evening; and Kinoscope Surreal consists of late-night screenings of genre films.
The six titles in the Kinoscope strand include Laura Wandel’s Belgian drama Playground, which premiered in Un Certain...
Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or winner Titane and Prano Bailey-Bond’s horror Censor are among 17 titles selected for the Kinoscope programme of the 27th Sarajevo Film Festival (August 13-20).
The selection is comprised of international titles, and is split into three strands. Kinoscope Real titles will debut each day at noon; Kinoscope, for crossover arthouse films which will premiere in early evening; and Kinoscope Surreal consists of late-night screenings of genre films.
The six titles in the Kinoscope strand include Laura Wandel’s Belgian drama Playground, which premiered in Un Certain...
- 8/2/2021
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Other winners included P.S. Vinothraj’s ‘Pebbles’ and Martín de los Santos’s ’That Was Life’.
Russian director Philipp Yuryev was the big winner at this year’s Transilvania International Film Festival in Romania’s Cluj-Napoca, clinching the €10,000 Transilvania Trophy for his debut feature The Whaler Boy.
Distributed internationally by Laurent Danielou’s Paris-based Loco Films, the Russian-Polish-Belgian co-production also won the Director’s Award on its premiere at last year’s Venice Days.
It is the second Russian film in TIFF’s 20-year history to be presented with the top award: Ilya Krzhanovsky’s 4 shared the trophy with Juan Pablo Rebella...
Russian director Philipp Yuryev was the big winner at this year’s Transilvania International Film Festival in Romania’s Cluj-Napoca, clinching the €10,000 Transilvania Trophy for his debut feature The Whaler Boy.
Distributed internationally by Laurent Danielou’s Paris-based Loco Films, the Russian-Polish-Belgian co-production also won the Director’s Award on its premiere at last year’s Venice Days.
It is the second Russian film in TIFF’s 20-year history to be presented with the top award: Ilya Krzhanovsky’s 4 shared the trophy with Juan Pablo Rebella...
- 8/2/2021
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
Philipp Yuryev’s “The Whaler Boy,” which took home the Venice Days award at last year’s Venice Film Festival, won the top prize at the Transilvania Film Festival on Saturday.
The jury praised the Russian director’s feature debut, an offbeat story of a teenage whale hunter on the Bering Strait who sets out to meet a webcam model, for being “beautiful and meticulous in its sense of time and place” while also being “really resonant and contemporary at the same time as being classic.”
Yuryev, who had not attended the festival, was hastily flown to Cluj from Moscow on Saturday morning, telling the audience: “It is really something surprising to be here, and to have a chance to visit this place and to see you all.” He dedicated the award to the remote whale-hunting community in Chukotka where the movie was filmed, as well as to its young...
The jury praised the Russian director’s feature debut, an offbeat story of a teenage whale hunter on the Bering Strait who sets out to meet a webcam model, for being “beautiful and meticulous in its sense of time and place” while also being “really resonant and contemporary at the same time as being classic.”
Yuryev, who had not attended the festival, was hastily flown to Cluj from Moscow on Saturday morning, telling the audience: “It is really something surprising to be here, and to have a chance to visit this place and to see you all.” He dedicated the award to the remote whale-hunting community in Chukotka where the movie was filmed, as well as to its young...
- 8/1/2021
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Of all the international film festivals to roll out the red carpet this summer in what feels like a global industry reboot, few can fall back on past experience when it comes to the logistics of an in-person pandemic edition. But amid the wave of cancellations that all but wiped out the calendar year in 2020, the Transilvania Intl. Film Festival managed to pull off what few others could, relying on a host of open-air venues to successfully welcome moviegoers to the medieval city of Cluj.
One year later, for what in a different era might have been a splashy 20th anniversary edition, TIFF founder Tudor Giurgiu admits, “I thought this year would be easier.” Just days after confusion over Pcr tests and vaccine certificates reigned on the Croisette, however, Giurgiu and the TIFF organizing team have realized that as the coronavirus’ deadly Delta variant sweeps across the globe, a return...
