News

What if Jacques Tati made a film noir? The Falling Star offers a commendable answer to this question, though the final result does not quite live up to such expectations. This is the fifth feature from Belgium-based filmmaking duo Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon, and an ambitious one at that.

The basic premise concerns Boris (Abel), an activist-in-hiding at a local watering hole who’s finally discovered by a vengeful gunman with a mechanical arm (Bruno Romy). Despite a hilariously bungled assassination attempt, Boris needs to go into hiding once more. Boris, his partner Kayoko (Kaori Ito), and good friend Tim (Philippe Martz) conveniently stumble upon Dom (also Abel), a loner who is Boris’ spitting image. Meanwhile, Fiona (Gordon) is a shy private eye and slightly estranged wife to Dom, burdened with a fracturing marriage and a case of a missing dog. Her emotional distractions spell the dog’s doom.

The official poster and trailer for The Falling Star have been released (check them out above and below). The film will be released in New York on August 30, 2024! Kino Lorber is pleased to present The Falling Star, the enchanting new caper from Dominique Abel & Fiona Gordon that parodies film noir with their signature deadpan wit and quirky, colorful whimsy.

Synopsis: An official selection of the Telluride and Locarno Film Festivals, the latest caper from Abel & Gordon filters the language of film noir through their characteristically colorful palette to create a series of deceptively minimalistic set pieces that recall the best of Jacques Tati and Buster Keaton. Abel plays Boris, a former activist hiding from his dark past, keeping in the shadows as a barkeeper until a one-armed vigilante finally hunts him down. The fortuitous appearance of a double – the depressive recluse Dom (also played by Abel) – seems to offer the perfect decoy.

"Boris, tell them what you did!" Kino Lorber has revealed an official trailer for an indie comedy called The Falling Star, the latest creation from the Belgian filmmaker duo known as Abel & Gordon - best known as Dominique Abel & Fiona Gordon. This first premiered last year at the 2023 Locarno, Telluride, Thessaloniki Film Festivals. Kl is "pleased to present The Falling Star, the enchanting new caper from Dominique Abel & Fiona Gordon that parodies film noir with their signature deadpan wit and quirky, colorful whimsy." The story follows a former activist who's been a fugitive for 35 years, and works as a bartender now. Boris' past finally catches up with him when a mysterious stranger appears at the bar, armed, and wanting his revenge. Starring Abel & Gordon, along with dancer Kaori Ito, Philippe Martz, and Bruno Romy. This film is described by critics: "unique and poetic... a symphony of primary colours, scenes composed as if paintings,...

Next time someone wistfully insists, “They don’t make ’em like they used to,” why not point that nostalgic cinephile to the work of Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon? The Belgium-based creative couple are almost single-handedly keeping the classic burlesque tradition alive on-screen — if the word “single-handedly” can fairly be used to describe a near-silent comic duo with four hands between them, plus a growing company of collaborators (including dancer Kaori Ito) and a prosthetic arm with a mind of its own.

In “The Falling Star,” Abel and Gordon bring their old-school comedic sensibility to what could loosely be described as a detective story, told in a film noir style punctuated with flashes of color: a red dress, a tiny green car, a bright yellow scooter. Centered on a tiny Brussels bar, the pair’s relatively minor new project features a missing persons investigation, a sorta-kinda kidnapping, a fugitive couple...

“Lost in Paris” directing duo Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon have shared a first look at their new film “The Falling Star,” which premieres at this year’s Locarno Film Festival.

Abel and Gordon also star in the film, which follows Boris (Abel), a former activist who works at a bartender at the Falling Star. According to the film’s official synopsis, Boris’ “guilty past resurfaces when a victim finds him and wants revenge. The appearance of a double, the depressed and solitary Dom (Abel), provides Boris, his resourceful partner Kayoko and their faithful friend Tim with the perfect escape plan. But they haven’t accounted for Dom’s ex-wife (Gordon), a suspicious detective on their trail.”

The new clip sees Gordon, as Dom’s ex-wife Fiona, going to great lengths to transport a tall sunflower stalk. She arrives at a graveyard and, after delivering the sunflower to a particular grave,...

L’Étoile filante

After an output with Bruno Romy on their first three features the Belgian tandem of Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon moved into their fifth feature film last July. Dubbed as a darkly comic mystery thriller, L’Étoile filante (The Falling Star) will once again showcase the two in front of the camera. Dancer Kaori Ito is also cast. Very much in the whimsical Tati vein, the pair have premiered at several major film festivals over the years even netting a surprise world premiere invite at the Telluride Film Fest back in 2016 for Lost in Paris.…...

