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The opening shot of Souleymane’s Story finds Souleymane (Abou Sangare) standing in line in Paris for an asylum hearing, waiting to learn whether he officially counts as someone. He’s a recent arrival from Guinea, and across the film, director Boris Lojkine traces the man’s progress, at once literal and existential, through moments of hope and desperation.

After the title card, the film jumps back in time 48 hours to trace Souleymane’s daily grind as a delivery driver, during which time he’s at the mercy of ever-dinging notifications that remind him to enter codes and sometimes verify his face before schlepping food to customers. Turns out, Souleymane is renting an UberEats account from a friend, Emmanuel (Emmanuel Yovanie), who must occasionally verify Souleymane’s identity and collect his earnings. In the hands of the filmmakers, these petty humiliations accumulate into a quietly blistering indictment of a culture...

The Match Factory has acquired international sales rights for “Julian,” the debut feature from Belgian director Cato Kusters. The film is set to premiere in the Discovery section at Toronto Film Festival.

“Julian” marks the first majority production from The Reunion, the new production company of Belgian filmmaker brothers Lukas and Michiel Dhont, the writer-director and producer, respectively, of 2022 Cannes Grand Prix winner and 2023 Oscar nominee “Close.”

Both “Close” and Lukas Dhont’s debut “Girl,” which won Cannes’ Camera d’Or in 2018, were represented by The Match Factory.

Kusters works as an editor and director on short films and music videos. Her graduation short “Finn’s Heel” (2022) won the jury prize at the Ghent Film Festival and the audience award for best international short film at the Festival de Films de Femmes. The film caught the attention of the Dhont brothers, and she began developing “Julian” with them in 2022.

“Julian...

Comedy actor and writer John Early has added director to his resume as he brings his first feature, Maddie’s Secret, to open the Toronto Film Festival Discovery sidebar for first-time and emerging filmmakers.

The film about Maddie, a Food Network content creator trying not to allow her dark past to pierce her perfect veneer, stars many of Early’s colleagues in the L.A. stand-up comedy scene, including Kate Berlant, Vanessa Bayer and Connor O’Malley.

In all, Discovery programmers have assembled 23 world premieres for their 25th edition. Also booked into the Toronto section is director Nadia Latif’s The Man in My Basement, which plays with the horror genre and stars Corey Hawkins as an African American man about to lose his family’s home, until a white businessman (Willem Dafoe) offers to rent his basement to clear his debts in a deal he chose not to refuse, but should have.

Twenty-three world premieres representing more than 30 countries have been selected for the Discovery programme at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, among them the directing debut of US alternative comedian John Early and three films from the UK.

Discovery showcases the first or second features by directors from around the world, with past participants having included Alfonso Cuarón, Julie Dash, Jean-Marc Vallée, Christopher Nolan, Yorgos and Barry Jenkins.

Early’s satire about content culture, Maddie’s Secret, is the opening night film in this year’s Discovery section, and one of only two US titles in the line-up.

Other...

One of our favorite discoveries of last year’s Cannes Film Festival, Boris Lojkine’s Souleymane’s Story went on to pick up the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize, the Un Certain Regard prize for Best Actor (Abou Sangare), and the Fipresci Prize. Now set for an August 1 release in NYC at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Center, followed by an August 8 in LA at Laemmle Royal, Kino Lorber have debuted the new trailer and poster.

Here’s the synopsis: “Racing through the streets of Paris making food deliveries on his bicycle, Guinean immigrant Souleymane (Abou Sangare) is struggling to stay afloat. In two days, he has to report for an asylum application interview, where he must plead his case to an immigration officer (Nina Meurisse) who will determine his future in France. As he rides, he repeats his story. But Souleymane is not ready. Drawing inspiration from Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months,...

"Don't stress out. Keep optimistic." Go, Souleymane, go! Kino Lorber has revealed an official US trailer for the indie film titled Souleymane's Story in English, a superb modern day thriller set on the streets of Paris, France following an immigrant from Africa. This premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival last year and I reviewed it back then. Featuring a remarkable lead performance by Abou Sangaré - his first time ever acting in anything. He learned how to ride a bike and look like he fits right into the food delivery scene. A Paris food delivery cyclist and asylum seeker named Souleymane has two days to prepare his story for a make-or-break interview to secure legal residency. Shooting on city streets with concealed cameras, Lojkine creates a simultaneously pulse-pounding and heartrending view of contemporary Parisian life. Along with Abou Sangaré, it also stars Nina Meurisse, Alpha Oumar Sow, Emmanuel Yovanie. The...

