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Yoo Ah-in (Voice Of Silence), Zelda Adams (Hellbender) win acting prizes.

EuiJeong Hong’s South Korean thriller Voice Of Silence has won the 25th anniversary edition Fantasia International Film Festival’s Cheval Noir award for best film.

Hong’s film follows a mute low-level gangster tasked with taking charge of an 11-year-old kidnapped girl from a wealthy family. The jury described Voice Of Silence as “impossible to pin down, and truly idiosyncratic. Put simply, it’s unlike anything we’d seen before”.

Juried awards

In other Cheval Noir awards Yoo Ah-in who plays the mute man won best actor while...

The Criterion Channel’s stellar offerings are continuing next month with a selection of new releases, retrospective, series, and more. Leading the pack is, of course, a horror lineup perfectly timed for Halloween, featuring ’70s classics and underseen gems, including Abel Ferrara’s The Driller Killer (pictured above), Tobe Hopper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, early films by David Cronenberg, Wes Craven, and Brian De Palma, Bill Gunn’s Ganja & Hess, and more.

Also of note is a New Korean Cinema retrospective, featuring a new introduction by critic Grady Hendrix and a conversation between directors Bong Joon Ho and Park Chan-wook, whose Barking Dogs Never Bite, The Host, Mother, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, and Lady Vengeance are part of the lineup, as well as Lee Myung-se’s Nowhere to Hide, and more titles to be announced. Bong’s short Influenza will also arrive, paired with Michael Haneke’s Caché.

Aliya Whiteley Dec 15, 2016

Illustrated by the director of animated films Belleville Rendez-Vous & The Illusionist is Caleb's Cab, a children's book by Sally Chomet...

Caleb's Cab is the first book by Sally Chomet and it is a great story for children, creating an anarchic world in which Caleb, a young boy, must try to keep his mother out of debt after the mysterious disappearance of his father. He does this by taking over his father's job as a cab driver - but the cab turns out to not be your average car, and an entirely different world from the one Caleb knows awaits him.

See related Humans series 2 interview: Gemma Chan, Emily Berrington, Will Tudor Humans series 2 episode 7 review Humans series 2 episode 6 review Humans series 2 episode 5 review

The inventiveness of the two worlds Caleb finds himself straddling is a gift for reading aloud, and it's the kind of book that would...

The Triplets of Belleville and "The Illusionist" director Sylvain Chomet has announced that he's begun production on "The Thousand Miles" at Savoy & Gregory. The project marks the multi-talented French filmmaker's long-awaited return to the animated genre which he previously tackled in 2003 and 2010.

Effectively the helmer's English-language debut, dialogue plays a large part in 'Miles' unlike his previous two animated films. Newcomer James Lipsius along with two iconic American actors with Italian roots will voice the lead characters in a film said to be primarily inspired by the dream journals of iconic Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini.

Set in an early 1980s Italy, the story follows two ageing brothers who, separated by life, reunite through their shared life-dream to compete in Italy's Mille Miglia vintage car rally - the world's most beautiful road race. What follows is a metaphysical journey filled with love, laughter and sorrow.

Though entirely in 2D hand-drawn animation, the...

Move comes less than two weeks before the start of the festival.

Bob Last, the chair of the Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff) has stepped down less than two weeks before the start of this year’s event, which runs June 17-28.

The chairman of the Centre for the Moving Image, which oversees the operation of Eiff, will stand down with immediate effect.

The recruitment process for a new chair has now begun.

Last’s resignation comes just three months after Mark Adams began his role as Eiff artistic director, replacing Chris Fujiwara who stood down in September.

Last, a producer who has worked on films including Terence Davies’ Sunset Song and Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist, had been in the post since November 2012.

He said: “It’s been an honour and a pleasure to chair the Cmi. We have made huge strides in developing the business, including raising the profile and standing of Eiff. I wish Ken Hay...

Sylvain Chomet, the director of several beautiful animated films including The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist, has unveiled his music video for Belgian singer and songwriter Stromae’s “Carmen.” The video style, which is everything you would come to expect from the Academy Award nominated director, draws on the 1800s opera by French composer Georges Bizet, and features an animated Stromae being consumed by his Twitter addiction. Premiering on Buzzfeed, the video garnered over five million views in less than 24 hours.

In the past five years, the 29-year-old discovery has become a sensation across the Atlantic, beginning with his song “Alors on danse”, which became number one in several European countries. The Belgian rapper is redefining what it means to be a contemporary male pop star, and much like Michael Jackson in the early 80’s, he’s using the visual medium to further thrust him into the spotlight. Check out the video below,...

