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Caught by the Tides

Jia Zhang-ke’s elegiac and poetic feature revolves around a woman (Zhao Tao) who journeys from her home in a fading industrial city in search of a vanished former boyfriend. The movie looks back on China’s recent history, but also on Jia’s filmography, echoing themes, geographical features, techniques and structural elements while incorporating footage shot at various intervals from 2001 through 2023 — an approach that gives it a kind of kinship with Richard Linklater’s Boyhood. — David Rooney

Ghost Trail

Centering on a Syrian exile tracking down his former torturer in France, Jonathan Millet’s film is a work of visceral intensity and formidable control. Millet has a shrewd grasp of paranoid-thriller mechanics; a refreshing preference for intimacy and clarity over distancing stylistic or narrative fussiness; and two fantastic actors: soulful, movie-star-magnetic lead Adam Bessa and Tawfeek Barhom as a villain whose humanity is the most chilling thing about him.

Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme is now the top grossing limited opening of the year with an estimated $570k at just six locations in New York and LA for a per theater average of $95k. The Focus Features’ film expands to 1,500 screens next weekend.

The film unseats A24’s Friendship which kicked the indie box into high gear last month with a great $445k limited opening and $75k per theater opening for Andrew DeYoung’s feature debut starring comedian Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd. It’s at no. 8 this weekend.

The Phoenician Scheme, written by Anderson and Roman Coppola, stars Benicio del Toro as a family patriarch and business titan beset by rivals and assassins, and Mia Threapleton as his daughter, a nun, whom he wants to inherit it all. Michael Cera, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Riz Ahmed, Mathieu Amalric, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Richard Ayoade, Rupert Friend, Hope Davis,...

Focus Features has done a full takeover of the Angelika Film Center with The Phoenician Scheme on all six screens for filmmaker Wes Anderson’s latest. There’s a lobby and café redesign for full immersion, a jazz band, custom cocktails, t-shirts and totes as the film, which clocked a lengthy standing ovation at its recent Cannes world premiere (see Deadline review) bows theatrically in limited release at six locations including NYC’s Alamo Brooklyn and AMC Lincoln Square and AMC’s The Grove, Century City and Burbank in LA.

Around this time in 2023, Anderson’s Asteroid City, also from Focus, delivered a massive jolt to the arthouse and specialty world with a $790k three-day weekend, also at six theaters, including a takeover of the Landmark LA. That opening per-theater average of $132k was the biggest in years for a helmer known to energize the specialty box office. His Grand...

Ghost Trail

French director Jonathan Millet's narrative debut Ghost Trail follows Hamid (Adam Bessa), a Syrian literature professor, who was tortured by the Assad regime and forced to seek refuge in Germany. Working for a clandestine group who are hunting down members of the regime that have fled Syria, Hamid is now in France, where, against instructions from others in the group, he searches for the guard he suspects was responsible for torturing him.

Millet's previous credits include the 2013 documentary, Ceuta, Douce Prison, which he co-wrote and co-directed with Loïc Hecht, about five migrants trying to reach Europe, who have been detained in a Spanish enclave in Northern Morocco. This was preceded by his 2012 narrative short Old Love Desert, which revolves around an awkward interaction between a couple. His short to mid-length documentaries have covered a range of subjects, from grief in The Wake, the migrant's...

The Executioner’s Song: Millet’s Stabbing Debut Looks at How Control Moves Beyond Borders

If a Syrian doesn’t find himself in Syria does he still make a sound? In Jonathan Millet’s feature debut, those who are far, far away from their past attempt to make the least amount of noise in this anti-thesis of a spy-thriller/revenge film. In one of the more complex roles in French-Tunisian actor Adam Bessa’s early filmography, Les Fantômes (Ghost Trail) is about what you are running away from and towards — the protagonist is so close to his target, he could smell…him. Unhurried and in protracted process bliss, tonally enthralling and buoyantly evasive, revenge here is served … slow.…...

At the 2024 edition of the Cannes Film Festival, there was a break-out film from the Critics’ Week section. A feature fiction debut, Jonathan Millet’s prize-winning Ghost Trail (Les fantômes) is another kind of thriller – methodical over messy, small chess moves and thinking of the longterm over impatient actions. The Music Box Films folks open the film theatrically in New York on Friday, May 30 at Film at Lincoln Center followed by a national expansion. In the clip below, we find Adam Bessa a bit closer than arm’s length in terms of distance to what might be the perceived enemy (a Tawfeek Barhom who arrives from this year’s Cannes with the Palme d’Or short as a filmmaker).…...

Note: This review was originally published as part of our 2024 Cannes coverage. Ghost Trail opens in theaters on May 30.

