US President Donald Trump said on TruthSocial that an agreement has been reached for Hamas to fully disarm, paving the way for an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the deployment of an international stabilisation force. Neither Israel nor Hamas has publicly confirmed.
Published On 30 Jul 2026
Joao Wedson recently published an analysis asserting that the 2026 US midterm elections could mark the beginning of a Bitcoin price breakout. His analysis links market cycles to the US political calendar after recording repetitive patterns in previous periods.
Bitcoin vs. U.S. Midterm Elections🇺🇸
Bitcoin entered a bear market roughly one year before every U.S. midterm election.
After the midterms, Bitcoin began a prolonged bull market.
Every time a president won the election, Bitcoin rallied strongly. However, shortly after the… pic.twitter.com/cbxNfwInum
— Joao Wedson (@joao_wedson) July 29, 2026
The correlation between cryptocurrency performance and political events shows that the asset tends to adjust its price before legislative votes. According to research shared by the Alphractal founder in a post on X, Bitcoin typically enters a bear cycle one year before midterm elections, only to begin a prolonged upward phase once the election process concludes.
In certain historical cycles, the price bottom consolidated days before the vote, while in other cases it was recorded shortly after election day.
On the other hand, presidential elections showed a different dynamic. The analyzed documentation points out that the asset has recorded marked increases following the confirmation of an election winner, approaching a cycle peak shortly after the presidential inauguration.
As an example of this trend, the analyst cited XRP’s behavior. Following Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 election, the token began an uptrend that culminated in a local peak on January 20, 2025, the date of the presidential inauguration.
The data presented aligns with Binance Research findings published earlier this year. According to the firm’s report, Bitcoin experienced pricing difficulties during midterm election years, only to regain ground once political uncertainty faded.
The Binance Research report details that the asset dropped an average close to 56% during completed midterm cycles since 2014. In contrast, during the year following those elections, the market recorded an average return of approximately 54%.
Despite these historical comparisons, the analysis warns about the need to exercise caution when interpreting recent market readings. Wedson’s previous observations indicate that an isolated price rally does not, on its own, guarantee a structural shift in the trend.
To confirm a cycle transition toward a bullish phase, the source points out that clear signals of capitulation, operational deleveraging, and the influx of new capital from short-term investors are required.
The macroeconomic context and the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy continue to exert influence over the digital market’s evolution. Three months out from the elections, Bitcoin’s price is hovering near $64,000. That amount represents a distance of nearly 50% from $126,000, the asset’s all-time high recorded in October 2025.
CoinGecko data indicates that over the last 7 days, the pioneer cryptocurrency experienced a pullback of around 2.5%. However, the asset maintains a cumulative gain of nearly 8% over the past month.
This behavior occurs in an environment where the US Federal Reserve decided to hold the benchmark interest rate in the 3.50% to 3.75% range. Global liquidity conditions and the performance of economic indicators in the months leading up to the vote will be decisive in validating whether history repeats itself.
The next milestone for verifying these metrics will be the occurrence of the legislative elections in November 2026, at which point the market will observe whether the trend reversal projected by analysts consolidates.
As US-Iran clashes escalate, former US Ambassador to UAE Barbara Leaf warns escalation is ‘fairly pointless’ and delivers no decisive win. Leaf tells Al Jazeera that de-escalation and direct negotiation are the only ways to prevent wider regional danger.
Published On 31 Jul 2026
NBC News Now will debut Christine Romans‘ new show on Monday, with a two-hour morning program featuring breaking news and politics, as well as segments on finance, business and technology.
The 10 a.m. ET program is called Current with Christine Romans and was announced in April. Romans, who serves as chief business correspondent, joined the network in 2023 after 24 years at CNN.
Romans said in a statement, “We’ll explain what’s happening, why it matters, and how decisions made in the halls of power around the world and on Wall Street affect people at the kitchen table. That will be the framing for everything we do.”
The show also will feature a franchise, 50 States in 50 Days, that will be a partnership with NBC affiliates spotlighting “local solutions to national challenges.” The executive producer is Kerrie Wudyka.
In April, the network also announced the expansion of NBC News Now to 14 hours a day of live programming.
One of the most prominent pro-Trump influencers, Laura Loomer, just made a major shift in her stance on Ukraine. One former White House advisor told Al Jazeera’s ‘This is America’ that her shift to support Ukraine could turn into an opportunity for Trump.
