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Some friendships are precious and can stand the test of time. In director Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door, Ingrid (Julianne Moore) and Martha (Tilda Swinton) were close friends in their youth when they worked together at the same magazine. Ingrid went on to become an autofiction novelist while Martha became a war reporter, and the circumstances of life separated them. After years of being out of touch, they meet again in an extreme but strangely sweet situation.

We enjoyed speaking with Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore about their roles and how real life informed their performances. The Room Next Door’s story goes to intimate and powerful places, asking audiences to contemplate death and how they’ll meet it. Who will hold your hand when the lights dim? What will you say before your last breath?

Produced by Almodóvar’s El Deseo, The Room Next Door is a...

It’s officially Spirit Award season here at Film Independent! We had our annual Awards Brunch last weekend, and we’re getting prepped for the big show on February 22. While that means late nights making seating charts, sending out invites, and hiring photographers for us, for you, it means enjoying even more movies!

This month, we’ve picked out some Spirit Award alums with new releases (or ones that came out during the holiday break). Included in this crop is a delicious combo of Russel Banks and Paul Schrader, Nicole Kidman making Bdsm feel good in a place like this, Pedro Almodóvar casting Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton in his first English-language film, and Robbie Williams’ surprisingly powerful monkey movie.

Don’t say we didn’t warn you!

Oh, Canada

When You Can Watch: Now

Where You Can Watch: Theaters (limited)

Creator/Director: Paul Schrader

Cast: Richard Gere, Uma Thurman,...

In his latest podcast/interview, host and screenwriter Stuart Wright talks with writer/director Amrou Al-Kadhi about their feature film debut Layla and “3 Films That Have Impacted Everything In Your Adult Life,” which includes:

Body Electric (2017) All About My Mother (1999) Cinema Paradiso (1988)

3 Films That Have Impacted Everything In Your Adult Life is a podcast that explores the transformative power of cinema. From emotional masterpieces to thought-provoking classics, each episode delves into the films that have had a profound impact on our personal growth and perspective. Through engaging storytelling, critical analysis, and cultural commentary, Stuart aims to uncover the lasting influence that movies have had on his guests. Please join him on an emotional journey through the world of film and discover how just three movies can change the direction of a life, cement memories you will never forget or sometimes change how you see the world.

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Pedro Almodóvar is nobody’s idea of a conventional, throwback director in most ways. But among top international directors over the last 40 years, he stands if not alone but at least above anyone else until now in gaining prominence in the U.S. with subtitled films — without ever making an English-language one.

Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Akira Kurosawa, François Truffaut, all of whom saw consistent success in U.S. arthouses, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s, made either just one or no films outside their native languages. From the 1980s, it became common for the most successful European and Latin American directors to pursue projects in English, sometimes never returning to their native tongues. Many others, like Bong Joon Ho, Alfonso Cuarón, and Guillermo del Toro, have leapfrogged to English-language scripts and actors after their initial successes.

Not Almodóvar, until now. With “The Room Next Door” (Sony Pictures Classics), he...

Marisa Paredes, the admired Spanish actress who collaborated with Pedro Almodóvar in such films as The Flower of My Secret, All About My Mother and The Skin I Live In, has died. She was 78.

Her death was announced Tuesday by the Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Spain, which called her one of the country’s “most iconic actors … her body of work was defined by women who were strong, ambivalent, broken, passionate, enigmatic, but who were, above all, very human.”

Almodóvar told Spanish public broadcaster Rtve that “it is as if I woke up from a bad dream … I am struggling to come to terms with Marisa’s death.” In their country, she was known as “an Almodóvar girl.”

Paredes also portrayed Roberto Benigni’s socialite mother-in-law in Life Is Beautiful (1997) and the head of the orphanage in Guillermo del Toro’s horror film The Devil’s Backbone (2001), set during the Spanish Civil War.

Marisa Paredes, a grand dame of Spanish cinema, died on Tuesday in Madrid from heart failure. She was 78.

While she acted in 75 movies, she will be best remembered for the five films she starred in directed by Pedro Almodóvar: “Dark Habits” (1983), “High Heels” (1991), “The Flower of My Secret” (1995), “All About My Mother” (1999) and “The Skin I Live In” (2011). Of all these, she thought she turned in one of her career-best performances in “The Flower of My Secret,” which marks the beginning of Almodóvar’s return to his roots and world of his mother, a re-connection which continues to this day.

In “The Flower of My Secret,” Paredes played a chic romantic novelist seemingly at first a fish out of water in the village where she was born.

In real life, Paredes had a natural elegance, compounded by her favouring dresses by Spain-based designer Sybille which J.A. Bayona noted, reacting to her death,...

