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Fast-rising stars Charles Melton and Stephanie Hsu are set to headline the voice cast of “In Waves,” the California surf-themed animated feature adapted from illustrator Aj Dungo’s celebrated graphic memoir.

Described as an “unconditional first love story, and tale of loss and memories,” the film — produced by Silex Films, Charades and Anonymous Content — is directed Phuong Mai Nguyen, a former student of French animation schools Gobelins and La Poudrière. Phuong Mai helmed episodes of the Silex-produced animated series “Brazen” and was Oscar-shortlisted for her short “My Home.”

Charades and Anonymous Content will show a promo-reel to buyers at the upcoming Cannes market.

“In Waves” — which has just been announced as one of five titles at the Annecy Animation Showcase — follows Aj, a shy teenager in Los Angeles, who falls deeply in love with Kristen, a vibrant surfer. Their shared passion for the ocean becomes a source of strength as...

Max has revealed the trailer for its first French four-part limited series, The Confidante, which will debut on the streaming service on Friday, October 11. New episodes will debut weekly.

Inspired by true events, this psychological thriller follows Christelle “Chris” Blandin, a rock music-obsessed Parisian who, after witnessing the harrowing November 13, 2015 terrorist attacks, quickly latches onto a community of survivors.

Claiming that her best friend Vincent was one of dozens critically injured at the Bataclan Theatre, Chris becomes an indispensable resource for the group, working her way into a prominent role in a survivors’ association.

Though her commitment seems relentless, discrepancies begin to pepper her story – raising serious doubts among the true victims of the tragedy. A thought-provoking series, The Confidante questions the very nature of truth… and the web of lies left in one woman’s wake.

The cast of this psychological thriller includes Laure Calamy Arieh Worthalter (Le procès...

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Max is ready with an entertainment-packed October this year. The upcoming month will see the return of some of HBO’s brilliant original comedy series Somebody Somewhere and also new original movies like Salem’s Lot. Just like every month, Max is ready to overload you with great content. So, we’re here to tell you about the 10 new movies and TV shows coming to Max in October 2024.

Interview with the Vampire (October 1)

Interview with the Vampire is a gothic horror drama film directed by Neil Jordan from a screenplay by Anne Rice. Based on Rice’s 1976 novel of the same name, the 1994 film follows the story of Louis, a vampire as he tells his life story to an eager biographer and his violent maker Lestat tries to make Louis stay with him. Interview with the Vampire stars Tom Cruise,...

Production has begun on “Merteuila,” a new French original series for Max adapted from Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ 18th century classic novel “Dangerous Liaisons.”

Directed by by Jessica Palud and created by Jean-Baptiste Delfaon, the show stars Anamaria Vartolomei (playing Isabelle de Merteuil), Diane Kruger (Madame de Rosemonde), Vincent Lacoste (Vicomte de Valmont) and Lucas Bravo (Comte de Gercourt). It’s produced by Clément Birnbaum and Joachim Nahum of Nabi Productions (Ugc Group) and Marie Guillaumond of Felicita Films (Newen Studios Group).

Filming is now underway in Normandy, France and will run until December. The ambitious show will stream on Max where the platform in available. The service launched in June in France and will soon roll out its first French series original, “The Confidante,” a psychological thriller (previously called “The Mythomaniac of the Bataclan”) based on a true story, starring Laure Calamy (“The Origins of Evil”) as a woman...

Two of France’s fastest-rising young stars, Lyna Khoudri and Rio Vega, will lead the French voice cast of animated feature “In Waves,” an unconditional first love story, and tale of loss and memories adapting American illustrator Aj Dungo’s same-titled multi-prized graphic novel.

An anticipated banner prestige animation title from Paris-based Silex Films, “In Waves” lead producer, the feature also marks the first animated co-production of both Anonymous Content and Charades, behind sales of Jeremy Clapin’s “I Lost My Body” and Mamoru Hosoda’s “Mirai,” both Oscar nominated titles.

