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Photo: ‘Equinox’/Netflix Sometimes we search for series that will stretch over years, sometimes even decades, giving us an abundance of seasons and episodes to look forward to. Other times we want an intriguing mystery and mythology that holds us for as long as it can, provides thrills and intrigue, and then wraps itself up in a bow and leaves us thinking “Short and sweet, but time well spent.” Such is ‘Equinox’, Netflix’s new Danish supernatural mini-series, adapted from the acclaimed podcast ‘Equinox 1985.’ The podcast was written and created by Tea Lingeburg, who steps in as a writer for the series as Søren Balle and Mads Matthiesen take the directing helm. The mystery serves its viewers with plenty of twists and turns, morally gray characters, and some unsettling del Torro-style imagery thrown in for good measure. Related article: ‘Ak vs Ak’: Anil Kapoor and Director-Turned-Actor Anurag Kashyap Star...

Every week, a bevy of new releases (independent or otherwise), open in theaters. That’s why we created the Weekly Film Guide, filled with basic plot, personnel and cinema information for all of this week’s fresh offerings.

For August, we’ve also put together a list for the entire month. We’ve included this week’s list below, complete with information on screening locations for films in limited release.

See More: Here Are All the Upcoming Movies in Theaters for August 2016

Here are the films opening theatrically in the U.S. the week of Friday, August 12. All synopses provided by distributor unless listed otherwise.

Wide

Anthropoid

Director: Sean Ellis

Cast: Cillian Murphy, Harry Lloyd, Jamie Dornan, Toby Jones

Synopsis: “Anthropoid” is based on the extraordinary true story of “Operation Anthropoid,” the code name for the Czechoslovakian operatives’ mission to assassinate SS officer Reinhard Heydrich. Heydrich, the main architect behind the Final Solution,...

Writer/director Mads Matthiesen's second feature is a stylish, dramatic thriller, chock-full of beautiful people wearing fabulous clothes, taking expensive designer drugs and having sex in chic European hotel rooms. Part morality tale, part character study, it's the story of a young ingénue, an aspiring model, her rise to fame and subsequent fall from grace - all set against the backdrop of the Paris fashion world.

Although the story is, in itself, inherently interesting, the execution is frustratingly leaden, and as things unfold the characters' roles never expand beyond simple ciphers for the writers' fairly pedestrian message. The result is a film which occasionally promises to become genuinely gripping, but instead scores a series of repeated own goals, always forgoing any [Continued ...]...

Chinese outfit Dd Dream’s acquisitions include Thomas Vinterberg’s The Commune.

Dd Dream International Media has acquired Thomas Vinterberg’s Berlinale Competition title The Commune [pictured], adventure epic The Last King by Nils Gaup, Erik Skjoldbjærg’s thriller Pyromaniac and Vibeke Idsoe’s historical drama The Lion Woman.

Sales Manager Nicolai Korsgaard negotiated those deals with Dd’s Elizabeth Yang.

Hgc Entertainment has acquired Hannes Holm’s box-office hit

A Man Called Ove, Saara Cantell’s historical drama Devil’s Bride, Mads Matthiesen’s fashion-world drama The Model, Lisa Ohlin’s romantic drama Walk With Me, Nicola Donato’s WW2-era drama Across The Waters and Jesper W Nielsen’s The Day Will Come, about abuse at a boys home in the 1960s.

Sales Manager Nicolai Korsgaard negotiated those deals with Hgc’s Peter Li.

TrustNordisk sells Mads Matthiesen’s fashion drama to four more territories.

German distribution outfit Koch Films has picked up rights to Mads Matthiesen’s fashion drama The Model for Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy.

The Paris-set feature follows a young Danish model who becomes dangerously obsessed with a photographer.

The deal was negotiated at Efm between Moritz Peters, director of acquisitions and TV sales at Koch Films and Susan Wendt, head of sales at TrustNordisk.

The film stars Deadpool’s Ed Skrein and fashion model Maria Palm in her film debut.

The Model previously scored Efm deals for Latin America (California Filmes), China (Hgc Entertainment), Russia Cis (Voxell Media), Hungary (Vertigo Media), Turkey (Ozen Film), Estonia (Estin Film), Lithuania (Incognito Film), Former Yugoslavia (2i Film d.o.o.), France (Ab Groupe), Poland (Kino Swiat), Korea (Scene & Sound), Bulgaria (Pro Films) and Middle East (Gulf Film).

Peters said: “We are surprised that this very interesting subject hasn’t...

Magnus, The Model, Pyromaniac [pictured] and Devil’s Bride have all sold to multiple territories.

Scandinavian sales powerhouse TrustNordisk has closed deals on four titles at the Efm.

Magnus, Benjamin Ree’s documentary about chess player Magnus Carlsen featuring high profile grandmasters including Garry Kasparov, has sold to Germany (Nfp), Hong Kong (Edko films Ltd), former Yugoslavia (Discovery Film) and Benelux (September Film Rights).

The film is produced by Sigurd M. Karoliussen for Moskus Film in co-production with Vgtv, Nordisk Film Production and Main Island Production.

The Model, directed by Mads Matthiesen, has sold to Latin America (California Fil ms), China (Hgc Entertainment), Russia Cis (Voxell Media), Hungary (Vertigo Media), Turkey (Ozen Film), Estonia (Estin Film), Lithuania (Incognito Film) and Former Yugoslavia (2i Film d.o.o.).