Published On 31 Jul 2026
UPDATED, with FCC comment: ABC said that the FCC’s demand for an early review of its broadcast station licenses was part of an “ongoing retaliation campaign” to punish the network over its news coverage and create a chilling effect on free speech.
In a filing made public on Thursday, the network’s legal team also warned that the FCC’s action — demanding an early review of the licenses for the network’s eight owned stations — reflected a wider effort to crack down on the media. The network’s filing identified multiple instances in which Trump has called for the network to lose its license.
“The retaliation against ABC is a signal to every media company in the country: accommodate the Administration’s view of what news coverage should look like or pay the price,” the network’s legal team wrote. “Across the government, regulatory and contracting carrots and sticks have been trained on disfavored speakers. The tools vary; the objective does not: a media industry too fearful of official reprisal to report the news freely.”
ABC’s filing cited instances of threats that Trump has made against the network over its news coverage and its handling of the 2024 presidential debate, and referred to other instances in which the administration has gone after other outlets and political opponents.
In April, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, a Trump appointee, called for the network to apply for an early renewal of the station licenses, citing an investigation of the network’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices. Such an action is highly unusual, and the first of ABC station licenses were not set to expire until 2028.
Carr then opened up a public comment proceeding, with conservative groups like the Media Research Center and the Center for American Rights calling for the network’s licenses to be pulled. The deadline for responses, including from ABC, was on Wednesday.
The FCC chairman has not said when the agency will make a decision. But in a sign that the network has been preparing for a legal battle, it has recently retained Beth Wilkinson, who is part of the Paramount and Nexstar legal teams as they defend proposed mergers amid antitrust lawsuits brought by state attorneys general. Disney’s legal team is led by Horacio Gutierrez, chief legal and global affairs officer, and includes Paul Clement, the former solicitor general and Supreme Court lawyer, and Jennifer Tatel.
The network said that its stations “easily meet the standard for license renewal,” which is a showing that they operate in the public interest. The network has cited support from a range of community groups, press freedom organizations and former FCC chairs and top ranking officials, as well as conservative and free market groups like Americans for Tax Reform.
The network launched an ad campaign, urging viewers to weigh in with the FCC, warning that the agency is “questioning our commitment to the community.” More than 153,000 comments were submitted in the proceeding. ABC said that, based on an AI analysis of comments almost 86% of the tens of thousands of comments submitted to the FCC support renewal of the licenses, and another 10% objected to the FCC.
In its filing, the network’s legal team wrote that the FCC has “resorted to intimidation,” citing Carr’s previous warnings over a joke that late-night host Jimmy Kimmel told about the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk assassination. On Benny Johnson’s podcast, Carr chided Kimmel for the remark, and said, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel, or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
The ABC legal team wrote, “The FCC has spent the last 18 months searching for some pretext for revoking the Stations’ licenses. The Commission has found none, because the Stations easily meet the standard for license renewal—which under the law means that the Commission cannot revoke their licenses or order a hearing on their renewal applications.”
ABC said that the DEI investigation has found no violation, while even “if any violation were ever substantiated, the Commission has a graduated set of well-established remedies far short of the corporate death penalty of license non-renewal.” The network’s legal team warned that any FCC sanction over DEI would raise due process concerns, as the policies being challenged were encouraged by the FCC two years ago, when Joe Biden was president and Democrats held a majority on the commission.
Carr also has been investigating The View and whether it qualifies as a bona fide news program. That would make it exempt from the FCC’s Equal Time rule, which requires stations that feature political candidates to provide comparable time to rivals, if requested. The network also has pushed back on that proceeding, arguing that it received exemption guidance in 2002, and that the FCC was selectively enforcing the rule.
Among the groups also weighing in recently was the National Association of Broadcasters, which warned that the early renewals “will inevitably discourage investment in the broadcast industry.” They, too, contended that editorial decisions were constitutionally protected and outside the bounds of the agency’s authority.
A spokesperson for the FCC said, “For decades, Americans of all stripes have been subsidizing broadcast media to the tune of many billions of dollars by giving TV stations free use of a valuable, public resource—the airwaves. In exchange, broadcasters are required by law to operate in the public interest—not in the narrow or partisan interests of a political party.”
