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Die bereits mehrfach ausgezeichnete Tragikomödie „Die leisen und die großen Töne“ von Emmanuelle Courcol eröffnete am 21. November die 24. Französische Filmwoche.

v.l.n.r.: Thomas Michelon (Botschaftsrat für Kultur und Bildung), Lisandra Haulica (Film und Medien Attachée), Anne Vassevière (Programm & Koordination), Oliver Henrard (Präsident Cnc), François Delattre (Französischer Botschafter in Deutschland), Edith Antoinette Itoua (Kongolesische Botschafterin in Deutschland), Komponist Michel Petrossian, Dorothee Pfistner (Acquisitions Neue Visionen), Daniela Elstner (Geschäftsführerin UniFrance), Torsten Frehse (Geschäftsführer Neue Visionen) (Credit: Jason Harrell)

Zur gestrigen (21. November) Eröffnung der 24. Französische Filmwoche wurde die bereits mehrfach preisgekrönte Tragikomödie „Die leisen und die großen Töne“ von Emanuel Courcol gezeigt (hier unsere Spot-Besprechung). Die feierliche Eröffnung in Anwesenheit des Französischen Botschafters François Delattre fand im Delphi Filmpalast Berlin statt. Auch der Komponist des Films, Michel Petrossian, beehrte die Veranstaltung. Die diesjährige Französische Filmwoche stellt Menschen ins Zentrum, die von großen Träumen und Ambitionen angetrieben werden und die den Mut haben,...

The Franco-American Cultural Fund has unveiled the nine award winners from the American French Film Festival, which took place in Hollywood from Oct. 29- Nov. 3.

Taking home top prize for the audience award was “The Marching Band,” directed by Emmanuel Courcol. Boris Lojkine’s “Souleyman’s Story” took home the critics award while Louise Courvoisier’s “Holy Cow” nabbed the first film award. Taking home the American students award was “The Count of Monte Cristo” written and directed by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre De La Patellière. David Hertzog Dessites’ doc “Once Upon a Time Michel Legrand” won the documentary film award.

In the television category, “The Blissful” from director Stanislas Carré de Malberg won the TV movie award. Isaure Pisani-Ferry’s series “Becoming Karl Lagerfeld” won the TV audience award. “Samber” from creator and writer Alice Géraud won the jury series award and Émilie de Monsabert’s “Suzzane” won the short film award.

Jacques Audiard’s musical thriller “Emilia Pérez,” Coralie Fargeat’s body horror “The Substance” and Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière’s epic adventure “The Count of Monte Cristo” have more in common than the fact that they’re directed by French filmmakers.

Despite being set in Mexico and Los Angeles, respectively, “Emilia Pérez” and “The Substance” both shot entirely in France, for the most part in studios in Paris.

France has been able to attract, host and retain a wide range of local and international productions, primarily thanks to its locations and crews, even if its tax incentives aren’t as competitive as in other popular filming destinations in Europe, such as London and Prague.

At a panel discussion at the American French Film Festival in Los Angeles, “The Count of Monte Cristo” producer Dimitri Rassam; Jay Roewe, SVP of production planning and incentives at HBO Max and Wbd; L.

One of the key initiatives of the American French Film Festival is its long-running education program, which provides 3,000 high school students each year with the opportunity to attend a screening and discussion with filmmakers at the DGA Theatre. For the festival, it’s a rare opportunity to help actively develop younger audiences and expose them to French cinema.

“At a time when everyone is on their phones and in-person interactions are declining, the American French Film Festival Education Program inspires students to truly engage,” says Anouchka van Riel, Deputy Director of Tafff. “Through our screenings and Q&As with French actors and filmmakers at the DGA Theatre, as well as in-class materials we develop with educators, this effective annual program continues to encourage thoughtful discussion and nurture a new generation of French film enthusiasts.”

This year will mark the 17th year of its High School Screenings Program, and the festival...

The American French Film Festival has long been considered the premiere U.S. event for launching French film and television content to American audiences and while last year’s edition was forced to cancel due to Hollywood’s dual strikes, this year the L.A.-based event is back and gearing up for what it expects to be one of its best editions yet.

The six-day festival, which kicks off its 28th edition on October 29 at the DGA Theater Complex, is bookended by two of the year’s buzziest French titles with Jacques Audiard’s Spanish-language musical-crime film Emilia Pérez set for opening night while Pathé’s French box office hit The Count of Monte Cristo set to close the event on November 3.

Both films, say festival organizers, are reflective of the kinds of projects that Tafff wants to unveil to Hollywood audiences: Audiard’s Cannes-winning title Emilia Pérez is...

Ladj Ly, the French filmmaker whose bold feature debut “Les Misérables” won the jury prize at Cannes in 2019 and earned an Oscar nomination, is set to write and direct “Dumas: Black Devil.” The epic film is being produced by Dimitri Rassam’s Chapter 2 (a Mediawan company) and Pathé, the makers of French box office hit “The Count of Monte Cristo” and two-part adventure saga “The Three Musketeers.”

