News

Actor and singer Vanessa Paradis, a household name in France, captivated audiences with candid and charismatic reflections on her multifaceted career during a masterclass at the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon.

When asked about working alongside French cinema legends Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo in Patrice Leconte’s 1998 action comedy “Half a Chance,” she didn’t beat about the bush.

“Jean-Paul Belmondo was always surrounded by people; there was a lot of laughter while Alain Delon was alone – just him and his dogs,” she recalled. “But when the two of them got together, you could tell they were very fond of each other. They were happy to make this film together.”

Paradis acknowledged the unique privilege of collaborating with such iconic figures. “I knew how lucky I was back then, but today I realize it even more,” she said, adding with a grin, “I got to spend four months with them,...

France’s César Academy has withdrawn actor Sofiane Bennacer from its recently announced annual Revelations list, following his indictment on allegations of rape and violence by four women.

Bennacer was among 32 rising stars on the list showcasing emerging talent, the latest edition of which was announced on November 16.

The Academy said its board, in agreement with the Revelations selection committee, had decided to remove Bennacer from the list following media reports he was undergoing investigation and had been placed under judicial control.

The academy said the move had been made “without prejudice for the presumption of innocence and out of respect for the alleged victims.”

The body added that it had decided to launch a deeper reflection as soon as possible on whether rules around the organization of the César ceremony needed to be modified to set an automatic protocol for what should be done when a César candidate becomes...

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

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

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

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

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

“What if the mob, but funny?” is the question asked by “Love Songs for Tough Guys,” and if your answer is “Isn’t that just ‘Analyze This?’” you aren’t alone. Still, this French spin on the thug-with-a-heart-of-gold story distinguishes itself somewhat with a romantic bent that is, at least in fits and starts, genuinely romantic. The rest of the time, co-writer-director Samuel Benchetrit’s lighthearted romp struggles to find a place for itself.

Leading the eponymous group of heavies is Jeff de Claerke (François Damiens), whose low-level thuggery leaves him just enough time to take a poetry class so he can woo a local checkout girl. His wife (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) isn’t aware of his would-be affair, leading her to believe the poorly written ode she finds discarded in the trash one day is actually for her. His crew isn’t the most intimidating — one is always quoting books on inner peace,...

Colcoa Classics to stage Bertrand Tavernier tribute.

The North American Premiere of Emmanuel Carrère’s Cannes Directors’ Fortnight opener Between Two Worlds starring Juliette Binoche will open the in-person 25th Colcoa French film and series festival on November 1.

The event runs until November 7 and will screen 55 films and series at the DGA Theatre in Hollywood with a Colcoa Classics tribute to Bertrand Tavernier.

The closing films are Xavier Giannoli’s recent Venice Film Festival Lost Illusions and Arthur Harari’s 2021 Cannes Un Certain Regard opener Onoda, 10,000 Nights In The Jungle.

The feature line-up includes Leyla Bouzid’s A Tale Of Love And Desire...

Emmanuel Carrère’s Ouistreham (Between Two Worlds) has been set as the opening film of the 25th Colcoa French Film and Series Festival. The anniversary edition of the City of Lights, City of Angels fest kicks off on November 1 with the Juliette Binoche-starrer that opened Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes last July before winning the Audience Award at San Sebastian. Cohen Media Group releases in the U.S. in 2022.

Colcoa is running as a live week-long event taking place at the DGA Theater Complex from November 1-7. This year’s edition is dedicated to late filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier and will pay homage to him in the Classics section. The full program will include 55 films and series, as well as 19 shorts. Thirty of the films will compete for the Colcoa Cinema Awards and the Colcoa High School Screenings program will also return, welcoming 3,000 high school students from across Southern California.

Two...

Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired all U.S. rights to Pan Nalin’s (“Samsara”) India-set tale “Last Film Show” which world premiered at Tribeca last month. The film is represented in international markets by Orange Studio.

The movie follows Samay, a 9-year-old boy living with his family in a remote village in India. One day, he discovers films and is instantly mesmerized. Against his father’s wishes, he returns to the cinema day after day and sets off to become a filmmaker at all costs.

Daniel Marquet, Orange Studio’s head of international sales, said the film has lured distributors around the world.

Deals were closed for Czech Republic (Slovakia Bohemia Motion Picture), Russia/Cis (Capella), Spain (Karma Films), Italy, Germany and Austria (Neuevisionen), Portugal (Nos Lusomundo), Israel (Red Cape / Nachson), Turkey (Filmarti) and Japan (Shochiku). Orange Studio will handle the release in France.

“‘Last Film Show’ is a love...

The company aims to release up to 25 Belgian-focused films a year.

An alliance of leading Belgian production companies, Artemis, Frakas, Tarantula and Gapbusters, are to join Belgian outfit O’Brother Distribution as partners alongside fellow producer Versus, the original founder of the outfit in 2009.

The company now aims to double the number of films it releases each year to up as many as 25, with the focus on commercial independent Belgian titles, including third-party acquisitions. It will also continue to buy big independent titles such as recent pick-up Emmanuelle Bercot’s Out of Competition Cannes title Peaceful (De Son Vivant), starring Catherine Deneuve.

It’s been a while, but for the first time since 2019, the Cannes Film Festival is officially happening on the Croisette. After being canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 2021 Cannes Film Festival is happening right now on the French Riviera with a full slate of international features. Here’s everything to know about this year’s Cannes Film Festival, including the full lineup.

What movies are playing at this year’s Cannes Film Festival?

