News

Banijay (“Marie Antoinette”) has boarded “Les disparus de la Forêt Noire,” a gritty French thriller starring Hélène de Fougerolles (“Balthazar”), Gregory Fitoussi (“St Tropez,” “Spiral”) and Tcheky Karyo (“The Missing,” “Baptiste”).

Commissioned by TF1, “Les Disparus de la Forêt Noire,” is co-produced by Banijay Studios France, Fiction’Air, Belga Productions and Rtbf. The premium drama will be distributed internationally by Banijay Rights.

“Les disparus de la Forêt Noire” is set in the heart of the Black Forest, at a binational military base near the French-German border, where twelve bodies, all men, are found in a mass grave. The victims are both French and German, with the murders committed over three decades. Judge Camille Hartmamnn, played by Hélène de Fougerolles, has a connection to the case, her memory has been impaired after a car accident. Yet, this macabre discovery revives memories Hartmann believed to be buried. Meanwhile, veteran French officer Franz Agerland...

Mediawan-owned Storia Television is teaming up with French public broadcaster France Televisions on “Et la montagne fleurira,” an ambitious period drama which starts to shoot today, May 19, on the French Riviera.

Eléonore Faucher, whose feature debut “A Common Thread” won Cannes’ Critics’ Week in 2004, wrote and directs the series. Faucher most recently helmed the crime mystery “La Maladroite” with Isabelle Carré (“De Gaulle”) and Émilie Dequenne (“Love Affair(s)).”

Based on Françoise Bourdon’s novel “La Mas des Tilleuls,” the series is a six-part family saga set in 1837 in Provence and follows a man, Jean-Baptiste, who was banned from this childhood home by his father after being wrongfully accused of having abused his step mother, Seraphine. Jean-Baptiste runs away to live with his aunt and eventually become a merchant of rare flowers and finds love with Lila. But his happiness is crushed when a revolt spreads across Provence, forcing him...

In today’s Global Bulletin, Netflix picks up the rights to Spanish feature “Sky High” for a series adaptation, French crime series “Balthazar” posts record audience numbers for TF1, Mexican filmmaker Juan Ernesto Regalado Morales receives this year’s Guillermo del Toro-backed Jenkins-Del Toro Scholarship, and French journalist Augustin Trapenard announces he’s leaving Canal Plus.

Adaptation

Netflix has acquired global rights to the feature film “Sky High,” the leading Spanish film at the domestic box office over the holiday period, trailing only “The Croods: A New Age” and “Wonder Woman 1984” from abroad, and will develop the IP into a new original series.

Creators Daniel Calparsoro and Jorge Guerricaechevarría will helm the small-screen adaptation, set to pick up where the film drops off. Netflix is teaming once again with the film’s producers, Vaca Films, having previously commissioned the company’s thriller series “The Mess You Leave Behind.

If one needs a span longer than Joan of Arc’s actual life to watch every film made on it, one should be confident in calling Jacques Rivette’s two-part Joan the Maid–first half subtitled The Battles, second half The Prisons–the very finest. However many years it’s been since I’ve done so myself, though, the effects of watching it make counter-arguments hard to even entertain. Another intimate, Rivettian portrait of shadowy societies that’s nevertheless inscribed on the epic scale of a war film, anchored by a Sandrine Bonnaire performance both tactile and otherworldly, and never flagging despite running through history told many times over, it is so great that, as with much of his filmography, a proper restoration seemed forever unlikely.

In a major turn, Cohen Media Group have salvaged the nearly six-hour project and will debut it at New York’s Quad Cinema on...

Netflix has revolutionized the home movie experience for fans of film with its instant streaming technology. Netflix Nuggets is my way of spreading the word about independent, classic and foreign films made available by Netflix for instant streaming.

This Week’s New Instant Releases… Title: Black Heaven (2010)

Streaming Available: 04/12/2011

Cast: Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet, Louise Bourgoin, Melvil Poupaud, Pauline Etienne, Pierre Niney, Ali Marhyar, Patrick Descamps, Pierre Vittet, Swann Arlaud, Francesco Merenda

Director: Gilles Marchand

Synopsis: While searching for the owner of a missing mobile phone with his girlfriend, Marion (Pauline Etienne), Gaspard (Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet) falls for the mysterious Sam (Louise Bourgoin), who draws him into a dangerous virtual-reality video game, where she provokes unsuspecting victims into killing themselves. Directed by Gilles Marchand, this intense French drama alternates between real-life events and those within the simulated computer world. Title: Heartless (2009)

Streaming Available: 04/12/2011

Cast: Jim Sturgess, Clémence Poésy , Noel Clarke, Luke Treadaway, Justin Salinger,...