This number will increase as Cannes, Venice and other summer festival titles are added to the mix alongside studio releases.

French cinemas reopen this Wednesday (May 19) after lying dark for six months due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with the country’s 100-plus distributors rushing to set theatrical dates for an estimated backlog of 400 stalled films.

As a result, French cinemagoers will have access to the richest and most diverse offering of films in the world over the coming months, spanning festival titles, local mainstream comedies and dramas, world cinema and studio blockbuster fare, as the summer advances.

As of May...

The Urban Chestnut Beer poured freely (because it was free) at the Urban Chestnut Microbrewery in the Grove neighborhood inSt. Louis last night. It was the closing-night party for the 26th Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival where the slate of audience-choice and juried-competition winners were announced to an attentive crowd. Sliff presented four major filmmaking awards during the course of the 2017 festival: Charles Guggenheim Cinema St. Louis Award to Dan Mirvish; Women in Film Award to Pam Grier; Lifetime Achievement Awards to Sam Pollard; and the Contemporary Cinema Award to Marco Williams.

Tribeca Film Institute’s If/Then Short Documentary Pitch Competition

Tribeca Film Institute, in partnership with Sliff, sought short documentary projects by filmmakers living and working in the Midwest for its new If/Then Short Documentary Program, made possible with support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Five projects were invited to enter...

No modern comedy group has shown as much commitment to resurrecting the spirit of classic slapstick than Brussels-based husband-and-wife comedy duo Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon. They have performed for decades, but only brought their talents into feature-length filmmaking in the last 10 years, with films like the wordless “Rumba” and “The Fairy” showcasing their commitment to a humor otherwise absent from contemporary cinema. Their lanky figures are ideal vessels for deadpan visuals that mine territory ranging from Charlie Chaplin to Jacques Tati. “Lost in Paris,” their fourth effort (and first without co-director Bruno Romy), continues that earnest commitment to the genre by tapping into the material’s appeal without reinventing it.

Abel and Gordon have yet to produce a full-bodied work with more originality than references, and “Lost in Paris” doesn’t move the needle in that regard. But it’s another charming doodle that does justice to their brand of studied humor.

Dark Horse (15)

(Todd Solondz, 2011, Us) Selma Blair, Jordan Gelber, Christopher Walken, Mia Farrow, Justin Bartha, Zachary Booth. 86 mins

Trust Todd Solondz to give us the flipside of movie man-childhood. There's nothing funny or adorable about 35-year-old Abe (Gelber), who lives with his parents, collects action figures and has no idea of his own uselessness. He meets his match (sort of) in the virtually comatose Blair, and what ensues is a romcom that's neither romantic nor comical, but beneath the misanthropy lurks some kind of compassion.

Killer Joe (18)

(William Friedkin, 2011, Us) Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Juno Temple. 102 mins

Curdling Texan noir and melodrama in a bizarre, curiously fascinating thriller.

The King Of Devil's Island (12A)

(Marius Holst, 2010, Nor/Fra/Swe/Pol) Stellan Skarsgård, Benjamin Helstad. 116 mins

Prison thriller set on a 1950s Norwegian borstal island.

Storage 24 (15)

(Johannes Roberts, 2012, UK) Noel Clarke, Colin O'Donoghue. 87 mins

Minimal sci-fi thriller set in a London storage unit.

Prometheus’ reign at the top of the Box Office chart finally came to an end this week as it drops down to fourth place with Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter landing the top spot. The Five Year Engagement also did pretty well going in at three, just behind MIB3 in second place.

Stephen Frears’ latest offering fared rather terribly though as despite a pretty widespread release it took only £117,000 in its first week. To put that into perspective, that leaves it trailing behind low-budget horror’s like Chernobyl Diaries and animated abominations likes Top Cat.

There’s not been a large-scale summer blockbuster released for a few weeks now so one of this week’s mid-carders will no doubt be hoping to capitalise. Out of the gaggle of movies out this week, relationship comedy Friends With Kids seems the obvious choice for Box Office success. It’s the directorial debut of Jennifer Westfeldt,...

