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At the outset of Paolo Sorrentino’s Parthenope, a young woman gives birth in the Mediterranean Sea while her son looks on from the beach. “Let’s call her Parthenope,” the newborn’s godfather triumphantly bellows as he gestures toward Mount Vesuvius, invoking the mythological siren who lent the city of Naples its original name.

Though there’s no clear allegorical parallel between the myth and the story that Sorrentino will leisurely spool out, the connection between the title character and the land of her birth makes explicit the film’s thematic agenda. As much a city symphony as was Sorrentino’s 2013 Roman odyssey The Great Beauty, Parthenope presents itself as a meditation on youth, beauty, and the passage of time but finally unfurls as an ode to Naples itself—the director’s own birthplace, and likewise the setting for his autobiographical The Hand of God from 2021.

“It is impossible...

“Parthenope” is a new live-action France/Italy-produced ‘coming-of-age’ drama feature, written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino, starring Celeste Dalla Porta, Stefania Sandrelli, Silvio Orlando, Luisa Ranieri, Peppe Lanzetta and Isabella Ferrari, opening February 7, 2025 in theaters:

“…in Greek mythology, ‘Parthenope’ was a ‘siren’…

“…who lured sailors to their deaths with her seductive and enchanting songs.

“Her name comes from the Greek words ‘parthenos’ meaning ‘maiden/virgin’ and ‘ops’ meaning ‘voice’.

“In legend, Parthenope threw herself into the sea after failing to seduce ‘Odysseus’ and a city was named after her.

“In the film, an Italian woman searches for happiness…

“…during the long summers of her youth…

“…falling in love with her city and its many memorable characters…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

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This February, we are getting a ton of entertainment on various platforms, including streaming services, television networks, and, last but not least, theaters. This upcoming month, we will finally see the release of the much-anticipated Marvel Studios film Captain America: Brave New World and Osgood Perkins‘ buzzy new horror dark comedy film The Monkey. So, we are here to sort out all of the brilliant upcoming movies that you might not want to miss seeing in theaters.

Love Hurts (February 7) Credit – Universal Pictures

Love Hurts is an upcoming action comedy film directed by Jonathan Eusebio from a screenplay co-written by Matthew Murray, Josh Stoddard, and Luke Passmore. The upcoming film follows Marvin Gable, a hitman who left his life violence behind to become a successful realtor, but when his past comes knocking back, he must fight to protect his new life.

For fans of international TV, news of the return of South Korean smash hit Squid Game for a third and final season was the big takeaway from Netflix’s global program showcase this week. But beyond the bloodsport, Netflix’s international line-up included several tantalizing new projects, featuring some of the world’s biggest stars, including French actor Omar Sy, German talent Matthias Schweighöfer, and Mexican VIP Alfonso Herrera, who all unveiled new local originals for the streaming giant.

Sy, who went from local to global superstar on the back of Netflix’s Lupin, will bring his latest feature, French Lover, to the platform this year. The romantic drama sees Sy falling for Marion (The Bureau actress Sara Giraudeau), the literal girl next door. Schweighöfer, whose 2021 action comedy Army of Thieves, was a surprise hit for Netflix, returns with Brick, from Tribes of Europe director Philip Koch. The high-concept sci-fi...

Dutch filmmaker Michiel ten Horn will make history at the International Film Festival Rotterdam with his latest feature, “Fabula,” the first homegrown Dutch production to open the festival since 2018.

The film follows Jos, a small-time criminal played by Fedja van Huêt, in a redemption story that combines crime, comedy, and fantasy. Set in Limburg, the Netherlands’ southernmost province, “Fabula” explores local folklore and contemporary themes through an unconventional narrative.

“It’s between comedy, crime, and fantasy. You are never quite sure what to expect,” ten Horn said. He deliberately filmed during November and December to create an intentionally uncomfortable atmosphere that supports the story’s darker elements.

The narrative draws inspiration from classic redemption tales, with ten Horn comparing the protagonist to a Charles Dickens character. Jos faces a personal crisis after a drug deal goes wrong and learns he’s about to become a grandfather. The story unfolds as a journey of transformation,...

International Film Festival Rotterdam is opening with a homegrown Dutch film for the first time since 2018.

Writer-director Michiel ten Horn’sFabulaaims to combinegrittiness with magical realism to tell the story of asmall-time crook, played by Fedja van Huêt, star of Oscar- winning Dutch movie Character.

The setting is almost as important as the storyline, says ten Horn. He shot the film in Limburg, a province in the very muddy south of the Netherlands, close to the Belgian and German border. It is famous today as the birthplace of right-wing Dutch politician Geert Wilders.

“I am originally from there as well,...

Prolific Italian director Ferzan Ozpetek’s female-centric ensemble drama “Diamonds” is fast becoming Italy’s first standout title of 2025. The film has scored sales in some 40 territories while becoming the country’s No. 1 local box office draw so far this year.

