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The Marrakech Film Festival unveiled its 2024 lineup on Thursday and set that Luca Guadagnino would replace Thomas Vinterberg as its jury president. The other jury members will be Andrew Garfield, Jacob Elordi, Virginie Efira, and Ali Abbasi. Vinterberg “had to excuse himself for family reasons,” festival organizers said.

The Marrakech fest on Thursday also unveiled the lineup for its competition, 11th Continent, and Moroccan Panorama sections, as well as gala and special screenings. In the competition, 14 films will compete for the Étoile d’Or, or Golden Star.

The 21st edition of the fest in Morocco will also honor Sean Penn, David Cronenberg and, posthumously, pay homage to Moroccan star Naïma Elmcherqui. The Marrakech fest takes place Nov. 29-Dec. 7.

Check out the full lineup for the 2024 edition below.

Competition

Across The Sea (LA Mer Au Loin)

by Saïd Hamich Benlarbi / France, Morocco, Belgium

with Ayoub Gretaa, Anna Mouglalis, Grégoire Colin, Omar Boulakirba,...

Reflecting the breadth of her legacy across different continents, French actor Isabelle Huppert was celebrated by the likes of Alfonso Cuarón, Claire Denis, Alejandro Jodorowsky and François Ozon at the 15th edition of the Lumiere Film Festival in Lyon where she received a sprawling career tribute on Oct. 18.

Huppert kicked off the festivities as she entered the 3000-seat auditorium dancing to the 1980’s disco beats of “Nuit de folie,” dressed in a shimmery champagne gown.

The joyful ceremony, emceed by Huppert’s longtime friend (and Cannes boss) Thierry Fremaux who runs the Lumiere Film Festival, was punctuated by live musical numbers ranging widely from Camelia Jordana’s singing a capella “I Will Survive,” to Julien Clerc performing his 1978 cult song “Ma Preference” by the piano, and French actor Sandrine Kiberlain playfully singing “Nuit de folie” which was said to be Huppert’s unexpected all-time favorite song.

The most vibrant homage...

Filmmaker and editorial cartoonist Aurel will follow up his César-winner “Josep” with “Desert,” an animated Western set in France’s Cevennes mountain range.

Pitched between a more traditional oater and an “Indiana Jones” style adventure and set in the late 19th century, “Desert” will follow a Mexico-born gunslinger exploring south-central France with a mysterious mission. Rediscovering his family’s ancestral land centuries after the religious wars forced those kinsmen to flee, our caballero soon steps in to protect a local clan from an oppressive landowner and his abusive henchmen.

“We want to bring together two universes that should have nothing to do with one another,” says the filmmaker.

The project will reunite much of the same creative team behind 2020’s award-winning “Josep,” among them screenwriter Jean-Louis Milesi and producer Serge Lalou of Les Films d’Ici Méditerranée, as well as animation studios Les Fées Spéciales in Montpellier and Tchack in Lille.

Netflix’s big gamble, “3 Body Problem” – created by “Game of Thrones” masterminds David Benioff and D.B.Weiss with Alexander Woo – opened Lille’s Series Mania on Friday, immediately dividing the viewers on a series well reviewed by Variety.

Netflix’s ‘3 Body Problem’ Cements ‘Game of Thrones’ Creators as Masters of Adapting the Unadaptable: TV Review

“It’s a very ambitious show and it has a great scale, but I wonder when all the hooks they got into me will reward me with knowledge. I see a lot of potential, but I don’t see a clear path,” actor Malick Bauer told Variety after the screening. One of this year’s International Competition jurors, he is known for the first German Disney+ series “Sam – A Saxon.”

“It can be a great thing, but I do worry if the audience will be given their time. It’s one of...

Best Friend Forever has acquired international rights to emerging director Dania Reymond-Boughenou’s debut feature “Silent Storms,” a supernatural film set in a fictional Arab city.

Currently in post production, the movie follows Nacer, a 45-year-old journalist who is observing the appearance of strange yellow sandstorms looming over Algiers and its surroundings. While covering the phenomenon for his newspaper, he starts witnessing more and more supernatural events, until his late wife Fajar returns to life. Faced with increasingly threatening storms, Samir has to face a dark past that haunts him.

“Silent Storms” stars Khaled Benaïssa (“Papicha”), singer-turned-director Camélia Jordana, Shirine Boutella (“Lupin”) and Mehdi Ramdani. The movie is scored by Dan Levy (“I Lost my Body”).

Reymond-Boughenou previously directed the short film “Constellation de la Rouguiere,” which was selected for Fid Marseille and Clermont Ferrand film festivals.

The helmer said she wanted the film to depict the reappearing of a traumatic memory.

