News

Drive My Car and Evil Does Not Exist director Ryusuke Hamaguchi is heading west for a French-Japanese co-production.

When Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car (pictured) won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film in 2021, it ensured that the Japanese director’s next film would be on the radar of a much larger audience. That film, Evil Does Not Exist, released in 2023 to further acclaim, telling the story of a father and daughter whose Japanese village becomes the target for a new camping site. The film didn’t travel quite as widely as its predecessor, but those who did see it – including our own James Harvey – were left spellbound.

This year will see Hamaguchi’s next project move into gear, and thanks to World Of Reel, we have a few details about it. Titled Our Apprenticeship, the events focus ‘on a Japanese girl studying in Paris.’ That’s all we...

Following The Film Stage’s collective top 50 films of 2024, as part of our year-end coverage, our contributors are sharing their personal top 10 lists.

When reflecting on any year in movies, the theatrical experience rings most memorable. From driving across the border to Ohio with friends to watch No Country for Old Men in 2007, to a 35mm screening of Stalker at the Wexner Center for the Arts in 2011, with so rapt an audience I was terrified to swallow for fear it would disrupt their experience—each year holds it own special memories and 2024 was no different. There was a lively afternoon matinee of Between the Temples in which I was the youngest present by about 25 years, and a sold-out Wednesday screening of Showgirls at the Academy Museum with Elizabeth Berkley in person. But judging from reactions on X.com, I’m not alone in my favorite 2024 theatrical screening being witnessing Interstellar in 70mm IMAX.

Ahead of Oscar voting starting up Wednesday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences officially announced the 323 feature films eligible for the 97th Academy Awards. 207 were deemed eligible for Best Picture, with major contenders like “Anora,” “The Brutalist” and “Conclave” all listed.

In order for a film to be eligible in the general entry categories, it must have opened in either Los Angeles County, the City of New York, the Bay Area, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth or Atlanta with a seven-day qualifying run.

Additional requirements must be met for Best Picture consideration, with a confidential Academy Representation and Inclusion Standards entry form required and a consecutive or non-consecutive seven-day theatrical run in 10 of the top 50 U.S. markets, no later than 45 days after its initial 2024 release.

Some of the highest-grossing movies of the year including “Inside Out 2,” “Deadpool & Wolverine,” “Moana 2,” “Despicable Me 4” and “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” were...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences announced on Monday the 207 feature films eligible for Best Picture consideration, two days before voting for the 2025 Oscar nominations begins.

There are 323 feature films eligible for the Academy Awards, but just 207 met the Best Picture competition eligibility requirements.

As stated by the Academy in a press release, “To be eligible for consideration in the general entry categories, under rules implemented for the 97th Academy Awards year, feature films must open in a commercial motion picture theater in at least one of six U.S. metropolitan areas: Los Angeles County; the City of New York; the Bay Area; Chicago, Illinois; Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas; and Atlanta, Georgia, between Jan. 1, 2024, and Dec. 31, 2024, and complete a minimum qualifying run of seven consecutive days in the same venue. Feature films must have a running time of more than 40 minutes.”

But Best Picture eligibility is different. Films under consideration...

There are 323 feature films eligible for the upcoming Academy Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Monday, though a whopping 36% of those – 116 feature films – are not eligible for consideration in the Best Picture category.

The discrepancy between films that have qualified for the top category and films that are eligible in other categories comes either because the filmmakers did not attempt to qualify – likely the case for several documentary, animated or international films. Or because of new eligibility rules that require Best Picture candidates to meet additional benchmarks for diversity and inclusion. This is the second year that Representation and Inclusion Standards (Raise) have been enforced, though they did not appear to disqualify any serious contenders in the category.

Among titles excluded from Best Picture consideration are Andrea Arnold’s “Bird,” starring Barry Keoghan, Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut “Woman of the Year,” Michael Keaton’s directorial debut “Knox Goes Away,...

In Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s latest film “Evil Does Not Exist,” the seemingly peaceful coexistence between humanity and nature becomes a haunting meditation on environmental stewardship and generational consequences. Set in the small village of Mizubiki, home to roughly 6,000 inhabitants, the film opens with deceptive tranquillity and slowly unfolds into a devastating critique of urban encroachment on rural spaces.

The story centers on Takumi, a taciturn woodcutter, and widower. He lives with his young daughter Hana, who embodies the delicate balance between human life and the natural world. Their daily routines – studying local flora, identifying tree species, and respectfully harvesting what the forest provides – represent a sustainable way of life that’s increasingly under threat. Hamaguchi captures these moments with crystalline precision, allowing his camera to linger on the methodical rhythm of Takumi’s axe work or the careful steps of Hana as she navigates familiar forest paths. This pastoral existence...

