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Pulsar Content has nabbed worldwide sales on “Two Women,” a Canadian sexy comedy which is slated to world premiere at Sundance.

Directed by Chloé Robichaud, “Two Women” is written by critically acclaimed playwright Catherine Léger based on her own play, “Home Deliveries,” which is itself a modern adaptation of Claude Fournier’s 1970 comedy “Two Women In Gold.”

“Two Women” follows neighbors Violette and Florence who are haunted by a sense of failure despite having successful careers and families. “What if happiness lies in rebelling against a rigid performance-driven society by sometimes choosing short-term satisfaction over success, freedom over being good? In a world where having fun is nowhere near the top of the priority list, having an adventure with the delivery guy can become revolutionary. For Violette and Florence this is the breath of fresh air they’ve been longing for,” reads the synopsis.

The cast is lead by Karine Gonthier-Hyndman,...

French-Canadian filmmaker Anne Émond has begun production into her first foray into English-language cinema (we imagine that this will be a bilingual film) with Adam fka Peak Everything – which has Patrick Hivon (Monia Chokri’s Babysitter) and Piper Perabo toplining. Also onboard in terms of supporting players we find Gilles Renaud, Elizabeth Mageren, Éric K. Boulianne, Connor Jessup and Gord Rand. Metafilms’ Sylvain Corbeil and Immina Films are producing. Production will take place in Montreal and in Ontario. Émond exploded onto the scene with Nuit #1 in 2011 and has stuck to mostly drama formats.

This is about Adam (45) owns a kennel.…...

Ariane Louis-Seize‘s Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (winner of the Director’s Award at Giornate degli Autori section in Venice Film Festival last year) leads all nominations at the Prix Iris (aka Quebec Oscars) with a total of twenty-two including Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best First Film, and seven acting nominations however it’s fiercest competition might come from Simple comme Sylvain by Monia Chokri which premiered at last year’s Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section. Also known as “The Nature of Love,” Chokri’s third feature received fourteen nominations in all with Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Director, and four acting nominations.…...

French filmmaker Anna Cazenave Cambet was setting up shop for her sophomore feature with Vicky Krieps and Antoine Reinartz (Anatomy of a Fall fame) in the early mix. Now we learned that production has began with filmmaker-actress Monia Chokri and Ji-Min Park (lead in Return to Seoul) joining the top billing. Cambet’s Love Me Tender is an adaptation of the 2020 novel by Constance Debré — essentially this is the story of the writer as she loses custody of her son and her concept of love is shaken. the catch here is that the mother who leaves her past behind discovers her homosexuality at the age of 40.…...

Exclusive: Pulsar Content has acquired world sales rights for Joséphine Japy’s upcoming feature The Wonderers following a family navigating the severe disability of the youngest daughter.

Produced by Cowboys Films, the feature marks Japy’s first time in the director’s chair.

The actress was recently seen in Netflix’s BAFTA-winning fictionalized Bernard Tapie biopic Class Act, with previous credits including On The Wandering Paths, Love At Second Sight, Breathe, as well as Claude François biopic My Way, early on in her career.

Set against the backdrop of a summer on the French riviera, the drama revolves around the Roussier family and its fragile equilibrium shaped by the uncertain diagnosis of its youngest daughter, 13-year-old Bertille, who suffers from a severe disability.

Her parents and 17-year-old older sister Marion live in constant fear of losing her. Disconnected from typical teenage dreams, Marion seeks escape in a relationship with an older boy.

Music Box Films has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Carson Lund’s comedy drama “Eephus,” which premiered in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight. The film was recently announced as an Official Selection of New York Film Festival, where it will have its North American premiere.

Music Box plans for a theatrical release nationwide followed by home entertainment. London- and Paris-based sales and production house Film Constellation handles worldwide sales and negotiated the deal on behalf of the filmmakers.

“Eephus” is set on a small-town New England baseball field called Soldiers Field. As an imminent construction project looms over their beloved baseball field, a pair of Sunday league teams face off for the last time over the course of a day. Tensions flare up and ceremonial laughs are shared as an era of camaraderie and escapism fades into an uncertain future.

Variety highlighted “Eephus” as one of the must-see films of the...

Filmmaker Monia Chokri loves a zoom lens. Such is the fun aesthetic of her third feature The Nature of Love. Often the image jumps forwards or backwards, accenting an emotional moment with a punchy, visual exclamation point. It shouldn’t work, yet it does. The film stars Magalie Lépine Blondeau as Sophia, a 40-year-old professor in a comfortable marriage to Xavier (Francis-William Rhéaume). “Not unhappy,” she describes herself at one point. Early on, Sophia is intrigued and quickly entranced by Sylvain (Pierre-Yves Cardinal), the craftsperson renovating Sophia and Xavier’s country home. The affair is immediately sexy, exciting, and passionate.