Paris-based sales and production outfit Totem Films has closed a slew of sales ahead of the Berlinale premieres of their Competition title “My Favourite Cake,” and the Panorama opening film “Crossing.”

Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha’s “My Favourite Cake” sold to Cherry Pickers for Benelux, Camera for Denmark, Arizona for France, Triart for Sweden, Cineworx for Switzerland and Bir for Turkey.

Levan Akin’s “Crossing” sold to Imagine for Benelux, New Story for France, Lucky Red for Italy, Avalon for Spain and Cineworx for Switzerland. As announced previously, a multi-territory deal was also signed with Mubi.

Other territories are in discussion and Totem will continue selling the films at the European Film Market in Berlin.

Totem will also be launching sales in Berlin for “Queen Mom,” which is in post-production. The film is directed by Manele Labidi (“Arab Blues”) and stars Camélia Jordana, Sofiane Zermani, Damien Bonnard and Rim Monfort.

French sales outfit Totem Films has acquired international rights to Arab Blues director Manele Labidi’s second feature Queen Mom and will kick off sales at EFM next month in Berlin.

The film, now in post, blends social drama and bittersweet comedy and follows a Tunisian family living in France in the early1990s, exploring questions of identity, generational conflict and racism.

Queen Mom stars Cesar-winning actress Camelia Jordana and well-known rapper turned actor Sofiane Zermani. The two reteam after co-starring in Mehdi Fikri’s police violence drama After the Fire. Damien Bonnard co-stars.

Arab Blues premiered at Venice’s...

Directors’ guild the Srf issued a statement saying “the far right is attacking culture”.

France’s directors’ guild, the Srf, and the producers guilds Spi and Upc, have all come out in support of Mehdi Fikri’s family drama After The Fire, about a woman on a quest for justice when her brother dies in police custody, blaming the film’s poor box office and scathing reviews on a far-right campaign they say is putting free speech at risk.

Fikri’s first feature was released in France on November 15 by Bac Films after a world premiere in Toronto’s Discovery section.

The producer and distributor of French police violence drama After The Fire, which world premiered in Toronto’s Discovery line-up this year, say the film’s theatrical release has been damaged by a right-wing smear campaign.

Moves against the picture include a push to lower the work’s public score on cinema website Allociné (France’s equivalent to a Rotten Tomatoes rating), as well as the spread of disinformation around the production by right-leaning outlets such as CNews, which is France’s Gb News or Fox News.

The drama stars popular singer and actress Camélia Jordana as a woman seeking justice after her younger brother dies in suspicious circumstances in police custody.

It is the first feature of Mehdi Fikri who spent a decade working as a reporter covering social conflict and the issues of police violence and justice in France’s notoriously deprived out-of-town suburbs.

Conceived by Fikri over...

Cher and her boyfriend Alexander “Ae” Edwards celebrated something special when they attended the Givenchy show during Paris Fashion Week on Thursday (September 28) – the anniversary of when they first met!

The Hollywood couple was first linked in November 2022 after romantic photos went viral. However, while on the red carpet at the event, Cher told Wwd that Paris Fashion Week was a special time for them.

“I met my boyfriend here last year, so it’s our anniversary. And so I’m pretty excited,” she explained. As for how they’re celebrating, it sounds like nothing was set in stone just yet: “I don’t know what we’re gonna do. Everything we do is special.”

One year after their first meeting, Cher and Ae looked cool at the event. She wore a black jacket over a white shirt, and he matched in monochromatic black. The duo also both had platinum blonde hair!

There’s no need for writer/director Mehdi Fikri to spend too much time on the tragic death of twenty-five-year-old Arab-Frenchman Karim itself. We already know what happened. His brother Driss (Sofiane Zermani) calls their sister Malika (Camélia Jordana) about him being arrested and then again shortly thereafter about him being in the hospital—so it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to read between the lines, regardless of the spin the police and courts will feed the media. This apparent “death-by-epileptic-fit” is merely a catalyst for the real purpose behind After the Fire. It sets the stage to depict just how damaging systemic racism is in countries dominated by institutions built upon white supremacy.

Because it doesn’t end with Karim. Not only is his death just the latest in a long line of police injustices that certainly won’t end with him either, but it proves a tipping...

French director Mehdi Fikri spent a decade working as a reporter covering social conflict and the issues of police violence and justice in France’s notoriously deprived out-of-town suburbs.

What he learned and saw during this time now feeds into his work as a filmmaker.

First feature After The Fire, which debuts in Toronto’s Discovery line-up, follows Malika, a French woman of North African descent, living in an outer suburb of the city of Strasbourg, who seeks justice after her younger brother dies in suspicious circumstances after being stopped by the police.