One year later, for what in a different era might have been a splashy 20th anniversary edition, TIFF founder Tudor Giurgiu admits, “I thought this year would be easier.” Just days after confusion over Pcr tests and vaccine certificates reigned on the Croisette, however, Giurgiu and the TIFF organizing team have realized that as the coronavirus’ deadly Delta variant sweeps across the globe, a return...
- 7/22/2021
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Jury includes ‘Amores Perros’ screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga.
Transilvania International Film Festival has revealed the 12 films that will screen in its official competition and its international jury.
Each title competing for the Transilvania Trophy will receive its Romanian premiere at the 20th edition of the festival, which is set to take place in-person in the city of Cluj-Napoca.
They include What Do We See When We Look At The Sky?, by Georgian filmmaker Alexandre Koberidze, which played in competition at the Berlinale, and Lili Horvát’s Preparations To Be Together For An Unknown Period Of Time, which was Hungary’s Oscar submission.
Transilvania International Film Festival has revealed the 12 films that will screen in its official competition and its international jury.
Each title competing for the Transilvania Trophy will receive its Romanian premiere at the 20th edition of the festival, which is set to take place in-person in the city of Cluj-Napoca.
They include What Do We See When We Look At The Sky?, by Georgian filmmaker Alexandre Koberidze, which played in competition at the Berlinale, and Lili Horvát’s Preparations To Be Together For An Unknown Period Of Time, which was Hungary’s Oscar submission.
- 7/2/2021
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
The treaty is expected to come into effect by the end of the year.
Russia is set to sign a bilateral co-production agreement with Israel, it was announced at Key Buyers Event: Digital (June 8-10), the audiovisual content market organised by Russian state film body Roskino.
Speaking at a panel on co-production opportunities on Tuesday (June 8), Leonid Demchenko, head of the documentaries and animation cinema department at the Ministry of Culture and Russia’s Eurimages representative said: “I know that there is a need for this treaty and Israeli producers want to cooperate with us. Hopefully, the treaty will come...
Russia is set to sign a bilateral co-production agreement with Israel, it was announced at Key Buyers Event: Digital (June 8-10), the audiovisual content market organised by Russian state film body Roskino.
Speaking at a panel on co-production opportunities on Tuesday (June 8), Leonid Demchenko, head of the documentaries and animation cinema department at the Ministry of Culture and Russia’s Eurimages representative said: “I know that there is a need for this treaty and Israeli producers want to cooperate with us. Hopefully, the treaty will come...
- 6/10/2021
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
Rock Films, the production house founded by veteran Russian director Alexey Uchitel, has shared the first teaser for its forthcoming Syrian war drama “Palmyra” with Variety. The company is presenting the film this week during the Key Buyers Event.
“Palmyra” follows a Syrian Explosive Ordnance Disposal (Eod) team targeted by Isis militants, while they prepare the recently liberated historic site of Palmyra to hold a symbolic concert of the Mariinsky Symphony Orchestra. The Eod team clears the way one mile at a time. But the closer they get to the center of Palmyra, the more destructive the explosives become.
The film is currently in post-production and slated for a 2022 release.
“Everybody has heard of the shocking destruction in the Syrian city of Palmyra that was one of the most important cultural centers of the ancient world,” said Uchitel. “It was part of Isis’s ongoing campaign against archaeology. Leaving the city,...
“Palmyra” follows a Syrian Explosive Ordnance Disposal (Eod) team targeted by Isis militants, while they prepare the recently liberated historic site of Palmyra to hold a symbolic concert of the Mariinsky Symphony Orchestra. The Eod team clears the way one mile at a time. But the closer they get to the center of Palmyra, the more destructive the explosives become.
The film is currently in post-production and slated for a 2022 release.
