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Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, Chad’s foremost filmmaker, whose latest film – the documentary “Hissein Habre, A Chadian Tragedy” – premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May of this year, and, before that, the feature drama “Grigris” competed for the Palme d’Or at… Continue Reading →...

Exclusive: Eriq Ebouaney and Sandrine Bonnaire to co-star in asylum seeker love story.

MK2 Films has taken on world sales of Chadian director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s [pictured] upcoming drama A Season In France.

Eriq Ebouaney and Sandrine Bonnaire have signed to co-star in the film revolving around the relationship between an asylum seeker and a French woman.

Ebouaney – who was recently seen in Bastille Day – plays Abbas, a widower and teacher from the war-torn Central African Republic seeking asylum in France. Awaiting a decision on his application, he works in a food market on the outskirts of Paris to support his two young children.

Bonnaire will play Carole, a French woman who falls in love with Abbas and offers him a home.

Florence Stern of Paris-based Pili Films is producing the film, which is due to shoot in Paris and Northern France this October.

The production marks Haroun’s first feature shot in France after dramas set in...

Film Movement (http://www.filmmovement.com), the distributor of award-winning independent and foreign films, has announced today that Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's latest work "Grisgris" will be released on DVD on August 19. The fifth feature from acclaimed director Haroun ("A Screaming Man"), "Grisgris" was honored with the Vulcan Award for technical achievement at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, and was Chad’s official entry into the Academy Awards. In the drama, Grigris (played by Soulémane Démé) dreams of making a living on the dance floor, despite his bum leg. But when his stepfather falls ill,...

Cannes has selected Iranian auteur Abbas Kiarostami (“Certified Copy,” “Like Someone In Love”) to be president of the Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury at the 2014 edition of the fest, running May 14-25.Also serving on the jury are directors Noémie Lvovsky of France (“Camille redouble”), Daniela Thomas of Brazil (“Linha de passé”), Mahamat-Saleh Haroun of Chad (“Grigris”) and Joachim Trier of Norway (“Oslo, August 31”).They will be awarding three prizes to films submitted by students from film schools around the globe, which will be presented in the Cinéfondation Selection, to be announced at a later date.Meanwhile, the Cinéfondation prizes will be announced May 22, with the Short Film Palme d’Or to be awarded on May 24.Jane Campion is set to be the feature film jury president.

Abbas Kiarostami is to head the Cinéfondation and Short Film Jury of the 67th Cannes Film Festival.

The Iranian director and screenwriter has been nominated for the Palme d’Or five times and won in 1997 with Taste of Cherry.

The 2014 Cinéfondation and Short Films Jury will also include directors Noémie Lvovsky (France), Daniela Thomas (Brazil), Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (Chad), and Joachim Trier (Norway).

They will be tasked with awarding three prizes to films submitted by students from film schools around the world, which will be presented in the Cinéfondation Selection, to be announced at a later date.

The Cinéfondation Prizes will be announced by the Jury on May 22, at a ceremony to be followed by a screening of the winning films.

The Jury will also decide the Short Film Palme d’or to be awarded at the prize-giving ceremony on May 24.

Kiarostami rose to international fame with Where is the Friend’s Home (1987) and went on to present...

Best Foreign Language Film Oscar 2014 submissions (photo: Ziyi Zhang in ‘The Grandmaster’) (See previous post: Best Foreign Language Film Oscar: ‘The Past,’ ‘Wadjda,’ Andrzej Wajda Among Omissions) In case you missed it, here’s the full list of submissions (in alphabetical order, per country) for the 2014 Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award. The list of contenders was originally announced on October 7, 2013. Of note: Saudi Arabia and Moldova were first-timers; Montenegro was a first-timer as an independent country. Afghanistan, Wajma — An Afghan Love Story, Barmak Akram, director; Albania, Agon, Robert Budina, director; Argentina, The German Doctor, Lucía Puenzo, director; Australia, The Rocket, Kim Mordaunt, director; Austria, The Wall, Julian Pölsler, director; Azerbaijan, Steppe Man, Shamil Aliyev, director; Bangladesh, Television, Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, director; Belgium, The Broken Circle Breakdown, Felix van Groeningen, director; Bosnia and Herzegovina, An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker, Danis Tanovic, director; Brazil, Neighboring Sounds, Kleber Mendonça Filho,...

And then there were 9... A record 76 countries submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film Oscar category for the upcoming 86th Academy Awards. That list of 76 (revealed in October) has now been trimmed down to 9 features that will advance to the next round of voting. Unfortunately, not a single one of the 5 Diaspora films that were part of the original 76 made the cut, and therefore won't be able to contend for the final list of nominees, which will be announced a month from now. Those 5 films are:  - GriGris, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (Chad) - La Playa DC, Juan Andrés Arango (Colombia) - Winter of Discontent, Ibrahim El Batout...

This year’s Dubai International Film Festival (Diff) is officially over, with awards honors revealed last week. Amongst winners, of most interest to this blog, in the AsiaAfrica competition, a Special Mention went to Souleymane Deme for his role in Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s Grigris, while Special Mention for short films went to Burkinabe filmmaker Cédric Ido, for Twaaga. In the Muhr Arab feature section, the Special Jury Prize went to Moroccan Nabil Ayouch's They Are The Dogs. In the Muhr Arab documentary section, Oscar-shortlisted Egyptian doc The Square won best film, while Salma El Tarzi's won for best director for Underground On The...

Hany Abu-Assad’s Omar won best film in the Muhr Arab feature competition at this year’s Dubai International Film Festival (Diff), while Anthony Chen’s Ilo Ilo won best film in the Muhr AsiaAfrica section.

Abu-Assad also won best director in the Arab feature section, while Yasmine Raees won best actress for Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed Khan’s Factory Girl. Best actor went to Hassan Badida for Moroccan filmmaker Hicham Lasri’s They Are The Dogs, which also picked up the Special Jury Prize.

Special Mentions went to Mohamed Amin Benamraoui for Adios Carmen and to Moroccan actress Raouia for her roles in Rock The Casbah and Pillow Secrets.

Ilo Ilo was also a multiple prize-winner, adding to an already weighty awards stash, by taking best actress for Yeo Yann Yann’s performance. Best actor in the AsiaAfrica section went to Irrfan Khan for his role in Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox, which also won...

Sandeep Ray won best director award for his short Shirno Bahu (Thin Arms)

Irrfan Khan won best actor award for his role in Ritesh Batra’s “The Lunchbox”. The film also won the writer-director a special mention for screenplay in the Muhr Asia Africa category. The jury was headed by Shekhar Kapoor.

Sandeep Ray’s short film “Shirno Bahu” (Thin Arms) won him the best director award in the Muhr Asia Africa shorts category.

“Shirno Bahu” tells the story of an octogenarian woman who undergoes treatment for a debilitating medical condition. The 10 minute film is in Bengali language.

Actor-producer Sanjay Suri was a part of Arab competition jury.

“The Lunchbox” also won two Asia Pacific Screen Awards recently.

Full list of awards at Dubai International Film Festival:

Muhr AsiaAfrica Feature:

Special Mention: Souleymane Démé for his role in Grigris(France, Chad)

Special Mention: Ritesh Batra for the screenplay of The Lunchbox...

Organized by Film Independent and the Lmu School of Film and Television in collaboration with Lacma, the film series Camera's d'Afrique has brought some of the best films from West Africa to audiences in Los Angeles.The series curator, Elvis Mitchell, a respected film critic and radio host of Kcrw's The Treatment, selected films from the region that best exemplify the continent's ancient storytelling traditions and that showcase the filmmakers' unique vision.

