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Caught between sophisticated comedy and silly fluff, between Hitchcockian mystery and zany amateur sleuth caper, A Private Life (Vie Privée) is a lot more fun than it probably deserves to be thanks to the disarming chemistry of its seasoned leads, Jodie Foster and Daniel Auteuil. Rebecca Zlotowski’s latest doesn’t have the intoxicating sun-kissed sensuality of An Easy Girl or the emotional complexity of Other People’s Children, her last two films. This one is too busy careening all over the tonal map for any of that. What it does have is the French director’s customary light touch; it’s chaos with charm.

Foster’s French — at least to these ears — sounds impeccable and this is her first feature in the language since 2004’s A Very Long Engagement. She jumps into it with a spiky vitality and an unexpected playfulness that buoy the movie as much as Zlotowski’s zippy direction.

Before Jodie Foster’s Lilian can figure out what to do with a sudden opening in her agenda — Paula (Virgine Efira) has missed a third consecutive session — one of her other patients shows up unannounced. Pierre (Noam Morgensztern) started seeing the renowned psychiatrist nearly a decade ago as a byproduct of his search to quit smoking, and now, after all these years, he has seemingly done so, but not thanks to his nearly forty-thousand dollars spent in therapy. As he tells it, all it took was half an hour with a hypnotist. Stopping short of accusing Lilian of being a hack (but suing her for refunds all the same), he represents the first is a series of events that will lead her to rethinking her whole profession, if not her entire life.

“A Private Life,” Rebecca Zlotowski’s delightful and whimsical film, disguises this personal journey as a crime mystery...

Cannes film festival

Foster plays a psychoanalyst who suspects her client may not have killed herself, and sets out to investigate with ex-husband Daniel Auteuil

Rebecca Zlotowski serves up a genial, preposterous psychological mystery caper: the tale of an American psychoanalyst in Paris, watchably played by Jodie Foster in elegant French, who suspects that a patient who reportedly committed suicide was actually murdered. Zlotowski is perhaps channelling Hitchcock or De Palma, or even late-period Woody Allen – or maybe Zlotowski has, like so many of us, fallen under the comedy spell of Only Murders in the Building on TV and fancied the idea of bringing its vibe to Paris and transforming the mood – slightly – into something more serious.

Foster is classy shrink Lilian Steiner, stunned at the news that her client Paula Cohen-Solal (Virginie Efira) has taken her own life. She is also furiously confronted by Paula’s grieving widower Simon...

Walking out of Tuesday’s Cannes premiere, a local remarked how delightfully New York-y “A Private Life” felt. At first, the comment struck me as odd – Gallic spirit so suffuses this Paris-set cerebral thriller that even star Jodie Foster spends most of the film drinking wine, puffing on cigs, and speaking in la langue de Molière. But I could also see what my colleague meant, given director Rebecca Zlotowski’s choice to plays her murder mystery as a wry and Woody Allen-esque riff on neuroses.

Flexing her French-language skills for the first time since Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s “A Very Long Engagement,” Jodie Foster ably slips into the role of an expat shrink, and thankfully so, because the filmmaker wrote the film for the American star. And so it should come with little surprise that playing Dr. Liliane Steiner plays to Foster’s strengths; hitting notes of head-strong fragility, she...

Director Rebecca Zlotowski and star Jodie Foster unveiled their collaboration Vie Privée (A Private Life) out of competition here in Cannes on Tuesday evening, greeted by a 10-minute ovation.

Foster plays renowned psychiatrist Lilian Steiner in the French-language mystery. When Lilian learns of the death of one of her patients, she is deeply troubled. Convinced that it was murder, she decides to investigate.

Also starring are Daniel Auteuil, Virginie Efira, Mathieu Amalric, Vincent Lacoste and Luana Bajrami.

Sony Pictures Classics acquired North America and Latin America rights in February on the film that Zlotowski also co-wrote. Goodfellas completed a raft of international deals earlier this year. Ad Vitam has French distribution with a release planned later in 2025.

This is Zlotowski’s sixth film, and her second in the Cannes Official Selection as director after 2013’s Un Certain Regard title Grand Central.

Foster told the festival of meeting with Zlotowski, “We reviewed the whole film,...

Jodie Foster has plenty of Oscars, Emmys, Golden Globes and more to prove she can do just about anything on screen, and now she is taking a step further and doing it all in French.

That part is not a huge surprise. On one occasion in 2004 she appeared in a supporting role speaking in French in A Very Long Engagement, which starred Audrey Tatou. But now for the first time she has a starring role in a French production, Vie Privée (A Private Life), that premiered tonight out of competition as an official selection of the Cannes Film Festival, a most appropriate place to debut this new landmark in Foster’s career which just continues to dazzle.

Foster plays psychiatrist Lilian Steiner, a rock-solid professional who has been doing this work a very long time. But when she learns a longtime patient, Paula, whom...

The 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival continues on Day 8 with the world premieres of A Private Life, starring Jodie Foster, and Eleanor The Great, the directorial debut of Scarlett Johansson, starring June Squibb in the titular role as part of the Un Certain Regard lineup. Other premieres today include It Was Just an Accident, The Disappearance of Josef Mengele, and Fuori.