Marisa Paredes, a well-known personality in Spanish cinema and close colleague of famed director Pedro Almodóvar, has died at the age of 78. The Spanish Film Academy reported her death, writing, “Spanish cinema is losing one of its most iconic actresses.”

Paredes’ career lasted nearly six decades, including over 75 films and a similar number of television shows. She is largely recognized as one of the most accomplished actresses of her time. Her work with Almodóvar includes remarkable performances in films like High Heels (1991), The Flower of My Secret (1995), All About My Mother (1999), and The Skin I Live In (2011).

Her journey to popularity was fueled by personal dedication. In an emotional interview with Spain’s Tve in June, Paredes discussed her poor beginnings as “the daughter of a doorkeeper.” At 15, she went on a hunger strike to encourage her father to support her acting career.

Desolado por la noticia del fallecimiento de Marisa Paredes,...

Marisa Paredes, the star of Pedro Almodóvar’s High Heels and The Flower Of My Secret, has died aged 78.

Paredes’ extensive career spanned nearly 80 feature films and a similar number of television productions over six decades.

Paredes also served as president of the Spanish Film Academy from 2000-2003 and received the industry’s highest awards, including an honorary Goya for lifetime achievement in 2018, the National Cinematography Award in 1996, and the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts in 2007.

Her final film, road movie Emergency Exit, was directed by Luis Miñarro; it filmed earlier this year and is still to be released.

The independent movie service has become the streaming home to some of the best cinema in the world.

After just over a month in theaters, Coralie Fargeat’s acclaimed and outrageous body horror film “The Substance,” starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley, will make its exclusive streaming debut this Halloween on the global film streamer Mubi, and to prepare from the switch, it’s time to countdown some of the platform’s best films!

Whether you’re activating or stabilizing your Mubi subscription to watch the must-see new release, the arthouse movie streamer is not only housed with classics like “In the Mood for Love,” “All About My Mother,” and more, it’s also packed with its own collection of Mubi-exclusive releases. From black comedies to neo-noir love stories, here are some of the best movies available to stream right now exclusively on Mubi!

7-Day Trial via amazon.com Mubi...

Pedro Almodóvar believes that both his two latest leading actresses should be Oscar-nominated for their performances in his latest film The Room Next Door – and he adds he wouldn’t mind one for himself.

The Spanish director’s first full-length film in the English language, it received an 18-minute standing ovation when it screened at Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. It stars Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore as two old friends, war correspondent Martha and her friend Ingrid. They stay together in a country mansion while Swinton’s terminally ill character prepares to take her own life in the room next to her friend’s.

Almodóvar previously won the best original screenplay Oscar in 2003 for Talk to Her and the award for best foreign language film for All About My Mother in 1999.

He told The Times of London this weekend that he believes both actresses should be recognised come awards season.

“It’s a good chance to reflect about mortality,” explained writer-director Pedro Almodóvar about his film “The Room Next Door,” which was the centerpiece selection at the 62nd New York Film Festival. “This is something that at least in my life is very present.” So when he read the proposition in Sigrid Nunez‘s novel “What Are You Going Through,” where a terminally ill woman asks her friend to assist in her suicide, the filmmaker was “very surprised.” Watch his discussion with actors Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton, and John Turturro above.

“I thought that that was a very good sequence to develop between two actresses and two characters that they feel in a very different way in front of mortality,” Almodóvar added. Ultimately, Martha (Swinton) wants to end her life on her own terms, and Ingrid (Moore) is terrified at the prospect, but Swinton feels the meaning of the film...

Acclaimed Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar will be honored with the Chaplin Award from Film at Lincoln Center next year. The award recognizes significant contributions to cinema and has previously been given to luminaries such as Cate Blanchett, Martin Scorsese, and Meryl Streep. Almodóvar will accept the award on April 28, 2025.

Known for his vibrant visual style and emotionally complex storytelling, Almodóvar has directed over 20 feature films spanning four decades. Some of his most acclaimed works include Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Talk to Her, and All About My Mother. He has won two Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards, and numerous Goya and César Awards.

Almodóvar’s latest film, The Room Next Door, recently premiered at the Venice Film Festival where it won the top Golden Lion prize. Starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, the film marks Almodóvar’s first English-language project and explores themes of friendship and mortality.

Pedro Almodóvar, the Oscar-winning Spanish writer-director who is making waves this awards season with his new film The Room Next Door, has been named the recipient of the 50th Chaplin Award bestowed by New York’s Film at Lincoln Center.

He will be honored at a gala tribute April 28 at Lincoln Center that will feature excerpts from his work and appearances by co-stars, friends and colleagues.

The Room Next Door, which stars Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, won the Golden Lion for best film at the Venice Film Festival last month. The Chaplin honor was announced Friday at Flc’s New York Film Festival ahead of the film’s U.S. premiere there. It hits U.S. theaters on December 20 via Sony Pictures Classics.

