You probably watch or hear about Netflix at least once a day.

The world’s premier streaming platform that dominated home entertainment has sad news for its viewers and audiences as Netflix won’t have any films screened at the Cannes Film Festival this year.

Despite producing one of the finest including Marylin Monroe’s biopic, Blonde. Here’s everything you need to know.

Netflix will not show anything in Cannes this year

Despite his praise for being the first and only global streamer to sign a deal with French film organizations. Participating in one of the biggest film festivals in the world is definitely not on the menu for them.

A source close to the Netflix organization has confirmed to a few publications that the streaming platform does not plan to screen or world premiere any of its films during the 75th film festival.

Strong emphasis on excluding films including Andrew Dominik’s Blonde, a film based on the life of Marilyn Monroe, played by Ana De Armas.

Dominik’s previous statements at the Berlin Film Festival to publications also indicated that he hoped to secure an offer for a world premiere from festival director Thierry Fremaux.

Cannes Film Festival feud with Netflix

According to Cannes rules and regulations, a film must have a theatrical release in order to be screened and presented at the Cannes Film Festival.

Netflix hasn’t purchased or acquired any films since 2017. Festival director Thierry Fremaux, in a press conference outlining a new rule, said a film must be released in theaters in order to screen a film at the festival.

Films competing for awards and appreciation must be eligible for theatrical release.

Take multiple snaps on Netflix as the platform only entertains online movies and shows. Putting them in a feud since 2017.

The streaming platform was immediately excluded from the competition and categories as they did not meet the eligibility criteria for any of the films.

Thierry Fremaux Creuse at Netflix

The artistic director of the Festival, Thierry Fremaux, has drawn from several other film festivals, including that of Venice.

Criticizing that other film festivals allow platforms like Netflix to compete for prizes in the category with other films working hard enough to get here.

He also criticized Netflix’s model for acquiring movies and shows, saying the film festival should consider people and movies before opening its door for nominations and screenings.

The festival committee must not let anyone come to the festival without being sure.

This tiff is still going strong despite Netflix showing huge interest and investing in France recently. The country has become one of the hottest markets in Europe after the Netflix deal.

We don’t know for sure what lies ahead, but we believe that cinema and projection platforms can coexist. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Just a day before receiving the prestigious honorary Golden Bear from the Berlin International Film Festival, Isabelle Huppert announced that she could not receive the award in person after testing positive for COVID-19.

The 68-year-old French actress tested positive for COVID-19 in Paris on Monday, with the Berlinale confirming she would not accept the award in person on Tuesday.

“Unfortunately, today Isabelle Huppert tested positive for coronavirus in Paris and will therefore not be able to attend the Berlin International Film Festival,” read a statement from the Berlinale.

Award: The 68-year-old French actress tested positive for COVID-19 in Paris on Monday, with the Berlinale confirming she will not accept the award in person on Tuesday

Still, Huppert said she “didn’t feel sick”, according to Berlinale artistic director Carlo Chatrian and they plan to hold the ceremony on Tuesday.

“While informing the festival, she underlined that she felt very dedicated to the Berlinale and wanted to participate in any way possible also to support her latest film About Joan,” the statement read.

Huppert will join through a live videoconference link via Paris where she will accept the award, with a screening of A Propos de Joan to follow the ceremony.

Not sick: Still, Huppert said she “doesn’t feel sick”, according to Berlinale artistic director Carlo Chatrian and they plan to hold the ceremony on Tuesday

Although the awards ceremony is continuing as planned, its absence has led to the cancellation of another event, Berlinale Homage: In Conversation with Isabelle Huppert.

Huppert had seven films in competition at the Berlinale throughout his celebrated career, beginning with Jacques Doillon’s A Woman’s Revenge.

She was announced as the honorary recipient of the 2022 Golden Bear in mid-December, joining other esteemed honorees such as Oliver Stone, Sophia Loren and 2020 recipient Helen Mirren.

Cancelled: Although the awards ceremony continues as planned, its absence has led to the cancellation of another event, Berlinale Homage: In Conversation with Isabelle Huppert

“We are proud to welcome Isabelle Huppert back to the festival,” Berlinale directors Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian said in a December statement.