“Dumas: Black Devil” will also be produced by Srab Films, an Asacha Media Group company, which has been behind all of Ly’s movies, including “Les Misérables.” Pathé will distribute the movie and handle international sales. Although the budget has not been unveiled, it’s expected to be one of the most ambitious French projects to go into production in 2025. The cast will include major French and international stars.

Ly will adapt the lesser-known story of Thomas Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie Dumas,...

The American French Film Festival returns for its 28th annual event at the DGA Theater Complex from Oct. 29 to Nov. 3. The festival will showcase 60 films and series, including 14 shorts and 14 series or TV movies. It will open with France’s official selection for Oscar consideration, “Emilia Pérez,” and close with the new rendition of the classic Alexandre Dumas novel “The Count of Monte Cristo” by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Petelliére.

This marks the first time 16 of these features will be presented to an audience in Hollywood after premiering at the latest editions of the Berlin, Cannes, and Venice International Film Festivals. Additionally, 59 of the selected works will be up for the Tafff Awards.

The selection of films includes the comedy “A Nice Jewish Boy” by director Noé Debré, written by Michael Zindel, Agnès Jaoui, and Solar Bouloudnine; the political thriller “Death of a Corrupt Man,” directed by Georges Lautner and written by Lautner,...

The American French Film Festival unveiled the full-line up of its upcoming edition at a press conference at the Résidence de France in Beverly Hills on Wednesday, as the event returns after a one-year hiatus due to the Hollywood strikes.

The 28th edition, running October 29 to November 3 in the Director’s Guild of America Theatre Complex, will showcase 60 films and series, with 14 shorts, 14 Series and TV movies, and 32 feature films and documentaries, many of which are International, North American and U.S. premiere presentations.

As previously announced the event will be book-ended by Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez as the opening film and The Count of Monte Cristo, which will close the event.

The American French Film Festival was created and is produced by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, a collaboration between the Directors Guild of America (DGA), the Motion Picture Association (MPA), France’s Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers...

„Der Graf von Monte Christo“ hat in ihrer Heimat schon rund neun Mio. Kinobesucher angelockt. Capelight Pictures startet die Neuverfilmung des Dumas-Romanklassikers am 23. Januar 2025 in den deutschen Kinos und hat jetzt den deutschen Teaser-Trailer veröffentlicht.

Matthieu Delaporte und Alexandre de La Patellière haben den Dumas-Romanklassiker mit Pierre Niney in der Hauptrolle neu verfilmt. Mit rund neun Mio. Besuchern avancierte „Der Graf von Monte Christo“ (hier unsere Spot-Besprechung) in den französischen Kinos nach seiner Premiere in Cannes zu einem der Boxofficeerfolge des laufenden Jahres. Capelight Pictures startet „Der Graf von Monte Christo“ am 23. Januar 2025 in den deutschen Kinos.

Die Einreichung von „Emilia Pérez“ für eine Nominierung in der Oscar-Kategorie „Bester internationaler Film“ gibt Regisseur Jacques Audiard die Chance auf seine zweite Nominierung in dieser Kategorie nach „Ein Prophet“ im Jahr 2010.

Jacques Audiards „Emilia Pérez“ geht für Frankreich ins Oscarrennen (Credit: Neue Visionen / Wild Bunch Germany)

Jacques Audiards „Emilia Pérez“ (hier unsere Spot-Besprechung) war bei seiner Premiere in Cannes mit dem Jury-Preis und dem Preis für das beste Schauspieler-Ensemble ausgezeichnet worden und wurde jetzt bei der Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences vom französischen Auswahlkomitee für eine Nominierung in der Oscarkategorie „Bester internationaler Film“ eingereicht.

Auf der Shortlist für die Oscareinreichung aus Frankreich hatten außerdem „Le Comte de Monte-Cristo“ von Matthieu Delaporte und Alexandre de la Patellière, Payal Kapadias „All We Imagine As Light“ und Alain Guiraudies „Miséricorde“ gestanden.

Jacques Audiard hat damit zum zweiten Mal nach „Ein Prophet“ im Jahr 2010 die Chance, für einen Oscar in der...

France has selected Jacques Audiard’s bold musical “Emilia Perez” to represent the country in the Oscars’ Best International Feature Film race, giving that category an instant frontrunner at the 97th Academy Awards.

The Netflix film, which caused a sensation at the Cannes Film Festival with its story of a Mexican drug lord undergoing sex reassignment surgery, is considered one of the year’s likeliest Best Picture nominees, making it a clear favorite in the international category as well.

It was chosen on Wednesday by a selection committee that had narrowed its choices to four: “Emilia Perez,” Payal Kapadia’s “All We Imagine as Light,” Matthieu Delaporte’s “The Count of Monte Cristo” and Alain Guiraudie’s “Misericordia.”

Last year, that committee chose “The Taste of Things” over “Anatomy of a Fall,” going with a ravishing romance over an edgier drama that had won the top prize in Cannes. “The Taste of Things...

France has picked Jacques Audiard’s Mexico-set musical Emilia Perez to represent the country in the best international feature category at the 2025 Academy Awards as it attempts to sing its way to a victory in the category for the first time in more than 30 years.

