News

Actor and singer Vanessa Paradis, a household name in France, captivated audiences with candid and charismatic reflections on her multifaceted career during a masterclass at the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon.

When asked about working alongside French cinema legends Alain Delon and Jean-Paul Belmondo in Patrice Leconte’s 1998 action comedy “Half a Chance,” she didn’t beat about the bush.

“Jean-Paul Belmondo was always surrounded by people; there was a lot of laughter while Alain Delon was alone – just him and his dogs,” she recalled. “But when the two of them got together, you could tell they were very fond of each other. They were happy to make this film together.”

Paradis acknowledged the unique privilege of collaborating with such iconic figures. “I knew how lucky I was back then, but today I realize it even more,” she said, adding with a grin, “I got to spend four months with them,...

Michel Blanc, the legendary French actor best known for his roles in the Les Bronzés films and Monsieur Hire, has died. He was 72.

He died early Friday morning at a Parisian hospital after suffering a heart attack the previous night, according to Agence France-Presse (Afp).

France’s President Emmanuel Macron also paid tribute to Blanc on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “He made us cry with laughter and moved us to tears. A monument of French cinema, Michel Blanc has gone. Our thoughts go out to his loved ones and his acting accomplices.”

Born on April 16, 1952, in Courbevoie (Hauts-de-Seine), France, Blanc had a passion for classical music from a young age. But he later changed direction and co-founded the Le Splendid troupe, a café-théâtre company, in the 1970s with his friends, Christian Clavier, Gérard Jugnot, Thierry Lhermitte, Josiane Balasko, Marie-Anne Chazel, Bruno Moynot and Claire Magnin.

As for his film projects,...

Michel Blanc, the French actor known for the “Les Bronzés” films and crime drama “Monsieur Hire,” has died. He was 72.

Blanc died early Friday morning after suffering a heart attack the previous night, according to Agence France-Presse (Afp).

Blanc was known for his role as the awkward bachelor Jean-Claude Dusse in the 1978 film “Les Bronzés” (“French Fried Vacation”), directed by Patrice Leconte. He starred in the 1979 and 2006 follow-up films to the cult French comedy.

Blanc was also revered for his dramatic performances in film, including in Leconte’s 1989 crime thriller “Monsieur Hire,” where he played the titular character. In 2012, Blanc received the César for best supporting actor for “L’Exercice de l’État” (“The Minister”), written and directed by Pierre Schoeller.

Blanc directed, co-wrote and starred in the 1984 film “Marche à l’ombre” and 2002’s “Summer Things.” Additional film credits include “Les Filles de Malemort” (1974), “Let Joy Reign Supreme” (1975), “The Best...

Rising French actor Raphael Quenard has signed to star as legendary French rock star Johnny Hallyday in a buzzy, as-yet-untitled biopic from Hugo Selignac’s Mediawan-owned Chi-Fou-Mi Productions.

November and The Stronghold filmmaker Cedric Jimenez will direct the feature that is set to start shooting in 2026 for a planned release on December 8, 2027 to coincide with what will be the 10 year anniversary of the singer and actor’s death in 2017.

Jimenez is penning the script with his November co-writer Olivier Demangel. The project is being billed as the “official” Hallyday biopic by the rocker’s widow Laetitia Hallyday who has previously...

Judith Godrèche has been a regular on the Cannes red carpet for close to 30 years for her performances in films such as Patrice Leconte’s 1996 Palme d’Or contender Ridicule and Un Certain Regard cycling drama The Climb in 2019.

The popular French actress-turned-director touches down this edition with a work of her own: the short film Moi Aussi.

Shot under the radar in Paris in March and gathering 1,000 victims of sexual abuse, the work world premieres as part of the opening ceremony of Cannes Un Certain Regard on Wednesday.

Related: Cannes Film Festival 2024 In Photos: Opening Ceremony & ‘The Second Act’ World Premiere

There is no bigger disruptive force in French cinema right now than Godrèche, who has been at the forefront of triggering a new era of #MeToo in France, a country that has been notoriously slow to tackle sexism, sexual violence and harassment.

The short film follows in the...

The April 25 decision by the New York Court of Appeals to overturn Harvey Weinstein’s felony sex crime conviction looked like a major blow to the #MeToo movement in the U.S. and to the progress made within the U.S. film industry since 2017 (when the first allegations against Weinstein were made public).

In France, they are still waiting for that first wave of progress. The outrage triggered by #MeToo echoed across la grande nation — it even spawned a French counterpart, #Balancetonporc, or “Expose Your Pig” — but, until very recently, efforts to challenge the structure of the French entertainment industry came to very little.

That, it seems, is changing. U.S.-style measures, including the use of intimacy coordinators for sex scenes or chaperones to supervise the treatment of minors, are slowly becoming standard practice on French movie sets. #MeToo is “really at the center of our discussion now, in...