The 2021 lineup at the Cannes Film Festival features new films from Wes Anderson, Sean Baker, Sean Penn, Leo Carax, and Tom McCarthy. But despite the usual vast pedigree of talent at Cannes, awards attention for the films that launch there is uncertain. Only twice have Palme d’Or winners subsequently won Best Picture at the Oscars (1955’s “Marty” and 2019’s “Parasite”) — although that data point could be rendered moot by the coronavirus pandemic. The...

By HollywoodNews.com On Thursday 3 June at 11am, Pierre Lescure and Thierry Frémaux presented the Official Selection of the 74th Festival de Cannes at the Ugc Normandie in Paris. The Festival de Cannes will be held from July 06 to 17, 2021 . Discover the list of selected films in Competition, Un Certain Regard, Out of Competition, Midnight Screening, Cannes Premières and Special Screenings. Competition “Ahed’s Knee” Nadav Lapid “Annette” Leos Carax – opening film “Benedetta” Paul Verhoeven “Bergman Island” Mia Hansen-Løve “Casablanca Beats” Nabil Ayouch “Compartment No. 6” Juho Kuosmanen “Drive My Car” Ryûsuke Hamaguchi “Everything Went Fine” Francois Ozon “Flag Day” Sean Penn “The French Dispatch” Wes Anderson “A Hero” Asghar Farhadi “La fracture” Catherine Corsini “Lingui” Mahamat-Saleh Haroun “Memoria” Apichatpong Weerasethakul “Nitram” Justin Kurzel “Paris, 13th District” Jacques Audiard “France” Bruno Dumont “Petrov’s Flu” Kirill Serebrennikov “Red Rocket” Sean Baker “The Restless” Joachim Lafosse “The Story of My Wife” Ildikó Enyedi...

Cannes is back in full force with the announcement of the Official Selection for the film festival’s 74th edition. Taking place in July after having been originally scheduled for May, Cannes is returning with an in-person event after the pandemic forced the festival to cancel in 2020. Spike Lee, who was supposed to head the jury and premiere his “Da 5 Bloods” out of competition last year, is returning to Cannes 2021 as jury president. Films such as Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch,” Leos Carax’s “Annette,” and Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta” were all supposed to premiere at Cannes 2020 but are now confirmed for Cannes 2021 after waiting a year to be unveiled to the world.

Given this is the first Cannes in the Covid pandemic era, there are as many questions about the event’s safety protocols as there are about the lineup. Cannes general delegate Thierry Frémaux told IndieWire...

At long last, the Cannes Film Festival returns this July. While it remains to be seen just how many journalists outside France will actually be able to attend, their lineup, with a competition jury chaired by Spike Lee, has now being unveiled.

With a few selections already confirmed––such as the highly anticipated trio of Leos Carax’s opener Annette, Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch, Paul Verhoeven’s Benedetta––Pierre Lescure, President of the Cannes Film Festival, and Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate, presented the rest of the Official Selection of the 74th Cannes Film Festival.

See the line up below and check back for Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week announcements.

Competition

Annette (Leos Carax)

The French Dispatch (Wes Anderson)

Benedetta (Paul Verhoeven)

A Hero (Asghar Farhadi)

Tout S’est Bien Passe (Francois Ozon)

Tre Piani (Nanni Moretti)

Titane (Julia Ducournau)

Red Rocket (Sean Baker)

Petrov’s Flu (Kirill Serebrennikov)

France...

Update: The Cannes Film Festival has unveiled its Official Selection lineup for the 2021 event which will run from July 6-17 on the Riviera. Fest President Pierre Lescure and General Delegate Thierry Frémaux made the presentation of 61 titles this morning in Paris, 24 of which are in Competition (four of those are directed by women). Many of the names are familiar including Jacques Audiard, François Ozon, Asghar Farhadi and Nanni Moretti.

Among U.S. filmmakers, we’ll find Wes Anderson and The French Dispatch as expected, along with Sean Penn whose drama Flag Day stars Dylan Penn, Katheryn Winnick, Josh Brolin and Eddie Marsan. There’s also an as-yet unrevealed U.S. studio movie to be screened on the beach while a new section, Cannes Premières, has been created and will feature new works from Andrea Arnold, Hong Sang-soo and Arnaud Desplechin.

As is usual practice, further films will be added in the coming days and weeks.

Competition line-up includes films by Ozon, Farhadi, Ducournau, Weerasethakul, Kurzel, Moretti, Audiard and Hansen-Love.

The Official Selection of the 2021 Cannes Film Festival has been announced.

Scroll down for full line-up

Festival president Pierre Lescure and general delegate Thierry Frémaux revealed the line-up at a press conference at the Normandie Cinema in Paris.

The selection includes films by Nanni Moretti, Julia Ducournau, Asghar Farhadi, François Ozon, Justin Kurzel, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Mia Hansen-Love and Sean Penn. Four of the 24 Competition titles are directed by women.

Frémaux announced a new section for established filmmakers titled Cannes Premieres, which will see the titles get...

Netflix officially opened its offices in Paris a year ago today and to mark the anniversary the streamer has confirmed details of four upcoming projects.

On the film side, Guillaume Pierret will direct a sequel to his 2020 action pic Lost Bullet, which was a hit for Netflix, attracting more than 37 million viewers in its first four weeks, the company said.

Also in film, Régis Blondeau will remake the 2014 Korean film A Hard Day as A Tombeau Ouvert, starring Franck Gastambide and Simon Abkarian.

