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“Mother Mara,” which has its world premiere at Sarajevo Film Festival as a gala screening, playing out of competition, has debuted its trailer (below). World sales are being represented by Antipode Sales International.

The Serbian drama stars and is directed by Mirjana Karanovic, who previously starred in and directed Sundance competition title “A Good Wife.” As an actor she is best known for Jasmila Zbanic’s “Grbavica,” winner of the Berlin Golden Bear, and Emir Kusturica’s Oscar nominated and Cannes Palme d’Or winner “When Father Was Away on Business.”

The film centers on Mara, a successful businesswoman and single mother, who is heartbroken after her son Nemanja’s untimely death. She becomes emotionally detached, refusing to communicate with friends and family. However, when she meets Milan, Nemanja’s close friend, she finds solace and comfort in their relationship. As they grow closer, they uncover more about Nemanja’s life and his passing,...

The European Film Academy hosted a series of conversations in Karlovy Vary.

The current and future role of film academies was the topic of debate at a European Film Academy-hosted event, Academies Open Doors, held this week at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

Directors, producers and festival programmers revealed in one panel session what they expect from film academies, and what they would like academies to offer in the future, beyond glitzy award ceremonies.

The panel included Rada Sesic, who heads the documentary section of the Sarajevo Film Festival, Slovakian producer and consultant Katarina Tomkova, Italian director Mattia Colombo, whose...

Panellists debate the role of academies at European Film Academy-hosted event.

The current and future role of film academies was the topic of debate at a European Film Academy-hosted event, Academy Open Doors, held this week at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

Directors, producers and festival programmers revealed in one panel session what they expect from film academies, and what they would like academies to offer in the future, beyond glitzy award ceremonies.

The panel included Rada Sesic, who heads the documentary section of the Sarajevo Film Festival, Slovakian producer and consultant Katarina Tomkova, Italian director Mattia Colombo, whose documentary...

The 57th edition includes new films by directors Pascal Plante, Stephan Komandarev, Tinatin Kajrishvili and Babak Jalali.

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival has unveiled the official selection for its 57th edition, including new features by Pascal Plante, Stephan Komandarev and Tinatin Kajrishvili.

The festival, which runs from June 30-July 8 in the Czech spa town, has nine world premieres and two international premieres in its main Crystal Globe Competition.

Canadian director Plante, whose Nadia Butterfly was in Cannes’ Official Selection in 2020 and Fake Tattoos played in the Berlinale’s Generation strand in 2018, world premieres arthouse thriller Red Rooms about a woman...

The Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival, Eastern and Central Europe’s leading cinema event, has unveiled its lineup, which includes new works by Pascal Plante, Stephan Komandarev, Tinatin Kajrishvili and Babak Jalali in the Crystal Globes Competition. They will vie against films by up-and-comers Ernst De Geer, Itsaso Arana and Cyril Aris. The section has nine world and two international premieres. Oscar-nominated actor Patricia Clarkson is one of the jury members.

The Proxima Competition, which made its debut at last year’s Kviff, presents what the festival defines as “bold works,” directed by young filmmakers and renowned auteurs alike. The section comprises of 10 world and two international premieres. The festival says “playfulness, courage and freshness can be found” in the new films by Swiss auteur Thomas Imbach, Poland’s Olga Chajdas, Cyprus-born Kyros Papavassiliou, French filmmaker Émilie Brisavoine and Romanian documentarist Alexandru Solomon, among others.

Eight films will play in the Special Screenings section,...

Faya Dayi Photo: Jessica Beshir Jessica Beshir's Faya Dayi won the Grand Jury prize at this year's Visions du Réel documentary film festival, which presented its online event from Switzerland.

The film, which also won the Fipresci award, given by film critics, considers a complex picture of modern Ethiopia and its relationship with the stimulant leaf khat.

The jury - comprised of filmmaker Thomas Imbach, Torino Film Lab artistic director Savina Neirotti and MoMA curator Josh Siegel - said: "Interweaving an ancient Sufi parable about the quest for the water of eternal life with a rigorous meditation on labour, exploitation, and exile, and moving freely among different levels of reality and consciousness, Jessica Beshir has created a dreamlike fable for our own uncertain times."

They also awarded a Special Jury prize, ex aequo to Tomasz Wolski's 1970, about a watershed moment in Poland and Ahmet Necdet Cupur's Les Enfants Terribles,...

Fresh off Sundance and a series of compelling interviews about how she chronicled the Covid-19 outbreak in China and its rampage across the the U.S., Nanfu Wang’s In the Same Breath will have its New York premiere as the opening film in the Museum of Modern Art’s Doc Fortnight 2021.

The twenty-year old fest will be virtual, running from March 18 to April 5, with 18 documentary features, short films and special projects. Two films are world premieres and several are North American premieres, including the closing selection, Julien Faraut’s Les sorcières de l’Orient (Oriental Witches), the account of a historic Japanese women’s volleyball team and its meteoric ascent to the Tokyo Olympics in 1964.

The lineup includes Hong Kong Documentary Filmmakers’ Inside the Brick Wall; Mohamed Soueid’s The Insomnia of a Serial Dreamer; Rosine Mbakam’s Delphine’s Prayers; Anthony Banua-Simon’s Cane Fire; Ali Essafi’s...

The Museum of Modern Art has unveiled the festival lineup for Doc Fortnight 2021, the 20th edition of its annual showcase of nonfiction films from around the globe. Over 18 documentary features and four short films will be screened as part of the festival.

In a concession to the coronavirus pandemic, this year’s films will be offered exclusively on MoMA’s Virtual Cinema from March 18 to April 5, 2021. The festival boasts two world premieres and numerous North American debuts. Doc Fortnight 2021 will kick off with the New York premiere of Nanfu Wang’s “In the Same Breath,” a look at the origins and spread of Covid-19, charting its early days in Wuhan, China to its deadly rampage through the United States. The festival is truly global in scope including filmmakers from Lebanon, Cameroon, Brazil and Morocco, among many other countries.

The closing night film is “Les sorcières de l’Orient (Oriental Witches...