The series, running until the end of October, opened with the U.S. Premier of Cannes winner Grigris, a Chadian film from veteran director Mahamat Saleh Haroun, and which is now the countries Official Selection for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. Mitchell expressed his excitement to bring these unique perspectives in World Cinema to Los Angeles and hopes that, if successful, the program can explore other regions of the African continent and even the world in future editions.

Read more about Cameras d'Afrique Here

Carlos Aguilar: Could you talk about the approach, and the selection process of the films, I had the chance to watch Grigris, during the opening night, which was great. How did you choose these films?

Elvis Mitchell: Grigris was pretty terrific wasn’t it? It all started with Steve Ujlaki, he is the dean at the Lmu Film School, and he wanted to do a project where we would bring some films over from the Fespaco Film Festival in Burkina Faso but we weren’t able to attend. We wanted to bring films from that festival, so that helped us to focus on West Africa and that part of the world. The problem is that Africa is an enormous continent, and there are so many different films being made in all those countries, so it made it easier for us, in terms of the selection process, to concentrate on films that came from that part of the continent.

Aguilar: Specifically speaking about Grigris, now that it is Chad’s Official Submission for the Academy Awards, how do you think an international audience will receive it?

Mitchell: First of all I think Haroun is a world-class filmmaker; he is basically the Chadian film industry. I think it is such a great piece of filmmaking. It starts off, and you think you are going to get one film, it starts off with all that energy, you get to see Soulémane Démé take to the screen like a movie star, and then it becomes a whole other different story. All his films have been about these lives in transition and this ambition to do something better with your life. I think this kind of encapsulates what he does so beautifully. I think in visual terms it is such a great film to watch. It won the Vulcan Award at the Cannes Film Festival, and I’m just thrilled that finally Chad is getting around to submitting a film. I can’t think of anybody who deserves the nomination as much as Haroun does.

The film demands that kind of attention, what I can tell you about the audience’s reactions to the film afterwards, us that people couldn’t stop talking about it. It was one of those great experiences at Lacma where people were just buzzing about it in the lobby afterwards. People want to stand around talking to other people about it, and that’s when I knew we had something remarkable, which of course is kind of obvious once you see the film. It deserves that kid of attention that it would get just by virtue of being nominated.

Aguilar: More than anything, Grigris is a film about hope. Sometimes it feels like people associate African stories with mere survival and films like the ones you have chosen don’t always get the attention they deserve. Of all the films that you considered, what attracted you to these selection?

Mitchell: Another thing about Grigris is that Haroun has made a career out of picking faces for his movies that have never acted before, but you never know that. Everybody in Grigris takes to the camera as if they were veteran actors and born to the medium. I think that is part of the excitement in seeing that movie. Specially seeing it in a theater in the United States for the first time. I think the excitement is transmitted to the audience, and the audience is infected by it. That was the thing I had in mind when we were selecting the films for the series, I just wanted people to get that kind of sense of sheer pleasure and acceleration that the filmmakers get from making these films. Filmmakers who think to the camera like Wong Kar-wai or Del Toro, these filmmakers, not just Americans, can transmute what they think to the camera, and Haroun is one of them. L’Absence by Mama Keita is another one of those films, I think all the films that are in the series are movies that do that, movies that you just basically get caught up in watching them.

Aguilar: Are there any plans to expand this project and do series on films from other regions of the world, or other parts of Africa?

Mitchell: Certainly we want to. We are looking at this first year of Cameras d’Afrique as just a way to introduce audiences to the idea, anything like this takes a while to catch on. Especially when it’s a part of the world that people don’t really know about, and unfortunately people don’t tend to think of Africa as a place for filmmakers. Like I said in my introduction, there is a storytelling tradition in Africa that’s older than in any other place in the world. I think there is a thrill in seeing that storytelling tradition combined with a relatively new technology as cinema for them. Hopefully we get some traction this year, hopefully we get enough attention, and audiences so we can do this again next year with another region of the continent and start looking to other places as well.

It’s funny that coming out of some screenings people said to me “Are they going to be more films from Mauritania? What about other parts of West Africa?” and I said “We are doing this a step at a time” The more success we have with this, the better place we will be for having more of these movies, and from other regions next time. It’d be great to have films from Cape Verde or Sierra Leone, but we do have films from Mali, Mauritania, and the Ivory Coast. I’m so excited about the idea of being able to continue this and moving on to another part of the continent for next year.

Aguilar: How would you summarize the Cameras d’Afrique series? What makes the films of this region unique or special in comparison to other currents in World Cinema?

Mitchell: There are storytelling traditions that come from Africa that are unique from anywhere else. We had a filmmaker from Burkina Faso, Idriss Diabate, and he was saying his last name, Diabate, is an old Burkina Faso name and it means storyteller. His very name lends itself to that tradition of storytelling. Each country has its own way of communicating a narrative and through that expressing family experiences in emotional stories. With these films we have a chance to see how there are differences, some are subtle, some not so subtle between each of the areas. Just the idea of seeing a type of narrative we’ve not seen before is a chance to be surprised. I think that’s what audiences want, to be stimulated by films and I think that’s what each of these films do in ways that maybe are new and unique to American audiences.

The takeaway is to remember how up everybody was after Grigris, that’s when I felt we had done something right. People didn’t want to leave, they wanted to share this with the people they’ve just seen it with “What did you think of that scene? What did you think of her? Wasn’t she a different person when she took that wig off? “ Everybody had something to say about it, and I think thus far that has been the reaction to all the films we’ve shown. We are hoping that is the reaction to everything we play so audiences can feel like they trust these films coming from a part of the world that they don’t know enough about and just come and take a chance on something new.

Growing up in Culver City, I always saw the MGM studio near us as a place of make-believe where I could collect autographs of famous movie stars. I knew they made the movies there that I watched every weekend. But it was home, and home was a place of safe daydreams without ambitious goals associated with it.

When I became a teenager and saw Un Chien Andalou, I began to see Movie Mecca as New York and Paris, but now I see they have nothing on us.

Los Angeles this past month had so many events that I could see the world without leaving town. Just a sampling here: German Film Currents,Polish Film Festival, So. African Arts Fest, Satyajit Ray Restored, Pure and Impure: The films of Pier Paolo Pasolini, Gabriel Figueroa Retrospective and The Golden Age of Mexican Cinema which this weekend showed Roberto Gavaldon’s Macario an Oscar-nominated 1959 surrealist Mexican fable. Also showing this weekend alone were A Century of Chinese Cinema at UCLA, the Cambodian documentaryA River Changes Course, Ida’s free documentary series, sci-fi Beyond Fest at the Egyptian Theater, Henri-George Couzot’s La Verite at Red Cat, not to mention Classics from the Cohen Film Colletion: The Rohauer Collection and finally, the early press screenings for the Foreign Language Submissions for the Academy Awards.

Today I write about Africa, West Africa in particular, but even more so Chad, because that is where Mahamat-Saleh Haroun and his film Grigris (Isa: Les Films du Losange, No. America: Film Movement) originate. Grigris premiered in the Cannes Film Festival this year. Haroun also wrote and directed The Screaming Man (Isa: Pyramide, No. America: Film Movement) which won The Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

Grigris is playing as part of the Cameras d’Afrique Series at Lacma which I blogged about earlier Here. This showcase of world-changing films is an initiative of Loyola Marymount University Film School, Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Film Program and Film Independent.