The primarily Spanish-language song-filled film is about cartel leader Emilia, who enlists an unappreciated lawyer to help fake her death so Emilia can live authentically as her true self.

It won both the Cannes Jury prize for director Audiard and a shared best actress award for its female cast Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldana...

France has selected Jacques Audiard’s Spanish-language musical Emilia Pérez to represent it in the Best International Feature Film category at the 97th Academy Awards.

The drama stars Karla Sofía Gascón as cartel leader Emilia who enlists the help of unappreciated lawyer Rita (Saldana) to help her fake her death so she can live authentically as her true self.

It premiered at Cannes, where it earned its four actresses – Gascón, Saldaña, Selena Gomez, and Adriana Paz – a collective Best Actress award, and also clinched the jury prize.

The film was selected from a short list of four films which also included swashbuckler The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte; French-produced Indian drama All We Imagine as Light by Payal Kapadia and Misericordia by Alain Guiraudie.

This year’s revamped selection committee featured sales agent Carole Baraton, producer Nadim Cheikhroua (Four Daughters), Venice Golden Lion...

France’s revamped Oscar committee has selected Jacques Audiard’s exhilarating redemption thriller “Emilia Perez” for the international feature film race. The movie won two major awards at the Cannes Film Festival and earned rave reviews.

“Emilia Perez” stars Karla Sofía Gascón as a fearsome drug lord who embraces her true self as a woman. The Spanish-language film earned one of Cannes’s longest standing ovations and went on to win the Jury Prize (in a jury presided over by Greta Gerwig), on top of a best actress prize for the ensemble cast, including Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz. The movie was bought by Netflix for the U.S. and the U.K. following its Cannes premiere.

Audiard is a revered French auteur who won a Palme d’Or with “Dheepan,” and was previously nominated for a foreign-language Oscar with “A Prophet” starring Tahar Rahim.

Although “Emilia Perez...

“The Count of Monte Cristo,” one of four films on France’s shortlist for the country’s official submission to the Academy Awards, will open on Dec. 20 in U.S. theaters. Samuel Goldwyn Films plans to campaign the three-hour adventure drama in all categories including best picture, with the release to roll out nationwide after its bow.

In the classic Alexandre Dumas story, Pierre Niney stars as young Edmond Dantès, who is arrested on his wedding day for a crime he did not commit. After 14 years in the island prison of Château d’If, he makes a daring escape and assumes the identity of the Count of Monte Cristo, taking revenge on the three men who betrayed him.

Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte wrote and directed the film, which co-stars Anaïs Demoustier and Anamaria Vartolemei.

“The Count of Monte Cristo” premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival,...

Maverick director Alain Guiraudie rarely makes concessions.

Through offbeat titles like 2013’s “Stranger by the Lake,” 2016’s “Staying Vertical” and 2022’s “Nobody’s Hero,” the French filmmaker has explored death and desire with an unflinching eye, offsetting social bemusement with an awe for nature. His work is defiant, queer, and idiosyncratic, which makes a recent bout of institutional support all the more surprising – especially to the auteur himself.

After launching out of at Cannes, Guiraudie’s latest film “Misericordia” – produced by Charles Gillibert’s CG Cinema and released in France by Les Films du Losange — then hit a fall festival grand slam, playing in Telluride, Toronto and New York before making the shortlist for France’s International Feature. Time will tell whether the newly revamped committee goes with Guiraudie’s psychosexual thriller over Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez,” Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte’s “The Count of Monte Cristo...

Payal Kapadia’s Cannes Grand Prix winner “All We Imagine as Light” could find itself being in the enviable position of being the entry of choice at the Oscars’ international feature category from not one but two countries – France and India.

Earlier this week, “All We Imagine as Light” sparked a surprise as it turned up in the roster of four movies shortlisted by France’s Oscar committee; alongside Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Perez,” “The Count of Monte Cristo,” an epic adventure film adapted from Alexandre Dumas’ classic, as well as Alain Guiraudie’s “Misericordia.”

Mainly produced by Thomas Hakim and Julian Graff through their France-based company Petit Chaos, the film secured distribution deals in most major territories months ago, including in the U.S. (where Janus Films and Sideshow will release it in the fall) and France (Condor Distribution), and is on track to become one of the most...

The American French Film Festival (previously called Colcoa) is back with a bang after being canceled last year due to the WGA and SAG/AFTRA strikes.

The 28th edition of the festival will play two of the year’s most buzzed-about French movies, Jacques Audiard’s redemption thriller “Emilia Pérez” and epic adventure film “The Count of Monte Cristo.” They’re also two of the four films submitted by France’s Oscars committee for the international feature film race.

“Emilia Pérez,” which won two prizes at Cannes and played at both Telluride and Toronto, will kick off festivities on opening night, as part of a red-carpet event presented in association with Netflix on Oct. 29; and “The Count of Monte Cristo,” a sweeping three-hour period film starring Pierre Niney in the titular role, be play on closing night on Nov. 3.

A genre-defying musical thriller, “Emilia Perez” won the jury prize at...