The wars in Gaza and Ukraine have dominated headlines for the past several years, yet receiving relatively little coverage today is the Syrian civil war, sparked in the wake of 2011’s Arab Spring. It is yet ongoing and stands now at an uneasy stalemate. Over a decade of fighting, horrifying humanitarian and war-time crimes were committed; all the while 13 million Syrians were displaced from their homes. These refugees, lost in foreign countries offering asylum, are still looking for answers and perhaps a reckoning and retribution. Director Jonathan Millet’s debut narrative feature Ghost Trail dives deep into one survivor’s psyche and lays bare the cost of a conflict from which the world seems to have moved on.

In Strasbourg, France, mild-mannered asylum-seeker Hamid (Adam Bessa) is doing odd jobs, moving in Syrian exile circles,...

For a film ripped from the headlines of global politics, the most intriguing glimpses of reality in Ghost Trail ironically come from inside a video game. In several scenes that unfold within a war-themed first-person shooter, members of a secret European cell plot to find the Syrian war criminals who brutalized them in their home country. Part of this meeting location choice is practical, as the charged words in their chats are less likely to alert monitoring authorities since they feel contextually relevant. But darker psychological truths are revealed in this space as these survivors of violent atrocity become their most authentic, unguarded selves.

Hamid (Adam Bessa), the film’s protagonist, shows more of his true nature while connecting virtually with his fellow survivors. Inside the multiplayer shooter, roles shift as the members of the cell re-enact the bellicosity that disrupted their lives. Their role-playing may be a lie, but...

Laila Abbas’s debut feature Thank You for Banking With Us! swept top honors at the 9th Critics Awards for Arab Films, held May 17 during the Cannes Film Festival. The Palestinian director received Best Film and Best Director for her drama, which exposes gendered inheritance rules under Islamic Sharia law as two sisters race against time to claim their father’s estate.

Morocco’s Everybody Loves Touda earned Best Screenplay for Nabil Ayouch and Maryam Touzani, while lead actress Nisrin Erradi won Best Actress for her portrayal of a village poet determined to chase her dreams despite familial obligations. The film premiered last year in Cannes’s Premiere section and drew praise for its compassionate telling of a woman’s quest in rural Morocco.

Adam Bessa took Best Actor for Ghost Trail, a French-Tunisian thriller in which his character tracks Syrian regime figures across Europe and confronts his own former captor.

Palestinian director Laila Abbas’ female empowerment drama “Thank You for Banking With Us!” won best film and director at the 9th Critics Awards for Arab Films at an event held on the sidelines of the 78th Cannes Film Festival.

“Thank You for Banking With Us!” tackles the hot button issue of sexist Middle Eastern inheritance rules dictated by Islamic Sharia law, under which a man has a right to take double the share of a woman.

Morocco’s “Everybody Loves Touda,” written by Nabil Ayouch and Maryam Touzani, won the screenplay award, and best actress for Nisrin Erradi.

Adam Bessa won best actor with French-Tunisian film “Ghost Trail.”

The awards highlight the best achievements in Arab filmmaking over the past year, with this year’s winners selected by a panel of 281 film critics from around the world.

The awards are organized by the Arab Cinema Center in collaboration with Mad Solutions,...

Laila Abbas’s Thank You For Banking With Us has scooped best film at the ninth Critics Awards for Arab Films, which will celebrate its winners in Cannes today (May 17).

The Palestinian drama, which debuted at the BFI London Film Festival, also picked up best director for debut feature filmmaker Abbas. The story follows two sisters, played by Clara Khoury and Yasmine Al Massri, who race against time to secure their father’s inheritance.

Also picking up two awards was Nabil Ayouch’s Moroccan film Everybody Loves Touda, which bowed in the Cannes Premiere section of last year’s festival.

Alexandre Mallet-Guy’s Memento has bought Harry Lighton’s sexy romance “Pillion” which is world premiering in Un Certain Regard.

The Paris-based Memento, which is at Cannes with three movies in competition, will release the A24 movie in France. Speaking to Variety, Mallet Guy said, “It’s a gay Bdsm rom-com, and it’s pretty wild.”

“Alexander Skarsgård plays the biker, and Harry Melling, who you might know from ‘Harry Potter,’ plays the submissive. The film is hilarious but also quite disturbing, simply because it’s a romantic comedy set in such a specific, unconventional world. But it really works — it’s surprisingly emotional, and there’s something incredible about seeing two stars take such bold risks,” he added.

Memento’s Cannes competition lineup includes Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value,” Jafar Panahi’s “A Simple Accident” and Tarik Saleh’s “Eagles of the Republic,” as well as Laura Wandel’s...