In TV, the company confirmed production today on two new series including The 7 lives Of Lea, created by Charlotte Sanson and produced by Empreinte Digitale. The cast will feature Raïka Hazanavicius, Khalil Ben Gharbia, Mélanie Doutey and Samuel Benchetrit. The story follows a woman who stumbles upon the body of Ismael, a teenager who disappeared thirty years earlier, with the event taking her back to 1991 and seeing...

The event’s 35th edition sees young Belgian filmmaker Paloma Sermon-Daï walk away with the festival’s top award for her first feature-length documentary. On Friday of last week, the closing ceremony for the 35th Namur International French-Language Film Festival unfolded, whereupon the jury, presided over by Samuel Benchetrit and composed of Anne Delseth, Daphné Patakia, Guillaume Senez and Yoann Zimmer, awarded its Grand Prize to the Belgian title Petit Samedi. The first ever feature by young director Paloma Sermon-Daï, the film is an intimate and hard-hitting documentary about addiction as seen through the eyes of a devastatingly moving couple made up of a mother and her son. "An absolutely wonderful and incredibly modest film that’s overwhelming yet very funny, and beautifully shot", explained Samuel Benchetrit. The movie also won the Agnès Award for an Egalitarian Imaginary, created last year in honour of Agnès Varda. Produced by Michigan Films and presented in.

Javier Bardem has come forward to support his friend Johnny Depp in the actor’s defamation case against his ex-wife Amber Heard.

Bardem, 51, submitted a written declaration on behalf of Depp, 56, who sued Heard in 2019 after she wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post, in which she characterized herself as a victim of domestic abuse, according to court documents obtained by People.

The two actors worked together in the 2000 film Before Night Falls and again in 2017’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

“I love Johnny. He has always been a true gentleman and an extremely generous...

Johnny Depp‘s ex Vanessa Paradis has joined Penélope Cruz and Winona Ryder in voicing her support of the actor in his ongoing defamation case against ex-wife Amber Heard.

Paradis, 47, has submitted a declaration on behalf of Depp, who sued Heard in 2019 after she wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post, in which she characterized herself as a victim of domestic abuse, according to court documents obtained by People.

Cruz and Ryder have submitted similar declarations.

“I have known Johnny Depp for more than 25 years,” Paradis wrote in the court documents, which were first reported by The Blast. “We’ve...

Under the new leadership of industry veteran Kristina Zimmermann, Orange Studio, the film/TV division of the French telco group Orange, is launching three new projects at Berlin’s European Film Market: “Last Film Show,” “Old Fashioned” and “Love Song for Tough Guys.”

Directed by Pan Nalin (“Samsara”), “Last Film Show” follows Samay, a 9-year-old boy living with his family in a remote village in India. One day, he discovers films and is instantly mesmerized. Against his father’s wishes, he returns to the cinema day after day and sets off to become a filmmaker at all costs.

“It’s a personal film for Pan Nalin as it’s inspired by his own life, and it has a beautiful cinematography, because Pan Nalin is also a talented photographer,” said Zimmermann, who joined Orange Studio last July after working for nearly three decades at Canal Plus Group. “‘Last Film Show’ is...

The director also stars among the cast of this Single Man production distributed by Ugc, alongside Vanessa Paradis, François Damiens, Ramzy Bedia, JoeyStarr, Bouli Lanners and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi. The final days of filming are underway for Cette musique ne joue pour personne, the 7th feature film by Samuel Benchetrit whose previous works include Janis & John (2003), I Always Wanted to be a Gangster, Macadam Stories (the focus of a special screening in Cannes in 2015) and Dog (presented in Locarno’s Piazza Grande in 2017). The cast stars the director himself, alongside Vanessa Paradis (nominated for the 2000 Best Actress César award for Girl on the Bridge and at her best in Heartbreaker and Knife + Heart among others), Belgium’s François...

Entering its 14th year as one of the country’s leading genre festivals, Fantastic Fest announced its first round of titles, and we couldn’t be more thrilled. The Austin-based festival will host the world premieres of World War II horror-thriller “Overlord,” produced by J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, as well as “The Raid” director Gareth Evans’ gothic horror “Apostle,” starring Dan Stevens and Michael Sheen. Another alum from “The Raid,” Iko Uwais, leads “The Night Comes for Us,” a thrilling bone-cruncher from “V/H/S/2” scribe Timo Tjahjanto.

After a highly successful premiere at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, Lee Chang-dong’s “Burning” will play the festival ahead of its theatrical release later this year. Fantastic Fest will also shine a light on two rarely-screened South Korean films; “Ban Geum-ryeon,” from one of Park Chan-Wook’s directing idols Kim Ki-Young, and Park Nou-Sik’s “Quit Your Life.”

“To be able...

The 14th annual Fantastic Fest unveiled the first wave of programming for their genre-driven film festival — and it is filled with thrills, chills, and in some cases, a large bloody body count. The fest runs Sept. 20-27 in Austin.

The festival pulls from all over the globe to bring audiences the best in horror, sci-fi, cultish, and bizarre when it comes to film. Right out of the gate, the first wave of films impresses with the J.J. Abrams-produced World War II horror thriller Overlord. Directed by Julius Avery and starring Jovan Adepo, the film will make its World Premiere at Fantastic Fest. Avery and Adepo will be in attendance along with castmembers Wyatt Russell, Pilou Asbaek, John Magaro and Mathilde Ollivier in attendance.

