There’s a certain formula that often defines the recipients of the Cannes Film Festival’s prestigious top prize, the Palme d’Or. These films, especially in the last two decades, tend to have a sense of importance about them, frequently due to their sociopolitical awareness of the world (Laurent Cantet’s The Class), or of specific societal ills.
From time to time, the Palme d’Or goes to a bold, experimental, and divisive vision from a well-liked auteur, such as Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives and Terrence Malick’s The Three of Life. But more often it’s awarded to a film in the lineup that the majority of the members on the Cannes jury can agree is good. That felt like the case for Ken Loach’s The Wind that Shakes the Barley and I, Daniel Blake, as well as Julia Ducournau’s Titane,...
From time to time, the Palme d’Or goes to a bold, experimental, and divisive vision from a well-liked auteur, such as Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives and Terrence Malick’s The Three of Life. But more often it’s awarded to a film in the lineup that the majority of the members on the Cannes jury can agree is good. That felt like the case for Ken Loach’s The Wind that Shakes the Barley and I, Daniel Blake, as well as Julia Ducournau’s Titane,...
- 5/9/2024
- by Slant Staff
- Slant Magazine
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook on Twitter and Instagram.FESTIVALSMay Days.As many as 200 French film festival workers plan to stage labor actions during Cannes, citing insufficient pay and the exclusion of many festival staff from unemployment benefits when they are not under contract. The movement is being organized under the banner of Sous Les Écrans La Dèche: Collectif Des Précaires Des Festivals De Cinéma.A new report outlines the institutional dysfunction at the Toronto International Film Festival, which recently lost the support of the telecommunications company Bell as its major sponsor. Citing a desire for “greater accessibility,” Slamdance Film Festival will relocate from Park City, Ut, to Los Angeles in 2025.NEWSHarlan County, U.S.A..Now that all thirteen IATSE locals have reached tentative agreements with the AMPTP,...
- 5/1/2024
- MUBI
French film director who won the Palme D’Or at the Cannes film festival with his improvisatory education drama The Class
The social-realist boom in 1990s French cinema produced compelling new voices such as Jacques Audiard, Bruno Dumont and Érick Zonca. The most humane and rigorous of that group was Laurent Cantet, who has died aged 63 after suffering from cancer.
Cantet, who often worked in an improvisatory mode with non-professional actors, won the Cannes film festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or, for his education drama The Class. Sean Penn, president of that year’s Cannes jury, called the film “a miracle, a perfect movie, just so exciting to see. We walked into the jury room afterward and it was like we had swept up the floor and our work was done.”...
The social-realist boom in 1990s French cinema produced compelling new voices such as Jacques Audiard, Bruno Dumont and Érick Zonca. The most humane and rigorous of that group was Laurent Cantet, who has died aged 63 after suffering from cancer.
Cantet, who often worked in an improvisatory mode with non-professional actors, won the Cannes film festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or, for his education drama The Class. Sean Penn, president of that year’s Cannes jury, called the film “a miracle, a perfect movie, just so exciting to see. We walked into the jury room afterward and it was like we had swept up the floor and our work was done.”...
- 4/26/2024
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
French director Laurent Cantet, whose films include Human Resources, Heading South, The Workshop and his Palme d’Or-winning The Class, died today at the age of 63. With this sad news we are reposting Brandon Harris’s interview with Cantet about The Class from our Spring, 2008 print edition. — Editor Starting with 1999’s Human Resources, Laurent Cantet has quickly built an international reputation as France’s most socially engaged narrative filmmaker, crafting films that highlight the ever lingering issues of race and class in both France and, as in the case of his 2006 film Heading South, its former colony of Haiti. With […]
The post “We Wanted To Show a Teacher with All His Weaknesses, Who Doesn’t Know Everything, Who Sometimes Makes Big Mistakes…”: Laurent Cantet on The Class first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “We Wanted To Show a Teacher with All His Weaknesses, Who Doesn’t Know Everything, Who Sometimes Makes Big Mistakes…”: Laurent Cantet on The Class first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 4/25/2024
- by Brandon Harris
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
French director Laurent Cantet, whose films include Human Resources, Heading South, The Workshop and his Palme d’Or-winning The Class, died today at the age of 63. With this sad news we are reposting Brandon Harris’s interview with Cantet about The Class from our Spring, 2008 print edition. — Editor Starting with 1999’s Human Resources, Laurent Cantet has quickly built an international reputation as France’s most socially engaged narrative filmmaker, crafting films that highlight the ever lingering issues of race and class in both France and, as in the case of his 2006 film Heading South, its former colony of Haiti. With […]
The post “We Wanted To Show a Teacher with All His Weaknesses, Who Doesn’t Know Everything, Who Sometimes Makes Big Mistakes…”: Laurent Cantet on The Class first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “We Wanted To Show a Teacher with All His Weaknesses, Who Doesn’t Know Everything, Who Sometimes Makes Big Mistakes…”: Laurent Cantet on The Class first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 4/25/2024
- by Brandon Harris
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
In Human Resources, Time Out and The Class, the Palme d’Or-winning film-maker – who has died aged 63 – addressed French and European society at all levels
Laurent Cantet was a classic product of the French cinema industry: a deeply intelligent, high-minded progressive film-maker of the same generation as Robin Campillo and Dominik Moll whose supremely literate, emotionally committed, stylish and well-acted movies aspired to address French and European society at all levels.
Cantet made films that you could imagine being discussed around a gregarious dinner table of fashionable Parisians, with glasses being avidly drained and refilled all round – in fact, you could imagine Cantet himself talking about his work at just this kind of gathering.
Laurent Cantet was a classic product of the French cinema industry: a deeply intelligent, high-minded progressive film-maker of the same generation as Robin Campillo and Dominik Moll whose supremely literate, emotionally committed, stylish and well-acted movies aspired to address French and European society at all levels.
Cantet made films that you could imagine being discussed around a gregarious dinner table of fashionable Parisians, with glasses being avidly drained and refilled all round – in fact, you could imagine Cantet himself talking about his work at just this kind of gathering.
- 4/25/2024
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Director of Palme d’Or-winning film Entre les Murs (The Class) was much praised for humanism in projects
Laurent Cantet, the award-winning film-maker whose creations tackled some of the most complex issues of modern French society, including meritocracy, the education system, diversity and class struggle, has died aged 63 after an illness.
Cantet was best known outside France for his film Entre les Murs (The Class), which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival in 2008. It depicted life inside the classroom of a secondary school in Paris’s diverse 20th arrondissement and the relationship between students – compellingly improvised by non-professional teenagers – and their at times exasperated teacher.
Laurent Cantet, the award-winning film-maker whose creations tackled some of the most complex issues of modern French society, including meritocracy, the education system, diversity and class struggle, has died aged 63 after an illness.
Cantet was best known outside France for his film Entre les Murs (The Class), which won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival in 2008. It depicted life inside the classroom of a secondary school in Paris’s diverse 20th arrondissement and the relationship between students – compellingly improvised by non-professional teenagers – and their at times exasperated teacher.
- 4/25/2024
- by Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
- The Guardian - Film News
Laurent Cantet's Palme d'Or winner The Class Photo: UniFrance The French director Laurent Cantet who struck gold at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008 with the Palme d’Or winner, The Class, has died at the age of 63.
Laurent Cantet Photo: Veeren Ramsamy for UniFrance The film was based on the novel Entre les murs which was a semi-autobiographical account of the author François Bégaudeau's own experiences in the school system in Paris - and featured him in the lead role of the teacher confronting “problem children.”
Beside the Palme d’Or the film also was nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign Language Film.
Cantet was a filmmaker who showed a lively interest in social issues and themes, often used non professional actors and took a naturalistic approach to his subjects. His kindred spirits would be Ken Loach and the Dardenne Brothers as well as the traditions of Roberto Rossellini and Robert Bresson.
