Latest news with #Directors'Fortnight
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Sony Pictures Classics Takes North America & Multiple Territories For Cannes Caméra D'Or Winner ‘The President's Cake'
Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all rights in North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia and India for Cannes Caméra d'Or winner The President's Cake by Iraqi director Hasan Hadi. The film, which debuted in Directors' Fortnight, also proved a crowdpleaser in the Cannes parallel section, winning its People's Choice audience award. More from Deadline Janus Films Acquires Bi Gan's Cannes Prize-winner 'Resurrection' For North America Sergei Loznitsa's 'Two Prosecutors' Scores Fresh Deals For Coproduction Office - Cannes Netflix Buys Richard Linklater's 'Breathless' Homage & Love Letter To Cinema 'Nouvelle Vague' In Record Domestic Deal For A French-Language Movie Deadline critic Pete Hammond also fell for the film describing it as a 'a true gem and a real discovery'. Check out his review here. New York-based Hadi has tapped into his own childhood in southern Iraq in the 1990s, growing up under the regime of President Saddam Hussein and the socio-economic crisis provoked by international sanctions, for the film. The drama follows nine-year-old Lamia who gets the short straw of having to provide a birthday cake for her classmates to celebrate the president's birthday. Gathering the ingredients for the mandatory cake at a time of shortages is a monumental task but failure to deliver could lead to prison or death for her family. The movie is produced by Leah Chen Baker with executive producers including award-winning screenwriter Eric Roth (Forrest Gump) and director Marielle Heller (Nightbitch, Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood). The film is made in association with Missing Piece Films, Working Barn Productions, Maiden Voyage Pictures and Spark Features. 'Winning the Caméra d'Or in a year with so many formidable directorial debuts and winning the Audience Award in the Directors' Fortnight, Hasan Hadi's The President's Cake is the surprise hit of this year's festival. In the tradition of major Cannes discoveries, these ovations and critical acclaim mark the beginning of a fresh voice destined to thrill audiences everywhere,' said Sony Pictures Classics. 'Since childhood, Sony Pictures Classics has been the go-to name for quality cinema and original storytelling. It's a dream come true—and a true honor—to now be part of that legacy. Their incredible history of championing international films and commitment to theatrical releases makes them the perfect home for The President's Cake,' added Hadi. The film was negotiated between UTA Independent Film Group, WME Independent and Sony Pictures Classics. Films Boutique represents international sales. Hadi is repped by UTA and Jonathan Gardner. The Sundance Film Institute and Doha Film Institute are among the many supporters of the film. Best of Deadline 'Hacks' Season 4 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out? Everything We Know About 'Hacks' Season 4 So Far 'The Last Of Us': Differences Between HBO Series & Video Game Across Seasons 1 And 2
Iraqi News
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Iraqi News
Iraqi film The President's Cake wins Audience Award at Cannes Directors' Fortnight
Cannes, France ( – Iraqi film The President's Cake (كعكة الرئيس), directed by New York-based Iraqi filmmaker Hassan Hadi, has won the prestigious Audience Choice Award in the Directors' Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival. This marks a significant achievement as Iraq's first official participation to gain such recognition at the renowned festival. Set in the mid-1990s during Saddam Hussein's rule and the era of sanctions, the film tells the poignant story of Lamia, a nine-year-old girl living in poverty with her grandmother in the southern Iraqi Marshes. She is compelled by her school to provide a cake for the dictator's birthday celebrations, highlighting the immense social and economic pressures faced by ordinary Iraqis. Filmed in the historic Marshes, 'The President's Cake' draws on Hadi's childhood memories. At Cannes, the director emphasized the resilience of the Marshes, stating The Marshes remained while Saddam is gone. The Iraqi-Qatari-US co-production has been celebrated for its powerful narrative, offering a window into one of Iraq's most challenging periods. This award signals a vibrant return for Iraqi cinema to the international stage.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Fondazione Prada Introduces 1.5 Million-euro Film Fund