Starring Ed Skrein (Deadpool) and debutant Maria Palm, the drama tells the story of an emerging model who develops a dangerous obsession with a male fashion photographer.

TrustNordisk previously...

Nordic Film Market includes debut films by Force Majeure actress, the screenwriter of A Royal Affair and director of viral hit Las Palmas; CAA, UTA and ICM agents among attending industry.Scroll down for full list

More than 40 Nordic films and works in progress will be presented at the fruitful Nordic Film Market in Goteborg, which runs Feb 4-7 during to the Goteborg Film Festival (Jan 29 - Feb 8).

Often a productive staging post for impressive upcoming regional features and emerging talent, the 2016 lineup includes 17 finished features and 20 works in progress, plus eight titles presented as part of the Nordic Film Lab Discovery programme.

The works-in-progress presentations (see full list below) include ten debut films from the likes of A Royal Affair screenwriter Rasmus Heisterberg, viral hit Las Palmas director Johannes Nyholm, Force Majeure actress Fanni Metelius and Cannes Cinefondation alumni Juho Kuosmanen and Shahrbanoo Sadat.

Other works in progress will be presented from directors Mads Brugger ([link...

Festival Scope becomes brand of audience-facing VOD platform as industry service is rebranded Festival Scope Pro.

Festival Scope’s industry professionals service has been rebranded as Festival Scope Pro as the Festival Scope brand will now be used for its audience-facing VOD platform.

Festival Scope - the online hub for festival titles - is working with the International Film Festival Rotterdam’s Iffr Live initiative, which brings five films to 40 cinemas worldwide and to online audiences via Festival Scope at the same time as they are shown at the festival in Rotterdam (Jan 27 - Feb 7).

The online offering of Iffr Live will start Jan 29 and include Q&A sessions via Twitter, with films and Q&As available on Festival Scope through Feb 14. Only 400 digital tickets per film will be sold (priced at €4 or three for €9).

The films offered during Iffr Live are Prejudice by Antoine Cuypers; La Novia by Paula Ortiz; The Garbage Helicopter by Jonas Selberg Augustsén; [link...

Notable world premieres include Mads Matthiesen’s Teddy Bear follow-up The Model and Avalon director Axel Petersén’s Under the Pyramid.

Måns Månsson’s The Yard will open the 2016 Goteborg Film Festival (Jan 29 - Feb 8), which will screen some 450 films from 84 countries.

The film, which will have its world premiere at the Swedish festival’s Jan 29 opening, is adapted from Kristian Lundberg’s autobiographical novel about moving from cultural work to becoming a day laborer in Malmo harbour. Anders Mossling stars.

The festival’s closing film will be Henrik Ruben Genz’s Satisfaction 1720, Erlend Loe has written the manuscript for the film, about the post-war exploits of the “rock star of his day”, Vice-Admiral Tordenskjold.

Goteborg, the largest film festival in the Nordics and running for 11 days, is devoting special programmes to Italian cinema, Nigeria’s Nollywood and a new section on TV drama.

The eight films competing for the Dragon Award for Best Nordic film (which...

A couple of years ago, writer/director Mads Matthiesen made a splash with Teddy Bear, a drama about a quiet and shy body builder (played by real life body builder Kim Kold) who goes to Thailand to find a wife. The movie was touching and sentimental without being too saccharin, a fine line that is difficult to maintain for some but which Matthiesen had no issues with.

For his follow-up, Matthiesen is taking on another world with a movie that looks and feels far more like a thriller than his first feature: The Model. Set in the cut-throat world of Parisian high-fashion, the movie stars new comer Maria Palm as Emma, a young model breaking into the industry who develops an unhealthy obsession with fashion photographer Shane White (Ed Skrein). From the looks of it, when he mo [Continued ...]...

Having taken the Best Director award at Sundance for his debut feature Teddy Bear, Denmark's Mads Matthiesen returns to the big screen soon with sexy thriller The Model.When emerging fashion model Emma gets a chance to pursue her dream of becoming an international top model, she leaves her everyday life in Denmark behind, and moves to Paris. At a photo shoot in her new hometown, she meets the attractive photographer Shane White and they fall in love. But their relationship soon turns into a dangerous obsession for Emma.Playing out largely in English to reflect the international nature of the fashion community this one is clearly aimed at a broader audience than Matthiesen's debut and given the quality evident in the trailer it seems quite clear...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Mads Matthiesen’s upcoming film starring Ed Skrein scores five territory deals at Berlin’s European Film Market (Efm).

After screening a three-minute promo of Mads Matthiesen’s upcoming film The Model at Efm (Feb 5-13), TrustNordisk has closed a slate of deals on the drama.

The Model has been sold to France (Ab Groupe), Poland (Kino Swiat), Korea (Scene & Sound), Bulgaria (Pro Films) and Middle East (Gulf Film).

Starring British actor Ed Skrein (Transporter Legacy) and model Maria Palm in her feature debut, The Model tells the story of emerging fashion model Emma who struggles to enter the Parisian fashion scene and develops a dangerous obsession for male photographer Shane White.

It marks Matthiesen’s second feature following Teddy Bear for which he won Best Director – World Dramatic Arts Award at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

Producer is Jonas Bagger for Zentropa Entertainments10 ApS with executive producers Louise Vesth and Marie Gade Denessen. Co-produced by [link...

Goteborg: Anticipated Nordic titles presented to industry.

A host of anticipated Nordic features were pitched to industry this week at the Works In Progress strand of the Gothenburg Film Festival.

Potential buyers and sellers heard about upcoming projects from directors including Antti Jokinen, Lisa Aschan and Mads Matthiesen.

Swedish outfit GarageFilm International is producing Aschan’s horror White People, currently in post-production.

Vera Vitali, Pernilla August and Issaka Sawadogo star in the feature about a woman’s clash with a corrupt head of security.

Aschan’s debut She Monkey’s received a special mention at the Berlinale and won Gothenburg’s Dragon Award for Best Nordic Film.

Solar Films’ period war-romance Wildeye, currently in post-production, comes from acclaimed Finnish features and music video director Antti Jokinen, best known for drama Purge and Hilary Swank starrer The Resident.

Set against the historical backdrop of The Lapland War in 1944-1945, Wildeye charts the story of a midwife who falls...

The star of the upcoming Transporter reboot to lead new film from Teddy Bear director Mads Matthiesen.

British actor Ed Skrein is to star in The Model, the second film from Danish director Mads Matthiesen.

Skrein, a former Screen International Star of Tomorrow, is known for his roles in iLL Manors, The Sweeney and Game of Thrones, and will next be seen in Northmen: A Viking Saga, Kill Your Friends and the reboot of The Transporter action series, set for release spring 2015.

He will star opposite model and first time actor Maria Palm.

The Model tells the story of emerging fashion model Emma (Palm) who struggles to enter the Parisian fashion scene and develops a deadly obsession for male fashion photographer Shane White (Skrein).

Shooting has begun and will continue for seven weeks on location in Paris, Warsaw and Copenhagen.

It marks Matthiesen’s follow-up to Teddy Bear, the story of a bodybuilder looking for love that...

The Kennedys: After Camelot

Katie Holmes will reprise her role of Jackie Kennedy in Reelz's "The Kennedys: After Camelot," an upcoming sequel to the 2011 mini-series "The Kennedys".

Holmes will also executive produce and direct one of the four episodes with "24" veteran Jon Cassar helming the other three. Shooting begins in the spring in Canada. [Source: The Live Feed]

The Stanford Prison Experiment

Olivia Thirlby ("Dredd") and Nelsan Ellis ("True Blood" have joined the ensemble cast of Kyle Alvarez's "The Stanford Prison Experiment". Thirlby will play the wife of Billy Crudup's Dr. Philip Zimbardo, Ellis will play Jesse Fletcher.

The story deals with the infamous 1971 psychological exercise in which college students exhibited shocking cruel and sadistic behavior when divided into camps of prisoners and prison guards. Ezra Miller, Tye Sheridan, James Frecheville, Johnny Simmons, Ki Hong Lee and Michael Angarano also star. [Source: Deadline]

The Model

Ed Skrein ("Game of Thrones," "The Sweeney") is...

Lukasz Palkowski’s Gods was the big winner at this year’s annual showcase of Polish cinema at the Gdynia Film Festival which ended with a gala awards ceremony at the weekend.

Gods (Bogowie), based on the life of Zbigniew Religa who performed the first successful heart transplant in Poland in the 1980s, received the Grand Prix Golden Lions for best film as well as individual awards in the categories of screenplay, make-up, production design and actor in a leading role for Tomasz Kot.

In addition, Gods received the award of the Polish Film Festivals and Reviews Abroad as well as the Journalists’ Award, Elle magazine’s Star of the Stars award for lead actor Kot and Radio Gdansk’s Golden Claquer Award for the longest applauded film at a screening in the Musical Theatre for the Main Competition.

Palkowski made his feature directorial debut in 2007 with Reserve, which won three prize at the festival in Gdynia...

Mads Matthiesen’s Emma and Bavo Defurne’s Souvenirs among other hot projects.

Terence Davies upcoming biopic devoted to the life of American poet Emily Dickinson A Quiet Passion was one of the hot projects at this year’s edition of the Paris Project co-production market.

The event, which ran from June 30 to July 3 within the capital’s public-focused Paris Cinema film festival, is aimed at connecting international filmmakers with French producers, sales agents and distributors.

“We’ve had 36 scheduled meetings in three days and fitted a few more in between,” said Roy Boulter, who is producing the picture alongside Solon Papadopoulos through their Liverpool-based Hurricane Films.

“We’re in the fortunate position that there is an appreciation of both Dickinson and Terence in France,” commented Boulter. “Terence is like Ken Loach in that he has as many fans across the Channel as at home. Even if we don’t secure a co-producer here, we’ve had...

Belgium is country of honour at summer festival in French capital which also hosts the industry-focused Paris Project co-production market.

Roman Polanski’s Venus in Fur, starring his wife Emmanuelle Seigner opposite Mathieu Amalric as an actress and director embroiled in a racy, pschological battle of the sexes, will open this year’s Paris Cinema film festival.

The summer, public-focused event has drawn heavily on Cannes for its 11th edition, running June 28 to July 9.

There will be previews of Abdellatif Kechiche’s Palme d’Or winner Blue, in the presence of co-stars Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux, as well as Ari Folman’s Directors’ Fortnight opener The Congress and Francois Ozon’s Palme d’Or contender Young and Beautiful among others.

Some 50 upcoming titles will screen at the festival.

The International Competition includes Singaporean Anthony Chen’s Ilo Ilo, which won the Camera d’Or for best first feature film in Cannes, and [link=nm...