“The Honorary Golden Bear may seem like a natural progression in an unparalleled career, since Isabelle Huppert is one of the rare artists to have won performance awards at all the major film festivals,” continues the director. communicated.

“But Isabelle Huppert is more than a famous actress – she is an uncompromising artist who does not hesitate to take risks and flout mainstream trends”, they continued.

Proud: “We are proud to welcome Isabelle Huppert back to the festival,” Berlinale directors Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian said in a December statement

Celebrated: ‘But Isabelle Huppert is more than a famous actress – she’s an uncompromising performer who isn’t shy about taking risks and flouting mainstream trends,’ they continued

“Giving him our most prestigious award is to accentuate cinema as an art form, independent and unconditional,” they added.

“We often see actors as tools in the hands of filmmakers, but Isabelle Huppert is a clear example that the dynamic can be a real exchange. Actors can be the real driving force behind the creation of not only emotions, but also cinematic concepts,” the statement concludes.

Huppert will next be seen in Caravaggio’s Shadow and Mrs. Harris Goes to Parris, and she is currently filming Sitting Duck.

Awards: “Giving him our most prestigious award is to accentuate cinema as an art form, independent and unconditional”, they added

Coming soon: Huppert will next be seen in Caravaggio’s Shadow and Mrs. Harris Goes to Parris, and she is currently filming Sitting Duck

Now here is a feast: the Europa! Europa (name that director!) Film Festival is a private collection of films from the conglomeration of very different countries that make up Europe. In his welcome message to the festival website, artistic director Thomas Caldwell states that “Europe is not only the birthplace of cinema, but throughout the history of the moving image it has helped define and innovate world cinema by providing a much-loved alternative to the dominant forms of visual storytelling established by Hollywood. You might have a lot of arguments with that phrase, so why not do it after seeing one (or more) of the festival’s great offerings?

Many screened films have screened at international film festivals over the past year; most are unlikely to have commercial seasons in Australia, so this is a rare opportunity to see them as they were made to be seen, in cinemas. Along with 41 new films, there are two enduring favorites in remastered versions: Mike Leigh’s maddening mix of sex and class conflict, Naked (1993), and the disturbing Gomorrah (2008) by Matteo Garrone, which follows a group of thrill-seeking boys slipping into the local mafia. Among the more recent films, here are some highlights:

Bloody Oranges: Classic French farce meets fierce body horror in Jean-Christophe Meurisse’s dark comedy, which mixes rock ‘n’ roll dancing, rape and – beware – a very macabre scene involving garden shears and a microwave. Theater maven Meurisse deftly manages the tonal shift of brilliant social satire in a series of witty settings – the jury of a jive competition arguing over how they should treat a contestant with a disability; a gynecologist reflecting glumly (and hilariously) on labial aging; a sleazy government minister posing for cozy family photos for a glossy magazine – into much darker comedic territory. The minister’s car breaks down. He knocks on the wrong door. He drinks the “liquor” offered to him. Whoops.

Zero F–s given: Adele Exarchopoulos, fascinating star of the Cannes winner Blue is the warmest color, owns this immersive story of working life on a low-cost airline. Since the sudden death of her mother, Cassandre has thrown herself into the minutiae of a job that requires always being pleasant and meticulously efficient, while suffering constant criticism from a middle manager that we would like see it explode in the air. Its nominal home port is an off-season seaside resort; in her free time, she gets drunk and stalks Tinder. Directors Emmanuel Marre and Julie Lecoustre clearly studied the flight manual; everything here has the shrill sound of documentary truth.

Compartment no. 6: Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen’s film, festival favorite and star of the Oscars selection, takes a well-known historical theme – strangers meeting on a train – and infuses it with the welcome warmth of a glass of vodka after a hiking in the arctic. In less skilled hands, this encounter between a liberal archeology student, who travels to the backblocks of Russia to see rare petrography, and a shaved-headed thug who goes to work in the coal mines of the same district, would only be another stereotypical skirmish. in culture wars, all too predictably pacified by inappropriate romance. And it’s those things – a clash of cultures and a bonding of opposites – but so subtle, nuanced, delicately delivered by actors Seidi Haarla and Yuriy Borisov, thoughtful and funny, that everything feels as fresh as the proverbial snow surrounding them.