I'd never heard of Rwandan-Flemish singer/rapper Stromae until today, thanks to this new music video that landed on my virtual desk this morning, directed by acclaimed French animator Sylvain Chomet (of "Triplets of Belleville" and "The Illusionist" fame). The video, which is very much in Chomet's visual style, is for a track by Stromae titled "Carmen" (borrowing from Georges Bizet’s well-known opera) that's actually been out for a little while, as I discovered. But Chomet's delightful video, released just today, helps bring to visual life the song's criticisms of disposable social media culture. It...

★★☆☆☆ Sylvain Chomet's feature-length foray into live action, Attila Marcel (2013) sees him making stylistic nods to the auteurs of his homeland - think Tati, Jeunet and Gondry - while maintaining his own sense of whimsical tenacity that has become a hallmark of his trade. Chomet has made a name for himself in constructing animated worlds that hearken back to the glory days of cartoonish delight. Indeed, his previous works, The Triplets of Belleville (2003) and The Illusionist (2010), have been praised for their surreal charms and comforting qualities. But while Attila Marcel is altogether a saccharine diversion, it fumbles with tone and direction.

yt id="MqhVcRrrauY" width="500" Directed by Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville, The Illusionist), below is his 1997 short film The Old Lady and the Pigeons (La Vieille Dame et les Pigeons), which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Short Film. It lost the award to Pixar's Geri's Game (included below). An emaciated Parisian policeman discovers an old lady who feeds pigeons in the park excessively. After having a nightmare ending in giant pigeon-men pecking at his stomach, the policeman constructs a pigeon mask, which he wears to the old lady's home. She welcomes him inside and, despite his rude behavior, allows him to gorge himself. As weeks pass, the policeman grows increasingly fat. As he goes up flights of stairs to the woman's home each day, he passes a maid sweeping the floor. Eventually, the policeman discovers the old lady's other pet: the woman who swept the floor,...

Sylvain Chomet's beautiful, distinct animated films take time to make. It was seven years between his feature film debut "The Triplets Of Belleville" and "The Illusionist," and while he did most recently knock out the live action "Attila Marcel," he's got another animated feature cooking with "Ten Thousand Miles." But right from the start, Chomet's talent and style made itself known with the short "The Old Lady And The Pigeons." Kicking off Chomet's career, this 22-minute 1997 short tells the quirky story of a skinny, starving French policeman who dresses up as a pigeon and forces an old lady to feed him. And things get weirder from there as he keeps returning to the old woman's house and ballooning in size. And yet, even in this surreal tale, Chomet's unique visuals are impressive. So much so, that the short won a nice handful of awards around the world, and was...

French director Sylvain Chomet, best known for his animated films “Belleville Rendezvous” (a.k.a. “The Triplets of Belleville”) and “The Illusionist,” is set to premiere his first live-action feature in the U.K. next week. Though French trailers for the film have been circulating since last year, the English version has just recently been released at the 11th hour (we’re optimistic that’s not a bad sign, though). Here’s the official synopsis: Paul is in his thirties and lives in a Paris apartment with his aunts, a pair of elderly aristocrats who have raised him since the age of two, and who dream of him becoming a piano virtuoso. His life boils down to a daily routine spent at the grand piano in the salon, and his aunts’ dance classes where he works as an accompanist. Cut off from the outside world, Paul has grown old without ever having lived.

French director Sylvain Chomet has an incredible four Academy Award nominations to his name, renowned for his distinguishable, ingenious animations such as The Triplets of Belleville, and The Illusionist. He now returns with his very first live action feature with Attila Marcel, remaining faithful to his own brand, bringing that sense of enchantment and striking, vibrant visual experience to the viewer, as you feel that every single object, or colour implemented, has been done so meticulously, for a certain, desired effect.

Another similarity comes in the form of a silent protagonist, which had served Chomet’s preceding endeavour so well. This time the character is Paul (Guillaume Gouix), a piano virtuoso, who has never once spoken a word following the untimely, mysterious death of his parents when he was just a toddler. Now, living with his two eccentric aunts, he becomes spiritually entwined with his next door neighbour Madame Proust (Anne Le Ny), who,...

Sony Pictures Classics honchos Michael Barker and Tom Bernard have been feted up one side and down the other lately. The duo celebrated 20 years of Spc in 2012 and have received awards from the Museum of the Moving Image and the Gotham Awards as of late. Tonight they will receive the Los Angeles Film Festival's Spirit of Independence Award as the love keeps pouring in. Given that we recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of Fox Searchlight — another crucial entity in the indie film space — it seemed like we were over due for a similar appreciation of Sony Classics' 22 years of output. The interesting thing, though, is that unlike Searchlight, there isn't necessarily anything outwardly identifiable about Sony Classics films as, well, "Sony Classics films." They all have a strong whiff of good taste but they don't have the heavy marketing footprint of some of the studio's contemporaries. Barker and Bernard's cinephile passion is always evident,...