Best European Film Amour (Love) Austria/France/Germany, 127 min Written & directed by Michael Haneke Produced by Margaret Menegoz, Stefan Arndt, Veit Heiduschka & Michael Katz Barbara Germany, 105 min Written & directed by Christian Petzold Produced by Florian Koerner von Gustorf & Michael Weber Cesare Deve Morire (Caesar Must Die) Italy, 76 min Directed by Paolo & Vittorio Taviani Written by Paolo & Vittorio Taviani, in collaboration with Fabio Cavalli Produced by Grazia Volpi Intouchables (Untouchable) France, 108 min Written & directed by Olivier Nakache & Eric Toledano Produced by Nicolas Duval Adassovsky, Yann Zenou & Laurent Zeitoun Jagten (The Hunt) Denmark, 111 min Directed by Thomas Vinterberg Written by Thomas Vinterberg & Tobias Lindholm Produced by Morten Kaufmann & Sisse Graum Jørgensen Shame UK, 96 min Directed by Steve McQueen Written by Steve McQueen & Abi Morgan Produced by Iain Canning & Emile Sherman European Director 2012: Nuri Bilge Ceylan for B?R Zamanlar Anadolu’Da (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia) Michael Haneke for Amour...

The European Film Academy and Fipresci have announced the five nominations for this year’s Discovery Award / Prix Fipresci and making the cut we find Angelina Nikonova’s outstanding Twilight Portrait (Venice and Tiff in 2011 – pic above) which will measure itself against Mads Matthiesen’s Teddy Bear (Sundance 2012 – read review), Boudewijn Koole’s Kauwboy and Jan Speckenbach’s Reported Missing (2012′s Berlin Film Fest) and Rufus Norris’ Broken (Critics’ Week opener in Cannes this year – see our coverage). The 25th European Film Awards will take place in Malta on 1 December 2012. Since this specific award has existed, previous winners include some worthy winners in 1997′s Bruno Dumont (La vie de Jésus), 2003′s Andrei Zvyagintsev (The Return), 2008′s Steve McQueen (Hunger), 2009′s Peter Strickland (Katalin Varga), 2010′s Samuel Maoz (Lebanon) and last year, 2011′s Hans Van Nuffel (Oxygen).

10 Timer Til Paradis (Teddy Bear)

Denmark, 92 min

Directed by: Mads Matthiesen

Written by: Mads Matthiesen...

The European Film Academy has nominated five films for the European Discovery 2012 Award. The Efa bestows the award on a young, up-and-coming director with a first feature-length film. The awards will be given on December 1st. This years nominees include: "10 Timer Til Paradis (Teddy Bear)" Denmark, 92 min Directed By: Mads Matthiesen Written By: Mads Matthiesen & Martin Pieter Zandvliet Produced By: Morten Kjems Juhl "Broken" UK, 90 min Directed By: Rufus Norris Written By: Mark O’Rowe Produced By: Dixie Linder, Tally Garner, Nick Marston & Bill Kenwright "Kauwboy" The Netherlands, 81 min Directed By: Boudewijn Koole Written By: Boudewijn Koole & Jolein Laarman Produced By: Jan van der Zanden & Wilant Boekelman "Portret V Sumerkhak (Twilight Portrait)" Russia, 105 min Directed By: Angelina Nikonova Written By: Angelina Nikonova &...

The European Film Academy have announced the nominees of their annual European Discovery Award, presented as part of the European Film Awards to "a young and upcoming director for a first full-length feature film." This year’s nominations were determined by a committee comprised of Efa Board Members Helena Danielsson (Sweden) and Els Vandevorst (the Netherlands), Efa Members Pierre-Henri Deleau (France) and Jacob Neiiendam (Denmark), as well as Alin Tasciyan (Turkey), Paulo Portugal (Portugal), and Mihai Chirilov (Romania) as members of Fipresci, the International Federation of Film Critics. The nominees are: 10 Timer Til Paradis (Teddy Bear) Denmark, 92 min Directed By: Mads Matthiesen Written By: Mads Matthiesen & Martin Pieter Zandvliet Produced By: Morten Kjems Juhl Broken UK, 90 min Directed By: Rufus Norris Written By: Mark O’Rowe Produced By: Dixie Linder, Tally Garner, Nick Marston & Bill...

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Mads Matthiesen picked up a Best Director award at this year’s Sundance with Teddy Bear, a distinctive, heartfelt and richly rewarding film about a shy and retiring 38-year-old bodybuilder named Dennis (Kim Kold) looking for love. The first time we meet Dennis, his kind, quiet demeanour is as striking as his large, hulking frame; he’s a crushingly awkward man, somewhat hamstrung by his giant physique, which causes women to stereotypically pawn him off as a lecherous meathead. His self-esteem is further dented by his overbearing, passive-aggressive mother Ingrid (Elsebeth Steentoft), and it’s clear that the two are far too comfortable living with one another.

When Dennis’ brother brings home a Thai bride, his yearnings to settle down are re-awakened. The problem, as ever, is that he is judged on his large frame, which is somewhat at odds with his gentle personality. Fed up...

14th Mumbai Film Festival (Mff) announced its complete lineup today in a press conference. Mff will be held from October 18th to 25th at the National Centre for the Performing Arts (Ncpa) and Inox, Nariman Point, Liberty Cinemas, Marine Lines as the main festival venues and Cinemax, Andheri and Cinemax Sion as the satellite venues. Click here to watch trailers and highlights from the festival.