The spokesperson added, “Broadcasters know that they are prohibited from engaging in invidious forms of DEI discrimination, that they must comply with political equal opportunity regulations, and that they are barred from running broadcast hoaxes or distorting the news. The FCC is going to hold broadcasters accountable to the full extent of the law, regardless of any disinformation campaign that some of them may choose to run.”
Technically, the FCC licenses stations, not networks. During his tenure at the FCC, Carr has said that he wants to boost local stations in their leverage vis a vis the major networks, while defending his investigations into programming as within the bounds of the agency’s authority. He has cited the requirement that stations serve the public interest, a rather broad term that has invited complaints over the network’s news and other coverage.
In its petition to deny ABC station licenses, the Center for American Rights argued that the network show “a consistent and overt partisan bias to its programming over multiple shows.” Other arguments raised included that its stations run a “race and culture effort that intentionally brings an ideological agenda to local newsrooms and documentary shows.”
Among other things, they cited Kimmel’s political donations and partisan activity and claimed that he uses his show as a “propaganda platform to advance his personal political views.” They pointed to the partisan bent of his jokes and guests, as well as “his infamous 2024 pre-election plea to vote for Kamala Harris delivered nationwide over the airwaves, which would have cost millions of dollars if it had been classified as an advertisement rather than a show monologue.”
In the network’s filing, ABC’s legal team wrote that the agency has “repeatedly emphasized” that it has limited authority to act on content complaints. They noted that the agency long ago abandoned the Fairness Doctrine, which required stations to present varying points of view on issues of public importance. The FCC’s news distortion and broadcast hoax policies, ABC’s legal team said, are very narrow in scope.
While the petitioners calling for license revocations do not invoke the news distortion policy, the network’s legal team noted, “they nevertheless complain that ABC ‘routinely broadcasts misinformation, disinformation, and other fake news’ and that various ABC network programs aired too many ‘anti-Trump team reports,’ too much ‘positive’ coverage of Kamala Harris, and did not devote enough time ‘letting viewers know just how much Trump had reduced border crossings compared to his predecessor.’ But these are complaints about editorial balance—decisions about which stories to cover, which candidate to feature, and how much emphasis to give different topics—or editorial commentary.”
They added, “Denying the Stations’ renewals just because they aired ABC network programming that the Commission later deemed ‘DEI TV’ or too ‘anti-Trump’ would stretch the rule far beyond the First Amendment’s bounds.”
Anna Gomez, the sole Democrat on the FCC, said in a statement that a “small number of partisan voices tried to hijack this process into a referendum on a network they dislike, but the public refuses to let local stations become collateral damage in the FCC’s political games. The FCC has no authority to police the ideological balance of the airwaves, and no matter what this Commission does next, the record now makes clear that this was never a genuine search for the public interest.”
Attending the 79th edition of the Locarno Film Festival allows you to embark on a cinematic adventure, if you are so inclined and if you desire to do so. After all, there are all sorts of new envelope-pushing and experimental movies to explore.
Or you can see the latest from your favorite auteurs. Among others, the 2026 lineup of the Swiss festival will world premiere Nowhere to Lay My Eyes, the new film from South Korean auteur Hong Sangsoo (Right Now, Wrong Then), who is a former Golden Leopard winner at the fest, Canadian director Denis Côté’s Nobody’s Violence, and Sixteen Moments of My Life from Spain’s Albert Serra (Afternoons of Solitude).
Plus, there are screen classics, such as Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver and David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, plus a 4K restored version of the extended director’s cut of Kevin Costner’s Dances With Wolves.
Of course, Locarno will also feature star power, with 2026 fest honors set to be bestowed upon directors James Gray and Darren Aronofsky, Belgian-born actress Virginie Efira, Rick Baker, the seven-time Oscar winner behind some of cinema’s most fantastical creatures, as well as actresses Asia Argento and Isabella Rossellini.
Locarno artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro, who put together the lineup for Locarno79 with his team, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about underlying and overarching themes that audiences may notice across the program, actors as “living history of cinema,” and allowing people to be surprised and experience a sense of wonder in the age of algorithms.
When you unveiled this year’s festival lineup, you called the program “adventurous.” Can you explain a little bit why that seemed such a fitting way to describe the lineup?