“Pedro Almodóvar is a storytelling master whose artistry, creativity, and exceptional talent have captivated audiences and filmmakers alike,” said Lesli Klainberg, Film at Lincoln Center’s president.

Pedro Almodóvar is the next recipient of Film at Lincoln Center’s prestigious Chaplin Award.

The Oscar-winning writer-director will be celebrated at a gala event featuring excerpts of his work and appearances by co-stars, friends and colleagues at Lincoln Center on April 28, 2025.

The announcement was made ahead of the U.S. premiere and New York Film Festival centerpiece gala screening of Almodóvar’s first English-language feature film The Room Next Door, starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton.

The Room Next Door won the Golden Lion at this year’s Venice Film Festival and is set to open in L.A. and New York on Dec. 20 before expanding to select cities on Dec. 25 and going nationwide in January.

One of Spain’s most celebrated filmmakers, Almodóvar’s feature films include Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988); Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989); All About My Mother (1999), which won the...

Film at Lincoln Center (Flc) has announced that internationally acclaimed Spanish film director, screenwriter, and author Pedro Almodóvar is the recipient of the 50th Chaplin Award. He will be honored during a gala evening at Lincoln Center on April 28, 2025.

The announcement was made this evening by Flc President Lesli Klainberg prior to the 62nd New York Film Festival Centerpiece premiere of Almodóvar’s first English-language feature, “The Room Next Door,” which won the Golden Lion at this year’s Venice Film Festival and opens at Flc on December 20.

Per this evening’s official announcement, “Internationally recognized for his spirited and bold storytelling with a distinctive and colorful visual style, Pedro Almodóvar is one of Spain’s most celebrated filmmakers. His work is characterized by a blend of humor and melodrama and his ability to create resonant, emotional stories often centered around the lives of strong and fearless women. He has...

Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar, whose Venice Golden Lion winner The Room Next Door is anticipated to be a fixture this awards season, will receive Film at Lincoln Center’s 50th Chaplin Award on April 28, 2025.

News of the honour, which comes in recognition of the filmmaker’s “spirited and bold storytelling with a distinctive and colorful visual style”, was announced prior to Friday evening’s New York Film Festival Centerpiece premiere of The Room Next Door.

The Chaplin Award Tribute will feature excerpts from Almodóvar’s work and appearances by friends and collaborators.

His body of work includes 23 features, among them...

Hello Insiders. Jesse Whittock here to take you through a week in international TV and film that comes from as far and wide apart as Spain and Indonesia. Read on.

San Sebastian Spotlight

Johnny Depp at the San Sebastian Film Festival

In-Depp analysis: Spain’s San Sebastian Film Festival closes tomorrow, ending what many people on the ground described as one of the event’s strongest lineups in recent years. The festival opened with a bang with Audrey Diwan’s erotic remake Emmanuelle, but that film received mediocre reviews in Spain. Deadline’s Stephanie Bunbury was a little more generous, and described the flick as a “brave attempt.” There was a lot more love for the other big world premiere in San Sebastian — Johnny Depp’s second directorial effort, Modi — Three Days On The Wing Of Madness. The period flick debuted out of competition here in San Sebastian, where Depp...

What’s next for Pedro Almodóvar after winning his first Golden Lion? Perhaps something very, very different.

“I’m fascinated by the stylist who looks after Zendaya [Law Roach],” “The Room Next Door” director Almodóvar told Vanity Fair Spain in an interview published in his native Spanish (we used the built-in Google Translate tool for this story).

“I think his work is an act of enormous creation. It’s about fashion, frivolity, and social issues, and it’s about promotion,” he continued. “But above all, I think it takes talent for that. I’ve asked about this guy, and I’ve been told that he’s almost as much of a diva as she is. I’d love to make a film about them, a cross between ‘All About Eve’ and ‘The Devil Wears Prada.'”

What makes the relationship between Roach and Zendaya so unique is that, unlike most stylists,...

Filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar was welcomed to San Sebastian’s Kursaal Theater with a fierce reception on Thursday as the Spaniard picked up a Donostia Award for his “extraordinary contributions to cinema.”

Tilda Swinton, who stars in Almodóvar’s latest feature The Room Next Door — which won Venice’s Golden Lion after a whopping 17-minute standing ovation in Italy — joined the director onstage to celebrate his achievements.

“At my age, a prize like Donostia can indicate the end of a road and a reward for having traveled it,” Almodóvar said after raucous applause. “But I don’t live it like that. For me, cinema is a blessing or a curse. I can’t think of any other way of life if it’s not writing or directing.”

Swinton was full of praise for her colleague. She said to him: “You have planted in each one of us a garden of treasure…...