Sorry, Hollywood. Indie studios have officially taken over the poster game. Of the 25 films listed below, I can count the number of legacy studios on one hand (even that’s putting Focus Features under the Universal umbrella). Yes, some of that has to do with a strike-enforced lack of releases beyond true tentpoles and their glossy, Photoshopped marketing campaigns, but it’s also a continued reluctance to take risks in all facets of production. I get that they don’t need to––those types of films sell themselves––but a bit of ingenuity still increases public perception.

Some of it probably has to do with the strain of contractual obligations as far as billing and credits go with blockbuster fare (why most of the best posters are teasers rather than finals), but there are ways around such stipulations if you’re willing to push the envelope. We know the designers...

Following The Film Stage’s collective top 50 films of 2024, as part of our year-end coverage, our contributors are sharing their personal top 10 lists.

Among the many problems with movie lists is the lack of a common starting point. No one can watch the hundreds of domestic and international titles released every year. We don’t even try.

I’m suspicious of writers who claim to screen 250+ films a year. Sure, stuff’s playing in the background while you’re cooking, checking email, God forbid writing reviews, but at some point all those films bleed together into an endless montage of repetitive imagery and plot points. Ultimately everything looks and feels the same. Nothing matters.

With access to screenings, festivals, links, etc., critics start from an apparent position of privilege. In reality, that means they see what studios and their publicists want them to see. Or will let them see. There...

Chicago – It’s New Year’s Eve, so what better day for a look-back to the 10 Best Films of 2024, a soul search exercise in experiences. How do you break down a hundred and a half films in a year to a 10 in the end? Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com, Wbgr-fm and Wssr-fm gives it his best shot.

If there was one trend that defined 2024, in my observation, was the perhaps beginning of the end of the superhero genre? The only huge hit was Deadpool & Wolverine ($640M), with Venom: The Last Dance in second ($132M) barely reaching its budget in domestic box office. Madame Web, Kraven The Hunter and Joker: Folie Á Deux were box office duds.

I format my 10 Best to reflect the on-air reviews I do weekly on Wbgr-fm and Wssr-fm and occasional appearances on Missourinet.com. Each of the 10 Best will be in the on-air or audio format for your listening pleasure.

If 2024 were a movie, it would likely be a slow burn. Between studio strikes, diminishing theater releases, and a yearlong debate about whether AI is a creative savior or the devil’s intern, it seemed like the film industries of the world had traded their mojo for mediocrity.

Lea Seydoux in Bertrand Bornello’s The Beast | Credits: Ad Vitam

A handful of films, however, reminded us that there is more than meets the eye, and why we love cinema in the first place. It turns out that you don’t need algorithms or endless IP reboots to make things happen; you just need a good script, decent direction, and the occasional Nicolas Cage performance.

So, whether you’re here to confirm your “superior” taste in cinema, discover what you may have missed, or argue over rankings (inevitable it may be), you’ve come to the right place. We’re rounding...

As we continue to explore the best in 2024, today we’re taking a look at the articles that you, our dear readers, enjoyed the most throughout the past twelve months. Spanning reviews, interviews, features, podcasts, news, and trailers, check out the highlights below and return for more year-end coverage.

Most-Read Reviews

1. The Goldfinger

2. From Darkness to Light

3. The Devil’s Bath

4. Only the River Flows

5. Longlegs

6. The Nature of Love

7. The 2024 Oscar-Nominated Animated Short Films, Reviewed

8. Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2

9. Trap

10. Dune: Part Two

Most-Read Interviews

1. Richard Linklater on Sex, Murder, Hit Man, and the Infantilization of Culture

2. Will Menaker on the Year in Cinema: Oppenheimer, Scorsese, Friedkin & Beyond

3. Lee Daniels on The Deliverance, Shifting Culture, Douglas Sirk, and That Glenn Close Performance

4. “All Great DPs Become Alcoholics”: Rob Tregenza on Shooting Béla Tarr’s Werckmeister Harmonies

5. In a Violent Nature Director Chris Nash on Creating a New Kind of Slasher,...

Following The Film Stage’s collective top 50 films of 2024, as part of our year-end coverage, our contributors are sharing their personal top 10 lists.

As the decade crosses its halfway point, I can already sense the hastily assembled lists soon appearing, attempting to provide definitive word on the best in cinema over the last five years. I’d rather heed the wisdom of the great J. Rosenbaum and give some distance, but in the spirit of annual year-end extravaganza, I’ll join the crowd in looking back at least the last twelve months of releases. A peculiar year in I saw almost half the films on my list upon their festival premieres in 2023––and furthermore, my top three picks haven’t shifted since January. The eleven preceding months thankfully brought no shortage of illuminating experiences as detailed in my top 15 picks, including a few of the most noteworthy studio offerings failing...

In a year marked by personal losses as well as national strife, I’ve found myself thinking a lot about time. Strange how hours can feel eternal, days brief and weeks like they are bleeding into each other so that it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins.

