Latest news with #MediterraneFilmFestival
The National
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The National
How Moroccan filmmaker Seloua El Gouni went from Hollywood assistant to the director's chair
Sitting in a boutique hotel in Valletta, Moroccan filmmaker Seloua El Gouni is feeling inspired. She has just screened her debut feature The Wound at the Mediterrane Film Festival, now in its third year. El Gouni has been to Malta twice before and is impressed by the way its film commission sets out to welcome overseas productions to the island. 'Given the importance that Malta gives to the film industry, we would like to set something here,' she says. Her optimism feels infectious. Just days earlier, The Wound enjoyed its Moroccan premiere at the Casablanca Arab Film Festival, before what she hopes will be a release in cinemas in 2026. The story follows Leila (Oumaima Barid), a young woman living in Casablanca whose relationship with a non-Muslim man leads to friction with her father. The reaction from El Gouni's home crowd 'was surprisingly encouraging and very positive'. The surprise factor came at the after-screening Q&A. 'Men interacted with us more than women. We had notes from them, we had questions from them,' she says. In Malta and in Beirut, when the film had its Mena premiere at the Beirut International Women's Film Festival, it was the opposite: the biggest reactions came from female audience members. Either way, The Wound is a film that touches a nerve with both men and women. After directing two shorts and producing the 2023 documentary Harraga – Those Who Burn Their Lives, El Gouni realised it was time to move into features. She set about working on The Wound, scripted by her producer Taha Benghalem and brothers Brian and Brice Bexter. 'We wanted to make something meaningful,' she says, noting that public discourse in Morocco at the time was centring on 'personal freedoms in terms of relationships, what's accepted what's not accepted'. The screenplay is an amalgam of true stories of women like Leila, and El Gouni says: 'It's basically an alternate reality with very realistic events.' What happens to Leila is shocking, but such events are not confined to Morocco, or the Arab world. 'All over the world, we've heard stories,' she adds, pointing out that during the writing process women were losing agency over their own bodies, as abortion rights were being removed across the US. What The Wound does well is show modern Casablanca, where many young women (like Leila's free-spirited best friend Sophia) live an existence with few restrictions. 'It depends on your lifestyle, depends on who you work with, your entourage, upbringing,' says El Gouni. 'You can be on good terms with your parents and live alone as a woman in Morocco. I myself left home when I was 17, like in any normal European culture.' Equally, your upbringing may still be dangerously ultra-conservative. The Wound is her first feature, but El Gouni has a wealth of filmmaking experience. She was worked on some major English and American films, as a production co-ordinator and production supervisor, such as Men in Black: International, and The Forgiven with Ralph Fiennes. She worked as assistant to the Russo brothers, the filmmakers behind Avengers: Endgame, Infinity War and the upcoming Doomsday, when they made Cherry with Tom Holland. The experience of collaborating on big-budget films was highly useful when it came to making The Wound. 'You really read the script fully, keeping your eyes on the budget,' she says. 'That really helped us into creating something very effective, very efficient, in terms of budget, production value, and then just making sure it happens with the best quality possible.' That included securing the services of Emmy-winning US cinematographer Travis Tips, who made the 2012 awards magnet Beasts of the Southern Wild. Tips' participation indicates the increasingly healthy state of Moroccan cinema. 'Especially for female directors,' El Gouni adds. 'We do have more female directors than ever.' Filmmakers such as Maryam Touzani (The Blue Caftan), Meryem Benm'Barek-Aloïsi (Sofia) and Asmae El Moudir (The Mother of All Lies) show just how vibrant the scene is right now. Still, very few can claim they have a movie by Terrence Malick on their CV. El Gouni was production co-ordinator on The Last Planet, Malick's long-gestating retelling of the life of Jesus. 'It still hasn't come out!' she exclaims. The famously press-shy Malick, director of revered classics such as Badlands and Days of Heaven, has been in the edit with the film since it was shot in 2019. 'I hope it will come out this year,' she adds. With the Hungarian-born Geza Rohrig (Son of Saul) featuring as Jesus and Mark Rylance playing Satan, it is one of the most anticipated films. 'It will be wonderful,' El Gouni promises. And Malick? 'He's very calm, and all the sets are really calm. You don't have that stress of really being on a film set. It's really an experience that I don't think I've had before, but it was really special.' With mentors like Malick, El Gouni is set to go far.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Abbott Elementary' Star Chris Perfetti Talks Style Strategy and How Last Season 'Blew the Lid Off'
