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If you’re making a body horror movie right now, bringing a makeup effects artist from The Substance on board your team is probably the best possible decision. That’s precisely what the team behind the upcoming French body horror film Species has done, with Screen Daily reporting that Oscar winner Pierre-Olivier Persin will be handling the film’s makeup effects.

Marion Le Corroller is directing the upcoming Species.

In the film, “a young medical student working at an ER witnesses a new virus spreading among young patients, a mysterious mutation among the new generation that starts affecting her.”

Karin Viard, Mara Taquin, Kim Higelin, Sami Outalbali, Stefan Crepon and Sonia Faidi star.

Marion Le Corroller wrote the script alongside Thomas Pujol.

“We are very excited to start talking about this pulsating body horror project in Cannes. We totally see Marion Le Corroller walking in the footsteps of Coralie Fargeat and Julia Ducournau,...

WTFilms has taken on sales for French body horrorSpeciesstarring Karin Viard alongside a cast of rising French actors Mara Taquin, Kim Higelin, Sami Outalbali, Stefan Crepon and Sonia Faidi.

The debut feature from Marion Le Corrolleris about a young medical student working at an ER who witnesses a new virus spreading among young patients, a mysterious mutation among the new generation that starts affecting her as well.

It is produced by Carole Lambert’s Windy City Productions and has just kicked off production in the Paris region and the Loire Valley. Co-producers are Alain Attal’s Tresor Films and Anga Productions with Canal+,...

One cannot accuse Tony Gilroy of being a hardcore Star Wars fan, but fortunately for us, his son is. Sam Gilroy, who plays Gerdis of the Maya Pei Brigade in Andor Season 2, is why a major Rogue One reference made it to the script.

While Andor has been one of the franchise's grittiest, most ambitiously real projects, the showrunners haven't forgotten to connect Cassian's (Diego Luna) story to the overarching lore of Star Wars. From paying tribute to Star Wars Legends events like the Rakatan Invasion or the Tarkin Massacre on Ghorman, to tying Mon Mothma's Senate speech to Star Wars Rebels, fans have been treated to Easter eggs well.

One such was the phrase: "Rebellions are built on hope."

We first hear Cassian say it to Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) in Rogue One when they are in Jedha City on their way to Saw Gerrera's (Forest Whitaker) hideout,...

Arguably the greatest thing about "Andor" season 2, which might be the best "Star Wars"-related project we've seen since "The Last Jedi," is the fact that creator Tony Gilroy and his writing team never once give in to the pervasive temptation of "prequelitis." It's just one of those things where you know it when you see it -- like when "Solo: A Star Wars Story" decided to offer an explanation for both Han Solo's surname and Chewbacca's fairly straightforward nickname Chewie, or when "Rogue One" decided to randomly toss original trilogy characters Ponda Baba and Dr. Evazan into the mix in Jedha when they should've been halfway across the galaxy on Tatooine at the time, or, well, several egregious moments sprinkled throughout George Lucas' prequel trilogy.

"Andor" has remained blissfully free from those sorts of clunky scenes, but its most inspired reference to "Rogue One" -- a rare (but...

The seed for a famous Star Wars slogan was quietly planted, by the most unassuming of characters, in Episode 8 of Andor Season 2.

The five-word phrase would go on to be recited by both Cassian Andor (played by Diego Luna) and Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) in Andor‘s 2016 “sequel movie” Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and it also was reverse-engineered to lay the foundation for the very first Star Wars film’s post-release subhed, A New Hope.

More from TVLineAndor Reveals Why Bix Isn't in Rogue One - and Adria Arjona Says It Was One of Her 'Scariest Days on Set,...

"Andor" spoilers follow.

Tony Gilroy's "Andor" is a masterpiece not only of the "Star Wars" franchise, being the best title since "The Empire Strikes Back," but also just a masterpiece of television in general. Every element of the show, from its exquisite production design, to the casting and acting, to the impeccable storytelling that delivers a thrilling, poignant, and timely story about fighting fascism, work together seamlessly to deliver the best TV show of the year.

An underrated but no less brilliant aspect of "Andor" is the way it connects to the rest of the franchise. Ever since the prequel trilogy tried its best to give an origin story to every single character both major and minor, "Star Wars" has had a bit of an awkward approach to interconnectivity. We have had origin stories like how "The Bad Batch" shows the poignant turn from clones to stormtroopers, but also...

Exclusive: France tv distribution has acquired international rights to Aurelien Peilloux’sChemical Bond,starringGalatéa Bellugi, Stefan Crepon and Emmanuelle Devos, and will launch sales in Cannes.