‘A deeply twisted shocker… You will never, ever, ever find a psychotic she-monster more blood-chilling than Susan Tyrrell’

Coming Soon

‘An excellent shocker… queasy and wildly ahead of its time… Susan Tyrrell delivers a character unlike any other in horror history’

Mondo Digital

‘Tyrrell steals the show… the sight of her… clutching a machete and chasing a poor unfortunate through a stormy night is once seen, never forgotten!… I heartedly recommend you seek out’

Hysteria Lives

One of the notorious 1980s video nasties Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker has been lauded as ‘Brilliantly insane’ (Cool Ass Cinema) and a ‘horror gem, well-crafted, ripe for analysis… should not go overlooked (Bloody Disgusting) and now, thanks to Severin Films, you can witness the film like never before. The company announces a brand-new Special Edition Dual 4K Uhd and Blu-ray is set for its UK release on 13th May 2024.

In a surprising change of direction,...

‘An underrated northern artist whose impact could have been greater given the right breaks. Cliff Twemlow’s story should provide encouragement to the current crop of British indie filmmakers. An essential watch’

*****

Starburst

‘Hugely entertaining documentary about a truly unique character… Jake West paints an affectionate portrait of a genuine one-off, whose work you’ll want to dive into once credits roll’

Dexerto

‘A fascinating man… Cliff absolutely deserves a place in the pantheon of low-budget, guerrilla-style filmmakers and hopefully this documentary will introduce him to an entirely new audience’

*****

Set the Tape

Following its successful festival run and ahead of its digital release in June 2024, Severin Films announces a UK theatrical tour of the acclaimed film Mancunian Man the Legendary Life of Cliff Twemlow.

Tour dates:

3 March – Nottingham Broadway + Q&a with Jake West & David Gregory

13 March – Birmingham – Mockingbird Cinema + Q&a with Jake West

23 March – Exeter – Exeter Phoenix...

This week’s Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris will kick off with the Tuesday night world premiere of Pascal Bonitzer’s “Auction” – a ripped-from-the-headlines ensemble drama set in the crosshairs of high art and high finance.

Produced by Sbs Productions and sold by Pyramide International, the art-world saga follows – among others – a hotshot auctioneer, his less-than-reliable assistant, and the working class bloke who sets the narrative in motion upon realizing that his erstwhile innocuous wall art bears the signature of Egon Schiele.

Writer-director Pascal Bonitzer originally thought to explore this world of high-verve auctioneers as a series, but keyed into the story’s singular, cinematic potential thanks to the real-life discovery of Schiele masterworks thought lost during World War II.

“I was fascinated by this collision of two worlds,” Bonitzer tells Variety. “On the one hand, these auctioneers need to play a game – they must seduce potential sellers, wresting artifacts from...

Other signatories include Isabelle Adjani, Jacques Audiard and Michel Hazanavicius.

More than 500 leading figures from the French film and cultural industries have signed a letter calling for a silent march on Sunday (November 19) in Paris in response to the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Marion Cotillard, Melanie Laurent, Isabelle Adjani, Nathalie Baye, Jacques Audiard, Christophe Honore and Michel Hazanavicius are among the actors, filmmakers, agents and producers who have called for “a silent march of solidarity, humanism and peace”. The initiative was organised by Le Collectif Une Autre Voix (Another Voice) and spearheaded by the group’s President Lubna Azabal, a Belgian...

The actor doesn’t move much but brings off the Parisian copper’s air of worldly, tolerant bemusement

Maybe it’s a surprise that Gérard Depardieu has not before now taken on the one fictional character of comparable French iconic status to himself: Georges Simenon’s Parisian police commissaire Maigret. Well, it’s now Depardieu’s turn to put on the detective’s trademark overcoat, hat, pipe, and wintry half-smile of detached amusement at human nature and the criminal mind.

This film, directed and co-written by Patrice Leconte, is based on the 1954 novel Maigret and the Dead Girl; it feels like a feature-length Sunday-night TV drama, and at 74 Depardieu is surely a couple of decades older than the usual Maigret. He is also a rather stately and well-nourished figure – when his doctor asks him if he feels tired in the medical checkup scene at the beginning of this film, Maigret...

Hugh Hudson, who directed the classic Oscar winning film “Chariots of Fire,” died Friday in London. He was 86.

The Guardian said he had died after a short illness. His family released a statement saying, “Hugh Hudson, 86, beloved husband and father, died at Charing Cross hospital on 10 February after a short illness. He is survived by his wife Maryam, his son Thomas and his first wife Sue.”

As a director Hudson could be counted upon to deliver lush, beautifully designed, well-orchestrated scenes.

“Chariots of Fire” was the story of the rivalry between two British runners, one Jewish, the other a devout Christian, culminating in the 1924 Olympics. Hudson was Oscar nominated for best director in 1982, and the movie won four Academy Awards, including best picture and best score for the electronic compositions of Vangelis that somehow worked splendidly in the period film.

