News

Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2019 Venice coverage. An Officer and a Spy opens in theaters on August 8, 2025.

What road should one take when approaching a film like An Officer and a Spy? On one hand, it is a perfectly robust, informative, prestige-y and even timely dramatization of the Dreyfus affair, the infamous late 19th-century political scandal in which a French Jewish soldier was wrongfully imprisoned for treason. On the other hand, it is a story about injustice and prosecution directed by, of all people, Roman Polanski.

So to that first hand: an especially dashing and mustachioed Jean Dujardin stars as George Picquart, the man responsible for pulling the thread from which the Dreyfus scandal ultimately unraveled. Polanski arranges the narrative in much the same way that Mike Leigh did with Peterloo, another film about 19th-century social injustice–and one in which the director carefully set out the names,...

French studio Gaumont is marking its 130th anniversary with a month-long retrospective at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles.

The program, created in partnership with the Academy Museum, will feature 12 feature films and a selection of 12 short films drawn from Gaumont’s 1,600-title library. Each title was selected to represent a key moment in the company’s 130-year history, with one program per decade. The series opens on September 11 with a screening of Jean-Luc Godard’s Weekend (1967), introduced at an invitation-only event attended by Gaumont CEO Sidonie Dumas, Gaumont U.S. president Nicolas Atlan, and Academy Museum director and president Amy Homma.

The retrospective was curated in collaboration with the Academy Museum’s programming team and features such highlights as Max Ophüls’ The Earrings of Madame de… (1953), Henri-Georges Clouzot’s The Murderer Lives at Number 21 (1942), and Carl Theodor Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc...

The Dreyfus Affair, a viper’s nest of cover-ups and deception, was triggered in 1894 by one real-life conspiracy: that of a lone French army major selling secrets to the German Empire. As Roman Polanski tells it in the painstakingly researched historical drama An Officer and a Spy, this was far less notable than the conspiracies that followed.

The second was a coordinated effort by the army, through doctored evidence and manufactured testimony, to frame Jewish officer Alfred Dreyfus (Louis Garrel), leading to his conviction and imprisonment. The third, which existed in the minds of the public and government factions who slaked their nationalist passions with Dreyfus’s shaming, was that of international Jewish interests working to undermine the French body politic and steer the course of world events. The fourth revolved around the government trying to preserve its image by concealing the existence of the second. And the fifth, forming...

Brad Pitt’s latest blockbuster is still going strong at the box office after crossing the $500 million mark globally late last week, but one of his older films just got a devastating streaming update. Pitt stars alongside Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street) and Robin Wright (Forrest Gump) in Moneyball, the 2011 baseball drama following Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane’s (Pitt) attempt to build a contending team on a shoestring budget. Moneyball is currently streaming on Prime Video, but the streamer has confirmed that the last day to watch the film will be July 31, the end of the month. Moneyball earned strong scores of 94% from critics and 86% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, and it also grossed $110 million at the box office against a $50 million budget, making it a moderate financial success.

In addition to Pitt being nominated for his performance in Moneyball, the film also received five other nominations,...

The air in late 19th-century Paris hangs thick with suspicion, a humidity of political anxiety that clings to every cobblestone. It is in this environment that Roman Polanski’s film begins, not with an explanation but with a ritual. We witness the public degradation of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French army, as his sword is broken and his insignia are torn from his uniform.

Accused of treason, he is paraded like a broken idol before a contemptuous military audience and shipped off to the infamous Devil’s Island. Our entry point into this historical labyrinth is not the victim himself, but Colonel Georges Picquart, a man who watches the proceedings with the detached approval of his class.

Freshly promoted to head the military’s intelligence unit—the very one that condemned Dreyfus—Picquart soon stumbles upon a thread of evidence that, if pulled, threatens to unravel...

After an alarming report quoting Universal Pictures International France boss Xavier Albert saying that the studio is “officially stopping” to handle local movies, a source close to the studio told Variety that Universal will in fact continue releasing French-language movies but will be more cautious and selective going forward.

Albert was not available to comment directly but the source said he had been misquoted in the French article.

The studio’s French-language output has over the years been mostly limited to high-concept, broad comedies and movies aimed at large audiences or families which now tend to be better suited for streaming services such as Netflix and Prime Video.

The 2024 French box office showed that local films are still performing well, nabbing a 44% market share (outperforming American movies), it also reflected that tastes have evolved and contemporary audiences have an appetite for different kinds of films, such as “The Count of Monte Cristo,...

Roman Polanski’s “An Officer and a Spy” is finally getting a U.S. release, six years after premiering at the 2019 Venice Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize under Lucrecia Martel’s jury. The film, which won four of its 12 César nominations including Best Director in 2020, is now set for a two-week limited engagement, starting August 8, at New York City’s Film Forum.

