Sofia international film festival

The Slamdance Film Festival unveiled winners for its 27th edition Thursday, with the compact drama Taipei Suicide Story directed by KEFF taking both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for narrative features and the best actor prize during a virtual awards ceremony. The drama is about a receptionist at a suicide hotel in Taipei who forms a friendship over the course of one night with a guest who can’t decide if she wants to live or die. The pic, which also was in the official Cinéfondation selection of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival, runs 45 minutes. Tender Huang, who plays the hotel receptionist, was named best actor during the ceremony wrapping this year’s edition, which ran as a virtual edition February 12-25. Related Story Slamdance Film Festival Winners Led By 'Murmur' And 'Residue' “A film that is concise and emotionally effective as it portrays isolation with humanity and complex pathos,” the jury said in its comments about the pic today. The … [Read more...] about ‘Taipei Suicide Story’ Sweeps Top Awards At Slamdance Film Festival

Zendaya and John David Washington in Malcolm & Marie . Photo: Dominic Miller/Netflix Malcolm and Marie may be the only two people who appear onscreen in Sam Levinson’s Malcolm & Marie , but an unseen third character looms nearly as large. She’s a film critic for the Los Angeles Times — “the white lady from the L.A. Times ,” in the parlance of the script — whose every action inspires teeth-gnashing anguish in John David Washington’s Malcolm. First, she praises his film at its premiere, but only compares him to other Black directors. Then she writes a positive review, but in terms he feels have more to do with signaling her own progressive politics than genuinely grappling with the work. Finally, she suggests that Malcolm’s handling of his female protagonist is marked by the male gaze, a critique that inspires one of the film’s many, many monologues. “You can’t hang everything on identity,” he says. “You can’t say that I brilliantly subverted this trope ’cause I’m … [Read more...] about Talking to the Film Critic Who (Maybe) Inspired

EXCLUSIVE: Nicola Adams , the Olympic boxing champion and LGBT icon, will be the subject of feature documentary Lioness: The Nicola Adams Story. The project comes from Salon Pictures , the producers of the BAFTA nominated fashion doc McQueen , and director Helena Coan, whose credits include Audrey , about the screen icon. Salon’s Nick Taussig and Annabel Wigoder are producing with Laure Vaysse of Rep Productions ( Billie ). The movie is now in production and Film Constellation has boarded sales ahead of the European Film Market, with UK rights already having been snapped up. The film will chart Adams’ rise from the streets of Leeds to being a boxing champion as well as a notably rare LGBT sports figure. Adams has been a full participant in the project. “I hope this documentary will help inspire young people to realise that whatever adversities life might throw at you, you can overcome them,” said Adams. “Sometimes it might feel as if the world is … [Read more...] about ‘Lioness’: Feature Doc On UK Boxing Star Nicola Adams Lands At Film Constellation – EFM

China's box office revenue during the week-long Spring Festival holiday ending on Wednesday hit a record high of 7.8 billion yuan ($1.2 billion), beating the same holiday in the previous years. With a 32-percent jump from 5.9 billion yuan during the 2019 holiday, the figure heralds a bullish start to the Year of the Ox for China's movie market, one of the world's largest that last year generated 20 billion yuan despite the pandemic, outshining any other single market. The latest gains from the holiday, usually a lucrative movie season in China, further the market's robust growth in 2021 that started with record-high New Year's Day earnings, bringing its yearly total to 11.5 billion yuan, according to data from the China Film Administration. RECORD BOX OFFICE Detective Chinatown 3 joined six other domestic productions for release on the Spring Festival, which was celebrated on Feb 12 this year and marked the first day of a new Year of the Ox per the Chinese zodiac. The … [Read more...] about Record holiday sales herald Chinese film market’s bullish recovery

MONDAY UPDATE: With Sunday actuals tallied, Disney / Marvel ’s Avengers: Endgame has rocketed even higher than the record-smashing estimates we saw yesterday. Through Sunday, the Anthony and Joe Russo -helmed giant collected $866M at the international box office , topping the already colossal $859M projection. Although domestic numbers won’t be confirmed until midday Pacific time, they are on the upswing and help snap Endgame ’s global debut to $1.222B . With the updated figures, the 22nd MCU movie overtakes Iron Man 3 as the No. 17 film ever on the worldwide charts — after just five days in release. In China today, Endgame is estimated to have assembled another $18.2M ahead of a four-day extended break that begins Wednesday. This is not included in the totals above. When added, however, it thrusts Endgame past The Fate Of The Furious globally, as well as Wolf Warrior 2 and Frozen overseas. There will be more leapfrogging once the rest of … [Read more...] about Oh, Snap! ‘Avengers: Endgame’ Rises To $1.22B+ Global & $866M Overseas Record Bows; Climbs All-Time Charts – International Box Office