The films offer a unique view of Africa in the comfort of our own town. This series includes the 1963 film Borom Sarret by Ousmane Sembene from Senegal, the first film directed by an African to focus on an African filmmaker’s own people. We all know the name of Ousmane Sembene, but rarely have the chance to see his films, though I will never forget the experience of seeing Black Girl in 1966 at the height of our own Civil Rights struggles. It enlightened me about the rest of the world’s own warped (i.e., colonial) view of the Africans in diaspora, a subject being revived in so many films of today.

My most current education on Africa comes from the annual course I teach about the international film business to festival directors from Africa, Asia and Latin America at the Deutsche Welle Akademie in Berlin. I learn about the problems and issues facing a diverse range of festival directors, many of whom are also filmmakers. For example, in a country with no theaters, the film festival is held in the bush and promoted via cel phones which everyone possesses. I was also made alert to the fact that many Africans themselves find European-funded films showing dusty, poverty-stricken but cute kids in torn t-shirts and running barefoot in dirty streets and men wearing the boubou and women balancing baskets on their heads condescending and imbalanced depictions of Africa today.

Mama Kéïta was present to talk about L’Absence and Gaston Kaboré was there with Buud Yam (followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker). Other program highlights included the L.A. premiere of Mille Soleils (A Thousand Suns), Djibril Diop Mambéty’s 1973 French New Wave–inspired Touki Bouki, Idrissa Ouédraogo’s 1990 Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix winner Tilaï (The Law), and the 2013 Fespaco Golden Stallion winner Tey (Today), followed by a Q&A with director Alain Gomis and star Saul Williams.

Seeing these films gave me a feeling of wholeness, from L’Absence, the tail of a prodigal son, returning too long after he was granted an education in France by his fellow countrymen and family who had expected him to return and contribute to his own country’s wellbeing but instead stayed in France where he basically lost his soul, to Buud Yam, a classic hero’s journey by a young man seeking a healer for his sister. The audience and the filmmakers along with their films had a great opportunity to unveil an Africa about which we know too little

Planning to interview Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, I looked up Chad in Wikipedia and read it is what is called a “failed country”. My spirits dropped. But on seeing Grisgris and meeting Haroun and hearing all he had to say, my spirits soared.

Do you know for a fact that a film can change the world? I believe it can, does and is changing the world. So many of my colleagues in the film world are in film because of the same ideal.

The African directors at the series spoke of their films and their passion and they too make films to change the world. Haroun was not the only one who spoke at the African film series, but my conversation with him proved it to me. We spent a good hour discussing his films and his thoughts and development which I will try to summarize here.

It has been a long road for Haroun. When he first returned to Chad from France and made Bye Bye Africa, he was inexperienced and afraid of nothing. You see his chutzpah making Bye Bye Africa as he shoots film of everyone, offending some who believed he was stealing their spirits. He meets his past star who played a woman dying of AIDS whose life has been ruined because the people believe the film was real.

For Haroun, acting is like cooking. You do it for someone you love. Chad was such a difficult country for filming his first film, so he could make mistakes. If you fall down, you just get up and keep going. He had no doubts. It’s a question of love. You feel it; you act it. His non-professional actors do their best and their passion carries them through.

Making his second film was different. There was pressure, especially for him as an actor, to make it good. After A Screaming Man he got a call from Brad Pitt who wanted him as an actor in World War Z and who wanted the lead, but not speaking English put an end to that.

Chad is landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic to the south, Cameroon and Nigeria to the southwest, and Niger to the west. Because the French colonized it in the 1920s, it is now a “Francophone” country and has more in common with its neighbors in the West and so is considered West African.

Chad had free elections in 2008 and elected President Idriss Déby. The country defeated the Sudanese rebels there. The nation sent troops into Mali and killed Moktar Belmoktar, the Algerian terrorist behind the deadly attack on a natural gas plant in Algeria and withdrew its troops in April of this year saying they were not prepared to fight guerilla warfare. That means money that went to the military can be redirected toward peaceful endeavors. Today they are rebuilding the country which is based on an oil economy which gives it a window of rich opportunity.

Cinema in Chad changed greatly and became a new focal point for the newly elected government when Haroun won the Jury Prize in Cannes for A Screaming Man in 2010 When his debut film Bye Bye Africa (1999), showed the wreck of the country revisited by long-time French exile, he saw theaters which the long civil war and instability had destroyed. He spoke to a woman who swore she would renovate her theater, the Normandie. Bye Bye Africa was a drama but it took place in a documentary setting which looks at the poor state of cinema in the country. After Haroun won the Grand Jury Prize of Cannes, the government allocated $1 million to restore the theater which stands today as a testament to the power of film. It shows 35mm, is digitized and can use satellite transmission. It can buy Hollywood films using digital coding although film distribution rights are still difficult to negotiate. However, the distributor of Django in France arranged for Django to show day and date in Paris and Chad’s capitol city N’Djamena for a minimum guarantee. This was a major event for a country that has gone 30 years without cinema.

The government of Chad began to receive compliments for winning the Jury Prize in Cannes, which is perceived to be as important as the Olympics themselves (It is, in fact, the 2nd largest press event in the world after the Olympics). The world’s perception of Chad and its own perception of itself shifted from being one of the poorest, war-torn and corrupt nations of Africa to one of high stature culturally. And its current Prime Minister Djimrangar Dadnadji, and his government has now allocated $10 million into building a film school which should be finished by 2015. It will be one of the rare film schools in all of Africa and will be the finest in the north, east or west of the entire continent.

The film school is a part of rebuilding the country today. It is also trying to become part of the U.N. Security Council. It is the leading country in Central and West Africa. It is part of the Central African Economic Council (Ceeac).

What these changes mean for Haroun is that he can continue to use film for himself as a platform, the means to objectify and philosophize about conscience and consciousness. As Aimee Caesar was quoted in Bye Bye Africa, Africa needs to articulate its storytelling tradition in new ways and to be visible beyond its own borders. Film shows diversity. Differing points of view and discussions mean the nation can start to play a role on a grander world stage. With the building of a film school, the parliament also voted into law at tax of $.01 per telephone call to go toward artistic activities. This will make a huge difference to the next generation.

When Haroun began making movies he wanted to stop talking about the state of cinema, so he put it into his film, memorialized it and then closed the door on the subject.

You can see Haroun’s own evolution in regards to his treatment of women in Bye Bye Africa to his depiction of them in Grigris. It was not a very flattering portrayal; even in Grigris, the hero does not stand up for the woman he loves when his boss degrades her. However, the film gives a special place to the women in the village as if they were a in a classical Greek Choir. The women change the Story and the two artists’ destiny is changed because of the women.

Grigris is the portrait of a young African artist, but even with talent, the milieu is so difficult and as the eldest, he has to take care of others. This is The Responsibility that kills dreams. Grigris is a cruel portrayal of the young artist. It is a modern story, extending the tradition of oral storytelling.

Although he is not acting in it, it is still an impressionistic self-portrait, as was Bye Bye Africa which was shot in two weeks and won Best First Feature in Venice in 1999. His growth intellectually and emotionally can be measured by watching the two films.

After being selected and awarded at the 66th Festival de Cannes for the remarkable quality of its photography, the film Grigris, by Mahamat Saleh Haroun, supported by the Acp Cultures + Programme, won the Bayard d'Or for best photography at the 28th Festival International Film Francophone de Namur (Fiff) in Belgium. (Read the full list of 28th Fiff Awards : click here.)

Haroun explains that he has many women around him – his mother, his sisters, cousins. In Africa, a man’s role does not include cooking. Cooking is love. But in France he enjoys cooking. Cooking shows trust in those who partake in the making and eating of the meal. No one burns the steak when cooking for one’s mother. Food is essential to Haroun. “If you cook, you can share, you open your doors.”

