Latest news with #AgnieszkaHolland
See - Sada Elbalad
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- See - Sada Elbalad
"Knives Out 3", "Hamnet", "Roofman" Among TIFF Premieres Added to Lineup
Yara Sameh 'Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery,' the third murder mystery in director Rian Johnson's hit series, will have its world premiere at this year's Toronto International Film Festival. The movie and several others, including Chloe Zhao's Shakespearean drama 'Hamnet' and Channing Tatum's action comedy 'Roofman,' have been added to the lineup. Johnson's two prior whodunnits in the trilogy, 2019's 'Knives Out' and 2022's 'Glass Onion,' also had their world premieres at TIFF. Daniel Craig will reprise his role as Benoit Blanc, the sleuth with a distinctly Southern drawl, in 'Wake Up Dead Man,' alongside the new ensemble of Josh O'Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, and Andrew Scott. 'Roofman,' based on the true story of a former Army ranger and professional thief who finds a hideout inside a Toys 'R' Us, will also host its world premiere in Toronto. Meanwhile 'Hamnet,' a fictionalization of the life of William Shakespeare's son led by Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley, will have its Canadian premiere at TIFF, meaning the film will first screen at another festival before making its way to the Six. Other new additions to the TIFF lineup include Nicholas Hytner's 'The Choral,' Agnieszka Holland's 'Franz, Neeraj Ghaywan's 'Homebound, Paul Greengrass' 'The Lost Bus,' Rebecca Zlotowski's 'A Private Life,' HIKARI's 'Rental Family,' Peter Ho-Sun Chan's 'She Has No Name," and Clement Virgo's 'Steal Away.' 'Since its inception, TIFF has championed global cinema that opens our eyes and brings us together,' said TIFF's chief programming officer Anita Lee. 'We are delighted to share 11 more titles from our gala and special presentations programs that showcase the remarkable originality and excellence of today's most exciting and acclaimed directors. These films reflect a sweeping range of voices and styles that embodies the spirit of TIFF and our commitment to a public audience.' The festival's 50th edition will take place Sept. 4–14. 'John Candy: I Like Me,' a documentary about the late comedian from director Colin Hanks and producer Ryan Reynolds, will open the festival. Steven Soderbergh's 'The Christophers' and Nia DaCosta's 'Hedda' were also previously added to the docket. In keeping with tradition, TIFF is expected to slowly reveal the rest of its lineup over the next month or so. See the full list of new titles: Galas: The Choral | Nicholas Hytner | UK World Premiere | Gala Presentation Homebound | Neeraj Ghaywan | India North American Premiere | Gala Presentation Hamnet | Chloé Zhao | UK Canadian Premiere | Gala Presentation A Private Life | Rebecca Zlotowski | France North American Premiere | Gala Presentation Roofman | Derek Cianfrance | USA World Premiere | Gala Presentation She Has No Name | Peter Ho-Sun Chan | China North American Premiere | Gala Presentation Special Presentations: Franz | Agnieszka Holland | Czech Republic/Germany/Poland World Premiere | Special Presentation The Lost Bus | Paul Greengrass | USA World Premiere | Special Presentation Rental Family | HIKARI | USA/Japan World Premiere | Special Presentation Steal Away | Clement Virgo | Canada/Belgium World Premiere | Special Presentation Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery | Rian Johnson | USA World Premiere | Special Presentation read more New Tourism Route To Launch in Old Cairo Ahmed El Sakka-Led Play 'Sayidati Al Jamila' to Be Staged in KSA on Dec. 6 Mandy Moore Joins Season 2 of "Dr. Death" Anthology Series Don't Miss These Movies at 44th Cairo Int'l Film Festival Today Amr Diab to Headline KSA's MDLBEAST Soundstorm 2022 Festival Arts & Culture Mai Omar Stuns in Latest Instagram Photos Arts & Culture "The Flash" to End with Season 9 Arts & Culture Ministry of Culture Organizes four day Children's Film Festival Arts & Culture Canadian PM wishes Muslims Eid-al-Adha News Israeli-Linked Hadassah Clinic in Moscow Treats Wounded Iranian IRGC Fighters News China Launches Largest Ever Aircraft Carrier Sports Former Al Zamalek Player Ibrahim Shika Passes away after Long Battle with Cancer Videos & Features Tragedy Overshadows MC Alger Championship Celebration: One Fan Dead, 11 Injured After Stadium Fall Lifestyle Get to Know 2025 Eid Al Adha Prayer Times in Egypt Arts & Culture South Korean Actress Kang Seo-ha Dies at 31 after Cancer Battle News "Tensions Escalate: Iran Probes Allegations of Indian Tech Collaboration with Israeli Intelligence" News Flights suspended at Port Sudan Airport after Drone Attacks Arts & Culture Hawass Foundation Launches 1st Course to Teach Ancient Egyptian Language Videos & Features Video: Trending Lifestyle TikToker Valeria Márquez Shot Dead during Live Stream
