Noticias

The Artist Oscar winner Michel Hazanavicius returned to the Cannes Competition this evening with animated fairy tale feature The Most Precious of Cargoes. The warm applause for the film inside the Grand Théâtre Lumière went on for 10 minutes.

Coming in at a tight 81 minutes, it’s the final Competition film to premiere this year.

Hazanavicius applauded during ‘The Most Precious of Cargoes’ ovation #Cannes2024 pic.twitter.com/3TWoUBF6V9

— Deadline Hollywood (@Deadline) May 24, 2024

The voice cast includes the late Jean-Louis Trintignant, Grégory Gadebois, Dominique Blanc and Denis Podalydès.

Hazanavicius wrote the script for The Most Precious of Cargoes, which is based on the novel by Jean-Claude Grumberg. The story centers on a poor woodcutter and his wife who, once upon a time, lived in a great forest. Cold, hunger, poverty and a war raging all around them meant their lives were very hard.

One day, the woodcutter’s wife rescues...

Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof is finally making his way back to the Cannes Film Festival following the controversy surrounding his Un Certain Regard 2023 jury appointment.

Rasoulof was invited to serve on the jury last year but was unable to attend due to Iran’s travel embargo on him. The “There Is No Evil” filmmaker was banned from leaving Iran after being arrested in July 2022 for posting statements criticizing government-sanctioned violence against protesters. Rasoulof was later temporarily released in February 2023 due to ongoing health concerns. He was later pardoned and sentenced to one year of penal servitude and a two-year ban from leaving Iran on the charge of “propaganda against the regime.”

Now, Rasoulof is debuting his latest feature “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” in competition at the festival. While the plot remains under wraps, there is no word on whether Rasoulof will attend the festival. Variety first reported the news.

French mini-major Pathé has acquired Les Films des Tournelles, the production company founded by Anne-Dominique Toussaint whose recent credits include Louis Garrel’s Cesar-winning “The Innocent.”

Besides Garrel, Les Films des Tournelles has worked with a flurry of auteurs on some of their most successful films, including Riad Sattouf’s “The French Kissers,” which won the Cesar for best first film in 2010; Nadine Labaki’s “Caramel”; Emanuele Crialese’s “Respiro”; Valeria Golino’s “Miele”; and Mona Achache’s “The Hedgehog.” “The Innocent” won two prizes at last year’s Cesar Awards and screened at Cannes on the 75th anniversary of the festival.

Toussaint has also worked with Philippe Le Guay and Emmanuel Carrère. Toussaint, whose career spans over three decades, has produced 27 films so far, including iconic French movies such as Martine Dugowson’s “Mina Tannenbaum.”

As part of the deal, Pathé is acquiring Films des Tournelles’ full library while...

Noé Debré, the co-writer of “Dheepan” and “Stillwater” and creator of the European Parliament sendup series “Parlement,” marks his feature directorial debut with the bittersweet comedy “A Nice Jewish Boy.”

Produced by Moonshaker, sold by Charades and making its world market premiere at this year’s Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris, the freewheeling film follows a 27-year-old man-child Bellisha (Michael Zindel) and his ailing mother, Giselle (Agnès Jaoui), who together make up the last remaining Jews living in a working class neighborhood that all of their friends and family have long since fled.

At first that’s just as well for the easy-going Bellisha, but health concerns, prejudice and most of all an acute sense of alienation soon begin to creep in. Below, Variety catches up with Debré at this year’s Rendez-Vous.

How did this feature idea come about?

I saw a short film called “Masel Tov Cocktail,” about a Russian-Jewish teenager living in Germany.

Over the past 12 months, Paris-based sales agent WTFilms has produced two features: “Perpetrator,” by Jennifer Reeder (“Knives and Skin”), which will world premiere in the Panorama section at Berlin Film Festival, and Xavier Gens’ thriller “Farang,” which is co-financed and repped by Studiocanal.

