As much as we’d all love the world where art is disconnected from politics, that just isn’t the case: they both inevitably influence each other. Brad Pitt learned this lesson in 1997 when his underrated period drama earned him and his colleagues an official ban from China. What movie and why upset the Chinese government so much?
Brad Pitt Got Banned from Visiting China
Brad Pitt and David Thewlis’ 1997 period drama Seven Years in Tibet follows an Australian climber who travels to the holy city of Lhasa, Tibet and becomes an instructor and a friend to the 14th Dalai Lama. While having a seemingly innocent premise, the movie went on to infuriate the Chinese government with its execution.
Historically, China and Tibet have a very troubled relationship, to say the least. In Seven Years in Tibet, the Dalai Lama is shown as a kind and compassionate man, and the...
Brad Pitt Got Banned from Visiting China
Brad Pitt and David Thewlis’ 1997 period drama Seven Years in Tibet follows an Australian climber who travels to the holy city of Lhasa, Tibet and becomes an instructor and a friend to the 14th Dalai Lama. While having a seemingly innocent premise, the movie went on to infuriate the Chinese government with its execution.
Historically, China and Tibet have a very troubled relationship, to say the least. In Seven Years in Tibet, the Dalai Lama is shown as a kind and compassionate man, and the...
- 5/17/2024
- by dean-black@startefacts.com (Dean Black)
- STartefacts.com
Movies about Stone Age life have been so few that just one past effort could be taken seriously, the rest being funny — intentionally or otherwise. Belatedly offering non-laughable companionship to Jean-Jacques Annaud’s 1981 “Quest for Fire” is “Out of Darkness,” a lean, mean adventure story on the cusp of horror that firsttime feature director Andrew Cumming imbues with tension and handsome visual atmospherics.
Titled “The Origin” when it premiered at BFI London Fest in fall 2022, since retitled (presumably to avoid confusion with Ava DuVernay’s current “Origin”), it’s a strong genre piece lent real novelty by being set approximately 45,000 years ago. Bleecker Street opens the U.K. indie production on more than 500 U.S. screens this Friday, simultaneous with a home-turf release.
We meet our protagonists around a campfire — unlike those of “Quest,” set circa 80,000 B.C., these prehistoric ancestors have figured that much out — as they air hopes...
Titled “The Origin” when it premiered at BFI London Fest in fall 2022, since retitled (presumably to avoid confusion with Ava DuVernay’s current “Origin”), it’s a strong genre piece lent real novelty by being set approximately 45,000 years ago. Bleecker Street opens the U.K. indie production on more than 500 U.S. screens this Friday, simultaneous with a home-turf release.
We meet our protagonists around a campfire — unlike those of “Quest,” set circa 80,000 B.C., these prehistoric ancestors have figured that much out — as they air hopes...
- 2/5/2024
- by Dennis Harvey
- Variety Film + TV
Melvil Poupaud began his 40-year career, at the age of 10 Photo: Thomas Brunot/UniFrance Following in the illustrious wake of talents including Juliette Binoche, Virginie Efira, Olivier Assayas and Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano, it is the turn of actor Melvil Poupaud to be honoured during the UniFrance Rendezvous with French Cinema in Paris later this month.
He will be given the French Cinema Award during a glittering ceremony at the French Ministry of Culture at a ceremony on 18 January.
Poupaud’s career has stretched across almost four decades, having begun his acting debut at the age of ten in City Of Pirates, directed by Raoul Ruiz, with whom he went on to make a further five critically acclaimed films.
Melvil Poupaud and Amanda Langlet in Eric Rohmer’s A Summer’s Tale Photo: Les Films du Losange During his career Poupaud has worked with many of France's most respected directors,...
He will be given the French Cinema Award during a glittering ceremony at the French Ministry of Culture at a ceremony on 18 January.
Poupaud’s career has stretched across almost four decades, having begun his acting debut at the age of ten in City Of Pirates, directed by Raoul Ruiz, with whom he went on to make a further five critically acclaimed films.
Melvil Poupaud and Amanda Langlet in Eric Rohmer’s A Summer’s Tale Photo: Les Films du Losange During his career Poupaud has worked with many of France's most respected directors,...
- 1/6/2024
- by Richard Mowe
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
French VFX firm The Yard, whose credits include Indiana Jones 5, Ford v Ferrari, Enola Holmes 2, Wanda Vision, John Wick 4 and Netflix’s All The Light We Cannot See, has appointed Tom Fonvillars as head of its CG department.
Fonvillars will oversee graphic creation for films and series. Fonvillars has previously collaborated with companies including The Mill and Framestore in London and Montreal. His filmography includes Edge of Tomorrow, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Thor: Ragnarok, Alita: Battle Angel, Lady and the Tramp, Army of The Dead, and more recently, Rebel Moon.
Fonvillars’ appointment comes amid company expansion, including the opening of a second site in Montpellier as part of the French government’s investment program France 2030 La Grande Fabrique de l’Image.
Fonvillars said: “It’s a real pleasure for me to join The Yard. Upon my return to France, it was paramount for me to...
Fonvillars will oversee graphic creation for films and series. Fonvillars has previously collaborated with companies including The Mill and Framestore in London and Montreal. His filmography includes Edge of Tomorrow, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Thor: Ragnarok, Alita: Battle Angel, Lady and the Tramp, Army of The Dead, and more recently, Rebel Moon.
Fonvillars’ appointment comes amid company expansion, including the opening of a second site in Montpellier as part of the French government’s investment program France 2030 La Grande Fabrique de l’Image.
Fonvillars said: “It’s a real pleasure for me to join The Yard. Upon my return to France, it was paramount for me to...
- 11/22/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
With a career that goes back nearly 50 years, director Jean-Jacques Annaud was bound to run into some troublesome actors. But the French filmmaker has been relatively lucky – and it wasn’t Brad Pitt or Jude Law or Two Brothers’ Kumal and Sangha that gave him headaches, it was F. Murray Abraham.
Speaking at the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon, France (via Deadline), Jean-Jacques Annaud said that working with F. Murray Abraham on 1986’s The Name of the Rose – a 4K presentation of which was screened at the festival – was a nightmare compared to what he expected from his co-star. “Everybody warned me that Sean Connery was impossible and an extremely difficult character. He was an absolute dream and I got on with him fantastically…My only bad memory of an actor across my whole career, and I’ve directed, I think, thousands of actors, was F. Murray Abraham, who played the inquisitor…...
Speaking at the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon, France (via Deadline), Jean-Jacques Annaud said that working with F. Murray Abraham on 1986’s The Name of the Rose – a 4K presentation of which was screened at the festival – was a nightmare compared to what he expected from his co-star. “Everybody warned me that Sean Connery was impossible and an extremely difficult character. He was an absolute dream and I got on with him fantastically…My only bad memory of an actor across my whole career, and I’ve directed, I think, thousands of actors, was F. Murray Abraham, who played the inquisitor…...
- 10/23/2023
- by Mathew Plale
- JoBlo.com
Thierry Frémaux is best known internationally as the long-time head of France’s Cannes Film Festival, which is organized out of its offices in Paris’s trendy Marais neighborhood.
The double-hatted cinema expert is perhaps more in his element in his home city of Lyon, where he is the director of the Institut Lumière, situated on the site of the former mansion and factory of cinema pioneers Auguste and Louis Lumière.
Alongside its late co-founders Bernard Chardère and Bertrand Tavernier, Frémaux has been a driving force behind the expansion of the institute and its activities, including the creation of its classic cinema-focused Lumière Film Festival, which has just wrapped its 15th edition.
Highlights this year included German director Wim Wenders receiving its prestigious Lumière Prize, following in the footsteps of the likes of Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, Jane Campion and Francis Ford Coppola. As part of the honor, the Paris,...
The double-hatted cinema expert is perhaps more in his element in his home city of Lyon, where he is the director of the Institut Lumière, situated on the site of the former mansion and factory of cinema pioneers Auguste and Louis Lumière.
Alongside its late co-founders Bernard Chardère and Bertrand Tavernier, Frémaux has been a driving force behind the expansion of the institute and its activities, including the creation of its classic cinema-focused Lumière Film Festival, which has just wrapped its 15th edition.
Highlights this year included German director Wim Wenders receiving its prestigious Lumière Prize, following in the footsteps of the likes of Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese, Jane Campion and Francis Ford Coppola. As part of the honor, the Paris,...
- 10/23/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Close to 40 years after Wim Wenders won the Cannes Palme d’Or for Paris, Texas, its enigmatic ending continues to spark debate in cinephile circles.
