Mpx launching Cannes sales on rom-com ‘Books & Drinks’ from ‘Pepe’ producer Pablo Lozano (exclusive)
Motion Picture Exchange (Mpx) has boarded worldwide sales on the romantic comedy Books & Drinks from the producer of Berlinale Competition entry Pepe and starring Jackson Rathbone from the Twilight Saga.
Rathbone plays David, the owner of a struggling bookstore in New York City who learns he has inherited a house in the Dominican Republic from the father he never knew.
David plans to sell the residence but his life is turned upside-down when he visits the Caribbean and meets his realtor, Maria, played by Nashla Bogaert. Clara Lago also stars.
Geoffrey Cowper directed the Veranera Films production from a screenplay by Josep Ciutat.
Rathbone plays David, the owner of a struggling bookstore in New York City who learns he has inherited a house in the Dominican Republic from the father he never knew.
David plans to sell the residence but his life is turned upside-down when he visits the Caribbean and meets his realtor, Maria, played by Nashla Bogaert. Clara Lago also stars.
Geoffrey Cowper directed the Veranera Films production from a screenplay by Josep Ciutat.
- 5/6/2024
- ScreenDaily
This month’s Hong Kong International Film Festival will showcase over 190 films from 62 countries and regions, including five world premieres, and 64 Asian premieres.
Running 12 days (March 28 – April 8), the festival will open with the Asian premiere of local director Ray Yeung’s “All Shall Be Well,” which won the Teddy Award at the recent Berlin festival.
The closing film is the Asian premiere of “All the Long Nights,” directed by Miyake Sho and starring Matsumura Hokuto and Kamishiraishi Mone, which also premiered in Berlin. Variety’s review of “Nights” called it “gently luminous.”
Chinese-language films selected for the Firebird competition include: “Borrowed Time,” “Brief History of a Family,” “Carefree Days,” Fresh off Markham,” “A Journey in Spring,” “Snow in Midsummer,” “Some Rain Must Fall” and “A Song Sung Blue.”
Foreign films for the Firebird competition’s other section include: “Arcadia,” “Arni,” “Ivo,” “Pepe,” “Sons,” “Sujo,” “The Tenants” and “Who Do I Belong to.
Running 12 days (March 28 – April 8), the festival will open with the Asian premiere of local director Ray Yeung’s “All Shall Be Well,” which won the Teddy Award at the recent Berlin festival.
The closing film is the Asian premiere of “All the Long Nights,” directed by Miyake Sho and starring Matsumura Hokuto and Kamishiraishi Mone, which also premiered in Berlin. Variety’s review of “Nights” called it “gently luminous.”
Chinese-language films selected for the Firebird competition include: “Borrowed Time,” “Brief History of a Family,” “Carefree Days,” Fresh off Markham,” “A Journey in Spring,” “Snow in Midsummer,” “Some Rain Must Fall” and “A Song Sung Blue.”
Foreign films for the Firebird competition’s other section include: “Arcadia,” “Arni,” “Ivo,” “Pepe,” “Sons,” “Sujo,” “The Tenants” and “Who Do I Belong to.
- 3/8/2024
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Dahomey won the Golden Bear Photo: Les Films Du Bal - Fanta Sy French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop took home the top prize at this year's Berlin Film Festival for her documentary Dahomey. The film considers the return of plundered artefacts to Berlin. It is the second year in a row a documentary has taken the Golden Bear after On The Adamant won last year.
The Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize went to prolific South Korean director Hang Sang-soo for his tale of a French teacher (Isabelle Huppert) navigating a new life, A Traveler's Needs.
Bruno Dumont's spoof that transports a Star Wars-style plot to the French countryside, The Empire, won a Silver Bear, while Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias' experimental hippo drama Pepe won the Best Director prize. Matthias Glasner's Dying, which dives into the heart of a family with an ailing matriarch and patriarch, won Best Screenplay.
The Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize went to prolific South Korean director Hang Sang-soo for his tale of a French teacher (Isabelle Huppert) navigating a new life, A Traveler's Needs.
Bruno Dumont's spoof that transports a Star Wars-style plot to the French countryside, The Empire, won a Silver Bear, while Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias' experimental hippo drama Pepe won the Best Director prize. Matthias Glasner's Dying, which dives into the heart of a family with an ailing matriarch and patriarch, won Best Screenplay.