Legendary Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar received a hero’s welcome at the San Sebastian Film Festival where he arrived this morning to speak with the press before receiving the festival’s honorary Donostia Award for career achievement.

Almodóvar was accompanied by British actress Tilda Swinton.The maverick filmmaker will present their latest collaboration The Room Next Door as part of the Donostia Award celebrations this evening.

The press conference room was packed — which isn’t common at San Sebastian — and Almodóvar was swarmed by journalists who rushed to snap his picture. He was even presented with a handmade gift by one of the reporters in the room.

This evening’s Donostia ceremony coincides with Almodóvar’s 75th birthday and is headline news in Spain. Pedro Sánchez, the country’s President, will even attend the ceremony. Almodóvar was asked by one of the journalists in the room this morning if he...

Oscar-winning Spanish auteur Pedro Almodovar has made a name for himself with a series of brightly colored, delightfully kinky and unabashedly melodramatic titles, mixing comedy, drama, sex and violence to great success. He shows no signs of slowing down, with his latest outing in 2019 being the Oscar-nominated “Pain and Glory.” Let’s take a look back at all 22 of his films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1949 in Spain, Almodovar came to prominence during La Movida Madrilena, a cultural renaissance that blossomed at the end of Francoist Spain. Staring with his filmmaking debut “Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls Like Mom” (1980), the openly gay director showed an affinity for oddballs and outsiders, populating his films with transvestites, transexuals and homosexuals, all of whom had previously been relegated to the closet. He also showed a talent for working with women, and throughout his 40 year career has placed actresses such as Penelope Cruz,...

Earlier this year, Christopher Nolan finally won Best Director at the Academy Awards. He picked up prize for helming Best Picture champ “Oppenheimer.” That victory came after five prior Oscar nominations, all of which ended in losses. Anyhow, Nolan has now finally been given the rewards his talents deserve. But there are still plenty of filmmakers who are overdue a Best Director gong. Scroll down for a list of five overdue filmmakers who could compete for the award at the 2025 Oscars.

Pedro Almodóvar

Almodóvar has five Oscar nominations and two victories to his name, so he may not seem overdue. He was nominated for Best Foreign Language Feature Film in 1989 for “Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” and in 2000 for “All About My Mother.” He won for the latter. He was then nominated for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay in 2003 for “Talk to Her,” winning for his writing.

Adan Canto's best movies and TV shows reveal a very talented actor who showed immense promise before his untimely death in 2024. Canto was born in Mexico and got his start in music, performing traditional boleros and mariachi music into his teenage years. After working as a musician in San Antonio and Mexico City, he started appearing in TV commercials. After being cast in the stage play adaptation of Pedro Almodvar's All About My Mother, he turned his sights to acting.

His career lasted just over a decade, starting with smaller Spanish-language movies and TV shows in 2009 and 2010 before getting his first major Hollywood role in the TV series thriller The Following. After a small role in X-Men: Days of Future Past, he mostly appeared in smaller films and some big-name TV shows, working with everyone from Halle Berry and Kevin Bacon to Don Johnson, Keifer Sutherland, and Mel Gibson.

Pedro Almodóvar isn’t getting any younger…but he is still trying to figure out how he can live forever. Many might say he’s already accomplished this with his highly influential and beloved ouevre, which includes “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown,” “All About My Mother,” “Pain and Glory,” and his upcoming, Golden Lion-winning “The Room Next Door” starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore. However, as reported by The New York Times, in his upcoming collection of short stories, diary entries, and essays, “The Last Dream,” the Spanish filmmaker shared how he still feels he has more searching to do, but it has become a much more difficult process the older he gets.

“In this new century I’ve become more somber, more austere, more melancholic, less certain, more insecure, and more afraid,” Almodóvar wrote in his semi-autobiography.

Explaining in the introduction why he’s choosing to...

Will there be room for two Oscar winners from the same movie this awards season?

Pedro Almodóvar’s exciting melodrama “The Room Next Door” is riding high after winning the prestigious Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, and Sony Pictures Classics is preparing for an aggressive awards campaign for the film. Variety has learned exclusively that the movie’s two Oscar-winning stars, Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, will be positioned for lead actress consideration in the upcoming awards season. In addition, co-star John Turturro is set to campaign for his first Oscar bid in the best supporting actor category.

The film is adapted from Sigrid Nunez’s novel “What Are You Going Through” and tells the story of two women — war correspondent Martha, played by Swinton, and author Ingrid, portrayed by Moore — who reunite after many years under emotionally charged circumstances. The nuanced performances and intimate narrative have garnered critical acclaim.

The Oscars will surely knock on Pedro Almodóvar’s door this awards season.

Pedro Almodóvar’s expansive filmography has shaped international cinema for over four decades. With his English-language directorial debut, “The Room Next Door,” fresh off winning the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, the Spanish auteur and distributor Sony Pictures Classics are setting their sights on landing Almodóvar’s first best picture nomination.