The Raid director will bring his folk horror pic Apostle starring Dan Stevens will also screen at the festival. The film follows a mysterious man who...

She's a married woman... French model and actress Vanessa Paradis, well known for her lengthy relationship with Johnny Depp, has moved on, marrying French film director Samuel Benchetrit in France on Saturday. According to the French newspaper Le Parisien, the duo were wed in a small schoolhouse town hall in Saint-Simeon, a commune which is an hour away from Paris in north-central France. The village has about 900 inhabitants. According to the publication, about two dozen guests attended the nuptials.  For her big day, the 45-year-old star donned a traditional white dress and a veil. She wore her hair down for the happy event and was greeted by many well-wishers who threw flower petals...

Vanessa Paradis just got married. Related: Lily-Rose Depp Opens Up About Parents Johnny Depp And Vanessa Paradis, Lands First ‘Vogue’ Cover The French actress and singer wed film director Samuel Benchetrit in a ceremony in Paris on Saturday, People reported. Mariage de Vanessa Paradis et Samuel Benchetrit : les images de la sortie de la mairie https://t.co/70v9TVvxm5 —...

Vanessa Paradis has a ring on it.

Johnny Depp’s former companion married film director Samuel Benchetrit in a discreet ceremony on Saturday afternoon.

This is the first marriage for the French singer and actress. Paradis and Depp’s two children — daughter Lily-Rose, 19, and son Jack, 16 — were also in attendance.

According to the French newspaper Le Parisien, the couple married in a small schoolhouse town hall in Saint-Simeon, a commune located one hour west of Paris in north-central France.

The bride, 45, carried a bouquet of pink roses while wearing a lacy cream-colored gown with an embroidered veil. Her hair was styled down,...

The eighth edition of the Beijing International Film Festival gets under way Sunday night. A spectacular ceremony, some 25 miles away from downtown Beijing will kick off a week of cinema-related celebrations that look little like any other major film festival.

That the opening ceremony is not followed by a film screening is one indicator. The deeply uneven film selection policy is another.

Baffling many in the industry, the festival lineup boasts both notable exclusions, and perplexing inclusions. A decision earlier this month to exclude the previously announced “Call Me By Your Name” was shock enough to produce a few ripples in the normally tightly-controlled Chinese Internet. And it further underlines the increasingly hard line being taken by Chinese regulators against Lgbt content.

But policy, as manifested in the Beijing festival’s selection, does not appear wholly consistent.

The Bjiff’s Panorama section this year finds room for “Deadpool,” the “X-Men...

Sneak Peek new images of actress/singer Vanessa Paradis ("Yoga Hosers") in the latest issue of "Grazia" (France) magazine wearing Sprung Frères and Princesse Tam Tam, photographed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino:

Paradis became a child star with the worldwide success of her single "Joe le taxi".

In 1997, she appeared in the film "Un amour de sorcière" with Jeanne Moreau and Jean Reno, before filming "Une chance sur deux", with Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo.

Director Jean-Marc Vallée cast Paradis in a starring role in his film "Café de Flore", winning her a 'Genie' film award for 'Best Actress in a Leading Role'.

Paradis released an acoustic album November 2010 titled "Une nuit à Versailles", recorded at 'L'Opéra of the Palace of Versailles' during her 'Vanessa Paradis Concert Acoustique Tour'. She also released a set of DVDs in 2010 called 'Anthologie', collecting live performances and interviews from 1987–2007.

In 2016, she co-starred in the feature...

Eric Barbier’s “Promise at Dawn” will headline the 2018 Colcoa French Film Festival on April 23, the Franco-American Cultural Fund announced Tuesday.

“Promise at Dawn” is an adaptation of French author Romain Gary’s autobiography that stars Pierre Niney and Charlotte Gainsbourg. The film will kick off the screenings of 37 new features and documentaries competing for the Colcoa Cinema Awards at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles. The event will present a record total of 86 films, TV shows, digital series, and virtual reality programs, 75 of which will be considered for the Colcoa awards throughout the week’s festivities, which will culminate on May 1.

Colcoa executive producer and artistic director Francois Truffart also announced that this year’s festival will set aside a day exclusively for screening first films made by female writers and directors. The day, titled “Focus on a Filmmaker Day,” will honor writer, director, and actor Melanie...

Deals in Germany, Italy, Spain, Asia for film co-starring Kristin Scott Thomas.

Source: TF1 Studio

‘In Your Hands’

TF1 Studio has announced first sales on French director Ludovic Bernard’s drama In Your Hands starring Jules Benchetrit as a talented young pianist, with a tearaway streak, struggling to fulfil his full potential.

The feature has sold to Germany (Neue Visionen), Italy (Cinema), Spain (Avalon), Belgium (Splendid Film), Switzerland (Pathé), Japan (Ccc), South Korea (Cinema de Manon) and Taiwan (Creative Century Entertainment).

TF1 Studio film team, led by Sabine Chemaly, kicked off sales on the production at the Afm last November.

Screen can also reveal a first look of Benchetrit in the lead role of Mathieu, a troublemaker from a poor background with a special talent for the piano.

Lambert Wilson co-stars as a music school director, who is captivated by Mathieu’s playing on a public piano in a train station in Paris and decides to help him...

Vanessa Paradis … tribute to Jeanne Moreau at the Césars Photo: Canal +

The 43rd edition of the Césars (the French Oscars) will have as its president the singer and actress Vanessa Paradis.