The American French Film Festival (Tafff) is returning after last year’s Hollywood strikes hiatus and has unveiled its opening and closing films.

The 28th edition, running October 29 to November 3 in the Director’s Guild of America Theatre Complex, will open with Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez and close with The Count of Monte Cristo.

Both films are on the shortlist to be France’s submission for the Best International Feature Film, and could be in the running in other categories.

Jacques Audiard’s genre defying musical drama Emilia Pérez, about love and redemption, will be celebrated at The American French Film Festival with a gala, red-carpet Opening Night screening on October 29, presented in association with Netflix.

Written and directed by Jacques Audiard, the film world premiered at Cannes, where it earned the four actresses – Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, and Adriana Paz – a collective “Best Actress” award,...

Cannes-premiering quartet Emilia Pérez, French box office hit The Count Of Monte Cristo, Misericordia and All We Imagine as Light have made the shortlist for France’s international feature film Oscar submission.

The four films were selected by a recently revamped 11-member selection committee appointed by France’s cultural minister Rachida Dati per a recommendation from national film body Cnc, which announced the selection on Wednesday evening.

Former head of Cannes’ Critics’ Week Charles Tesson presides over the selectors, who include producers Patrick Wachsberger, David Thion and Nadim Cheikhroua, sales agents Carole Baraton of Charades and Kinology’s Gregoire Melin,...

Cannes-premiering quartet Emilia Pérez, French box office hit The Count Of Monte Cristo, Misericordia and All We Imagine as Light have made the shortlist for France’s international feature film Oscar submission.

The four films were selected by a recently revamped 11-member selection committee appointed by France’s cultural minister Rachida Dati per a recommendation from national film body Cnc, which announced the selection on Wednesday evening.

Former head of Cannes’ Critics’ Week Charles Tesson presides over the selectors, who include producers Patrick Wachsberger, David Thion and Nadim Cheikhroua, sales agents Carole Baraton of Charades and Kinology’s Gregoire Melin,...

Cannes-premiering quartet Emilia Pérez, French box office hit The Count Of Monte Cristo, Misericordia and All We Imagine as Light have made the shortlist for France’s international feature film Oscar submission.

The four films were selected by a recently revamped 11-member selection committee appointed by France’s cultural minister Rachida Dati per a recommendation from national film body Cnc, which announced the selection on Wednesday evening.

Former head of Cannes’ Critics’ Week Charles Tesson presides over the selectors, who include producers Patrick Wachsberger, David Thion and Nadim Cheikhroua, sales agents Carole Baraton of Charades and Kinology’s Gregoire Melin,...

France’s Oscar committee has shortlisted four movies, including Jacques Audiard’s redemption thriller “Emilia Perez” and “The Count of Monte Cristo,” an epic adventure film adapted from Alexandre Dumas’ classic, as well as Payal Kapadia‘s “All We Imagine as Light” and Alain Guiraudie’s “Misericordia.”

All four movies word premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. “Emilia Perez” won two major awards, the Jury Prize and a best actress nod for its ensemble female cast, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldana and Adriana Paz; while “All We Imagine as Light,” a tale of two Mumbai nurses bonding, won the Grand Prize, becoming the first Indian film in 30 years to win the award. Kapadia was also the first Indian female director to compete at Cannes. Guiraudie’s darkly comic and provocative “Misericordia” played at Cannes Premiere and recently screened at Telluride and Toronto, while “The Count of Monte Cristo,...

France has unveiled the four titles in the running to represent it in the Best International Feature Film category at the 97th Academy Awards.

They are:

All We Imagine as Light by Payal Kapadia The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre de La Patellière, Matthieu Delaporte Emilia Pérez by Jacques Audiard Misericordia by Alain Guiraudie

This year’s candidate is being decided by a restructured selection committee – featuring Venice Golden Lion winner Audrey Diwan and Oscar winners, writer, director and producer Florian Zeller and producer Patrick Wachsberger – as...

French studio Pathé has seen its marketing and programming strategy pay off with “The Count of Monte Cristo,” an epic adventure film adapted from Alexandre Dumas’ classic which struck box office gold in France during a competitive summer marked by the Olympics.

Helmed by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patellière (“The Three Musketeers”), the sweeping three-hour movie has become a proper French blockbuster, selling more than 8 million tickets locally (as of Sept. 9) and grossing over $75 million internationally with most major markets yet to open. These include the U.S where Samuel Goldwyn Films will release “The Count of Monte Cristo” in December.

The movie, produced by Dimitri Rassam’s Chapter 2 with a budget of €43 million, world premiered at the Cannes Film Festival where it earned unanimous praise with Variety’s Peter Debruge calling it a “genuine triumph” and “a stunning, emotionally satisfying adventure tale.”

Although it’s based on a classic of French literature,...

Toronto – The more you consider Nick Hamm’s “William Tell,” a gala world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, the more you realize how utterly wild it is. Set in 1307, it centers on a legendary archer, the title character (Claes Bang), and chronicles how this humble farmer in the Swiss Alps became a symbol of resistance against an evil Austrian kingdom. Like Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière’s Cannes premiere “The Count of Monte Cristo,” which was a crowd-pleaser in French cinemas this summer, it’s also a throwback to a style of big studio filmmaking that audiences haven’t experienced consistently since the ’90s.