- 2/24/2024
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Mati Diop’s documentary Dahomey, about artefacts being returned from Paris to present-day Benin, was awarded the Golden Bear for best film at the Berlin International Film Festival tonight (February 24).
The film, handled internationally by Les Film du Losange, is the second from the African continent to take the Berlinale’s top prize after Mark Dornford-May’s musical U-Carmen eKhayelitsha in 2005. It is also the second year in a row that a documentary has clinched the Golden Bear, following Nicolas Philibert’s On The Adamant last year.
In her speech, Diop said: “To restitute is to do justice. We can...
The film, handled internationally by Les Film du Losange, is the second from the African continent to take the Berlinale’s top prize after Mark Dornford-May’s musical U-Carmen eKhayelitsha in 2005. It is also the second year in a row that a documentary has clinched the Golden Bear, following Nicolas Philibert’s On The Adamant last year.
In her speech, Diop said: “To restitute is to do justice. We can...
- 2/24/2024
- ScreenDaily
Winners have been announced at the 74th Berlin Film Festival, with Dahomey by French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop scooping the coveted Golden Bear for best film. Scroll down for the full list of winners, which were revealed Saturday evening at the Berlinale Palast.
The doc borrows its name from the former West African kingdom of Dahomey, located in the south of today’s Republic of Benin. It was founded in the 17th century by King Houegbadja. Under his reign and that of his descendants — a three-century dynasty — the kingdom was a considerable regional power, with a highly structured local economy, a centralized administration, a system of taxes, and a powerful army, including the famous Amazon women (Agodjié).
Diop’s doc opens in November 2021 as twenty-six royal treasures from the former Kingdom are about to leave Paris to return to their country of origin. Along with thousands of others, these artifacts were...
The doc borrows its name from the former West African kingdom of Dahomey, located in the south of today’s Republic of Benin. It was founded in the 17th century by King Houegbadja. Under his reign and that of his descendants — a three-century dynasty — the kingdom was a considerable regional power, with a highly structured local economy, a centralized administration, a system of taxes, and a powerful army, including the famous Amazon women (Agodjié).
Diop’s doc opens in November 2021 as twenty-six royal treasures from the former Kingdom are about to leave Paris to return to their country of origin. Along with thousands of others, these artifacts were...
- 2/24/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Dahomey, a documentary from French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop, has won the Golden Bear for best film at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival.
The multifaceted docu-fictional essay explores the return, in November 2021, of plundered royal treasures of the African Kingdom of Dahomey from Paris to the present-day Republic of Benin, examining the complicated response of those in Benin, whose culture has developed for more than a century without these artifacts.
While taking the stage to accept her award, Diop made a direct political statement, calling out, “I stand with Palestine!”
Jury president, the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave and Black Panther actor Lupita Nyong’o, announced the Golden Bear winner from the stage of the Berlinale Palast Saturday night. Nyong’o is the first Black and first African to chair the Berlinale jury.
Dahomey is only the second African film to win the top prize at Berlin, following Mark Dornford-May’s...
The multifaceted docu-fictional essay explores the return, in November 2021, of plundered royal treasures of the African Kingdom of Dahomey from Paris to the present-day Republic of Benin, examining the complicated response of those in Benin, whose culture has developed for more than a century without these artifacts.
While taking the stage to accept her award, Diop made a direct political statement, calling out, “I stand with Palestine!”
Jury president, the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave and Black Panther actor Lupita Nyong’o, announced the Golden Bear winner from the stage of the Berlinale Palast Saturday night. Nyong’o is the first Black and first African to chair the Berlinale jury.
Dahomey is only the second African film to win the top prize at Berlin, following Mark Dornford-May’s...
- 2/24/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A hippopotamus is a semi-aquatic animal native to sub-Saharan Africa. However, in the early 1990s, hippos and other wild animals ran amok in South America, thanks to drug lord Pablo Escobar and the exotic menagerie at his Hacienda Nápoles estate.
After his death, the animals were left to their own devices. Some were sent to zoos, others facing an uncertain future — but not Pepe, he chose to carve his own path. At the center of Nelson Carlos de Los Santos Arias’ Berlin Premiere film, Pepe is titular nickname of the rogue hippo who escaped into the wilderness and left a trail of destruction in his wake.
Pepe meets a tragic end, but not before pondering life’s profoundest questions. Voiced by a chorus of actors including Jhon Narváez, Harmony Ahalwa, Fareed Matjila, and Shifafure Faustinus, the hippo waxes poetic about his own death and the circumstances leading up to it.
