News

Alseni Barthily, who headed Cannes 2020 main competition breakout “Gagarine” is set to star in “Lucky Girl,” the feature debut of Linda Lö set up at France’s Maneki Films, which is shaping up as one of the buzz titles at the Marrakech Festival’s 2024 Atlas Workshops.

Selected in the Workshops’ Projects in Development showcase, “Lucky Girl,” also written by Lô, begins during a vacation in Bordeaux, where Lili, 4, and her brothers, aged 9 and 20, are left to their own devices when their flamboyant mother returns without them to Gabon to run her restaurant- discotheque.

Depicted in three acts – as a little girl, teen and young woman – Lili grows into Linda, determined to make her mother proud and reconnect with her African heritage.

“‘Lucky Girl’ is inspired by Lô’s own experience when, as a very young girl, along with her older brothers, she unwillingly migrated to France while their Cameroonian mother stayed in Gabon.

London- and Paris-based production, finance and sales company Film Constellation has added new sales for Cannes Critics’ Week supernatural horror “Animale” by Emma Benestan, ahead of its North American premiere at Fantastic Fest later this month.

“Animale” sold to Scandinavia (Edge Entertainment), Cis (Nashe Kino), the Czech and Slovak republics (Film Europe), Brazil (Belas Artes), and Indonesia (Falcon Pt), adding to the previously announced territories which include Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy (Plaion), Spain (Filmin), Portugal (Nos Lusomundo), former Yugoslavia (McF Megacom), and Middle East and North Africa (Falcon).

Wild Bunch Distribution will release the film in French theaters nationwide on Nov. 27, with O’Brother releasing in Belgium on Dec. 18.

After its world premiere as closing film of the Cannes Critics’ Week, the film has been selected in some of the world’s foremost genre festivals including Fantastic Fest, Sitges Film Festival, MOTELx, and Neuchâtel Intl. Fantastic Film Festival to name a few.

The Venice Film Festival has unveiled the lineup of projects for Venice Immersive, the Extended Reality (Xr) section of the event. The program, which will include 63 projects from 25 countries, takes place on the island of Lazzaretto Vecchio from Aug. 29 to Sept. 7.

There are 26 projects in Competition, including 19 world premieres and seven international premieres.

There are 30 projects playing Out of Competition, including the best works that have been released or premiered elsewhere since the last edition of the Venice Film Festival; this section is divided into: Best of Experiences (10 projects), and Best of Worlds (20 projects), created by independent artists on the VRChat social platform, an ecosystem of virtual worlds presented in guided tours.

There are seven projects developed during the Biennale College Cinema – Immersive: one project produced thanks to the grant from this year’s eighth edition, six projects developed within the international workshop of the eighth, seventh, sixth and fifth editions.

The Venice International Film Festival 2024 lineup is slowly coming into view, with the Venice Immersive Xr – Extended Reality section now revealed.

The festival, which will take place from August 28 through September 7, includes 360° videos, virtual and mixed reality and Xr works of any length for the Venice Immersive program. Launched in 2017, the section represents one of the first competitions for works in Extended Reality in an A-list festival. The 81st annual festival’s Venice Immersive section is presented with support from VRChat.

The Venice Immersive program included 63 projects from 25 countries, with 26 of those projects being in competition. The festival also boasts seven 7 projects developed during the Biennale College Cinema – Immersive offering.

A trio prizes will be awarded to Venice Immersive projects from the jury. The prizes are: the Venice Immersive Grand Prize, the Venice Immersive Special Jury Prize, and Venice Immersive Achievement Prize.

The international Venice Immersive jury is preceded over by president Celine Daemen,...

Paramount+ and France Télévisions have confirmed their pact on upcoming, working-titled series Zorro starring Oscar-winning actor Jean Dujardin as the iconic masked vigilante.

The partners revealed a first image of The Artist actor Dujardin in the role in a release and said the show will launch later this year on Paramount+ before being broadcast on France Télévisions.

Paramount+ has also acquired rights for the UK, Italy, Germany and Latin America. France tv distribution is handling sales for all other territories.

News of Dujardin’s and Paramount+’s involvement in the show broke in the French media late last year but today’s release was the partners’ first official confirmation of their co-production and distribution deal.

The new show is set in 1821 and sees Don Diego de la Vega/Zorro become mayor of Los Angeles to improve his beloved city.

However, the city is facing financial trouble due to a local...

The filmmaking duo, whose debut film Gagarine earned the Cannes Label in 2020 and found its way to cinephiles amidst the challenges of the pandemic, have been gradually crafting their next project. Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh will move into production next spring on Les Yeux Verts — it will be produced by June Films’ Naomi Denamur and Julie Billy (who just completed production on the highly anticipated feature debut by Ariane Labed). Casting is currently underway for what will be another film with young protagonists – the pre-teen and teen demo. We have no idea what the plotline is, but the project was co-written with Guillaume Laurent of Amélie and I Lost My Body fame.…...