“Everybody has heard of the shocking destruction in the Syrian city of Palmyra that was one of the most important cultural centers of the ancient world,” said Uchitel. “It was part of Isis’s ongoing campaign against archaeology. Leaving the city,...
- 6/8/2021
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Seventeen Russian projects and nine international projects from eight countries have been selected to take part in Wemw Goes to Russia, a new international co-production forum organized by Russian state film promotion body Roskino and When East Meets West, the Trieste Film Festival’s co-production platform.
The projects will be presented to potential co-production partners during the Key Buyers Event, which will take place online from June 8-10, with three additional days of screenings and matchmaking.
The Key Buyers Event was conceived in 2019 as a showcase for new Russian content, primarily geared toward foreign buyers. But the addition of a co-production market—expanded this year through the collaboration with When East Meets West—highlights what Roskino topper Evgenia Markova saw as growing demand to create a platform for Russian producers and their foreign counterparts to come together.
“It was the right choice,” Markova told Variety last month. “We saw it from the [Russian] market.
The projects will be presented to potential co-production partners during the Key Buyers Event, which will take place online from June 8-10, with three additional days of screenings and matchmaking.
The Key Buyers Event was conceived in 2019 as a showcase for new Russian content, primarily geared toward foreign buyers. But the addition of a co-production market—expanded this year through the collaboration with When East Meets West—highlights what Roskino topper Evgenia Markova saw as growing demand to create a platform for Russian producers and their foreign counterparts to come together.
“It was the right choice,” Markova told Variety last month. “We saw it from the [Russian] market.
- 6/7/2021
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Film Movement has acquired U.S. rights to Quentin Reynaud’s “Final Set,” a French movie starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Alex Lutz and Ana Girardot, from Studiocanal.
“Final Set,” which unfolds in the world of professional tennis, is produced by Leonard Glowinski for his company, 22H22 (“A Hologram for the King”).
The film revolves around Thomas (Lutz), who was once a young professional tennis prodigy who never had the career in the game he had hoped for. At 37, he decides to return to the French Open at Roland Garros, in spite of declining physical fitness and a shattered knee. Although his wife Eve (Girardot) and mother Judith (Scott Thomas) advise him to give up on his unlikely ambition, Thomas obsessively perseveres. He will have to face his own demons as well as the intense competitive qualifying rounds to reach the tournament and eventually face a young tennis genius who disturbingly...
“Final Set,” which unfolds in the world of professional tennis, is produced by Leonard Glowinski for his company, 22H22 (“A Hologram for the King”).
The film revolves around Thomas (Lutz), who was once a young professional tennis prodigy who never had the career in the game he had hoped for. At 37, he decides to return to the French Open at Roland Garros, in spite of declining physical fitness and a shattered knee. Although his wife Eve (Girardot) and mother Judith (Scott Thomas) advise him to give up on his unlikely ambition, Thomas obsessively perseveres. He will have to face his own demons as well as the intense competitive qualifying rounds to reach the tournament and eventually face a young tennis genius who disturbingly...
- 3/3/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
The drama revolves around the exploits of polish boxer Tadeusz “Teddy” Pietrzykowsk.
Paris-based Loco Films has boarded sales on biopic The Champion about the real-life Polish figure of Tadeusz “Teddy” Pietrzykowski, a pre-World War Two boxing champion who was sent to Auschwitz, where he joined the camp’s resistance movement.
Pietrzykowski was on one of the first transports to Auschwitz in 1940 after being arrested in Hungary while on route to France to join the Polish army.
When SS camp guards learned about his boxing career they started organising fights between other prisoners and members of the SS. Pietrzykowski only lost one fight and,...
Paris-based Loco Films has boarded sales on biopic The Champion about the real-life Polish figure of Tadeusz “Teddy” Pietrzykowski, a pre-World War Two boxing champion who was sent to Auschwitz, where he joined the camp’s resistance movement.