In Waves is directed by Phuong Mai Nguyen, a former student of French animation schools Gobelins and La Poudrière who helmed episodes of the Silex-produced animated series “Brazen” and was Oscar-shortlisted for her short “My Home,” “In Waves” has just been announced as one of five titles at the Annecy Animation Showcase, part of Cannes’ Animation Day on May...

Ahead of its launch in France, Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming service Max unveiled at Series Mania Festival its pipeline of ambitious local scripted projects, “Malditos” (working title), the adaptation of “Living with our deads,” the memoir of Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur, and

“Malditos,” created by Jean Charles Hue (“Eat Your Bones”) and Olivier Prieur (“The Accident”), is an action-packed crime thriller revolving around the leader of a Gypsy community and her two sons who struggle to save their clan threatened with eviction by rising waters in Southern France. The series is produced by Eve Muller and Noor Sadar at Mediawan-owned White Lion Films, was penned by Hue, Prieur and Maya Haffar (“En thérapie”). Hue is directing the first five episode and Cécilia Verheyden (“Undercover”) is directing the remaining two.

Max has also boarded the series adaptation of the book “Living with our deads” (“Vivre avec nos morts”), which is...

Max has unveiled a trio of French shows ahead of launch, with commissioning head Vera Peltekian saying “we don’t want to do a French Succession or White Lotus.“

Peltekian and French scripted boss Clémentine Bobin unveiled series about the Bataclan attacks, the gypsy community and an adaptation of a memoir by a French rabbi.

The previously-announced Bataclan series has been given title Black Lies and will co-star Laure Calamy and César-winning The Goldman Case actor Arieh Worthalter alongside Les Misérables’ Alexis Manenti and Mother And Son’s Annabelle Lengronne.

The show tells the story of a woman who cons her way into a victim’s association following the deadly attack in 2015. Produced by StudioFact Stories with June Films, the psychological thriller is directed by Just Philippot and written by Fanny Burdino, Jean-Baptiste Delafon, Samuel Doux and Alexandre Kauffmann. The story is loosely based on the non-fiction...

Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max platform has unveiled its first French originals slate ahead of its launch in the country this summer.

Max has just kicked off production for crime actioner Western Malditos set in the Gypsy community of Southern France. The series is produced by Eve Muller Noor Sadar of Mediawan’s White Lion Films and follows two brothers and mother as they fight to keep a dark secret from destroying their legacy.

It has also greenlit an adaptation of French female rabbi Delphine Horvielleur’s best-seller Living With Our Dead (Vivre Avec Nos Morts) that follows a young...

"We need a shelter." Pathe in France has unveiled the official trailer for Acid, a horror movie from France about acid rain. Acide is the second feature film from French filmmaker Just Philippot, who last made the flesh-eating locusts horror film The Swarm a few years back. Acide initially premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival earlier this year as one of their Midnight selections - still waiting for a US release date. During a heat wave, strange clouds start pouring down lethal acid rain, wreaking devastation and panic throughout France. In a world teetering on the edge, a girl and her divorced parents must join forces to confront and try to escape this climate catastrophe. The other synopsis calls the acid a "plague ravaging the world." Starring Guillaume Canet, Laetitia Dosch, and Patience Munchenbach. This actually looks pretty terrifying! He really pulled off making an acid rain horror movie look scary.

The eighteenth edition of the genre festival Fantastic Fest is set to be held at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar in Austin, Texas from September 21st – 28th (badges are available now at FantasticFest.com), and this time around the festival is going to feature 29 world premieres, 24 North American premieres, and 18 U.S. premieres! Among the films in the lineup, which you can look over below, are The Toxic Avenger remake and the Pet Sematary prequel Pet Sematary: Bloodlines. The first two episodes of the Mike Flanagan Netflix series The Fall of the House of Usher will also be screened at the festival.

Festival Director Lisa Dreyer had this to say: “The Fantastic Fest team is ready to take you on a journey you won’t ever forget. We’ve taken the best week of the year and supercharged it: more movies, more parties, more fun. If you want to see...

It's the most fantastic time of the year once again, when the fans of the creepy, the weird, the fun, and the bizarre gather in Austin Texas to celebrate a whole week of the best genre cinema has to offer during another iteration of Fantastic Fest.