Brighton 4: Former Olympic wrestling champion Levan Tediashvili may be 73, but he’s still got the hang of it when it comes to a fight in the sand with a mobster on a Brooklyn beach. Tediashvili plays Kakhi, a small Georgian tower of physical but above all moral strength. Kakhi’s wife is sick; his brother has gambled on homelessness in Tbilisi and his son, who is supposedly studying medicine in New York, is also in debt to Georgian criminals who siphon money from lonely men in card games. What can a good family man do but fly to the rescue, carrying wheels of illicit cheese in his suitcase? Surprisingly sweet in tone, Georgian director Levan Koguashvili’s sympathetic story of the struggle of immigrants won first prize at the recent Red Sea Film Festival.

As Europe faces a new wave of COVID-19 infections and the skyrocketing Omicron variant cases, the prospects of a full-fledged return to the international film festival circuit seem every. less likely day.

The Netherlands and Denmark have taken the toughest measures so far, while France and Germany have closed their borders to British travelers. Other countries are expected to follow suit. The current scenario puts pressure on the European festivals scheduled in the first months of the year, including the Rotterdam Fest (IFFR) and the Berlinale, which could be the most impacted. Cannes and Venice, meanwhile, could be spared as they were in 2021. Here’s what we know so far about what to expect at major international festivals in 2022:

Rotterdam International Film Festival (IFFR)
January 26-Feb. 6

With the Netherlands enforcing a strict lockdown before Christmas, the Rotterdam International Film Festival‘s plans for a 51st on-site event could be a mission impossible, but they have yet to cancel it. The restrictions will remain in place at least until mid-January, while the festival is scheduled to open on January 26. Reacting to the lockdown announcement on Friday, organizers said Variety that they were currently “assessing the impact and what is realistically feasible” and will announce their decision later this week. Popular industrial events of IFFR, CineMart and Rotterdam Lab, meanwhile, will take place online. The Dutch documentary festival IDFA, which ended on November 28, narrowly missed the new restrictions.

Berlin Film Festival
10 Feb-Feb 20

After going live in 2021, the Berlin Film Festival has pledged to return with an in-person edition as long as theaters remain open, said Berlinale executive director Mariette Rissenbeek and artistic director Carlo Chatrian. Variety Monday. Although very little information about the selection has leaked so far, Chatrian is in the process of building his jury (led by M. Night Shyamalan) and lineup, which he hopes will be larger and more accessible than his two. first editions, according to industry sources. Many French films are expected to world premieres during the 72nd edition of the festival, including “Fire” by Claire Denis with Juliette Binoche and Vincent Lindon; “Peter von Kant” by François Ozon with Isabelle Adjani; “The passengers of the night” by Mikhaël Hers with Charlotte Gainsbourg and Emmanuelle Béart; and “Nobody’s Hero” by Alain Guiraudie with Doria Tillier and Noémie Lvovsky. The European Film Market is also on track for in-person editing and around 2,000 people have already signed up. Due to the pandemic, the festival – which is the first to take place under Germany’s new political leadership – and the market will not host cocktails or parties, and screenings will need to be booked online. Considering the travel restrictions, it will be difficult to organize a truly international festival with Asian, American and British delegates who are likely to be absent from this edition.

cannes film festival
May 17-28

After a bullish 2021 edition that saw Julia Ducournau’s “Titanium” win the Palme d’Or from a jury chaired by Spike Lee, Cannes is gearing up for another big year in 2022 to mark the festival’s 75th anniversary. Cannes chef Thierry Fremaux is already chasing some top American titles and talent, and also still hopes to bring Netflix back to the festival, which could happen if the streamer agrees to premiere his films outside of the roster. of the competition. As a sign of their friendship, Netflix recently joined forces with the Institut Lumière de Fremaux in Lyon to organize a week of gala premieres. In 2021, the festival selection was oversized with, among other things, a Cannes Premiere section (which might not be back in 2022, according to an insider). What could remain for 2022 are the screenings on the beach organized as part of the Cinema de la Plage program. Cannes has also changed its main media sponsors for the first time in 28 years and will work with France Télévisions and the Brut platform instead of Canal Plus Group from 2022. So far, the festival has not set up contingency plan in the summer or fall and is preparing as usual for a May edition, about three weeks after the French presidential election.

