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Mark Ruffalo tells me he has, until now, kinda shied away from playing the villain of the piece. He licks his lips as he declares that it’s “so much fun to finally get to play the bad guy.”

He refers, of course, to his Duncan Wedderburn, the calculating cad of the first water he plays with zest in Yorgos Lanthimos’ delicious movie Poor Things.

The schemer Wedderburn sets his sights on Emma Stone’s Bella Baxter, but it is she who outwits him.

“The bad ones are the best and I was scared of it,” he tells me at Saturday’s BAFTA Tea Party, set on a mammoth, chilly terrace at The Maybourne Beverly Hills.

As I toyed with Ruffalo’s thesis in my head, I was unable to conjure any roles he’s played that were, hitherto, downright dastardly. His Bruce Banner stroke the Hulk in the Marvel movies is essentially decent,...

Pair of comedies headline TF1-owned company’s 2024 French-language slate

Newen Connect is heading to Unifrance’s Rendez-Vous with two French-language ensemble comedies, Family Therapy and Start Me Up.

Family Therapy is the fourth feature from Arnaud Lemort. and follows a man with severe anxiety whose therapist decides he cannot stand him, kicks him out of his practice and challenges him to find the woman of his dreams Christian Clavier and Baptiste Lecaplain star with Claire Chust, Cristiana Réali and Rayane Bensetti.

Produced by TF1 Studio and TF1 Films Production with Atelier de Production, Ugc will release the film in...

While I don’t really see a Catherine Deneuve navigating the wintery sidewalks of Main Street, her co-star in Andrea Riseborough could easily be the mayor of Park City. French filmmaker tandem of Marco La Via and Hanna Ladoul broke out with micro indie film Anywhere with You (aka We the Coyotes) and quickly followed this up Funny Birds — a sophomore effort that pushes them into the heartwarming dramedy terrain. Production on the film took place in October of 2022. Morgan Saylor returns for a second time out with the filmmaker duo. SXSW could be trying to lasso the film as well.…...

“Funny Birds,” an heartwarming comedy-drama starring Andrea Riseborough, Catherine Deneuve and Morgan Saylor, has sold in key territories in the run up to the AFM.

Executive produced by Martin Scorsese, the movie is directed by Marco La Via and Hanna Ladoul. Newen Connect represents the film in international markets and will host a market screening for buyers at the AFM.

Exploring three generations of women and their last chance for reconciliation, “Funny Birds” has sold to Australia and New Zealand (Kismet Movies), Germany (Filmwelt), Middle East (Grand Entertainment), Spain (Selecta Vision), Austria (Filmladen), Bulgaria (Beta Film), Switzerland (Pathé Films) and Ukraine (Svoe Kino), along with global airlines (Ricochet). In France, “Funny Birds” will be released by Ugc Distribution and TF1 Studio.

“Funny Birds” follows Charlie (Saylor) who returns from boarding school to the New Jersey countryside to take care of her estranged mother Laura (Riseborough) who runs a small chicken farm.

Line-up includes ’Meet The Leroys’ starring Charlotte Gainsbourg and José Garcia.

Newen Connect has added a trio of star-powered French comedies – Meet The Leroys, Here & There and Karaoké – to its slate and the TF1-owned company will kick off sales for the new films at AFM.

Meet The Leroys is written and directed by International Emmy-nominated Florent Bernard (Le Flambeau) and stars Charlotte Gainsbourg and José Garcia in a story of a man facing divorce who attempts to rekindle his wife’s affections by taking her and their teenage children on a road trip down memory lane.

The film is...

The company has boarded star-powered French features ‘Take Me Home’ and ’Under The Rainbow’.

Newen Connect, the international sales arm of the Tfi Group’s Newen Studios, has snapped up rights to star-powered French features Take Me Home and Under the Rainbow and will kick off sales in Cannes. Both will be released in France by Ugc Distribution.

Take Me Home is the first feature from directing duo Karine Blanc and Michel Tavares and stars Clovis Cornillac, alongside Eyé Haïdara in a story about a struggling country singer who moves with her children to a mountain village and turns the...

Exclusive: Newen Connect CEO Rodolphe Buet is happy to be back in person at the Berlinale’s European Film Market after the three-year Covid-19 hiatus.