Exclusive: Conic has acquired UK-Ireland distribution rights to Souleymane’s Story, winner of two prizes in Un Certain Regard at Cannes last year.

Conic will schedule a theatrical release for later in 2025, having acquired the film from Pyramide.

Set over 48 hours in Paris, Souleymane’s Story follows a Guinean asylum seeker racing through the streets delivering food, as he awaits the interview which will decide whether or not he will be granted residency.

It is the third film from French filmmaker Boris Lojkine, and is produced by Bruno Nahon of France’s Unité.

Souleymane’s Story won the Jury award and...

Jacques Audiard’sEmilia Pérez was named best French film of the year at the 50th César awards on Friday night (February 28), taking home seven awards from 12 nominations.

The Mexico-set musical crime thriller that won the jury prize and shared best actress award at Cannes Film Festival last May also earned a best director and adapted screenplay prize for Audiard and awards for cinematography, original music, visual effects, and sound. The film has sold some 1.2million tickets at the French box office since its August 2014 release for Pathé.

Scroll down for the full list of winners

Stars Karla Sofia Gascon and...

Jacques Audiard’sEmilia Pérez was named best French film of the year at the 50th César awards on Friday night (February 28), taking home seven awards from 12 nominations.

The Mexico-set musical crime thriller that won the jury prize and shared best actress award at Cannes Film Festival last May also earned a best director and adapted screenplay prize for Audiard and awards for cinematography, original music, visual effects, and sound. The film has sold some 1.2million tickets at the French box office since its August 2014 release for Pathé.

Scroll down for the full list of winners

Stars Karla Sofia Gascon and...

“Emilia Pérez” won Best Film from the French 2025 César Awards, a major win for the Netflix film ahead of the Oscars. Jacques Audiard’s movie had earned 13 Oscar nominations but then fell out of frontrunner status.

The film also won both Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for Jacques Audiard, though Zoe Saldaña, who has dominated the awards circuit all year, lost in an upset to Hafsia Herzi for the film “Borgo.” Saldaña though was nominated alongside Karla Sofía Gascón in the Best Actress category, and not in Best Supporting Actress.

In all, “Emilia Pérez” took home seven Césars out of 12 nominations, including Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, Best Original Music, and Best Cinematography. “The Count of Monte Cristo,” a new version of the Dumas revenge tale, led all nominees with 14, and it won two.

While the Césars this year largely did not resemble the Oscars, a few others won...

Jacques Audiard swept the board at the 50th Césars on Friday evening, winning Best Director and Film for Emilia Pérez against expectations after its award-season campaign was derailed by the uncovering of racist tweets by its star Karla Sofía Gascón.

“It’s such a pleasure although I fear you actually don’t like me,” quipped a visibly moved Audiard as he received the Directors Award, which was announced first, with Anatomy of Fall Oscar and César winner Justine Triet handing it over. “I thank my marvellous team and when I say my team it’s not in the sense of ownership, but rather a declaration of love.”

Audiard also cited Gascón, who he has publicly distanced himself from in the wake of the tweet scandal, as well as co-star Zoe Saldaña, referring to them as “My darling Zoe, my Darling Karla.”

Audiard’s Oscar hopeful also clinched Best Adapted Screenplay,...

Jacques Audiard’s crime musical “Emilia Perez” won a raft of prizes, including best film and director, at the 50th edition of the Cesar Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscars, on Friday in Paris.

“Emilia Perez” won a total of seven awards out of 12 nominations. While Zoe Saldana and Karla Sofía Gascón were both on hand and nominated for best actress, they lost to Hafsia Herzi, who starred as a prison supervisor in Stéphane Demoustier’s “Borgo.”

Gascón made her first award show appearance at the Cesar Awards ceremony after laying low in the wake of her offensive posts. Although she skipped the press line on the red carpet, Gascón sat on the same row as Audiard and Saldana inside the Olympia theater, but didn’t seat next to them and didn’t seem to be on speaking terms.

The ceremony’s emcee, French actor Jean-Pascal Zadi, tried to...

Jacques Audiard’s Oscar contender Emilia Pérez was the big winner at the 50th César Awards, France’s equivalent of the Oscars, taking best film and best director among multiple honors.

Audiard won best director and best adapted screenplay for Emilia Pérez, and the film also took honors for best sound, best cinematography, best visual effects and best original music.

But Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón, who walked the red carpet at the Paris gala, returning to the spotlight for the first time since the eruption of the controversy surrounding her offensive resurfaced tweets, lost out in the best actress race to Hafsia Herzi, who won for her role as a female prison guard in Stéphane Demoustier’s drama Borgo.