Venice Film Festival
31 Aug-Sep ten

Like Cannes, Venice has had a glorious 2021 edition filled with stars and expected films, from “Dune” to “Spencer” and also Paolo Sorrentino’s Netflix original “The Hand of God”, who is the Italian international Oscar nominee. . Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera, who is closely monitoring the evolution of the pandemic and its potential impact on winter festivals, has already started the selection process for next year’s edition. Due to its position as the kingsmaker of awards season in recent years, Netflix has had a strong presence on the lido which has become the main launching pad for the streamer’s awards race, starting with “Roma “from Alfonso Cuaron, who won three Oscars in 2019. Venice in 2022 is set to continue this trend, making Netflix’s Jane Austen’s next modern adaptation” Persuasion, “starring Dakota Johnson and Henry Golding, a potential Lido title at the sides of a more esoteric fare.

BFI London Film Festival
October 2022 to be confirmed

The 2021 edition of the London Film Film Festival, run by the British Film Institute, expanded its 2020 hybrid model and was a huge success. Operating in London and 10 partner venues across the UK, the festival boasted sold-out screenings, which drew 139,400 physical spectators and 152,300 virtual participants. The festival has screened 161 feature films and has physically hosted a galaxy of talent, including Jay Z, Beyoncé, Idris Elba, Regina King, George Clooney, Todd Haynes, Dakota Johnson, Kenneth Branagh and Bill Murray, among others. The 2022 edition hopes to build on that and return to the heyday of 2019, but COVID-19 will remain a factor. After this year’s closing film, “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” it emerged that two guests had tested positive. Next year will benefit immensely from the presence of Jason Wood, who joins the BFI in the newly created role of Director of Public Programs and Hearings. In his previous roles, Wood has led HOME, Manchester and Curzon Cinemas in London to become cultural centers of excellence and is expected to bring that to us in his tenure, which includes the London Festival, enhancing the Festival Director‘s team. Tricia Tuttle.

Pusan ​​International Film Festival
October 2022 to be confirmed

Busan, Asia’s biggest and most prestigious film festival, appears to have put most of its political, financial and managerial issues behind it. But, due to the COVID conditions, he hardly had a chance to shine under the guidance of new festival director Huh Moonyoung. The 2020 and 2021 editions were held as hybrid editions that emphasized public health measures and functioned primarily as local affairs with only a handful of foreign visitors of any kind (filmmakers, executives or the press). The last edition increased the number of face-to-face screenings and allowed the festival to resume its role of discovery by showing 223 films in front of 76,000 spectators over 10 days. The number of seats at each of the 29 sites was limited to 50%. The associated film rights market (also under new management) has been held entirely online, with the exception of a solitary and in-person IP pitching component. For next year, organizers hope the coronavirus has been banned, borders have reopened, and travel to Asia can resume.

Nick Vivarelli, Naman Ramachandran and Patrick Frater contributed to this story.

As the Red Sea Film Festival, Saudi Arabia’s premier international film event, kicks off, it has become clear that the artistic director of the first milestone edition of the festival will not be in charge of programming the second.

Edouard Waintrop, former head of the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, was clearly absent on Monday during the opening gala of the Vox Cinemas multiplex in the historic Al Balad district in Jeddah.

Instead of being on the starry red carpet, Waintrop was at home in Spain suffering from exhaustion, he said, awaiting the results of several medical exams after testing negative for COVID-19. And he won’t be coming back to Jeddah, at least not as a party leader.

