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A drone’s quiet hum gives way to a radiant sweep over the French Jura, where rolling emerald hills cradle a lone convent. In that first breath of light, Sister Béatrice twirls beneath a cloudless sky—an ode to The Sound of Music, yet tinged with something more unsettled: the fragile joy of souls adrift.

At its heart, Oh My Goodness! asks how faith and folly might collide when five Benedictine nuns sign up for a local cycling race, chasing a €25,000 prize to restore a crumbling nursing home. Their venture feels almost absurd—habits against handlebars—but beneath the slapstick spills a contemplative undercurrent: what drives us to pedal toward salvation, whether divine or earthly?

Director Laurent Tirard wraps this frothy caper in bright laughter, the pace brisk at just under ninety minutes. A swift montage of training scenes punctuates the narrative, each pratfall and sabotaged wheel delivering both comic...

Ghosts has been a hit for the BBC in the UK and CBS in the U.S. Now viewers in France are going to get their own version of the comedy series, which follows a group of spooks from different eras who reside alongside a living couple who move into a country mansion.

The French series — Ghosts : Fantômes en Héritage — will drop on Disney+ in France and then play on commercial broadcaster TF1. The show was set up through BBC Studios, the French arm of which produces. It is a version of the Monumental-produced UK series not its U.S. equivalent.

The team behind the French comedy tell Deadline that having become fans of the show and its writing, they stuck closely to the stories from the UK series in their first season, which like its British forbear runs to six instalments. They are, however, already working on a...

Silly French comedy pits one convent against another in a contest that could fund a trip to Rome but won’t raise many laughs

The nuns in this silly good-natured French comedy say far worse things than the film’s title. And that’s the trouble with the movie – it derives most of its laughs from a belief in the inherent amusingness of nuns – the idea that putting a woman in a habit and a veil is instantly funny. It’s the story of convent of nuns entering a road cycling race to win the €25,000 prize – the only glitch is that none of them have been on a bike in years. Nuns on bikes. Hilarious! Nuns falling off bikes. Side-splitting!

Mother superior Véronique (Valérie Bonneton) is the driving force behind the convent’s bid for cycling glory. Her worthy motive is to raise funds to refurbish an old people’s home.

“Lol: Last One Laughing,” the Amazon Prime blockbuster comedy format that’s been adapted in over 20 territories, is set for a bold French spinoff that involves hidden cameras.

Whereas the original format sees famous comedians cooped up in a house where they compete to make each other laugh and keep a straight face, “Lol in Real Life” will take six celebrity contestants out in random public places in France and among anonymous people who don’t know about the game. All their interactions will be filmed by hidden cameras.

Ordered by Thomas Dubois, head of France at Amazon MGM Studios, the spinoff will introduce new rules which will require the six celebrities to make as many people as possible laugh, whether they’re fellow contestants or anonymous folks. Each laugh is worth one point. At the end of the 6-hour game, the two celebrities with the most points will reach the final.

Michael Douglas, Kyle MacLachlan, Ella Purnell and Daniel Brühl are among the high-caliber stars who will take part in the seventh edition of Canneseries. The robust lineup, unveiled today by Canneseries’ artistic director Albin Lewi at a press conference in Paris, boasts the world premiere of Apple TV+’s “Franklin,” starring Michael Douglas as one of the Founding Fathers, and Disney+’s “Becoming Karl Lagerfeld” with Daniel Brühl as the acid-tongued designer.

“Franklin,” which will also close the event, is directed by industry veteran Tim Van Patten, behind “Boardwalk Empire” and “Games of Thrones.” Douglas won an Emmy for playing Liberace in “Behind the Candelabra.”

MacLachlan and Purnell will be on the ground to present the international premiere of “Fallout,” the much-anticipated Prime Video show that’s based on a massively popular video game. Both will be feted during the 7th edition of the event, picking up the Canal+ Icon...