“I was born and grew up in Saint Denis in northern Paris, which has the reputation for being one of the most disadvantaged places in the entire Paris region,” says Fikri.

“The question of police violence has been a political issue in France for years and is something that has touched me personally as a young man...

Film stars including pop singer and Cesar-winning actress Camelia Jordana.

Screen can reveal the first trailer for Mehdi Fikri’s debut feature After The Fire ahead of the film’s TIFF Discovery world premiere.

The timely tale about a grieving family in their quest for justice after the police slaying of a young man in the suburbs of Strasbourg mirrors recent real-life riots in France that erupted in June following the police shooting of a teenager at a traffic stop. The film focuses on the interfamilial relationships and turmoil that follows such tragedies.

After The Fire features a cast of...

Leading French producer Michael Gentile’s Paris-based outfit The Film is about to start shooting Julie Delpy’s next directorial outing, “The Barbarians,” and Laurence Arné’s “Les Hennedricks” starring Dany Boon.

Delpy’s comeback to French filmmaking since “Lolo,” “The Barbarians” is a satirical comedy unfolding in a small town in Brittany which is preparing to welcome Ukrainian refugees after voting unanimously to greet them in exchange for subsidies from the government. But instead of seeing Ukrainians come into town, they see Syrian refugees, causing some tensions among locals and testing their liberal beliefs. Delpy will star in the film opposite Sandrine Kiberlain (“Mademoiselle Chambon”), Laurent Lafitte (“Elle”) and Ziad Bakri (“The Weekend Away”), India Hair (“Angry Annie”), Mathieu Demy (“The Bureau”) and Delpy’s father Albert Delpy.

Delpy penned the script with Matthieu Rumani (“Family Business”), in collaboration with Lea Domenech (“Bernadette”). “The Barbarians” will start filming on...

Franco–Tunisian filmmaker Manèle Labidi who gave us the Venice Days selected Arab Blues (aka Un divan à Tunis) back in 2019, is setting up shop on her sophomore project with production set to begin in June in Paris. Reine mère will feature singer-actress Camélia Jordana, rapper-actor Sofiane Zermani and established veteran Damien Bonnard (who actually has a small part in Yorgos Lanthimos’ upcoming Poor Things). We had announced late last year that the comedy received some Arte France Cinéma coin. Labidi will be re-teaming with Kazak Productions’ Jean-Christophe Reymond on the project – he of course backed the Palme d’Or winning Titane.…...

Disney+ will move forward on two new French series, tackling questions of euthanasia with “Lambert v. Lambert,” and intimacy in the social media age with the literary thriller “Les enfants sont rois.”

Adapted from a recent page-turner by “Based on a True Story” author Delphine de Vigan, “Les enfants sont rois” (“The Children Are Kings”) follows a reality-tv has-been turned mommy vlogger who fills her social media feeds with daily updates about her two precocious children. When her older daughter disappears and is thought kidnapped, the bereft momfluencer faces a police investigation that calls into question the very existence of child.

Described in one review as a mix of “Madame Bovary” and “Nineteen Eighty-Four” that plays as a “thriller, essay and court drama,” the caustic novel spans three decades, beginning with the rise of reality TV in 2001 and ending with an epigraph attributed to Stephen King: “We had a...

Film is about the impact of police misconduct on a Parisian family.

Bac Films and Wild Bunch International are kicking off sales on Mehdi Fikri’s hot market title After the Fire at the European Film Market.

The film is Fikri’s first feature following his short Descente screened in Horizons at Venice in 2021.

The incendiary drama about police violence features a starry cast including French talents Camelia Jordana, who won the Cesar for best newcomer for her role in Yvan Attal’s Le Brio, and Sofiane Zermani, who stars in Netflix’s French-language film No Limit. They star alongside Sofian Khammes,...

Avant que les flammes ne s’éteignent

Production took place on Mehdi Fikri‘s directorial debut this past October in Strasbourg, France. A former journalist for L’Humanité, we imagine that Fikri will add several layers of complexity to this oeuvre which is titled Avant que les flammes ne s’éteignent and which translates into… Before the Flames Go Out and formerly went by the title of Et maintenant, le feu. Featuring Camélia Jordana and supporting players Sofiane Zermani (Fianso), Sofian Khammes, Sonia Faidi, Samir Guesmi and Makita Samba, this centers on the aftermath of the crime and will follow the victim’s sister as she embarks on a battle to obtain a fair trial for her late brother, as well as raise media attention around the case.…...