Talking about his career in a Lumière Film Festival masterclass over the weekend, the German director stood by his decision to have Harry Dean Stanton’s reclusive character Travis drive off into night, leaving behind his reunited estranged wife and young son.
“I was very, very convinced that the ending of Paris, Texas was right. For me, it was an heroic act by Travis to leave the mother and son together,” said Wenders.
“He knew he had done so much harm that they were never going to make it as a family, while the son and the mother had a good chance of making a life together if he left.”
Wenders revealed he received pushback around the final scene, including from the U.S. distributor 20th Century Fox,...
Talking about his career in a Lumière Film Festival masterclass over the weekend, the German director stood by his decision to have Harry Dean Stanton’s reclusive character Travis drive off into night, leaving behind his reunited estranged wife and young son.
“I was very, very convinced that the ending of Paris, Texas was right. For me, it was an heroic act by Travis to leave the mother and son together,” said Wenders.
“He knew he had done so much harm that they were never going to make it as a family, while the son and the mother had a good chance of making a life together if he left.”
Wenders revealed he received pushback around the final scene, including from the U.S. distributor 20th Century Fox,...
- 10/23/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Jean-Jacques Annaud has worked with an impressive roster of actors across his 60-year career including big names such as Sean Connery, Tony Leung and Brad Pitt as well as Christian Slater and Jane Marsh, who were emerging talents when he cast them in The Name Of The Rose and L’Amant respectively.
Talking at a masterclass at the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon on Sunday, the French director revealed how he found the casting process one of the most exhausting stages of making a film.
“I never write with an actor in mind because a character often evolves, someone that starts out as 60-years-old, may end up working better as a 35-year-old… I don’t want to ensnare myself. I wait until my ideas are clear,” said Annaud.
The director – whose varied filmography also spans the 1976 Africa-set Oscar winner Black and White In Color, The Bear, Enemy At The Gates, Wolf Totem...
Talking at a masterclass at the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon on Sunday, the French director revealed how he found the casting process one of the most exhausting stages of making a film.
“I never write with an actor in mind because a character often evolves, someone that starts out as 60-years-old, may end up working better as a 35-year-old… I don’t want to ensnare myself. I wait until my ideas are clear,” said Annaud.
The director – whose varied filmography also spans the 1976 Africa-set Oscar winner Black and White In Color, The Bear, Enemy At The Gates, Wolf Totem...
- 10/22/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Board makes “difficult decision” ahead of October event.
The ongoing Hollywood strikes have struck again, this time forcing the Franco-American Cultural Fund (Facf) to cancel its Los Angeles event the American French Film Festival.
The Facf, which brings together the DGA, MPA, WGA and France’s authors’ rights organisation Sacem, said its board members made the “difficult decision” this week to cancel, explaining that it was “not possible to continue with business as usual”.
The group said it was “keenly aware of the impact of this decision on the filmmakers, actors, producers, and distributors of the films and series that were due to be featured,...
The ongoing Hollywood strikes have struck again, this time forcing the Franco-American Cultural Fund (Facf) to cancel its Los Angeles event the American French Film Festival.
The Facf, which brings together the DGA, MPA, WGA and France’s authors’ rights organisation Sacem, said its board members made the “difficult decision” this week to cancel, explaining that it was “not possible to continue with business as usual”.
The group said it was “keenly aware of the impact of this decision on the filmmakers, actors, producers, and distributors of the films and series that were due to be featured,...
- 9/21/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
The American French Film Festival, which had been due to take place in L.A. from October 18 to 22, has been shelved due to the writers and actors strikes.
The Franco-American Cultural Fund (Facf) which oversees the event (formerly known as Colcoa) said it had made the difficult to decision to cancel the 2023 edition after a board meeting.
“The Facf Board of Directors determined this week that it was not possible to continue with business as usual,” the fund said in a statement.
The festival said it would still announce the full 2023 festival slate as originally planned on September 27 to honor the projects that were selected.
Previously announced elements of the program included the U.S. premiere of TV bio-drama Bardot, about the life of Brigitte Bardot, in the presence of co-creator Danièle Thompson.
“The Facf is keenly aware of the impact of this decision on the filmmakers, actors, producers, and...
The Franco-American Cultural Fund (Facf) which oversees the event (formerly known as Colcoa) said it had made the difficult to decision to cancel the 2023 edition after a board meeting.
“The Facf Board of Directors determined this week that it was not possible to continue with business as usual,” the fund said in a statement.
The festival said it would still announce the full 2023 festival slate as originally planned on September 27 to honor the projects that were selected.
Previously announced elements of the program included the U.S. premiere of TV bio-drama Bardot, about the life of Brigitte Bardot, in the presence of co-creator Danièle Thompson.
“The Facf is keenly aware of the impact of this decision on the filmmakers, actors, producers, and...
- 9/21/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Lyon, France — Four-time Oscar winner Alfonso Cuarón and “Time Bandits” helmer Terry Gilliam will join a star director-studded lineup at this year’s Lumière Film Festival including Wes Anderson, Alexander Payne and Wim Wenders.
Cuarón is returning to Lyon – where he was a guest of honor in 2018 – to present a selection of films by Swiss filmmaker Alain Tanner.
Gilliam will screen the newly restored version of his 1995 sci-fi thriller “Twelve Monkeys.”
One of Anderson’s latest shorts, “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” part of four Roald Dahl adaptations to be released on Netflix later this month, will screen at Lyon’s plush 2,000-seat Auditorium, where he will give a masterclass.
Like other guests, he will not only be introducing a retrospective of his own films but works by others, as part of an ongoing drive by the festival “to strengthen the link between the past and the present of cinema,...
Cuarón is returning to Lyon – where he was a guest of honor in 2018 – to present a selection of films by Swiss filmmaker Alain Tanner.
Gilliam will screen the newly restored version of his 1995 sci-fi thriller “Twelve Monkeys.”
One of Anderson’s latest shorts, “The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” part of four Roald Dahl adaptations to be released on Netflix later this month, will screen at Lyon’s plush 2,000-seat Auditorium, where he will give a masterclass.
Like other guests, he will not only be introducing a retrospective of his own films but works by others, as part of an ongoing drive by the festival “to strengthen the link between the past and the present of cinema,...
- 9/19/2023
- by Lise Pedersen
- Variety Film + TV
No animals were harmed in the making of Luc Besson’s new thriller, Dogman, but plenty of people get mauled, bitten, robbed and attacked, and one guy has his junk put into a serious vice grip, by a pack of extremely well-trained canines.
That being said, the director’s first film since his 2019 femme-driven assasin flick, Anna, is actually one of his least violent movies to date when it comes to bullets and bodies depicted on screen. If there’s violence, it’s predominantly of the domestic and psychological kind, in a story that follows a young man whose childhood traumas transform him into a very unusual sort of superhero: a paralyzed vigilante who dresses in drag, performs incredible lip-syncs of classic European ballads, and rules over a small, fierce army of obedient pups, as if the Joker and Ace Ventura were somehow merged into a single character. Also, he lives in New Jersey.
That being said, the director’s first film since his 2019 femme-driven assasin flick, Anna, is actually one of his least violent movies to date when it comes to bullets and bodies depicted on screen. If there’s violence, it’s predominantly of the domestic and psychological kind, in a story that follows a young man whose childhood traumas transform him into a very unusual sort of superhero: a paralyzed vigilante who dresses in drag, performs incredible lip-syncs of classic European ballads, and rules over a small, fierce army of obedient pups, as if the Joker and Ace Ventura were somehow merged into a single character. Also, he lives in New Jersey.
- 8/31/2023
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Fans of The Name of The Rose author Umberto Eco turned out in NYC, boosting the documentary on medieval scholar turned novelist and social commentator to over $9.1k on one screen – a nice showing by The Cinema Guild for a foreign language documentary on a solid weekend for some indie and arthouse fare.
Umberto Eco: A Library Of The World explores the life and work of the famed Italian writer and semiotics professor, whose bestselling novel was turned into a 1986 film by Jean-Jacques Annaud, starring Sean Connery and Christian Slater as a medieval monk detective and his apprentice.
Director Davide Ferrario, who worked with Eco a year before the writer’s death on a video project for the 2015 Venice Biennale, gained access to his Milanese library of more than 30,000 contemporary books and 1,500 rare and antique volumes. In the doc, the prolific author and original thinker, who has waxed eloquent on blue jeans and comic books,...