The ongoing double strike of SAG-AFTRA and the WGA, and the studios' stupid refusal to negotiate already, put all the fall film festivals in doubt. Still, the lineup for this year's Fantastic Fest seems to maintain the expected balance of big genre premieres, international titles, small indies, and all-around weird stuff.

Possibly the biggest announcement is the triumphant return of Mike Flanagan to Austin with the first two episodes of his last Netflix show, "The Fall of the House of Usher," which boasts the most impressive cast for a Flanagan joint yet. The last time the filmmaker was at the festival was with...

Stars are getting ready to walk the Croisette.

On Thursday, the Cannes Film Festival announced its full 2023 lineup, including some heavy hitters like Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” and Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City”.

Read More: Scorsese’s Long-Awaited ‘Killers Of The Flower Moon’ To Premiere At Cannes In May

The festival had been teasing Scorsese’s film, which stars Leonard DiCaprio, for weeks ahead of the official announcement.

“Killers” will be playing out of competition, alongside the hotly anticipated sequel “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny”, as well as Sam Levinson’s TV show with The Weeknd “The Idol”, and the Johnny Depp-starring “Jeanne du Barry”, which will open the festival.

“Asteroid City”, which features an all-star cast including Jason Schwartzman, Tom Hanks, Margot Robbie, Scarlett Johansson and Tilda Swinton, will be vying for the Palme D’Or in competition.

Other films in competition...

It’s Christmas morning for cinephiles. As per tradition, the Cannes Film Festival unveiled its 2023 selections in a press conference early this morning––at least for those of us stateside. Now in its 76th edition, this year’s event will take place May 16-27.

With Killers of the Flower Moon and Indiana Jones’ fifth and supposedly final outing previously confirmed, both out of competition, new highlights in competition include Todd Haynes‘ May December, Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest, Alice Rohrwacher’s La chimera, Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s About Dry Grasses, and Aki Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves. Additional selections include Víctor Erice’s long-awaiting return to filmmaking Cerrar los ojos, Steve McQueen’s documentary Occupied City, Takeshi Kitano’s Kubi, Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Pictures of Ghosts, plus two films from both Wang Bing and Wim Wenders.

While more announcements will be made in the coming weeks, and there...

Updated: The Official Selection lineup for the 76th Cannes Film Festival has been revealed, with 19 movies in Competition (see full lists below). Returning to the fray this year are such previous Palme d’Or winners as Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Nanni Moretti, Ken Loach, Wim Wenders and Hirokazu Kore-eda. Wenders also has a movie in Special Screenings while Kore-eda, with the Japanese drama Monster, is back-to-back in the mix after 2022’s Korean-language Broker.

Other familiar names who will launch new works in the Competition include Todd Haynes with May December starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore; Wes Anderson with the mega-ensemble Asteroid City; Jonathan Glazer and The Zone of Interest; and Aki Kaurismaki with Fallen Leaves.

Across the rest of the Official Selection, Steve McQueen’s Occupied City notably has a Special Screenings berth while Takeshi Kitano is in Cannes Premiere with Kubi. Anurag Kashyap nabbed a Midnight Screenings slot with...

Don’t expect Warner Bros. Discovery’s French original programming team to follow Netflix and Amazon Prime Video’s trail and chase teen audiences.

Vera Peltekian, VP and head of streaming original production for the banner, says the standalone service’s bow in France “is on the roadmap” with a raft of “bold and director-driven Max originals targeting adult audiences in line with what the HBO brand is known for.”

Peltekian, who previously worked 15 years at Canal + and played a major role in the pay TV group’s critically acclaimed series such as “The Returned,” “Spiral” and “Savages,” revealed that Warner Bros. Discovery’s first French original will be “The Mythomaniac of the Bataclan,” a four-part series inspired by the true story of a woman who conned her way into a victims’ association and quickly became one of its pillars.

Now shooting on location in Paris, “The Mythomaniac of...

French studio Pathé and film and TV financier and producer Logical Pictures have announced a three-year co-production and co-financing deal.

The operation involving Logical Content Ventures, a new fund operated by Logical Pictures, will see Pathé open up the financing of its films to private investors for the first time in its history.

