F1: The Movie (Joseph Kosinski, 2025) 3 out of 5 stars Let me preface this review by saying that the racing scenes in F1: The Movie are fantastic. As a longtime fan of director Joseph Kosinski’s work, I am happy to say that he nails the thrill of rushing down a track at 200 MPH. […]

ATX TV Festival Announces Finalists and Mentors for the 2025 Pitch Competition & Yearlong Mentorship Program featuring ATX TV Co-President Emily Gipson and More Better Productions’ Rika Dharmesh Bhakta

ATX TV Festival has announced the Top 10 Finalists and new Mentors in its annual Pitch Competition & Mentorship Program, which guides emerging TV writers in developing their projects and the next steps of their career. 

Through a screening process of each applicant's 90 second video pitch and writing sample for a scripted series, ATX TV narrows the submissions down to the Top 10 who pitch live at the Festival in front of a panel of Industry Judges. 

In alphabetical order by title, the Top 10 Finalists are: 

• Boys’ Club, Christopher De La Cruz (half-hour comedy)
• Bronze Bullet, Brooke Solomon (hourlong Western drama)
• Camp Exodus, Maddie Smith & Air Durnell (half-hour comedy)
• Cricket Club of Canon High, Priya Mohanty (half-hour comedy)
• Don’t Try This At Home, Jules Crosby (half-hour comedy)
• Howl, Zoe Kerr (hourlong thriller)
• Killer of Your Dreams, Ann Chunharakchote (hourlong dark comedy)
• The Magazine, Rima Parikh (half-hour comedy)
• Payola Party, Aritrika Malakar (hourlong drama)
• Zhizha, Desdemona Chiang (half-hour comedy) 

The Pitch & Mentorship Program that takes place for the year following the Pitch Competition was developed to form a network of support around the Top 10 Finalists, guide them through the process of fully developing a pitch for their series, and help them get to the next stage of their career, whether that’s a support staff job or a staff writing job, getting their material in front of producers, meeting with agents and managers, and/or expanding their network.

“Growing the Pitch Competition & Mentorship Program has become a huge focus for me in my role at ATX TV,” said Emily Gipson, co-founder and co-president, ATX TV Festival. “Finding these incredible, talented writers and diving into the development process with them is as fulfilling for me as we hope it is for our wonderful participants. Discovery, mentorship, and career-building have always been core priorities of ATX TV, and we’re incredibly excited to announce the expansion of our Mentorship Program this year as we welcome our new class of finalists. Let the pitching begin!” 

As part of ATX TV Festival’s longstanding Pitch Program, Emily Gipson (Co-President, ATX TV) and Rika Dharmesh Bhakta (Manager of Film & TV Development, More Better Productions) will co-facilitate a year long mentorship program that includes overseeing one-on-one individualized mentorships with lower and mid-level executives, agents, managers, and writers in the industry to support and uplift the next generation of TV creatives. Bhakta, alongside Jackie Cohn, President, More Better productions and executive producer of Severance, will facilitate a pitch workshop for the Top 10 Finalists prior to the Pitch Competition in order to best prepare them to pitch live to judges at the festival. They will hear pitches, read scripts, and meet individually with a select number of the Finalists throughout the year-long program.

“Ou

« PIERRE ANGÉNIEUX TRIBUTE»
to DION BEEBE (A.C.S.*, A.S.C*)
(Australia)

and

« ANGÉNIEUX SPECIAL ENCOURAGEMENT »
to EUNSOO CHO
(South Corea)

Friday, May 23, 2025 at 8:00 pm
Salle Buñuel, Palais des Festivals

This official partner ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival, presented by Charlotte Lipinska and opened by Thierry Frémaux, was an opportunity to celebrate australian director of photography Dion Beebe (A.C.S.*, A.S.C.*), who had given a masterclass the day before.

The honorary godmother of this exceptional evening was the French actress Carole Bouquet.

Emmanuel Sprauel, President of the Angénieux brand and Carole Bouquet, presented the Pierre Angénieux Tribute to Dion Beebe - an Optimo Ultra Compact 21-56 FF zoom specially engraved with his name - which will allow him to express his extraordinary creativity in new ways. 

*ACS : Australian Cinematographers Society  ; *A.S.C. : American Society of Cinematographers 

“Dear Dion, we are particularly happy and proud to honor you today 
and to be able to associate you with this tribute to Pierre Angénieux. 
Thank you, dear Dion, for your availability among us, for your attention, your humility, and for sharing with us through your work your sense of the things in life.”  

Emmanuel Sprauel

 “For actors, light gives us talent or not. If the light is right, we are right. 
When it is not the good one, as far as I’m concerned, I don’t even want to play anymore, I need it. So, dear Dion, your craft is essential to my work. 
I am nothing without you.”

