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Einen Tag vor dem 150. Geburtstag des Komponisten Maurice Ravel bringt X Verleih Anne Fontaines Film über die Entstehung seines berühmtesten Musikstücks am 6. März 2025 in die deutschen Kinos. Jetzt wurde der Trailer veröffentlicht.

In Anne Fontaines 1928 in Paris spielendem „Bolero“ verkörpert Raphaël Personnaz den Komponisten Maurice Ravel, der von der exzentrischen Tänzerin Ida Rubinstein (Jeanne Balibar) den Auftrag erhält, die Musik für ihr nächstes Ballett zu komponieren. Sie wünscht sich etwas Sinnliches und Betörendes. Ravel sieht sich zunächst nicht in der Lage, etwas zu Papier zu bringen. Er sucht Inspiration in seinem Alltag und taucht tief in sein Innerstes ein, setzt sich mit den Misserfolgen seiner frühen Jahre, dem Bruch durch den Ersten Weltkrieg und der unmöglichen Liebe zu seiner Muse Misia Sert auseinander. Eine scheinbar zufällige Idee wird die Grundlage für seinen größten Erfolg, ein faszinierendes und einzigartiges Werk, das dem Komponisten zu Weltruhm verhelfen wird: der Bolero.

X Verleih...

Isabelle Huppert has started filming in France as a fictionalised version of billionaire Liliane Bettencourt, the heir to the L’Oreal fortune, on La Femme la Plus Riche du Monde which Playtime has boarded for sales.

Directed by Thierry Klifa, the film is loosely inspired by nonagenarian Bettencourt, who became the subject of a social, financial and political scandal when she gave hundreds of millions of Euros to a young artist which led her daughter to launch an investigation that uncovered political corruption allegations extending to former French president Nicolas Sarkozy.

The film is being produced by Mathias Rubin’s Recifilms...

The inaugural Ho Chi Minh City International Film Festival (Hiff) in Vietnam has unveiled its line-up of about 100 films, including 12 each for the Southeast Asia competition and for the first or second film competition, with directors Anne Fontaine and Hirokazu Kore-eda among its guests.

Scroll down for line-up

The Asian premiere of French biopic Bolero will open the festival on April 6. Director Fontaine and leading actor Raphaël Personnaz will be present for the film’s Asian premiere, which will take place at the city’s historic Opera House.

Further notable festival guests include acclaimed Japanese director Kore-eda who will receive...

Anne Fontaine’s Maurice Ravel biopic Boléro has sold to key territories for Snd following the film’s world premiere at International Film Festival Rotterdam. Snd is now screening the film to buyers at the EFM.

Boléro has been snapped up by X-Verleih for Germany, Movies Inspired in Italy, O’Brother for Benelux, Gaga in Japan, Sphere in Canada, Cinemundo in Portugal, Njuta for Scandinavia, Agora for Switzerland, Beta in Bulgaria, Discovery in the Balkans, Cirko in Hungary, Aj Jet in Taiwan, Arna Media for Cis and Skeye for Airlines.

Raphael Personnaz stars as the famed composer as he prepares...

Every 15 minutes, according to a title at the end of director Anne Fontaine’s latest film, someone on earth plays Maurice Ravel’s “Boléro.” It’s a largely unprovable statement that is nonetheless borne out anecdotally by the familiarity of the tune, which crops up so frequently in concerts, movies, TV shows, commercials, dance recitals and at least one iconic 1980s ice skating routine, that it’s close to becoming sonic wallpaper. It’s a pleasant surprise then, that “Boléro,” Fontaine’s gently deconstructed Ravel biopic, while running long and never wholly airing out the stuffiness of “tortured genius” genre, does at minimum make us appreciate the music anew — its rustling snare drums, its snake-charmer woodwinds, its revving, roundabout rhythms.

Indeed Fontaine’s screenplay, co-written with Claire Barré, persuasively suggests that whatever ambivalence a modern viewer may feel toward the composition, Ravel, whose quiet peculiarities are sensitively underplayed by Raphaël Personnaz,...

Please don’t stop the music: Anne Fontaine isn’t done with it just yet.

Following “Boléro” — world premiering at International Film Festival Rotterdam — the noted director is developing another melodic project.

“It’s about a character who was a star at 10 years old. He had a ‘magic’ voice, but then he suddenly lost it. Years later, he is ready to come back. It’s a comedy, based on something real,” she says. Admitting that this time, she will swap classical compositions for popular tunes.

“I like songs: they are in our blood. We hear them and remember we lost a lover when they were playing. They mark our lives. There will be so much music [in this film]. And all these amazing voices, including a real-life singer making her film debut.”