Umberto Eco: A Library Of The World explores the life and work of the famed Italian writer and semiotics professor, whose bestselling novel was turned into a 1986 film by Jean-Jacques Annaud, starring Sean Connery and Christian Slater as a medieval monk detective and his apprentice.
Director Davide Ferrario, who worked with Eco a year before the writer’s death on a video project for the 2015 Venice Biennale, gained access to his Milanese library of more than 30,000 contemporary books and 1,500 rare and antique volumes. In the doc, the prolific author and original thinker, who has waxed eloquent on blue jeans and comic books,...
- 7/2/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
White Friar stars Bafta winning-actress Anamaria Marinca who starred in Palme d’Or-winning 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days.
WWII-set romantic thriller White Friar will be the first offspring of the inaugural Franco-Irish co-production pact signed in December in Paris and was officialised in Cannes by the film’s producers France’s Valentina Films and Ireland’s Max Films on Friday (May 19).
White Friar stars Bafta winning-actress Anamaria Marinca who starred in Palme d’Or-winning 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days alongside veteran French actor Jean-Marc Barr, known for Luc Besson’s Big Blue and Cannes Jury Prize-winning film Europa.
The film was written and directed...
WWII-set romantic thriller White Friar will be the first offspring of the inaugural Franco-Irish co-production pact signed in December in Paris and was officialised in Cannes by the film’s producers France’s Valentina Films and Ireland’s Max Films on Friday (May 19).
White Friar stars Bafta winning-actress Anamaria Marinca who starred in Palme d’Or-winning 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days alongside veteran French actor Jean-Marc Barr, known for Luc Besson’s Big Blue and Cannes Jury Prize-winning film Europa.
The film was written and directed...
- 5/21/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
A pair of actors who hail from Cannes Film Festival award-winning projects — Anamaria Marinca (Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) and Jean-Marc Barr (Lars Von Trier’s Europa) — are teaming to star in a new film that marks an official collaboration between France and Ireland.
The project is White Friar and will mark the feature directorial debut of actor-turned-filmmaker Ivan Murphy. Described as a romantic thriller, White Friar is inspired by the life of Father Tom Murphy, an Irish Catholic priest who also served as a wing commander in the Royal Air Force during WWII and his relationship with Eva Hofer, a Hungarian Jew living in Vienna. Per the official synopsis, the film “examines morality, sexuality and identity.”
Jean-Marc Barr
Ivan Murphy, who happens to be the grand nephew of Father Tom Murphy, penned the screenplay. He turned up in Cannes on Friday to sign the co-production agreement...
The project is White Friar and will mark the feature directorial debut of actor-turned-filmmaker Ivan Murphy. Described as a romantic thriller, White Friar is inspired by the life of Father Tom Murphy, an Irish Catholic priest who also served as a wing commander in the Royal Air Force during WWII and his relationship with Eva Hofer, a Hungarian Jew living in Vienna. Per the official synopsis, the film “examines morality, sexuality and identity.”
Jean-Marc Barr
Ivan Murphy, who happens to be the grand nephew of Father Tom Murphy, penned the screenplay. He turned up in Cannes on Friday to sign the co-production agreement...
- 5/21/2023
- by Chris Gardner
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
‘Eo’ director will help decide the winner of the festival’s Golden Goblet Awards.
Polish filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski has been named jury president for the 25th Shanghai International Film Festival.
The veteran director, whose drama Eo won the jury prize at last year’s Cannes and went on to secure an Oscar nomination, will preside over the jury that decides the winner of the festival’s Golden Goblet Awards.
Skolimowski’s credits include includes Berlin Golden Bear winner The Departure (1967), Cannes Grand Prix winner The Shout (1978), Cannes best screenplay winner Moonlighting (1982), and Essential Killing (2010) which was awarded the special jury...
Polish filmmaker Jerzy Skolimowski has been named jury president for the 25th Shanghai International Film Festival.
The veteran director, whose drama Eo won the jury prize at last year’s Cannes and went on to secure an Oscar nomination, will preside over the jury that decides the winner of the festival’s Golden Goblet Awards.
Skolimowski’s credits include includes Berlin Golden Bear winner The Departure (1967), Cannes Grand Prix winner The Shout (1978), Cannes best screenplay winner Moonlighting (1982), and Essential Killing (2010) which was awarded the special jury...
- 5/16/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
French president Emmanuel Macron is set to kick off a three-day trip to Beijing this week, a high-stakes diplomatic mission that will be a delicate balancing act between urging Chinese leader Xi Jinping to alter his stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and maintaining France’s trade priorities. The French delegation accompanying Macron will include dozens of people spread across two jetliners touching down in Beijing on Wednesday — and the French film industry will be among the constituencies represented in the group.
Veteran filmmaker Jean-Jacques Annaud will travel with Macron and attend various official functions, including the China-France state dinner hosted by Xi Jinping in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on Thursday evening. During the trip, Annaud will also be promoting his most recent film, the 2022 disaster epic Notre-Dame on Fire, which is getting a nationwide China release on Friday. It will be the first French film...
Veteran filmmaker Jean-Jacques Annaud will travel with Macron and attend various official functions, including the China-France state dinner hosted by Xi Jinping in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People on Thursday evening. During the trip, Annaud will also be promoting his most recent film, the 2022 disaster epic Notre-Dame on Fire, which is getting a nationwide China release on Friday. It will be the first French film...
- 4/4/2023
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Makoto Shinkai’s Japanese anime sensation Suzume held strong at the top of China’s box office over the weekend, earning $22.1 million while easily defeating Paramount’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and Sony’s 65, which both flopped.
Suzume has earned $80.6 million in China, better than any other international film released in the country this year, including U.S. superhero tentpoles like Ant-Man 3 ($39 million), according to box office tracker Artisan Gateway. The film is forecast to bring in over $90 million, which will make it the most commercially successful Japanese anime in China of all time.
Suzume also has earned just shy of $30 million in South Korea and $105 million in Japan. It opens in North America and most of Europe on April 14, providing the latest bellwether for anime’s growing theatrical potential in the West.
Dungeons & Dragons and 65‘s disappointing results continue a streak of poor...
Suzume has earned $80.6 million in China, better than any other international film released in the country this year, including U.S. superhero tentpoles like Ant-Man 3 ($39 million), according to box office tracker Artisan Gateway. The film is forecast to bring in over $90 million, which will make it the most commercially successful Japanese anime in China of all time.
Suzume also has earned just shy of $30 million in South Korea and $105 million in Japan. It opens in North America and most of Europe on April 14, providing the latest bellwether for anime’s growing theatrical potential in the West.
Dungeons & Dragons and 65‘s disappointing results continue a streak of poor...
- 4/3/2023
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The American French Film Festival, formerly known as Colcoa, has set the dates of its 2023 edition to Oct. 18-22.
Organized by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, the festival will host its 27th edition at the Directors Guild of America Theater on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.
“Created by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, this event is the largest French film festival in North America and the largest festival dedicated to French Films and TV programs in the world,” said Cécile Rap-Veber, CEO of Sacem who presides over the Franco-American Cultural Fund.
Rap-Veber said “the American French Film Festival is a wonderful symbol to embody the Franco-American friendship and a crucial moment and spotlight to promote French cinema and all its talented creators.”
A Hollywood launchpad for French movies, the festival was launched in 1996 and has hosted premieres of movies by critically acclaimed filmmakers such as Jean-Jacques Annaud, Emmanuel Mouret, Maïmouna Doucouré, Céline Devaux,...
Organized by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, the festival will host its 27th edition at the Directors Guild of America Theater on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.
“Created by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, this event is the largest French film festival in North America and the largest festival dedicated to French Films and TV programs in the world,” said Cécile Rap-Veber, CEO of Sacem who presides over the Franco-American Cultural Fund.
Rap-Veber said “the American French Film Festival is a wonderful symbol to embody the Franco-American friendship and a crucial moment and spotlight to promote French cinema and all its talented creators.”
A Hollywood launchpad for French movies, the festival was launched in 1996 and has hosted premieres of movies by critically acclaimed filmmakers such as Jean-Jacques Annaud, Emmanuel Mouret, Maïmouna Doucouré, Céline Devaux,...
- 3/14/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Cocaine Bear, hitting theaters Feb. 24 from Universal, doesn’t mark Hollywood’s first fascination with bears, although it might be the only project about the animal’s rampage after ingesting a massive amount of the titular drug.