Laurent Cantet Photo: Veeren Ramsamy for UniFrance The film was based on the novel Entre les murs which was a semi-autobiographical account of the author François Bégaudeau's own experiences in the school system in Paris - and featured him in the lead role of the teacher confronting “problem children.”
Beside the Palme d’Or the film also was nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign Language Film.
Cantet was a filmmaker who showed a lively interest in social issues and themes, often used non professional actors and took a naturalistic approach to his subjects. His kindred spirits would be Ken Loach and the Dardenne Brothers as well as the traditions of Roberto Rossellini and Robert Bresson.
- 4/25/2024
- by Richard Mowe
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
French filmmaker Laurent Cantet, whose 2008 film The Class won the Palme d’Or in Cannes in 2008, died on April 25 at the age of 63.
The acclaimed filmmaker was planning to shoot his next film Enzo, co-written by Robin Campillo and produced by Anatomy Of A Fall producer Marie-Ange Luciani, later this year.
Cantet’s agent Isabelle de la Patellière confirmed to French media the filmmaker “died this morning in Paris from an illness.”
The Class is a Paris documentary-drama based on a semi-autobiographical book by François Bégaudeau set in a French classroom about a teacher in a tough Parisian neighbourhood that starred a mostly unprofessional cast.
The acclaimed filmmaker was planning to shoot his next film Enzo, co-written by Robin Campillo and produced by Anatomy Of A Fall producer Marie-Ange Luciani, later this year.
Cantet’s agent Isabelle de la Patellière confirmed to French media the filmmaker “died this morning in Paris from an illness.”
The Class is a Paris documentary-drama based on a semi-autobiographical book by François Bégaudeau set in a French classroom about a teacher in a tough Parisian neighbourhood that starred a mostly unprofessional cast.
- 4/25/2024
- ScreenDaily
Laurent Cantet, the French director who won the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival in 2008 for his film “The Class,” has died. He was 63.
A spokesperson for Cantet’s agency, Ubba, confirmed to Variety that he died on Thursday morning of an illness.
“The Class” is based on the novel of the same name by François Bégaudeau and is a semi-autobiographical account of his experience as a teacher in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. Bégaudeau also starred in the film. “The Class” received a unanimous vote for the Palme d’Or at Cannes, making it the first French film to do so since 1987. The movie also earned an Oscar nomination for best foreign language film.
After studying at the Institut des Hautes Études Cinématographiques in Paris and working in television, Cantet released his first feature film, “Human Resources,” in 1999. It followed a management trainee as he starts a job at his father’s factory.
A spokesperson for Cantet’s agency, Ubba, confirmed to Variety that he died on Thursday morning of an illness.
“The Class” is based on the novel of the same name by François Bégaudeau and is a semi-autobiographical account of his experience as a teacher in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. Bégaudeau also starred in the film. “The Class” received a unanimous vote for the Palme d’Or at Cannes, making it the first French film to do so since 1987. The movie also earned an Oscar nomination for best foreign language film.
After studying at the Institut des Hautes Études Cinématographiques in Paris and working in television, Cantet released his first feature film, “Human Resources,” in 1999. It followed a management trainee as he starts a job at his father’s factory.
- 4/25/2024
- by Ellise Shafer
- Variety Film + TV
French director Laurent Cantet, who won the Cannes Palme d’Or in 2008 for The Class, has died at the age of 63.
Based on the semi-autobiographical book by writer François Bégaudeau about his experiences working as a literature teacher in an inner city school in Paris, The Class featured a mainly unprofessional cast including the author.
Cantet had been due to shoot his next film Enzo, with Elodie Bouchez and Pierfrancesco Favino in the cast, this August
His second collaboration with Anatomy of a Fall producer Marie-Angle Luciani, after 2021 film Arthur Rambo, it revolved around a teenager who embarks on a mason apprenticeship in the South of France to escape a controlling father.
Cantet studied film at the Institut des Hautes Études Cinématographiques (Idhec) in Paris in the mid-1980s, where his contemporaries were Dominik Moll, Gilles Marchand and Robin Campillo.
They would continue to collaborate on one another’s projects throughout their careers,...
Based on the semi-autobiographical book by writer François Bégaudeau about his experiences working as a literature teacher in an inner city school in Paris, The Class featured a mainly unprofessional cast including the author.
Cantet had been due to shoot his next film Enzo, with Elodie Bouchez and Pierfrancesco Favino in the cast, this August
His second collaboration with Anatomy of a Fall producer Marie-Angle Luciani, after 2021 film Arthur Rambo, it revolved around a teenager who embarks on a mason apprenticeship in the South of France to escape a controlling father.
Cantet studied film at the Institut des Hautes Études Cinématographiques (Idhec) in Paris in the mid-1980s, where his contemporaries were Dominik Moll, Gilles Marchand and Robin Campillo.
They would continue to collaborate on one another’s projects throughout their careers,...
- 4/25/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Two of France’s fastest-rising young stars, Lyna Khoudri and Rio Vega, will lead the French voice cast of animated feature “In Waves,” an unconditional first love story, and tale of loss and memories adapting American illustrator Aj Dungo’s same-titled multi-prized graphic novel.
An anticipated banner prestige animation title from Paris-based Silex Films, “In Waves” lead producer, the feature also marks the first animated co-production of both Anonymous Content and Charades, behind sales of Jeremy Clapin’s “I Lost My Body” and Mamoru Hosoda’s “Mirai,” both Oscar nominated titles.
In Waves is directed by Phuong Mai Nguyen, a former student of French animation schools Gobelins and La Poudrière who helmed episodes of the Silex-produced animated series “Brazen” and was Oscar-shortlisted for her short “My Home,” “In Waves” has just been announced as one of five titles at the Annecy Animation Showcase, part of Cannes’ Animation Day on May...
An anticipated banner prestige animation title from Paris-based Silex Films, “In Waves” lead producer, the feature also marks the first animated co-production of both Anonymous Content and Charades, behind sales of Jeremy Clapin’s “I Lost My Body” and Mamoru Hosoda’s “Mirai,” both Oscar nominated titles.
In Waves is directed by Phuong Mai Nguyen, a former student of French animation schools Gobelins and La Poudrière who helmed episodes of the Silex-produced animated series “Brazen” and was Oscar-shortlisted for her short “My Home,” “In Waves” has just been announced as one of five titles at the Annecy Animation Showcase, part of Cannes’ Animation Day on May...
- 4/23/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The cult director grew up on the luscious island of Madagascar just as it was casting off French rule. It was a deliriously happy time for him – but now he realises what was really going on
Robin Campillo’s new movie, Red Island, is an amazing, moving evocation of his own childhood in Madagascar as what the Anglo-Saxons call an “army brat”. His soldier dad was posted there with the family in the early days of the island’s independence from French imperial control – and the 10-year-old roamed free in this lush and gorgeous place, but all the time aware of sexual licence among the grownups, their wan melancholy at their imminent expulsion from this paradise and the increasingly pointed anti-colonial rumblings among the Indigenous people. The boy is almost like young Jim in Jg Ballard’s Empire of the Sun (played by Christian Bale in Spielberg’s film version...
Robin Campillo’s new movie, Red Island, is an amazing, moving evocation of his own childhood in Madagascar as what the Anglo-Saxons call an “army brat”. His soldier dad was posted there with the family in the early days of the island’s independence from French imperial control – and the 10-year-old roamed free in this lush and gorgeous place, but all the time aware of sexual licence among the grownups, their wan melancholy at their imminent expulsion from this paradise and the increasingly pointed anti-colonial rumblings among the Indigenous people. The boy is almost like young Jim in Jg Ballard’s Empire of the Sun (played by Christian Bale in Spielberg’s film version...
- 2/27/2024
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Anatomy of a Fall French producer Marie-Ange Luciani put in a flying appearance at the Berlinale this week with Claire Burger’s coming-of-age drama Langue Étrangère which received a warm reception in competition.