Continue reading ‘William Tell’ Review: A Swiss Folk Hero Gets The ’90s Throwback Epic Treatment [TIFF] at The Playlist.

Horror Afraid leads the new titles at the UK and Ireland box office this weekend, launching in 450 locations for Sony.

Directed by Chris Weitz, Afraid stars John Cho and Katherine Waterston as devoted parents who get selected to try a new smart home AI device. The device quickly becomes overprotective of the family and begins interfering in their lives.

It is the latest feature from horror juggernaut Blumhouse, this year’s titles of which include Imaginary (£2m) and Night Swim (£1.4m). The film will have stiff competition from Disney’s fellow horror Alien: Romulus which was up to £8.8m at the end of last weekend.

The Count of Monte Cristo, directed by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière, made its world premiere at the 77th Cannes Film Festival, where it received a resounding 11-minute standing ovation.

Produced by Pathé Films, the same company behind the acclaimed The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan (2023), this film continues the studio’s tradition of bringing classic French literature to life with grandiosity and meticulous attention to detail. In France, the film has been both a box office success and a cultural event, celebrated for its faithful adaptation of a beloved classic.

The film follows the tragic tale of Edmond Dantès (played by Pierre Niney), a young and promising sailor who is falsely accused of treason and imprisoned in the dreaded Château d’If. After years of enduring unimaginable hardship, he escapes and reinvents himself as the mysterious and wealthy Count of Monte Cristo, bent on exacting revenge against those who betrayed him.

After missing out on sending “Anatomy of a Fall” as its official entry, the stakes are high for France’s revamped Oscar committee to avoid missing out on another opportunity to give the country its first Oscar win for best international feature in over three decades. But don’t expect the French to make the obvious choice.

On paper, Jacques Audiard’s exhilarating redemption thriller “Emilia Perez,” which won two major awards at the Cannes Film Festival along and earned rave reviews, is a shoo-in. Audiard is a revered French auteur who won a Palme d’Or with “Dheepan,” was previously nominated for a foreign-language Oscar with “A Prophet” and is well known internationally. “Emilia Perez,” which stars Karla Sofía Gascón as a fearsome drug lord who embraces his true self as a woman, struck a chord at Cannes where it earned one of this year’s longest standing ovations.

Otros de los títulos seleccionados incluyen ‘Bird’, ‘Emilia Perez’, ‘Kinds of Kindness’ y ‘The Substance’.

La Academia de Cine Europeo ha anunciado la primera selección de títulos que optan a las nominaciones de los Premios del Cine Europeo. Se han seleccionado 29 producciones y en septiembre se ampliará la lista con una nueva tanda de títulos.

En esta primera lista se encuentran tres películas españolas: Un amor, de Isabel Coixet, con siete nominaciones a los premios Goya 2024, O Corno, de Jaione Camborda, ganadora de la Concha de Oro en el Festival de San Sebastián 2023, y Volveréis, de Jonás Trueba, premio a la Mejor Película europea en la Quincena de Realizadores de Cannes.

La ceremonia de los Premios del Cine Europeo tendrá lugar el 7 de diciembre en Lucerna (Suiza). Pueden optar a los Premios del Cine Europeo los largometrajes europeos que, entre otros criterios, hayan tenido su primera proyección oficial entre el...

The first wave of titles in contention for the 2024 European Film Awards include Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds Of Kindness and Sundance award-winner Kneecap.

Cannes premieres feature predominantly in the 29 titles unveiled today (August 14), including Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Perez; Mohammad Rasoulof’s The Seed Of The Sacred Fig; Miguel Gomes’ Grand Tour; Halfdan Ullmann Tønde’s Armand and Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance – all of which picked up prizes on the Croisette.

Other films from Cannes include Andrea Arnold’s Bird; Emanuel Pârvu’s Three Kilometers To The End Of The World; The Count Of Monte-Cristo; and Magnus von Horn’s The Girl With The Needle.

The European Film Academy has revealed the first tranche of film titles that members can consider for nominations for the European Film Awards, which take place on Dec. 7 in Lucerne, Switzerland.

The academy’s selection of 29 titles covers films that had their first official screening between June 1, 2023, and May 31, 2024. Further titles will be announced in September, which will include films that had their premieres in the summer and early autumn festivals, such as Locarno and Venice.

Among the selection are Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez,” Cannes’ best actress and jury prize winner, Miguel Gomes’ “Grand Tour,” Cannes’ best director winner, Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Kinds Of Kindness,” best actor winner at Cannes, Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” jury special prize winner at Cannes, Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance,” best screenplay winner at Cannes, “Armand” by Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, the Golden Camera winner at Cannes, Matthias Glasner’s “Dying,...

Die European Film Academy hat 29 Spielfilme bekannt gegeben, die ins Rennen um eine Nominierung in den Kategorien der European Film Awards, die am 7. Dezember in Luzern verliehen werden, gehen. Weitere sollen im September folgen.