Cinematographer André Turpin’s camera matches the excitement. When things are turbulent––be they good or bad––the camera gets a bit impatient. When things are stale, the camera gets a bit complacent. Consider one of the best moments of the film: Sylvain’s seductive introduction. The camera runs slowly down a corridor,...

The task of crafting an intellectual definition of love — a feeling so indescribable and transcendent that empires have crumbled and countless lives have blown up just because humans craved a little more of it — is, by definition, an impossible task. It’s a feeling that inspires so much art because it can’t be explained or rationalized away. At its best, it’s so overpowering that even the smartest among us have no choice but to suspend their need to analyze and accept that they’ve fallen prey to an emotion better summarized by a three-minute pop song than anything in a textbook.

But the impossibility of the assignment hasn’t stopped the great thinkers of every generation from trying. From ancient Greek philosophers who argued that love couldn’t be separated from unfulfilled sexual desire and obsession to more modern interpretations that see it as a state of being...

Gory Hindi action film Kill opens on 827 screens via Roadside Attractions this weekend. It’s the distributor’s first foray into Indian film, which is having another moment after two pics hit the top 10 in North America last week. This is a crowded theatrical market with wide releases piling in and some high-profile indie holdovers. New indie debuts include Mother Couch and The Nature of Love in NYC.

Kill isn’t traditional Bollywood, shorter at an hour forty five minutes and without song and dance numbers in between the action. It debuted at the Toronto Film Festival’s Midnight Madness section, also screening at Fantastic Fest, Beyond Fest and last month at Tribeca.

The R-rated film is being marketed to the reliable Indian diaspora — Roadside marketed the film heavily at the Cricket T20 World Cup held in the U.S. for first time in June, and won by India — but...

In a creative output that saw her add a harvest of three feature films in the last five years, after 2019’s A Brother’s Love and 2022’a Babysitter we now find Monia Chokri celebrating lightning in a bottle attraction, longing, and what it looks like when we rationalize surrendering to our emotions and abandoning our safeguards. Her third oeuvre Simple comme Sylvain (aka The Nature of Love) has ties to her astounding debut short Quelqu’un d’extraordinaire (2013) where actress Magalie Lépine-Blondeau began as perhaps Chokri’s creative muse. Sporting autumn browns and on one occasion wearing dish gloves, here Lépine-Blondeau steps into the character of Sophia, a 40-year-old philosophy professor who finds herself well beyond the seven-year itch, as her world is thrown into chaos, leaving her to ponder, “should I stay or should I go?”…...

Heart in the Right Place: Chokri Lets the Body & the Camera Do the Talking in Rom Dramedy

French Canadian filmmaker Monia Chokri adds another notch to the bedpost focusing on the romantic relationships we begin and the romantic relationships we begin to … ponder. If fellow 514 filmmaker Denys Arcand had a knack for philosophizing what makes opposites attract, with Simple Comme Sylvain we get into complex hierarchies about our role within the couple, the roles that are assigned to us and our active role-playing of sorts — dog leash et al. Working with more of a formal visual strategy that actually reminds of 70s and giallo cinema, Chokri’s tendency to overstuff the narrative with a lot of dialogue and discord as in her first two features (2019’s A Brother’s Love and 2022’s Babysitter) is replaced by more introspection, nuance and fluff.…...

Monia Chokri’s 2023 film The Nature of Love offers insight into humanity’s most complex emotion. Set in Montreal, it centers on Sophia, a university philosophy teacher played brilliantly by Magalie Lépine-Blondeau. For a decade, she’s been with her partner, Xavier, but their relationship has lost its spark. This changes when rugged contractor Sylvain, portrayed with charm by Pierre-Yves Cardinal, is hired to renovate Sophia’s country home. Their connection is electric, sweeping Sophia into a passionate affair behind Xavier’s back.

As a philosophy professor, Sophia is well-versed in the theories of love put forth by great thinkers. Yet finding herself irresistibly drawn to Sylvain exposes how imperfectly her intellect aligns with her heart. Chokri explores how even the most well-read among us can struggle to understand love in practice.

She depicts Sophia swept up in irrational desire, grappling with conflicting emotions as passion for Sylvain collides with loyalty to Xavier.

A middle-aged woman’s has a giddy fling in Monia Chokri’s latest film – at first all is roses, but then moral murkiness creeps in

Middle-aged women enjoying torrid flings were treated with solemnity in Claire Denis’s Both Sides of the Blade and Harry Wootliff’s True Things. The Québécois actor-director Monia Chokri takes a gentler, livelier tack in her third movie and first as solo screenwriter. It kicks off at a choppily edited dinner-party where a gaggle of erudite pals are bantering about the end of the world (“We’re in extinction denial”), then narrows the focus to one couple. Sophia (Magalie Lépine-Blondeau), a philosophy professor whose lectures amount to little more than listing quotes about love from the likes of Schopenhauer, Spinoza and Plato, is a decade into her cosy, unchallenging relationship with Xavier (Francis-William Rhéaume). Hiring the rugged labourer Sylvain (Pierre-Yves Cardinal) to spruce up her holiday chalet,...