One of the most enduring aspects of the long-running animated show The Simpsons has been the couch gag that is present in the opening titles of every episode. Over the years, numerous artists have been tapped to create couch gags, including the elusive street artist Banksy. The newest artist to lend their talents to the show is French filmmaker Sylvain Chomet. Known for the animated features The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist, Chomet’s couch gag will be featured in the upcoming episode of The Simpsons. The bit has also been released online ahead of its airing, and can be seen below.

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(Source: Animation Scoop)

The post Video of the Day: Watch Sylvain Chomet do an animated couch gag for The Simpsons appeared first on Sound On Sight.

If you like your movies and TV shows drawn as opposed to filled with flesh-and-blood humans, these two stories will make your Friday. After 20-plus seasons on the air, you have to wonder if Matt Groening and crew ever feel like they’ve run out of funny couch gags to open each episode of The Simpsons. We don’t know if they have, but this Sunday’s episode hands the reins over to French animator Sylvain Chomet, who's crafted what some are calling the best opening couch sequence ever. Chomet -- who is best known for The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist – brings his signature style and French sensibilities to the Simpson clan. Watch as Homer snacks on snails, Bart tries to make his own goose-liver pate, and Marge launches a fruitless search for...

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This is great, Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville, The Illusionist) gives us his version of "The Simpsons" couch gag seen before each of the show's episodes in a myriad of forms with guest segments bright to life by the likes of Banksy, Guillermo del Toro and others recently. This might be my favorite yet. Give it a watch below. yt id="AOi5OF7gAiM" width="500"...

The famous credits gag is given a whimsical French tinge by Triplets of Belleville director Chomet, following another recent version by Guillermo Del Toro

• My favourite TV show: The Simpsons

The couch sequence on the Simpsons is one of the most reliable and comforting introductions on TV – always different and yet somehow always the same, as the family skitter in to some kind of surreal sight gag. But after well over 500 episodes, the producers are starting to farm the gag out elsewhere.

Recently we had Guillermo Del Toro's horror-filled take, and a Hobbit-themed epic, but now things get a little more whimsical and low-key. French animator Sylvain Chomet, director of The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist, takes the reins which a knowingly Gallic sequence: Homer eats snails, Bart attempts to make foie gras, and Maggie goes missing in typically slapstick fashion. Take a look at the clip below,...

Viral Video Ryan Lambie 7 Mar 2014 - 12:37

French animator Sylvain Chomet provides a superb couch gag for The Simpsons. Take a look within...

The opening 'couch gag' sequences have become one of the most surprising and creative aspects of The Simpsons - last year saw a great nod to Guillermo del Toro in a Treehouse Of Terror couch gag, while the work of Studio Ghibli was honoured in this fabulous extended sequence. 

French animator Sylvain Chomet has lent his personal and very distinctive touch to a new opening, which you can see below. If you've watched and admired such films as Belleville Rendezvous and The Illusionist, as we have, you'll immediately recognise his particular style of animation. We particularly like all the French stereotypes he's managed to shoehorn into its 60 seconds of expressive movement - Diy Duck Liver Pate kit, anyone?

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I love a good Simpsons couch gag, but this is seriously the best I have ever seen. It was created by French animator by Sylvain Chomet who directed animated films such as The Illusionist and Triplets of Belleville. This opening sequence is beautifully animated and absolutely hilarious. It might just be the best thing to come from The Simpsons in years! ...

Odd List Ryan Lambie Simon Brew 27 Feb 2014 - 05:54

Our series of lists devoted to underappreciated films brings us to the year 2010, and another 25 overlooked gems...

By 2010, Hollywood’s obsession with 3D movies was in full swing. James Cameron’s Avatar may have given audiences a taste of what the cutting edge of stereoscope could look like, but it has to be said that the movies ushered into cinemas in its wake were a decidedly mixed bunch. Toy Story 3's 3D was extraordinarily effective, yet Clash Of The Titans looked like a blurry mess. How To Train Your Dragon came to life in its flying sequences, but the less said about the horribly murky Last Airbender, the better.

Unless we’re mistaken, none of the movies on this list were shot or released in 3D, and few of them did particularly stellar business. A few got a certain amount of critical acclaim,...

Hélène Vincent, Guillaume Gouix, and Bernadette Lafont in Attila Marcel French filmmaker Sylvain Chomet will return to the French Film Festival UK this year with his first full foray into live action Attila Marcel, which has been selected as the opening gala film.