I had all that in mind while compiling my favorite arts and culture picks from this year. Some of these works consider time on a personal level, like when you pick up a book and can’t put it down. Others ask how much time we have as a society considering the impact of climate change on vulnerable communities. A handful think of time more linearly — offering reflections on the past so we might better understand the future.

Here are some works, in alphabetical order, that rearranged time for me:

Alvin Ailey

Two recent works offer a portrait...

Following The Film Stage’s collective top 50 films of 2024, as part of our year-end coverage, our contributors are sharing their personal top 10 lists.

Reflecting on the past year in film, I find myself at an interesting crossroads where my alignment with the consensus is back off the axis. After 2022 left me feeling a bit out in the weeds regarding cinema culture, last year I was more in tune with the overall vibes––several favorites picked up Academy Awards, including Best Picture. This year is similar to 2022 for me, in that I won’t be surprised if not a single one of my top ten even gets a nomination.

But that doesn’t mean it was a poor year in my eyes; quite the contrary. From massive big swings by long-dormant auteurs or those recently bursting on the scene, to quiet dramas with volumes to say, to a bevy of formally...

For our most comprehensive year-end feature, we’re providing a cumulative look at The Film Stage’s favorite films of 2024. We’ve asked contributors to compile ten-best lists with five honorable mentions––many of those personal selections will be shared in coming weeks in separate features––and from tallied votes has this top 50 been assembled.

Without further ado, check out out the best in 2024 cinema below, our ongoing year-end coverage here, and return in the coming weeks as we look towards 2025.

50. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (George Miller)

While Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga earned less than its predecessor at the box office, it was no less creatively satisfying. There should be little hesitation in calling Fury Road one of the greatest action films of all time (if not the greatest); all the more impressive that George Miller had it in him to make Furiosa even more epic.

As Martin Scorsese once said, “Music and cinema fit together naturally. Because there’s a kind of intrinsic musicality to the way moving images work when they’re put together. It’s been said that cinema and music are very close as art forms, and I think that’s true.” The right piece of music––whether an original score or a carefully selected song––can do wonders for a sequence, and today we’re looking at the 25 films that best expressed that notion in 2024.

From seasoned composers to accomplished musicians, as well as a smattering of soundtracks, each perfectly transported us. Check out our rundown of the top 25, which includes streams to each soundtrack in full where available.

25. Plastic (Ide Kensuke/Exne Kedy)

24. Disco Boy (Vitalic)

c

23. Red Rooms (Dominique Plante)

22. Dune: Part Two (Hans Zimmer)

21. Nosferatu (Robin Carolan)

20. Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 (John Debney)

19. The Wild Robot (Kris Bowers...

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association aka Lafca gathered over the weekend to name their award winners for 2024. This year, they chose Palme d’Or winner Anora as Best Picture, with The Brutalist coming in as the runner-up. Anora fared quite well overall with Lafca, also taking home Lead Performance for Mikey Madison and runner-up recognition for Sean Baker’s direction and screenplay.

Check out Lafca’s winners below:

Best Picture: Anora

Runner-Up: The Brutalist

Best Director: Mohammad Rasoulof – The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Runner-Up: Sean Baker – Anora

Best Lead Performance: Marianne Jean-Baptiste – Truths / Mikey Madison – Anora

Runners-Up: Demi Moore – The Substance / Fernanda Torres – I’m Still Here

Best Supporting Performance: Yura Borisov – Anora / Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain

Runners-Up: Clarence Maclin – Sing Sing / Adam Pearson – A Different Man

Best Screenplay: A Real Pain – Jesse Eisenberg

Runner-Up: Anora – Sean Baker

Best Cinematography: Nickel Boys – Jomo Fray

Runner-Up: The Brutalist – Lol Crawley...

Anora was named best film by Los Angeles Film Critics Association (Lafca) as the group announced its winners on Sunday (December 8).

Sean Baker’s madcap Palme d’Or-winning romantic comedy, financed by FilmNation and distributed in the US through Neon, is starting to build up a head of steam in the US awards season.

Mikey Madison tied in the gender-neutral best lead performer category with last week’s New York Film Critics Circlebest actress winner Marianne Jean-Baptiste from Hard Truths. Mike Leigh’s drama is distributed in the US by Bleecker Street.

Yura Borisov was named joint best supporting performer...

The complete list of winners for the 2024 Los Angeles Film Critics Awards held on Sunday (December 8).

The annual event was put on by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, commemorating its 50th anniversary this year, and reveals the association’s selections of the year’s best movie and performances.

This year, both Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg picked up awards for their movie A Real Pain, winning Best Supporting Actor and Best Screenplay.

The LA Film Critics Awards can coincide with the Oscars – six past winners have gone on to win the Oscar since 2009.

Keep reading to find out all of the winners…

Check out the full list of 2024 LA Film Critics Awards winners below!