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Knives Out 3,' ‘Rental Family,' ‘Hamnet,' ‘Roofman' to kick off Oscar campaigns at Toronto Film Festival
The sleepy 2026 Oscar race is about to get a wakeup call, courtesy of Benoit Blanc and the Toronto International Film Festival. Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery, the anticipated third installment in Rian Johnson's wickedly delicious mystery series starring Daniel Craig, will have its world premiere at the film festival — a traditional launchpad for Academy Award contenders. The sequel, whose starry cast also includes Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, and Kerry Washington, was one of 11 official selections unveiled Wednesday, all of which have Oscar aspirations. More from Gold Derby Emmys 2025 nominations: Best prediction scores by Gold Derby experts, editors, and users 'Awards Magnet': Our instant 2025 Emmy reactions Those include: The Choral: Set against the backdrop of WWI, Ralph Fiennes stars as a tough choir director mentoring a group of enlisted British teens in the Nicholas Hytner film. Franz: Oscar nominee Agnieszka Holland directs this episodic biopic of writer Franz Kafka (German actor Idan Weiss), from his birth to death. Hamnet: Nomadland Best Picture winner Chloé Zhao returns from her ill-fated excursion into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a historical indie drama based on Maggie O'Farrell's 2020 novel about Agnes (Jessie Buckley) and William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal) grieving the death of their son, Hamnet. The Lost Bus: Paul Greengrass' tense based-on-a-true-story drama stars Matthew McConaughey as a driver trying to get a school bus full of children and their teacher (America Ferrera) out of burning Paradise, Calif., during the Camp Fire in 2018. Rental Family: Hikari , who helmed multiple episodes of the Emmy-winning Netflix series Beef, directs this dramedy starring Oscar winner Brendan Fraser as a struggling American actor hired by a Japanese "rental family" company to pretend to be part of strangers' lives. Roofman: Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst star in this Derek Cianfrance film about a real-life ex-Army officer-turned-criminal who hides from authorities in the walls of a Toys R Us. Steal Away: Clement Virgo directs this psychological thriller starring Angourie Rice plays a teenager who forms an unhealthy obsession with a refugee (Mallori Johnson) taken in by her family. The 50th Toronto International Film Festival runs Sept. 4-Sept. 14. The full schedule will be revealed Aug. 12. Below are the galas and special presentations announced so far. Galas (in alphabetical order) The Choral | Nicholas Hytner | U.K. World Premiere | Gala Presentation Homebound | Neeraj Ghaywan | IndiaNorth American Premiere | Gala Presentation Hamnet | Chloé Zhao | Premiere | Gala Presentation A Private Life | Rebecca Zlotowski | FranceNorth American Premiere | Gala Presentation Roofman | Derek Cianfrance | USAWorld Premiere | Gala Presentation She Has No Name | Peter Ho-Sun Chan | ChinaNorth American Premiere | Gala Presentation Special Presentations (in alphabetical order): Franz | Agnieszka Holland | Czech Republic/Germany/PolandWorld Premiere | Special Presentation The Lost Bus | Paul Greengrass | USAWorld Premiere | Special Presentation Rental Family | Hikari | USA/Japan World Premiere | Special Presentation Steal Away | Clement Virgo | Canada/BelgiumWorld Premiere | Special Presentation Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery | Rian Johnson | USAWorld Premiere | Special Presentation Best of Gold Derby Everything to know about 'The Batman 2': Returning cast, script finalized Tom Cruise movies: 17 greatest films ranked worst to best 'It was wonderful to be on that ride': Christian Slater talks his beloved roles, from cult classics ('Heathers,' 'True Romance') to TV hits ('Mr. Robot,' 'Dexter: Original Sin') Click here to read the full article. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Agnieszka Holland on Her Kafka Film ‘Franz' and Its Themes, Such as 'Dangers of Totalitarian Society'
