Author: CWB News Department

Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault’s abortion documentary “Zurawski v Texas” garnered the inaugural Artemis Rising Foundation Award for Social Impact at the Hamptons International Film Festival. The new award honors one film that transforms our culture and challenges the status quo. Executive produced by Hillary and Chelsea Clinton and Jennifer Lawrence, “Zurawski v Texas” follows a group of women who, in 2023, band together to sue the state of Texas after being denied abortions despite pregnancy health risks. Crow and Perrault will receive a $15,000 cash award, which the directors can use in whatever capacity they choose. The 98-minute doc, which…

The 1924 silent film Sherlock Jr. is being re-released in theaters on Feb. 4, soundtracked by two R.E.M. albums: 1994’s Monster and 1996’s New Adventures in Hi-Fi. The screening is part of the Silents Synched series, which pairs classic films with contemporary albums. A previous screening paired Nosferatu with two Radiohead albums. “Buster Keaton is one of my favorite actor/director/writers in movie history,” R.E.M.’s Peter Buck said in a statement, according to Rolling Stone. “I’m honored that in some small way R.E.M. is collaborating with him from beyond the grave!” https://youtu.be/suUiSDbIGFY?si=8lOHp77C9hh6j4-v A trailer for the new version of the film has just been released, featuring clips from the movie soundtracked to the Monster tune “Star 69.” Fun facts that pop…

One of the best parts of being in Los Angeles the fall is enjoying the magic of the annual Animation Is Film festival at the Hollywood TCL Chinese Theater. This year is no exception as festival organizers have handpicked some of the best movies of 2024 so that fans can enjoy them on the big screen with fellow animation lovers (Oct. 18-20). The influential event, which premiered Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio in 2022 and Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron in 2023 — both of which went on to claim the Oscar for Best Animated Feature later — promises to be another…

Now in its 60th year, the Chicago International Film Festival has earned a reputation as a preview of the Oscar’s best international film category. The festival, which runs Oct. 16–27 at theaters across town, has earned a reputation in the film world as a preview of the Oscar’s best international film category. Last year, three of the five finalists in the international category screened at the Chicago festival. So did half of the films nominated for the Oscar’s top honor: Best Picture. The Chicago team makes its selections well before Academy Award nominations are announced, but it has an enviable…

When rumors circulated that his planned films on Frank Sinatra and Jesus have been postponed, there was speculation that Martin Scorsese might retire. The legendary director has now put those rumors to rest: “I’m not saying goodbye to cinema at all,” he said during a press conference Monday at the Museum of Cinema in Turin, Italy. “I still have more films to make, and I hope God gives me the strength to make them.” Scorsese is in Turin to receive the Museum of Cinema’s prestigious Stella della Mole award Monday night. Friends like Willem Dafoe, Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore and production designer…

A murderous psychopath mournfully sings his heart out in jail. A family living in a below-ground bunker chorus together about the end of the world. A lawyer belts out a number about gender re-assignment surgery. Welcome to the movie musical 2024 – a period, it seems, of radical reinvention for the genre. Never mind the ebullient nature of High Society and other Hollywood golden age musicals, film-makers are now turning to all-singin’, all-dancin’ spectaculars to express something much darker. In Joker: Folie à Deux, the leftfield sequel to 2019’s Joker, Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga sing old standards such as Bewitched, Bothered and…

With the Israeli-Palestinian conflict dominating the headlines, following the launch of a large-scale attack from Palestinian militant groups led by Hamas against Israel from the Gaza Strip, Euronews Culture revisits films that highlight the tension between the two and which aim to help audiences understand the history. A daunting task, as the conflict has gone on for so long and any conversation or cinematic portrayal of the matter invariably leads to angry tirades. However, as the late Roger Ebert once said, movies are “like a machine that generates empathy”. So, while at no point do we believe this list to be…

The first thing one notices about Marta Mateus’ feature debut, Fire of Wind, is its striking look. A vineyard extends as far as the eye can see and the camera gobbles up every detail, crisp and razor-sharp in that way digital filmmaking so often is. The visual style is almost aggressive in how much texture it seeks to pack into every shot, a spin on haptic cinema that ensures the spectator considers each line in the grapevine and the rustle of plump windswept leaf. You can almost count the blades of dry grass below, far into the distance, as there’s no…

The long and exceptionally successful streak of Romanian New Waves continues with the latest arrival in the U.S. of LIBERTATE (Freedom) by renowned filmmaker, Tudor Giurgiu. Following its European festival circuit run, the film premiered in May at the 19th annual South East European Film Festival #SEEfest in Los Angeles. SEEfest has long been a home to discovery of new talent and specializes in showcasing the culturally rich area of East and South-East Europe. LIBERTATE was immediately picked up for North American distribution by Synergetic Film and will start its theatrical run at Laemmle Town Center in Encino on October…

TORONTO — Already beset by a serious image problem at home and abroad, embattled Prime Minister Binyamin “Bibi” Netanyahu suffered a new blow to his international stature after a full-length documentary about him had its world premiere Monday night at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). “The Bibi Files,” a nearly two-hour film, includes never-before-seen leaked footage of Netanyahu sure to increase the ire of those seeking his political demise, and perhaps give pause to a few of his fervent supporters. If nothing else, it could reshape his image abroad and unveil sides of the longtime leader previously kept under…