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Film starring Sami Bouajila and Julie Gayet started shooting this week in Northern France.

Snd, the film arm of French broadcaster M6, has teamed with prolific French production company Empreinte Cinema for Juan Carlos Medina’s upcoming race-against-the-clock cop thriller The Chase (Abime) starring Sami Bouajila and Julie Gayet.

Snd has international rights for the film and will kick off sales at AFM for the murder mystery meets action film. Snd and Empreinte produce with Paris-based Once Upon A Time on board as co-producer.

The Chase stars Bouajila as a police officer who failed to find the murderer of a young girl 11 years earlier.

The normally irrepressible Sy is stranded in cinematic no man’s land in this familial story of the French army’s Senegalese corps

Already addressed in Rachid Bouchareb’s stirring Days of Glory from 2006, the overlooked wartime contributions of France’s African troops get another airing in this new drama. This time, the film deals with the Senegalese corps rather than Maghrebi, and the industry has moved on enough to have a bona fide superstar of that heritage toplining, in the shape of Omar Sy. On its French release, Sy was hung out to dry in the press for suggesting that the west paid disproportionate attention to conflicts close to home, such as the war in Ukraine, rather than ones in the global south. How this timid and ineffectually dramatised film could have used some of that edge.

Sy plays Bakary, a Fula herdsman who is press-ganged into France’s...

French-Moroccan actor and comedian Jamel Debbouze is urging tourists to keep visiting Morocco in the wake of an earthquake in the country’s Atlas Mountains region that has killed close to 3,000 people.

The quake which measured 7 on the Richter scale hit late on Friday night local time and had its epicenter high in the Atlas Mountains, roughly 43.5 miles south of Marrakech, the old city of which suffered extensive damage.

Most the devastation is in the mountains, where whole villages have been destroyed and more that 300,000 people are impacted.

France-based Debbouze, who retains strong links with the country where he spent part of his childhood, travelled to the quake-hit city of Marrakech in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.

The actor and comedian, whose credits include Amélie, Astérix & Obélix: Mission Cleopatra and the Oscar-nominated wartime drama Days Of Glory, was filmed donating blood in a Marrakech hospital.

He told French...

One of the unique aspects of the horror films produced by Val Lewton at Rko in the 1940s is the seriousness with which they discuss matters of mental illness. Even today, mental health issues are often tiptoed around, but in the forties, they were practically taboo. As discussed in previous entries in this column, Cat People (1942) is largely about repression and The Body Snatcher (1945) deals with guilt, paranoia, and psychopathy. The Seventh Victim (1943), one of the lesser-seen entries in the Lewton cycle, is about loneliness, the depression that stems from it, and suicidal ideation. It externalizes the inner struggles between the light and darkness that use the mind as a battlefield and demand a choice between life and death. Because of the unflinching way The Seventh Victim approaches the subject of suicide, this should be a considered a content warning for the discussion to come later. But first, some background on the film itself.

Cesar-winning French actor Roschdy Zem (“Days of Glory”) and “Fauda” star Laëtitia Eïdo are co-starring in “Fatum,” a timely action film directed by Florent-Emilio Siri (“Hostage”) and scored by Oscar-winning Alexandre Desplat.

“Fatum,” which started filming on July 4 in Morocco, is produced by Mathias Rubin at Récifilms. Orange Studio is co-producing and has French distribution rights, as well as handles international sales. The film is also co-produced by France 2 Cinéma which pre-bought it along with Canal+, Disney+ and Palatine Etoile 21.

Zem, one of France’s most bankable actors who previously won a Cannes prize with “Days of Glory” and recently won a Cesar Award with “Oh Mercy!” stars in “Fatum” as Elyas, a former Special Forces soldier who has become solitary and paranoid since serving Afghanistan. Elyas is recruited to provide the security for Amina (Eido) and her daughter Nour who fled the Emirates and found refuge in a French castle.

Netflix Buys Japanese Romcom ‘Turn To Me Mukai-Kun’ From Nippon TV

Netflix has acquired romantic comedy drama Turn To Me Mukai-Kun from Japan’s Nippon TV. The series will stream on Netflix starting July 12, immediately after its broadcast on Nippon TV’s Wednesday primetime slot. Hulu Japan, which is owned by Nippon TV, will also stream the series in Japan immediately after its primetime broadcast. Based on the award-winning manga by Yoko Nemu, the series stars Eiji Akaso as a young man with a perfect life but disastrous love life who reconnects with an unforgettable ex.