Hudson had brought his friend Vangelis onto the project, and...

Highest honors go to this stylish, cinematically refined adaptation of a George Simenon thriller. Michel Blanc becomes a person of interest for a murder investigation mainly because he’s disliked and anti-social; Sandrine Bonnaire is the neighbor that he peeps at nightly, to stir his secret passion. Director Patrice Leconte directs with almost perfect control, turning the show into an emotional workout.

Monsieur Hire

Blu-ray

Cohen Film Collection

1989 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 79 min. / Street Date October 25, 2022 / Available from / 29.95

Starring: Michel Blanc, Sandrine Bonnaire, Luc Thuillier, André Wilms, Eric Bérenger, Marielle Berthon, Philippe Dormoy, Marie Gaydu, Michel Morano, Nora Noël.

Cinematography: Denis Lenoir

Production Designer: Ivan Maussion

Costume designer: Elisabeth Tavernier

Film Editor: Joëlle Hache

Original Music: Michael Nyman

Scenario, adaptation and dialogue by Patrice Leconte, Patrick Dewolf from the book Les fiançailles de M. Hire by Georges Simenon

Produced by Philippe Carcassonne, René Cleitman

Directed by Patrice Leconte

We’re fond...

French sales agents were doing brisk business with Russian distributors at last week’s Rendez-Vous market.

The presence of Russian distributors at Unifrance’s Rendez-Vous in Paris was a potent source of conversation at last week’s gathering as many French sellers continue to do good business with Russian buyers despite an unofficial boycott of the country since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Russia remained the third biggest international territory for French cinema in 2022 with 2.6 million admissions, up 83.4 from 2021, though still down 14.2 from pre-pandemic and before the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russia. The Russian market accounted for €8.7m in revenue for French cinema,...

The Lost Patient (Le patient) is an Arte TV thriller directed by Christophe Charrier, starring Txomin Vergez and Clotilde Hesme.

A story that has some potential, but it goes unused.

Premise

Thomas has been in a coma for three years when he wakes up and remembers nothing. His psychologist, Anna, informs him that his family has been murdered and that he is the only survivor of the massacre while his sister Laura is still missing.

Movie Review

This feature is a French thriller produced by Arte TV that does not stand out neither in its cinematography, nor – in its difficult condition of being a TV production – in its story. It reduces what could have been good story to a simplistic, and a not a majorly artistic, endeavor.

Txomin Vergez’s performance is good enough, although not outstanding in this a movie that leaves one somewhat indifferent.

‘The Lost Patient’ is laden with clichés,...

Patrice Leconte will present Maigret Photo: Courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival The French Film Festival UK has announced its programme for its 30th anniversary edition, which will run at venues across the UK in November and December this year.

The festival will open with Eric Gravel's race-against-time drama Full Time at London's Cine Lumiere on November 2, with the director in attendance for a Q&a.

Other key films in this year's programme include Lukas Dhont's Close, which won the Cannes Grand Prix this year and Patrice Leconte's Maigret, starring Gerard Depardieu. Leconte will present the film in London on November 10 and in Edinburgh on November 11. Wilfried Méance and Olivier Ducray will also present their comedy Two Of A Kind in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Chichester on November 16, 17 and 18 respectively. Other guests are scheduled to include Charlotte Gainsbourg and Blandine Lenoir.

In a statement the festival said: "For three decades...

Cohen Film Collection is continuing its restorations of classic Merchant Ivory productions, among them 1963’s “The Householder,” the first film collaboration between Ismail Merchant and James Ivory.

The classics label of Cohen Media Group, Cohen Film Collection is lining up the restorations of four titles that also include the 1977 episodic romantic drama “Roseland,” with Teresa Wright and Christopher Walken, and two films directed by Merchant, “In Custody” (1994), featuring Shashi Kapoor, and “The Proprietor” (1996), starring Jeanne Moreau.

Tim Lanza, Cohen Film Collection vice president and archivist, says he chose “In Custody” – Merchant’s feature directorial debut — and “The Proprietor” in particular “because James Ivory was keen to have a rerelease of some of the films that were directed by Ismael Merchant himself.”

“The Householder” and “In Custody” are also among Merchant Ivory’s India-set films, which Lanza is likewise excited to reintroduce to audiences.

Cohen Film Collection acquired a number of...

Jean-Louis Trintignant, Jacques Perrin to be posthumously honoured with special screenings.

The American French Film Festival (formerly Colcoa, will honour producer and CG Cinéma founder Charles Gillibert at its 2022 edition.

Gillibert, the former mk2 executive, who has worked with Olivier Assayas, Xavier Dolan and Abbas Kiarostami, is part of the festival’s Focus On The Producer strand.

He will travel to Los Angeles for the October 10-16 event and present a restored version of Jean Eustache’s 1973 classic The Mother And The Whore. Gillibert produced the 4K restored version, which will receive its Los Angeles premiere at the festival.

The Mother And The Whore...