If Emmy forecasters are correct, Chris Perfetti and the rest of the Abbott Elementary family will be making some red carpet rounds in coming months. And he's ready. 'In our fourth year of being invited to these things, I still feel it's less daunting and way more fun than it was the first time,' the actor told The Hollywood Reporter last week while attending the Mediterrane Film Festival's closing Golden Bee Awards in Malta. 'But I still feel like I have a responsibility to live up to the bigger purpose of what we're all there for, and so I try to pay homage and be polite, but I try to express myself at the same time, and I've always thought that fashion is a way to do just that — to tell a story.' More from The Hollywood Reporter Janelle James Looks Back on Not Getting Role on Netflix's 'GLOW' After She "Nailed" Audition Russell Crowe Returns to Malta, Site of 'Gladiator' Filming, and Recalls Intensity of Ridley Scott Epic: "It Wasn't an Easy Production" 'The Bachelor' Names New Showrunner, Locks in 2025-26 Renewal Perfetti has been doing just that, turning heads for expressing an eye-catching personal style, evidence of which is seen below. The riskier the better, he says. 'I kind of err on the side of more risk taking than not. [The red carpet] feels like a great opportunity for that. I've been blessed with so many talented geniuses, and when you find somebody whose work inspires you like that, you just have to kind of go with them.' While speaking to THR in Malta, who presented at the Golden Bee Awards alongside Anna Camp, Perfetti was nearing the end of his Abbott Elementary hiatus and prepping to head back to work on the series for an upcoming season five. 'I'm so proud of what we did in season four. I really feel like we didn't drop the ball. God bless our writers room, they're really doing so well by us,' explained the actor. 'Our cast, we genuinely love each other, and we're trying to make each other laugh. We really just blew the lid off of it last year.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter Seeing Double? 25 Pairs of Celebrities Who Look Nearly Identical From 'Lady in the Lake' to 'It Ends With Us': 29 New and Upcoming Book Adaptations in 2024 Meet the Superstars Who Glam Up Hollywood's A-List
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Twilight' Director Says Studio Gave Her a ‘Mini Cupcake' to Celebrate Film's Success: Male Directors Get a ‘Car or a Three-Picture Deal or Whatever You Want'
'Twilight' director Catherine Hardwicke said in an interview with The Guardian that the studio gifted her a 'mini cupcake' as a congratulations when the vampire romance opened to an unexpectedly huge $69 million in November 2008. It was a blunt realization that no matter how successful her directing career could be, she would not be valued in the same way as a male director. 'No, people aren't going to hire more women directors,' she told interviewer Hanna Flint. 'They're not going to give you the next job and let you do something great. It was an earth-shattering reality right away.' More from Variety Catherine Hardwicke, Rick Carter Lead Jury for Mediterrane Film Festival Malta's Mediterrane Film Festival Sets Jury and Special Programming 'Twilight' in Concert to Tour 60 Cities This Fall (EXCLUSIVE) Whereas a successful male director with a franchise-launching huge opening weekend might be gifted 'a car, or a three-picture deal, or [the chance] to do basically whatever you want,' Hardwicke continued, she was given more or less a pat on the back. 'I walked into a room with all these gifts, and everybody was congratulating the studio, and they gave me a box,' she remembered. 'I opened it up, and it was a mini cupcake.' The director previously revealed on the 'Happy Sad Confused' podcast in 2023 that the studio always underestimated how big 'Twilight' could become. She was told by executives right before opening weekend that debuting to $30 million would be a relief. 'Twilight' earned $7 million from midnight ticket sales alone on its way to a $35 million opening day. The film generated $69 million over its opening weekend and would go on to earn $192 million domestically and $408 million worldwide. Hardwicke also said on the podcast that the studio questioned if Robert Pattinson had good enough looks to play the vampire Edward Cullen, explaining: 'They called me and go, 'Do you think you can make this guy look good?' I said, 'Yeah, I do. Did you see his cheekbones? We're doing a makeover on the hair and everything and he's going to start working out and he's going to be gorgeous.' But they didn't believe it at first. He like walked over there with a stained shirt or something. It was Rob.' Not only did Hardwicke get only a mini cupcake after the success of 'Twilight's' opening weekend, she also got dropped from the sequel. 'Twilight: New Moon' was directed by Chris Weitz. Instead, Hardwicke moved on to the fantasy movie 'Red Riding Hood' with Amanda Seyfried. But 'it was much more challenging' because 'it had a lower budget than we had on 'Twilight,' and it was all fantasy, so we couldn't shoot any real locations and had to build all the sets. They didn't give me much freedom.' Head over to The Guardian's website to read more from Hardwicke's latest interview. Best of Variety Oscars 2026: George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Julia Roberts, Wagner Moura and More Among Early Contenders to Watch New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts?