With the Berlin premiere taking place the day after the Baftas in London (where Anatomy of a Fall won Best Screenplay) and eight days before the January 27 voting deadline for this year’s Academy Awards, Luciani was also in the thick of the awards campaign.
She co-produced the Oscar hopeful with David Thion at Les Films Pelléas under the banner of her Paris-based banner Les Films de Pierre, the company created by Yves Saint Laurent’s long-time business and life partner Pierre Bergé which she acquired on his death in 2018.
New production Langue Étrangère is a bittersweet coming-of-age tale starring Lilith Grasmug as French teenager Fanny who travels to Germany on language exchange trip. Her German counterpart...
With the Berlin premiere taking place the day after the Baftas in London (where Anatomy of a Fall won Best Screenplay) and eight days before the January 27 voting deadline for this year’s Academy Awards, Luciani was also in the thick of the awards campaign.
She co-produced the Oscar hopeful with David Thion at Les Films Pelléas under the banner of her Paris-based banner Les Films de Pierre, the company created by Yves Saint Laurent’s long-time business and life partner Pierre Bergé which she acquired on his death in 2018.
New production Langue Étrangère is a bittersweet coming-of-age tale starring Lilith Grasmug as French teenager Fanny who travels to Germany on language exchange trip. Her German counterpart...
- 2/23/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Marie-Ange Luciani, who produced Justine Triet’s Oscar-nominated film “Anatomy of a Fall,” won the Toscan du Plantier Award at a Paris ceremony hosted by the Cesar Academie on Monday.
Celebrating the year’s best producer, the Toscan du Plantier prize is voted on by 1,717 members, including artists and crew members who were previously nominated at the Cesar Awards, along with the governing body members of the Cesar Academie.
Luciani most recently produced “Anatomy of a Fall” with David Thion. Some of her best known credits include Robin Campillo’s Cannes prizewinning “Bpm (Beats Per Minute).” Through her banner Les Films de Pierre, she has also been producing movies directed by Laurent Cantet, Claire Burger and Ursula Meier. Her pipeline includes the next movies by Campillo and Mona Chokri. She’ll be attending the Berlin Film Festival with the world premiere of Burger’s next film, “Langue etrangere,” playing in competition.
Celebrating the year’s best producer, the Toscan du Plantier prize is voted on by 1,717 members, including artists and crew members who were previously nominated at the Cesar Awards, along with the governing body members of the Cesar Academie.
Luciani most recently produced “Anatomy of a Fall” with David Thion. Some of her best known credits include Robin Campillo’s Cannes prizewinning “Bpm (Beats Per Minute).” Through her banner Les Films de Pierre, she has also been producing movies directed by Laurent Cantet, Claire Burger and Ursula Meier. Her pipeline includes the next movies by Campillo and Mona Chokri. She’ll be attending the Berlin Film Festival with the world premiere of Burger’s next film, “Langue etrangere,” playing in competition.
- 2/13/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
llker Çatak, the director of Germany’s Oscar shortlisted The Teachers’ Lounge with Anne-Katrin Titze on Wim Wenders, the director of Japan’s Oscar shortlisted Perfect Days: “Wim is such a nice guy! He’s not my competitor, he’s one of my teachers.”
Luc Dardenne and Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s Young Ahmed (Le Jeune Ahmed), Laurent Cantet’s The Class (Entre Les Murs), Stéphane Brizé’s The Measure Of A Man, starring the unforgettable Vincent Lindon, and Gus Van Sant’s Elephant are four of the films that inspired llker Çatak’s outstanding The Teachers’ Lounge. Shot by Judith Kaufmann, edited by Gesa Jäger (Jakob Lass’s Love Steaks with Lana Cooper and Franz Rogowski; Anna Winger's Transatlantic and Maria Schrader's Unorthodox series with Shira Haas), stars a terrific Leonie Benesch (Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon).
Ms Nowak (Leonie Benesch) in the classroom with her students...
Luc Dardenne and Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s Young Ahmed (Le Jeune Ahmed), Laurent Cantet’s The Class (Entre Les Murs), Stéphane Brizé’s The Measure Of A Man, starring the unforgettable Vincent Lindon, and Gus Van Sant’s Elephant are four of the films that inspired llker Çatak’s outstanding The Teachers’ Lounge. Shot by Judith Kaufmann, edited by Gesa Jäger (Jakob Lass’s Love Steaks with Lana Cooper and Franz Rogowski; Anna Winger's Transatlantic and Maria Schrader's Unorthodox series with Shira Haas), stars a terrific Leonie Benesch (Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon).
Ms Nowak (Leonie Benesch) in the classroom with her students...
- 12/31/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
No reasonably intelligent person imagines an artist’s statement about the horrors in Gaza would, in fact, end those horrors, but there are always limits to what one can take and hopes for what one could do. It might even be said that, as observers of the world and human behavior, filmmakers are especially inclined to recoil. When I interviewed Pedro Costa last month he spoke, unprompted, of a situation that’s only grown worse: “It’s very clear that we cannot stand images anymore. I can’t. I can’t. The images of the world for me [Exhales] I can’t. I turn my eyes, and I’m sure you do the same. It’s unbearable.” When I spoke with Anthony Dod Mantle a couple of weeks later it, again, emerged––vis-a-vis The Zone of Interest, whose own cinematographer alluded to it the next day. It’s difficult being a person in the world,...
- 12/29/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Festival’s future seemed to hang in the balance after council funding was halved in May
France’s Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival has confirmed that, despite severe budget cuts, it will take place in February but with a reduced programme.
The organisers of the world’s biggest short film festival have reduced the number of shorts selected in two of its competition programme and have increased ticket prices.
The festival’s future seemed to hang in the balance in May after the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regional council voted to cut its funding by half from €210,000 to €100,000 for the 2023 financial year.
The...
France’s Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival has confirmed that, despite severe budget cuts, it will take place in February but with a reduced programme.
The organisers of the world’s biggest short film festival have reduced the number of shorts selected in two of its competition programme and have increased ticket prices.
The festival’s future seemed to hang in the balance in May after the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regional council voted to cut its funding by half from €210,000 to €100,000 for the 2023 financial year.
The...
- 11/24/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
Festival’s future seemed to hang in the balance after council funding was halved in May
France’s Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival has confirmed that, despite severe budget cuts, it will take place in February but with a reduced programme.
The organisers of the world’s biggest short film festival have reduced the number of shorts selected in two of its competition programme and have increased ticket prices.
The festival’s future seemed to hang in the balance in May after the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regional council voted to cut its funding by half from €210,000 to €100,000 for the 2023 financial year.
The...
France’s Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival has confirmed that, despite severe budget cuts, it will take place in February but with a reduced programme.
The organisers of the world’s biggest short film festival have reduced the number of shorts selected in two of its competition programme and have increased ticket prices.
The festival’s future seemed to hang in the balance in May after the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regional council voted to cut its funding by half from €210,000 to €100,000 for the 2023 financial year.
The...
- 11/24/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
Rotterdam Film Festival Sets ‘Head South’ As Opening Film
Jonathan Ogilvie’s post-punk, coming-of-age comedy Head South has been announced as the opening picture of the 53rd International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), running from January 25 to February 4. The festival has also teased a handful of early selections. They include Indian filmmaker Ishan Shukla’s dystopian, sci-fi animation Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust and U.S. director Billy Woodberry’s biodoc Mário, about African independence activist Mário de Andrade, which will both world premiere. Further confirmations include European premieres for Amanda Kramer’s So Unreal and Ann Hui’s Elegies as well as Omar Hilal’s Voy! Voy! Voy!, which is Egypt’s Oscar entry this year. The festival will unveil its full line-up on December 18.
Paul Schrader To Be Feted At Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Avellino Festival
U.S. director and screenwriter Paul Schrader will be honored with a Lifetime...
