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In Halifax, Kanada, hat der Schweizer Studentenoscar-Gewinner Mauro Mueller mit dem Dreh der internationalen Koproduktion „111“ begonnen. Die Hauptrolle spielt Ursina Lardi. Anne Walser von C-Films ist Hauptproduzentin. Ascote Elite Entertainment wird den Film in die Schweizer Kinos bringen. Global Screen, a Vuelta Group Company hat den Weltvertrieb. Square One Entertainment gehört überdies zu den Produktionspartnern.

Drehstart für „111“: Hauptdarstellerin Ursina Lardi mit dem Produktionsteam in Terence Bay, Nova Scotia (Credit: Michael Thomkins)

Drehstart für die internationale Koproduktion „111“. Das Drama kreist um den tragischen Flugzeugabsturz der Swissair 111 vor der Küste von Halifax am 2. September 1998. Bei dem schwersten Unfall der Swissair und einer MD-11, ausgelöst durch einen Kabelbrand in der Bordelektrik, kamen alle 215 Passagiere und 14 Besatzungsmitglieder ums Leben.

Für die Inszenierung von „111“ zeichnet der Schweizer Filmemacher und Studentenoscarpreisträger Mauro Mueller verantwortlich. Er hat auch – zusammen mit der Amerikanerin Jennie Allen – das Drehbuch geschrieben. Der Moment der Katastrophe wird in der Verfilmung nie gezeigt,...

The devastating crash of the Swissair Flight 111 in 1998 will be retold in a feature project that just started shooting, and is produced by Zurich-based C-Films Ag and Nova Scotia’s Auguste Content.

The two companies shared with Variety details on the international cast, which is led by Kris Holden-Ried (“Departure”), Natalie Brown (“The Strain”), Eric Keenleyside (“Superman & Lois”), Ursina Lardi (“The White Ribbon”), Anatole Taubman (“Zwingli”), Djebril Zonga (“Les Misérables”) and Fathia Youssouf (“Cuties”).

Titled “111,” the movie traces the stories of characters affected by the Swissair flight 111 crash, which happened off the coast of Nova Scotia, near the entrance of Margaret’s Bay, on September 2, 1998.

The film is directed by Mexican-Swiss filmmaker Mauro Mueller (“A World for Raúl”), who co-wrote the script with U.S. screenwriter Jennie Allen.

Principal photography began in Halifax on Sept. 18 and will continue in Nova Scotia, as well as Zurich and environs, until the end of October.

Thicker Than Water (Jusqu’ici tout va bien) is a series directed by Nawell Madani and Simon Jablonka and starring Nawell Madani and Kahina Carina.

A lot of social conflict in this French series that deals (quite a lot) with social conflict and, as a thriller, lets itself get away.

It follows in the wake of French cinema, it is not great technically, but it has many virtues in the development of the characters, which are treated with much respect in a script that respects itself and knows how to get where it wants to go.

Of course, it may be that the place where the script wants to go is not the same place that viewers who want to see a more “pure” thriller would like to see it end up.

About the Series

We did not know her, but write down her name, Nawell Madani, an actress who plays the role to perfection,...

"We're not playing gangsters. We play it smart." Netflix has revealed the official trailer for a new French crime thriller series titled Thicker Than Water, arriving for streaming in early April. A journalist's life devolves into chaos when she shields her brother from the law, inadvertently entangling her family in a drug lord's merciless scheme. Belgian humorist Nawell Madani leads this dramatic crime series, alongside Djebril Zonga and Paola Locatelli. The title, which is a reference to the phrase "blood is thicker than water," defines this series that's about the importance of sisterhood & family. The cast includes Kahina Carina, Carima Amarouche, Aïda Guechoud, Mayane Sarah El Baze, Paul Hamy, Vincent Rottiers, and Walid Afkir. This seems like a legit series, though a bit campy with the drug plot. It has a good setup and a clever cast bringing levity to this drug lord story. Take a look below. // Continue Reading...

To mark the release of Les Misérables on 30th November, we’ve been given 3 copies to give away on DVD.

Inspired by the 2005 Paris riots, and Ladj Ly’s short film of the same name, Les Misérables is a hugely topical provocative insight into the tensions between neighbourhood residents and police.

Stéphane (Damien Bonnard) has recently joined the Anti-Crime Squad in Montfermeil, in the suburbs of Paris, France, where, Victor Hugo set his famed novel “Les Misérables”. Alongside his new colleagues Chris (Alexis Manenti) and Gwada (Djebril Zonga) – both experienced members of the team – he quickly discovers tensions running high between local gangs. When the trio finds themselves overrun during the course of an arrest, a drone captures the encounter, threatening to expose the reality of everyday life.