Best picture

Winner: Anora

Runner-up: The Brutalist

Best director

Winner: Mohammad Rasoulof, The Seed of the Sacred Fig

Runner-up: Sean Baker, Anora

Best lead performance

Winners: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Hard Truths, and Mikey Madison, Anora

Runners-up: Demi Moore,...

Voting kicked off Sunday for the 50th Los Angeles Film Critics Association (Lafca) Awards.

After announcing John Carpenter as the recipient of this year’s Career Achievement Award, Lafca members recognized some of the year’s best films and talents during Sunday’s voting ahead of the awards ceremony on Jan. 11, 2025 at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles.

Writer/director Sean Baker’s Anora took home Best Picture, also receiving runner-up for Baker in the Best Director and Best Screenplay categories. Anora star Mikey Madison won Best Leading Performance, along with Hard Truths‘ Marianne Jean-Baptiste. Her co-star Yura Borisov won Best Supporting Performance, along with A Real Pain‘s Kieran Culkin.

At last year’s Lafca Awards, The Zone of Interest won Best Picture, and runner-up Oppenheimer went on to win Best Picture at the 96th Academy Awards.

Founded in 1975, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association is composed of LA-based...

Sean Baker’s raucous film “Anora” has been named the best movie of 2024 by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, which announced its awards on Sunday. Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist” took the runner-up spot.

“Anora” took three awards overall, also winning for actors Mikey Madison and Yura Borisov. Baker was also the runner-up in the directing and writing categories, edged out in director by exiled Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof for “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” and in screenplay by writer-director-actor Jesse Eisenberg for “A Real Pain.”

In the gender-neutral acting categories, the lead awards were swept by women and the supporting awards by men. Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Madison won the lead awards for “Hard Truths” and “Anora,” respectively, with Demi Moore and Fernanda Torres the runners-up for “The Substance” and “I’m Still Here.”

Supporting winners were Borisov for “Anora” and Kieran Culkin for “A Real Pain,” while...

Anora was named best picture of 2024 by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (Lafca), which handed out its annual achievement awards Sunday, marking its 50th anniversary of honoring Hollywood talent on both sides of the camera.

The Brutalist was the runner-up.

Anora also scored two acting wins: Best lead performance went to Marianne Jean-Baptiste for Hard Truths and Mikey Madison for Anora, while best supporting performance went to Yura Borisov for Anora and Kieran Culkin for A Real Pain.

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails also were among the ceremony’s winners, taking home best score for Challengers. Mohammad Rasoulof took home best director for The Seed of the Sacred Fig.

The association previously announced science fiction legend John Carpenter as this year’s career achievement award, citing his “ability to spin stylish, prescient, genre-bending features of otherworldly menace and powerful emotion,” as well as the fact...

Days after the New York Film Critics Circle announced its annual winners, film critics in Los Angeles weighed in on the year’s best movies and performances.

“Anora” won a leading three awards: Best Picture and two acting trophies. Its filmmaker, Sean Baker, was also the runner-up for Best Director and Best Screenplay.

Acting winners included Marianne Jean-Baptiste (“Hard Truths”) and Mikey Madison (“Anora”) for best lead performances, while Yura Borisov (“Anora”) and Kieran Culkin (“A Real Pain”) won the best supporting performance category. The runners-up in each respective category were Demi Moore (“The Substance”) and Fernanda Torres (“I’m Still Here”), and Clarence Maclin (“Sing Sing”) and Adam Pearson (“A Different Man”). The Los Angeles Film Critics Association awards acting honors in genderless categories.

Read below for the full list of Los Angeles Film Critics Association winners.

Founded in 1975, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association “is comprised of Los Angeles-based,...

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association named Sean Baker’s “Anora” its Best Picture for 2024. The critics group also awarded stars Mikey Madison and Yura Borisov with the Best Leading Performance and Best Supporting Performance, respectively. This year, the Lafca decided to spread the wealth and awarded two performers in each category, which remain gender neutral.

The Lafca spread the wealth around, but Baker also received the runner-up prizes for both Best Director and Best Screenplay. Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist” was named runner-up in the Best Picture category.

With New York kicking off awards season with the Gotham Awards and the NYFCC releasing their winners, the West coast finally jumped into the fray, with the Los Angeles Film Critics Association announcing their winners for 2024 on Sunday, December 8.

Lafca previously unveiled that John Carpenter will be receiving the Career Achievement Award during its ceremony on Saturday, January 11, 2025 at the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles,...

In a week full of a few embarrassing selections included in the likes of National Board of Review and AFI’s picks for the top films of 2024, leave it to BFI’s Sight and Sound to deliver a top 10 films of the year worth paying attention to. Led by Payal Kapadia’s Cannes Grand Prix winner All We Imagine as Light, the list also includes Anora, La Chimera, Dahomey, Hard Truths, Caught by the Tides, No Other Land, Nickel Boys, and more, while the top 50 includes The Beast, The Shrouds, Close Your Eyes, A Different Man, The Brutalist, I Saw the TV Glow, Evil Does Not Exist, and more. A great year for cinema, indeed.