Under the deal with Pathé, Logical Content Ventures will contribute to the financing of all films produced and acquired by Pathé between 2022 and 2024.

The aim is to co-finance and co-produce more than 20 pictures together with the first projects being released as soon as Spring 2023.

The first films included in the agreement are Dany Boon’s Life for Real (Pathé – 26Db Productions), Just Philippot’s environmental thriller Acid (Pathé – Bonne Pioche), starring Canet and Laetitia Dosch, and Kirill Serebrennikov’s English feature debut Limonov: the Ballad of Eddie (Pathé – Chapter 2 – Wildside – Fremantle) starring Ben Whishaw.

The move comes...

Cannes Directors’ Fortnight has appointed former arthouse sales agent Julien Rejl as its new delegate general and tweaked its French name in a move to usher in a new era of inclusivity for the 60-year-old parallel sidebar.

Rejl replaces outgoing Directors’ Fortnight head Paolo Moretti who took up the role in September 2018, succeeding Edouard Waintrop who oversaw the section from 2012-2018.

France’s Directors’ Guild, or Société des Réalisateurs de Films (Srf), the body which oversees the sidebar, said his appointment had been voted on during a general assembly on June 25.

“His absolute passion, which is communicative, constructive and pluralist is what arthouse filmmakers will need in the years to come,” it said in a statement.

It added that the organisation had also voted to change its French name to La Quinzaine des Cinéastes, from its previous name of La Quinzaine des Réalisateurs at the meeting.

This move makes its...

The jury ruled in favour of the film by Brandon Cronenberg, as well as awarding trophies to Sleep and Teddy, while the audience and critics honoured The Swarm by Just Philippot. Organised online, the 28th Gérardmer International Fantasy Film Festival has crowned as its winner the British co-production Possessor (unveiled in last year’s Sundance) by Canadian director Brandon Cronenberg. Presided over by Bertrand Bonello, the jury awarded the film its Grand Prize, as well as the trophy for Best Original Score (for Jim Williams). Two additional prizes were won by Sleep by Germany’s Michael Venus and Teddy by French directors Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma. Significantly, French director Just...

Fantasy, sci-fi and horror films are all in line for the very specific aid put forward by the Cnc, which has also selected the projects Acide by Just Philippot and Incarnation by Mael Le Mée. Created by the Cnc in 2018 with a view to broadening the narrative range of French feature films, the genre film support grant, whose 3rd edition was devoted to fantasy, sci-fi and horror films, has chosen three projects from among the 80 scripts deliberated over by a jury, which was itself headed up by actress Louise Bourgoin and which interviewed fifteen or so preselected filmmaker-producer duos.Stealing focus among the lucky few is La Tour d’Assitan, which will be Guillaume Nicloux’s 16th feature film after titles...

Netflix has acquired world rights to French director Just Philippot’s Cannes Critics’ Week 2020 Label horror thriller “The Swarm.”

Written by Jérôme Genevray (“Vieux con”) and Franck Victor (“Philosophie”), the film is set in rural France. It stars French actress Suliane Brahim (“The Specials”) as a single mother who is struggling to get her grasshopper farm off the ground until she discovers her livestock thrive on human blood. She develops a connection with her demanding swarm, which distances her from her two children and puts her at odds with local farmers.

Netflix’s deal for the film was overseen by Wild Bunch Intl., and includes all territories excluding France, Spain and China.

“The Swarm” will stream on Netflix from Dec. 4. Producers Capricci Films and The Jokers Films will release it theatrically in France Nov. 4, while Capricci’s Spanish arm will launch it in Spain on Nov. 20.

“The Swarm” was among...

Netflix has taken world rights to The Swarm, French director Just Philippot’s Cannes Critics’ Week 2020 label horror thriller about a woman who develops an obsessional bond with grasshoppers.

The deal, struck with Wild Bunch International, includes all territories excluding France, Spain and China. Pic will launch on Netflix on December 4. The film’s producers Capricci Films and The Jokers Films will release the title theatrically in France on November 4, while Capricci’s Spanish arm will launch it in Spain on November 20.