Film Forum isn’t handling the release beyond showings at its own venue, IndieWire has learned, which were booked by “An Officer and a Spy” producer Alain Goldman. News of the engagement was included deep into Film Forum’s summer programming announcement that went out Monday, June 9 (and also highlighted by World of Reel).

“An Officer and a Spy” is led by Louis Garrel, who portrays French army Captain Alfred Dreyfus after his trial. The politically scandalous Dreyfus affair took place around the turn...

When you purchase through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Mountainhead is a satirical comedy-drama film written and directed by Jesse Armstrong. The HBO film revolves around four billionaire friends as they gather for a secluded weekend retreat at a mountain head villa while the whole world struggles because of major financial turmoil. Mountainhead stars Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman, Cory Michael Smith, and Ramy Youssef. So, if you loved the biting dark comedy, pointed satire, and compelling but unlikable characters in Mountainhead, here are some similar movies you should check out next.

In the Loop (AMC+ & Rent on Prime Video) Credit – BBC Films

In the Loop is a British satirical dark comedy film directed by Armando Iannucci, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, and Tony Roche. Based on the British series The Thick of It, the 2009 film revolves around the fallout that followed after...

After six months of often-heated hearings, a special committee of France’s National Assembly tasked with probing sexual assault within the film and cultural industry published its findings on Wednesday (April 9), complete with 86 recommendations to better protect artists moving forward.

Following some 85 hearings, more than 118 hours of discussions with 350 professionals, plus hundreds of testimonials received since November, the 313-page report urges radical change in the film industry, including a ban on the sexualisation of minors on screen and more strict regulations concerning the casting process and intimate scenes on set.

In October, the government body voted unanimously to launch the commission,...

A French parliamentary investigation into sexual violence has condemned what it called “endemic” abuse in the country’s entertainment industry.

The damning report, details of which were released to French media ahead of the presentation to parliament on Wednesday, is calling for an overhaul in funding and regulations to protect vulnerable actors and minors on set.

“Moral, sexist, and sexual violence in the cultural sector is systemic, endemic, and persistent,” read a conclusion from French MP Sandrine Rousseau, who led the inquiry.

Some of France’s biggest stars, including Juliette Binoche, Jean Dujardin, and Pierre Niney, agreed to testify. The inquiry was launched last October in the wake of allegations by French actress Judith Godrèche who accused veteran directors Jacques Doillon and Benoît Jacquot of raping her when she was 15 and called out the film industry’s inaction in the face of systematic abuse.

The findings follow last week’s...

France’s #MeToo movement is back in the spotlight today (March 24) as actor Gerard Depardieu is expected at a Paris criminal court to face charges of sexual assault on a film set.

The now 76-year-old French actor is being tried for the sexual assault of two women – an assistant director and a set designer – during the 2021 film shoot for Jean Becker’s The Green Shutters (Les Volets Verts) released in 2022 that co-stars Anouk Grinberg and Fanny Ardant.

If he is found guilty, he could face five years in prison and a €75,000 fine. He is also facing other charges in separate cases.

Call My Agent Berlin [working title] is heading to Disney+.

The latest adaptation of the French hit comedy comes from Germany, telling the story of the Stern actors agency and its agents. German stars including Lucas Gregorowicz, Karin Hanczewski, Michael Klammer, Gabrielle Scharnitzky, Dana Herfurth, Benny O. Arthur, Janina Elkin and Taynara Silva-Wolf play the agents from the Stern talent agency in Call My Agent Berlin [working title], which Disney+ said has just finished filming. More special guests will likely be unveiled.

The series is being showran by Johann Buchholz, who runs producer Friday Film. Boris Kunz and Laura Lackman are directing. “Many of the country’s most skillful manipulators work in the film business. We are erecting a monument to them,” joked Buchholz.

Benjamina Mirnik-Voges, Director Original Productions, The Walt Disney Company in Gsa, said: “We are delighted and proud to be working with Friday Film to adapt this special dramedy for the...

Anora scored five Oscars on Sunday, but one of its wins took many, including Jack Antonoff, by surprise. Demi Moore was the odds-on favorite to win Best Actress, but The Substance star fell to Anora star Mikey Madison. But Madison's victory is not very surprising when you get down to it. Here's how she pulled off the win.

