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San Sebastian Fetes Veteran Director Victor Erice

Veteran director Víctor Erice will be honored with the San Sebastian Film Festival’s Donostia Award at its upcoming 71st edition, running from September 22 to 30. Actress Ana Torrent will present the Basque filmmaker with the prize at a ceremony on September 29, preceding a screening of his new film Close Your Eyes. The tribute coincides with the 50th anniversary of Erice winning San Sebastian’s top Golden Shell award for first solo feature The Spirit of the Beehive. Torrent made her big screen debut at the age of seven years old in the film and recently reunited with him in Close Your Eyes. San Sebastian has accompanied Erice across his career. Prior The Spirit of the Beehive, his 1969 directorial debut Los Desafíos, co-directed with José Luis Egea and Claudio Guerín, was selected for Official Selection and received the Silver Shell for Best Director. His...

The lineup for the 76th installment of the Cannes Film Festival has finally been announced. Nineteen films will be competing to take home the prestigious Palme d’Or, including a record six films helmed by women. The festival will be taking place in the French Riviera from May 16 to May 27. This year’s jury will be headed by Ruben Östlund, who won his second Palme d’Or last year for “Triangle of Sadness.”

Knowing a filmmaker’s previous track record at Cannes can sometimes help give an idea as to who might be in the best position to claim the Palme. For instance, five of this year’s entries come from directors who have previously won the Palme. Another five are from auteurs who have had previous films win a prize in the main competition other than the Palme. Another five are from directors having their first film screen in the main competition.

Paris-based Haut et Court has closed French distribution rights with sales agent Film Factory Entertainment on Victor Erice’s ”Close Your Eyes” (“Cerrar los ojos”), the legendary Spanish director’s return to feature film direction 30 years after Cannes Jury Prize winner “Dream of Light” and a half century on from his milestone debut, “The Spirit of the Beehive.”

“Beehive” is regarded by many critics as one of the greatest Spanish films ever made. “Light” was chosen by the world’s cinematheques as the best film of the 1990s. “Close Your Eyes” reunites Erice with Ana Torrent, a wide-eyed mite in “Beehive.”

One of the most awaited Spanish films of 2023, it will be released in Spain by Avalon Films, the producer-distributor of “Alcarràs.”

“Close Your Eyes” turns on a famed actor who disappears while making a film. Many years later, a TV program airs the final scenes he shot, the beginning...

Film Constellation has unveiled the trailer for Werner Herzog’s Japanese-language narrative film “Family Romance, LLC” ahead of the movie’s world premiere in the special screenings section at the Cannes Film Festival.

Written and directed by Herzog, the movie follows a man who is hired to impersonate the missing father of a 12-year-old girl. Herzog, who shot the film last spring and summer in Tokyo and Aomori, Japan, with non-professional actors, is keeping the plot details under wraps.

“Family Romance, LLC” was produced by Roc Morin at Skellig Rock and features music by Ernst Reijseger. The movie marks Herzog’s comeback to the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival after many years. His last entry in the official selection dates back to 2002 with the omnibus feature “Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet,” which he co-directed.

Herzog last attended Cannes in 2017 to receive the Carrosse d’Or award from the...

London-based sales house Film Constellation has boarded Oscar-winning director Werner Herzog’s Japanese-language narrative film “Family Romance,” which will have its world premiere in the special screenings section at the Cannes Film Festival.

Written and directed by Herzog, the movie was shot last spring and summer in Tokyo and Aomori, Japan, with non-professional actors. It follows a man who is hired to impersonate the missing father of a 12-year-old girl. Herzog is keeping the plot details under wraps.

As with Herzog’s other works, “Family Romance” explores the recurring theme of individuals chasing impossible dreams, said Fabien Westerhoff, the CEO of Film Constellation.

“This is a project Werner Herzog has kept secret for the last year, and when Werner Herzog asks if you want to work with him, you say ‘Yes, where do I sign,'” Westerhoff said. “Not only because he is one of the greatest living filmmakers, but...

This year the Riga International Film Festival ‘Arsenals’ has chosen to honour Latvian documentarist Herz Frank on the occasion of his 85th birthday. Sporting his signature knitted beret and Leica camera, Frank attended the opening of an exhibition on his life and work at Riga’s small but modern Film Museum, where he signed copies of his book, Turn Back on the Threshold (Uz sliekšņa atskaties, Kino Raksti Library).

Frank is a representative of the ‘Riga Style’, a poetic and observational approach to documentary. One of his most celebrated shorts is 10 Minutes Older (Vecāks par 10 minūtēm, 1978) which presents close-ups of children watching a puppet show. Although the film’s spectators never see the puppets, there is a far more interesting show in the childrens’ faces as they are affected by different emotions. Many years later, this film inspired two omnibus features, Ten Minutes Older: The Cello and Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet...