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Cannes opening night can be hit or miss, but lately, festival director Thierry Frémaux has used the occasion to import Hollywood luminaries like Meryl Streep, tributed by Juliette Binoche last year. (The French star returned in 2025 to preside over the Competition jury.) This year, Frémaux scored big as Leonardo DiCaprio showed up to present a tearful Robert De Niro with his honorary Palme d’Or. He was rewarded with a warm hug.

“It is a great honor to recognize someone who, for me and so many actors, has always been the archetype of who we look up to,” said DiCaprio. “That is Robert De Niro. It’s not just the roles he plays. He inspired actors to treat the craft not as performance but as physical transformation.”

DiCaprio recalled screaming during his “tough” audition for “This Boy’s Life” to break through, and that De Niro recommended him, thus launching his...

With the Cannes Film Festival just around the corner, the festival has now unveiled its Classics lineup, featuring new restorations, films about filmmaking, and much more. Highlights include Stéphane Ghez’s David Lynch, une énigme à Hollywood (Welcome to Lynchland), a new documentary about the late director, Quentin Tarantino in-person to present two features by George Sherman, plus films by Edward Yang, John Woo, Stanley Kubrick, Charlie Chaplin, Mikio Naruse, Marcel Pagnol, and more.

Check out the lineup below and learn more here.

The Gold Rush: 100th Year Anniversary!

After La Maman et la putain, L’Amour fou and Napoléon par Abel Gance, the Festival de Cannes will premiere as a worldwide pre-opening film on Tuesday, May 13, 2025, at 3Pm in Debussy Theater, Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush.

The Gold Rush by Charlie Chaplin

(La Ruée vers l’or)

A presentation by Roy Export Sas with the support of mk2.

Quentin Tarantino will be the guest of honour at Cannes Classics, the repertory cinema strand of Cannes Film Festival’s Official Selection.

Tarantino will present two western films by George Sherman – 1949’s Red Canyon, and 1950’s Comanche Territory – and will take part in a discussion with critic and filmmaker Elvis Mitchell.

Scroll down for the full selection of Cannes Classics titles

The Classics lineup includes the Cannes pre-opening film, a 4K restoration of Charlie Chaplin’s 1925 The Gold Rush, restored by the L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory at the Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna. Mk2 Films is arranging a worldwide re-release of the...

Charlie Chaplin back in the spotlight at the Cannes Film Festival with a Classic screening of The Gold Rush Photo: © Roy Export Company Ltd

The centenary of Charlie Chaplin’s The Gold Rush will scoop the Cannes Film Festival’s official opening later in the day with a matinee screening on 13 May in the Debussy auditorium.

The 4K restoration of the enduring classic was carried out by Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna at L’Immagine Ritrovata laboratory, using elements created by Photoplay and from archival material generously provided by the BFI National Archive, Blackhawk Films, the Lobster Films Collection, Das Bundesarchiv, the Filmoteca de Catalunya, the George Eastman Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

French sales company mk2 Films is planning a world-wide re-release of the film from 26 June.

The festival also has added in the world premiere of Diane Kurys’s film, The One I Loved (Moi Qui...

A documentary on Shia Labeouf’s acting school, conversation with Quentin Tarantino about George Sherman, tribute to the late David Lynch and Mariska Hargitay’s feature directorial debut are among the highlights of this year’s Cannes Classics lineup, revealed on Wednesday.

“Slauson Rec,” a documentary from Leo Lewis O’Neil about Labeouf’s controversial free acting school he launched in L.A. in 2018, will screen in the presence of both O’Neil and Labeouf. The film has already caused a stir, with O’Neil’s recent interview with Vanity Fair about the project revealing that scenes are included of Labeouf’s alleged physical violence toward members of the experimental theater collective. As O’Neil told Vanity Fair, he sent a trailer for the project to Labeouf seeking his sign-off on it, and the actor gave his full blessing.

In a statement to Vanity Fair, Labeouf said: “I gave Leo this...

Playtime has boarded French filmmaker Diane Kurys’ C’est Si Bon! about the love story between real life French celebrity couple Yves Montand and Simone Signoret and is launching international sales at EFM.

Roschy Zem and Marina Fois star as the couple who married in 1951 and remained together until her death in 1985, but whose relationship was haunted by Montand’s affair with Marilyn Monroe.

The fiction film about love, passion and betrayal is set against the backdrop of the city’s smoky cafés and bohemian nights.

Pan Européene produced the €7.5m film with Alexandre Films and shot in Paris. It...

Isabelle Huppert has been announced as this year’s recipient of the Lumière Award at the 16th edition of the classic film-focused Lumière Festival in Lyon this fall.

“Her career encompasses an immense part of the history of contemporary cinema,” the Institut Lumière, which oversees the festival, declared of the French actress.

