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Filming is coming up for the second feature-length fiction film by the Belgian director, which will bring together Jérémie Renier, Suzanne Clément and Jean-Luc Bideau. Shooting will begin on 7 September for La Vie dans les bois, the second feature film from Belgian director François Pirot. His first feature, Mobile Home, from 2012, centred on two 30-somethings in crisis struggling to find their place in society. Almost ten years later, the director returns with La Vie dans les bois, which focuses this time on a man grappling with his forties. As both his family and his work prove particularly demanding, Mathieu, without warning, goes deep into the woods, seemingly never to return. Faced with this radical liberation and the absence that comes with it, his baffled relatives will have to face themselves and their own choices. Between these two films, François Pirot directed a powerful feature-length documentary, Eurovillage, and pursued...

Splice (15)

(Vincenzo Natali, 2009, Us) Adrien Brody, Sarah Polley, Delphine Chanéac. 104 mins

In case anyone thought mucking around with animal genes then raising the resultant mutant as your own child was a good idea, here's a strong warning. Scientists Brody and Polley initially enthuse over their secret breakthrough/lovechild, but several "do you really think we should be doing this?" moments later, they're living out every parent's worst nightmare: that your child grows wings and a venomous tail and turns on you. It's not up to Cronenberg standards, but it's smarter, less predictable and much funnier than it sounds.

Toy Story 3 (U)

(Lee Unkrich, 2010, Us) Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack. 109 mins

Plaything perils at the daycare centre become a lesson in mortality, comradeship, prison-breaking and waste management in this near-perfect sequel. As usual, it's packed with thrills and gags, but as with Pixar's Up, there are moments when grown-ups...

An unusual, semi-autobiographical film by English director Andrew Kotting. By Peter Bradshaw

Here is a strange film whose strangeness is disguised – though only at first, and not for long – by the mannerisms of documentary realism. It is avowedly based on director Andrew Kotting's own childhood, and as with all autobiographical works, some of the incidental interest lies in wondering which parts come directly from real life, and which are wish-fulfilment inventions, intended to correct the past and alleviate its pain. Jean-Luc Bideau plays Ivul, an elderly, and somewhat cantankerous Franco-Russian patriarch who owns a handsome manor house in France with extensive woodland – but who was evidently even richer back in his native Russia. His younger wife Marie (Aurélia Petit) has provided him with four children: Alex (Jacob Auzanneau) and Freya (Adélaïde Leroux) are in their late teens, Capucine (Capucine Aubriot) and Manon (Manon Aubriot) are hardly more than toddlers.

Year: 2009

Directors: Andrew Kotting

Writers: Andrew Kotting & John Cheetham

IMDb: link

Trailer: link

Review by: Linus de Paoli

Rating: 3 out of 10

This film of the "Filmmakers of the Present Competition" was hard to sit through, not knowing what to expect> I just knew that the director, Andrew Kötting, was a well-known video- and performance artist from England. "Ivul" is inspired by Kötting's own childhood, when he used to hide up in the trees due to his difficult relationship with his father. The poster might give the impression that is a comedy – it is not. There are some absurd formalistic ideas, but if you are looking for an entertaining collection of curiosities like "The Royal Tenenbaums", this is not the right movie for you.

The story takes place at an old manor house in the French countryside. Far from any big cities, it is surrounded by a mysterious forest. Although the...

• I haven't seen many Camera d'or contenders (first films in all sections go up for this unique award at Cannes) but this euro drama (ordinary people, authentic situations) from Axelle Ropert is an exception to the normal rule: The Wolberg Family is smart and the pacing is just right: slowly dispensing backstory that gives weight to the deep wounds each individual carries (all age groups included). The climax, a father's speech at a birthday party especially rings true and fulfills the promise of something worth seeing: I hope this finds a festival life. Full length review coming soon. Director Axelle Ropert. Matriarch: Valérie Benguigui Patriarch: François Damiens The whole family: Valérie Benguigui, François Damiens, Valentin Vigourt, Léopoldine Serre, Serge Bozon and vet actor Jean-Luc Bideau...

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