Vanessa Paradis … president of the Césars Photo: Richard Mowe

The ceremony on 2 March will be dedicated to the late Jeanne Moreau who will also feature on the poster for the occasion. Moreau died in July at the age of 89.

Paradis, who received a best female newcomer César at the age of 17 in the 15th edition for Jean-Claude Brisseau’s Noche Blanche, performed on stage at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival the celebrated Tourbillon de la vie number from Jules Et Jim in which she was joined by Moreau herself.

The actress will be seen shortly in Chien by Samuel Benchetrit, Le Grand Bain / The Deep End by Gilles Lellouche; Big Bang by Céclilia Rouad and Un Couteau Dans Le Coeur by Yann Gonzalez.

Ben & Joshua Safdie's Good TimeThe lineup for the 2017 festival has been revealed, including new films by Wang Bing, Radu Jude, Raúl Ruiz and others, alongside retrospectives and tributes dedicated to Jean-Marie Straub, Jacques Tourneur and much more.Piazza GRANDEAmori che non sonno stare al mondo (Francesca Comencini, Italy)Atomic Blonde (David Leitch, USA)Chien (Samuel Benchetrit, France/Belgium)Demain et tous les autres jours (Noémie Lvovsky, France)Drei Zinnen (Jan Zabeil, Germany/Italy)Good Time (Ben & Joshua Safdie, USA)Gotthard - One Life, One Soul (Kevin Merz, Switzerland)I Walked with a Zombie (Jacques Tourneur, USA)Iceman (Felix Randau, Germany/Italy/Austria)Laissez bronzer les cadavres (Hélène Cattet & Bruno Forzani, Belgium/France)Lola Pater (Nadir Moknèche, France/Belgium)Sicilia! (Jean-Marie Straub & Danièle Huillet, Italy/France/Germany)Sparring (Samuel Jouy, France)The Big Sick (Michael Showalter, USA)The Song of Scorpions (Anup Singh, Switzerland/France/Singapore)What Happed to Monday (Tommy Wirkola,...

Atomic Blonde, The Big Sick, The Song Of Scorpions among line-up.

The line-up for the 70th Locarno Festival (Aug 2-12) in Switzerland has been announced.

Scroll down for the full line-up

The 16-strong Piazza Grande strand features 11 world premieres, including opening night film Tomorrow And Every Other Day directed by Noemie Lvovsky and starring Mathieu Amalric, and closing night music doc Gotthard - One Life, One Soul, about the swiss rock band.

Other Piazza Grande films include Atomic Blonde with Charlize Theron, Good Time starring Robert Pattinson, Kumail Nanjiani’s The Big Sick, What Happened to Monday? with Glenn Close and the world premiere of Anup Singh’s The Song of Scorpions, starring Irrfan Khan, who will attend the festival.

Actor and director Mathieu Kassovitz will receive the festival’s 2017 excellence award and Nastassja Kinski will be honoured with a lifetime achievement award.

Michel Merkt (Toni Erdmann, Elle) will receive the festival’s best independent producer award.

As...

Exclusive: Rome-based distributor Cinema pre-bought six new titles at Cannes.

Italian distribution veteran Valerio De Paolis may have completed the sale of his company Bim to Wild Bunch two years ago but he shows no intention of retiring on the proceeds from the deal.

The distributor has announced a slew of Cannes acquisitions for his burgeoning Rome-based distribution label Cinema.

Pre-buys at Cannes included David Robert Mitchell’s La-set thriller Under The Silver Lake; Michel Hazanavicius’s 1960s-set Jean-Luc Godard tribute Redoubtable from Wild Bunch and Aki Kaurismaki’s The Other Side Of Hope from The Match Factory.

“I love...

Exclusive: Rome-based distributor Cinema pre-bought six new titles at Cannes.

Italian distribution veteran Valerio De Paolis may have completed the sale of his company Bim to Wild Bunch two years ago but he shows no intention of retiring on the proceeds from the deal.

The distributor has announced a slew of Cannes acquisitions for his burgeoning Rome-based distribution label Cinema.

Pre-buys at Cannes included David Robert Mitchell’s La-set thriller Under The Silver Lake; Michel Hazanavicius’s 1960s-set Jean-Luc Godard tribute Redoubtable from Wild Bunch and Aki Kaurismaki’s The Other Side Of Hope from The Match Factory.

“I love...

Exclusive: Rome-based distributor pre-bought six new titles at Cannes.

Italian distribution veteran Valerio De Paolis may have completed the sale of his company Bim to Wild Bunch two years ago but he shows no intention of retiring on the proceeds from the deal.

The distributor has announced a slew of Cannes acquisitions for his burgeoning Rome-based distribution label Cinema.

Pre-buys at Cannes included David Robert Mitchell’s La-set thriller Under The Silver Lake; Michel Hazanavicius’s 1960s-set Jean-Luc Godard tribute Redoubtable from Wild Bunch and Aki Kaurismaki’s The Other Side Of Hope from The Match Factory.

“I love Godard...

Saint Amour

Directors: Gustave Kervern, Benoit Delepine

Writers: Gustave Kervern, Benoit Delepine

Eclectic Belgian directing duo Gustave Kervern and Benoit Delepine have created a variety of bizarre scenarios together ever since their 2004 debut Aaltra. Notable titles also included 2010’s Mammuth starring Gerard Depardieu and Isabelle Adjani, as well as their not-to-be-missed 2012 title Le Grand Soir, which won the top prize out of Directors’ Fortnight. In Venice 2014, they unveiled Near Death Experience while Kervern has been appearing on other French projects in front of the camera, opposite Catherine Deneuve in In the Courtyard (2014) as well as 2015’s delightfully offbeat Ashphalte from Samuel Benchetrit (unveiled out of competition at Cannes). They often recycle the same cast mates in their feature, and a few of them populate their next feature, Saint Amour (previously known as The Wine Route), with leads Depardieu and Benoit Poelvoorde (The Brand New Testament; 3 Hearts) as father and son...

