Festivals

The first edition of the Allora Fest in Ostuni, Puglia, got off to a triumphant start last night. Which is especially noteworthy considering the scandal that rocked the international film industry Sunday night when one of its former contributors, director Paul Haggis, was arrested and detained by Italian police on charges of rape.

Asian Pacific filmmakers were well represented at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Two events highlighted their presence in the annual New York festival – the Asian Pacific Filmmakers Experience and the Future Gold Film Fellowship hosted by Gold House, Tribeca Studios, and Netflix.

The 61st Monte-Carlo Television Festival returned in style on Friday, not only welcoming a star-studded list of shows in competition and actors in town to support them but also welcoming back past jury chairs including Jane Seymour, Eric Close, Danny Glover and Jason Priestley. They were all in attendance at the opening night premiere of the MGM-produced limited series, Last Light, starring Matthew Fox (Lost) and Joanne Froggatt (Downton Abbey).

Just a few weeks after receiving the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, the Belgium film Close, written and directed by Lukas Dhont, won this Sunday the biggest prize at Sydney Film Festival (SFF). Close is the story of two male teens who attend secondary school in a rural town.

Founded in 2003 with the Centre LGBTQI+* in Nantes (Loire-Atlantique French department), CinéPride is a unique festival for its diversity, giving the opportunity to audiences to discover documentaries and long and short films on the topics of homosexuality and gender identity. CinéPride is a six-day festival that took place in Nantes from June 14 through June 19, 2022.

The Tribeca Film Festival, celebrating its 20th year since it was founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff in 2002 in the wake of 9/11, is again featuring LGBTQ+ themed features, documentaries, and shorts this year. Tribeca is one of the country’s top film festivals that uplifts marginalized voices.

One of the highlights at the Cannes Film Festival this year was the Masterclass conducted on May 26 with Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen, whose career spans nearly three decades. Born in Copenhagen in 1965, he made his acting debut in Nicholas Winding Refn's 1996 Pusher.

After one year of COVID delay, the Animation Film Festival Annecy honors 100+1 years of Swiss Animation with 14 special programs. They include spotlights curated by the Swiss Animation Festival’s Fantoche and Animatou, a selection by Trickfilmgruppe Schweiz (the Association of Professional Animators), restorations by Cinémathèque Suisse, retrospectives for Golden Globe and Oscar nominee Claude Barras (Ma Vie de Courgette/My Life as a Zucchini), Isabelle Favez (Giuseppe, in competition ) and Ani-Doc filmmaker Marcel Barelli (Vigia).

Italian French actress-director Valeria Bruni Tedeschi takes us back to the 80s in her fifth offering, Forever Young, as she shines a light on the legendary director Patrice Chéreau, who founded the acting school Theatre Nanterre-Amandiers located just outside of Paris. Through Tedeschi’s lens, we watch Chéreau’s unorthodox attempts at eliciting various emotions from his students.

Jennifer Lopez’s documentary, Halftime, opened the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival at the United Palace in Washington Heights. Lopez sizzled in a black velvet gown with sheer cutouts by Tom Ford, in the film’s world premiere.