New project will combine “cruelty and humor.”

“Our destiny might be cruel, but we are still able to laugh about it.

Following a fully online 2021 event, a hybrid 2022 and last year’s 2023 comeback edition that saw most European distributors still struggling to stay afloat in a barely post-pandemic world, this year’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in Paris was a “typical” market. And in 2024, typical is great.

“We haven’t had a typical market in four years. Everyone was back,” enthused Gilles Renouard, head of cinema for Rendez-Vous organiser Unifrance.

“Buyers are definitely more future-oriented,” he continued. “Last year, they were scared to buy films for theatrical release, but now they are confident in films that can work in their territories...

Debbie Harry, lead singer of Blondie, will be among those taking part in on-stage talks at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, which runs Jan. 25 to Feb. 4.

Harry narrates the latest film by Amanda Kramer, “So Unreal,” an essay-documentary about the relationships between cinema, humanity and technology. On Jan. 27, the two will give an IFFR Talk discussing their work as artists with distinctive esthetics whose careers have developed across film and music.

As previously announced, other speakers in the IFFR Talk program include actor Sandra Hüller, and directors Anne Fontaine, Marco Bellocchio, Bill Plympton and Billy Woodberry.

Directors attending with their titles in the Limelight section, which is for films from established filmmakers, include Mexican filmmaker Amat Escalante with “Lost in the Night,” Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland with “Green Border” and Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania with “Four Daughters,” which is shortlisted for an Oscar.

Fontaine will attend the world premiere of her 19th feature film,...

Snd will kick off sales for marriage thriller at Rendez-Vous in Paris.

Snd has taken on international sales for Anne Le Ny’s psychological thriller Out Of Control (Histoire d’Un Mariage) starring Vanessa Paradis, Omar Sy, José Garcia and Elodie Bouchez, ahead of Unifrance’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema.

Set in Brittany, the story follows a couple whose marriage is threatened when the husband’s first love returns to town.

It is produced by Bruno Levy’s Move Movie, with Snd releasing in France later this year. Snd is the film arm of France’s M6 Group.

“[Out Of Control] is a...

Film stars Raphael Personnaz and Jeanne Balibar.

Paris-based Snd has boarded Anne Fontaine’s Boléro about the birth of the renowned orchestral work from Maurice Ravel, now shooting in France.

Set in the Roaring 1920s, the film stars Raphael Personnaz, known for Our Brothers, Julia(s) and The French Minister, as the composer. Jeanne Balibar, who has appeared in Lost Illusions, Cold War and Grace Of Monaco, plays the Russian dancer-choreographer Ida Rubinstein who commissioned the now legendary music.

Snd, the film arm of France’s M6 group, is on board as co-producer and French distributor and is launching international sales at Cannes.

Anaïs Demoustier, the French actor known for her roles in films “Smoking Causes Coughing” and “Anaïs in Love,” has been announced as president of this year’s Caméra d’or Jury at Cannes. The Caméra d’Or award is given to the best debut feature film in the Official Selection and aims to inspire young filmmakers to continue in their creative endeavors.

“Among my greatest joys as a spectator is seeing the debut film of a director who goes on to become a major force. A gesture, the first one, one that forever anchors the necessity of a director and creates a desire to see him or her begin again,” said Demoustier.

“As an actress, I’ve been lucky to experience alongside young directors the delicate balance between nervous energy and a desire to see through their first creation. I am very honoured and looking forward to discovering debut films...

French actress Anaïs Demoustier (“Sweet Evil”) was announced Friday as the woman to chair this year’s Caméra d’Or jury at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. The Caméra d’Or prize is presented to one debut feature film that is entered in Cannes’ Official Selection or a parallel category.

Demoustier won the 2020 César Award for Best Actress in Nicolas Pariser’s critical and box office hit “Alice and the Mayor.” She most recently appeared in Quentin Dupieux’s most recent film, “Smoking Causes Coughing.”

“Among my greatest joys as a spectator is seeing the debut film of a director who goes on to become a major force,” Demoustier said in a statement. “A gesture, the first one, one that forever anchors the necessity of a director and creates a desire to see him or her begin again. As an actress, I’ve been lucky to experience alongside young directors the...

Raphael Personnaz, Nathalie Durand also on jury.

French actress Anaïs Demoustier will head the Caméra d’Or jury for the 76th Cannes Film Festival.

Alongside Demoustier on the six-person jury are actor Raphael Personnaz; director of photography Nathalie Durand; screenwriter and director Mikael Buch; Sophie Frilley, CEO of Titrafilm; and Nicolas Marcade, editor-in-chief of Fiches du Cinéma et l’Annuel du Cinéma.

