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Channel 4’s ‘The Windsors’ To Return With King Charles Coronation Parody

Channel 4 Harry Enfield comedy The Windsors is to return after three years to parody King Charles’ Coronation later this year. Enfield’s King Charles character will take center stage as the UK’s first coronation in 70 years approaches. Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan are concentrating on life in California but pondering whether to fly over for the big day, while Prince William is focusing on the UK’s cost-of-living crisis. Produced by Noho Film & TV, The Windsors aired for three seasons on Channel 4 from 2016 to 2020. “Any channel worth its salt has a landmark show with the word coronation in the title,” said Joe Hullait, Channel 4 Comedy Commissioning Executive. “For the BBC it was the world’s first televised Coronation in 1953. For ITV it’s the world’s longest running soap Coronation Street. We at Channel 4 are delighted to announce...

A24’s Close, which won the Grand Prix in Cannes, has picked up another accolade, capturing the jury prize for top narrative film at the Hamptons International Film Festival.

The 30th edition of the festival, which wraps this weekend, also gave the top documentary honor to Pray for Our Sinners, directed by Sinéad O’Shea.

Director Lukas Dhont’s Close follows the intense friendship between 13-year-old boys Léo and Remi, which suddenly gets disrupted. Struggling to understand what has happened, Léo approaches Sophie, Rémi’s mother. The film is billed as an exploration of friendship and responsibility. The leading roles in Close are played by newcomers Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele. Léa Drucker and Kevin Janssens, Marc Weiss, Igor Van Dessel, and Léon Bataille also star.

“Our team feels incredibly honoured to receive this year’s Hamptons Film Festival Jury Award,” Dhont said. “We want to thank the jury and...

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Please Note: This forecast, assembled by The Hollywood Reporter‘s executive editor of awards Scott Feinberg, reflects his best attempt to predict the behavior of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, not his personal preferences. He arrives at these standings by drawing upon consultations with voters and industry insiders, analysis of marketing and awards campaigns, results of awards ceremonies that precede the Oscars and the history of the Oscars ceremony itself. There will be regular updates to reflect new developments.

* * *

*Best Picture*

Frontrunners

The Fabelmans (Universal)

Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount)

Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24)

The Banshees of Inisherin (Searchlight)

Women Talking (Uar)

Elvis (Warner Bros.)

The Woman King (Sony)

She Said (Universal)

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Netflix)

Tár (Focus)

Major Threats

Till (Uar)

Close (A24)

Triangle of Sadness (Neon)

Good Night Oppy (Amazon)

Possibilities

The Whale (A...

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Belgian director Lukas Dhont’s Close, which explores the fragile world of childhood bonds in his second feature, has been chosen by Belgium as its contender for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.

The drama, starring Eden Dambrine and Gustave De Waele, won the Grand Prix trophy at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was one of the highest profile films in competition. Close sees main characters Léo and Rémi as 13-year-old best friends with a seemingly unbreakable bond that suddenly and tragically breaks apart.

Close is the follow-up for Dhont to Girl, which won the Camera d’Or for best debut feature in Cannes in 2018. That film portrayed a young trans woman who wants to dance on pointe with the other girls. Girl won another three Cannes trophies that year — the Fipresci film critics honor, the Un Certain Regard best performance trophy for lead Victor Polster,...

Updated with trailer: Belgium has selected Lukas Dhont’s Cannes-winning title Close as its official submission to the International Oscar race this year. It debuted in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival where it won the Grand Prix in a tie with Claire Denis’s Stars at Noon.

Close follows the intense friendship between 13-year-old boys Léo and Remi, which suddenly gets disrupted. Struggling to understand what has happened, Léo approaches Sophie, Rémi’s mother. The film is billed as an exploration of friendship and responsibility. The leading roles in Close are played by newcomers Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele. Léa Drucker and Kevin Janssens, Marc Weiss, Igor Van Dessel, and Léon Bataille also star.

Dhont directed from a screenplay he wrote with Angelo Tijssens. Check out the trailer above.

Close was produced by Michiel Dhont and Dirk Impens for Menuet and co-produced by Diaphana, Topkapi Films and Versus Productions.

Lukas Dhont’s sophomore effort captures the crushing weight of middle school friendship.