He told me how he got into movies.

I was 9 years old when I saw my first movie. It was a Bollywood movie and a beautiful lady in it was smiling at the camera. I thought she was smiling at me. The love and happiness I felt watching this made me love cinema.

My dream of cinema was a big ambition. It was not to make small films. I dreamt of expressing an important philosophy of life and of my country in cinema. I did not want to stick just to tradition which is disappearing. But to the eternal which remains. Tradition is not the essential; culture is. For example, in Western society, the meaning of seat number 13 on a plane is not culture, but it is a tradition.

Haroun is leading his generation. In 1965 the civil war was raging in the North. It came to the capital in 1979 and he went to Paris to study cinema in 1981/82. His country was ruled by a dictator who is now in prison to be judged in court for the 40,000 lives taken during the 8 years of war. Reid Brady of the Human Rights Watch and Haroun are now making a documentary about this. Today Haroun travels between France and Chad 5 to 6 times a year. Interestingly, there is not yet a film festival in Chad.

When I asked what was next :

Next is about Indian fashion. Also a young artist. It is based on a true story of a young man in N’Djemena who used to watch Bollywood dvds and has seen more than 1,500 Bollywood films and speaks Hindu as a result. He gets a job at an Indian factory and translates to French and to his African language. He spends eight years there but dreams of becoming an actor in Bollywood. The story brings him to Bombay. That is a good base for a film; a film built on truth and documentary.

I am also making a film in France called A Life in France. I have lived there for 30 years. The film is from the point of view of an immigrant as I am.

Hamoud and I so enjoyed our talk that we are now looking forward to meeting again when he returns here in December! Wouldn’t it be great if his film is one of those shortlisted for the Nomination, or if it actually received the Nomination? Or if it won? How might that then change the world? We will have to wait and see.

About Lmu Sftv

Movie industry moguls helped establish Loyola Marymount University’s (Lmu) current campus on the bluffs above west Los Angeles in the 1920s. By 1964, Lmu was formally teaching film and television curriculum, and in 2001, the School of Film and Television (Sftv) was established as its own entity. Today, Sftv offers students a comprehensive education where mastering technical skills and story is equally important to educating the whole person, including the formation of character and values, meaning and purpose. Sftv offers undergraduate degrees in animation, production, screenwriting, film and television studies and recording arts; and graduate degrees in production, screenwriting and writing and producing for television. The school is one of the few film programs providing students with a completely tapeless model of production and post-production, and Sftv’s animation program is one of the few worldwide that teaches virtual cinematography. Selected alumni include John Bailey, Bob Beemer, Francie Calfo, Brian Helgeland, Francis Lawrence, Lauren Montgomery, Jack Orman, Van Partible and James Wong, among others. Get more information at sftv.lmu.edu or facebook.com/lmusftv.

About Film Independent at Lacma

Film Independent at Lacma is a film series produced by Film Independent—the nonprofit arts organization that also produces the Film Independent Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival—and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma) with presenting sponsor The New York Times and premier sponsor Ovation. The Film Independent at Lacma Film Series is curated by Elvis Mitchell and assistant curator Bernardo Rondeau. The program features classic and contemporary narrative and documentary films; emerging auteurs; international showcases; special guest-curated programs, such as Jason Reitman's acclaimed Live Read series; and conversations with artists, filmmakers, and other special guests. For more information, go to filmindependent.org/lacma or lacma.org.

Grigris, Chad’s Submission for the Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. U.S.: Film Movement. International Sales Agent: Les Films du Losange

Tackling cynicism with a strike of sheer hopefulness Mahamat-Saleh Haroun opens his film about the struggles of a handicapped Chadian man with a dance number that sets the tone for a film that never sees the conditions of its characters with pity, but with a their forceful wills to survive. Grigris begins on the dance floor with the title character being the main attraction at a modem night club, clearly not the first image the West associates with Sub-Saharan Africa. From that moment on the film develops into a kind of testament to all those in the world who wonder how they’ll make it through the day, and still manage to do so working for a better tomorrow no matter how bleak their situation appears.

Grigris (played by Soulémane Démé) glides to the music gracefully using his unfit leg as an asset to his passionate performance and sporting a contagious smile showing an undeterred joy to live. Trying to make ends meet, he helps his uncle (Marius Yelolo) run his rudimentary but functional photo studio when he is not collecting tips from his devoted fans. Although, hardworking and gifted in the performing arts, he is just like any young man his age and is entranced by the stunning beauty of foxy local girl Mimi (Anais Monroy). She walks into his studio in need of some photos for a modeling contest, to which, evidently, Grigris complies. Her exuberant figure and enigmatic personality go hand in hand with her 70’s black actress-inspired wig, a combination that is not only irresistible for the protagonist, but for the local men who pay for her services. Yet, Grigris seems not to mind it, he sees beyond her outer shell and doesn’t judge the circumstances that have led her to live such life.

Regardless of his remarkable popularity, Grigris is a man with few friends, and when his uncle falls ill, he must resort to the closest "friend" that he has, Moussa (Cyril Guei) a local petrol smuggler who is willing to give him a job. Lying to Moussa about his swimming abilities, he gets the job but fails miserably because he cannot swim. Failure, however, is not an option when his family depends on him. In desperation he tricks the mobsters to get enough cash to help his deteriorating uncle and skips town with his now-girlfriend, Mimi. At this point, Haroun’s artistry as a storyteller really becomes noticeable. Instead of simply tying all the loose ends together quickly by having the couple ride happily into the sunset, he takes the story into a new direction that highlights women’s empowerment in a traditionally male-centered society.

Mimi and Grigris escape to an all women community. Besides becoming their protective army, the community opens the way for them to come to terms with their past and make plans for the future. That is what the Chadian auteur aims to convey, a beautiful story of people in transition. Grigris is unaffected by his paralyzed leg, it is merely a characteristic, never a defining factor in what he is capable of doing. As a performer he commands the crowd's attention, and as a human being he is relentless against adversity. Such sheer determination to overcome obstacles is parallel to the struggles of African cinema, a continent sadly underrepresented in the medium, which Haroun clearly spearheads.

Soulémane Démé, a non-actor, exudes an almost- infantile eagerness to be surprised and to be freed from obvious financial disadvantages by means of his physical exertions which lead to his liberation. His performance and that of Monroy, who becomes transformed from a disguised but calculative sexual worker into a vulnerable loving woman, speak volumes of the director’s skill, and his preference of bringing out raw performances from everyday people. What Mahamat-Saleh Haroun generously shares with the audience is a portrayal of an individual whose optimism is more grounded than his impoverished situation. Not only is he striving to help his family but he is given a purpose and a passion beyond mere survival, an assertive decision from the writer/director who certainly knows how to craft a compelling story about connections and human transformation rather than about any particular national problematic situation.

Read more about all the 76 Best Foreign Language Film Submission for the 2014 Academy Awards...

There have been few films quite as moving and poignant as A Screaming Man in recent years, giving Chadian auteur Mahamat-Saleh Haroun something of an onerous task to better what came before. However his latest picture Grigris is a more than worthy attempt, and although not quite of the same, exceptionally high-standard, it’s his second consecutive feature to be nominated for the Palme d’Or – and rightly so.

Grigris (Souleymane Démé) is a twenty something with dreams of one day becoming a dancer. Blessed with a unique ability for performance arts, the popular Grigris knows he faces an uphill battle to fulfil his cherished aspiration, as he has a paralysed left leg. When his uncle (Marius Yelolo) falls critically ill, he has to put his dancing on the back burner for a while, and when needing to raise some money to cover the hospital bills, he becomes dangerously embroiled in petrol trafficking,...