“Diamonds,” which is set both in the present day and in the 1970s, revolves around the life and love affairs of a group of warmhearted women who work in a large Rome cinema costume company run by two sisters “who are as different as they are close,” as the synopsis puts it.

Hailed by Italian critics as a love letter to women, the art of costume design and the emotional power of cinema, “Diamonds” has been shining locally, pulling more than $15 million – and counting – at the Italian box office since its Dec. 19 theatrical release via Vision Distribution.

The film’s ensemble cast includes Luisa Ranieri, who played the emotionally...

Shaking off the January doldrums, February movie theaters fill their love seats (or plush recliners) with lovesick horror and action movies for the lovebirds and lonely hearts, while the actual rom-coms are shunted to streamers. We have Hallmark to thank for turning romantic comedies into exploitation films, but there’s...

A new film titled Primavera about the life of Antonio Vivaldi, the famed Italian Baroque composer and violinist behind The Four Seasons, is generating buzz after being picked up by several major distributors. The movie, represented by Memento International, was shot in both Rome and Venice and marks the directorial debut of Damiano Michieletto, a prominent opera director.

Warner Bros. will handle the film’s release in Italy, while Diaphana Distribution takes on France. Memento International has also secured pre-sales for several regions: Benelux with Cineart, Germany and Austria through X Verleih, Spain via A Contracorriente Films, Switzerland with Frenetic, and Poland through M2 Films. Negotiations are ongoing for other territories.

The script for Primavera was written by Ludovica Rampoldi, known for her work on The Traitor and Gomorrah – the series. It draws inspiration from Tiziano Scarpa’s acclaimed novel ‘Stabat Mater.’

Set in 18th-century Venice, the film tells the story of Cecilia,...

“Primavera,” a film about Antonio Vivaldi, the Italian Baroque composer and violinist who penned “The Four Seasons,” has been bought by a flurry of major distributors.

Represented by Memento International, the movie shot in Rome and Venice, and marks the feature debut of Damiano Michieletto, a leading opera director.

Warner Bros. will release the movie in Italy while Diaphana Distribution will release it in France. The pre-sales closed by Memento International are Benelux (Cineart), Germany and Austria (X Verleih), Spain (A Contracorriente Films), Switzerland (Frenetic) and Poland (M2 Films). Several other territories are in negotiations.

“Primavera” was penned by Ludovica Rampoldi, the award-winning screenwriter of movies such as “The Traitor” and “Gomorrah – the series,” among others. The script is loosely adapted from Tiziano Scarpa’s critically acclaimed novel “Stabat Mater.”

Set in 18th century Venice, “Primavera” follows Cecilia, a 20-year-old violin virtuoso who lives at the Pièta orphanage. Despite her talent,...

The Italian box office held steady in 2024 with cinemas taking €493.9m in 2024 from admissions of 69.7 million.

The result is almost in line with 2023, representing a slight 0.4% dip in box office and a 1.3% fall in admissions, according to figures from Italian box office organisation Cinetel.

It is a decent result for Italy given the disruption to film releases caused by the US actors’ and writers’ strikes and competition from major sporting events during the summer. Notably, Italy held on to the strong box office gains of 2023, when the box office surged by 62% in the wake of the pandemic.

Top 30 films in Italy,...

The Italian box office softened by 0.4% in 2024 for an overall gross of $508M, on the back of a 1.3% dip in spectators to 69.7M, according to data detailed by Italy’s box office data monitor Cinetel on Thursday.

The body suggested the results were broadly positive in a challenging year marked by big sporting diversions such as the Euro 2024 soccer championships and the Paris 2024 Olympics as well as fewer potential blockbuster releases in the wake of the 2023 Hollywood strikes.

The top performing movie was Inside Out 2, which drew 6.4M spectators for a $47M (€46.5M) gross, followed by Moana 2 ($19.9M), Deadpool & Wolverine ($18.5M), Despicable Me 4 ($18.1M) and Mufasa – The King Lion ($15.1M).

No Italian production made it into the top five – unlike 2023, when Paolo Cortellesi’s unexpected blockbuster There’s Still Tomorrow beat Barbie with a $35M gross – but Cinetel said local films had held their own in the overall market nonetheless.

Italy’s box office revenues remained stable in 2024, totalling roughly €494 million ($513 million) in grosses and 70 million admissions – which is just slightly below the country’s $514 million 2023 intake.

Disney landed the year’s top 3 titles with “Inside Out 2,” which grossed $48.3 million locally; “Moana 2,” which pulled $20 million; and “Deadpool & Wolverine” which clocked in at $18.7 in the Italian theatrical market, according to figures released by national box office compiler Cinetel.

But amid a dearth of Hollywood blockbusters, due to the impact of last year’s Hollywood strikes, it was local movies, such as Italy’s sleeper hit “The Boy With Pink Pants,” that proved crucial to keeping the market buoyant. “The Boy With Pink Pants,” a teen drama by relatively unknown director Margherita Ferri about the harrowing true tale of a 15-year-old boy who took his own life after enduring bullying at school and online, became the year’s surprise...