1. The stronger movie prevails over narrative

Anora won five Oscars from six nominations, with four wins for Sean Baker: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing. The Palme d'Or champ was the Oscar frontrunner for most of the season, with just a short blip after its Golden Globe shutout before it claimed the Producers Guild of America and Directors Guild of America Awards to reassert itself. The Substance had five nominations, a great haul for a body-horror film, and won one, Best Makeup and Hairstyling. It...

For those with Hollywood dreams, whether it's acting in films or directing them, their biggest aspiration may be to win an Oscar. "Academy Award winner" would be forever attached to their name, and presumably, doors would open in their careers that had never opened before.

While the Oscars certainly recognize performers and filmmakers for their exceptional talents and place them in a class above the rest, they also bring high expectations. After winning, there will always be pressure to live up to that title, which may be impossible to achieve again. This is part of the dreaded "Oscar curse." What happens after you've achieved the biggest honor in Hollywood?

Oscar campaigns and wins can be just as much of a story as the movies themselves. Hollywood's publicity machine spins a specific narrative to help an artist win the coveted award — the higher the stakes or the more cultural impact, the better.

After directing a pair of contemporary thrillers “The Stronghold” and “November,” French director Cedric Jimenez is diving into genre for his next movie, “Chien 51,” a dystopian film that once again explores the work and minds of cops but this time in a near-future environment ruled by AI.

“Chien 51,” which reteams Jimenez with French producer Hugo Selignac at Chi-Fou-Mi (a Mediawan company) and distributor Studiocanal, is based on Laurent Gaudé’s 2022 futuristic thriller novel by the same name.

The movie marks Jimenez’s most ambitious movie to date and boasts a budget in the €40-million ballpark. The 18-week shoot took place on location in Paris, as well as in Marseille and in a studio where set were built. One of 2025’s most anticipated French movies, “Chien 51” will boast extensive visual effects and stylish set designs with some spectacular scenes involving up to 500 extras.

On the eve of the EFM,...

Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street is a seminal piece of filmmaking, accentuated in its influence by exceptional acting performances. Now, a documentary is being made about Stratton Oakmont, the real-life brokerage firm that inspired the film, and Jordan Belfort, the man portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio on the big screen.

Per Deadline, the documentary film will chronicle the founding of Stratton Oakmont, its fraudulent pump-and-dump schemes, and the eventual indictment of its founders, Jordan Belfort and Danny Porush. The project is being produced by Campfire Studios, who were also behind Netflix’s The Menendez Brothers and Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders docs. The feature documentary is being made by the same team as Hulu’s WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn documentary. Director Jed Rothstein, who also directed the WeWork doc, will spearhead the project.

Related 'I'm Going to Get Arrested': Margot Robbie Recalls Slapping A-List...

Bertrand Blier, the irreverent French film director behind Oscar-winning romantic comedy Get Out Your Handkerchiefs, has died aged 85.

Blier left his mark on 1970s and 1980s French cinema with films known for their dark humour and cynicism.

He helped to launch the international career of now controversial actor Gerard Depardieu, who starred in the director’s 1974 comedy drama Going Places (Les Valseuses) with Miou-Miou and Patrick Dewaere, about two aimless thugs on a crime and sex spree across the country.

Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (Préparez Vos Mouchoirs),about a ménage-à-trois, won the best foreign-language film Oscar for France in 1979 and...

Bertrand Blier, the irreverent French film director behind Oscar-winning romantic comedy Get Out Your Handkerchiefs, has died aged 85.

Blier left his mark on 1970s and 1980s French cinema with his films known for their dark humour and cynicism. His helped to launch the international career of now controversial actor Gerard Depardieu who starred in the director’s 1974 comedy drama Going Places (Les Valseuses) with Miou-Miou and Patrick Dewaere about two aimless thugs on a crime and sex spree across the country.

Get Out Your Handkerchiefs (Préparez Vos Mouchoirs) about a ménage-à-trois won the best foreign-language Oscar for France in 1979 and...

The origin story of Jean Valjean, the iconic protagonist of Victor Hugo’s masterpiece “Les Misérables,” is being brought to the bigscreen by Éric Besnard, the French director of 18th-century set movie “Delicieux.”

The movie, which just started filming on Jan. 14 amid the lush landscapes of Southern France, has been boarded by Federations Studios’ sales label Ginger & Fed spearheaded by Sabine Chemaly. The project is being teased to buyers at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris which kicked off on Monday (Jan. 13).

“Valjean” reteams Besnard with French actor Gregory Gadebois who starred in his previous film, the 19th-century set movie “Louise Violet.” Gadebois stars as Valjean, opposite Bernard Campan, Isabelle Carré and Alexandra Lamy.

Clément Miserez and Matthieu Warter at Mediawan-owned banner Radar Films is producing. Warner Bros. France will release the film locally. France 3 Cinéma is a co-producer. “Valjean” is also backed by Ciné+, Ocs, HBO Max,...