Exclusive: French industry execs Naomi Denamur and Julie Billy are launching Paris-based independent production company June Films with a bustling film and TV slate. Scroll down for the company’s current lineup.

After meeting at Celluloid Dreams 15 years ago, the duo have been putting together their first slate over the past 18 months and are now making movies with talent including Clémence Poésy (The Tunnel), Ariane Labed (Mary Magdalene) and Hafsia Herzi (Good Mother). The idea is to be director-driven and genre agnostic and the company will leverage the duo’s extensive experience in production and international distribution to elevate the prospects for their projects. Billy previously worked at Haut et Court where she produced more than a dozen films including Cannes 2020 title Gagarine, Jonas Carpignano’s Cannes Directors’ Fortnight movie A Chiara and The Night Eats The World by Dominique Rocher. Denamur is known for her work in international sales and in acquisitions for distribution companies such as Ad Vitam in France and Elastica in Spain. As a producer, the company is largely working on female-fronted French and English-language projects, but the company will also look to do co-productions with foreign directors. Both Denamur and Billy are fluent English speakers. June’s lineup includes five features as lead producer: Hafsia Herzi’s third feature, after Good Mother (Un Certain Regard 2021) and You Deserve A Lover (Critics’ Week 2019), is adapted from La Petite Dernière (The Last One) by Fatima Daas. Shooting is planned for Q2, 2023. The 2021 novel, which generated much conversation in France, charts the travails of a lesbian Muslim woman who grows up in a banlieue [suburb] outside of Paris. She not only encounters institutional racism and misogyny but must also contend with a family which wanted a son instead of a daughter. Amazons, directed by Emma Benestan (Fragiles), is an elevated genre film which will shoot in the ranches and wide open spaces of the Camargue region, exploring the world of bull racing. The three following films are being co-developed with Haut et Court:

Actress Clémence Poésy’s English-language directorial debut, co-written by Georgia Oakley (Blue Jean), is adapted from Anna Hope’s well-received novel Expectation, which was translated into 20 languages. The well-received 2019 novel charts the dreams and disappointments of a group of East London women. The film is a co-production between June, Haut et Court and Andrea Calderwood and Gail Egan’s UK banner Potboiler, whose credits include The Last King Of Scotland and The Constant Gardener.

Gagarine directors Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh’s are working with June on a French language feature which is being co-written by Amélie, I Lost My Body and Big Bug writer Guillaume Laurent; and an English-language film with a U.S. producing partner, whose details are being kept under wraps. June’s co-production slate also comprises two features which are due to shoot before year’s end:

Carlo Sironi’s second feature after Sole, produced by Giovanni Pompili, co-producer of Alcarras;

And actress Ariane Labed’s debut feature Sisters, an English-language genre film produced by The Favourite outfit Element Pictures in Ireland. The Souvenir, Mary Magdalene and The Lobster actress Labed directed short Olla which won best first fiction at Clermont-Ferrand in 2020. June is also working on TV projects. The outfit is developing a limited series, adapted from The Mythomaniac Of The Bataclan by Alexander Kauffmann (who will also co-write the series), alongside The Prayer writers Fanny Burdino and Samuel Doux. Developed alongside Studiofact, the series has already generated strong interest from potential buyers. The plot follows a woman who falsely claimed to be a victim of a terrorist attack. Billy and Denamur told us: “June brings together a family of filmmakers we’ve met over the years. We will foster the emergence of new talent, while offering a modern production model. The company aims to protect the vision of its filmmakers, while guiding them in the international market, and our line-up focuses on director-driven cinema which puts forward a diverse range of views of the world.” The continued: “The pandemic has shown that there will always be a need for new content. At a moment when streamers, studios and financiers are seeking exciting European filmmakers, our talent relationships and access to emerging voices put us in an opportune position in the market.”...

New Release Wall

“Encanto” succeeded with the notion of “no villain, except generational trauma,” and Disney keeps that idea going with the delightful “Turning Red” (Walt Disney Home Entertainment), a young woman’s coming-of-age story that’s a metaphor for any number of growing-up issues, including that moment when the “model” child begins to chafe at parental domination. It’s charming and adorable, and the boy-band songs by Billie Eilish and Finneas have already made their way into the latter’s stage act.

Also available:

“The Batman” (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment) Does a three-hour superhero saga have deleted scenes? You bet your bat-hook, and they’re on the 4K/Blu-ray/DVD release alongside other extras.

“Blacklight” (Universal Pictures Home Entertainment) Liam Neeson in the first of two (to date) 2022 thrillers that suggest that maybe it’s time for him to put down the gun.

“Cyrano” (MGM/Universal) Peter Dinklage gives...

Contending with feelings of isolation and loss of community in a realist manner is a vital experience for many people, especially those young adults who feel lost without hope in their ever-changing life circumstances. That’s certainly true for up-and-coming actor Alseni Bathily’s character of the adolescent Youri in the new drama, ‘Gagarine.’ The protagonist is […]

The post Interview: Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh Talk Gagarine (Exclusive) appeared first on Shockya.com.

Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh’s remarkable drama Gagarine is one of the best films of 2022. Centered on Youri, a 17-year-old engineer who is likely on the spectrum, and his hyper-fixation on space, we witness his struggles to cope with the abandonment from his mother and the imminent destruction of his apartment complex. As the building empties out entirely, he sets out to transform his home into a spaceship, crafting an escape from the hardships of the world and finding a way to keep his building intact forever. While on this journey of keeping his home alive, he begins a relationship with Diana, a young Romani woman who figures out the way to communicate with him properly. Youri is forced to reckon between the hardships of the real world, and the fragile beauty of his dreams.

Gagarine is an incredibly intimate and compassionate film, one that never makes fun of...

The first weekend of April was a dud. There was reason to hope it would launch a comeback month with multiple breakout openers, but “Morbius” (Sony) failed to live up to expectations and with a must-see North Carolina/Duke basketball game competing for attention Saturday night, the box office struggled.

“Morbius” is the third entry in the Sony Pictures Universe of Movie Characters. After its Spumc predecessors “Venom” and “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” “Morbius” is a disappointment only compared to its potential. At 39 million, it grossed just under 10 million more than “The Lost City” (Paramount), which had a similar 75 million production budget.

So why does the Sandra Bullock/Channing Tatum adventure/comedy get credit for a decent opening and “Morbius” doesn’t? It’s all in the Marvel factor, combined with Sony’s recent string of hits (“Spider-Man: No Way Home” as well as “Carnage” and “Uncharted”). All these opened much better than expected,...

Forget the romanticized versions of Paris and its surrounding areas that often dominate both film and TV — “Gagarine” gets brutally real about the City of Lights.

Although the film’s narrative is a work of fiction, there is a real grounding to it that confronts the issues of displacement working-class and poor people increasingly face. Setting the story at the now-demolished Cité Gagarin housing project on the outskirts of Paris helps accomplish that.

Named for the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human to journey into outer space, the Gagarine building is a character unto itself. The film’s protagonist Youri (played by Alséni Bathily) even derives his name from the iconic figure. But even though young Youri has dreams of also traveling to space, being poor makes realizing them tough. Co-directors Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh have professional experience with public policies of displacement and have incorporated that into...

The heroine of Goran Stolevski’s You Won’t Be Alone is a witch, with echoes of vampire and zombie, yes, but mostly with a haunting desire for human connection in 19th century rural Macedonia.

The film’s Sundance premiere got great reviews (see Deadline’s here). It’s 94 Rotten Tomatoes Certified Fresh with critics as Focus Features opens Stolevski’s debut feature on 147 carefully curated screens.

You Won’t Be Alone is subtitled and its narrator, the witch Nevena, grew up alone in a cave with a limited grasp of language.

Nevena (Sara Klimoska) is freed from her cave by a hideously deformed evil spirit called the Wolf-Eatress, or Old Maid Maria (Anamaria Marinca), who grows increasingly vengeful as they wander the mountainside and...

"They're gonna tear this place down." Cohen Media Group has debuted an official US trailer for the French film Gagarine, finally getting a US release this April. The was originally supposed to premiere at the 2020 Cannes Film Festival before was cancelled, later showing up at the Zurich Film Festival and many others. It's a wonderful film about young French teens watching as their beloved housing project is demolished. What's your dream? In Gagarine, a teenager who dreams of being an astronaut turns the housing project where he lives, a massive brick city on the brink of destruction, into a starship before it disappears into space entirely. "This Cannes award-winner dazzles with both cinematographic and deep-space bravura while holding up decent housing as a core human right." Starring Alseni Bathily as Youri, with Lyna Khoudri, Jamil McCraven, Finnegan Oldfield, Farida Rahouadj, & Denis Lavant. The trailer really captures the magic and beauty of this,...

We have only just settled into the genial rhythms of Gabriel Martins’ “Mars One,” meeting one by one the loving, yearning family of four at its heart when, like capable, brassy matriarch Tércia (Rejane Faria), we get a shock to the system. Sitting at a lunch counter, Tércia is trying to ignore the ranting of a homeless man behind her. “Brazil is not for amateurs!” he bellows, and she shifts, more irritated than alarmed, until the man pulls out a bomb. The other diners flee, but Tércia remains rooted in horror as it explodes.

That this apparent terrorist attack is actually just a particularly nasty prank being pulled by a TV crew, is immediately revealed, though Tércia remains traumatized even when her family laugh off her experience at dinner that night. And the fake-out can’t help but feel a little similar to Martins’ film in its entirety: Despite a...

It’s all “Happening.”

France’s Lumière Awards proved a colossal evening for Audrey Diwan’s festival favorite “Happening,” which took home both best film and best actress wins on Jan. 17. The abortion drama previously won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and was later acquired by IFC Films.