Memento Distribution will releaseChemical Bondin France.

Bellugistars as a brilliant and ambitious chemistry student starting her thesis at a prestigious laboratory with a famous and demanding scientist (Devos) who develops a friendship with her co-researcher (Crepon). They are studying a molecule that could become a revolutionary cure for depression, but the student faces a heart-wrenching choice when their project does not turn out as planned.

It is produced by Delante Productions and Melocoton Films...

This terrific character study by Delphine and Muriel Coulin comes at an apposite time in today’s climate, as far-right political groups all over the globe increasingly get their claws into the angry and dispossessed. It’s also an unusually inquisitive look at the bonds that exist between men: their tribes, rituals and — ultimately — their responsibilities. Central to its very primal depiction of the gulf between left and right is star Vincent Lindon as Pierre, a widowed father of young men in provincial France who tries in vain to stop his eldest son becoming radicalized by his friends and by online hate groups; Lindon’s soulful turn rightly snagged him the Venice Film Festival’s Best Actor award.

The boy’s name is Fus (Benjamin Voison), and the dynamic between father and son is established with incredible economy in the opening scenes. Pierre has been working all night on the railway track,...

“The Quiet Son,” a French film exploring family dynamics amidst far-right radicalization, has won the 2024 Collateral Impact Award at the 81st Venice Film Festival. The award, presented by Think-Film Impact Production and Impact Europe, recognizes films with significant societal impact potential.

Written and directed by Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin, the cast features Vincent Lindon, Benjamin Voisin and Stefan Crepon.

A high-profile jury selected the winner, comprising Adjoa Andoh, Chiwetel Ejiofor (“12 Years a Slave”), Alia Shawkat, Mstyslav Chernov, and Misan Sagay. The jury cited the film’s urgency in sparking conversation about the rise of the far-right and its societal impact.

During a Venice Production Bridge panel, jury members shared their thoughts on cinematic impact. Ejiofor highlighted cinema’s role in communicating real-world situations, stating: “Cinema can inspire leaders and legislators and help facilitate genuine lasting change.”

Andoh added: “The notion of having an intentional organization like Think-Film Impact...

Set in a small town in northeastern France, The Quiet Son tells the moving story of a tight-knit family facing turmoil when the eldest son joins a radical far-right group. Directed by sisters Delphine and Muriel Coulin, the film had its world premiere at the 2021 Venice Film Festival, where it showcased the personal toll of rising political polarization.

We’re introduced to Pierre, a devoted father and railway worker, and his sons—the athletic but directionless Fus and the studious Louis. Despite tragedy in their past, the three share a strong bond. But this stability is threatened when Fus becomes involved with a gang of violent nationalists. As his beliefs grow in extremism, tensions rise with his father, a proud leftist who can’t comprehend what’s led his boy astray.

The directors handle this divisive subject with empathy rather than accusation. Through everyday scenes of the family quietly unraveling,...

For the close-knit and loving French family at the center of directors Delphine and Muriel Coulin’s intensely intimate new drama, The Quiet Son (Jouer avec le feu), home is where the heart is, and politics are probably best left at the doorstep.

Unfortunately, the opposite winds up happening to hardworking single dad Pierre (Vincent Lindon) when his oldest son, Fus (Benjamin Voisin), veers far to the right, joining a band of radical thugs committing violent acts around the neighborhood.

How do you stop a child from pursuing political beliefs that are diametrically opposed to yours — beliefs that could be dangerous? Is it better to let them follow their own path, in the hopes that they’ll eventually come around? Or do you try and intervene at some point, with the risk of pushing them even further in the wrong direction?

Those are the questions guiding the Coulins’ gripping and well-performed fourth feature,...

Unifrance and Screen International held a dinner to celebrate up-and-coming French talent on May 22 at the Terrasse Unifrance, during the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

Unifrance’s 10 to Watch have been selected for the excellence of their work by international journalists Rebecca Leffler (Screen International), Fabien Lemercier (Cineuropa), Elsa Keslassy (Variety), Christine Masson (France Inter), and Jordan Mintzer (The Hollywood Reporter). The talents epitomise a reinvigoration of French cinema through the freedom and singularity of their artistic choices, their ambition, their audacity, and their unique perspectives of the world.

In Cannes, the 10 To Watch were also put in the spotlight through a...

Playtime has boarded sales on Francois Ozon’s upcoming feature film When Fall Is Coming and released fresh details about the production which has largely been under wraps.