“Perpetrator,” starring Kiah McKirnan (“Mare of Easttown”) and Alicia Silverstone, is about an impulsive teenage girl living in a town where young women are being abducted. It is produced by WTFilms’ topper Gregory Chambet, and Derek Bishé for Divide/Conquer.

In December, Shudder, AMC Networks’ horror/thriller streaming service, acquired U.S. rights.

Reeder calls it “dark but feminine, a nuanced noir, a grrrl power take on modern horror.” Chambet says there is strong audience interest in feminine horror films, with powerful female leads and highlights the performances of Alicia Silverstone as Aunt Hildie and Kiah McKirnan as wild child Jonny, who gains shape-shifting powers when she...

Juliette Binoche and Vincent Lacoste as mother and son in Winter Boy. Lacoste: 'It was very enjoyable preparing for this role, because Christophe always proposes different roles for me to play' Photo: Jean-Louis Fernandez

At 29, Vincent Lacoste has firmly established himself as one of the bright lights of French cinema, notching up more than 40 credits since his debut in Riad Sattouf’s The French Kissers at the age of 15. His latest sees him reteam with Christophe Honoré for Winter Boy (Le Lycéen) after the pair previously collaborated on Sorry Angel and On A Magical Night.

The film sees him take on supporting role duties as Quentin, the older brother of Lucas as the pair of them and their mother (Juliette Binoche) come to terms with the death of his father. Although the focus is on the emotional turmoil of 17-year-old Lucas, his fractious relationship with Quentin also comes to the...

Oscar-winning director Michel Hazanavicius (“The Artist”) has unveiled his first-ever animation film project at the Annecy Intl. Animation Film Festival.

Entitled “The Most Precious of Cargos,” it is an adaptation of the eponymous best-selling book by acclaimed French playwright and children’s books author Jean-Claude Grumberg, who is co-writing the film with Hazanavicius.

Told in the form of a classic fairy tale in 2D animation, it is set during World War II, and tells the story of a poor woodcutter and his wife who live deep in the Polish forest. To the woman’s despair, the couple have no children.

One day, while foraging for food, she sees a bundle fall out of what she believes to be a cargo train crossing the forest. Inside is a baby girl who was thrown from the train by her Jewish father – whose wife no longer has enough milk to feed both his...

Orange Studio has signed a two-year distribution deal with the aggregation company Under The Milky Way. The pact will allow the outfit to handle the distribution of titles from Orange Studio’s library across English-speaking territories as well as Latin America on transactional VOD services such as Amazon, PlutoTV, Roku and Tubi.

The first films which are part of the deal are Philipe Lacheau’s “City Hunter,” Olivier Nakache et Eric Toledano’s “Tellement Proches,” Riad Sattouf’s “Beaux gosses,” Bertrand Tavernier’s “Death Watch” (pictured), and Bertrand Blier’s “Going Places.”

“This new partnership with Under The Milky Way will give us the opportunity to increase the international visibility of our films and reach new audiences on VOD services that are currently booming,” said Kristina Zimmermann, managing director of Orange Studio.

Alexis de Rendinger, the co-founder of Under The Milky Way, said this deal with Orange Studio will give...

Italian broadcaster Rai has made two high-profile acquisitions from European production, distribution and sales powerhouse Studiocanal: Three seasons of “Esther’s Notebooks” and Seasons 1 and 2 of “The Adventures of Paddington.”

“The Adventures of Paddington” is the latest iteration of the global IP phenomenon whose first season was a critical and ratings hit in territories around the world, scoring two Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Preschool Animated Series and Outstanding Writing Team for a Preschool Animated Program. Maintaining the spirit of the Studiocanal box office smash hit films, the animated series delivers new narratives in 11-minute episodes focusing on themes such as family, curiosity and treating others with respect.

John Foster and James Lamont handle screenwriting duties on the series, which is produced by David Heyman’s celebrated production house Heyday Films, Studiocanal, Copyrights Group and with participation of M6. The series currently airs on Nickelodeon in several territories internationally...

Irene Jacob (“Three Colours: Red”), a critically acclaimed film and theater actor, is set to preside over the Lumière Institute in Lyon, succeeding to Bertrand Tavernier, the revered French filmmaker who died in March.