The institute cited some of the top directors she has worked with across her more than 155 acting credits including French directors Claude Chabrol, with whom she made seven features early on in her, as well as Jean-Luc Godard, Claire Denis, Bertrand Tavernier, Diane Kurys, Maurice Pialat, Catherine Breillat, Michel Deville, François Ozon and André Téchiné.

Internationally, Huppert has also collaborated with Joseph Losey, Marco Ferreri and Michael Haneke, Michael Cimino’s Brillante Mendoza, Hong Sang-soo and Paul Verhoeven, with whom she clinched a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance in his 2017 thriller Elle.

The actress has also...

Isabelle Huppert will receive the 16th annual Lumiere Award at Lyon’s classic film-focused Lumiere Festival set to run October 12-20.

The prolific French actress will be honoured for her career during the week-long celebration of heritage film complete with a parallel classic film market run by Cannes’ Thierry Fremaux that typically draws a host of acclaimed talent from across the globe.

Huppert has earned two best actress prizes at Cannes for Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher and Claude Chabrol’s Violette, plus 16 Cesar nominations and two wins. She earned an Academy Award nomination and won the Golden Globe...

“The Pot Au Feu” from French-Vietnamese director Trần Anh Hùng may be one of the most radical films competing for a Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes. The sensorial movie, set in late-19th century France, opens with a mouthwatering cooking sequence that runs nearly 40 minutes and portrays a slow-burning romance with a minimalist plot. Yet, Hùng, best known for his Cannes’ Golden Camera-winning “The Scent of Green Papaya” and Venice Golden Lion-winning “Cyclo,” tells Variety he’s always been confident “The Pot Au Feu” would strike a chord beyond the foodie niche, and it has. The movie earned some of the competition’s strongest reviews on the heels of its world premiere and a U.S. deal is currently being negotiated by Gaumont. Variety‘s Guy Lodge praised the film for holding its audience “entirely on the pleasures of beauty, vicarious indulgence and, eventually, the human care inherent in haute cuisine.

It is my experience that one gets a far richer, stranger cinema education in pursuing the careers of actors, that group defined first by (assuming luck shines upon them) two or three era-defining films and then so much that dictates their industry—pet projects, contractual obligations, called-in favors alimony payments, auteur one-offs, and on and on. Few embody that deluge of circumstance better than Michelle Yeoh and Isabelle Huppert, both of whom are receiving spotlights in March. The former’s is a who’s-who of Hong Kong talent, new favorites (The Heroic Trio), items we can at least say are of interest (Trio‘s not-great sequel Executioners), etc.

Huppert’s series runs longer, and notwithstanding certain standards that have long sat on the channel it adds some heavy hitters: Hong’s In Another Country, Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate, Breillat’s Abuse of Weakness, Hansen-Løve’s Things to Come. And, of course,...

Mubi has announced its lineup of streaming offerings for next month, including Carla Simón’s Golden Bear winner Alcarràs, Ruth Beckermann’s Mutzenbacher, a series celebrating Black cinema with works from Charles Burnett, Julie Dash, Ephraim Asili, Bill Duke, and more.

Additional highlights include Sarah Polley’s Away From Her, Richard Linklater’s Before Midnight, Albert Brooks’ Modern Romance, Bong Joon Ho’s The Host, Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac, shorts by Emilija Škarnulytė, and the beginning of a series spotlighting Akio Jissoji’s Buddhist Trilogy.

Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.

February 1 – Softie, directed by Samuel Theis | From France with Love

February 2 – The Sleeping Negro, directed by Skinner Myers

February 3 – Before Midnight, directed by Richard Linklater

February 4 – To Sleep with Anger, directed by Charles Burnett

February 5 – Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, directed by Stanley Kramer | Performers We Love

February 6 – Aphotic Zone, directed by Emilija...

Mubi has announced its lineup of streaming offerings for next month, including Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave, alongside his 1999 short film Judgement, as well as Bi Gan’s new short A Shory Story and his second feature Long Day’s Journey Into Night, and Peter Strickland’s new short.

Additional highlights include new episodes of Lars von Trier’s The Kingdom Exodus, Denis Côté’s That Kind of Summer (which we caught at Berlinale earlier this year), Nicolas Winding Refn’s Pusher trilogy ahead of his imminent new project, and an Abel Ferrara double bill to close out 2022.

Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.

December 1 – That Kind of Summer, directed by Denis Côté | Luminaries

December 2 – The Cat’s Meow, directed by Peter Bogdanovich

December 3 – La chinoise, directed by Jean-Luc Godard | For Ever Godard

December 4 – The Kingdom Exodus: The Congress Dances, directed by Lars von Trier | The Kingdom Exodus

December 5 – Judgement,...