Jonathan Ogilvie’s post-punk, coming-of-age comedy Head South has been announced as the opening picture of the 53rd International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), running from January 25 to February 4. The festival has also teased a handful of early selections. They include Indian filmmaker Ishan Shukla’s dystopian, sci-fi animation Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust and U.S. director Billy Woodberry’s biodoc Mário, about African independence activist Mário de Andrade, which will both world premiere. Further confirmations include European premieres for Amanda Kramer’s So Unreal and Ann Hui’s Elegies as well as Omar Hilal’s Voy! Voy! Voy!, which is Egypt’s Oscar entry this year. The festival will unveil its full line-up on December 18.
Paul Schrader To Be Feted At Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Avellino Festival
U.S. director and screenwriter Paul Schrader will be honored with a Lifetime...
- 11/23/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
It was easy enough to get made, said German director Ilker Çatak over coffee at the Toronto International Film Festival. He came up with the idea and co-wrote low-budget indie “The Teacher’s Lounge” with his old school-mate Johannes Duncker. “We wanted to make a movie about a young teacher who gets into trouble,” said Çatak. “Education is a topic that everybody has a relationship with. So whether you’ve been in school, or you have kids in school, it’s a universal thing.”
Inspired by a true incident from their school days, the writers set the entire movie inside the school, cutting out the backstory of the idealistic young teacher, Carla (Leonie Benesch). “We eliminated the whole exposition, and jumped right into the action,” said .Çatak. “And another key was to just have it take place in one place. And to restrict ourselves on all kinds of levels: in the screenplay,...
Inspired by a true incident from their school days, the writers set the entire movie inside the school, cutting out the backstory of the idealistic young teacher, Carla (Leonie Benesch). “We eliminated the whole exposition, and jumped right into the action,” said .Çatak. “And another key was to just have it take place in one place. And to restrict ourselves on all kinds of levels: in the screenplay,...
- 11/21/2023
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
The pioneering French-Iranian producer and sales agent leaves behind a long-lasting legacy
Pioneering producer and celebrated Celluloid Dreams founder Hengameh Panahi died on November 5 following a long illness, sending shockwaves of sadness throughout the international film community and leaving a long-lasting legacy of both championing auteur cinema and shaking up the status quo in her wake.
The revered French-Iranian industry executive was known for finding and following emerging directors and accompanying their films to festival glory and international acclaim. Her career spanned four decades and more than 800 films.
She worked alongside iconic directors from across the globe including Jacques Audiard,...
Pioneering producer and celebrated Celluloid Dreams founder Hengameh Panahi died on November 5 following a long illness, sending shockwaves of sadness throughout the international film community and leaving a long-lasting legacy of both championing auteur cinema and shaking up the status quo in her wake.
The revered French-Iranian industry executive was known for finding and following emerging directors and accompanying their films to festival glory and international acclaim. Her career spanned four decades and more than 800 films.
She worked alongside iconic directors from across the globe including Jacques Audiard,...
- 11/10/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
Groundbreaking French-Iranian sales agent and producer Hengameh Panahi, who represented a myriad of renowned Cannes and Venice prize-winning auteur directors, has died at the age of 67.
Paris-based press attaché Viviana Andriani, who handled press campaigns for a number of Panahi’s films, announced the news in a short communiqué.
She said Panahi had died on November 5 after bravely battling a long illness.
Panahi was a force to be reckoned with on the international film industry circuit, who launched dozens of renowned arthouse directors at the beginning of their careers and accompanied them as they won awards and fame.
Born in Iran, Panahi was sent to Belgium to complete her education as teenager.
She got her first big break in the film industry as head of international at Brussels-based animation studio Graphoui.
In an early sign of her flare for scouting promising talent, Panahi connected with John Lasseter and Tim Burton...
Paris-based press attaché Viviana Andriani, who handled press campaigns for a number of Panahi’s films, announced the news in a short communiqué.
She said Panahi had died on November 5 after bravely battling a long illness.
Panahi was a force to be reckoned with on the international film industry circuit, who launched dozens of renowned arthouse directors at the beginning of their careers and accompanied them as they won awards and fame.
Born in Iran, Panahi was sent to Belgium to complete her education as teenager.
She got her first big break in the film industry as head of international at Brussels-based animation studio Graphoui.
In an early sign of her flare for scouting promising talent, Panahi connected with John Lasseter and Tim Burton...
- 11/9/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
This year’s New York Film Festival will open with the North American premiere of Todd Haynes’s new film “May December,” festival organizers announced on Tuesday.
“‘May December’ is a tour-de-force of writing, acting, and directing: a film built on moment-to-moment surprise, as thought-provoking as it is purely pleasurable,” said Dennis Lim, the artistic director at the New York Film Festival, in a press release. “It cements Todd Haynes’s place as one of American cinema’s most brilliant mischief-makers and as an all-time great director of actors. Todd has been a consistent presence at the New York Film Festival for almost his entire career, and we are very excited to open this edition with one of his most dazzling achievements.”
“We are all so proud and moved to have been invited to open the New York Film Festival with the North American premiere of ‘May December,’” Haynes said...
“‘May December’ is a tour-de-force of writing, acting, and directing: a film built on moment-to-moment surprise, as thought-provoking as it is purely pleasurable,” said Dennis Lim, the artistic director at the New York Film Festival, in a press release. “It cements Todd Haynes’s place as one of American cinema’s most brilliant mischief-makers and as an all-time great director of actors. Todd has been a consistent presence at the New York Film Festival for almost his entire career, and we are very excited to open this edition with one of his most dazzling achievements.”
“We are all so proud and moved to have been invited to open the New York Film Festival with the North American premiere of ‘May December,’” Haynes said...
- 7/11/2023
- by Christopher Rosen
- Gold Derby
Paris-based Haut et Court has closed French distribution rights with sales agent Film Factory Entertainment on Victor Erice’s ”Close Your Eyes” (“Cerrar los ojos”), the legendary Spanish director’s return to feature film direction 30 years after Cannes Jury Prize winner “Dream of Light” and a half century on from his milestone debut, “The Spirit of the Beehive.”
“Beehive” is regarded by many critics as one of the greatest Spanish films ever made. “Light” was chosen by the world’s cinematheques as the best film of the 1990s. “Close Your Eyes” reunites Erice with Ana Torrent, a wide-eyed mite in “Beehive.”
One of the most awaited Spanish films of 2023, it will be released in Spain by Avalon Films, the producer-distributor of “Alcarràs.”
“Close Your Eyes” turns on a famed actor who disappears while making a film. Many years later, a TV program airs the final scenes he shot, the beginning...
“Beehive” is regarded by many critics as one of the greatest Spanish films ever made. “Light” was chosen by the world’s cinematheques as the best film of the 1990s. “Close Your Eyes” reunites Erice with Ana Torrent, a wide-eyed mite in “Beehive.”
One of the most awaited Spanish films of 2023, it will be released in Spain by Avalon Films, the producer-distributor of “Alcarràs.”
“Close Your Eyes” turns on a famed actor who disappears while making a film. Many years later, a TV program airs the final scenes he shot, the beginning...
- 2/16/2023
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Duo are behind Dominik Moll’s ’The Night of the 12th’
Haut et Court’s Carole Scotta and Barbara Letellier were named best producers of the year at the 16th annual edition of France’s Academy of Film Arts & Sciences’ Daniel Toscan du Plantier Prize held on Monday night (February 14) in Paris.
The duo are notably behind Dominik Moll’s investigative drama The Night Of The 12th, which has been sweeping awards season in France, winning the Best Film Lumiere Award and nominated for 10 César awards.
A swanky gala dinner celebrated the winning pair along with the finalists for the prize,...
Haut et Court’s Carole Scotta and Barbara Letellier were named best producers of the year at the 16th annual edition of France’s Academy of Film Arts & Sciences’ Daniel Toscan du Plantier Prize held on Monday night (February 14) in Paris.