Iranian director Firouzeh Khosrovani has won the IDFA award for best feature-length documentary with “Radiograph of a Family,” a film that uses an intimate study of her parents’ marriage—her father was secular, Westernized and progressive, while her mother was a devout, traditional Muslim—to explore the divisions in Iranian society both in the run-up and aftermath of the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

The jury, which comprised Marie-Pierre Macia, Ed Lachman, Alice Diop, Abdelkader Benali, and Finn Halligan, praised Khosrovani for the strength of her storytelling, adding, “The fractured body of family life is told through images, photos, and enactments in such a way that the viewer, too, feels the loss.”

Contacted by Zoom, the director screamed with delight. “I’m honored,” she said, after taking a second or two to collect her thoughts. “I have no words to express how happy I am,” she enthused. “I just want to thank...

The festival has received over 62,000 online film views.

Firouzeh Khosrovani’s Radiograph Of A Family has won the best feature-length documentary award at International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), which held its awards ceremony this evening in Amsterdam and broadcast online worldwide.

The Norway-Iran-Switzerland co-production receives the €20,000 prize; it was selected by a Competition jury consisting of producer Marie-Pierre Macia, directors Ed Lachman and Alice Diop, writer Abdelkader Benali and Screen’s chief film critic Fionnuala Halligan.

Scroll down for the full list of winners

The film is Khosrovani’s take on growing up in Tehran and her parents’ relationship – her...

Thomas Imbach didn’t have to go far for the inspiration and execution of his latest feature documentary “Nemesis,” which premiered in the International Competition section of the digital version of Switzerland’s Visions du Réel documentary film festival and now plays in IDFA’s main competition section.

Shot over seven years from his own window, a trick Imbach previously used in 2011’s “Day is Done,” the film tracks the demolition of Zurich’s historic freight railway station and the subsequent construction of a massive, industrial prison where three quarters of the inmate population is likely to be immigrants, if it matches national averages.

As the train station crumbles beneath the metal jaws of an excavator, Imbach tells stories from his past and the impact the station has had on his own life. Once construction begins on the towering penitentiary, the stories shift to those of immigrants awaiting deportation, collected...

The annual IDFA press conference began Wednesday with some seemingly abstract visuals that artistic director Orwa Nyrabia revealed formed a key part of this year’s marketing campaign. Inspired by the work of Dutch photographer Maurice Mikkers, the images are close-ups of human tears—pretty apt for a year that Nyrabia described as “exciting, painful, and joyful at the same time.”

He also noted that the festival, at 33, had passed the first flush of youth and was yet to enter middle age. “Thirty-three years of age is certainly a special number,” he said. “I think, in humans, we consider it to be the ultimate age, right? That’s the age when we are most mature but still energetic, when we have a future to look to, and to shape, but we are not too young to acknowledge that.”

As previously reported, the festival will go ahead—as far as possible,...

The festival scaled back its physical events earlier this month.

The world premiere of Paraguayan-Swiss director Arami Ullón’s Nothing But The Sun will open the 33rd International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), with the festival announcing its final competition sections.

Produced by the director’s Paraguayan company Arami Ullon Cine, Ullón’s second documentary feature contrasts the arid atmosphere of Paraguay’s Chaco region with the stories of the Ayoreo people, an Indigenous community uprooted from their ancestral territory by white missionaries.

The film will open the festival in the feature-length competition on November 18, with the event running until December...

From Thomas Imbach’s “Nemesis” and Michele Pennetta’s “Il Mio Corpo” to a 13-title National Competition – featuring Nick Brandestini’s section winner “Sapelo,” celebrated French screenwriter Antoine Jaccoud’s directorial debut “Back to Visegrad” and Tribeca world premiere “Wake Up on Mars – ” this year’s Visions du Réel festival proved, as ever, a notable launchpad for Swiss documentaries.

Held online on May 4, a Swiss Films presentation of five upcoming doc features added to this impact, and suggested much about the nature of Switzerland documentary scene.

A power in movie production – in 2018 only Europe’s “big five” territories and Russia produced more features – Switzerland is also a European doc talent hub. The five docs presented Monday were all produced by Swiss companies. Only one, Roland Colla’s “W. What Remains of the Lie” was directed by a Swiss director, though at least there of the other helmers have either studied...

Claire Denis, Petra Costa and Peter Mettler to give online masterclasses.

Swiss documentary festival Visions de Réel, which was to have taken place from April 24 to May 2 in the lakeside town of Nyon, has revealed details of the online format it has developed to replace the physical event which was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Visions du Réel 2020 will not take place at the Place du Réel, in the cinemas, in the tent and in the bar, in Nyon,” said artistic director Émilie Bujès, referring to the event’s traditional festival and industry hubs. “But it will resolutely be held on the internet,...

Claire Denis, Petra Costa and Peter Mettler to give online masterclasses.

Swiss documentary festival Visions de Réel, which was to have taken place from April 24 to May 2 in the lakeside town of Nyon, has revealed details of the online format it has developed to replace the physical event which was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Visions du Réel 2020 will not take place at the Place du Réel, in the cinemas, in the tent and in the bar, in Nyon,” said artistic director Émilie Bujès, referring to the event’s traditional festival and industry hubs. “But it will resolutely be held on the internet,...

Variety has been given exclusive access to the trailer for Swiss/Croatian feature film “Mare,” written and directed by Andrea Staka, which will have its world premiere in the Panorama Section of the Berlin Film Festival.

The film, which is being sold by Pamela Leu at Be For Films, centers on Mare. She has never flown, although she lives right next to the airport with her husband and three teenagers. She loves her family, cares for them, but sometimes almost feels like a stranger in her own home.

Mare finds herself gazing at the planes overhead, longing for change and the unknown. When one day a young man moves into the house next door, she puts her life to the test.

The cast includes Marija Škaričić, Goran Navojec, Mateusz Kościukiewicz and Mirjana Karanović. The film is produced by Thomas Imbach, Štaka and Tena Gojić for Okofilm Productions and Dinaridi. Frenetic...

Thomas Imbach’s “Glaubenberg” is Switzerland’s sole entry in main international competition at this year’s Locarno Festival, although the director insists that aside from geography, there is little that is uniquely Swiss about the film.

Imbach has been in the international competition before at Locarno with “Happiness is a Warm Gun” in 2001, and 2013’s high-profile “Mary Queen of Scots,” still considered to be one of the most ambitious features to come out of the small land-locked nation.