The 95th Academy Awards ceremony will be held in Los Angeles on March 12, 2023. The highly anticipated annual event has received a lot of criticism in the past decade for its lack of diversity in its nominations and awards. Needless to say, the iconic statuette of the Oscars has a long history of recognizing white men only.

In 95 years, only three women have won the Academy Award for best director: Kathryn Bigelow for Hurt Locker in 2010, Chloé Zhao for Nomadland in 2021, and Jane Campion for The Power Of The Dog in 2022, and only three have won Best International Feature Film, however, many more have been nominated, and their pieces are worthy of praise.

Astrid Henning-Jensen: Nominated For Paw In 1959

Astrid Henning-Jensen was the first woman to be nominated for Best International Feature Film in 1959. Her movie, Paw, also known as The Boy of Two Worlds, follows the story of a biracial...

In the run up to Cannes, Gaumont is launching sales on “The Pot of Feu,” Tran Anh Hung’s period romance starring Juliette Binoche and Benoit Magimel. The movie is currently shooting in a French castle.

Set in the world of French gastronomy in 1885, “The Pot of Feu” charts the relationship between Eugenie, an esteemed cook, and Dodin, the fine gourmet she has been working for over the last 20 years. Growing fonder of one another, their bond turns into a romance and gives rise to delicious dishes that impress even the world’s most illustrious chefs. When Dodin is faced with Eugenie’s reluctance to commit to him, he decides to start cooking for her.

Pierre Gagnaire, the 14 Michelin starred-chef, is serving as culinary counselor on the film and also has a small part in it. The story is inspired by the famous French gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin.

“The Pot...

France has been a supreme force in the Oscars’ international feature race for decades. This year, three acclaimed films from women directors — Céline Sciamma, Audrey Diwan and Julia Ducournau — are believed to be at the top of the list to represent the country for the upcoming 94th ceremony, set to take place on March 27. Though France is the most-nominated country in the history of the category, it hasn’t walked away with the prize in nearly 30 years. Can that change this year?

The French submission is decided annually by the National Cinema Center. The committee will hold its first meeting on Thursday to pre-select a shortlist of films, with the producers being “auditioned” by the committee on Oct. 12, before the final choice is made. Sciamma’s “Petite Maman,” Ducournau’s “Titane” and Diwan’s “Happening” are believed to be the favorites for consideration. “Happening” was just acquired by IFC Films...

The 13th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival runs weekends from Aug. 13 through Aug. 29 at Webster and Washington Universities. Courtesy of Cinema St. Louis

The 13th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — presented by TV5MONDE, sponsored by the Jane M. & Bruce P. Robert Charitable Foundation, and produced by Cinema St. Louis (Csl) — celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s extraordinary cinematic legacy, offering a revealing overview of French cinema.

The Robert Classic French Film Festival is the first Csl in-person event since the Covid-19 pandemic. The host venues — Washington University on Aug. 13-15 and Webster University on Aug. 20-22 and 27-29 — have not yet determined whether capacity limits or masks will be required. Details will be announced on the Csl website when available.

The fest annually includes significant restorations, and this year features a quintet of such works: Melvin Van Peebles’ “The Story of a Three-Day Pass,” Diane Kurys’ “Entre Nous,...

The 13th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — presented by TV5MONDE, sponsored by the Jane M. & Bruce P. Robert Charitable Foundation, and produced by Cinema St. Louis (Csl) — celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s extraordinary cinematic legacy, offering a revealing overview of French cinema.

The Robert Classic French Film Festival is the first Csl in-person event since the Covid-19 pandemic. The host venues — Washington University on Aug. 13-15 and Webster University on Aug. 20-22 and 27-29 — have not yet determined whether capacity limits or masks will be required. Details will be announced on the Csl website when available.

The fest annually includes significant restorations, and this year features a quintet of such works: Melvin Van Peebles’ “The Story of a Three-Day Pass,” Diane Kurys’ “Entre Nous,” Joseph Losey’s “Mr. Klein,” Jacques Deray’s “La piscine,” and the extended director’s cut of Jean-Jacques Beineix’s “Betty Blue.

Anne Fontaine’s new film, Night Shift, showing as a Special Gala at the Berlinale, is highly accomplished, well constructed, and suspenseful and shows Fontaine’s to be an especially strong director. Why it was shown as a Special Gala at the Berlinale rather than in Competition is an open question. But more in question is why is Fontane not more celebrated as one of France’s top directors?

Anne Fontaine has matured since I last wrote about her when I saw The Innocents, though that too was very original. During the Sundance Film Festival 2016, when I first met and interviewed her for The Innocents, I had not even heard of her.

At first glance, I saw she was elegant in that rich French way and on researching her I saw she was married to Philippe Carcassonne, one of France’s lead producers and the producer of this film along...

Cinema St. Louis presents the 12th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival which takes place April 10th – 26th 2020. The location this year are both Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (470 E Lockwood Ave) and Washington University’s Brown Hall Auditorium, Forsyth & Skinker boulevards.