The dynamic trio of filmmakers, Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy who gave us the delightfully enrapturing Rumba in 2008 have brought their dance/mime format back for another outing, The Fairy (La fée). Theirs is an old-fashioned, visual performance art that translates brilliantly on screen and is simply delightful to watch and totally unique in today’s action-stuffed, 3D cinematic arena.

In The Fairy, Abel plays hotel clerk Dom who leads a solitary life running a hotel at night. One evening he is interrupted eating his dinner and watching a film by a series of guests. The first is John, l’Anglais (Romy) who in pidgin French, asks for a room to stay in but has an unwanted four-legged friend in tow. The second is Fiona (Gordon) who claims to be a fairy and grants Dom three wishes. Dom falls for the enigmatic Fiona after two of his three wishes come true.

★★★☆☆ Flawed, modern day fairytale The Fairy (La fée, 2011) is the third film from comic-collaborators Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy. Dom works in a small hotel just outside of Le Havre. One night a barefoot, luggage-less woman named Fiona walks in claiming to be a fairy and offers Dom three wishes. After asking for two (he is unable to decide on the third) they are mysteriously granted and Fiona disappears. Love-struck with Fiona the now forlorn, Dom goes in search of his fairy princess only to discover her in a mental hospital.

Read more »...

This review originally ran in November when The Fairy played as part of the St. Louis International Film Festival

What if you met a real life fairy? How would you know? What would you do? American audiences had a similar proposition presented through cinema in 1984′s Splash, replacing a fairy with a mermaid, with whom Tom Hanks fell deeply in love with. The 2011 French film La Fee (The Fairy) is also a romantic fantasy, co-written and co-directed by Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy.

The Fairy is about a man named Dom, played by Dominique Abel. He works as the front desk clerk in a small hotel. He’s friendly, quiet, and perhaps more than a little naive. In the beginning of the film, Dom is hoping to settle down for the evening with some television and a sandwich. Unfortunately, business chooses otherwise.

After first handling an odd customer and his scurrying bag,...

Title: The Fairy Reviewed for Shockya by Harvey Karten Director: Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon, Bruno Romy Screenwriter: Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon, Bruno Romy Cast: Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon, Bruno Romy, Philippe Martz, Vladimir Zorano, Destiné M’Bikula Mayemba, Wilson Goma Cast: Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon, Philippe Martz, Bruno Romy Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 2/7/12 Opens: February 24, 2012 No cinephile could possibly watch this movie without thinking of Jacques Tati (1908-82), a French director, who may well have been the inspiration for the Belgo-Canadian-French directors of “The Fairy.” Tati’s theme, like that portrayed by Buster Keaton, is that individual personality is warped by unfeeling organizations–which the principal characters try to...

Art films don’t have to be serious, but a lot of them are. Madness, suffering, death—at times these become depressingly familiar themes at film festivals. For this reason, the rare comedy film is welcome: comedy highlights of last year’s festivals were Matchmaking Mayor at Berlin and Sons of Norway in Reykjavik. Although you’re primed to enjoy them, comedies are a reliable choice, as they typically have to be original, as well as funny, to be included in the festival.

What if you could have a festival that showed nothing but comedies? And what if it cheered you up during the most depressing month of the year? That’s just what the charity ‘Loco’ has done this year. London’s very first comedy film festival is taking place this weekend at the BFI. It started last night, and you’ll have to be quick if you want...

The 20th Annual Stella Artois St. Louis International Film Festival (Sliff), which began on Nov. 10, concluded on Nov. 20. Nearly 24,000 people attended . 23,948 patrons participated in fest-related events, a 23 percent increase from 2010 and a festival record.

Awards were announced at the Nov. 20 closing-night party at the Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark:

Audience Choice Awards

Best Narrative Feature: .In Darkness,. by Agnieszka Holland

Best International Narrative Feature: .The Artist,. by Michael Hazanavicius

Leon Award for Best Documentary Feature: .Carol Channing: Larger Than Life,. by Dori Berinstein

New Filmmakers Forum Emerging Director Award

.96 Minutes,. by Aimee Lagos ($500 cash prize)

Interfaith Awards

Best Narrative Feature: .The White Meadows,. by Mohammed Rasoulof

Best Documentary Feature: .The Welcome,. by Kim Shelton

Midrash Awards

Best Narrative Feature: .Joint Body,. by Brian Jun ($500 cash prize)

Best Documentary Feature: .The Pruitt-Igoe Myth,. by Chad Freidrichs ($300 cash prize)

Short Film Awards

Best of Fest: .Baby,. by Daniel Mulloy

Best Local Short: .My Best Wand,...