MILAN — While tariffs looming over the film industry have led the conversation on the opening day of the Cannes Film Festival, Miuccia Prada has quietly upped the ante of her commitment and support to the seventh art. On Wednesday, Fondazione Prada revealed the creation of the Fondazione Prada Film Fund, a 1.5-million-euro yearly effort aimed at supporting independent cinema and works of high artistic value, further enhancing the cultural institution's 20-year commitment to the field. More from WWD Skin Care Pioneer Ole Henriksen Announces 'The Glowing Man' Biopic in Cannes At the Cannes Film Festival, Chanel Seeks More Than Red Carpet Credits A New Documentary Dives Behind the Scenes at Akris 'Cinema is for us a laboratory for new ideas and a space of cultural education. For this reason, we have decided to actively contribute to the realization of new works and to the support of auteur cinema,' Prada, who is president and director of the foundation, said in a statement. 'For over 20 years, the Fondazione has been investigating these languages in different ways, thus advocating a free, demanding and visionary idea of cinema. Through this fund we intend to deepen and broaden a dialogue with creation and contemporary experimentation.' The fund will debut in the fall via a call for entries. Each year, a jury will select 10 to 12 feature films with no geographical or genre restriction, basing its picks on criteria including quality, originality and vision. The jury will decide the specific financing for each movie selected, addressing films in three different phases such as development, production and post-production. The ultimate goal is to support heterogeneous works in terms of language, production scale and artistic vision to contribute to the plurality and vitality of contemporary cinema. The project has been developed by Paolo Moretti, curator of Fondazione Prada's Cinema Godard program, director of the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes Film Festival from 2018 to 2022, head of the cinema department at ECAL — or École cantonale d'art de Lausanne — and director of Cinémas du Grütli in Geneva. He collaborated with Rebecca De Pas, a member of the selection committee at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and codirector of FiDLab — an international coproduction platform — from 2009 to 2019. This is the latest initiative in a long streak of film-related projects the cultural institution has launched to explore the art of filmmaking tracing back to the early 2000s. For instance, from 2003 to 2005, Fondazione Prada partnered with the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff, presenting the preview of a film selection in New York and Milan, such as Chinese director Wong Kar-wai's feature film '2046.' From 2004 to 2006, in collaboration with the Venice Biennale, the foundation launched a film recovery and restoration program, involving a selection of forgotten or misunderstood Italian genre films shot between the '50s and the '70s; Chinese works distributed before the 1949 Revolution; rare films belonging to Japanese popular production, and Soviet musical comedy films from the 1930s to the '70s. Other projects through the years have ranged from Francesco Vezzoli's 'Trilogia della Morte' video installations inspired by two works by Pier Paolo Pasolini and presented in Venice and Milan to Alejandro G. Iñárritu's 'Flesh, Mind and Spirit' in 2009, featuring a selection of films that marked the director's education and artistic vision. This initiative paved the way for the 'Soggettiva' series of movie selections that has involved filmmakers such as Pedro Almodóvar, Danny Boyle and Ava DuVernay and artists such as John Baldessari, Damien Hirst, Goshka Macuga and Luc Tuymans, to name a few. The Fondazione Prada outpost in Milan itself is filled with movie references, starting from its highly Instagrammed café Bar Luce, designed by Wes Anderson and referencing two masterpieces of Italian Neorealism like Vittorio De Sica's 1951 film 'Miracle in Milan' and Luchino Visconti's 1960 movie ' Rocco and His Brothers.' In 2018, the cultural institution's Milan location launched a regular screening program in its movie theater, mixing classics, experimental works, previews and rare and restored movies. Masterclasses and public meetings with established and emerging figures on the international film scene — including Anderson and Almodóvar, as well as the likes of Spike Lee, Luca Guadagnino, Dario Argento, Alfonso Cuarón, Joanna Hogg and Xavier Dolan, to name a few — further contributed to drawing crowds to the movie theater. As reported, in 2023 Fondazione Prada renamed the theater Cinema Godard to pay permanent tribute to the French New Wave pioneer Jean-Luc Godard. The move followed in the footsteps of Fondazione Prada becoming the only international institution to host two permanent projects by the late Franco Swiss director. Both were specifically conceived for the Milan venue and personally supervised by the filmmaker during their installation in 2019. For 'Le Studio d'Orphée,' Godard relocated his atelier and recording and editing studio to Fondazione Prada, setting a living and working space bringing together the original technical equipment used for his last films from 2010 to 2019, as well as furniture, books, paintings and other personal items from his studio home in Rolle, Switzerland. Here, visitors have the opportunity of attending the screening