‘How Do You Live?’ To Be First Studio Ghibli Film To Get Simultaneous Imax Release

Japan’s Studio Ghibli has announced that Hayao Miyazaki’s final film, How Do You Live?, will have an Imax release when it opens in Japan this Friday (July 14), marking the first of the animation master’s films to release simultaneously in Imax.

Studiocanal has boarded “A Prophet,” a new television adaptation of Jacques Audiard’s acclaimed 2009 film. The eight-episode limited series started filming on July 3, with “Django” director Enrico Maria Artale and a diverse new cast led by Mamadou Sidibé.

The French-language series brings back the award-winning team behind the original film, including creators and writers Abdel Raouf Dafri and Nicolas Peufaillit (“The Returned”), as well as producer Marco Cherqui (“Savages”), in agreement with “A Prophet” producers Why Not Productions and Page 114.

The show, which is filming in Marseille and Puglia, Italy, is produced by Cherqui and Sebastien Janin, former Apple exec and co-founder of Media Musketeers, and co-produced by Ugc, Orange Studio, Entourage Series and Savon Noir, with the participation of Ocs. The key crew includes “Gomorra” cinematographer Ferran Paredes Rubio. Veteran Italian producer Fabio Conversi (“Youth”) is exec producing the series.

The original movie won the grand jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival,...

Click here to read the full article.

French-Moroccan actor Roschdy Zem has built up an impressive filmography over the past three decades, with major roles in the police thrillers 36 and Le Petit Lieutenant, the historical epics Days of Glory and Outside the Law, and a Cesar award-winning performance in Arnaud Desplechin’s 2019 cop drama Oh Mercy!

Alongside his acting career, Zem has also created an intriguing body of work as a director, tackling cases of racism in France at both the turn of the century (Chocolat) and in the 1990s (Omar Killed Me), exploring the cutthroat world of weightlifting (Bodybuilder) and delivering a down-and-dirty film noir (Persona Non Grata). Some of the genres are handled better than others, but what his movies tend to have in common is their array of finely tuned performances, including a few by the director himself.

That streak continues with Our Ties (Les Miens...

Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is...

Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is...

Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is...

Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is...

Georgian filmmaker Dea Kulumbegashvili among six members of the special jury.

The Cannes Film Festival has confirmed that a special three-day physical event due to take place from October 27 to 29, will go ahead as planned in spite of increased health restrictions across France to rein in a surge in Covid-19 cases.

On Wednesday, France announced the introduction of a 9pm to 6am curfew in Paris and eight other French cities, which will take effect from Saturday night (October 17) for at least four weeks, and last possibly until December 1.

“The Cannes event is still set to take place since Nice and...

Georgian filmmaker Dea Kulumbegashvili among six members of the special jury.

The Cannes Film Festival has confirmed that a special three-day physical event due to take place from October 27 to 29, will go ahead as planned in spite of increased health restrictions across France to rein in a surge in Covid-19 cases.

On Wednesday, France announced the introduction of a 9pm to 6am curfew in Paris and eight other French cities, which will take effect from Saturday night (October 17) for at least four weeks, and last possibly until December 1.

“The Cannes event is still set to take place since Nice and...

Tout Le Monde M’appelle Mike

Guillaume Bonnier makes his directorial debut Tout Le Monde M’appelle Mike in 2020, produced by Eric Neve and co-produced by Charles Walter. Bonnier’s script received funding from the Gans Foundation for Cinema in late 2018 and his cast includes Abderissaak Mohamed, Daphne Patakia and Pierre Lottin. For the past two decades, Bonnier has worked as Assistant Director on a number of notable projects for some of France’s most renowned auteurs, including Patrice Chereau, Philippe Garrel (In the Shadow of Women), Xavier Beauvois (Of Gods and Men), Rachid Bouchareb (Days of Glory), Hiner Saleem, Bruno Podalydes and Jean-Pierre Mocky.…...

Producers fight to screen film locally in time to hit Sept 30 deadline.

The producers of Algeria’s 2020 Oscar submission, Mounia Meddour’s youthful rebellion drama Papicha, are battling to screen the film in the country after local authorities pulled the plug on a planned theatrical release this week.

The feature, which premiered to warm reviews in Un Certain Regard in May, was due to make its theatrical debut in Algeria in a gala screening in the capital of Algiers on Sept 22, ahead of a wider release.

Producers Xavier Gens and Gregoire Gensollen at Paris-based The Ink Connection and co-producer Belkacem Hadjadj...