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Les Misérables – released on DVD and digital on 30th...

Ladj Ly’s César-winning drama explores life on a poor Paris estate as tensions with the police reach boiling point

The ghosts of Victor Hugo’s downtrodden 19th-century rebels haunt Ladj Ly’s César-winning contemporary urban drama, a streetwise tale of France’s dispossessed masses, brought once again to the brink of rebellion. Nominated for best international feature at the 92nd Oscars (it lost out to Parasite), it presents a powder-keg portrait of broiling tensions, recalling both the pressure-cooker structure of Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing and even-handed vérité grit of David Simon’s monumental TV series The Wire. Taking care never to paint its complex characters in simple black-and-white strokes, this slips stealthily from astute observation to urgent action, reminding us of Hugo’s maxim that “there are no such things as bad plants or bad men. There are only bad cultivators.”

We open in a moment of ironic harmony,...

The Amazon Originals “Les Miserables” and “Invisible Life” are headed to Prime Video. “Invisible Life” will begin streaming on April 3, 2020 and “Les Miserables” will be available on April 10, 2020. “Les Miserables” was the winner of the 2019 Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and nominated for International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards. The story: Stéphane, has recently joined the Anti-Crime squad in Montfermeil, a sensitive district of the Paris projects. Paired up with Chris (Alexis Manenti) and Gwada (Djebril Zonga), whose methods are sometimes unorthodox, he rapidly discovers the tensions between the various neighborhood groups. When the trio finds themselves overrun during the course of an arrest, a drone begins filming every move they make. Brazil’s “Invisible Life” was also a submission for International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards as well! The story: Rio de Janeiro, 1950. Eurídice, 18, and Guida, 20, are two inseparable sisters living at home with their conservative parents.

Roman Polanski’s “An Officer and a Spy” is leading the race for the Cesar Awards, France’s top film honors, with 12 nominations, followed by Ladj Ly’s Oscar-nominated “Les Miserables.”

“An Officer and a Spy” earned nominations for best film, director, actor (Jean Dujardin), cinematography, set design, costume and music, among others. Although he’s been at the heart of a backlash, Polanski also just won best director at the Lumieres Awards which are given by the foreign press based in Paris. “An Officer and a Spy” world premiered at the Venice Film Festival and won the Silver Lion.

“An Officer and a Spy” tells the true story of counter-espionage officer Georges Picquart, who defied orders and embarked on a compromising mission to clear the name of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a promising French-Jewish officer who was unfairly accused of spying for Germany in the late 1890s. In spite of calls for boycott in France,...

Oh, oh. Didn’t we just endure another retelling of this classic story? And in song this last time? With an actor or two not known for their (to put it gently) pipes? No, it’s the same title, but put that flick out of your head. Along with countless 19th-century costume epics. So we’re not dealing with the stealing of baked goods and a hungry waif and dogged inspectors. Although this film does concern itself with poverty and law enforcement. But there’s class struggle and culture clashes between disenfranchised immigrants. Plus there are some trigger-happy thugs engaged in racial profiling. You may think those problems have only plagued our backyard, but it’s going on all over the globe, in this film and the original novel’s backdrop. This is a very modern-day melodrama that is also titled Les Miserables.

The story actually begins on a somewhat...

Ladj Ly had already beaten the odds by world premiering in competition at Cannes and winning the jury prize with his feature debut “Les Miserables.” Ly has now scored an Oscar nomination for his politically-charged film in a particularly competitive year for the international feature film race.

One of the five movies selected out of 93 movies submitted, the police brutality drama “Les Miserables” will face two other Cannes competition titles, Bong Joon Ho’s Palme d’Or and Golden Globe winning “Parasite” and Pedro Almodovar’s “Pain and Glory,” as well as Jan Komasa’s “Corpus Christi,” which opened at Venice Days and Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefano’s “Honeyland” which won three awards at Sundance, including the Grand Jury Prize.

“Les Miserables,” which was bought by Amazon for the U.S. at Cannes where the film earned stellar reviews, was inspired by the 2005 French riots, a three-week period of civil unrest characterized by violence,...