Chomet - who spent five years in Scotland making the animated hit The Illusionist - will attend the film's premieres in London, Edinburgh and Glasgow to help kick off the 21st edition of the UK touring event that was founded in Scotland. He expects to be accompanied by his producer Claudie Ossard who has been responsible for some of France’s biggest hits of recent decades, including Amelie, Delicatessen and In The House.

The title of Attila Marcel comes from a song Chomet wrote for his first big hit Belleville Rendez-vous. He said: “I had the title and I knew it was going to be a film...

Coming up in the first weekend of October, the 4th -6th, is the return of Fan Days, presented by Dallas Comic Con! The guest line-up covers the whole gamut of popular sci-fi/fantasy genre, featuring Hellboy himself, Ron Perlman, Torchwood and Arrow’s John Barrowman, Harry Potter’s Tom Felton, Walking Dead’s Steven Yeun, Defiance’s Grant Bowler and Stephanie Leonidas, Star Wars’ Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Tom Kane, Battlestar Galactica’s Katee Sackhoff and Jamie Bamber, Breaking Bad’s Giancarlo Esposito and Charles Baker, Smallville’s Michael Rosenbaum, Green ranger Jason David Frank, comic legend Neal Adams, legendary artist Simon Bisley, horror artist icon Bernie Wrightson, 30 Days of Night writer Steve Niles, FaceOff artist Rj Haddy, and so many more!

Make sure you can get in to see your fave stars, artists, and creators and buy your tickets online by Monday, September 30, 2013 to guarantee pre-registration for your admission tickets.

Cher Danny,

Frederick Wiseman’s Film Festival—now that would be something perfect for capturing the Tiff experience, with its swarms of filmmakers and volunteers and reviewers, its exhilaration and exhaustion. Then again, that festival might also be the granola screening room seen early on in Kelly Reichardt’s Night Moves, where perfunctory applause for a cinematic eco-pamphlet is followed by an awkward Q&A session straight out of Wiseman’s High School.

The scene smartly situates its protagonists, young activists played by Jesse Eisenberg and Dakota Fanning, as alienated not just from mainstream society but also from potential alternatives—on the fringe of the fringes, a familiar position for Reichardt’s characters. Their more radical form of protest (the bombing of a Portland dam) is revealed languidly, shard by shard, in a series of concise interactions stressing process (how to buy 500 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer without the proper documentation?...

Keaton-esque Amelie (or Whimsical Pianist)

French director Sylvain Chomet has delighted audiences with his droll animated films The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist, earning repeated comparisons to the distinctive masterful works of Jacques Tati. His first foray in directing a live action feature, Attila Marcel, will undoubtedly divide filmgoers with its hallucinogenic induced musical numbers and blankly mute lead character Paul (Guillaume Gouix, who in both looks and demeanor apes Buster Keaton expertly), but will certainly leave them rapturously yearning for more from Chomet.

The film jars its audience and prepares them for its whimsical absurdities by opening with a melodious romp by the titular Attila Marcel (also played by Guillaume Gouix) whose bell bottomed loose attire recalls the costumes of Saturday Night Fever and who passes characters blatantly mimicking those from musicals Grease and Jesus Christ Superstar. The sequence, as it turns out, is a nightmare of silent pianist Paul,...

While the North American animation stage is largely dominated by Disney, the international stage remains a wide open field, with many filmmakers creating well-regarded animated works. One such filmmaker is Sylvain Chomet, whose 2003 feature film debut The Triplets of Belleville catapulted his critical profile, which was aided by his second feature The Illusionist. With both his prior films being animated, Chomet thus raised some eyebrows when he announced that his next film would be a live-action feature. Titled Attila Marcel, Chomet takes on writing and directing duties, working with a cast that includes Guillaume Gouix and Anne Le Ny. The first trailer for the film, which shall be screening at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, has now been released, and can be seen below.

(Source: Indiewire)

The post Tiff 2013: ‘Attila Marcel’, Sylvain Chomet’s first live-action feature, releases its first trailer appeared first on Sound On Sight.

Director Sylvain Chomet holds the distinction of helming two of the most visually and narratively wondrous animated films in recent decades; 2003's Oscar-nominated “The Triplets of Belleville” and 2010's “The Illusionist,” both of which pay tribute to silent cinema in their own unique ways — the latter even took up an unproduced script by the legendary Jacques Tati. Now Chomet is looking to replicate that success in a live-action setting with “Atilla Marcel,” for which we've just got the first trailer, before the film begins its festival run this week. Set to have its world premiere at Tiff, “Atilla Marcel” follows a mute man-child, Paul (played by the distinctly Keaton-esque Guillaume Gouix), who resents the smothering aunts that want nothing more than for him to win piano competitions. This all changes when an upstairs neighbor Madame Proust offers Paul a potion that releases repressed childhood memories — sending him off a journey that looks to.