Not many debuting directors are able to bring subtlety and depth to a heart-rending subject, which is just one reason why Mehdi M. Barsaoui’s superb “A Son” deserves significant attention. On the surface, the plot sounds like it could be taken from a hospital TV drama: When a young boy needs a liver transplant, his father discovers he’s not the biological parent. Such a bare-bones description does the film no justice, as Barsaoui’s sensitive script delves into issues of masculinity and paternity without losing sight of the strong female character and her double trauma as she faces the potential loss of both child and husband. Shrewdly weaving politics throughout the film while keeping outward statements in the background, “A Son” is grounded in the recent Tunisian past but will easily transcend cultural differences and should be grabbed for international art-house distribution.

The first five minutes or so...

As one of the Cannes Film Festival’s favorite sons, Arnaud Desplechin has been a fixture on the Croisette for more than 20 years.

The director has had six films play in competition, and several others in sidebars. He served on the jury in 2016 and opened the festival with 2017’s “Ismael’s Ghosts.”

For longtime festival-goers, the prospect of another year in Cannes means another chance to catch up with this idiosyncratic auteur, whose work has always been defined by its looseness, as well as its ramshackle assembly of old-time film techniques, clipped pace and intellectual digressions.

Also Read: 'Matthias & Maxime' Film Review: Xavier Dolan Finds Maturity at the Ripe Old Age of 30

Compared to all that has preceded it, “Oh Mercy,” which premiered in Cannes on Wednesday, is his most unconventional film to date – precisely because it feels so very conventional.

A straight-down-the-line police procedural about a...

A ponderous true-crime procedural about a murder in France’s poorest commune, Arnaud Desplechin’s mostly lifeless but peripherally compelling “Oh Mercy!” finds the “My Golden Years” auteur returning to his birthplace to tell a story about a place that few people got to choose, and even fewer get to leave. If the film is a literal homecoming, however, it’s also a striking figurative departure for a filmmaker best known (and most beloved) for intricate, frazzled, and hyper-loquacious comedic dramas like “Kings and Queen” and “A Christmas Tale.” In that sense, this frigid misfire is most readily comparable to Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “The Third Murder,” another flat genre flirtation from an otherwise reliable master.

Based on a killing that occurred in May of 2002, “Oh Mercy!” unfolds like an especially dull episode of “Law & Order: Roubaix.” The film begins on Christmas — not that the script Desplechin co-wrote with Léa Mysius...

Gregory Peck would’ve celebrated his 103rd birthday on April 5, 2019. The Oscar-winning actor starred in dozens of classics, staying active on the big and small screen until his death in 2003 at the age of 87. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 20 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1916, Peck made his screen debut with a starring role in “Days of Glory” (1944). He earned his first Oscar nomination as Best Actor for his second movie, “The Keys of the Kingdom” (1944), playing a Catholic priest spreading Christianity in China. He earned subsequent bids for playing an ex-Confederate soldier in “The Yearling” (1946), a journalist posing as Jewish in “Gentleman’s Agreement” (1947) and an Air Force commander in “Twelve O’Clock High” (1949).

SEEOscar Best Actor Gallery: Every Winner in Academy Award History

He clinched the gold for “To Kill a Mockingbird” (1962), adapted from Harper Lee‘s beloved Civil Rights novel.

Gregory Peck would’ve celebrated his 103rd birthday on April 5, 2019. The Oscar-winning actor starred in dozens of classics, staying active on the big and small screen until his death in 2003 at the age of 87. In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 20 of his greatest films, ranked worst to best.

Born in 1916, Peck made his screen debut with a starring role in “Days of Glory” (1944). He earned his first Oscar nomination as Best Actor for his second movie, “The Keys of the Kingdom” (1944), playing a Catholic priest spreading Christianity in China. He earned subsequent bids for playing an ex-Confederate soldier in “The Yearling” (1946), a journalist posing as Jewish in “Gentleman’s Agreement” (1947) and an Air Force commander in “Twelve O’Clock High” (1949).

He clinched the gold for “To Kill a Mockingbird” (1962), adapted from Harper Lee‘s beloved Civil Rights novel. The role of Atticus Finch, a...

"Jacques Tourneur, Fearmaker" runs from December 14 – January 3, 2019 at New York's Film Society of Lincoln Center.A man twists and contorts himself to fire his tommy gun from the front seat of a prop plane, strafing an escaping yacht in Jacques Tourneur’s Nick Carter, Master Detective (1939). The action scenes of the first (of only two) of MGM’s detective programmers starring Walter Pidgeon as a blasé, blowhard private dick go a long way to set thrilling standards of danger and energy in a prescient pre-war mystery of aviation espionage and sabotage. The opening scene in the desert of a foiled aircraft hijacking is already that Christopher Nolan-style of concept, grandeur and stark visuals, but the boat-gunning climax, created through great, swooning back projection and Carter’s nearly absurd violent technique, lends great character to an otherwise unpromising crime series.A gang leader huddled among anonymous criminals on a prison boat as “the Rock,...