Here is the complete list of films to be screened during the festival (October 18-25)

International Competition for the First Feature Films of Directors

1. From Tuesday To Tuesday (De Martes A Martes)

Dir.: Gustavo Fernandez Triviño (Argentina / 2012 / Col. / 111′)

2. The Last Elvis (El Último Elvis)

Dir.: Armando Bo (Argentina / 2012 / Col. / 91′)

3. The Sapphires

Dir.: Wayne Blair (Australia / 2012 / Col. / 103′)

4. The Wall (Die Wand)

Dir.: Julian Pölsler (Austria-Germany / 2012 / Col. / 108′)

5. Teddy Bear (10 timer til Paradis)

Dir.: Mads Matthiesen (Denmark / 2012 / Col. / 93′)

6. Augustine

Dir.: Alice Winccour (France / 2012 / Col.

Teddy Bear

Written by Mads Matthiesen, Martin Zandvliet

Directed by Mads Matthiesen

Denmark, 2012

Teddy Bear tells the story of Danish bodybuilder Dennis Petersen. At 38 Dennis has never had a girlfriend but is ready for true love. However, living with his aging and controlling mother, an intimidating physical appearance and a good amount of social awkwardness are making this pursuit harder than we might imagine. When his cousin recommends Dennis do as he has done and find a wife in Thailand, Dennis decides to give it a shot and embarks on the journey. When he finds he has nothing in common with the kind of girls his cousin has in mind, Dennis wanders into the only familiar place in an unfamiliar environment – an exercise gym. Here he meets a woman who is different from the others and who may just be the kind of woman Dennis had in mind.

Based on the premise alone,...

Kim Kold, the six-foot-something, 300-plus pound star of Teddy Bear, is a striking, memorable screen presence. In the first feature from Danish writer-director Mads Matthiesen, Kold plays Dennis, a mama’s boy who decides to travel to Thailand in search of a wife. Dennis knows this will irk the heck out of his possessive mother Ingrid (Elsebeth Steentoft), so he lies, telling her he’s off to Germany to compete in a bodybuilding competition. This buys him time, but ultimately Dennis will have to sort out his feelings: Is his desire to forge a life of his own as powerful as the security and routine provided by his dysfunctional relationship with Ingrid? Matthiesen’s disarming and funny film opens Wednesday, Aug. 22.

Filmmaker: The film is about a big, muscular guy, 38-years-old, whose mother treats him like a little boy—until he “betrays” her and goes off to Thailand in search of a wife.

You’ll Like My Mother: Matthiesen’s Debut a Gentle Giant

Director Mads Matthiesen developed his 2007 short film Dennis into his feature debut, Teddy Bear, a quiet character study about a shy professional body builder looking for love. At times generating a beautiful quiet melancholy, the film ultimately exudes a determined, laconic ambiance, one that drifts it through a running time like an overly familiar tune, one that holds your attention even though you already know exactly how it’s going to play out.

Dennis (Kim Kold), a 38 year old body builder, lives alone with his mother, Ingrid (Elsebeth Steentoft) in a suburb outside of Copenhagen. It’s immediately apparent that his petite mother is a domineering and controlling woman, exasperated and upset that her hulking son would go to the movies with friends and not leave his cell phone on for when she calls. The mellow, Herculean man assuages her as best he can,...

Where the phrase “Teddy Bear” implies a certain squashy cuddliness, the film’s subject is anything but. At least on the outside. But, then again, bears aren’t that cuddly in real life either. Danish director Mads Matthiesen developed this feature from his acclaimed 2007 short, “Dennis,” which began his exploration of the emotional resonance of an ultra-masculine figure in an incredibly emasculating situation. In the full-length version of the story, the man’s humiliation and powerlessness evolve into the quiet self-confidence of a person who has found acceptance. Upon peeling back this teddy bear’s layers of fur, we begin to see the soft cotton that gives him his true shape.

Dennis Peterson (real life bodybuilder Kim Kold) is a 38-year-old, colossal hulk of a man, mounds of hard muscle encompassing every inch of his flesh, bands of tight sinew wrapping themselves across his limbs. He dwarfs everyone around him...

HollywoodNews.com: Today the Los Angeles Film Festival, in conjunction with Presenting Media Sponsor the Los Angeles Times and Host Partner L.A. Live, announced the Closing Night film and official Us and international selections for the 2012 Festival. Guest Director, Artists in Residence and Conversations with special guests will be announced later this month. The 2012 Los Angeles Film Festival will screen a diverse slate of nearly 200 feature films, short films, and music videos, representing more than 30 countries, along with signature programs such as the Filmmaker Retreat, Poolside Chats, Coffee Talks, music events and more. As previously announced, Woody Allen’s To Rome With Love will be Opening Night, sponsored by Virgin America, and Lorene Scafaria’s Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, Ava DuVernay’s Middle of Nowhere and Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild were selected for the Galas section.

Returning to downtown Los Angeles and headquartered at L.