The 12th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — presented by TV5MONDE and produced by Cinema St. Louis — celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. This year’s featured films span the decades from the 1920s through the 1980s, offering a revealing overview of French cinema.

The fest annually includes significant restorations, and this year features a quartet of such works: Diane Kurys’ “Entre Nous,” Joseph Losey’s “Mr. Klein,” Jacqueline Audry’s “Olivia,” and the extended director’s cut of Jean-Jacques Beineix’s “Betty Blue.”

The fest also provides one of the few opportunities available in St. Louis to see films projected the old-school, time-honored way,...

Love After Love

Hong Kong’s Ann Hui will be ready with her latest feature in 2020, the preliminarily titled Love After Love (which was the title of the 1992 Diane Kurys film as well as the 2017 indie film from Russell Harbaugh). Hui employs a stellar crew on her latest project, lensed by Wong Kar-Wai alum Christopher Doyle, costume designer Emi Wada (of Kurosawa’s Ran and Yimou’s House of Flying Daggers) and art director Zhao Hai (who also worked on Hui’s 2014 title The Golden Era). Eddie Peng (who worked on Yimou’s The Great Wall) and Ma Sichun (recently seen in Lou Ye’s The Shadow Play) headline.…...

Cinema St. Louis presents the 11th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival which takes place March 8-10, 15-17, and 22-24, 2019. The location this year is Washington University’s Brown Hall Auditorium, Forsyth & Skinker boulevards.

The 11th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — presented by TV5MONDE and produced by Cinema St. Louis — celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. The featured films span the decades from the 1930s through the 1990s, offering a revealing overview of French cinema. The fest annually includes significant restorations, and this year features seven such works: Pierre Schoendoerffer “The 317th Platoon,” Marcel Pagnol’s “The Baker’s Wife,” Olivier Assayas’ “Cold Water,” Jacques Becker’s “The Hole,” Jacques Rivette’s “The Nun,” Agnés Varda’s “One Sings, the Other Doesn’t,” and Diane Kurys’ “Peppermint Soda.” The schedule is rounded out by Robert Bresson’s final film, “L’argent,” and two 1969 films celebrating...

Cinema St. Louis presents the 11th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival which takes place March 8-10, 15-17, and 22-24, 2019. The location this year is Washington University’s Brown Hall Auditorium, Forsyth & Skinker boulevards.

The 11th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — presented by TV5MONDE and produced by Cinema St. Louis — celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. The featured films span the decades from the 1930s through the 1990s, offering a revealing overview of French cinema. The fest annually includes significant restorations, and this year features seven such works: Pierre Schoendoerffer “The 317th Platoon,” Marcel Pagnol’s “The Baker’s Wife,” Olivier Assayas’ “Cold Water,” Jacques Becker’s “The Hole,” Jacques Rivette’s “The Nun,” Agnés Varda’s “One Sings, the Other Doesn’t,” and Diane Kurys’ “Peppermint Soda.” The schedule is rounded out by Robert Bresson’s final film, “L’argent,” and two 1969 films celebrating...

Cinema St. Louis presents the 11th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival which takes place March 8-10, 15-17, and 22-24, 2019. The location this year is Washington University’s Brown Hall Auditorium, Forsyth & Skinker boulevards.

The 11th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — presented by TV5MONDE and produced by Cinema St. Louis — celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. The featured films span the decades from the 1930s through the 1990s, offering a revealing overview of French cinema. The fest annually includes significant restorations, and this year features seven such works: Pierre Schoendoerffer “The 317th Platoon,” Marcel Pagnol’s “The Baker’s Wife,” Olivier Assayas’ “Cold Water,” Jacques Becker’s “The Hole,” Jacques Rivette’s “The Nun,” Agnés Varda’s “One Sings, the Other Doesn’t,” and Diane Kurys’ “Peppermint Soda.” The schedule is rounded out by Robert Bresson’s final film, “L’argent,” and two 1969 films celebrating...

Cinema St. Louis presents the 11th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival which takes place March 8-10, 15-17, and 22-24, 2019. The location this year is Washington University’s Brown Hall Auditorium, Forsyth & Skinker boulevards.

he 11th Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — presented by TV5MONDE and produced by Cinema St. Louis — celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. The featured films span the decades from the 1930s through the 1990s, offering a revealing overview of French cinema.

The fest annually includes significant restorations, and this year features seven such works: Pierre Schoendoerffer “The 317th Platoon,” Marcel Pagnol’s “The Baker’s Wife,” Olivier Assayas’ “Cold Water,” Jacques Becker’s “The Hole,” Jacques Rivette’s “The Nun,” Agnés Varda’s “One Sings, the Other Doesn’t,” and Diane Kurys’ “Peppermint Soda.”