Laszlo Nemes wins best director for Son of Saul; Mediterranea wins best first film.

The Stockholm International Film Festival awarded its Bronze Horse award for best film to Joachim Trier’s Louder Than Bombs.

The jury – comprised of producer Mimmi Spång, director Peter Grönlund, director Christian Zübert, director Di Phan Dang, and director Arab Nasser – said the film was an “aesthetic masterpiece, a film that innovatively uses all cinematic components to move freely between present, past, dream and imagination. With this tightly woven family drama, the director gradually patches together our broken inner places and makes us visible to ourselves – and to each other.”

The other prize winners were:

Best first film: Mediterranea by Jonas Carpignano

Best director: László Nemes, Son of Saul

Best script: Deniz Gamze Ergüven and Alice Winocour, Mustang

Best cinematography: Manuel Dacosse, Evolution

Best actress: Julija Steponaityte, The Summer of Sangaile

Best actor: Koudous Seihon, Mediterranea

Best...

Full line-up of the Stockholm film festival includes feature and documentary competition line-ups.Scroll down for full line-up

The Stockholm International Film Festival (Nov 11-22) has unveiled the line-up for its 26th edition, comprising more than 190 films from over 70 countries.

The Stockholm Xxvi Competition includes Marielle Heller’s Us title The Diary of a Teenage Girl and László Nemes’ Holocaust drama Son Of Saul.

It marks the first time Stockholm has a greater number of women than men competing for the Bronze Horse – the festival’s top prize.

The documentary competition includes Amy Berg’s An Open Secret, an investigation into accusations of teenagers being sexually abused within the film industry; and Cosima Spender’s Palio, centred on the annual horse race in Siena, Italy.

Announcing the programme, festival director Git Scheynius also revealed that Chinese artist Ai Weiwei will visit Stockholm for the first time as chairman of the jury for the first Stockholm Impact Award, which...

According to Thierry Frémaux, Cannes Film Festival Director, this past year has been an outstanding year for French production and the submissions received for consideration were of exceptional quality. Five French films are in competition in the official selection and will have the honor to be presented at the red carpet events, there are also numerous coproductions, films screening out-of-competition and others in the parallel sections.

Official Selection - In Competition

-"Standing Tall" (La tête haute) - Opening Film

Dir. Emmanuelle Bercot

World Sales: Elle Driver

World Premiere

- "Dheepan - L'homme qui n-amait plus la guerre"

Dir. Jacques Audiard

World Sales: Celluloid Dreams / Wild Bunch

World Premiere

-"The Measure of a Man" (La loi du marché)

Dir. Stéphane Brizé

World Sales :mk2

World Premiere

-"Marguerite & Julien"

Dir. Valérie Donzelli

World Sales: Wild Bunch

World Premiere

-"Mon Roi"

Dir. Maïwenn

World Sales: StudioCanal

World Premiere

- "Valley of Love"

Dir. Guillaume Nicloux

World Sales: Le Pacte

World Premiere

-"Ice and the Sky" (La Glace et le Ciel"

Dir. Luc Jacquet

World Sales: Wild Bunch

World Premiere

Short Film Competition

-"Le Repas dominical" de Céline Devaux – Sacrebleu Productions

-"Sali (Mardi) de Ziya Demirel – oriGine films – Istos Films

-"Ave Maria" de Basil Khalil – Incognito Films – Flying Moon Filmproduktion

Cinefondation

-"Léonardo" de Félix Hazeaux, Thomas Nitsche, Edward Noonan, Franck Pina, Raphaëlle Plantier – Mopa

-"Les Chercheurs" de Aurélien Peilloux – La fémis

Official Selection - Special Screenings

-"Asphalte"

Dir. Samuel Benchetrit

World Sales: TF1 International

World Premiere

-"L'esprit de l'escalier"

Dir. Elad Keidan

Israel/ France

World Sales: The Match Factory

World Premiere

-"Don't Tell Me the Boy Was Mas"(Une histoire de fou)

Dir. Robert Guédiguian

World Sales: mk2

World Premiere

Official Selection - Un Certain Regard

-"I'm a Soldier" (Je suis un Soldat)

Dir. Laurent Larivière

World Sales: Le Pacte

World Premiere

-"Close Protection" (Maryland)

Dir. Alice Winocour

World Sales: Indie Sales

World Premiere

Director's Fortnight

-"In the Shadow of Women" (L'Ombre des Femmes)

Dir. Philippe Garre

l

World Sales: Wild Bunch

World Premiere

-"Les Cowboys"

Dir. Thomas Bidegain

World Sales: Pathé Distribution

World Premiere

-"My Golden Days" (Trois Souvenirs de Ma Jeunesse)

Dir. Arnaud Desplechin

World Sales: Le Pacte

World Premiere

-"Fatima"

Dir. Philippe Faucon

World Sales: Pyramide International

World Premiere

Short Films

-"Calme ta joie" de Emmanuel Laskar – Ecce Films

-"Pitchoune" Reda Kateb – 31 Juin Films

Critic's Week

-"The Anarchists" (Les Anarchists) - Opening Film

Dir. Elie Wajeman

World Sales: Wild Bunch

World Premiere

-"The Wakhan Front" (Ni le Ciel, Ni la Terre)

Dir.Clément Cogitore

World Sales: Indie Sales

World Premiere

-"Les Deux Amis"

Dir. Louis Garrel

World Sales: Indie Sales

World Premiere

-"Learn By Heart" (La Vie en Grand)

Dir. Mathieu Vadepied

World Sales: Gaumont

World Premiere...

