One of the most celebrated actors and three-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis is widely regarded as one of the finest performers in Hollywood. Known for his intense method of acting and captivating transformations, Day-Lewis has consistently delivered strong performances.

Daniel Day-Lewis | Credit: Sean Reynolds/Cca 2.0/Wikimedia Commons

And, though he announced his retirement from acting in 2017, just before the release of Phantom Thread, the news of his upcoming return in Anemone has sparked quite the excitement and anticipation.

As fans eagerly await his much-anticipated comeback, it’s the perfect time to reflect on his exceptional career. From his breakout roles in films like My Beautiful Laundrette, A Room With a View, and The Unbearable Lightness of Being to his unforgettable turns in There Will Be Blood and Lincoln, here are some of the finest works from this legendary actor’s filmography.

My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

Directed by Stephen Frears, My Beautiful Laundrette...

A great many people appear to have come out of “Civil War,” Alex Garland’s a-house-divided-against-itself-can-kick-highly-equipped-military-ass dystopian combat thriller, feeling all shook up. They’re disturbed by it, unsettled by it. They experience the movie as if it were holding a violent mirror up to the simmering rage of America’s current political/spiritual/ ideological divide. Many critics have been seriously spooked by it, and so have columnists like the New York Times’ Michelle Goldberg. The filmmaker and Facebook pundit Paul Schrader said he was scared by it. And to judge from how many tickets the film is selling, in a $25 million opening weekend that bodes well for the future of adult dramas with topical resonance (on that score let’s all be grateful), I would guess that a solid portion of the audience was scared too.

But I was not scared by “Civil War,” even a little bit. Actually,...

Cillian Murphy and writer, director, and producer Christopher Nolan on the set of ‘Oppenheimer’ (Photo © Universal Pictures)

Since Cillian Murphy just became the first Irish-born actor to win the Best Actor Oscar, I thought it would be appropriate to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with a list of the most notable Irish actors who have been honored by the Academy with either Oscar gold or a nomination.

1. Cillian Murphy

Murphy has played non-Irish roles so often and so well that some people may not realize or remember that he is Irish. His best Irish films include Breakfast on Pluto and The Wind that Shakes the Barley. And as noted above, he is the first Irish-born actor to take home an Academy Award in the Best Actor category.

Vicky Krieps and Daniel Day-Lewis in writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘Phantom Thread’ (Photo by Laurie Sparham / Focus Features)

2. Daniel Day-Lewis

Day-Lewis...

Oscar-winning French actress Juliette Binoche is the new president of the European Film Academy.

The Efa board on Thursday said they voted unanimously to name The English Patient and The Taste of Things star to succeed Polish director Agnieszka Holland (The Green Border) as president.

Binoche’s appointment will be put to a vote by Efa members and, assuming she receives majority support, she will take over as president on May 1, 2024.

The French star will be only the second female head of the Efa, after Holland, who took over the role in 2021, succeeding German director Wim Wenders.

“I am not a person to easily step aside, but I have come to the conclusion that I am a filmmaker first and foremost. And this is what I want to focus on in the years to come,” said Holland. “For me, it is time to step aside now. Knowing that Juliette Binoche...

Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård is one of the finest actors in the industry who has appeared in movies, including Good Will Hunting, King Arthur, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Mamma Mia!, and more. The actor portrayed the character of Baron Vladimir Harkonnen in Denis Villeneuve’s Dune and reprised his character for the recently released Dune Part Two for which he has been appreciated.

The actor has also been a part of Marvel Cinematic Universe portraying Dr. Erik Selvig in 2011’s Thor followed by The Avengers, Thor: The Dark World, Age of Ultron, and Thor: Love and Thunder. Stellan Skarsgård recently opened up about his experience of working in the MCU.

Suggested“I did that just to put Paul more on edge”: Denis Villeneuve’s Controversial Dune 2 Decision Won Hearts But Let Down Book Lovers in a Major Way

Stellan Skarsgård and Austin Butler in Dune: Part Two...

E.L. James' original "Fifty Shades of Grey" trilogy is undoubtedly the most successful piece of fanfiction ever published. James turned the teen-friendly romance between Bella Swan and Edward Cullen in Stephenie Meyer's wildly popular "Twilight" franchise into an erotic reverie explored by the mysterious (and quite wealthy) entrepreneur Christian Grey and college journalist Kate Kavanaugh. It was a Bdsm gateway drug that opened up a healthy portal for kink-curious young adults. You didn't have to feel like a freak for wanting to do what conservative society deemed freaky.

Was it good literature? Does it matter? James' novels have sold hundreds of millions of copies and been translated into 52 different languages. They are adored by people who never knew they wanted to see Bella and Edward engage in consensual sadomasochism. I am happy they have these stories in their lives. What matters, at least when it comes to my bailiwick,...

Renowned three-time Oscar-winning editor Walter Murch — known for films including Apocalypse Now, The Godfather Part II and The English Patient — and respected documentary editor Kate Amend — who cut Academy Award-winning docs Into the Arms of Strangers and The Long Way Home — will receive career achievement awards at the 74th American Cinema Editors Eddie Awards.