Chicago – Like the brilliant work of Sylvain Chomet (“The Illusionist”), Francois Laguione’s “The Painting” is designed more for adults than children, unless your kid is a particular aficionado of art history.

Opening tomorrow at the Siskel Film Center in Chicago, “The Painting” is a deeply allegorical work about coming to terms with a creator who may have left us behind but it’s also just a delightful, romantic adventure with a visual palette far more engaging than most animated blockbusters this year.

Rating: 4.0/5.0

The painter has left behind his work and the creations within that work vary in terms of completion. Within an elaborate tableau, the most noble people are the Allduns (all done), the figures that have been fully painted, complete with elaborate facial features and detailed costumes. The Halfies are mostly complete and might only be missing a brushstroke here or there but they’re still shunned by the Allduns.

The award-winning filmmaker, Sylvain Chomet who lovingly put Scotland and Edinburgh on screen in the animated hit The Illusionist after a five-year sojourn in the city, received an honorary degree from the University of Edinburgh yesterday.

Chomet who has settled back in his native France and is working on a new live action feature, was given the doctorate by Sir Timothy O’Shea, Vice-Chancellor and Principal at a ceremony in the McEwan Hall during the run of the 20th edition of the French Film Festival UK of which he is a patron. The degree ceremony was followed today by a civic reception at the City Chambers in honour of the French Film Festival and Chomet, hosted by the Lord Provost Donald Wilson.

Chomet and his wife Sally, his producer on The Illusionist, said they were delighted by the honour. “I am looking forward to returning to the city that...

Chicago – One of two surprising 2012 Oscar nominees for Best Animated Film (the other being “Chico & Rita”), “A Cat in Paris” was just released in a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack Special Edition and viewers may be curious what enticed Academy members. The film has its diversions but it’s ultimately a film that only reminds one of better works and barely comes together. It would work as a TV special but its 62-minute length isn’t the only thing that keep it back from being a fully-realized feature.

Rating: 2.5/5.0

“A Cat in Paris” is about how a cat burglar, actual feline, and little girl have their lives intersect in the city of lights. It’s a film that’s clearly aiming for that whimsical Sylvain Chomet (“The Illusionist”) charm but misses the heart and creativity of Chomet’s work. It’s a movie that thinks crude, hand-drawn animation will do a...

Well, France has chosen its contender for this years race for Best Foreign Film at the Academy Awards; The Intouchables.  The film which has grossed $364.5 million dollars worldwide and $8.9 million stateside was chosen by a commission that included seven members including: Cannes Film Festivals Thierry Fremaux, "A Prophet" screenwriter Abdel Raouf Dafri, "The Artist" star Berenice Bejo, "The Illusionist" helmer Sylvain Chomet, Haut et Court producer Carole Scotta ("The Class"). Much has been written about this film on Shadow and Act so if you are a regular reader you already know the details.  But for those who may have missed it...

Animation was featured quite prominently at this year's PiFan, with Japanese works such as Gyo, Rainbow Fireflies, and Blood C: The Last Dark, not to mention some retrospectives on the Space Battleship Yamamoto series and Czech animation. Sadly, by the end of the festival the only one I was able to see was The Suicide Shop 3D, a French offering from live-action filmmaker Patrice Leconte. It looked to be a cross between the stylings of Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville, 2003; The Illusionist, 2008) and the playfully macabre storytelling of Tim Burton. In many ways the film was a combination of those aesthetics but what it lacked was what makes those filmmakers so successful in their craft: originality and heart. Burton may have...

Founder of Goldcrest Films with a string of Oscar-winning movies to his name

It is a mark of the wide-ranging success of Jake Eberts, founder of the once-mighty Goldcrest Films, who has died aged 71 after suffering from cancer, that few headline writers summing up his life could agree on his most notable producing credit. Was it Chariots of Fire (1981), Gandhi (1982) or The Killing Fields (1984)? The Name of the Rose (1986), Driving Miss Daisy (1989) or Dances With Wolves (1990)? Easier instead to herald him as the man whose films won a staggering 37 Oscars.

From the mid-1970s onwards, Eberts combined business acumen and creative energy with an integrity much admired in the film industry. The actor Kevin Costner, with whom he worked on Dances with Wolves and Open Range (2003), said of him: "Hollywood is full of people who either have intelligence or integrity. Jake is the only one with both." Lord Attenborough, who collaborated with Eberts on Gandhi,...