Natalie Portman is no stranger to the world of directing, having helmed two short features in the past, most notably a segment in the romantic melange New York, I love You. However, the actress-cum-filmmaker is now primed to make her directorial debut with the feature-length adaptation, A Tale of Love and Darkness.

Lifted from the pages of Amos Oz’s acclaimed 2002 autobiographical novel, Portman’s involvement in the project is multi-faceted. Not only will the Thor: The Dark World star call the shots from behind the lens, Love and Darkness will see her work on the screenplay and star in the film as Fania Oz. In essence, the movie will center around a journalist and writer, who takes a stand as an advocate of a potential two-state solution to the longstanding conflict between Israel and Palestine. A timely feature, then, and with a worldwide premiere pegged for Cannes, Portman will...

The Festival de Cannes has announced the lineup for the official selection, including the Competition and Un Certain Regard sections, as well as special screenings, for the 68th edition of the festival:

COMPETITIONOpening Night: La Tête Haute (Emmanuelle Bercot) (Out of Competition)Dheepan (Temporary title) (Jacques Audiard)La loi du marché (Stéphane Brizé)Marguerite et Julien (Valérie Donzelli)The Tale of Tales (Matteo Garrone)Carol (Todd Haynes)The Assassin (Hou Hsiao-hsien)Mountains May Depart (Jia Zhangke)Our Little Sister (Hirokazu Kore-eda)Macbeth (Justin Kurzel)The Lobster (Yorgos Lanthimos)Mon Roi (Maïwenn)Mia Madre (Nanni Moretti)Saul Fia (László Nemes)Youth (Paolo Sorrentino)Louder than bombs (Joachim Trier)The Sea of Trees (Gus Van Sant)Sicario (Denis Villeneuve)Cronic (Michel Franco)The Valley of Love (Guillaume Nicloux)

Un Certain REGARDOpening Night: An (Naomi Kawase)Asphalte (Samuel Benchetrit)Fly Away Solo (Neeraj Ghaywan)Rams (Grímur Hákonarson)Journey to the Shore (Kiyoshi Kurosawa...

Australia hasn.t had a film in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival since 2011 but Justin Kurzel will fly the flag with Macbeth at next month.s festival.

Michael Fassbender plays the troubled Scottish king and Marion Cotillard is Lady Macbeth in the Shakespearian drama produced by See-Saw Films. Iain Canning and Emile Sherman.

The UK production financed by Studiocanal and Film4 will be released in Oz by Transmission Films, probably in October.. Kurzel's Snowtown screened during Critics Week in Cannes in 2011, where it got a special mention and he was nominated for the Golden Camera award for best first feature.

Also among the 17 titles competing for the Palme d'Or is Carol, Todd Haynes. lesbian romance set in 1950s New York, which stars Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara and Sarah Paulson.

Based on a Patricia Highsmith novel about a department-store clerk who dreams of a better life and falls for an older,...

The Official Selection of the 68th Festival de Cannes was announced this Thursday, 16 April during the press conference held by Pierre Lescure and Thierry Frémaux in Paris. Opening film : Emmanuelle Bercot La TÊTE Haute (Standing Tall) Out of Comp. 2h00 *** Jacques Audiard Dheepan (Temporary Title) 1h49 Stéphane BRIZÉ La Loi Du MARCHÉ (A Simple Man) 1h32 Valérie Donzelli Marguerite Et Julien (Marguerite And Julien) 1h50 Matteo Garrone Il Racconto Dei Racconti (The Tale Of Tales) 2h05 Todd Haynes Carol 1h58 Hou Hsiao Hsien Nie Yinniang (The Assassin) 2h00 Jia Zhang-Ke Shan He Gu Ren (Moutains May Depart) 2h00 Kore-eda Hirokazu Umimachi Diary (Our Little Sister) 2h03 Justin Kurzel MacBeth 1h53 Yorgos Lanthimos The Lobster 1h58 MAÏWENN Mon Roi 2h10 Nanni Moretti Mia Madre 1h42 László Nemes Saul Fia (Son Of Saul) 1 er film 1h47 Paolo Sorrentino Youth 1h58 Joachim Trier Louder Than Bombs 1h45 Gus Van Sant The Sea Of Trees...

The 68th Cannes Film Festival is now little under a month away, and Variety has the skinny on the event’s impressive line-up, which includes Carol and French comedy-drama La Tete Haute – itself set to open the festival on May 13 – not to mention the likes of Pixar’s emotional animation Inside Out and Mad Max: Fury Road screening out of competition.

For a full rundown of those candidates in question, you can consult the list down below. Due to take place from May 13 to May 25, it’s expected that more films will be added to the cinematic selection in the coming days, but already the billing is chock full of eye-catching releases. Interestingly, the aforementioned La Tete Haute will be the first festival opener since 1987 to be directed by a female filmmaker, in this case, Emmanuelle Bercot.

