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Rich Peppiatt’s “Kneecap” and Luna Carmoon’s “Hoard” are among the titles in the British Independent Film Awards’ (BIFA) 2024 filmmaker new talent longlists, unveiled Friday. The selections spotlight 31 British features across four debut filmmaking categories, encompassing both fiction and documentary works.

Peppiatt and Carmoon join a group of first-time directors vying for the Douglas Hickox Award, including Amrou Al-Kadhi for “Layla,” Christopher Andrews for “Bring Them Down,” and Daina O Pusić for “Tuesday.” Other contenders in this category are Lucy Cohen with “Edge of Summer,” James Krishna Floyd for “Unicorns,” Stuart Gatt’s “Catching Dust,” Karan Kandhari’s “Sister Midnight,” Jack King’s “The Ceremony,” Rob Morgan’s “Stopmotion,” Sasha Nathwani’s “Last Swim,” and Joshua Trigg’s “Satu – Year of the Rabbit.” The category is sponsored by BBC Film.

The best debut screenwriter category, sponsored by Film4, sees Andrews and Carmoon competing alongside Floyd, Jed Hart for “Restless,...

MetFilm Distribution has acquired UK-Ireland rights to Silje Evensmo Jacobsen’s documentary A New Kind of Wilderness.

The film follows the Paynes family, who live an isolated life on a Norwegian forest farm; when tragedy strikes and forces them to forge a path into modern society. MetFilm Distribution will release it in UK-Ireland cinemas in early 2025.

A New Kind of Wilderness won the Grand Jury Prize in the World Documentary Competition at Sundance Film Festival in January – an award previously won by Oscar-nominated documentary Honeyland.

It has since been on a festival tour including Cph:dox, Docville, Visions du Reel, Hot Docs and Edinburgh film festivals.

The Environmental Media Association has unveiled its list of nominated productions for this year’s awards gala, in addition to honoring “Abbott Elementary” creator and star Quinta Brunson for her environmental leadership.

“I’m truly honored to receive the Ema Futures Award,” said Brunson. “As someone who deeply cares about the environment, it means a lot to be recognized for using both my platform and my comedy to inspire change. I’m proud to be part of a community that values sustainability, and I’m excited to keep moving forward on a path toward a greener planet.”

The Ema Awards gala, presented by Toyota, will be hosted by Malin Akerman and Dermot Mulroney on Oct. 26 at the Radford Studio Center in Los Angeles. The ceremony brings together environmental trailblazers in television and film to celebrate sustainable achievements on set and on screen.

“I’m so excited to return to the...

The Hunger Games' Next Prequel Reportedly Finds Its Young Haymitch - Main Image

The next Hunger Games prequel has reportedly found its young Haymitch. Nearly a year after the release of The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, fans eagerly anticipate the Sunrise on the Reaping which is slated to hit cinemas in 2026. Now, it appears that the project is already on the lookout for its main cast.

New Hunger Games Prequel Reportedly Finds Its Lead

Back in June, The Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins announced she would be releasing Haymitch Abernathy's (played by Woody Harrelson in the original film franchise) story in a new novel titled Sunrise on the Reaping by 2025.

Soon enough, Sunrise on the Reaping is already confirmed to get a movie adaptation ahead of its novel debut.

As if things aren't going through smoothly enough for yet another prequel story, a new report claimed that they already...

The rolling green hills and neatly trimmed hedgerows of a classic English countryside hide a deeper story, as the film Wilding reveals. It shows how one couple worked to restore an ailing country estate to its natural splendor. When Charlie Burrell and Isabella Tree inherited Knepp Farm in West Sussex, the heavy clay soil had grown depleted from years of intensive farming. Chemistry-reliant crops left the land lifeless.

Seeking a new path, they discovered the pioneering theories of Dutch ecologist Frans Vera. His idea—let nature heal itself through wild grazing animals—offered promise. Out went cattle and machinery; in came native breeds like Exmoor ponies and Tamworth pigs to roam freely as their instincts led. Though neighbors scorned the unkempt fields, the couple persevered.

Beautiful cinematography captures their estate’s transformation over two decades. Abandoned crops gave way to wildflowers teeming with insects and birds. Endangered species like storks and nightingales returned.

Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter Two will have its world premiere out of Competition at Venice Film Festival.

The film will play on Saturday, September 7. Chapter One will also play on the same day in Venice, having had its world premiere out of Competition in Cannes in May.

Chatper Two had been set for a cinema release in the US on August 16; New Line Cinema then pulled that release earlier this month, stating it wanted to give audiences ”a greater opportunity to discover the first installment of Horizon over the coming weeks, including on PVoD and Max.