“It’s fun to be in Berlin. When I started in the industry in 2005, my first market was Berlin with Studiocanal,” he says.

In the interim, Buet rose through the Studiocanal ranks to become president of distribution and marketing from 2015 to 2017, overseeing the rollout strategies for Paddington and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy among other major films.

He was appointed CEO of Paris-based Newen Connect in 2020, piloting its creation in the wake of TF1’s 100 acquisition of Newen Studios out of the merger of their distribution arms TF1 Studio, Newen Distribution and Reel One International.

He has spent the last three years steadily putting in place a structure in step with the convergence between the audiovisual and cinema worlds, appointing Leona Connell as Chief Commercial Officer...

Exclusive: Film and TV distribution division Newen Connect has announced the promotion of Alice Damiani to SVP International Film Sales on the eve of the Berlinale’s European Film Market.

Damiani takes over from Sabine Chemaly, who has been head of film sales at TF1 Studio, and then Newen Connect, since 2012.

Newen Connect was created in 2020 in the wake of TF1’s acquisition of French production giant Newen Studios, out of the fusion of their distribution divisions Newen Distribution, TF1 Studio and Reel One International.

Damiani’s promotion is part of an ongoing restructuring and expansion of the resulting division by CEO Rodolphe Buet, which also saw Leona Connell being upped to Chief Commercial Officer last September, in a role giving her oversight of international and French markets for both film and TV.

In her new role, Damiani will take on responsibility for identifying and championing new cinema projects from...

Funny Birds

Marco La Via and Hanna Ladoul first landed on the scene (and the 2018 Acid section in Cannes) with Nous Les Coyotes which along the way was translated to “Anywhere with You” starring Morgan Saylor and McCaul Lombardi. Fast forward to October of 2022 and they landed the Catherine Deneuve, Andrea Riseborough and Saylor once again for a low budget mystery film filmed in Brussels and in the US. Funny Birds is a generational hodge-podge with damaged relationships.

Gist: Thrown together under tragic circumstances, three generations of women from the same family are forced to learn to live together on a small rural chicken farm in New Jersey, which generates moving and amusing situations.…...

Distributor says appointment signals its ambition to drive the value of its film rights.

Newen Connect, the distribution arm of Newen Studios, has promoted Leona Connell, from EVP distribution to the newly-created role of chief commercial officer (Cco).

Based between London and Paris, Connell will focus on international and French markets across film and TV.

Connell joined Newen Connect in 2020 and leads the fiction and non-fiction TV sales team in France and internationally and supports the financing of Newen Connect projects. Connell also develops co-production partnerships and pre-sales.

As Cco, she will broaden her remit to oversee a team of...

Exclusive: Andrea Riseborough, who is coming off an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her lead role in To Leslie, has been cast opposite Kate Winslet and Matthias Schoenaerts in HBO’s limited series The Palace, from Succession duo Will Tracy and Frank Rich and The Queen director Stephen Frears.

The Palace tells the story of one year within the walls of the palace of an authoritarian regime as it begins to unravel.

Character details aren’t being revealed, but we hear Riseborough is playing the Palace Manager, the Chancellor’s (Winslet) right-hand woman.

Tracy, a writer and producer on the Brian Cox-fronted HBO drama, will serve as showrunner, writer and exec producer. Frears will direct and executive produce. Winslet also executive produces with Frank Rich and Tracey Seaward.

The Palace will include a writing team of Seth Reiss, a writer on Late Night with Seth Meyers and former head writer for The Onion,...

Melita Toscan du Plantier, the driving force behind the Marrakech Film Festival, is developing the next directorial outing of Fanny Ardant with Martin Scorsese attached to executive produce.

The movie will star Gerard Depardieu and revolve around an impossible relationship between siblings. Toscan du Plantier, who splits her time between production and the organization of the Marrakech Film Festival, is producing the film with Julien Madon whose banner Cheyenne Productions is owned by Federation.

The untitled project was penned by Ardant in collaboration with Jacques Fieschi, the co-screenwriter of “Lost Illusions” and “Mal de Pierres.” Toscan du Plantier said Scorsese will be creatively involved in the production, from the script – which was translated for him — to the editing.