“Glaubenberg,” set mostly in and around the Glaubenberg Pass in the Emmental Alps, follows 16 year-old Lena, a girl who’s love for her brother Noah is more than sisterly. Lena escapes into daydreams and fantasy at first, but eventually moves to more practical means of satiating her desire, manipulating the people around her.

“I know this story from my personal life,” Imbach told Variety in an interview before the festival. “And...

Locarno — The 71st Locarno Festival kicks off today, Wednesday Aug. 1, its Industry Days on Aug. 3. It commands the biggest industry attendance of any mid-summer film event in Europe. Following are ten industry takes on this edition.

1.Locarno: The Paradox

Locarno frames an industry paradox. ”Sales agents never retire. They just print up new business cards.” Or so the saying goes.

A lot may now also be changing their job descriptions. For the 2018 Locarno Festival frames a paradox: 87% of first-run titles playing the Piazza Grande, a venue for crowd-pleasers, have sales agents. That may be par for the course. But as many as 73% of the far more auteurist, sometimes out-there competition, also have agents on board coming into Locarno, which “could be something of a record,” said Nadia Dresti, Locarno artistic director and head of Locarno Pro, its industry division.

Yet, in many territories in the world, theatrical arthouse audiences are...

Swiss director Thomas Imbach has given Variety exclusive access to the first teaser for his latest directorial feature, “Glaubenberg,” set to world premiere in the main international competition at the 2018 Locarno Festival.

The film follows 16 year-old Lena, a girl in love who knows what she wants and is willing to go to great lengths to get it. Lena’s problem however: The singular focus of her affections is older brother Noah.

“Glaubenberg” takes some inspiration from the story of Byblis and Kaunos in Ovid’s “Metamorphoses,” a tale that Imbach first discovered while writing the script for his film.

“It came as a great surprise to find my story distilled in the six pages I had just read,” he recalled.

For Imbach, “Glaubenberg is about a form of love that is taboo in our society. The love of a sister for her brother – a love so intense that it is...

Before Telluride, before Venice, before TIFF, there is the last great festival of the summer season: Locarno Festival, a singular Swiss event that typically features a strong mix of fest favorites from Sundance and Cannes, along with their own batch of returning favorites.

This year’s lineup is no exception, including films from Spike Lee, Ethan Hawke, Kent Jones, Aneesh Chaganty, Cristina Gallego, and Ciro Guerra that have premiered elsewhere, along with new films from Hong Sangsoo, Vianney Lebasque, and Yolande Zauberman. Antoine Fuqua’s upcoming sequel “The Equalizer 2″ will also screen, along with the second season of Bruno Dumont’s series “Coincoin and the Extra Humans.”

This morning’s lineup announcement includes the Piazza Grande section and the International Competition.

Check out the full lineup for this year’s Locarno Festival below.

Piazza Grande

“The Guest,” Duccio Chiarini, Italy Switzerland, France

“Coincoin and the Extra-Humans,” Bruno Dumont, France

“Liberty,...

Bruno Dumont's CoinCoin et les Z'inhumainsThe lineup for the 2018 festival has been revealed, including new films by Hong Sang-soo, Radu Muntean, Mariano Llinás and others, alongside retrospectives and tributes, and much more.

Piazza GRANDEBlacKkKlansmanBlazeCoincoin et les Z'inhumainsI Feel GoodLe vent tourneLes Beaux EspritsLibertyL'ordre des medecinsL'ospiteManila in the Claws of LightBirds of PassageRuben Brandt, Collector (Milorad Krstic, Hungary)Se7enSearchingThe Equalizer 2Un nemico che ti vuole bene (Denis Rabaglia, Italy/Switzerland)What Doesn't Kill Us

Concorso INTERNAZIONALEGlaubenbergA Family TourDianeLa FlorYaraMenocchioToo Late To Die YoungRay & LizHotel By the RiverA Land ImaginedMSibelGenèseWintermärchenAlice T.

Concorso Cineasti Del PRESENTEAll GoodThose Who WorkChaosClosing TimeImmersed FamilyFaust The Dive Suburban BirdsYoung and AliveLikemebackDead Horse NebulaWe Are ThankfulSophia AntipolisHierLong Way HomeTrot

Signs Of Lifea Room with a Coconut ViewCommunion Los AngelesHow Fernando Pessoa Saved PortugalDulcineaGulyabaniThe Fragile HouseMan in the WellJulio Iglesias's HouseThe Glorious Acceptance of Nicolas ChauvinSedução da CarneAnything And AllThe Grand BizarreErased,...

The lineup for this year’s Locarno International Film Festival, which celebrates its 71st edition, has arrived. Among the most-anticipated titles in the lineup there’s a new feature from Hong Sang-soo titled Hotel by the River and the latest film from Tuesday, After Christmas director Radu Muntean, Alice T. Also in the slate is Man in the Well, a short film from Hu Bo, made before his first and final feature An Elephant Sitting Still. Ahead of our coverage, check out the full lineup below (via Mubi), also featuring previously premiered films from Spike Lee, Kent Jones, Ethan Hawke, Ciro Guerra & Cristtina Gallego, Aneesh Chaganty, and more.

Piazza Grande

BlackKkansman

Blaze

Coincoin et les Z’inhumains

I Feel Good

Le vent tourne

Les Beaux Esprits

Liberty

L’ordre des medecins

L’ospite

Manila in the Claws of Light

Birds of Passage

Ruben Brandt, Collector

Se7en

Searching

The Equalizer 2...

The Locarno Film Festival has unveiled the official lineup for its 71st edition, including 13 world premieres in the main competition, which is characterized by films with women at their center.

Artistic director Carlo Chatrian – who moves to the Berlin Film Festival next year – noted that, although only three of the 15 titles competing for the Golden Leopard are directed by women, “a large number of the films are portraits of women.”

That applies to U.S. first-time director Kent Jones’ drama “Diane,” which stars Mary Kay Place and made a splash at Tribeca; Romanian auteur Radu Muntean’s teenage pregnancy drama “Alice T”; Turkey’s “Sibel,” by Cagla Zencirci and Guillaume Giovanetti, whose protagonist is a young, rebellious mute woman; and Iraqi director Abbas Fahdel’s “Yara,” about a young woman who lives with her grandmother in an idyllic Lebanese village “where politics and the female condition in the Arab world come crashing in.