Carole Bouquet 

©Vittorio Zunino Celotto - Getty Images

NICOLE KIDMAN - KERING WoMo

INTERVIEWER
Academy Award winning, Golden Globes, SAG, Emmy, the 70th Cannes Film Festival award, you've got a couple in the trophy case at this point Nicole. NICOLE I’ve been coming to this festival for 32 years, isn't that crazy? I'm still here. I remember when we first came here, I came here with Far and Away and then the next year, I came with To Die For. Two very different films and subsequently have brought many films to this festival on many different occasions. To be asked back to receive this award and to talk about women and the voices of women in cinema is such an honor, I'm glad to be here with you. INTERVIEWER You mentioned coming here with a lot of films in 2017 that were four different films, and it was also hard to keep track.

NICOLE

And Sofia Coppola won for director that year, but I was also here with Yorgos, who won for screenplay for Sacred Deer., we had a good year, then I was on the Spielberg jury which was amazing. Ang Lee was also on that jury, it was such a great experience doing that.

INTERVIEWER

In addition to being here with the films, though, that was the moment where you kind of made this declaration and it was something that it seemed you were already doing a bit, but you made this decision to say to the world that you were going to be making a movie with a female director every 18 months. Now in those eight years, you've ended up working with female directors 27 times. When you said it out loud to begin with, did you imagine if that was possible when you said it, that it would be that number?

NICOLE

I was going to make it possible. I was at a point where we'd had a discussion that there was such a disparity in terms of the choices. You would go: cool could a woman direct this and there just wasn't the number of names that you could consider. People were like: well, would be a first time, we don't want to risk it with this. I have to start to just say, this is how I'm doing it, and this is what I'm doing, and we'll take the risk and we're going to mentor and support and help and then really protect because part of it is protecting and surrounding the women with almost like a force field of protection and support so that they can do their best work and then at the same time giving them the opportunity to not feel like this is the only chance because a lot of it is: you get one shot which as we know creatively is almost impossible I mean you need to work rigorously and with your art. Sometimes it will be received with enormous applause and sometimes it will be received not so well, but that doesn't mean that you failed. It just means you're in process and we need to support the long process of building the female voices, particularly the directors and the writers, and then also all of the crew members who say, I want to be a DP, I am seeing it in my lifetime change. The only way to do it is to actually do the work and show up and go I'm here. I'll be in your film. I know we have $4 million to make it, but we will make it. I did that with Karin Kusama when we did Destroyer and we were in the gutters in LA trying to hustle and we had very limited time, but we did it, and it just continues to flow.

INTERVIEWER

I just backstage witnessed a beautiful moment between you and our women in our emerging housemate, Mariana Bernard. Stand up. The reason I want to mention tha

©Vittorio Zunino Celotto - Getty Images

NICOLE KIDMAN - KERING WoMo

INTERVIEWER
Academy Award winning, Golden Globes, SAG, Emmy, the 70th Cannes Film Festival award, you've got a couple in the trophy case at this point Nicole. NICOLE I’ve been coming to this festival for 32 years, isn't that crazy? I'm still here. I remember when we first came here, I came here with Far and Away and then the next year, I came with To Die For. Two very different films and subsequently have brought many films to this festival on many different occasions. To be asked back to receive this award and to talk about women and the voices of women in cinema is such an honor, I'm glad to be here with you. INTERVIEWER You mentioned coming here with a lot of films in 2017 that were four different films, and it was also hard to keep track.

NICOLE

And Sofia Coppola won for director that year, but I was also here with Yorgos, who won for screenplay for Sacred Deer., we had a good year, then I was on the Spielberg jury which was amazing. Ang Lee was also on that jury, it was such a great experience doing that.

INTERVIEWER

In addition to being here with the films, though, that was the moment where you kind of made this declaration and it was something that it seemed you were already doing a bit, but you made this decision to say to the world that you were going to be making a movie with a female director every 18 months. Now in those eight years, you've ended up working with female directors 27 times. When you said it out loud to begin with, did you imagine if that was possible when you said it, that it would be that number?

NICOLE

I was going to make it possible. I was at a point where we'd had a discussion that there was such a disparity in terms of the choices. You would go: cool could a woman direct this and there just wasn't the number of names that you could consider. People were like: well, would be a first time, we don't want to risk it with this. I have to start to just say, this is how I'm doing it, and this is what I'm doing, and we'll take the risk and we're going to mentor and support and help and then really protect because part of it is protecting and surrounding the women with almost like a force field of protection and support so that they can do their best work and then at the same time giving them the opportunity to not feel like this is the only chance because a lot of it is: you get one shot which as we know creatively is almost impossible I mean you need to work rigorously and with your art. Sometimes it will be received with enormous applause and sometimes it will be received not so well, but that doesn't mean that you failed. It just means you're in process and we need to support the long process of building the female voices, particularly the directors and the writers, and then also all of the crew members who say, I want to be a DP, I am seeing it in my lifetime change. The only way to do it is to actually do the work and show up and go I'm here. I'll be in your film. I know we have $4 million to make it, but we will make it. I did that with Karin Kusama when we did Destroyer and we were in the gutters in LA trying to hustle and we had very limited time, but we did it, and it just continues to flow.