Related: ‘Eddington’ Cannes Film Festival Premiere Photos: Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, Emma Stone, Austin Butler & More

Squibb brings to vivid life the witty and proudly troublesome 94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein, who, after a devastating loss, tells a tale that takes on a dangerous life of its own. Johansson’s directorial debut is a comically poignant exploration of how the stories we hear become the stories we tell. The cast also includes Erin Kellyman, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jessica Hecht and Rita Zohar.

The film A Private Life, starring Jodie Foster as Lilian Steiner,...

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This April, Max is bringing you a lot of entertainment, from the highly anticipated return of the post-apocalyptic drama series The Last of Us to the streaming release of Nicole Kidman‘s erotic thriller film Babygirl. However, for the purposes of this article, we are only including the films that are coming to Max next month and have a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score. So, check out the 5 best films coming to Max in April 2025 with a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

Aftersun (April 1) Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95% Credit – A24

Aftersun is a semi-autobiographical coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Charlotte Wells. The 2022 film follows Sophie Patterson as she reflects on the last she took with her father at the age of 11-year-old at a fading resort. Sophie tries to come to terms with the image of her...

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the North and Latin American rights to Rebecca Zlotowski’s French murder mystery film “Vie Privée,” TheWrap has learned.

The project stars Jodie Foster as a renowned psychiatrist who investigates the suspicious death of one of her patients. She is joined by Daniel Auteuil, Virginie Efira (“Other People’s Children”), Mathieu Amalric (“Serpent’s Path”), Vincent Lacoste (“Lost Illusions”) and Luàna Bajrami (“Portrait of a Lady on Fire”).

The project’s promo was unveiled at the European Film Market by Goodfellas, which has sold it nearly everywhere worldwide. In France, the film will be released by Ad Vitam.

The film reunites Zlotowski with her longtime producer, Frédéric Jouve, at Les Films Velvet. Zlotowski’s previous credits include 2023 Venice Golden Lion contender “Other People’s Children,” “An Easy Girl,” “Planetarium,” “Grand Central” and “Dear Prudence.”

It also marks Foster’s first French-language role in two decades following her role...

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired North American and Latin American rights for Rebecca Zlotowski’s French-language murder mystery movie Vie Privée, starring Jodie Foster as a renowned psychiatrist who investigates the suspicious death of one of her patients.

Foster, who speaks fluent French, is joined in the cast by Auteuil and Efira (Other People’s Children), Mathieu Amalric (Serpent’s Path), Vincent Lacoste (Lost Illusions) and Luana Bajrami (Portrait of a Lady On Fire).

The acquisition follows a slew of deals on the film, which is being sold internationally by Goodfellas.

As announced by Deadline over the weekend, it has sold out in Europe with deals to UK (Altitude), Spain (Caramel Films), Germany (Plaion Pictures), Italy (Europictures), Benelux (September Film), Switzerland (Frenetic Films), Portugal (Pris Audiovisuais), Bulgaria (Cinelibri), ex-Yugoslavia (McF), Hungary (Cinetel Ltf), Romania (Independenta Film), Poland (Best Film), the Baltics and Cis (Pro:vzglyad).

Danish distributor Another World Entertainment has acquired Scandinavian rights,...

In one of the first major deals unveiled at the European Film Market, Sony Pictures Classics (“I’m Still Here”) has bought “Vie Privée,” a highly anticipated, humor-laced murder mystery movie starring Jodie Foster and directed by Rebecca Zlotowski (“Other People’s Children”), for North America and Latin America territories.

The Oscar winner stars in the film as renowned psychiatrist Lilian Steiner who mounts a private investigation into the death of one of her patients, whom she is convinced has been murdered. Foster last starred in a French-language film 20 years ago in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Oscar-nominated “A Very Long Engagement.”

Foster, who recently won an Emmy and a Golden Globe her turn in HBO’s “True Detective: Night Country,” stars in “Vie Privée” alongside a flurry of international stars, including Daniel Auteuil and Efira (“Other People’s Children”), Mathieu Almaric (“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”), Vincent Lacoste (“Lost Illusions”) and Luana Bajrami...

Exclusive: Goodfellas has posted a slew of deals for Rebecca Zlotowski’s French-language murder mystery movie Vie Privée, starring Jodie Foster alongside a host of top French talent including Daniel Auteuil and Virginie Efira, and unveiled a first look.

The movie – which shot last fall between Paris and Normandy – is currently in post-production, with an expected festival push this year.

It has sold out in Europe, with deals to UK (Altitude), Spain (Caramel Films), Germany (Plaion Pictures), Italy (Europictures), Benelux (September Film), Switzerland (Frenetic Films), Portugal (Pris Audiovisuais), Bulgaria (Cinelibri), ex-Yugoslavia (McF), Hungary (Cinetel Ltf), Romania (Independenta Film), Poland (Best Film), the Baltics and Cis (Pro:vzglyad).

Danish distributor Another World Entertainment has struck a multi-territory deal for Scandinavia, covering Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

Outside of Europe, it has been acquired for Israel (Lev Cinemas) and Turkey (Yeni Bir Films) and Australia and New Zealand (Transmission)

North America, Latin...