Jake Eberts, who produced and financed films that won 37 Oscars, died Thursday morning in Montreal, following a brief illness. He was 71, according to the Montreal Gazette, which reported his death. Eberts financed or produced more than 50 films, four of which earned Academy Awards for Best Picture: "Chariots of Fire," "Gandhi," "Driving Miss Daisy" and "Dances with Wolves."  He also produced "The Killing Fields," "The Dresser," "Local Hero," "A River Runs Through It," "Chicken Run," "The Illusionist" and "Grey Owl." Also read: Notable Celebrity Deaths of 2012 "He was an extraordinary film...

Renowned movie producer and financier Jake Eberts whose many credits include films which won 37 Oscars died this morning in his hometown of Montreal following a brief illness, according to the Montreal Gazette. He was 71. Respected and resourceful, Eberts based in London for a time financed many of the great indie productions which the majors wouldn’t greenlight. Indeed he funded and/or produced more than 50 films including Chariots of Fire, Gandhi, The Killing Fields, Dances With Wolves, Driving Miss Daisy, The Dresser, Local Hero, A River Runs Through It, Black Robe, Ocean, Chicken Run, The Illusionist and Grey Owl. He also worked to find financing for a who’s who of filmmakers and talents including Robert Redford, Ben Kingsley, Morgan Freeman, Bruce Beresford, Richard Attenborough, Pierce Brosnan, and Albert Finney. “He was an extraordinary film producer and an extraordinary man,” Montreal director Denys Arcand told the Montreal Gazette. “He took filmmaking seriously.

Animation was featured quite prominently at this year's PiFan, with Japanese works such as Gyo, Rainbow Fireflies, Blood C: The Last Dark, not to mention some retrospectives on the Space Battleship Yamamoto series and Czech animation. Sadly, by the end of the festival the only one I was able to see was The Suicide Shop 3D, a French offering from live-action filmmaker Patrice Leconte.  It looked to be a cross between the stylings of Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville, 2003; The Illusionist, 2008) and the playfully macabre storytelling of Tim Burton. In many ways the film was a combination of those aesthetics but what it lacked was what makes those filmmakers so successful in their craft: originality and heart. Burton may have lost...

Exclusive online content is all the rage nowadays, ranging from Funny or Die clips to projects involving talent like Kiefer Sutherland, Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt -- the web is fast becoming a channel to be seen by many. Producer Bryan Singer is already bringing his "H+" sci-fi series to the web in August, but it was back in January we told you actor Tom Hanks would be producing an animated web series, "Electric City," and things looks to be shaping up quite nicely. A new trailer has arrived, showcasing just what Tom Hanks has been working on for a reported eight years prior to partnering up with Yahoo! and Reliance Entertainment to bring the animated sci-fi program to life. Providing the voice of the title character, the trailer for "Electric City" has a nice Sylvain Chomet ("The Triplets of Belleville," "The Illusionist") vibe to it, crossed with something a...

Sylvain Chomet‘s 2003 surprise hit Triplets of Belleville boosted new interest in hand-drawn animation, a subsect nearly forgotten in an area dominated by Pixar and DreamWorks these past few years. But its retro soundtrack was the real star of the film, which ignored dialogue in exchange for emotive music and sound effects; its Oscar-nominated song, “Belleville Rendez-vous,” was also responsible for a lively musical number at an otherwise sleepy awards show.

Now, after nearly a decade, there appears to be a prequel in the works. It’s reported by ScreenDaily that French animator Chomet (The Illusionist) is returning to this world and these characters with Swing Poppa Swing, which will explore the early lives of the original film’s titular chanteuses. It’s Chomet’s first feature since the aforementioned 2010 hit, his tribute to filmmaker and fellow Frenchman Jacques Tati; I had the pleasure of seeing this work when it...

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10.04am: Day three of Cannes 2012 rolls round. If you want to catch up with what happened yesterday (whenever that was), here's yesterday's blow-by-blow live blog.

But as is the way with Cannes, it's history already; all that's left is to pick over the bones. And that will assuredly be happening in the video we'll post later this morning, when Peter, Xan and Catherine run the rule over Rust and Bone, last night's biggie. We'll also have a gallery of red carpet pictures, featuring star Marion Cotillard and ice-cold director Jacques Audiard. (I've said it before, I'll say it again: he's the person I want to be when I grow up.)

So what to look forward to today? The line-up is perhaps a tad less starry that on days one and two: the competition films are Reality, from Italian director...

It takes something a little special to come from outside cartoon giants Pixar and DreamWorks and make a splash in the race for Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards. Pixar have won the prize six out of eleven years, and of the winners, only Hiyao Miyazaki's "Spirited Away," which picked up the gold in 2003, was produced outside the U.S. But make no mistake, French animator Sylvain Chomet is something a little special.