Set in 1963 France, “Happening” focuses on a promising young student (Anamaria Vartolome) who risks prison to terminate an unwanted pregnancy that threatens her academic future. Venice Film Festival jury president Bong Joon Ho deemed the Golden Lion win for the film an “unanimous decision” among voters.

“Happening” beat out Leos Carax’s “Annette,” Emmanuelle Bercot’s “Living,” Xavier Giannoli’s “Lost Illusions,” and Arthur Harari’s “Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle” to win Best Film at the Lumière Awards, which are selected by France-based members of the foreign press.

Carax won best director for musical drama “Annette,” starring Marion Cotillard and Adam Driver.

Audrey Diwan’s “Happening” won best film and actress for Anamaria Vartolome at France’s Lumière Awards on Monday evening.

“Happening,” which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and was acquired by IFC Films, beat out Leos Carax’s “Annette,” Emmanuelle Bercot’s “Living,” Xavier Giannoli’s “Lost Illusions” and Arthur Harari’s “Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle.”

Julia Ducournau’s Cannes’ Palme d’Or winning “Titane” was surprisingly snubbed from the best film and director categories. The daring movie won the female newcomer prize which was picked up by Agathe Rousselle. The Lumiere Awards are meant to be selected by France-based members of the foreign press, as are the Golden Globes.

Carax, meanwhile, won best director with “Annette,” a musical drama with Marion Cotillard and Adam Driver. The movie also won best cinematography for Caroline Champetier and best music for Sparks. “Annette” previously earned Carax...

Venice Golden Lion winner Happening won best film and best actress prizes

Audrey Diwan’s Venice Golden Lion winner Happening won best film at the 27th edition of France’s Lumière Awards on Monday evening, while its star Anamaria Vartolomei was awarded the best actress prize.

Adapted from French writer Annie Ernaux’s 2019 semi-autobiographical work, Happening recounts a gifted literature student’s struggle to get an abortion in 1964, 11 years before abortion was legalised in France in 1975.

It marks a first lead role for Vartolomei, whose previous credits include How To Be A Good Wife and The Royal Exchange. Vartolomei is...

Thanks to glamorous Paris-set shows like “Lupin” and “Emily in Paris” topping Netflix charts — and daring French female directors Julia Ducournau (“Titane”) and Audrey Diwan (“Happening”) winning top prizes at the Cannes and Venice film festivals — France drew more eyeballs worldwide in 2021 than it has in years. A groundbreaking agreement with global streamers to invest up to €300 million ($333 million) in French content looks to continue that trend. And building on all that momentum, the government is splashing soft money to help French creatives and locations conquer international markets, with a focus on the U.S.

In the streaming era, where language barriers and borders are more permeable, creatives are becoming go-to ambassadors, as evidenced recently by French President Emmanuel Macron’s massive investment scheme, France 2030, which looks to revitalize the country’s industrial sectors, including the film and audiovisual industries. One initiative stemming from the mandate, which targets €600 million for culture,...

Emmanuel Mouret’s “Love Affair(s),” Samir Guesmi’s “Ibrahim” and Elie Wajeman’s “Night Doctor” won top prizes at Colcoa, the French film and TV festival.

The festival, which marked its 25th edition, wrapped at the DGA on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles on Nov. 7. It was attended by 14,000 people.

The festival, programmed by Francois Truffart, is organized by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, a collaboration between the Directors Guild of America (DGA), the Motion Picture Association (MPA), The Writers Guild of America West (Wgaw) and France’s Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music (Sacem).

Colcoa shifted its spring dates to the fall in 2019 as the DGA was being renovated and is now ideally positioned at the start of the awards season in the U.S. The awards ceremony took place at the Sacem headquarters near Paris in the presence of many honorees, notably Guesmi and “Love Affair(s)” producer Frédéric Niedermayer,...

Colcoa French Film and Series Festival announced the lineup for the 25th edition of the annual City of Lights, City of Angels event, which is scheduled to take place Nov. 1 to Nov. 7 at the Director’s Guild of America headquarters in Los Angeles as it has been traditionally held. The event will be in-person and will feature 55 films and series screened live, 30 of which will be considered for Colcoa cinema awards. Among the films are also 19 shorts.

The opening film, screening Nov. 1, will be “Between Two Worlds,” which recounts the adventures of Marianne Winckler, a celebrated author who goes undercover as a cleaning lady to write a book on job insecurity in the gig economy. The closing films scheduled are writer and director Xavier Giannoli’s “Lost Illusions” as well as writer and director Arthur Harari’s “Onoda, 10,000 Nights In The Jungle.” All three of these films will be premiering...

Further new titles include ‘The Sopranos’ prequel ‘The Many Saints Of Newark’.

Fourteen new titles are looking to make the most of the last session at the UK-Ireland box office before James Bond film No Time To Die dominates cinemas.

Independent titles such as The Green Knight, Sweetheart, Gagarine and The Man Who Sold His Skin are going up against Warner Bros’ The Many Saints Of Newark, in a truncated week for new titles.