Exclusive: Beta Cinema has unveiled a raft of first deals for German director Kilian Riedhof’s drama You Will Not Have My Hate, inspired by the experiences of French writer Antoine Leiris, whose wife was killed in the November 13, 2015 terror attack on the Bataclan concert hall in Paris.

The feature, which world premiered in Locarno over the summer, has sold to Japan (New Select), Taiwan (Av-Jet), Australia and New Zealand (The Reset Collective), Canada (Sphere Films), Spain (Yoda Films), Switzerland (Praesens Film) and Hungary (Mozinet).

Haut et Court is gearing up to release the feature in French cinemas on November 2 and Tobis Film will launch the picture in Germany and Austria on November 10.

This November 13, will mark the seventh anniversary of the attacks on the Bataclan and other locations across Paris, which killed 130 people, with 90 deaths occurring at the concert hall alone.

You Will Not Have My Hate is adapted from Leiris’s best-selling book,...

German director Kilian Riedhof’s drama You Will Not Have My Hate is inspired by the experiences of French writer Antoine Leiris, whose wife was killed in the Bataclan nightclub during the November 13, 2015 Paris terror attacks, leaving him to raise their young son alone.

Leiris became a symbol of quiet defiance in the face of the attackers following a Facebook post, in which he expressed his determination to build a new life with his son based on happiness and love, rather than hatred.

The post went viral and Leiris found himself at the heart of a local and international media storm.

Reidhof and co-writers Marc Blöbaum and Jan Braren adapted the film from Leirin’s autobiographical novel ‘You Will Not Have My Hate’ charting his emotional journey from the night of the attack; to struggling with his loss and then finding the courage to embark on a new life.

Exclusive: Here’s your first trailer for German director Kilian Riedhof’s drama You Will Not Have My Hate based on the true story of a man’s quest to rebuild his life without hatred after his wife was killed in the 2015 Bataclan attack in Paris.

The French-language film will world premiere at the 75th edition of the Locarno Film Festival (August 3-13) in a Piazza Grande screening.

The work is based on the bestselling novel of the same name by French journalist Antoine Leiris, recounting his journey as he rebuilt his life and that of his young son following his wife’s murder alongside 89 other people in a terror attack on the Bataclan concert hall in Paris on November 13, 2015.

Leiris’s story garnered attention in France and internationally after he posted an open letter on Facebook to his wife’s killers, saying: “On Friday night, you stole the life of an exceptional being,...

Benjamin Elalouf’s Moonshaker, the Paris-based banner behind Netfix’s popular documentary “Lords of Scam,” has joined forces with TF1-owned Newen to expand its scope, and is developing Noé Debré’s “The Last of the Jews,” among other director-driven projects.

“The Last of the Jews” will mark the anticipated feature debut of Debré, the critically acclaimed co-screenwriter of “A Prophet” and “Stillwater,” whose latest short film “On n’est pas des animaux” — also produced by Moonshaker — competed at this year’s Sundance.

A burlesque bittersweet comedy, “The Last of the Jews” will be headlined by a strong French cast including Agnes Jaoui and Michael Zindel.

Set to start shooting in March, the movie takes place in an underprivileged suburb on the outskirts of Paris and revolves around a 27-year-old Jewish man, Bellisha, who lives with his mother, Giselle. The suburb has seen the synagogue shut down, and now the...

The 60th edition marks film critic Charles Tesson’s last year at the helm.

Egyptian director Omar El Zohairy’s surreal tragi-comedy Feathers has scooped the €15,000 grand prize at the 60th edition of Cannes’ Critics’ Week.

It is the debut feature of El Zohairy who cut his teeth working as an assistant director to Youssef Chahine and Yousry Nasrallah.

The story revolves around a family liberated from the control of a tyrannical patriarch after he is turned into a chicken during a magic show. Juliette Lepoutre and Pierre Menahem at France’s Still Moving lead produced in co-production with Cairo-based Film Clinic,...

Palme d’Or-winning filmmaker Jacques Audiard and rising director Léa Mysius reminisce about presenting their respective debut features, “See How They Fall” and “Ava,” at Cannes’ Critics’ Week in an exclusive video celebrating the 60th anniversary of the sidebar.

Under the helm of Charles Tesson since 2011, Critics’ Week, which is dedicated to first and second films, has showcased more dozens of emerging filmmakers over the years. Some of them will have their latest movies unspool in competition at the festival. These include Audiard with “Paris, 13th District” which was co-written with Mysius and Celine Sciamma, as well as Julia Ducournau (“Raw”) with “Titane,” and Nadav Lapid (“The Kindergarten Teacher”) with “Ahed’s Knee.”

Audiard and Mysius are two of the 60 talents and artists who have shared testimonies about Critics’ Week brought to their lives and careers through videos and letters. Critics’ Week is unveiling these tributes throughout the month of June.