Film stars French actress Suliane Brahim as a single mother who is struggling to get her grasshopper farm off the ground until she discovers her livestock thrive on human blood.

It was selected for the Cannes Critics’ Week 2020 label after the fest was cancelled due tor Covid. Since then, it has screened at France’s Angoulême Francophone Festival in August, and it will make its international debut...

The film was selected for Cannes Critics’ Week’s special 2020 label earlier this year.

Netflix has acquired world rights for French director Just Philippot’s Cannes Critics’ Week 2020 label horror-thriller The Swarm about a woman who develops an obsessional bond with grasshoppers she is breeding as a high-protein crop.

The deal was struck by Wild Bunch International (Wbi) which handles international sales. It covers all territories apart from France, Spain and China.

The film’s producers Capricci Films and The Jokers Films will release the genre picture theatrically in France on November 4, while Capricci’s Spanish arm will launch it...

Netflix has picked up worldwide rights outside of France, Spain and China to The Swarm, a horror thriller from French director Just Philippot about a woman who develops an obsessional bond with grasshoppers she is breeding as a high-protein crop. The woman, played by French actress Suliane Brahim, finds herself growing closer to her demanding swarm of bugs as they begin to develop a taste for human blood.

Set in rural France, Philippot’s film combines horror with social drama.

The Swarm was among five features and 10 shorts selected for Cannes Critics’ Week’s special 2020 Semaine de la Critique label after ...

Netflix has picked up worldwide rights outside of France, Spain and China to The Swarm, a horror thriller from French director Just Philippot about a woman who develops an obsessional bond with grasshoppers she is breeding as a high-protein crop. The woman, played by French actress Suliane Brahim, finds herself growing closer to her demanding swarm of bugs as they begin to develop a taste for human blood.

Set in rural France, Philippot’s film combines horror with social drama.

The Swarm was among five features and 10 shorts selected for Cannes Critics’ Week’s special 2020 Semaine de la Critique label after ...

Wild Bunch, Playtime, mk2 Films, WTFilms, StudioCanal, Celluloid Dreams and other French international sales agents reveal their ambitions online. Today is the first of five days of business in a brand new virtual environment at the Marché du Film (22 - 26 June) of the Cannes Film Festival, and the very dynamic French international sales agents are of course present, with line-ups including feature films from all over the world, many of them recipients of a label. We complete our overview of those line-ups. Shining bright as ever in Cannes, Wild Bunch is selling seven label recipients: Maïwenn’s DNA, Bruno Podalydès’ French Tech, Samir Guesmi’s Ibrahim (the actor’s first feature film as a director), Just Philippot’s The Swarm (recipient of a Critics’ Week label - released in France on 4 November via...

European film, TV and media group Wild Bunch Ag and Frankfurt-based financial institution Commerzbank have agreed a loan financing of up to 35M euros ($40M). Wild Bunch, which is headquartered in Paris and Berlin, will use the credit line to refinance an existing bank loan and “to reinforce the group’s capacity to deploy strategic measures,” the company said today. The loan comes due in October 2022.

Vincent Grimond, President of Wild Bunch Ag, said, “This loan is the result of the remarkable cooperation with the film specialists of the Commerzbank media team. We are delighted with the confidence shown in us by Commerzbank as one of the largest film and media financiers in Europe — a financial partner of choice for the future.”

In 2018, Wild Bunch previously struck a $130M financial restructuring plan with its creditors. Then late last year, the company expanded operations with the formation of Bim Production in...

Cannes’ parallel section has selected and will lend its support to films signed by Chloé Mazlo, Anna Cazenave Cambet, Aleem Khan, Naël Marandin and Just Philippot. It might have proved impossible for the 59th edition of Critics’ Week to unspool in Cannes in person as a result of the health crisis, but the Croisette-based parallel section is continuing to shine a light on emerging talent and has now put together a support programme, “Cannes Outside the Walls”, for the five feature films and ten shorts selected by the team overseen by artistic director Charles Tesson. Standing tall among the works set to benefit from the “Critics’ Week 2020” label are two first feature films from French female directors: Skies of Lebanon by Chloé Mazlo (starring Italy’s Alba Rohrwacher – read our article) and Gold for Dogs by Anna Cazenave Cambet (produced by Charles Gillibert on behalf of CG Cinéma).A further.