Gascón, who is Spanish, skipped Spain’s national film awards, the Goyas, earlier this month following the backlash over her past social media posts. Netflix removed the actress, the...

The Count of Monte Cristo, Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière’s retelling of the classic French revenge tale, is the front-runner for this year’s César Awards, scoring 14 nominations, including in the best film and best directing categories.

The period drama, starring Pierre Niney, beat out Jacques Audiard’s Oscar frontrunner Emilia Pérez, which got 12 noms, and Beating Hearts, Gilles Lellouche’s contemporary reimagining of Romeo and Juliet featuring François Civil and Adèle Exarchopoulos, which earned 13 nominations.

Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patelliere’s lavish adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ classic was the biggest French box office hit of last year, drawing close to 10 million viewers for a $40 million local take. Globally, the film has grossed more than $75 million.

Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winner, and Oscar contender, Anora, is up for the Cesar for best foreign film, against Academy Award hopefuls including Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance,...

Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre De La Patelliere’s epic literary adaptation The Count Of Monte-Cristo leads the nominations for France’s Cesar Awards with 14.

There were also strong showings from Gilles Lellouche’s Beating Hearts with 13 and Jacques Audiard’s Oscar and Bafta-nominated Emilia Perez with 12.

Scroll down for the full list of nominations

The Count Of Monte-Cristo and Emilia Perez are in the running for best film alongside Boris Lojkine’s Souleymane’s Story, Alain Guiraudie’s Misericordia and Emmanuel Courcol’s The Marching Band.

All of the films nominated for best film had their world premiere at the...

The Count of Monte Cristo has topped the nominations for France’s prestigious César awards, followed by Beating Hearts and Oscar frontrunner Emilia Pérez.

The film has made it into 14 categories in the nominations, which were announced in Paris on Wednesday morning. Beating Hearts clinched 13, followed by Emiia Pérez with 12.

Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patelliere’s lavish and fast-paced adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel starring Pierre Niney was one of France’s top performing movies at the local box office in 2024, drawing close to 10M spectators and its top international export.

Gilles Lellouche’s modern Romeo and Juliet tale Beating Hearts – co-starring François Civil and Adèle Exarchopoulos – has also performed well at home, drawing more than five million spectators.

The 12 nominations for Jacques Audiard’s Cannes Jury prize-winning musical film Emilia Pérez continue its buzzy awards season run which has seen it clinch four Golden Globes and...

It’s not only because of its similar time frame that Boris Lojkine’s hurtling, headlong social-issues drama “Souleymane’s Story” recalls “Two Days, One Night” by the Dardenne brothers. Lojkine’s film, which was awarded the jury prize and a well-deserved best actor award in the Un Certain Regard competition in Cannes, is similarly invested in its electrifying lead — non-professional Abou Sangare, making an unforgettably persuasive and poignant debut — and similarly effective in maintaining a level of urgency and high-stakes personal peril that few genre thrillers can muster. If the hero’s dire situation is a ticking clock, Lojkine’s intelligent and empathetic film places us right alongside him, with each cog of circumstance and each gear of good fortune grinding against him at every turn.

Souleymane (Sangare) is a recent arrival in Paris from Guinea, who sleeps in homeless shelters at night and works as a delivery biker by...

Ever since they were granted essential worker status during the pandemic, food deliverers on bikes have become a steady fixture of the contemporary urban landscape. And yet, most us only interact with them for a few seconds at a time, grabbing the box of pizza or bag of food, saying thank you (if we’re polite) and quickly shutting the door.

What happens after that is the subject of director Boris Lojkine’s compelling third feature, The Story of Souleymane (L’Histoire de Souleymane), a realistic and very humanistic look at one immigrant’s grueling daily life in Paris, where he struggles to make a living and obtain legal status.

Another movie immediately comes to mind here, which is Vittorio De Sica’s neorealist classic, Bicycle Thieves. Both films are structured as suspenseful, ticking-clock dramas where men navigate a ruthless city as they ride around on two wheels, doing everything they can to get by.

The French pay-TV giant also announced a surprise film festival-focused channel.

French pay-tv powerhouse Canal Plus unveiled its autumn line-up in Paris this week and announced a new channel devoted to films from well-known directors selected at global festivals called Canal+ Cinema(s) that will launch on September 1 alongside Canal+ Box Office.