No Time To Die opens on Thursday, September 30, with many cinemas screening the film from 00.01 BST. With projections from Gower Street Analytics that the film will...

It was a week of holdovers as Disney titles “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” and “Free Guy” continued their reign over the U.K. and Ireland box office.

“Shang-Chi” retained the top spot with a weekend gross of £2.32 million ($3.26 million) and has now has a cumulative total of £15.8 million in its third week of release, per numbers provided by Comscore.

“Free Guy” was the runner up with £677,000 and has collected £15.3 million in six weeks.

A pair of Universal titles brought up the third and fourth positions at the box office. “Respect” collected £377,395 in its second weekend for a cumulative total of £1.1 million while “Candyman,” took £323,350 over its fourth weekend for a total of £4.3 million.

Rounding off the top five was “Paw Patrol: The Movie” with £263,167 over its sixth weekend for a total of £7.6 million.

The summer hits continued to score at the box office. “Jungle Cruise” now has a total of £12.2 million,...

Idea is a solution to the problem of closed cinemas and no physical events.

Hotels will host screening rooms and red carpets for local residents as part of the 26th Vilnius International Film Festival, which is taking place from March 18 – April 24 this year.

The Lithuanian festival has partnered with six of the city’s hotels for what it describes as “the full festival experience”, including red carpets and step-and-repeat marketing boards in communal areas; and films playing in hotel rooms that will have been transformed into screening rooms.

There will also be goody bags and special decorations in the hotel rooms,...

Paris-based Totem Films has scored a raft of international sales on Iranian directors Behtash Sanaeeha and Maryam Moghaddam’s Berlin Film Festival competition entry, “Ballad of a White Cow.”

“Ballad of a White Cow,” as sales agent Totem notes, is the story of a woman’s struggle for justice, recognition and independence in today’s Tehran. The film, which is being shopped at this week’s European Film Market (EFM), is centred on Mina (Moghaddam), a struggling single mother of a deaf daughter who is devastated to learn that her husband Babak was executed a year earlier for a crime he didn’t commit.

As she battles for a public apology from the judges who served her husband’s death sentence, a stranger, Reza, appears on her doorstep, explaining that he has come to repay a debt he owes to Babak. Mina gradually opens up to him, unaware of the...

Paris-based Totem Films announced Friday that it is handling sales on Iranian Behtash Sanaeeha and Maryam Moghaddam’s Berlin Film Festival competition entry, “Ballad of a White Cow.” Totem Films will bring the drama onto the market at early March’s European Film Market (EFM).

The pick-up is sure to draw attention. Launched in 2019 by Agathe Valentin, Laure Parleani and Berenice Vincent, sales and production company Totem Films made waves at the Cannes Film Market last year, scoring vast international sales on “Gagarine,” one of the Cannes Festival official selection’s biggest arthouse breakouts.

Thanks to Asghar Farhadi’s “A Separation” (2011), Jafar Panahi’s “Taxi” (2015) and Mohammad Rasoulof’s “There is No Evil” (2020), Iran has won Berlin’s top award, a Golden Bear for best feature, more times in the last decade than any other country in the world.

While those directors are established values, Sanaeeha and Moghaddam are more fast-emerging talent.

Stargazing in Gagarine. Co-director Jérémie Trouilh: 'We found inspiration in such films as 2001 A Space Odyssey, Bladerunner and Solaris. We also felt kinship to such directors as Leos Carax and Bong Joon-ho - directors who mix genres and who have a point of view on our society' Photo: Photo Haut et Court Picture the scene in the Sixties when Yuri Gagarin, Russia’s first man in space, returned from his mission and ended shortly thereafter on a housing scheme in Paris on a special visit to inaugurate a block of brutalist flats to be named after him.

Filmmakers Fanny Liotard and Jérémie Trouilh stumbled on archive black and white footage during researches for their feature film Gagarine and knew immediately that it would provide the perfect opening segment.

Gagarine directors Fanny Liotard and Jérémie Trouilh: 'They did not want us to portray them in a downbeat way but in an optimistic manner.

World premieres include Ivan Kavanagh’s thriller ‘Son’ and David Burke’s ‘The Father of the Cyborgs’.

World premieres of Ivan Kavanagh’s thriller Son and David Burke’s The Father of the Cyborgs are among the new Irish titles that will screen at this year’s Dublin International Film Festival (Diff) (March 3-14).

The edition of Diff, which recently announced it would take place online-only due to the ongoing pandemic, has selected acclaimed world cinema titles including Korean-American awards contender Minari, Ben Sharrock’s UK comedy-drama Limbo, French feature Gagarine and Greek drama Apples.

Guests participating virtually will include Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth,...

Though the U.S. specialty theatrical market remains stagnant for the foreseeable future, two of the leading buyers of international art-house fare want to send a message to their French partners: We’re still here, and we’re looking to pick up.