While 2024 will be remembered by many in the entertainment biz as an uphill battle and a make-or-break transition time, for a number of talents working in international film and TV, it will be considered the year where everything changed — a breakout period when new doors opened, calls were answered and bigger projects started coming their way. Some were catapulted into the limelight from relative obscurity and were soon juggling major awards ceremonies and lucrative studio deals. Others were already rising names at home, but suddenly found themselves on Hollywood’s radar.

Variety‘s crop of international breakouts — actors and filmmakers — includes the creator and stars of one of the most talked about TV shows of the year (and one which could leave Netflix with a tasty legal bill), the writer/director of a wild body-horror that took Cannes by storm and could give a beloved star her first brush with...

Highlighting the power of local stories, Italy’s box office has been taken by storm by “The Boy With Pink Pants,” Margherita Ferri’s intimate film telling the harrowing true tale of a 15-year-old boy who took his own life after enduring bullying at school and online.

Produced and fully financed by Tarak Ben Ammar’s Eagle Pictures and Roberto Proia’s Weekend Films, “The Boy With Pink Pants” has conquered Italian audiences en masse, grossing more than €8.5 million ($9 million) from 1.3 million admissions since its Nov. 7 release. In terms of ticket sales, it’s even beat Hollywood heavyweights such as “Wicked,” “Dune 2,” “Gladiator 2” and “Venom 3.”

Without resorting to splashy special effects, a massive cast or a famed IP, “The Boy With Pink Pants” struck an emotional chord across the country and became a cultural phenomenon. Traditionally, European movies that reach that level of mainstream popularity are either comedies or family-friendly animated fare.

Jude Law, the guest on this episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast, is an Englishman who has been one of the world’s finest screen actors for some 30 years.

Twice Oscar-nominated before he was even 30, first for his breakout supporting turn in 1999’s The Talented Mr. Ripley and then for his first major leading role in 2003’s Cold Mountain, both of which were directed by Anthony Minghella, he has also been directed by Clint Eastwood, David Cronenberg, Steven Spielberg, Sam Mendes, David O. Russell, Kenneth Branagh, Mike Nichols, Martin Scorsese, Joe Wright, Steven Soderbergh, Wes Anderson, Paolo Sorrentino and Brady Corbet, among others.

And now, at the age of 51, he is starring on the well-received Disney+ series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, and has given what many regard as his finest performance yet as an FBI agent on the hunt for white nationalists in 1980s Idaho in Justin Kurzel...

January 2025 could mark a bleak month for very specific reasons, but in that month one can watch a nicely curated collection of David Bowie’s best performances. Nearly a decade since he passed, the iconic actor (who had some other trades) is celebrated with The Man Who Fell to Earth, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, The Linguini Incident, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, and Basquiat. (Note: watch The Missing Pieces under Fire Walk with Me‘s Criterion edition for about three times as much Phillip Jeffries.) It’s a retrospective-heavy month: Nicole Kidman, Cameron Crowe, Ethan Hawke, Paulin Soumanou Vieyra, Paolo Sorrentino, and Sean Baker are given spotlights; the first and last bring with them To Die For and Take Out‘s Criterion Editions, joining Still Walking, Hunger, and A Face in the Crowd.

“Surveillance Cinema” brings Thx 1138, Body Double, Minority Report, and others, while “Love in Disguise” offers films by Lubitsch,...

Italian producer Mario Gianani has revealed his pleasure at reuniting with Lorenzo Mieli in their new Rome-based company Our Films in a talk on his career at the Les Arcs Film Festival in the French Alps.

Gianani was at Les Arcs with actor-director Paola Cortellesi, who received the festival’s’ Prix des Femmes and attended a screening of her Italian 2023 box office hit There’s Still Tomorrow.

The movie, which has grossed $50M worldwide ($40M of which was at home), is Gianani’s most successful production at the box office in a career spanning more than 85 film and TV credits which also include HBO hit drama My Brilliant Friend and EPing Conclave.

The Les Arcs talk was one of Gianani’s first international appearances since officially announcing in August that he was jumping ship from Fremantle-owned Wildside to set up new Rome-based company Our Films with long-time collaborator Lorenzo Mieli and...

Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino has set his next feature and will re-team with his longtime collaborator Toni Servillo who has signed on to star.

The film will be titled La Grazia. Fremantle confirmed news of the project with us this morning. There are currently no details about the film’s plot, but we understand it will feature a love story. Sorrentino has penned the screenplay. Shooting will begin next spring with Annamaria Morelli producing for The Apartment alongside Sorrentino’s Numero 10 outfit in association with PiperFilm. Piper will release the film in Italy.

Servillo is perhaps best known internationally for his collaborations with Sorrentino. The pair have made seven films together. Their joint credits include Loro, Il Divo, The Hand Of God, and The Great Beauty, which won the Best International Feature Oscar.