During the ceremony, which will be held March 3 at UCLA’s Royce Hall, Ace will also honor Stephen Lovejoy with its Heritage Award for his commitment to advancing the image of the film editor and dedication to the organization.

Murch’s legendary 55-year career as a film editor, sound designer, writer and director began in 1969 when he worked on the sound for Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rain People. His credits include American Graffiti and The Godfather Part II, and he won his first Oscar for the sound in Apocalypse Now, for which he was also nominated as an editor.

The 31st edition of the Camerimage Film Festival, Europe’s top cinematography event, will welcome a host of stellar guests to the Gothic Polish town of Torun, including Adam Driver, Sean Penn and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences CEO Bill Kramer.

Driver and Penn will screen their latest films, respectively, the high-octane biopic “Ferrari” and the portrait of Eastern Europe’s most remarkable wartime president, Volodymyr Zelensky, “Superpower.”

As regular fest guests have learned, the calendar of film screenings is just as important to study as the schedule for panels, seminars and masterclasses. That’s because Camerimage, with limited event space for now, strategically holds filmmaker talks following film projections, often in the same hall of the Jordanki cinema space.

Which means opening-night audiences who linger after Camerimage screens Robbie Ryan-shot “Poor Things,” the Frankenstein-esque fairytale by Yorgos Lanthimos, starring Emma Stone, will be able to...

Exclusive: The Best Picture Oscar winners One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, The English Patient and Amadeus have a new owner.

The Saul Zaentz Company has sold its film library, which also includes titles such as The Mosquito Coast, The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Wattstax, to Teatro della Pace Films.

The films are staying in the family, though, as Teatro della Pace is owned by Zaentz’s nephew, producer Paul Zaentz. Acf Investment Bank advised The Saul Zaentz Company on the deal alongside Arnold & Porter as legal advisers.

It comes three months after The Saul Zaentz Company sold the rights to The Lord of the Rings, via its Middle-Earth Enterprises, to Sweden’s Embracer for nearly $400M. Those rights included motion picture, video game, board game, merchandising, theme parks and stage production rights relating to the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit franchises.

Terms of the Teatro...

[Editor’s note: The following interview was conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike began on July 14, 2023.]

The following interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Juliette Binoche has made her career out of playing characters who are independent, searching, unsatisfied, restless. From playing Czech protest photographer Tereza in her breakout movie, the Philip Kaufman erotic classic “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” to playing a composer’s wife left grieving and with his baggage in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s “Three Colors: Blue,” the Academy Award-winning French actress plays women pulling themselves through confusing situations, political intrigue, and perverse romantic entanglements. Often at once.

Her body of work eschews a pat introduction, but the Quad Cinema in New York has put together a syllabus of sorts with “Beautiful Binoche,” a series of films running from August 4-10 in the lead-up to next week’s release of her new film “Between Two Worlds”, about a famous author who goes undercover as a cleaning lady to investigate the exploitation of...

Milan Kundera, the Czech novelist whose international 1984 hit “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” was adapted into a film starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Juliette Binoche, has died, his publisher announced Wednesday. He was 94.

Kundera died Tuesday in France after a prolonged illness, according to the French publishing house Gallimard.

“Unbearable Lightness,” about a philandering Czech surgeon who regularly cheats on his wife with a carefree artist, was a global hit reprinted in dozens of languages. Its political undertones mirrored Kundera’s own experiences during the 1968 Prague Spring, the setting for the novel, which was crushed by Soviet invaders and sent him to exile in France in 1975.

“Lightness” was adapted for the screen by Philip Kaufman in 1988, and starred Day-Lewis as Tomas, who becomes a window washer after his political views get him expelled from his profession. Binoche played his wife, while Lena Olin portrayed the seductive painter whom he regularly meets for sex.

Milan Kundera, the Czech novelist who combined sexual and real-life politics in his writings and rose to global fame with The Unbearable Lightness of Being, died Tuesday in Paris. He was 94.

His death, following a prolonged illness, was announced by French publisher Gallimard on Wednesday.

Kundera’s literary career and personal life were closely tied to the Prague Spring, the brief flowering of political liberalization and cultural expression in Czechoslovakia that promised “socialism with a human face” in 1968 but was brutally crushed by Soviet-led troops. His breakout novel, The Joke, was published to acclaim during that period but quickly banned after the crackdown.

He went into exile in France in 1975, where he remained until his death. Over the years, he regularly sparred with authorities of his homeland, was expelled multiple times from the Communist party for his “reformist views” and had his Czechoslovak citizenship revoked in 1979. He was only re-granted...

Milan Kundera, whose 1984 novel “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” was turned into an Oscar-nominated film, has died at the age of 94.

Kundera died Tuesday in Paris after a long illness, Jindra Pavelková, a representative of the Moravian Library, the Czech library housing his personal collection, told Variety Wednesday.

“Milan Kundera was a writer who reached whole generations of readers across all continents and achieved global fame,” Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said. “He leaves behind not only notable fiction, but also significant essay work.”