Adventurous is the adjective that describes the experience that I was always looking forward to when I myself was visiting festivals as a cinephile or a journalist. I really wanted to explore cinema, and therefore I would go to wildly different festivals. And that is probably the reason why I’m here at Locarno today in this position. Locarno was always the festival that allowed me to be in different places at the same time.
For instance, if I were to go to Venice, I would see this kind of cinema. If I were to go to Cannes, I would see that kind of cinema, and so on. For me, in a place like Locarno, you have this opportunity that if you don’t care about just a certain kind of film, you can flesh out a program where you can follow your whims and desires and inclinations, but on the other hand, if you want to explore, you can also do that.
Today, in the era of algorithms that try to foresee what you will do in a week or so, simply because you clicked on a link and you read something, and then suddenly, in your feeds, this thing keeps on appearing. I wanted to create an algorithm-free experience where you can discontinue the expectations that you might have on your own behalf and push you into a situation where you can experience something else.
I know this sounds very aloof, but it goes back to the possibility of being surprised, the possibility of wonder. You see a film, and you say, “Oh my God, what did I just see?” And that does not mean that you have to like it. But for me, if you are taken out of the set of conventions that usually inform your choices, that is a reward in itself. I know this also comes from a privileged point of view. I have the privilege of working with an artistic selection committee that is incredibly talented, and with our privileged viewpoint, with our gaze, we really embrace a wide spectrum of possibilities.
This year’s Locarno awards go to big names again, and the lineup also features some bold names, such as Caleb Landry Jones. How do you think about the need for stars or celebrities at Locarno?
I wouldn’t describe it as the need for celebrities. The history of cinema is linked to the faces of the actors that we all love: John Wayne, Marlene Dietrich, James Stewart, Bette Davis, and Katharine Hepburn. We remember these people not because they are good-looking. They are, obviously, but we remember them because they were talented people. Someone like Katharine Hepburn could read a screenplay and say, “There are 20 pages too many.” Someone like Marcello Mastroianni, who always downplayed his being this super-talented artist, had a photographic memory and could learn everything by the first read.
So, we need to make a difference between talents, stars and celebrities in the way we understand them now. Because someone like Marlene Dietrich is not just a star. She is also someone who could master how to address, for instance, the collective guilt of the German-speaking people during the war after the war, and keep the memory of it while still being the greatest star on Earth. So that’s a responsibility. And for me, actors are like the living history of cinema.
People remember the great films through the stories of what happened to the character in that film. We know that High Noon is a highly political film made by a European director in Hollywood at the height of the witch hunt [of McCarthyism and the Hollywood blacklist], but we remember that film because it’s been incarnated in Gary Cooper’s body. Gary Cooper’s body was the messenger of American optimism, and now suddenly you have the very same American optimism that stands alone against a whole country, against a whole city, and he needs to fight for justice.
How about some of the big names that Locarno will see this year or bold names with films in high-profile spots?
The talents that we are privileged to feature on the Piazza Grande are all artists, such as Olivia Wilde [whose The Invite screens on the big outdoor square in Locarno this year]. When you read an interview with Olivia Wilde, you know that she’s a cinema person who knows what she’s talking about.
Caleb Landry Jones is also famous because he played [Banshee] in the X-Men [franchise], and the got a Cannes award [for best actor in 2021 for his role in Justin Kurzel’s Nitram], but he moves between different worlds of cinema. And then, for his new film, [the Locarno-premiering Down the Arm of God, directed by Peter Brunner], he put everything at stake to work with homeless people in Texas to tell us about the plight of these people who never sleep in the same place two nights in a row and what it means to be left behind. He spent some of his time as an artist living in the shoes of someone who might not even have shoes.
Also, Claes Bang, [starring in the world-premiering I Is Another, directed by Felix Randau]. How debonair can a man be? I mean, it doesn’t get more debonair than him. But every film he picks is carefully picked. He could simply be playing the good-looking man and get away with it, and nobody would complain. But the choices he makes are always against his own persona, as if he’s always questioning things: “I invite you to look beyond the surface.” The film I Is Another is basically about this – a good-looking man who claims to have done something, but did he really do it? Claes Bang always digs deeper. So it’s very bold for him to take a role like that.
Overall, the fact that we tend to think of these actors and people as just good-looking faces is a bit of an unfair assessment of what they do. Ultimately, we have so many nice faces, but only the talented ones stay.