The duo are notably behind Dominik Moll’s investigative drama The Night Of The 12th, which has been sweeping awards season in France, winning the Best Film Lumiere Award and nominated for 10 César awards.
A swanky gala dinner celebrated the winning pair along with the finalists for the prize,...
- 2/14/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
From To Sir, With Love through Stand and Deliver and Dangerous Minds, inspirational dramas about dedicated educators overcoming the apathy of disadvantaged students to expand their horizons generally stick to a formula carved in stone. But when that formula works, it works. In rare instances, a movie in this narrative ballpark breaks the mold, like Laurent Cantet’s The Class, with its granular documentary-style textures and illuminating social and political context. Writer-director Christopher Zalla adheres to the subgenre’s conventions and doesn’t stint on sentimentality, but Radical more than earns its surging emotional payoff.
Given its assault on the tear ducts combined with its resolute channeling of hope even in the wake of tragedy, it’s no surprise that the film snagged Sundance’s Festival Favorite Award, voted by the audience. That should help give it an acquisitions nudge, along with a big-hearted lead performance from superstar Mexican actor and comedian Eugenio Derbez,...
Given its assault on the tear ducts combined with its resolute channeling of hope even in the wake of tragedy, it’s no surprise that the film snagged Sundance’s Festival Favorite Award, voted by the audience. That should help give it an acquisitions nudge, along with a big-hearted lead performance from superstar Mexican actor and comedian Eugenio Derbez,...
- 1/27/2023
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Participant and Pantelion Films releases the film in theaters on Friday, November 3.
The figure of the selfless teacher with an idealist mindset about education has abundant onscreen representation. Of these, Edward James Olmos’ lively, Oscar-nominated portrayal of Jaime Escalante, who taught math to marginalized teens at James A. Garfield High School in East Los Angeles, in “Stand and Deliver,” serves as quintessential example of these admirable paladins of knowledge in American popular culture.
In the well-intentioned drama “Radical,” Eugenio Derbez boasts similar, if more subdued charisma as unorthodox elementary teacher Sergio Chavez. This crowd-pleaser based on a remarkable true story documented in a Wired article by Joshua Davis (also a producer here), marks the Sundance return of director Christopher Zalla, whose 2007 debut “Padre Nuestro” won the top jury prize in the U.S. Dramatic competition.
The role...
The figure of the selfless teacher with an idealist mindset about education has abundant onscreen representation. Of these, Edward James Olmos’ lively, Oscar-nominated portrayal of Jaime Escalante, who taught math to marginalized teens at James A. Garfield High School in East Los Angeles, in “Stand and Deliver,” serves as quintessential example of these admirable paladins of knowledge in American popular culture.
In the well-intentioned drama “Radical,” Eugenio Derbez boasts similar, if more subdued charisma as unorthodox elementary teacher Sergio Chavez. This crowd-pleaser based on a remarkable true story documented in a Wired article by Joshua Davis (also a producer here), marks the Sundance return of director Christopher Zalla, whose 2007 debut “Padre Nuestro” won the top jury prize in the U.S. Dramatic competition.
The role...
- 1/20/2023
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Indiewire
It’s clear that Christian Bale is the type of actor who loves to collaborate with specific filmmakers multiple times over his career. He’s done that with Adam McKay, David O. Russell, and Scott Cooper, just to name a few. And it appears that his relationship with the latter filmmaker there is far from over anytime soon, even as they prepare the release of their third film together, “The Pale Blue Eye.”
Speaking in an upcoming interview with The Playlist, we had the chance to ask filmmaker Scott Cooper about his relationship with Christian Bale and if they plan on making more films together.
Continue reading Scott Cooper Says Christian Bale Will Star In His Remake Of Laurent Cantet’s ‘Time Out’ & Teases More Work Together at The Playlist.
Speaking in an upcoming interview with The Playlist, we had the chance to ask filmmaker Scott Cooper about his relationship with Christian Bale and if they plan on making more films together.
Continue reading Scott Cooper Says Christian Bale Will Star In His Remake Of Laurent Cantet’s ‘Time Out’ & Teases More Work Together at The Playlist.
- 12/20/2022
- by Charles Barfield
- The Playlist
Street casting — the process of plucking non-professional actors from their everyday lives to play prominent screen roles, often as observationally scripted versions of themselves — is a process that has yielded rich rewards for many a French film in recent years. Titles from Laurent Cantet’s “The Class” to Frédéric Baillif’s “La Mif” have thrived off the vibrant spontaneity of their enterprisingly sourced young ensembles, but how often is a degree of exploitation the price paid for such diamond-in-the-rough authenticity? A lively, spiky and elastically metatextual debut feature from Lise Akoka and Romane Gueret, “The Worst Ones” asks this and other questions of a practice it too perpetuates: The internal artistic conflict that ensues is very much the point.
A surprise winner of the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes in May, “The Worst Ones” thoughtfully applies the filmmakers’ shared background in casting to its somewhat inside-baseball premise: a film-within-a-film...
A surprise winner of the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes in May, “The Worst Ones” thoughtfully applies the filmmakers’ shared background in casting to its somewhat inside-baseball premise: a film-within-a-film...
- 12/19/2022
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
The international feature film race has always been a minefield for international politics and a vehicle for soft power. With no shortage of drama, scandal and diva antics, it’s basically the Eurovision of the film biz.
But in recent years, as international contenders have become more powerful following “Parasite’s” boundary-breaking best picture win, this particular Oscar race has invited more scrutiny than ever. The decisions of national film committees are keenly observed, analyzed, debated and even contested. And what many consider the most deserving film doesn’t always make the cut.
Besides setting submission deadlines and green-lighting selection committees, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is fairly hands off, and its criteria straightforward: A country’s entry has to be in any language but English (which is why Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or-winning “Triangle of Sadness” wasn’t submitted by Sweden); a U.S. theatrical...
But in recent years, as international contenders have become more powerful following “Parasite’s” boundary-breaking best picture win, this particular Oscar race has invited more scrutiny than ever. The decisions of national film committees are keenly observed, analyzed, debated and even contested. And what many consider the most deserving film doesn’t always make the cut.
Besides setting submission deadlines and green-lighting selection committees, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is fairly hands off, and its criteria straightforward: A country’s entry has to be in any language but English (which is why Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or-winning “Triangle of Sadness” wasn’t submitted by Sweden); a U.S. theatrical...
- 11/2/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy, Naman Ramachandran and Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Update: French actors Juliette Binoche, Marion Cotillard, Melanie Laurent, Isabelle Huppert and Charlotte Gainsbourg are among those who have cut off locks of their hair in support of the Iranian protests against the death of Mahsa Amini.
In a video posted to Instagram, the actors are among a number of French industry members who are seen trimming locks of their hair. In Binoche’s case, the “Both Sides of the Blade” actor defiantly lobs off entire inches of her dark hair, while declaring “For freedom!”
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Soutien Femmes Iran (@soutienfemmesiran)
The video campaign, which uses the hashtag #HairForFreedom, was organized by Richard Sedillot, with Julie Couturier and Christiane Feral Schuhl.
“It is impossible not to denounce again and again this terrible repression,” reads a statement posted with the video. “There are already dozens of dead men and women, including children. The arrests only swell,...
In a video posted to Instagram, the actors are among a number of French industry members who are seen trimming locks of their hair. In Binoche’s case, the “Both Sides of the Blade” actor defiantly lobs off entire inches of her dark hair, while declaring “For freedom!”
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Soutien Femmes Iran (@soutienfemmesiran)
The video campaign, which uses the hashtag #HairForFreedom, was organized by Richard Sedillot, with Julie Couturier and Christiane Feral Schuhl.
“It is impossible not to denounce again and again this terrible repression,” reads a statement posted with the video. “There are already dozens of dead men and women, including children. The arrests only swell,...
- 10/5/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Following its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival Film, Noah Baumbach’s feature take of Don DeLillo’s 1985 novel White Noise will also open the 60th New York Film Festival, making its North American premiere at Alice Tully Hall on September 30.