The 15th Mumbai Film Festival (Mff) presented by Reliance Entertainment and organized by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (Mami) scheduled between 17th-24th October is all set to showcase the best of contemporary French cinema and welcome artists for the 6th edition of the Rendez-vous with French Cinema co-organized with The French Embassy in India, Institut Français en Inde and Unifrance films.

As part of the festival highlights, Costa Gavras will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award during the opening ceremony in the presence of His Excellency Mr François Richier, Ambassador of France to India who will grace us with his presence especially for this occasion. Among others, Nathalie Baye, jury member of the international section, Mahamat Saleh Haroun, director of the film “Grigris”, Guillaume Brac, director of the film “Tonnerre” (Competition) and Leos Carax, well known film maker who will be conducting a masters class.

The special section “Rendez-vous...

★★★☆☆ Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's latest feature, Grigris (2013), recounts a tale of hope against despair in the director's native country of Chad. It tells the story of the titular Grigris (played by Souleymane Deme), a young man whose ambition is to be a dancer despite having a paralysed leg. He's a generous and positive young man who helps out his uncle (Marius Yelolo), is a budding photographer and prays when his mother pesters him into doing so. However, his real passion is for dance. At the local disco he's something of a sensation, strutting his stuff and earning some money by passing a hat around afterwards.

Things seem to be looking up when Mimi (Anaïs Monory), a beautiful local girl, comes by to have some modelling shots taken. Grigris is clearly smitten. However, his Uncle Ajoub suddenly falls ill and the hospital bills mount to impossible levels. Desperate for a solution, Grigris...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its shortlist for the 2014 Foreign Language Film Oscar — totaling a not-so-short 76 submitted films.

The number, up from 71 films last year, sets a new record for the category and includes frontrunners such as Asghar Farhadi’s The Past from Iran, Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt from Denmark, and Wong Kar-Wai’s The Grandmaster from Hong Kong. Abdellatif Kechiche’s festival favorite lesbian drama Blue Is the Warmest Color from France, however, failed to make the cut-off date for eligibility, while India controversially submitted Gyan Correa’s The Good Road over Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox.

A record 76 countries have submitted films for consideration in the Best Foreign Language Film category for the 86th Academy Awards.  Continuing highlights of Diaspora films submitted for consideration... Grigris, Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's would-be noir/crime drama, is Chad's entry. First introduced in 1956 (the 29th Academy Awards which were handed out in 1957), when a competitive Academy Award of Merit, known as the Best Foreign Language Film Award, was created for non-English speaking films, and has been given annually since then, prior to that year, the Academy presented Special/Honorary Awards to the best foreign language films released in the...

The Academy officially announced today that a record 76 countries have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 2014 Oscars. Among those submitting, Moldova and Saudi Arabia are first-time entrants and this is the first time Montenegro has submitted a film as an independent country. Based solely on name recognition alone I'd say Thomas Vinterberg's The Hunt (Denmark) and Asghar Farhadi's The Past (Iran) will be looked at as front-runners. However, I haven't only seen a few of the titles on this list, another of which is Mexico's entry, Heli from Amat Escalante. I have heard good things about Borgman (Netherlands) and it will be interesting to see how Haifaa al-Mansour's Wadjda is treated as it is a story unto itself, not to mention it seems to be receiving high marks from those that have seen it. I'm personally hoping to catch it soon...

A record 76 countries have submitted films for consideration in the foreign language film category for the 86th Academy Awards.

Moldova and Saudi Arabia are first-time entrants while Montenegro is submitting for the first time as an independent country.

Earlier this year the Academy changed its rule allowing all voting members to vote on the shortlist.

The nominations will be announced on January 16 2014 and the Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled to take place on March 2 2014 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

The 2013 submissions are:

Afghanistan, Wajma: An Afghan Love Story, Barmak Akram

Albania, Agon, Robert Budina

Argentina, Wakolda, Lucía Puenzo

Australia, The Rocket, Kim Mordaunt

Austria, The Wall, Julian Pölsler

Azerbaijan, Steppe Man, Shamil Aliyev

Bangladesh, Television, Mostofa Sarwar Farooki

Belgium, The Broken Circle Breakdown, Felix van Groeningen

Bosnia and Herzegovina, An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker, Danis Tanović

Brazil, Neighbouring Sounds, Kleber Mendonça Filho

Bulgaria, The Colour of the Chameleon, Emil Hristov

Cambodia...

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has released the list of the 76 countries and their submissions officially competing for the 2014 Foreign Language Film Oscar.

Amongst the high profile entries this year are Australia's "The Rocket," Denmark's "The Hunt," France's "Renoir," Wong Kar-wai's "The Grandmaster," Iran's "The Past," and Saudi Arabia's "Wadjda".

The nominations will be announced on January 16th 2014 ahead of the ceremony on March 2nd. Here is the complete list:

Afghanistan, "Wajma – An Afghan Love Story," Barmak Akram

Albania, "Agon," Robert Budina

Argentina, "The German Doctor," Lucía Puenzo

Australia, "The Rocket," Kim Mordaunt

Austria, "The Wall," Julian Pölsler

Azerbaijan, "Steppe Man," Shamil Aliyev

Bangladesh, "Television," Mostofa Sarwar Farooki

Belgium, "The Broken Circle Breakdown," Felix van Groeningen

Bosnia and Herzegovina, "An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker," Danis Tanovic

Brazil, "Neighboring Sounds," Kleber Mendonça Filho

Bulgaria, "The Color of the Chameleon," Emil Hristov

Cambodia, "The Missing Picture,...

A record 76 countries have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 86th Academy Awards®.

Moldova and Saudi Arabia are first-time entrants; Montenegro is submitting for the first time as an independent country.

The 2013 submissions are:

Afghanistan, “Wajma – An Afghan Love Story,” Barmak Akram, director;

Albania, “Agon,” Robert Budina, director;

Argentina, “The German Doctor,” Lucía Puenzo, director;

Australia, “The Rocket,” Kim Mordaunt, director;

Austria, “The Wall,” Julian Pölsler, director;

Azerbaijan, “Steppe Man,” Shamil Aliyev, director;

Bangladesh, “Television,” Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, director;

Belgium, “The Broken Circle Breakdown,” Felix van Groeningen, director;

Bosnia and Herzegovina, “An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker,” Danis Tanovic, director;

Brazil, “Neighboring Sounds,” Kleber Mendonça Filho, director;

Bulgaria, “The Color of the Chameleon,” Emil Hristov, director;

Cambodia, “The Missing Picture,” Rithy Panh, director;

Canada, “Gabrielle,” Louise Archambault, director;

Chad, “GriGris,” Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, director;

Chile, “Gloria,” Sebastián Lelio, director;

China, “Back to 1942,” Feng Xiaogang,...

In July, Film Movement picked up North American rights to Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's 2013 Cannes Competition entry Grigris, where it won the Vulcan Award for technical achievement.  The film, which received mixed reviews after its Cannes premiere, centers on Grisgris, a 25 year old young man with dreams of becoming a dancer despite his physical disability from the waist down. His dreams are shattered when his uncle falls seriously ill. To save him, he decides to go work for petrol traffickers. It stars Soulémane Démé, Mariam Monory, Cyril Guei, Anaïs Monory and Marius Yelolo (who's worked with Haroun on at least 2 other past...

All entries for the Best Foreign-Language Film at the Academy Awards 2014.

Submissions for the Best Foreign-Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards are coming in and will continue until October, when the full list of eligible submissions will be revealed.