Tavernier led the institution for nearly four decades and worked closely with Thierry Fremaux, the Lumière Institute’s managing director, and Cannes Film Festival’s general delegate, to host the annual Lumière festival, a star-studded celebration of heritage films and cinema masters. Lyon is actually the birthplace of the Cinematograph and its creators, the Lumiere brothers.

Kicking off on Oct. 9, the event’s 13th edition will pay homage to Tavernier with a special tribute on Oct. 10.

Jacob, who is originally from Switzerland, is the granddaughter of Maurice Jacob, a scientist and humanist who lived in Lyon all his life and has a street named after him in the city. A passionate film buff, Jacob has been...

Anne-Dominique Toussaint, a Belgian-born revered yet discreet film producer based in Paris, has uncovered and championed many promising filmmakers through her company Les Films des Tournelles. And the best is yet to come.

Since launching her company 32 years ago, Toussaint, who is known for her spot-on artistic taste and elegant demeanor, has nurtured long-term relationships with talent such as Nadine Labaki (“Caramel”), Riad Sattouf (“The French Kissers”), Louis Garrel (“Les deux amis”) and Philippe Le Guay (“The Cost of Living”). She produced their debuts and kept up with them, giving them the necessary freedom to deliver original movies that found an international audience.

Always on the lookout for stimulating challenges, Toussaint is now getting ready to produce the feature debut of one of France’s best-known actors, Emmanuelle Devos (“Read My Lips”).

Devos’ project “On the Road Again” is an ambitious 1913-set movie headlined by two female protagonists, which will be played by Anais Demoustier,...

Each year it is a pleasure to introduce the ten actors who make up the European Film Promotion‘s Shooting Stars, and this year is no different. The initiative, to celebrate and promote the best in European acting talent, is dear to the heart of HeyUGuys, and we’ll be continuing our partnership this year with in-depth interviews with each of the 2021 cohort.

This year will, as expected, be slightly different from previous years. The ten emerging actors will be presented as part of a three-day online programme, a week before the 71st Berlinale commences. The digital event, held on the 23rd to the 25th of February, will be an online experience where we’ll be able to sit down and learn a little more about what makes these ten people the ones to watch.

Each of the actors were chosen by a carefully selected jury from a list of...

Dardenne brothers are co-producing.

Michel Hazanavicius will direct an animated feature based on Jean-Claude Grumberg’s La Plus Precieuse Des Marchandises.

The Artist director will also co-write the script with Grumberg and create the film’s graphic design.

Studiocanal is co-developing the project and will handle all rights including international sales.

They will co-produce alongside Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s Les Films du Fleuve. Also producing are Ex Nihilo (Patrick Sobelman and Robert Guédiguian) and Les Compagnons de Cinéma.

Production will start in 2020 for a theatrical release in 2022. The animation will be created by Prima Linéa (Valérie Schermann).

Published this January in France,...

Oscar-winning director Michel Hazanavicius is set to adapt Jean-Claude Grumberg’s bestselling tale “La plus precious des marchandises” into an animated feature film. The Dardenne brothers are co-producing the film with Studiocanal, which will handle all rights, including international sales.

The tale, set during World War II against the backdrop of the Holocaust, is produced by Patrick Sobelman and Robert Guédiguian at France’s Ex Nihilo, and Florence Gastaud, Riad Sattouf and Hazanavicius at Les Compagnons de Cinéma. Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are co-producing via their banner Les Films du Fleuve. Valérie Schermann’s company, Prima Linéa, whose track record includes the award-winning “The Red Turtle,” will be handling the animation.

The story intertwines the fates of a Jewish family, including newborn twins, who are arrested in Paris and deported to Auschwitz, and a poor and childless woodcutter couple living in the depths of a Polish forest. While on a train to the death camp,...

Slate also includes four new festival title acquisitions and five previously announced Palme d’Or contenders.