Director Payal Kapadia said: “When I was at film school, at The Film & Television Institute of India, we used to get a copy of Sight and Sound. We were all excited when the new edition...

The first major awards show of the season has spoken, and the future looks bright for A24 as A Different Man took best feature and Sing Sing top acting honours for Colman Domingo and Clarence Maclin at the 34th Gotham Awards on Monday night.

Cannes Palme d’Or winner Anora, which began the night at Cipriani Wall Street in New York with the most nominations on four, went home empty-handed. However Sean Baker’s madcap romantic comedy is expected to figure prominently as awards season continues.

Aaron Schimberg’s dark comedy A Different Man premiered in Sundance and stars Sebastian Stan...

“A Different Man” was named the best independent film of the year at the 2024 Gotham Awards, which took place on Monday night in New York City.

The win for the drama starring Sebastian Stan came as a surprise at the end of a show in which “Nickel Boys” and “Sing Sing” had been the big winners, and in which “Anora” came in with the most nominations but left empty-handed.

In the gender-neutral acting categories, Colman Domingo and Clarence Maclin won the lead and supporting awards for “Sing Sing.” Domingo’s category also included Pamela Anderson for “The Last Showgirl,” Nicole Kidman for “Babygirl,” Marianne Jean-Baptiste for “Hard Truths” and Mikey Madison for “Anora,” while Maclin’s included Yura Borisov for “Anora,” Guy Pearce for “The Brutalist,” Kieran Culkin for “A Real Pain” and Danielle Deadwyler for “Nickel Boys.”

“Nickel Boys” star Brandon Wilson won the award for breakthrough actor, while that film’s director,...

A24’s “A Different Man” won best feature at the 2024 Gotham Awards Monday night at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.

Meanwhile, “Sing Sing” swept the acting categories, with Colman Domingo winning for best lead performance and Clarence Maclin for best supporting performance.

Each category for nominations is decided by a different jury of critics, journalists and other industry professionals, and screening links must be provided to all its jury members. An entirely different group determines the winners. That’s in contrast with the Oscars or the BAFTAs, which are determined by actors, filmmakers and other artists who are in the entertainment industry.

In addition to the nominees, the Gothams bestowed special tributes to some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, including Oscar winner Angelina Jolie (Performer Tribute) for “Maria,” Emmy winner Zendaya (Spotlight Tribute) for “Challengers,” Timothée Chalamet and James Mangold (Visionary Tribute) for “A Complete Unknown,” and the...

When the 34th annual Gotham Awards took place in Cipriani Wall Street in New York City on Monday, December 2, the Oscar race officially began. The Gothams traditionally occupy a spot on the awards calendar as the first major film-centric ceremony of the season, giving fans their first opportunity to see the year’s biggest stars on the red carpet. The event also marks awards watchers’ first chance to gauge the state of the race.

The night’s top prize went to “A Different Man,” Aaron Schimberg’s A24 body transformation comedy that premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The film, which stars Sebastian Stan as a facially disfigured actor who undergoes an experimental surgery to boost his career, beat out Oscar frontrunners such as Sean Baker’s “Anora” and Luca Guadagnino’s “Challengers.” The win could boost the award chances of both Schimberg and his stars Stan and Adam Pearson.

The Gotham Awards, honoring the best in American independent films, held their 34th annual event on Monday night, Dec. 2, launching the fall and winter awards season. So who were the big winners? Scroll down for the complete list of 2024 Gotham Awards champs in all categories, updating live throughout the night.

Nominees were decided by panels of film critics, journalists, festival programmers, and film curators. The winners were then selected by juries of writers, directors, actors, producers, editors, and others directly involved in filmmaking. Those small juries change from year to year and from category to category, so these awards can produce surprising results.

Telling the story of a young sex worker from Brooklyn who meets and impulsively marries the son of a Russian oligarch, “Anora” led the nominations with four bids including Best Feature, as well Sean Baker for Best Director, actress Mikey Madison for Best Lead Performance and actor...

Tonight, New York City celebrated the finest in entertainment with the 2024 Gotham Awards. It’s the first step on the long road to the Oscars and finally giving awards watchers something to live for. Though the Gothams focus on independent movies, the Gotham Awards give us some sense of what...

With turkeys packed in bellies and holiday gift shopping now officially underway, it’s getting to be that time of year where we look back on 2024 and reflect on what’s most important: The movies that made it all bearable. Kicking things off, the storied French film magazine Cahiers du Cinema has released its top 10, which include some selections from IndieWire’s own 2023 best-of list. Though our official 2024 list is not yet locked in, we also share some items on our 2024, so far best-of list. The list only includes movies that opened theatrically in France in 2024, hence the crossover.