"You forgot one thing. I'm indestructible." Netflix has revealed the trailer for the French streaming series Class Act, which is the offical English name. The original French title is Tapie, which is the name of the person this biopic series is about, but he might not be that well recognized outside of France. A relentlessly ambitious working-class man becomes one of France's most controversial public figures in this fictionalized biopic about Bernard Tapie, starring César nominee Laurent Lafitte. "It revisits the origins of the Tapie phenomenon, who didn’t start off quite so well, between a career in music cut short, small business issues, meeting Dominique, and his difficult relationship with his parents... In all this, his relentless determination, carried by a completely possessed performance by Lafitte." The cast includes Joséphine Japy, Ophélia Kolb, Ivan Murphy, Antoine Reinartz, Hakim Jemili, Camille Chamoux, and Fabrice Luchini. Looks like France's version of the businessman's rise & fall story.

The sixth edition of Canneseries, the international festival for premium series, kicked off Friday with the world premiere of the first episode of Apple TV+’s sci-fi show “Silo.” Lead actor and executive producer Rebecca Ferguson, director and executive producer Morten Tyldum, and screenwriter and executive producer Graham Yost walked the pink carpet at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, and spoke about the show on stage, before attending a party at an exclusive beach-side venue.

It was standing room only in the 2,300-seat Louis Lumiere auditorium, where the dress code was described as “creative chic,” as the evening got underway with opening remarks by the mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, Canneseries president, Fleur Pellerin, and “Fauda” actor and co-creator Lior Raz, who is the president of the main jury. The ceremony, hosted with aplomb by French comedy actor and writer Camille Chamoux, aired on pay TV service Canal+.

On the pink carpet,...

Paris-based outfit releases first look image from Jérémy Clapin’s Meanwhile On Earth.

Paris-based Charades has sold Laurent Tirard’s Oh My Goodness! (Juste Ciel!) to a slew of territories and will kick off sales on several all-new titles at Unifrance’s annual Rendez-Vous in Paris including Jérémy Clapin’s Meanwhile On Earth.

Charades will host the first market screening for buyers of Oh My Goodness! after selling the anticipated title from veteran filmmaker Tirard to Prokino in Germany, Selecta Vision in Spain, I Wonder in Italy, Cineart in Benelux, Praesens in Switzerland, Thim Films in Austria, Ads in Hungary,...

Paris-based outfit releases first look image from Jérémy Clapin’s Meanwhile On Earth.

Paris-based Charades has sold Laurent Tirard’s Oh My Goodness! (Juste Ciel!) to a slew of territories and will kick off sales on several all-new titles at Unifrance’s annual Rendez-Vous in Paris including Jérémy Clapin’s Meanwhile On Earth.

Charades will host the first market screening for buyers of Oh My Goodness! after selling the anticipated title from veteran filmmaker Tirard to Prokino in Germany, Selecta Vision in Spain, I Wonder in Italy, Cineart in Benelux, Praesens in Switzerland, Thim Films in Austria, Ads in Hungary,...

Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi’s “Forever Young,” Golshifteh Farahani starrer “Romantique,” and the documentary “Last Dance” will be launched by sales boutique Charades at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous.

“Forever Young” (“Les amandiers”) stars Nadia Tereszkiewicz (“Possessions”), Louis Garrel (“An Officer and a Spy”), Vassili Schneider and Suzanne Lindon (“Spring Blossom”). The film opens at the end of the 1980s in Paris and follows a young troupe of comedians who have just have been admitted to Les Amandiers, the prestigious theater school headed by Patrice Chéreau. The film is produced by France’s Ad Vitam production and Italy’s Bibi Film.

“Romantique” (“Une Comedie romantique) marks Thibault Segouin’s feature debut, starring Farahani and Alex Lutz. The movie follows César, a notorious liar and a failing artist who lives in Montmartre in Paris and discovers he is the father of a three-year-old little girl. The film is produced by Latika and will be released by Alba Films.

It is French director Edouard Deluc’s third feature after Gauguin: Voyage to Tahiti and Welcome to Argentina.

Pulsar Content is set to launch sales on French director Edouard Deluc’s horse trekking comedy Wilderness Therapy at the virtual Pre-Cannes Screenings next week.

Pio Marmaï and Philippe Rebbot star as two down-on-their-luck friends who decide to set up a company running horse trekking tours in the French Pyrenees mountains, to turn around their fortunes. Their promise of a restorative trip connecting participants with nature, silence and adventure does not pan out as expected.