The Cannes Film Festival’s parallel Critics’ Week section is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2021 with a lineup that is heavy on French talent and nonexistent when it comes to U.S. filmmakers. This year’s Critics’ Week selection includes 13 world premieres, seven of them in competition. As always, Critics’ Week is made of up first and-second time directorial efforts. The selection committee says it received 1,620 short films and watched 1,000 features in 2021. The lineup was selected by Critics’ Week artistic director Charles Tesson and his committee. Each section of the Critics’ Week lineup is made up of about 30 percent of films directed by women.

“The competition is very international and showcases films with many different styles and topics,” Tesson said in a statement (via Variety). “Many films tackle relationships, friendships, family bonds — especially mothers with their children, loved ones we lost, or fighting to get back into our lives.”

Critics...

Parallel section devoted to first and second features and shorts by emerging filmmakers will announce selection on June 7.

Romanian director Cristian Mungiu will be the jury president for the 60th edition of Cannes Critics’ Week, which runs July 7-15.

Jury members will comprise French producer Didar Domehri, whose recent credits include Under The Stars Of Paris and Memory House; actress and music artist Camélia Jordana, who was seen recently in Love Affair)s); Swiss, Monaco-based film consultant Michel Merkt, whose recent credits include Benedetta, and Karel Och, artistic director of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

Mungiu has a long...

America has the Oscars; France has the César Awards. In a normal year, being nominated for 13 of the latter would be a sign of an exceptional achievement in French cinema — a phenomenon on par with “Amélie” or “A Prophet” commanding recognition in nearly every category en route to worldwide acclaim. But 2020 was not a normal year, and it’s a bit misleading to see writer-director Emmanuel Mouret’s mildly carbonated ensemble drama “Love Affair(s)” up for so many awards, knowing it’s hardly insta-classic material.

The movie, which was to premiere at Cannes had the festival not been canceled by the coronavirus, concerns the romantic entanglements of (at least) nine characters whose actions often contradict the way they see themselves. How can we be so sure? These eloquent characters love to hear themselves talk — and so do we, as there’s a poetry to their near-constant stream of conversation...

Caroline Vignal on Howard Hawks’s Rio Bravo: “I think the main thing is that I’m really a fan of Dean Martin, mostly as a singer.”

Laure Calamy’s wildly amusing performance in Caroline Vignal’s My Donkey, My Lover, And I (Antoinette Dans Les Cévennes) earned her the César Award for Best Actress, besting the Lumière Award co-winners Barbara Sukowa and Martine Chevallier, the stars of Filippo Meneghetti’s (Oscar-shortlisted and César Best First Feature Film winner) Two Of Us (Deux), Virginie Efira in Albert Dupontel’s multiple César Award-winning Bye Bye Morons, and Camélia Jordana for Emmanuel Mouret’s Love Affair(s), which received a record 13 nominations, winning just one for Best Supporting Actress Emilie Dequenne.

Antoinette (Laure Calamy) with Patrick: “The Cévennes have room to roam. In France we’re so steeped in the Western …”

Shot by Simon Beaufils with a score by Matei Bratescot,...

Emmanuel Mouret’s semi-circular Love Affair(s), aka The Things We Say, The Things We Do starring Camélia Jordana, Niels Schneider, Vincent Macaigne, Guillaume Gouix, Julia Piaton, Émilie Dequenne, and Jenna Thiam, produced by Frédéric Niedermayer has received a record 13 César nominations and is an éclair of a highlight in New York’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema.

Unlike Nicole Garcia's Lovers, Mouret presents us with characters who seem to be under no economic or, God forbid, existential straits. Love Affair(s), not as circular as Marcel Ophüls’ La Ronde based on Schnitzler’s play, but with just as many entanglements, explores love lives in turmoil. Shot by Laurent Desmet (Mouret’s Lady J), the soundtrack runs the gamut from Clair de Lune to Peer Gynt and back. Their jobs (documentary editor, translator, in the building...

Emmanuel Mouret’s feature film walks away with the title of Best French Film of 2020, while Aurel’s Josep is named Best First Film. The Association of French Film Critics has announced its champions for 2020. The accolade of Best French Film of the Year went to Love Affair(s) by Emmanuel Mouret, which sees the movie continuing a winning streak which began with Cannes’ 2020 Official Selection label and has since been bolstered by the 2021 Lumières award for Best Film (read our news), as well as 13 nominations for this year’s César awards, the victors of which will be announced on 12 March. Notably starring Camélia Jordana, Nils Schneider, Vincent Macaigne, Jeanna Thiam, Guillaume Gouix, Émilie Dequenne and Julia Piaton, this Moby Dick Films production which was distributed in France in September of last year, courtesy of Pyramide, is sold worldwide by Elle Driver.The award for Best First French Film,...