The 1988 film adaptation of “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” was directed by Philip Kaufman and starred Daniel Day-Lewis and Juliette Binoche. Jean-Claude Carrière and Kaufman were Oscar nominated for adapted screenplay, and Sven Nykvist was Oscar nominated for cinematography.

Other films based on his writing include 1965’s “Nobody Will Laugh,” directed by Hynek Bocan, which won the Grand Prize at Mannheim-Heidelberg Film Festival, 1969’s “The Joke,...

Czech-born French writer Milan Kundera, author of the novel The Unbearable Lightness of Being, has died aged 94, according to Czech media and sources close to the writer.

Kundera was born in Czechoslovakia in 1929 and was expelled multiple times from the Communist party for reformist views and “anti-party activities”.

He was peripherally involved in the 1968 Prague Spring, the brief period of reformist activities that were crushed by the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.

He went into exile in France in 1975, acquiring citizenship in 1981. His Czechoslovak citizenship was revoked in 1979 and he was granted Czech citizenship in 2019.

His first novel, an anti-Communist tale called The Joke, was published in 1967 and was adapted into a 1969 feature by Jaromil Jires. The film played at San Sebastian, New York and Locarno.

Kundera, who rarely gave interviews, was best known for The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which takes place mainly in Prague in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

From the films of Krzysztof Kieślowski to Claire Denis, Oscar winner Juliette Binoche has starred in many of your favorite European arthouse classics, and she’s probably the reason we return to them again and again. This summer, New Yorkers — or any ambitious traveling cinephiles — will have the chance to see many of her all-time greatest performances on 35mm thanks to a new retrospective set for the Quad Cinema in Greenwich Village.

IndieWire exclusively announces “Beautiful Binoche,” which will take place August 4–10 at New York City’s longest-running, four-screen multiplex. In addition to some of the great Binoche titles from the ’80s, ’90s, and 2000s, the Quad Cinema will also present Binoche’s latest film, “Between Two Worlds,” opening from Cohen Media Group on August 11.

The French actress has long made a career playing determined women pulling themselves through confusing situations — from perverse erotic entanglements to political intrigue and isolating grief.

Daniel Day-Lewis is one of Hollywood’s most legendary actors. Known for his strict adherence to method acting and his intense onscreen persona, he has appeared in many acclaimed movies. Although he officially retired from acting in 2017, his work in the entertainment industry remains legendary. One of the most notable instances of Day-Lewis’ dedication came in the 1989 drama My Left Foot. Reportedly, he insisted on being carried to and from the set in order to preserve his integrity to the method.

Daniel Day-Lewis is a dedicated method actor Actor Daniel Day-Lewis arrives at the Oscars at Hollywood & Highland Center on February 24, 2013 in Hollywood, California. | Jason Merritt/Getty Images

Born and raised in London, Day-Lewis got his start on stage, acting in a wide variety of theatre productions. In the early ’80s, he started acting in movies, opting for small roles in films to accompany his stage work. He earned early...

Chicago – The European Union Film Festival is an annual happening at Chicago’s Gene Siskel Film Center, and will take place in 2023 from March 1st-31st. Kicking off the Fest will be an appearance from actors Lena Olin and Tora Hallström.

Both are featured in the film “Hilma,” directed by Lasse Hallström (“Chocolat”), Tora’s father and Lena’s husband. The Opening Night event (6pm at the Siskel Center) on March 1st, 2023, will feature the appearances, the Chicago premiere of “Hilma” and a reception afterward hosted by the Honorary Consulate of Sweden. For Opening Night tickets and information, click EU Fest Opening Night.

’Hilma’ Opens the Ceuff on March 1st, 2023

Photo credit: Juno Films

“Hilma” is a cinematically artistic biography of Swedish painter Hilma af Klint (portrayed younger by Tora Hallström and in middle age by Lena Olin). Hilma died in 1944, unknown and unrecognized as the woman who invented abstract...

The Motion Picture Sound Editors said today that Gwendolyn Yates Whittle will receive its 2023 Mpse Career Achievement Award during the group’s 70th annual Golden Reel Awards in February.

Supervising sound editor Whittle is a two-time Oscar nominee for Avatar and Tron: Legacy and has won six Golden Reels on 20 career nominations spanning 1998-2022. She also scored an Emmy nom for WandaVision last year.

Related Story 2022-23 Awards Season Calendar – Dates For The Oscars, Golden Globes, Guilds & More Related Story 'Avatar: The Way Of Water' Getting China Release Related Story James Cameron Says 'Avatar: The Way Of Water' Is In "The Worst Business Case In Movie History" To Be Profitable

“An extraordinarily gifted sound artist, Gwen has lent her talents to an amazing diversity of films and television shows,” Mpse President Mark Lanza said. “She has been a true pioneer since her earliest days in the...

Image Source: Getty / Michael Buckner

In our Q&a series Popsugar Crush, we get to know some of our favorite celebs' more intimate details - from their ideal first date to their most romantic gesture. This month, we're crushing on "Tell Me Lies" star Jackson White.