Projects previously presented at the market include Laszlo Nemes’s Oscar-winning Son Of Saul.

The 14th CineLink Co-Production Market (Aug 18-20), the backbone of Sarajevo Film Festival’s industry section, will this year present 15 projects from South-East Europe, and three guest projects from Qatar and Mexico.

CineLink boasts an impressive track record. An average of 60% of the projects that have taken part at the market in the last 13 years went all the way from development to production.

The most recent success is Laszlo Nemes’ Son Of Saul which won the Grand Prix at Cannes 2015 and Oscar for Best Foreign Language Films.

Other titles developed at the market include two winners of Venice’s Lion of the Future: White Shadow by Noaz Deshe, and Mold by Ali Aydin; two Berlinale Silver Bear winners: Harmony Lessons by Emir Baigazin and If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle by Florin Serban; and Semih Kaplanoglu’s 2010 Golden Bear winner Honey.

The...

Swiss cinema is to be put in the spotlight in Mexico and Brazil over the next two years.

At the Locarno Film Festival (Aug 5-15), Swiss Films’ MD Catherine Ann Berger revealed details to ScreenDaily about how Switzerland will be a guest country at next year’s Guadalajara Film Festival (March 4-13) against the backdrop of the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Mexico and Switzerland.

“To begin with, we will have a historical retrospective of Swiss cinema in the Cineteca in Mexico City this December, and then in March, there will be a programme in Guadalajara of Swiss films from the past two, three years,” Berger explained.

“In addition, there will be an industry dimension with co-production meetings and the opportunities for professionals from both countries to meet and discuss partnerships,” she added, pointing out that the focus in Mexico will be the first major project of its kind that she is preparing since coming to Swiss...

The Sarajevo Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for its 20th edition which runs August 15-23.

The 20th Sarajevo Film Festival (Aug 15-23) has announced its official selection. Among nine films in the feature competition, there are three world premieres, including the new film by Kosovo veteran Isa Qosja, Three Windows And A Hanging. Qosja won the Special Jury Award at Sff with Kukumi in 2005.

Two other world premieres in competition are first feature films: Georgian director Lasha Tskvitinidze’s I Am Beso, and Song Of My Mother by Turkey’s Erol Mintas.

The list of debuts in the competition is completed with Berlinale titles Brides by Georgia’s Tinatin Kajrishvili, Land Of Storms by Hungary’s Ádám Császi, and Macondo by Sudabeh Mortezai from Austria.

Cure - The Life Of Another, the new film by Andrea Staka who won Heart of Sarajevo for best film in 2006 with Das Fräulein, will have its...

Berlin’s Picture Tree International (Pti) has secured several deals with Us distributors, following its debut as an exhibitor at the European Film Market (Efm).

The Berlin-based production and sales outfit sold North American rights for Christian Schwochow’s West (Westen) to Mainstreet Films.

Schwochow’s East-West drama, which Senator will be releasing theatrically in Germany on March 27, was also sold to the UK (New Wave), France (Sophie Dulac), Spain (Savor Ediciones) and South Korea (Mediasoft), with Encore securing the global in-flight rights.

Pti also sold Icelandic director Ragnar Bragason’s Metalhead to Cinelicious, marking the first acquisition made by the fledgling Us distributor. The heavy metal drama was also sold to Canada (Raven Banner).

Fack Ju goes international

The first sales of Fack Ju Göthe (Suck Me Shakespeer) have been secured with Océan Film (France), Cinemart (Czech Republic/Slovakia) and Sejong (South Korea).

Bora Dagtekin’s screwball romantic comedy is Germany’s latest blockbuster, where it has...

Berlin’s Picture Tree International (Pti) has secured several deals with Us distributors, following its debut as an exhibitor at the European Film Market (Efm).

The Berlin-based production and sales outfit sold North American rights for Christian Schwochow’s West (Westen) to Mainstreet Films.

Schwochow’s East-West drama, which Senator will be releasing theatrically in Germany on March 27, was also sold to the UK (New Wave), France (Sophie Dulac), Spain (Savor Ediciones) and South Korea (Mediasoft), with Encore securing the global in-flight rights.

Pti also sold Icelandic director Ragnar Bragason’s Metalhead to Cinelicious, marking the first acquisition made by the fledgling Us distributor. The heavy metal drama was also sold to Canada (Raven Banner).

Fack Ju goes international

The first sales of Fack Ju Göthe (Suck Me Shakespeer) have been secured with Océan Film (France), Cinemart (Czech Republic/Slovakia) and Sejong (South Korea).

Bora Dagtekin’s screwball romantic comedy is Germany’s latest blockbuster, where it has...

Film Festival Flix has picked up North American rights to a three films led by Mary Queen Of Scots.

Mary Queen of Scots stars Camille Rutherford and Thomas Imbach directed the historical drama. President and CEO Benjamin Oberman brokered the deal with Picture Tree International.

Katherine Randolph’s Adulthood and James Huang’s Starting From Scratch round out the shopping spree.

Adulthood is a coming-of-age ensemble about of a group of friends entering their thirties. Film Festival Flix negotiated with Markwood Films.

Starting From Scratch stars Huang, who also wrote the script about a separated couple brought back together by a tax audit. Elizabeth Sandy also stars.

The new titles will be used as part of Mousetrap Films’ distribution platform Film Festival Flix.

Film Festival Flix is also launching a monthly online short film competition with $5,000 in cash prizes.

In November, the 10 finallists will screen together in select theatres across the Us. The winner...

In the royal bedchamber.

454 years ago, a recently widowed teenage queen who had spent most of her life in France arrived on Scottish shores to begin her active, tragic reign. This year, Thomas Imbach’s biopic of Mary, Queen Of Scots premières at the Glasgow Film Festival. We asked its star, Camille Rutherford, what it was like to play such a famous woman.

“Everything about it was amazing,” she says. “The fact of actually getting the part, to begin with, and it was incredible to be 19 and be this queen who we learned about in history class. It was an incredible part. She was a very unusual person and I think of her as like a feminist.” It was particularly challenging to take on the role, she explains, because it meant acting in English for the first time. Director Imbach had initially considered Scottish actresses for the role but couldn’t find one he.