Polish writer and director Agnieszka Holland discussed her new biographical film Franz, about author Franz Kafka, at the 59th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) on Monday, saying the movie tries to uncover the 'essence' of the novelist and explores themes that are still topical, including Kafka's thoughts on the dangers of totalitarianism. The filmmaker unveiled the trailer for the movie, starring German actor Idan Weiss, before talking about the creative process of the film. The cast also includes the likes of Jenovéfa Boková, Peter Kurth, and Ivan Trojan. Holland wrote the script for the co-production between the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, and France, with Marek Epstein (Charlatan), with Mike Downey serving as executive producer. More from The Hollywood Reporter Jodie Whittaker, Jason Watkins Added to BBC Cast for 'Dear England' Vicky Krieps on Jim Jarmusch, Choosing "to Not Prepare" for Roles, Ditching Her Phone for a Year First Czech-Viet Feature 'Summer School, 2001' and Anime Series: Duzan Duong Is Everywhere at KVIFF Holland has in the past described how she feels about Kafka as akin to a brother since reading him for the first time at age 14. 'He stayed with me as writer, an artist, a prophet,' she explained on Monday. Holland also recalled living in Communist Poland and Czechoslovakia, sharing that 'what was Kafkaesque was the everyday reality of these countries, of these regimes.' She also suggested that Kafka's 'triple identity' spoke to her as a 'half-Polish, half-Jewish [person] living in a strange antisemitic Communist country.' Holland also emphasized that Kafka was 'practically forbidden in Czechoslovakia except for short periods' under the Communist regime. After the fall of communism in what is now the Czech Republic, 'in the 21st century, slowly, Kafka became the biggest public tourist attraction and the brand for the [various souvenir] gadgets, frankly,' the filmmaker argued. In that context, the goal of Franz is to come closer to an answer to the question of 'what is the essence of Kafka, and how much that essence has been buried underneath the popular culture.' The film, which premieres in Czech Republic in September, uses 'an associative structure, more than a linear' narrative structure, she also told reporters. Holland highlighted that the themes in the film, such as living with a patriarch, 'the prison of the family,' the 'impossibility to communicate' and Kafka's 'fear of close identity,' meaning his unwillingness to choose a single one of his varuous identities, are still current and topical, as is his 'fatalism and pessimism about humanity' and 'his vision of the dangers of the future of totalitarian society, which is reducing the individual to a non-important, negligible part.' The star of the movie also briefly discussed his portrayal. Asked about becoming Kafka, Weiss said: 'He was in my body for a long time, and he came out.' The actor even locked himself into his apartment in Hamburg for two months and only went out when it got dark to get a feeling of and for darkness, the actor shared. What is a core Kafka quality? 'Franz for me is sensitivity,' he shared. Meanwhile, Downey highlighted Kafka's 'rock star status.' Honoring the celebrated Czech writer with a retrospective last year, the centenary of his death, KVIFF highlighted how filmmakers the world over have long been inspired to either adapt his works outright or make movies that are 'Kafkaesque,' meaning that they are filled with the kind of angst, alienation and absurdity that made the novelist one of the most prominent and distinctive figures in 20th century literature. KVIFF runs through July 12. Best of The Hollywood Reporter The 40 Best Films About the Immigrant Experience Wes Anderson's Movies Ranked From Worst to Best 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts
The Guardian
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
A Woman Alone review – a stylised portrait of contemporary financial precarity
Agnieszka Holland's 1981 film A Woman Alone may be viewed as an indictment of communist Poland for its story of an impoverished single mother who is comprehensively failed by the state – and was banned in the country for many years as a result. The Polish-born film-maker, though, has maintained that it was not just a political critique but a universal portrait of lone, dispossessed motherhood. This stage adaptation, written by Natalia Fiedorczuk and directed by Anna Smolar, tests that thesis – and in some was proves it – by lifting the story out of its original sociopolitical context and transposing it to a modern-day Poland of online abuses, zero hours contracts and today's lone parenting culture. Irena (Anna Ilczuk) is failed by all around her, even those presuming to be on her side. She is desperately poor, and has to care for her nine-year-old son Boguś (Ryfa Ri) while they face eviction. Her world is filled with well-to-do parents who judge her at the school gates – one of whom is also her bullying landlady – and liberal leftie teachers who perform acts of charitable solidarity but condemn Irena's parenting style and problematise her son's behaviour. Boguś's estranged father is part of the story for his refusal to pay child support, as is Irena's abrasive mother, who grudgingly puts Irena up after she is evicted. Despite the potent subject matter, it all seems skimmed across, with a plethora of plotlines and an examination of motherhood that does not penetrate beyond familiar ideas of