After his death, the animals were left to their own devices. Some were sent to zoos, others facing an uncertain future — but not Pepe, he chose to carve his own path. At the center of Nelson Carlos de Los Santos Arias’ Berlin Premiere film, Pepe is titular nickname of the rogue hippo who escaped into the wilderness and left a trail of destruction in his wake.
Pepe meets a tragic end, but not before pondering life’s profoundest questions. Voiced by a chorus of actors including Jhon Narváez, Harmony Ahalwa, Fareed Matjila, and Shifafure Faustinus, the hippo waxes poetic about his own death and the circumstances leading up to it.
- 2/22/2024
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
The 74th Berlin International Film Festival announced the winners of the fest at the awards ceremony held at the Berlinale Palast on February 24.
20 films competed for the awards in this year’s competition with Lupita Nyong’o heading the International Jury alongside Ann Hui, Christian Petzold, Albert Serra, Jasmine Trinca and Oksana Zabuzhko. The Encounters Jury, Lisandro Alonso, Denis Côté and Tizza Covi choose the winners for Best Film, Best Director and the Special Jury Award.
The Golden Bear for Best Film was awarded to Dahomey by Mati Diop. Emily Watson won The Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance for her role in Small Things Like These, while Sebastian Stan received The Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance in A Different Man. Nelson Carlo De Los Santos Arias was honored with The Silver Bear for Best Director for his film Pepe, and the Silver Bear Jury Prize went to Bruno Dumont for Empire.
20 films competed for the awards in this year’s competition with Lupita Nyong’o heading the International Jury alongside Ann Hui, Christian Petzold, Albert Serra, Jasmine Trinca and Oksana Zabuzhko. The Encounters Jury, Lisandro Alonso, Denis Côté and Tizza Covi choose the winners for Best Film, Best Director and the Special Jury Award.
The Golden Bear for Best Film was awarded to Dahomey by Mati Diop. Emily Watson won The Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance for her role in Small Things Like These, while Sebastian Stan received The Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance in A Different Man. Nelson Carlo De Los Santos Arias was honored with The Silver Bear for Best Director for his film Pepe, and the Silver Bear Jury Prize went to Bruno Dumont for Empire.
- 2/22/2024
- by Robert Lang
- Deadline Film + TV
Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias’s docudrama Pepe, about Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar’s megaherbivore, gives the ill-fated creature its own voice
Some facts about Pepe are certain. He was heavy even for his thick-set genus, reported to have weighed between four and five tonnes. With a land speed of up to 22 mph and ivory stakes protruding from those pink gums at random angles, he was a forceful reminder that his species is one of the deadliest on the planet, causing an estimated 500 human deaths per year.
Native to sub-Saharan Africa but born in Colombian cocaine king Pablo Escobar’s private menagerie and shot in its vicinity after escaping from captivity in 2009, Pepe the unhappy hippo was also undisputedly and tragically out of place.
Some facts about Pepe are certain. He was heavy even for his thick-set genus, reported to have weighed between four and five tonnes. With a land speed of up to 22 mph and ivory stakes protruding from those pink gums at random angles, he was a forceful reminder that his species is one of the deadliest on the planet, causing an estimated 500 human deaths per year.
Native to sub-Saharan Africa but born in Colombian cocaine king Pablo Escobar’s private menagerie and shot in its vicinity after escaping from captivity in 2009, Pepe the unhappy hippo was also undisputedly and tragically out of place.
- 2/20/2024
- by Philip Oltermann
- The Guardian - Film News
As with so much, you can blame Pablo Escobar. Following the druglord’s 1993 death, the exotic animals that populated the menagerie at his sprawling Hacienda Nápoles estate faced an uncertain future. Many were sent to zoos, but the hippos remained – although not indigenous to the Americas, they were thriving in Colombia. But then a rogue male nicknamed Pepe escaped into the wilds of the Magdalena river, and even before the hippo-critical hunt-to-kill order came down, became a local legend. This is the wonderfully bizarre story that Dominican filmmaker Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias’ “Pepe” refuses to tell in anything except the most glancing, freeform, frustratingly obscurantist manner.
Instead, de los Santos Arias sends us on an uncategorizably odd journey down the river of his noodling, needling imagination in a rickety canoe that keeps on capsizing, upended by another sideswiping reference, another jarring change of scene and timeframe or yet...