Tenth edition of Glasgow Film Festival, running Feb 20-March 2 announces guest lineup.

Award-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss and film-maker Terry Gilliam are among the guests set to attend the upcoming Glasgow Film Festival.

Dreyfuss will be attending the UK premiere of Cas & Dylan on Feb 22, where he will also be accompanied by the film’s director, Beverly Hills 90210’s Jason Priestley.

Gilliam will be in attendance at the screening of The Zero Theorem on Feb 27.

Other guests confirmed include Under the Skin director Jonathan Glazer and star Paul Brannigan for the festival’s closing gala on March 2; director David Mackenzie for Starred Up; magician Rickey Jay for the UK premiere of new documentary Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay; Mary Queen of Scots director Thomas Imbach; and Brontis Jodorowsky to talk about his father’s latest film The Dance of Reality.

Guests previously announced for this year’s tenth edition include The Double director [link=nm...

Acclaimed director Terry Gilliam will attend the première of his new film, The Zero Theorem, in Glasgow later this month, it was announced today. The Glasgow Film Festival has announced several big name guests who will be present at this year's events, including Richard Dreyfuss and Jason Priestley for Cas & Dylan and Thomas Imbach for Mary, Queen Of Scots. Japanese director Sang-il Lee will introduce Unforgiven, his adaptation of the Clint Eastwood classic, and Jean-Paul Salomé will discuss Playing Dead.

Alongside this international line-up will be Scottish talent including Paul Brannigan, star of The Angels' Share, and David Mackenzie, who directed Perfect Sense and will be introducing his new film Starred Up. There will also be a chance to meet Ricky Jay, the celebrated stage magician whose work has appeared in everything from Boogie Nights to The Prestige.

You can read our full coverage of the festival <a...

Berlin-based sales and production company Picture Tree International (Pti) has secured distribution rights to four new titles ahead of this year’s European Film Market (Efm).

The fledgling outfit, which will be represented at the Efm with a stand for the first time, has world sales rights for German blockbuster Suck Me Shakespeer (Fack Ju Göthe) which has sold more than six million tickets and made in excess of $60m to become Germany’s most successful box office release of 2013.

The Constantin Film release will receive the Audience Award at the Bavarian Film Awards in Munich tonight (Friday). Pti will market the film’s TV rights in cooperation with Red Arrow, the international sales arm of ProSiebenSat.1.

Pti will also bring Damian John Harper’s feature debut Los Ángeles, which will have its world premiere in the Berlinale’s Forum. Inspired by the Us-born director’s experiences spent during a year in a small Southern Mexican village...

Lesbian drama release a bold move given anti-gay legislation in Russia.

Stacie Passon’s lesbian drama Concussion is among four titles acquired by Russian distributor Cinema Without Borders (Kino bez Granits) at this year’s Afm for theatrical release in Russian cinemas in 2014.

The other titles acquired were:

Don Coscarelli’s black fantasy comedy John Dies At The EndLucky McKee and Chris Sivertson’s horror film remake All Cheerleaders Die, andAustralian Zak Hilditch’s apocalypse drama These Final Hours

According to Cinema Without Borders, the latter two titles are expected to be given a wide release.

The acquisition of the 2013 Teddy Award winner Concussion would seem particularly brave given the current anti-gay mood in Russia since the introduction of legislation earlier this year banning “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations among minors.”

Despite anonymous “telephone terrorism,” bomb threats and harassment by the police, the sixth edition of St Petersburg’s Bok o Bok (Side by Side) Lgbt film festival...

Films from Ron Howard, Lee Daniels, the Coens, Steve McQueen and Alexander Payne in the line-up of the cinematography festival.

Camerimage, the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography now in its 21st edition, today revealed the line-up of films selected for the festival’s main competition.

The entries are:

Burning Bush, Agnieszka Holland (Cz Rep)

Cinematographer: Martin Strba

Concrete Night, Pirjo Honkasalo (Fin-Swe-Den)

Cinematographer: Peter Flinckenberg

Heli, Amat Escalante (Mex-Fra-Ger-Neth)

Cinematographer: Lorenzo Hagerman

Home from Home (Die andere Heimat – Chronik einer Sehcsucht), Edgar Reitz (Ger-Fra)

Cinematographer: Gernot Roll

Ida, Paweł Pawlikowski (Pol-Den)

Cinematographers: Łukasz Żal, Ryszard Lenczewski

Inside Llewyn Davis, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen (Us-Fra)

Cinematographer: Bruno Delbonnel

Lee Daniels’ The Butler, Lee Daniels (Us)

Cinematographer: Andrew Dunn

Life Feels Good (Chce sie zyc), Maciej Pieprzyca (Pol)

Cinematographer: Paweł Dyllus

Mary Queen of Scots, Thomas Imbach (Swi-Fra)

Cinematographer: Rainer Klausmann

Nebraska, Alexander Payne (Us)

Cinematographer: Phedon Papamichael

Paradise for the Damned, Alejandro Montiel (Arg)

Cinematographer:...

German sales agents have revealed a raft of market premieres to be presented at the forthcoming American Film Market (Afm) (Nov 6-13).

Ida Martins’ Cologne-based Media Luna will have screenings of five new titles as market premieres:

Stijn Coninx’s romantic feel-good drama Marina, based on the childhood memories of the Italian-Belgian singer Rocco Granata;

Menno Meyjes’ psychological drama-thriller The Dinner, based on Herman Koch’s eponymous international bestseller, which had its world premiere at last month’s Toronto International Film Festival;

Jan Verheyen’s courtroom drama The Verdict, which received the Best Award at the Montreal World Film Festival;

Julia von Heinz’s German-Israeli romantic comedy Hanna’s Journey which celebrates its German premiere on at this week’s Hof Film Days and is nominated for the Millbrook Authors Prize;

Bettina Blümner’s coming of age drama Broken Glass Park which was awarded the Goethe Institut’s Youth and Children’s Film Prize at the Schlingel...

