Gong Li is a Chinese actress. Regarded as one of the best actresses in China today, she is known for her versatility and naturalistic performance. She starred in three of the four Chinese-language films that have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film.
François Ozon is a French film director and screenwriter.
Emilio Estefan Gómez is a Cuban-American musician and producer. Estefan has won 19 Grammy Awards. He first came to prominence as a member of the Miami Sound Machine. He is the husband of singer Gloria Estefan, father of son Nayib Estefan and daughter Emily Estefan, and the uncle of Spanish-language television personality Lili Estefan.
Cinema arrived in Cuba at the beginning of the 20th century. Before the Cuban Revolution of 1959, about 80 full-length films were produced in Cuba. Most of these films were melodramas. Following the revolution, Cuba entered what is considered the "Golden age" of Cuban cinema.
Chantal Thomas is a French writer and historian. Her 2002 book, Farewell, My Queen, won the Prix Femina and was adapted into a 2012 film starring Diane Kruger and Léa Seydoux.
Unfinished Spaces is a 2011 documentary film about the revolutionary design of the National Art Schools (Cuba), directed by Alysa Nahmias and Benjamin Murray. The film tells the dramatic story of the art schools from their founding by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara to their eventual abandonment and fall into ruin and recent efforts to restore them.
Farewell, My Queen is a 2012 French drama film directed by Benoît Jacquot and based on the novel of the same name by Chantal Thomas, who won the Prix Femina in 2002. It gives a fictional account of the last days of Marie Antoinette in power seen through the eyes of Sidonie Laborde, a young servant who reads aloud to the queen. The film stars Diane Kruger as the Queen, Léa Seydoux, and Virginie Ledoyen. It opened the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival in February 2012 and has subsequently been screened at other festivals. It was released on 21 March 2012 in France.
Una noche is a 2012 Cuban-set drama-thriller film written and directed by Lucy Mulloy and starring Dariel Arrechaga, Anailín de la Rúa de la Torre, and Javier Nuñez Florián.
Absent is a 2011 Spanish-language drama film directed by Argentine director Marco Berger. The film tackles the notion of sexual abuse of students, but director Marco Berger flips the dynamic. In this film, a young man wants to lure his teacher into a sexual relationship, rather than the other way round.
Closed Curtain is a 2013 Iranian docufiction film by Jafar Panahi and Kambuzia Partovi. It premiered at the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival on February 12, 2013 where Panahi won the Silver Bear for Best Script. It was shot secretly at Panahi's own beachfront villa on the Caspian Sea. Panahi stated that he began shooting the film in a state of melancholy but managed to recover by the film's completion. Closed Curtain is Panahi's second film since his 20-year ban on filmmaking after 2011's This Is Not a Film.
Suspension of Disbelief is a 2012 English thriller film written, directed, edited, co-produced by Mike Figgis and starring Sebastian Koch, Lotte Verbeek, Emilia Fox, Rebecca Night, Eoin Macken, Lachlan Nieboer, Frances de la Tour, Julian Sands and Kenneth Cranham. It was premiered at the 7th Rome Film Festival in November 2012. It played in the 12th East End Film Festival on 6 July 2013 and in Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival on 26 September 2013. The film was released in the UK on 19 July 2013.
The Way He Looks is a 2014 Brazilian coming-of-age romantic drama film written and directed by Daniel Ribeiro, based on his 2010 short film I Don't Want to Go Back Alone. The film stars Ghilherme Lobo, Fábio Audi, and Tess Amorim, reprising their roles from the short.
Salt and Fire is a 2016 thriller film written and directed by Werner Herzog. The film stars Michael Shannon, Veronica Ferres, and Gael García Bernal. It tells the story about a hostage-taking situation set against an ecological disaster in Bolivia. It had its premiere at the Shanghai International Film Festival. It was selected to be screened in the Special Presentations section at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.
Wasp Network is a 2019 spy thriller film written and directed by Olivier Assayas, based on the book The Last Soldiers of the Cold War by Fernando Morais. It stars Penélope Cruz, Édgar Ramírez, Gael García Bernal, Ana de Armas and Wagner Moura. It tells the true story of Cuban spies in American territory during the 1990s.
Sócrates is a 2018 Brazilian drama film directed by Alexandre Moratto and starring Christian Malheiros—both in their feature film debuts. The film traces the story of Sócrates, a black 15-year-old teenager from Santos, in the coast of São Paulo, as he has to overcome extreme poverty, the death of his mother, and homophobia.
The Silver Shell for Best Actress was one of the main awards presented at the San Sebastián International Film Festival to the Best Actress of a competing film. The last of this award was given out in 2020, after which it was replaced with a gender-neutral Silver Shell for Best Leading Performance and Silver Shell for Best Supporting Performance the following year.
Alfredo Hueck is a Venezuelan film producer, editor, writer and director. He is known for his professional debut, [YBI-173], and 2015 film Package #3, both award-winning. He also worked on other films in the 2010s, notably with his brother, director Luis.
Carlos M. Quintela is a Cuban filmmaker and screenwriter.
The Project of the Century is a 2015 film directed by Carlos M. Quintela. The director's second feature film, it was screened at a number of international festivals, such as the Havana Film Festival, the Miami International Film Festival, and the International Film Festival Rotterdam, where it won the prestigious Tiger Award.