Adapted from Sigrid Nunez’s novel “What Are You Going Through,” the film follows two women — war correspondent Martha (Tilda Swinton) and author Ingrid (Julianne Moore) — who reunite after years apart under challenging circumstances.

Read: You can see all Academy Award predictions in all 23 categories on one page on the Variety Awards Circuit: Oscars

Almodóvar’s body of work has garnered widespread acclaim within the Academy. “All About My Mother” (1999) won the Oscar for international feature, while “Talk to Her” (2002) earned him two noms for directing and original screenplay,...

Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Room Next Door” won the Golden Lion at the 81st Venice Film Festival. The Spanish auteur’s first feature in English took the top prize at the awards ceremony on Saturday, where he accepted the honor in person. Based on Sigrid Nunez’s novel “What Are You Going Through,” the film stars Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore as friends who reunite after several years.

Though Almodóvar’s latest was not reviewed as enthusiastically as most of his films (a high bar to cross), the drama was still favored to do well at the Venice awards. When it premiered earlier this week, it was met with a lengthy standing ovation of almost 20 minutes — a warm reception even for festival audiences. And few are the cinephiles in Europe who do not consider the director of “All About My Mother,” “Talk to Her,” “Volver,” “Bad Education” and “Parallel Mothers” a living great.

Pedro Almodóvar has dealt with the subject of death throughout his career. Be it as an inciting incident in All About My Mother, a looming threat in Talk to Her, or a cheeky provocation in Matador, an existential darkness has always lurked behind the vibrant, expressive surfaces of his films. Centering the impermanence of human existence in the euthanasia drama The Room Next Door doesn’t indicate resignation to a “late period” style so much as it suggests a natural outgrowth of Almodóvar’s formidable body of work.

The Spanish auteur’s adaptation of Sigrid Nunez’s 2020 novel What Are You Going Through begins with Julianne Moore’s Ingrid signing copies of her new book, On Sudden Deaths, describing it as her attempt to process the mystery of her subject. But not long into The Room Next Door, she soon finds that she must grapple with a non-spontaneous end. And...

Last year delivered some truly spectacular short films, so much so, the genre ended up becoming a highlight of the Oscars for many. Among these standout entries, many thought one Pedro and Pedro movie was snubbed. Directed by Pedro Almodóvar starring Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke, the film was called Strange Way of Life.

Pedro Almodóvar with Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke on the sets of Strange Way of Life Credits: Sony Pictures Classics

This film, which was Almodóvar’s homage to Brokeback Mountain, seemed set to make waves. However, it missed out on an Oscar nod, and critics pointed to its pacing as a likely reason for the snub. Despite the buzz and anticipation, it appears that Strange Way of Life didn’t quite hit the mark with the Academy. Here is why!

Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke’s Queer Western Romance Movie Flew Under the Radar

Pedro Pascal...

In life and in cinema, Pedro Almodóvar likes to talk about death. When people aren’t losing their faculties in his films––like going blind (Folle… folle… fólleme Tim!), falling into comas (Talk to Her), or falling apart altogether (The Skin I Live In)––they dwell on the afterlife or are already there (Volver), though never is it a cause for undue solemnity. Speaking in a New Yorker profile in 2016, the director recalled watching the local woman in his hometown of Calzada chatting as they tended to their families’ graves. “Death disappeared,” Almodóvar explained, “because the important thing was the flowers, the conversations.”

That sentiment is alive and well in the director’s latest death film. His first-ever English-language feature, adapted from Sigrid Nunez’s novel What Are You Going Through mostly in structure only, The Room Next Door stars Tilda Swinton as the terminally ill named Martha who decides...

Tilda Swinton, Julianne Moore and Pedro Almodóvar are a force to be reckoned with — if their reception in Venice is anything to go by.

The trio soaked up the raucous applause inside the Venice Film Festival‘s Sala Grande Monday night where the world premiere of Almodóvar’s first-ever English language feature was received with an ardent 17-minute standing ovation.

His poignant film The Room Next Door, an adaptation of Sigrid Nunez’s novel What Are You Going Through, follows best-selling writer Ingrid (Moore) and Martha (Swinton) as they rekindle their friendship after losing touch. As they immerse themselves in past memories, anecdotes, art and movies, Martha, battling terminal cervical cancer, wants to die with dignity and asks Ingrid to be in the next room when she takes a euthanasia pill.

At the movie’s press conference earlier in the day, the Spaniard auteur, known for films such as Woman...

Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore could have spoken forever, it seems, on the genius of Pedro Almodóvar.

The Spaniard, who has created films such as Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, All About My Mother, and Volver, will see the world premiere of his first-ever English language feature at the 81st Venice Film Festival, entitled The Room Next Door.

