“I have very little to say except that I think it very charming and kind of you all to give us your Sunday night,” said a disarming Julian Fellowes at the NYC premiere of Downton Abbey: A New Era last Sunday. Distributor Focus Features – and the broader industry — hopes audiences will give the film many more Sunday nights, and other days and dayparts, jumpstarting the return to theaters of older demos.
Downton opens this weekend on over 3,800 screens, not a specialty release but leading here as a bellwether for that elusive audience, a staple of arthouses, that had raised hopes briefly by turning out for No Die To Die last fall. Lingering Covid jitters or an entrenched streaming habit have kept the 45-plus crowd sparse in cinemas even as they flock to restaurants and other public activities. The hope is that the Downton franchise will prove beloved as Bond, as enduring as Spider-Man,...
Downton opens this weekend on over 3,800 screens, not a specialty release but leading here as a bellwether for that elusive audience, a staple of arthouses, that had raised hopes briefly by turning out for No Die To Die last fall. Lingering Covid jitters or an entrenched streaming habit have kept the 45-plus crowd sparse in cinemas even as they flock to restaurants and other public activities. The hope is that the Downton franchise will prove beloved as Bond, as enduring as Spider-Man,...
- 5/20/2022
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Wednesday, Oct. 21 Saban Schedules ‘Wander’ for Theaters, On Demand
Saban Films has scheduled a Dec. 4 opening in theaters, on demand and on digital for the conspiracy thriller “Wander,” with Aaron Eckhart starring.
“Wander” is directed by April Mullen from a script by Tim Doiron. It also stars Katheryn Winnick, Heather Graham and Tommy Lee Jones.
Echhart’s character is hired to probe a suspicious death in the small town of Wander, then becomes convinced the case is linked to the same conspiracy cover up that caused the death of his daughter. The film was shot last year in New Mexico.
Jonathan Mostow Directing Refugee Thriller
Jonathan Mostow has signed on to write and direct the feature film based on the true story of American businessman Chris Catrambone, founder of the Migrant Offshore Aid Station.
“Chris Catrambone is living proof of how one person’s passion can save lives,” said Mostow.
Saban Films has scheduled a Dec. 4 opening in theaters, on demand and on digital for the conspiracy thriller “Wander,” with Aaron Eckhart starring.
“Wander” is directed by April Mullen from a script by Tim Doiron. It also stars Katheryn Winnick, Heather Graham and Tommy Lee Jones.
Echhart’s character is hired to probe a suspicious death in the small town of Wander, then becomes convinced the case is linked to the same conspiracy cover up that caused the death of his daughter. The film was shot last year in New Mexico.
Jonathan Mostow Directing Refugee Thriller
Jonathan Mostow has signed on to write and direct the feature film based on the true story of American businessman Chris Catrambone, founder of the Migrant Offshore Aid Station.
“Chris Catrambone is living proof of how one person’s passion can save lives,” said Mostow.
- 10/22/2020
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
Documentary Hold Your Fire directed by Stefan Forbes has nabbed the second annual Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film, a $200,000 finishing grant for a filmmaker who uses original research and compelling narrative to tell stories that touch on an aspect of American history.
Produced by Amir Soltani and Tia Wou, the feature-length doc explores the longest hostage siege in NYPD history in1973 at a Brooklyn sporting goods store and how Harvey Schlossberg, an officer with a doctorate in psychology, averted a bloodbath.
In the incident, four young Black men stealing guns for self-defense were cornered by police. A violent gun battle ensued and soon a police officer lay dead in the freezing rain. Hundreds of officers poured into Williamsburg intent on carrying out then standard NYPD operating procedure: issue an ultimatum, then assault the store with deadly force despite hostages being trapped inside.
Produced by Amir Soltani and Tia Wou, the feature-length doc explores the longest hostage siege in NYPD history in1973 at a Brooklyn sporting goods store and how Harvey Schlossberg, an officer with a doctorate in psychology, averted a bloodbath.
In the incident, four young Black men stealing guns for self-defense were cornered by police. A violent gun battle ensued and soon a police officer lay dead in the freezing rain. Hundreds of officers poured into Williamsburg intent on carrying out then standard NYPD operating procedure: issue an ultimatum, then assault the store with deadly force despite hostages being trapped inside.