Directors Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata have paired with Paris-based Misia Films for a feature adaptation of their award-winning short “Two People Exchanging Saliva.”

Narrated by Vicky Krieps, and starring Zar Amir Ebrahimi (“Holy Spider”) and Luana Bajrami (“Portrait of a Lady on Fire”), the absurdist tragicomedy explores a dystopian world where kissing is punishable by death and transactions are made through slaps to the face. When a compulsive shopper makes eyes with a naïve salesgirl, the duo must kindle their spark in secret, especially once their bond begins to raise suspicions.

The short was selected by Barry Jenkins for a world premiere out of Telluride before winning the grand jury prize at AFI Fest, where the jury commended the film for “illustrat[ing] how desire and yearning can clash in a capitalistic society while showcasing queerness as commonplace.”

Directors Singh and Musteata most recently took home both the audience award...

Last week, we got the confirmation that Jodie Foster and Daniel Auteuil were toplining Rebecca Zlotowski’s Vie Privée and now we have a more complete picture with further casting announcements and a proper logline. Along with new team members in Mathieu Amalric, Vincent Lacoste and Luana Bajrami (who directed her feature debut in the Cannes preemed The Hill Where Lionesses Roar in 2021 – read our review), Zlotowski is re-teaming with her Other People’s Children star Virginie Efira. Production began in late September and will run all the way into late November in Paris and Normandy. We’re putting this down as a Venice Film Festival possibility.…...

Exclusive: Daniel Auteuil, Virginie Efira, Mathieu Amalric, Vincent Lacoste and Luana Bajrami have been unveiled as supporting cast members in Rebecca Zlotowski’s murder mystery movie Vie Privée starring Jodie Foster.

The production has also unveiled the plotline for the film which follows renowned psychiatrist Lilian Steiner, played by previously-announced Foster, who mounts her own private investigation into the death of one of her patients, whom she is convinced has been murdered.

The supporting cast news and plot reveal comes as filming – running from September 30 to November 22 between Paris and Normandy – enters its third week.

The feature is Zlotowski’s sixth film after 2023 Venice Golden Lion contender Other People’s Children, An Easy Girl, Planetarium, Grand Central and Dear Prudence.

Zlotowski co-wrote the screenplay with Anne Berest, whose credits include Audrey Diwan’s Venice Golden Lion winner Happening and Other People’s Children, as well as long-time collaborator Gaëlle Macé.

The film...

In a rather surprising turn of events, after Cannes skipped on premiering Emmanuelle––Audrey Diwan’s follow-up to her Golden Lion-winning Happening––the film won’t be at Venice, Telluride, or TIFF either as the 72nd San Sebastian Festival announced it will world premiere as their opening night film on September 20. Starring Noémie Merlant, Naomi Watts, Jamie Campbell Bower, and Will Sharpe, see the full announcement below along with a new still.

The French production Emmanuelle directed by Audrey Diwan will open the 72nd San Sebastian Festival in competition. The feature film will be screened as a world premiere on 20 September and will be attended by its director and leading cast.

Diwan, winner of the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival with Happening / L’événement in 2021, co-wrote the screenplay with fellow filmmaker Rebecca Zlotowski. The film follows the steps of a woman in search of a lost pleasure, whose...

Earlier this morning Audrey Diwan confirmed the recent news that Naomi Watts has a role in her highly anticipated Emmanuelle, but the French filmmaker also revealed the rest of the line-up and gave us a first look with a splendid Noemie Merlant in a cozy, most-likely duvet something. Will Sharpe, Jamie Campbell Bower, Chacha Huang and Anthony Wong complete the cast. Luàna Bajrami and Anamaria Vartolomei are also part of the cast.

Based on Emmanuelle Arsan’s novel and based on a script co-developed by Diwan and Rebecca Zlotowski, this follows a young woman’s sexual journey from the arms of her husband to intimate encounters with the wives of his business associates, to further explorations wherein the philosophical and aesthetic facets of eroticism are expounded—and enacted—to the fullest degree.…...

As predicted, the 20th edition of the Marrakech Intl. Film Festival (November 24th to December 2nd) will highlight what was a solid year in Cannes this year for Moroccan cinema showcasing Kamal Lazraq’s Hounds, Faouzi Bensaïdi’s Deserts and Asmae El Moudir’s The Mother of All Lies and will get the festivities started with one of the top films from Venice in Richard Linklater’s Hit Man. The Official Competition section (14 films from first and second time filmmakers) will include the likes of Ramata-Toulaye Sy, Lina Soualem, ​​Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir, Luck Razanajaona, Nehir Tuna, Una Gunjak, Juan Sebastián Quebrada, Luàna Bajrami, Felipe Carmona, Johnny Barrington, Carolina Markowicz and Daina O.…...

Festival has programmed 75 films from 36 countries.

The Marrakech International Film Festival has unveiled the full line-up for its 20th edition, which runs from November 24-December 2.

The festival is opening with Richard Linklater’s action comedy Hit Man, starring Glen Powell, and is screening 75 films in total from 36 countries.

Marrakech’s official competition, which comprises first and second feature films, includes Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s Cannes Competition title Banel & Adama, Lina Soualem’s Venice Giornate degli Autori documentary Bye Bye Tiberias and Moroccan director Kamal Lazraq’s feature debut Hounds, which premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes.