Les MISÉRABLE Amazon Studios Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net linked from Rotten Tomatoes by: Harvey Karten Director: Ladj Ly Screenwriter: Ladj Ly, Giordano Gederlini, Alexis Manenti Cast: Damien Bonnard, Alexis Manenti, Djibril Zonga, Issa Perica, Al-Hassan Ly, Steve Tientcheu Screened at: Park Ave., NYC, 10/24/19 Opens: January 10, 2020 Victor Hugo’s “Les Misérables” is to […]

The post Les Miserable Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

There are no trilled notes, no stirring group musical numbers, no talk of castles on clouds in French-Malian director Ladj Ly’s directorial debut. You will hear, however, the songs of angry men, expressed in a way that drives home the point of their rage and rancor. It is not a coincidence that his cop procedural shares the same name of Victor Hugo’s socially conscious 19th century novel/Broadway musical source material; like the literary landmark, it also takes place in Montfermeil, the township where Les Miz‘s heroes and villains strutted and fretted.

When French director Ladj Ly was 17 years old, he bought a camera and began to document interactions with the police in his neighborhood of Montfermeil in Paris, eventually capturing a real incident of police brutality that led to the suspension of the officers in question.

These experiences formed the basis for Ly’s first feature film “Les Misérables,” which won the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019 and has already earned a response from French president Emmanuel Macron himself.

“I want to tell about life there from the inside, without casting any judgement and without taking sides. As is clear, this is not an anti-cop film,” Ly said through an interpreter at a Q&a following a screening of the film in New York City on Monday night. “The goal here was to humanize every character, whether it’s the dealers, the religious figures, or the cops…...

"What if voicing anger... was the only way to be heard?" Amazon Studios has released the first official Us trailer for the acclaimed French drama Les Misérables, which also won the Jury Prize (third place behind Parasite and Atlantics) at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. This film marks the feature directorial debut of very talented actor/filmmaker Ladj Ly, and it has nothing to do with the original "Les Misérables" book by Victor Hugo. It's a contemporary story set in the suburbs of Paris. Stéphane joins the Anti-Crime Brigade of Montfermeil. He meets his new teammates, Chris and Gwada, and discovers the tensions between the cops and the locals in the district. Starring Damien Bonnard, Alexis Manenti, Djibril Zonga, Issa Perica, Al-Hassan Ly, Steve Tientcheu, Almamy Kanoute, and Jeanne Balibar. This was one of my favorite films out of Cannes this year, a remarkably powerful and invigorating film about cops and citizens.

Amazon Studios has released a blistering first trailer for French-Malian filmmaker Ladj Ly’s politically-charged feature debut, “Les Misérables,” which won the Jury Prize at Cannes, and was selected by France’s Oscar committee as the country’s submission to the Best International Feature Film competition.

Based on his powerful, 2017 César-nominated short film of the same name about what happens when power ends up in the hands of people who don’t know how to control it, “Les Misérables” is inspired by the violent 2005 Paris riots, which primarily involved youth of African descent. The three-week uprising was rooted in increased unemployment among the youth, who were mostly confined to poor housing estates, and the harassment they routinely experienced at the hands of the police. At the center of the film are three members of an anti-crime brigade who are overrun while trying to make an arrest, when a drone captures the encounter,...

Ladj Ly’s politically-charged feature debut, “Les Miserables,” which won the Jury Prize at Cannes, has been selected by France’s Oscar committee as the country’s submission to the international feature film competition. While much has been made about the decision to submit the film over “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” the decision by the committee is a historical one for the country, as it marks the first time that France has chosen a film from a black filmmaker to represent the country at the Academy Awards.

Based on his powerful 2017 short film of the same name, “Les Misérables” is inspired by the violent 2005 Paris riots, which primarily involved youth of African descent. The three-week uprising was rooted in rising unemployment among the youth, who were mostly confined to poor housing estates, and the harassment they routinely experienced at the hands of the police. At the center of...

“Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” Celine Sciamma’s ravishing lesbian romance that is one of the best reviewed movies of the year, will not be competing in the Oscar race for Best International Film (the new name for the Best Foreign Language Film category). France has officially submitted Ladj Ly’s “Les Miserables” as its Oscar entry. As IndieWire deputy editor Kate Erbland reported earlier this week, France’s 2020 Oscar pick came down to three contenders: “Portrait,” “Les Miserables,” and Alice Winocour’s “Proxima.” All three movies were festival hits, with Sciamma picking up the Queer Palm and the Best Screenplay award at Cannes, Ly winning the Cannes Jury Prize, and Winocour earning an honorable mention from the Platform Prize jury at Tiff.

While “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” has been singled out as a critical favorite in 2019 (IndieWire even named it one of the best movies of...