Pietrzykowski was on one of the first transports to Auschwitz in 1940 after being arrested in Hungary while on route to France to join the Polish army.
When SS camp guards learned about his boxing career they started organising fights between other prisoners and members of the SS. Pietrzykowski only lost one fight and,...
- 3/1/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
João Paulo Miranda Maria’s feature debut also selected for TIFF, San Sebastian.
Film Movement has acquired North American rights from Celluloid Dreams to Memory House, the Brazilian fantasy drama that was the only Latin American film on Cannes Label 2020.
Feature debutant João Paulo Miranda Maria directed the story about Christovam, a native black man who encounters xenophobia when he moves to an Austrian colony in the South to work in a milk factory.
When he discovers an abandoned house filled with objects and memorabilia that remind him of his roots, Christovam undergoes a metamorphosis. Antonio Pitanga stars.
Memory House...
Film Movement has acquired North American rights from Celluloid Dreams to Memory House, the Brazilian fantasy drama that was the only Latin American film on Cannes Label 2020.
Feature debutant João Paulo Miranda Maria directed the story about Christovam, a native black man who encounters xenophobia when he moves to an Austrian colony in the South to work in a milk factory.
When he discovers an abandoned house filled with objects and memorabilia that remind him of his roots, Christovam undergoes a metamorphosis. Antonio Pitanga stars.
Memory House...
- 2/18/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Film Movement president Michael Rosenberg, Loco Films head of sales Arnaud Godard announce acquisitions.
Film Movement has acquired US rights to Philipp Yuryev’s Venice Giornate degli Autori Director’s Award winner The Whaler Boy and Ivan Ostrochovsky’s Berlinale selection Servants (exclusive).
Both films are in the pipeline for 2021 theatrical releases followed by roll-out on home entertainment and digital platforms.
The Whaler Boy stars Vladimir Onokhov as Leshka, a 15-year-old whale hunter in the north eastern region of Russia who contemplates a perilous voyage across the on the Bering Strait to meet a girl he encounters on a webcam site.
Film Movement has acquired US rights to Philipp Yuryev’s Venice Giornate degli Autori Director’s Award winner The Whaler Boy and Ivan Ostrochovsky’s Berlinale selection Servants (exclusive).
Both films are in the pipeline for 2021 theatrical releases followed by roll-out on home entertainment and digital platforms.
The Whaler Boy stars Vladimir Onokhov as Leshka, a 15-year-old whale hunter in the north eastern region of Russia who contemplates a perilous voyage across the on the Bering Strait to meet a girl he encounters on a webcam site.
- 1/19/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
The Whaler Boy The Russian Film Week in New York is expanding this year, with an online edition opening up the line-up to viewers across the US. The festival runs from January 23 to 29 and the first batch of titles has been announced.
The Russian Film Week USA is founded by New York-based arts non-profit the Cherry Orchard Festival, a producer of international theatrical, classical music and educational programming, and Russia’s Rock Studio Films, which also organises the Message to Man International Documentary Film festival in St. Petersburg and the Russian Film Week in London. Its mission is to promote global cultural activity.
Among the films screening are Venice Days winner, coming-of-age tale The Whaler Boy, which will close the festival, and Black Nights Fipresci winner Sententia. It will open with Tsoy, directed by Alexey Uchitel.
Cherry Orchard Festival founders Maria Shclover and Irina Shabshis said: “There is nothing like premiering.
The Russian Film Week USA is founded by New York-based arts non-profit the Cherry Orchard Festival, a producer of international theatrical, classical music and educational programming, and Russia’s Rock Studio Films, which also organises the Message to Man International Documentary Film festival in St. Petersburg and the Russian Film Week in London. Its mission is to promote global cultural activity.
Among the films screening are Venice Days winner, coming-of-age tale The Whaler Boy, which will close the festival, and Black Nights Fipresci winner Sententia. It will open with Tsoy, directed by Alexey Uchitel.