“For me it was always meant to be a one-shot,” Waintrop said. Variety, adding: “I never even had a one-year contract; they were always renewable contracts for a few months.

Waintrop was appointed artistic director of the Red Sea fest in June, having previously served as an advisor to this ambitious event. The festival is part of an ongoing concerted effort to help spur Saudi Arabia’s current rise in all aspects of film industry activity following the lifting of its 35-year religious ban on the cinema in 2017.

“The idea has always been to successfully deliver the inaugural edition and push the boundaries of Arab cinema; show the world that the region has changed over the past three years, ”said Waintrop.

“The festival is meant to attract a new generation of people aged 19 to 40 who are educated and more progressive, and they benefit from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s drive to modernize the region,” Waintrop added, citing the women driving rights, the opening of cinemas and the upcoming launch of an arthouse chain of cinemas.

“We have the best selection of Arab films we could have hoped for, with films addressing contemporary issues like the role of women and male violence,” he continued. “The big battle we fought during the selection process was to free ourselves from censorship and we succeeded.”

This battle, as well as the assembly of a program comprising 138 films from 67 countries, was apparently a gargantuan task and also very exhausting. The first edition of the Red Sea Fest runs until December 15.

The Red Sea International Film Festival opens on Monday. Saudi Arabia’s First Film Festival, which takes place in the Old Town of Jeddah, is a landmark cultural event that is expected to celebrate Arab and world cinema over its 10 days. The festival has two sections celebrating the new wave of Saudi cinema – dedicated to short films and feature films / documentaries. Egyptian director Marwan Hamed will also chair the jury for the short film competition, which seeks to reward emerging talent. At the head of the festival is the artistic director Edouard Waintrop, who arrives with a wealth of experience. A former critic of a French newspaper Release, he was the curator of seven editions of the Directors’ Fortnight, the cutting edge parallel component of the Cannes Film Festival, between 2011 and 2018. Now he brings this experience to the kingdom, with an exciting lineup of films that will delight audiences and people alike. Of the industry.

The guests

Seasoned French actress Catherine Deneuve will join the festival, which will kick off its first edition with several celebrations of women in cinema. One of the great ladies of European cinema, who began her career with successes such as Belle of the Day, Umbrellas of Cherbourg and Repulsion in the 1960s, Deneuve remained a key figure in world cinema, and his presence at the festival was a real hit.

Closer to home, the festival will pay tribute to Haifaa Al Mansour, who became the first Saudi female filmmaker with Ouadjda and has since carved out an international career with films like Marie shelley and television drama The good Lord bird. The esteemed New Zealand actress Kerry Fox, who started her film career in Jane Campion’s An angel at my table, is also present with his new film The color room, about the artist Clarice Cliff.

Other filmmakers who will honor the festival include Giuseppe Tornatore, the director of Paradiso Cinema, who arrives with his documentary Ennio, about the legendary film composer Ennio Morricone. Franco-Argentinian director Gaspar Noe will also be present with his new film Vortex, a sublime study of an aging married couple who have already drawn comparisons to Michael Haneke’s award-winning Cannes film Love.

Cricket fans will of course be delighted with the presence of legendary Indian player Kapil Dev, whose story has been summarized in 83 – directed by Kabir Khan – which will receive its world premiere closer to the festival. Bollywood star Deepika Padukone, who also stars in the film, will join Dev and Khan, bringing some real glamor to the closing night.

The spectacular

The festival lineup includes excellent films from all over the world which will receive the red carpet. The opening of the Red Sea Festival is British director Joe Wright Cyrano, a vibrant new take on Edmond Rostand’s timeless love story. Peter Dinklage from Game Of Thrones plays the role of the chivalrous Cyrano, in a film that becomes an MGM musical.

Two good Spanish films are also showing. The good boss – which is part of the “International Spectacular” section – is a well-scripted comedy starring Javier Bardem at the head of a manufacturing company whose life is spiraling out of control. Official competition, meanwhile, stars Penelope Cruz, in this ripe satire of the film industry, in which she plays a down-to-earth director preparing for a film starring Antonio Banderas as a star diva.