The ‘Wolfwalkers’ composer will recieve lifetime achievement award.

French composer Bruno Coulais is to receive a lifetime achievement award at the 2022 World Soundtrack Awards, which are presented at Film Fest Ghent on October 22.

Coulais’ music for screen ranges from 2001 French hit The Crimson Rivers through to documentary epic Winged Migration and acclaimed animation Wolfwalkers.

His first score was for filmmaker François Reichenbach, who asked him to provide music for the 1979 short documentary México Mágico.

1996 was a turning point in his career after he created the score for nature documentary Microcosmos, winning Coulais his first of three César Awards

The song...

Polaris Photo: courtesy of Fantasia International Film Festival

This year's Fantasia International Film Festival is to open with Kc Carthew's Polaris, it has been revealed. The dystopian actioner, which follows a young woman and her adoptive mother, who happens to be a polar bear, on a perilous journey through northern badlands, stars Viva Lee and will screen on 14 July at the Concordia Hall in Montreal.

With the second wave of festival titles also announced, there's a lot to look forward to. A special focus on queer genre cinema will include vigilante thriller Compulsus and Lebanese heavy metal documentary Sirens. A strong animé line-up features Shinji Higuchi's eagerly awaited Shin Ultraman, while other big name films set to screen at the festival include Patrice Leconte’s Maigret, Toshiro Saiga’s Red Shoes and Neil Labute's House Of Darkness.

Kier-La Janisse, whose Woodlands Dark And Days Bewitched: A History Of Folk Horror...

Montreal event to run July 14 to August 3.

Organisers at the 26th edition of Fantasia International Film Festival have announced that the world premiere of K.C. Carthew’s Polaris will open the Montreal festival, set to run from July 14 to August 3.

The eco action fantasy set in a post-apocalyptic world is distributed in Canada by Filmoption International and is among the second wave of titles and events announced on Thursday (June 2). They include a spotlight on queer cinema and new work from Neil Labute, Patrice Leconte and Shinichiro Ueda.

Labute’s horror-comedy House Of Darkness gets its international premiere and...

Montreal event to run 14 to August 3.

Organisers at the 26th edition of Fantasia International Film Festival have announced that the world premiere of K.C. Carthew’s Polaris will open the Montreal festival, set to run from July 14 to August 3.

The eco action fantasy set in a post-apocalyptic world is distributed in Canada by Filmoption International and is among the second wave of titles and events announced on Thursday (June 2). They include a spotlight on queer cinema and new work from Neil Labute, Patrice Leconte and Shinichiro Ueda.

Labute’s horror-comedy House Of Darkness gets its international premiere and stars Justin Long and Kate Bosworth.

When thinking of the best French movies of the 21st century, there are some titles that leap to mind immediately, even if the past 22 years haven’t appeared to be as creatively fecund as the heady heights of the New Wave period. Celine Sciamma, Francois Ozon, Bruno Dumont, and Julia Ducournau have all produced stunning, instantly canonical works. But what’s interesting is to consider how expansive the idea of “Frenchness” in cinema has been this century: on the list below, Austrian Michael Haneke, Iranian Abbas Kiarostami, and American Julian Schnabel appear, with the main criterion for inclusion being simply the use of the French language.

Their inclusion does call into question a bit the idea of national cinemas. And yet, even in this highly interconnected, global 21st century, France singularly remains one of the medium’s most essential guiding lights. From the pioneer era of the Lumiere brothers, to...

Nadezda Motina’s new outfit grows slate with an upcoming war drama starring Omar Sy.

Nadezda Motina’s Moscow-based distributor Arna Media has made a raft of appointments ahead of the EFM, and acquired an upcoming war drama starring Omar Sy and pagan horror from director William Brent Bell.

The firm, which was launched by Russian media executive Motina in October, has named Olga Tarasova as head of theatrical distribution and Irina Antonova as head of marketing.

Tarasova was formerly head of sales at Volga Films and worked on the release of titles including The Gentlemen, Wrath Of Man and The Queen’s Corgi among others.

Hiventy, one of France’s leading post-production companies, is seeing rising demand across its range of services, including film processing, dubbing and subtitling, post-production, film restoration and BluRay mastering. It has operations in France, Poland, Singapore, Vietnam, Kenya and Nigeria.

Hiventy has one of the few film lab services in Europe. CEO Thierry Schindele says that there has been rising demand for the company’s film processing services. Recent 35mm shoots processed by the group include Pablo Larrain’s “Spencer,” Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City,” and Christophe Honoré’s “Le Lycéen,” produced by Les Films Pelléas. Recent French films handled by Hiventy include Mia Hansen Love’s “One Beautiful Morning,” Serge Bozon’s “Don Juan,” Léa Mysius’ “The Five Devils” and Pietro Marcello’s “The Flight.”

Schindele expects demand for film processing services to continue to rise. Hiventy is supplying film processing services for shoots across Europe. For example, “Asteroid City” was shot in Spain,...