The Wolf of Wall Street is a Martin Scorsese black comedy based on Jordan Belfort's infamous tale of business fraud as a stockbroker. In The Wolf of Wall Street, Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) becomes a stockbroker and achieves a moderate level of financial success before losing his job in the 1988 Black Monday crash. He then founds the stock trading firm Stratton Oakmont, which quickly becomes a criminal enterprise as Belfort and his associates trick unsuspecting customers into investing in stocks without showing them the fine print.

Over its three-hour runtime, The Wolf of Wall Street follows the rise and fall of Stratton Oakmont and the wealth Jordan Belfort builds from it. It also chronicles Belfort's tumultuous romance with his wife, Naomi (Margot Robbie), and his increasingly out-of-control drug addiction. Belfort spends much of The Wolf of Wall Street barely keeping one step ahead of the FBI before finally being forced...

Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce are the latest awards contenders to receive honors at this year’s Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

On Tuesday, festival organizers revealed “The Brutalist” co-stars will be given the Cinema Vanguard Award at the 40th annual Sbiff next year.

“Both Adrien and Guy have had lengthy, rewarding, and uncompromising careers – and in this year’s ‘The Brutalist’ they each give us their best work to date,” remarked Sbiff’s Executive Director Roger Durling.

Set for release in December, “The Brutalist” is Brady Corbet’s American epic about post-war American life in the 1940s as seen through the eyes of a Hungarian immigrant, played by Brody. Pearce plays a mid-Atlantic titan of industry who hires Brody’s Lazlo Toth, an architect of great renown, to help him with a new project.

Brody is the youngest Best Actor winner ever, having won the award for “The Pianist...

Exclusive: The Santa Barbara Film Festival is lauding The Brutalist stars, Oscar winner Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce, with the Cinema Vanguard Award during the 40th annual event on February 13, 2025.

The Cinema Vanguard Award recognizes actors who have forged their own path, taking artistic risks and making a significant and unique contribution to film. Previous honorees include Paul Giamatti, Colin Farrell & Brendan Gleeson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Carey Mulligan, Laura Dern, Michael B. Jordan, William DaFoe, Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Rooney Mara, Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Amy Adams, Jean Dujardin, Bernice Bejo, Nicole Kidman, Peter Sarsgaard, Christoph Waltz, Vera Farmiga, Kristin Scott Thomas, Stanley Tucci and Ryan Gosling.

Directed by Brady Corbet with a scheduled release from A24 on December 20, The Brutalist follows an immigrant architect (Brody) who makes waves in post-World War II America, working for a fierce industrialist (Pearce). They plan to erect a mesmerizing, and defying,...

Russell Crowe starrer “The Last Druid” must rate as one of the highest-profile projects being brought to market at this week’s American Film Market. Its partners – Range Media Partners, Spain’s Nostromo, CAA Media Finance and AGC International – are aiming to shoot in Spain.

Norman Reedus, star of AMC Networks “The Walking Dead: Darryl Dixon” was besieged by fans late August as he shot Season 3 in Madrid, which looks set to double for London, double-decker red bus with signage for Trafalgar Square being caught on video cruising central Madrid streets.

Guy Ritchie filmed Henry Cavill starrer “In the Grey” for 35 days in Spain’s Canary Island of Tenerife last year, having also shot part of “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare” in the country.

Led by “Game of Thrones’” Sean Bean, “This City is Mine,” produced by Left Bank Pictures for BBC One, shot in Marbella over March, April and early May.

The Red Sea International Film Festival on Wednesday unveiled the lineups for its New Vision and Series strands at the event’s fourth edition in December, featuring new Saudi voices, the Vatican, a new Zorro series with The Artist star Jean Dujardin, an English historian, a deep dive into Turkish telenovela series, and a lot of art. “This year marks the first time Saudi works have been selected in New Vision, underscoring the vibrant evolution of local and regional cinema, while the Series strand highlights exciting new voices from the small screen with four new international television shows,” organizers highlighted.

The 2024 edition of the Rsiff takes place Dec. 5-14 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia after a star-studded 2023 festival.

Four out of the five films in the Red Sea: New Vision strand are Saudi movies. “Saudi voices take center stage this year alongside a diverse selection of international films and series, highlighting...

In 1997, when Matt Damon and Ben Affleck wrote and starred in Gus Van Sant's "Good Will Hunting," it immediately propelled the pair onto the ineffable Hollywood A-list. Both of them had been acting for several years and had participated in a few notable studio pictures, but it was "Good Will Hunting" that pushed the two handsome young blokes onto the top of the heap. Their film was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and it won Oscars for Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor (for Robin Williams). Ever since, both Affleck and Damon have remained above-the-title power players, appearing in a long list of both big-budget hits and ambitious indies.