Sorrentino’s latest film Parthenope is currently on release in Italy via PiperFilm. The film debuted at...

Italian director Paolo Sorrentino is reteaming with Neapolitan actor Toni Servillo, star of Sorrentino’s Oscar-winning The Great Beauty, for his next feature, titled La Grazia.

Details of the new film are being kept under wraps, but it is said to be a love story. Sorrentino, who also wrote the script, is set to begin shooting next Spring. Annamaria Morelli, head of Fremantle-owned The Apartment will proceed together with Sorrentino’s shingle Numero 10, in association with PiperFilm, which will release the movie in Italy.

PiperFilm has had huge local success with Sorrentino’s latest, Parthenope, a sumptuous love letter to his native Naples. The feature has grossed more than $8 million at the local box office, making it the most successful Italian film of the year and surpassing the Italian take for Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty. A24 picked up Parthenope for the U.S. ahead of its Cannes festival premiere...

Paolo Sorrentino – whose latest film “Parthenope” is scoring record-breaking grosses at the Italian box office – is set to return behind camera to shoot “La Grazia,” a drama that will re-team the Oscar-winning director with “The Great Beauty” actor Toni Servillo.

Plot details of Sorrentino’s next film are being kept under wraps besides the fact that it will be a love story set somewhere in Italy. The title, “La Grazia,” can be translated in English as “Grace.”

Servillo is best known to international audiences for his memorable turn as Roman writer and socialite Jep Gambardella who embarks on a Dantesque descent amid the Eternal City’s grotesque glitterati in “The Great Beauty,” which won the 2014 best international film Oscar.

The Neapolitan actor has appeared in seven of Sorrentino’s 10 feature films to date, starting with his dazzling debut, “One Man Up” in which Servillo played an ageing cocaine-addicted crooner. Besides “The Great Beauty,...

Vermiglio is the name of a mountain village in Northern Italy where director Maura Delpero stages a powerful drama of family, betrayal and coming of age.

Her visually sumptuous feature, winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, takes place as the Second World War ends and one generation moves into the next. The slow-burn plot focuses on a teacher’s daughter who falls in love with an army deserter – and how the relationship impacts the lives of everyone in the village.

“Vermiglio” is Italy’s submission for the Best International Feature Oscar. Italy is the most awarded (14 Oscars) and most nominated (33) country in the category’s history, having last won in 2014 with Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Great Beauty.” Delpero is the first women filmmaker submitted since Cristina Comencini (“Don’t Tell”) in 2005.

You have said that this project began with a dream. What was the vision that triggered the story?...

On Tuesday, the Palm Springs International Film Festival (Psiff) announced its official 2025 lineup for the nearly two-week event that’s being held from Jan. 2 to Jan. 13.

The opening night movie will be Paramount Pictures’ “Better Man,” starring Robbie Williams and directed by Michael Gracey, which chronicles the pop star’s meteoric rise and dramatic fall. And the festival will close with Sony Pictures Classics’ “The Penguin Lessons,” starring Steve Coogan and directed by Peter Cattaneo, in the dramedy about a teacher whose life changes when he adopts a penguin. In all, Psiff will screen 158 films from 71 countries, including 68 premieres.

Artistic director Lili Rodriguez said, “Our lineup this year is truly something special. In true Psiff fashion, it spans genres and crosses borders to bring an exciting mix of films to the Coachella Valley. Over the past year, our Palm Springs International Film Festival team has carefully crafted a program that celebrates the art of storytelling,...

“Parthenope” is a new live-action France/Italy-produced ‘coming-of-age’ drama feature, written and directed by Paolo Sorrentino, starring Celeste Dalla Porta, Stefania Sandrelli, Silvio Orlando, Luisa Ranieri, Peppe Lanzetta and Isabella Ferrari, opening February 7, 2025 in theaters:

“…in Greek mythology, ‘Parthenope’ was a ‘siren’…

“…who lured sailors to their deaths with her seductive and enchanting songs.

“Her name comes from the Greek words ‘parthenos’ meaning ‘maiden/virgin’ and ‘ops’ meaning ‘voice’.

“In legend, Parthenope threw herself into the sea after failing to seduce ‘Odysseus’ and a city was named after her.

“In the film, an Italian woman searches for happiness…

“…during the long summers of her youth…

“…falling in love with her city and its many memorable characters…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

Academy Award-winning director Paolo Sorrentino frequently makes love-letter dramas in his Italian home of Naples. And just like his last film, the Academy Award-nominated “The Hand of God,” the filmmaker returns to this territory with his new drama “Parthenope.”

Read More: 2024 Fall Film Preview: 50 Movies To Watch

A decades-spanning coming-of-age tale, Sorrentino once said the movie is about a woman “who bears the name of her city but is neither siren nor myth.”

In Greek mythology, Parthenope is the name of a siren who, having failed to entice Odysseus with her songs, cast herself into the sea and drowned.