The filmmaker, who started out as a comics writer now has two nominations in the category, for "The Triplets of Belleville" (aka "Belleville Rendez-Vous") in 2004, and "The Illusionist" in 2011, and while the films were pipped at the post to the prize (by "Finding Nemo" and "Toy Story 3" respectively), he's established himself as one of the most original, enjoyable and moving voices in the world of animated film. "The Illusionist," a tribute to the great Jacques Tati,...

Three months ago, we learned that Terence Davies had already lined up his next project (and would thereby not be repeating the 11-year gap between his two most-recent narrative efforts, The House of Mirth and The Deep Blue Sea). Titled Sunset Song, the film is an adaptation of Lewis Grassic Gibson’s 1932 novel, and we’ve just received our first bit of casting information: Peter Mullan and Agyness Deyn will play the two key roles. [Empire]

After giving a pair of aggressive, brute-force turns in Tyrannosaur and War Horse, Mullan‘s grizzled face is likely fresh in your memory, and he sounds like the perfect man to play a fatherly role described as “bruising.” Meanwhile, Deyn, who will be seen in Luis Prieto‘s Pusher remake, looks like she’ll be shouldering most of Sunset Song‘s narrative weight, as her character — Chris Guthrie, the “grieving daughter” — essentially comprises the entirety...

While many films have explored themes of post-9/11 paranoia and its resulting xenophobia, none have dared do so with the unrepentant joie de vivre of Le Havre. Rather than wallowing in overwrought melodrama or reveling in ghoulish horror, Finnish writer/director Aki Kaurismäki takes on these dark themes with a gentle hand and crafts a heartwarming tale in a world driven cold from fear of terrorism and by extension outsiders.

This buoyant comedy follows Marcel Marx (André Wilms), a bohemian-spirited shoe shiner who has grown old, but never grown up. He is in many ways a scamp as he playfully shoplifts from his local baker, teases the grousing green grocer, and indulges in glasses of wine at the local pub before returning home to his cheerful but secretly ailing wife Arletty (Kati Outinen), who dresses like an octogenarian school girl complete with romper and barrettes. Theirs is a charmed life...

Edinburgh on film isn't just Trainspotting it's classics: Chariots of Fire, romance: One Day and thrills: Burke and Hare. Here are 10, picked by Andrew Pulver, film editor of the Guardian

• As featured in our Edinburgh city guide

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Ronald Neame, 1969

Muriel Spark's celebrated 1961 novella was, until Trainspotting, Edinburgh's most readily identifiable contribution to modern literature. Inspired largely by Spark's own time at [James] Gillespie's school, this elaborate, empathetic satire on a fascism-admiring teacher would not have been expected to be a major candidate for Oscar attention, but Maggie Smith won the best actress award in 1969, after Ronald "Poseidon Adventure" Neame directed the film version. Sixties Edinburgh has no problem standing in for 30s Edinburgh: the Marcia Blaine school is sited in the Edinburgh Academy building in Henderson Row, while it's possible to stand in the exact same spot as Maggie Smith on the Grassmarket and bellow: "Observe,...

Updated through 5/18.

Salon's Andrew O'Hehir: "One of the first films to be picked up for American distribution out of the main competition here this year has the following qualities: It's French, and unless you're a fan of Gallic comedy, and specifically the recent Oss 117 spy spoofs, you've never heard of either its star or its director. It's in black-and-white. It's not merely a silent film but one that both imitates and spoofs the Silent Age dramas of the late 1920s, movies that relatively few living people have even seen. That's at least three strikes — if not four or five — against The Artist, an exceedingly weird and delightful new film from writer-director Michel Hazanavicius that premiered on Sunday in Cannes to a rapturous, uproarious reception."

"For the first half-hour I suspected The Artist would end up being nothing more than a flaky, if enjoyable, gewgaw," writes Movieline's Stephanie Zacharek. "But by the end,...

Pathe have Main Comp titles in Paolo Sorrentino's This Must Be the Place and Alain Cavalier's Pater on their product list, but the sale agent might find both titles a difficult sell until they are unveiled to the film critic mass. I'd bet that Phyllida Lloyd's The Iron Lady with Meryl Steep is the most desired item on their inventory list. The Iron Lady by Phyllida Lloyd - Completed This Must Be The Place by Paolo Sorrentino - Completed Monsieur Papa by Kad Merad - Completed My Worst Nightmare by Anne Fontaine - Post-Production Pater by Alain Cavalier - Completed Switch by Frederic Schoendoerffer - Completed The Tuche Family (Les Tuche) by Olivier Baroux - Completed The Well-digger's Daughter (La Fille Du Puisatier) by Daniel Auteuil - Completed Titeuf, The Film (Titeuf, Le Film) by Zep - Completed Zarafa by Jean-Christophe Lie - Post-Production Africa United by...