- 10/20/2020
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Welcome back to the Supporting Actress Smackdown, a summer festival in which we investigate Oscar vintages from years past. This time around it's 1981 in which an estranged daughter, an unhappy socialite, a guilt-ridden Catholic, a political radical, and a scandalous young beauty gather for our viewing pleasure.
1981's Supporting Actress nominations made room for a two-time winner with a very personal project, an actor's actor in a star-driven historical epic, two sturdy characters in 'issues' pictures of very different kinds and a rapidly rising starlet who had made a big film debut the year prior in 1980's Best Picture winner Ordinary People.
This Month's Panelists
Here to talk about these five nominated turns and the movies and Oscars of 1981 are, in alphabetical order: writer/director Eric Blume, actor Donna Lynne Champlin (Crazy Ex Girlfriend), actor Sean Maguire, festival programmer Amir Soltani, and critic Boyd Van Hoeij (The Hollywood Reporter). And,...
1981's Supporting Actress nominations made room for a two-time winner with a very personal project, an actor's actor in a star-driven historical epic, two sturdy characters in 'issues' pictures of very different kinds and a rapidly rising starlet who had made a big film debut the year prior in 1980's Best Picture winner Ordinary People.
This Month's Panelists
Here to talk about these five nominated turns and the movies and Oscars of 1981 are, in alphabetical order: writer/director Eric Blume, actor Donna Lynne Champlin (Crazy Ex Girlfriend), actor Sean Maguire, festival programmer Amir Soltani, and critic Boyd Van Hoeij (The Hollywood Reporter). And,...
- 5/9/2020
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Amir Soltani is covering the Berlin International Film Festival.
The Berlinale officially closes today. Although we’re not yet finished with our coverage – a couple of interviews still to come – it’s the perfect time to look back and discuss the festival’s awards. In my review of Gianfranco Rosi’s exquisite new film, Fire at Sea, I noted that it would be a shock for the film to leave the Berlinale empty-handed. Lo and behold, the festival’s jury, headed by Meryl Streep, agreed with the sentiment, and rightly awarded the competition’s best film with the Golden Bear.
The festival’s unofficial theme – repeated across press releases and around the festival hub – was refugees and immigrants. Much as Rosi’s impressive constructed, morally compelling and profoundly moving film might have benefited from that, however, it was hard to ignore the fact that its reception by critics and audiences...
The Berlinale officially closes today. Although we’re not yet finished with our coverage – a couple of interviews still to come – it’s the perfect time to look back and discuss the festival’s awards. In my review of Gianfranco Rosi’s exquisite new film, Fire at Sea, I noted that it would be a shock for the film to leave the Berlinale empty-handed. Lo and behold, the festival’s jury, headed by Meryl Streep, agreed with the sentiment, and rightly awarded the competition’s best film with the Golden Bear.
The festival’s unofficial theme – repeated across press releases and around the festival hub – was refugees and immigrants. Much as Rosi’s impressive constructed, morally compelling and profoundly moving film might have benefited from that, however, it was hard to ignore the fact that its reception by critics and audiences...
- 2/21/2016
- by Amir S.
- FilmExperience
Amir here. I first fell in love with Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence in September 2014, at Tiff. It was the last, and best, film I watched at that festival, and it left an emotional mark that I lived with for days. I caught up with the film again when it was released for the public and my conviction that this was one of the best documentary features of all time was reaffirmed – in my book, one of 2015’s holy trinity of films. So, you can understand my excitement when I finally had the chance to speak with director Joshua Oppenheimer, and Adi, the subject of his film.
The Look of Silence, nominated for the Oscar for Best Documentary, a companion piece to the director’s earlier film The Act of Killing (also nominated in its year), is about the victims of the Indonesian genocide, who live side by...
The Look of Silence, nominated for the Oscar for Best Documentary, a companion piece to the director’s earlier film The Act of Killing (also nominated in its year), is about the victims of the Indonesian genocide, who live side by...
- 2/20/2016
- by Amir S.
- FilmExperience
Amir Soltani is covering the Berlin International Film Festival. Two new reviews today.