The premise of writer-director Monia Chokri’s Quebec-set The Nature of Love makes it sound like your standard-issue rom-com. Sophia (Magalie Lépine-Blondeau), a university philosophy teacher stuck in a static relationship with Xavier (Francis-William Rhéaume), is one day suddenly swept off her feet by Sylvain (Pierre-Yves Cardinal), the hunky, charming contractor tasked with renovating Sophia and Xavier’s lakeside getaway.

But after scenes depicting Sophia lecturing her classes about history’s great thinkers and their philosophies of love, it becomes clear that Chokri isn’t so much interested in the central couple’s meet-cute as she is in all that the affair triggers for Sophia. And much like what Todd Haynes’s Far from Heaven did with the aesthetic of the Sirkian Hollywood melodrama, The Nature of Love engages with the stylings and bubbly tonality of the classic rom-com in ironic fashion, along the way exploring complex aspects of human behavior.

Music Box Films has bought domestic rights to “In the Summers,” a coming-of-age tale from writer-director Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio which won Sundance’s grand jury prize and directing award in the U.S. dramatic competition.

A directorial debut, “In the Summers” tells the story of two daughters navigating a turbulent but loving father during yearly visits to his home in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The Latin-American family portrait is headlined by Grammy Award-winning Puerto Rican rapper, songwriter, and actor René Pérez Joglar (known in the music industry as Residente), who plays the divorced father, while the two siblings, Violeta and Eva, are played at different ages by several rising actors, including Sasha Calle (“The Flash”) and Lío Mehiel (“Mutt”). The cast is completed by Leslie Grace (“In the Heights”) and Emma Ramos (“New Amsterdam”).

The critically lauded movie will have its New York premiere in June at the Tribeca Film Festival,...

"I'm too romantic. Love should be simple." Music Box Films has revealed an official US trailer for an indie romantic comedy called The Nature of Love from Quebec. This French-language Canadian comedy first premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival last year, and is just now getting a summer debut in limited US theaters. The original title is Simple comme Sylvain in French, or Simple as Sylvain, referring to the man she falls for in this film. Sophia's life is turned upside down when she meets Sylvain. She's from a wealthy family, while Sylvain comes from a large family of manual workers. Sophia questions her own values after abandoning herself to her great romantic impulses – she enjoys sleeping with Sylvain much more following 10 years of marriage and can't stop. So what comes next for her? Starring Magalie Lépine-Blondeau as Sophia and Pierre-Yves Cardinal as Sylvain, plus Monia Chokri, Francis-William Rhéaume,...

“The Nature of Love,” Monia Chokri’s sexy romantic comedy that beat Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” in the best foreign-language film race at this year’s Cesar Awards, has been acquired by Music Box Films for the U.S.

“The Nature of Love” world premiered at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard to strong reviews, followed by a North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Chokri’s film stars Magalie Lépine-Blondeau and Pierre-Yves Cardinal. Music Box Films will open “The Nature of Love” in theaters this summer with a home entertainment release to follow. The film is produced by Metafilms and co-produced by Mk Productions.

“The Nature of Love” follows 40-year-old philosophy professor Sophia, who abandons her stable and conventional marriage for a passionate affair with Sylvian, a craftsman renovating her country house. Their romantic impulses are complicated by intellectual and social differences.

“Monia Chokri takes a familiar romantic comedy...

Last year’s Un Certain Regard section had a treasure trove of highlights in Kamal Lazraq’s Hounds, Rodrigo Moreno’s Los Delincuentes, Asmae El Moudir’s The Mother of All Lies, Monia Chokri’s Simple comme Sylvain and Felipe Gálvez’s The Settlers and Un Certain Regard section winner in Molly Manning Walker’s How to Have Sexhas been playing like gangbusters on the festival and awards circuit. This year should offer some more national cinema gems.

À son image –...

Steve Buscemi’s “The Listener” is heading to the Sarasota Film Festival.

The 26th edition of the Florida fest will feature live and in-person screenings and events that will take place across Sarasota beginning on April 5. The 10-day fest will feature 23 narrative features, 41 documentary features and 81 short films.

Buscemi will be in Sarasota to participate in a Q&a following the screening of “The Listener,” which will serve as the closing night film. About a crisis hotline worker enduring the pressures of her job, the film starring Tessa Thompson made its world premiere at Venice Film Festival in 2022.

Lynn Dow’s “Bull Street,” starring Loretta Devine and Amy Madigan, will open the fest on April 5. The drama centers on a South Carolina small-town lawyer (Malynda Hale) as she faces local politics and an unwavering judge (Madigan) when her estranged father’s family tries to evict her and her grandmother (Devine) from her home.