The jury will award the Camera d’Or for best first feature film from the Official Selection and parallel sections at the festival’s closing ceremony on Saturday, May 27.

Demoustier is known for films such as Alice And The Mayor,...

French actress Anaïs Demoustier has been announced as the president of the Cannes Film Festival’s Caméra d’Or jury for the upcoming 76th edition running from May 16 to 27.

The award for the best first film is open to all the debut feature films presented in Official Selection and the parallel sections of Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week.

She will be joined in the jury by actor Raphaël Personnaz, DoP Nathalie Durand, screenwriter and director Mikael Buch, Sophie Frilley, who is the head of subtitling company Titrafilm, and film critic and journalist Nicolas Marcadé.

“Among my greatest joys as a spectator is seeing the debut film of a director who goes on to become a major force. A gesture, the first one, one that forever anchors the necessity of a director and creates a desire to see him or her begin again,” said Demoustier.

“As an actress, I’ve been...

Update: Louis Garrel’s The Innocent has taken a surprise lead in the nominations for the 48th César Awards, which were announced on Wednesday ahead of the ceremony at Olympia concert hall in Paris on February 24.

The comedy-drama, which debuted in Cannes, was nominated in 11 categories followed by Dominik Moll’s detective drama The Night Of The 12th with 10 nominations.

Albert Serra’s Pacifiction and Cedric Klapisch’s Rise both snared nominations in nine categories, followed by Forever Young and November with seven each.

Garrel directs and co-stars in The Innocent as a man who tries to derail his mother’s relationship with a recently released convict, played by Roschdy Zem, in a campaign that will find him flirting with the wrong side of the law.

The film has received strong reviews and was a hit in France where it drew more than 700,000 spectators, but did not figure among the...

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...

Orange Studio has taken the opportunity of this year’s Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris to lift the curtain on season two of “L’Opéra,” a premium series that offers a backstage look at the inner workings and private passions of the dancers who illuminate Paris’ prestigious Opera Garnier. Ahead of Wednesday’s market presentation, execs from Orange Studio confirmed to Variety that two-time César winner Anne Alvaro will join the cast as the sophomore season’s chief antagonist.

The lauded performer will join a cast headed by veteran Ariane Labed as a hard-living 35-year-old fighting to remain in the spotlight and newcomer Suzy Bemba (of the upcoming Yorgos Lanthimos project “Poor Things”) as a 19-year-old from an underprivileged background looking for a chance to prove herself. Season one’s third lead Raphael Personnaz (“Anna Karenina”) will also return, this time taking a more supporting role as the troupe’s outgoing director.

The post-war romance picked up two awards.

Marcus H. Rosenmuller’s The Keeper, about acclaimed German prisoner of war-turned-footballer Bert Trautmann and his romance with an English woman, won the Golden Hitchcock for best film at the Dinard Film Festival on Saturday, September 28.

The film also picked up the audience award at the festival, which showcases UK films to French audiences.

The Keeper is produced by Chris Curling for Zephyr Films, Steve Milne for British Film Company (both UK operations), and Robert Marciniak for Germany’s Lieblingsfilm.

It tells the story of Bert Trautmann, a German prisoner of war in...

Claude Lelouch on influencing Terrence Malick: "I'm happy that you say so." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

When I spoke with Claude Lelouch at his hotel in New York less than two years ago, he believed that The Best Years Of A Life (Les Plus Belles Années D'Une Vie), starring Jean-Louis Trintignant, Anouk Aimée, and Monica Bellucci would be his last.

Now he has La Vertu Des Impondérables with Elsa Zylberstein (Un + une with Jean Dujardin and Christopher Lambert), Marianne Denicourt, Ary Abittan, and Stéphane De Groodt (Israel Horovitz's My Old Lady) in the works.

Claude Lelouch: "In Un Homme Et Une Femme (A Man And A Woman), when Anouk Aimée arrives at the end on the train platform, she didn't know Jean-Louis Trintignant would be there."

In 1966, Un Homme Et Une Femme won the Cannes Palme d'Or, and in 1967 won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, and Claude Lelouch took Best Writing,...