Taking a more naturalistic approach was 1988’s The Bear, which told the story of an adult bear befriending an orphaned cub as they flee human hunters. Director Jean-Jacques Annaud, who won the foreign-language Oscar for 1976’s Black and White in Color, adapted James Oliver Curwood’s 1916 novel The Grizzly King for the film. Annaud considered 50 bears as the adult grizzly, eventually casting a 1,500-pound Kodiak named Bart the Bear, later seen in White Fang (1991), Legends of the Fall (1994) and The Edge (1997). Cinematographer Philippe Rousselot recalls the challenges of using real animals — the two bears could rarely be filmed together.
“The big one would have killed the small one,” he tells THR. “Bart was wonderfully well trained,...
Taking a more naturalistic approach was 1988’s The Bear, which told the story of an adult bear befriending an orphaned cub as they flee human hunters. Director Jean-Jacques Annaud, who won the foreign-language Oscar for 1976’s Black and White in Color, adapted James Oliver Curwood’s 1916 novel The Grizzly King for the film. Annaud considered 50 bears as the adult grizzly, eventually casting a 1,500-pound Kodiak named Bart the Bear, later seen in White Fang (1991), Legends of the Fall (1994) and The Edge (1997). Cinematographer Philippe Rousselot recalls the challenges of using real animals — the two bears could rarely be filmed together.
“The big one would have killed the small one,” he tells THR. “Bart was wonderfully well trained,...
- 2/24/2023
- by Ryan Gajewski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Robert Walak and Alisa Tager will be leaving their posts as Presidents of Film & Television at AC Studios, the independent film and TV production studio that sits inside Anonymous Content, when their contracts are up in a couple of months.
Walak and Tager are expected to continue producing projects for AC Studios through an arrangement whose terms are still being worked out.
There are no details yet about the duo’s replacement though I hear UCP veteran Garrett Kemble, who joined Anonymous Content as EVP of Development for AC Studios last summer, reuniting with former UCP President Dawn Olmstead who is now CEO of Anonymous Content, is poised for a bigger role in light of Walak and Tager’s pending exit.
“Alisa and Robert are brilliant producers,” said Anonymous Content Cco David Levine. “It has been a pleasure working with the two of them these past few years to...
Walak and Tager are expected to continue producing projects for AC Studios through an arrangement whose terms are still being worked out.
There are no details yet about the duo’s replacement though I hear UCP veteran Garrett Kemble, who joined Anonymous Content as EVP of Development for AC Studios last summer, reuniting with former UCP President Dawn Olmstead who is now CEO of Anonymous Content, is poised for a bigger role in light of Walak and Tager’s pending exit.
“Alisa and Robert are brilliant producers,” said Anonymous Content Cco David Levine. “It has been a pleasure working with the two of them these past few years to...
- 2/11/2023
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
The Serpent and The Mauritanian star Tahar Rahim will preside over the 48th edition of France’s Cesar Awards, taking place at Paris’s historic l’Olympia concert venue on February 24.
France’s Cesar Academy noted that Rahim has a long history with the Césars, having won best actor and most promising actor in 2010 for his breakthrough performance in Jacques Audiard’s The Prophet.
“Since then, Tahar Rahim has continued his career with finesse, opting for rich, diverse and complex characters, and new experiences,” said the César Academy in a statement announcing his appointment as ceremony president.
Highlighting Rahim’s ability to move between French and international productions, the body cited past credits spanning Lou Ye’s Love and Bruises, Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Black Gold, Asghar Farhadi’s The Past, Rebecca Zlotowski’s Grand Central as well as Kevin Macdonald’s The Mauritanian and BBC-Netflix hit The Serpent,...
France’s Cesar Academy noted that Rahim has a long history with the Césars, having won best actor and most promising actor in 2010 for his breakthrough performance in Jacques Audiard’s The Prophet.
“Since then, Tahar Rahim has continued his career with finesse, opting for rich, diverse and complex characters, and new experiences,” said the César Academy in a statement announcing his appointment as ceremony president.
Highlighting Rahim’s ability to move between French and international productions, the body cited past credits spanning Lou Ye’s Love and Bruises, Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Black Gold, Asghar Farhadi’s The Past, Rebecca Zlotowski’s Grand Central as well as Kevin Macdonald’s The Mauritanian and BBC-Netflix hit The Serpent,...
- 1/5/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Jean-Jacques Annaud directs Sean Connery in The Name of the Rose (Der Name Der Rose), the film version of the novel by Umberto Eco
The Name of the Rose is a great adaptation of the most important work by Umberto Eco. A mystery story set in an era of supersitions (Fourteenth century) with the Inquisition in the middle.
Orson Welles said that one should adapt lesser literary works. This time, the director and the entire team do a great job by focusing on the detective story part of the literary work.
Story line
Brother William of Baskerville (Sean Connery) and his disciple Adso de Melk (Christian Slater) arrive at an abbey where one of the monks died recently, where the abbot hopes that Brother William will be able to solve the crimes.
Our erudite friend is a man far removed from superstition and he tries to find a logical explanation for everything,...
The Name of the Rose is a great adaptation of the most important work by Umberto Eco. A mystery story set in an era of supersitions (Fourteenth century) with the Inquisition in the middle.
Orson Welles said that one should adapt lesser literary works. This time, the director and the entire team do a great job by focusing on the detective story part of the literary work.
Story line
Brother William of Baskerville (Sean Connery) and his disciple Adso de Melk (Christian Slater) arrive at an abbey where one of the monks died recently, where the abbot hopes that Brother William will be able to solve the crimes.
Our erudite friend is a man far removed from superstition and he tries to find a logical explanation for everything,...
- 1/2/2023
- by Martin Cid
- Martin Cid Magazine - Movies
Click here to read the full article.
Uganda has submitted its first-ever film for the Oscars, putting forward Morris Mugisha’s Tembele as its contender for the 2023 Academy Awards in the best international feature category.
The drama follows Tembele (Patriq Nkakalukanyi), a garbage man in Kampala suffering from mental illness who begins to lose his grip on reality after the death of his infant son. Ronah Soledad Ninsiima and Cosmas Serubogo co-star.
“In Africa, men are told to hide their feelings, and never to show weakness because they will be thought feeble,” Mugisha said in a statement accompanying the submission announcement. “Tembele suggests otherwise: that it is Ok for a man to cry and vulnerability is no crime especially if you’re hurting. This is a film of hope, love and brotherhood.”
Tembele premiered in Uganda this summer and swept the Uganda Film Festival Awards, winning best film, best actor and best supporting actor honors.
Uganda has submitted its first-ever film for the Oscars, putting forward Morris Mugisha’s Tembele as its contender for the 2023 Academy Awards in the best international feature category.
The drama follows Tembele (Patriq Nkakalukanyi), a garbage man in Kampala suffering from mental illness who begins to lose his grip on reality after the death of his infant son. Ronah Soledad Ninsiima and Cosmas Serubogo co-star.
“In Africa, men are told to hide their feelings, and never to show weakness because they will be thought feeble,” Mugisha said in a statement accompanying the submission announcement. “Tembele suggests otherwise: that it is Ok for a man to cry and vulnerability is no crime especially if you’re hurting. This is a film of hope, love and brotherhood.”
Tembele premiered in Uganda this summer and swept the Uganda Film Festival Awards, winning best film, best actor and best supporting actor honors.
- 9/27/2022
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Click here to read the full article.
The American French Film Festival (Tafff) is using cinema to bridge the gap between French and American culture.
Presented by the Franco-American Cultural Fund (Facf), the 26th annual festival returns this year for a second time after a pandemic hiatus in 2020. This year, the festival is committed to not only highlighting the similarities between the two cultures, but also zeroing in on the differences to shine a light on how each culture can better understand the other.
“When you organize conversations in a bicultural setting, it’s always full of surprises, and that’s the point of conversations,” festival deputy director Anouchka van Riel tells The Hollywood Reporter. “And for me, it’s not so much about commonalities, as it is about differences. The tropes, the codes, the stereotypes are very different from one culture to another. It’s a very strange feeling...
The American French Film Festival (Tafff) is using cinema to bridge the gap between French and American culture.
Presented by the Franco-American Cultural Fund (Facf), the 26th annual festival returns this year for a second time after a pandemic hiatus in 2020. This year, the festival is committed to not only highlighting the similarities between the two cultures, but also zeroing in on the differences to shine a light on how each culture can better understand the other.