Serving as the hub for the French New Wave and launching the careers of legendary talents such as François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, Cahiers du Cinema has been in publication since 1951 and continues to offer a bold, distinct voice in the world of film. One of its more unique choices over...

No matter the changes and upheavals from recent years, Cahiers du cinéma’s status as cinematic north pole has waned little––evidenced by annual top 10 lists combining beloved arthouse titles, one or two mainstream favorites, and titles whose status has yet to be established stateside.

This year is the epitome of such, topping out with Alain Guiraudie’s great Misericordia––his fifth time on the list and second in first place, after 2013’s Stranger by the Lake––and continuing with Todd Haynes’ May December. Works that have shown up many places this year and last find real estate with three those either lesser-seen or entirely disregarded in America: Rodrigo Moreno’s The Delinquents, Sophie Fillières’ Ma vie ma guele, and Jonás Trueba’s Septembre sans attendre. Meanwhile––and in a sterling confirmation that Cahiers knows what is up––there is love for M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap.

See the full...

Partners Sideshow Pictures and Janus Films open All We Imagine As Light on Friday and will follow the playbook for Drive My Car, the indie distributor’s first film that began a slow rollout about this time in 2021, collecting awards, nice grosses and finishing with an International Picture Oscar win amid a flurry of nominations. Payal Kapadia’s film, among the best reviewed of the year, was snubbed by India for an Oscar selection. Its distributor has something to say about that and is campaigning for other key categories.

Also this weekend, comedy A Real Pain with Jesse Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin from Searchlight Pictures hits 900-plus screens in a major expansion. Sony Pictures Classics’ Saorsie Ronan starrer The Outrun, which opened in early October and was down to 19 screens, is jumping back to 200 by popular demand, which is nice to hear.

Gkids debuts Ghost Cat Anzu on 300-plus screens.

“Holy Motors” auteur Leos Carax has been making genre-defying, mind-bending movies for 40 years, since 1984’s “Boy Meets Girl.” Now he’s accomplishing another first: The first day-and-date theatrical/streaming release to take place on the Criterion Channel, courtesy of Sideshow and Janus Films.

Carax’s latest film “It’s Not Me” will be released December 10 via limited theatrical engagements in New York and Los Angeles while simultaneously streaming on Criterion Channel following a live-stream premiere that day. At the same time, you can purchase “It’s Not Me” on Amazon, Apple, Google Play, and Fandango at Home for $14.99. IndieWire is proud to exclusively debut the trailer and poster for “It’s Not Me” below.

This follows the exclusive streaming premieres on Criterion Channel for “Evil Does Not Exist” and “The Beast.” And it’s unique because Carax has previously indicated his qualms with streaming, even despite the support of Amazon Studios...

‘Anora’, del director Sean Baker, encabeza las nominaciones. © Gotham| Universal Pictures | A24

Ya se conocen los nominados a los Gotham, unos galardones que premian lo mejor del cine independiente estadounidense y que dan el pistoletazo de salida oficial (como cada año) a la temporada de premios.

Este año, Anora, de Sean Baker – que, por cierto, acaba de estrenarse en cines españoles –, es la película con más nominaciones, con un total de cuatro. Muy de cerca le siguen Nickel Boys, de RaMell Ross, y I Saw the TV Glow, de Jane Schoenbrun, ambas con tres nominaciones cada una.

La 34 edición de los Premios Gotham se celebrará el 2 de diciembre. A continuación, os dejamos la lista completa de nominados:

Mejor PELÍCULA

Anora

Babygirl

Challengers

A Different Man

Nickel Boys

Mejor PELÍCULA Internacional

All We Imagine As Light

Green Border

Hard Truths

Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell

Vermiglio

Mejor INTERPRETACIÓN Principal

Pamela Anderson,...

The first nominations of the season are in as contenders for the 34th Gotham Awards were unveiled on Tuesday, with Anora, Hard Truths, and The Last Showgirl among 39 features and 25 performances in the running for nine awards.

Nominees were announced via X and seesAnora, whichleads the way on four nods,Babygirl, Challengers, A Different Man, and Nickel Boys up for the best feature prize, while Pamela Anderson, Adrien Brody, Saoirse Ronan, Mikey Madison, and Demi Moore are in the running for best lead performance.

Nickel Boys and I Saw The TV Glow each earned three nominations, while Hard Truths garnered two.

The nominations for the 34th Gothams Awards were unveiled on Tuesday, with Anora, Hard Truths, and The Last Showgirl among 39 features and 25 performances in the running for nine awards.

Nominees were announced via X and seesAnora, whichleads the way on four nods,Babygirl, Challengers, A Different Man, and Nickel Boys up for the best feature prize, while Pamela Anderson, Adrien Brody, Saoirse Ronan, Mikey Madison, and Demi Moore are in the running for best lead performance.