AFI Fest 2013 presented by Audi, a program of the American Film Institute, today announced the remaining sections and films that will screen in the festival’s World Cinema, American Independents, Breakthrough, Midnight, Cinema’s Legacy and Presentations programs. AFI Fest, which redefines Hollywood today as a place where icons and emerging artists bring audiences together to experience global cinema in the movie capital of the world, will take place November 7 through 14 at the historic Tcl Chinese Theatre, the Chinese 6 Theatres, the Egyptian Theatre and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

World Cinema showcases the most anticipated and prize-winning international films of the year, the American Independents section features work by U.S. filmmakers, Breakthrough highlights work discovered only through the blind submission process, Midnight’s selections tend toward the macabre and Cinema’s Legacy highlights restorations and classic films.

This year’s program includes the return of several filmmakers to AFI Fest...

Festival top brass have announced the outstanding World Cinema, American Independents, Breakthrough, Midnight, Cinema’s Legacy and Presentations programmes.

The AFI Fest is scheduled to run from November 7-14 in Hollywood’s Tcl Chinese Theatre, the Chinese 6 Theatres, the Egyptian Theatre and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

The complete programme includes 119 films (83 features, 36 shorts), representing 43 countries. Twenty-seven films are directed or co-directed by women as are 10 documentaries.

For the fifth consecutive year, AFI Fest will offer free tickets to all screenings, however only the Cinepass Express will provide priority entry to all regular screenings. For the complete programme visit the official site.

World Cinema SelectionsBaby Blues Kasia Rosłaniec (Poland)Bethlehem Yuval Adler (Israel)Borgman Alex van Warmerdam (Neth-Bel-Den)Child’s Pose Călin Peter Netzer (Romania)Closed Curtain Jafar Panahi, Kamboziya Partovi (Iran)The Congress Ari Folman (Isr-Ger-Pol-Lux)An Episode In The Life Of An Iron Picker Danis Tanovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina-France-Slovenia)Exhibition Joanna Hogg (UK)Gabrielle Louise Archambault (Canada...

La Jaula De Oro (The Golden Cage), a road movie from Mexican director Diego Quemada-Diez about teenage Guatemalan immigrants trying to make it to the U.S., won the Golden Eye for best film at the 9th Zurich international film festival. The jury, headed by Swiss-born director Marc Forster (World War Z) and including Oscar-winning actress Melissa Leo (Prisoners), directors Andrew Dominik (Killing Them Softly) and Thomas Imbach (Day is Done) and producers Stacey Sher (Django Unchained) and Guneet Monga (Lunchbox) also gave a special mention to actor Michael B. Jordon for his starring role playing Oscar

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Attendance up 22%; festival director Karl Spoerri talks about Zurich’s potential as a film finance hub.

The Zurich Film Festival’s ninth edition has given its Golden Eye for best international film to The Golden Cage (La Jaula De Oro) from Mexico’s Diego Quemada-Diez. The jury gave a special mention to actor Michael B Jordan in Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station.

The International Documentary Film winner was Danish director Kaspar Astrup Schroeder’s Rent A Family Inc. (Lej En Familie A/S). A special mention went to Omar Mullick and Bassam Tariq’s These Birds Walk from Pakistan.

The German-language competition awards went to Frauke Finsterwalder’s German feature Finsterworld and Anna Thommen’s Swiss documentary Neuland. A special mention went to Die Frau Die Sich Traut by Marc Rensing for feature and to Sabine Lidl’s Nan Goldin – I Remember Your Face for documentary.

Each of the awards comes with a $22,050 (CHF20,000) cash prize and...

Swiss Films promotional agency to restructure in 2014.

The new head of national promotion agency Swiss Films says filmmakers should start thinking about how their film will be promoted from the minute they start working on it. “We’re trying to find out what the story will be at the beginning…promotion should be starting from day 1,” says Swiss Films director Catherine Ann Berger.

She wants Swiss Films to be able to work with directors and producers as they are making films, and in the editing room. “It’s trusting the experience of many people who have worked in the field for a long, long time.” She says getting world sales companies on board for Swiss films earlier can also help landing slots at major festivals.

It’s a change in attitude from how European arthouse filmmakers are accustomed to working. “It’s a different approach to European auteur filmmaking. They want to keep the reins as long...

Once again the European Film Promotion’s (Efp) Film Sales Support (Fss) initiative will come to Toronto to link sales companies from all over Europe to a great array of buyers from across the globe. Supported by the Media Programme of the European Union, Fss has now been aiding the European film industry fro the last 10 years.

"Toronto has and is an important informal market and an important festival for European films, the distributors see the films in a different mood, more quietly, the public screenings are working well. It is a key place to launch a film or to complete previous sales on films that were in Cannes, Venice, Locarno...” (Loïc Magneron, Wide)

“Tiff is a major pillar of the annual festival calendar. Aside from a proliferation of North American buyers, it also attracts top tier international distributors so a favorable reception at Tiff can significantly increase a film's commercial prospects”. (Andrew Orr, Independent)

Due to the limited amount of resources, only 52 out of the 60 films submitted to the Efp will receive financial support to be marketed during the Tiff, which runs from September 5 to 15. This year alone, 372 films total, over 150 from Europe, will screen at the festival many of which will see their world or international premiers there.

Supported films and companies at Tiff 2013

Alpha Violet (France), rep. Virginie Devesa The Summer of Flying Fish (El Verano de los Peces Voladores) by Marcela Said, France, Chile, 2013

Arri Worldsales (Germany), rep. Moritz Hemminger Exit Marrakech by Caroline Link, Germany, 2013 Home from Home (Die Andere Heimat) by Edgar Reitz, Germany, France, 2013

Athens Filmmakers' Co-Operative (Greece), rep. Venia Vergou Wild Duck by Yannis Sakaridis, Greece, 2013

Bac Films Distribution (France), rep. Clémentine Hugot The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears (L'Entrange Couleur Ded Larmes De Ton Corps) by Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, 2013

Beta Cinema (Germany), rep. Tassilo Hallbauer Le Grand-Cahier by János Szász, Germany, Hungary, Austria, France, 2013

Blonde S. A. (Greece), rep. Fenia Cossovitsa Standing Aside, Watching (Na Kathese Kai Na Kitas) by Yorgos Servetas, Greece, 2013