Mutants

Stars: Francis Renaud, Hélène De Fougerolles | Written and Directed by David Morlet

The debut feature from French writer and director David Morlet, Mutants is set in a world devastated by a pandemic virus that turns human beings into primitive and bloodthirsty creatures, the last hope for survivors is the military station ‘Noah’ where scientists are researching the cure.

Marco (Renaud) and Sonia (Fougerolles) set off to find the secret base to escape from the ‘mutants’. When they are attacked Marco becomes contaminated and little by little begins to undergo the same changes as the other creatures. Sonia, pregnant with her first child, must somehow fight off the hordes and force herself to fight the man she once loved.

Mutants is yet another example of brilliant French horror cinema, with a story that is part Dawn of the Dead, part Day of the Dead, but all awesome. The film sets...

Momentum Pictures have announced the UK DVD debut of the debut feature from French writer and director David Morlet, Mutants. The film is a gripping movie that takes the traditional Zombie genre milieu (Morlet took his inspiration from 28 Weeks Later and the films of David Cronenberg) and introduces some interesting themes, twists and turns to make it a stand-out among the ever-increasing zombie movie crowd.

In a world devastated by a pandemic virus that turns human beings into primitive and bloodthirsty creatures, the last hope for survivors is the military station ‘Noah’ where scientists are researching the cure. Marco (Francis Renaud) and Sonia (Hélène De Fougerolles) set off to find the secret base to escape from the ‘mutants’. When they are attacked Marco becomes contaminated and little by little begins to undergo the same changes as the other creatures. Sonia, pregnant with her first child, must somehow fight off the...

The debut feature from French writer and director David Morlet, Mutants is a gripping movie that takes the traditional Zombie genre milieu (Morlet took his inspiration from "28 Weeks Later" and the films of David Cronenberg) and introduces some interesting themes, twists and turns to make it a stand-out among the Zombie crowd...

In a world devastated by a pandemic virus that turns human beings into primitive and bloodthirsty creatures, the last hope for survivors is the military station 'Noah' where scientists are researching the cure.

Marco (Francis Renaud) and Sonia (Hélène De Fougerolles) set off to find the secret base to escape from the 'mutants'. When they are attacked Marco becomes contaminated and little by little begins to undergo the same changes as the other creatures. Sonia, pregnant with her first child, must somehow fight off the hordes and force herself to fight the man she once loved.

Marking David Morlet...

Taking a different tack on the usual themes of a Zombie outbreak, French writer and director David Morley’s claustrophobic little undead/infected horror ride of a debut feature…Mutants, is heading for a UK DVD. It’s a very bare bones release, with extras consisting of the grand total of a “theatrical (boohoo!) trailer,” but what the hell we’re glad to finally get a chance to see it. Mutants goes on sale May 10th. Synopsis: In a world devastated by a pandemic virus that turns human beings into primitive and bloodthirsty creatures, the last hope for survivors is the military station 'Noah' where scientists are researching the cure. Marco (Francis Renaud) and Sonia (Hélène De Fougerolles) set off to find the secret base to escape from the 'mutants'. When they are attacked, Marco becomes contaminated and little by little begins to undergo the same changes as the other creatures.

Taking a different tack on the usual themes of a Zombie outbreak, French writer and director David Morley’s claustrophobic little undead/infected horror ride of a debut feature…Mutants, is heading for a UK DVD. It’s a very bare bones release, with extras consisting of the grand total of a “theatrical (woohoo!) trailer,” but what the hell we’re glad to finally get a chance to see it. Mutants goes on sale May 10th. Synopsis: In a world devastated by a pandemic virus that turns human beings into primitive and bloodthirsty creatures, the last hope for survivors is the military station 'Noah' where scientists are researching the cure. Marco (Francis Renaud) and Sonia (Hélène De Fougerolles) set off to find the secret base to escape from the 'mutants'. When they are attacked, Marco becomes contaminated and little by little begins to undergo the same changes as the other creatures.