International feature film nominees are All We Imagine As Light, Green Border, Hard Truths, Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell, and Vermiglio.

The inaugural best...

Awards season is officially underway, according to the Gotham Film & Media Institute, and “Anora,” “Babygirl,” “Challengers,” “A Different Man,” and “Nickel Boys” are among the films in competition at this year’s Gotham Awards.

On Tuesday, the membership-based, non-profit independent film group announced its nominees for the 2024 Gotham Awards, the “start of the annual awards season” according to press materials. “Anora” led with four nominations, including Best Feature, Best Lead Performance for Mikey Madison, Best Supporting Performance for Yura Borisov, and Best Director for Sean Baker.

The other Best Feature nominees included “Babygirl” (which landed Nicole Kidman a nomination for Best Lead Performance), “Challengers,” “A Different Man” (which also received recognition for Adam Pearson in Best Supporting Performance), and “Nickel Boys” (which had two other nominations – Best Director for RaMell Ross and Breakthrough Performance for Brandon Wilson).

Other highlights among the nominees include Demi Moore and Pamela Anderson in the Best Lead Performance category,...

The Gotham Film & Media Institute announced today the nominations for the 34th edition of The Gothams, including 39 feature films and 25 performances in nine award categories. Leading the Best Feature nominees are Anora, Babygirl, Challengers, A Different Man, and Nickel Boys.

“We are proud to announce the nominees for The Gothams, selected by nominating committees who bring their independent perspective to the selection process. This year’s nominations celebrate voices from across the globe, embodying the growing embrace of international cinema by audiences everywhere. We look forward to celebrating our nominees and our Gotham tributes in a few weeks,” said Sharp.

The 2024 Gothams will be held live and in person at 7 pm on Monday, December 2nd at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City.

Best Feature

Anora

Sean Baker, director; Sean Baker, Alex Coco, Samantha Quan, producers (Neon)

Babygirl

Halina Reijn, director; David Hinojosa, Julia Oh, Halina Reijn, producers (A24)

Challengers

Luca Guadagnino,...

Sean Baker’s Cannes Palme d’Or-winning Anora from Neon has nabbed four Gotham Award nominations today including Best Feature, Best Director, Outstanding Lead Performance for Mikey Madison and Outstanding Supporting Performance for Yura Borisov.

Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers from Orion/Amazon MGM was nominated for Best Feature. The studio’s Nickel Boys by RaMell Ross had noms for Best Feature and Best Director.

The indie-centric awards last year removed a longstanding budget cap on eligibility, an opening for bigger budget studio and streamer fare to submit for consideration.

A24 films were everywhere with multiple nominations for Babygirl, I Saw The TV Glow, Sing Sing and A Different Man. The Brutalist, Janet Planet and Love Lies Bleeding had noms as well.

The October noms and early December ceremony are industry bellwethers, coming at the start of awards season in the crush of fall festival buzz.

“We are proud to announce the nominees for The Gothams,...

“Anora,” “Babygirl,” “Challengers,” “A Different Man” and “Nickel Boys” have been nominated as the best films of 2024 by the 2024 Gotham Awards, the Gotham Film & Media Institute announced on Tuesday.

Sean Baker’s “Anora” led all films with four nominations, including Best Feature, Best Director and Outstanding Lead and Supporting Performances for Mikey Madison and Yuri Borisov.

In the gender-neutral Gotham acting categories, other nominees included Pamela Anderson for “The Last Showgirl,” Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce for “The Brutalist,” Nicole Kidman for “Babygirl,” Marianne Jean-Baptiste for “Hard Truths,” Demi Moore for “The Substance” and Saoirse Ronan for “The Outrun.”

Eligibility for the Gotham Awards used to be restricted to films that came in under a $35 million budget cap, but the awards did away with that rule last year. Currently, the definition of a film eligible for the Gothams is “filmmaking with a point of view … where the vision of an individual director,...

The Gotham Film and Media Institute announced Tuesday the nominations for the 34th annual Gothams, honoring 39 features and 25 performances across nine award categories. Nominees were chosen by a group of journalist- and programmer-led committees. This is the first major awards body to share nominations for the year in film, and here, the Gothams are led by “Anora,” “Babygirl,” “Challengers,” “A Different Man,” and “Nickel Boys” in the Best Feature category.

“We are proud to announce the nominees for The Gothams, selected by nominating committees who bring their independent perspective to the selection process. This year’s nominations celebrate voices from across the globe, embodying the growing embrace of international cinema by audiences everywhere. We look forward to celebrating our nominees and our Gotham tributes in a few weeks,” said Gotham Film and Media Institute executive director Jeffrey Sharp.

Per the Institute, nominees are chosen by committees of film critics, journalists,...