Capricci Films (France), rep. Julien Rejl Story of My Death (Historia De La Meva Mort) by Albert Serra, Spain, France, 2013 The Battle of Tabato (A Batalha De Tabato) by João Viana, Portugal, Guinea-Bissau, 2013

Celluloid Dreams (France), rep. Hengameh Panahi Those Happy Years (Anni Felici) by Daniele Luchetti, Italy, 2013

Cité Films (France), rep. Raphaël Berdugo Faith Connections (Faith Connections) by Pan Nalin, France, India, 2013

Doc & Film International (France), rep. Daniela Elstner, Alice Damiani Violette by Martin Provost, France, Belgium, 2013 South is Nothing (Il Sud E'Niente by Fabio Mollo, Italy, France, 2013

Dogwoof (United Kingdom), rep. Ana Vincente Inreallife by Beeban Kidron, UK, 2013

Ealing Metro International (United Kingdom), rep. Natalie Brenner, Will Machin Half of a Yellow Sun by Biyi Bandele, UK, 2013 The Stag by John Butler, Ireland, 2013

Embankment Films (United Kingdom), rep. Tim Haslam Le Week-End by Roger Michell, UK, 2013

Eyeworks Film & TV Drama (The Netherlands), rep. Maarten Swart The Dinner (Het Diner) by Menno Meyjes, The Netherlands, 2013

Fantasia Ltd (Greece), rep. Nicoletta Romeo The Daughter (I Kori) by Thanos Anastopoulos, Greece, Italy, 2013

Film Factory Entertainment (Spain), rep. Vicente Canales Cannibal (Canibal) by Manuel Martín Cuenca, Spain, 2013 Zip & Zap and the Marble Gang (Zipi & Zape y el Club de la Canica) by Oskar Santos, Spain, 2013

Films Boutique (Germany), rep. Jean-Christophe Simon Walesa. Man of Hope (Walesa) by Andrzej Wajda, Poland, 2013

Films Distribution (France), rep. Nicolas Brigaud-Robert, François Yon Eastern Boys by Robin Campillo, France, 2013 Under the Starry Sky (Des Etoiles) by Dyana Gaye, France, Senegal, 2013

Heretic (Greece), rep. Giorgos Karnavas The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas (I Aionia Epistrofi Tou Antoni Paraskeva) by Elina Psykou, Greece, 2013

Independent Film Sales (United Kingdom), rep. Karina Gechtman, Abigail Walsh The Sea by Stephen Brown, UK, Ireland, 2013 Starred Up by David Mackenzie, UK, 2013

Latido Films (Spain), rep. Miren Zamora Honeymoon (Libanky) by Jan Hrebejk, Czech Republic/Slovak Republic, 2013

LevelK (Denmark), rep. Tine Klint Sex, Drugs & Taxation (Spies Og Glistrup) by Christoffer Boe, Denmark, 2013

Linel Films (United Kingdom), rep. Aran Hughes To The Wolf (Sto Lyko) by Aran Hughes & Christina Koutsospyrou, Greece, UK, France, 2013

Minds Meet (Belgium), rep. Tomas Leyers I'm The Same I'm An Other by Caroline Strubbe, Belgium, The Netherlands, 2013

MK2 (France), rep. Victoire Thevenin Hotel (Hotell) by Lisa Langseth, Sweden, Denmark, 2012

Mpm Film (France), rep. Pierre Menahem For Those Who Can Tell No Tales by Jasmila Žbanić, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Germany, 2013

Negativ s.r.o. (Czech Republic), rep. Zuzana Bielikova Miracle (Zazrak) by Juraj Lehotský, Czech Republic, Slovakia, 2013

Pathé Distribution (France), rep. Muriel Sauzay The Finishers by Nils Tavernier, France, 2013 Quai d'Orsay by Bertrand Tavernier, France, 2013

Pausilypon Films (Greece), rep. Menelaos Karamaghiolis J.A.C.E. - Just Another Confused Elephant by Menelaos Karamaghiolis, Greece, Portugal, Macedonia, Turkey, 2012

Picture Tree International (Germany), rep. Andreas Rothbauer Mary Queen of Scots by Thomas Imbach, Switzerland, 2013 Metalhead (Malmhaus) by Ragnar Bragason, Iceland, Norway, 2013

PPProductions (Greece), rep. Thanassis Karathanos Septmeber by Penny Panayotopoulou, Greece, Germany, 2013

Pyramide International (France), rep. Agathe Mauruc Giraffada by Rani Massalha, France, Germany, Italy, 2013

Rezo (France), rep. Laurent Danielou, Sebastien Chesneau The Station (Blutgletscher) by Marvin Kren, Austria, 2013 Abuse of Weakness (Abus De Faibless) by Catherine Breillat, France, Belgium, Germany, 2013

The Match Factory (Germany), rep. Michael Weber, Thania Dimitrakopoulou The Police Officer's Wife (Die Frau Des Polizisten) by Philip Gröning, Germany, 2013 Qissa (Quissa) by Anup Singh, Germany, India, The Netherlands, France, 2013

The Yellow Affair (Sweden), rep. Miira Paasilinna Heart of a Lion (Leijonasydan) by Dome Karukoski, Finland, 2013

TrustNordisk (Denmark), rep. Susan Wendt, Nicolai Korsgaard Pioneer (Pioner) by Erik Skjoldbjaerg, Norway, 2013 We Are The Best (Vi Ar Bast!) by Lukas Moodysson, Sweden, 2013

Wide (France), rep. Loic Magneron Bobo by Ines Oliveira, Portugal, 2013

Wide House (France), rep. Garreau Geoffrey Ain't Misbehavin, A Marcel Ophuls Journey (Un Voyageur) by Marcel Ophuls, France, 2013

Wild Bunch (France), rep. Vicent Maraval, Gary Farkas Going Away (Un Beau Dimanche) by Nicole Garcia, France, 2013 A Promise (Une Promesse) by Patrice Leconte, France, Belgium, 2013...

Berlin-based sales agent Picture Tree International (Pti) has picked up two Toronto titles – Mary Queen Of Scots and Metalhead – for international distribution.

Swiss director Thomas Imbach’s historical drama Mary Queen Of Scots, which had its world premiere in Competition at Locarno earlier this month, will have its North American premiere as a Special Presentation at Toronto on Sept 9.