It was a late night down at the Ballpark Hilton where Cinema St. Louis held their annual post-fest awards party for the St. Louis International Film Festival last night. The most coveted prize is the audience-choice award and this year it was a bit of a surprise when In Darkness was announced as the winner. The Descendants or The Artist both seemed like more obvious choices but Agnieszka Holland’s drama about Jewish refugees living in the sewers beneath in Nazi-occupied Poland apparently wowed St. Louis audiences enough to take home the prize. It was not a film that We Are Movie Geeks was able to review in our extensive coverage of the fest, but one we will certainly look forward to seeing and reviewing. The Artist received the second highest number of votes and was named “Best Foreign Narrative Feature”. Big congratulations to Cinema St. Louis. This was their...

What if you met a real life fairy? How would you know? What would you do? American audiences had a similar proposition presented through cinema in 1984.s Splash, replacing a fairy with a mermaid, with whom Tom Hanks fell deeply in love with. The 2011 French film La Fee (The Fairy) is also a romantic fantasy, co-written and co-directed by Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy.

The Fairy is about a man named Dom, played by Dominique Abel. He works as the front desk clerk in a small hotel. He.s friendly, quiet, and perhaps more than a little naïve. In the beginning of the film, Dom is hoping to settle down for the evening with some television and a sandwich. Unfortunately, business chooses otherwise.

After first handling an odd customer and his scurrying bag, Dom meets Fiona, played by Fiona Gordon. Fiona is a spritely woman. This is fitting,...

Anarchic comedy involving a fairy and a receptionist at a seaside hotel.

Belgium-based actors Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy are the modern embodiment of a slapstick lineage stretching back through Jacques Tati to Buster Keaton and beyond. While the likes of Rowan Atkinson put the emphasis on general bungling, their physical comedy is altogether more absurdist and, in keeping with this particular film's title, fey.

Their feature debut Iceberg, was rather rough around the edges, feeling more like a string of sketches than a genuine narrative, but with this, their...

I am very intrigued by "The Artist." It's a silent film after all (which is pretty cool!), but it's generating enough Oscar buzz that I cannot simply ignore it! But the road to the Oscars is still quite long and tumultuous even though the preeminent Academy Awards vote-getter, the Weinstein company, is behind the Michel Hazanavicius movie. Still, it would be awesome for "The Artist" to score a Best Picture Nomination! The last time a silent film scored a victory was in 1929 with "The Patriot."

The French film (or does language even matter since it's silent?) stars Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo and takes place in Hollywood between 1927 and 1931. It has "A Star is Born" story, if you may, that talks about a relationship between a declining male star and a rising actress. It also talks about the end of the silent film era and the beginning of the talkies.

It may be winter down under, but the Melbourne International Film Festival is gearing up for its 60th edition with Cannes Directors Fortnight opener "The Fairy" by Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy slated to launch the event July 21st. The film pays homage to Chaplin, Keaton and Jacques Tati, to which the filmmakers add a few contemporary socio-political twists. Overall, 300-plus films are on tap for this year's ...

Opening the 60th Melbourne International Film Festival, which will kick off in just over a fortnight, is the Belgian film The Fairy, which also opened the Cannes Directors' Fortnight. Directed by Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy, the Belgium / French / Australian / Canadian trio have crafted a humorous and nostalgic tale, which pays homage to the great screen comedians Chaplin, Keaton and Jacques Tati, while adding a few contemporary socio-political twists.   There are also a slew of new local productions offered up in the Australian Showcase including Fred Schepisi's The Eye of the Storm, which will have its World Premiere on July 23.

To follow up on yesterday's roundup of Un Certain Regard remainders...

"The Tati-inspired dance trio of Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon, and Bruno Romy are at it again, crafting an awfully similar follow-up to their previous feature, Rumba." Blake Williams for Ioncinema: "The Fairy is light on magic and the supernatural, but flutters breezily along with joke-a-minute fluff…. As in their other films, the 'plot' — this one involving a wish-granting fairy — is only really a conceit by which to give the illusion of continuity to what is essentially a string of short films." Screen's Fionnuala Halligan's enjoyed it, though: "Theirs is an old-fashioned, almost silent, routine (their first feature L'Iceberg was virtually wordless) blended beautifully with an arresting dance element." In the Hollywood Reporter, Jordan Mintzer notes that "Tati's hand is evident in the exceptionally precise art direction and camerawork by regulars Nicholas Girault and Claire Childeric."