Wild Bunch will launch sales on eight new titles at Cannes this year including Sylvie Verheyde’s Madame Claude about an infamous French brothel owner and Lou Ye’s upcoming black and white thriller Saturday Fiction.

The slate also features two recent acquisitions out of the Official Selection as well as two new Cannes Critics’ Week films alongside the five previously announced Palme d’Or contenders.

Verheyde’s Madame Claude stars Karole Rocher as the real-life, late Paris brothel owner whose clients allegedly included John F.

Slate also includes four new festival title acquisitions and five previously announced Palme d’Or contenders.

Wild Bunch will launch sales on eight new titles at Cannes this year including Sylvie Verheyde’s Madame Claude about an infamous French brothel owner and Lou Ye’s upcoming black and white thriller Saturday Fiction.

The slate also features two recent acquisitions out of the Official Selection as well as two new Cannes Critics’ Week films alongside the five previously announced Palme d’Or contenders.

Verheyde’s Madame Claude stars Karole Rocher as the real-life, late Paris brothel owner whose clients allegedly included John F.

Cannes — Who says Chinese animation doesn’t travel? Created by Grace Tian at Beijing’s Magic Mall and produced by Magic Mall and the U.K’s Cloth Cat Animation, “Luo Bao Bei” has performed 35% above slot average on Australia ABC 2, Eurodata TV’s Avril Blondelot will point out Saturday at MipJunior in the market’s major overview of cutting-edge trends forging a new kids and family TV landscape.

But the series has done so grafting cultures, she argues. It is written by Dave Ingham (“Shaun the Sheep”) animation was carried out by Cloth Cat.

“This is quite a standard story for 4-7 year olds about a young girl discovering the world around her,” Blondelot said Friday in Cannes. “But it’s a portrait of a modern Chinese family and blends Chinese cultural heritage with a dash of British humor and charm.”

The heritage is in its “details, gestures, names,...

Rosa Attab

Producer, Why Not Productions

Although she likes to keep a low profile, Attab is a key producer at Parisian outfit Why Not Prods., where she works with top filmmakers such as Cristian Mungiu, Arnaud Desplechin and Jacques Audiard, whose latest film “The Sisters Brothers” played at Venice and will screen next at Toronto. Attab’s first experience as a full-on producer was on Lynne Ramsay’s “You Were Never Really Here,” which world premiered in competition at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival and won prizes for actor (Joaquin Phoenix) and screenplay. Attab is developing an English-language feature with BAFTA-nominated helmer Yann Demange, who recently directed “White Boy Rick,” which unspooled at Telluride, and the feature debut of actor Samir Guesmi (“The Returned”).

Stephanie Bermann (pictured center)

Co-Founder, Domino Films

Bermann founded Domino Films with Alexis Dulguerian six years ago after heading acquisitions at leading independent distribution company Mars Films for eight years.

Exclusive: Slate includes films starring Louis Garrel, Marion Cotillard,

Wild Bunch will kick-off pre-sales at Cannes on Oscar-winner Michel Hazanavicius’s [pictured] new project Redoubtable revolving around the relationship between Jean-Luc Godard and actress Anne Wiazemsky in the late 1960s.

Based on Wiazemsky’s autobiographical account Un An Après, the production will star Louis Garrel as Jean-Luc Godard and Stacy Martin, last seen in High-Rise, as the director’s young muse.

The script kicks off with the 1967 shoot of La Chinoise – about a group of students who try to live by Maoists principles - and follows the couple through the late 1960s when Godard went through his so-called “revolutionary period”.

Wiazemsky – who met Godard when she was just 17-years-old and he was on the rebound from Anna Karina – was married to the filmmaker for more than a decade.

Like Hazanavicius’s Oscar-winning The Artist, the aesthetics and style of Redoubtable will take inspiration from the films around which the...

Nadav Lapid will dig into his own Parisian experience from over a decade back with his third feature film, the mini format dictionary referenced title of Micro Robert. Variety reports that French producer Anne-Dominique Toussaint (her most recent items via outfitter Les Films des Tournelles include Riad Sattouf’s Jacky au royaume des filles Louis Garrel’s Les deux amis) is producing. Israel’s Pie Films will be co-producing.