"This could be your last trip." Studiocanal UK has debuted the first official UK trailer for the biopic drama The White Crow, the latest film directed by acclaimed actor Ralph Fiennes. It tells the incredible true story of renowned Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev, who managed to defect from the Soviet Union to the West, despite being closely guarded by the Kgb, while traveling through Paris in 1961. Nureyev is played by real-life ballet dancer Oleg Ivenko making his acting debut, along with Ralph Fiennes in a role as his ballet coach Alexander Pushkin. The cast also includes Adèle Exarchopoulos, Louis Hofmann, Sergei Polunin, Olivier Rabourdin, Raphaël Personnaz, Chulpan Khamatova, Zach Avery, and Mar Sodupe. This premiered at the Telluride and London Film Festivals last year, and should be released in the Us later this year. Based on the reviews and first look at this footage, this seems like it might be pretty good.

Company to unveil new films by Rebecca Zlotowski, Guillaume Nicloux and Roschdy Zem during Paris Rendez-vous in January.

Wild Bunch will kick-off sales on a quartet of new French films during the Rendez-vous with French Cinema in Paris in January including a coming-of-age tale by Rebecca Zlotowski, starring glamour girl and lingerie designer Zahia Dehar, and Guillaume Nicloux’s new collaboration with cult writer Michel Houellebecq and Gérard Depardieu.

Zlotowski’s An Easy Girl co-stars debutant actress Mina Farid as the naïve 16-year-old Naïma, whose eyes are opened to the world of love, sex and human relationships over a summer...

HanWay inks further territories on Rudolf Nureyev drama.

Studiocanal has bought UK rights for The White Crow, Ralph Fiennes’ thriller about Russian ballet star Rudolf Nureyev’s defection to the West at the height of the Cold War.

HanWay Films is handling worldwide sales and co-financed the feature with BBC Films and Rogue Black. The film recently premiered at Telluride and will play as a Gala at the BFI London Film Festival next month.

HanWay has also struck a raft of new territory deals on the title: Alamode (Germany), DeAplaneta (Spain), E1, Praesens (Switzerland), Nos Lusomundo (Portugal), Odeon (Greece), Discovery...

Sony Pictures Classics has bought rights in North America and many foreign markets to Ralph Fiennes’ Rudolf Nureyev biopic “The White Crow.”

In a deal announced Monday, Sony Classics also acquired rights to Latin America, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Asia, and Benelux from HanWay Films.

“The White Crow” is based on the book “Rudolf Nureyev: The Life by Julie Kavanaugh.” Fiennes directed from a script by David Hare. HanWay Films, which is handling worldwide sales, also co-financed the film together with BBC Films and Rogue Black.

Oleg Ivenko stars as Nureyev, alongside Adèle Exarchopoulos as Clara Saint, and Fiennes as Russian ballet coach Alexander Pushkin. The cast also includes dancer Sergei Polunin, Chulpan Khamatova, Olivier Rabourdin, Raphaël Personnaz, and Louis Hofmann.

Nureyev, a Russian native, sought asylum in France in 1961 at the height of the Cold War. The film offers insight into Nureyev’s defection, masterminded by the dancer’s great friend,...

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired North American rights for Ralph Fiennes’ film “The White Crow,” the studio said on Monday.

The film, based on the book “Rudolf Nureyev: The Life” by Julie Kavanaugh, was directed by Fiennes and written by Oscar-nominated David Hare. Along with North America, Sony nabbed rights to distribute the film in Latin America, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Asia, and Benelux.

“The White Crow” captures the physicality and brilliance of ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev, whose escape to the West stunned the world at the height of the Cold War. Nureyev emerged as one of ballet’s most famous stars, and though seen as a wild and beautiful dancer he was limited by the world of 1950s Leningrad. His flirtation with Western artists and ideas led him into a high-stakes game of cat and mouse with the Kgb. The film offers insight into Nureyev’s dangerous defection, masterminded by the dancer’s great friend,...

David Hare adapted screenplay about Russian dancer’s daring escape to West.

Sony Pictures Classics has picked up North America and multiple territories from HanWay Films to Ralph Fiennes’ Rudolf Nureyev drama The White Crow.

The distributor will put The White Crow through Sony for Latin America, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Asia, and Benelux.

David Hare’s screenplay inspired by Julie Kavanaugh’s book Rudolf Nureyev: The Life chronicles Russian ballet star Nureyev’s daring escape to the West at the height of the Cold War.

HanWay Films handles worldwide sales and co-financed the feature with BBC Films and Rogue Black.

Exclusive: Sony Pictures Classics has acquired North America and key markets on Ralph Fiennes’ Rudolf Nureyev pic The White Crow from HanWay Films.

The prestige label has also taken Latin America, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, Asia and Benelux.