Continue reading ‘Parthenope’ Trailer: Paolo Sorrentino’s Latest Stars Celeste Dalla Porta, Gary Oldman & Arrives Feb 2025 at The Playlist.

"She's not in love you." "But I am. My whole life." A24 has unveiled an official trailer for the new seductive Paolo Sorrentino film called Parthenope, which originally premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. It's now set for a US release in theaters starting February 2025. "Partenope is a woman who bears the name of her city. Is she a siren or a myth?" The extraordinarily beautiful Celeste Dalla Porta stars as Parthenope – born in the sea of Naples in 1950, she searches for happiness over the long summers of her youth, falling in love with her native city of Naples (aka Napoli in Italian) and its many memorable characters. From Oscar-winning filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino comes a gorgeous and deeply romantic story of a lifetime. This also stars Stefania Sandrelli, Gary Oldman, Silvio Orlando, Luisa Ranieri, Peppe Lanzetta, and Isabella Ferrari. The film is crazy obsessed with Dalla Porta's beauty,...

While this year’s Cannes competition titles such as Anora, All We Imagine as Light, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, and The Substance are in the spotlight right now, one you may have all but forgotten was Parthenope, the latest from Paolo Sorrentino. A24 has now set the film for a release this winter on February 7 and have unveiled the first trailer.

Here’s the synopsis: “Parthenope, born in the sea of Naples in 1950, searches for happiness over the long summers of her youth, falling in love with her home city and its many memorable characters. From Academy Award-winning filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino comes a monumental and deeply romantic story of a lifetime.”

See the trailer below for the film starring Celeste Dalla Porta, Stefania Sandrelli, Gary Oldman, Silvio Orlando, Luisa Ranieri, Isabella Ferrari, Silvia Degrandi, Lorenzo Gleijeses, Daniele Rienzo, Dario Aita, Marlon Joubert, Alfonso Santagata, Biagio Izzo, and Peppe Lanzetta.

A24 has dropped an eye-catching new trailer for Paolo Sorrentino’s “Parthenope” ahead of the February U.S. release of the Oscar-winning director’s lavish love letter to his native Naples.

The U.S. trailer focuses on the film’s titular character, a young woman born in Naples – Neapolitans in Italy are also known as “Parthenopeans” – played by newcomer Celeste Dalla Porta. In his review, Variety critic Siddhant Adlakha praised Dalla Porta for delivering “a beguiling performance,” he said, as “a woman of such stunning beauty that people stop and stare.”

Adlakha called “Parthenope” as “an exquisite treatise on cinematic beauty.” But it is also, as Sorrentino put it in an interview with Variety, a film about “missed youth” that comes as a follow-up to his autobiographical “The Hand of God” and has elicited comparisons with his 2013 love letter to Rome, “The Great Beauty,” which won the Academy Award for best international feature film.

Paolo Sorrentino is immersing himself in the land of milk and honey for his latest ode to intangible beauty, “Parthenope.”

Titled after the myth of Greek sirens who lured men to their deaths at sea, “Parthenope” stars Celeste Dalla Porta in the lead role. While the literary legacy of Parthenope had the character drowning herself after her songs failed to seduce Odysseus, Sorrentino’s version centers on a wealthy woman who slowly drives her family insane by her beauty.

The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where A24 acquired it. The distributor describes “Parthenope” as a “monumental and deeply romantic story of a lifetime.”

The official synopsis reads: “Parthenope, born in the sea of Naples in 1950, searches for happiness over the long summers of her youth, falling in love with her home city and its many memorable characters.”

Oscar winner Sorrentino writes and directs the feature, which also stars Gary Oldman,...

A24 knows sex sells, so it’s no surprise that the first U.S. trailer for Parthenope is full of seduction.

Newcomer Celeste Dalla Porta, playing the titular Parthenope, appears in various stages of undress throughout, emerging dripping from the sea in a bikini, draped in religious jewelry that barely covers her modesty, tangled up in what looks like a pre-threesome foreplay with co-stars Dario Aita and Daniele Rienzo.

It’s all sun, sea, and sex. Only one line, from Gary Oldman, playing a boozy John Cheever, to Parthenope: “Are you aware of the destruction your beauty causes?” suggests some darkness lurking beneath.

Parthenope

The film is Paolo Sorrentino’s love letter to Naples — his second, following 2021’s The Hand of God — and Parthenope, a mysterious, irresistible beauty, is the stand-in for the enigmatic pull the city has over him. It’s hard not to fall for the version seen on screen,...

Look out, Challengers; another scorcher of a love triangle film is coming for your crown. Only instead of just two guys, this is about a woman who's managed to capture the hearts and minds of an entire city's worth of men. She and Zendaya should form some sort of Avengers-esque squad.