“Close” centers on Léo and Rémi, two 13-year-old best friends whose seemingly unbreakable bond is suddenly, tragically torn apart. As the duo are teased for being a “couple,” the trailer keeps their relationship — and its tragic end — elusive. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, Dhont’s second film is an emotionally transformative and unforgettable portrait of the intersection of friendship and love, identity and independence, and heartbreak and healing.

“Close” is directed by Dhont and co-written by Dhont and Angelo Tijssens. The film stars Eden Dambrine, Igor Van Dessel, Émilie Dequenne, and Léa Drucker, and is distributed by A24. There is no release date yet for the award-winning feature.

Belgian filmmaker Dhont made his directorial debut with Cannes-selected trans ballet drama “Girl” in 2018. The film won the Camera d’Or award as...

After staging a vastly scaled-down version in 2020, organizers of the Cannes Film Festival brought buzz back to the Croisette last year as the industry dipped its toes into the annual French gathering. As the 75th edition kicked off May 17, many in the business are all-in on the in-person experience and there are plenty of completed films for sale.

Mubi took an early lead in acquisitions, scooping up Léa Mysius’s sophomore film “The Five Devils” and Park Chan-wook’s mystery “Decision to Leave” in recent weeks. Other films arriving with distribution include Brett Morgen’s David Bowie doc “Moonage Daydream,” from Neon. A24 has five films premiering at Cannes, including Alex Garland’s “Men” and Claire Denis’ “The Stars at Noon.”

Still up for grabs are films like “Hunt,” the directorial debut of “Squid Game” star Lee Jung-jae, and Arnaud Desplechin’s “Brother and Sister.”

Below find a constantly updated...

Lukas Dhont caused a bit of a stir when he was last in Cannes with Girl in the Un Certain Regard competition. Focussing on a teenage boy desperately unhappy in his own body and resorting to self-mutilation, the film and its director caught quite a bit of flak. This year, Dhont is in the main competition with Close, another story revolving around young teenage boys and likely to cause a bit of stir itself.

The film opens with scenes of bucolic loveliness as two 13-year-old boys, Léo (Eden Dambrine) and Rémi (Gustav De Waele) play and frolic in the Belgian countryside, hiding out in old farm buildings as they create elaborate imaginary battles and racing through the fields of flowers grown by Léo’s parents. Their games and their intimacy – whether sharing a bed, lolling on top of one another, or laying a head on a shoulder – are about to...

Baz Luhrmann has left the building. More than Tom Cruise, Kristen Stewart or Tilda Swinton, the biggest star to rock Cannes this year may have been “Elvis” and its breakout lead actor Austin Butler.

“Elvis” was greeted by the Cannes audience with a 12-minute standing ovation following its premiere, and the festivities surrounding it were astonishing. That included a performance from Italian Eurovision winners Måneskin and some drones that performed some gorgeous acrobatic light shows in the night sky.

Butler too could be seen crying thanks to the film’s reception, and the buzz around him has been special, with many talking early Oscar love and that he’s an instant star. “I basically put the rest of my life on pause for two years, and I just absorbed everything I possibly could, and I went down the rabbit hole of obsession,” Butler said during Thursday’s press conference. “That’s the tricky thing,...

Lukas Dhont’s film screens in competiton at the Cannes festival.

A24 has acquired North American rights to Lukas Dhont’s Close, which gets its world premiere today (May 26) in competition at the Cannes festival.

Directed by Dhont from a screenplay he wrote with Angelo Tijssens, the drama about a friendship between two 13-year-old boys stars newcomers Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele. Also in the cast are Émilie Dequenne, Léa Drucker, Kevin Janssens, Marc Weiss, Igor Van Dessel, and Léon Bataille.

Michiel Dhont and Dirk Impens produced the film for Menuet and Diaphana, and Topkapi Films and Versus Productions were co-producers.

A24 has picked up North American rights to Lukas Dhont’s Close.

The movie is making its world premiere tonight in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

Close follows the intense friendship between 13-year-old boys Léo and Remi, which suddenly gets disrupted. Struggling to understand what has happened, Léo approaches Sophie (Émilie Dequenne), Rémi’s mother. Léa Drucker and Kevin Janssens, Marc Weiss, Igor Van Dessel, and Léon Bataille also star.

Dhont directed from a screenplay he wrote with Angelo Tijssens. Close was produced by Michiel Dhont and Dirk Impens for Menuet and co-produced by Diaphana, Topkapi Films and Versus Productions.