Cherry Orchard Festival founders Maria Shclover and Irina Shabshis said: “There is nothing like premiering.
- 1/3/2021
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Jasmila Zbanic wins the Crystal Arrow and the Audience Award, The Whaler Boy scoops the Grand Prize, Mendonza and Natasa Stork are named best actors while the Cineuropa prize goes to Shorta. It’s a double victory at the 12th Les Arcs Film Festival (whose one-off online edition will continue until 26 December) for Quo Vadis, Aida?, by Bosnian director Jasmila Zbanic, which not only walked away with the 2020 Crystal Arrow for Best Film, as decided upon by a jury helmed by the French director and actress Zabou Breitman, but also won big with the Audience Award. Unveiled in competition at the Venice Film Festival, Quo Vadis, Aida? was produced by Bosnian firm Deblokda alongside Austrian groups Coop99 and Orf, Romanian outfit Digital Cube, Poland’s Extreme Emotions, Paris-based Indie Prod, the Netherlands’ N279 Entertainment, German firm Razor Film, Norway’s Tordenfilm and Turkey’s Trt. International sales are steered by Parisian group.
- 12/18/2020
- Cineuropa - The Best of European Cinema
Russian Film Week USA, which runs Jan. 23-29, is expanding its reach as it pivots to an online format, allowing audiences across the U.S. to sample Russia’s latest cinematic output. The event opens with Alexey Uchitel’s surreal road trip movie “Tsoy,” which imagines the aftermath of the fateful 1990 car accident that killed Soviet rock idol Victor Tsoy.
The first batch of 10 titles to be announced by the event, formerly called Russian Film Week New York, are all international or North American premieres, with the rest of the program, including documentaries and children’s films, to be announced later this month.
“The Whaler Boy,” which won Venice Days’ award for best director, is the closing night film. It follows an indigenous teenager as he discovers a world far beyond his whaling community. Other films in the lineup include Ivan Tverdovskiy’s “The Conference,” which also played at Venice Days,...
The first batch of 10 titles to be announced by the event, formerly called Russian Film Week New York, are all international or North American premieres, with the rest of the program, including documentaries and children’s films, to be announced later this month.
“The Whaler Boy,” which won Venice Days’ award for best director, is the closing night film. It follows an indigenous teenager as he discovers a world far beyond his whaling community. Other films in the lineup include Ivan Tverdovskiy’s “The Conference,” which also played at Venice Days,...
- 12/18/2020
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
To skin a quote from The Social Network, it’s probably better to be accused of necrophilia these days than to be accused of whaling. Less so in the world of The Whaler Boy—a new Russian film tantalizingly set in that vast nation’s furthest reaches—wherein a young lad contends with the hormones and boredoms of rural life while casting longing looks to the West. The subject of his longings is an American Camgirl with the handle HollySweet999. Oh, to be young and feel love’s keen sting.
The Whaler Boy is the first feature of Philipp Yuryev, a 30-year-old filmmaker from Moscow, which lies some 4000 miles West of this film’s alien landscape. The location is a real doozy, especially for anyone who, in some quiet moment, glanced to that spot on the dateline where Alaska and Russia almost touch and wondered how many souls had attempted the hop over.
The Whaler Boy is the first feature of Philipp Yuryev, a 30-year-old filmmaker from Moscow, which lies some 4000 miles West of this film’s alien landscape. The location is a real doozy, especially for anyone who, in some quiet moment, glanced to that spot on the dateline where Alaska and Russia almost touch and wondered how many souls had attempted the hop over.
- 11/12/2020
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
The decision was reached earlier today after festival heads met with municipal and health authorities as well as the culture ministry.
The 2020 edition of the Thessaloniki international Film Festival (November 5-15) is moving fully online after previously being set to run as a hybrid event.
Screen has learned that the decision was reached earlier today (Oct 28) after festival heads met with municipal and health authorities as well as the culture ministry.