A commemoration of British Indian army soldiers directed by Pankaj Batra is solid if undemanding viewing

Pankaj Batra’s Punjabi melodrama combines a new angle on the the first world war with an old-fashioned appeal: a broadly fictionalised commemoration of those Sikh soldiers who served in the British Indian army, it flits between the usual barrack-room bonding and memories of girls back home before launching into final-reel shows of heroism and sacrifice. Musical megastar turned actor Diljit Dosanjh – in a move we might now call “doing a Styles” – plays the eponymous Singh, a free thinker schooled to fight the cause of independence but forced to do his bit by his father, a grovelling lackey of empire, in the hope of achieving greater career progression.

Rachid Bouchareb’s second world war film Days of Glory may have been an inspiration: our heroes must navigate the xenophobia and condescension of those who...

Exclusive: Marc Zinga stars in war drama.

Paris-based sales agent Other Angle has boarded Gabriel Le Bomin’s Second World War drama Our Patriots about real-life Senegalese resistance fighter Addi Bâ.

Marc Zinga plays Bâ, who was nicknamed “der schwarze terrorist” (the black terrorist) by the Germans for his role in a French resistance division operating in the Vosges in eastern France.

Louane Emera, who shot to fame in the role of the talented musical daughter Paula Belier in box office hit La Famille Belier, and Alexandra Lamy are also in the cast as the women who helped hide Bâ from the Germans. Further cast members include Pierre Deladonchamps.

Other Angle chief Olivier Albou says the film is in a similar vein to Rachid Bouchareb’s Days Of Glory.

“There aren’t that many films looking at the role Africans played in fighting the Germans and none, as far as I know, about black resistance...

‘Land of Mine’ (Courtesy: Toronto International Film Festival)

By: Carson Blackwelder

Managing Editor

If there’s one thing for certain about the foreign-language film category at the Oscars it’s that the Academy sure has a soft spot for films about World War II. Just this year alone there are three movies on the Academy’s shortlist that are set during that very tumultuous time — Denmark’s Land of Mine, Norway’s The King’s Choice, and Russia’s Paradise. How often has the Academy nominated or given the win to films based specifically during the World War II era?

According to Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter, the best foreign-language film Oscar race is shaping up to potentially only feature one of these World War II-set movies in the official nominations. So far Land of Mine is listed as a frontrunner along with Germany’s Toni Erdmann, Iran’s The Salesman,...

By: Carson Blackwelder

Managing Editor

The greatest thing about the best foreign-language film category is the recognition of works from all around the world. Throughout the years, movies made outside the United States of America have gotten the recognition they deserve thanks to the implementation of this specific award. With the 2017 Oscars right around the corner, let’s take a look back at the distribution of nominations and wins across the seven continents that make up this big world we inhabit.

This year’s best foreign-language film contenders are: Toni Erdmann (Germany), The Salesman (Iran), Land of Mine (Denmark), A Man Called Ove (Sweden), Paradise (Russia), The King’s Choice (Norway), My Life as a Zucchini (Switzerland), It’s Only the End of the World (Canada), and Tanna (Australia). This site’s namesake, The Hollywood’s Scott Feinberg, lists the first five of those as frontrunners and the other four as major threats.

It seems everywhere you turn right now, either at home or abroad, there are some truly tragic and heartbreaking things happening, and this past week has been particularly trying. And even as anger swells and tears flow, understanding will be a crucial step toward healing and real change. And sometimes we can’t fathom how anyone […]

The post New Trailer For ‘Days Of Glory’ & ‘London River’ Director Rachid Bouchareb’s ‘Road To Instanbul’ appeared first on The Playlist.

French-born Algerian filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb's new film "Road to Istanbul" (La route des lacs) is premiering at this year's Berlinale in the Panorama section. This is a film that looks particularly interesting to me as it deals with a mother and her only daughter - a 20-year-old who has left Belgium to join Isis.

Bouchareb's artfully crafted films "Dust of Life," "Days of Glory," and "Outside the Law" were nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award, making Algeria the African country with the most nominations in the category and solidifying the director as the most important figure in North African cinema today.

Intentional sales are being handled by Elle Driver. 