The film is now shooting in the Pyrenees.

The duo play a couple who aren’t short on love but can no longer stand one another in Ilan Klipper’s new film, a Cinéfrance Studios production sold by Le Pacte, which is soon to wrap filming. The final clapperboard is set to slam on 2 February for Le Processus de paix, the second fiction feature by director Ilan Klipper, following the much-remarked movie The Starry Sky Above Me (Cannes’ 2017 Acid selection). To date, the filmmaker has mostly worked within the documentary field, offering up Flics (2006) and Commissariat (2009), which he co-directed with Virgil Vernier, Sainte-Anne (screened within Arte’s Grand Format programme and awarded a trophy at 2010’s Visions du Réel Festival) and Tightrope Walkers (Acid Cannes 2020). Leading the cast of this new opus, which commenced filming on 14 December, are Camille Chamoux and Damien Bonnard (nominated for...

Le Pacte has closed a flurry of deals to major markets on a pair of buzzed-about French comedies, Patrick Cassir’s “Our Happy Holiday” and Thomas Lilti’s “The Freshmen” at Cannes’s film market.

“The Freshmen” reteams Lilti with French actor Vincent Lacoste who toplined “Hippocrate,” Lilti’s feature debut which world premiered at Cannes’s Critics Week and turned out to be a critical and commercial success in France and abroad.

Le Pacte hosted four market screenings for the film at Cannes and has now sold it to Italy (Movies inspired), Canada (Eye Steel Film), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Austria (Thimfilm) and Benelux (Athena), Colombia, Peru and Ecuador (Cineplex), Central America (Cinepolis).

Camille Neel, Le Pacte’s head of international sales, said Lilti’s last film, “Irreplaceable” sold 1.6 million admissions in France and 1.2 million abroad. “Lilti has become popular among foreign buyers thanks to his great track record — both ‘Hippocrate” and ‘Irreplaceable’ have been successful,...

The Slamdance Film Festival announced today their narrative and documentary feature film competition for its 24th Festival edition, taking place January 19-25, 2018 in Park City. Established in 1995 by a group of filmmakers whose work had been rejected by the Sundance Film Festival, Slamdance is dedicated to fostering a community for independent emerging artists, fashioning itself “the premiere film festival by filmmakers, for filmmakers.”

The feature competition includes 16 premieres, mostly produced in the U.S. All competition films are feature length directorial debuts with budgets of less than $1 million Usd, and without Us distribution. In addition, the festival announced a new partnership with alumni Anthony and Joe Russo (“Captain America: Civil War,” and “Avengers: Infinity War”) to establish the inaugural Russo Fellowship award. Every participating filmmaker will be eligible for a $25,000 cash prize and mentorship from the Russos in the development of the winner’s next project at the brothers’ Los Angeles studio.

"You're in danger carrying this trust..." An official international trailer from France has debuted for the latest Roman Polanski drama titled Based on a True Story, which first premiered at the Cannes Film Festival this year. Most of the reviews were mixed to negative, despite two great performances, the story is redundant and bland and the film never amounts to much. Based on a True Story is about a famous writer, played by Emmanuelle Seigner, going through a tough time who hires a ghost writer to help her with her work. However, it turns out "L", played by Eva Green, is more of an obsessive admirer who actually has an ulterior motive. The full cast includes Vincent Perez, Damien Bonnard, Dominique Pinon, Noémie Lvovsky, and Camille Chamoux. This is worth watching just for Eva Green, but that's about all I can say. Here's the first international trailer for Roman Polanski...

Exclusive: Comedy co-stars Miou-Miou and Camille Chamoux; first look revealed.

WestEnd Films is launching world sales on Saving Mum (working title), a heartwarming comedy which reunites the team behind French comedy Connasse: writer-director Eloïse Lang and French actress Camille Cottin (Allied).

Rounding out the cast are ten-time César Award nominee Miou-Miou (Populaire), Camille Chamoux (Supercondriaque) and Johan Heldenbergh (The Broken Circle Breakdown).