Scroll down for full line-up

Johnny Barrington,...

Richard Linklater’s action comedy “Hit Man” is set to open the Marrakech International Film Festival, which has announced its lineup of more than 70 films mixing known titles and fresh fare.

The fest is forging ahead with its 20th edition, which will run Nov. 24- Dec.2 in the ancient Moroccan city despite the Israel-Hamas conflict that has caused cancellations of several other fests in the region, as well as the earthquake that hit the country in September.

“Hit Man,” for which organizers declined to specify whether talent will attend, will screen as part of Marrakech’s red carpet gala screenings. Italian director Matteo Garrone is expected to make the trek for the gala of his Venice prizewinning immigration drama “Io Capitano” and Michel Franco will be coming to present another Venice prizewinner, “Memory,” starring Jessica Chastain, who is presiding over the fest’s main jury.

Also expected on hand for...

The 20th edition of the Marrakech International Film Festival has announced its selection, opening with Richard Linklater’s comedy Hit Man.

The event, running from November 24 to December 24, will unfold two months after the devastating earthquake in the nearby Atlas Mountains in September, which killed more than 2,000 people.

The management team has decided to push on with the event to support Marrakech, which suffered very little damage and relies heavily on tourism for its livelihood.

Hit Man will play as part of the festival’s six picture red carpet Gala selection which also includes Matteo Garrone’s Italian Oscar entry Me Captain and Michel Franco’s Memory.

Previously announced high-profile guests due to attend this year include Martin Scorsese, who will act as a mentor to emerging filmmakers attending the industry-focused Atlas Workshops, and Jessica Chastain as president of the jury.

She will be joined by Iranian actress and director Zar Amir,...

On the heels of yesterday’s TIFF announcement, the first major fall festival of the season––Venice International Film Festival––is unveiling its lineup. Taking place August 30-September 9, the competition jury this year is chaired by Damien Chazelle.

Highlights include new films from David Fincher, Michael Mann, Wes Anderson, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Sofia Coppola, Bradley Cooper, Bertrand Bonello, Frederick Wiseman, Roman Polanski, William Friedkin, Ava DuVernay, Harmony Korine, Richard Linklater, Woody Allen, and more.

Competition

Adagio; dir. Stefano Sollima

The Beast; dir. Bertrand Bonello

Io Capitano; dir. Matteo Garrone

Comandante; dir. Edoardo de Angelis

El Conde; dir. Pablo Larraín

Die Theorie von Allem; dir. Timm Kröger

Dogman; dir. Luc Besson

Enea; dir. Pietro Castellitto

Evil Does Not Exist; dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi

Ferrari; dir. Michael Mann

Finalmente L’Alba; dir. Saverio Costanzo

Green Border; dir. Agnieszka Holland

Holly; dir. Fien Troch

Hors-Saison; dir. Stéphane Brizé

The Killer; dir. David Fincher

Lubo; dir. Giorgio Diritti

The Promised Land; dir.

Includes films from David Fincher, Sofia Coppola, Ava DuVernay, Yorgos Lanthimos, Bradley Cooper and Ryusuke Hamaguchi.

Venice Film Festival announced the programme for its 80th edition, including a 23-strong Competition with new films from David Fincher, Sofia Coppola, Ava DuVernay, Yorgos Lanthimos, Bradley Cooper and Ryusuke Hamaguchi.

Scroll down for full line-up

The selection was announced by festival president Roberto Cicutto and artistic director Alberto Barbera. The SAG-AFTRA strike in the US has had a “quite modest” impact on the selection according to Barbera, who was forced to pull Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers as the opening film over the weekend due to the strike.

This year’s selection will be announced at 11:00 Cest (10:00 BST) by Roberto Cicutto and Alberto Barbera.

The line-up for the 80th Venice International Film Festival (August 30-September 9) will be revealed this morning at 11:00 Cest (10:00 BST) by festival president Roberto Cicutto and artistic director Alberto Barbera

The press conference will be live-streamed below, and this page will be updated with the films as they are announced.

Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers was originally set to open the festival but was pulled by MGM amid the actors’ strike. It was replaced by Edoardo De Angelis’ Comandante.

The closing film...

About three weeks ago, we saw a teaser trailer for Final Cut, the French remake of writer/director Shin’ichirō Ueda’s highly acclaimed Japanese zombie comedy One Cut of the Dead. Final Cut will be receiving a U.S. theatrical release (courtesy of Kino Lorber) on July 14th, so now a full trailer for the film has arrived online – and you can watch it in the embed above!

Known as Coupez! in its home country, this remake of One Cut of the Dead was written and directed by Michel Hazanavicius, the Oscar-winning director of the Best Picture-winning silent film The Artist. (Hazanavicius also received a Best Screenplay nomination for that film.) Starring Romain Duris, Berenice Bejo, Gregory Gadebois, Finnegan Oldfield, Matilda Lutz, Sebastian Chassagne, Raphael Quenard, Jean-Pascal Zadi, Lyes Salem, Simone Hazanavicius, and Luana Bajrami, Final Cut is set against the backdrop of a B-movie shoot that is descending into disaster,...