“When you organize conversations in a bicultural setting, it’s always full of surprises, and that’s the point of conversations,” festival deputy director Anouchka van Riel tells The Hollywood Reporter. “And for me, it’s not so much about commonalities, as it is about differences. The tropes, the codes, the stereotypes are very different from one culture to another. It’s a very strange feeling...
- 9/26/2022
- by Sydney Odman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Event formerly known as Colcoa runs October 10-16.
The North American premiere of Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Notre-Dame On Fire (Notre-Dame Brûle), a dramatised account of the April 2019 fire that damaged the Gothic Parisian landmark, will open American French Film Festival (formerly Colcoa) in Los Angeles on October 16.
The week-long event will close with the North American premiere of Dominik Moll’s thriller The Night Of The 12th (La Nuit du 12) and the annual filmmaker focus will be dedicated to Moll. The world theatrical premiere of Olivier Assayas’s series Irma Vep will also screen on closing day.
The line-up...
The North American premiere of Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Notre-Dame On Fire (Notre-Dame Brûle), a dramatised account of the April 2019 fire that damaged the Gothic Parisian landmark, will open American French Film Festival (formerly Colcoa) in Los Angeles on October 16.
The week-long event will close with the North American premiere of Dominik Moll’s thriller The Night Of The 12th (La Nuit du 12) and the annual filmmaker focus will be dedicated to Moll. The world theatrical premiere of Olivier Assayas’s series Irma Vep will also screen on closing day.
The line-up...
- 9/20/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Click here to read the full article.
The American French Film Festival is set to open with a North American premiere for Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Notre-Dame on Fire on Oct. 10.
Annaud, who will attend the festival, is bringing his latest film, which re-creates the events of April 15, 2019, when the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris caught fire, prompting a heroic rescue of the celebrated church.
The festival, formerly called Colcoa, will end on Oct. 16 with Dominik Moll’s thriller The Night of the 12th screening at DGA Theater Complex in Los Angeles. The American French Film Festival will dedicate its annual Focus on a Filmmaker spotlight to Moll and will also close with Irma Vep, Olivier Assayas’ HBO remake of his 1996 film, which had a world theatrical premiere at the festival.
In all, 75 films and series and 20 short films were unveiled as part of the festival’s 2022 lineup during a press conference on Tuesday.
The American French Film Festival is set to open with a North American premiere for Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Notre-Dame on Fire on Oct. 10.
Annaud, who will attend the festival, is bringing his latest film, which re-creates the events of April 15, 2019, when the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris caught fire, prompting a heroic rescue of the celebrated church.
The festival, formerly called Colcoa, will end on Oct. 16 with Dominik Moll’s thriller The Night of the 12th screening at DGA Theater Complex in Los Angeles. The American French Film Festival will dedicate its annual Focus on a Filmmaker spotlight to Moll and will also close with Irma Vep, Olivier Assayas’ HBO remake of his 1996 film, which had a world theatrical premiere at the festival.
In all, 75 films and series and 20 short films were unveiled as part of the festival’s 2022 lineup during a press conference on Tuesday.
- 9/20/2022
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The American French Film Festival, formerly known as Colcoa, will kick off Oct. 10 with the North American premiere of docudrama “Notre-Dame on Fire,” from “Quest for Fire” director Jean-Jacques Annaud. The weeklong festival at the DGA Theater Complex in Los Angeles closes with Dominik Moll’s thriller “The Night of the 12th,” about a cold case where the only certainty is the night it occurred. Moll will also be the focus of the festival’s annual “Focus on a Filmmaker.”
“Every year, The American French Film Festival presents the very best of French cinema and television, and this year is no exception. I am personally excited about the opening night selection of Jean-Jacques Annaud’s ‘Notre-Dame on Fire’ as I think it perfectly embodies the Franco-American Cultural Fund’s mission,” said Andrea Berloff, writer and board member of the Franco-American Cultural Fund.
The festival will screen 75 films and TV series and 20 shorts,...
“Every year, The American French Film Festival presents the very best of French cinema and television, and this year is no exception. I am personally excited about the opening night selection of Jean-Jacques Annaud’s ‘Notre-Dame on Fire’ as I think it perfectly embodies the Franco-American Cultural Fund’s mission,” said Andrea Berloff, writer and board member of the Franco-American Cultural Fund.
The festival will screen 75 films and TV series and 20 shorts,...
- 9/20/2022
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
"Save the cathedral… without losing a single life." Netflix has revealed an official trailer for a mini-series titled Notre Dame, the second major production based around the Notre Dame fire in 2019. The moment this fire at the iconic cathedral made news around the world, I knew it would be turned into movies. Jean-Jacques Annaud made his own Notre-Dame On Fire film also releasing this year, and Netflix has made their mini-series based around the exact same concept - following the firefighters who went to work putting out the fire that night. Hervé Hadmar's Notre Dame series follows the story of the night of April 15th, 2019 in Notre-Dame Cathedral alongside the many firefighters and the impact the fire had on different characters across France. Starring Roschdy Zem, Caroline Proust, Megan Northam, Simon Abkarian, Alice Isaaz, Marie Zabukovec, Sandor Funtek. This looks like it has some gorgeous visuals, but it also...
- 9/20/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Pathé, which operates France’s leading cinema circuit, is planning to enter the Paris stock exchange in 2024, Variety has confirmed. The company’s president, Jérôme Seydoux, revealed the group’s long-gestated listing project in an interview with the French publication Les Echos.
Seydoux said the company suffered a loss of approximately €100 million during the financial years 2020 and 2021, mainly due to the fact that theaters in France were shut down for a total of 300 days during the pandemic. While it ruffled feathers by selling “Coda” to Apple at Sundance in 2021 in a splashy 25 million deal, the company was one of the rare French studios which maintained its release plans for major local productions during the health crisis, for instance Martin Bourboulon’s “Eiffel” with Romain Duris and Emma Mackey, and Jean-Jacques Annaud’s “Notre Dame on Fire.”
Entering the Paris stock exchange should allow Pathé to pursue its ambitious plans to...
Seydoux said the company suffered a loss of approximately €100 million during the financial years 2020 and 2021, mainly due to the fact that theaters in France were shut down for a total of 300 days during the pandemic. While it ruffled feathers by selling “Coda” to Apple at Sundance in 2021 in a splashy 25 million deal, the company was one of the rare French studios which maintained its release plans for major local productions during the health crisis, for instance Martin Bourboulon’s “Eiffel” with Romain Duris and Emma Mackey, and Jean-Jacques Annaud’s “Notre Dame on Fire.”
Entering the Paris stock exchange should allow Pathé to pursue its ambitious plans to...
- 9/12/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Haugesund’s New Nordic Films market runs August 23-26.
Haugesund’s New Nordic Films market has unveiled the works in progress presentations for its 2022 edition, running August 23-26.
The line-up includes new films from the likes of Pathfinder director Nils Gaup’s new drama The Riot (Sulis), sold by REinvent and set against a workers revolt in 1907 Lapland; The Worst Person In The World producer Thomas Robsahm, who presents Aurora Gossé’s Norwegian youth film Dancing Queen, sold by Level K; and Berlinale prize-winning director Selma Vilhunen’s new Finnish production, polyamory drama Four Little Adults.
Scroll down for full...
Haugesund’s New Nordic Films market has unveiled the works in progress presentations for its 2022 edition, running August 23-26.
The line-up includes new films from the likes of Pathfinder director Nils Gaup’s new drama The Riot (Sulis), sold by REinvent and set against a workers revolt in 1907 Lapland; The Worst Person In The World producer Thomas Robsahm, who presents Aurora Gossé’s Norwegian youth film Dancing Queen, sold by Level K; and Berlinale prize-winning director Selma Vilhunen’s new Finnish production, polyamory drama Four Little Adults.
Scroll down for full...
- 8/12/2022
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
For its 50th edition unspooling Aug. 20-26, Norway’s top film event, the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund, will be treating its 400-plus international guests and local audiences with a beefed-up onsite program of 72 feature length films and 19 shorts.
“We’ve had more films to choose from than ever before, “says festival honcho Tonje Hardersen about her non-competitive program, put together in close collaboration with local distributors and exhibitors. “We can still see the post-covid effects on distribution as many titles were delayed. We have therefore slightly older films – from 2020 up to 2022 – which is unusual. But this makes for an exceptional program, hopefully for all tastes,” she adds.
World premieres take in the blockbuster Norwegian opener ‘War Sailor’ by Gunnar Vikene starring Kristoffer Joner (‘The Revenant’), Pål Sverre Hagen (‘Kon-Tiki’), and Ine Marie Wilmann (‘Homesick’), about Norwegian war sailors’ heroic efforts during WWII. Prolific outfit Mer Film (‘The Innocents’) is producing,...