The schedule is rounded out by Robert Bresson’s final film, “L’argent,” and two 1969 films celebrating...

Peppermint Soda, the directorial debut of award winning filmmaker Diane Kurys (Entre Nous), hits Blu-ray and DVD on February 12 via Cohen Film Collection. The feature received a 2K restoration last year in celebration of the 40th anniversary of its release.

The narrative centers on Anne (Eléonore Klarwein) and Frederique (Odile Michel), teenage sisters whose lives [...]

The post Diane Kurys’ Directing Debut ‘Peppermint Soda’ Hits Blu-ray And DVD In February appeared first on Hollywood Outbreak.

U.S. distributor Film Movement is growing its TV footprint with the acquisitions of four TV movies from Beta Film and documentary series Hidden History (which will be renamed Nazi Junkies) from Paris-based outfit #Edith Paris.

“Although we’ve long built our catalog with award-winning feature films from around the world, we’re excited to be turning our attentions to acquisitions of broadcast content,” explained Film Movement President Michael Rosenberg. “Now more than ever, there are countless hours of intriguing programming perfect for North American audiences, and we’re looking forward to expanding Film Movement’s library with compelling television-based content.”

The four Sara Stein TV movies (4×90), which Film Movement will distribute across North America, follow the cases of Berlin criminal investigator Sara Stein (Katharina Lorenz), who cultivates a low-key style, abhors violence and spends much of her work between Tel Aviv and the German capital. The four movies comprise Sara Stein: Shalom Berlin,...

In 2018 we've published 70 interviews whose subjects have ranged from old masters to emerging new voices, and including some unexpected conversations, including those with curators (Dave Kehr of the Museum of Modern Art), as well as archival finds (a 1971 talk with Jerry Lewis).Below you will find an index of our conversations throughout the year, listed in order of publication date.Blake Williams (Prototype)Samira Elagoz (Craigslist Allstars)F.J. Ossang (9 Fingers)Jerry LewisAndré Gil Mata (The Tree)Christian Petzold (Transit)Raoul Peck (Young Karl Marx)Ashley McKenzie (Werewolf)Penelope SpheerisTed Fendt (Classical Period)Dominik Graf (The Red Shadow)Blake Williams ("Stereo Visions")Arnaud Desplechin (Ismael's Ghosts)Ruth Beckermann (The Waldheim Waltz)Nelson Carlos de los Santos Arias (Cocote)Esther GarrelPhilippe Garrel (Lover for a Day)Jonas MekasJohann Lurf (★)Karim Aïnouz (Central Airport Thf)Juliana Antunes (Baronesa)Cristina Gallego and Ciro Guerra (Birds of Passage)Wang Bing (Dead Souls)Donal Foreman...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSApichatpong Weerasethakul's Blue.The Toronto International Film Festival is continuing to roll out an impressive (and massive) lineup of films, this time for its Masters and Wavelengths sections, including a mysterious 12-minute "portrait of feverish slumber" by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, entitled Blue, the international premiere of Naomi Kawase's Vision, about a woman's search for a Japanese medicinal plant in a strange forest, and the North American premiere of Jia Zhangke's gangster film Ash is Purest White.Recommended VIEWINGWith fall festival season upon us, a slew of new trailers has arrived: Firstly, Gaspar Noé is back with what is destined, based on reviews from Cannes, to be yet another contentious film. Lawrence Garcia wrote about the "virtuosic, infernal" film for Notebook. Here's the U.S. trailer. A sublime, oneiric first trailer for Naomi Kawase's aforementioned Tiff-bound Vision,...

“To my sister, who still hasn’t given back my orange pullover” reads Diane Kurys’ cheeky dedication in the opening to her newly restored feature debut, “Peppermint Soda.” Set over the course of a single school year, bookended by summer vacations, the breezy snapshot-style narrative tracks the lives of thirteen-year-old Anne (Eléonore Klarwein) and fifteen-year-old Frédérique (Odile Michel) as they encounter the clumsiness and cruelties of coming-of-age.

Continue reading Diane Kurys’ ‘Peppermint Soda’ Is A Vital Look At Surviving Adolescence [Review] at The Playlist.

Since any New York City cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.

Film Society of Lincoln Center

Films by Michael Almereyda (including the David Lynch-produced Nadja), Sadie Benning, and more are programmed in “The Strange Case of Pixelvision.”

Visconti’s The Leopard and The Damned are playing.

Spectacle

Fans of Asian cinema (or anything remotely outside the mainstream) cannot miss the series on Sogo Ishii, “the godfather of Japanese cyberpunk cinema.