The official synopsis for "Road to Istanbul" reads as follows:

When the police inform her that Elodie, her only daughter, 20, has left to join the Islamic State somewhere between Syria and Iraq, Elisabeth's life is thrown into turmoil. She is in shock and cannot understand this decision because the war does not concern them. Elisabeth manages to contact Elodie but finds herself at a loss faced with this young woman whom she no longer recognizes. Alone in her struggle, she decides to set off for Syria to look for her daughter and to convince her to return to Belgium with her. Will mother and daughter be able to reunite and understand each other?

Festival screenings:

February 15 at 9:30 Pm - Berliner Festspiele

February 16 at 10:00 Am - CinemaxX 7

February 17 at 2:30 Pm - Cubix 9

February 19 at 8:00 Pm - International

February 21 at 2:30 Pm - Zoo Palast  2...

La route des lacs (Road to Istanbul)

Director: Rachid Bouchareb

Writers: Rachid Bouchareb, Zoe Galeron, Yasmina Khadra, Olivier Lorelle

Franco-Algerian director Rachid Bouchareb continues a prolific shooting schedule with his latest project, La route des lacs (Road to Istanbul), which tackles an extremely topical scenario regarding terrorist recruits and Isis when a mother discovers her child has joined the dangerous organization. Recently, Bouchareb has been navigating the Us Pacific Southwest with English language items Just Like a Woman (2012) and his 2014 remake of Two Men in Town. For this latest, he pairs with regular co-writers Lorelle, Galeron, and Yasmina Khadra (who penned the exceptional 2012 film The Attack for Ziad Doueiri, which Bouchareb produced), and the film will be headlined by Belgian actress Astrid Whettnall and rising star Pauline Burlet (who appeared in La Vie En Rose as well as Asghar Farhadi’s The Past in 2013). Thus far, this sounds similar to Bouchareb’s 2008 film,...

New York Film Critics Awards: Best Film winner 'Carol' with Cate Blanchett. 2015 New York Film Critics Awards have enlivened Oscar race Catching up with previously announced awards season winners that will likely influence the 2016 Oscar nominations. Early this month, the New York Film Critics Circle announced their Best of 2015 picks, somewhat unexpectedly boosting the chances of Todd Haynes' lesbian romantic drama Carol, Clouds of Sils Maria actress Kristen Stewart, and László Nemes' Holocaust drama Son of Saul. Below is a brief commentary about each of these Nyfcc choices. 'Carol' Directed by Todd Haynes, starring two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett (The Aviator, Blue Jasmine) and Oscar nominee Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), and adapted by Phyllis Nagy from Patricia Highsmith's 1952 novel The Price of Salt,[1] Carol won a total of four New York Film Critics awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay,...

Exclusive: Oscar-nominated Bouchareb explores plight of parents who lose children to Isis.Elle Driver has boarded Jorge Michael Grau’s earthquake drama 7.19 am and Rachid Bouchareb’s Road to Istanbul [pictured], about a mother who goes in pursuit of her Isis recruit daughter, ahead of the American Film Market (Afm). The company also start pre-sales on Audrey Dana’s comedy If I Were a Boy, in which she stars as a woman who wakes up with a penis, and Harry Cleven’s fantasy romance Angel. Franco-Algerian Bouchareb’s Road to Istanbul stars Belgian actress Astrid Whettnall as a single mother on a quest to find her 18-year-old daughter after she leaves Belgium to join the Islamic State with a Jihadist boyfriend. “My goal is to film the incomprehension of a mother totally caught off guard by the changes in her daughter on reaching legal age… Alone, divorced and abandoned by the authorities, she must try...

"London River," directed by French-Algerian filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb ("Days of Glory," "Outside The Law"), is now on DVD and VOD in the USA. I was able to catch it via Amazon Instant Video. Aside from a few connection hiccups, I was able to fully appreciate this moving story of a market gardener from Guernsey, played by the magnificent Brenda Blethyn (1996 "Secrets and Lies"), and a Francophone African, the late Sotigui Kouyaté in a subdued yet superb performance, who arrive in London to search for their missing children in the aftermath of the 2005 train and bus terrorist bombings. Elisabeth (Blethyn) is a widow in the British Channel...

 

The Austin Film Society really knows the way to my heart. A brand new series begins this evening at the Marchesa called "Perfect Criminals: The '70s French Noir Connection" and you can buy a full series pass or grab individual tickets for the five French crime classics that Afs will be unspooling in the weeks to come. The first selection in the series is 1969's The Sicilian Clan in 35mm. Jean Gabin and Alain Delon star in this jewel heist thriller from director Henri Verneuil and it plays tonight and again on Sunday afternoon.

