Author: SD

Clio Barnard’s I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning won the People’s Choice award at Cannes Film Festival’s independent sidebar Directors’ Fortnight, which wraps today (May 21). It stars Anthony Boyle, Joe Cole, Jay Lycurgo, Daryl McCormack and Lola Petticrew as a group of childhood friends on the cusp of their 30th birthdays who grew up in the same building complex and are forced to confront a life where their hopes and dreams haven’t materialised. Tracy O’Riordan produces for Moonspun Films. Curzon distributes in the UK and Ireland. Irish playwright Enda Walsh wrote the script from Keiran Goddard’s novel. The film…

Marine Atlan’s La Gradiva has won the Grand Prix in the independent Critics’ Week sidebar at the Cannes Film Festival. The film was chosen by a jury led by president Payal Kapadia, and fellow jurors Ama Ampadu, Donsaron Kovitvanitcha, Oklou and Theodore Pellerin. Atlan, whose credits as a cinematographer include 2025’s The Girl In The Snow, makes her feature directing debut with a film about a group of French high schoolers on a trip to Pompeii, who experience intense emotions and unexpected events during their visit to the ancient city. The film is produced by France’s Les Films du Poisson…

Arthur Harari’s The Unknown and Cristian Mungiu’s Fjord both received a wide range of scores on Screen International’s 2026 Cannes jury grid. Body-swap mystery The Unknown sees Léa Seydoux and Niels Schneider lead the story of a man who wakes up in the body of an unknown woman after they spend the night together. Harari is the Oscar-winning co-screenwriter of Anatomy Of A Fall and returns to Cannes with his third feature as a director.  Click on the image above for the most up-to-date version of the grid. Five of our 12 critics awarded The Unknown three stars (good), however two X’s…

South Korean filmmaker Na Hong-jin confirms he has written a sequel for his genre thriller Hope which premiered in Competition at Cannes Film Festival last night (May 17). “When you watch this film, I think you can readily imagine a sequel,” Na said in a press conference via a translator. “There is a story and a script that has already been written that I’d like to shoot. “If I have the opportunity, I will indeed make a sequel. The ensuing storyline will perhaps have to be modified a bit, but in any event I would indeed like to film a…

Cate Blanchett said the #MeToo movement “got killed very quickly” whilst discussing politics, film festivals and AI in a wide-ranging conversation at Cannes Film Festival. The Australian actor and producer said the #MeToo movement was shut down because the industry could not solve the problem. “It got killed very quickly which I think is interesting,” Blanchett explained. “There are a lot of people with platforms who are able to speak up with relative safety and say this has happened to me and the so-called average woman on the street, person on the street, is saying me too. Why does that…

EU commissioner Henna Virkunnen said the film industry “shouldn’t be too nervous” about future funding for European films under the proposed AgoraEU programme. Funding for film hasn’t been ringfenced in the AgoraEU programme because of a desire for flexibility, she told Screen. “But, [looking at the] overall picture, it’s important for the film industry that we were proposing to increase the whole funding, so there should be enough resources also for the film industry.” Asked if the film industry could expect similar or more funding than the current Media programme in AgoraEU, Virkunnen replied: “Yes, I see so. Of course,…

Universal Pictures International’s horror Obsession is the widest new release this weekend in UK and Ireland cinemas, while several studios have key re-releases. Curry Barker’s Obsession is opening in 487 locations. The Focus Features horror centres on a music store employee who uses a supernatural toy to wish that his childhood friend were in love with him. It premiered to critical acclaim at Toronto film festival where it screened as part of the Midnight Madness programme. Universal also has a re-release of the 2001 animation Shrek in 463 sites. The film grossed over £30m in its original run. Elsewhere, Picturehouse Entertainment…

UK and Ireland box office is forecast to hit £1.19bn ($1.61bn) in 2026 – a healthy 10% rise on 2025, following three years where cinema takings in the territory have essentially plateaued. That was the message from media measurement and analytics company Comscore, setting the stage at the start of the UK Cinema Association’s two-day annual conference this week (May 12-13). Film data and insights specialist Gower Street Analytics provided the 2026 forecast. Lucy Jones, executive director at Comscore Movies, also revealed that UK and Ireland box office is tracking 16% up on 2025 for the year to date (to…

Peter Jackson revealed that he has been working on the script for his Tintin film while attending Cannes Film Festival. “I’ve been working with Fran [Walsh, Jackson’s partner] on another Tintin script, I was writing it in the hotel room here,” said Jackson in his Rendezvous session at the festival, discussing his career and upcoming works. “It’s an active real thing, and I’m getting back into the Tintin world, and I actually love it.” Jackson revealed the pact he made with Steven Spielberg on Tintin, with the New Zealand filmmaker having produced Spielberg’s 2011 The Adventures Of Tintin. “The deal…

Peter Jackson collected the honorary Palme d’Or from Lord Of The Rings star Elijah Wood at the opening night ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival tonight (May 12). The evening, which was followed by the world premiere of Pierre Salvadori’s The Electric Kiss, was heavy on stars and light on politics. Jackson received a long standing ovation before accepting the award and called it “miraculous and unexpected” because “I don’t make Palme d’Or films” and later in his speech adding: “I’m not a Palme d’Or kind of guy.” He spoke about coming to Cannes in 2001 to screen a 20-minute preview sequence from The…