Ladj Ly’s politically charged urban drama Les Miserables has been chosen to represent France in the Best International Feature Film category at the 92nd Oscars. The Cannes Jury Prize winner also recently played Toronto and is opening the Colcoa fest in Los Angeles at the DGA this Monday. It will release in the U.S. via Amazon on January 10 after closing one of the biggest domestic deals ever for a French-language movie last May.

Ly, who was a rare first-timer in the Cannes Competition, as well as a Deadline One To Watch this year, wrote and directed Les Misérables which was inspired by the by the 2005 Paris riots, and Ly’s César-nominated short film of the same name. It takes a provocative look into the tensions between neighborhood residents and police, centering on Stéphane (Damien Bonnard), who has recently joined the anti-crime brigade in Montfermeil, the Paris suburb where...

Ladj Ly’s politically charged drama “Les Miserables,” which won the Jury Prize at Cannes, has been chosen by France’s Oscar committee to enter the international feature film race.

In one of the most competitive years for French movies, “Les Miserables” beat out Celine Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” the 18th-century-set romance which won best screenplay at Cannes. Also falling short was Alice Winocour’s “Proxima,” which opened at Toronto in the competitive Platform section and received an honorable mention. The film stars Eva Green as an astronaut preparing for a mission that will separate her from her young daughter.

“Les Miserables,” which was bought by Amazon for the U.S., earned stellar reviews at Cannes, including in Variety, whose review said the film “simmers with urgent anger over police brutality” and compared Ly’s work to that of Spike Lee.

The movie just had its...

Annie Silverstein’s feature debut “Bull” swept three awards at the 45th Deauville American Film Festival, including the Grand Prize, the Revelation Prize for best first film and the Critics’ Prize.

“Bull,” a portrait of a rebellious teenage girl from South Texas, world premiered at Cannes’s Un Certain Regard and marks Silverstein’s follow up to her short “Skunk” which won Cannes’s Cinéfondation prize in 2014. “Bull” is represented in international markets by Film Constellation, while 30West reps North American rights. “Bull” follows the relationship between a troubled adolescent from West of Houston whose mother is in jail and an ageing African American bullfighter.

The Jury prize, meanwhile, was shared between Michael Angelo Covino’s “The Climb,” and Robert Eggers “The Lighthouse,” a hallucinatory thriller starring Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe as two lighthouse keepers on a remote and mysterious New England island in the 1890s. A24, which co-financed “The Lighthouse” with New Regency,...

The French actress was handed the award in recognition of her exceptional contribution to the art of film. After Pawel Pawlikowski and Alejandro González Iñárritu received their Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Awards at the official opening ceremony of the 25th Sarajevo Film Festival, the city last night welcomed legendary French actress Isabelle Huppert. She picked up a further Honorary Award in recognition of her exceptional contribution to the art of film on the stage of the festival's flagship National Theatre. Huppert is just one of many stars visiting Sarajevo this year. In addition to nearly all of the filmmakers from the competition programmes, the festival is hosting talent such as Gael García Bernal, who is on site to present his first feature as a director, Chicuarotes; Les Misérables director Ladj Ly and actors Damien Bonnard, Alexis Manenti and Djibril Zonga; Stitches director Miroslav Terzić and actress Snežana Bogdanović; and director.

More premieres and more acquisitions were the name of the game at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday, with Amazon Studios and Paramount making big movie deals and Pedro Almodóvar‘s “Pain & Glory” showing to acclaim.

Plus, a surprise performance from Mariah Carey!

See below for the highlights of Cannes, day four:

Les Miserables 2019

Amazon Acquires ‘Les Miserables’ for $1.5 Million

Amazon Studios on Friday acquired U.S. rights to writer and director Ladj Ly’s French-language “Les Misérables,” following the film’s world premiere at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.

“Les Misérables” is Ly’s first feature and the only debut in the competition section at the festival. The film premiered Wednesday evening to great fanfare. An individual with knowledge of the deal said it was likely around $1.5 million.

Inspired by the 2005 Paris riots, and Ly’s César-nominated short film of the same name, “Les Misérables” takes a provocative look into...

Amazon Studios on Friday acquired U.S. rights to writer and director Ladj Ly’s “Les Misérables,” following the film’s world premiere at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.

“Les Misérables” is Ly’s first feature and the only debut in the competition section at the festival. The film premiered Wednesday evening to great fanfare. An individual with knowledge of the deal said it was likely around $1.5 million.