The project is being developed by Toscan du Plantier and Julien Madon’s banner with whom Toscan du Plantier has a first look deal. The pair is already working with Scorsese on “Funny Birds,...

Mélita Toscan du Plantier has spent the best part of two decades running Morocco’s Marrakech International Film Festival.

This work carries on the legacy of her late husband, influential French producer Daniel Toscan du Plantier, who was the driving force behind the festival’s launch in 2001, overseeing two editions before his death in 2003 at the Berlin Film Festival.

Famously well-connected within the film world, Mélita Toscan du Plantier has since put the event on the international film festival map, pulling together starry juries and guest lists that would not look out of place at Cannes.

This year’s edition, running November 11 to 19, featured Paolo Sorrentino, Vanessa Kirby, Diane Kruger, Justin Kurzel, Nadine Labaki, Laïla Marrakchi and Tahar Rahim in the jury while other guests included Jim Jarmusch, Julia Ducournau, Leos Carax, Paul Schrader and Indian mega-star Ranveer Singh.

During the pandemic, this work was put on hold after the...

More than 50 years after she made her Venice debut as the star of Luis Buñuel’s 1967 classic Belle du Jour, Catherine Deneuve is being feted by the festival with its Golden Lion for Career Achievement.

“It feels like yesterday. It was a very important festival for me,” Deneuve told a packed press conference as she cast her mind back to her attendance in 1967.

The actress took to the stage wearing a Ukrainian flag but said she did not want to make a verbal statement about the war in Ukraine.

“I’m very aware like a lot of people and that was why I wanted to wear it for the press conference, but I don’t want to express myself because it’s worse and worse. My mind and my spirit, [is with them] every day but I don’t have any declarations to make.”

The actress said she found it hard to take stock of her career.

Click here to read the full article.

French cinema legend Catherine Deneuve was all smiles as she glided into the press conference room of the Venice International Film Festival on Wednesday.

Deneuve is being honored in Venice this year with the festival’s Golden Lion award for lifetime achievement.

Naming her this year’s honoree, Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera rattled off the long list of acclaimed creatives Deneuve has worked with, and inspired, from directors Roger Vadim, Jacques Demy, Luis Buñuel, François Truffaut and Roman Polanski to such actors as Marcello Mastroianni and Gérard Depardieu. She is also one of the rare performers to have received an Oscar nomination for a non-English performance, picking up a best actress nom in 1993 for Régis Wargnier’s Indochine.

“It is always very difficult when you have to stop and look back at things as if you made decisions as if you were thinking of the future,...

Martin Scorsese is executive producer on second feature from LA-based French directorial duo Hanna Ladoul and Marco La Via.

TF1 Studio has added French directorial duo Hanna Ladoul and Marco La Via’s English-language comedy-drama Funny Birds to its Cannes market slate.

Catherine Deneuve, Andrea Riseborough and Morgan Saylor are set to star as three generations of women from the same family.

Thrown together under tragic circumstances, the trio are forced to learn to live together on a small rural chicken farm in New Jersey which generates moving and amusing situations.

It is the second feature from LA-based Ladoul and...

Initiative to showcase nine features, with seven from first time directors.

Nine features by rising filmmakers are being showcased by France’s Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema (Acid) at the Cannes Film Festival next month (May 14-25).

The initiative aims to give greater visibility to up-and-coming independent filmmakers. Seven of the nine are first- time features (apart from Blind Spot and As Happy As Possible), five are fiction films and four are documentaries. All are world premieres except Ena Sendijarevic’s Take Me Somewhere Nice, which debuted in Rotterdam.

They are:

Blind Spot (Fr) Dirs: Pierre Trividic, Patrick-Mario...

Being young and just starting out can be a rough time. It’s also prime source material for young filmmakers to tell their stories. One film in particular, the just getting released Anywhere With You, is mining just that territory. Is it old hat, especially in independent cinema? Of course it is. Is it still vertical ground? Very much so. The key is just to either depict it in a unique way or give it some feeling of verisimilitude. This project does a bit of the former, but really does well when it comes to the latter. That sets it it apart and ultimate is what makes it worth seeing and searching out. The film is a look at the first day in the rest of the lives of a young couple in love. Amanda (Morgan Saylor) and Jake (McCaul Lombardi) have backed all their worldly goods and are excited...