The festival was set to screen international competition titles and a number of other events at seven venues in the city. However, the recent rise in Covid cases in...
The 2020 edition of the Thessaloniki international Film Festival (November 5-15) is moving fully online after previously being set to run as a hybrid event.
Screen has learned that the decision was reached earlier today (Oct 28) after festival heads met with municipal and health authorities as well as the culture ministry.
The festival was set to screen international competition titles and a number of other events at seven venues in the city. However, the recent rise in Covid cases in...
- 10/28/2020
- by Alexis Grivas
- ScreenDaily
Cash prizes for best film in the Roberto Rossellini and Fei Mu awards are split between the director and the winners’ Chinese distributor.
Russian director Philipp Yuryev’s The Whaler Boy was awarded best film in the Roberto Rossellini Awards at this year’s Pingyao International Film Festival, while Chinese filmmaker Li Dongmei’s Mama took best film in the Fei Mu Awards.
The Roberto Rossellini Awards are presented to films in the festival’s Crouching Tigers section (international directorial debuts or second features), while the Fei Mu Awards are for debut and second Chinese-language features in both the Crouching Tigers and Hidden Dragons sections.
Russian director Philipp Yuryev’s The Whaler Boy was awarded best film in the Roberto Rossellini Awards at this year’s Pingyao International Film Festival, while Chinese filmmaker Li Dongmei’s Mama took best film in the Fei Mu Awards.
The Roberto Rossellini Awards are presented to films in the festival’s Crouching Tigers section (international directorial debuts or second features), while the Fei Mu Awards are for debut and second Chinese-language features in both the Crouching Tigers and Hidden Dragons sections.
- 10/19/2020
- by Liz Shackleton
- ScreenDaily
The competition section of China’s Pingyao Intl. Film Festival on Friday awarded top prizes to Russia’s Philipp Yuryev, Serbia’s Ivan Ilkic, and Chinese directors Li Dongmei and Wang Jing. The films of the first three helmers debuted at the Venice Film Festival’s independently run Venice Days section in September, where Yuryev’s “The Whaler Boy” won the top prize.
Screenings are still ongoing at the Chinese festival in the central Chinese province of Shanxi, co-founded by Chinese helmer Jia Zhangke and former Venice head Marco Muller, whose full line-up of 63 films runs from Oct. 10 to 19. Few international guests attended, as China continues to limit travel into the country and requires a 14-day quarantine period for new arrivals.
The Robert Rossellini Awards are a set of prizes given to the dozen international directorial debuts or second features in the “Crouching Tigers” section.
“The Whaler Boy” from Philipp...
Screenings are still ongoing at the Chinese festival in the central Chinese province of Shanxi, co-founded by Chinese helmer Jia Zhangke and former Venice head Marco Muller, whose full line-up of 63 films runs from Oct. 10 to 19. Few international guests attended, as China continues to limit travel into the country and requires a 14-day quarantine period for new arrivals.
The Robert Rossellini Awards are a set of prizes given to the dozen international directorial debuts or second features in the “Crouching Tigers” section.
“The Whaler Boy” from Philipp...
- 10/17/2020
- by Rebecca Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival (October 23-30), the Middle East’s first sizeable Covid-era physical film event, has set Peter Webber (Girl With A Pearl Earring) as jury president.
Gérard Depardieu will receive the festival’s Career Achievement Award and actor Said Taghmaoui (La Haine) will received the Omar Sharif Award.
Hannibal Rising and Emperor director Webber told us: “It has been a difficult year for many and especially those of us in the film industry, yet it is important to remember that it is our work that has been keeping so many people entertained, inspired and engaged as they were trapped in their homes or struggling during the biggest pandemic in living memory.
“Therefore it’s a great delight and a privilege to be invited to be president of the jury at El Gouna Film Festival, a festival that will celebrate the importance of film at this crucial time.
Gérard Depardieu will receive the festival’s Career Achievement Award and actor Said Taghmaoui (La Haine) will received the Omar Sharif Award.