The 68th Cannes Film Festival will begin on May 13 and run right through...

The lineup for the 68th Annual Cannes Film Festival was unveiled Thursday morning, with announcements for the competition, Un Certain Regards and Out of Competition categories all included. Among this year’s lineup are new films from Todd Haynes, Hou Hsiao Hsien, Matteo Garrone, Jia Zhang-Ke, Gus Van Sant, Denis Villeneuve and more.

Out of Competition, Woody Allen’s Irrational Man, George Miller’s blockbuster Mad Max: Fury Road, and the new Pixar film Inside Out, will all be making their World Premieres.

In competition and in the Un Certain Regard, some of the highlights include Todd Haynes’ Carol, his first film since 2007’s I’m Not There, and Gus Van Sant’s The Sea of Trees, with him making his first return to the festival since 2011, and the first time he is back in Competition since Paranoid Park was nominated for the Palme D’Or in 2007.

Actress Natalie Portman...

The full lineup for the 2015 Cannes Film Festival has been revealed.

Pixar's latest offering Inside Out, the previously-mentioned Mad Max: Fury Road, Woody Allen's Irrational Man and Todd Haynes's Carol have been confirmed for the 11-day festival in the south of France next month.

Amy Winehouse documentary Amy, from Senna director Asif Kapadia, the Michael Fassbender-led Macbeth and Gus Van Sant and Matthew McConaughey's The Sea of Trees are also among the festival highlights.

Natalie Portman's directorial debut A Tale of Love and Darkness will premiere out of competition.

The 68th annual Cannes Film Festival will run from May 13 - May 24. Read the full screening lineup below:

Opening night film

La Tête Haute (Emmanuelle Bercot)

In competition

Dheepan (Jacques Audiard)

A Simple Man (Stephane Brize)

Marguerite and Julien (Valerie Donzelli)

The Tale of Tales (Matteo Garrone)

Carol (Todd Haynes)

The Assassin (Hou Hsiao Hsien)

Mountains...

Once again, the world is coming to Cannes and with it some of the more anticipated films of the year. Festival du Cannes President Pierre Lescure and General Delgate (aka Festival Director) Thierry Fremaux revealed this year's main competition and Un Certain Regard slates during a long and rambling press conference early this morning and a number of American auteurs are once again in the mix. Todd Haynes' "Carol" with Cate Blancehtt, Gus Van Sant's "Sea of Trees" with Matthew McConaughey, Woody Allen's "Irrational Man" with Joaquin Phoenix and Emma Stone, Pixar's "Inside Out," Denis Villeneuve's "Sicario" with Emily Blunt and Josh Brolin, Justin Kurzel's "Macbeth" with Marion Cotillard and Michael Fassbender and Natalie Portman's "A Tale of Love and Darkness" are some of the initial highlights from today's announcement that will perk the ears of American audiences. The festival previously announced that George Miller...

Join us for Screen’s Cannes line-up live blog…Cannes 2015Full line-upNEWS: Cannes Competition shows attempt to shake things upCOMMENT: surprises and no-shows

Ever so quiet from the film PRs this morning. Is there something going on that we should know about?

Yes, yes, of course….it’s that sacred event: Cannes lineup day!

Time to put to bed weeks of speculation about the chosen few and reveal which films have made it into the most prestigious film festival competition known to man.

You can follow the entries as they come in here or stick with me for some idle speculation and gossip punctuated with genuine near-insight.

[Cannes is currently showing a very jaunty and occasionally stirring promo video of the fest. Very ‘Euro’].

Onto business….

Most prediction stories kept it tight, only mentioning about 75 possible entries. Every auteur from here to Timbuktu seems to have been tipped for a slot…

Screen towers did its own crystal ball gazing in the shape of Melanie Goodfellow’s excellent and comprehensive piece:

In case you don...

Join us for Screen’s Cannes line-up live blog…Click here for the line-up of titles as they are announced

Ever so quiet from the film PRs this morning. Is there something going on that we should know about?

Yes, yes, of course….it’s that sacred event: Cannes lineup day!

Time to put to bed weeks of speculation about the chosen few and reveal which films have made it into the most prestigious film festival competition known to man.

You can follow the entries as they come in here or stick with me for some idle speculation and gossip punctuated with genuine near-insight.

[Cannes is currently showing a very jaunty and occasionally stirring promo video of the fest. Very ‘Euro’].

Onto business….

Most prediction stories kept it tight, only mentioning about 75 possible entries. Every auteur from here to Timbuktu seems to have been tipped for a slot…

Screen towers did its own crystal ball gazing in the shape of Melanie Goodfellow’s excellent and comprehensive piece:

In case you don’t know Mel...

Girls Just Wanna Have: Achache’s Breezy Sophomore Feature

After adapting Muriel Barbery’s celebrated novel The Hedgehog for her 2009 debut, director Mona Achache returns with her latest feature, Gazelles, based on the successful one woman show “Camille Attaque” of its star Camille Chamoux. Fans of her fantastic first outing may be a bit disappointed by the slightness of her latest, which feels akin to English language female buddy comedies, but happens to be a bit more refreshing due to its realistic female characters. Given its familiar scenario, Achache and Chamoux manage an energetic rendition of heterosexual female thirtysomethings finding empowerment as they overcome the building ennui of pre-mid-life crises brought on by refusing to accept standards they’ve had no say in creating. But even with its frank, sexual embrace in tow, there is a constant itchy niggle shadowing every scene because that fact of the matter is, we...