responsibility overload and the desire for escape. The expressive elements of the production create a languorousness at their best, but the tone flattens as it goes on, and emotion is subsumed by meta-theatrical tics that are better in idea than effect (such as one elaborate scene in which two mothers put on VR headsets to access an alternate reality that offers escape from the tyranny of parenting). Where Holland's film is arresting in its matter-of-fact horrors, the hardships here are spoken of, or rapped into mics, in laboured lyricism. Or perhaps something is lost in translation with the Polish-to-English surtitles? Originally staged at Teatr Powszechny in Warsaw, and co-produced by the Malta festival in Poznań, it is an example of post-dramatic theatre, which is intent on deconstructing theatrical convention. What seems refreshing at first spirals into artifice. An ensemble of actors initially gather in a semi-circle before emphatically constructing scenes. Irena narrates an endless shopping list of tasks, which is striking at first but begins to sound like a stylistic flourish. Irena's disabled lover Jacek (Oskar Stoczyński), who sits at the heart of the film, is tangential here, both in action and emotion. Perhaps this is to give Irena an even greater sense of aloneness, but it means the story is filled with incident yet devoid of an emotional core. Some scenes jar, such as the one involving a series of phone calls between Irena and an actor who changes roles numerous times while they sit next to each other on a sofa. It seems little more than a game for the actors, and leaves you confused as to who is whom. It all becomes confounding as the narrative travels between Boguś's absent father, figures from his school, and the rather purposeless presence of Jacek. All the while, Boguś expresses himself in a repetitive and mannered dance, occasionally rapping, although his interiority remains largely unknown. The drama seriously falters when Irena stages a Pulp Fiction-style hold-up, exploding into anger at figures from her son's school. What follows does not re-enact the shock of the film's ending but gives us a paler alternative. A stone boulder hangs over a corner of Anna Met's set design – to represent the Damoclean weight dangling above Irena, perhaps? Again, this feels like laboured symbolism. It is a shame because the production begins with such freshness. Jan Duszyński's sound design is exciting and there is power to the earlier scenes. But it spins in too many directions, ponderous and unwieldy in its portrait of a lone woman trapped in capitalist consumerism, which is no less blind to her suffering than Holland's original communist state.
Times
03-06-2025
- Business
- Times
Poland votes to lock its leaders in a constitutional cage match
As Poland awoke to the news that Karol Nawrocki had taken the presidency, the mood of dismay and anguish among liberals was summed up by Agnieszka Holland, the prominent film director: 'The worst thing is that unaware, simple people with [only] primary education decided for us.' Holland would, she wrote on X, support stripping the franchise from voters without higher education. It is precisely this sort of sentiment shared by many metropolitan liberals that has helped to propel Nawrocki, 42, a right-wing, politically untested historian with a chequered past, into the office of Poland's head of state. After trailing for months in the polls, Nawrocki ultimately inched in front of Rafal Trzaskowski, the centrist mayor of Warsaw, beating him with 50.9 per cent of the vote to 49.1. Now Donald Tusk, the centre-right prime minister, will have to contend with an opponent in the presidential palace who is determined to foil his agenda and bring down his government. The result came as such a heavy blow to Tusk that he declared a confidence vote in parliament to try to hold his fractured coalition together, amid rampant speculation that he could be backed into calling an early election. With turnout approaching 72 per cent, a record for any presidential election since Poland wrested back its democracy in 1989, the vote was a victory fuelled by extreme polarisation and a sense among millions of Poles outside the big cities that they would no longer tolerate an elite perceived as self-serving and patronising. The speaker of the lower chamber of the Polish parliament and Tusk's junior coalition partner, Szymon Holownia, added to the growing sense of upheaval by suggesting on X that his party might abstain in the potential confidence vote. Surveys by OGB, the polling firm, found dismally low approval ratings across the board for Tusk and his ill-matched coalition government. The prevailing emotions felt by the electorate towards the Tusk administration were indifference and apathy at 23 per cent, followed by disappointment and resentment at 21 per cent. Satisfaction