To date, there have been 13 "Star Trek" feature films, with a 14th movie, "Section 31," scheduled to debut on Paramount+ on January 24, 2025. The films are, many Trekkies would agree, various degrees of good and bad. Some of the "Star Trek" films are among the best sci-fi movies ever made, while others are handily the worst. Many agree that Nicholas Meyer's 1982 film "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan" is the best one, although J.J. Abrams' 2009 "Star Trek" is the highest-grossing. The four films based on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" -- that is: "Generations," "First Contact," "Insurrection," and "Nemesis" -- are all pretty middling, although many like the Borg action from "First Contact." My personal favorites are Robert Wise's 1979 epic "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," for its cerebral grandiosity, and Meyer's "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country" for its political bent. 

The films also fluctuate wildly in mere production quality.

European Film Promotion, which gives a boost to films and talent from Europe, has revealed the jury for the 28th edition of European Shooting Stars, which showcases actors from the continent.

The jury is comprised of five film professionals who will select 10 actors. They will then take part in a program at the Berlin Film Festival, which runs Feb. 13 – 23. The jury will select the actors from candidates who have been nominated by their national film promotion institutes and film centers.

The jury includes former European Shooting Star Ludivine Sagnier, an actor best known for her roles in films by François Ozon. She starred in, among others, “Water Drops on Burning Rocks” (2000), “8 Women” (2002) and “Swimming Pool” (2003), and she will also appear in Ozon’s latest film, “Quand vient l’automne” (2024). Sagnier has also worked with directors such as P.J. Hogan, Lee Tamahori, Paolo Sorrentino, Hirokazu Koreeda and Ridley Scott.

Also on...

Charlie McDowell’s The Summer Book starring Glenn Close and Pedro Almodóvar’s English-language Venice Golden Lion winner The Room Next Door starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton bookend the 37th AFI European Union Film Showcase.

Running December 4-22 at AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Maryland, the showcase presents 54 features representing all 27 European Union member states including 12 international feature film Oscar submissions and six US premieres.

Besides the festival’s Finnish opener The Summer Book and Spanish closing night selection The Room Next Door, Brady Corbet’s Venice Silver Lion winner The Brutalist from Hungary starring Adrien Brody is the centrepiece selection.

Paolo Sorrentino’s “Parthenope” is doing gangbuster business at the Italian box office, where the director’s lavish love letter to his native Naples has surpassed the €5 million ($5.3 million) mark less than two weeks after going on full release. These numbers have made it the country’s top local draw – excluding commercial comedies – of the year to date.

For its first theatrical outing since bowing at Cannes in May, new Italian distributor PiperFilm came up with a smart release strategy for “Parthenope” that involved marketing the film to youth audiences. “Parthenope” was teased with some midnight premieres in select Italian cinemas – between Sept. 19 and 25 – to stoke excitement prior to its full launch on Oct. 24.

On Wednesday, “Parthenope” reached $5.5 million in cumulative grosses from roughly 500 Italian screens, according to national box office compiler Cinetel. The film, which is Sorrentino’s 10th feature, could now become his personal best in terms of local returns.

When director Paolo Sorrentino’s hit series The Young Pope debuted in 2016, it took the Vatican a year to grudgingly bless his imagined and occasionally blasphemous portrayal of the pope. Not so for Sorrentino’s latest film Parthenope, which has gotten an early thumbs-down from Italy’s Catholic Church.

That has only seemed to pique interest in the film, driving it to the top of the box office here for Italian films since its release in theaters last month.

Set in Sorrentino’s native Naples, the film is a lush meditation on beauty, love and death, drawn from the Greek myth of the siren Parthenope, who throws herself into the sea after she fails to entice Odysseus with her song. Parthenope is closely affiliated with Naples, such that the city is sometimes called “Partenope” and its people “Partenopei” in Italian.

The film is by no means about the church, but toward the end,...

Fremantle has signed a first look and development deal with Fudge Park, the British scripted comedy company founded by “The Inbetweeners” creators Iain Morris and Damon Beesley.

Under the arrangement, Fremantle will become the primary home for all of Fudge Park’s upcoming scripted projects, with the indie working closely with Fremantle’s global drama and international distribution divisions to help develop its drama and comedy slate and expand globally.

The deal was brokered by Jill Kellie, Fremantle’s vice president of commercial strategy, commercial and international, and Jonathan Blyth, Fudge Park managing director, and follows the success of The two company’s recent collaboration on BBC comedy “Daddy Issues.” Starring Aimee Lou Wood and David Morrissey, the series debuted in August, becoming BBC Three’s biggest new comedy series launch of the year and the biggest comedy series for the channel since it relaunched in 2021.

“We’ve loved working...

In a first-look and development deal, Fremantle will become the primary home for all of Fudge Park’s upcoming scripted projects.

The news was unveiled Tuesday following the success of BBC Three’s Daddy Issues, starring Aimee Lou Wood (Sex Education) and David Morrissey (The Walking Dead, Sherwood), which debuted on BBC iPlayer in August and has already been green-lit for a second season.