Gist: This follows the journey of an Israel man who moves to Paris. A philosophical exploration of self-identity, the movie will ponder on what remains of our core identity and world views when we become expats and switch languages.

Worth Noting: Lapid told the trade that with “‘Policeman,’ there are ghosts of terrorists, in ‘The Kindergarten Teacher,’ there are ghosts of 5-year olds, and in ‘Micro Robert’ our character will be haunted by ghosts of Paris”.

Do We Care?: With...

Following their first collaboration with last spring's French Cinema's Secret Trove, legendary French film magazine Cahiers du Cinéma and the French Institute Alliance Française (Fiaf), New York's premiere French cultural center, have partnered again to present the CinéSalon film series Eccentrics of French Cinema. Beginning this week, the series features a selection of rarely screened French comedies selected by Fiaf's Delphine Selles-Alvarez and Cahiers du Cinéma's Jean-Philippe Tessé and Nicholas Elliott. Indiewire is pleased to be partnering with Fiaf and Cahiers du Cinéma to present reviews of films in the series originally published in the magazine and available here in English for the first time with translations by Nicholas Elliott, the magazine's New York correspondent. This review of Riad Sattouf's "French Kissers" was originally published in Cahiers du Cinéma no. 646 in June 2009. It was written by Cahiers du...

We’re nearing September, which means we’re getting close to Alamo Drafthouse’s 10th annual Fantastic Fest. The film festival held in Austin, Texas is one of the most interesting and exciting fests around. Catering to hardcore cinephiles with a little bit of an interest in the strange, Fantastic Fest features a bevy of some of the best new horror films, indie thrillers, dark comedies, and low-budget sci-fi. Last year some of the best films included at the fest were Afflicted, Borgman, Jodorowsky’s Dune, The Sacrament, Blue Ruin, Grand Piano, We Are What We Are, A Field in England, The Congress, and Big Bad Wolves. In 2011 Fantastic Fest was one of the places to see Adam Wingard’s amazing You’re Next before it was shelved until it’s official release just last year.

Now the initial lineup for the 2014 festival has been announced and as always it looks very promising.

Our favorite film festival in the world is nigh. Later next month, Austin, Texas will host hundreds of genre fans for Fantastic Fest 2014!! We have the full list which includes the Us Premiere of Tusk as well as the World Premieres of ABCs of Death 2 and Horsehead. These won’t be all the films that will play the 10th anniversary of the film festival but it would be enough if it was. Look forward to more announcement waves of programming and don’t forget to follow up with our predictions that we made last week. I have added trailers above the film titles, if available. If the trailer is not available, there will be a still above the title.

From the Press Release

Fantastic Fest Celebrates 10 Years Of Chaos And Destruction With Us Premiere Of Kevin Smith’S “Tusk”, Leonard Maltin, The Meltdown With Jonah And Kumail And “ABCs Of Death 2...

A podcaster is slowly turned into a walrus, skaters are hunted by a cult, and 26 different ways to die are revealed. Yes, Fantastic Fest is adding some horror to their 10th anniversary this September. The first wave of programming for the festival has been announced and Kevin Smith’s Tusk will be screened, as well as the horror anthologies V/H/S Viral and ABCs of Death 2.

Fantastic Fest will open with the Us premiere of Tusk and will later feature the Us premiere of V/H/S Viral. ABCs of Death 2 will make its world debut at the festival taking place September 18th-25th in Austin, Texas. We have a press release with more details and the first wave’s full listing of films, as well as the festival’s official Mondo poster:

Austin, TX – Tuesday, August 5, 2014 - “Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Fantastic Fest is excited to...

