All posts tagged: Palm Springs film festival

Jafar Panahi Iran protests, Returning Prison Come Out New Script

Jafar Panahi Iran protests, Returning Prison Come Out New Script

Published by Daniella Wilson

Dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi says anti-government protests sweeping Iran are inevitable as the country’s authoritarian regime is crumbling on many fronts. “We are dealing with a state that has fallen in all possible aspects. It has fallen politically, economically, environmentally and ideologically and from the point of view of foreign policy. Every which way you look at it, it has fallen,” Panahi told a Palm Springs International Film Festival panel of international directors vying for the Academy Award for best international feature film that was moderated by Kevin Cassidy, international news editor at The Hollywood Reporter. Panahi is currently on an international Oscar campaign to promote It Was Just an Accident, his Palme d’Or winner in Cannes. He argued that Iran’s clerical establishment remains in power because of its use of brutal and now bloody repression to end a popular uprising. “Because it is using force, it is still in place. If [the protests] didn’t happen today, it would have happened soon. And my sense is that people have decided what they want,” Panahi added. He …

How the Fashion Comedy Landed Camila Mendes, Benito Skinner

How the Fashion Comedy Landed Camila Mendes, Benito Skinner

Published by Daniella Wilson

A first-time filmmaker managed to collect an impressive roster of prominent comedy stars for Idiotka, offering a satirical look at the fashion industry and reality television. Writer-director Nastasya Popov’s movie debuted at last year’s SXSW and has since been playing the festival circuit ahead of its planned theatrical release later this year from Utopia. Anna Baryshnikov stars as Margarita, who lives in her Russian family’s crowded home in a less glamorous section of West Hollywood and considers competing on a reality show for aspiring fashion designers. Baryshnikov, who is known for the series Dickinson and is the daughter of famed ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, leads a cast that includes such prominent performers as Camila Mendes, Mark Ivanir (Emilia Pérez) and Galina Jovovich, a Russian star whose daughter is Milla Jovovich. Additionally, the film features a supporting cast of rising comedic talent, including Julia Fox (Uncut Gems), Benito Skinner (Overcompensating), Owen Thiele (Adults) and rapper Saweetie. During an onstage conversation following Idiotka’s screening at the Palm Springs Film Festival on Sunday, Popov offered insight into how …

Guillermo del Toro Reveals Death of His Brother at Palm Springs Awards

Guillermo del Toro Reveals Death of His Brother at Palm Springs Awards

Published by Daniella Wilson

Guillermo del Toro emotionally announced the passing of his brother while being honored at the Palm Springs Film Awards on Saturday. The director, on hand to receive the Visionary Award at the annual star-studded event, was joined on stage by his Frankenstein stars Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi and Mia Goth, as he spoke about how, at 61 years old, “I’ve come to believe that everybody’s born with one or two songs to sing. That’s it, and we keep repeating them and repeating them until we get them sort of right. And Frankenstein was the song I was born to sing.” Del Toro told the crowd at the Palm Springs Convention Center how he approached the iconic tale by “making it about fatherhood and forgiveness, because I believe that we want to be forgiven and forgive. And now, very recently, something has became very clear to me. Three days ago, I lost my older brother but I’m here, and I’m here because the film speaks about a condition that is purely human; that is proved by …