The César Awards are always the biggest night of the year for French cinema, but the massive award season impact of “Anatomy of a Fall” ensured that this year’s event took on additional importance for Oscar watchers around the globe. When the 49th César Awards took place in Paris on Friday night, all eyes were on Justine Triet and her Palme d’Or-winning film.

Predictably, “Anatomy of a Fall” swept many of the night’s biggest categories. In addition to winning the top prize of Best Film, Triet was honored with Best Director and shared Best Screenplay with her partner Arthur Harari. Stars Sandra Hüller and Swann Arlaud also won Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor, respectively.

The night’s other big winner was Thomas Cailley’s “The Animal Kingdom,” which won awards for Cinematography, Visual Effects, Costume Design, and Sound.

Keep reading for a complete list of winners from the 2024 César Awards.

The 49th Cesar Awards, France’s top film honors, have been handed out in Paris, with Justine Triet‘s Oscar contender Anatomy of a Fall emerging as the big winner.

The French courtroom drama — which is competing at the Oscars in five categories — earned the best film prize, best actress for Sandra Hüller, best director for Triet, best original screenplay shared between Triet and co-writer Arthur Harari, and Swann Arlaud took home the best supporting actor trophy.

Hüller won in the best actress category over Oscar winner Marion Cotillard, nominated for Little Girl Blue; Lea Drucker, up for Last Summer; Hafsia Herzi, nominated for The Rapture; and Belgian actress Virginie Efira, nominated for her work in Just the Two of Us.

The other big winner on the night was The Animal Kingdom, French director Thomas Cailley’s follow-up to 2014’s Love at First Fight. Cailley picked up the best cinematography...

Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall won Best Film and Best Director at the 49th edition of the French César awards Friday.

Triet is only the second women to clinch the Best Director prize in the near 50-year history of the César Awards, after Tonie Marshall for Venus Beauty in 1976.

The director took to the stage with her producers Marie-Ange Luciani at Les Films de Pierre and David Thion at Les Films Pelléas.

Luciani suggested the Best Film honor, which is voted on by the some 4,600 members of the César Academy, was a sign of solidarity for the film and Triet in the light of her controversial Cannes d’Or acceptance speech which provoked a political backlash after she criticized the attitude of Emmanuel Macron’s government towards culture and cinema.

“After Justine’s speech in Cannes and the lively debate she provoked we’d like to say this...

Christopher Nolan touched down in Paris on Friday evening to receive an honorary César award at the 49th edition of France’s top film awards.

In attendance with producer and wife Emma Thomas, the Paris trip comes in the final days of the front-running Academy Award campaign for Oppenheimer, which is nominated in 13 categories.

Oscar-winning actress Marion Cotillard, who appeared in Nolan’s Inception and Dark Knight Rises, presented the director with the award.

“The magic of cinema is made by magicians and we have the honor of having the biggest magician of the 7th art with us this evening,” said the actress, also paying tribute to Thomas for enabling Nolan to work in complete creative freedom.

Nolan has a strong following in France. Inception sold 5M tickets there to gross close to $40M, whileemade around $20m at the box office.

The Oscar-winning director said the country had a special...

Justine Triet became the second female filmmaker in the Cesar Award’s 49-year history to win the best director trophy for “Anatomy of a Fall,” which also won best film, original screenplay, actress for Sandra Huller, supporting actor for Swann Arlaud and editing at the French film industry’s big night. Thomas Cailley’s supernatural drama “The Animal Kingdom” also dominated the race, picking up a raft of prizes, including cinematography, costumes, visual effects and music. The ceremony unfolded at the Olympia Theater in Paris on Friday evening and aired lived on Canal+.

Triet’s movie, which is vying for five Oscars, stars Hüller as a novelist who is put on trial following the mysterious death of her husband at their remote chalet. The movie is produced by Marie-Ange Luciani at Les Films de Pierre and David Thion at Les Films Pelleas.

Triet dedicated her best film award to all women,...

Anatomy of a Fall French producer Marie-Ange Luciani put in a flying appearance at the Berlinale this week with Claire Burger’s coming-of-age drama Langue Étrangère which received a warm reception in competition.

With the Berlin premiere taking place the day after the Baftas in London (where Anatomy of a Fall won Best Screenplay) and eight days before the January 27 voting deadline for this year’s Academy Awards, Luciani was also in the thick of the awards campaign.

She co-produced the Oscar hopeful with David Thion at Les Films Pelléas under the banner of her Paris-based banner Les Films de Pierre, the company created by Yves Saint Laurent’s long-time business and life partner Pierre Bergé which she acquired on his death in 2018.

New production Langue Étrangère is a bittersweet coming-of-age tale starring Lilith Grasmug as French teenager Fanny who travels to Germany on language exchange trip. Her German counterpart...

Thomas Cailley’s fantasy drama The Animal Kingdom topped the nominations for France’s César Awards, which were announced in Paris on Wednesday.