“We’ve had more films to choose from than ever before, “says festival honcho Tonje Hardersen about her non-competitive program, put together in close collaboration with local distributors and exhibitors. “We can still see the post-covid effects on distribution as many titles were delayed. We have therefore slightly older films – from 2020 up to 2022 – which is unusual. But this makes for an exceptional program, hopefully for all tastes,” she adds.
World premieres take in the blockbuster Norwegian opener ‘War Sailor’ by Gunnar Vikene starring Kristoffer Joner (‘The Revenant’), Pål Sverre Hagen (‘Kon-Tiki’), and Ine Marie Wilmann (‘Homesick’), about Norwegian war sailors’ heroic efforts during WWII. Prolific outfit Mer Film (‘The Innocents’) is producing,...
- 8/5/2022
- by Annika Pham
- Variety Film + TV
Further titles include Pathe’s ‘Notre Dame On Fire’, Vertigo’s ‘She Will’.
Sony thriller Where The Crawdads Sing receives the biggest-ever release for any film directed by a woman at the UK-Ireland box office this weekend, opening in 691 locations.
Directed by Olivia Newman, the film’s total tops the 673-site release for 2019’s Frozen 2, which was directed by Jennifer Lee, alongside Chris Buck; as well as the 650-site release of Cate Shortland’s Black Widow from last year – the previous widest release by a film solely directed by a woman.
Adapted by Lucy Alibar from Delia Owens’ 2018 novel of the same name,...
Sony thriller Where The Crawdads Sing receives the biggest-ever release for any film directed by a woman at the UK-Ireland box office this weekend, opening in 691 locations.
Directed by Olivia Newman, the film’s total tops the 673-site release for 2019’s Frozen 2, which was directed by Jennifer Lee, alongside Chris Buck; as well as the 650-site release of Cate Shortland’s Black Widow from last year – the previous widest release by a film solely directed by a woman.
Adapted by Lucy Alibar from Delia Owens’ 2018 novel of the same name,...
- 7/22/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Veteran director Jean-Jacques Annaud rips a swashbuckling escapade from news footage of the catastrophic fire at the Paris cathedral
Veteran French director Jean-Jacques Annaud serves up some high-octane film-making with this old-fashioned disaster movie, composed in a docu-realist style, about the catastrophic fire that engulfed Paris’s Notre Dame cathedral in 2019. With dramatic reconstructions, digital effects and the splicing in of amateur video, social media material and genuine news footage – President Macron himself appears at one stage to be talking to an actor playing the fire chief – Annaud rips a pretty swashbuckling adventure from the headlines. A terrifying blaze, flying buttresses about to collapse and molten lead pouring from the roof on to the believers below; and Annaud cheekily intersperses the thrills with a querulous old lady who keeps calling the fire brigade because her kitten has got out on to the roof: France has, as they say, picked the wrong day to quit smoking.
Veteran French director Jean-Jacques Annaud serves up some high-octane film-making with this old-fashioned disaster movie, composed in a docu-realist style, about the catastrophic fire that engulfed Paris’s Notre Dame cathedral in 2019. With dramatic reconstructions, digital effects and the splicing in of amateur video, social media material and genuine news footage – President Macron himself appears at one stage to be talking to an actor playing the fire chief – Annaud rips a pretty swashbuckling adventure from the headlines. A terrifying blaze, flying buttresses about to collapse and molten lead pouring from the roof on to the believers below; and Annaud cheekily intersperses the thrills with a querulous old lady who keeps calling the fire brigade because her kitten has got out on to the roof: France has, as they say, picked the wrong day to quit smoking.
- 7/20/2022
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Disney’s “Thor: Love And Thunder” topped the U.K. and Ireland box office for the second consecutive weekend with £4.06 million (4.8 million), according to numbers released by Comscore. The latest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe now has a total of £20.8 million.
Universal’s “Minions: The Rise Of Gru” had another strong showing with £2.66 million in second place and has a total of £23.1 million after three weekends. In third position, Warner Bros.’ “Elvis” collected £1 million for a total of £16.1 million after four weekends.
Placing fourth was Paramount’s “Top Gun: Maverick.” Already the highest grossing film of the year in the territory, the Tom Cruise vehicle took a further £810,638 in its eighth weekend for a mighty total of £72.2 million.
Rounding off the top five was Universal’s “Jurassic World: Dominion,” which collected £383,502 in its sixth weekend for a total of £32.4 million.
Studiocanal’s “The Railway Children Return,” a new adventure following the 1970 classic,...
Universal’s “Minions: The Rise Of Gru” had another strong showing with £2.66 million in second place and has a total of £23.1 million after three weekends. In third position, Warner Bros.’ “Elvis” collected £1 million for a total of £16.1 million after four weekends.
Placing fourth was Paramount’s “Top Gun: Maverick.” Already the highest grossing film of the year in the territory, the Tom Cruise vehicle took a further £810,638 in its eighth weekend for a mighty total of £72.2 million.
Rounding off the top five was Universal’s “Jurassic World: Dominion,” which collected £383,502 in its sixth weekend for a total of £32.4 million.
Studiocanal’s “The Railway Children Return,” a new adventure following the 1970 classic,...
- 7/19/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Name of the Rose director Jean-Jacques Annaud has turned the Paris fire into a thrilling drama. He talks about the desperate race to rescue the crown of thorns – as molten lead fell like satanic rain
On the south-west corner of the facade of Notre Dame cathedral is a horned chimera, peering out at the Left Bank of Paris with an awestruck gawp. The director Jean-Jacques Annaud, 78, was a boy when he picked out the beast for his second ever photograph; he took it with a camera given to him by his mother (the subject of his first photograph). They lived on the outskirts of Paris, and she would bring him to the cathedral every Thursday. “She used to go there to light a candle for a friend who was ill,” he explains. “My parents weren’t believers, but she had that Christian tradition of doing that kind of thing.”
So...
On the south-west corner of the facade of Notre Dame cathedral is a horned chimera, peering out at the Left Bank of Paris with an awestruck gawp. The director Jean-Jacques Annaud, 78, was a boy when he picked out the beast for his second ever photograph; he took it with a camera given to him by his mother (the subject of his first photograph). They lived on the outskirts of Paris, and she would bring him to the cathedral every Thursday. “She used to go there to light a candle for a friend who was ill,” he explains. “My parents weren’t believers, but she had that Christian tradition of doing that kind of thing.”
So...
- 7/12/2022
- by Phil Hoad
- The Guardian - Film News
The German festival is running from June 23 to July 2.
Marie Kreutzer’s Corsage will launch Filmfest München in an opening gala at the German city’s Isar Philharmonic concert hall today
The Filmfest is screening 120 films from 52 countries, including 35 world premieres. Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher will be presented with this year’s CineMerit Award, while there will be a homage to German filmmaker Doris Dörrie with the premiere of her latest film The Pool.
Festival director Diana Iljine and artistic director Christoph Gröner talk to Screen about this year’s event and the Filmfest’s significance as a launchpad for international careers of German films.
Marie Kreutzer’s Corsage will launch Filmfest München in an opening gala at the German city’s Isar Philharmonic concert hall today
The Filmfest is screening 120 films from 52 countries, including 35 world premieres. Italian actress Alba Rohrwacher will be presented with this year’s CineMerit Award, while there will be a homage to German filmmaker Doris Dörrie with the premiere of her latest film The Pool.
Festival director Diana Iljine and artistic director Christoph Gröner talk to Screen about this year’s event and the Filmfest’s significance as a launchpad for international careers of German films.
- 6/23/2022
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
Notre-Dame On Fire Trailer — Jean-Jacques Annaud‘s Notre-Dame On Fire / Notre-Dame brûle (2022) movie trailer has been released by Pathe. The Notre-Dame On Fire trailer stars Samuel Labarthe, Jean-Paul Bordes, Mikael Chirinian, Jérémie Laheurte, Chloé Jouannet, and Pierre Lottin. Crew The screenplay is written by Jean-Jacques Annaud and Thomas Bidegain. Produced by Jérôme Seydoux. Plot Synopsis Notre-Dame [...]
Continue reading: Notre-dame On Fire (2022) Movie Trailer: Fire-fighters Fight a Blaze at Notre Dame Cathedral in Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Film...
Continue reading: Notre-dame On Fire (2022) Movie Trailer: Fire-fighters Fight a Blaze at Notre Dame Cathedral in Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Film...