Alone In Berlin (Pérez)
Alone in Berlin, adapted from the novel ‘Every Man Dies Alone’ by Hans Falada and directed by former actor Vincent Pérez, is about justice, and you best believe that. The film wants you to know this so badly that it goes out of its way to shoehorn into the film a scene in which, one character tells his wife, “I have a mistress whom I obey, and her name is justice.” In another scene, a man proves his son’s involvement in the war by showing a picture of him in uniform in Poland, holding a dead child, as though he’s a trophy hunted on a Safari trip. If these examples pain you with their lack of subtlety, you won’t be delighted to know that they are only two of many,...
Alone In Berlin (Pérez)
Alone in Berlin, adapted from the novel ‘Every Man Dies Alone’ by Hans Falada and directed by former actor Vincent Pérez, is about justice, and you best believe that. The film wants you to know this so badly that it goes out of its way to shoehorn into the film a scene in which, one character tells his wife, “I have a mistress whom I obey, and her name is justice.” In another scene, a man proves his son’s involvement in the war by showing a picture of him in uniform in Poland, holding a dead child, as though he’s a trophy hunted on a Safari trip. If these examples pain you with their lack of subtlety, you won’t be delighted to know that they are only two of many,...
- 2/19/2016
- by Amir S.
- FilmExperience
Amir Soltani is covering the Berlin International Film Festival, Tfe's first time at Berlinale! Here is his take on Michael Grandage's Genius.
Berlinale is known for inviting one or two Hollywood pictures to the festival every year to add glamour to the sprawling selection of mostly arthouse curios. One of those films in this year’s edition was Michael Grandage’s first feature as a director, Genius. A period piece based on a true story, the film came to the festival with high expectations, given the distribution deal with Lionsgate already in place, and the pedigree of everyone involved, including thrice Oscar-nominated screenwriter John Logan, and Oscar winners Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman in the cast. But this was all before the film was screened and faced walkouts and unintentional laughs.
Maxwell Perkins (Firth) was the editor and invisible hand behind some of the biggest American masterpieces of literature in the 1920s,...
Berlinale is known for inviting one or two Hollywood pictures to the festival every year to add glamour to the sprawling selection of mostly arthouse curios. One of those films in this year’s edition was Michael Grandage’s first feature as a director, Genius. A period piece based on a true story, the film came to the festival with high expectations, given the distribution deal with Lionsgate already in place, and the pedigree of everyone involved, including thrice Oscar-nominated screenwriter John Logan, and Oscar winners Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman in the cast. But this was all before the film was screened and faced walkouts and unintentional laughs.
Maxwell Perkins (Firth) was the editor and invisible hand behind some of the biggest American masterpieces of literature in the 1920s,...
- 2/16/2016
- by Amir S.
- FilmExperience
Amir Soltani is covering the Berlin International Film Festival, Tfe's first time at Berlinale! Here are the two French films from the festival’s Competition section (the group of film's Meryl Streep & jury are seeing).
L’Avenir (Mia Hansen-Løve)
Mia Hansen-Løve has established herself as one of world cinema’s most exciting young filmmakers in the past few years. Her latest, L’Avenir (Things to Come) came to Berlinale as one of the festival’s most anticipated films. Starring Isabelle Huppert as Nathalie, a middle-aged philosophy teacher on the verge of significant changes in her personal and professional life, L’Avenir is an intimate, life-affirming character study with a superb star turn from Huppert...
L’Avenir (Mia Hansen-Løve)
Mia Hansen-Løve has established herself as one of world cinema’s most exciting young filmmakers in the past few years. Her latest, L’Avenir (Things to Come) came to Berlinale as one of the festival’s most anticipated films. Starring Isabelle Huppert as Nathalie, a middle-aged philosophy teacher on the verge of significant changes in her personal and professional life, L’Avenir is an intimate, life-affirming character study with a superb star turn from Huppert...
- 2/16/2016
- by Amir S.
- FilmExperience
Amir Soltani is covering the Berlin International Film Festival for The Film Experience this year, our first time at Berlinale!. Tonight, previous Venice winner, Gianfranco Rosi's Fuocoammare.
Gianfranco Rosi shocked the film world with his Golden Lion win at Venice for Sacro Gra a few years ago. At Berlinale, the true shock would be for his latest film, Fire at Sea (Fuocoammare), to leave the festival empty-handed. The Italian maestro’s seamless hybrid of documentary and fiction is a self-reflexive and compassionate meditation on Italy’s crisis of cultural identity in the face of an unprecedented wave of refugee migration.