The drama picked up 12 nominations with Justine Triet’s Oscar hopeful Anatomy Of A Fall coming in second with 11 nominations, followed by Jeanne Herry’s All Your Faces, which nine, and The Goldman Case, with eight.

Set in a world where human beings start transmuting into animals, The Animal Kingdom world premiered as the opening film of Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2023 and went on to make $8.5M at the box office last fall.

The Animal Kingdom and Anatomy of a Fall are competing in eight categories spanning Best Film, Director, Original Screenplay, Male Revelation, Editing, Sound, Cinematography and Production Design.

The high nomination count for Herry’s ensemble drama All Your Faces was thanks to the fact it dominated the Supporting Actress category with separate nominations for cast members Leila Bekhti,...

The early autumn slump has been reversed.

France’s box office bounced back in November following a downturn in September and October with 15.1 million ticket sales, a total gross of €108.8m based on an average ticket price of €7.2.

However, admissions were still down 19.6% from the pre-pandemic 2017-2019 average for the month.

It was enough to assure solid annual figures to date with ticket sales hitting upwards of 162.8 million admissions (€1.17bn), above 2022’s full year 152 million admissions but below the 2017-2019 pre-pandemic average of 208 million tickets per year. Estimates suggest 2023 will reach between 180-190 million.

The upswing comes after an abysmal...

Festival has programmed 75 films from 36 countries.

The Marrakech International Film Festival has unveiled the full line-up for its 20th edition, which runs from November 24-December 2.

The festival is opening with Richard Linklater’s action comedy Hit Man, starring Glen Powell, and is screening 75 films in total from 36 countries.

Marrakech’s official competition, which comprises first and second feature films, includes Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s Cannes Competition title Banel & Adama, Lina Soualem’s Venice Giornate degli Autori documentary Bye Bye Tiberias and Moroccan director Kamal Lazraq’s feature debut Hounds, which premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes.

Scroll down for full line-up

Johnny Barrington,...

Richard Linklater’s action comedy “Hit Man” is set to open the Marrakech International Film Festival, which has announced its lineup of more than 70 films mixing known titles and fresh fare.

The fest is forging ahead with its 20th edition, which will run Nov. 24- Dec.2 in the ancient Moroccan city despite the Israel-Hamas conflict that has caused cancellations of several other fests in the region, as well as the earthquake that hit the country in September.

“Hit Man,” for which organizers declined to specify whether talent will attend, will screen as part of Marrakech’s red carpet gala screenings. Italian director Matteo Garrone is expected to make the trek for the gala of his Venice prizewinning immigration drama “Io Capitano” and Michel Franco will be coming to present another Venice prizewinner, “Memory,” starring Jessica Chastain, who is presiding over the fest’s main jury.

Also expected on hand for...

The 20th edition of the Marrakech International Film Festival has announced its selection, opening with Richard Linklater’s comedy Hit Man.

The event, running from November 24 to December 24, will unfold two months after the devastating earthquake in the nearby Atlas Mountains in September, which killed more than 2,000 people.

The management team has decided to push on with the event to support Marrakech, which suffered very little damage and relies heavily on tourism for its livelihood.

Hit Man will play as part of the festival’s six picture red carpet Gala selection which also includes Matteo Garrone’s Italian Oscar entry Me Captain and Michel Franco’s Memory.

Previously announced high-profile guests due to attend this year include Martin Scorsese, who will act as a mentor to emerging filmmakers attending the industry-focused Atlas Workshops, and Jessica Chastain as president of the jury.

She will be joined by Iranian actress and director Zar Amir,...

Monia Chokri’s “The Nature of Love” has been acquired for U.K. and Ireland distribution by Vertigo Releasing.

The film stars Magalie Lépine Blondeau and Pierre-Yves Cardinal. In the film, the cosy married life of lecturer and intellectual Sophia (Blondeau) takes a bold new turn when she meets Sylvain (Cardinal), the ruggedly charming handyman at her new chalet and she embarks on a steamy and all-consuming affair.

“The Nature of Love” premiered at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard strand earlier this year and since then has played Toronto and Zurich among other festivals. It has its U.K. premiere at the BFI London Film Festival on Oct. 13 and will play Chicago post that.

“Female mid-life crises are not explored in this mode of storytelling as often their male counterpart: While the tragedy of the woman who f—s around and finds out is a mainstay of plenty of great literature and cinema,...

The German festival posted its biggest ever audience in 2023.

Filmfest Hamburg came to a close on October 7 with an awards ceremony that saw the Cicae’s arthouse cinema award presented to UK filmmaker Molly Manning Walker’s directorial debut How To Have Sex which premiered in Un Certain Regard in Cannes in May

The cash prize €5,000 is provided by Hamburg’s local film fund Moin to be spent on the film’s PR campaign by its German distributor capelight pictures which will release the film in German cinemas on December 7.

The €5,000 Ndr young talent award, sponsored by local public broadcaster Ndr,...