Last year, a record 71 countries submitted features and the eventual winner was Austrian entry Amour, directed by Michael Haneke.

An initial nine finalists will be shortlisted, which will be whittled down to five nominees that will be announced on Jan 16, 2014.

Submissions

Afghanistan, Wajma: An Afghan Love Story, Barmak Akram

Albania, Agon, Robert Budina

Argentina, Wakolda, Lucía Puenzo

Australia, The Rocket, Kim Mordaunt

Austria, The Wall, Julian Pölsler

Azerbaijan, Steppe Man, Shamil Aliyev

Bangladesh, Television, Mostofa Sarwar Farooki

Belgium, The Broken Circle Breakdown, Felix van Groeningen

Bosnia and Herzegovina, An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker, Danis Tanović

Brazil, Neighbouring Sounds, Kleber Mendonça Filho

Bulgaria, The Colour of the Chameleon, Emil Hristov

Cambodia...

Rarely do American audiences get to experience the cinematic diversity from the African continent; however, this October thanks to Film Independent and the Loyola Marymount University School of Film and Television, audiences in Los Angeles will be able to be part of a month-long series showcasing the best of modern cinema from West Africa. Curated by Film Independent and Lacma curator Ellvis Mitchell, Cameras d'Afrique: The Films of West Africa runs from October 3-28, 2013 at Lacma. The event will feature an array of 21 film, both narrative and documentary, many of which have never been screened in the U.S, most screenings will also include Q&As with the talented African filmmakers.

The event begins Thursday October 3rd with a double feature celebrating the films of Mahamat-Saleh Haroun. Bye Bye Africa, and his latest effort Grigris will be screened followed by Q&A with the director. Grigris was screened at this year's Cannes Film Festival to critical acclaim, and it will see its U.S Premiere here.

The program continues on Saturday October 5th with Mama Kéïta’s L’Absence and Gaston Kaboré’s Buud Yam, each film will be followed by Q&A's with the filmmakers, and then a panel discussion moderated by the Mitchell dealing with the current state of West African cinema, the challenges, and the stories from this often unseen region of the world. Other program highlights include the L.A. premiere of Mille Soleils (A Thousand Suns), Djibril Diop Mambéty’s 1973 French New Wave–inspired Touki Bouki, Idrissa Ouédraogo’s 1990 Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix winner Tilaï (The Law), and the 2013 Fespaco Golden Stallion winner Tey (Today), followed by a Q&A with director Alain Gomis and star Saul Williams.

“This series brings me such joy,” said film curator Elvis Mitchell. “Primarily because there's nothing more exhilarating to me than to expose people to exciting new filmmakers and films, let alone bring attention to the art of an area that deserves more attention than it's received in America. The works we're playing demonstrate that film at its best, like any other art form, is idiosyncratic and universal.”

Screenings will be held throughout October at Lacma’s Bing Theater on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Free community screenings and select Q&As moderated by Mitchell will take place on the Loyola Marymount University campus every Monday night.

“We are thrilled to be able to present Caméras d’Afrique: The Films of West Africa. Patrons will have the rare opportunity to see the latest films that have received accolades from the top European and African film festivals as well as classics from the past 50 years," said Lmu Sftv Dean Stephen Ujlaki, adding, “Connecting our students to the rich filmography of West Africa, long a Francophone region, will expose them to different forms of storytelling, inspiring their own unique visions.”

Film Independent, Lacma Film Club, and The New York Times Film Club members can purchase tickets to films for $5 Here

Lacma Members, students with valid ID, and seniors can get tickets for $7, and $10 for general public Here

To make a reservation for the community screenings at the Loyola Marymount University click Here

About Lmu Sftv

Movie industry moguls helped establish Loyola Marymount University’s (Lmu) current campus on the bluffs above west Los Angeles in the 1920s. By 1964, Lmu was formally teaching film and television curriculum, and in 2001, the School of Film and Television (Sftv) was established as its own entity. Today, Sftv offers students a comprehensive education where mastering technical skills and story is equally important to educating the whole person, including the formation of character and values, meaning and purpose. Sftv offers undergraduate degrees in animation, production, screenwriting, film and television studies and recording arts; and graduate degrees in production, screenwriting and writing and producing for television. The school is one of the few film programs providing students with a completely tapeless model of production and post-production, and Sftv’s animation program is one of the few worldwide that teaches virtual cinematography. Selected alumni include John Bailey, Bob Beemer, Francie Calfo, Brian Helgeland, Francis Lawrence, Lauren Montgomery, Jack Orman, Van Partible and James Wong, among others. Get more information at sftv.lmu.edu or facebook.com/lmusftv.

About Film Independent at Lacma

Film Independent at Lacma is a film series produced by Film Independent—the nonprofit arts organization that also produces the Film Independent Spirit Awards and the Los Angeles Film Festival—and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Lacma) with presenting sponsor The New York Times and premier sponsor Ovation. The Film Independent at Lacma Film Series is curated by Elvis Mitchell and assistant curator Bernardo Rondeau. The program features classic and contemporary narrative and documentary films; emerging auteurs; international showcases; special guest-curated programs, such as Jason Reitman's acclaimed Live Read series; and conversations with artists, filmmakers, and other special guests. For more information, go to filmindependent.org/lacma or lacma.org.

On Oct. 3, the U.S. premiere of Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s 2013 Cannes Palme d’Or nominee and Vulcain Prizewinner Grigris at Lacma, kicks off "Caméras d’Afrique: The Films of West Africa," a month-long, 21-film series by Loyola Marymount University School of Film and Television, in partnership with Film Independent at Lacma. Haroun will also screen his 1999 Venice best first film winner Bye Bye Africa and do a Q&A moderated by Elvis Mitchell. Lmu Sftv dean Stephen Ujlaki calls the series “a rare opportunity to see the latest films that have received accolades from the top European

read more...

Chicago – The 2013 Chicago International Film Festival is almost here and the programmers have unveiled their first slate of titles, including hits from other festivals like “Blue is the Warmest Color,” “Heli,” “The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete.” The 49th annual fest runs from October 10-24, 2013. Official, Ciff-provided descriptions below of what we know will play there so far:

Big Bad Wolves (Directors: Aharon Keshales, Navot Papushado • Israel): When the lead suspect in a brutal child murder is released due to a police blunder, a vigilante police detective and a grieving father take the law into their own hands in this fantastically intense, darkly funny revenge thriller from one of the pioneers of Israeli horror cinema.

Blue is the Warmest Color (Director: Abdellatif Kechiche • France): Teenager Adèle’s life is turned upside down the night she meets blue-haired Emma in this scandalous winner of the top prize at Cannes.

Film Movement picked up North American rights to Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's 2013 Cannes Competition entry Grigris, where it won the Vulcan Award for technical achievement.  The film, which received mixed reviews after its Cannes premiere, centers on Grisgris, a 25 year old young man with dreams of becoming a dancer despite the fact that he's paralyzed from the waist down. His dreams are shattered when his uncle falls seriously ill. To save him, he decides to go work for petrol traffickers. It stars Soulémane Démé, Mariam Monory, Cyril Guei, Anaïs Monory and Marius Yelolo (who's worked with Haroun on at least 2 other past...

Indian curator Meenakshi Shedde, who is on the Grand Jury of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, writes from the festival

I t is intoxicating to return to the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, which I had first attended last year. Not many outside the film festival circuit have heard of this festival, which is about an hour from Prague in the Czech Republic–if the fancy Audi the festival sent for you has a cool driver purring along at 140kmph. But I’d say it’s in the top 10-15 festivals worldwide. And that’s a herculean achievement, considering every small town on the planet, including in India, has its own international film festival these days.