In the Netflix movie, Adam Driver plays Jack Gladney, an ostentatious “Hitler Studies” professor and father-of-four whose comfortable suburban college town life and marriage to the secretive Babette (Greta Gerwig) are upended after a horrifying nearby accident creates an airborne toxic event of frightening and unknowable proportions. DeLillo’s novel is known for being a pop-philosophical nightmare on unbounded consumerism, ecological catastrophe, and the American obsession with death.
“In 1985 my father and I drove from Brooklyn to see Kurosawa’s Ran open the 23rd NYFF, the same year that he brought home the hardback of Don DeLillo’s White Noise,” said Baumbach. “Opening the 60th NYFF with White...
In the Netflix movie, Adam Driver plays Jack Gladney, an ostentatious “Hitler Studies” professor and father-of-four whose comfortable suburban college town life and marriage to the secretive Babette (Greta Gerwig) are upended after a horrifying nearby accident creates an airborne toxic event of frightening and unknowable proportions. DeLillo’s novel is known for being a pop-philosophical nightmare on unbounded consumerism, ecological catastrophe, and the American obsession with death.
“In 1985 my father and I drove from Brooklyn to see Kurosawa’s Ran open the 23rd NYFF, the same year that he brought home the hardback of Don DeLillo’s White Noise,” said Baumbach. “Opening the 60th NYFF with White...
- 8/2/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Guillermo del Toro on Tuesday had some bleak words about the state of the movies in the first part of a Cannes symposium about the future of cinema. But in part two of that conversation, the “Nightmare Alley” filmmaker had a much more optimistic message and explained why today’s directors can’t be afraid of how the movies are changing.
Speaking on a panel with other directors including Rebecca Zlotowski, Abderrahmane Sissako, Abel Ferrara, Lynne Ramsay, Laurent Cantet, Pawel Pawlikowski, Joachim Lafosse and even a surprise appearance from Nicolas Winding Refn, del Toro explained that as filmmakers, we “can’t be shy about the platforms,” referring to the algorithms and new methods that are dictating the way the movies are being made today. “We want to break the machine from the inside, show us what we can do with them. We are troublemakers, rebels, we want to destroy the machine,...
Speaking on a panel with other directors including Rebecca Zlotowski, Abderrahmane Sissako, Abel Ferrara, Lynne Ramsay, Laurent Cantet, Pawel Pawlikowski, Joachim Lafosse and even a surprise appearance from Nicolas Winding Refn, del Toro explained that as filmmakers, we “can’t be shy about the platforms,” referring to the algorithms and new methods that are dictating the way the movies are being made today. “We want to break the machine from the inside, show us what we can do with them. We are troublemakers, rebels, we want to destroy the machine,...
- 5/25/2022
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
In part deux today of the Cannes Film Festival symposium on cinema, three female filmmakers were represented in You Were Never Really Here‘s Lynne Ramsay and Grand Central‘s Rebecca Zlotowski and French actress/director/scribe Agnes Jaoui, unlike yesterday when it was all men. The festival on social media took a licking for being tone deaf in the wake of yesterday’s panel.
Cannes Film Festival Boss Thierry Frémaux returned with Guillermo del Toro to lead what was, again, another three hour discussion about the potential death of cinema and its future.
“There will always be obstacles,” said Ramsay, “Necessity is the mother of invention. You shouldn’t feel depressed because of difficulties, even if my 7-year-old daughter says to me, ‘Mom, don’t make movies anymore, you have the look so sad!”
Jaoui, who won Best Screenplay for Look at Me at Cannes in 2004, spoke about how in regards to job offers,...
Cannes Film Festival Boss Thierry Frémaux returned with Guillermo del Toro to lead what was, again, another three hour discussion about the potential death of cinema and its future.
“There will always be obstacles,” said Ramsay, “Necessity is the mother of invention. You shouldn’t feel depressed because of difficulties, even if my 7-year-old daughter says to me, ‘Mom, don’t make movies anymore, you have the look so sad!”
Jaoui, who won Best Screenplay for Look at Me at Cannes in 2004, spoke about how in regards to job offers,...
- 5/25/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
As the Canadian master of the perverse returns to Cannes with his first film in eight years, what better time to look back at his career, from Shivers to Crash
As you read this, I will be packing my tuxedo, linen shirts and several packets of ibuprofen for the Cannes film festival, which kicks off on Tuesday – back where it belongs in the calendar, in the springy blush of May. At last year’s pandemic-delayed July edition, a wildcard Palme d’Or win for Julia Ducournau’s genderqueer cars-and-carnality freakout Titane seemed an apt response to the humid conditions.
For viewers at home, Mubi’s Cannes takeover season offers some highlights from festivals past, from little-seen finds such as Mauritanian director Med Hondo’s powerful 1967 immigrant portrait Oh, Sun to more recent successes such as Laurent Cantet’s impassioned schoolroom debate The Class. Three of Mubi’s selections are from last year’s festivals,...
As you read this, I will be packing my tuxedo, linen shirts and several packets of ibuprofen for the Cannes film festival, which kicks off on Tuesday – back where it belongs in the calendar, in the springy blush of May. At last year’s pandemic-delayed July edition, a wildcard Palme d’Or win for Julia Ducournau’s genderqueer cars-and-carnality freakout Titane seemed an apt response to the humid conditions.
For viewers at home, Mubi’s Cannes takeover season offers some highlights from festivals past, from little-seen finds such as Mauritanian director Med Hondo’s powerful 1967 immigrant portrait Oh, Sun to more recent successes such as Laurent Cantet’s impassioned schoolroom debate The Class. Three of Mubi’s selections are from last year’s festivals,...
- 5/14/2022
- by Guy Lodge
- The Guardian - Film News
‘Rookies’ Directors Thierry Demaizière, Alban Teurlai on Bringing Parisian Hip-Hop to the Big Screen
Hip hop is a popular pastime in Paris and its suburbs, having now made its way into many of the city’s high schools. At The Turgot high school in central Paris, hip hop is now part of the curriculum, as the Berlinale documentary “Rookies” (“Allons Enfants”), by Thierry Demaizière and Alban Teurlai, shows.
This compelling film follows some of the school’s most talented hip hop aficionados train and battle under the watchful eye of a demanding coach. It served as the opening film this year for the Generation section at the Berlin festival, a sidebar dedicated to new films exploring the lives of teens and children. The film is a testament to the power of embracing raw talent and turning it into potential.
Producer-director Demaizière is best known for the documentaries “Lourdes” and “Rocco,” both of which he collaborated on with Teurlai who is an editor and director.
This compelling film follows some of the school’s most talented hip hop aficionados train and battle under the watchful eye of a demanding coach. It served as the opening film this year for the Generation section at the Berlin festival, a sidebar dedicated to new films exploring the lives of teens and children. The film is a testament to the power of embracing raw talent and turning it into potential.
Producer-director Demaizière is best known for the documentaries “Lourdes” and “Rocco,” both of which he collaborated on with Teurlai who is an editor and director.
- 2/28/2022
- by Liza Foreman
- Variety Film + TV
It’s been nearly seven years since the devastating November 2015 terrorist attacks on Paris that left 137 dead, and while the effects of the tragedy have been indirectly felt in a surge of French films centered on terrorism, security fears and cultural conflict, filmmakers have largely shied away from direct dramatizations of the events and their fallout. Isaki Lacuesta shows no such hesitation in his ambitious, windingly structured “One Year, One Night,” which provides an explicit anatomy of trauma as experienced over the course of a year by a Franco-Spanish couple who survived the Bataclan nightclub massacre — itself reconstructed in claustrophobic, stomach-knotting flashbacks. Fictional but drawn from first-hand accounts, it’s a sprawling, empathetic work that sometimes loses clarity amid its sheer weight of feeling.