Nature documentary Wilding has signed distribution deals for key territories, with the film crossing the £500,000 mark in the UK-Ireland as the highest-grossing documentary of 2024.

MetFilm Sales has sold the film to France (Jupiter), Italy (Wanted), Germany, Austria, Switzerland (Polyband), Spain (Festival Films), Australia-New Zealand (Madman) and Scandinavia-Baltics (Nonstop Entertainment). All territories are planning theatrical releases from Q4 2024 onwards, while negotiations continue in other key territories.

Wilding crossed £500,000 at the UK-Ireland box office yesterday, having been released on June 14 by MetFilm Distribution. It will continue to play theatrically in the territory across the summer.

Directed by David Allen and produced by Gaby Bastyra,...

UK-Ireland box office takings for 2024 were down 7% in the first six months of the year compared to the same period in 2023.

A strong Q1 from January to March saw takings up 9%, but that fell back in Q2 from April to June, when takings dropped 21%, according to figures supplied by Comscore.

The total UK-Ireland box office for the first six months of 2024 was £451.6m, compared to £486.6m in 2023.

Only three of the 10 highest-grossing titles in the first half of the year were released in Q2 – Disney’s Pixar animation Inside Out 2 (£34.8m in this time), action title Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes...

RankFilm (distributor)Three-day gross (June 28-30)Total gross to dateWeek 1. Inside Out 2 (Disney) £6m £31.9m 3 2. A Quiet Place: Day One (Paramount) £2.5m £2.9m 1 3. Bad Boys: Ride Or Die (Sony) £650,342 £10.2m 4 4. The Bikeriders (Universal) £585,604 £2.3m 2 5. Kalki 2898 Ad (Dreamz Entertainment) £504,080 £888,603 1

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.27

Paramount’s A Quiet Place: Day One made a positive £2.5m start at the UK-Ireland box office; as Indian action-adventure Kalki 2898 Ad recorded a strong opening and Inside Out 2 topped the charts for a third consecutive weekend.

Inside Out 2 dropped only 23% on its previous session, adding just shy of £6m. The Disney-...

Rank Film (distributor) Three-day gross (June 21-23) Total gross to date Week 1. Inside Out 2 (Disney) £7.8m £23.2m 2 2. The Bikeriders (Universal) £1.1m £1.1m 1 3. Bad Boys: Ride Or Die (Sony) £1m £9.1m 3 4. Doctor Who - The Two Episode Finale (CinemaLive) £364,253 £364,253 1 5. Ghost: Rite Here Rite Now (Trafalgar) £282,588 £477,183 1

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.27

Inside Out 2 surged to a £23.2m total with a strong second weekend at the UK-Ireland box office; as crime drama The Bikeriders started with £1.1m.

Disney animation sequel Inside Out 2 dropped just 31%, with £7.8m. This is more than double the £3.6m second weekend takings of 2015’s Inside Out,...

Disney and Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” made a huge debut in the U.K. and Ireland with £11.3 million ($14.3 million), according to numbers from Comscore.

In doing so, the anticipated sequel captured 71% of the box office and delivered the biggest box office opening since “Barbie.”

In its second weekend, Sony’s “Bad Boys: Ride Or Die” dropped down to second place with £1.8 million and now has a running total of £7.1 million. In its fifth weekend, Paramount’s “If” earned £414,673 in third position for a total of £11.4 million.

In fourth place, in its sixth weekend, Disney’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” collected £388,500 for a total of £15 million. Rounding off the top five was Sony’s “The Garfield Movie” with £355,208 for a total of £7.8 million.

There were two debuts in the Top 10. MetFilm Distribution’s “Wilding” bowed in ninth place with £127,191 and Vertigo’s “Freud’s Last Session” in 10th with £72,989.

This week,...

RankFilm (distributor)Three-day gross (June 14-16)Total gross to dateWeek 1. Inside Out 2 (Disney) £11.3m £11.3m 1 2. Bad Boys: Ride Or Die (Sony) £1.9m £7.1m 2 3. If (Paramount) £414,673 £11.4m 5 4. Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes (Disney) £389,000 £15m 6 5. The Garfield Movie (Sony) £354,829 £7.9m 4

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.27.

Disney’s Inside Out 2 stirred up plenty of emotions at the UK and Ireland box office this weekend after its £11.3m debut made it the biggest opening of the year so far and the third-highest of all time for an animated feature.

The Pixar sequel opened in 684 sites, for an impressive £16,520 location average.