When we ran the trailer for David Morlet's Mutants last week, I said, "f you're going to rehash a tried-and-true plot device, you should do it well." That device, the viral-outbreak that causes horrific craziness as a substitution for the dead rising from the grave, is actually very well executed in Morlet's film (that he wrote as well) -- at least for most of it. It's an uneven piece, but still a worthwhile one.

The story in Mutants is a pretty simple one -- an unidentified virus breaks out and causes the infected to transform into screaming, raving, atavistic cannibals. A few things separate it from the conventional entries: there's absolutely no history of either the outbreak, or the characters. After a fairly gripping opening sequence featuring a young woman running from the disturbing shrieking in the forest, we simply end up in an ambulance where a young couple,...

IFC Films is offering David Morlet’s French thriller, Mutants, on VOD February 10. Sonia (Hélène de Fougerolles) and Marco (Francis Renaud) are a couple who find themselves caught in the middle of a viral pandemic that turns humans into creatures. When they seek shelter from the “mutants” Marco becomes contaminated and is eventually transformed into a monster. Sonia has to fight not only for her own life, but the life of their unborn child and protect herself from the man she once knew and loved. I’m curious to find out what these creatures actually are. As much as I love zombies, I’m [...]

Post from: Screamstress...

Arriving on VOD this month from IFC Films is David Morlet's French thriller Mutants and we've got a look at the trailer below! Hélène de Fougerolles and Francis Renaud star as Marco and Sonia, a couple caught in a world suffering from a pandemic that turns humans into creatures. They set off to find a secret base to escape from the "mutants." When the latter attack them, Marco is contaminated too. Little by little, he undergoes the same changes. Sonia, who is expecting a baby, is then forced to fight her worst enemy, the man she loves. Mutants can be found on video-on-demand on February 10.

This is what some people like to hear about an upcoming horror film release "a gory cross breed of '28 Days Later' and 'Dawn of the Dead (Variety).'" The movie being described here is the French film Mutants, which finally will be available for horror fans through IFC Films video on demand feature. The official launch for the film is February 10 and in case you have not heard Mutants is about a disease run rampant across the world, which infects any who comes in contact with the virus. Pregnant Sophia must find a way to survive in this world gone to hell, while fighting off her infected husband. For the full synopsis look below and get ready to view the film up close and personal, in your own home. Already receiving early positive reviews, the details for Mutants are below.

The plot summary for David Morley's Mutants...

If… (15) Lindsay Anderson, 1968 Starring Malcolm McDowell

Made in the heady days of global unrest and protest, Anderson's boarding-school flick caught the mood of anti-establishment disaffection. Its exotic flourishes – making out with a libidinous waitress; gunning down the faculty with weapons stolen from the cadet force armoury – fuelled the fantasies of rebellious schoolboys everywhere.

Best scene

College House listens in uncomfortable silence as Travis (McDowell) is given a brutal caning by the head whip.

Flirting (15) John Duigan, 1991

Starring Noah Taylor, Thandie Newton

"One thing about boarding school, 24 hours a day, you're surrounded," begins misfit Taylor, stuck in a rural Australian boys' school in 1965. "Either you abandon yourself and become a herd animal, or dig deeper into your head and skulk inside." Taylor finds a different path when he discovers love with Newton from a nearby girls' school.

Best scene

Taylor defends his girlfriend's honour, in the boxing ring against the school's top pugilist.

On two occasions, coming from two separate friends whom I consider trustworthy and honorable, I was told a similar story. Both individuals are teachers, and what they related to me was being caught in a situation on the first day of school where they were rolling off the attendance list and came across a most unusual name:

Shithead.

Confused by the awkward appellation, both reacted in kindred fashion, and instead of saying the child’s first name (a young girl in both instances), referred to the student by their surname (Miss So-and-So) and inquired as to how correctly pronounce their first name.

In both cases, the female student defiantly retorted:

“Sha-theed!”

I bring this up not simply as an amusing anecdote, but as a reference to Mutants, one of the films I saw at the Fantasia film festival in Montreal last week. Because just like the unfortunately christened Shithead, Mutants,...