Although, that's not to say that they both haven't had their share of stinkers. Affleck has starred in several notorious films in his career, including widely loathed films like "Gigli" and "Phantoms." Although Affleck was the bomb in "Phantoms,...

At this point, we all know that for better or for worse, Lady Gaga loves going Method for her roles. She claimed that for her role as Ally in "A Star is Born" — the role that won her an Oscar for best original song thanks to the showstopper "Shallow" — she lived in the role for years. More recently, she changed her singing voice and walked the set of "Joker: Folie á Deux" as Harleen "Lee" Quinzel. In 2022, for the biopic "House of Gucci," Lady Gaga took "the Method," where you fully embody your character even when the cameras are off super seriously, and even spoke in an Italian accent for her role as Patrizia Reggiani. Apparently, she also refused to speak to one of her co-stars as a result of her approach to Patrizia.

In a 2022 interview with The Guardian, French actress Camille Cottin — who shared one scene with Lady...

French actor-writer-director Nicolas Bedos has been sentenced to one year in prison with six months suspended in addition to compulsory addiction and psychological treatment for sexually assaulting two women last year. He was acquitted on another charge of sexual harassment stemming from 2018.

Bedos is best known for his Cannes-premiering features as a director including Mascarade, Oss 117: From Africa With Love in 2021 and La Belle Epoque. His last project was Prime Video seriesAlphonsestarring Jean Dujardin.

Bedo’s lawyer Julia Monowski said she plans to appeal “immediately” and called the sentence “totally unprecedented, unjust and totally unacceptable.”

The charges date back...

Roman Polanski’s film An Officer and a Spy is to receive its UK premiere, five years after winning the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival, and despite being frozen out of the UK and American film market due to the director’s criminal past.

The Times newspaper reports that the UK Jewish Film Festival will host the first public screening of the film, which explores the real-life Dreyfus affair in France at the beginning of the 20th century.

The chief executive of the UK Jewish Film Festival Michael Etherton told The Times that the subject matter of the film with its theme of anti-Semitism was “highly relevant,” and said:

“And as a festival increasingly faced with silence, which often amounts to censorship of British Jewish culture, we don’t ourselves want to be censoring art. We want to give audiences the choice of whether they want to...

Almost all of the Best Actor winners at this century’s 23 Academy Awards ceremonies have ticked at least one of these two boxes: they were over 40 or portraying a real-life fellow. [The only exceptions: Russell Crowe (“Gladiator”) and Jean Dujardin (“The Artist”) who were 36 and 39 respectively when they won for playing fictional characters.] Of this year’s leading contenders for Best Actor all but one (who stars in a long-awaited sequel to a Best Picture champ) tick at least one of those two boxes. (Scroll down for the most up-to-date 2025 Oscar predictions for Best Actor.)

Ralph Fiennes, 61, is devilishly delightful as a cardinal in Edward Berger‘s thriller “Conclave.” It’s been almost three decades since he was last at the Oscars for his starring role in the Best Picture winner “The English Patient.” His only previous bid was for his scene-stealing role in the 1994 champ “Schindler’s List.”

Colman Domingo, 54, reaped his first...

French actor-filmmaker Nicolas Bedos is facing a one-year suspended prison sentence on charges of alleged sexual assault and sexual harassment under the influence of alcohol, Variety has confirmed.

During a criminal court hearing on Sept. 26, the Paris prosecutor requested a one-year suspended sentence for Bedos, as well as “an obligation of care for a period of two years,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement sent to Variety. Bedos’ attorney Julia Minkowski had no comment.

Charges against Bedos stem from a complaint filed by a woman for an alleged sexual assault which is alleged to have occurred on June 1 in a Parisian nightclub. Bedos allegedly put his hand on the crotch of the woman who was wearing jeans. Two more women since came forward accusing Bedos of sexual misconduct but neither filed a police complaint. One woman said Bedos grabbed her by the waist and kissed her on the...

The Paris prosecutors office has requested a one-year suspended prison sentence against French actor and director Nicolas Bedos, following a hearing on charges of sexual assault and sexual harassment while under the influence of alcohol.

Cannes regular Bedos – whose recent credits include La Belle Epoque, Oss 177: From Africa With Love and Mascarade – was tried on three allegations.

The first complaint was lodged in June 2023, by a 25-year-old woman, who accused Bedos of approaching her in a club and putting his hand on her crotch.