The U.K. indie will work closely with Fremantle’s Global Drama and International Distribution divisions to help develop its drama and comedy slate, with an aim to break ground in new territories. The deal was brokered by Jill Kellie, vp commercial strategy, commercial & international, and Jonathan Blyth, managing director at Fudge Park.

Set in Stockport, Daddy Issues sees Gemma (Wood) discover she’s pregnant after a one-night stand. With her sister Catherine (Sharon Rooney) in prison and her mum Davina (Susan Lynch) traveling around the world,...

Reservoir Docs has snapped up international rights to Aoife Kelleher’s feature documentaryMrs Robinson, which pays tribute to Ireland’s first female president Mary Robinson and explores her pivotal role in fostering reconciliation in Ireland.

The film, which premiered in the Galway Film Fleadh, will open next month’s Irish Film Festival in London ( November 13-17).

It tells the story of how reforming constitutional lawyer and senator Mary Robinson won the Irish Presidential vote in 1990 and how, in her later role as Un High Commissioner, she took on perpetrators of human-rights abuses all over the world.

It is produced by...

Laura Fernández Espeso, who took over as CEO of The Mediapro Studio (Tms), in 2020, has taken the Iberian powerhouse global. The group now has 52 offices across 31 countries, and this summer launched operations across the U.S. and Canada. “We’ve opened offices in Los Angeles after operating in Miami and New York over the last few years,” she says, Tms US & Canada fulfills our goal to create, produce, and distribute content in English, intended for audiences all over the world.”

Tms’ English-language credits to date include the Paolo Sorrentino-directed limited series The Young Pope and The New Pope, for HBO/Max, and Nicolas Winding Refn’s family adventure series The Famous Five for the BBC, as well as such features as A Perfect Day, Hunting Ava Bravo, and Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths.

Indie film is where Fernández Espeso got her start in the industry, more than 20 years ago.

Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Cinema Paradiso” is and will always be cherished by cinephiles. After all, it beautifully captures their deep love for cinema and the art of filmmaking in the most heartfelt way. It shows a child from a small Italian town falling in love with cinema, because of his friendship with a local film projectionist. He gets to watch all kinds of movies and experiences the madness and chaos it entails. “Cinema Paradiso” opens in an era when people exclusively used film reels to make movies. The child protagonist sees the film’s material change from flammable to fire-resistant as the art advances into different eras.

The kid, Toto, grows up witnessing the changes in censorship in cinema and builds a personal connection with both sublime and obscene. Back then, films were integral to the social fabric of a community. So, he learns cinema’s importance as a medium...

Paolo Sorrentino and Piccolo America — which runs both Rome’s largest open-air film festival and Europe’s first 24-hour movie theater — want to see your short films.

Together, Sorrentino’s newly formed company Numero 10 and Piccolo America have launched their premier short film festival, Corto Condorello. Aimed at young filmmakers under 35 around the world, the festival boasts a jury including Willem Dafoe, Debra Winger, Carla Bruni, Jan Komasa, and Radu Mihaileanu, with “Parthenope” director Sorrentino serving as chair.

Ahead of the festival running November 22 through 24 in Rome, submit your films to Corto Condorello via Film Freeway here through Sunday, October 20. The jury will select a winning short from 10 finalists, and the jury’s top prize, the “Golden Condorello,” will be accompanied by Mubi’s acquisition of the winning short — with streaming on Mubi’s online platform to follow. Mubi has had a banner year with the successful wide release...

Ron Howard’s survival thriller “Eden,” starring Jude Law, Ana de Armas, Vanessa Kirby and Sydney Sweeney, has been set as the opening film of Italy’s Torino Film Festival with the director in tow.

“Eden,” which follows a pair of high-minded Europeans, played by Law and Kirby, who are seeking a new life on a previously uninhabited island in the Galápagos, will be having its international premiere in Torino after world premiering at the Toronto Film Festival in September.

Landing the international launch of the survival thriller, with Howard on hand, marks a nice coup for the fest’s new artistic director, Italian actor/director Giulio Base. Torino’s upcoming 42nd edition will run Nov. 22-30.

Torino is Italy’s preeminent event for young directors and indie cinema, and is where Matteo Garrone and Paolo Sorrentino screened their first works. The festival’s lineup will be announced on Nov.

Picturehouse Entertainment has acquired UK-Ireland distribution rights to Rungano Nyoni’s On Becoming A Guinea Fowl, which it will release in cinemas on Friday, December 6.

The film has its UK premiere tonight at the BFI London Film Festival. A24 handles international sales.

On Becoming A Guinea Fowl follows a woman who stumbles across the body of her uncle in the middle of the night; then along with her cousins begins to uncover buried secrets of their middle-class Zambian family. Susan Chardy and Elizabeth Chisela lead the cast. The film is in contention for the 2025 Baftas.

It is Nyoni’s second...

New Italian distribution company PiperFilm is launching its international sales unit at Rome’s upcoming Mia Market with veteran sales agent Catia Rossi spearheading the potentially high-powered player’s sales side having secured a small but promising multi-genre film slate.