Final Cut, the French remake of writer/director Shin’ichirō Ueda’s highly acclaimed Japanese zombie comedy One Cut of the Dead, will be receiving a U.S. theatrical release (courtesy of Kino Lorber) on July 14th. With that date just one month away, a teaser trailer has arrived online, and you can check it out in the embed above!

Known as Coupez! in its home country, this remake of One Cut of the Dead was written and directed by Michel Hazanavicius, the Oscar-winning director of the Best Picture-winning silent film The Artist. (Hazanavicius also received a Best Screenplay nomination for that film.) Starring Romain Duris, Berenice Bejo, Gregory Gadebois, Finnegan Oldfield, Matilda Lutz, Sebastian Chassagne, Raphael Quenard, Jean-Pascal Zadi, Lyes Salem, Simone Hazanavicius, and Luana Bajrami, Final Cut is set against the backdrop of a B-movie shoot that is descending into disaster, Duris plays the director who seems to be...

Final Cut, the French remake of writer/director Shin’ichirō Ueda’s highly acclaimed Japanese zombie comedy One Cut of the Dead, made its world premiere as the opening night film at the Cannes Film Festival last May, then received a theatrical release in France in June. One year later, we finally know when Final Cut is going to be released in the U.S. Following screenings at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York next month, the film will be receiving a U.S. theatrical release (courtesy of Kino Lorber) on July 14th.

Known as Coupez! in its home country, this remake of One Cut of the Dead was written and directed by Michel Hazanavicius, the Oscar-winning director of the Best Picture-winning silent film The Artist. (Hazanavicius also received a Best Screenplay nomination for that film.) Starring Romain Duris, Berenice Bejo, Gregory Gadebois, Finnegan Oldfield, Matilda Lutz, Sebastian Chassagne, Raphael Quenard,...

Sean Baker among executive producers. Comedy premieres on May 19.

On the eve of Cannes Paris-based Loco Films has acquired international sales rights to Joanna Arnow’s Directors’ Fortnight selection The Feeling That The Time For Doing Something Has Passed.

Arnow stars in the comedy as Ann, a morose New Yorker in her 30s who feels the years have passed by quickly in her long-term casual Bdsm relationship, low-level corporate job, and quarrelsome Jewish family.

As Ann begins to feel increasingly alienated, she wrestles with herself and her relationships. Scott Cohen (Gilmore Girls), Babak Tafti, and Alysia Reiner round out the key cast.

Final Cut, the French remake of writer/director Shin’ichirō Ueda’s highly acclaimed Japanese zombie comedy One Cut of the Dead, made its world premiere as the opening night film at the Cannes Film Festival back in May, then received a theatrical release in France in June. All these months later, we finally have some news about the film’s U.S. release. Variety reports that Kino Lorber has picked up the U.S. distribution rights to Final Cut, with their plan being to give the movie a theatrical release sometime in the summer. That will be followed by a digital and home video release on all major platforms.

Known as Coupez! in its home country, this remake of One Cut of the Dead was written and directed by Michel Hazanavicius, the Oscar-winning director of the Best Picture-winning silent film The Artist. (Hazanavicius also received a Best Screenplay nomination for that film.

When Marianne (Noémie Merlant) and Héloïse (Adèle Haenel) lock eyes for the first time in Céline Sciamma's "Portrait of a Lady on Fire," they do not immediately fall in love. Marianne, who has been hired by Héloïse's mother to secretly paint her for a wedding portrait, gazes at her subject with the curiosity of an artist dedicated to her task. In turn, Héloïse watches Marianne watch her with bristling indignation — for the first half of the film, she is cautiously distant, a little cold, and clearly defensive at the prospect of a stranger suddenly invading her space. Over time, their relationship develops into passionate, all-consuming love that understands its limits and acknowledges that it is not meant to be. Years after their mutual separation, they still burn for one another.

The title of Sciamma's film, which directly connects to a pivotal scene where Héloïse's skirt literally catches fire, acted...

Swiss-Kosovar feature ‘The Land Within’ takes best first feature film.

Hilmar Oddsson’s Icelandic dark comedy Driving Mum won the Grand Prix for best film in Competition at the award ceremony of the 26th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF), held on Saturday, November 26.

The Official Selection jury, headed by Hungarian director Ildiko Enyedi, said Driving Mum “charmed us all with its transparent, simple but bold film language, with its graceful sense of humour, with its unpretentious way of speaking about burning questions of personal life. A film which tells us that it is never too late.”

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‘Until Branches Bend’ from Toronto and ‘The Land Within’, which will launch in Tallinn.

Italy-based sales firm Tvco has acquired world sales rights to two new titles from the autumn-winter festival circuit.

The company has picked up Until Branches Bend, the debut feature of Canadian director Sophie Jarvis, which debuted in the Discovery section at Toronto International Film Festival last month.

Starring Grace Glowicki from Sundance 2021 title Strawberry Mansion and Riverdale’s Lochlyn Munro, the Canadian film follows a pregnant cannery worker who discovers what she believes to be an invasive insect in a peach and must convince her community about the danger it poses.

This review of “Happening” was first published May 5 before the film’s opening in NYC and Los Angeles.

