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Exclusive: Social media stars and the big screen rarely make for easy bedfellows, but French TikTok duo Golo & Ritchie are bucking the trend.

The comic duo has been posting about their lives in the housing estate of La Grande Borne in the commune of Grigny on the outskirts of Paris for the past five years.

Grigny ranks as one of the poorest towns in France and hit the headlines in the summer of 2023 after riots broke out there in response to the shooting dead in the northern suburb of Nanterre of teenager Nahel Mezouk by a policeman, after he fled a routine traffic stop.

Golo & Ritchie’s posts show another side to life in the estate and its diverse community and have steadily amassed them 1.5 million followers on Snapchat, another 661,000 on Instagram, and 578,000 on TikTok.

Their posts are also distinguished by the fact that Ritchie is autistic, which adds an...

Paris-based sales company is hosting several market premieres at Rendez-Vous.

Paris-based sales company The Party has acquired Happy! (working title), Pascal Plisson’s upcoming documentary about children with disabilities who chase their dreams despite the obstacles they face.

Writer and filmmaker Plisson’s doc On The Way To School was a box office success in France with 1.4 million admissions and sold to 18 countries worldwide in addition to winning the best documentary award at the Cesars in 2014. He is also behind recent docs Grand Jour, released in 2015, and Gogo in 2019 about a 94 year-old woman attending school in Kenya.

With Happy!, Plisson...

This year’s ceremony was uncharacteristically devoid of controversy after politically-charged editions in 2020 and 2021.

Xavier Giannoli’s costume drama Lost Illusions was the big winner at the 47th Cesar awards of France’s Academy of Cinema and Arts and Sciences on Friday evening (25), winning best film, adapted screenplay, costume and supporting actor among others.

The adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s19th-century novel premiered in competition at Venice last year. It was the frontrunner at the nomination stage, making it into 15 of the 24 César categories.

The other big winner of the evening was Leos Carax’s English-language musical Annette. Carax won best director,...

Ceremony for awards voted on by 4,363 members of the César academy will take place on February 25.

Xavier Giannoli’s literary adaptation Lost Illusions is the frontrunner in the nomination stage of the 47th edition of France’s César awards, followed by Leos Carax’s Annette and Valérie Lemercier’s Aline.

France’s Academy of Cinema and Arts and Sciences unveiled the nomination list online on Wednesday morning (January 26), ahead of the ceremony scheduled to take place on February 25.

Giannoli’s adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s eponymous 19th-century novel, which premiered in competition at Venice last year, was nominated in...

François Ozon on By The Grace Of God (Grâce À Dieu): “It was important to show the complexity of all these characters.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

François Ozon’s timely and relevant By The Grace Of God (Grâce À Dieu), shot by Manuel Dacosse (Jean-François Richet’s The Emperor Of Paris) edited by Laure Gardette, and costumes by Pascaline Chavanne, stars Melvil Poupaud, Denis Ménochet and Swann Arlaud with Aurélia Petit, Josiane Balasko, Éric Caravaca, Martine Erhel, François Marthouret, Bernard Verley, Amélie Daure, Hélène Vincent, Max Libert, Nicolas Bauwens, Zuri François, Timi-Joy Marbot, and Zéli Marbot.

Alexandre Guérin (Melvil Poupaud) and François Debord (Denis Ménochet) with Gilles Perret (Éric Caravaca)

In the second half of my in-depth conversation with the director/screenwriter we discuss the complexity of the characters who are struggling to come to grips with memories from the past and the importance of the flashbacks in telling the story.

François Ozon on the roles for Melvil Poupaud, Denis Ménochet and Swann Arlaud in By The Grace Of God (Grâce À Dieu): "I decided to make this kind of relay race between these three characters." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

By The Grace Of God (Grâce À Dieu), starring Melvil Poupaud, Denis Ménochet and Swann Arlaud with an impressive supporting cast including Aurélia Petit, Josiane Balasko, Éric Caravaca, Martine Erhel, François Marthouret, Bernard Verley, Amélie Daure, Hélène Vincent, Max Libert, Nicolas Bauwens, Zuri François, Timi-Joy Marbot, and Zéli Marbot, had its world première at the Berlin Film Festival, where it won the Silver Bear Grand Jury prize.

François Debord (Denis Ménochet), Gilles Perret (Éric Caravaca), Emmanuel Thomassin (Swann Arlaud), and Alexandre Guérin (Melvil Poupaud)

Whereas Tom McCarthy's Oscar-winning Spotlight focused on the journalistic tenaciousness of the reporters of the Boston Globe and its editor Marty Baron to expose the cover...