I can't remember a time I went to the Seattle International Film Festival (Siff) press launch and looked over the list of films and saw so many I was interested in seeing. The claim to fame for over the years is to call it the largest and most-highly attended festival in the United States. This is a fact I've often taken issue with as I don't equate quantity with quality. Granted, there has been a large number of quality features to play the fest over the years, including Golden Space Needle (Best Film) winners such as Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), My Life as a Dog (1987), Trainspotting (1996), Run Lola Run (1999), Whale Rider (2003) and even recent Best Director winner, Michel Hazanavicius's Oss 117: Nest of Spies in 2006. That said, looking over this year's crop of films I see a lot of films I will be doing my absolute best to see.

Film Forum, one of NYC's finest art houses, has announced its Summer premieres slate. Highlights include Andrei Zvyagintsev's "Elena," Matthew Akers' "Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present," and Mads Matthiesen's "Teddy Bear." Full preview reprinted below: May 9 – 15 Patience (After Sebald) Directed by Grant Gee UK 2011 82 Mins. In English Cinema Guild W.G. Sebald (1944-2001), one of the 20th century’s greatest literary figures, wrote evocatively of memory and exile, destruction and decay; his legion of fierce admirers compare him to Virginia Woolf, Proust, and Rousseau. A.O. Scott writes in The New York Times: “Patience (After Sebald) is, to some degree, a survey of the work of the German writer W.G. Sebald,...

This year, New Directors/New Films is "breaking precedent and presenting a film nearly 20 years older than the festival itself."

Nick Schager in Slant: "So loathed by Stanley Kubrick that the legendary director reportedly confiscated all existing copies to keep it out of circulation, Fear and Desire proves a modest, if relatively promising, 1953 debut for the late auteur, touching on his trademark themes via the allegorical tale of soldiers shot down behind enemy lines in an unnamed country in an unspecified time. Kubrick's story, penned by Howard Sackler, is deliberately vague with regard to nationalities and politics so that its focus can remain squarely on the psychological turmoil of its characters, a ragtag quartet that includes ruminative Lieutenant Corby (Kenneth Harp), gruff Sergeant Mac (Frank Silvera), meek Private Fletcher (Stephen Colt), and sensitive Private Sidney (future filmmaker Paul Mazursky) — men whose narrated internal monologues articulate, with frequent pretentiousness, Kubrick's investigation...

"Teddy Bear," Danish director Mads Matthiesen's debut feature, has been acquired for North American release by Film Movement. Matthiesen won the Directing Award at Sundance, and the film will next be seen at New Directors/New Films this weekend. The film, which follows a meek Danish bodybuilder searching for love in Thailand, will be rolled out theatrically in August, followed by DVD and VOD releases. Check out Eric Kohn's Sundance review here.

The Weinstein Company’s newest arm, Radius, have accrued a nice lineup following their recent inception, picking up the remake of Nicolas Winding Refn‘s Pusher and, more importantly, Winding Refn‘s own Only God Forgives. Moving outside territory pertaining to the Dane, Variety reports that they’ve just snatched rights to The Expatriate, an action thriller that stars Aaron Eckhart.

The picture sees Da Dent play a former CIA agent, forced on the lamb with his daughter (Liana Liberato) “when his employers mark them both for termination as part of a wide-reaching international conspiracy.” Olga Kurylenko will play an agent “assigned to track down [the lead], her former partner and lover.”

Philipp Stölzl (North Face) directed the film, which Radius co-president Tom Quinn lovingly refers to as “Bourne meets Taken.” We can expect this one in the fall — via VOD and theaters — and if these new photos from Kinopoisk (via ThePlaylist) are any indication,...

The Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art have announced that they'll be presenting 29 features and 12 shorts in the 41st edition of New Directors/New Films, running March 21 through April 1). The series, dedicated to "the discovery of new works by emerging and dynamic filmmaking talent," opens with Nadine Labaki's Where Do We Go Now? (see the Cannes roundup). A few notes on the other features:

The Ambassador (Mads Brügger). The La Weekly's Karina Longworth suggests that Brügger is "sort of the Vice magazine version of Sacha Baron Cohen, as financed by Lars von Trier. His last film was The Red Chapel, an exercise in hidden camera comedy with unusual socio-political stakes, which I put on my top 10 list for 2010." In "his hilarious, troubling new film," Brügger poses as "a diplomat in Africa, a decadent Westerner plundering a third-world nation…. For a six-figure outlay, Brugger is promised a Liberian passport,...

Parker Posey was all set to host last night's awards ceremony, but fell ill — and so, as live-bloggers Eric Hynes and Claiborne Smith report, Sundance festival director John Cooper reluctantly took the helm, choking up a bit right at the top as he drove himself through a remembrance of Bingham Ray. Rebounding, he brought on director and actress Katie Aselton as co-host and it was on to the awards. You can actually watch all this here (select "2012 Sundance Film Festival"). An overview of what the critics are saying about the winners:

Grand Jury Prize: Documentary. The House I Live In, "a lucid, long-view unpacking of the War on Drugs from Eugene Jarecki, who ably dissected the lead-up to the Iraq War in Why We Fight." The Boston Globe's Ty Burr: "The movie marshals a wide selection of talking heads, from Oklahoma prison guards and Reagan-era appointees to street dealers and Jarecki's own nanny,...

Sundance is wrapping up once again this year and as with every year, quite a few films are generating quite the buzz. Among them is The House I Live In, The Law in These Parts and Violeta Went to Heaven who all earned Jury Prizes. The Sundance awards (while I rarely agree with the choices) are always interesting to follow each year, since the winners are sometimes entirely unexpected. This year there’s no surprise that the most talked about film – Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild, took home the top prize.