Also on Sunday, you've got one more chance to catch Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley's Island Of Dr Moreau. I caught this at Fantastic Fest last year and was utterly fascinated by it. It recently had a screening at Alamo Drafthouse Ritz, but now Afs is giving you a great opportunity...

It’s a shame that Algerian/French filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb’s films don’t get a wider release in the U.S. His 2006 film Days of Glory (Indigènes), about the North African soldiers who fought for the French Army during World War II is a marvelous, exciting and at the end genuinely poignant film that I wish more people had seen if it only gotten a proper release in the U.S. It’s the film that I wish Spike Lee’s Miracle at St. Anna would have been. And his 2010 film Outside the Law, about the Algerian struggle for independence from France after WWII, is just as good and as powerful as Days of Glory and like that film was also barely released in the U.S. So it’s...

The Town That Dreaded Showdown: Bouchareb Returns to New Mexican Landscape with Mixed Results

French director Rachid Bouchareb’s long celebrated filmography has garnered two of his titles Academy Award nominations for Best Foreign Language Film (Dust of Life; Days of Glory), along with a host of other accolades for a body of work that often revolves around either Algerian experiences in France (modern and period), or explorations of race and/or gender within unique narratives. A long-time producer of Bruno Dumont’s work, Bouchareb has been pursuing a variety of international productions. His latest, Two Men in Town, is a morality exercise that happens to take place in roughly the same Us locale as his last effort, 2012’s Just Like a Woman. Despite a notable cast and several rather arresting performances, the end result never elevates beyond a standard dramatic exercise that ends in more or less the same...

Oscar 2015 winners (photo: Chris Pratt during Oscar 2015 rehearsals) The complete list of Oscar 2015 winners and nominees can be found below. See also: Oscar 2015 presenters and performers. Now, a little Oscar 2015 trivia. If you know a bit about the history of the Academy Awards, you'll have noticed several little curiosities about this year's nominations. For instance, there are quite a few first-time nominees in the acting and directing categories. In fact, nine of the nominated actors and three of the nominated directors are Oscar newcomers. Here's the list in the acting categories: Eddie Redmayne. Michael Keaton. Steve Carell. Benedict Cumberbatch. Felicity Jones. Rosamund Pike. J.K. Simmons. Emma Stone. Patricia Arquette. The three directors are: Morten Tyldum. Richard Linklater. Wes Anderson. Oscar 2015 comebacks Oscar 2015 also marks the Academy Awards' "comeback" of several performers and directors last nominated years ago. Marion Cotillard and Reese Witherspoon won Best Actress Oscars for, respectively, Olivier Dahan...

By Anjelica Oswald

Managing Editor

The nine foreign-language films shortlisted by the Academy hail from three continents: South America, Europe and Africa. From South America, Argentina’s Wild Tales and Venezuela’s The Liberator made the list. From Africa, Mauritania’s Timbuktu did as well. From Europe, Estonia’s Tangerines, Georgia’s Corn Island, the Netherlands’ Accused, Poland’s Ida, Russia’s Leviathan and Sweden’s Force Majeure all made the top nine.

This year could mark the first Oscar nomination for Estonia, Georgia, Mauritania (whose film was the country’s first Oscar-submitted film) and Venezuela. Argentina, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden have each received two Oscar nominations in the past 14 years. Of those four countries, Argentina is the only one to win an Oscar, which it did in 2010 for The Secret in Their Eyes. If Russia lands a nomination, it will be the country’s second in the 21st century.

French-Algerian filmmaker and producer Rachid Bouchareb, who is being honoured with a career achievement award at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, talked extensively about his career at a special ‘in conversation’ event.

Born to Algerian parents who moved to Paris just after the Second World War, twice Oscar-nominated filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb recounted how he was originally destined to work in manufacturing like his father.

“I was sitting at work one day when I decided to call the offices of a local broadcaster. I got through to a receptionist who I asked ‘how do people get into cinema’. She had more important things to do than talk to me but she gave me some names of schools nonetheless,” said Bouchareb, who would go onto make his first feature Bâton Rouge in 1985 with the support of the late producer Humbert Balsan.

The director, whose best known credits include Oscar-nominated Days of Glory and Outside the Law as well as...

French-Algerian filmmaker and producer Rachid Bouchareb, who is being honoured with a career achievement award at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, talked extensively about his career at a special ‘in conversation’ event.

Born to Algerian parents who moved to Paris just after the Second World War, twice Oscar-nominated filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb recounted how he was originally destined to work in manufacturing like his father.