The latter will feature primarily blockbusters from the US majors in addition to crowd-pleasing local fare, capitalising on themedia chronology that allows Canal+ to air films six months after their theatrical release, a major leg up compared to fellow streamers inlcuding Netflix and Prime Video that have to wait 15-17 months.

Amanda Nell Eu’s debut feature wins sidebar’s €10,000 grand prize.

Malaysian director Amanda Nell Eu’s art horror Tiger Stripes won the top €10,000 grand prize of the 62nd edition of Cannes’ Critics Week sidebar.

Nell Eu’s debut feature explores themes of metamorphosis and rebellion in her film about a teenage girl whose body begins to morph at an alarming rate as she learns to embrace her true self. The film is a multi-territory co-production between Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Indonesia and Qatar.

Screen’s review said the film “truly growls in its depiction of the...

Writer-director Céline Sciamma’s Petite Maman departs from the filmmaker’s last two feature-length directorial efforts in its comparative modesty. With none of the overt social messaging of Girlhood or the grand romance of Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Sciamma’s precisely composed images and muted dialogue serve a more intimate story about the longing to connect with one’s mother outside the bounds of the parent-offspring relationship.

Petite Maman indulges the same kind of fantasy as Robert Zemeckis’s Back to the Future, answering the question of what it would be like to meet our parents at our own age—though it’s not overly concerned with temporal paradoxes or a high-stakes race to ensure one’s genesis. Rather, Sciamma’s film is contemplative and cool almost to a fault, emphasizing the simple acts of connecting with and parting from people we care about, and the rueful inevitability of time’s passing.

Sidebar devoted to first and second films runs May 17-25.

Cannes Critics’ Week, the sidebar devoted to first and second films, has unveiled the selection for its 62nd edition running May 17-25.

Scroll down for full list of titles

A selection committee led by Ava Cahen, now in her second year in the position, chose 11 titles from 1,000 films screened and seven were selected for the competition.

All of the films in selection are world premieres. Seven are first films that will vie for the Camera d’Or and six are directed by women, including four of the seven films in competition.

Cannes Critics’ Week has announced the selection for its 62nd edition, running from May 17 to 25.

The parallel Cannes section will screen 11 features, seven in competition, and four as special screenings, selected from 1,000 submissions. Scroll down for the full list.

The section, which is overseen by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics, focuses on first and second features as well as shorts by emerging talents.

Stories of couples, parenthood, family relationships and friendships unfolding against difficult political or societal realities abound in this year’s line-up.

In Competition, Brazilian director Lillah Halla’s Power Alley (Levante) follows a budding teenage volleyball champion who discovers she is pregnant on the eve of an important championship and then comes up against Brazil’s abortion ban.

Blocked in her attempts to seek an illegal termination, the girl’s future seems to be in everyone’s hands but hers, until help comes from an unexpected quarter.

After exploring the tumults of French politics in “Baron Noir,” Oscar-nominated French-Lebanese filmmaker Ziad Doueiri immerses audiences into the rough world of French Special Forces in Iraq in “Dark Hearts.”

Ordered by Amazon Prime Video in France, “Dark Hearts” is set on the eve of the battle for Mosul in October 2016 and follows the lives of men and women who are part of a commando group deployed in Iraq to fight Isis. They are tasked with exfiltrating the daughter and grandson of an important Isis leader who will only cooperate with them on this condition.

Doueiri, who started his career in Hollywood working as a first assistant camera on movies like Quentin Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs,” was always curious about war movies but thought of them as a genre pre-empted by American filmmakers. So when French producer Gilles de Verdière at Mandarin Télévision approached him with the pitch for “Dark Hearts,...

To be seen next year in Mektoub, My Love: Canto Due and Stéphane Demoustier’s Ibiza, the always busy Hafsia Herzi leads a quartet of players in a new directorial debut that might be worth keeping tabs on. A short filmmaker and La Fémis grad, Iris Kaltenbäck will have Herzi, Alexis Manenti, Nina Meurisse and Younès Boucif to work with on Le Ravissement. Cineuropa reports that production began this week and will move into mid November. Marianne Productions’ Alice Bloch (The Heroics) and MacT Productions’ Thierry de Clermont-Tonnerre (yes part of the filmmaker family) are producing. Marine Atlan (Summer Scars – read review) is the cinematographer.…...

Ziad Doueiri, the French-Lebanese filmmaker of the Oscar-nominated movie “The Insult” who made his TV debut with the hit series “Baron Noir,” will next direct “Fièvre” (“Fever”).

“Fièvre” was penned by “Baron Noir” screenwriter Eric Benzekri and has been co-developed by French pay TV group Canal+’s Creation Originale label.