Toronto: “Humanist Vampire,” “Solo” Heat Up Market for Toronto’s Quebec Feature Slate

By Jennie Punter

Toronto has long been a go-to place for Quebec filmmakers to launch new work, connect directly to the U.S. marketplace and, by extension, propel their careers to the next level — Denis Villeneuve, Phillippe Falardeau and Jean-Marc Vallée, for example, premiered most of their early films here.

Many of this year’s bumper crop of mostly world-premiering Quebec titles explore less familiar corners of society — First Peoples and newcomer stories, the drag scene — and there are also fresh takes on romantic dramedy (Monia Chokri’s “The Nature of Love”), true-story-inspired WWII drama (Louise Archambault’s “Irena’s Vow”) and horror comedy.

Five of the festival’s eight Quebec features are directed by women. Sophie Dupuis, whose third film, the drag-scene character study “Solo,” told Variety that support from government funding agencies Telefilm and Sodec (Quebec...

Pakistani Canadian filmmaker Anam Abbas has won the Canadian Media Producers Assn.’s 2023 Kevin Tierney Emerging Producer Award, it was announced Sept. 7 at the Indiescreen Awards, the opening event of the Toronto International Film Festival’s industry conference at Glenn Gould Studios.

Abbas’ latest feature is writer and director Zarrar Kahn’s feature debut “In Flames,” a Pakistani Canadian horror-drama about a Karachi woman and her mother who are beset by malevolent figures from their past after the family patriarch dies. The film, which screens next week in Toronto, premiered in Director’s Fortnight at Cannes, where XYZ Films’ announced the title would launch its New Visions slate.

The award, which comes with a C$10,000 cash prize, recognizes the talents of emerging feature producers. Abbas was recognized by the jury for her ingenuity and her passion for creating films that feel real and essential.

Nancy Grant of Metafilms received the...

Last year the Contemporary World Cinema had plenty of Cannes Film Festival gems in Aftersun, Falcon Lake, R.M.N. and The Worst Ones. This year’s programme no longer called Cwc but could be called Cannes replay but the programmers want us to call it the Centrepiece programme. We have the masterful (Cannes Best Actress-winning) About Dry Grasses by Nuri Bilge Ceylan plus Croisette light touches in the feel-good films of Fallen Leaves, Perfect Days and Monia Chokri ‘s Simple Comme Sylvain. From Venice we find Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir’s City of Wind, Ariane Louis-Seize’s Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person and Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist.…...

Auteurs Agnieszka Holland, Wim Wenders, Hamaguchi Ryusuke and Aki Kaurismaki are among the filmmakers featured in the Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) Centrepiece program.

The strand, previously known as Contemporary World Cinema, which honors and celebrates global cinematic achievements, features 47 titles from filmmakers representing 45 countries.

TIFF has also revealed the additional lineup of galas, special presentations and documentaries, which feature star wattage from around the world including Tommy Lee Jones and Anil Kapoor.

“We are very excited to present the new Centrepiece program, a cinematic journey that transcends boundaries and embraces the art of human experience,” said Anita Lee, TIFF chief programming officer. “The rebranding of the TIFF program, formerly Contemporary World Cinema, is a reflection of the festival’s vision to provide an elevated platform for international cinema, acclaimed titles from festivals around the globe, highly anticipated premieres from Canadian and international talents, and the latest work of influential filmmaking luminaries.

Ahead of Toronto International Film Festival kicking off in less than a month, the festival announced more additions, including Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist, Close Your Eyes by Víctor Erice, Fallen Leaves by Aki Kaurismäki, Green Border by Agnieszka Holland, Perfect Days by Wim Wenders, About Dry Grasses by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, and more.

“We are very excited to present the new Centrepiece programme, a cinematic journey that transcends boundaries and embraces the art of human experience,” said Anita Lee, TIFF Chief Programming Officer. “The rebranding of the TIFF programme, formerly Contemporary World Cinema, is a reflection of the Festival’s vision to provide an elevated platform for international cinema, acclaimed titles from festivals around the globe, highly anticipated premieres from Canadian and international talents, and the latest work of influential filmmaking luminaries.”

See the lineup below.

Centrepiece Programme 2023

100 Yards Xu Haofeng, Xu Junfeng | China

International Premiere

About...

The programme comprises 47 films from 45 countries.

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has unveiled the line-up for its Centrepiece programme, with 47 titles screening from filmmakers representing 45 countries.

Included in the programme (previously known as Contemporary World Cinema) are Victor Erice’s Close Your Eyes, getting its North American premiere; Aki Kaurismaki’s Fallen Leaves, receiving its Canadian premiere; and Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border, a North American premiere.

Scroll down for the full list of Centrepiece titles

TIFF also announced additional titles for its Galas, Special Presentations and Documentaries programmes, among them the world premiere of Brian Helgeland’s Finestkind.

The Toronto International Film Festival has added 59 more films to the lineup of its 2023 festival, including 47 international films in the Centrepiece program, which in previous years was known as Contemporary World Cinema. New films were also added to the Galas, Special Presentations and Documentary sections.