Sylvie Pialat (“Timbuktu”), the producer of Cannes’ opening night movie “Leave One Day” directed by Amelie Bonnin, is on the roll. The Cesar-winning producer, who runs the Paris-based banner Les Films du Worso, is currently developing a raft of new projects from renown European auteurs and up-and-comers, including Alain Gomis, Emmanuelle Bercot, Atiq Rahimi, Hu Wei and Felipe Gálvez.

Pialat will be working for the first time with Emmanuelle Bercot, the critically acclaimed French actress and filmmaker whose directorial effort “Leaving” world premiered at Cannes in 2021 and earned Benoit Magimel a best actor prize at the Cesar Awards in 2022. Bercot also had her 2015 movie “Standing Tall” open the Cannes Film Festival.

Bercot’s untitled next movie, which will reteam Pialat with Pathé Films, her partner on “Leave One Day,” is an adaptation of the book called “L’Enragé,” written by journalist Sorj Chalandon. The movie will tell the gripping true story...

Continuing its tradition of celebrating excellence in Arab cinema, the Arab Cinema Center (Acc) has announced the nominees for the ninth edition of its annual Critics Awards for Arab Films.

Leading the pack with five nominations each this year are four films: Thank You For Banking With US; Everybody Loves Touda; Ghost Trail and Seeking Haven For Mr. Rambo. Following close behind them, with four nominations, is: AÏCHA.

Several other films also had multiple nominations including: The Village Next To Paradise; To A Land Unknown; Voy! Voy! Voy! and Norah.

This year’s winners will be revealed during a ceremony held on May 17th as part of the Cannes Film Festival. The event is organized in collaboration with Mad Solutions and the International Emerging Film Talent Association (Iefta), and attendance is by invitation only.

The Critics Awards for Arab Films have become a prestigious and anticipated highlight of the festival calendar.

Thank You For Banking With Us, Everybody Loves Touda, Ghost Trail and Seeking Haven For Mr. Rambo lead the nominations for the 9th Critics Awards for Arab Films, which will take place during the upcoming Cannes Film Festival.

All four features have received five nominations apiece for the awards, which spotlight Arab films that premiered outside the Arab world in 2024.

Mehdi Barsaoui’s Aïcha follows closely behind with four nods. Several other films also had multiple nominations including: The Village Next To Paradise, To A Land Unknown, Voy! Voy! Voy! and Norah.

Some 281 jury members from 75 countries will vote on the nominees,...

The Arab Cinema Center (Acc) has announced the nominations for the 9th Critics Awards for Arab Films, the ceremony which will take place on the fringes of the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Four films are in the lead, making it into five categories each: Laila Abbas’ Thank You For Banking With Us (Palestine), Nabil Ayouch’s Everybody Loves Touda (Morocco); Jonathan Millet’s Ghost Trail (Tunisia) and Khaled Mansour’s Seeking Haven For Mr. Rambo (Egypt)

Mehdi Barsaoui’s Aïcha (Tunisia) follows with four nominations. Other films in the running include Mo Harawe’s The Village Next To Paradise (Somalia) Mahdi Fleifel’s To A Land Unknown (Palestine); Omar Hilal’s Voy! Voy! Voy! (Egypt) and Tawfik Alzaidi’s Norah (Saudi Arabia)

This year’s winners will be revealed during a ceremony on May 17 in Cannes. The event is organized by the Acc in collaboration with Mad Solutions and...

Exclusive: Italian sales firm Intramovies has boarded world sales rights excluding Israel and Poland on Or Sinai’s Mama, which was selected as a Cannes Special Screenings title in the Official Selection yesterday.

Mama is the only Israeli title in Official Selection at Cannes this year. The Hebrew- and Polish-language film follows Mila, a woman forced to temporarily leave her seaside mansion – and her secret romance – to return to her family in a remote Polish village. But the long-awaited reunion is far from what she imagined.

Adi Bar Yossef produces the film, which is a co-production between her Israeli company Baryo,...

Iranian filmmaker Ashgar Farhadi is readying his first film since 2021’s “A Hero,” and the cast sheet is a who’s who of French Cinema’s greatest talents.

Read More: ‘Luz’ Review: Isabelle Huppert Gets Lost In Flora Lau’s Video Game World [Sundance]

Variety reports that Farhadi’s “Parallel Tales” will star Isabelle Huppert, Virginie Efira, Vincent Cassel, Pierre Niney, and Adam Bessa.

Continue reading ‘Parallel Tales’: Asghar Farhadi’s Next Movie Stars Isabelle Huppert, Virginie Efira, Vincent Cassel, Catherine Denevue & More at The Playlist.

Two-time Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi (A Separation, The Salesman) has cast a who’s who of French stars for his next feature, Parallel Tales.