Inspired by the book Rudolf Nureyev: The Life by Julie Kavanaugh, the drama charts the iconic dancer’s famed defection from the Soviet Union to the West in 1961, despite Kgb efforts to stop him. Fiennes directs from a script by David Hare (The Hours). The anticipated drama is still in the running for an autumn festival berth.

Acclaimed dancer Oleg Ivenko stars as Nureyev, alongside Adèle Exarchopoulos (Blue Is the Warmest Color) as Clara Saint, and Fiennes as Russian ballet coach Alexander Pushkin. Also featured are ballet-world enfant terrible Sergei Polunin, Chulpan Khamatova, Olivier Rabourdin, Raphaël Personnaz and Louis Hofmann.

The deal was negotiated between Spc and Gabrielle Stewart for HanWay.

Exclusive: Laurent Lafitte, Raphaël Personnaz, Louis Hofmann also board project.

Ralph Fiennes has joined the cast of The White Crow, his project about Russian ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev.

Fiennes will play Nureyev’s teacher and mentor, Pushkin, who helped launch Nureyev’s career out of St Petersburg, and will also direct the feature.

As previously reported, professional dancer Oleg Ivenko will play the lead role of Nureyev, while fellow dancer Sergei Polunin, Blue Is The Warmest Colour star Adèle Exarchopoulos and Russian actress Chulpan Khamatova are among the cast.

The production has now also attached Elle star Laurent Lafitte, The French Minister star Raphaël Personnaz, Personal Shopper actor Calypso Valois and Land Of Mine star Louis Hofmann ahead of its summer 2017 shoot in St Petersburg and Paris, with locations including the Mariinsky Theatre and the Palais Garnier.

Two-time Oscar-nominee David Hare (The Hours, The Reader) has adapted the screenplay from Julie Kavanagh’s book Rudolf Nureyev, which...

A very happy International Women’s Day (and, related, Happy A Day Without A Woman those exercising their ability to strike in order to help highlight the important contributions made by women in the workplace and the world at large) to all of our readers! With this important day in mind, we’ve assembled a list of films, all currently streaming online, that would not exist without the female creators (writers, directors, sometime-stars, and more) who crafted them. It’s just a taste — a nibble, really — of some of the industry’s best examples of forward-thinking, female-driven work.

Read More: IndieWire Stands With Women: 27 TV Shows Created by Women, Starring Women, That We Absolutely Love

Take a peek, and appreciate the power of women and their strong-as-hell creativity and drive.

“Paris Is Burning” (Netflix)

Jennie Livingston’s incisive, intimate and wildly entertaining documentary about New York City “drag ball culture...

The New Girlfriend (Une nouvelle amie) Cohen Media Group Reviewed by: Harvey Karten for Shockya. Databased on Rotten Tomatoes. Grade: B+ Director: François Ozon Screenwriter: François Ozon from the short story “The New Girlfriend” by Ruth Rendell Cast: Romain Duris, Anäis Demoustier, Raphaël Personnaz, Isild Le Besco, Aurore Clément Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 9/1/15 Opens: September 18, 2015 Every baby needs a mother, but what to do when the mother is out of the picture—maybe imprisoned, drugged, or dead? Dad could take over the job, of course, but some dads go to extremes. In the case of “The New Girlfriend,” director François Ozon, already well known for such previous [ Read More ]

The post The New Girlfriend Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

From RedBand.Ca, Sneak Peek restricted 'red band' footage from the dramatic feature "The New Girlfriend", directed by François Ozon, based on the short story of the same name by author Ruth Rendell, opening September 18, 2015:

Cast includes Romain Duris, Anaïs Demoustier, Raphaël Personnaz, Isild Le Besco, Aurore Clément, Jean-Claude Bolle-Reddat, Bruno Perard, Claudine Chatel, Anita Gillier, Alex Fondja and Zita Hanrot.

"...a delectable riff on transformation, desire and sexuality that blends the heightened reality of melodrama with mischievous humor....powered by beautifully controlled performances from Anaïs Demoustier and Romain Duris..."

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "The New Girlfriend"...

"A love story for the modern age." Cohen Media Group has debuted the official Us trailer for the upcoming release of François Ozon latest film, The New Girlfriend, starring Romain Duris, Anaïs Demoustier and Raphaël Personnaz. This first premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last year, and also played at the London, Stockholm, Zurich, Hong Kong, Seattle, Glasgow, and Montclair Film Festivals. The story follows a woman who discovers her late friend's husband, played by Romain Duris (seen in The Beat That My Heart Skipped, Mood Indigo, Chinese Puzzle), likes to dress like a woman. It looks like an interesting film, almost like something from Xavier Dolan or Wong Kar Wai, with beautiful cinematography and vivid performances. Here's the official Us trailer for François Ozon's The New Girlfriend, in high def from Apple: Claire (Anais Demoustier) discovers a secret about the husband of her late best friend, Laura. Following Laura's death,...