It’s officially awards season, baby. While there are still more than four months to go before we cross the finish line at the Academy Awards, this afternoon the Gotham Awards—honoring independent film—announced their crop of 2024 nominees, officially kickstarting campaign season and offering the first clues about which...

As 2024 winds down, like most cinephiles, we’re looking to get our eyes on titles that may have slipped under the radar or simply gone unseen, so—as we do each year—we’re sharing a rundown of the best titles available to watch at home.

Curated from the Best Films of 2024 So Far list we published for the first half of the year, it also includes films we’ve enjoyed the past few months and some with which we’ve recently caught up. While our year-end coverage is still to come, including our staff’s top 50 films of 2024, this streaming guide will hopefully be a helpful tool for readers to have a chance to find notable – perhaps underseen – titles of late.

Note that we’re going by U.S. releases and that streaming services are limited solely to the territory as well. If you want to stay up-to-date...

The Berlin-based sales agency M-Appeal has closed a host of new deals across their slate of recent films, including “Perfect Endings,” “Sex,” “Love,” and “Vera and the Pleasure of Others.”

M-Appeal is attending the Asian Contents and Film Market, which sits alongside the Busan Film Festival.

Gay rom-com “Perfect Endings,” by Teddy-winner Daniel Ribiero, has been picked up for France by Outplay Films. The Brazilian film, which premiered earlier this year at Frameline, follows João (Artur Volpi), who is thrown into the dating world after breaking up with his boyfriend of 10 years. At a crossroads in both his personal and professional life, he ends up directing amateur erotic films, while finding his way through the confusion of modern romance.

Diego Carazo-Migerel Fougères, head of international sales and acquisitions at Outplay Films, told Variety: “Daniel Ribeiro’s latest film presents a unique opportunity to continue sharing his work with French...

If you’re eagerly anticipating to watch Evil Does Not Exist on digital streaming platforms, you’re in luck! After its successful debut in 2024, Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s latest film is available to stream on The Criterion Channel. You can also rent or buy it on Apple TV and Amazon, making it accessible for viewers eager to dive into this emotional drama from the comfort of their homes.

Evil Does Not Exist follows the story of Takumi and his daughter Hana, who live peacefully in Mizubiki Village, near Tokyo. Their tranquil life takes a sharp turn when they learn of plans to build a camping site near their home, designed to offer city dwellers a convenient escape to nature. As the village residents grapple with the proposed development, the film unfolds as a deep reflection on environmental preservation and the balance between rural and urban life.

The film has received strong reviews,...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Babes (Pamela Adlon)

Transitioning the naturalistic comic sensibilities that made Better Things a success, Pamela Adlon’s feature debut Babes manages to co-opt the rhythms of a romantic comedy to explore the relationship between two best friends at opposite points of their lives. – Christian G. (full review)

Where to Stream: Hulu

Dìdi (弟弟) (Sean Wang)

While trying to chat up classmate Madi (Mahaela Park) on Aim, Chris (Izaac Wang) skims her MySpace for an “in”. Then, beneath all the Paramore pictures and low-res GIFs is a list of her favorite movies. Oh, A Walk to Remember is one of them. He fakes loving it; “its helllllla good,” he says. Now he has to maintain that––at least for a few scenes. This...

Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired all U.S. rights to The Shrouds, written and directed by David Cronenberg and are planning a spring 2025 theatrical release.

The film world premiered at the Cannes Film Festival where it screened In Competition. It played the Toronto International Film Festival as part of the Gala program and is set for its U.S. premiere in the Main Slate at the New York Film Festival next month.

The deal was negotiated by Sideshow and Janus Films with Sbs International. Producers are Saïd Ben Saïd, Martin Katz and Anthony Vaccarello for Saint Laurent. It’s an Sbs, Prospero Pictures & Saint Laurent Productions Film with the participation of Telefilm Canada, Eurimages, Ontario Creates in association with Sphere Films, Crave & CBC Films with the support of Canal +, Ocs & the Centre National du Cinema et de L’image Animée.

“Building on a...

Pull out your copy of the latest septic tank health and safety regulations, because Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s masterfully unsettling and thought-provoking triumph “Evil Does Not Exist” will soon be streaming at home.

The Criterion Channel will exclusively premiere “Evil Does Not Exist” in a live streaming event this Sunday September 22 at 8:00 p.m. Et/5:00 p.m. Et. Then the film will live on the Criterion Channel as its exclusive streaming home starting October 1.

This is the latest of several live streaming events the Criterion Channel has hosted, with previous ones including Janus Films’ pickup “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus,” directed by Neo Sora, and Sideshow and Janus’s “The Beast,” directed by Bertrand Bonello. The live streams are a novel way of making a film’s streaming premiere an event unto itself and is one of several innovations the Criterion Channel has rolled out over the past year, such as...