“I was sitting at work one day when I decided to call the offices of a local broadcaster. I got through to a receptionist who I asked ‘how do people get into cinema’. She had more important things to do than talk to me but she gave me some names of schools nonetheless,” said Bouchareb, who would go onto make his first feature Bâton Rouge in 1985 with the support of the late producer Humbert Balsan.

The director, whose best known credits include Oscar-nominated Days of Glory and Outside the Law as well as...

French-Algerian filmmaker Rachid Bouchereb, who is being honoured with a career achievement award at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival this year, talked extensively about his career at a special ‘in conversation’ event.

The director, whose credits include Oscar-nominated Days of Glory and Outside the Law as well as the more recent Two Men in Town starring Forest Whitaker and Harvey Keitel, revealed his love of cinema had unusual origins.

Referring to his childhood in the run-down Parisian suburb of Bobigny, Bouchareb recounted how he and his friends used to sneak into the local cinema for free.

“It was a game for us to see if we could get in… we’d get in through the toilet,” said Bouchareb. “We saw a lot of films without paying but it meant I never saw the beginning.”

Much of Bouchareb’s early filmography, capturing the experiences of immigrants in France and beyond, was inspired by his own experiences as the...

Days of Glory director and American Psycho producer to receive career achievement awards.

Abu Dhabi Film Festival (Adff) (Oct 23-Nov 1) is to honour French-Algerian director Rachid Bouchareb and Us producer Edward Pressman with Career Achievement Awards for their outstanding contribution to world cinema.

Both awards will be presented at the festival’s opening event on Oct 23 at Emirates Palace.

Bouchareb is best known for directing Dust of Life (1995), Days of Glory (2006) and Outside the Law (2010), all of which were nominated for Best Foreign Language Film awards at the Oscars.

His latest feature, Two Men In Town starring Forest Whitaker as an ex-convict and a Muslim convert, will screen as part of the Adff Showcase.

The film played in competition at the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year. Adff will also host a public conversation with Bouchareb on Oct 24, where he will discuss his life and career as a director and producer.

Us producer...

Event series to offer insights on film preservation and crowdfunding campaigns among others.

Abu Dhabi Film Festival (Adff) has announced this year’s Adff Talks Film programme, comprising masterclasses and panel discussions on topics ranging from film preservation and crowdfunding campaigns to Arab diaspora filmmaking and international co-productions.

Adff Talks Film will kick off on Oct 24 with In conversation with Rachid Bouchareb, which will cover the life and career of the French-Algerian director and producer, who has been Oscar-nominated three times with Dust of Life (1995), Days of Glory (2006) and Outside the Law (2010).

The opening day will also host the director and producers of Adff’s opening film, From A to B. The session titled From A to B – The A to Z of Making an Emirati Feature Film, will cover the various stages of filmmaking, from concept to post-production.

Panel discussion Let’s Work Together on Oct 25 will include directors and producers from Europe, Canada and the...

At the moment of this typing 67 films have been announced by their home countries as Oscar submissions and our famous charts are all updated to tell you about them with posters, running times, languages spoken, official site links, synopsis and more. This year's race has three countries who've never submitted before (Kosovo, Mauritania, and Panama). That's not a record since that was also true last year. Can we attribute the continual growth of this category to the general democratization of film now that (nearly) everything is digital and filmmaking is (theoretically) more affordable? Or perhaps it's a sure sign that the Oscar is still one of the most significant icons around the world?

The most exciting news this past week was Russia daringly choosing Cannes hit Leviathan - not the kind of film they normally would send.Other new additions to the chart include Egypt's Factory Girl, India's Liar's Dice,...

French-Algerian director Rachid Bouchareb has lately alternated between sweeping historical dramas (the WWII drama "Days of Glory," the Algerian War portrait "Outside the Law") and sentimental two-handers with quieter approaches ("London River," "Just Like a Woman"). In all cases, however, Bouchareb tends to deal in similar themes of contrasting political and personal relationships. "Two Men In Town," a loose remake of José Giovanni's 1973 tale of a paroled murderer trying to get his life back together, applies this tendency to the least-ideological of Bouchareb's movies, resulting in a thinly executed tale littered with uneven performances. Nevertheless, a committed turn by Forest Whitaker in the lead role, paired with "Holy Motors" and "My Life in Pink" cinematographer Yves Cape's evocative images of the spare western landscape, lead to an intriguing contrast between the half-baked material and a handful of stronger ingredients. It's a movie at war with its deficiencies. "Two Men.