Instead, de los Santos Arias sends us on an uncategorizably odd journey down the river of his noodling, needling imagination in a rickety canoe that keeps on capsizing, upended by another sideswiping reference, another jarring change of scene and timeframe or yet...
- 2/20/2024
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
In “Pepe,” Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias tells the story of a very special hippopotamus. Or rather, he allows the hippopotamus to tell the story himself.
“Pablo Escobar brought three hippos to Colombia back in 1981. He was ‘the pioneer’ among drug lords investing in exotic pets. When he had to abandon his mansion [Naples Estate] and flee, there were so many of them. Lions, elephants,” recounts the Dominican director.
But it was the hippos that managed to adapt to their new environment, taking advantage of South American rivers.
“It’s the first wild herd outside of Africa. Initially, there was this alpha male Pablito and Pepe fought him and he lost. He was the first male who left the herd. To the people who saw him, he seemed like a monster!”
Soon, a hunt was well on its way.
“When I finished [previous film] ‘Cocote,’ I was so tired. I went to Colombia,...
“Pablo Escobar brought three hippos to Colombia back in 1981. He was ‘the pioneer’ among drug lords investing in exotic pets. When he had to abandon his mansion [Naples Estate] and flee, there were so many of them. Lions, elephants,” recounts the Dominican director.
But it was the hippos that managed to adapt to their new environment, taking advantage of South American rivers.
“It’s the first wild herd outside of Africa. Initially, there was this alpha male Pablito and Pepe fought him and he lost. He was the first male who left the herd. To the people who saw him, he seemed like a monster!”
Soon, a hunt was well on its way.
“When I finished [previous film] ‘Cocote,’ I was so tired. I went to Colombia,...
- 2/19/2024
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
The first-ever edition of AfroBerlin put Africa in the spotlight at the Berlin Film Festival and in one key session asked how festivals, streamers, and the wider industry can — and should — support films and filmmakers from the continent.
AfroBerlin took over the conference center next to the European Film Market with standing room only for some sessions at the event, which was organized by Prudence Kolong’s consultancy biz Yanibes and the EFM.
Jacqueline Nsiah, a member of the Festival’s Selection Committee, spoke in a slot about empowering local filmmakers. She started her work for the Festival last summer and has bolstered its connections with the African film community. African films including Abderrahmane Sissako’s Black Tea, Mati Diop’s Dahomey, and Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Aria’s Pepe are in competition, and Mamadou Dia’s Demba is in the Encounters strand. “I think it’s not bad,...
AfroBerlin took over the conference center next to the European Film Market with standing room only for some sessions at the event, which was organized by Prudence Kolong’s consultancy biz Yanibes and the EFM.
Jacqueline Nsiah, a member of the Festival’s Selection Committee, spoke in a slot about empowering local filmmakers. She started her work for the Festival last summer and has bolstered its connections with the African film community. African films including Abderrahmane Sissako’s Black Tea, Mati Diop’s Dahomey, and Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Aria’s Pepe are in competition, and Mamadou Dia’s Demba is in the Encounters strand. “I think it’s not bad,...
- 2/18/2024
- by Stewart Clarke
- Deadline Film + TV
Africa’s growing screen industries are making their mark on this year’s Berlin Film Festival, with three titles in the main competition, but how to unlock the continent’s still-untapped potential was a question on the minds of many at a conference hosted on Saturday by the European Film Market.
A partnership between EFM and Prudence Kolong’s Stockholm-based consulting firm Yanibes, AfroBerlin was launched to give a platform to filmmakers from Africa and the diaspora and “to find a place where they can share stories and experiences and be heard,” said Kolong, who also organizes the Cannes Film Festival’s AfroCannes industry showcase.
The event brought together industry professionals from the continent with their counterparts in Europe and beyond, underscoring the ways in which the often-marginalized African screen industries have elevated their international profile. “When we’re talking about the global film market…we are part of the discussion,...
A partnership between EFM and Prudence Kolong’s Stockholm-based consulting firm Yanibes, AfroBerlin was launched to give a platform to filmmakers from Africa and the diaspora and “to find a place where they can share stories and experiences and be heard,” said Kolong, who also organizes the Cannes Film Festival’s AfroCannes industry showcase.
The event brought together industry professionals from the continent with their counterparts in Europe and beyond, underscoring the ways in which the often-marginalized African screen industries have elevated their international profile. “When we’re talking about the global film market…we are part of the discussion,...
- 2/18/2024
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.