Inspired by the 2005 Paris riots, and Ly’s César-nominated short film of the same name, “Les Misérables” takes a provocative look into the tensions between neighborhood residents and police. It centers on Stéphane (Damien Bonnard), who has recently joined the anti-crime brigade in Montfermeil, the Paris suburb where Victor Hugo set his classic novel Les Misérables. Alongside his new colleagues Chris (Alexis Manenti) and Gwada (Djibril Zonga) — both experienced members of the team — he quickly discovers tensions running high between local gangs. When...

Cannes buzz movie Les Misérables has sold to Amazon Studios in one of the biggest domestic deals ever for a French-language movie.

Writer-director Ladj Ly’s feature debut received strong notices here after launching on the Croisette. It’s in the vein of Mathieu Kassovitz’s La Haine and Fernando Meirelles’ City Of God and is the only debut in the Official Competition. The deal is understood to be between $1-2M.

Inspired by the 2005 Paris riots, and Ly’s César-nominated short film of the same name, Les Misérables takes a provocative look into the tensions between neighborhood residents and police. It centers on Stéphane (Damien Bonnard), who has recently joined the anti-crime brigade in Montfermeil, the Paris suburb where Victor Hugo set his classic novel Les Misérables. Alongside his new colleagues Chris (Alexis Manenti) and Gwada (Djibril Zonga) — both experienced members of the team — he quickly discovers tensions running high between local gangs.

An actor whose appeared in both of Romain Gavras’ outings as a director (he was one of the founding members of the collective Kourtrajmé best known for his short documentaries 365 Jours a Clichy-Montfermeil (2007) and Go Fast Connection (2008), this debut by Mali-born Ladj Ly stars returning players (from the short) in Damien Bonnard, Alexis Manenti and Djibril Zonga along with Jeanne Balibar in a tale set in and around Paris. After beginning in the docu form and sight unseen, a lot can already be said about a comp berth for a debut film (a rarity) in competition. Les Misérables is among a pair of comp entries that are based on a short film and this feature appears to have gone into production quickly after putting out the short in 2017 — but worth noting this man has been filming all his life — shooting not with a gun, but with any means necessary (flip...

Pointedly repurposing the title of Victor Hugo’s classic novel about the laws of nature and grace, Ladj Ly’s “Les Misérables” bears little outward resemblance to the epic story of Jean Valjean and his stolen loaf of bread. But Ly’s first narrative feature — a gripping and grounded procedural that probes the tensions between Paris’ anti-crime police and the poor Muslim population they torment and suppress — revisits the French suburb of Montfermeil in the present day, and finds that little has changed in the 150 years since Hugo first characterized the strife he saw through his bedroom window.

Extended from Ly’s short of the same name, and inspired by the riots that erupted at the foot of the filmmaker’s building in 2005, “Les Misérables” vibrates with the kind of unshakeable verisimilitude that can only be earned through first-hand experience. At the same time, it’s not like the movie...

Exclusive: Here’s first English-language footage for buzzed-about Cannes Competition film Les Misérables by writer-director Ladj Ly, who has just signed with CAA.

Ly, who is also a Deadline One to Watch this year, makes his feature debut with the movie that’s in the vein of Mathieu Kassovitz’s La Haine and Fernando Meirelles’ City Of God. In a rare turn for a first-timer, Les Misérables is in Competition at Cannes and is the only debut in the section.

Inspired by the 2005 Paris riots, and Ly’s César-nominated short film of the same name, Les Misérables takes a provocative look into the tensions between neighborhood residents and police. It centers on Stéphane (Damien Bonnard), who has recently joined the anti-crime brigade in Montfermeil, the Paris suburb where Victor Hugo set his classic novel Les Misérables. Alongside his new colleagues Chris (Alexis Manenti) and Gwada (Djibril Zonga) — both experienced members...

Exclusive: Les Misérables writer/director Ladj Ly has signed with CAA. Ly, who is also a Deadline One to Watch this year, makes his feature debut with the movie that’s in the vein of Mathieu Kassovitz’s La Haine and Fernando Meirelles’ City Of God. In a rare turn for a first-timer, Les Misérables is in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival and is the only debut in the section.

Inspired by the 2005 Paris riots, and Ly’s César-nominated short film of the same name, Les Misérables takes a provocative look into the tensions between neighborhood residents and police. It centers on Stéphane (Damien Bonnard), who has recently joined the anti-crime brigade in Montfermeil, the Paris suburb where Victor Hugo set his classic novel Les Misérables. Alongside his new colleagues Chris (Alexis Manenti) and Gwada (Djibril Zonga) — both experienced members of the team — he quickly discovers tensions running high between local gangs.