of his 2018 feature film 'Le Livre d'image' in the physical place where it was created. For the elevator of Fondazione Prada's Torre tower, Godard conceived 'Accent-soeur,' an audio installation combining the soundtrack of 'Histoire(s) du cinema,' an eight-part video project the director began in 1988 and completed in 1998 that narrates the complex history of 'the seventh art.' Currently, American director, writer and visual artist Miranda July's research project 'A Kind of Language' is on display at Fondazione Prada's Osservatorio outpost in Milan's landmark Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II shopping arcade. Running until Sept. 8, the exhibition investigates the creative process that precedes a film's realization, showcasing storyboards and other preparatory materials. Up next is an immersive exhibition conceived by Iñárritu that will open Sept. 18 and run through Feb. 26, 2026, and which will delve into the cultural and cinematographic dimension of the director's first feature film 'Amores Perros,' released in 2000. Best of WWD Salma Hayek's Fashion Evolution Through the Years: A Red Carpet Journey [PHOTOS] How Christian Dior Revolutionized Fashion With His New Look: A History and Timeline Cannes Film Festival's French Actresses Whose Iconic Style Shines on the Red Carpet [PHOTOS]
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Paula Beer on ‘Mirrors No. 3,' Her Fourth Film With Christian Petzold and His Ensemble Approach
Mirrors No. 3 (Miroirs No. 3), the new feature from German director Christian Petzold that world premieres in the Directors' Fortnight, an independent sidebar of the Cannes Film Festival, on Saturday, May 17, marks his fourth collaboration with German star Paula Beer after Transit (2018), Undine (2020), and Afire (2023). The Match Factory closed multiple international deals for the movie just before Cannes. More from The Hollywood Reporter Film AlUla: "Saudi Filmmakers Are Like the Crown Jewels for Us" Palestine Film Institute Drums Up Support in Cannes - for Films and Gaza Michael Che Apologizes to Scarlett Johansson for Infamous Roast Beef Joke: "I Was Jealous" Beer, who has also made a name for herself with the likes of François Ozon's Frantz (2016), Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's Never Look Away (2018), won the Silver Bear for best actress at the Berlin International Film Festival and the European Film Award for best actress for her role in Undine. In Mirrors No. 3, Beer plays piano student Laura. 'On a weekend trip to the countryside, Laura miraculously survives a car crash,' reads a synopsis of the film. 'Physically unhurt but deeply shaken, she is taken in by a local woman who witnessed the accident and now cares for Laura with motherly devotion. When her husband and adult son also give up their initial resistance to Laura's presence, the four of them slowly build up a family-like routine. But soon they can no longer ignore their past.' Barbara Auer, Matthias Brandt, and Enno Trebs are also part of the ensemble cast. Ahead of the film's premiere, the 30-year-old Beer talked to THR's Georg Szalai about her latest team-up with Petzold, why she likes working with him, her approach to acting, and why she dislikes movies with open endings. You have worked with Christian Petzold several times now and also have experience with the other actors in since they are also Petzold regulars. What do you like about his approach and his sets? The very special thing about working with Christian is that we're working like an ensemble. You know the people you're going to work with, and not only the cast members. It's also the crew who are always the same, or at least the head of is always the same. So you really come into a very familiar situation, and that, of course, helps a lot in opening up and having a feeling of trust during your work. Most of the time, when you go to a shoot, there are so many people, sometimes hundreds of people, and you need to get to know them. If you already know them and don't … need to build trust, of course, that helps you as an actor to be more at ease. Christian is always doing, or most of the time only doing, one take. Most directors, because we're shooting with digital cameras and you can do as many takes as you want, they do more, which doesn't necessarily cost more. So he's really into one take, and it's really concentrated and precise. But of course, that puts a lot of pressure on you, because you only have this one shot. So on the first shoot for Transit, I was still asking myself: 'Is that going in the right direction, or do I really feel comfortable in this style of working, or does Christian really like what I'm doing?' And now that we have done four films together, I don't have these questions anymore. Our relationship has developed a lot. I think we have a very good relationship where we trust each other, and at the same time, we can make jokes about each other, and it's not too serious. So sometimes I'm going to Christian saying, 'Well, I think we should do a second take. For