Poised to be an international arthouse breakthrough for its Spanish writer-director — who has twice won the top prize at the San Sebastian Film Festival, but remains...
Poised to be an international arthouse breakthrough for its Spanish writer-director — who has twice won the top prize at the San Sebastian Film Festival, but remains...
- 2/14/2022
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Peter Kerekes’s “107 Mothers,” a Slovak drama about women living and working in a Ukrainian prison, won the Crystal Arrow Award at the 13th edition of Les Arcs European Film Festival.
The festival, which wrapped on Dec. 18, took place as an-person event with “The Artist” director Michel Hazanavicius presiding over the jury which also included actors Laetitia Dosch and Sidse Babett Knudsen, author Tania de Montaigne and actor-director Éric Judor. The selection was curated by Frederic Boyer, the artistic director of both Les Arcs and Tribeca.
Represented in international markets by Films Boutique, “107 Mothers” world premiered at Venice in the horizons section and revolves around the relationship between Leysa (Maryna Klimova), a new inmate who gives birth in prison, and Iryna (Iryna Kiryazeva), the prison’s ward.
The Grand Jury Price was awarded to “Kapitan Volkonogov,” a Russian historical thriller directed by Natasha Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov. The movie,...
The festival, which wrapped on Dec. 18, took place as an-person event with “The Artist” director Michel Hazanavicius presiding over the jury which also included actors Laetitia Dosch and Sidse Babett Knudsen, author Tania de Montaigne and actor-director Éric Judor. The selection was curated by Frederic Boyer, the artistic director of both Les Arcs and Tribeca.
Represented in international markets by Films Boutique, “107 Mothers” world premiered at Venice in the horizons section and revolves around the relationship between Leysa (Maryna Klimova), a new inmate who gives birth in prison, and Iryna (Iryna Kiryazeva), the prison’s ward.
The Grand Jury Price was awarded to “Kapitan Volkonogov,” a Russian historical thriller directed by Natasha Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov. The movie,...
- 12/19/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Les Arcs Film Festival, the European film fest programmed by Tribeca’s artistic director Frederic Boyer and set in the French Alps, has unveiled the lineup of its Coproduction Village which will be back as a live event after a virtual 2020 edition. The 13th edition of the industry sidebar will showcase 18 projects in development from 11 countries, including 8 projects directed by female directors.
Projects by female directors represented 34% of projects submitted and 44% of the final selection. There are seven feature debuts, and five projects by more experienced filmmakers. The coproduction Village aims at helping filmmakers find co-producers, sales agents, distributors and other financial partners.
Selected projects, which will all vie for the international ArteKino prize worth €6,000, include Frida Kempff’s historical drama “The Swedish Torpedo” and Johanna Pyykkö’s LGBT coming-of-age “Sweden-Finn,” produced by Swedish banners Momento Film and Verket Produktion, respectively; Stephan Komandarev’s drama “Made In Eu,” produced by...
Projects by female directors represented 34% of projects submitted and 44% of the final selection. There are seven feature debuts, and five projects by more experienced filmmakers. The coproduction Village aims at helping filmmakers find co-producers, sales agents, distributors and other financial partners.
Selected projects, which will all vie for the international ArteKino prize worth €6,000, include Frida Kempff’s historical drama “The Swedish Torpedo” and Johanna Pyykkö’s LGBT coming-of-age “Sweden-Finn,” produced by Swedish banners Momento Film and Verket Produktion, respectively; Stephan Komandarev’s drama “Made In Eu,” produced by...
- 11/18/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Event running in French ski resort of Les Arcs will showcase more than 120 films.
France’s Les Arcs Film Festival (December 11-18) has announced the programme for its first physical edition in two years, after the Covid-19 pandemic forced its cancellation in 2020, while its industry events took place online.
Unfolding in the French Alps, the convivial, European cinema-focused festival was unable to take place after the government ordered ski resorts to remain closed due to a fresh wave of the virus.
It returns this year with a packed programme that will showcase more than 120 European works.
“We’re all eager...
France’s Les Arcs Film Festival (December 11-18) has announced the programme for its first physical edition in two years, after the Covid-19 pandemic forced its cancellation in 2020, while its industry events took place online.
Unfolding in the French Alps, the convivial, European cinema-focused festival was unable to take place after the government ordered ski resorts to remain closed due to a fresh wave of the virus.
It returns this year with a packed programme that will showcase more than 120 European works.
“We’re all eager...
- 11/10/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
French sales companies are getting behind Mia’s film and TV market in Rome this week.
French sales companies will be out in force at Rome’s Mia film and TV market (October 13-17) as the global film and TV market circuit continues to shift due to the pandemic Covid-19.
French sellers have been busy networking at the Venice and San Sebastian film festivals this autumn, but Mia represents the first physical market since Cannes in July for most after only a handful of European professionals made the trip to Toronto in September.
Mia will also be the last opportunity...
French sales companies will be out in force at Rome’s Mia film and TV market (October 13-17) as the global film and TV market circuit continues to shift due to the pandemic Covid-19.
French sellers have been busy networking at the Venice and San Sebastian film festivals this autumn, but Mia represents the first physical market since Cannes in July for most after only a handful of European professionals made the trip to Toronto in September.
Mia will also be the last opportunity...
- 10/12/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Mike Goodridge, who was appointed artistic director of the International Film Festival & Awards Macao (IFFAM) in 2017, is stepping down after four editions. The festival will not take place in 2021, as Covid-19 restrictions remain tight in Macau.
In 2020, like many festivals, IFFAM went online. Last year, it featured a film screening section and masterclasses with Hirokazu Koreeda, Hur Jin-ho, Nina Hoss and Viggo Mortensen.
Goodridge is busy in production and management through his Good Chaos label and will continue to work in festival programming and curation. He was a consultant with the Chicago International Film Festival this year.
“I have had an incredible experience working with my friends and colleagues in Macau,” said Goodridge. “We built the audience for different kinds of cinema in the city and created an event that resonated across the region and the world. The team we assembled was second to none, and we were all dedicated...
In 2020, like many festivals, IFFAM went online. Last year, it featured a film screening section and masterclasses with Hirokazu Koreeda, Hur Jin-ho, Nina Hoss and Viggo Mortensen.
Goodridge is busy in production and management through his Good Chaos label and will continue to work in festival programming and curation. He was a consultant with the Chicago International Film Festival this year.
“I have had an incredible experience working with my friends and colleagues in Macau,” said Goodridge. “We built the audience for different kinds of cinema in the city and created an event that resonated across the region and the world. The team we assembled was second to none, and we were all dedicated...
- 9/28/2021
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Laurent Cantet, best known for “The Class,” his Cannes 2008’s Palme d’Or-winning film about a teacher and his racially-mixed students in an underprivileged Parisian suburb, highlights the cracks within French society in the thought-provoking “Arthur Rambo.”
The film, which played at Toronto in its Platform section and is competing at San Sebastian, is inspired by the true story of Mehdi Meklat, a young man who grew up in a French high-rise project on the outskirt of Paris and became a star journalist and an author celebrated by France’s mainstream media and left-leaning intellectual circles.
But in 2017, as Meklat reached the apogee of his success, he was publicly shut down and dropped by his publisher after his heinous tweets – written under a pseudonym before becoming famous — were revealed. The movie follows this anti-hero’s downfall through the next 48 hours.
Rabah Nait Oufella (“Raw”), who starred in “The Class” as a kid,...
The film, which played at Toronto in its Platform section and is competing at San Sebastian, is inspired by the true story of Mehdi Meklat, a young man who grew up in a French high-rise project on the outskirt of Paris and became a star journalist and an author celebrated by France’s mainstream media and left-leaning intellectual circles.
But in 2017, as Meklat reached the apogee of his success, he was publicly shut down and dropped by his publisher after his heinous tweets – written under a pseudonym before becoming famous — were revealed. The movie follows this anti-hero’s downfall through the next 48 hours.