“Anywhere with You” is an upcoming indie drama about the trials of young adulthood and being on your own, together. Directed by Hanna Ladoul and Marco La Via, the film will be available on Digital and Video on Demand this February. Originally released under the name “We the Coyotes” at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, the movie is the first feature film of the two French directors.

Continue reading ‘Anywhere With You’ Trailer: A Young Couple Tries To Make A Life For Themselves In La at The Playlist.

The festival will open on September 26 with Marialy Rivas’ ‘Princesita’.

The UK’s Raindance Film Festival has revealed the line-up for its 2018 edition (September 26-October 7), with over 80 features and 99 shorts screening at the festival.

The programme includes 31 world premieres, 28 international premieres, 21 European and 81 UK premieres.

The festival will open with the UK premiere of Marialy Rivas’ Chilean drama Princesita about a girl growing up in a cult. It premiered at Tiff in 2017 and is produced by Juan de Dios Larrain’s Fabula.

According to the festival, it received a record 8,929 submissions from 118 countries.

The programme includes a director’s cut...

Film Independent’s Los Angeles event boasts 42% female-directed entries.

Film Independent’s La Film Festival has unveiled the line-ups for five of its sections, with Gregory Dixon’s Olympia, Alex Moratto’s Socrates and Linda Midgett’s Same God among the world premieres.

The festival, which runs from September 20 to 28 this year in Los Angeles, announced 40 features, 41 shorts and 10 episodic shorts from a total of 26 countries.

In competition categories, 42% of the festival titles are directed by women and 39% by people of colour, said Film Independent, the non-profit that also produces the Spirit Awards.

Scroll down for full line-up

Jennifer Cochis,...

The La Film Festival has placed a heavy emphasis on diversity in its competition film slate, with 42% of the films directed by women and 39% helmed by people of color.

The 24th edition of the festival is also positioning itself as an event for unveiling lesser-known talent. It will take place Sept. 20-28 as it moves from its traditional June slot to the fall awards season.

The Los Angeles event follow the Venice International Film Festival, which begins in late August; the Telluride Film Festival, which runs over Labor Day; and the Toronto Intl. Film Festival, which starts on Sept. 6. The festival will end just as the New York Film Festival begins.

“Our mission of finding fresh new voices from different geographical and cultural axes remains true,” said L Film Festival director Jennifer Cochis. “These storytellers are united by their ability to transport, impact and inspire audiences with the power of their craft.

Forty feature films including 24 world premieres highlight the official La Film Festival competition lineup in the fest’s move into the crowded fall festival corridor, away from their previous early-summer perch.

Among the movies in competition is the highly regarded Swedish film Border (Grans) from director Ali Abbasi, a Neon pickup out of Cannes that took the top prize in that festival’s No. 2 competition, Un Certain Regard. It is listed as a “California Premiere,” which means it likely will show up first in Telluride, Toronto or both before Laff, which runs September 20-28. It will play in the World Fiction Competition across a field of categories that also include U.S. Fiction, Documentary, La Muse, Nightfall. Short Films, and Episodes: Indie Series from the web.

“Our mission of finding fresh new voices from different geographical and cultural axes remains true,” Laff Director Jennifer Cochis said. “These storytellers are united by their ability to transport,...

For its 24th edition, Film Independent’s newly configured Los Angeles Film Festival has revealed its first fall lineup (September 20 – 28), the second under the leadership of Festival Director Jennifer Cochis. The date moves Laff into awards season and direct competition with AFI Fest (November 8 – 15), the last of the fall festivals. This year’s Laff program includes 40 feature films, 41 short films, and 10 short episodic works representing 26 countries. Across the competition categories 42 percent of the films are directed by women and 39 percent are directed by people of color.

The festival remains committed to a diverse lineup of feature films, shorts and episodic series for its U.S. Fiction (“original voices with distinct visions from emerging and established American independent filmmakers”), Documentary (“character-driven non-fiction films from the U.S. and around the world”), World Fiction (“unique fiction films from around the world by emerging and established filmmakers”), La Muse (“fiction and documentary films...