The Critics’ Week, the parallel Cannes Film Festival strand dedicated to first and second films, has revealed the features and shorts that will get the 2020 Critics’ Week label.

Critics’ Week was canceled along with all other Cannes festival strands due to the coronavirus.

The lineup consists of only five features. Four of them are French.

The selected films are Anna Cazenave Cambet’s Gold For Dogs, Just Philippot’s The Swarm, Chloé Mazlo’s Skies Of Lebanon, Naël Marandin’s Beasts and Aleem Khan’s After Love.

The French films are expected to get world premieres at the upcoming Angouleme Film Festival at the end of August.

Skies Of Lebanon stars Alba Rohrwacher as a young Swiss woman who falls in love with a Lebanese man during the war in 1975. The film is sold by Charades.

Sold by Wild Bunch, The Swarm is a genre film following a single mother...

While the Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival was announced yesterday, Critics Week, the strand dedicated to first and second films which traditionally runs parallel to the fest, has unveiled the titles that will get the “2020 Semaine de la Critique” label.

Critics Week was canceled along with with Directors Fortnight and Acid in April due to the coronavirus crisis, but the strand’s artistic director Charles Tesson and his committee went ahead and selected five movies and 10 shorts that will receive a label.

As with Cannes’ Official Selection, the roster of this year’s Critics’ Week boasts a strong French presence with four local-language films out of the five. These are Anna Cazenave Cambet’s “Gold For Dogs,” Just Philippot’s “The Swarm,” Chloé Mazlo’s “Skies of Lebanon” and Naël Marandin’s “Beasts.” Aleem Khan’s U.K. film “After Love” rounds up the pack.

Tesson said the...

La Nuée

Promising to be one of 2020’s more bizarre debut is Just Philippot’s La Nuée (The Swarm), produced by Thierry Lounas and Manuel Chiche. Suliane Brahim (“Black Spot” – the French “Fleabag”) and Sofiane Khammes are among the cast in the production lensed by Romain Carcanade. Philippot’s 2016 short “Ses souffles” was shortlisted for a Cesar and his 2018 short “Acid” competed at Sundance and the national competition at Clermont-Ferrand.

Gist: Written by Jérôme Genevray and Franck Victor, in order to save her farm from bankruptcy, a single mother breeds edible grasshoppers but then begins to have a strange, obsessive relationship with them.…...

Durban–“Les Misérables,” French director Ladj Ly’s riveting portrayal of racial division and unrest in the banlieues of Paris, won best picture at the 40th Durban Intl. Film Festival Tuesday night.

The jury described the film, which shared the jury prize in Cannes this year, as “a searing portrait of modern France which takes on issues of police brutality, racial tension, and of generations who keep repeating the same mistakes,” heralding its “raw power and complex ideas” while calling it “a piece of bravura filmmaking.” “Les Misérables” also won the award for best screenplay.

Ly’s incendiary film set the tone for a closing ceremony that, as it commemorated Diff’s 40th edition, offered a reminder that a festival born in a spirit of protest against the injustices of apartheid still had a vital role to play in the shaping of the South African and African conscience.

“Diff has...

The Black Spot actress will be flanked by Sofiane Khammes among the cast of Just Philippot’s feature debut, a Capricci and The Jokers production that is being sold by Wild Bunch. 19 August will mark the start of the shoot for the feature debut by Just Philippot, La Nuée (lit. “The Swarm”). Having turned heads with his short films, such as Acid (in the national competition at Clermont-Ferrand in 2018 and in the international competition at this year’s Sundance) and Ses souffles (shortlisted for a nomination for the César Award for Best Short Film in 2016), the director belongs to the first batch of auteurs selected with their feature-length projects to benefit from the Cnc’s support scheme in favour of genre films. Standing out among the cast are Suliane Brahim (a Comédie Française pensionnaire who played the role of major Laurène Weiss in the series Black Spot, initially aired on.