Gianfranco Rosi shocked the film world with his Golden Lion win at Venice for Sacro Gra a few years ago. At Berlinale, the true shock would be for his latest film, Fire at Sea (Fuocoammare), to leave the festival empty-handed. The Italian maestro’s seamless hybrid of documentary and fiction is a self-reflexive and compassionate meditation on Italy’s crisis of cultural identity in the face of an unprecedented wave of refugee migration.
- 2/15/2016
- by Amir S.
- FilmExperience
Amir Soltani is covering the Berlin International Film Festival for The Film Experience this year, our first time at Berlinale!. Tonight Jeff Nichol's follow up to Mud.
With Shotgun Stories, Take Shelter and Mud, Jeff Nichols has become one of the most intriguing, and divisive, American directors working today. His latest film, the unclassifiable Midnight Special, will no doubt continue the same trajectory. Starring his favourite actor Michael Shannon, along with Joel Edgerton and Kirsten Dunst, this religious fable in the mold of science fiction is a crowd-pleaser that, despite a crucial directorial misstep, delivers a thoroughly riveting experience.
More...
With Shotgun Stories, Take Shelter and Mud, Jeff Nichols has become one of the most intriguing, and divisive, American directors working today. His latest film, the unclassifiable Midnight Special, will no doubt continue the same trajectory. Starring his favourite actor Michael Shannon, along with Joel Edgerton and Kirsten Dunst, this religious fable in the mold of science fiction is a crowd-pleaser that, despite a crucial directorial misstep, delivers a thoroughly riveting experience.
More...
- 2/14/2016
- by Amir S.
- FilmExperience
Amir Soltani is covering the Berlin International Film Festival for The Film Experience this year, our first time at Berlinale!. For his first dispatch, he’s reviewed Tunisia’s Hedi
Although Hedi (Inhebbek Hedi) is Mohamed Ben Attia’s first feature film, it comes with the pedigree of being co-produced by the Dardenne brothers, and it’s not difficult to see why they were drawn to this story. Hedi (Majd Mastoura), a 25-year-old, Tunisian car salesman, would fit neatly into the gritty, realist universes of the brothers’ working class protagonists. A slow-burn study of an unhappy young man on the verge of getting married, Hedi builds up to an intensely emotional, rewarding finale that is once personal and political.
Under the overbearing, towering influence of the family’s matriarch, Hedi is the second of two sons whose father has passed away. Whereas the elder son has moved to France and...
Although Hedi (Inhebbek Hedi) is Mohamed Ben Attia’s first feature film, it comes with the pedigree of being co-produced by the Dardenne brothers, and it’s not difficult to see why they were drawn to this story. Hedi (Majd Mastoura), a 25-year-old, Tunisian car salesman, would fit neatly into the gritty, realist universes of the brothers’ working class protagonists. A slow-burn study of an unhappy young man on the verge of getting married, Hedi builds up to an intensely emotional, rewarding finale that is once personal and political.
Under the overbearing, towering influence of the family’s matriarch, Hedi is the second of two sons whose father has passed away. Whereas the elder son has moved to France and...
- 2/13/2016
- by Amir S.
- FilmExperience
The Film Experience loves Toronto. Not only is it home to the best festival, Tiff, but it's also full of Canadians and our own Amir Soltani. On top of those two pluses, the Toronto Film Critics Association includes great critics like Calum Marsh, Bill Chambers and Angelo Murrada (the latter two have guested on "Smackdowns" right here!). The Tfca was established in 1997 and gave their first Best Film prize to Atom Egoyan's brilliant movie The Sweet Hereafter. This year double prizes for Carol, Ex Machina, and Phoenix and a prize for Tom Hardy for playing double as the twin Krays in Legend.
Best Film Carol
Best Director Todd Haynes, Carol
Best Actress Nina Hoss, Phoenix
Best Actor Tom Hardy, Legend
This is the second year in a row that Tom Hardy has won Tfca's Best Actor prize. He took it last year for his solo act Locke. He really...