His film, an adaptation of Sigrid Nunez’s novel What Are You Going Through, follows best-selling writer Ingrid (Moore) and Martha (Swinton) as they rekindle their friendship after losing touch. As they immerse themselves in past memories, anecdotes, art and movies, Martha, battling terminal cervical cancer, wants to die with dignity and asks Ingrid to be in the next room when she takes a euthanasia pill.

“I’m personally not frightened of death and I have never been,” Swinton said at the movie’s press conference at the Venice Film Festival Monday afternoon.

Sony Pictures Classics has set a December 20 New York and Los Angeles release for Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language feature The Room Next Door starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton.

The awards contender will expand to select cities on December 25 before opening nationwide in January 2025.

Almodóvar’s El Deseo produced The Room Next Door, which will premiere in Venice and then travel to Toronto and New York film festivals.

It follows two formerly close friends who worked together at the same magazine. After years apart they meet in “an extreme but strangely sweet situation”. Now one is an autofiction novelist...

The trailer for Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language film ironically features no dialogue, but every shot tells a story with the accompanying melodic music. The trailer also sets the tone for this moody character drama. Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they will release The Room Next Door in New York and Los Angeles on December 20, 2024, before expanding to select cities on Christmas Day. The film, starring Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton and John Turturro, will then open in theaters nationwide in January 2025.

The official synopsis reads,

“The film follows Ingrid (Julianne Moore) and Martha (Tilda Swinton), who were close friends in their youth, when they worked together at the same magazine. Ingrid went on to become an autofiction novelist while Martha became a war reporter, and they were separated by the circumstances of life. After years of being out of touch, they meet again in an extreme but strangely sweet situation.

by Cláudio Alves

The dedication at the end of Pedro Almodóvar' All About My Mother (1999).

Yesterday, as The Film Experience's first foray into honoring Gena Rowlands drew to a close, I asked the readers: Can you remember how you first encountered her?

It's an interesting query since the introduction to an artist can set so much of one's relationship with them going forward. Personally, it's a matter of fascination because I remember so well when and where I first met the goddess that Cassavetes immortalized in his films. At least, I know the moment I became aware of Rowlands as someone I should pay attention to and treasure. It wasn't through any of her works, not directly. Instead, this brush with my actressexual fate came at the end of a tomato-red melodrama beset by maternal madness and a Spanish twist. Yes, I discovered Gena Rowlands through the dedication at...

Tilda Swinton Julianne Moore in The Room Next Door Photo: Iglesias Más Film at Lincoln Center has announced that Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door, starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton with John Turturro, Alex Høgh Andersen and Alessandro Nivola, will be the Centerpiece selection of the 62nd New York Film Festival. RaMell Ross’s Nickel Boys and Steve McQueen’s Blitz are the Opening and Closing Night gala selections.

Almodóvar has a long and honoured history with the festival. Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown (NYFF26) was the Opening Night selection, and he also opened NYFF with All About My Mother (NYFF37). Bad Education (NYFF42) and Volver (NYFF44) were selected as Centerpieces, and Live Flesh (NYFF35), Talk To Her (NYFF40), Broken Embraces (NYFF47), and Parallel Mothers (NYFF59) were Closing Night selections. Additional NYFF selections include The Flower Of My Secret (NYFF33), The Skin I Live In...

After just wrapping production a few months ago, Pedro Almodóvar is already putting the finishing touches on his next feature. Following Venice Film Festival’s announcement of a world premiere for The Room Next Door, starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, it’s now been unveiled as the Centerpiece selection for the 62nd New York Film Festival, making its U.S. premiere at Alice Tully Hall on October 4.

Here’s the synopsis: “Ingrid (Julianne Moore), a best-selling writer, rekindles her relationship with her friend Martha (Tilda Swinton), a war journalist with whom she has lost touch for a number of years. The two women immerse themselves in their pasts, sharing memories, anecdotes, art, movies—yet Martha has a request that will test their newly strengthened bond. Pedro Almodóvar’s finely sculpted drama, his first English-language feature, is the unmistakable work of a master filmmaker, a hushed and humane portrayal of...

Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Room Next Door” will be the Centerpiece of the 62nd annual New York Film Festival, Film at Lincoln Center announced Thursday. The drama starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton will make its U.S. debut on October at Alice Tully Hall. It is the Spanish auteur’s first English-language feature.

In “The Room Next Door,” set in Manhattan and upstate New York, Moore stars as Ingrid, a writer who reunites with her war journalist friend Martha (Swinton). According to the description provided by Film at Lincoln Center, “The two women immerse themselves in their pasts, sharing memories, anecdotes, art, movies — yet Martha has a request that will test their newly strengthened bond. … (The film is) a hushed and humane portrayal of the beauty of life and the inevitability of death.” In addition to directing, Almodóvar wrote the script, an adaptation of Sigrid Nunez’s novel “What Are You Going Through.

