Exiled Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof pointed to Jafar Panahi’s latest prison sentence as proof that Iranian cinema remains under repression, speaking at a Tokyo International Film Festival press conference for the Kurosawa Akira Award. Rasoulof and Japanese director O Mipo are this year’s recipients. “Of course, Iranian cinema continues to face repression, and my friends […]
Mohammad Rasoulof Cites Jafar Panahi’s New Prison Sentence as He and O Mipo Receive Tokyo’s Kurosawa Akira Award: ‘Iranian Cinema Continues to Face Repression’
Source: Variety
Original reporting
Variety: read the full reportRelated stories
Variety
BTS, Katseye Drive Hybe to Record Quarterly Revenue and Profit
BTS’ world tour sent K-pop powerhouse Hybe to the highest quarterly revenue and operating profit in its history in the third quarter of 2026. Revenue for the quarter reached KRW1.5257 trillion ($1.13 billion) and operating profit came in at KRW188.5 billion ($140.2 million). Both numbers beat the records the company set in the second quarter. […]
Variety
‘Kefi’ Review: A Grief-Stricken Family Reunion Is Beset by Aliens, Drugs and Dinosaurs in Kisin Saito’s Kaleidoscopic, Genre-Fluid Debut
Late on in Kefi, one of its central protagonists — the youngest of three sisters — justifies a spontaneous hook-up with a random stranger by claiming that “the flow” of their chance encounter “was really cinematic.” The same, perhaps, can be said for Kisin Saito’s brazenly confident debut feature as a whole — a genre-fluid […]
Variety
Netflix Steampunk Western ‘Bass x Machina’ Is a Crackling Mix of Fantasy and Reality: TV Review
The U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves was a real person; an escaped slave turned groundbreaking lawman, Reeves’ remarkable biography has inspired a Taylor Sheridan show and HBO’s “Watchmen,” among other pieces of pop culture. The Netflix animated series “Bass x Machina,” created by LeSean Thomas (“Yasuke”) and produced by the Korean company Studio Mir (“The Legend […]
Variety
John Travolta Set for Torino Film Festival Award Ahead of ‘Propeller One-Way Night Coach’ Screening (EXCLUSIVE)
John Travolta will be honored with a lifetime achievement award at the upcoming Torino Film Festival in Turin. The iconic actor’s directorial debut, Propeller One-Way Night Coach, will get its second international festival screening there after premiering out-of-competition at the Cannes Film Festival in May. The Torino Film Festival, which is Italy’s preeminent event for […]
Variety
‘The Difficult Bride’ Review: Feminist Body Horror Meets Social Inequality in Rubaiyat Hossain’s Visceral Breakout Thriller
It takes a bold director to combine body horror with Sylvia Plath, but then again Rubaiyat Hossain has never shied away from pushing the envelope. From her 2011 debut “Meherjaan,” widely attacked by conservative forces, to “Under Construction” and more recently “Made in Bangladesh,” the maverick director’s focus on gendered spaces and female sexuality have […]
Variety
A College Student and His Grieving Dorm Manager Share a Forbidden Bond in Tokyo Competition Title ‘The Night That Binds Us’
Chinese director Wang Jiangyong keeps the camera at a distance in his feature debut “The Night That Binds Us,” which world premiered in competition at the Tokyo International Film Festival, observing the uneasy connection between a college student and an older dormitory manager. “I think you have to show the painful parts truthfully for the […]