Here is the full list of winners from the press release, including the five Audience Award winners.

2012 Sundance Film Festival Jury Awards:

The Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic was presented to Beasts of the Southern Wild, directed by Benh Zeitlin — Waters gonna rise up, wild animals gonna rerun from the grave, and everything south of the levee is goin’ under,...

Chicago – “Art is not a competition. But if it were, these would be the winners,” quipped filmmaker Mike Birbiglia at the Jan. 28 awards presentation for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Birbiglia’s deadpan humor would’ve made him an ideal host for the event, and his appearance was one of the few bright spots in a rather disappointing ceremony.

John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Film Festival, stepped in to replace Indie Queen Parker Posey, whose inspired comic turn in Michael Walker’s “Price Check” garnered positive buzz among festivalgoers. The show opened in tears and solemnity as Cooper paid heartfelt tribute to the late film executive Bingham Ray, who suffered a fatal stroke during the festival.

One of the evening’s big winners was Benh Zeitlin’s visually arresting drama “Beasts of the Southern Wild” about a six-year-old girl (Quvenzhané Wallis) who embarks on a search...

The 2012 Sundance Film Festival has come to an end, and the winners of the Jury, Audience, and Next <=> awards have been announced. There was a great selection of films this year at the festival, and I've seen more good than bad. I'm ultimately happy with the outcome. Beasts of the Southern Wild was this year's most buzzed about film and took home the top Grand Jury Prize. I didn't like it as much as everyone else, but it was still good, and it won. I think it was just way too over hyped for what I ended up seeing. Maybe I would have liked it more had I gone in with no expectations.

Here's the full breakdown of winners:

Sundance Institute this evening announced the Jury, Audience, Next <=> and other special awards of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival at the Festival’s Awards Ceremony in Park City, Utah. An archived video...

Park City, Utah -- A mythical film starring an 8-year-old girl and a documentary about the war on drugs took top honors at the Sundance Film Festival.

"Beasts of the Southern Wild" won the grand jury prize in the U.S. dramatic competition, and "The House I Live In" won the same honor in the U.S. documentary category Saturday at the independent film festival's awards ceremony.

Directed and co-written by 29-year-old first-time filmmaker Benh Zeitlin, "Beasts of the Southern Wild" follows a girl named Hushpuppy who lives with her father in the southern Delta. The film also won the cinematography prize.

Zeitlin said he was grateful to the Sundance Institute and labs, where he worked on the film for more than three years.

"This project was such a runt, this sort of messy-hair, dirty, wild child, and we just have been taken care of and just eased along until...

The Sundance Film Festival prepared to come to a close for 2012 tonight as the festival held its some of its last screenings and mounted an awards ceremony to celebrate the best films of this year's festival. The biggest jury prizes went to Beasts of the Southern Wild (reviewed here [1]) and Eugene Jarecki's war on drugs documentary The House I Live In. The Surrogate (reviewed here [2]) took an Audience Award, as did the doc Searching for Sugar Man (reviewed here [3]) and the film Valley of Saints. The full list of awards is below. The 2012 Sundance Film Festival Awards presented this evening were: The Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was presented by Charles Ferguson to: The House I Live In / U.S.A. (Director: Eugene Jarecki) — For over 40 years, the War on Drugs has accounted for 45 million arrests, made America the world's largest jailer and damaged poor communities at home and abroad.

Beasts of the Southern Wild

The House I Live In, Beasts of the Southern Wild, The Law in These Parts and Violeta Went to Heaven Earn Grand Jury Prizes

Audience Favorites Include The Invisible War, The Surrogate, Searching For Sugar Man and Valley of Saints

Sleepwalk With Me Receives Best of  Audience Award

Park City, Ut . Sundance Institute this evening announced the Jury, Audience, and other special awards of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival at the Festival.s Awards Ceremony, hosted by Parker Posey in Park City, Utah. An archived video of the ceremony in its entirety is available at www.sundance.org/live.

.Every year the Sundance Film Festival brings to light exciting new directions and fresh voices in independent film, and this year is no different,. said John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Film Festival. .While these awards further distinguish those that have had the most impact on audiences and our jury,...

Fox Searchlight was the big winner at the Sundance Film Festival 2012, as two of their acquired titles won top awards. It is no surprise that Benh Zeitlin‘s Beast of the Southern Wild (our review here) picked up the grand jury dramatic prize, as it was the most-buzzed of the fest. The Surrogate, starring John Hawkes, won the dramatic audience award and one can read our review of that drama here. It was great to see other fest favorites like Mike Birbiglia‘s Sleepwalk With Me and The Queen of Versailles among other winners. Check them all out below and see our full coverage here.

Park City, Ut — Sundance Institute this evening announced the Jury, Audience, Next <=> and other special awards of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival at the Festival’s Awards Ceremony, hosted by Parker Posey in Park City, Utah. An archived video of the ceremony in its entirety is available at www.