Rarely has there been a narrative film that feels more current than “Happening,” a French drama about the trials of a young women attempting to get an abortion — in 1963.

Audrey Diwan (“Losing It”) based her second film, the top prize-winner at last year’s Venice Film Festival, on Annie Ernaux’s autobiographical novel of the same name. Though this is one woman’s story, Diwan (who cowrote the script with Marcia Romano) directs it with an urgency that makes clear: it could be anyone’s.

Well, not anyone, of course. But certainly anyone who finds herself pregnant without access to safe and legal abortion, which is the case for Anne (an excellent Anamaria Vartolomei). Until the moment her calendar reveals the unavoidable truth, Anne is no different from her best friends, Hélène...

The cast of Happening, from left, Louise Orry-Diquero, Anamaria Vartolomei and Luàna Bajrami. Audrey Diwan: 'My desire to make the film came out of the shock of learning about the reality, the truth of what Annie Ernaux had gone through' Photo: UniFrance She may not exactly be a new kid on the block. In fact, Audrey Diwan, whose latest film plays at Glasgow Film Festival this week, admits she has been around the block a few times in her chosen crafts as a novelist and scriptwriter frequently working with her ex-partner Cédric Jimenez on such cutting-edge thrillers as Bac Nord and previously La French.

Audrey Diwan: 'Cinema is about freedom' Photo: UniFrance Her trajectory may be about to change after her second solo feature Happening won the Golden Lion (or should that be Lioness?) at the Venice Film Festival last year in the wake of another femme victory by...

Winner of the Golden Lion at last year’s Venice Film Festival, featuring a jury led by Bong Joon-ho, Audrey Diwan’s abortion drama Happening is an intense, Dardennes-esque drama. Set in 1963 in Angoulême, France––which had strict anti-abortion laws––the story follows Anne, a pregnant student who attempts to find someone that can help her. Ahead of a May release, IFC Films have now released the U.S. trailer.

Mitchell Beaupre said in his review, “While comparing Happening to Eliza Hittman’s masterful 2020 abortion drama Never Rarely Sometimes Always skirts reductive, there’s something to be said for the similar way in which Diwan observes her main character. While her aesthetic may boast some grander flourishes than Hittman’s neorealism, there is nevertheless a vérité style to Diwan’s approach that places us right up against Anne for the majority of the film — a tight, boxed aspect ratio leads...

"I'd like a child one day, but not instead of a life." IFC has debuted the official US trailer for an acclaimed French drama titled Happening, the second feature directed by filmmaker Audrey Diwan. This initially premiered at the 2021 Venice Film Festival last year, where it won the Golden Lion top prize at the end of the fest. It also stopped by the 2022 Sundance Film Festival last month and picked up more rave reviews. Adapted from Annie Ernaux's semi-autobiographical book, Happening follows Anne, a bright young student who faces an unwanted pregnancy while abortion was still illegal in 1960s France. There are more and more abortion films recently because filmmakers are turning to art to express their concerns about the growing anti-abortion movement that has been taking over recently. These films are vital and necessary. Happening stars Anamaria Vartolomei, Kacey Mottet Klein, Luàna Bajrami, Louise Orry-Diquéro, and also Louise Chevillotte.

World Productions Boss and YouTube Emea Head Win Rts Fellowships

Line of Duty (pictured) producer World Productions CEO Simon Heath (pictured) and YouTube Regional Director, Emea, Ben McOwen Wilson are among the six winners of this year’s Royal Television Society (Rts) Fellowships. Cpl Productions MD Danielle Lux, BBC News At Ten‘s Clive Myrie, ITV Continuing Drama MD John Whiston and retiring Screen Yorkshire CEO Sally Joynson see out the crop, who were described as “leaders in their fields” by Rts CEO Theresa Wise. Rts Fellowships recognise industry luminaries who have made an outstanding, sustained and exceptional contribution to the industry.

Bollywood’s ‘Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui’ Trailer Launched

Ahead of Abhishek Kapoor’s Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui’s December 10 release, a trailer has dropped showing a passionate couple, played by Ayushmann Khurrana (Badhaai Ho) and Vaani Kapoor (Bell Bottom), whose lives change after the main character hints at a gender-related issue with his partner.

Audrey Diwan’s “Happening,” one of the three shortlisted films to represent France for the upcoming 94th Academy Awards, will make its North American premiere at the Chicago Film Festival as part of the Global Currants and Women in Cinema program on Saturday, Oct. 17.

“Happening” (L’événement) had its world premiere at the 78th Venice Film Festival, winning the Golden Lion, making Diwan one of only five women who have ever won since 1949.

Just acquired by IFC Films and Film Nation, the film is an adaptation of Annie Ernaux’s eponymous novel that looks back on her experience with abortion when it was still illegal in France in the 1960s. “Diwan’s ‘Happening’ is a timely exploration of the choices women have to make and is a powerful appeal for personal freedoms,” said Chicago International Film Festival Artistic Director Mimi Plauché.

“Audrey Diwan’s quietly devastating sophomore feature is the latest...

The feature is adapted from French writer Annie Ernaux 2019 on her illegal abortion in 1964.

French novelist, screenwriter and director Audrey Diwan broke into cinema as the co-writer of a series of thrillers including Paris Under Watch, The Connection and recent Cannes selection and box office hit Bac Nord with her former partner Cédric Jimenez.