When Fall Is Coming marks the prolific French director’s 24th feature and follows hot on the tail of hit dramaThe Crime Is Mine which was one of Ozon’s most successful movies at the French box office to date.

Ozon has said previously cryptically said that When Fall Is Coming is inspired by a childhood memory and revolves around a crime family dinner.

As per a new synopsis sent out in a wide release by Playtime on Wednesday, the film revolves around grandmother, Michelle, who is enjoying a peaceful retirement in a charming Burgundy village, close to her long-time friend Marie-Claude.

She is looking forward to her grandson spending the school vacation. However, when her Parisian daughter, with whom she has a conflictual relationship,...

Playtime (“Son of Saul”) is reteaming with celebrated French directors François Ozon (“By the Grace of God”) and sister duo Delphine and Muriel Coulin (“17 Girls”) on their respective upcoming films, “When Fall Is Coming” and “The Quiet Son.”

“When Fall is Coming” marks Ozon’s follow up to “The Crime Is Mine.” The film stars Hélène Vincent (“The Specials”), Josiane Balasko (“Back to Mom’s”), Ludivine Sagnier (“Lupin”) and Pierre Lottin (“Notre-Dame on Fire”).

The film tells the story of Michelle, who is enjoying a peaceful retirement in a charming Burgundy village near her longtime friend Marie-Claude. She eagerly anticipates her grandson Lucas spending the school vacation with her, but things don’t go as planned. Feeling lonely, Michelle loses her sense of purpose, until Marie-Claude’s son gets out of prison.

The film is self-produced by Ozon through his vehicle Foz. Diaphana Distribution will release it in France.

French film promotional organization Unifrance put talent in the spotlight at this year’s Rendez-Vous in Paris, where the 10 actors and filmmakers selected as 2024’s Talents to Watch were fêted with flutes of champagne at France’s Ministry of Culture before being introduced to the international press at a dedicated event.

For more than a decade, the 10 to Watch program has pinpointed the creative talents breathing modernity and vitality into contemporary French cinema. Think of a Gallic artist that’s made international waves over the past decade, and chances are they made this list. Here are the voices taking the industry forward in the years to come.

Sofia Alaoui

Sofia Alaoui

Franco-Moroccan filmmaker Sofia Alaoui will build on the rugged eeriness of her 2023 Sundance jury prize winner “Animalia” with “Tarfaya” – a slow-burn thriller that mines Morocco’s sweeping landscapes for ambient unease.

The upcoming film will follow Meryam, a 40-something...

Like writers penning their memoirs, making movies about making movies is a rite of passage for many a director. Fellini famously did it with 8 ½, Truffaut with Day for Night, Godard with Contempt and Fassbinder with Beware of a Holy Whore. More recently, Tarantino gave us Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Spielberg The Fabelmans, Michel Hazavanicius made Final Cut and Damien Chazelle, Babylon.

Almost all behind-the-scenes movies share the same theme: Filmmaking is tough, high-stress work that weighs heavily on everyone involved, especially the directors themselves. That’s certainly one of the main takeaways from Cédric Kahn’s very French variation on the subject, Making Of, which premiered out of competition in Venice.

Kahn is both an actor (he played the douchey Gallic lover in Pawel Pawikowski’s Cold War) and talented director, with a series of strong features under his belt that include hard-hitting thrillers like L’Ennui,...

Orange Studio is launching several French projects at the Cannes Film Market, including Simon Bouisson’s “Drone,” a thriller produced by Haut et Court (“The Night of the 12th”), and “Miss Violet,” a period drama directed by Eric Besnard (“Delicious”) and starring Alexandra Lamy (“Rolling to You”).

Bouisson, who is directing “Drone,” previously penned and directed the short-format series “Stalk” which was hit on France Televisions’ youth-centered service and has been optioned for a remake in the U.S. The thriller stars Marion Barbeau, the dancer-turned-actor who broke through in Cedric Klapisch’s “Rise,” as well as Eugénie Derouand (“Paris Police”), Cédric Kahn (“November”) and Stefan Crepon (“Peter Von Kant”)

“Drone” follows Emilie who has freshly arrived in Paris to study architecture. At night, to make ends meet, she works as a cam-girl, something which she keeps to herself. One evening, a mysterious drone appears at her apartment window. From then on,...

The 46th César Awards, France’s top film honors, have been handed out in Paris, with Dominik Moll’s crime thriller The Night of the 12th winning the best picture trophy.