Season one of "Tell Me Lies" is truly a roller-coaster ride from start to finish. Based on Carola Lovering's 2018 novel of the same name, the Hulu series centers on the toxic, all-consuming romance between Stephen DeMarco (Jackson White) and Lucy Albright (Grace Van Patten) over the course of eight years. However, things finally came to a head during Wednesday's season finale when it was revealed that Stephen is engaged to Lucy's childhood friend, Lydia (Natalee Linez), seven years after we last saw him leave Lucy at a college party for his ex-girlfriend Diana (Alicia Crowder). So, what happened in those years in between?...

“You have to know how to reject roles so as not to enter into a system in which women are only seen in a certain way,” French actress Juliette Binoche said here on Sunday, according to ‘Variety’.

Binoche spoke up for women while answering questions from the media at the San Sebastian Film Festival, where she is a recipient this year of the festival’s Donostia Award as a tribute to her career.

‘The English Patient’ star is a go-to actress for a slew of auteur directors, including Krzysztof Kieslowski and Claire Denis, who joined her on stage to discuss ‘Both Sides of the Blade’, this year’s Silver Bear winner for Best Director at the Berlinale.

A love triangle film co-starring Binoche, the film will be screened at the festival before the award’s presentation. ‘Both Sides of the Blade’ also stars Vincent Lindon and Gregoire Colin.

“You have...

“You have to know how to reject roles so as not to enter into a system in which women are only seen in a certain way,” said French actor Juliette Binoche on Sunday.

Binoche spoke up for women whilst answering questions from the press at the San Sebastián Film Festival where she is a recipient this year of the festival’s Donostia Award, as a tribute to her career.

“The English Patient” star is a go-to actress for a slew of auteur directors, including Krzysztof Kieślowski and Claire Denis.

Denis joined her on stage to discuss “Both Sides of the Blade,” a love triangle film co-starring Binoche, which will screen at the festival before the award’s presentation.

“Both Sides of the Blade” also stars Vincent Lindon and Grégoire Colin.

“You have to go instead to the new. And you have to jump into the unknown and work outside of macho codes,...

Exclusive: Marisa Tomei (Spider-Man: No Way Home) and Lena Olin (Hunters) have signed on to star alongside Camila Mendes and Archie Renaux in Gulfstream Pictures’ romantic comedy Upgraded, which has entered production in the UK.

In the film from actor-director Carlson Young (The Blazing World), aspiring art intern Ana (Mendes) is invited on a last-minute work trip to London by her brilliant but intimidating super boss, meeting the handsome and wealthy William (Renaux) on the plane. Set in both London and New York City, the rom-com chronicles the trials and tribulations of balancing work, romance and following your dreams.

Tomei will take on the role of the formidable auction house executive Claire Dupree, a brilliant and terrifying boss to auction-house trainee Ana. Olin will play the charismatic and charming Catherine Laroche, a wealthy and influential art seller, and the mother of Ana’s love interest, William.

Developed in part by...

Where do great movies come from? When Netflix started creating its own shows a decade ago, Ted Sarandos and his colleagues put that question to select creatives around town. It was a smart exercise – but most respondents insisted there was no answer.

Coincidentally I’d been putting out that question at various times over the years with equally ambiguous results. Saul Zaentz, the feisty film and music producer, once offered this response: “Great movies come from terrible people who fight you every step of the way and make your life miserable.”

Misery or not, Zaentz’s indie company managed to produce three Best Picture winners over the years and his music company earned millions from Creedence Clearwater Revival. Never part of Hollywood’s corporate structure, Zaentz and his achievements are a reminder of the banner times in the indie era — from Samuel Goldwyn to John Heyman, Dino De Laurentiis and Francis Coppola.

For anyone passingly familiar with the turbulent events of 1968 in modern Czech history — or even the various films about them, from Philip Kaufman’s “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” to more home-grown evocations of the Prague Spring and ensuing Soviet invasion — director Beata Parkanová’s decision to set her second feature “Word” in that very year feels like a dramatic short cut, coloring proceedings from the outset with danger and anxiety that require little establishment or explanation. There’s enough finely sketched interior drama, however, in this study of a middle-class family facing down Communist Party threats, that its somewhat generalized sense of milieu feels like a strategic contrast: a crisp little picture framed in a hazy bigger one, defined by a nervy national mood that is implicitly felt rather than explicitly illustrated.

That elision of historical particularity in favor of a sensually recalled zeitgeist might make “Word” — the standout...

Milan Kundera’s first novel, “The Joke,” won him critical praise and set the tone for a robust career in the spring of 1967, debuting just in time to catch the rising tide of freedom of expression that would reach its peak with the Prague Spring movement just a year later. Jaromil Jires crafted a screen adaptation of the book, in collaboration with the writer, which became one of the iconic films of the Czech New Wave.

The digital restoration of the film, part of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival’s program of preserving and promoting classic films, alongside the Czech National Film Archive, brings a crisp new copy of the film to audiences this summer. The chance to experience “The Joke” in a pristine state after extensive work by Prague post house Upp and studio Soundsquare has been a long-time coming.