Francois Ozon likes to change things up from project to project, and his last few films have seen him move from broad stylish comedy "Potiche" to intense erotic drama "Young & Beautiful," and now to the playful and psychological "The New Girlfriend." And the first U.S. trailer for the film has arrived. Read More: Tiff Review: Francois Ozon's 'The New Girlfriend' Starring Romain Duris & Anaise Demoustier Romain Duris, Anaïs Demoustier, and Raphaël Personnaz star in the movie about a woman who reaches out to comfort her dead friend's widowed husband, only to discover a shocking secret. Here's the official synopsis: Claire (rising French star Anais Demoustier) discovers a secret about the husband of her late best friend, Laura. Following Laura's death, Claire reaches out to comfort bereaved David (Romain Duris), only to discover his secret: he enjoys dressing as a woman. In acclaimed writer-director Francois Ozon’s...

Courtesy of the San Francisco Film Society.

The New Girlfriend

Written & Directed by François Ozon

France, 2014

The latest from prolific French auteur François Ozon opens on a somber note as Claire (Anaïs Demoustier) recounts her lifelong friendship with the deceased Laura (Isild Le Besco), whose untimely death has left her grieving husband David (Romain Duris) alone with their infant daughter. Shortly after the funeral, Claire checks in on the widower and finds him all made up, wearing Laura’s dress and a blonde wig to boot. Promising not to tell her husband Gilles (Raphaël Personnaz) about David’s cross-dressing, Claire finds herself entering uncharted territory with her late friend’s husband and no one to confide in. Beautifully shot with an eye for the little details that we associate with femininity, the film is as much an exploration of the rituals and meanings of female friendships as it is of gender,...

SK1 (L’Affaire SK1) director Frédéric Tellier with David Cronenberg's Videodrome at the IFC Center Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Frédéric Tellier’s intense thriller SK1 (L’Affaire SK1) stars Raphaël Personnaz, Nathalie Baye, Olivier Gourmet, Michel Vuillermoz and Adama Niane. SK1, named for the first serial killer identified through DNA analysis in France, is based on journalist Patricia Tourancheau’s book about the case, Guy Georges: La Traque.

Frédéric spoke with me about his upcoming project with SK1 producer Julien Madon, how Bertrand Tavernier's L.627 and Henri Verneuil's Mélodie En Sous-Sol (Any Number Can Win), starring Jean Gabin and Alain Delon, play a detective role, finding his Guy Georges, the nature of evil and the response of the inspectors involved in the case when they saw the film.

Raphaël Personnaz as Charlie Olivier Gourmet as Bougon: "They need this kind of relief, these bubbles of oxygen sometimes."

Baye is Maître Frédérique Pons,...

Frédéric Tellier’s SK1 (L’affaire SK1) star Nathalie Baye having a Boyhood moment Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Having worked with some of the best directors on both sides of the Atlantic - starting with Robert Wise and including François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Maurice Pialat, Claude Chabrol, Bertrand Tavernier, Steven Spielberg and even Guillaume Canet - Nathalie Baye comes to the 20th Anniversary of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in New York with Frédéric Tellier’s intense thriller SK1 (L’Affaire SK1), co-starring Raphaël Personnaz and Olivier Gourmet.

Convicted murderer Guy Georges (Adama Niane), known as the "Beast of Bastille" due to his 11th arrondissement hunting ground, brutally raped and killed seven women over a period of years in the 1990s before a complicated investigation led to his arrest.

Baye is Maître Frédérique Pons, the lawyer who agreed to represent the man nobody wanted to defend. She "doesn't believe in the Devil,...

Title: Une Nouvelle Amie (The New Girl Friend) Director: François Ozon Starring:Romain Duris, Anaïs Demoustier, Raphaël Personnaz, Isild Le Besco Francois Ozon’s humorous psychological drama ‘Une Nouvelle Amie’ (intended as the new female friend) explores the complexity of sexuality, transcending stereotypes. ‘The New Girl Friend’ adapts a Ruth Rendell short story where Ozon plays freely with gender cliches, to suggest that the male-female dichotomy is only an abstract concept. Anaïs Demoustier stars as Claire, a young woman whose closest friend since childhood, Laura (Isilde Le Besco), passes away leaving behind a husband, David (Romain Duris) and their newborn baby Lucie. One day she drops by David’s house unexpectedly, and finds [ Read More ]

The post Une Nouvelle Amie (The New Girl Friend) Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Annual event set to showcase 90 French productions, 48 of them market premieres.