World premieres among the new selections include “Finestkind,” a crime thriller from Brian Helgeland (screenwriter of “L.A. Confidential”) starring Tommy Lee Jones and Ben Foster; The Movie Teller,” a film set in Chile starring Berenice Bejo from “An Education” director Lone Scherfig; and Jessica Yu’s “Quiz Lady,” with Sandra Oh and Awkwafina.

The Centrepiece selections include a number of films from May’s Cannes Film Festival, among them Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days,” Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s “About Dry Grasses,” Aki Kaurismaki’s “Fallen Leaves,” Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s “Banel & Adama,” Amjad Al Rasheed’s “Inshallah a Boy,” Joanna Arnow’s “The Feeling That the...

The Toronto International Film Festival continues to expand its 2023 lineup with 47 films from 45 countries in the Centerpiece program, previously known as Contemporary World Cinema. The highlights include Cannes Film Festival winners “Fallen Leaves” from Aki Kaurismäki and “Perfect Days” from Wim Wenders as well as Agnieszka Holland’s Venice-bound “Green Border.” See the full lineup below.

“We are very excited to present the new Centrepiece program, a cinematic journey that transcends boundaries and embraces the art of human experience,” said Anita Lee, TIFF Chief Programming Officer, in an official statement. “The rebranding of the TIFF program, formerly Contemporary World Cinema, is a reflection of the festival’s vision to provide an elevated platform for international cinema, for acclaimed titles from festivals around the globe, highly anticipated premieres from Canadian and international talents, and the latest work of influential filmmaking luminaries.”

Centerpiece Program 2023

About Dry Grasses (Kuru Otlar Üstüne) Nuri Bilge Ceylan...

Canadian director Monia Chokri isn’t big on Hollywood romance movies that glorify unavailable men who eventually become the prize of women chasing them.

“It’s been done, so I don’t need to do another Pretty Woman,” she dismissively tells The Hollywood Reporter about The Nature of Love, a French-language film about two people from different classes falling in love at first sight, that has been screening at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival’s Horizons section after its world premiere in Cannes.

For Chokri, romance is a surrogate for female expression as her tragicomedy tackles how women view themselves sexually and behave among men. “It’s about what she feels in her mind,” the director says of Sophia, a 40-year-old Montreal philosophy professor played by Magalie Lépine-Blondeau.

Sophia is in a stable, yet sex-less relationship with her partner Xavier (Francis William Rheaume), but finds her sexual desire is reawakened,...

Canada-based movie distributor and aggregator H264 is launching a world sales arm with the acquisition of “Red Rooms,” which has its world premiere next week in the Crystal Globe Competition of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival. The company is focused on festival-driven, innovative films.

“Red Rooms,” directed by Quebec filmmaker Pascal Plante, is a cyber-thriller questioning the collective fascination with murderers. It will screen at Karlovy Vary on July 4, and will then open the Fantasia Film Festival on July 20 for its North American premiere.

Montréal-based H264 is also ramping up its international slate by adding “Mademoiselle Kenopsia,” from filmmaker Denis Côté, who won awards at Berlin with “Vic + Flo Saw a Bear” and Locarno with “Curling.”

The company is also representing the dark comedy “Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person,” directed by Ariane Louis-Seize, starring Sara Montpetit (“Falcon Lake”) and Steve Laplante.

Jean-Christophe J. Lamontagne, founder and president of H...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSHam on Rye.Tyler Taormina, director of the idiosyncratic Ham on Rye (2019) and Happer's Comet (2022), has wrapped production on his next feature. Filmed on Long Island, Christmas Eve In Miller’s Point is a Christmas comedy that stars Michael Cera, Elsie Fisher, and Gregg Turkington, plus the progeny of two prominent filmmakers in Francesca Scorsese and Sawyer Spielberg.The Guardian reports that filmmaker Brian Rose is attempting to “recreate” the lost version of Orson Welles’s The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), which was altered significantly by Rko prior to its release. Using “the latest technology to reconstruct lost material and animate charcoal sketches,” Rose has reportedly spent four years recreating “around 30,000 frames” of Welles’s original rough cut in order that viewers can visualize what Welles intended in lieu of seeing the director’s original cut,...

A few weeks back, Mubi Podcast host Rico Gagliano traveled to the Cannes Film Festival, camera crew in tow, to chat it up with a cross-section of filmmakers debuting their movies there. Our Cannes Conversations mini-season continues this week with two new episodes.Episode Two: Kleber Mendonça FilhoIn 2019, Brazil's Kleber Mendonça Filho won the Jury Prize at Cannes with Bacurau, which he co-directed with Juliano Dornelles. This year he returned to the fest to premiere a documentary about movies … or more specifically, about the places we watch them.In this second conversation taped on location at Cannes '23, Filho tells host Rico Gagliano about Pictures of Ghosts. It's his look back at the movie palaces in his hometown of Recife, and how he's come to terms with the way that they—and lots of beloved city spaces—inevitably vanished.Episode Three: Monia ChokriQuebecois actor and director Monia Chokri is a Cannes regular.