When the Soviet crackdown, known as Normalization, rolled into...

Exclusive: Vertical Entertainment has acquired North American rights to the political satire Land of Dreams, directed by Shirin Neshat and Shoja Azari, which is making its North American premiere in the Spotlight Narrative section of the Tribeca Film Festival in June. The global indie distributor has slated the film for a day-and-date theatrical release in 10 of the top 20 markets—including in Los Angeles and New York—this fall. (Watch a new trailer unveiled today by the company above.)

Set in a near-future America which has closed its borders and become more insular than ever, the story follows Simin (Sheila Vand), an Iranian American woman on a journey to discover the core of what it means to be a free American. Simin works for the Census Bureau—the most important government agency of her time. In efforts to understand and control its populous, the government has begun a program to record the citizens’ dreams.

The face of an upscale U.S. independent cinema which climaxed with “The English Patient” and a go-to actress for many of the world’s greatest directors from Krzysztof Kieślowski to Claire Denis, France’s Juliette Binoche will receive one of this year’s San Sebastian Donostia Awards, the Spanish festival’s prestigious plaudit for career achievement.

The Award will be presented to Binoche before a screening of Denis’ “Both Sides of the Blade,” a Silver Bear winner for best director at February’s Berlin Festival.

An actor with a prolific career reaching back to her first breakout in Philip Kaufman’s “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” – one of her many movies which have been literary adaptations – Binoche will also feature on the poster of this year’s 70th San Sebastian Film Festival, snapped by French photographer Brigitte Lacombe.

Binoche’s presence gives a first French touch to San Sebastián,...

Playing himself, Cage serves the acting fans love him for – but has this strained action comedy spoiled the joke?

Nicolas Cage has officially revealed he’s in on the joke … if “joke” is precisely what it is. But has that spoiled the joke – if that is the correct word? This is a self-aware action comedy whose title is possibly the funniest bit, riffing on Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness of Being as well as possibly Dave Eggers’s memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Producer-star Cage plays “Nick Cage”: Hollywood ledge and national treasure (to quote a relevant movie title) now in a midlife crisis, haunted by CGI-doppelganger visions of his angry younger self, no longer booking the big roles and facing a grim future in which, as his agent (Neil Patrick Harris) puts it, he plays the cool gay uncle in a Duplass brothers film.

Cage is living in a hotel,...

Land of Dreams directors Shoja Azari and Shirin Neshat with Isabella Rossellini and cinematographer Ghasem Ebrahimian Photo: Giulia Theodoli

Shirin Neshat and Shoja Azari’s highly imaginative Land Of Dreams, based on a story by Shirin Neshat, screenplay by Jean-Claude Carrière and Shoja Azari, shot by Ghasem Ebrahimian, stars Sheila Vand, Matt Dillon, and William Moseley with Isabella Rossellini, Christopher McDonald, Anna Gunn, Joaquim de Almeida, Gaius Charles, Robin Bartlett, James Cady, Nicole Ansari-Cox, Luce Rains, and Rebecca Comerford.

Shirin Neshat with Anne-Katrin Titze on Land of Dreams: “We started with Jean-Claude Carrière and it was a very complex, unusual script.”

Land Of Dreams is dedicated to Jean-Claude Carrière. It is his last feature film screenplay credit. Jean-Claude Carrière has three Screenplay Oscar nominations. Carrière also co-wrote Volker Schlöndorff’s Oscar winner The Tin Drum and in 2015, received an honorary Oscar. Jean-Claude Carrière died on February 8, 2021 at the...

Variety has been given exclusive access to the trailer for Shirin Neshat and Shoja Azari’s satirical, surrealistic film “Land of Dreams,” which opens the Horizons Extra section of the Venice Film Festival. The filmmakers won the Silver Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival for their first feature film, “Women Without Men.”

“Land of Dreams” stars Sheila Vand, Matt Dillon, William Moseley and Isabella Rossellini. Beta Cinema has sales rights worldwide, except for the U.S., which is being handled by UTA.

The screenplay is by the late Jean-Claude Carrière and Azari. Carrière, who died earlier this year, was Luis Buñuel’s screenwriting partner on six of Buñuel’s films. Carrière won an Oscar for the short film “The Anniversary,” and was Oscar nominated for Buñuel’s “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie” and “That Obscure Object of Desire,” as well as Philip Kaufman’s “The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

Using a manhole cover to disable a tank works well if you can get it into the treads, but Molotov cocktails are more effective against trucks – such are just a couple of the discoveries unearthed by Czech filmmaker Jan Sikl in his docu “Reconstruction of Occupation,” a granular look at the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia based on never-before-seen footage. The documentary premiered at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival on Saturday.

The Soviet-led crackdown, ordered in response to the reforms of hardline communism ushered in by Alexander Dubcek during the Prague Spring of that year, marked a historic turning point that brought citizens of Czechoslovakia who had hoped for a lessening of brutal repression back into line for another 20 years. It’s been thoroughly studied and was remarkably well documented by filmmakers at the time, many having escaped to the West with film reels hidden in wheel wells of cars,...