Nicole Garcia’s Lovers (Amants) is a New York’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema highlight Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Emmanuelle Béart’s tour-de-force performance in Ludovic Bergery’s Margaux Hartmann; and Emmanuel Mouret’s The Things We Say, The Things We Do, aka Love Affair(s) with Camélia Jordana, Niels Schneider, Vincent Macaigne, Guillaume Gouix, Julia Piaton, Émilie Dequenne, and Jenna Thiam which both were produced by Frédéric Niedermayer; Hélier Cisterne’s Faithful, starring Vincent Lacoste and Vicky Krieps; and Nicole Garcia’s Lovers (Amants), with Stacy Martin, Pierre Niney, Benoît Magimel, and a brilliant score by Grégoire Hetzel are four of the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema early bird highlights tackling the subject of love.

Sasha in the opening night selection, Sébastien Lifshitz’s Little Girl (Petite Fille)

Opening the festival on March 4 is another highlight, Sébastien...

Emmanuel Mouret’s Les Choses Qu’On Dit, Les Choses Qu’On Fait, aka Love Affair(s), leads France’s César Award nominations with a total 13 including each of the top acting categories as well as Best Director and Best Film. The official 2020 Cannes Film Festival selection is followed by Albert Dupontel’s comedy/drama Adieu Les Cons (Bye Bye Morons) and François Ozon’s Eté 85 (Summer Of 85) with 12 each. The latter was released locally last summer and played Toronto in September.

Other titles to make the cut this morning include the Oscar shortlisted Two Of Us (Deux) from Filippo Meneghetti with Best Actress nods for leads Martine Chevallier and Barbara Sukowa as well as Best Original Screenplay and Best Debut Feature.

In the Foreign Film category are Sam Mendes’ 1917, Todd Haynes’ Dark Waters, Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round (also Oscar shortlisted on Tuesday), Jan Komasa’s La Communion...

Emmanuel Mouret’s “Love Affairs” is leading the nominations for the Cesar Awards, France’s top film honors. Nominations were announced online on Wednesday.

The film, which was part of Cannes 2020’s official selection, weaves together a series of romantic tales exploring love, friendship and infidelity with an ensemble cast including Camelia Jordana, Niels Schneider, Vincent Macaigne and Julia Piaton. “Love Affairs” earned 13 awards nominations, including for best film, director, as well as nods for Jordana, Schneider, Macaigne and Piaton. The film previously won best film at the Lumieres Awards.

Meanwhile, Albert Dupontel’s “Bye Bye Morons” and Francois Ozon’s “Summer of 85” are each nominated for 12 Cesar Awards, including best film and best director. A dark comedy, “Bye Bye Morons” stars Virginie Efira as a seriously ill woman on a mission to reunite with her long-lost child with the help of a man who’s having a burnout.

Camélia Jordan and Vincent Macaigne in Emmanuel Mouret’s award-winning Love Affair(s) Photo: Moby Dick Films Voters in France’s Lumière awards, comprising international journalists based in France, which are regarded as a pertinent precursor to the Césars (the Oscar equivalent), have selected Emmanuel Mouret’s Love Affair(s)/Les Choses qu’on dit, les choses qu’on fait as the best film of the year.

Mouret continues his exploration of the trials and tribulations of the heart, soul and passion in a series of inter-linked tales featuring such acting talent as Vincent Macaigne, Camélia Jordana, Emilie Duquenne, Guillaume Gouix and Niels Schneider.

Emmanuel Mouret, director of best film in Lumière Awards Photo: UniFrance The best director gong went to Maïwenn for her fifth feature DNA in which she also stars alongside Fanny Ardant and Louis Garrel in family melodrama revolving around cultural identity and roots.

Stéphane Demoustier was...

Emmanuel Mouret’s feature wins the Award for Best Film; Martine Chevallier and Barbara Sukowa share the prize for Best Actress while Sami Bouajila is named Best Actor. Handed out by foreign journalists stationed in Paris to the best French and French-speaking films and artists during a ceremony (attended this year only by the winners and by those handing out the awards) shown on Canal+, the 26th Lumières Awards have crowned Emmanuel Mouret’s Love Affair(s) as the best film of 2020. Recipient of an Official Selection Cannes 2020 label, and starring among others Camélia Jordana, Niels Schneider, Vincent Macaigne, Jenna Thiam, Guillaume Gouix, Émilie Dequenne and Julia Piaton, this Moby Dick Films production distributed in France by Pyramide last September, is sold internationally by Elle Driver. Two of Us from young Italian filmmaker Filippo Meneghetti, the French submission for the 2021 Best International Feature Film Oscar, scored two awards: the Lumières.