“Maigret,” Patrice Leconte’s adaptation of Georges Simenon’s literary masterpiece with Gerard Depardieu, has pre-sold to major territories ahead of the Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris where the movie is having its market premiere.

Represented in international markets by Snd, “Maigret” was picked up for Italy (Adler), Germany and Austria (Koch), Benelux (Athena), Switzerland (Pathé), Span (Selecta), Poland (Monolith), Cis (Capella), Australia and New Zealand (Palace), Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia (Blitz), Portugal (Nos Lusomundo), Greece (Spentzos), and Czech Republic and Slovakia (Mediasquad).

“We had terrific response from distributors when we launched the project during last year’s EFM,” said Ramy Nahas, head of international sales at Snd.

“Patrice Leconte has crafted an instant classic and Gerard Depardieu yet again delivers an incredible performance,” said Nahas. The executive said he expected to lock additional deals following the film’s market premiere at the Unifrance event and is already in negotiations for several key territories.

Snd is set to host market premieres for Patrice Leconte’s period detective film “Maigret,” as well as high concept comedies “Employee of the Month” and “The Bodins” at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris, a showcase of French content hosted this week in Paris.

“Maigret,” based on Georges Simenon’s literary masterpiece, will star Gérard Depardieu (“Cyrano de Bergerac”) as detective Maigret, who investigates the death of a young girl in 1953. During his inquiry, Maigret crosses paths with Betty, a young offender who reminds him of the dead girl. The movie will be released by Snd on April 6.

“We’ve pre-sold ‘Maigret’ across 90% of Europe, it’s really a highlight on our slate due to the strength of the franchise, director and cast – Gerard Depardieu is outstanding in this role,” said Ramy Nahas, head of international sales at Snd.

“Employee of the Month” will be directed by French comedian Jerome...

As many as 85 films and a record 55 market premieres will screen at the Rendez-Vous in Paris, a week-long event organized by French promotion org Unifrance.

The event will open on Monday with the world premiere of “Simone: A Journey of the Century,” a biopic of Simone Veil, an Auschwitz survivor who became health minister of France and championed the 1975 law that legalized abortion in France. Directed by Olivier Dahan (“La Vie en rose”), the movie is headlined by Elsa Zylberstein, who completely transformed for the role. Other Angle has sold it to Samuel Goldwyn for North America, along with a string of international deals.

The lineup of market premieres includes Cédric Klapisch’s music-filled movie “Rise”; Patrice Leconte’s detective film “Maigret” with Gérard Depardieu; Fred Cayavé’s World War II-set drama “Farewell Mr. Haffmann” with Daniel Auteuil; Louis-Julien Petit’s social comedy “The Kitchen Brigade”; Jérôme Bonnell’s romantic...

After a chaotic year marked by a five-month shutdown and Covid-related restrictions, the French box office bounced back during the last quarter of 2021, bolstered by “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and a flurry of big-budgeted U.S. and French releases.

After reopening on May 18, French theaters pulled 96 million admissions — not a bad result considering that it’s just 23.2% drop from 2019, when France’s box office broke a 50-year record. Compared with 2020, when cinemas were closed for several months, tickets were up by 47.2%, according to Comscore France. Based on an estimated average of €6.75 per ticket, the French B.O. reached €648 million ($731 million).

Hollywood tentpoles dominated the top 10 highest-grossing films of 2021, starting with Sony’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which sold over 5 million tickets. Universal’s “No Time to Die” and Warner Bros.’s “Dune” followed. The other U.S. titles in the top 10 are Disney’s “Encanto,” Universal’s “F9,” Warner Bros.

Trailer

Netflix has dropped the trailer for its upcoming adult stop-motion anthology special “The House,” produced by U.K.-based Nexus Studios and coming to the streamer on Jan. 14. The special features three unconnected stories which Netflix described as an “eccentric dark comedy” when it was presented at Annecy in June. The stories centers around a single house in three realities, and those who live there. In the trailer, we meet some of the human and animal inhabitants and get a taste of the program’s blood-cooling aesthetics and tone.

The special is loaded with top-tier talent. Chapter one is directed by Belgian auteurs Emma de Swaef and Marc James Roels (“This Magnificent Cake!”), Chapter two by Swedish director Niki Lindroth von Bahr (“The Burden”) and Chapter three by Paloma Baeza (“Poles Apart”). The voice cast boasts a start-studded lineup including Mia Goth, Matthew Goode, Claudie Blakley, Mark Heap, Joshua McGuire,...

BBC Studios Partners With Mercury On Music Formats

BBC Studios has struck a development deal with Universal Music Group’s Mercury Studios to create a pipeline of music-driven shows. The partnership will see BBC Studios’ recently-restructured Documentary Unit work with Mercury on formats, series and feature docs within four main categories: social history, social purpose, specialist factual and factual entertainment. The pair will handle distribution of the projects on a case-by-case basis. Mercury launched last year after subsuming Universal’s former entertainment arm Eagle Rock Entertainment and the outfit is led by former BBC Children’s boss Alice Webb (pictured). Webb said: “When you combine two powerhouses – the global reach and musical heritage of BBC Studios with the capabilities and insight of Mercury Studios, it makes for a very formidable partnership.”