Best Film Carol
Best Director Todd Haynes, Carol
Best Actress Nina Hoss, Phoenix
Best Actor Tom Hardy, Legend
This is the second year in a row that Tom Hardy has won Tfca's Best Actor prize. He took it last year for his solo act Locke. He really...
- 12/13/2015
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
Team Fyc lets Film Experience contributors highlight their favourite fringe contenders for awards season. Here's Amir Soltani on Spike Jonze's Her.
In recent years, the Academy's cinematography award has been handed out in tandem with the best visual effects one. It has become an inevitability: if there is a best picture nominee that can be described as a "visual spectacle" is present, it will win both awards. This year will be no exception with Gravity, and if I were to put money on it, I'd a hazard a guess that Christopher Nolan's Interstellar will be the beneficiary of AMPAS's infatuation with big, effects driven cinema in this category next year. But Dutch cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema shouldn't need to wait another year for his first Oscar nomination.
With Spike Jonze's Her, van Hoytema adds yet another impressive entry to a decade-long resume that already boasts an astonishing range of styles.
In recent years, the Academy's cinematography award has been handed out in tandem with the best visual effects one. It has become an inevitability: if there is a best picture nominee that can be described as a "visual spectacle" is present, it will win both awards. This year will be no exception with Gravity, and if I were to put money on it, I'd a hazard a guess that Christopher Nolan's Interstellar will be the beneficiary of AMPAS's infatuation with big, effects driven cinema in this category next year. But Dutch cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema shouldn't need to wait another year for his first Oscar nomination.
With Spike Jonze's Her, van Hoytema adds yet another impressive entry to a decade-long resume that already boasts an astonishing range of styles.
- 12/17/2013
- by Amir S.
- FilmExperience
Icymi we polled all contributors and came up with a list of The Greatest Losing Best Actor Nominees. As ever I must thank Handsome Joe Canada (aka Amir Soltani) for organizing these Team endeavors. If you really wanna dive in (and why wouldn't you?) you should also check out Michael, David and Ja's individual lists here, here, and here.
My own list was topped by Dustin Hoffman's Tootsie who came in at #7 in the finals. It was a joy to be asked to think about that star turn again for the write up, though once I was happily ensconced in reminder clips it was hard to pull away; Tootsie is a longtime resident of the Rewatchable Hall of Fame! A full 70% of my personal choices made the communal top ten, which is the most overlap I've ever had with a Team list. My missing heroes were Paul Newman in...
My own list was topped by Dustin Hoffman's Tootsie who came in at #7 in the finals. It was a joy to be asked to think about that star turn again for the write up, though once I was happily ensconced in reminder clips it was hard to pull away; Tootsie is a longtime resident of the Rewatchable Hall of Fame! A full 70% of my personal choices made the communal top ten, which is the most overlap I've ever had with a Team list. My missing heroes were Paul Newman in...
- 12/6/2013
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
In this series Team Experience sounds off (individually) on their favorite fringe awards contenders. Here's Amir Soltani on Neighboring Sounds.
Since the Academy wisely overhauled its nominating process for the foreign language film award and Dogtooth nabbed that delightfully shocking nomination, pundits tend not to take any film's chances too lightly in this category. Still, a nod for Brazil's intense and quietly powerful submission would come as a major surprise. That's partly because the film ran the festival circuit last year and its buzz has been more of a hum for a few months now so it's hard to imagine the executive committee coming to its rescue. It's a real shame because Neighboring Sounds isn't just the best of the submitted films; it is quite possibly the year's best film, period.
Sounds opens with a series of black and white still photos attuned to a rousing score that provide more...
Since the Academy wisely overhauled its nominating process for the foreign language film award and Dogtooth nabbed that delightfully shocking nomination, pundits tend not to take any film's chances too lightly in this category. Still, a nod for Brazil's intense and quietly powerful submission would come as a major surprise. That's partly because the film ran the festival circuit last year and its buzz has been more of a hum for a few months now so it's hard to imagine the executive committee coming to its rescue. It's a real shame because Neighboring Sounds isn't just the best of the submitted films; it is quite possibly the year's best film, period.
Sounds opens with a series of black and white still photos attuned to a rousing score that provide more...
- 12/1/2013
- by Amir S.
- FilmExperience
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