Die ersten Filme der Spielfilmauswahl für die European Film Awards stehen fest (Credit: European Film Academy)

Der Vorstand der European Film Academy hat die ersten 29 Spielfilme bekannt gegeben für eine Nominierung in den Kategorien der European Film Awards bekannt gegeben. Weitere sollen nach Efa-Angaben im September folgen.

Wie die European Film Academy heute mitteilt, waren die Filme von den Akademiemitgliedern für eine Nominierung empfohlen worden.

Den rund 5.000 Akademiemitgliedern obliegt es nun auch, die Filme zu sichten und die Nominierten in den Kategorien „Europäischer Film“, „Regie“, „Schauspielerin“, „Schauspieler“, „Drehbuch“, „Dokumentarfilm“, „European Discover“ und „Young Audience Award“ zu benennen, die am 5. November bekannt gegeben werden.

Die Gewinner werden am 7. Dezember in Luzern zusammen mit den Gewinnern der...

Cannes Competition titles The Substance, The Seed Of The Sacred Fig, and Emilia Perez are among the first set of titles recommended for nominations at this year’s European Film Awards.

Overall, 29 titles have been selected for the first stage of nominations by the European Film Academy Board. The selection includes films from 26 countries. In the coming weeks, the 5,000 members of the European Film Academy will start to vote on the selected films. The winners will be announced at the European Film Awards ceremony in Lucerne, Switzerland, on December 7.

To be eligible for a European Film Awards, films must be European feature films which, among other criteria, had their first official screening between June 1, 2023 and May 31, 2024 and have a European director. The rule book states that should a film director not be European, exceptions can be made if the filmmaker is “provided they have a European refugee or similar status...

Bookworm

This year's Fantasia international Film Festival came to a close on Sunday night after a bumper year, with record attendance and more sold out screenings than at any time since before the Covid pandemic began. Full details of its Audience Awards have now been released, with Ant Timpson's Bookworm, starring Nell Fisher and Elijah Wood, named Best international Feature.

Next year's festival will be held between 17 July and 3 August.

Those awards in full:

Best International Feature Gold: Bookworm Silver: The Count Of Monte Cristo Bronze: Rats!

Best Asian Feature Gold: A Samurai In Time Silver: Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In Bronze: Penalty Loop

Best Animated Feature Gold: Ghost Cat Anzu Silver: [film id=44072]The...

Frankreichs Kinosommer brummt: Mit 18,71 Millionen verkauften Tickets erzielte die Branche dort das beste Juli-Ergebnis seit 2011. Erfolgreichster Titel des Monats ist „Le Comte de Monte-Cristo“.

„Le Comte de Monte-Cristo“ (Credit: Pathé)

Im Juli 2024 wurden 18,71 Millionen Tickets an den französischen Kinokassen verkauft. Mit diesem Ergebnis erzielte das Nachbarland das beste Juli-Ergebnis seit 2011. Diese Zahlen meldet das Cnc – Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée. Profitiert habe der Juli vom Erfolg des Fête du cinéma, das vom 30. Juni bis 3. Juli lief und einen mit 4,55 Millionen Eintritten einen Rekord verbuchte. Erfolgreichster Film im Juli ist die am 28. Juni gestartete französische Produktion „Le Comte de Monte-Cristo“ (Pathé) mit vier Millionen Tickets im Juli bei einer Gesamtbesuchszahl von 5,2 Millionen. Der Film der Hit-Macher Matthieu Delaporte & Alexandre de la Patellièr feierte seine Weltpremiere außer Konkurrenz in Cannes, wo er 13 Minuten stehende Ovationen erhielt.

Die Plätze zwei, drei und vier der Juli-Top-Five werden von amerikanischen Hits...

The Count Of Monte Cristo Photo: Fantasia International Film Festival

Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre De La Patellière's new take on The Count Of Monte Cristo has won the coveted Cheval Noir at the 2024 Fantasia International Film Festival, with the jury praising its simplicity and the ingenuity of the filmmakers working on a low budget. Also among the night's success stories was Argentinean drama Electrophilia, which got a special mention from them "for its daring psycho-sexual exploration of the archetypal bond between women and 10-gigawatt lightning bolts, and its pump-fake superhero origin story of a veterinarian who gains the powers of a cow," and saw star Mariana Di Girolamo take the Outstanding Performance Award.

Japanese thriller Penalty Loop won in the editing and music categories, while the country also scored in animation, with Kenji Nakamura's Mononoke The Movie: The Phantom In The Rain receiving the Satoshi Kon Award.

Those...

French epic The Count Of Monte-Cristo has won the Cheval Noir award for best film at this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival.

The Canadian genre festival’s top prize was bestowed on directors Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre De La Patelliere at Fantasia’s jury awards ceremony on Saturday (July 27), in the middle of the festival’s July 18-Aug 4 run.

The ceremony, at Montreal’s Cinéma du Musée, was hosted by Fantasia’s artistic director and director of international programming Mitch Davis.

The Count Of Monte-Cristo, the latest screen version of Alexandre Dumas’ literary classic, made its debut out of...