INTERVIEWER

I just backstage witnessed a beautiful moment between you and our women in our emerging housemate, Mariana Bernard. Stand up. The reason I want to mention that is because you said you were going to make it happen, kind of no matter how it had to

As a special tribute to the legendary filmmaker Guru Dutt's 100th birth anniversary this year, Ultra Media & Entertainment Group unveils the fully restored versions of Guru Dutt's timeless classics for the Global audience at the Cannes

Restored gems of Guru Dutt like *Pyaasa, Kaagaz Ke Phool, Chaudhvin Ka Chand, Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam & others are present at the Cannes . This is a celebration of Indian creativity, its past, present & future & a step towards inspiring global audiences".

Guru Dutt was born on 9th July 1925. As part of his 100th Birth anniversary Celebrations,Ultra is paying a month-long tribute to him. across India in July 2025. His fully restored films will be re-released in theatres all over India.  Besides the re-released films, there will be curated exhibitions & engaging panel discussions on Guru Dutt's timeless legacy by other prominent filmmakers. This initiative is not just a celebration of his unparalleled artistry, but a way to reconnect new generations with the rich emotional and cultural heritage he created

The future of storytelling lies in embracing both heritage and innovation. This is a celebration of Indian creativity, its past, present & future & a step towards inspiring global audiences. Through a meticulous frame-by-frame 4K/2K manual restoration process, using industry-leading software's like Diamant, PF Clean, Revival etc. Ultra has revitalized these old classics for future generations. This initiative is a part of the Company's broader commitment to preserve India's cinematic heritage and share it with the world.

The Company also has Colourised Indian classics like Chori Chori, Paigham(Dilip Kumar), Insaniyat (Only film starring Dev Anand and Dilip Kumar together) using their own proprietary technologies. Film restoration and preservation are not just about technology; they are about respect for storytellers, audiences & cultural legacy. By combining state-of-the-art tools with deep passion, they are making India's rich creative history accessible to every corner of the world.

Please visit us at our Exhibition Booth No Stall on P-1 (23.09) at the Cannes Film Festival 2025. Mr. Rajat Agrawal, COO & Director of Ultra Media & Entertainment Group will be happy to share with you various details around it 

We hope you're still energized & ready to make the most of these final days! There's plenty more to look forward to — thought-provoking panels, powerful keynotes, and engaging masterclasses await!

Today, documentary cinema takes center stage as we celebrate Doc Day — our one-day showcase packed with events and activities for all doc lovers in Cannes!

Check out what's coming up today!

CELEBRATING THE CRAFT OF DOC FILMMAKING Happy Doc Day 2025!  20 MAY, 10:00-22:00 | PLAGE DU CNC & MAIN STAGE Get ready for Doc Day, a day-long exploration of documentary cinema and the infinite ways the documentary genre represents our lives and shifting realities. Join us for panel discussions, director talks and masterclasses, diving deep into the world of documentaries. PLUS, wrap up this special event with an exclusive screening of La Vie après Siham (Life After Siham), by Namir Abdel Messeeh in partnership with ACID Cannes 2025!

Read more What's up next for the Cannes market! What's up next for the Cannes market! Rick W / Wednesday, May 21, 2025 0 22 The Cannes Film Festival market continues to be a vital space for industry professionals to exchange ideas, discover emerging talent, and explore the evolving landscape of cinema. Today’s schedule highlighted the strength of collaboration and artistic ambition, with focused sessions on short film development, keynote discussions, and curated networking events bringing together filmmakers, producers, and festival representatives from around the world. 11-11:30: SFC | Rendez-vous Industry | New Producers Room - Presentation ⁠ 12:30-13:00: SFC | Rendez-vous Industry | L'Apéritif: New Producers Room meet & greet 13:30-14:30: SFC | Rendez-vous Industry | Keynote: Short Film Industry Opportunities: Project & Talent Development 15:00-17:00: What is the Power of Artistic Freedom in the Age of Crisis? | Presented by CUT ! 15:30-16:45: Cannes Docs | Meet the Pros - Speed Meetings 15:30-17:00: SFC | Rendez-vous Industry | Directors' Talk - Short Filmmakers in Competition 17:00-18:30: SFC | Rendez-vous Industry | Happy Hour 17:15-18:15: Cannes Docs | Group Consultations 18:00-20:00: Festivals Mixer | Main Sponsor: FIAPF, with the support of: Cordillera International Film Festival and FILMFEST MÜNCHEN Read more HAPPY 93rd BIRTHDAY, MAESTRO! Rick W / Thursday, May 15, 2025 0 28 John Williams was born 93 years ago today! Happy birthday to the greatest living music legend! Discuss this topic in our forums Read more → Read more RSS Load next 10 article(s) (169 left)Loading...