It's that time of year again, isn't it? There is no greater party on Earth for fans of genre films than Austin's annual Fantastic Fest, and ten years in, they just keep making it better. "In 2014, we are taking no prisoners. This festival is going to set new boundaries of decadence, destruction and debauchery." - Tim League As much as I love events like Cannes, Sundance, or Toronto, I can't imagine the directors of those festivals ever issuing that statement. The scary thing is that Tim League isn't kidding. Fantastic Fest is special because it's much more than just movies being screened. Every day is packed with events that elevate the entire festival, and with this year taking place at the new Alamo Drafthouse on S. Lamar, complete with the brand-new Highball, it feels like it's going to be a blow-out the likes of which even the most avid Fantastic...

Fantastic Fest 2014 kicks off September 18th, and the first wave of programming has been announced. With films like Tusk, V/H/S Viral, The Babadook, and ABC's of Death 2 on the menu, it's one not to miss!

From the Press Release:

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Fantastic Fest is excited to announce the first wave of events, special guests, and film programming for Fantastic Fest 2014, taking place September 18-25 in Austin, Texas, at the newly reopened Alamo South Lamar and Highball.

Fantastic Fest is thrilled to open the fest with the Us Premiere of Kevin Smith's dark horror-comedy Tusk. Smith will be in attendance for a red carpet gala screening and Q&A.

Immediately following Tusk, the world premiere of ABCs Of Death 2 will unveil 26 devilishly diabolical tales at Fantastic Fest with multiple directors from the horror anthology sequel in attendance, including Alejandro Brugués, Robert Boocheck, Lancelot Imasuen, E.L. Katz,...

The Alamo Drafthouse’s Fantastic Fest has a stellar rep around these parts, and it’s not hard to see why when you consider some of the indie titles that have played there in recent years. Last year alone saw Coherence, Grand Piano and Septic Man make their world premieres, and films like Blue Ruin, Afflicted, Witching & Bitching, The Sacrament and Borgman all land in the U.S. for the first time.

This year doesn’t look to be any different, with a terrific lineup of indie titles including boatloads of promising horror. We’ve got sequels like The ABCs of Death 2 and V/H/S Viral, and originals like Kevin Smith’s anticipated Tusk and The Babadook. Keep in mind this is only the first wave of film announcements for Fantastic Fest 2014 – we’ll keep you posted as more titles are confirmed for the festival, which runs in Austin,...

Following previous announcements of their film lineup, the Fantasia International Film Festival has released their full lineup of movies to be shown at the 18th Annual festival, starting July 17.

New additions to the lineup include 2014 Cannes Selection When Animals Dream, directed by Jonas Alexander Amby and the return of Fantasia’s showcase of animated films, Axis.

Tickets for the festival go on sale starting July 16, and the festival runs through August 5.

View the whole press release of additional announcements below:

Fantasia Celebrates Its 18th Birthday

With Over 160 Feature Films Montreal, Thursday July 10, 2014 – 2014 is the year that Fantasia turns 18. We can’t believe it either. Fantasia’s 18th birthday means over 160 features and something in the neighborhood of 300 shorts, many being shown for the first time on this continent, a good number screening here for the first time anywhere in the world.In addition to being stacked with a multitude of breathtaking debut filmmaker discoveries,...

Exclusive: Israeli film-maker to develop Micro Robert (working title) with Les Films des Tornelles.

Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid is joining forces with Paris-based production house Les Films des Tournelles to develop a feature about a young Israeli man getting to grips with life in the French capital, provisionally entitled Micro Robert.

“I’m still writing the script but it’s at a relatively advanced stage,” Lapid told Screen. “I’m very excited about the challenge of filming in Paris and putting my own look to a city that has been shot thousands of times before…it could shoot next year.”

“It’s an existentialist comedy about a young Israeli man living in Paris,” added Les Films des Tournelles founding chief Anne-Dominique Toussaint.

The French-language feature is provisionally entitled Micro Robert after the pocket version of one of France’s best-known dictionary brands.

“We won’t set a budget or start trying to finance until we’ve signed...