For its 24th edition, Film Independent’s newly configured Los Angeles Film Festival has revealed its first fall lineup (September 20 – 28), the second under the leadership of Festival Director Jennifer Cochis. The date moves Laff into awards season and direct competition with AFI Fest (November 8 – 15), the last of the fall festivals. This year’s Laff program includes 40 feature films, 41 short films, and 10 short episodic works representing 26 countries. Across the competition categories 42 percent of the films are directed by women and 39 percent are directed by people of color.

The festival remains committed to a diverse lineup of feature films, shorts and episodic series for its U.S. Fiction (“original voices with distinct visions from emerging and established American independent filmmakers”), Documentary (“character-driven non-fiction films from the U.S. and around the world”), World Fiction (“unique fiction films from around the world by emerging and established filmmakers”), La Muse (“fiction and documentary films...

Like countless twentysomethings over the decades, the westward-bound couple in We the Coyotes arrive in Los Angeles with half-formed plans and half-empty pockets. First-time feature filmmakers Hanna Ladoul and Marco La Via, themselves twentysomethings, were inspired by the adventure and challenges of their own early days in the city. The writer-directors might have made the journey from France, rather than road-tripping from Illinois like their characters, but with its in-the-moment focus on a 24-hour period, their story taps a vein of youthful possibility whose appeal is universal and timeless.

Making the most of an ultra-low budget, Ladoul and La Via...

Sebastien Chesneau’s sales agency Cercamon has acquired the international sales rights to “We the Coyotes,” which premieres in Cannes’ Acid section.

The film, which was directed by two young French helmers, Hanna Ladoul and Marco La Via, but shot in English in Los Angeles. Morgan Saylor, who previously appeared in Elizabeth Wood’s “White Girl,” Rob Reiner’s “Being Charlie” and Maggie Betts’ “Novitiate,” stars alongside McCaul Lombardi, who has appeared in Andrea Arnold’s “American Honey,” Geremy Jasper’s “Patti Cake$,” and Matt Porterfield’s “Sollers Point,” opposite Jim Belushi. The producer is Raphaël Gindre.

The film centers on Amanda and Jake who “are in love and want to start a new life together in Los Angeles,” according to a statement. “Will they make the right decisions? Their first 24 hours in L.A. take them all around the city, bringing more surprises and frustrations than expected.”

“We the...

Following the first lineup announcement for the 71st Cannes Film Festival, yesterday Critics’ Week arrived, and now today we get two more sidebar reveals. First up, there’s Directors’ Fortnight, which opens with Birds of Passage, from Embrace of the Serpent director Ciro Guerra & Cristina Gallego. Also among the lineup is Gaspar Noé’s drug-fueled (of course) drama Climax, Mamoru Hosoda’s new animation Mirai, Romain Gavras’ Le monde est à toi, as well as Sundance favorites: Panos Cosmatos’ Mandy and Debra Granik’s Leave No Trace.

Check out the lineup below, followed by the Acid lineup, featuring Jim Cummings’ SXSW winner Thunder Road.

Cannes Directors’ Fortnight Lineup

Opening Film:

Birds of Passage (Ciro Guerra & Cristina Gallego)

Closing Film:

Troppa grazia (Gianni Zanasi)

Feature Films

Amin (Philippe Faucon)

Climax (Gaspar Noé)

Carmen y Lola (Arantxa Echevarria)

Cómprame un revólver de (Julio Hernández Cordón)

Les Confins du monde (Guillaume Nicloux)

El motoarrebatador (Agustín Toscano)

En Liberté!

This year’s selection features eight world premieres and a Portugal focus.

France’s Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema (Acid) has unveiled the line-up for its 26th Cannes Film Festival showcase, running May 9-18.

The initiative is aimed at giving greater visibility to up and coming, independnet filmmakers and will screen nine works. All our world premieres except Jim Cummings’ Thunder Road which is an international premiere.

They are:

L’amour Debout (France) by Michaël Dacheux Bad Bad Winter (Kazakhstan) by Olga Korotko Cassandro The Exotico! (France) by Marie Losier Dans La Terrible Jungle/ In The Mighty Jungle...