Rossi is a former head of international sales at Vision Distribution, True Colours, and Rai Com. She launched True Colours and the sales unit at Vision. She’s now joining PiperFilm as director of international sales and will be unveiling the brand new PiperFilm lineup of Italian movies to buyers in Rome.

Domestically, PiperFilm is adopting an innovative distribution model having struck an agreement with Netflix under which the streaming giant will have the first exclusive post-theatrical window for Italy on their titles, while Warner Bros. Entertainment Italia will handle the operational distribution of their lineup in Italian movie theatres.

In Italy, the first PiperFilm to be released is Paolo Sorrentino’s “Parthenope,...

Antonio Vivaldi, the Italian Baroque composer and violinist who penned “The Four Seasons,” will be portrayed in “Primavera,” the feature debut of Damiano Michieletto, a leading opera director. Memento International has boarded the film which begins shooting this month in Rome and Venice.

“Primavera” was penned by Ludovica Rampoldi, the award-winning screenwriter of movies such as “The Traitor” and “Gomorrah – the series,” among others. The script is loosely adapted from Tiziano Scarpa’s critically acclaimed novel “Stabat Mater.”

Set in 18th century Venice, “Primavera” follows Cecilia, a 20-year-old violin virtuoso who lives at the Pièta orphanage. Despite her talent, Cecilia remains confined within the orphanage, knowing that marriage is the only way out. Yet, her life takes a turn after she meets Antonio Vivaldi, a brilliant and ambitious composer who becomes the new violin teacher. Guided by Vivaldi and his music, Cecilia “finds the strength to challenge the destiny that once seemed inevitable,...

AFI Fest is primed and ready to roll out.

The American Film Institute revealed the full lineup for this month’s festival, scheduled to take place in Los Angeles from Oct. 23-27. Joining the previously announced roster of films will be Tim Fehlbaum’s September 5, Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light, Samir Oliveros’ The Luckiest Man in America, Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault’s abortion rights documentary Zurawski v Texas (executive produced by Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and Jennifer Lawrence), and Paul Schrader’s Oh, Canada, among many others.

The lineup includes six red carpet premieres, 12 special screenings, 13 luminaries picks, 15 discovery films, 12 world cinema films, 14 documentaries, four after-dark titles, 54 films in the short film competition and 28 films from the AFI Conservatory Showcase presented by AMC Networks. Other notable titles include Durga Chew-Bose’s Bonjour Tristesse with Chloë Sevigny; Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths, starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste; Paolo Sorrentino...

The Italian government has selected the film “Vermiglio” to represent the country for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. The drama, directed by Maura Delpero, tells the story of a family living in a remote Alpine village during World War II.

Set in northern Italy, “Vermiglio” follows siblings Maria, Giovanni, and Lucia who live with their grandparents. Their peaceful village life is disrupted when a wounded soldier seeks refuge with them. As the war intensifies around them, the family must decide how to respond amid the conflict.

Delpero drew inspiration from her own family history in the region during the 1940s. The film was shot on location to accurately portray rural life at the time. “Vermiglio” shows how even an isolated community was affected by worldwide events.

After premiering at the Venice Film Festival last month, “Vermiglio” won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize. It has since screened...

The Oscars international feature film race got another strong competitor on Tuesday when Italy announced it would submit “Vermiglio” as its entry for the 97th Academy Awards. Written and directed by Maura Delpero, the film won the Silver Lion in Venice earlier this month.

Delpero’s drama is set in 1944 in the alpine village of the film’s title. When a young Sicilian soldier named Pietro (Giuseppe De Domenico) comes to town, his presence, according to the synopsis provided by Sideshow and Janus Films, “disrupts the dynamics of the local teacher’s family, changing them forever. During the four seasons marking the end of World War II, Pietro and Lucia, the eldest daughter of the teacher, instantly drawn to each other, led to marriage and an unexpected fate. As the world emerges from its tragedy, the family will face its own.”

Produced by Cinedora, Charades and Versus Productions, “Vermiglio” was...

Italy will send Maura Delpero’s World War 2 drama Vermiglio into the 2025 Oscar race for Best International Feature.

Vermiglio premiered at the Venice Film Festival last month, where it scooped up the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize. Sideshow and Janus Films acquired domestic rights for the movie shortly after its North American premiere in Toronto.

Set in 1944 in the eponymous village of Vermiglio, high in the Italian Alps, the film follows a local family whose lives are disrupted by the arrival of a refugee soldier from the faraway conflict. As the world emerges from the tragedy and destruction of WW2, the family in Vermiglio faces its own crisis. The ensemble cast includes Tommaso Ragno, Giuseppe De Domenico, Roberta Rovelli, Martina Scrinzi, Orietta Notari, and Carlotta Gamba

A follow-up to Delpero’s well-received 2019 directorial debut Maternal, Vermiglio is loosely based on the director’s own family history. She produced the feature together with Carole Baraton,...