Moll’s The Night of the 12th, which premiered in Cannes last year, scored 10 César noms coming into the awards show, just behind Louis Garrel’s The Innocent, which picked up 11 nominations. Moll also won for best director, and Bouli Lanners earned the best supporting actor trophy for his performance in The Night of the 12th.

Cédric Klapisch’s Rise, about a ballet dancer (Marion Barbeau) who, after an injury, seeks a new future in contemporary dance, was up for 9 Césars, as was Albert Serra’s Pacifiction, a thriller featuring Benoît Magimel as a morally-challenged Haut-Commissaire on an island in French Polynesia.

Valeria Bruni Tedeschi’s dramedy Forever Young, Cedric Jimenez’s terrorism drama November, Eric Gravel’s family...

Dominik Moll’s The Night of The 12th has won best film at the 28th edition of France’s Lumière Awards in Paris on Monday evening.

The investigative drama, which was nominated in six categories, also won Best Screenplay.

The film, which debuted in the Cannes Film Festival’s non-competitive Cannes Première section, stars Bastien Bouillon as a police detective who becomes obsessed with a case involving a complex female murder victim.

Best director went to Albert Serra for French Polynesia-set drama Pacification. The feature also clinched two other prizes: Best Actor for Benoît Magimal and Best Cinematography for Artur Tort.

Virginie Efira won Best Actress for her performance in Rebecca Zlotowski’s Other People’s Children about the challenge of navigating the stepmother role.

Nadia Tereszkiewicz won Best Female Revelation for her performance in Forever Young and Dimitri Doré, Best Male Revelation for Bruno Reidal.

Alice Diop clinched best documentary category for We,...

Lockdown Tower has sold to UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, Latin America, and German-speaking Europe

Paris-based sales company Elle Driver has closed a slew of sales for Guillaume Nicloux’s Lockdown Tower and Yann Samuell’s The Lulus ahead of Unifrance’s annual Rendez-Vous in Paris.

Lockdown Tower has sold to Signature Entertainment for the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, to California Filmes for Latin America and to Capelight for German-speaking Europe. Other sales include Vie Vision Pictures for Taiwan, Klockworks in Japan, Media4Fun in Poland, Nk Contents in Korea and Capella Film for Cis and the Baltics.

Dominik Moll’s The Night of The 12th, which world premiered in Cannes in May, has topped the nominations for the 28th edition of France’s Lumière Awards.

The awards are voted on by members of the international press corp hailing from 36 countries based in France.

The Night Of The 12th was nominated in six categories including best film, director and screenplay. The film debuted in the Cannes Film Festival’s non competitive Cannes Première section.

The investigative drama is Moll’s seventh feature. It stars Bastien Bouillon, with support from Bouli Lanners, as a police detective who becomes obsessed with a case involving a complex female murder victim.

Other multi-nominated titles include Albert Serra’s French Polynesia-set drama Pacification five nominations.

Four films received four nominations each: Alice Diop’s Saint-Omer; Rebecca Zlotowski’s Other People’s Children; Louis Garrel’s The Innocent and Gaspar Noé’s Vortex.

Diop,...

Selected actors will vie for five coveted spots in each of the most promising actor and actress categories.

France’s Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques, which runs the prestigious César awards, has unveiled its annual Revelations shortlist of local rising stars. They will vie for five coveted spots in each of the most promising actor and actress categories that will make the official nominees selection ahead of the 48th annual Cesars ceremony in Paris on February 24.

Among this year’s breakout stars are Saint Omer actresses Guslagie Malanda and Kayije Kagame, Cannes’ title Forever Young stars Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Clara Bretheau and Sofiane Bennacer,...

Peter (Denis Ménochet) is a famous filmmaker living in Cologne, Germany in the 1970s. He lives in a beautiful, colorful apartment with his assistant Karl (Stefan Crepon), a tall, thin, mustachioed man who dutifully does everything asked of him, all while never saying a word. Peter is hard at work on his next script — or not so hard, as he seems to spend most of his time lounging around, drinking, and listening to music while Karl types away. While his professional life is extremely successful, his personal life is far less so. There's an emptiness eating away at his soul — despite having it all, he has nobody to share it with. That might change, however, when a gorgeous young man appears at his door, at the request of his friend, who might finally make Peter's life bearable.

If this all sounds a bit familiar to you, then you're onto something.