Rabah Nait Oufella (“Raw”), who starred in “The Class” as a kid,...
- 9/24/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Although the pandemic has pole-axed many independent distributors, some like Alexandre Mallet-Guy at Paris-based Memento Distribution have managed to weather the storm.
The company has had prestige auteur films playing in the festival circuit this year; at Cannes with multiple films in competition, including Jacques Audiard’s “Paris, District 13th,” Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s “A Hero” and Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World;” in Deauville with Christophe Honoré’s “Guermantes;” and at San Sebastian with Laurent Cantet’s “Arthur Rambo,” Zhang Ji’s “Fire on the Plain” and Emmanuel Carriere’s “Between Two Worlds” with Juliette Binoche which world premiered on opening night at Cannes’ Directors Fortnight.
Along with his distribution activities, Mallet-Guy is also involved in production through Memento Production. The banner produces or co-produces select director-driven projects. “A Hero,” for instance, was produced by Mallet-Guy and Farhadi’s companies.
The movie...
The company has had prestige auteur films playing in the festival circuit this year; at Cannes with multiple films in competition, including Jacques Audiard’s “Paris, District 13th,” Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s “A Hero” and Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World;” in Deauville with Christophe Honoré’s “Guermantes;” and at San Sebastian with Laurent Cantet’s “Arthur Rambo,” Zhang Ji’s “Fire on the Plain” and Emmanuel Carriere’s “Between Two Worlds” with Juliette Binoche which world premiered on opening night at Cannes’ Directors Fortnight.
Along with his distribution activities, Mallet-Guy is also involved in production through Memento Production. The banner produces or co-produces select director-driven projects. “A Hero,” for instance, was produced by Mallet-Guy and Farhadi’s companies.
The movie...
- 9/21/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Kenneth Branagh’s black-and-white drama “Belfast” has won the People’s Choice Award at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF announced on Saturday.
The gentle drama, which is based on Branagh’s childhood growing up in Northern Ireland, won over Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson’s “Scarborough,” a story of three low-income children that finished second, and Jane Campion’s revisionist Western “The Power of the Dog,” which finished third.
In its review of the film from TIFF, TheWrap wrote, “Visually stunning, emotionally wrenching and gloriously human, ‘Belfast’ takes one short period from Branagh’s life and finds in it a coming-of-age story, a portrait of a city fracturing in an instant and a profoundly moving lament for what’s been lost during decades of strife in his homeland of Northern Ireland.”
Other films in competition for the award included “Dear Evan Hansen,” “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” and “The Guilty.
The gentle drama, which is based on Branagh’s childhood growing up in Northern Ireland, won over Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson’s “Scarborough,” a story of three low-income children that finished second, and Jane Campion’s revisionist Western “The Power of the Dog,” which finished third.
In its review of the film from TIFF, TheWrap wrote, “Visually stunning, emotionally wrenching and gloriously human, ‘Belfast’ takes one short period from Branagh’s life and finds in it a coming-of-age story, a portrait of a city fracturing in an instant and a profoundly moving lament for what’s been lost during decades of strife in his homeland of Northern Ireland.”
Other films in competition for the award included “Dear Evan Hansen,” “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” and “The Guilty.
- 9/18/2021
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
There’s an interesting lesson to be learned at the center Laurent Cantet’s Arthur Rambo that’s honestly shocking to think still needs to be learned. I don’t mean that in reference to the director or his fellow co-writers Fanny Burdino and Samuel Doux, though, as many people talking about the film do. I’m talking about the people like Karim D. (Rabah Nait Oufella) who still can’t quite grasp the reality that social media isn’t a safe space. It’s not a diary to collect your rage and insecurities so you don’t spew them in public. It is public. The filmmakers understand that truth. Them writing a character who doesn’t—or is naïve enough to pretend he doesn’t—isn’t them being out of touch. It’s evidence that others are.
Celebrities dealing with past insensitive remarks online of late proves it too.
Celebrities dealing with past insensitive remarks online of late proves it too.
- 9/13/2021
- by Jared Mobarak
- The Film Stage
MK2 Mile End, the Quebec-based distribution outfit launched by French film studio MK2 and industry veteran Charles Tremblay, is set to expand into the English-Canadian market with key appointments.
The company, which debuted in 2017 and is headed by Tremblay, has tapped well-established industry professionals Stephanie Azam from Telefilm Canada and Lainie Elton at Level Film to spearhead this strategic expansion.
Azam takes on the newly created role of vice-president of development and acquisitions, and Elton as vice-president of licensing and digital strategy, with both headquartered in Toronto.
Azam recently stepped down from Telefilm Canada. She previously worked at Zeitgeist Films in New York as head of theatrical marketing.
Elton has over 20 years of experience in the North American film distribution scene, most recently at Level Film and previously at Alliance Films and Entertainment One.
“These appointments, particularly after the challenges of our industry over the past 18 months, signal an important...
The company, which debuted in 2017 and is headed by Tremblay, has tapped well-established industry professionals Stephanie Azam from Telefilm Canada and Lainie Elton at Level Film to spearhead this strategic expansion.
Azam takes on the newly created role of vice-president of development and acquisitions, and Elton as vice-president of licensing and digital strategy, with both headquartered in Toronto.
Azam recently stepped down from Telefilm Canada. She previously worked at Zeitgeist Films in New York as head of theatrical marketing.
Elton has over 20 years of experience in the North American film distribution scene, most recently at Level Film and previously at Alliance Films and Entertainment One.
“These appointments, particularly after the challenges of our industry over the past 18 months, signal an important...
- 9/9/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Starring Jessica Chastain and Andrew Garfield, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” will receive its European premiere at late September’s San Sebastian Festival.
The biggest film event in the Spanish-speaking world will open with the anticipated “One Second” from China’s Zhang Yimou, which was dramatically pulled from competition at the 69th Berlin Film Festival.
Both titles play in competition, vying for San Sebastian’s top film plaudit, its Golden Shell, where they are joined by French filmmaker Thierry de Peretti’s “Undercover.”
Recounting the rise, fall and redemption of Tammy Faye, the indomitable wife of televangelist Jim Bakker, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” weighs in as the only U.S. movie in San Sebastian main competition. It catches Chastain on a high as she will receive the TIFF Tribute Actor Award, coinciding with the premiere at Toronto of the film.
The three new films mark the final titles to...
The biggest film event in the Spanish-speaking world will open with the anticipated “One Second” from China’s Zhang Yimou, which was dramatically pulled from competition at the 69th Berlin Film Festival.
Both titles play in competition, vying for San Sebastian’s top film plaudit, its Golden Shell, where they are joined by French filmmaker Thierry de Peretti’s “Undercover.”
Recounting the rise, fall and redemption of Tammy Faye, the indomitable wife of televangelist Jim Bakker, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” weighs in as the only U.S. movie in San Sebastian main competition. It catches Chastain on a high as she will receive the TIFF Tribute Actor Award, coinciding with the premiere at Toronto of the film.
The three new films mark the final titles to...
- 8/20/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Riz Ahmed and the yet to be named pair of Platform Jury teammates won’t have much watching to do as this year’s Platform section has been cut by 20 percent. This year’s comp of eight World Premiere status offerings includes the likes of a former Palme d’Or winner in Laurent Cantet and his Arthur Rambo measuring up against Hany Abu-Assad’s Huda’s Salon (which IFC Films just announced it picked up the film), Lucile Hadžihalilović’s Earwig and Scott McGehee & David Siegel’s almost one decade wait for their next offering in Montana Story starring the midwest and Haley Lu Richardson. Rounding out the section we also have Ivan Grbovic’s Drunken Birds (this is the filmmaker’s sophomore feature after 2011’s Roméo Onze), Rafiki scribe Jenna Cato Bass’s Mlungu Wam (Good Madam), Aga Woszczyńska’s directorial debut Silent Land and Kamila Andini’s fourth feature in Yuni.
- 8/11/2021
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
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