Cosmopolitan
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
All the Red Carpet Looks From the 2025 Golden Bee Awards
Last week, the mediterranean was positively buzzing. The 2025 Golden Bee Awards took place on June 29 in Malta, capping off the third Mediterrane Film Festival at the historic Fort Manoel. Guests—including Russell Crowe, Rising Star Award winner Barbie Ferreira, Anna Camp, Bailey Bass, Chris Perfetti, and Karen Pittman–arrived to the ceremony by boat to celebrate 100 years of film in Malta and the 2025 Golden Bee winners. 'I hope this means that I'm going in the right direction and I have been making decisions that I am creatively behind, decisions that make me feel fulfilled,' Barbie told Cosmopolitan of her award on the red carpet. 'I'm happy other people also feel that way.' The ceremony held additional significance because it marked 100 years of cinema in Malta, and Russell Crowe made a surprise appearance to discuss it while accepting a Malta Film Legend Award. 'Twenty-six years ago, you could say, in a funny way, I became a man in Malta,' Russell Crowe he told the crowd. 'For whatever films I'd done before then, nothing had the majesty, ambition, and budget, and ultimately, reach of Gladiator.' Gladiator filmed on the island and was followed by Game of Thrones, Jurassic World, Enola Holmes 3, and many others. Clearly, Malta has much to celebrate. And the stars were out to do just that at the 2025 Golden Bee Awards. Ahead, see red-carpet photos from the evening.
Mint
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Mint
'This one is going to be great': Anna Camp gets candid about upcoming filmScream 7
Washington DC [US], July 6 (ANI): Actress Anna Camp talked about the upcoming film 'Scream 7' and said that it is going to be entertaining for audiences, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film is set to be released on February 27, 2026. 'Scream 7' is an upcoming slasher film directed by Kevin Williamson and written by Guy Busick, from a story by James Vanderbilt and Busick. It is a sequel to Scream VI (2023) and the seventh instalment in the Scream film series. The film stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Mason Gooding, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Roger L. Jackson, and David Arquette reprising their roles from previous films, along with Isabel May and Joel McHale. "I hadn't seen the newest ones, but I remember the first one, which I've seen four times already," said Camp while standing on the blue carpet at the Mediterrane Film Festival's Golden Bee Awards in Malta, The Hollywood Reporter "The other ones I had to sit down and watch. It's just fun. This one is going to be great because it's Sidney Prescott, an iconic character, and Neve Campbell, an iconic actress. It's a coming home story for her. It's returning to the original cast and the original format," she shared. While sharing what she learned from Campbell, Camp shared that she noticed her instincts and natural communication with Kevin Williamson. "This character is so close to home [for her]," Camp said, adding,"Obviously, she's grown up playing this role that she knows when the script is not right or if something doesn't feel like what Sidney would say." Camp continued, "Kevin Williamson directed this one, and he's the mastermind behind the entire story. To watch their dialogue together and their shorthand, I was like, 'I want that. I want a relationship like that with the director,'" according to The Hollywood Reporter. Speaking of relationships, Camp came to Malta with her new girlfriend, Jade Whipkey, after debuting their relationship on the red carpet at the recent Bride Hard premiere, as per the outlet. Camp shared that she and Whipkey have been dating for nearly seven months, and their trip to Malta marked their first major vacation together. "We've been having the best time," she said. On the work front, Camp said she is eager to get back on stage and find a play or musical to star in. She also has several films in her kitty, "I opted to book a while ago, and that's in the middle of being written," she said. "I have Scream 7 out in February, and I have a couple of little indie movies coming out, but I'm just kind of waiting for the right job while I'm producing about three scripts right now on my own. I'm not sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. I'm working and doing it on my own, which is really exciting," according to The Hollywood Reporter. (ANI)