me, it wasn't the best take.' And then he's like: 'Yeah, okay, you can have a second one.' And then most of the time he says: 'Okay, you were right. It's good. We'll take the second one.' So, for me, it feels more like a collaboration. Most of the time during shooting, I do feel that as an actor, I'm in this chain of where the story comes from. There's a head in front of me who has the story in mind, and I'm helping make this vision come alive, but I'm part of making it come alive. Do you still read scripts he sends you or just go for any role he has in mind for you? Just because we have done four movies already doesn't mean I will be in the next one, because I'm afraid that that could lead to a huge disappointment. So I always say to him, I need to read the script. And normally, he starts talking about his next projects during the shooting of the last one. So he always has an idea of what he's going to do next. And then we always have this little moment when he says: 'I'm thinking about this idea for my next movie.' And then he sums up the story in five minutes and gives me a mini pitch. And then he's like: 'What do you think? Do you like it?' And then I say: 'Yeah, I mean, these five minutes sound good. So he's really letting me in and sharing his thoughts and his process. But then, of course, he writes it on his own and sends me this book when it's ready. Christian's scripts are really special because they feel more like literature. Normally, scripts are quite technical. I really love reading his scripts. You sit down and you read the novel, but I still need to understand it, or [see] if I understood correctly what you want to tell with that story, because I can have my interpretation. So I need this check-up to know if you're on the same page to tell the story. It was the same with Mirrors No. 3. I had some questions or ideas or input for some scenes, and then we talked about it, and he adopted it – not 100 percent but we met in the middle. Laura seems full of trauma and emptiness, like she is maybe missing true connections or something else in her life. And your portrayal evoked quite contradictory emotions. You leave viewers with a lot of complex feelings. How did you approach Laura? I think it starts with the way Christian writes his books. I always feel that it's a story about a human being, and human beings are super complex and not easy to understand. And that's always the difficulty. When I start preparing for Christian's movies, it feels like a story about someone, and it's not a fictional character. It's really more about a human being, and [I try] to grab and understand this human being to build a character. You can't understand all parts. The characters Christian is writing are always 'she's somehow like this, but then she's like that,' and I have to build a bridge between them. Comparing when I first shot with Christian to [later work together], I realized my acting was changing, because I really feel at ease, and I'm trusting him a lot. I feel really safe shooting these movies, and there's never pressure, or you never have this moment of 'we need to proceed, because we don't have enough time.' I think that how Christian writes his books, and how he starts shooting, how the production organizes the shoots, affects a lot how the movies are in the end. And I think that helps to create characters that are not flat. We really have the time to develop that on set. I think before working with Christian, I was really precise and kind of a perfectionist when it came to my preparation for my characters. And now working with Christian, I realized that it's not all about being perfectly prepared, but also about being brave enough to open up completely on set and maybe do something that you would have never expected, or that wasn't your idea for the scene for that very day. Shooting with Christian is also about reacting very spontaneously to what happens in that very moment. And I think that helps a lot to create a complex human setup, because every day is different. And if you're not trying to pretend that it isn't like that, but you just accept that every day is different, I think it influences the character. So, I don't have a master plan to have a super-complex character. But there are so many topics inside of Christian's scripts, such as, as you said, trauma and emptiness and grief or lack of grief or not being able to accept feelings or feelings lost. When I saw the movie title (), I thought: 'Wait, isn't this the title of a musical piece?' But I had to look up details and found that it is part of a five-movement suite for solo piano by French composer Maurice Ravel. (Entitled 'A Boat on the Ocean,' it was written to evoke a boat sailing on the ocean.) Did you know anything about music or learn anything about it for this role? And does th I do play the piano, and started having lessons when I was six. It would have been different for me if [my character] played the flute or something. I would have been: 'I don't even know how to hold it.' And I do know Ravel, but I've