The show is being produced by Quad, the Paris-based company behind Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache’s “Intouchables” and the series “The Bonfire of Destiny.”

“Fievre” is headlined by two female characters played by Nina Meurisse, who notably starred in Celine Sciamma’s Berlinale competition film “Petite Maman,” and Julia Piaton, from Emmanuel Mouret’s “Love Affair(s)” which was part of Cannes 2020’s official selection.

Doueiri told Variety that the series will follow a woman who leads a crisis management firm and comes across a massive scandal involving a Black soccer player who beat the team’s coach, who is white.

The leaves are withering, the air is turning crisp, and film festival season is well underway — which means even more foreign-language movies to receive raves on the fall awards circuit before getting promptly buried on a streamer. But don't let that happen to "Athena," a staggering French drama that is in danger of falling into the Netflix abyss, crowded out by your "Gray Men" or "Kissing Booth's." Or check out one of last year's forgotten festival darlings in Céline Sciamma's "Petite Maman." And because spooky season is now here, we have a horror anime classic making their streaming debuts, alongside a cyberpunk anime classic. Plus, "Little Women," but make it crime?

Let's fire up those subtitles and get streaming.

Athena – Netflix

Country: France

Genre: Action drama

Director: Romain Gavras

Cast: Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon, Ouassini Embarek, Alexis Manenti.

"Athena" is a Molotov cocktail of a movie: incendiary,...

Petite Maman Review — Petite Maman (2021) Film Review, a movie written and directed by Celine Sciamma and starring Josephine Sanz, Gabrielle Sanz, Nina Meurisse, Stephane Varupenne, Margot Abascal, Flores Cardo, Josee Schuller, Guylene Pean and Masoud Tosifyan. French director Celine Sciamma is most noted for the remarkable 2019 film, Portrait of a Lady on [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: Petite Maman (2021): Celine Sciamma’s Film is an Artistically Satisfying Portrait of Youth...

There are few things in contemporary cinema as pleasurable as witnessing Céline Sciamma’s fascination with childhood. Although she doesn’t technically make films for children (although she did co-write the screenplay for My Life as a Courgette) her stories often are told from their point of view. Whether it’s young Parisian women trying to find their place in the world in Girlhood, or the child in Tomboy discovering there is more to gender than they’ve been asked to believe, Sciamma’s way of seeing the world negotiates who we were and what we can become with utter wonder. Even at the end of Portrait of a Lady on Fire, it’s the silent gaze of a child in a painting that ultimately highlights the film’s unrelenting power.

In Petite Maman, Sciamma explores the meaning of grief and how loss can strangely lead to wondrous beginnings. Not that her films,...

There is what you might call a “spoiler” in the title of Céline Sciamma’s new movie, a key to unlocking her look at childhood that’s hiding in plain sight. The French filmmaker’s follow-up to Portrait of a Lady on Fire begins not with love, but with death: An eight-year-old named Nelly (Joséphine Sanz) has just lost her elderly grandmother. Her mom (Nina Meurisse) is packing up everything in the house she grew up in, located on the edge of a forest. Dad (Stéphane Varupenne) is helping out the best he can.

Petite Maman (Little Mom) Neon Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net, linked from Rotten Tomatoes by Harvey Karten Director: Céline Sciamma Screenwriter: Céline Scimma Cast: Joséphine Sanz, Gabrielle Sanz, Nina Meurisse, Stéphane Varupenne, Margot Abascal Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 4/7/22 Opens: April 22, 2022 How much do you know about your parents’ childhoods? Are you […]

The post Petite Maman (Little Mom) Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Neon has released a new trailer for the upcoming, critically-lauded French film "Petite Maman." Our own Hoai-Tran Bui gave the movie a spectacular review, calling it "a lovely slice-of-life tale that knows that loss is so enormous and monumental that we can only linger with it for brief moments." The film, which was shot entirely during Covid with a small cast, comes to us from the writer and director of 2019's "Portrait of a Lady on Fire," Céline Sciamma. It's a magical tale of a young girl named Nelly (Joséphine Sanz) visiting the childhood home of her mother (Nina Meurisse) after the death of her grandmother (Margot Abascal)....

The post Petite Maman Trailer: A Fairy Tale of Loss and Love appeared first on /Film.

