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France’s Tamasa Distribution has acquired a number of new films and classic titles, including works by Volker Schlondörff, Signe Baumane, Alain Cavalier and Jean-Louis Bertucelli.

The Paris-based distributor secured Schlondörff’s new documentary “The Forest Maker,” a portrait of Australian agronomist Tony Rinaudo, who has found a way to grow trees in the most barren areas by activating the tree stumps and roots that have continued to live for decades. Known as Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration, the method has secured the livelihood of thousands of farmers in Africa’s Sahel region, restoring not only soil but dignity and hope.

“My Love Affair With Marriage”

Tamasa also picked up Baumane’s award-wining animated film “My Love Affair With Marriage,” which premiered this year at the Tribeca Festival and won the jury prize at the Annecy Animation Festival. It follows Zelma, who is convinced from an early age that love would...

Reel-Important People is a monthly column that highlights those individuals in or related to the movies who have left us in recent weeks. Below you'll find names big and small and from all areas of the industry, though each was significant to the movies in his or her own way. Scott Asheton (1949-2014) - Drummer for the Stooges. He appears with the band in the concert films Iggy & the Stooges: Live in Detroit and Search and Destroy: Iggy & the Stooges' Raw Power. He died on March 15. (THR) Jean-Louis Bertuccelli (1942-2014) - French filmmaker who directed his country's 1971 Oscar submission, Ramparts of Clay, as well as Doctor Francoise Gailland. His daughter is The Tree director Julie Bertuccelli. He died on...

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Paris -- French filmmaker Jean-Louis Bertuccelli has died in Paris at the age of 71 on Thursday. His first film, Ramparts of Clay won France's young directors' Jean Vigo prize and was the country's entry into the Oscar's foreign film category in 1971. It tells the story of striking Tunisian villagers taking on the powerful mine owners, from the perspective of a young girl who is hesitant about standing up to power and bucking tradition. Outgoing Cannes president Gilles Jacob called him a "talent with integrity" in a tweet and cited his film Paulina 1880 as his best. The film,

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French actress Annie Girardot has died after a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease. She was 79.

The star passed away in Paris, France on Monday.

Girardot began her career in the theatre before moving to the silver screen in the 1950s.

She rose to prominence portraying a prostitute opposite Alain Delon and Italian actor Renato Salvatori in 1969's Rocco and his Brothers. She and Salvatori went on to wed in 1962 and had a daughter, Giulia.

Girardot's acting honours include two Cesar awards, the French equivalent of the Oscars; she earned Best Actress in 1977 after appearing in Jean-Louis Bertucelli's Doctor Francoise Gailland, and landed her second in 2002 for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Piano Teacher.

She separated from Salvatori but the pair never divorced.