Rainer Werner Fassbinder died as he lived: at many frames per second. The cinephile’s errand of trying to watch everything the German filmmaker made in his lifetime, from all 10 hours of “Berlin Alexanderplatz” to more modestly scaled melodramas like “The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant,” often feels like an act of running in place. Reports of his “contradictory” and “complex” nature reveal what we already know: He was a self-medicating, workaholic perfectionist who drove himself into the ground, completing more than 40 films in his short life, and died because of it. He also did not believe in love, or so say his latest collaborators in absentia, director François Ozon and Fassbinder’s longtime muse Hanna Schygulla.

Ozon has made his best film in years with “Peter von Kant,” one that will be seen by few but relished by all who do. The movie is both a response to...

More than 20 years after adapting a Rainer Werner Fassbinder play called “Waters Drops on Burning Rocks” into a movie, François Ozon has made this gender-flipped adaptation of one of Fassbinder’s greatest films, “The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant,” in an attempt to understand Fassbinder’s real-life struggle with the power plays of love.

Fassbinder’s “Petra von Kant” was shot very quickly on a very low budget, and he used a lot of long takes; every camera movement in Fassbinder’s version of this material feels so ultra-controlled that watching it is like getting tied up in an S & M dungeon or getting slowly strangled by a python. Ozon shoots his own “Peter von Kant” with a casualness that can feel frivolous, and he uses very conventional short takes for shot/reverse shot conversations.

Fassbinder’s “Petra von Kant” revolves around a lesbian love triangle that consists of...

He seems like a nice person, doesn't he? Strand Releasing has debuted an official US trailer for the French-German indie drama Peter von Kant, one of the latest features from prolific French filmmaker François Ozon. This first premiered at the 2022 Berlin Film Festival earlier this year. Based on the Rainer Werner Fassbinder cult play, The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant, François Ozon’s unique retelling finds "Peter von Kant", a successful, famous director (obviously Rwf), who lives with his assistant Karl, whom he likes to mistreat and humiliate. Through the great actress Sidonie, he meets and falls in love with Amir, a handsome young man of modest means. He offers to share his apartment and help Amir get into the world of cinema. Beyond that, there's not much more to this. The cast features Denis Ménochet as von Kant, Isabelle Adjani, Khalil Gharbia, Hanna Schygulla, Stéfan Crépon, and Aminthe Audiard.

François Ozon is one of France’s most prolific filmmakers, directing 21 features and a handful of shorts since 1997. But his latest, “Peter von Kant,” is one of the most unique films of the director’s career. The playful spin on Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s “The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant” is more than just a gender-swapped remake of Fassbinder’s classic German film about an abusive fashion designer.

Ozon made waves by reimagining Fassbinder’s film as an experimental biography of the director himself, casting Denis Menochet as a thinly veiled allegory for the legendary director, and replacing other characters in the film with members of his inner circle. The resulting movie was a hit at the 2022 Berlin International Film Festival and is set to make its North American theatrical debut this weekend. Watch the exclusive trailer below.

“The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant” starred Margit Carstensen as the eponymous fashion designer,...

The breath of life and beating heart at the center of countless, Russian nesting doll layers of artifice and art-house reference, actor Denis Menochet doesn’t just anchor “Peter von Kant,” he makes the Francois Ozon project a film. Because without its venerable lead, this twenty-first feature from France’s most prolific modern director might be something of a lark — and wrangles it into a deep-in-the-weeds pseudo-biopic of the German filmmaker himself.

In some ways a sort of spiritual — if admittedly much less audacious — cousin to Todd Haynes’ “I’m Not There,” “Peter von Kant” looks to explore an artist through the prism of his own creations, pulling up the script to Fassbinder’s 1972 film (itself adapted from an earlier play) and Ctrl+H-ing each character with analogues for the director and those in his orbit. And so, in this telling, Peter von Kant is a hard-partying, West German director at...

It’s a neat conceit, making the directing colossus of 1970s German cinema into the star of his own show. Peter Von Kant, the opening film of the Berlin Film Festival, is “freely adapted” by French director François Ozon from The Bitter Tears Of Petra Von Kant, Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s highly stylized 1972 story of three women locked in a toxic triangle of love, jealousy, domination and submission. The storyline and much of the dialogue, is the same; where Ozon shakes it up is by making the trio all men.

Ozon has tangled with Fassbinder before. His 2000 film, Water Drops On Burning Rocks, which also dealt with power struggles within sexual relationships, was adapted from a Fassbinder play. Taking on The Bitter Tears Of Petra Von Kant, a recognized landmark of European cinema, is a bolder move, made at a different moment in Ozon’s career. This is maestro on...