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French animation giant Dandelooo Cinéma has acquired worldwide distribution rights to the 2D animated feature “My Life in Versailles – The Movie,” excluding France, Italy, Germany and the U.K. The deal was struck with French production company Films Grand Huit and Academy Award-nominated studio Xilam Animation.

Dandelooo will premiere the film in Annecy, where it will hold meetings with international buyers.

Aimed at children aged 6 to 10, the feature is currently in production and scheduled for theatrical release in France in October 2025 by distributor Jour 2 Fête. It is directed by Clémence Madeleine-Perdrillat and Nathaniel H’limi and produced by the powerhouse combination of Films Grand Huit and Mélusine Productions, with co-production support from Xilam Animation and Miyu Productions.

The story centers on eight-year-old Violet, who, after the loss of her parents, moves in with her gruff uncle Regis, a maintenance worker at the Palace of Versailles. Together, they navigate life,...

Australian director Adam Elliot ‘s stop-motion picture Memoir of a Snail has won the top Cristal prize for best feature at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.

The movie gathers a starry cast led by Succession star Sarah Snook, who lends her voice to protagonist Grace Puddle, a young woman with a difficult life story who finds comfort in the hoarding of snail memorabilia.

Memoir of a Snail is Elliot’s second feature after 2009 animation Mary and Max, and Oscar-winning 2004 short Harvey Krumpet.

In other prizes in the main Competition, Japanese director Shinnosuke Yakuwa’s Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window won the Paul Grimault Award and Latvian filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis’ Flow was feted with the Jury Award.

Flow, which world premiered in Cannes Un Certain Regard to strong reviews, also won Annecy’s Audience Award as well as the Gan prize for distribution offering financial support for the...

Adam Elliot’s oddball Aussie feature Memoir of a Snail has won the Cristal award for best feature film at the 2024 Annecy Film Festival, the world’s leading international animation fest.

The dark dramedy, about a lonely, snail-obsessed hoarder — voiced by Succession star Sarah Snook — recounting her life story to one of her beloved gastropods, is Elliot’s first feature since 2009’s Mary and Max, which also won the top honor at Annecy. An impressive group of Australian A-listers, including Kodi Smit-McPhee, Jacki Weaver, Eric Bana and Nick Cave provide supporting voice work. IFC Films picked up North American rights to Memoir of a Snail ahead of the festival.

Flow, a drama from Latvian animator Gints Zilbalodis (Away), which follows a cat that survives a world-destroying deluge on a boat with a collection of other animals, won this year’s jury award and audience prize, voted on by Annecy attendees.

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...

After the launch of its first original content in 2022, Disney+ France is expanding, revealing a slate of new productions Wednesday at the Series Mania festival in Lille.

The announcement was made by Pauline Dauvin, Disney’s VP Programming, Original Productions and Acquisitions.

The projects include a mix of film and TV productions. The first is a new original series titled Les enfants sont roism (The Children Are Kings), adapted from Delphine Le Vigan’s novel of the same name. The series is currently in pre-production and is expected to shoot later this year.

Two original French films are also set to debut on the streamer this year. The first, Une Zone à Défendre, is billed as a “moving and intense melodrama” and stars Lyna Khoudri (The French Dispatch) and François Civil (The Stronghold). The pic is currently scheduled for a summer release. The second feature is Antigang: La Relève, an action film starring Alban Lenoir,...

France’s broadcasting group, France Televisions, launched Slash, a niche platform skewing millennials, as part of its efforts to keep its brand relevant among younger viewers. In five years, the service has become one of France’s biggest showcases of daring scripted content created by and starring diverse talents.

Slash, which is accessible on the pubcaster’s streaming service France.tv and is headed by former screenwriter Sened Dhab, has been consistently delivering hit shows. Recent examples include Noé Debré’s Brexit-themed political satire “The Parliament,” Simon Bouisson’s “Stalk,” a thriller about cyber bullying, and “Skam,” the local adaptation of the Norwegian series about troubles teenagers.

Although the platform’s content is primarily aimed at adolescents and young adults, a number of shows have become popular among older demographics. Dhab told Variety that shows commissioned by Slash stand out because they tend to be “edgier, engaging and have a different...

Snd is teaming up with Easy Riders Films to develop a premium limited series loosely based on “The Family,” Suzanne Privat’s best-selling investigative book on a French cult which has existed for more than 200 years.

“The Family” is penned by rising French screenwriter Clémence Madeleine-Perdrillat, whose recent credits include “Nona and Her Daughters,” as well as the Amazon Original show “Mixte.” She led the writing team for season 2 of “In Treatment.”

Set in Paris’s underworld, the thriller series will shed right on the rites and customs of this enigmatic religious sect from diverse perspectives, focusing on the experiences of those inside and outside the community. The book, whose French title is “La Famille, itinéraires d’un secret,” was published by Les Avrils editions in 2021.

Madeleine-Perdrillat said “The Family” “offers the incredible opportunity to untangle the torments, paradoxes and quiet loyalties at the root of all families — all in...

Colcoa, the L.A.-based French film and series festival, has unveiled the television section of its upcoming 25th anniversary edition.

“In Treatment,” Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache’s French adaptation of the original Israeli series “BeTipul”; Julie Delpy’s series debut “On The Verge”; and “Germinal,” the 19th century-set ambitious period series adapted from Emile Zola’s masterpiece created by Julien Lilti (“Hippocrate”) are among the nine TV titles set to have their North American premiere at Colcoa.

The other series set to compete at Colcoa include “High Intellectual Potential” starring Audrey Fleurot (“Spiral”) as an intractable cleaning lady-turned-ace detective and “Nona and her Daughters,” co-written and directed by Valerie Donzelli (“Declaration of War”).

Set to take place Nov. 1-7 at the DGA, the festival will showcase 12 programs, including seven series, four TV movies and one documentary. The section is being backed by Titrafilm and has enlisted some of France’s top companies,...