The exclusive first picture released features Camille Cottin, Miou-Miou and Camille Chamoux (from left to right). The film is currently shooting on Reunion Island.

Saving Mum is the French-language remake of Danish comedy All Inclusive. WestEnd Films acquired the remake rights for that film from Happy Ending Film.

The film tells the story of free-spirited Rose (Cottin) and her uptight sister Alice (Chamoux) who take their mother Francoise (Miou-Miou) out of Paris to the tropical island of Reunion for her birthday. But when a sexy bartender, an attractive widow, and cheap margaritas...

Jean Reno stars in Family Heist as master thief who teams up with long-lost daughters.

French outfit Snd has boarded international sales and local distribution rights to art theft comedy caper Family Heist and romantic drama The Confession ahead of Unifrance’s annual Rendez-vous with French Cinema in Paris next week (Jan 14-18).

Pascal Bourdiaux’s Family Heist stars Jean Reno as a master thief who enlists the support of his long-lost daughters on an ambitious robbery aimed at exacting revenge on a double-crossing, former partner.

French stand-up and big screen comedy actresses Camille Chamoux and Reem Kherici play the two contrasting half-sisters who have inherited their father’s con artist skills.

Reno is set for a high-profile year. He will hit screens at home and abroad in French comedy The Visitors: Bastille Day this spring and also has roles in Sean Penn’s upcoming The Last Face and the historical drama The Promise.

The two-month...

Trainee Day

Director: Marc Fitoussi

Writer: Marc Fitoussi

French director Marc Fitoussi is one of several notable filmmakers with an impressive body of work but whose titles never seem to snag Us distribution. He’s been making features for the past decade, including light, frothy comedies such as a pair of Isabelle Huppert headliners like Copacabana (2010) and Paris Follies (2014), a rather loose update on Madame Bovary. He’ll unveil his fifth feature in 2016 with Maman a tort (aka Trainee Day), reuniting with Belgian actress Emile Dequenne who starred in his 2007 debut film La Vie d’Artiste. The film features rising star Jeanne Jestin (of Farhadi’s The Past) as a young woman who discovers a different side of her mother after taking a position at the same office.

Cast: Jeanne Jestin, Emilie Dequenne, Camille Chamoux, Sabrina Ouazani

Production Co.: Avenue B Productions, Versus Production

U.S. Distributor: Rights available...

Girls Just Wanna Have: Achache’s Breezy Sophomore Feature

After adapting Muriel Barbery’s celebrated novel The Hedgehog for her 2009 debut, director Mona Achache returns with her latest feature, Gazelles, based on the successful one woman show “Camille Attaque” of its star Camille Chamoux. Fans of her fantastic first outing may be a bit disappointed by the slightness of her latest, which feels akin to English language female buddy comedies, but happens to be a bit more refreshing due to its realistic female characters. Given its familiar scenario, Achache and Chamoux manage an energetic rendition of heterosexual female thirtysomethings finding empowerment as they overcome the building ennui of pre-mid-life crises brought on by refusing to accept standards they’ve had no say in creating. But even with its frank, sexual embrace in tow, there is a constant itchy niggle shadowing every scene because that fact of the matter is, we...

Exclusive: Paris-based Other Angle also adds sales on heist caper The Last Diamond.

Paris-based Other Angle has picked up sales on Mona Achache’s romantic comedy Les Gazelles, about a 30-year-old woman readjusting to single life after splitting from her long-term boyfriend.

It is Achache’s first feature-length film since award multiple award-winner The Hedgehog.

Les Gazelles stars actress and stand-up comedian Camille Chamoux [pictured] in the lead role with support from Audrey Fleurot, best known internationally as the gay, redheaded secretary in Intouchables, and Josephine de Meaux. The film is loosely based on Chamoux’s one-woman show Camille Attaque.

Mathias Rubin of Recifilms, who was a partner on the Jean Dujardin-starrer Mobius, produces with support from Orange Studio. The film will be released by Paramount in France.

Other new titles on Other Angle’s Afm slate include Philippe Lacheau’s found-footage comedy Babysitting, piecing together the chaotic turn of events that ensues when a young executive...