The 18th annual Fantasia International Film Festival will be taking place once again in Montreal and the first wave of programming has been announced, revealing an eclectic mix of genre films from around the world:

“Montreal, June 19, 2014 – The 18th annual Fantasia International Film Festival is gearing up to take Montreal by storm with three weeks of inspiration and excitement starting July 17 until August 5, 2014. Our full 2014 lineup of programming and special events will be revealed shortly, but in the meantime, here’s an early First Wave Announcement of several selected highlights and info to whet your appetite.

Unveiling Our 2014 Poster Art: Fantasia Pays Tribute To Three Legendary Figures Of The Fantastic

On May 7 of last year, Ray Harryhausen, filmmaker and stop-motion special effects pioneer, passed away at the age of 92. Mr. Harryhausen created some of the most beloved and innovative fantastic film imagery of all time in such classics as The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad...

The grandaddy of all film fests, Fantasia 2014, is set to kick off on July 17th, and we have this year's artwork to share along with the first wave of event and film announcements.

From the Press Release:

The 18th annual Fantasia International Film Festival is gearing up to take Montreal by storm with three weeks of inspiration and excitement starting July 17 until August 5, 2014. Our full 2014 lineup of programming and special events will be revealed shortly, but in the meantime here’s an early First Wave Announcement of several selected highlights and info to whet your appetite.

For this year’s edition and onwards, Fantasia will be returning to the freshly renovated Concordia Hall Cinema as its main base, which now features an even larger screen, new seating, and upgraded projection and sound.

Unveiling Our 2014 Poster Art: Fantasia Pays Tribute To Three Legendary Figures Of The Fantastic

On May 7 of last year,...

Genre festival to open with Jacky in the Kingdom of Women [pictured]; other titles include Guardians of the Galaxy, Boyhood, The Harvest and Suburban Gothic.

Riad Sattouf’s Jacky in the Kingdom of Women will receive its Canadian premiere as the opening film of this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival.

The Montreal-based genre festival runs July 17-Aug 5 and has also announced it will hold a special screening of Guardians of the Galaxy.

Other first wave announcements include six world premieres: Leo Gabriadze’s Cybernatural; Jean Luc Herbulot’s Dealer; Aik Karapetian’s The Man in the Orange Jacket; Sarah Adina Smith’s The Midnight Swim; Dan Bush’s The Reconstruction of William Zero; and Richard Bates Jr’s Suburban Gothic.

Fantasia has also announced six international premieres, including John McNaughton’s The Harvest and Park Jae-hyun’s The Huntresses, and ten Canadian premieres such as The Mo Brothers’ Killers and Mike Cahill’s I Origins.

Richard Linklater’s critically...

It is that time of the year again in which we start preparing for our favourite film festival in the world. For the unfamiliar, Sound On Sight has delivered some of the best coverage of the Fantasia Film Festival since we first launched back in 2008. In the past we’ve published up to 55 reviews, dozens of features and recorded six podcasts dedicated entirely to the three and a half week long event. So be sure to come visit us again and again throughout the months of July and August, as we will surely be all over the 2014 edition. The 18th annual Fantasia International Film Festival is taking Montreal by storm, starting July 17 until August 5, 2014. They’ve just released their new poster and along with the first wave of films, and as expected, Fantasia’s programmers aren’t disappointing. Here’s the press release. Enjoy!

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Montreal, June 19, 2014 – The 18th annual Fantasia...

The awards have all been handed out at this year's International Film Festival Rotterdam. Here is a list of the winners:

Canon Tiger Awards for Short Films:

La isla by Dominga Sotomayor and Katarzyna Klimkiewicz, Chile/Poland/Denmark

Giant by Salla Tykkä, Finland/Romania 

The Chimera of M. by Sebastian Buerkner, United Kingdom

 

Lions Film Award:

Love Steaks by Jakob Lass

 

Hubert Bals Fund Lions Film Award:

Los Hongos by Oscar Ruiz Navia

 

Hivos Tiger Awards:

Anatomy of a Paperclip by Ikeda Akira

Han Gong-Ju by Lee Su-Jin

Something Must Break by Ester Martin Bergsmark

 

MovieZone Award:

Jacky au royaume des filles by Riad Sattouf (France)

 

Netpac Award:

28 by Jayakody Prasanna (Sri Lanka)

 

Fipresci Award:

The Songs of Rice by Uruphong Raksasad (Thailand)

 

Knf Award:

To Kill a Man by Alejandro Fernández Almendras (Chile/France)

 

Big Screen Award:

Another Year by Oxana Bychkova (Russia)

 

Eurimages Co-Production Development Award:

Tabija by...