Since you just mentioned a specific film – not that I want to force you to choose between movies that you all clearly felt deserve a showcase – are there any films that you were particularly excited to get or that you didn’t even think would be in this year’s Locarno lineup?
There are actually quite a few films. Among others, I’m very proud to have the Italian film Ketticè, produced by Luca Guadagnino, the second film by Giovanni Tortorici, who had his first film in Venice in Orizzonti (Horizons). Then I’m particularly glad to have A Margem Do Rio (The Riverbank) by Enock Carvalho and Matheus Farias, close collaborators of Kleber Mendonça Filho.
I’m also very happy to have Violence du Corps de l’Autre (Nobody’s Violence) by Denis Côté. He’s coming back to fiction film, quote unquote. I’m super happy to present to the international audience Wandering Trees (Alberi Errante) by Salvatore Mereu, a crucial Italian filmmaker who has the breadth of a 19th-century novelist. I would also point to the film Manhunt by Wayne Wapeemukwa. That’s a true-crime film,” but it comes from a specific place in Canadian culture. The director is a descendant of the First Nations, and the film questions the colonial myth of what is beyond the frontier and how this myth still affects people.
There are also other films that I’m very proud of, such as Tear Gas by Uta Beria that documents the plight of the Georgian people of standing up against the Russian infiltration of their country, or Revolutionaries Never Die, a film about the legacy of the magnificent Lebanese filmmaker Jocelyne Saab. She is this extremely interesting filmmaker. I wouldn’t call her a documentarian because she was a filmmaker, and she chronicled the Lebanese civil war. She was on the ship Atlantis when [Yasser] Arafat had to leave Lebanon and landed in Tunis, Tunisia. She also documented with an uncanny eye for the future the onset of the Iranian revolution. She was this living memory of what was going on, and the film is basically about the work and the life of Jocelyne Saab as a living archive. And [Jean-Luc] Godard himself used some of her images.
When you unveiled the program for Locarno 2026, you spoke about how several films explore the theme of community…
Yes, I think that stems from a sense of being threatened and being more vulnerable. I hope this doesn’t sound sanctimonious or corny, but we live in a moment where the future could be described as the Third World War in pieces. You have the war in Ukraine and in the region formerly called the Middle East – but middle of and from where is my question. Then you have Sudan, and then you have the economic takeovers of entire regions on the African continent. Plus, there is the erasure of civil rights, political rights, individual rights. So everything is coming together at the same time.
What stays is this lingering and very uncomfortable fear that you are being threatened in the individuality of what your person is, if you are not a white Western person, and you can feel how things are shifting around you. People are being singled out for what they represent to each other, and what we represent to each other is not something that we decided. It’s something that has been put on us from above by a global block of linguistic conventions of what we are.
This singling out of individuals is breaking up communities, and so people are really thinking about: How can we protect our communities? How can we come together again? But “together” not in a sense of let’s just be nice and cozy, cozy. Instead, let’s think differences, let’s think individualities, let’s think heritages, let’s think bodies, let’s think sexual orientation. And how can we bring all these things together? It’s not easy, but it’s exactly the thing that all these wars are threatening to suffocate. All these conversations that we need to have are being threatened.
In a community, there is the opportunity, the possibility to speak, to talk, to make films, and to make a film is to engage with someone else to say: “What do you think about this?” Can we have a back-and-forth? So, communities today are the last vanguard of what it is to have and care about human dignity. Communities today are the laboratories where we can still think about how to make it all together.
Google has released yet another teaser for the Pixel 11 Pro, and this one offers a much clearer view of the rumored Pixel Glow indicator on the back.
The latest teaser is part of Google’s Ask More of Your Phone campaign, and it highlights the camera bar with a ring around it and a new colorful LED indicator inside. The purpose of the indicator is unclear, but it appears to change color and resembles the rainbow pinwheel you see on macOS.
Rumors suggest the LED could be used to color-code notifications from favorite contacts or specific apps. It may also light up when Gemini is in action. Additionally, if it is inspired by Nothing’s signature Glyph Interface, it may also support various light flashing patterns.
We should have a clearer picture of the new LED’s name and function in about two weeks. Google is scheduled to host its annual Made By Google event on Aug. 12, where it is expected to unveil the latest generation of devices, including Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, Pixel 11 Pro Fold, and Pixel Watch 5.
Google events over the years have largely focused on software and AI updates, so a major hardware change like this will be a welcome addition for Pixel fans.