Peppermint Soda, French writer-director Diane Kurys’s 1977 breakout film, is a pure delight. Drawn from the artist’s own life, the story follows thirteen-year-old Anne (Eléonore Klarwein) and her fifteen-year-old sister Frederique (Odile Michel), through the trials and tribulations of adolescence, including (but not limited to) first periods, bad grades, boy problems, and the potential scandal of wearing stockings. With its 1963 setting and cheerful color palette, Peppermint Soda avoids sentimentality and feels something like breezily paging through an old photo album. With all the recent conversation around women’s stories in cinema, the time is right to take a closer look at Kurys’s achievement of feminine autobiography, and viewers in New York will get a chance to do just that when a new restoration opens at Quad Cinema this week. I spoke with Kurys about her lovingly rendered depiction of the past. Notebook: What was it was like revisiting your debut many years later?...

Paris, 1963. Anne (Eléonore Klarwein) has just turned 13, while her cool older sister Frédérique (Odile Michel) already has a rep at age 15. Forty years after French filmmaker Diane Kurys’ semi-autobiographical debut (she’s the Anne of this story), “Peppermint Soda” is as refreshing and bubbly as any other coming-of-age film, a feature that was both ahead of its time and true to the life Kurys led as an impressionable teen. Turns out, growing up has always been awkward and weir and fun, and the enduring power of “Peppermint Soda” speaks to exactly that.

Kurys went on to direct a slew of signature features, including “Entre Nous” and “Love After Love,” but “Peppermint Soda” captures the filmmaker at her most effervescent. The film screened at both Tiff and Nyff, and went on to win Best Foreign Language Film from the National Board of Review.

On the occasion of its fortieth anniversary, the...

French actress-director Fanny Ardant, feted this week at the Transilvania Intl. Film Festival with lifetime achievement honors, said her latest role, portraying the free-spirited mother of a “square” son in “Ma Mere Est Folle,” presented her with a dilemma. “I have only daughters, not a son,” she told Variety, “so for me men are still a mystery.”

The production, directed by Diane Kurys and just wrapped following a shoot in Belgium and the Netherlands, is the story of a relationship between a mother with great imagination and “a very square boy.” The role gave the veteran actress a chance “to learn how to know your own soul,” Ardant says. Although her character shares much with Ardant’s life and work in stage and film, she explains that the only real way to grasp what raising a boy is like is to experience it.

Working with Kurys was a great experience,...

Ma mère est folle

Diane Kurys remains a notable French director who rose to cinematic prominence in the 1980s and has continually worked with some of her country’s most lauded performers.

Continue reading...

A couple of weeks ago, I interviewed Nathan Gelgud, an artist who has brought a wry comic book charm to the world of cinephilia. It seemed only natural that I should find out more about the art that has influenced him and so I asked him to select his personal top ten favorite movie posters. He was more than up for the challenge and decided to narrow the field to illustrated posters, which makes perfect sense. Here are his ten favorites, in no special order.1. (Above) Us one sheet for Five on the Black Hand Side (Oscar Williams, USA, 1973). Artist: Jack Davis.I love all the accouterments on the main figure—the hat, the cigar, the umbrella, suitcase, those things that go over the shoes. But even better is the way Davis has arranged all the characters around him, the way the jumping guy’s arm joins with the guy...

We’re a couple of weeks away from the organizers at Cannes unveiling their full slate, and we’re still yet to hear about the opening film, but for now they’re tiding us over with this terrific poster for the 70th edition of the festival.

Claudia Cardinale continues the recent tradition of movie icons gracing the one-sheets for the fest, with the actress dancing in this lovely promo. Cardinale has spent plenty of time on the Croisette, with Valerio Zurlini’s “Girl With A Suitcase,” Mauro Bolognini’s “La Viaccia,” Luchino Visconti‘s “The Leopard,” Federico Fellini’s “8 1/2,” Liliana Cavani’s “La Pelle,” Werner Herzog’s “Fitzcarraldo,” Marco Bellocchio’s “Henry IV,” Diane Kurys’ “A Man In Love,” and Claude Lelouch’s “And Now… Ladies And Gentlemen” all landing at Cannes.

Continue reading Claudia Cardinale Dances On Poster For 70th Cannes Film Festival at The Playlist.

It feels wrong to say that the man responsible for something as achingly tender as the high-concept romantic masterpiece Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is only getting personal with his work now. And yet, French director Michel Gondry's new comic adventure Microbe and Gasoline may just might be the wizard of whimsy's most intimate picture to date. Drawing on his own experiences as a Gallic grade-school hooligan tinkering with homemade contraptions, he's filtered his memories of childhood into a buddy comedy that bridges the gap between how it happened,...