“As a very bullish, supportive and embracing distributor we’ll continue to acquire films,” says Charles S. Cohen, whose Cohen Media Group remains the foremost distributor of French cinema in the U.S. “We’re committed,” he adds, “[but] we’re frustrated, just like everyone else.”

Over the past year, Cohen Media Group – which also owns art-house chains Landmark Theaters in the U.S. and Curzon in the U.K. – has had to sit on a number of French titles while waiting for theaters in New York and Los Angeles to reopen, but has still continued to buy.

In June, it picked up Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh’s...

UK festival recently moved online-only due to virus crisis.

The Glasgow Film Festival (Gff) has revealed the programme for its 2021 edition (Feb 24-March 7), which includes several award-winning festival favourites and a focus on South Korea.

The 17th edition of Gff, which recently announced it would shift online-only due to the ongoing virus crisis, includes six world premieres, two European premieres and 49 UK premieres – around a third of the event’s usual programme of 180 titles.

However, Gff co-directors Allison Gardner and Allan Hunter said the reduced number of slots had forced them to raise the bar for selection and produce a stronger programme as a result.

Franco-American critic and broadcaster Iris Brey has teamed with Paris-based sales/production outfit Totem Films to adapt her 2020 book “The Female Gaze: A Screen Revolution” as a nonfiction feature.

A member of France’s 50/50 Collective and a lecturer at the University of California’s Paris campus, Brey will write and direct the upcoming film, weaving the central concern of her book – a long essay interrogating representations of female bodies and perspectives throughout film history – into a more personal onscreen exploration.

“The book has a more theoretical background to it, and can be seen as more specific or dense,” Brey tells Variety. “I want the documentary to touch a broader audience.”

The creative doc will mix first-person voiceover and newly shot footage alongside interviews and archival clips as it seeks to examine the subject in a more tactile and interactive way, assuming the broad outline of a coming-of-age tale that recounts...

Rolling off a strong year for Scandinavian filmmaking, the virtual 44rd edition of the Goteborg Film Festival will kick off with Zaida Bergroth’s “Tove,” which will compete alongside Thomas Vinterberg’s “Another Round” and Ninja Thyberg’s “Pleasure,” among other Nordic pics.

Telling the story of one of Finland’s most beloved and inspiring artists, “Tove” broke box office records in Finland last year in spite of the pandemic, and now ranks as the highest grossing Finnish film in the last 40 years.

“Tove,” which is also Finland’s Oscar candidate, will be one of the seven films vying for the Dragon Award Best Nordic Film. The lineup comprises “Another Round,” one of the most prominent titles in Cannes 2020’s official selection, and “Pleasure,” which is set to world premiere at Sundance, as well as Ronnie Sandahl’s “Tigers,” Lisa Jespersen’s “Persona Non Grata,” Itonje Søimer Guttormsen’s “Gritt...

After a year that tested their limits and redefined landscapes, leaders in France’s entertainment industry share thoughts on their top achievements, the pandemic’s long-term impact and what’s on the horizon for them in 2021.

Thierry Fremaux

Director, Cannes Film Festival / Director, Institut Lumiere

What is the single thing — material or otherwise — getting you through the pandemic? The love of cinema. And the love of those who love cinema, for whom we tried to survive. Also, the new albums from Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.

What was your greatest achievement in 2020? A book about judo. When I was young, I was into films and judo. Without cinemas, I went back to judo.

What do you think will be the long-term impact of the pandemic on the industry? The acceleration and urgency in proving that cinema is a singular art — and a precious one. Like movie theaters.

Who would you...

It’s been 25 years since “La Haine” made the banlieue a staple of French cinema. On the back of Mathieu Kassovitz’s cinematic Molotov cocktail, movies such as “Girlhood,” “Divines,” “Cuties” and “Les Miserables” have made the concrete jungles on the outskirts of Paris a haven for cineastes. But none of them are quite like Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh’s remarkable “Gagarine,” which mixes French social realism with Latin American magical realism before adding a dose of stardust from space movie classics, “Solaris,” “2001” and “Star Wars.”

“Gagarine” was a Cannes Official Selection label, unveiling at the Marché du Film Online, where it was a buzz title for Totem Films, selling out around the planet. The Haut et Court production is currently playing in competition at the Cairo Film Festival.

The film is a skillful blend of reality and fiction, making use of archive material and an exciting young French...

Oscar-winning playwright and screenwriter Christopher Hampton feted with Ciff’s Golden Pyramid Lifetime Achievement prize.

A streamlined edition of the Cairo International Film Festival (Ciff) kicked off on Wednesday evening with a special video message of solidarity and support for the event and its director Mohamed Hefzy from the heads of the Berlin, Cannes and Venice film festivals.

“I wish I was there with you tonight attending the opening ceremony,” said Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera, who was one of the few A-list festival directors able to hold a physical edition this year. “We need cinema and we need to show it is alive.

Filippo Meneghetti’s feature debut “Two of Us” will represent France in the race for the best international feature film award at the Oscars.