It’s hard to imagine a more well-timed and well-placed documentary than Jan Siki’s “Reconstruction of Occupation,” which debuted on Saturday, Aug. 21 at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the Czech Republic. The film had its world premiere 53 years to the day that Soviet tanks and military vehicles rolled into what was then Czechoslovakia, and it screened in a theater, the Kino Čas, that sits on streets that saw those military vehicles in August 1968.

Much of the footage stems from a time when the new wave of Czech films was flowering, with landmarks like Jiri Menzel’s Oscar-winning “Closely Watched Trains,” Milos Forman’s “The Fireman’s Ball” and Jan Nemec’s “A Report on the Party and the Guests.” And it came at the end of the Prague Spring, the eight-month period that began when Alexander Dubček became head of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia and instituted liberal reforms...

Updated– Nordic Entertainment Group (Nent Group) is set to produce two major English-language films every year, kicking off with “Hilma,” a biopic of the revolutionary Swedish artist and feminist pioneer Hilma af Klint, starring Lena Olin (“Enemies”).

Lasse Hallström (‘The Cider House Rules”), one of Sweden’s most celebrated directors, is on board to write and direct the film.

“Hilma” will explore the enigmatic life of Klint, whose unconventional art remained largely unknown for decades. Klint navigated through a male-dominated artistic scene to eventually become one of the Western world’s first abstract artists.

Olin will play Klint in her later years, while Tora Hallström (‘Hachi: A Dog’s Tale’), Olin and Lasse Hallström’s daughter, will be portraying the artist in her younger years.

“I’ve spent three years trying to understand the mystery of Hilma af Klint. This is a story about an unwavering search for the truth about humanity and the universe,...

From Zoolander‘s “What is this? A center for ants?” to 300‘s iconic “This is Sparta” line, here are the best quotes from movies of the 21st century.

“The history of cinema is littered with lines of dialogue that transcend context, but for the most part, what are considered the Great Movie Quotes are vintage in nature. AFI’s 100 Years…100 Quotes remains the bible, reminding us that, yes, ‘Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn’ is pretty significant.”

Read more at Thrillist.

Lin-Manuel Miranda explains why he cut a Trump reference from the movie adaptation of In the Heights.

“Lin-Manuel Miranda made the right decision in cutting Trump from the film adaptation of In the Heights. Premiering in June, the musical has a song that references Trump. Titled ‘96,000,’ the song sees Benny, played by Corey Hawkins, talking about a grand business and singing, ‘Donald Trump and I are...

Photo: 'A Woman Under the Influence'/Cine-Source Cassavetes’ ‘Influence’ In Charlie Kaufman’s recent film, ‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things’, a significant portion of time is given to a discussion of John Cassavetes’ ‘A Woman Under the Influence’, a conversation that involves one character quoting lengthy excerpts verbatim from Pauline Kael’s 1974 New Yorker review of that film. In Mike Birbiglia’s 2016 comedy ‘Don’t Think Twice’, Gillian Jacobs plays a member of an improv troupe who specializes in doing an impression of Gena Rowlands’ character from ‘A Woman Under the Influence’ as if she were a baseball umpire. The Brooklyn band The Hold Steady have a song called ‘Slapped Actress’ that is technically about Cassavetes’ 1977 film ‘Opening Night’, but it debates the relationship between the director and his wife/lead actress, stating, “Some nights, makin' it look real might end up with someone hurt.” In their 1999 song ‘What’s Yr Take On Cassavetes?...

Jean-Claude Carrière, who died Monday at 89 at his home in Paris of natural causes, had a prolific, six-decade career. The French screenwriter and novelist penned dozens of scripts, including “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” and “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie.”

Among his more late-in-life projects was co-writing with Jonathan Glazer and Milo Addica the 2004 drama “Birth.” Glazer, who also directed the film, shared with IndieWire a remembrance of Carrière, in which he reflected on how the pair developed the idea:

Ten years after the sudden death of her husband, a woman gets a visit from a ten year old boy claiming to be his reincarnation. That’s pretty much all I had. My producer at the time sent it to Jean-Claude and he invited me to his house in Paris. I was very nervous. He said he liked the idea very much. Within a few minutes, I watched him...

Legendary screenwriter collaborated with scores of filmmakers including Jacques Tati, Luis Buñuel, Milos Foreman and Louis Malle.

French screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière, whose 60-year career spanned more than 150 writer credits and collaborations with Jacques Tati, Luis Buñuel, Milos Foreman and Louis Malle, has died in Paris aged 89.

Born into a family of winegrowers in south-western France, Carrière moved to the outskirts of Paris at the age of 14 when his parents took over the running of a bar.

After obtaining a degree in history and literature, he embarked on a writing career, publishing debut novel Lezard in 1957. Set against the backdrop of a restaurant in the suburbs,...