Gallic A-listers Isabelle Huppert (Elle), Virginie Efira (Benedetta), Vincent Cassel (Black Swan) and Pierre Niney (The Count of Monte-Cristo) are set to headline the French-language feature, alongside Adam Bessa, an up-and-comer nominated for a French César as best newcomer this year for his turn in Jonathan Millet’s Ghost Trail. The film will also feature a cameo from French film legend Catherine Deneuve.

Parallel Tales is set to begin shooting in Paris this fall, marking Farhadi’s first French feature since 2013’s The Past starring Tahar Rahim and Berenice Bejo. The film is being set up as a French-Italian-Belgian coproduction between Alexandre Mallet-Guy’s Memento Production, Andrea Occhipinti’s Lucky Red, and André Logie’s Panache Productions and Gaëtan David’s La Compagnie Cinématographique. U.

While Asghar Farhadi’s first ventures working internationally with the French-set The Past, starring Bérénice Bejo and Tahar Rahim, and the Spanish-language drama Everybody Knows, starring Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz, didn’t quite Iive up to the Iranian director’s finest works, he’s going to give it another go. Following his Cannes Grand Prix winner A Hero back in 2021, the director has announced his next feature, which will shoot in France and has amassed quite the ensemble.

Variety reports Isabelle Huppert, Virginie Efira, Vincent Cassel, Pierre Niney, and Adam Bessa will star in Parallel Tales, along with an “appearance” by Catherine Deneuve. With production set to begin in Paris this fall, a spring 2026 France release in the works, making it primed for a Cannes Film Festival debut next year.

While no plot details have been unveiled yet, one can expect another dramatically knotty, searing drama from the director,...

Megawatt quintet Isabelle Huppert, Virginie Efira, Vincent Cassel, Pierre Niney and Adam Bessa (plus a bonus appearance by Catherine Deneuve) will populate Asghar Farhadi‘s “Parallel Tales,” — which sees the Iranian filmmaker return to Paris — the lieu of where he shot 2013’s “The Past.” Variety reports that filming on his tenth film will take place in the fall with the hopes of bringing this to Cannes in 2026. We don’t have a logline yet, but this should be full of mental gymnastics like his previous work. Look for this to be a top sales project (Charades and UTA Independent Film Group) on the Croisette next month.…...

Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi has announced his next film, four years after winning the Cannes Grand Prix in 2021. The Oscar-winning director will helm “Parallel Tales,” also known as “Histoires Parallèles,” with Isabelle Huppert and Vincent Cassel starring. Farhadi is set to begin production in Paris in fall 2025, with a release in France planned for spring 2026.

“Parallel Tales,” which will be a French-language film, brings Farhadi back to France after he previously filmed 2013’s “The Past” there. The “Parallel Tales” cast marks the first collaboration between iconic French stars Huppert and Cassel, who will also be joined by Virginie Efira, Pierre Niney, Catherine Deneuve, and “Ghost Trail” breakout Adam Bessa. No other details on the plot are available at this time.

The film will be an official French-Italian-Belgian coproduction between Alexandre Mallet-Guy’s Memento Production in France, Andrea Occhipinti’s Lucky Red in Italy, and André Logie’s Panache Productions...

Asghar Farhadi is set to direct the French-languageParallel Talesin Paris later this year, with a cast led byIsabelle Huppert, Virginie Efira, Vincent Cassel, Pierre Niney and Adam Bessa.

Catherine Deneuve is also set to star.

The film is being produced by Alexandre Mallet-Guy’s Memento Production in France with Andrea Occhipinti’s Lucky Red in Italy, and Andre Logie’s Panache Productions and Gaetan David’s La Compagnie Cinematographique in Belgium.

Anonymous Content will co-produce the film from the US.

Charades is handling international sales and will introduce the film to buyers at Cannes next month.Bessa was namedaScreenArab Star...

Asghar Farhadi has united a strong cast for his next feature Parallel Tales, with Isabelle Huppert, Virginie Efira, Vincent Cassel, Pierre Niney and Adam Bessa all set to star.

Parallel Tales (French title: Histoires Parallèles) is scheduled to shoot on location in Paris this autumn, and is aiming for a theatrical release in France in spring 2026 via Memento Distribution. French icon Catherine Deneuve will also make an appearance in the film, which is produced by Alexandre Mallet-Guy with Farhadi and David Levine.

The plot has not yet been disclosed. French-language Parallel Tales is a co-production between Mallet-Guy’s Memento Production in France,...

Asghar Farhadi will shoot his next film Parallel Tales in Paris this coming fall, with Isabelle Huppert, Virginie Efira, Vincent Cassel, Pierre Niney and Adam Bessa in the cast.

It is the Oscar-winning Iranian director’s first feature since A Hero, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2021.