Terence Films Behind ‘Louis Braille’ Series

Banijay France label Terence Films is developing a drama series based on Hélène Jousse...

Cohen Film Collection is gearing up for a number of newly restored releases, among them Simon Callow’s 1991 drama “The Ballad of the Sad Café” and a number of Buster Keaton works.

Part of New York-based Cohen Media Group, Cohen Film Collection restores classic films and re-releases them theatrically. It’s vast catalogue includes the Merchant Ivory collection, of which “The Ballad of the Sad Café” is a part.

Based on the 1951 novella by Carson McCullers, the film stars Vanessa Redgrave, Keith Carradine and Rod Steiger.

The George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York, is currently finishing the restoration of the film, which Cohen Film Group plans to release next year.

“There’s still a number of features to go, so we’re working our way through those, including some of the films set in India, which I’m personally really interested in,” says Tim Lanza, Cohen Film Collection vice president and archivist.

Muriel Sauzay, Pathe Intl.’s former head, and Agnès Mentré, Wild Bunch’s former acquisition topper, have launched Maremako, a Paris-based banner banner with a special interest in adaptations and remakes.

The company’s first slate includes an English-language remake of “Stalk” with Endeavor Content, in association with Drake’s DreamCrew and Ben Stiller’s Red Hour Prods.; and “French Love,” a anthology series with Noemie Saglio (Netflix’s “The Hook Up Plan”) showrunning and Richard Grandpierre’s Eskwad producing. “Stalk” follows a teenage hacker who gets hazed in his freshman year at a prestigious engineering school and sets off to take his revenge by cyber-stalking his tormentors.

“French Love,” meanwhile, will be based on the highly popular Elle magazine weekly column “C’est mon histoire” (It’s My Story). The column, which boasts one of the highest readerships of French women’s magazine segments on love stories in France,...

French actor Laetitia Casta will be feted by Locarno Film Festival with its 2021 Excellence Award Davide Campari, which pays tribute to film personalities who have left their personal stamp on contemporary cinema.

The prominent Swiss fest dedicated to global indie cinema, headed by new artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro, has chosen to honor Casta in recognition of a career in which, after making the transition from the sphere of high fashion to the theater and film milieu, she’s risen to become “one of the most versatile acting talents of the new millennium,” the fest said in a statement.

Casta, who began her acting career in 1999 playing the beautiful young villager Falbalà in “Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar,” directed by Claude Zidi, has subsequently appeared in “Savage Souls” by Raùl Ruiz in 2001, in “Love Street” by Patrice Leconte in 2002, and in Tsai Ming-liang’s “Face” in 2009, to name just a...

An adaptation of the book by Georges Simenon, Patrice Leconte’s new film starring Gérard Depardieu and currently being shot has arrived in the French vendor’s well-stocked line-up. The international sales division of Snd is setting a course for the 71st Berlinale's European Film Market (online 1-5 March), armed with a watertight line-up of 10 titles, which now includes a particularly interesting new work which began filming on 8 February: Maigret and The Mysterious Dead Girl by Patrice Leconte, an adaptation of the detective novel of the same name by the prolific Belgian writer Georges Simenon. This will be the 30th feature film to come courtesy of the seasoned and eclectic director, who was well-received...

Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin is a rollicking animated adventure that’s cut from the same cloth as the Indiana Jones series. Spielberg’s Tintin made good money, and for years now, the plan has been for Peter Jackson to direct a sequel. Spielberg and Jackson have sworn up and down that the sequel was coming, no, really, it […]

The post Live-Action ‘Tintin’ Movie Being Developed by Director Patrice Leconte, Who Doesn’t Actually Have the Rights to the Character Yet appeared first on /Film.

For years now, we’ve been awaiting word on when we might see the next “Tintin” film from director Steven Spielberg. Every occasion, we’ll hear an update from the filmmaker or producer Peter Jackson about how they’re still working on it and they hope that it will get done soon. Alas, it’s been almost a decade and we’ve had nothing. Well, it appears that might be changing, as a new ‘Tintin’ film is in the works.

Continue reading Live-Action ‘Tintin’ Film Being Developed With Director Patrice Leconte at The Playlist.

Chinese production firm Aim Media has licensed the North American rights of director Yang Lina’s “Spring Tide” to distributor China Lion. Smart Cinema, the digital venture by former Wanda executive Jack Gao, has also bought the rights to screen the film on its platform in South Korea.