One of Jean-Claude Carrière’s most celebrated adaptations - Cyrano de Bergerac, directed by Jean-Paul Rappeneau and starring Gérard Depardieu. Photo: UniFrance One of France’s most celebrated and internationally renowned screenwriters Jean-Claude Carrière has died at the age of 89 after a career which saw his named attached to more than 80 films and some 30 novels and theatre productions.

Among his most famous collaborations was working with director Jean-Paul Rappeneau on the adaptation of Edmond Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac with Gérard Depardieu; with Luis Buñuel on the adaptation of Octave Mirabeau’s 1900 novel Diary Of A Chambermaid with Jeanne Moreau, and with Philip Kaufman on Czech writer Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness Of Being. His partnership with Buñuel lasted almost two decades until the director’s death in 1983 and memorably embraced Belle De Jour with Catherine Deneuve and The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeosie for which he and Buñuel won an Oscar in 1972.

Carrière,...

French screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière, who has penned the scripts for films including The Unbearable Lightness of Being and That Obscure Object of Desire, has died. His daughter Kiara Carrière told Afp that the screenwriter died on Monday of natural causes at his Paris home. He was 89.

Throughout his decades-long career as a writer, actor and director, Carriere received a number of awards and recognitions for his work. Carrière shared his first Academy Award with Pierre Etaix, winning best short subject for Heureux anniversaire. In 1969, The Nail Clippers (La pince à ongles) took home the Cannes grand jury prize for best short film. In addition to BAFTA and César wins throughout the years, Carrière received an Honorary Oscar of his body of work as a screenwriter in 2014.

Born in 1931, Carrière was born in a small village in the south of France and trained as a historian. After publishing his first novel...

Jean-Claude Carriere, the prolific French screenwriter and novelist who was Oscar-nominated for “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,” “That Obscure Object of Desire” and “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie,” died Monday at his home in Paris. He was 89.

His family confirmed his death, of natural causes, to Afp.

Carriere was a frequent collaborator with Luis Bunuel, writing the screenplays for “Diary of a Chambermaid,” in which he also played the village priest, ” “Belle de Jour,” “The Milky Way” and “The Phantom of Liberty” as well as the international arthouse hits and Oscar nominees “That Obscure Object of Desire” and “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeousie.”

In an interview for “The Storytellers,” Carriere talked about how close his relationship became with Bunuel, “It was a very close relationship. We were always alone in some remote place, often in Mexico or Spain, talking French and Spanish, without friends, without women, without wives.

Swedish sports drama Tigers, the story of teenage soccer star Martin Bengtsson, was named the Dragon Award winner for Best Nordic Film at the 2021 Göteborg Film Festival, Scandinavia’s top film event. The festival was held virtually this year because of the pandemic.

The Tigers film was based on Bengtsson’s autobiography, wherein he wrote of his experiences with top Italian football squad Inter Milan. The screenplay was by Ronnie Sandahl, best known for Janus Metz’s 2017 tennis biopic, Borg vs McEnroe.

The Dragon Award comes with a $478,000 cash prize. Erik Enge, who plays Bengtsson in the film, was named Göteborg’s Best Actor honor.

“Many of the films of this year’s Nordic competition had characters wanting to be the best versions of themselves while struggling with the pressures of success,” said a statement from the Göteborg jury. “The winning film gives a rare glimpse into a world many wish to enter,...

Photo: 'The Unbearable Lightness of Being'/Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer “It’s questions with no answers, that set the limits of human possibilities-- that describe the boundaries of human existence.” As it pertains to the human experience, it seems that all notions of ‘Absolute Truth’ are inherently transient. Such shapeless apparitions, both airy and ample, are bound by the borders of our consciousness--in orbit just beyond our reach. Truth is neither stagnant nor objective, it simply cannot exist as such, as this would rebel against its design. The moment you think you’ve captured some form of absolute truth-- it changes. What definitive conclusions can be plunged from such an ever-changing, centerless, kaleidoscope of expression--both separate and unified? Related article: Bong Joon Ho Named International Jury President of the Venice Film Festival 2021 Related article: Video | The Artist Evolves: All Leonardo DiCaprio Roles & Performances, 1980s to 2020 Filmography Who dares prod the precipice of such an existential enigma?...

French actress to present her latest feature ‘How To Be A Good Wife’ at the festival.

French actress Juliette Binoche is to be honoured with the Golden Icon award at the Zurich Film Festival, which is set to go ahead as a physical event next month.

She is set to present her latest feature, How To Be A Good Wife, at the festival and will receive the honour on September 30. Binoche will also discuss her career at a Zff Masters session on October 1.

Binoche has more than 75 features to her name, including Anthony Minghella’s The English Patient, for which she won the Oscar,...

Tucked in Hollywood less than two blocks from the towering ArcLight Cinemas on Sunset Boulevard, the Arena Cinelounge has been showing independent films and cult favorites for nearly a decade. With just 60 seats, its small scale typically results in sold-out shows even on weeknights. But a nimble operation also means that owner Christian Meoli is in a prime position to reopen far earlier than multiplexes like AMC and Regal, which aren’t aiming to get back to business until mid-July.