never played Ravel because that is quite above my league. I'm not able to play Ravel because it's a masterpiece. But I've learned the beginning, so what I'm playing in a scene, I'm actually playing. But for me, it was really important to have this connection to the piano, because Laura, of course, is studying the piano. I think people who nowadays study a classical instrument have a certain thing in common, and that you can't ignore. I had a great teacher for my preparation. She finished her master's and played Ravel as well. It helped a lot seeing her play, and I had to watch piano players a lot, because I think how you play your instrument says a lot about your relationship to the instrument. In one movie, I played a ballet dancer. Now a piano student, and sometimes it does feel like a burden, because you're an actor, and my job is to pretend to be someone who's perfect at doing that. I wanted to create the image of a piano student, but that comes with the pressure of fulfilling what piano students are able to do, and I can never do that. But getting a feeling for what their love for this instrument, or their passion, or their frustration, is like, I think that's my job. So I focus mostly on the emotional part, because I don't want to create too much pressure for myself, because in the end, it's a movie, and we're creating images, and, of course, feelings through these images. You mentioned pressure. I remember that French auteur Francois Ozon once described you as 'the next Romy Schneider,' which is a huge compliment, especially in the French- and German-speaking worlds. Was that joy or pressure? How did you experience that comparison? I think they said that a lot in France, and I just took it as a compliment. I think if you do comparisons, it's always because you want to make something strange more familiar. I don't think I look like her. I make different things. But I'm German. She was German. And she went to France, so that's what we have in common. If they look at my [acting] and they feel reminded of her, of course, that's a huge compliment. Maybe it's because I started shooting when I was really young that I didn't take this as pressure. I had one shoot, and a few days before the first day, I thought: 'I have no idea why they picked me, and I absolutely don't feel ready to play this, and I don't know if it's going to be good.' And then I thought: 'Well, they decided to take me. I didn't ask them to make me play the role. So if I'm going to fuck it up, it's actually their problem and wrong decision.' And I kind of kept that [perspective]. But for me, pressure comes on set because you know that you only have a certain amount of time, and you know that everyone expects you to be good within this time frame. You only have these two or three hours, and with the angle or [type of shot], maybe 20 minutes. And if you're not brilliant in these 20 minutes, then your shot won't be. So, I feel making movies is about being ready at the right time. And of course, that is pressure, and you have to be able to deal with that. Christian Petzold's movies tend not to end in a way that puts a bow on things but leaves things more open for interpretation. How do you feel about the endings of movies? Personally, I hate open endings. I have gotten better, but I had a time when I never finished novels and always left 50 to 70 pages at the end, because I don't like when a story comes to an end and you don't like the ending. I prefer to stay in the vibe. Actually, the ending to Mirrors No. 3 is different from the [original] script. I remember we were meeting Christian before the shoot and talking about the ending. I said maybe it's a bit too pathetic [or dramatic] and doesn't really fit the vibe of the tragedy of this character. During the edit, Christian realized that the ending isn't working. So we shot the new ending in January of this year. Has he already pitched you on your fifth movie together? I know Christian's next idea. Maybe he's thinking of me for it, but I'm not sure if it's clear to him. I really like the story, so who knows?! For now, nothing is set. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Hollywood's Most Notable Deaths of 2025 Harvey Weinstein's "Jane Doe 1" Victim Reveals Identity: "I'm Tired of Hiding" 'Awards Chatter' Podcast: 'Sopranos' Creator David Chase Finally Reveals What Happened to Tony (Exclusive)
Hindustan Times
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid at Cannes: 'I understood this time the vengeance would be biblical'