Abdellatif Kechiche won a Palme d'Or for his latest film, Blue Is the Warmest Colour, about a lesbian relationship between two students. But since then the director has been criticised for his working methods, and the film's young stars have said they'll never work with him again

Abdellatif Kechiche has not been a happy man lately. His new film, Blue Is the Warmest Colour, about a French teenager embarking on a lesbian relationship, has been garlanded with ecstatic reviews and is performing robustly at the box office since its release in France earlier this month. And at the Cannes film festival, back in May, Steven Spielberg's jury awarded his film the legendary Palme d'Or.

Still, even the Palme seems a mixed blessing for this eminently serious, soft-spoken man. "There's a certain anxiety that comes with that sort of recognition," he says in French, making a habitual pensive gesture with his hands,...

Indiewire has just obtained an exclusive clip of the first five minutes of "Just Like A Woman," which is now available on DVD and iTunes. The film, released by Cohen Media Group, stars Sienna Miller as Marilyn, a Chicago woman who has just lost her secretarial job and is saddled with a cheating husband, her hobby of belly dancing proving to be her only source of satisfaction. Teaming up her friend Mona (Golshifteh Farahani), a North African immigrant who also needs an escape, the duo decide to hit the road to attend a New Mexico belly dancing competition for a journey of discovery and renewal amidst the landscape of the Southwest. "Just Like A Woman" was directed by Rachid Bouchareb, whose 2006 film "Days of Glory" garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. Watch the first five minutes of the film below:...

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Oct. 22, 2013

Price: DVD $24.98, Blu-ray $34.98

Studio: Cohen Media/Entertainment One

Sienna Miller (r.) and Golshifteh Farahani do their dance in Just Like a Woman.

Two beautiful women who are barely more than casual acquaintances, escape the prisons of their unhappy marriages and embark on a revealing journey of self discovery in the 2012 drama Just Like a Woman.

Financially strapped Chicago secretary Marilyn (Sienna Miller, Stardust) has just lost her job. Already saddled with a deadbeat, cheating husband, she decides to chuck it all. With a dream of being a belly dancer, she decides to go to New Mexico to compete in a prestigious belly dancing competition. Meanwhile, Mona (Golshifteh Farahani, In the Name of the Father), a North African immigrant stuck in an arranged marriage, has just inadvertently killed her nightmarish mother-in-law and needs to get out of town fast. Meeting and uniting for a journey to...

Female Trouble: Bouchareb’s Understated First Chapter in Arab-American Trilogy

Algerian filmmaker Rachid Bouchareb, perhaps most widely recognized for his films Outside the Law (2010) and Days of Glory (2006), depicting historical and divisive conflicts between Algeria and France, returns once again to the Us with Just Like a Woman, the first film of a planned trilogy depicting the transforming relationships between the Western and Arab world. A female centric road film born out of severe character conflicts created by their oppressive, male dominated existence ensures that the film will be rampantly compared to Ridley Scott’s Thelma & Louise (1991), even though it avoids an overtly melodramatic malaise. Shining through its formulaic setup and stereotypical antagonists are a pair of actresses that manage to fit perfectly with Bouchareb’s knack for uniting people despite of their socially constructed differences.

Down and out Chicago receptionist Marilyn (Sienna Miller) is struggling to make ends...

Title: Just Like a Woman Director: Rachid Bouchareb (‘Outside the Law,’ ‘Days of Glory’) Starring: Sienna Miller, Golshifteh Farahani (‘Chickens with Plums,’ ‘Body of Lies’), Tim Guinee (‘Iron Man,’ TV’s ‘Revolution’), Roschdy Zem (‘The Cold Light of Day‘)and Chafia Boudraa (‘Outside the Law’) Contending with the important issues of cultural differences and self-importance and identity can be a difficult process for many women in an ethnically diverse city. Finding their rightful place in society while also achieving their personal goals and dreams is the strong motivating factor that drives the two diverse female lead characters in the new drama ‘Just Like a Woman.’ While the two women, Marilyn and Mona, [ Read More ]

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Title: Just Like a Woman Director: Rachid Bouchareb Starring: Sienna Miller, Golshifteh Farahani, Roschdy Zem, Tim Guinee, Bahar Soomekh, Chafia Boudraa Themes of cultural identity and disunity figure prominently into the work of director Rachid Bouchareb, including 2006′s “Days of Glory” and 2011′s “Outside the Law,” both of which were nominated for Best Foreign Language Film Academy Awards. Bouchareb’s English language debut, “Just Like a Woman,” however, is a phony female fantasy — a minor chord variation on “Thelma & Louise” with none of that film’s panache, verve or insight. Instead tone-deaf and at times downright insufferable, this road trip flick in which bellydancing holds the key to feminine enlightenment [ Read More ]

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