Yang is an independent documentary maker turned feature film director who is making a trilogy of films about women. “Spring Tide” is the second in that series. It tells a story of family dysfunction in which a woman must deal with the competing demands of her daughter and mother as they all live together in a small apartment. Featuring an all-female cast and starring Hao Lei, it debuted in competition at the Shanghai International Film Festival last year.

Aim Media had intended for the film to screen theatrically sometime between March and May, but when the coronavirus shuttered cinemas, it moved the title straight to streaming.

M6 Group, the second biggest commercial network in France, has acquired Epithete Films, a Paris-based production company boasting a catalogue of 25 feature films, including the hit family adventure franchise “Belle and Sébastien.”

The banner’s library also includes Gilles Legrand’s “Malabar Princess,” “Tu seras mon fils” and Patrice Leconte’s “Ridicule.” Epithete Films is headed by Frédéric Brillion and Legrand.

“With this targeted acquisition, M6 Group continues the consolidation of its activities of distribution of audiovisual rights by extending its catalogue, which now contains more than 1,300 feature films,” said M6 Group in a statement.

Like other TV networks in France and elsewhere, M6 Group has been badly hit by a drop in advertising revenues due to the pandemic. The company saw its ad revenues fall by 50% after March 15, when France went into full lockdown, and has announced a plan to save €100 million ($112 million) in programming, which represents 20% of its total programming budget.

Guest reviewer Lee Broughton returns with a review of a previously hard to find Gallic Spaghetti Western. Filmed in the Dolomites mountain range and primarily existing as a vehicle for the French rock ‘n’ roll singer Johnny Hallyday, this might well be Corbucci’s best looking Western. The respected French actresses Francoise Fabian and Sylvie Fennec bring a noticeable touch of class to a show that ends with wide shots of dozens of butt naked backsides.

The Specialists

Region B Blu-ray

Eureka Entertainment

1969 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 104 min. / Gli Specialisti, Drop Them or I’ll Shoot / Street Date May 18, 2020 / £14.99

Starring: Johnny Hallyday, Francoise Fabian, Gaston Moschin, Mario Adorf, Sylvie Fennec, Gino Pernice, Angela Luce, Serge Marquand, Gabriella Tavernese, Andres Jose Cruz, Christian Belaygue, Stefano Cattarossi.

Cinematography: Dario Di Palma

Film Editor: Elsa Armanni

Production Designer: Riccardo Domenici

Original Music: Angelo Francesco Lavagnino

Written by Sergio Corbucci and Sabatino Ciuffini

Produced by Edmond Tenoudji,...

A never ending mission to save the world featuring Ron Perlman, Peter Ramsey, James Adomian, Will Menaker, and Blaire Bercy from the Hollywood Food Coalition.

Please support the Hollywood Food Coalition. Text “Give” to 323.402.5704 or visit https://hofoco.org/donate!

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Karado: The Kung Fu Flash a.k.a. Karado: The Kung Fu Cat a.k.a. The Super Kung Fu Kid (1974)

Sullivan’s Travels (1941)

The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946)

Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939)

Nobody’s Fool (1994)

The Hustler (1961)

Elmer Gantry (1960)

Mean Dog Blues (1978)

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse (2018)

Mona Lisa (1986)

The Crying Game (1992)

The Hairdresser’s Husband (1990)

Ridicule (1996)

Man on the Train (2002)

The Girl on the Bridge (1999)

Pale Flower (1964)

Out of the Past (1947)

The Lunchbox (2013)

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)

The Last Boy Scout (1991)

Raw Deal (1986)

Commando (1985)

The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

The Last Man On Earth (1964)

Invasion of the Body Snatchers...

Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key Light: Gonzalez’s Queer Giallo a Dicey Mélange

Love as an overwhelming, all-consuming fire seems to be the central conceit of Yann Gonzalez’s sophomore film Knife+Heart, a dizzying homage to Giallo cinema of the 1970s. Utilizing Vanessa Paradis in what might be her most enjoyable performance since Patrice Leconte’s The Girl on the Bridge (1999), Gonzalez sends us back to the seedy side of Paris in 1979, where a frazzled blonde lesbian producer of gay porn is inspired by the murder of one of her actors to embark on a more ambitious project by using the incident for her next film.…...

Initially a box office flop and critical failure, French auteur Julien Duvivier’s 1946 title Panique is now hailed as one of the great technician’s finest achievements. The film was digitally restored and re-released theatrically in the Us in early 2017, but initially premiered at the 1946 Venice Film Festival. In a career which spanned nearly fifty years as a director, from 1919 to 1967, the title is arguably the best-known work from his mid-period, if not his entire career (with Patrice Leconte famously remaking it in 1989 with Sandrine Bonnaire and Michel Blanc as Monsieur Hire).…...

For directing skill and sensual sophistication this psychologically intense murder tale equals or betters the most sophisticated American noirs. Julien Duvivier gives us Michel Simon as Monsieur Hire, a strange man loathed by his neighbors. Entranced by the woman he spies through his bedroom window, Hire doesn’t realize that she’s helping to frame him for murder, and then set him out like bait for a vengeful mob. The restored French classic is a beauty in every respect; the extras include a highly educational, must-see discussion of movie subtitling, by Bruce Goldstein.