Unifrance’s annual Rendez-vous with French Cinema in Paris will kick-off as planned on Thursday (Jan 15), a week after a series of terrorist attacks, in which 17 people were killed, rocked the capital.

France remains on high alert after the shooting of 12 people at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, by two radicalised brothers offended by its cartoon depictions of the Islamic prophet Mohammed; the shooting of a police woman and the slaughter of four people at a kosher supermarket in the east of the city.

The French government announced on Monday that it was deploying 10,000 troops to protect vulnerable sites across the country — including Jewish schools and neighbourhoods – amid news that security forces believed at least six members of the terrorist cell that plotted the attacks may still be at large.

Charlie Hebdo’s surviving staff have responded to the attack with a new edition of the...

Annual event set to showcase 90 French productions, 48 of them market premieres.

Unifrance’s annual Rendez-vous with French Cinema in Paris will kick-off as planned on Thursday (Jan 15), a week after a series of terrorist attacks, in which 17 people were killed, rocked the capital.

France remains on high alert after the shooting of 12 people at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, by two radicalised brothers offended by its cartoon depictions of the Islamic prophet Mohammed; the shooting of a police woman and the slaughter of four people at a kosher supermarket in the east of the city.

The French government announced on Monday that it was deploying 10,000 troops to protect vulnerable sites across the country — including Jewish schools and neighbourhoods – amid news that security forces believed at least six members of the terrorist cell that plotted the attacks may still be at large.

Charlie Hebdo’s surviving staff have responded to the attack with a new edition of the...

2Nd Update, Tuesday 3:21 Am Pt: Actuals have been reported from most of the studios, with very few discrepancies amongst the major titles. The Top 5 remain the same as projected on Sunday, save for a tie-break between Exodus: Gods And Kings and China’s Miss Granny with the latter landing at No. 4 and the former at No. 5 on the international chart. There are also more markets reporting on The Imitation Game which added $6.6M for a $41.8M cume.

Figures have been updated throughout the below for those films as well as: Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb, Taken 3, The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies, Penguins Of Madagascar, Big Hero 6, Seventh Son, Into The Woods, Ouija, Honig Im Kopf, Unbroken, The Theory Of Everything, American Sniper, Dumb And Dumber To, Let’s Be Cops, The Water Diviner, Boyhood, Horrible Bosses 2, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1, Birdman and Gone Girl.

Norwegian distributor scores hat-trick of titles.

Fidalgo has secured three titles at the Toronto International Film Festival for Norwegian distribution.

The films include Marie’s Story’s from Jean-Pierre Ameris, sold by Indie Film Sales. The film stars Isabelle Carré as a determined nun in late 19th century France who taught a deaf and blind child to communicate.

Fidalgo has also picked up Duccio Chiarini’s debut, Short Skin, from Films Boutique. Starring Matteo Creatini and Francesca Agostini, the bittersweet comedy follows a 17-year-old protagonist who suffers too tight a foreskin to have sex.

In addition, the distributor has picked up Francois Ozon’s The New Girlfriend. Based on a short story collection by crime writer Ruth Rendell, the drama stars Anaïs Demoustier, Romain Duris and Raphaël Personnaz.

The film follows a woman who falls into a deep depression after the death of her best friend but is given a new lease of life when she discovers...

Exclusive: Mia Hansen Love, Francois Ozon dramas and Cannon Films doc among Toronto haul.

UK distributor Metrodome has secured UK and Ireland rights to a trio of films that played at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (Sept 4-14): Mia Hansen Love’s well-received drama Eden, Francois Ozon’s The New Girlfriend and documentary Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films.

All three will play at the London Film Festival (Oct 8-19).

Metrodome acquired Eden from sales agent Kinology in a deal negotiated by Metrodome head of acquisitions Giles Edwards and Kinology’s CEO Grégoire Melin.

Directed by French auteur Mia Hansen Love and starring Felix De Givry, Pauline Etienne and Greta Gerwig, Eden charts the rise and fall of one of the DJs who pioneered the French electro music scene in the 1990s.

The film features cameo’s from the likes of Daft Punk, Joe Smooth, the late Frankie Knuckles...

The 39th Toronto International Film Festival has announced its initial slate of galas and special presentations, which includes 37 world premieres and several films with Oscar ambitions. The Judge, which stars Robert Downey Jr. as a big-city lawyer who reluctantly returns home and ends up defending his revered father (Robert Duvall) against criminal charges, will have its world premiere in Toronto. His Avengers pal, Chris Evans, will unveil his own directorial debut in Toronto, titled Before We Go.