The dedication to films with women at the helm continues with Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon, the latest from Iranian-American director Ana Lily Amirpour (A girl comes home alone at night). This extremely enjoyable adventure set in New Orleans, about a girl (Korean star Jeon Jong-seo) escaping an asylum using unusual powers, stars Kate Hudson as you never know it. have never seen it before.

The success of the Maggie Gyllenhaal festival The lost girl, which marks her directorial debut, will also take place. The film won the Gyllenhaal Award for Best Screenplay in Venice, and it’s easy to see it feature in the awards season’s gossip, with top performances from British stars Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley. Last but not least is Kenneth Branagh’s black and white Belfast, a tender return to his own childhood in Northern Ireland, with Dame Judi Dench and Jamie Dornan.

The competition

Sixteen films will star in the Red Sea competition strand, as they compete for the Golden Yusr Award. It’s an impressive mix of films from the Mena region and around the world. Among the directors who will be present, Iranian Panah Panahi, son of revered filmmaker Jafar Panahi, will bring his film Take the road at the party. Recently named Best Film at the London Film Festival, this comedic road movie about a family traveling across the country is a crowd pleaser.

Also playing in this section is alleys. The directorial debut of writer / director Bassel Ghandour, who previously wrote and produced the 2014 World War I drama Theeb, it stars Emad Azmi and Baraka Rahmani as lovers caught in a dangerous web. And then there is Huda’s living room, the menacing new thriller from Palestinian director Hany Abu Assaad, director of the Oscar-nominated film Heaven now. In it, Maisa Abd Elhadi plays Reem, a new mother who gets more than she expected when she visits a Bethlehem hair salon for a beauty treatment.

The next generation

The festival also welcomed young viewers with superb family films. The top of the stack is Sing 2, the sequel to Garth Jennings’ charming animated film about animals that can, well, sing. Returning once again, Matthew McConaughey, voicing impresario talent Buster Moon, who encourages fellow creatures to put on an even bigger show in Redshore City. This time around, there’s even room for U2 lead singer Bono to voice a character – a reclusive lion (which you can bet will deliver one or two by the end of it).

Playing is also Belle: the dragon and the freckled princess, the new anime from cult Japanese director Mamoru Hosoda, whose past works include the timeless and the beautiful Wolf Children and Mirai. This latest effort sees a shy schoolgirl step into a virtual world and play as a global songstress named Belle. Egyptian director Amr Salama will also be present to present Bara El Manhag, a fantasy about haunted houses, ghosts and an orphan child. It sounds like a classic throwback to Steven Spielberg’s 1980s Amblin films.

The Red Sea International Film Festival runs from December 6 to 15. For more details, visit redseafilmfest.com

Updated: December 5, 2021, 04:47

TORONTO – Cameron Bailey has been named CEO of the Toronto International Film Festival.

In announcing the news, TIFF’s Board of Directors expressed confidence in Bailey’s ability to lead the nonprofit in an ever-changing industry.

Bailey steps up to the top post after serving as co-director with Joana Vicente, who stepped down to become CEO of the Sundance Institute on October 31.

Bailey was previously artistic director of TIFF under former CEO Piers Handling, and was co-director before that.

He began his career at TIFF in 1990 as a seasonal film programmer, and previously worked in media as a film critic.

The news comes as TIFF also announces that Jeffrey Remedios, President and CEO of Universal Music Canada, has been named the new chair of the TIFF board. He replaces Jennifer Tory who had held the position since 2016.

Remedios touted Bailey’s leadership in a statement released Tuesday, saying: “There is no one better positioned to move TIFF forward.”

Bailey called it “both a joy and a huge responsibility” to lead the cultural organization.

“I am indebted to the founders of TIFF and each of the former leaders of TIFF for creating an organization dedicated to bringing about positive change in the world for film buffs, filmmakers and all the professionals who make movies matter,” a- he said in a statement.

In addition to hosting the September Film Festival, TIFF’s efforts include various events at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, a downtown film hub with five theaters, learning and entertainment facilities.