Chicago – I could (and will) watch “The Illusionist” over and over again. It is a stunning, gorgeous, mesmerizing experience. When the history books are written, I don’t think we will Ever have as strong a group of nominees in the Oscar category for Best Animated Film as we did last year when “Toy Story 3,” “How to Train Your Dragon,” and “The Illusionist” stood tall. All three would have won in many other years.

Blu-Ray Rating: 4.5/5.0

Of course, Millions more people have seen the other two nominees in that category, which only means that you’re more likely to have a lovely experience ahead of you than when those two hit HD. This is a touching, lyrical gem of a film that deserves a much wider audience. And the HD/Blu-ray release of the film is stunningly well-transferred. You could freeze many frames of this film and hang your TV...

This Week in DVD & Blu-ray is a column that compiles all the latest info regarding new DVD and Blu-ray releases, sales, and exclusive deals from stores including Target, Best Buy and Fry’s. Blue Valentine If you're lucky, you won't be able to identify with Blue Valentine. If you're less lucky, it will remind you a great deal of your parents, siblings or friends. Pray though, that it doesn't remind you of yourself. There's nothing more miserable than being proven the futility and fleeting nature of romantic love, unless of course it perfectly encapsulates your biggest life decisions. This film is an all-too-real snapshot of both the best and worst parts of a relationship, which is really just another way of saying the beginning and end of one. It's half Before Sunrise and half Revolutionary Road, slammed right up against each other to juxtapose the beauty and ultimate folly of...

Hitting movie theaters this weekend:

Bridesmaids – Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Rose Byrne

Priest – Paul Bettany, Cam Gigandet, Maggie Q

Movie of the Week

Priest

The Stars: Paul Bettany, Cam Gigandet, Maggie Q

The Plot: A priest (Bettany) disobeys church law in order to track down the vampires who kidnapped his niece.

The Buzz: I’ve got to be honest, I think this film looks horrible. It’s ‘Movie of the Week’ strictly as a path of least resistance. If I happen to have any regular readers out there, they’re certain to know that I’m not going anywhere near Bridesmaids, not even with a blindfold, and so Priest suddenly shines with promise — relatively speaking of course.

Priest continues director Scott Charles Stewart’s working affair with Paul Bettany (whom last teamed together on the unimpressive Legion). Bettany bugs me a bunch, anyone else? I’ve just never taken him well,...

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Last year gave us three animated features of the very highest quality. From Pixar came the brilliant, Oscar winning Toy Story 3, we also had Fernando Trueba’s jazz inflected Chico and Rita and finally Sylvain’s Chomet’s L’Illusionniste adapted from an unmade script by the legendary Jacques Tati. Both stunningly beautiful and melancholic, The Illusionist was an animation for grown ups; an almost entirely silent love story between two outsiders; a French magician whose art is becoming increasingly irrelevant in the modern world and Alice, a young Gaelic girl.

My Dog Tulip shares something thematically with Chomet’s film. Based on a novel described by Truman Capote as “One of the greatest books ever written by anybody in the world” it too is a tale of love between misfits – a misanthropic writer, J.R Ackerley (voiced by Christopher Plummer), and an abandoned Alsatian named Tulip.

By Bryan Buss

(May 2011)

May 3

“The Dilemma” — Ron Howard, Vince Vaughn and Kevin James had a rare misfire with this dramedy about a man who discovers his best friend’s wife is cheating on him. The critics didn’t like its combination of broad humor and pathos, and audiences responded to the tune of “only” $48 million, likely annoyed by the marketing that led them to believe it would be a slapstick farce. But boasting strong support from Jennifer Connelly and Winona Ryder, the script offers a realism and a maturity that is oftentimes missing from comedies that aim to appeal to the lowbrow and is worth a second look.

“The Green Hornet” — Despite the fact that the critics weren’t entirely on board, finding it one-note and misguided, “The Green Hornet” grossed almost $100 million domestically. Starring funny guy Seth Rogen as the titular superhero, the film aimed for a mix...

By Bryan Buss

(May 2011)

May 3

“The Dilemma” — Ron Howard, Vince Vaughn and Kevin James had a rare misfire with this dramedy about a man who discovers his best friend’s wife is cheating on him. The critics didn’t like its combination of broad humor and pathos, and audiences responded to the tune of “only” $48 million, likely annoyed by the marketing that led them to believe it would be a slapstick farce. But boasting strong support from Jennifer Connelly and Winona Ryder, the script offers a realism and a maturity that is oftentimes missing from comedies that aim to appeal to the lowbrow and is worth a second look.

“The Green Hornet” — Despite the fact that the critics weren’t entirely on board, finding it one-note and misguided, “The Green Hornet” grossed almost $100 million domestically. Starring funny guy Seth Rogen as the titular superhero, the film aimed for a mix...