Based on Stefan Zweig’s Maria Stuart and starring the young French actress Camille Rutherford as the Scottish queen, Mary Queen Of Scots will be released in Switzerland by Pathé Films on Nov 7, 2013.

Review: Mary Queen of Scots

Icelandic film-maker Ragnar Bragason’s comic drama Metalhead about a teenage girl immersing herself in the world of heavy metal after experiencing a family tragedy will have its world premiere in Toronto’s Contemporary World Cinema section on Sept 7.

Pti’s Toronto sales lineup will also include two ‘works in progress’: Jacques Ouaniche’s French-Israeli-Bulgarian co-production Victor “Young” Perez...

The 38th Toronto International Film Festival has released an incredible guest list of celebrated talent from around the globe. Filmmakers expected to present their world premieres in Toronto include: Catherine Breillat, Nicole Garcia, Pawel Pawlikowski, Bertrand Tavernier, Steve McQueen, Godfrey Reggio, Denis Villeneuve, Bill Condon, Jean-Marc Vallée, John Wells, Ralph Fiennes, Richard Ayoade, Atom Egoyan, Matthew Weiner, John Carney, Jason Reitman, Jason Bateman, Yorgos Servetas, Liza Johnson, Megan Griffiths, Fernando Eimbcke, Alexey Uchitel, Johnny Ma, Biyi Bandele, Rashid Masharawi, Paul Haggis, Ron Howard, Eli Roth, Álex de la Iglesia, Bruce McDonald, Jennifer Baichwal, John Ridley, and Justin Chadwick.

The Festival also welcomes thousands of producers and other industry professionals bringing films to us.

The following filmmakers and artists are expected to attend the Toronto International Film Festival:

Ahmad Abdalla, Hany Abu-Assad, Yuval Adler, Akosua Adoma Owusu, Alexandre Aja, Bruce Alcock, Gianni Amelio, Thanos Anastopoulos, Madeline Anderson, Nimród Antal, Louise Archambault,...

As a major exhibition on the enigmatic queen attracts the crowds in Edinburgh, three movies are set to explore her life

Since 1971 film-makers have tried to emulate the Oscar-winning success of Mary, Queen of Scots, starring Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson as the tragic Scottish queen and her nemesis, Elizabeth I. Aborted later attempts include one by Hollywood's actress-producer Scarlett Johansson and British director Alexander Mackendrick.

Two UK productions are still at early stages, but a Swiss film-maker has beaten them to it with a sympathetic psychological portrait set to be an art-house hit. Zurich-based Thomas Imbach has directed, produced and co-written the film, with Camille Rutherford playing Mary, which has been singled out for this season's festivals at Locarno and Toronto.

More than 400 years after she was executed by Elizabeth, the Protestant Queen of England, Mary Stuart remains the most enigmatic royal in Britain's history. Imbach said he has...

The story of Mary Stuart gets another cinematic workout in Mary Queen of Scots from Swiss director Thomas Imbach, who adapts Austrian author Stefan Zweig’s biography Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles into an intimate and serious-minded biopic that never quite gets into the head of the protagonist. Delicately featured French actress Camille Rutherford (Low Life) stars as the titular Queen but her delivery, in French and English, is often stilted and she struggles to illuminate the complexity of her character in the way Zweig, partly inspired by the writings of his fellow Viennese contemporary, Sigmund Freud, did.

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Exclusive: Penelope Skinner working on script with Michael Hirst. Saoirse Ronan attached, as previously reported.

Working Title has confirmed to ScreenDaily that Oscar-winning director Susanne Bier is in talks to direct biopic Mary Queen of Scots.

For production details visit

Mary Queen of Scots

As previously reported, Byzantium and Hanna star Saoirse Ronan is attached to play the eponymous Queen Mary, who famously attempted to overthrow Queen Elizabeth I in the 16th century.

Acclaimed playwright Penelope Skinner, who recently wrote on Kevin Macdonald drama How I Live Now, also starring Ronan, is working with The Tudors and Elizabeth writer Michael Hirst on the script, with Working Title aiming for a 2014 shoot.

Queen of Scotland between 1542-1567, Mary Stuart famously tried to overthrow her cousin Elizabeth I, Queen of England, a move which was supported by many Catholics but saw her condemned in later life to years of imprisonment and finally execution.

Her turbulent...

Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity, one of many Special Presentations at this year's Tiff.

The Toronto International Film Festival has begun to announce its lineup for its 2013 edition, beginning with Gala and Special Presentations. To browse the festival's programming on their web site, visit here.

Gala Presentations

American Dreams in China (Peter Chan, China)

The Art of the Steal (Jonothan Sobol, Canada)

August: Osage County (John Wells, USA)

Cold Eyes (Cho Ui-seok & Kim Byung-seo, Korea)

The Fifth Estate (Bill Condon, USA)

The Grand Seduction (Don McKellar, Canada)

Kill Your Darlings (John Krokidas, USA)

Life of Crime (Daniel Schechter, USA)

The Love Punch (Joel Hopkins, France)

The Lunchbox (Ritesh Batra, India/France/Germany)

Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (Justin Chadwick, South Africa)

Parkland (Peter Landesman, USA)

The Railway Man (Jonathan Teplitzky, Australia/UK)

The Right Kind of Wrong (Jeremiah Chechik, Canada)

Rush (Ron Howard, UK/Germany)

Shuddh Desi Romance (Maneesh Sharma, India...

Guneet Monga

Indian producer Guneet Monga will sit on the International Jury of the 9th Zurich Film Festival to be held in Switzerland from September 26- October 6, 2013.

The Jury will be presided over by Swiss-German director, producer and screenwriter Marc Forster, whose most recent and successful film is World War Z.

The other members of the Jury are Us American producer Stacy Sher (Pulp Fiction, Django Unchained), Australian director and screenwriter Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Killing Them Softly) and Swiss director, screenwriter and producer Thomas Imbach (Happiness is a Warm Gun).

Monga recently produced Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox and Amit Kumar’s Monsoon Shootout both of which premiered at Cannes Film Festival 2013. She has earlier produced critically acclaimed films such as Gangs of Wasseypur, Shahid, Peddlers and That Girl in Yellow Boots. She was recently conferred the Industry Leadership award at...