"The Silver Cliff was...

The Fairy romantic comedy directed by Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy, will be distributed in the U.S. by Kino Lorber, reports Variety. The Fairy opened Directors' Fortnight, gaining solid critical response. The directing trio based in Belgium previously helmed Iceberg and Rumba. Nathanael Karmitz' production, distribution and sales company MK2, which is based in Paris, sold The Fairy. Pic was also picked up by Pandastorm for distribution in Austria and Germany, Praesens for Switzerland, Cineart for Benelux and Bir Films for Turkey.

The Fairy romantic comedy directed by Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy, will be distributed in the U.S. by Kino Lorber, reports Variety. The Fairy opened Directors' Fortnight, gaining solid critical response. The directing trio based in Belgium previously helmed Iceberg and Rumba. Nathanael Karmitz' production, distribution and sales company MK2, which is based in Paris, sold The Fairy. Pic was also picked up by Pandastorm for distribution in Austria and Germany, Praesens for Switzerland, Cineart for Benelux and Bir Films for Turkey.

The Fairy romantic comedy directed by Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy, will be distributed in the U.S. by Kino Lorber, reports Variety. The Fairy opened Directors' Fortnight, gaining solid critical response. The directing trio based in Belgium previously helmed Iceberg and Rumba. Nathanael Karmitz' production, distribution and sales company MK2, which is based in Paris, sold The Fairy. Pic was also picked up by Pandastorm for distribution in Austria and Germany, Praesens for Switzerland, Cineart for Benelux and Bir Films for Turkey.

Updated through 5/9.

Along with the trailer for Hong Sang-soo's The Day He Arrives, another's just appeared for Kim Ki-duk's Arirang. Both will be screening in Un Certain Regard and, if you're checking the entry rounding up all the current news on the lineup of the Official Selection, you'll see, first, that it's being continuously updated (as are the entries on Critics' Week and Directors' Fortnight), and second, another trailer: the one for Na Hong-jin's Yellow Sea. And of course, you've seen the trailers for Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life and Lars von Trier's Melancholia. Let's have a look at a few more.

Here's one for Joseph Cedar's Footnote:

And here's another and another.

Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's The Kid with a Bike:

Update, 5/9: The Playlist has two clips.

Julie Leigh's Sleeping Beauty:

Nanni Moretti's We Have a Pope, with Michel Piccoli...

Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy's La Fee (The Fairy) will open this year's Directors' Fortnight on May 12 and Bouli Lanners's Les Géants (The Giants) will close it on May 22. Here's how the full lineup of 25 films pans out.

The Fairy. From MK2: "Dom works the night shift in a small hotel near the industrial sea port of Le Havre. One night, a woman arrives with no luggage and no shoes. Her name is Fiona. She tells Dom she is a fairy and grants him three wishes. Fiona makes two wishes come true, then mysteriously disappears. Dom, who by then has fallen in love with Fiona searches for her everywhere and eventually finds her. In the psychiatric hospital where she has been interned. The filmmakers behind the critically acclaimed Iceberg and Rumba are back to enchant the world."

Karim Ainouz's O abismo prateado.

Urszula Antoniak's Code Blue.

The lineup for the Cannes film festival has been finalized with the announcement of the Directors’ Fortnight lineup, which includes Guilty of Romance by one of my personal favourite directors, Sion Sono. The Directors’ Fortnight is an independent section held in parallel to the Cannes Film Festival. The section was created in 1969 after the events of May 1968, in which the Cannes festival was canceled in solidarity with striking workers.

The Directors’ Fortnight showcases a programme of shorts and feature films as well as documentaries from all over the world.

Here’s the complete list of titles:

Directors’ Fortnight Lineup

“Apres le sud,” France, Jean-Jacques Jauffret

“Blue Bird,” Belgium, Gust Van den Berghe

“Breathing,” Austria, Karl Markovics

“Code Blue,” Netherlands-Denmark, Urszula Antoniak

“Corpo celeste,” Italy-Switzerland-France, Alice Rohrwacher

“End of Silence,” France-Austria, Roland Edzard

“La Fee,” Belgium-France, Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon, Bruno Romy (opening film)

“Les Geants,” Belgium-France-Luxembourg, Bouli Lanners (closing film)

“Impardonnables,...