While watching the latest take on Alexandre Dumas’ literary classic, this time by directors Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte (who just adapted Dumas’ The Three Musketeers in 2023), I wondered if I was enjoying myself for the wrong reasons. With a high budget (making it the most-expensive French film of 2024), a starry cast, and all the grandeur of a full-blown cinematic epic, The Count of Monte Cristo is big, blockbuster filmmaking of the French kind. And while these large-scale productions typically get the life taken from them by committee in Hollywood, this film’s stone-faced commitment to executing such silly spectacle makes for an uneven, mostly good time.

Directors de La Patellière and Delaporte, who also wrote the screenplay, keep the general story largely the same, with various tweaks to characters and subplots that streamline the narrative (even its nearly three-hour runtime wouldn’t be enough to cover the...

Disaster Documentaries

Content creation and distribution company BossaNova has sold two documentaries to Channel 4 in the U.K. The deals, brokered by Channel 4 acquisitions executive Felix Jones and BossaNova head of sales Holly Cowdery, feature shows from ITN Productions and BriteSpark Films.

ITN’s “MH17: The Plane Crash that Shook the World” marks the 10th anniversary of the Malaysian Airlines tragedy. The one-hour special includes interviews with victims’ families, journalist Matt Frei, and prosecutor Digna van Boetzelaer. It explores the incident’s impact on Ukraine’s war readiness and international relations. BriteSpark’s two-part series “Tsunami, The Day The Wave Hit” chronicles the 2004 Indian Ocean disaster. Using firsthand accounts and archival footage, it details the immediate aftermath and long-term consequences of the event that claimed nearly 230,000 lives.

BBC Breadth

The Beeb’s international audience remains robust, hitting 450 million weekly viewers in 2024, according to its latest Global Audience Measurement.

The Fantasia Film Festival is facing union strike action as the 24th edition of North America’s largest genre festival gets set to open on July 18 with a world premiere for Elijah Wood’s Bookworm and later an international premiere for The Count of Monte Cristo.

The Fantasia union, aligned with the Syndicat des employé-es de l’événementiel-csn, signed their first collective agreement in Sept. 2023, just after the film festival’s 2023 edition. But efforts to establish a minimum wage for around 60 unionized Fantasia employees have yet to reach agreement at the bargaining table.

So organizers with the Syndicat des employé-es de l’événementiel–Csn held a 24-hour strike on July 11 in front of the Fantasia headquarters on Maisonneuve West in Montreal, and additional pickets lines are threatened next week.

The three week genre fest is set to open with a world premiere for Bookworm, the Elijah Wood and Nell Fisher...

While Hollywood has been exploiting comic books and YA novels as intellectual property for a long time, French cinema has only recently begun to feed its wealth of 19th century novels into the content machine, churning big-budget epics out of classic books in the public domain.

Last year, a two-part version of Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers hit local screens, raking in $45 million off a combined $80 million budget for both films. Directed by Martin Bourboulon and featuring a who’s who of Gallic stars, including Vincent Cassel, Eva Green, Romain Duris and Louis Garrel, the Musketeers movies were marked by nonstop action and relentless storytelling tailor-made for the streaming age.

Both films were written by the duo of Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patellière, who previously helmed a series of hit comedies (Daddy or Mommy, Divorce French Style, What’s in a Name?) with a fast-paced Hollywood edge to them.

Im Rahmen der 39. Ausgabe der Fête du Cinéma gab es in den teilnehmenden Kinos in Frankreichvon 30. Juni bis 3. Juli Filme zum Einheitspreis von fünf Euro zu sehen. Der Besucherandrang war so groß wie nie zuvor.

Auch bei der Fête du Cinéma ein Besuchermagnet: „Alles steht Kopf 2“ (Credits: © 2023 Disney/Pixar)

Mit 4,65 Mio. gelösten Tickets war der Besucherandrang bei der 39. Ausgabe der Fête du Cinéma nach Angaben der Fédération Nationale des Cinémas Francais (Fncf) so groß wie nie zuvor. Laut Fncf entspricht dies einem Plus von 50 Prozent im Vergleich zum Vorjahr. Im Rahmen der Fête du Cinéma gab es von 30. Juni bis 3. Juli in den teilnehmenden Kinos Filme zum Einheitspreis von fünf Euro zu sehen.

Zu Beginn der Fête du Cinéma wurden allein am 30. Juni 1,45 Mio. Besucher gezählt, was der größte Kinobesucherzahl an einem Tag seit 2019 und der höchsten Tagesbesucherzahl bei der Fête du Cinéma seit 20 Jahren entspricht. Am 1. Juli wurden 800.000 Besucher gezählt,...

The 39th edition of France’s reduced-price movie ticket scheme, La Fête du Cinéma, has blasted through all previous records with 4.65 million admissions across the four-day event. The promotion sees movie tickets discounted to 5 euros each for all showings in participating cinemas (excluding premiums for 3D and other special screenings).

French exhibition org, the National Cinema Federation (Fncf), reports that attendance this year reps a 50% increase over 2023’s edition as well as versus those of the three years preceding Covid.