World Cinema Jury Special Prize, Documentary: Searching for Sugar Man, Malik Bendjelloul

World Cinema Documentary Editing: Indie Game: The Movie, Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky

World Cinema Jury Prize, Documentary: The Law in These Parts, Ra'anan Alexandrowicz

World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Prize: Can, Rasit Celikezer

World Cinema Cinematography Award, Drama: David Raedeker, My Brother the Devil

World Cinema Cinematography Award, Documentary: Lars Skree, Putin's Kiss

World Cinema Directing Award, Documentary: Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi, 5 Broken Cameras

Best of Next Audience Award: Sleepwalk With Me, Mike Birbiglia

Audience Award, Shorts: The Debutante Hunters, Maria White

Audience Award, World Cinema Documentary: Searching for Sugar Man, Malik Bendjelloul

Audience Award, World Cinema: Valley of Saints, Musa Syeed

Audience Award, U.S. Documentary: The Invisible War, Kirby Dick

Audience Award, U.S. Drama: The Surrogate, Ben Lewin

World Cinema Jury Prize, Drama: Violeta Went to Heaven

World Cinema Directing Award, Drama: Teddy Bear,...

Self-Defeating War on Drugs, Military Rape, Oppression in the Occupied Territories: Sundance 2012 Winners World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic: Violeta Went to Heaven World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary: The Law in These Parts U.S. Dramatic: Grand Jury Prize: Beasts of the Southern Wild U.S. Documentary: Grand Jury Prize: The House I Live In World Cinema Audience Award: Dramatic: Valley of Saints World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary: Searching for Sugar Man Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic: The Surrogate Audience Award: U.S. Documentary: The Invisible War World Cinema Directing Award: Dramatic: Mads Matthiesen, Teddy Bear World Cinema Directing Award: Documentary: Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi, 5 Broken Cameras U.S. Directing Award: Dramatic: Ava DuVernay, Middle of Nowhere U.S. Directing Award: Documentary: Lauren Greenfield, The Queen of Versailles World Cinema Screenwriting Award: Marialy Rivas, Camila Gutiérrez, Pedro Peirano, Sebastián Sepúlveda, Young & Wild Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: Derek Connolly,...

Beasts of the Southern Wild, director Benh Zeitlin’s surreal tale of a six-year old girl living with her father in the flooded basins near the southern delta, was awarded the Grand Jury Prize for dramatic film. The House I Live In, Eugene Jarecki’s documentary about the impact of America’s War on Drugs on poor communities, won for best documentary. The Surrogate, a movie about a man in an iron lung (John Hawkes) who decides to lose his virginity with the assistance of professional sex surrogate (Helen Hunt), was honored with an Audience Award and a prize for Best Ensemble.

Park City – The title implies something adorable but also soft, and it’s the avoidance of that latter quality that makes Teddy Bear a pleasurable character study. Danish director Mads Matthiesen’s feature expansion of his much-lauded 2007 short film, Dennis, recounts a gentle giant’s struggle to overcome crippling shyness and take hold of his life. In other hands, the material might have drowned in cute quirks, but Matthiesen’s unadorned observational style has a distinctly Scandinavian stoicism that trusts both the comedy and sentiment to emerge organically. Dennis (Kim Kold) is a mountain of tattooed muscle, a 38-year-old

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There's nothing fresh about the premise of a grown single man living at home with his mother, but Danish director Mads Matthiesen's first feature, "Teddy Bear," has a unique strategy for rejuvenating the formula. Its lead, real-life bodybuilder Kim Kold, is a hulking mass of biceps and bulging veins, but none of his chiseled features help in his quest for true love. Physically, he dominates the room; emotionally, he's a delicate flower. Kold first appears as the solitary protagonist, Dennis, as he's on a date with a fellow gym-goer. He finds himself straining to make casual conversation, his central flaw. He only looks relaxed around his mother (Elsebeth Steentoft, in a convincingly stern performance), who maintains a tight rein over her son's lonely existence. When he finds his uncle has essentially purchased a wife from Thailand, Dennis secretly leaves Copenhagen to explore the Thai marketplace for himself, kicking "Teddy Bear" into.

"Teddy Bear" is the first feature by Danish director Mads Matthiesen. The film features a cast of non-actors led by bodybuilder Kim Kold and will be presented in the World Dramatic competition. What's it about? "Teddy Bear" is about the 38 year old Dennis and his trouble with finding love. Dennis is a bodybuilder: 6’7 feet tall, 308 pounds of raw muscle power. Despite his rough appearance, he is a very shy and insecure man. Dennis has problems with finding love and believing in himself. He lives with his mother in a tight and unhealthy relationship. The film deals with Dennis and his attempt to break free from his mother and make it on his own. When Dennis’ uncle returns from Thailand with a Thai wife, Dennis decides to travel to Thailand on a quest for love. Maybe in Thailand, far away from his mother, he can find the courage to begin a relationship with another woman.

Joel Edgerton, Wish You Were Here World Cinema Dramatic Competition 4 Suns / Czech Republic (Director/screenwriter: Bohdan Sláma) — Immature Fogi attempts to straighten up and accept his responsibilities as a new husband and father, as well as role model to his troubled son from a previous relationship, but finds himself unable to change his nature, leaving him to watch haplessly as his family begins to crumble. Cast: Jaroslav Plesl, Ana Geislerová, Karel Roden, Klára Melíšková. World Premiere About the Pink Sky / Japan (Director/screenwriter: Keiichi Kobayashi) — A high school girl finds a wallet full of money and tracks down its owner, leading to unexpected consequences for the girl and her friends. Cast: Ai Ikeda, Ena Koshino, Reiko Fujiwara, Tsubasa Takayama. International Premiere Can / Turkey (Director/screenwriter: Rasit Celikezer) — A young married couple live happily in Istanbul, but their decision to illegally procure a child threatens their future together. Cast: Selen Ucer,...