Panique

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 955

1946 / B&W / 1:37 flat full frame / 98 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date December 18, 2018 / 39.95

Starring: Michel Simon, Viviane Romance, Paul Bernard, Charles Dorat, Lucas Gridoux.

Cinematography: Nicolas Hayer

Film Editor: Marthe Poncin

Special Effects: W. Percy Day

Original Music: Jean Weiner

Written by Julien Duvivier, Charles Spaak from a novel by...

Boespflug co-founded Pyramide and was managing director of Warner France.

French producer Francis Boespflug, best known as the co-founder of historic Paris-based production and distribution company Pyramide and the former managing director of Warner France, has died aged of 70.

Boespflug first became involved in cinema in his native city of Strasbourg in north-eastern France, working as a student volunteer at a cinema-club aimed at under-privileged, difficult teenagers.

It was through this volunteer work he met his future wife and life-long collaborator, the late producer Fabienne Vonier, who at the time was the manager of Le Club, the arthouse theatre founded...

Lila Avilés snagged the top prize at Friday night’s Morelia Intl. Film Festival closing ceremony with her debut feature, “The Chambermaid” (“La Camarista”), which world premiered at Toronto. It also took the Warrior of the Press award.

“Llegamos! Llegamos!” (“We made it! We made it!”), screamed Avilés all the way from her seat to the stage, before breathlessly explaining her excitement. “I used up all of my savings to make this film.”

Alonso Ruizpalacios’ “Museo,” starring Mexico’s most marketable actor Gael García Bernal, had the biggest impact on the public, scoring the Audience Award for best Mexican film. Best director also went to Ruizpalacios.

This year’s festival jury boasted a lineup as impressive as the competition itself. Led by writer-director Lynne Ramsay, the jury included filmmaker Patrice Leconte (“Monsieur Hire”), actor-director-producer Diego Luna, Efm founder Beki Probst and Academy Award-winning producer Adele Romanski.

The festival doled out...

Exclusive: Luke Evans and Daniel Bruhl, stars of The Alienist, are reuniting with the team behind the TNT Emmy nominated limited series for an untitled dramedy feature inspired by the 2006 French film Mon Meilleur Ami (My Best Friend). Evans and Bruhl will star in the film based on an adaptation by Alienist co-showrunner and exec producer and E Max Frye. Rosalie Swedlin (Alienist Ep) is producing the project with Bard Dorros of Anonymous Content.

Directed by Patrice Leconte, the original pic centered on two very different men – one arrogant and cold, the other sweet and talkative – whose lives are thrown together when one accepts a bet to find a best friend and the other agrees to teach him the secret to making friends.

“This remake of the very charming French film Mon Meilleur Ami is a perfect opportunity to bring the dream team back together I enjoyed so much working with on The Alienist,...

Revered in the 1970s he later became better known as a maker of erotic movies.

Warsaw-based sales outlet New Europe Film Sales has boarded world sales for the documentary Love Express: The Disappearance Of Walerian Borowczyk, which explores the career of controversial filmmaker Walerian Borowczyk, the cult Polish director whose credits include Blanche and Immoral Tales.

The company is launching the film, which was co-produced by HBO Europe, at the Cannes market.

Revered in the 1970s, Borowczyk was hailed as a director of unparalleled sensitivity, before later becoming better known as a maker of erotic movies including Emmanuelle 5. The...

Revered in the 1970s he later became better known as a maker of erotic movies.

Warsaw-based sales outlet New Europe Film Sales has boarded world sales for the documentary Love Express: The Disappearance Of Walerian Borowczyk, which explores the career of controversial filmmaker Walerian Borowczyk, the cult Polish director whose credits include Blanche and Immoral Tales.

The company is launching the film, which was co-produced by HBO Europe, at the Cannes market.

Revered in the 1970s, Borowczyk was hailed as a director of unparalleled sensitivity, before later becoming better known as a maker of erotic movies including Emmanuelle 5. The...

Patrice Leconte at the launch of this year’s Mobile Film Festival in Paris, flanked by fellow jurors Amelle Chahbi and Ruben Alves Photo: Richard Mowe As a way of opening up the world of cinema to budding filmmakers who have talent, ingenuity and a smart phone the Mobile Film Festival has been nurturing opportunities for new generations for the past 13 years.

At a launch for the current edition in Paris, the festival’s founder Bruno Smadja said: “Smartphones are easily accessible by young filmmakers today, anywhere in the world, and with impressive filming quality. And the use of one same affordable technology by all participants gives the event its egalitarian and inclusive characteristic.”

The challenge set for all entrants is to tell a story in one minute. “This is what the audience likes and what convinces our jury in their selections: the motions these shorts manage to convey in only one minute.