According to her account, he insulted her when she repelled his advances, and his behavior resulted in him being escorted from the club by a security guard.

The 45-year-old actor was reported to have told investigators at the time that if the gesture had happened it was “accidental”.

After a court hearing was set for September 2024, two more accusations came to light, one for sexual assault,...

Exclusive: An eponymous gender-swapped reimagination of the classic masked vigilante Zorro is in the works at CBS from CBS Studios, sources tell Deadline. Zorro hails from filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, his writer-director sister Rebecca Rodriguez and Ben Silverman and Howard T. Owens’ Propagate.

John Hlavin (The Man Who Fell To Earth) has joined the project— following Sean Tetra who wrote the second iteration of Zorro— as co-writer alongside Rebecca Rodriguez. The duo will pen a new original script for CBS.

In this contemporary take, a young Latinx woman discovers that her long-deceased father was the legendary hero Zorro. She takes on his masked persona to defend the desperate citizens of her Austin, Texas community from the wealthy forces seeking to exploit them.

Executive producers include Robert Rodriguez; Ben Silverman, Rodney Ferrell and Howard T. Owens for Propagate; Geoff Clark, Eric Bromberg, Jay Weisleder and John Gertz (Zpi/rightsholder).

This is the...

There is no denying that the French have mastered surrealist and bizarre expressionism in their movies. The 2019 macabre, comically twisted Deerskin (Le Daim) is exactly what you might expect from the country's film medium. At just 77 minutes, director Quentin Dupieux sets the visionary journey of his main character, Georges (Oscar winner Jean Dujardin), up and running quickly, establishing a crisp but well-paced story of a man whose life continues on a steep downward spiral after he falls in love with a tan, tasseled deerskin jacket for sale online, and buys it. Adle Haenel stars opposite Dujardin as Denise, and together, they propel this criminally underseen and underappreciated film.

French filmmaker Laurent Tirard, known for films including Little Nicholas, Molière and Asterix & Obelisk: God Save Britannia, has died aged 57 following a long illness, his agent announced on Thursday (September 5).

Tirard directed several features across two decades. His most recent film was 2022’s Oh My Goodness! (Juste Ciel!) about nuns competing in a bicycle race, while The Speech was selected for the pandemic-year Cannes Label in 2020; the filmmaker also served on the Un Certain Regard jury in 1999.

Two of Tirard’s most successful films were his 2009 adaptation of well-known children’s book series Little Nicholas, which sold 5.6 million tickets in France,...

Exclusive: Noé Debré issued a rallying call for public broadcasting as he accepted Deadline’s inaugural French TV Disruptor Award at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous event in Normandy, France.

Debré is one of the most exciting writers and directors in France and has worked on projects for pay TV services and has a new show for Max, but he is known for breakout comedy series Parlement and is currently enjoying pre-launch buzz for Zorro, both of which are for pubcaster France Télévisions domestically.

Speaking as he accepted the award, which recognizes an industry figure with a singular voice and producing outstanding work, he said: “When I was told about the award, I was very flattered and I also looked up what ‘disruption’ actually means. It’s been popularized by tech companies and tech culture, because, as you know, tech companies are now very big in our field. But it turns out...

Laurent Tirard, the French screenwriter and director whose best-known works included adaptations of René Goscinny and Jean-Jacques Sempé’s Little Nicholas and Nicolas on Holiday, has died after a long illness. He was 57.

Tirard was a well-liked figure in the French film industry who made 15 features over the course of two decades.

They also included Molière (2007), starring Romain Duris as the historic playwright; Astérix & Obélix: God Save Britannia (2012) with Catherine Deneuve, Fabrice Luchini and Guillaume Gallienne; romantic comedy Up For Love with Jean Dujardin and Virginie Efira, and costume drama Return Of A Hero (2018), also starring Oscar-winner Dujardin.

He also directed early episodes of hit show Call My Agent!.

Tirard’s films rarely debuted at film festivals but regularly achieved healthy box office results at home and sold well internationally too.

“He had a talent for capturing and retelling human stories with a lot of humor and sensibility,” PR agency...

Noé Debré will receive the inaugural French TV Disruptor Award from Deadline at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous market in Le Havre. The writer and director will accept the award as his Paramount+ and France Télévisions series Zorro comes to market, starring Jean Dujardin as the iconic masked hero.

Debré co-created the series with Benjamin Charbit. It comes on the heels of his hit show Parlement. He has wrapped work on the fourth and final season of that series, a Franco-German-Belgian copro, which follows Samy Kantor, a young assistant trying to find his way through the labyrinthine inner workings of the European Parliament.