The Fête du Cinéma ran for four days — from June 30-July 3 this year — the format it adopted in 2012.

The top films across the period — and despite distractions from tense elections and football — were Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out 2, which, through Tuesday, has grossed $26.9 million in the market...

Zeki Demirkubuz’s “Life” was awarded the Golden Bee for best feature film at the second edition of the Mediterrane Film Festival.

Mahdi Fleifel’s Directors’ Fortnight breakout “To a Land Unknown” took the Jury’s Choice prize, while Brandt Andersen’s “The Stranger’s Case” won Golden Bees for Best Director for Andersen and Best Acting for Yasmine Al-Massri.

The awards were handed out at a glitzy ceremony at the grand Fort Manoel in the Maltese capital of Valletta, which served as a location for “Game of Thrones” and “Assassin’s Creed.” BAFTA-winning British filmmaker Mike Leigh was honored with the festival’s Career Achievement Award after giving an extended career talk earlier at the festival with Maltese veteran production coordinator Rita Galea (“World War Z”) receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award.

This year’s jury was headed by Scottish filmmaker Jon S. Baird (“Tetris”) and featured casting director Margery Simkin,...

The Mediterrane Film Festival kickstarted its second edition with the international premiere of Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte’s “The Count of Monte Cristo.”

The film, shown at the heart of Malta’s capital of Valletta on Saturday night, was followed by a reception at the historic Mdina Ditch Gardens, in which Malta Film Commissioner Johann Grech highlighted the importance of the festival as an event to “unite the nations of the Mediterranean through film.”

The sentiment echoes this year’s festival theme of Unity Through Film, with Grech adding that he hopes the festival will bring nations together to “share stories that celebrate not only our diversity but also our shared outlook.” The film commissioner emphasised the success of the festival’s first edition, claiming the return to the local economy “far exceeded our investment, showing once again what a force for good film is in our country.

The Mediterrane Film Festival announced its complete program ahead of its second edition, taking place in Malta’s capital of Valetta from June 22-30. New titles selected include recent Cannes highlights in Coralie Fargeat’s Demi Moore-led body horror “The Substance” and Roberto Minvervini’s “The Damned,” which join previously announced films like Yorgos Lanthimos’s “Kinds of Kindness” and Jane Schoenbrun’s “I Saw The TV Glow.”

Further program additions include Mahdi Fleifel’s Directors’ Fortnight standout “To a Land Unknown,” which Variety labeled “a confident, angry, fully-realized drama,” and Truong Minh Quy’s Un Certain Regard breakout “Viet and Nam.” An extended version of the Malta-shot “Jurassic World: Dominion” will play as part of the Malta Expanded strand, while on the retrospective end of the program, the festival will honor David Bowie with screenings of Nicolas Roeg’s “The Man Who Fell to Earth” and Lisa Azuelos’s “My Way,...

The Mediterrane Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for its second edition (June 22-30), with Cannes premiere The Count Of Monte Cristo set to open the event.

Scroll down for the full line-up

Directed by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière, the film is among seven titles in the out of competition strand, which also includes Jane Schoenbrun’s Sundance title I Saw The TV Glow and Tarsem Singh’s Dear Jassi.

The 15-strong competition section features Cannes competition titles Kinds Of Kindness and The Substance, and Berlin premiere The Strangers case starring Omar Sy,

Seven films compete in the environment-themed Mare Nostrum section,...

Malta’s Mediterrane Film Festival has set the full competition and industry lineup for its second edition, which runs June 22 to 30 in the country’s capital, Valletta.

The programme includes 15 films in competition, seven out-of-competition, and seven films competing in the environment-themed Mare Nostrum section, topped up by 14 immersive projects.

Select competition titles include Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest Kinds of Kindness, Coralie Fargeat’s body horror The Substance, and The Damned by Italian filmmaker Roberto Minvervini. All three films debuted at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Scroll down to see the full lineup. Deadpool and Terminator: Dark Fate director Tim Miller will serve on the competition jury.

The festival has also set its industry lineup, featuring a series of masterclass sessions. Speakers include editor Yorgos Mavropsaridis, production designer Nathan Crowley, casting director Margery Simkin, and composer Simon Franglen...

Last year, in bold defiance of post-pandemic doomsayers, French distributor Pathé doubled down on its commitment to the big-screen experience with its extravagant, no-expense-spared adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ “The Three Musketeers” — a starry two-part tentpole that featured dynamic single-take swashbuckling sequences and a delectably wicked turn from Eva Green. As theatrical events go, it was fun, if not especially faithful to the book, demonstrating that the French could rival the Americans in showmanship.

This year, by way of an encore, Pathé delivered a sweeping three-hour retelling of Dumas’ crowning achievement, “The Count of Monte Cristo,” at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. Whereas “Megalopolis” and “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” swallowed up much of the oxygen at Cannes, “Count” premiered with far less fanfare but felt like a genuine triumph: a stunning, emotionally satisfying adventure tale, built on rock-solid source material. Compared to earlier adaptations (including an overlong miniseries with Gérard Depardieu...