Lukas Dhont’s Cannes Competition Drama ‘Close’ Sells To Mubi For UK/Ire, LatAm, Turkey & India

Dhont’s debut film Girl won the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 2018. The film also won the festival’s Queer Palm, Fipresci Prize and Un Certain...

Belgian filmmaker Lukas Dhont made a splash at Cannes with his first feature, the 2018 transgender ballet drama “Girl.” The film picked up the coveted Camera d’Or award for best debut feature, along with the Queer Palm for best LGBTQ film and a number of other accolades (and controversy). So expectations were inevitably high for his second film, “Close,” which premieres in competition at the festival this week.

The film, which tells the story of two boys developing an intimate childhood friendship, was directed by Dhont from a script he wrote with Angelo Tijssens. It stars Eden Dambrine, Gustav De Waele, Emilie Dequenne, Léa Drucker, Kevin Janssens, Marc Weiss, Igor Van Dessel, and Léon Bataille.

The official synopsis for “Close” reads: “The intense friendship between two 13-year-old boys Leo and Remi suddenly gets disrupted. Struggling to understand what has happened, Leo approaches Sophie, Remi’s mother. ‘Close’ is a film about friendship and responsibility.

Based on the thrilling novel "Puzzle" by Franck Thilliez, Jacques Kluger's Play or Die will finally see a release from Samuel Goldwyn Film, who recently stick-handled the release of Xavier Gens' Cold Skin. The escape room style horror thriller stars Charley Palmer (Dunkirk), Roxane Mesquida, Marie Zabukovec, Thomas Mustin (Raw), and Igor Van Dessel. It will be available through On-Demand and on Digital platforms as of July 2. In the story, Lucas and Chloe are two passionate gamers who decide to participate in "Paranoia", a very exclusive escape game. After solving the first riddle, they make it to the location of the finale in an abandoned mental hospital, hidden deep in a frightening forest. There, four other participants are waiting for them. Together, they soon...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Welcome to Paranoia, the ultimate escape game. Rule #1: Nothing is real. Rule #2: One of you will die.

Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired North American rights to the horror movie Play or Die, directed by Jacques Kluger. The film stars Charley Palmer (Dunkirk), Roxane Mesquida (“Now Apocalypse”), Marie Zabukovec (Interrail), Thomas Mustin (Raw), and Igor Van Dessel (Racer And The Jailbird).

Play Or Die will be available through On-Demand and on Digital platforms July 2.

Synopsis:

In the story, Lucas and Chloe are two passionate gamers. They decide to participate in Paranoia, a very exclusive escape game. After solving the first riddle, they make it to the location of the finale in an abandoned mental hospital, hidden deep in a frighten...

Film distributor and production house Samuel Goldwyn Films has just announced a release date for the horror thriller Play or Die. Taking a note from the escape room phenomenon, Play or Die will show on digital platforms, this Summer. Play or Die is a film from director Jacques Kluger and this title was shot in Belgium. In the film, there are two rules. When either one is broken, a character will perish in this isolated locale. As well Play or Die stars: Charley Palmer (Dunkirk), Roxane Mesquida ("Now Apocalypse"), Marie Zabukovec (Interrail), Thomas Mustin and Igor Van Dessel. An early look ahead at the film's release is available here. Several stills have been released for Play or Die. They show a masked killer and a room set on fire. This is one escape room which requires more than wits to survive. As well, Samuel Goldwyn will release an updated poster,...

Feature inspired by the true plan to marry off Louis Xv to King of Spain’s four-year-old daughter.

Films Distribution has acquired world sales on Children Royals, inspired by a plan to marry off France’s Louis Xv to the oldest daughter of the King of Spain, Maria Anna Victoria, who was four-years-old at the time.

It is the latest film by historical writer and director Marc Dugain – best known for An Ordinary Execution and The Curse of Edgar.

The feature is adapted from Chantal Thomas’s work L’échange des princesses about a plan hatched by the Regent of France and the Spanish King in 1721 to marry their heirs, 11-year-old Louis Xv and Maria Anna Victoria, the 4-year-old Spanish infanta. The aim was to secure peace between the two nations.

At the same time, the Regent of France also offered his 12-year-old daughter Mademoiselle de Montpensier’s hand to the Prince of Asturias, the 14-year-old...