This is a reprint of our review from the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. Last year, the Cannes Film Festival got off to the worst possible start. The opening night slot has always had ups and downs (read our feature on the best and worst of them here), and for every "Moonrise Kingdom" or "Up," there was a "Da Vinci Code" or "Blindness," but "Grace Of Monaco" was something else: a rotten, ill-conceived biopic of Grace Kelly that hasn't just skipped U.S theaters entirely, it's actually premiering on Lifetime. Festival head Thierry Fremaux clearly had some making up to do with this year's opening night film, and he's eschewed big Hollywood stars for a more modest, homegrown effort in Emmanuelle Bercot's "Standing Tall," which also marks the first time since Diane Kurys' "A Man In Love" in 1987 that a film from a female director has kicked off Cannes. The result is a sturdy,...

Read More: Cannes Will Open With a Film By a Female Director for the First Time Since 1987 Cohen Media Group has acquired all U.S. distribution rights to this year's Canned Film Festival opening night film, "Standing Tall" ("La Tet Haute"), written and directed by Emanuelle Bercot. The choice in opening night film was notable because it was only the second film directed by a female director to open the festival. The last time was in 1987 with Diane Kurys' "A Man in Love." The film stars Catherine Deneuve and breakout Rod Paradot, who plays juvenile delinquent, Malony. The film tracks his upbringing as a children's judge and social worker try to save him from himself. As a volatile and violent teen delinquent, Paradot's Malony navigates the criminal justice system, aided by a child court judge (Deneuve, who also starred in Bercot's "On My Way") and a youth counselor (Benoit Magimel,...

Cohen Media Group has acquired all U.S. rights to Cannes opener Standing Tall, written and directed by Emmanuelle Bercot. The film was only the second helmed by a woman to open the fest after Diane Kurys in 1987 with A Man In Love. Cohen Media Group, which also acquired Turkish Directors’ Fortnight drama Mustang, is planning an early 2016 release for the film, a social justice drama. It follows a volatile and violent teen delinquent (Rod Paradot in a breakout turn)…...

Last year, the Cannes Film Festival got off to the worst possible start. The opening night slot has always had ups and downs (read our feature on the best and worst of them here), and for every "Moonrise Kingdom" or "Up," there was a "Da Vinci Code" or "Blindness," but "Grace Of Monaco" was something else: a rotten, ill-conceived biopic of Grace Kelly that hasn't just skipped U.S theaters entirely, it's actually premiering on Lifetime. Read More: 10 Movies Booed At Cannes Festival head Thierry Fremaux clearly had some making up to do with this year's opening night film, and he's eschewed big Hollywood stars for a more modest, homegrown effort in Emmanuelle Bercot's "Standing Tall," which also marks the first time since Diane Kurys' "A Man In Love" in 1987 that a film from a female director has kicked off Cannes. The result is a sturdy, grounded drama...

For the first time since 1987 (Diane Kurys's A Man in Love), a female director will open the Cannes Film Festival: Emmanuelle Bercot's La Tête haute. Above: Josh Karp has written a book on Orson Welles's last film, The Other Side of the Wind, and has penned an article for Vanity Fair that traces the history of this infamous lost and found movie:"The story behind the making of The Other Side of the Wind begins at Schwab’s drugstore, the Hollywood soda fountain where: Charlie Chaplin played pinball, F. Scott Fitzgerald had his first heart attack, and, according to some versions of the story, Lana Turner was discovered while cutting school to grab a Coke."More on Orson Welles: David Bordwell writes on his personal history with the filmmaker (and his hometown) occasioned by a retrospective in Madison, Wisconsin: "So I had good luck coming here...

Emmanuelle Bercot will be the first female director to open the Cannes Film Festival in more than 25 years.

Her film La Tête haute is to screen at the event on Wednesday, May 13. Diane Kurys was the last female filmmaker to open the festival when her drama A Man in Love premiered in 1987.

La Tête haute tells the story of a juvenile delinquent, Malony, and his upbringing from childhood to adulthood as a children's judge and social worker try to save him.

Thierry Frémaux, Cannes' General Delegate, said: "The choice of this film may seem surprising, given the rules generally applied to the Festival de Cannes Opening Ceremony."

He explained: "It is a clear reflection of our desire to see the Festival start with a different piece, which is both bold and moving.

"Emmanuelle Bercot's film makes important statements about contemporary society, in keeping with modern cinema. It focusses on universal social issues,...

It's not the greatest historical note to kick a festival off with, but the opening night film at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival will be the first directed by a woman since 1987. Emmanuelle Bercot, best known for 2001's "Clément" and co-writing 2011's "Polisse," returns to Cannes with "La Tête haute" ("Heads Up") which follows the lifestory of Malory from the age of 6 to 18.  This "Boyhood"-esque tale features different actors playing Malory, but Rod Paradot portrays him for a majority of the film.  Catherine Deneuve, Benoît Magimel, Sara Forestier round out the cast. Diane Kurys was the last woman to helm a opening night film, "A Man in Love," 28 years ago. Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate of the Festival remarked, "The choice of this film may seem surprising, given the rules generally applied to the Festival de Cannes Opening Ceremony.  It is a clear reflection of our desire to see the Festival start with a different piece,...