First Madrid, then New York, then Venice, and now: the New York Film Festival.

Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Room Next Door,” which shot earlier this year on-location in Madrid and Manhattan, will play the New York Film Festival (NYFF) as its Centerpiece on October 4. NYFF has billed the melodrama, starring Tilda Swinton and Julianne Moore, as a U.S. premiere, which means New York is the next destination for Almodóvar’s first English-language feature after world-premiering in the Venice competition. That also means no Telluride screening, but it could still show up in Toronto for a North American premiere. The NYFF presentation of “The Room Next Door” will take place at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center.

Here’s a more detailed synopsis than we’ve seen before, courtesy of NYFF: “Ingrid (Julianne Moore), a best-selling writer, rekindles her relationship with her friend Martha (Tilda Swinton), a war journalist with...

Pedro Almodóvar’s The Room Next Door, starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton, will receive its U.S. premiere as the centerpiece selection for the 2024 New York Film Festival on Oct. 4.

The film, an adaptation of Sigrid Nunez’s novel What Are You Going Through, marks Spanish auteur Almodóvar’s first English-language feature and follows best-selling writer Ingrid (Moore) and Martha (Swinton) as they rekindle their friendship after losing touch. As they immerse themselves in past memories, anecdotes, art and movies, Martha makes a request that will test their renewed bond.

“I am delighted that The Room Next Door will be the centerpiece of the New York Film Festival,” said Almodóvar. “This festival has been my bridge to New York audiences for decades, so it only felt natural that the two protagonists go see a film at the Alice Tully Hall in one of the scenes of the movie. It...

The 62nd edition of the New York Film Festival will kick off with RaMell Ross’s “Nickel Boys,” an adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Nickel Boys.”

Film at Lincoln Center made the announcement early Monday and notably didn’t specify a premiere designation for the film, perhaps an indication that “Nickel Boys” will have its world premiere at another festival such as the Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, or Venice Film Festival.

“What an absolute honor for ‘Nickel Boys’ to open the 62nd New York Film Festival… a daydream really, for the crew, the cast, and team who’ve committed so wholeheartedly to its vision,” Ross said in a statement. The filmmaker’s debut documentary, “Hale County This Morning, This Evening,” was previously screened at the 2018 edition of New Directors/New Films at New York City’s Lincoln Center. Ross called his debut feature...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Roxy Cinema

Fellow Roxy programmer Charli Xcx presents Project X, To Die For, and Velvet Goldmine on 35mm, as well as Party Girl; a puppet program plays on Saturday, as does City Dudes.

Anthology Film Archives

Prints of Citizen Kane, L’Atalante, and Andy Warhol play in “Essential Cinema.”

Museum of the Moving Image

“See It Big at the ’90s Multiplex” includes Hoop Dreams and Bound; a Marx Brothers double-feature takes place on Saturday.

Museum of Modern Art

A career-spanning Powell and Pressburger retrospective continues.

Film Forum

Powell and Pressburger’s The Small Back Room begins playing in a new restoration; Vittorio De Sica’s Shoeshine continues playing in a new restoration; Yankee Doodle Dandy shows on Sunday.

Metrograph

Films by Claire Denis, Hong Sangsoo, Jia Zhangke and more play in an mk2 retrospective; Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Pitfall, and...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Film at Lincoln Center

A Catherine Breillat retrospective begins, featuring many restorations; Before Sunset screens outdoors on Friday.

Museum of Modern Art

A career-spanning Powell and Pressburger retrospective begins.

Roxy Cinema

Fellox Roxy programmer Charli Xcx presents Daisies on 35mm this Saturday, which also brings Jackass: The Movie; a print of Mad Max: Fury Road screens throughout the weekend.

Anthology Film Archives

The restored films of Rhody Streeter and Tony Ganz screen in a new collection (watch our trailer debut).

Film Forum

Vittorio De Sica’s Shoeshine continues playing in a new restoration; Laurel and Hardy’s Way Out West shows on Sunday.

Museum of the Moving Image

The two best comic-book movies, Darkman and Dick Tracy, play on 35mm as part of “See It Big at the ’90s Multiplex,” as does The Straight Story; a series inspired by visionary psychiatrist Francesc Tosquelles begins.

The Terminal Image: Amblin Out there in the world of extremely-online cinephilia, there is an abstract idea called Top Shelf [insert name of a beloved auteur]. Even though no one can agree on, say, the best Pedro Almodóvar movie (it’s All About My Mother), or Paul Thomas Anderson’s greatest achievement (let’s say Phantom Thread...