“Two of Us” was selected over Maiwenn’s “DNA,” François Ozon’s “Summer 85,” Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh’s “Gagarine” and Maïmouna Doucouré’s “Cuties” which were short-listed.

“Two of Us” was released in France on Feb. 12 and was represented in international markets by The Party Film Sales. Magnolia Pictures acquired North American rights to the film and is planning to release it on Feb. 5.

The films follows two older women, played by Barbara Sukowa and Martine Chevallier, who live across the hall from each other in the same apartment building but have kept their romance hidden for decades.

The film held its world premiere as part of the Toronto International Film Festival’s Discovery program. Mark Keizer said in his review for Variety that the...

Magnolia has US rights for the film which premiered in Toronto in 2019.

France has selected Italian director Filippo Meneghetti’s drama Two Of Us as its submission for the best international film category of the 2021 Oscars.

The France-set drama stars Barbara Sukowa and Martine Chevallier as a lesbian couple facing up to the challenge of coming out after two decades of secret passion and companionship.

It was produced by France’s Paprika Films, Luxembourg’s Tarantula and Belgium’s Artémis Productions. The Party Film Sales handles international rights.

It premiered at Toronto in 2019 where Magnolia took US rights.

The distributor...

France’s Oscar selection committee has chosen comedy/drama Two Of Us as its submission to the International Feature Film category at the 2021 Academy Awards. From director Filippo Meneghetti, the feature debut world premiered in the Discovery section of Toronto last year and was released in France in early 2020 via Sophie Dulac Distribution. Magnolia has U.S. rights and is releasing on February 5, 2021. Other festival play has included London, Macau and Palm Springs.

The story centers on retirees Nina (Barbara Sukowa) and Madeleine (Martine Chevallier) who have hidden their deep and passionate love for many decades. Everybody, including Madeline’s family, thinks they are simply neighbors. When an unforeseen crisis turns their relationship upside down, Madeline’s daughter (Léa Drucker) begins to gradually unravel the truth between them.

Two Of Us (aka Deux in French) is produced by Paprika Films with The Party Film Sales on international rights.

Deliberations today...

The cast also includes Sabine Azéma, Maud Wyler and Laurent Poitrenaux. Produced by 31 Juin Films, this third feature from the director will be sold by Pyramide. Three more weeks of filming for Aurélia Georges’ La place d’une autre, the third feature from the director, after L'Homme qui marche (selected in the Acid competition in Cannes in 2007) and La fille et le fleuve (2014). The cast includes Lyna Khoudri, Sabine Azéma (winner of the Best Actress César award in 1985 and 1987 and nominated four other times), Maud Wyler (very well received in The Bare Necessity and a stand out in Alice and the Mayor) and Laurent Poitrenaux. Very freely...

France’s Oscar selection committee today set a shortlist of five films that are in contention to be the country’s official submission to the International Feature Film category at the 2021 Academy Awards. Among the titles is Cuties, the Sundance award-winning debut drama from Maïmouna Doucouré that was well-received in France when it released this summer, but also was collaterally involved in an online backlash spurred by Netflix’s early marketing campaign.

Bac Films released Cuties in France while Netflix began rollout elsewhere on September 9. The story follows Amy, an 11-year-old girl who joins a group of dancers named “The Cuties” at school, and who rapidly grows aware of her burgeoning femininity — upsetting her mother and her values.

A poster released by Netflix at the same time as the French theatrical rollout, in a bid to begin promoting the movie ahead of its streaming debut, provoked a furious online backlash...

The final candidate will be decided on November 19.

Cuties, DNA, Gagarine, Two Of Us and Summer Of 85 have been shortlisted to be France’s candidate for the best international feature film category of the 2021 Oscars, in the country’s two-part selection process.

This year’s selection committee includes directors Mati Diop and Olivier Nakache; producers Marc du Pontavice and Anne-Dominique Toussaint; and international sales agents Carole Baraton, co-head of Charades, and Juliette Schrameck, who recently left as head of sales at mk2 Films to move into production.

They join perennial institutional committee members, Cannes delegate general Thierry Frémaux, Unifrance president...

The Singapore International Film Festival will open with the screening of local film “Tiong Bahru Social Club” at the Shaw Lido theater. But, for social distancing reasons, the occasion will not be marked with a red carpet pageant.

Throughout its 11-day stretch (Nov. 26-Dec. 6), the festival will run as a hybrid event, mixing in-person and online activities. And although the festival is targeted primarily at a local audience in a country which has successfully wrangled the coronavirus back to manageable levels, it will also be scaled down.

Organizers this week unveiled 70 films, down from a more usual 90-plus. About half of the reduced total are contemporary feature movies.

Some will be presented only in theaters, while others will also be available online, but geo-blocked for Singapore audiences only. In order to reach audiences at a time when physical distancing regulations still persist in Singapore cinemas, there will be two in-person screenings per film.

Sebastian Lifshitz’s transgender-themed documentary won the best film award.

