Pedro Almodóvar’s “Parallel Mothers” to Have Red-Carpet Premiere at This Year’s AFI Fest

Pedro Almodóvar is bringing his Mother(s) to this year’s AFI Fest.

After opening the Venice Film Festival and continuing on to the New York Film Festival, the 72-year-old Oscar-winning director’s latest film Parallel Mothers will have a red-carpet premiere at this year’s AFI Fest at the TCL Chinese Theatre on Saturday, November 13.

Pedro Almodovar

In the movie, two women, Janis and Ana, played by Penelope Cruz and Milena Smit, coincide in a hospital room where they are going to give birth. Both are single and became pregnant by accident. Janis, middle-aged, doesn’t regret it and she is exultant. The other, Ana, an adolescent, is scared, repentant and traumatized. Janis tries to encourage her while they move like sleepwalkers along the hospital corridors. The few words they exchange in these hours will create a very close link between the two, which by chance develops and complicates, and changes their lives in a decisive way.

Penelope Cruz, Pedro Almodovar, Madres Paralelas

Cruz won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at Venice. Parallel Mothers to date is 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.

In total, AFI Fest counts 115 titles (48 Features, 1 Episodic, 49 Short Films and 17 Conservatory Showcase Shorts) of which 51% are directed by women, 40% directed by BIPOC filmmakers and 13% are directed by LGBTQIA+ filmmakers. This year’s program represents 50 countries and includes six World Premieres. The festival runs from November 10-14.

“We are excited to celebrate AFI Fest 2021 in person at the historic TCL Chinese theater and showcase both master filmmakers and emerging voices,” said Sarah Harris, Director of Programming, AFI Festivals. “In a time when we need movies more than ever, we look forward to audiences being inspired by the best films from around the world screening at this year’s AFI Fest.”

Returning filmmakers to AFI Fest are Hany Abu-Assad (Huda’s Salon), Andrea Arnold (Cow), Jacques Audiard (Paris, 13th District), Sean Baker (Red Rocket), Michel Franco (Sundown), Miguel Gomes (The Sugua Diaries), Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (Lingui, The Sacret Bonds), Céline Sciamma (Petite Maman), Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Memoria), and Zhang Yimou (One Second).

Pedro Almodovar’s “Parallel Mothers” Added to Spotlight Section at This Year’s Hamptons Film Festival

Pedro Almodovar is headed to the Hamptons…

The Hamptons Film Festival has finalized its 2021 slate, with the 71-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning director’s latest film making the list.

Penelope Cruz, Pedro Almodovar, Madres Paralelas

Almodovar’s Parallel Mothers, starring Penelope Cruz, has been added to the festival’s Spotlight section, alongside Cyrano, The Lost Daughter, The Power of the Dog, joining C’mon C’mon and Jockey.

Parallel Mothers received a 5-minute standing ovation when it premiered at the Venice Film Festival as the fest’s opening night film. It earned Cruz the Volpi Cup for Best Actress during the festival’s closing ceremony.

Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, starring Tony Revolori, will be the closing-night film on October 13, while Pablo Larraín’s Spencer will be the Centerpiece Film in its East Coast premiere.

The festival is opening on October 7 with the world premiere of Matthew Heineman’s COVID-19 documentary The First Wave. The 29th edition of the fest will feature a lineup of films that are 53% female-directed and rep 34 countries.

The festival will run as a hybrid in-person/virtual event. Find more info here.

Penelope Cruz Wins Best Actress Prize at Venice Film Festival

Penelope Cruz’s latest performance is already earning her some hardware…

The 47-year-old Spanish Oscar-winning actress was awarded the Volpi Cup Best Actress prize at the Venice Film Festival.

Penelope Cruz

Cruz, in an upset for Spencer star Kristen Stewart, won the award for the performance in Pedro Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers.

In her acceptance, she said the honor was 100% his, saying, “thank you once again for your trust in me, for inspiring me every day with your search for truth inside and outside the set… you have created magic again.”

Cruz further dedicated the win to her husband Javier Bardem and their children as well as to Bardem’s recently deceased mother. Pilar Bardem “did so much for actors and actresses in our country and her love and passion for this wonderful profession was huge,” said Cruz, adding, “At the end of our last conversation she told me, ‘I love you.’ She was very fragile and I thought those were her last words to me, but then very quiet and very soft and with a smile on her face she said to me two more words ‘Coppa Volpi’… This is for all the mothers.”

Parallell Mothers centers on two single women, who meet in a hospital room where they are both going to give birth. One is middle aged and doesn’t regret it, while the other is adolescent and scared. The two women form a strong bond with one another as they both confront motherhood.