Parallel Tales marks Farhadi’s second French-language film after The Past with Tahar Rahim and Berenice Bejo, who won Best Actress award for her performance at Cannes in 2013.

The feature will be produced by Alexandre Mallet-Guy alongside Farhadi and David Levine. Mallet-Guy has worked with Farhadi on all of his films starting with and since The Past, having originally connected with the director as the French distributor of his earlier titles including About Elly and A Separation.

The film is an official French-Italian-Belgian coproduction between Mallet-Guy’s Memento Production in France, Andrea Occhipinti’s Lucky Red in Italy, and André Logie...

Twelve years after making his French-language directorial debut with “The Past,” two-time Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi is set to return to Paris for his next film, “Parallel Tales.”

The film, whose plot remains under wraps, brings together a powerful French cast, including Isabelle Huppert (“Elle”), Virginie Efira (“Benedetta”), Vincent Cassel (“Black Swan”), Pierre Niney (“The Count of Monte Cristo”) and Adam Bessa (“Ghost Trail”). Iconic French actor Catherine Deneuve will also make an appearance in the film.

Produced by long-time collaborator Alexandre Mallet-Guy alongside with Asghar Farhadi and David Levine, the prestige project will be launched by Charades and UTA Independent Film Group at the upcoming Cannes Film Market. Charades will handle international sales, while UTA Independent Film Group will rep U.S. rights. Farhadi is set to begin production on “Parallel Tales” in Paris this fall.

The Iranian director’s most recent film, “A Hero,” earned the Grand...

Premiering as the opening title in the Critics’ Week section of the 77th Cannes Film Festival, Jonathan Millet‘s debut “Ghost Trail” had a successful run, screening and winning awards at festivals around the world, including Best Narrative Feature and Best Actor for Adam Bessa at El Gouna.

Inspired by true events, the screenplay opens with Hamid being released by Syrian soldiers into the desert, clearly after enduring torture, alongside a group of other men. The story then cuts to Strasbourg, two years later, where Hamid is working in construction while searching for the man who tortured him. He appears consumed by this mission, with his only other activities being video calls with his mother, now living in a refugee camp in Beirut, and meetings with social workers regarding his residency in France. Over time, we learn that he was once a literature professor in Aleppo and that his wife...

"I wish we'd met in another life." Music Box Films has revealed an official trailer for Ghost Trail, a French thriller also known as Les Fantômes. This first premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival last year in the Critics' Week sidebar section. It's ready to debut in art house theaters in the US starting in May during the summer season. The film stars Adam Bessa as a Syrian man in France who pursues the man who tortured him at Sednaya Prison in Syria during the war. Hamid joins a secret group tracking Syrian regime leaders on the run. His mission takes him to deeper than ever into the shadowy realm of spies in pursuit of his former torturer for a fateful confrontation. An investigate thriller along with a story about retribution. Bessa stars with Tawfeek Barhom, Julia Franz Richter, and Hala Rajab. Sensitively reckoning with very recent history, director Jonathan Millet...

Jacques Audiard’sEmilia Pérez was named best French film of the year at the 50th César awards on Friday night (February 28), taking home seven awards from 12 nominations.

The Mexico-set musical crime thriller that won the jury prize and shared best actress award at Cannes Film Festival last May also earned a best director and adapted screenplay prize for Audiard and awards for cinematography, original music, visual effects, and sound. The film has sold some 1.2million tickets at the French box office since its August 2014 release for Pathé.

Scroll down for the full list of winners

Stars Karla Sofia Gascon and...

Jacques Audiard’sEmilia Pérez was named best French film of the year at the 50th César awards on Friday night (February 28), taking home seven awards from 12 nominations.

The Mexico-set musical crime thriller that won the jury prize and shared best actress award at Cannes Film Festival last May also earned a best director and adapted screenplay prize for Audiard and awards for cinematography, original music, visual effects, and sound. The film has sold some 1.2million tickets at the French box office since its August 2014 release for Pathé.

Scroll down for the full list of winners

Stars Karla Sofia Gascon and...

“Emilia Pérez” won Best Film from the French 2025 César Awards, a major win for the Netflix film ahead of the Oscars. Jacques Audiard’s movie had earned 13 Oscar nominations but then fell out of frontrunner status.

The film also won both Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for Jacques Audiard, though Zoe Saldaña, who has dominated the awards circuit all year, lost in an upset to Hafsia Herzi for the film “Borgo.” Saldaña though was nominated alongside Karla Sofía Gascón in the Best Actress category, and not in Best Supporting Actress.

In all, “Emilia Pérez” took home seven Césars out of 12 nominations, including Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, Best Original Music, and Best Cinematography. “The Count of Monte Cristo,” a new version of the Dumas revenge tale, led all nominees with 14, and it won two.