With Zorro, Debré has taken classic U.S.-originated IP and given it a French action-comedy twist for Paramount+ (selected territories) and France Télévisions. On the small screen, his upcoming projects include an adaptation of ‘Vivre avec nos morts’ (‘Living With Our Dead’) for streamer Max. It tells the...

With French production continuing to grow in all major genres, the 30th edition of the Unifrance Rendez-Vous market kicks off for the first time in Le Havre, welcoming international buyers from around the globe.

Last year, some 200 international buyers from 40 countries, along with 58 French sales companies, attended the Rendez-Vous, and organizers are expecting similar numbers for the current edition.

Speaking with Variety about this year’s event, Unifrance’s president, Gilles Pélisson, and executive director, Daniela Elstner, offer their insights on the latest trends, the significant role of the Rendez-Vous for the industry, and the growing international reach of French programming, from high-end drama to animation and documentary fare.

While international streamers have been pulling back from original production, French productions continue to grow in all major areas, Pélisson points out.

“French production has experienced steady growth over the last years, especially when it comes to fiction. Animation has always been very strong,...

Great guest stars can shake things up when they are handled well. Some shows like '30 Rock' and 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' excel at making the best out of their celebrity stars. It's important for guest stars to fit a show's established world and humor, whether they are celebrities playing themselves or not.

Sitcom guest stars can often disrupt the flow of a show, but when they are handled well, they can make the comedy even funnier. Great guest stars need to fit into the established world of the show, but the truly memorable ones can shake things up and provide hilarious new conflicts. Some sitcoms seem naturally better-suited to facilitating guest appearances than others, and some even make cameos part of their identity.

While all sitcoms need guest stars every now and then to keep things fresh, not all of them consistently choose good options. Big stars can sometimes overshadow the main cast.

Elisabeth Costa de Beauregard Segel’s Storyboard Media has begun talks with buyers here on the action thriller Wages Of Sin with Danny Trejo.

Paul Sloan from Green Book stars in the film alongside Trejo, whose credits include Machete and From Dusk Till Dawn, and Jeremy Luke from The Irishman.

The Los Angeles-set story centres on a man who gets framed for a crime and is targeted by a criminal fentanyl enterprise.

Victor Rios makes his directorial debut for 333 Pictures and Boatyard Productions and Stephen Cyrus Sepher wrote the screenplay.

Sepher and Nazo Bravo serve as producers while Costa...

Neon has promoted Elissa Federoff from president of distribution to chief distribution officer and Ryan Friscia from EVP, finance & business development to chief financial officer.

Federoff has been with the company since its inception in January 2017 and will continue to oversee the company’s release strategy.

The executive has steered Neon to one of its most successful periods at the box office since inception, with Sydney Sweeney starrer Immaculate earning more than $16m, 2023 Palme d’Or winner Anatomy Of A Fall taking more than $5m to become the highest-grossing specialised foreign-language release post-Covid, and Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days on more than $3.7m.

Picture Perfect Entertainment head Patrick Wachsberger arrives on the Croisette with key pre-sales in the bag on his hot-ticket French adaptation of The Incredible Shrinking Man starring Jean Dujardin.

Production began in Brussels last week on the feature based on the Richard Matheson novel and Universal’s 1957 black and white film about a man who faces danger at every turn after he is exposed to radiation and insecticide and shrinks to less than one inch tall.

Dujardin, who won the Oscar for The Artist, reunites with his 99 Francs director Jan Kounen.

Deals have closed in Germany (Leonine), Italy (Rai), Latin...

Exclusive: French detective Inspector Adamsberg has returned for another case, and France TV Distribution is opening his latest murder file at MIPTV.

Yvan Attal plays the detective, known in Fred Vargas’ novels as Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg, in the two-part special Beyond the Grave: A New Adamsberg’s Case. France Télévisions’ sales arm is launching the title in Cannes.

Adapted by Emmanuel Carrère and based on Vargas’ novel Sur la Dalle, the series also stars Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Sylvie Testud, Virginie Ledoyen, Olivier De Benoist, Micha Lescot and Eric Caravaca. The book was the second best-selling new novel in France last year.

France 2 is the broadcaster, Passion Films the producer and Josée Dayan is the director. Delivery is expected in Q3 of this year.

In the series, Inspector Adamsberg investigates a murder in a village in Brittany. The main suspect is a local figure, a descendant of the famous writer Chateaubriand.