Somewhere in the middle of Israeli director Nadav Lapid's new feature film, Yes, is a joke about a Jew talking to a travel agent about a suitable destination for his vacation. The Jew scours a globe given to him, but is still unable to point to a place. "Do you have another globe?" he finally asks. Yes, which had its world premiere in the Directors' Fortnight parallel programme at the 78th Cannes Film Festival (May 13-24), reflects the Paris-based Lapid's determination to not seek a safe choice of filmmaking in a dangerous world. Lapid, whose previous works that are often critical of the Israeli government include Ahed's Knee, which won the Jury Prize in Cannes four years ago, questions the unrelenting bombing of Gaza and aberrant vengeance, in his movie shot in the middle of the war. The story of Y, a struggling jazz musician entrusted with the responsibility of setting a new national anthem of Israel to music, and his wife Jasmine, a dancer, the two-and-half-hour film ran into trouble even before it began the production when several Israeli actors and technicians refused to work on a project critical of the war on Gaza. Lapid and his cast and crew went to within 500 metres of Israel's border with Gaza, where, as the director says you hear "endless explosions" and see "smoke rising in the horizon". The chairman of the competition jury at the International Film Festival of India, Goa in 2022, Lapid talks to The Hindustan Times about the making of the movie about a war that has killed more than 53,000 people in Gaza after the Hamas invasion of Israel on October 7 killed 1,200 people and led to 250 people being taken hostage. When I was in Goa I think I was already working on the new film. It began as a kind of reflection about the place of artists, the weak place of artists, the defeated place of artists, the relationship between artists and the power, artists and the money, The modern artist is a clown and a prostitute, someone who is obliged to in a way and doesn't really have the capacity of saying, No. In order to have a normal life, he is obliged to be submissive. I live in Paris. When I got to Israel a few days after October 7, I found myself, you know, inside of a kind of two opposite feelings. On the one end, I felt a tenderness and even compassion towards my motherland that I didn't feel for so many years. You saw that the people were traumatised. They were in mourning. There was something heartbreaking in it at the same time. I understood again that this mourning, this silent shock, is going to bring about the worst results possible. And that this time, the vengeance would be biblical. For me it was clear they are going to create an image that will be stained in the collective memory for hundreds of years. There is a certain moment in life where normality is not an option anymore. There is not any more place for purity. There is no more place for normality. Israelis have had for years this fantasy about not having a Palestine anymore, getting rid of the Palestinians. This crazy, insane fantasy that one can dream, it suddenly became a concrete strategical programme. So, you know, I think the level of hatred is so huge, it is really a bitter, endless hatred. It's a war film, it's a love film, it's a musical, it's an almost fantasy film. I mean in a way the question in the film is, can something exist outside of the war? The film begins at a certain point and gets closer and closer to the world. It is a war film, but it wants to be a lot of other things, a little bit like its protagonists, a jazz musician and a dancer. They want to dance, they want to think, they want to love, they want to eat, they want to be normal parents. And at the end, you know, nothing will. I mean, the war will swallow them. The filmmaking was hard, but the daily news is worse. When you read the news about the war, it's worse. There is a moment in the film when the lead character is telling his partner a joke. Do you have a different globe? Is this the globe in which we live? I truly don't understand what other kinds of films we are supposed to do. I mean, I don't understand what it means to make safe films in a dangerous world. But it's almost a form of collation. Trump is there a bit in the film. He looks a little bit like a young Trump, you know, very tanned and very blown. But I am not a politician. I always feel for me it's kind of a mistake in attributing such things to political circumstances, in a way the elections. I think that there is a kind of sickness in the heart and soul of a society. Some societies get sick. It's very, very complicated for them to cure themselves. And I think the Israeli society is deeply sick and it doesn't help that all the people who call themselves Friends of Israel, they try to, I mean, they think that they help the society by preserving and legitimising its sickness instead of making it face the truth. I think this blighting, this blindness towards the other, this feeling of eternal victim, this is what creates (Benjamin) Netanyahu, the one who created or is creating this. I don't care about Netanyahu. I care about the people, the people that I don't know, and of course, the people I know. And they seem to be taken by the same blindness. It breaks my heart. Being an antisemitic is being an idiot. And being opposed to Israeli politics is the only normal thing that you can do at this moment. So I think if we can distinguish between normality and stupidity, we can distinguish between antisemitism and being human today. If you're a human today, you cannot agree with this anti-humane politics.