Another small blurb in the Le film français provides us with an update on what is in the works for Monia Chokri. She might be crossing the Atlantic for fourth feature outing — for what is linked “around a phenomenon that is happening right now.” This could be anything really – social or cultural movements, the human condition or more interplays between the sexes, but the other concrete info is that La Femme de mon frère (and Falcon Lake) collaborator writer François Choquet will assist here. We expect this to be a France-Canada co-production and at the earliest, not ready until 2025 if this is indeed the next project.…...

Loosely based on a graphic novel by Bastien Vives, Falcon Lake is another in a long line of coming-of-age tales about the discovery of first love. But Charlotte Le Bon, an actor making her feature directing debut, cloaks her take on youthful summer romance in an aura of ominous foreboding. The titular Quebecois lake is the setting for the budding relationship between Bastien (Joseph Engel) and Chloé (Sara Montpetit), which is complicated by the latter’s insistence that the place is haunted by the ghost of a boy who drowned there.

It’s this macabre tale that informs the tenor of Falcon Lake, as Le Bon blurs genre to craft a bildungsroman whose deeply pensive tone and eerie sound design and visual compositions lend it the rhythms of a ghost story. But Le Bon’s genre-bending maneuvers also prove to be frustrating at times, as the film feels just as...

The rom-com has always appeared to be in safe hands with French-language cinema, but Quebecois director Monia Chokri wanted to push the boundaries of the genre even further with her new film “Simple comme Sylvain.”

“French people like to talk about love but they always do it in the same way of toxic relationships. And there aren’t so many [rom-coms] made by women,” says Chokri, who was last in Cannes in 2019 with her debut feature, “A Brother’s Love,” which won Un Certain Regard’s Jury Cup de Coeur.

“Simple comme Sylvain” centers on a posh French-Canadian woman in a sexless marriage who turns her life upside down when she has an affair with her contractor.

The Quebec-born actor broke out in meaty roles in Canadian auteur Denys Arcand’s “The Age of Darkness” and Xavier Dolan’s “Heartbeats” and “Laurence Anyways.” She also acts in “Simple comme Sylvain,” playing her protagonist’s outspoken best friend,...

Monia Chokri’s “The Nature of Love” opens by introducing us to 40-year-old philosophy professor Sophia (Magalie Lépine Blondeau) and her husband Xavier (Francis-William Rhéaume), as they enjoy a dinner party with friends. Said friends (one of whom is played by the director) are similarly middle-class progressive types with nice homes and comfortable lives; Sophia’s job in particular allows a strand of metatextual self-commentary in an otherwise predominantly broad and sexy comedy. It is, of course, a cast-iron rule of cinema that if a film opens with a middle-class dinner party, you’re about to see somebody’s bourgeois certainties undermined, and Chokri doesn’t disappoint.

On the drive home, Sophia and Xavier gossip about their friends’ love lives. Supposedly one of the other couples has sex three or four times a week, but also fights constantly. Xavier is of the opinion that a peaceful but sexless life is preferable,...

How did John Cameron Mitchell become the head of this year’s Queer Palm award jury in Cannes? “Sexual favors,” he quips.

While the director of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” and “How to Talk to Girls at Parties” (which played out of competition at Cannes) is joking, sexuality is at the heart of one of the world’s most prestigious LGBTQ+ film awards. And with more anti-queer legislation being enacted around the world than at any time in recent memory, the attention it brings to films that humanize this scapegoated population is arguably more important than ever.

“The Queer Palm, the festival and any awards help to dignify work, so that it often can be distributed and sometimes celebrated in its own queer-phobic country,” says Mitchell, who helped start a queer dance night at the American Pavilion in 2004 and DJs when he’s in town. “[The trans-themed] ‘Joyland’ was banned in...

In Monia Chokri’s “The Nature of Love” (“Simple comme Sylvain”), a posh French-Canadian woman in a sexless marriage turns her life upside down for an affair with her contractor.

The film, which is being shopped to buyers in Cannes by Mk2 Films, will world premiere in Un Certain Regard on May 18.

Magalie Lépine-Blondeau delivers a powerhouse performance as Sofia, a 40-year-old philosophy professor in a stable yet stifling relationship with long-term partner Xavier.

When they buy a chalet to refurbish, she meets the strapping, jovial Sylvain (Pierre-Yves Cardinal), who arrives one day to provide a quote for the renovations. The pair jump headlong into a steamy relationship, but as their romance wears on, Sofia realizes that their backgrounds and interests make them far more different than she first thought.

Chokri previously directed “My Brother’s Wife,” which won the Jury Prize in Un Certain Regard in 2019. Chokri, who directs and wrote the screenplay,...