We got the first round of Cannes Film Festival line-up last week, then the Critics’ Week contenders yesterday. Today, the line-up for Director’s Fortnight and Short Film competition has been released. Check out the line-ups below via Deadline and Twitch. Twitch also provides images for Irish director Rebecca Daly‘s debut in the Director’s Fortnight film The Other Side Of Sleep.

It’s worth noting that jury president Michel Gondry will award the Short Film Palme d’Or on the last day of the fest, May 22nd. Bright Star director Jane Campion and Lynne Ramsay, who directed this year’s competition title We Need To Talk About Kevin, both got their start in this competition. Check out the line-ups below and come back for our coverage straight from the fest.

Short Film:

Completing the list of the Official Selection of the 64th Festival de Cannes, and composed this...

Vimukthi Jayasundara

An Indo-France co-production, Chhatrak (Mushrooms) directed by Sri Lankan filmmaker Vimukthi Jayasundara is a part of the official lineup of Cannes Directors Fortnight.

Co-produced by Bappaditya Bandopadhyay from India, Mushrooms is Vimukthi Jayasundara’s third feature film. His debut film The Forsaken Land had won the Camera d’Or for best debut feature at Cannes in 2005.

The complete lineup for Directors Fortnight includes 25 films out of which 6 are first films making them eligible to compete for Camera d’Or.

Directors’ Fortnight Lineup

Apres le sud, France, Jean-Jacques Jauffret

Blue Bird, Belgium, Gust Van den Berghe

Breathing, Austria, Karl Markovics

Code Blue, Netherlands-Denmark, Urszula Antoniak

Corpo celeste, Italy-Switzerland-France, Alice Rohrwacher

End of Silence, France-Austria, Roland Edzard

La Fee, Belgium-France, Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon, Bruno Romy (opening film)

Les Geants, Belgium-France-Luxembourg, Bouli Lanners (closing film)

Impardonnables, France, Andre Techine

The Island, Bulgaria-Sweden, Kamen Kalev

Iris in Bloom, France, Valerie Mrejen

Joan Captive,...

By Sean O’Connell

Hollywoodnews.com: The Director’s Fortnight sidebar at the annual Cannes Film Festival usually offers a strong counterpart of experimental fare, and this year appears to be no different.

Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy are just a few of the international talents picked to fill the 25-film selection, with Romy’s “The Fairy” opening the sidebar and Bouli Lanners’ “The Giants” closing the program.

The sidebar’s artistic director Frederic Boyer announced the eclectic lineup Tuesday in Paris.

“We’re starting off with a short film and ending with a short film – I don’t want to tire out the Cannes spectators, especially at the end of the festival,” Boyer said.

The Directors Fortnight sidebar runs May 12–22 in Cannes.

Follow Hollywood News on Twitter for up-to-date news information.

Hollywood News, Hollywood Awards, Awards, Movies, News, Award News, Breaking News, Entertainment News, Movie News, Music...

Linda Cardellini plays a soldier who returns home from a tour of duty and has trouble adjusting in artist-turned-director Liza Johnson’s debut feature Return. John Slattery and Michael Shannon co-star. Return is the only U.S. movie selected to play in the prestigious Cannes sidebar Directors' Fortnight, announced this morning in Paris. Johnson is one of several female directors injecting a dose of estrogen into this year’s 25-film lineup. Other women directors include Ireland's Rebecca Daly, whose first film The Other Side of Sleep tells the story of a sleepwalker in a rural town searching for her mother’s killer; Polish filmmaker Urszula Antoniak (Code Blue); Canada’s Isabelle Lavigne and Stephane Thibault (At Night They Dance); and Morocco’s Leila Kilani (Sur La Planche). Directors’ Fortnight runs May 12-22. The lineup: -- Apres le sud (France) - Jean-Jacques Jauffret -- Blue Bird (Belgium) - Gust Van den Berghe...

Infusing last year's Cannes with such unique films as Greece's Dogtooth, Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno and the biking in the birthday suit comedy The Misfortunates, the all encompassing heavyweight French unit MK2 is on one of those odd winning streaks – managing to find/rep films that are celebrated at not only the major heavyweight film fests, but the “second tier” noteworthy fests as well – such as the Rotterdams and the Locarnos of this world we brought about Alamar (To the Sea) and Nothing Personal. - Infusing last year's Cannes with such unique films as Greece's Dogtooth, Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno and the biking in the birthday suit comedy The Misfortunates, the all encompassing heavyweight French unit MK2 is on one of those odd winning streaks – managing to find/rep films that are celebrated at not only the major heavyweight film fests, but the “second tier” noteworthy fests...