Sébastien Lifshitz’s Little Girl has been awarded the Grand Prix for best film in the 47th Film Fest Ghent’s official competition, which also featured Nomadland, Vitalina Varela and First Cow.

The 2020 Georges Delerue Award for best music and sound design goes to Ivan Ostrochovský’s Servants. Both awards were picked by the international jury, while Gagarine – a Cannes 2020 Label title and the feature debut of Fanny Liatard and Jeremy Trouilh – won the main prize of the youth jury.

Little Girl is the first documentary to win the festival’s top prize in 35 years.

The European Film Academy (Efa) has unveiled the five nominees for this year’s European Discovery award, the best first-film prize presented as part of the Academy’s European Film Awards.

The nominees are some of the best-reviewed films to come out of Europe recently, including Instinct, from Dutch actress-turned-director Halina Reijin, which features Game of Thrones star Carice van Houten, and Aladdin’s Marwan Kenzari; Zoé Wittock’s Belgium feature Jumbo, about a shy woman who falls in love with an amusement park ride; and Gagarine, a French drama from first-timers Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh, which was one of the stand-out hits ...

The European Film Academy (Efa) has unveiled the five nominees for this year’s European Discovery award, the best first-film prize presented as part of the Academy’s European Film Awards.

The nominees are some of the best-reviewed films to come out of Europe recently, including Instinct, from Dutch actress-turned-director Halina Reijin, which features Game of Thrones star Carice van Houten, and Aladdin’s Marwan Kenzari; Zoé Wittock’s Belgium feature Jumbo, about a shy woman who falls in love with an amusement park ride; and Gagarine, a French drama from first-timers Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh, which was one of the stand-out hits ...

‘Gagarine’ duo Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh win best director award.

Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese’s This Is Not A Burial, It’s A Resurrection has won the Golden Athena for best film at the Athens International Film Festival in Greece.

Along with the top award, which includes a cash prize of €2,000, the film picked up the newly-created Europa Film Festivals Award at the ceremony on Sunday (October 4).

This Is Not A Burial… was shot entirely in the director’s native Lesotho and centres on an 80-year-old widow who finds new purpose when her village is threatened with forced resettlement. It...

The short answer is strong local films and major state subsidies.

Mourir Peut Attendre, which translates as ‘Dying Can Wait’ is the French title for the James Bond film No Time To Die, and unexpectedly apt.

As in the rest of the world, French exhibitors had high hopes for the new Bond title as the only major US production left on the release calendar for this autumn, as they battle to stay afloat in the face of historically low admissions and a lack of crowd-drawing blockbusters.

The move of the Bond film to April 2021 is a huge blow but unlike...

Paris-based sales company Totem Films has boarded Lovisa Siren’s new film “Sagres,” a dynamic European road movie.

“Sagres,” which has just gone into production, follows two sisters and a teenage daughter who travel from Stockholm, Sweden, to the picturesque cliffs of Sagres, Portugal — located in the southwestern most part of Europe, known as “The End of the World.”

Maya, the younger sister, is a free-spirited, half-failing musician who has left her son in Portugal with her mother, while older sibling Nilo is a control freak in a sexless marriage. When the sisters’ mother phones up to say she’s sick, the pair — joined by Nilo’s rambunctious teenage daughter Laura — embarks on a road trip through Europe to reunite in Sagres, culminating in a tragicomic reunion no one expected.

“Sagres” marks Siren’s feature debut. Her 2014 film “Pussy Have the Power” picked up the Best Short Award at the Goteberg Film Festival.

What are the benefits of an online festival premiere? It’s been the question on the lips of filmmakers, sales agents, distributors and exhibitors since festivals had to stop operating as physical entities. Venice marked a return to a more traditional way of doing things, while Toronto’s hybrid dance of digital industry and physical public screenings offers a different alternative. But should filmmakers accept invitations to premiere their films at purely virtual festivals?

Now that several online festivals have taken place – Cph:Dox, Locarno and Sheffield Docfest – a consensus is emerging about the efficacy of premiering films online.

Sales agents have discovered that with the right movie, digital festivals can be as profitable as physical festivals.

Filmmakers are missing the experience of meeting audiences and the press and reporting that the consumer media is less interested in digital platforms.

For distributors, it’s a case of plus ça change...

Film was among 56 titles selected for the special Cannes 2020 label.

Paris-based sales company Totem Films has unveiled more than a dozen fresh deals on Cannes 2020 label title Gagarine, which was one of the buzziest arthouse titles in the virtual Cannes market, running June 22-26 last week.

In Europe, it has sold to Austria (Polyfilm), Benelux (Cinéart), Denmark (Angel Films), Officine Ubu (Italy), Finland (Cinemanse), Greece (Weird Wave), Norway (Selmer Media), Poland (Best Film), Spain (Karma Films), Sweden (Folkets Bio), Switzerland (Filmcoopi) and ex-Yugoslavia (Megacom).

In the rest of the world, it has sold to Australia (Madman), Brazil (Vitrine), Israel (Lev Cinemas...