Quentin Dupieux’s The Second Act gets the opening out of competition berth at the Cannes Film Festival Photo: Courtesy of Cannes Film Festival Ahead of next week’s big reveal of the Cannes Film Festival’s main programme for the 77th edition the organisers have jumped the gun by announcing Quentin Dupieux's The Second Act (Le Deuxième Acte) will open the event with an out of competition premiere. The latest production from the wacky and prolific French director, screenwriter and musician will also seen simultaneously at French cinemas across the country on the same night ahead of its French release.

The occasion will deliver a starry cast of among others Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Louis Garrel and Raphaël Quenard, and of course, Dupieux himself who has managed to make 13 features including Deerskin, Rubber, Mandibles, Incredible But True and Smoking Causes Coughing shown at Cannes out of competition in 2022.

Quentin...

The 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival will kick off with Quentin Dupieux’s “The Second Act,” a star-studded surreal French comedy headlined by Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Louis Garrel and Raphaël Quenard, Variety has learned.

The anticipated movie is produced by Hugo Selignac at Chi-Fou-Mi, a Mediawan company, and is represented in international markets by Kinology. The film will play out of competition on May 14 and will be released on the same day in French theaters.

Laced with absurdist humor, the meta movie follows actors starring in a doomed film production. Dupieux is one of France’s most popular and prolific filmmakers. He delivered two films in 2023: “Daaaaaalí,” which played out-of-competition at Venice, and “Yannick,” a French box office hit that sold around the world.

In confirming the film’s selection at Cannes, the festival described Quentin as a “filmmaker who embraces freedom – in tone, form and...

Given that the last Best Actor Oscar recipient with less than an hour of screen time was Jean Dujardin, it’s clear that modern academy voters strongly prefer lengthy lead male roles. That hasn’t always been the case, however, as indicated by the fact that 30 briefer turns than Dujardin’s have been awarded during the category’s 96-year history. Scroll through our photo gallery to find out which 10 Best Actor-winning performances are the shortest of all time.

This countdown is presented in terms of physical screen time, meaning any time an actor actually appears on screen or can be heard off screen. Moments involving non-visible or audible scene presence are not factored in. Unfortunately, one of this category’s 98 winning performances – Emil Jannings – could not be counted since the film is lost, but his concurrently honored and still-intact turn in “The Last Command” puts him in 13th place here.

Given that the last Best Actor Oscar recipient with less than an hour of screen time was Jean Dujardin, it’s clear that modern academy voters strongly prefer lengthy lead male roles. That hasn’t always been the case, however, as indicated by the fact that 30 briefer turns than Dujardin’s have been awarded during the category’s 96-year history. Scroll through our photo gallery to find out which 10 Best Actor-winning performances are the shortest of all time.

This countdown is presented in terms of physical screen time, meaning any time an actor actually appears on screen or can be heard off screen. Moments involving non-visible or audible scene presence are not factored in. Unfortunately, one of this category’s 98 winning performances – Emil Jannings – could not be counted since the film is lost, but his concurrently honored and still-intact turn in “The Last Command” puts him in 13th place here.

Dramas based on well-known IP and starring A-list talent were front and centre at this year’s Series Mania.

Mediawan, for example, hosted a splashy showcase of its upcoming mini-series The Count of Monte-Cristo, produced by Italy’s Palomar with France’s Demd Productions, from Danish director Bille August, starring British actors Sam Claflin and Jeremy Irons.

During the festival, Paramount+ and France Télévisions also announced they had teamed up for an eight-episode adaptation of Zorro (working title) starring Jean Dujardin, the Oscar-winning actor of The Artist. France Televisions also announced a series commission for Lucky Luke, an adaptation of the cult Belgian comic book.

Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here. We’ve been out in force in France this week. To read about our travels, plus plenty more, scroll down, and sign up here.

All That Mania

‘So Long, Marianne’ star Alex Wolff (left) with Series Mania boss Laurence Herszberg

Netflix pulls ahead: Anything but doom and gloom this week at the Lille Series Mania confab, which was buzzy as ever, cementing its place as a must-not-miss event in the ever-crowded TV market calendar. Big stars including Patricia Arquette, Jeremy Irons and Michael Chiklis headed to the city in northern France to tout wares and talk shop. Netflix execs were out in full force, pushing hard against the cross-industry contraction narrative by unveiling dozens of shows in the weeks leading up to the market — and unveiling two more, starring Isabelle Adjani and Famke Janssen — at its showcase. At a time when local content is being rowed back,...

Paramount+ and France Télévisions have unveiled the first look at their upcoming series, Zorro (working title), starring actor Jean Dujardin as the iconic masked vigilante, Deadline reports. The first image sees the Oscar-winner in the iconic costume, on a horse in the wilderness. Dujardin looks every bit the part and it’ll be really fascinating to see what he does with the fan favorite character.