David Allen’s Wilding documentary is a fairytale of biodiversity which charts an ambitious 3,500-acre rewilding project at Knepp Castle and Estate in Surrey. Packed with enchanting wildlife footage, irritating recreations and engaging narration, this is a flawed but winning story of gumption, privilege, hope and woo.

Sir Charles Burrell (Charlie) and Lady Burrell – Isabella Tree, author of Wilding, the best-selling book and source material for this film – moved to the 400-year-old arable and livestock farming estate Knepp when Charlie inherited its custodianship. Despite the idyllic first impression of the surrounding countryside, manmade interventions and a century under the plough had devastated the land and native wildlife. Under the guidance of eccentric academic and arboriculturist Ted Green, the couple learned to see things differently, to understand the dynamic ecosystem dancing from the ground beneath their feet to the oak trees soaring over their heads and to honour it.

After a...

Disney is hoping to perk up the summer box office with eagerly-anticipated Pixar sequel Inside Out 2 at 684 sites, making it this weekend’s widest new release.

Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust return for the follow-up, that once again dives into the emotional fabric of lead character Riley. This time, puberty has turned up, and it’s bringing with it Anxiety, voiced by Maya Hawke, and Ennui, portrayed by Adèle Exarchopoulos. Returning voice cast members include Amy Poehler and Kyle MacLachlan. Kelsey Mann directs.

The first film, back in 2015, opened to £7.4m from 608 sites.

Re-releases out this weekend include...

Sony’s “Bad Boys: Ride or Die” debuted atop the U.K. and Ireland box office with £3.8 million ($4.9 million), according to numbers from Comscore.

In second place, in its fourth weekend, Paramount’s “If” collected £866,474 for a running total of £10.8 million. In third position, in its third weekend, Sony’s “The Garfield Movie” earned £729,503 for a total of £7.3 million.

In fourth place, in its fifth weekend, Disney’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” added a further £620,911 for a total of £14.3 million. Rounding off the top five was Warner Bros.’ “Furiosa,” which collected £436,983 in its third weekend for a total of £5.5 million.

There were two more debuts in the Top 10. Warner Bros.’ “The Watched” bowed in sixth place with £387,339 and Signature Entertainment’s “The Dead Don’t Hurt” in eighth with £95,827.

There are a welter of releases the upcoming weekend, the widest of which is Disney’s animation sequel “Inside Out 2.

Knepp estate was £1.5m in debt. Now it thrums with wildlife, visitors flock there – and farmers are stampeding to copy its success. We meet the star of a captivating film about this amazing rebirth

Take a stroll through the classic English countryside of West Sussex, and you’ll notice things becoming strange just beyond the village of Dial Post. Here, a patchwork of tidy fields bordered by neat hedgerows becomes a bamboozling maze of flowery glades and thickets of hawthorn, blackthorn and sallow. Rabbits dart between billowing brambles, watched by a fallow deer sporting furry new antlers. Stranger than the unexpectedly abundant plants and mammals is the cacophony of birdsong – the common melodies of thrushes, robins and blackcaps but also songs virtually extinguished across Britain: cuckoos, nightingales and turtle doves. Oddest of all is a clacking noise that sounds like two hollow sticks being banged together.

“Isn’t it a great sound?...

"The whole landscape was breathing a sigh of relief. You could hear it." MetFilm has revealed the official UK trailer for a documentary film tiled Wilding, an adaptation of the book of the same name from Isabella Tree. The film is a compelling look at a dying landscape that is healed against all odds, going on to thrive in astonishing ways. The book describes the creation of Knepp Wildland, the first large-scale rewilding project in lowland England. The 3,500 acres wildland project was created in the grounds of Knepp Castle, where they torn down all the fences and let nature take over again. This almost seems like the British doc version of The Biggest Little Farm doc about a couple creating a sustainable farm in California. Wilding directed by five-time Emmy Award-winner David Allen, with cinematography by multi-bafta & Emmy Award-winning DPs Tim Cragg and Simon de Glanville. And featuring a score...

Met Film Sales has acquired international rights to David Allen’s nature documentary Wilding, which it will introduce to buyers at next week’s European Film Market.

Met Film Distribution, the company’s distribution arm, will release the film theatrically in the UK this summer. Submarine negotiated the deal with MetFilm on behalf of the filmmakers, and will handle the North American sale.

Wilding is based on Isabella Tree’s 2018 book Wilding: The Return of Nature to a British Farm, in which Tree details the efforts of herself and her husband to renew the ecosystem on their estate, Knepp, after decades of intensive agriculture.