"Grab a tissue and prepare your heart." Neon has revealed an official US trailer for Petite Maman, the beloved film from Portrait of a Lady on Fire director Céline Sciamma. This first premiered at the 2021 Berlin Film Festival last year, and played at the New York Film Festival and other fests. The title translates to Little Mom, which is a reference to the film's plot and what happens with a young girl. Nelly has just lost her grandmother and is helping her parents clean out her mother's childhood home. One day her mother disappears without explanation. She explores the house and the surrounding woods, and meets another girl her exact same age. The film stars Joséphine Sanz + Gabrielle Sanz, with Nina Meurisse, Stéphane Varupenne, and Margot Abascal. It's only 72 minutes long, but it's a really lovely film that you will leave you happy no matter what. After all this time,...

Céline Sciamma's Petite Maman is showing exclusively on Mubi in many countries starting February 18, 2022 in the series Luminaries. Her films are also showing as part of the series Young Hearts Run Free: Céline Sciamma.Petite MamanOur actions define us. In the second scene of Céline Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019), the film’s protagonist, the painter Marianne (Noémie Merlant), is traveling on a boat rowed by a dozen oarsmen, when a wooden crate containing her easel is jolted into the sea. Marianne considers the situation for a few seconds, then kicks off her shoes, jumps into the cold, choppy waters in her gown and traveling coat, and swims towards her prize possession. We immediately pick up her resilience, romanticism, and independence of spirit. This scene, and another shortly afterwards where a naked Marianne smokes a pipe as she warms herself up from her efforts before a fire,...

Céline Sciamma’s beautiful fairytale about a girl who meets her mother as a child in the woods is an artistic masterstroke

Best films of 2021: the listMore on the best culture of 2021

Céline Sciamma’s beautiful fairytale reverie is occasioned by the dual mysteries of memory and the future: simple, elegant and very moving. Joséphine Sanz plays Nelly, the eight-year-old daughter of Marion (Nina Meurisse); Marion’s mother has just died in a care home. Marion and her partner (Stéphane Varupenne) take Nelly on a difficult journey to her late mother’s home, where she grew up, and the memories come flooding back – particularly that of a secret hut she built in the woods adjoining the house. Marion is overwhelmed with grief and leaves Nelly alone with her dad.

Playing in the woods she comes across what appears to be a half-finished hut in a clearing. A girl waves happily to her,...

French director Celine Sciamma has always had a keen eye for the viewpoint of children, in work including her own film Tomboy and her contributory writing for the likes of animation My Life As A Courgette. She has a sensibility for the fluidity of childhood emotions and an awareness of the flexibility of belief at an age where what adults would describe as “magical” and the lesser magic moments of the everyday are accepted equally willingly.

All of this is back in evidence here in this modern fairy story that will take its protagonist and us on an unexpected journey through time, even though we might not realise it at first. The writer/director gently explores the anxieties experienced by young Nelly (Joséphine Sanz) after the death of her grandmother along with the connections between parent and child. At her gran's house to clear out the furniture, her mum Marion...

"I've made a friend, I think." Mubi in the UK has revealed another official UK trailer for the beloved film Petite Maman, the latest feature from Portrait of a Lady on Fire director Céline Sciamma. This initially premiered at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year, and will play at the New York Film Festival next. The title translates to Little Mom, which is a reference to the film's plot and what happens with a young girl who meets another young girl in the woods one day. Nelly has just lost her grandmother and is helping her parents clean out her mother's childhood home. One day her mother disappears without explanation. She explores the house and the surrounding woods, and meets another girl her exact same age. Petite Maman stars Joséphine Sanz and Gabrielle Sanz, with Nina Meurisse, Stéphane Varupenne, and Margot Abascal. It's only 72 minutes long, but there's so much to this film.

Time to meet Nelly and Marion... Pyramide Films in France has unveiled the first official trailer for the film Petite Maman, the latest from Portrait of a Lady on Fire director Céline Sciamma. The title translates directly to Little Mom, which is a reference to the film's plot and what happens with a young girl who meets another young girl in the woods one day. Nelly has just lost her grandmother and is helping her parents clean out her mother's childhood home. One day her mother disappears without explanation. She explores the house and the surrounding woods, and meets a girl her same age building a treehouse. Petite Maman stars Joséphine Sanz and Gabrielle Sanz, with Nina Meurisse, Stéphane Varupenne, and Margot Abascal. This just premiered a few months ago at the Berlin Film Festival, and it's opening in France this June, though there's still no US opening set yet.

Following up her universally acclaimed Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Céline Sciamma was able to get a film off the ground and completed during the pandemic. Petite Maman, starring Joséphine Sanz, Gabrielle Sanz, Stéphane Varupenne, Nina Meurisse, and Margo Abascal, follows a young girl who has just lost her grandmother, then discovers a girl her own age in the woods. Following a Berlinale premiere, the film will arrive in France next month and the first international trailer has landed. Neon will also reteam with the director for a U.S. release, but a date hasn’t been confirmed yet.