A female director will open the festival for the first time in nearly 30 years.

Standing Tall (La Tête Haute), a film by French director Emmanuelle Bercot, is to open the 68th Cannes Film Festival on May 13.

It marks the first time a film by a female director has opened the festival since Diane Kurys’ A Man in Love in 1987.

Standing Tall stars Catherine Deneuve, Benoît Magimel, Sara Forestier and Rod Paradot, who plays the main character, juvenile delinquent Malony, following his upbringing from childhood to adulthood, as a children’s judge and social worker try to save him.

It was filmed in the Nord-Pas de Calais, Rhône-Alpes and Paris.

Surprising

“The choice of this film may seem surprising, given the rules generally applied to the Festival de Cannes opening ceremony,” said Thierry Frémaux, general delegate of the festival.

This reference to a “surprising” choice likely refers to the recent run of star-powered openers including Woody Allen’s [link...

A female director will open the festival for the first time in nearly 30 years.

La Tête Haute (Standing Tall), a film by French director Emmanuelle Bercot, is to open the 68th Cannes Film Festival on May 13.

It marks the first time a film by a female director has opened the festival since Diane Kurys’ A Man in Love in 1987.

La Tête Haute stars Catherine Deneuve, Benoît Magimel, Sara Forestier and Rod Paradot, who plays the main character, juvenile delinquent Malony, following his upbringing from childhood to adulthood, as a children’s judge and social worker try to save him.

It was filmed in the Nord-Pas de Calais, Rhône-Alpes and Paris.

“The choice of this film may seem surprising, given the rules generally applied to the Festival de Cannes opening ceremony,” said Thierry Frémaux, general delegate of the festival.

This reference to a “surprising” choice could refer to the recent run of star-powered openers including Woody Allen’s [link...

Days before the 2015 Cannes Film Festival is set to announce its lineup on Thursday, the event has revealed its opening night film: "La Tête Haute," directed by Emmanuelle Bercot and starring Catherine Deneuve. Astonishingly enough, this marks the first time that the festival has opened with a film directed by a female director since 1987, when Cannes kicked off with Diane Kurys' "A Man in Love." The festival's choice to not open with a big, starry movie marks a surprising change of pace for the festival that has opened in recent years with "Grace of Monaco" and "The Great Gatsby." Thierry Frémaux, the director of the festival, acknowledged the shift. "The choice of this film may seem surprising," he said in a statement. "It is a clear reflection of our desire to see the Festival start with a different piece, which is both bold and moving. Emmanuelle Bercot's film makes important statements about.

Update: After savvy fest-watchers pointed out an error in today’s Cannes Film Festival announcement that Emmanuelle Bercot’s opener this year, La Tête Haute, marked the first time a female director has been selected to start the event, organizers tweeted a mea culpa. French helmer Diane Kurys previously had opening night duties in 1987 with Un Homme Amoureux: Erratum Emmanuelle Bercot has indeed be preceded by Diane Kurys in 1987 to open the Festival. Congrats & thanks…...

La belle saison

Director: Catherine Corsini // Writers: Catherine Corsini, Laurette Polmanss

French director Catherine Corsini isn’t very well known in the Us, though many should be familiar with her 2009 title Leaving, which headlined Kristin Scott Thomas. She’s premiered at Cannes on four occasions, last in 2012 in Un Certain Regard with Three Worlds (which happens to be one of her weaker efforts—Corsini played in the Main Comp in 2001 with La Repetition). Her latest, La belle saison (The Beautiful Summer), is set in 1971, and concerns the budding relationship between two women from very different walks of life, something which throws both their lives into turmoil (which sounds an awful lot like post-war Diane Kurys material). Corsini (who often features striking actresses in her work, including Catherine Frot, Scott Thomas, and Clotilde Hesme) snags Cecile de France as one part of this duo, not to mention the always engaging Noemie Lvovsky.

The Academy has announced the new class of invited members for 2014 and, as is typical, many of which are among last year's nominees, which includes Barkhad Abdi, Michael Fassbender, Sally Hawkins, Mads Mikkelsen, Lupita Nyong'o and June Squibb in the Actors branch not to mention curious additions such as Josh Hutcherson, Rob Riggle and Jason Statham, but, okay. The Directors branch adds Jay and Mark Duplass along with Jean-Marc Vallee, Denis Villeneuve and Thomas Vinterberg. I didn't do an immediate tally of male to female additions or other demographics, but at first glance it seems to be a wide spread batch of new additions on all fronts. The Academy is also clearly attempting to aggressively bump up the demographics as this is the second year in a row where they have added a large number of new members, well over the average of 133 new members from 2004 to 2012. As far as...