Infusing last year's Cannes with such unique films as Greece's Dogtooth, Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno and the biking in the birthday suit comedy The Misfortunates, the all encompassing heavyweight French unit MK2 is on one of those odd winning streaks – managing to find/rep films that are celebrated at not only the major heavyweight film fests, but the “second tier” noteworthy fests as well – such as the Rotterdams and the Locarnos of this world we brought about Alamar (To the Sea) and Nothing Personal. This year they present films from distinguished auteurs in Kiarostami (see Binoche in still above) and Zhang-ke, but anyone who follows the site knows how much we look forward in seeing Abdellatif Kechiche's next feature – headed to and to be celebrated in, Venice. P.S: MK2 reps can invite me to see the first images of the biopic set way before our time. Black Venus...

Before cavemen could tell the most basic joke, he had to rely on other means of eliciting a laugh from the cavewoman he wanted to drag into the back of a cave and ravage. That method was physical comedy. Maybe he’d try to hold on to a fish as it slipped up, up and away from his desperate hands? Or perhaps he’d turn suddenly and hit the friend next to him with the wildebeest racked across his shoulders. Physical comedy was the original tool of love. Accordingly it has evolved (like man) to accommodate more sophisticated times and has become an art form of sorts. Jacques Tati, Charlie Chaplin, John Cleese and (dare I say it?) Rowan Atkinson all have turned the prat fall into a noble convention that few since have mastered. However, if Rumba is any indication, Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy may be...

Mark Webb's "(500) Days of Summer" will serve as opening-night film at the 11th annual RiverRun International Film Festival, which runs April 22-29 in Winston-Salem, N.C. For its closing night, the fest will screen Harold Lloyd's 1928 silent comedy "Speedy," accompanied by the Alloy Orchestra.

The fest will present its inaugural Emerging Master Award to filmmaker Ramin Bahrani following a screening of his latest film, "Goodbye Solo."

RiverRun will screen 37 features and 63 shorts from 26 countries.

"Over the past few years, RiverRun has developed a loyal following and built a reputation as one of the country's most prestigious regional film festivals. I think that's because we place such an emphasis on filmmakers and the power and urgency of new cinematic voices, such as Ramin Bahrani, the recipient of our inaugural Emerging Master Award," executive director Andrew Rodgers said. "As far as what's different this year, we've extended the dates of the...

Chicago – We’re back with our look at week two of the The 12th Annual EU Film Festival at the Siskel Film Center, one of the best film events of the year in the Windy City. If you missed part one and want to relive the best of the first seven days of the fest, check it out here. On to week two…

This year’s edition, running from March 6th to April 2nd, includes high profile films from world renowned filmmakers like Peter Greenaway, Francois Ozon, Agnes Varda, Nicholas Roeg, Shane Meadows, Olga Malea, and Olivier Assayas, along with some movies that probably won’t be seen outside of the EU in the Windy City.

The 12th Annual European Union Film Festival includes 59 feature films, all of which are making their Chicago premiere. If you’re interested in seeing something off the beaten path, the EU is the fest for you.

Cannes Film Festival Critics Week

Why change a winning team? Such is the argument underlying "Rumba", the follow-up by Fiona Gordon, Dominique Abel and Bruno Romy to their critically successful but commercially underperforming slapstick comedy "The Iceberg", which played at Cannes two years ago.

The winsome threesome will be hoping for better returns from their latest foray into gentle whimsy and physical comedy whose style is usually associated with silent movies. However, there is no more evidence now that the general public is ready for a revival of Tati-esque humor, the trio's trademark. Festivals and arthouse circuits appear to be the natural home for "Rumba".

Fiona and Dom (played, of course, by Gordon and Abel) are a married couple who teach at a rural school in northern France and share a passion for Latin dancing. Driving back from a weekend competition, they swerve to avoid a man (Romy) on a suicide mission and crash into a wall. Fiona loses a leg and Dom his memory. They are then separated following a fire in which their house burns down.