Orla Smith said in our Berlinale review, “After the ambitious and wildly popular Portrait of a Lady on Fire shot Céline Sciamma into the arthouse stratosphere, she has returned with her fifth feature, Petite Maman, a warm and contained film whose scale is more akin to Tomboy. The mighty hype...

Celine Sciamma’s Berlinale competition title “Petite Maman” has been sold by MK2 Films around the world with some bidding wars in multiple territories.

The critically acclaimed film, which marks Sciamma’s follow-up to “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” has been sold to Alamode (Germany), Culture (Japan), Challan (South Korea) Sun (Latin America), Avalon (Spain), Madman (Australia/New Zealand), Red Cape (Israel), Cinéart (Benelux), Cineworx (Switzerland), Angel (Denmark), Folkets Bio (Sweden), Arthaus (Norway), Swallow Wings (Taiwan), Russian World Vision (Cis), New Horizons (Poland), Weirdwave (Greece), Midas (Portugal) and Demiurg (Ex-Yugoslavia).

“Petite Maman” was bought by Neon for North America and Mubi for the U.K. and Turkey during the virtual Berlin Film Festival. MK2 Films is currently negotiating further sales.

Described as a chamber piece, a ghost story and a fairy tale, “Petite Maman” follows Nelly, an 8-year-old girl who has just lost her beloved grandmother and is helping...

Petite Maman had its world premiere at last week’s online Berlin Film Festival.

Mubi has acquired all UK-Ireland rights to Céline Sciamma’s Petite Maman, which had its world premiere at last week’s online Berlin Film Festival.

The distributor has also acquired rights on the film for Turkey, in deals done with international sales agent mk2.

The film will be released theatrically in all territories, Mubi has confirmed to Screen.

Petite Maman centres on eight-year-old Nelly, who has just lost her grandmother and is helping clean out her mother’s childhood home, when she strikes up a relationship...

Arthouse streamer and distributor Mubi has acquired all rights for Céline Sciamma’s well-received Berlin Film Festival title Petite Maman for the UK, Ireland and Turkey.

Sciamma’s follow-up to Cannes hit Portrait of a Lady on Fire, tells the story of 8-year-old Nelly who has just lost her beloved grandmother and is helping her parents clean out her mother’s childhood home. She explores the house and the surrounding woods where her mother, Marion, used to play and built the treehouse she’s heard so much about. One day her mother abruptly leaves and Nelly meets a girl her own age, named Marion, in the woods building a treehouse.

You can check out review for the film here.

Written and directed by festival favourite Sciamma, the film was shot by cinematographer Claire Mathon, Sciamma’s frequent collaborator, and produced by Bénédicte Couvreur of Lilies Films.

Cast includes Gabrielle Sanz,...

Anyone expecting another sweeping and passionate period piece from the director of “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” should begin recalibrating their expectations for Céline Sciamma’s follow-up, “Petite Maman.”

Intimately focused on a handful of characters, with a single fantastical event setting up its direct narrative through-line, this feature plays like a novella, or a short film, or both — it’s the kind of piece that was once the bread-and-butter of PBS’ “American Playhouse” anthology series. And while “Petite Maman” is a vastly different from than “Portrait,” it furthers writer-director Sciamma’s reputation as a storyteller with a keen understanding of character and human emotion.

The film opens with young Nelly (Joséphine Sanz) bidding farewell to the residents of a nursing home where her namesake grandmother has just died. This passing is devastating for Nelly’s mother, Marion (Nina Meurisse), a woman given to moments of melancholy even under normal circumstances.

After her recent dazzling foray into historical drama, with the magnificent Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Céline Sciamma returns to the theme of childhood, which she last dealt with in Tomboy. However, to say that she returns to the present with Petite Maman would be misleading. And before you read any further, be warned that this is a film almost impossible to write about without a few spoilers.

The film begins with an end – the end of a life – and the first words we hear repeated are ‘Au revoir’ as our 8-year-old heroine Nelly (Joséphine Sanz) goes from room to room in an old people’s home to salute the inhabitants one last time. Nelly is with her parents, who are packing up her dead maternal grandmother’s belongings. Then it’s off to granny’s actual home to empty that out and then depart. There is a charming...