One of the reasons I love Karlovy Vary is I really love smaller cities and towns. They have a unique character that the big cities don’t have. And Karlovy Vary (German name...

Film Movement has picked up North American rights to Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's 2013 Cannes Competition entry Grigris, where it won the Vulcan Award for technical achievement.  The film, which received mixed reviews after its Cannes premiere, centers on Grisgris, a 25 year old young man with dreams of becoming a dancer despite the fact that he's paralyzed from the waist down. His dreams are shattered when his uncle falls seriously ill. To save him, he decides to go work for petrol traffickers. It stars Soulémane Démé, Mariam Monory, Cyril Guei, Anaïs Monory and Marius Yelolo (who's worked with Haroun on at least 2 other past...

Distributor Film Movement has secured all North American rights to African drama Grigris, which played in Competition at Cannes.

The fifth feature film from director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, who also directed Film Movement’s A Screaming Man, received the Vulcan Award for technical achievement at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

The film, a French-Chad co-production, tells the eponymous story of a 25-year-old Chadian who dreams of being a dancer despite his paralyzed leg and the demands of his family weighing on him.

Review: Grigris

Grigris will have a New York theatrical opening in the first quarter of 2014, with a limited national roll-out to follow.

The acquisition of was negotiated by Film Movement president Adley Gartenstein and vp of acquisitions and distribution Rebeca Conget, and Agathe Valentin, head of international sales at Les Films du Losange.

Conget said: “It is an honour to be the distributor now of two films by Haroun-Saleh, who with each...

Congratulations UK readers!  UK distributor New Wave Films has picked up rights to Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's 2013 Cannes Competition entry Grigris. The film, which received mixed reviews after its Cannes premiere, centers on Grisgris, a 25 year old young man with dreams of becoming a dancer despite the fact that he's paralyzed from the waist down. His dreams are shattered when his uncle falls seriously ill. To save him, he decides to go work for petrol traffickers. It stars Soulémane Démé, Mariam Monory, Cyril Guei, Anaïs Monory and Marius Yelolo (who's worked with Haroun on at least 2 other past films). Grisgris is produced...

The only African contender in the running for this year's Palme d'Or, at the Cannes Film Festival, Chadian director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, is hoping his film latest work, Grigris, will impress international audiences and help fly the flag for African, if not Chadian cinema. Interesting that he shares his initial idea for the film was as a film noir/crime drama, but decided against it, and instead settled for more of a social drama. We haven't seen the film yet (we weren't at Cannes this year), but reviews I've read suggest it's a neo-realist film.  However, a Mahamat-Saleh Haroun work of film noir is something I'd be very interested in seeing. Grisgris, which received...

Around the midway point of the fest, all indications told us that Asghar Farhadi’s The Past and the Coen bros. Inside Llewyn Davis would be a part of what is traditionally a two to four-way horse race for the top of the leader-board position and films to beat in our daily temperature-taker, but when the other fifteen critics in our Cannes Critics’ Panel grid started flooding our inbox with jaw-dropping scores – we quickly understood that Blue Is The Warmest Colour (La Vie d’Adele, Chapitres 1 et 2) was the odds on favorite. Abdellatif Kechiche’s fifth feature film, generated a combined score of 4.4, beating out the Coens.’ (16 critics, combined score of 60 for an average of 3.75) and Farhadi’s Le Passe (The Past) (14 critics, combined score of 52 for an average of 3.71). Not surprisingly, all three were award with trophy-ware with Inside Llewyn Davis capturing the 2nd place (Grand Prix prize) and...

Chicago – After heating up juror monocles with the steamiest three hours at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the lesbian romance “Blue is the Warmest Color” won the coveted Palme d’Or at the 2013 awards ceremony held Sunday, May 26th. The top prize was shared by French-Tunisian director Abdellatif Kechiche (“The Secret of the Grain”) and his two leading ladies, Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos.

Settling for the Grand Prix was Joel and Ethan Coen’s “Inside Llewyn Davis,” a music-filled portrait of a fictionalized ’60s-era folk singer played by Oscar Isaac (in a performance guaranteed to generate Oscar buzz). Amat Escalante won Best Director for his brutal Mexican crime drama, “Heli,” while the Best Screenplay award was presented to Zhangke Jia (“Still Life”) for his uncharacteristically blood-spattered Chinese thriller, “A Touch of Sin.” Hirokazu Koreeda (“Still Walking”) won the Jury Prize for his Japanese family drama, “Like Father, Like Son.

Adam Cook:

Favorites

01

The Immigrant (James Gray, USA)

Les trois désastres (Jean-Luc Godard, France/Portugal)

02

North, the End of History (Lav Diaz, Philippines)

Shield of Straw (Takashi Miike, Japan)

Stranger by the Lake (Alain Guiraudie, France)

03

Bastards (Claire Denis, France/Germany)

Blind Detective (Johnnie To, Hong Kong)

Behind the Candelabra (Steven Soderbergh, USA)

A Touch of Sin (Jia Zhangke, China)

04

The Missing Picture (Rithy Panh, Cambodia/France)

The Bling Ring (Sofia Coppola, USA)

Like Father, Like Son (Hirokazu Koreeda, Japan)

Tip Top (Serge Bozon, France)

Grigris (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, France/Chad)

The Rest

You and the Night (Yann Gonzalez, France)

Borgman (Alex van Warmerdam, Netherlands)

Nebraska (Alexander Payne, USA)

Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel & Ethan Coen, USA)

The Past (Asghar Farhadi, France/Italy)

Bends (Flora Lau, Hong Kong/China)

Jimmy P. (Arnaud Desplechin, USA)

Grand Central (Rebecca Zlotowski, France/Austria)

Just in Time (Peter Greenaway, UK/Portugal)

Only Lovers Left Alive (Jim Jarmusch,...

While Cannes had no shortage of high-profile titles to choose from, sometimes the most exciting thing about hitting the Croisette is discovering something flying under the radar. And unlike the auteur and star-driven movies, the push and pull over going to see something unknown versus eating, writing or catching up on a couple of hours of valuable sleep, can come down to the images. And wisely, the folks behind "Grigris" put their greatest asset -- dancer and lead actor Souleymane Démé -- front and center on the press material. His lean muscular form and captivating face are a draw, and the crisply colored, expertly composed images from the movie, drew us into sitting down for this Cannes competition entry, but unfortunately, it didn't wind up being the hidden jewel we were hoping for. To be certain though, it got off on the right foot, pun firmly intended. Director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun...

And the winners are… the Cannes Film Festival is in the midst of doling out their Competition awards… Feature Films Palme d’Or La Vie D’ADÈLE – Chapitre 1 & 2 (Blue Is The Warmest Colour) directed by Abdellatif Kechiche Grand Prix Inside Llewyn Davis directed by Ethan Coen Award for Best Director Amat Escalante for Heli Award for Best Screenplay Jia Zhangke for Tian Zhu Ding (A Touch Of Sin) Award for Best Actress Bérénice Bejo in Le PASSÉ (The Past) directed by Asghar Farhadi Award for Best Actor Bruce Dern in Nebraska directed by Alexander Payne Jury Prize Soshite Chichi Ni Naru (Like Father, Like Son) directed by Kore-eda Hirokazu Vulcain Prize for an artist technician, awarded by the C.S.T. Grigris directed by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun Short Films Palme d’Or – Short Film Safe directed by Byoung-Gon Moon Short Film Special Distinction Ex-aequo Hvalfjordur (Whale Valley) directed by Gudmundur Arnar...