- 6/20/2022
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
"Up there with a few men, we can do it." Pathe UK has released their own official UK trailer for the Notre-Dame On Fire movie from France, dramatizing the tragic fire at Paris's Notre Dame cathedral in 2019. The French title is just Notre-Dame Brûle and it's supposed to tell a story "from inside the Notre-Dame de Paris fire of April 2019." Made by the same director from Seven Years in Tibet and Enemy at the Gates, Frnech filmmaker Jean-Jacques Annaud who has stay away from Hollywood for a while now. The film retraces how heroic men & women firefighters put their lives on the line to accomplish this awe-inspiring rescue. The ensemble cast features Samuel Labarthe, Jean-Paul Bordes, Mikael Chirinian, Jérémie Laheurte, Chloé Jouannet, and Pierre Lottin. It's set to open in the UK this July after first premiering in France this March, but there's still no US plans yet. I guess...
- 6/15/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
France is the world’s third-biggest animation producer, according to data from the Cnc, with 7,790 employees last year.
A rising number of international productions, especially TV animation series, are flocking to France, attracted by its 30 tax rebate for international projects (Trip) program.
A higher 40 tax rebate is available for VFX projects with over €2 million (2.14 million) VFX spend in France, with seven projects supported in 2021, including Ridley Scott’s “The Last Duel.”
In 2021, animation repped 46 of all foreign production spend under the Trip scheme, marking a 62 increase between 2019 and 2021.
Demand for animation and VFX staff is surging in France with 16 job growth in 2021 alone.
The number of Trip-supported animation projects doubled between 2019 and 2021, and the number of all film and TV projects (fiction and animation) increased by 231. Seventy-one per cent of all supported projects in 2021 were for streaming platforms.
Animated shows for streamers, line produced in France, have become the country’s fastest-growing programming area.
A rising number of international productions, especially TV animation series, are flocking to France, attracted by its 30 tax rebate for international projects (Trip) program.
A higher 40 tax rebate is available for VFX projects with over €2 million (2.14 million) VFX spend in France, with seven projects supported in 2021, including Ridley Scott’s “The Last Duel.”
In 2021, animation repped 46 of all foreign production spend under the Trip scheme, marking a 62 increase between 2019 and 2021.
Demand for animation and VFX staff is surging in France with 16 job growth in 2021 alone.
The number of Trip-supported animation projects doubled between 2019 and 2021, and the number of all film and TV projects (fiction and animation) increased by 231. Seventy-one per cent of all supported projects in 2021 were for streaming platforms.
Animated shows for streamers, line produced in France, have become the country’s fastest-growing programming area.
- 6/9/2022
- by Martin Dale
- Variety Film + TV
“The Three Musketeers,” Pathé Films’s 75-million two-part adventure epic saga based on Alexandre Dumas’s masterpiece, has been bought in major international territories rolling off a busy Cannes market.
Pathé unveiled a sprawling 15-minute promoreel for both “The Three Musketeers” – D’Artagnan” and “The Three Musketeers – Milady” at Cannes Marché du Film. Both movies are directed by Martin Bourboulon and boast a star-studded cast, including Vincent Cassel, Eva Green, Vicky Krieps, Romain Duris, Pio Marmaï, François Civil, Lyna Khoudri and Louis Garrel.
Produced by Dimitri Rassam for Chapter 2, a Mediawan Company, and Pathé, the two films were picked up for Latin America (CDC United Network /Cine Video y TV (Zima)), Scandinavia (Nordisk Film), South Korea (First Run Inc.), Poland (Monolith Films), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Aqs Inc.), Ex-Yugoslavia (Blitz Films), and Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania Vertical (Entertainment Kft.). Pathé is in advanced talks with distributors for the rest of Asia,...
Pathé unveiled a sprawling 15-minute promoreel for both “The Three Musketeers” – D’Artagnan” and “The Three Musketeers – Milady” at Cannes Marché du Film. Both movies are directed by Martin Bourboulon and boast a star-studded cast, including Vincent Cassel, Eva Green, Vicky Krieps, Romain Duris, Pio Marmaï, François Civil, Lyna Khoudri and Louis Garrel.
Produced by Dimitri Rassam for Chapter 2, a Mediawan Company, and Pathé, the two films were picked up for Latin America (CDC United Network /Cine Video y TV (Zima)), Scandinavia (Nordisk Film), South Korea (First Run Inc.), Poland (Monolith Films), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Aqs Inc.), Ex-Yugoslavia (Blitz Films), and Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania Vertical (Entertainment Kft.). Pathé is in advanced talks with distributors for the rest of Asia,...
- 5/25/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
To the degree that a global sales division can shape its own image, Pathé’s international arm has built and bolstered its current brand around strong IP, recognizable faces and unbelievable but true stories.
To see those elements in play, one need only look to last year, when projects including Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta” and Martin Bourboulon’s “Eiffel” lifted from world and film history as they showcased stars such as Virginie Efira, Romain Duris and Emma Mackey, while collectively finding homes in more than a hundred international territories.
To witness those same imperatives, but supercharged, one need only glimpse Pathé’s 2022 slate, which goes long on hometown IP and star power.
“Being exhibitors ourselves, we make films for the big screen,” says Marie-Laure Montironi, exec VP of international sales. “Today, names and universal stories drive audiences to cinemas. To hook people, you need a big spectacle, a big story,...
To see those elements in play, one need only look to last year, when projects including Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta” and Martin Bourboulon’s “Eiffel” lifted from world and film history as they showcased stars such as Virginie Efira, Romain Duris and Emma Mackey, while collectively finding homes in more than a hundred international territories.
To witness those same imperatives, but supercharged, one need only glimpse Pathé’s 2022 slate, which goes long on hometown IP and star power.
“Being exhibitors ourselves, we make films for the big screen,” says Marie-Laure Montironi, exec VP of international sales. “Today, names and universal stories drive audiences to cinemas. To hook people, you need a big spectacle, a big story,...
- 5/10/2022
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
Pathé may be one of France’s oldest film groups, but it is young at heart. The only French film company that is still fully involved in exhibition, production, distribution and sales, Pathé has been confronting the challenges wrought by the pandemic and the arrival of streamers with bold steps and ambitious new projects. During the Cannes Film Festival, the company will receive Variety’s Intl. Achievement in Film Award.
In the past two years, the family-owned film group, which is led by the visionary businessman Jérôme Seydoux, saw its “Coda” win three Oscars for family drama; greenlit the country’s biggest-budgeted movies in recent history, “Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom” (75 million) and the two-part adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ masterpiece, “The Three Musketeers — D’Artagnan” and “The Three Musketeers — Milady” (75 million); it ventured into TV series; and forged bonds with streaming services, including Netflix and Apple TV+.
“When theaters were shut down,...
In the past two years, the family-owned film group, which is led by the visionary businessman Jérôme Seydoux, saw its “Coda” win three Oscars for family drama; greenlit the country’s biggest-budgeted movies in recent history, “Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom” (75 million) and the two-part adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ masterpiece, “The Three Musketeers — D’Artagnan” and “The Three Musketeers — Milady” (75 million); it ventured into TV series; and forged bonds with streaming services, including Netflix and Apple TV+.
“When theaters were shut down,...
- 5/10/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Pathé and Dimitri Rassam’s Chapter 2, a Mediawan Company, have unveiled the first stills of their sprawling 75 million two-part European film based on Alexandre Dumas’s masterpiece “The Three Musketeers” – D’Artagnan” and “The Three Musketeers – Milady.”
The companies will present a 15-minute promo reel at Cannes. Directed by Martin Bourboulon (“Eiffel”), the two ‘Musketeers’ films are currently completing principal photography after more than 140 days of shooting at prestigious French landmarks, including the Louvre Palace, the Hôtel des Invalides, the Castles of Fontainebleau and Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Fort la Latte and Chantilly, as well as the citadel of Saint-Malo and the historic city center of Troyes.
Penned by Alexandre de la Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte (“What’s in a Name?”), the films are headlined by a galaxy of stars who have an international profile, including François Civil (“The Stronghold”), Vincent Cassel (“Black Swan”), Eva Green (“Casino Royal”), Romain Duris (“Eiffel”), Vicky Krieps (“Phantom Thread...
The companies will present a 15-minute promo reel at Cannes. Directed by Martin Bourboulon (“Eiffel”), the two ‘Musketeers’ films are currently completing principal photography after more than 140 days of shooting at prestigious French landmarks, including the Louvre Palace, the Hôtel des Invalides, the Castles of Fontainebleau and Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Fort la Latte and Chantilly, as well as the citadel of Saint-Malo and the historic city center of Troyes.