Also noteworthy: James Gandolfini’s final film, The Drop, which also stars Tom Hardy and Noomi Rapace; another Jason Reitman Toronto world premiere,...

The Toronto International Film Festival announced its initial wave of 2014 premieres and galas this morning and it features some familiar awards titles, some big stars and some unexpected studio titles. Among the major studio films, David Dobkin's "The Judge" with Robert Downey Jr. and Antoine Fuqua's "The Equalizer" each received gala slots and should premiere over the festival's opening weekend. Other announced galas so far include Bennett Miller's acclaimed "Foxcatcher," which debuted at Cannes, and Mike Binder's "Black and White" starring Kevin Costner, Octavia Spencer and Anthony Mackie. Toronto has also scheduled special gala screenings for David Cronenberg's "Map to the Stars" with Julianne Moore and Robert Pattinson, François Ozon's "The New Girlfriend," Ed Zwick's "Pawn Sacrifice" with Tobey Maguire, Lone Scherfig's "The Riot Club," Jean-Marc Vallée's "Wild," Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano's "Samba" and Shawn Levy's "This is Where I Leave You...

Picking up where Marius left off, actor-director Daniel Auteuil's Fanny — the second entry in his planned adaptation of Marcel Pagnol's 1930s Marseilles trilogy — offers both the same pleasures (bighearted performances, an engaging maritime setting) and drawbacks (unabashedly dated values, a rigid theatricality) as its predecessor.

But the narrative circumstances make for an overall tone that is less sprightly: Alexandre Desplat's score does a lot of heavy melodramatic lifting as Fanny (Victoire Bélézy) and César (Auteuil) mourn the sudden departure of their beloved Marius (Raphaël Personnaz), who has hopped aboard the Malaisie for a five-year voyage. With Marius gone, the port's wealthy sailmaker, Panisse (Je...

Edmund White and Frank Rich with Antonin Baudry at Quai d’Orsay - Weapons of Mass Diplomacy Drawing The Line at McNally Jackson in New York: "I remember it was really like being in film school."

Bertrand Tavernier's The French Minister (Quai D’Orsay) stars Thierry Lhermitte, Raphaël Personnaz, Niels Arestrup and Anaïs Demoustier, with Jane Birkin impersonating a version of Toni Morrison and Julie Gayet as a potent advisor.

Eric Rohmer, Jean-Luc Godard and going beyond Mel Brooks with Frankenstein and the Seven Dwarfs are discussed in the second half of my conversation with Bertrand Tavernier and Antonin Baudry.

At McNally Jackson Books in New York, two days before July 4, Edmund White and Frank Rich were discussing Drawing The Line with Antonin Baudry. Here is a highlight.

Weapons of Mass Diplomacy Drawing The Line invitation

Anne-Katrin Titze: The past times we spoke, Bertrand Tavernier was always in the room.

Antonin Baudry with Bertrand Tavernier on The French Minister (Quai d’Orsay): "I fell in love immediately with Antonin's book, because it was dealing with politics in, for me, the best way possible." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

I met up in New York with Bertrand Tavernier and Antonin Baudry, who co-wrote the screenplay for The French Minister (Quai d’Orsay), based on Baudry's (aka Abel Lanzac) autobiographic graphic novel about his adventures as a speech writer in the French Ministry. The film stars Thierry Lhermitte, Raphaël Personnaz and Niels Arestrup who at times seem to channel the working methods of Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday or the serious madness surrounding Peter Sellers in The Party. Howard Hawks, Billy Wilder, Blake Edwards, Jacques Becker, Stanley Kubrick and John Ford pop up in precise reference throughout the conversation.

Thierry Lhermitte as Alexandre Taillard de Worms with Raphaël Personnaz...

Acclaimed French filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier has taken audiences everywhere, from the world of American jazz ("Round Midnight") to the drama of the 16th century ("The Princess Of Montpensier"), and his latest finds a new world, behind the closed doors of the political sphere, and in the comedic "The French Minister," no one is spared. Starring Thierry Lhermitte, Raphaël Personnaz, Niels Arestrup, Bruno Raffaelli, Julie Gayet and Anaïs Demoustier, the film tells the story of the fictional Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexandre Taillard de Vorms, who juggles American neo-cons, corrupt Russians and the opportunistic Chinese all while his useless speech writer tries to keep up with the whirling dervish of personalities around him. In this exclusive clip, we see how things can turn on a dime in the political world. "The French Minister" opens today in limited release and is available on VOD. Watch below.