Mahamat-Saleh Haroun‘s fifth film to date tells the tale of Souleymane (Souleymane Deme) – known as Grigris to his friends – an immensely skilled dancer living in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena. Due to a debilitating leg injury, however, he struggles to hold down even manual labor, while seemingly the only joyous aspects of his life are his dancing and a nascent romance with a local prostitute, Mimi (Anais Monoroy). When his step-father wracks up hefty medical bills, Grigris decides to start skimming shipments of gasoline from the illegal racket he works for as a runner, yet when his boss finds out, he’s given just 48 hours to pay the funds back, on threat of death. Haroun smartly throws us straight into the African milieu from the get-go with an entertaining scene of the titular character showing off his exceptional dancing skills, made only all the more characteristic by his disability. This...

A minor work from the emerging master of African cinema, Mahamat Saleh-Haroun, this is elevated by a heightened female perspective and some rousing dance scenes

Mahamat Saleh-Haroun now revisits that theme of father-son bonding which was such an important part of his earlier movies Our Father (2002), Dry Season (2006) and A Screaming Man (2010). But now he progresses away from this template — in the same meandering way that characterises his storytelling — to a closer identification with women. It is a typically calm, lucid drama, presented in the director's unforced, cinematic vernacular and attractively and sympathetically acted. There is also some great music from the Senegalese composer Wasis Diop, brother of the director Djibril Diop Mambety. However, I couldn't help feeling that this was a slight and contrived piece, compared to his earlier work.

Saleh-Haroun's lead is non-professional Souleymane Deme, who plays Grigris, a brilliant dancer despite a leg disability. He earns spare...

France-based Chadian director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's last feature, the Cannes-winning "A Screaming Man," involved father-son tensions against the backdrop of civil war. By comparison, his followup "Grigris" is something of a letdown, though it works well enough on the scale of a basic character study. The movie has a lot less on its mind and makes no drastic attempts to overreach. A straightforward tale of overcoming personal and professional challenges with no fancy dressing, "Grigris" goes down easy but offers nothing remotely fresh. The title refers to the nickname of its slick protagonist, a young man named Souleymane (Souleymane Deme) whose killer dance moves make him a popular club presence in the small town in which he resides. Grigris' flexible physicality is especially impressive because of a bad leg that gives him a distinctive gait. Yet the disability isn't exactly a hindrance for Grigris, a seemingly well-liked presence who works for his ailing father.

Above: Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives (France/Denmark)

If there were a Palme d’Or for posters (and there used to be) then this widely seen neon devil teaser for Nicholas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives would seem to have it in the bag right now. The rest of the posters for the films in the main Competition at Cannes this year are a somewhat lackluster bunch. Truth be told, some may be nothing more than press kit covers (the Jarmusch and the Kore-eda), and some are only promos rushed out in the short window of opportunity before the festival. This time last year, one of the films that ended up having the most interesting posters of all, Holy Motors, had nothing to show for itself come festival time. Among this year’s crop I’m quite fond of two of the most finished looking of the posters: Grigris and Heli,...

Before I even begin considering the offerings in the field of eighteen Main Competition items, it’s the composition of the jury members (team of nine lead by Steven Spielberg) where my dissection begins. While I’d be tempted to brand/make the bogus remark that cine-folk Spielberg, Daniel Auteuil and Ang Lee votes would go towards the formulaic and/or conventional, I’m more inclined to say that it’s slightly more obvious to gauge how provocateurs such as Lynne Ramsay, Cristian Mungiu and Naomi Kawase might direct their vote intentions: towards the aesthetically daring, narratively challenging material. I’m including bold actress Nicole Kidman in this group – as her best perfs are found in the audacious, darker micro films that garner little coin, but plenty of critical praise. Last year we had what was probably a unanimous consensus choice with Amour winning the Palme, though I would bet...

For even those most accustomed to the frenzy of celebrity, the Cannes Film Festival can be a disorienting experience.

For 12 days every year, the French Rivera resort town turns into one giant seaside swirl of glamour, high art and backroom deal-making. Like some sun-drenched phantasm, all of cinema comes alive in Cannes: its serious ambitions, bottom-line commerce and crass spectacle.

"Every time I go to Cannes, it feels like I'm entering the helicopter scene in `La Dolce Vita,'" says Leonardo DiCaprio. "It's an insane experience. The entire town is turned into a red carpet. Every hotel is a premiere. But at the same time, it is the mecca for the world to celebrate filmmaking and bold filmmaking."

This year's Cannes, the 66th, kicks off Wednesday with Baz Luhrmann's "The Great Gatsby," a 3-D extravaganza starring DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maguire. In many ways, the movie's lavish, star-powered decadence epitomizes Cannes.

Nicolas Winding Refn won Best Director at Cannes for his 2011 film Drive when Robert De Niro was jury president. While many may presume that Spielberg may shy away from Refn’s entry, I think there’s a great possibility that Refn’s unique, innovative skills have a good shot at being awarded the top prize. Fellow jury members Christoph Waltz and Nicole Kidman both seem to gravitate towards dark, stylized material, while something tells me other fellow directors on the jury like Lynne Ramsay and Ang Lee may lean towards this more splashy entry in the lineup. Sight unseen, Only God Forgives is at the top of the leader-board.

The French presence is heavy in this year’s Main Comp lineup, so it goes without saying that there’s a greater chance of one of these directors taking home the top prize. While of course we need to wait to see the end products,...

Obviously, we won’t know till we see the films. But last year I predicted Amour‘s victory based on the likely preferences of the jury, so that makes me some kind of prophet in my opinion, therefore allow me to deem James Gray’s The Immigrant to be this year’s odds-on favorite, a film he believes to be his best, which could end his losing streak in Cannes in a big way. It has star power, a talented auteur, and appears to deal with a touchy subject – if the title is anything to go on.

Also look out for M. Desplechin, who’s also never won the big prize, and appears to be taking on projects that get more and more ambitious until there will just be no choice left. The big-name jury may want to send Soderbergh off into semi-retirement with a bang, and the film seems...

As you already know the 66th annual Cannes Film Festival is scheduled to take placed in Cannes from 15 to 26 May 2013. The official competition lineup for the 66th Cannes Film Festival was announced. I’m sure you also remember that this year, Steven Spielberg is the head of the jury for the main competition. Check out the full list of Cannes titles below Opening Film “The Great Gatsby” (dir. Baz Luhrmann) Official Selection “Behind The Candelabra” (dir. Steven Soderbergh) “Borgman” (dir. Alex Van Warmerdam) “Un Chateau En Italie” (dir. Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi) “The Great Beauty” (dir. Paolo Sorrentino) “Grisgris” (dir. Mahamat-Saleh Haroun) “Heli” (dir. Amat...

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This morning the official 2013 Cannes Film Festival line-up was announced from Paris, France. The committee saw 1,858 films submitted this year and while additional titles will continue to be announced, this morning we got the full Competition and Un Certain Regard lineup and it looks amazing so far. Among the films announced In Competition so far, many were expected including Nicolas Winding Refn's Only God Forgives, Steven Soderbergh's Behind the Candelabra, Roman Polanski's Venus in Fur, Asghar Farhadi's The Past and Joel and Ethan Coen's Inside Llewyn Davis. Additionally James Gray's once titled Lowlife starring Marion Cotillard, Joaquin Phoenix and Jeremy Renner will play, but under the name The Immigrant and Takashi Miike's cop thriller Wara No Tate (Straw Shield) has also made the competition list. However, the biggest "surprise" is the inclusion of Alexander Payne's black-and-white film Nebraska, which is sure to be a big attention getter,...