Emmanuel Mouret’s “Love Affairs” won best film at the 26th Lumieres Awards, which are prizes given by France-based members of the foreign press. The film weaves together a series of romantic tales with an ensemble cast including Camelia Jordana and Niels Schneider.

This year, the ceremony became a televised event. The show was broadcast on Canal Plus and hosted by French journalists Laurie Cholewa and Laurent Weil with the participation of several voting journalists. The Lumieres event traditionally kicks off France’s awards season.

Filippo Meneghetti’s romance “Two of Us,” which represents France in the international feature film race at the Oscars, won two prizes, including best first film, and best actress for the duo Martine Chevallier and Barbara Sukowa. The feature debut follows Nina and Madeleine, two pensioners who have hidden their deep and passionate love for many decades and see their bond put to the test...

Roller-coaster ride: Félix Lefebvre and Benjamin Voisin in Summer Of 85 Photo: UniFrance

The nominations for the 26th edition of the Lumière Awards (France’s equivalent of the Golden Globes) have just been revealed by the Foreign Press Association.

The winners will be revealed on 19 January with such titles as Emmanuel Mouret’s Love Stories; Filippo Meneghetti’s Two Of Us (Deux); Charlène Favier’s Slalom; François Ozon’s Summer Of 85 (Été 85); and Albert Dupont’s Bye Bye Morons (Adieu Les Cons) leading the fray. The 77 titles under consideration illustrate the the quality and diversity of French productions and co-productions during the year, it was suggested in a media release from the Academy of the Lumières.

Léa Drucker and Martine Chevallier in Two Of Us Photo: UniFrance

The animated feature Josep also figured prominently with three nominations in different categories.

“The directors Albert Dupontel, Filippo Meneghetti, Emmanuel Mouret, Maïwenn and François Ozon; actresses Laure Calamy,...

The set-up is a classic one: two strangers, thrown together by circumstance, while away the time chatting about love against the stunning backdrop of the French countryside. Not a bad way to spend a vacation, and certainly not a bad way to spend two hours of a movie. But director Emmanual Mouret’s winsome “Love Affairs” , using its central couple (the appealing Camélia Jordana and Niels Schneider) as the entry point into a series of interconnected stories about the messiness of love.

The film comes across as a more serious “Love Actually” and a much better variation on “Valentine’s Day” or “New Year’s Eve.” Mouret anchors his romantic dramedy in the growing bond between Daphne (Jordana) and Maxime (Schneider), as they get to know each other by sharing their own past tales of romance gone awry. Mouret doesn’t reveal his interconnected narrative until well into the film’s first act,...

The set-up is a classic one: two strangers, thrown together by circumstance, while away the time chatting about love against the stunning backdrop of the French countryside. Not a bad way to spend a vacation, and certainly not a bad way to spend two hours of a movie. But director Emmanual Mouret’s winsome “Love Affairs” , using its central couple (the appealing Camélia Jordana and Niels Schneider) as the entry point into a series of interconnected stories about the messiness of love.

The film comes across as a more serious “Love Actually” and a much better variation on “Valentine’s Day” or “New Year’s Eve.” Mouret anchors his romantic dramedy in the growing bond between Daphne (Jordana) and Maxime (Schneider), as they get to know each other by sharing their own past tales of romance gone awry. Mouret doesn’t reveal his interconnected narrative until well into the film’s first act,...

Camélia Jordana, Niels Schneider, Vincent Macaigne, Émilie Dequenne, Jenna Thiam and Guillaume Gouix all star in this Moby Dick Films production, sold by Elle Driver. After two weeks in the Vaucluse region of France, filming on Emmanuel Mouret’s new title, Les choses qu’on dit, les choses qu’on fait, is now pursuing in the Paris region. This is the 10th feature film by the filmmaker who is now a regular feature at the big festivals, having presented Venus and Fleur and Change of Address at the Directors’ Fortnight in 2004 and 2006, Shall We Kiss at the Giornate degli Autori in 2007, two films in Locarno (L’Art d’Aimer on the Piazza Grande in 2011 and Lovers in competition in 2013) and Mademoiselle de Joncquières in Toronto’s Platform competition in 2018 (with the film going on to garner six nominations at the 2019 César Awards, as well as the trophy for Best...

The film premiered at Tribeca Film Festival last month.

French genre specialist WTFilms has acquired international rights to comedy horror thriller Come To Daddy, directed by New Zealand’s Ant Timpson, following its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival last month. North American rights are being handled by Xyz Films.