The two most mature and emotionally insightful seven-year-old girls you’ve ever encountered in your life are the subjects of Petite Maman. Magnetically attentive to the serious “things of life,” as the French put it, Céline Sciamma’s 72-minute study of an intense brief friendship between two girls of extraordinary similar looks prioritizes insight and emotional awareness over any artificial plot constructs. The result is a piercingly satisfying chamber drama with a lovely intimate feel.

After her great international success two years ago with Portrait Of A Lady On Fire, Sciamma was in a position to do anything she pleased, and the new film is arresting and unusual in nearly every way. The two girls in question seem half-curious kids/half-mature adults, so intently do they address matters that count in the very little time they know they’ll have together.

Both girls’ families are in stressful straits. The grandmother...

After the ambitious and wildly popular Portrait of a Lady on Fire shot Céline Sciamma into the arthouse stratosphere, she has returned with her fifth feature, Petite Maman, a warm and contained film whose scale is more akin to Tomboy. The mighty hype from Sciamma fans anticipating the film’s Berlinale premiere may be too much to bear for this delicate, low-key film. Of course it’s as impeccably directed and carefully structured as we’ve come to expect from Sciamma. But it’s more of a slow simmer than Portrait’s fiery blaze. Beware instantaneous hot takes: this is a modest work, one to sit with and chew over, one to look back on fondly after letting it percolate.

With Petite Maman, Sciamma returns to the topic of her first three features—childhood—now with one eye on the adult characters. We meet eight-year-old Nelly (Joséphine Sanz) in the hospital,...

Neon has scooped up North American rights to Céline Sciamma’s sixth feature directorial Petite Maman, bringing the Oscar-winning film studio back in business with the French filmmaker behind 2019’s award-winning pic Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Already there is great word of mouth brewing from critics on Sciamma’s new title out of its world premiere at the Berlinale.

The drama stars sisters Joséphine Sanz and Gabrielle Sanz, with Nina Meurisse, Stéphane Varupenne and Margot Abascal. In Pete Maman, 8-year-old Nelly has just lost her beloved grandmother and is helping her parents clean out her mother’s childhood home. She explores the house and the surrounding woods where her mom, Marion, used to play and built the treehouse she’s heard so much about. One day her mother abruptly leaves. That’s when Nelly meets a girl her own age in the woods building a treehouse. Her name is Marion.

Neon has acquired North American rights to Céline Sciamma’s latest feature, “Petite Maman,” following its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.

The sale reunites Sciamma with Neon, the New York-based independent studio that released her acclaimed drama “Portrait of a Lady on Fire.”

Written and directed by Sciamma, “Petite Maman” follows 8-year-old Nelly, who loses her beloved grandmother and goes to help her parents clean out her mother’s childhood home. She explores the house and the surrounding woods where her mom, Marion, used to play and build the treehouse she’s heard so much about. One day, her mother abruptly leaves. That’s when Nelly meets a girl her own age in the woods building a treehouse. Her name is Marion.

It stars sisters Joséphine and Gabrielle Sanz, as well as Nina Meurisse, Stéphane Varupenne and Margot Abascal.

Variety’s chief film critic Peter Debruge praised the film,...

Sisters Joséphine Sanz and Gabrielle Sanz star.

Neon is reuniting with Celine Sciamma and has acquired North American rights from mk2 to Berlin competition selection Petite Maman.

Sisters Joséphine Sanz and Gabrielle Sanz star in the drama about a young child mourning the loss of her grandmother who encounters a girl of her age in the woods.

‘Petite Maman’: Berlin Review

Nina Meurisse, Stéphane Varupenne and Margot Abascal round out the key cast. Bénédicte Couvreur of Lilies Films produced.

Jeff Deutchman negotiated the deal for Neon with Fionnuala Jamison of mk2 who are handling international sales.

Neon released Sciamma...

There’s a scene towards the end of Céline Sciamma’s dreamy new feature, Petite maman, in which two eight-year-old girls carry an inflatable canoe to a river, and paddle it vigorously around and under a pyramid-like structure, only to emerge on the other side. It’s hard to express succinctly what makes this brief sequence so breathtaking. Everything about it—the canoe’s canary-yellow Pro Explorer logo, the girls' bright galoshes, the angelic choral music, the transition from murkiness to the vast sweep of the autumnal landscape—is exquisite. In the subsequent medium shot, the girls’ faces have an astute, determined expression, as if they’ve just conquered the earth—or maybe something even more precious, such as a sense of their own bravery, and power. The feeling of release is immense, all the more so since much of this intimate tale takes place in contained domestic spaces, with only brief forays outdoors.