She arrives in competition at the Venice Film Festival this year with her second solo feature Happening. Adapted from the 2019 work of respected French writer Annie Ernaux, it recounts the author’s struggle to get an abortion as a student in 1964, 11 years before abortion was legalised...

Amidst all the horrors of a war-torn decade that she would largely like to forget, one memory stands out for Kosovar filmmaker Kaltrina Krasniqi: the day her mother surprised the family with a VHS player. “We were so, so excited,” she tells Variety. “We really didn’t believe until she opened it that it was true.”

Beginning with the break-up of the former Yugoslavia in 1991 and ending with the conclusion of the bloody Kosovo War in 1999, Krasniqi and her family spent much of the ‘90s holed up in their apartment, occasionally venturing out to the 007 video club across the street to rent movies. “It wasn’t really safe to be out,” she says. “We spent the entire decade using that VHS player to watch films.”

It was the start of the director’s love affair with cinema, and the first step on a journey that this week takes her...

Sebastian Meise’s “Great Freedom,” a prison drama about a gay man repeatedly incarcerated under a draconian law outlawing homosexuality in West Germany, won the award for best feature film at the Sarajevo Film Festival.

The Austrian director took home the Heart of Sarajevo at Thursday night’s ceremony, while leading man Georg Friedrich won the award for best actor for a film that won the runner-up prize in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard sidebar. The prizes were handed out by a jury led by Serbian actress Jasna Đuričić and including American writer-director Mike Cahill, Hungarian director Lili Horvát, Vienna Film Festival artistic director Eva Sangiorgi, and Austrian Film Commission executive director Martin Schweighofer.

Serbia’s Milica Tomović was named best director for “Celts,” which follows three generations who converge at a child’s birthday party against the backdrop of the former Yugoslavia’s painful breakup. The trio of Flaka Latifi,...

Other winners included the three lead actresses of ’The Hill Where Lionesses Roar’.

Sebastian Miese’s Austrian-German drama Great Freedom has won the Sarajevo Film Festival’s top prize, the Heart of Sarajevo for best feature film.

The 2021 winners were announced at an awards ceremony last night (August 20). The film received its world premiere at Cannes last month, where it played in Un Certain Regard and won the jury prize.

Scroll down for full list of winners

The love story tracks the persecution of homosexuality in Germany over the decades following the Second World War. It is the Austrian director...

BenedictionThe lineup has been unveiled for the 2021 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, which will take place over 10 days (September 9-18) both in-person and physically in Toronto, and digitally across Canada. Wavelengths - FEATURESFutura (Pietro Marcello, Francesco Munzi, Alice Rohrwacher)The Girl and the Spider (Ramon Zürcher, Silvan Zürcher)Neptune Frost (Saul Williams, Anisia Uzeyman)A Night of Knowing Nothing (Payal Kapadia)Ste. Anne (Rhayne Vermette)The Tsugua Diaries (Maureen Fazendeiro, Miguel Gomes)Wavelengths - SHORTSThe Capacity for Adequate Anger (Vika Kirchenbauer)Dear Chantal (Querida Chantal) (Nicolás Pereda)earthearthearth (Daïchi Saïto)Inner Outer Space (Laida Lertxundi)Polycephaly in D (Michael Robinson)“The red filter is withdrawn.” (Minjung Kim)Train Again (Peter Tscherkassky)Midnight Madness After Blue (Dirty Paradise) (Bertrand Mandico)Dashcam (Rob Savage)Saloum (Jean Luc Herbulot)Titane (Julia Ducournau)You Are Not My Mother (Kate Dolan)Zalava (Arsalan Amiri)TIFF DOCSAttica (Stanley Nelson)Beba (Rebeca Huntt)Becoming Cousteau...

The Toronto Film Festival on Wednesday unveiled its lineups for the Contemporary World Cinema and Discovery programs as it ramps up toward the kickoff of its 46th edition September 9-18. The festival also solidified additional Gala and Special Presentation titles and took the wraps off TIFF Rewind, a new block that highlights memorable films from previous TIFF editions along with conversations and Q&As with directors and casts.

This comes after the festival last week announced that Dear Evan Hansen will be the opening-night film, while Zhang Yimou’s One Second will close it. It also revealed a portion of the Gala and Special presentation titles that featured films from directors Edgar Wright, Melanie Laurent, Barry Levinson, Antoine Fuqua, Jacques Audiard and Ted Melfi.

Today, TIFF added world premieres for Maya Forbes and Wallace Wolodarsky’s The Good House and Camille Griffin’s Silent Night to its Gala lineup, and...

The Toronto International Film Festival has revealed the slate of titles that will round out its contemporary world cinema and discovery programs.

Among the films playing in the contemporary world cinema lineup include director Wen Shipei’s “Are You Lonesome Tonight,” Lorenzo Vigas’ “The Box,” Manuel Martín Cuenca’s “The Daughter” and Bouli Lanners’ “Nobody Has to Know.” The discovery program will host Tea Lindeburg’s “As In Heaven,” filmmaker Hong Sung-eun’s “Aloners” and Anatolian Leopard from director Emre Kayış.