On Friday, June 19, Meoli was set to go with medical-grade air purifiers, a contactless box office, limited capacity, and pre-packaged concessions, courtesy of the theater’s gourmet popcorn line. But on Thursday afternoon, at the last minute, the city of Los Angeles changed its course and barred theaters from reopening after all. The announcement came a day after Governor Gavin Newsom mandated face coverings in most public spaces at all times.

Tucked in Hollywood less than two blocks from the towering ArcLight Cinemas on Sunset Boulevard, the Arena Cinelounge has been showing independent films and cult favorites for nearly a decade. With just 60 seats, its small scale typically results in sold-out shows even on weeknights. But a nimble operation also means that owner Christian Meoli is in a prime position to reopen far earlier than multiplexes like AMC and Regal, which aren’t aiming to get back to business until mid-July.

On Friday, June 19, Meoli was set to go with medical-grade air purifiers, a contactless box office, limited capacity, and pre-packaged concessions, courtesy of the theater’s gourmet popcorn line. But on Thursday afternoon, at the last minute, the city of Los Angeles changed its course and barred theaters from reopening after all. The announcement came a day after Governor Gavin Newsom mandated face coverings in most public spaces at all times.

Los Angeles County health officials announced Thursday that bars, wineries, tattoo parlors and nail salons will be allowed to reopen on Friday.

But the county is still not allowing movie theaters to reopen, even though California health officials issued guidelines allowing theaters to open across the state more than a week ago.

County officials offered no explanation for excluding theaters from the reopening order.

The news comes as a disappointment to the Arena Cinelounge, an arthouse theater in Hollywood that had planned to reopen on Friday with screenings of “Babyteeth” and “The Unbearable Lightness of Being.”

“I’m going to be refunding tickets this evening,” said owner Christian Meoli. “We know that this is an extremely fluid situation and we understand that the health and safety of the general public is top priority.”

Meoli said he had invested thousands of dollars in medical-grade air filters and other upgrades to make the theater safe.

As Los Angeles slowly reopens, Arena Cinelounge Sunset in Hollywood is stepping forward to be the first physical theater in the city to open its doors since the start of the coronavirus lockdown. The arthouse theater will reopen on June 19 with special engagements of The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Babyteeth.

Arena Cinelounge is set to reopen and will be in full compliance with public health protocols. They will take important safety precautions such as a new air purification system, seat disinfecting between screenings, socially distanced seating and concessions specially packaged for contactless delivery.

In addition, owner Christian Meoli has created distinctive gourmet popcorn in nine flavors, each dedicated to a specific movie including: Natural Corn Killers, APOPalypse Now, Popcorn of the Living Dead and Once Upon a Time in Popcorn.

“As an independent theater owner, I’ve had to be creative about the survival and expansion of my business,...

A zesty palate cleanser of sorts after his wrenching “Sorry Angel” — but in some ways a much weightier film than writer-director Christophe Honoré has left himself the strength to carry — “On a Magical Night” is a fanciful tale of marriage and its malcontents;

Honoré says he was desperate to film Chiara Mastroianni’s “anxious forehead and ironic dimples,” so he cast the French actress as Maria, a historian in her late 40s who’s having a clandestine (but rather unapologetic) affair with a twentysomething student whose name sounds like an anagram for sexual misadventure: Asdrubal Electorat. Maria finds that kinda funny; her devout and tender husband Richard (Benjamin Biolay) does not. He boots her from their Paris apartment shortly after the truth comes out, forcing Maria to spend the night in the hotel across the street. But she won’t be spending the night alone — not when there’s a blithe spirit in the air,...

In today’s film news roundup, Pearl Jam teams with Abramorama, “Bloodshot” get an Immersive Cinema Experience release, Philip Kaufman is honored, the Doc10 Festival unveils its slate and “Testament” gets rolling.

Release Dates

Pearl Jam and Abramorama have scheduled the “Gigaton Listening Experience” for March 25 in more than 200 Dolby Atmos-equipped theaters in 20 countries.

The immersive event takes place two days before the release of Pearl Jam’s album “Gigaton.” It includes a playback of the entire album in Dolby Atmos with visuals curated and created by Evolve, the filmmaker and artist behind the music video for the first single “Dance of the Clairvoyants.”

This marks Pearl Jam’s fourth theatrical collaboration with Abramorama following 2007’s “Imagine in Cornice,” directed by Danny Clinch; 2011’s “Pearl Jam Twenty,” directed by Cameron Crowe; and 2017’s “Let’s Play Two,” also helmed by Clinch.

Abramorama’s Evan Saxon and Richard Abramowitz said in a statement,...

Philip Kaufman, the auteur behind such films as The Right Stuff and The Unbearable Lightness of Being, is being honored this week with a lifetime tribute at the Cinémathèque Française in Paris.

The career retrospective began Wednesday and runs through March 15.

In addition to the screening program, Kaufman will be giving a master class, hosted by Bernard Benoliel of the Cinémathèque Française, following the unspooling of the filmmaker’s 1979 comedy-drama The Wanderers.

Kaufman’s career has spanned over half a century, having acted as a director, writer, and producer on numerous films, many of which ...