While the Césars this year largely did not resemble the Oscars, a few others won...

Jacques Audiard’s Oscar contender Emilia Pérez was the big winner at the 50th César Awards, France’s equivalent of the Oscars, taking best film and best director among multiple honors.

Audiard won best director and best adapted screenplay for Emilia Pérez, and the film also took honors for best sound, best cinematography, best visual effects and best original music.

But Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón, who walked the red carpet at the Paris gala, returning to the spotlight for the first time since the eruption of the controversy surrounding her offensive resurfaced tweets, lost out in the best actress race to Hafsia Herzi, who won for her role as a female prison guard in Stéphane Demoustier’s drama Borgo.

Gascón, who is Spanish, skipped Spain’s national film awards, the Goyas, earlier this month following the backlash over her past social media posts. Netflix removed the actress, the...

The Count of Monte Cristo, Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière’s retelling of the classic French revenge tale, is the front-runner for this year’s César Awards, scoring 14 nominations, including in the best film and best directing categories.

The period drama, starring Pierre Niney, beat out Jacques Audiard’s Oscar frontrunner Emilia Pérez, which got 12 noms, and Beating Hearts, Gilles Lellouche’s contemporary reimagining of Romeo and Juliet featuring François Civil and Adèle Exarchopoulos, which earned 13 nominations.

Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patelliere’s lavish adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ classic was the biggest French box office hit of last year, drawing close to 10 million viewers for a $40 million local take. Globally, the film has grossed more than $75 million.

Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winner, and Oscar contender, Anora, is up for the Cesar for best foreign film, against Academy Award hopefuls including Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance,...

Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre De La Patelliere’s epic literary adaptation The Count Of Monte-Cristo leads the nominations for France’s Cesar Awards with 14.

There were also strong showings from Gilles Lellouche’s Beating Hearts with 13 and Jacques Audiard’s Oscar and Bafta-nominated Emilia Perez with 12.

Scroll down for the full list of nominations

The Count Of Monte-Cristo and Emilia Perez are in the running for best film alongside Boris Lojkine’s Souleymane’s Story, Alain Guiraudie’s Misericordia and Emmanuel Courcol’s The Marching Band.

All of the films nominated for best film had their world premiere at the...

The Count of Monte Cristo has topped the nominations for France’s prestigious César awards, followed by Beating Hearts and Oscar frontrunner Emilia Pérez.

The film has made it into 14 categories in the nominations, which were announced in Paris on Wednesday morning. Beating Hearts clinched 13, followed by Emiia Pérez with 12.

Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patelliere’s lavish and fast-paced adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel starring Pierre Niney was one of France’s top performing movies at the local box office in 2024, drawing close to 10M spectators and its top international export.

Gilles Lellouche’s modern Romeo and Juliet tale Beating Hearts – co-starring François Civil and Adèle Exarchopoulos – has also performed well at home, drawing more than five million spectators.

The 12 nominations for Jacques Audiard’s Cannes Jury prize-winning musical film Emilia Pérez continue its buzzy awards season run which has seen it clinch four Golden Globes and...

Unifrance, the French promotional film organization, celebrated rising stars at this year’s Rendez-Vous in Paris. The 10 up-and-coming actors and filmmakers named 2025’s Talents to Watch kicked things off with a ceremony at France’s Ministry of Culture before hitting a yearlong series of events that will keep these faces in the spotlight.

For over a decade, the 10 to Watch program has amplified the voices redefining Gallic cinema. If you think of any French artist who’s made a global impact in recent years, chances are they were once part of this list. Now, meet the next generation shaping the next decade.

Adam Bessa

Adam Bessa

A veteran of war films like “Mosul” and of the “Extraction” action franchise, Franco-Tunisian star Adam Bessa emphasized a more taciturn stillness in Meryam Joobeur’s Berlin-launched “Who Do I Belong To” and in Jonathan Millet’s Cannes Critics Week opener “Ghost Trail” to phenomenal acclaim.

Jacques Audiard’s musical film Emilia Pérez swept the 30th edition of France’s Lumière Awards on Monday evening, winning Best Film, Director and Screenplay as well Actress for Karla Sofia Gascón and Music for Camille and Clément Ducol.

The wins add further steam to the Cannes Jury Prize winner’s awards season run following its quadruple Golden Globes triumph and European Film Awards victory, where it also clinched Best Film, Director, Screenplay and Actress for Gascón.

The movie is currently on six of the 10 announced category shortlists for the 97th the Academy Awards and nominated in 11 categories for the 2025 Baftas film awards.

Further awards seasons hopefuls also featured in the Lumière prizes, with Mati Diop’s Berlinale Golden Bear winner Dahomey – which made it into Best International Feature Film (for Senegal) and Documentary Academy Award shortlists – won Best Documentary.

Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis’s Flow – which is also on...

Revisiting Chris Hemsworth’s Post About An Explosive Look At Extraction 2 ( Photo Credit – Instagram )

Chris Hemsworth didn’t hold back when it came to giving fans a peek behind the madness of Extraction 2. The Australian actor returned as Tyler Rake in the explosive sequel to Extraction, and if you thought the first film was wild, Hemsworth’s behind-the-scenes footage proved the sequel took chaos to a whole new level.

“Just another quiet day on Extraction 2,” Hemsworth captioned an Instagram post. “Peaceful, serene. Just relaxing…” And then, boom—riots break out in what looks like a prison setting. People are literally set on fire, and Hemsworth’s reaction? Classic. He jokingly asked, “Are they meant to be on fire?” because why not keep the humor going when things are literally burning up around you?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Chris Hemsworth (@chrishemsworth)

This wasn...

Jacques Audiard’s musical film Emilia Pérez is the frontrunner at the nomination stage for the 30th edition of France’s Lumière awards.

The prizes, which are regarded as the French equivalent of the Golden Globes, will be voted on by members of the international press hailing from 38 countries this year.

They cover 13 categories spanning film, direction, screenplay, actress, actor, female revelation, male revelation, first film, animation, documentary, international co-production, cinematography and music.

Audiard’s Cannes Jury Prize winner Emilia Pérez has clinched six nominations, followed by Boris Lojkine’s Souleymane’s Story, which won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize this year, and Alain Guiraudie’s Misericordia, with five nominations each.

Other frontrunners with four nominations each, include François Ozon’s When Fall Is Coming and Jonathan Millet’s Ghost Trail.

The winners will be announced in a ceremony at the Forum des images in Paris on January 20, 2025.

The full...

Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Perez has topped the nominations for France’s Lumière Awards.

The French-made, Spanish-language film earned six nominations for best film, director, screenplay, cinematography, music and actress for Karla Sofía Gascón in her starring role as the titular transitioning Mexican drug lord.

The Lumière nominations cap a strong week for Emilia Perez, which garnered 10 nominations for the 2025 Golden Globes,and was the big winner at the European Film Awards with five prizes.

Scroll down for full list of nominees

Boris Lojkine’s Souleymane’s Story, which tracks the daily life of an undocumented Guinean asylum seeker in Paris,...

Screen International has named the five actors and filmmakers selected for Arab Stars of Tomorrow 2024, the eighth edition of the new talent programme for emerging Middle East and North Africa talents.

This year’s line-up includes Moroccan actress Oumaima Barid; Saudi actress Maria Bahrawi; Yemeni producer Mohsen Alkhalfi; Egyptian actor Essam Omar; and Jordanian writer-director Zain Duraie.

Arab Stars of Tomorrow celebrates Arab talent from across the Mena region and highlights the hottest up-and-coming actors, writers and directors who are primed to make their mark in the international industry.

Click on the links below to read the profiles of this year’s stars.

Alain Guiraudie’s Misericordia, a rural melodrama with a sinister twist, has won France’s Louis Delluc prize for best film of the year.

The comedic crime thriller follows a man who returns to his native small town for a funeral, where his stay is greeted by unexpected twists.

Misericordia premiered in Cannes and went on to play the fall festival trifecta of Telluride, Toronto and New York. Oscar and Bafta-winning Anatomy Of A Fall notably took the same post-Cannes route in 2023.

Les Films du Losange has sold Misericordia to a slew of territories including Sideshow and Janus Films for...

Alain Guiraudie’s Misericordia, a rural melodrama with a sinister twist, has won France’s Louis Delluc prize for best film of the year.

The genre-hopping crime thriller and dark comedy follows a man who returns to his native small town for a funeral when a mysterious disappearance, a threatening neighbour, and a priest with strange intentions add an unexpected twist to his stay.

Misericordia premiered in Cannes and after that became one of few French titles to complete the fall festival trifecta of Telluride, Toronto and New York film festivals. Oscar and Bafta-winning Anatomy Of A Fall notably took...

Hiam Abbass (“Succession”), Abderrahmane Sissako (“Black Tea”), Zar Amir Ebrahimi (“Holy Spider”), Adam Bessa (“Ghost Trail”), Yumna Marwan (“The Veil”) and “Anatomy of a Fall” producer Marie-Ange Luciani will join “The Bikeriders” director Jeff Nichols as mentors at this year’s Atlas Workshops.

Running from Dec. 1 – 5 as part of the Marrakech Film Festival, this seventh edition will more than double in duration, welcoming the filmmakers and producers behind 27 projects for an extra day of in-person workshops after four days of online session earlier this month. By the time the filmmakers hit the ground for pitches in Marrakech, they have benefited from co-production panels, acquisition and distribution trend analysis, green production coaching and presentations from international film funds and A-list festivals.