Penned by Alexandre de la Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte (“What’s in a Name?”), the films are headlined by a galaxy of stars who have an international profile, including François Civil (“The Stronghold”), Vincent Cassel (“Black Swan”), Eva Green (“Casino Royal”), Romain Duris (“Eiffel”), Vicky Krieps (“Phantom Thread...
- 5/4/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Jenna Bush Hager, co-host of Today with Hoda & Jenna, has hired seasoned development executive Ben Spector as President of Film and Television as part of her first-look deal with Universal Studio Group, which was announced in February.
Spector is coming off a lengthy tenure as President of TV & Film at Eva Longoria’s UnbeliEVAble Entertainment.
Under Hager’s pact, she and Spector will develop and produce projects with Universal Content Productions, Universal Television, Universal Television Alternative Studio and Universal International Studios for multiple platforms through her production banner. They duo already is acquiring IP and optioning projects.
Hager is the founder of Today’s book club #ReadWithJenna, and had called her Usg production deal a “natural extension of Read with Jenna’s mission to highlight debut and diverse authors”. Since its launch in March 2019, 30 of Hager’s book club selections have become New York Times bestsellers.
“I’m looking...
Spector is coming off a lengthy tenure as President of TV & Film at Eva Longoria’s UnbeliEVAble Entertainment.
Under Hager’s pact, she and Spector will develop and produce projects with Universal Content Productions, Universal Television, Universal Television Alternative Studio and Universal International Studios for multiple platforms through her production banner. They duo already is acquiring IP and optioning projects.
Hager is the founder of Today’s book club #ReadWithJenna, and had called her Usg production deal a “natural extension of Read with Jenna’s mission to highlight debut and diverse authors”. Since its launch in March 2019, 30 of Hager’s book club selections have become New York Times bestsellers.
“I’m looking...
- 4/21/2022
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
Slowing emerging from a two-year pandemic, France’s second biggest multiplex chain behind Pathé, Cgr Cinemas, has been put on the market by its owners, Luc Raymond and Charles Raymond, Variety has confirmed.
The family-owned business has an estimated value of about 1.1 billion, according to Jocelyn Bouyssy, Cgr’s long-time managing director who has been tapped to find a buyer for the group.
Founded in 1966 in the Southwestern town of La Rochelle, Cgr Cinemas now boasts 74 venues, over 700 screens and more than 2,000 staffers on the payroll. The company began diversifying in recent years by investing in the French distribution company Apollo Films, as well as in hotels and restaurants.
Under Jouyssy’s leadership, Cgr Cinemas also launched a new premium format called Ice (Immersive Cinema Experience) that outperformed Imax, Dolby Cinema and 4Dx in 2019. In that pre-pandemic year, Cgr Cinemas had an annual revenue of roughly €280 million (303 million), which fell...
The family-owned business has an estimated value of about 1.1 billion, according to Jocelyn Bouyssy, Cgr’s long-time managing director who has been tapped to find a buyer for the group.
Founded in 1966 in the Southwestern town of La Rochelle, Cgr Cinemas now boasts 74 venues, over 700 screens and more than 2,000 staffers on the payroll. The company began diversifying in recent years by investing in the French distribution company Apollo Films, as well as in hotels and restaurants.
Under Jouyssy’s leadership, Cgr Cinemas also launched a new premium format called Ice (Immersive Cinema Experience) that outperformed Imax, Dolby Cinema and 4Dx in 2019. In that pre-pandemic year, Cgr Cinemas had an annual revenue of roughly €280 million (303 million), which fell...
- 4/8/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
If you loved Squid Game and hate old people, director Hwang Dong-hyuk has something in the works that should utterly delight. As reported by Variety, the filmmaker has already written a 25-page treatment for an adaptation of a novel supposedly written by Umberto Eco, who's best known to movie fans for writing The Name of the Rose, the historical mystery that Jean-Jacques Annaud turned into a Sean Connery toplining, featuring a teenage Christian Slater and a very severe haircut. I say "supposedly" only because I know very little about Umberto Eco, and his Wikipedia page doesn't mention it, not that I can see. In any event, per Variety, "Dong-hyuk revealed he has already penned a 25-page treatment about the project which will surely be 'another...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 4/4/2022
- Screen Anarchy
The French production sector is on route to recovery as it plays catch-up after a difficult 2020 pandemic year.
Feature film production was on the road to recovery in France in 2021, according to the annual production report of the country’s National Cinema Centre (Cnc).
“The tally for 2021 is marked by the repercussions of the health crisis on cinema production,” said the body.
“After a particularly difficult 2020 for the sector, we’re seeing a “catch-up” effect which is allowing it to return to pre-health crisis levels.”
The study, released on Monday (March 28), showed investment had risen by 75% year-on-year in 2021 to hit...
Feature film production was on the road to recovery in France in 2021, according to the annual production report of the country’s National Cinema Centre (Cnc).
“The tally for 2021 is marked by the repercussions of the health crisis on cinema production,” said the body.
“After a particularly difficult 2020 for the sector, we’re seeing a “catch-up” effect which is allowing it to return to pre-health crisis levels.”
The study, released on Monday (March 28), showed investment had risen by 75% year-on-year in 2021 to hit...
- 3/29/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
After a year marked by a two-month lockdown and Covid restrictions, the volume of French productions surged by 43.5% in 2021, with 340 films made after widespread postponements in 2020, according to a report unveiled by the Cnc (National Film Board).
The number of movies produced last year is even 13% higher than in 2019, before the pandemic. Along with production levels, the investment in French films skyrocketed by 73.5% to €1.1 billon ($1.2 billion), the second-highest figure of the decade — behind 2016. It’s a 21.4% increase on 2019.
While the average budget for French films in 2021 was €4.2 million, Pathé (“Coda”) delivered four films budgeted above €30 million ($32 million): Guillaume Canet’s live action film “Asterix & Obelix, the Middle Kingdom” based on the Belgian comic book, as well as “The Three Musketeers – D’Artagnan” and “The Three Musketeers – Milady,” the epic two-part saga based on Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel and Jean-Jacques Annaud’s “Notre-Dame on Fire.”
French TV channels, who must...
The number of movies produced last year is even 13% higher than in 2019, before the pandemic. Along with production levels, the investment in French films skyrocketed by 73.5% to €1.1 billon ($1.2 billion), the second-highest figure of the decade — behind 2016. It’s a 21.4% increase on 2019.
While the average budget for French films in 2021 was €4.2 million, Pathé (“Coda”) delivered four films budgeted above €30 million ($32 million): Guillaume Canet’s live action film “Asterix & Obelix, the Middle Kingdom” based on the Belgian comic book, as well as “The Three Musketeers – D’Artagnan” and “The Three Musketeers – Milady,” the epic two-part saga based on Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel and Jean-Jacques Annaud’s “Notre-Dame on Fire.”
French TV channels, who must...
- 3/28/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Less than two years after joining France Televisions, former Canal Plus executive Manuel Alduy has contributed to bolstering the French public broadcaster’s roster of international series with shows such as “Bardot,” a mini-series biopic of Brigitte Bardot, and “L’Insoumise” about Alice Guy, the first female filmmaker ever.
Ahead of France Televisions’ press conference at Series Mania, Alduy said the broadcaster’s first-look initiative with the European Broadcasting Union (Ebu) has yielded several prestige projects, including “Bardot.” The Ebu represents 113 organizations across the 56 countries, including the BBC in the U.K., Ard in Germany, Dr in Denmark, Svt in Sweden, Rai in Italy and the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation.
“Bardot” charts the life of the French actor and model from 1949, when she first appeared on the cover of a magazine, to the birth of her son in 1960. It’s being produced by Federation Entertainment with France Televisions in France, and...
Ahead of France Televisions’ press conference at Series Mania, Alduy said the broadcaster’s first-look initiative with the European Broadcasting Union (Ebu) has yielded several prestige projects, including “Bardot.” The Ebu represents 113 organizations across the 56 countries, including the BBC in the U.K., Ard in Germany, Dr in Denmark, Svt in Sweden, Rai in Italy and the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation.
“Bardot” charts the life of the French actor and model from 1949, when she first appeared on the cover of a magazine, to the birth of her son in 1960. It’s being produced by Federation Entertainment with France Televisions in France, and...
- 3/24/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
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