The base storage on Pixel phones is also expected to increase. According to a recent leak, the Pixel 11 will start with 256GB of storage, up from 128GB on the Pixel 10.
However, potential customers may have to brace for a price hike. Last week, Shakil Barkat, Google’s VP of devices and services, told 9to5Google that next-gen Pixel devices will see price adjustments due to rising memory costs, which have affected all major consumer electronics brands, including Apple.
Experience
Jibin is a tech news writer based out of Ahmedabad, India. Previously, he served as the editor of iGeeksBlog and is a self-proclaimed tech enthusiast who loves breaking down complex information for a broader audience.
Matthew Macfadyen and Claire Foy will star in You Are Here, an eight-part adaptation of David Nicholls’ acclaimed, best-selling novel of the same name.
The BBC and Starz have greenlit the series, directed by Lenny Abrahamson (Normal People) and produced by Element Pictures.
Succession alum Macfadyen and The Crown‘s Foy will lead the cast as Michael and Marnie, respectively. When a mutual friend throws them together, the pair unexpectedly find themselves setting off on an epic walk.
Against the odds, they end up on the brink of a relationship that neither was looking for, but which might be exactly the one they both need. Michael and Marnie go coast-to-coast across the stunning — and soaking — English countryside, navigating an undeniable attraction that is as exhilarating as it is terrifying.
“I’m so delighted to be working on You Are Here with Element, the BBC, Starz and Lenny, whose work I’ve admired for many years,” said Nicholls, who also wrote the widely adapted One Day. “Matthew and Claire are both just dream casting, wonderful in comedy and drama, so detailed and thoughtful and sympathetic. The intention with the novel was to write a close-up study of a relationship, but set against this magnificent landscape, and that’s our ambition here too; to make something both intimate and epic, funny and dramatic, a romantic comedy with real emotion.”
Abrahamson added that the story is ultimately “deeply hopeful.” He said: “As a huge admirer of David’s writing, I’m delighted to be collaborating with him to bring You Are Here to the screen. The novel is such a beautiful love story — funny, profound and ultimately deeply hopeful. I’m also extremely excited to have Claire and Matthew, two actors I hugely admire, playing Michael and Marnie.”
Both Nicholls and Abrahamson also serve as executive producers alongside Foy and MacFadyen, Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe and Emma Norton for Element Pictures and Jonny Richards and Anna Ferguson for the BBC. The series is produced by Clare Shepherd.
Global sales will be handled by Fremantle with De Maio Entertainment spearheading the partnership with Starz. Set along the Coast to Coast walking trail from the Lake District to Robin Hood’s Bay in North Yorkshire, U.K., You Are Here will be filmed in the Lake District and around Manchester.
Berlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal has picked up international sales rights to Nicola Sorcinelli‘s “Balcanica,” starring Matilda De Angelis, which will have its world premiere in competition at the 23rd Giornate degli Autori, also known as Venice Days, held alongside the 83rd Venice Intl. Film Festival.
“Balcanica” follows the journey of the orchestra conductor Nasar and his tuba-playing son Jalil across the Balkans, after leaving Afghanistan, where music has been banned. Their path eventually crosses that of Greta, an Italian doctor whose empathy and resilience shine through the situation. As their journeys continue to intertwine, the three must face the life changing choices the moment demands.
The film stars Italian actress Matilda De Angelis, known for her leading role in the Netflix series “The Law According to Lidia Poët,” Silver Bear winner Babak Karimi, celebrated for his performance in Asghar Farhadi’s “A Separation,” winner of the Golden Bear at the 2011 Berlinale and the 2012 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and rising talent Ivar Wafaei. The screenplay is written by Sorcinelli and Andrea Brusa.
“Balcanica” is produced by Nightswim and Fremantle’s Wildside, in co-production with This and That Productions and Antitalent, and in association with M74 and Nieminen Film.
Sorcinelli said that “Balcanica,” her debut feature film, is “a story about a vital journey, denied freedoms and the deeply human need to keep searching for one’s place in the world. Bringing it to Venice is a joy that is difficult to put into words.”
Maren Kroymann, CEO of M-Appeal, described the film as “a powerful story of human connection and empathy in impossible situations.” She added that Sorcinelli “has crafted a timely, emotional and universal story that deserves to be seen everywhere, brought to life by an incredible cast.”