with the governing coalition came in third place, at 18 per cent. Nearly 50 per cent of Poles judged the government as 'bad' or 'very bad', a level of dissatisfaction not wildly dissimilar to Olaf Scholz's ratings as German chancellor before he collapsed his own government last year. People were, in effect, voting against Tusk, who is judged to have failed to deliver on the promises he made when he returned to power at the end of 2023. They have now locked him in a constitutional cage with a president who has vowed to use all of his powers to obstruct Tusk's agenda. The education divide In some ways the writing was on the wall in the first round of the election a fortnight ago, two hard-right candidates swept up more than 20 per cent of the vote. Lukasz Pawlowski, the political scientist behind OGB, said: 'Trzaskowski's campaign team had two weeks to draw the appropriate conclusions, yet they reached exactly the opposite ones: we saw more Donald Tusk. The increased presence of Tusk made little sense from a polling perspective.' Alongside the long-familiar divide between rural and big-city Poland, another gap has opened between the educated classes and those without university degrees. Trzaskowski was backed by 62.2 per cent of people with higher education, while 73.4 per cent of voters with only primary education voted for Nawrocki, according to an Ipsos exit poll commissioned by the broadcasters TVP, TVN24 and Polsat. The polyglot mayor of Warsaw was also derided by Nawrocki's backers as 'Monsieur Bonjour' on account of his cosmopolitan style and fluency in French. Pawlowski said: 'The real division is between the top and the bottom of society, and Rafal Trzaskowski was the candidate of the establishment.' Even by Poland's near-American standards of mutual suspicion and fragmentation in politics and the media, it was a messy campaign, but one that animated huge parts of the electorate. Nawrocki won 10.6 million votes, which was in absolute terms the highest number any president has taken since Lech Walesa, the Nobel peace prize laureate and figurehead of the Solidarity movement that overturned the communist regime, and who became head of state in 1990. Ewa Letowska, Poland's first civil rights ombudsman and an eminent jurist, said this was fundamentally a 'positive marker for our democracy' but it had been marred by tone of the debate. 'If only this engagement found reflection in the quality of debate and arguments put forward by the commentariat,' she said. Letowska added: 'What stood out in this election was the dismal, divisive and populist tone of public discourse, the depreciation of serious argument, and the instrumentalisation of the law, reduced to a mere tool of short-term electoral propaganda.' What it means for Europe On the international stage, Nawrocki's win was celebrated by the populist right as a breakthrough and the start of a reversal in Poland, following Tusk's victory a year and a half ago. Nawrocki had been repeatedly endorsed by the Trump administration, with an invitation to the White House and a trip to Poland by Kristi Noem, the United States's homeland security secretary, who suggested he was the only candidate who could safeguard American troops in Poland. Tom Rose, Trump's ambassador to Poland, was jubilant, posting on X: 'CONGRATULATIONS'. Nawrocki also received congratulations from Hungary's hard-right prime minister Viktor Orban, the only other world leader to have endorsed him for the presidency, and from Marine Le Pen, the leader of the populist National Rally in France. In other European capitals, however, there is concern. After years of conflict between Poland and the European Commission, Tusk's efforts to rebuild relations and put his country at the top table alongside France and Germany have been well received. Now his partners in Europe fret that he will be paralysed by political deadlock and on a permanent emergency footing. Marta Prochwicz Jazowska, a Poland analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank, said the country would remain a 'rising military and economic power' but had not set out on a 'path away from Europe'. She also predicted that Poland's policy towards Ukraine, already subject to intense internal disputes, would become a 'battleground'. Jazowska said: 'Nawrocki in office will 'spoil' Tusk's four-year term by vetoing his government's legislation on restoring the rule of law, social liberalisation, and strengthening ties with Europe. '[He] will elevate his anti-European, anti-German and anti-migration rhetoric in public discourse while intensifying the anti-Ukrainian sentiment … Nawrocki supports a just peace in Ukraine and, unlike Donald Trump, clearly identifies Russia as the aggressor … But he will block any deployment of Polish troops to Ukraine and attach strict conditions to Ukraine's EU membership bid.'