Elijah Wood stars in the film about a family reunion that degenerates into a blood-splattered nightmare.

Come To Daddy is the feature directorial debut for producer Timpson, whose producer credits include Turbo Kid and the 2016 genre hit The Greasy Strangler, on which former The Lord Of The Rings Wood also took a producer credit.

Eric Barbier’s “Promise at Dawn” will headline the 2018 Colcoa French Film Festival on April 23, the Franco-American Cultural Fund announced Tuesday.

“Promise at Dawn” is an adaptation of French author Romain Gary’s autobiography that stars Pierre Niney and Charlotte Gainsbourg. The film will kick off the screenings of 37 new features and documentaries competing for the Colcoa Cinema Awards at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles. The event will present a record total of 86 films, TV shows, digital series, and virtual reality programs, 75 of which will be considered for the Colcoa awards throughout the week’s festivities, which will culminate on May 1.

Colcoa executive producer and artistic director Francois Truffart also announced that this year’s festival will set aside a day exclusively for screening first films made by female writers and directors. The day, titled “Focus on a Filmmaker Day,” will honor writer, director, and actor Melanie...

“Bpm” triumphed at the César Awards, taking home the prizes for Best Film, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Antoine Reinartz), Best Male Newcomer (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart), Best Original Score, and Best Editing. Robin Campillo’s drama about AIDS activists in Paris also won the Grand Prix at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, but wasn’t nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign-Language Film — a snub that was met with some controversy.

Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Loveless,” which is nominated for the Oscar, won the equivalent award. Albert Dupontel’s “Au revoir là-haut” also had a big night, taking Best Director, Best Actress (Jeanne Balibar), and three other prizes. Full list of winners:

Best Film

“Bpm,” Robin Campillo

“Au revoir là-haut,” Albert Dupontel

“Barbara,” Mathieu Amalric

“Le Brio,” Yvan Attal

“Patients,” Grand Corps Malade, Mehdi Idir

“Petit Paysan,” Hubert Charuel

“C’est La Vie,” Eric Tolédano, Olivier Nakache

Best Director

Robin Campillo,...

Politically-charged annual celebration of French cinema highlights female rights, fight against Aids and plight of refugees.

Robin Campillo’s AIDS activism drama Bpm topped the awards at the 43rd edition of the French Césars on Friday evening (March 2), with the director clinching best film, editing and screenplay.

The film won in six of its 13 nominated categories, with additional awards for best original music for Arnaud Rebotini, best supporting actor for Antoine Reinartz and best male newcomer for Nahuel Pérez Biscayart.

The César triumph follows an award-winning run in France for the film charting the activities of the Paris branch of...

Exclusive: Edgy French comedy stars Felix Moati and French singer-turned-actress Camélia Jordana.

Films Distribution is reporting brisk business on market title Some Like It Veiled, a French-language cross-dressing burqa comedy with a contemporary spin.

The debut feature of Iranian-French filmmaker Sou Abadi, it stars Felix Moati and French singer-turned-actress Camélia Jordana as young French couple Armand and Leila whose relationship is threatened when her older brother Mahmoud returns from a trip to Yemen.

He now disapproves of Leila’s lifestyle and confines her to the home. To get around the restrictions, Armand dons a burqa and adopts the persona of Shéhérazade to keep seeing Leila. He plays the role so convincingly that Mahmoud starts falling for him too.

Film Distribution has sealed deals to Spain (Caramel Films), Greece (Feel Good), Austria (Filmladen), Italy (I Wonder Pictures), Germany (Nsp) and Switzerland (Frenetic), and Israel (New Cinema).

“It’s a classic comedy scheme in which cross-dressing is the comedy...

The Champs-Élysées Film Festival, created by producer, distributor and exhibitor Sophie Dulac, is a commitment to Parisian audiences for a cinematic trip between France and the USA showcasing the best of French and American independent cinema and highlighting New Orleans.

Six American indies and six French indies will judged for two separate awards and will also receive audience awards. The 2017 Jury consist of talents coming from all kinds of backgrounds and having a strong involvement in French independent cinema : — Lolita Chammah, actress, — Lola Créton, actress, — Vincent Dedienne, actor, humorist and author, — Jérémie Elkaïm, actor, screenwriter and director, — Camélia Jordana, singer and actress, — Gustave Kervern, director and actor — Karidja Touré, actress.

Classic Claude Brasseur back when…

The classic French actor Claude Brasseur will be the Guest of Honor along with the American director Alex Ross Perry and director Jerry Schatzberg. Other guests include directors Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu, the French actress Aïssa Maïga.