“TIFF Programmers continue discovering compelling and diverse stories from around the globe,” said Diana Sanchez, TIFF’s senior director of film. “With these two programmes, Contemporary World Cinema and Discovery, audiences can look forward to this stellar lineup to immerse themselves in. TIFF is dedicated to amplifying the voices of Black and Indigenous filmmakers and filmmakers of colour, emerging Canadian talent, and powerful storytellers who identify as women, and...

New TIFF Rewind features filmmakers in conversation about memorable selections from the past.

World premieres of Ruth Paxton’s UK horror A Banquet, Agustina San Martín’s Argentinian genre tale To Kill The Beast and Sébastien Pilote’s Canadian period drama Maria Chapdelaine are among Contemporary World Cinema and Discovery selections announced by Toronto International Film festival.

Scroll down for full list of new titles

The festival also unveiled additional Gala and Special Presentations titles, and introduced TIFF Rewind featuring filmmakers in conversation about memorable selections from the past.

Gala screenings include the world premiere of Camille Griffin’s UK...

Programming

Black Eyed Peas frontman Will.i.am, “Britain’s Got Talent” judge Ashley Banjo, presenter Charlene White and actor Jimmy Akingbola (“In the Long Run”) will lead U.K. broadcaster ITV’s programming for Black History Month this October.

The programming includes “Will.i.am: The Blackprint,” a one-hour documentary that follows Will.i.am’s personal exploration of what it means to be Black and British, in the country he calls his second home.

In summer 2020, Banjo was thrust into the centre of the Black Lives Matter movement when the pro equality routine performed by his troupe Diversity became one of the most complained about moments in U.K. media regulator Ofcom’s history. A year on from then, “Ashley Banjo: Britain in Black and White” (working title), and having won a BAFTA as a recognition of the importance of his routine, Banjo goes on a journey into his own past...

10 feature world premieres in the selection.

Sarajevo Film Festival has selected 20 features in the competition programme for its 27th edition, which will run in-person from August 13-20.

Nine films have been chosen for the Feature Film section of the programme for fiction titles, including two world premieres – Dušan Kasalica’s Montenegrin-Serbian title The Elegy Of Laurel, and Cristina Grosan’s Hungarian film Things Worth Weeping For.

Other films in the Feature Film section include Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović’s Murina, which won the Camera d’Or for best debut film at Cannes Film Festival last week; and Norika Sefa’s Looking For Venera,...

10 feature world premieres in the selection.

Sarajevo Film Festival has selected 20 features in the competition programme for its 27th edition, which will run in-person from August 13-20.

Nine films have been chosen for the Feature Film section of the programme for fiction titles, including two world premieres – Dušan Kasalica’s Montenegrin-Serbian title The Elegy Of Laurel, and Cristina Grosan’s Hungarian film Things Worth Weeping For.

Other films in the Feature Film section include Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović’s Murina, which won the Camera d’Or for best debut film at Cannes Film Festival last week; and Norika Sefa’s Looking For Venera,...

A total of 47 films will compete at this year’s Sarajevo Film Festival across its four competitive sections. The event will feature 18 world premieres and three international premieres.

The program is open for films from Albania, Armenia, Austria, Azerbejan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey.

Awards on offer include the Heart of Sarajevo for Feature Film, for Best Director, Best Actress and Best Actor.

Competition Program – Feature Film

The Elegy Of Laurel, Dušan Kasalica – World premiere

Things Worth Weeping For, Cristina Grosan (Hungary) – World premiere

Bebia, À Mon Seul DÉSIR, Juja Dobrachkous – Regional premiere

Celts, Milica Tomović (Serbia) – Regional premiere

Great Freedom, Sebastian Meise – Regional premiere

Looking For Venera, Norika Sefa (Kosovo) – Regional premiere

Moon, 66 Questions, Jacqueline Lentzou – Regional premiere

Murina, Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović – Regional premiere

The Hill Where Lionesses Roar, Luàna Bajrami – Regional premiere

Competition Program – Documentary Film

Bosnian Broadway, Jasmina Beširević (Croatia) – World premiere

Disturbed Earth, Kumjana Novakova, Guillermo Carreras-Candi – World premiere

Divas, Máté Kőrösi (Hungary) – World premiere

Every Sunday, Keti Papadema (Cyprus) – World premiere

Horizon, Tanja Deman (Croatia) – World premiere

The Same Dream (Romania) – World premiere

When We Were Them, Danis Tanović, Damir Šagolj (Bosnia and Herzegovina) – World premiere

ŽŽŽ (Journal About ŽELIMIR ŽILNIK), Janko Baljak (Serbia) – World premiere

Sunny, Keti Machavariani (Georgia) – European premiere

Factory To The Workers, Srđan Kovačević (Croatia) – Regional premiere

Les Enfants Terribles, Ahmet Necdet Çupur – Regional premiere

Looking For Horses, Stefan Pavlović – Regional premiere

Recipe For Hate, Filip Čolović (Serbia) – Regional premiere

Reconciliation, Marija Zidar – Regional premiere

Soldat Ahmet, Jannis Lenz (Austria) – Regional premiere

Landscapes Of Resistance, Marta Popivoda – B&h premiere...