Chilean filmmakers Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña won the Best Short Film prize.

They took home the award for their film Los Huesos, a fictitious take on the world’s first animated film, which uses a three-person melodrama as a metaphor for Chile’s turbulent socio-political regime. Dated in 1901 and excavated in 2021 as Chile drafts a new constitution, the “found” footage shows a young girl performing a ritual with human body parts. The corpses are revealed as the bodies of Diego Portales and Jaime Guzmán, central figures in the construction of authoritarian and oligarchic Chile.

French-Lebanese filmmaker Audrey Diwan won the Venice Film Festival’s top prize, the Golden Lion, for her 1963-set abortion drama L’Evénement (Happening).

Here’s the list of the award winners:

VENICE 78

Golden Lion
L’Evénement, dir: Audrey Diwan

Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize
The Hand Of God, dir: Paolo Sorrentino

Silver Lion, Best Director
Jane Campion, The Power Of The Dog

Volpi Cup Best Actress
Penelope Cruz, Parallel Mothers

Volpi Cup Best Actor
John Arcilla, On The Job: The Missing 8

Best Screenplay
Maggie Gyllenhaal, The Lost Daughter

Special Jury Prize
Il Buco, dir: Michelangelo Frammartino

Marcello Mastroianni Award for for Best New Young Actor or Actress
Filippo Scotti, The Hand Of God

HORIZONS

Best Film
Pilgrims, dir: Laurynas Bareisa

Best Director
Eric Gravel, A Plein Temps

Special Jury Prize
El Gran Movimiento, dir: Kiro Russo

Best Actress
Laure Calamy, A Plein Temps

Best Actor
Piseth Chhun, White Building

Best Screenplay
Ivan Ostrochovský, Peter Kerekes: 107 Mothers

Best Short Film
Los Huesos, dirs: Cristóbal León, Joaquín Cociña

Lion of the Future – Luigi De Laurentiis Award For A Debut Film
Imaculat, dirs: Monica Stan, George Chiper Lillemark

VENICE VR EXPANDED

Grand Jury Prize for Best VR
Goliath: Playing With Reality, dirs: Barry Gene Murphy, May Abdalla

Best VR Experience
Le Bal De Paris De Blanca Li, dir: Blanca Li

Best VR Story
End of Night, dir: David Adler

HORIZONS EXTRA

Audience Award
The Blind Man Who Did Not Want To See Titanic, dir: Teemu Nikki

Martinez Named Best Actor at This Year’s Venice Film Festival

Oscar Martínez is raising a special cup…

The 66-year-old Argentine actor received the Best Actor Volpi Cup at the 73rd Venice Film Festival.

Oscar Martinez

Martinez picked up the award for his acclaimed performance in “El ciudadano ilustre.”

He’s the first Argentine actor or actress to receive the Volpi Cup at the Venice Film Festival.

But Martinez wasn’t the only Latino winner…

Amat Escalante picked up the Silver Lion for Best Director in a tie with Andrei Konchalovsky. The 37-year-old Mexican filmmaker won the award for his work on La Region Salvaje.

Ruth Diaz was named Best Actress in the Venice Horizons category. The 41-year-old Spanish actress won the award for her performance in The Fury of a Patient Man.

Here’s the full list of winners:

VENICE 73

Golden Lion: The Woman Who Left, Lav Diaz
Grand Jury Prize: Nocturnal Animals, dir: Tom Ford
Silver Lion, Best Director: (TIE) Amat Escalante, La Region Salvaje & Andrei Konchalovsky, Paradise
Volpi Cup, Best Actress: Emma Stone, La La Land
Volpi Cup, Best Actor: Oscar Martinez, El Ciudadano Ilustre
Best Screenplay: Noah Oppenheim, Jackie
Special Jury Prize: The Bad Batch, dir: Ana Lily Amirpour
Marcello Mastroianni Award for for Best New Young Actor or Actress: Paula Beer, Frantz 

VENICE HORIZONS

Best Film: Liberami, dir: Federica Di Giacomo
Best Director: Fien Troch, Home
Special Jury Prize: Big Big World, dir: Reha Erdem
Best Actress: Ruth Diaz, The Fury Of A Patient Man
Best Actor: Nuno Lopes, Sao Jorge
Best Screenplay: Wang Bing, Bitter Money
Best Short Film: La Voz Perdida, dir: Marcelo Martinessi
Lion of the Future – “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film: The Last Of Us, dir: Ala Eddine Slim

VENICE CLASSICS
Best Restoration: Break-Up – The Man With The Balloons, dir: Marco Ferreri
Best Documentary on Cinema: Le Concours, dir: Claire Simon