This simple narrative serves as a peg on which Gordon, an Australian-born Canadian, and her Belgian partner Abel hang what is essentially a series of sketches and visual gags. Many of them are wordless -- as with "The Iceberg", dialogue is at a premium -- and take place within a fixed frame.

There is much in "Rumba" to please discerning audiences. Pre-title sequences are particularly inventive. Gordon and Abel make imaginative use of back-projection, notably during the hectic car journey in which they rush back home to fetch their dancing clothes, and of overhead shots and shadow-play to highlight their dance routines. There is plenty of slapstick, too, but the couple's humor is mostly deadpan. Responses will range from guffaws to a twitch of the lips, according to taste.

Perhaps the movie could best be considered a family entertainment -- a little of something for everyone. One admires the commitment of the filmmakers and freshness of much of the material, but the rarified nature of the humor means that the movie never fully engages.

Production companies: MK2, Courage Mon Amour, RTBF

Cast: Fiona Gordon, Dominique Abel, Bruno Romy, Philippe Martz, Clement Morel.

Directors/screenwriters: Fiona Gordon, Dominique Abel, Bruno Romy.

Executive producers: Claire Dornoy, Abel & Gordon.

Produces: Marin Karmitz, Nathanael Karmitz, Charles Gillibert, Abel & Gordon.

Photography: Claire Childeric.

Production design: Nicolas Girault.

Costumes: Claire Dubien.

Editor: Sandrine Deegen.

Sales: MK2 Diffusion.

No MPAA rating, 77 minutes.

• Before we begin what should be a grueling, exhausting, yet painlessly pleasurable coverage of the 61st edition of the Cannes film festival (I've got north of 40 films/events that I ambitiously want to cover), I first wanted to begin Ioncinema.com's coverage of the fest with an overview of the four sections of the festival and what I predict should be critically well-received pictures to look out for. We first begin with the Critic's Week (47th Semaine Int. de la Critique) sidebar which has a distinctive Euro-flavoring this year. Home (Ursula Meier) Workshopped at Cannes, this is a world premiere and last minute addition to the section. Starring Isabelle Huppert and Olivier Gourmet, this follows a family whose peaceful existence in an isolated country home is threatened with the reconstruction of a busy highway nearby. Lake Tahoe (Fernando Eimbcke) Selected as Fipresci Revelation of the year, this coming of

...

• Critic’s Week is a smaller-in-scope, parallel event that might come across as Cannes' least desirable, but the fact is: this is a sidebar that manages to offer some solid debut and second time efforts. Last year, the Espace Miramar (a serious walk from the traffic jams of the festival core) was overwhelmed by salivating fans awaiting the solo screening for Gael Garcia Bernal debut film Déficit, but the section also offered international festival favorites in Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen’s Jellyfish (Meduzot) and Lucia Puenzo Xxy and special screenings for Juan Antonio Bayona’s horror mystery The Orphanage and French filmmaker pairing Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo’s bone chilling horror film Inside (À l'intérieur). Now in their 47th edition, this year’s slate of ten films (5 out of 7 in competition titles are first time efforts and have the added chance at grabbing the camera d’or

...

First Run Features

NEW YORK -- This Belgian slapstick comedy combines elements of silent film-style physical humor and clown theater to less than hilarious effect. While there are some undeniably well-crafted and amusing moments in "L'Iceberg," the film is ultimately undone by its air of overly mannered preciousness. It is currently playing an exclusive theatrical engagement at New York City's Cinema Village.

Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy wrote, directed and also acted in this wacky effort, featuring a plethora of sight gags clearly influenced by such filmmakers as Buster Keaton and Jacques Tati.

When fast-food restaurant manager Fiona (Gordon) gets locked overnight in a freezer, she returns home only to find that her hangdog-faced husband (Abel) and children haven't missed her. More to the point, she finds that the experience has instilled in her a fascination for all things cold and icy. Hitching a ride in the back of a frozen-food delivery truck, she heads to the frozen seas, pursued by her husband and aided by a deaf-mute sailor (Philippe Martz), in the hopes of having a close encounter with an iceberg.

Featuring minimal dialogue or music and plenty of lengthy wide-shot takes, the film is ultimately more fussy than amusing, though it well displays the considerable physical comic talents of its performers. The gangly Gordon, looking and acting somewhat like Shelley Duvall in her "Popeye" days, is a gifted physical comedienne, and Abel delivers a series of hilarious deadpan reactions that would make Keaton envious.