“We’re creating a new dynamic,” says Atlas Workshops director Hédi Zardi. “In order to assist and make known a young generation – to get them into festivals and onto the...

The eighth edition of Screen International’s talent-spotting initiative Arab Stars of Tomorrow will once again launch at this year’s Red Sea International Film Festival (December 5-13).

2024’s selection of five rising talents from across the Mena region will be unveiled on Saturday, December 7 in Screen’s second Red Sea print daily and on Screendaily.com.

For the second time, the initiative has been held in conjunction with Red Sea and Film AlUla, which is hosting a photoshoot for the five selected talents, including at the first Unesco world heritage site in Saudi Arabia, the Hegra Archaealogical Site (Al Hjr).

On Saturday,...

Lithuanian drama Toxic, the debut feature of Saule Bliuvaite, has picked up the Golden Peacock award for best film at the 55th International Film Festival of India.

At the closing ceremony of the festival in Goa, the film also scooped the best actress award, shared between co-leads Vesta Matulyte and Ieva Rupeikaite.

Scroll down for full list of winners

Toxic follows two teenage girls from a bleak industrial town who join an extreme local modelling school. Featuring a cast of non-actors, it premiered at Locarno in August where it won the Golden Leopard for best film as well as the best first feature award.

Lithuanian filmmaker Saulė Bliuvaitė’s “Toxic” took home the best film award at the 55th International Film Festival of India (Iffi) in Goa. The jury, headed by Indian director Ashutosh Gowariker, recognized the film for its portrayal of adolescence and economic hardship.

Previously, at Locarno, “Toxic” won not only the Golden Leopard for Best Film in the fest’s premier International Competition — from a jury chaired by Austrian auteur Jessica Hausner — but also, in an unusual double, the top prize in the separately juried First Feature Competition.

Variety‘s positive review of “Toxic” described the film as “sobering but not without glimmers of tenderness and humor as female friendship takes root in a hopeless place,” adding that its “alternation between chilly composure and kinetic movement roughly corresponds with [the protagonist’s] wavering sense of self.”

Romanian director Bogdan Muresanu nabbed the best director prize for “The New Year That Never Came,” a multi-narrative feature set during a revolution.

The seventh edition of Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival wrapped over the weekend with the $50,000 top prize going to French director Jonathan Millet’s Syrian drama Ghost Trail, and its star Adam Bessa winning Best Actor.

See the full list of El Gouna winners below.

Launched in 2017 by Egyptian tycoon Naguib Sawiris in the Red Sea resort of El Gouna created by his brother Samih Sawiris, the festival’s early years were characterized by glitzy red carpets and parties and Hollywood guests such as Owen Wilson, Sylvester Stallone, Steven Seagal and Patrick Dempsey.

The festival has toned down the bling in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, sparked by the latter’s October 7 attack on southern Israel which killed more than 1,100 people, and resulted in the abduction of 253 people.

With the death toll in Gaza now topping 43,000 alongside dire warnings from aid agencies that the population of...

Jonathan Millet’s thriller about Syrian exiles in France “Ghost Trail” took the Golden Star for narrative film at this year’s El Gouna Film Festival, with Julien Colona’s “The Kingdom” and Shuchi Talati’s “Girls Will Be Girls” taking the Silver and Bronze Star awards respectively. The awards ceremony wrapped the seventh edition of the prestigious Egyptian festival, held at the resort town of El Gouna between Oct. 24-Nov. 1.

Adam Bessa also took the best actor award for “Ghost Trail,” with Laila Abbas’s comedy about the Islamic Sharia Law “Thanks for Banking With Us!” and Meryam Joobeur’s drama about a Tunisian family navigating their son’s strenuous return from war “Who Do I Belong To” received the El Gouna Star for the best Arab film. Documentary-wise, Farah Kassem’s “We Are Inside” received the Golden Star for documentary film, with Johan Grimonprez’s “Soundtrack to a Coup D’Etat...

French filmmaker Jonathan Millet’s thriller Ghost Trail won El Gouna Film Festival’s $50,000 Golden Star award for best narrative film. The festival ran October 24-November 1.

Lead Adam Bessa also won best actor for his performance as a young man on a mission to track Syrian regime leaders in France, where he must confront his former torturer. The film world premiered at Cannes’ Critics’ Week sidebar.

The $25,000 Silver Star award went to Julien Colonna’s war drama The Kingdom, while Indian romantic drama Girls Will be Girls by Shuchi Talati won the $15,000 Bronze Star and the Fipresci award.

The latter...