The TerminalImage: Amblin

Out there in the world of extremely-online cinephilia, there is an abstract idea called Top Shelf [insert name of a beloved auteur]. Even though no one can agree on, say, the best Pedro Almodóvar movie (it’s All About My Mother), or Paul Thomas Anderson’s greatest achievement (let’s say Phantom Thread...

In the wake of a slow return to production post WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, industry contraction, and an extended M&a deal for a major studio that has kept the whole town on pins and needles, Hollywood really needs a break. Creatives and executives alike were hoping for a boost in the form of a strong summer box office, but after almost every blockbuster released in the last month failed to meet expectations, a panic that’s been in place for a while now refuses to relent. As the traditional process of producing and distributing film and television hurdles towards oblivion, the best thing one can do is take a step back and gain some perspective. Ironically enough, I believe the best place to do this is actually… at a movie theater. Just not the kind you’re probably thinking of.

While first-run mega-chains like AMC and Regal struggle through the...

Going into this year’s Cannes Film Festival, expectations soared around a certain go-for-broke, no-guts-no-glory, swing from a Palme d’Or winning auteur, and on Saturday — two days after Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” fizzled — festivalgoers got all they wanted and more in Jacques Audiard’s gonzo telenovela musical “Emilia Perez.” Turns out we had been looking at the wrong Palme d’Or winner all along.

If for nothing else, the French director’s previous Grand Prize and Palme d’Or wins for tough-guy films “A Prophet” and “Dheepan” feel especially pertinent given the startling (and delightful) swerve he offers with “Emilia Perez,” an Almodóvar-aping melodrama about a cartel kingpin’s transition to the more benevolent woman she was always hiding from the world.

That the Spanish-language film is also a full-blown musical, chock-full of deliriously choreographed numbers and ear-catching ditties about vaginoplasties and tracheal shaves would also reflect Audiard’s high perch.

Penélope Cruz is 5 feet 4 inches (162.6 cm) tall. For context, the average American woman is also around 5 feet 4 inches, making Cruz’s height quite typical.

Penélope Cruz vs. Scarlett Johansson’s Heights

Penélope Cruz, with a height of 5 feet 4 inches (162.6 cm), is slightly taller than Scarlett Johansson, who stands at 5 feet 3 inches (160 cm). Penélope Cruz is approximately 1 inch (2.6 cm) taller than Scarlett Johansson.

Penélope Cruz is about 1 inch taller than Scarlett Johansson, with Cruz standing at 5 feet 4 inches (162.6 cm) and Johansson at 5 feet 3 inches (160 cm) (Credit: Tinseltown / Shutterstock)

Penélope Cruz vs. Salma Hayek’s Heights

Penélope Cruz is also taller than Salma Hayek, who stands at 5 feet 1.5 inches (156.2 cm). Cruz is approximately 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) taller than Hayek.

Penélope Cruz is approximately 2.5 inches taller than Salma Hayek, with Cruz standing at 5 feet 4 inches (162.6 cm) and Hayek at 5 feet 1.5 inches (156.2 cm) (Credit: S_Bukley / Shutterstock)

Penélope Cruz vs. Gwyneth Paltrow’s Heights

Penélope...

May is major at Max and HBO! This month, several highly anticipated shows, series, specials, live sports streams, and documentaries will be available to watch on the streamer, including the highly anticipated third season of the Emmy Award-winning comedy series “Hacks,” starring Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder. A24-heads will also get a double dose with the streaming premieres of both the critically acclaimed 2023 wrestling biopic “The Iron Claw” and the 40th anniversary 4K restoration of the Talking Heads’ “Stop Making Sense.”

Plus, catch up on shows from around Warner Bros. Discovery’s other brands, including Discovery, MotorTrend Network, Magnolia Network, TLC, Food Network, and more.

Find out everything coming to Max this May and get your watchlist ready with The Streamable’s top 5 premiere picks!

Sign Up $9.99+ / month Max.com What are the 5 Best Shows, Movies, and Specials Coming to Max in May 2024? “Hacks” Season 3 Premiere | Thursday, May 2–30

The...

With its list of new releases for May 2024, HBO streamer Max is bringing back one of the best comedies on television.

Hacks season 3 premieres on May 2 and will continue the tortured (platonic-ish) love affair between comedy superstar Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and her former joke writer Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder). That will be followed up by Pretty Little Liars: Summer School on May 9.

Movie-lovers have more than enough to keep them occupied in May 2024 as well. The latest John Green adaptation, Turtles All the Way Down, will premiere on May 3. That will be followed by intriguing original documentary MoviePass, MovieCrash on May 30. Max is also putting its Warner Bros. origins to good use with a bunch of excellent library movies like The Iron Claw on May 10 and Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice on May 26.

Here’s everything coming to HBO and Max in May.

New on HBO and Max...