Hannibal Rising and Emperor director Webber told us: “It has been a difficult year for many and especially those of us in the film industry, yet it is important to remember that it is our work that has been keeping so many people entertained, inspired and engaged as they were trapped in their homes or struggling during the biggest pandemic in living memory.
“Therefore it’s a great delight and a privilege to be invited to be president of the jury at El Gouna Film Festival, a festival that will celebrate the importance of film at this crucial time.
- 10/13/2020
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
The Pingyao International Film Festival, founded by Chinese helmer Jia Zhangke and former Venice head Marco Muller, has released its full lineup of global and local films. The selections in the two main sections focus on first or second features.
The festival is set to take place from Oct. 10-19 in the ancient city of Pingyao in central Shanxi province, not far from Jia’s own hometown. Few foreigners will be present, as China continues to maintain travel and quarantine restrictions for those entering the country, despite lifting some measures.
A dozen films are set to compete in the international “Crouching Tigers” section. They include a number of titles that first bowed at Venice: “Residue,” from American director Merawi Gerima, which debuted to a special mention earlier this month in the independent Venice Days section before being picked up by Ava DuVernay’s film company and released on Netflix; “The Book of Vision,...
The festival is set to take place from Oct. 10-19 in the ancient city of Pingyao in central Shanxi province, not far from Jia’s own hometown. Few foreigners will be present, as China continues to maintain travel and quarantine restrictions for those entering the country, despite lifting some measures.
A dozen films are set to compete in the international “Crouching Tigers” section. They include a number of titles that first bowed at Venice: “Residue,” from American director Merawi Gerima, which debuted to a special mention earlier this month in the independent Venice Days section before being picked up by Ava DuVernay’s film company and released on Netflix; “The Book of Vision,...
- 10/6/2020
- by Rebecca Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Venice 2020: Philipp Yuryev’s film has been crowned the champion of the jury composed of 27 European viewers, while 200 Meters bagged the Audience Award and Oasis scooped the Europa Cinemas Label. It’s Russian filmmaker Philipp Yuryev’s first work, The Whaler Boy, which has walked away with this year’s GdA Director’s Award at the 17th edition of Venice’s Giornate degli Autori. The story of the young whale hunter on the Bering Strait who falls in love with a webcam girl and dreams of escaping to America triumphed over the two other finalist films, Residue by Merawi Gerima and Conference by Ivan I. Tverdovskiy, which were selected from among the ten works competing in the Giornate section this year. “The jury felt that The Whaler Boy by Yuryev was the best cinematic effort, bringing together both the dramatic and the comic genres while maintaining a strong aesthetic vision”, reads the explanatory.
While the coronavirus pandemic has canceled major festivals such as Cannes and Telluride, the 2020 Venice Film Festival is moving ahead as planned and will be the world’s first major film festival since Sundance and Berlin at the start of the year. Venice 2020’s main selection will be split into three sections: Venezia 77 (aka the main competition), Out of Competition, and Horizons. The titles selected for the main competition will compete for the Golden Lion, which was awarded last year to Todd Phillips’ “Joker.”
As previously announced, Daniele Luchetti’s drama “Lacci” will open the 77th Venice Film Festival on September 2. The movie is the first Italian title to open Venice in 11 years. The last Italian opener was Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Baarìa” at the 2009 festival. “Lacci” is included in this year’s Out of Competition section. Chloe Zhao’s “The Rider” follow-up “Nomadland” was also confirmed for a world premiere...
As previously announced, Daniele Luchetti’s drama “Lacci” will open the 77th Venice Film Festival on September 2. The movie is the first Italian title to open Venice in 11 years. The last Italian opener was Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Baarìa” at the 2009 festival. “Lacci” is included in this year’s Out of Competition section. Chloe Zhao’s “The Rider” follow-up “Nomadland” was also confirmed for a world premiere...
- 7/28/2020
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
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