News

Selection includes upcoming features from Berlinale award-winner Carla Simon and San Sebastian award-winner Johannes Nyholm.

CineMart, the co-production market of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), has revealed the 17 feature projects to be showcased at the upcoming edition, which will take place entirely online.

The market will run February 1-5, during the 50th IFFR, and will invite filmmakers to pitch their projects virtually to a host of international film professionals in tailored one-to-one meetings, as well as online presentations that are open to all CineMart guests.

Eleven of the filmmakers are returning to IFFR after previously screening films at earlier editions,...

Tomorrow is the centenary of the birth of one of cinema’s greatest directors, Ingmar Bergman, and to celebrate, The Criterion Collection has announced of their most expansive releases ever. This November, they will release Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema, a 39-film box set comprising nearly all of his work, including 18 films never before released by Criterion. Curated akin to a film festival, the set features Opening, Centerpiece, and Closing Films, with many double features in between. The set also features 11 introductions and over five hours of interviews with the director himself, six making-of documentaries, a 248-page book, and much more.

As we await for its November 20 release, check out an overview from Criterion below, as well as the box art, the trailer, and the full list of films, in curated order. One can also see much more about each release and the special features on the official site.

With the...

Strange Behavior. What an apt title for this film. Released in 1981, Aka Dead Kids, Strange Behavior is a unique mash up of a popular (at the time) sub-genre and one long forgotten – the Slasher and The Mad Scientist. For fans of either, it provides a weird, loving tribute to the latter while quietly etching a place for itself in the former. A lot of horror lovers missed the boat on this one at the time of its release, which is strange behavior, indeed.

Given a limited release in October by World Northal stateside, Strange Behavior impressed many critics at the time with its ethereal quality and 50’s throwback feel, but audiences really never got a chance to see it until released on video the following year. And even then, it never picked up steam with the horror crowd. Which is quite sad, as the film still plays as a creepy,...

The Renaissance Theater in Berlin has announced that actor Heinz Bennent, best known in Europe for his work on the stage, died this morning at the age of 90. His career spanned over 150 roles in more than 20 theaters and, beginning in the late 60s, on screen. He performed for Ingmar Bergman in The Serpent's Egg (1978) and From the Life of the Marionettes (1980), for François Truffaut in The Last Metro (1980; he was nominated for the César Award for Best Supporting Actor), for Volker Schlöndorff in The Lost Honor of Katharina Blum (1975) and The Tin Drum (1979; his son David played Oskar) and for Andrzej Żuławski in Possession (1981). He appeared in several European television productions as well, but as the German Press Agency emphasizes, he first love always remained the theater.

Update, 10/15: For the New Yorker's Richard Brody, "his final screen performance, in Benoît Jacquot's Princess Marie, from 2003, is an extraordinary one,...

Normal 0 false false false En-us X-none X-none MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

By Raymond Benson

Once again The Criterion Collection digs into master director Ingmar Bergman’s vault and brings us his exquisite, enigmatic film from 1958, The Magician (originally titled The Face in the UK; in fact, the Swedish title, Ansiktet, means “Face”).

Set sometime in the 1800s, the story concerns a traveling magic and medicine show called “Vogler’s Magnetic Health Theater.” The troupe consists of Vogler (Max von Sydow), the mute magician of the picture’s title, his “ward,” Mr. Aman (Ingrid Thulin in disguise, although it’s no surprise that the character is a woman), Tubal (Ake Fridell), who acts as manager/spokesman, and the inscrutable Granny (Naima Wifstrand), an old witch who dabbles in love potions. Picked up along the road is an alcoholic actor, Spegel (Bengt Ekerot, who was memorable as Death in The Seventh Seal).

Before the company...

HollywoodNews.com: “Ingmar Bergman: Truth and Lies,” an exhibition that delves into the career and personal life of the legendary Swedish director, will have its world premiere at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Thursday, September 16. Organized by the Deutsche Kinemathek – Museum für Film und Fernsehen, Berlin, in association with the Academy, the exhibition, which is open to the public, will run through December 12. Admission is free.

In preparation for the first major exhibition since the director’s death in 2007, the Bergman Foundation in Stockholm has granted unprecedented access to Bergman’s personal papers, allowing for an in-depth examination of his life and vast creative output.

“Truth and Lies” will provide unique insights into Bergman’s film, theater work and personal life, with sections devoted to his early creative efforts, his ascent as an artist and his struggles with faith. The exhibition’s film projections and...

Just days after reviews began coming in from a stage adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s Through A Glass Darkly, it looks as though more stage adaptations of the legendary auteurs work may be on the horizon.

According to a feature penned by Variety, the Bergman estate is slowly becoming more open to stage adaptations, especially after the aforementioned Through A Glass Darkly. The Bergman Foundation has only sanctioned three films for stage adaptations; The Devil’s Eye, The Seventh Seal, and Through A Glass Darkly, within the English speaking world.

Scenes From A Marriage has been done in Russia, which while not being sanctioned for stage performance by the Bergman estate, has since become the most popular adaptation of Bergman’s, along with teleplays of Saraband, From The Life Of The Marionettes and After The Rehearsal. Also quite popular are Persona, Autumn Sonata and Winter Light, all of which haven...