Update: Upc Audience Award goes to Alexander Payne’s Nebraska. Festival’s second Big Screen Award to support Dutch distribution goes to Russia’s Another Year.

At the Iffr awards ceremony last night, the winners of three equal Hivos Tiger Awards were:

Anatomy of a Paper Clip (Yamamori clip koujo no atari) by Ikeda Akira (Japan)

Interview: Ikeda Akira

The jury said: “Challenging narrative form with precision and economy, this film elevates observations of the absurd in human behavior, and brings it into the poetic domain.”

Something Must Break (Nånting måste gå sönder) by Ester Martin Bergsmark (Sweden)

Interview: Ester Martin Bergsmark

The jury said: “A free-floating personal voyage traces the pains and pleasures of intimacy, recounted in a tender depiction of characters, with a sincere and playful use of cinematographic language.”

Han Gong-Ju by Lee Su-Jin (South Korea)

Interview: Lee Su-Jin

The jury said: “A skilfully crafted and highly accomplished debut – deviating from classicist structure, this film...

Update: Upc Audience Award goes to Alexander Payne’s Nebraska. Festival’s second Big Screen Award to support Dutch distribution goes to Russia’s Another Year.

At the Iffr awards ceremony last night, the winners of three equal Hivos Tiger Awards were:

Anatomy of a Paper Clip (Yamamori clip koujo no atari) by Ikeda Akira (Japan)

Interview: Ikeda Akira

The jury said: “Challenging narrative form with precision and economy, this film elevates observations of the absurd in human behavior, and brings it into the poetic domain.”

Something Must Break (Nånting måste gå sönder) by Ester Martin Bergsmark (Sweden)

Interview: Ester Martin Bergsmark

The jury said: “A free-floating personal voyage traces the pains and pleasures of intimacy, recounted in a tender depiction of characters, with a sincere and playful use of cinematographic language.”

Han Gong-Ju by Lee Su-Jin (South Korea)

Interview: Lee Su-Jin

The jury said: “A skilfully crafted and highly accomplished debut – deviating from classicist structure, this film...

Update: Upc Audience Award goes to Alexander Payne’s Nebraska. Festival’s second Big Screen Award to support Dutch distribution goes to Russia’s Another Year.

At the Iffr awards ceremony last night, the winners of three equal Hivos Tiger Awards were:

Anatomy of a Paper Clip (Yamamori clip koujo no atari) by Ikeda Akira (Japan)

Interview: Ikeda Akira

The jury said: “Challenging narrative form with precision and economy, this film elevates observations of the absurd in human behavior, and brings it into the poetic domain.”

Something Must Break (Nånting måste gå sönder) by Ester Martin Bergsmark (Sweden)

Interview: Ester Martin Bergsmark

The jury said: “A free-floating personal voyage traces the pains and pleasures of intimacy, recounted in a tender depiction of characters, with a sincere and playful use of cinematographic language.”

Han Gong-Ju by Lee Su-Jin (South Korea)

Interview: Lee Su-Jin

The jury said: “A skilfully crafted and highly accomplished debut – deviating from classicist structure, this film...

During today's Awards Ceremony in de Doelen (Rotterdam), the winners of Iffr’s nineteenth Hivos Tiger Awards Competition, as well as of the second Big Screen Award Competition and of the Netpac, Fipresci, Knf, and MovieZone awards were announced. Tomorrow Saturday, 1 February the festival audience favorites will be awarded the Upc Audience Award for best festival film and the Dioraphte Award for best Hubert Bals Fund-supported film.

Hivos Tiger Awards

Fifteen first or second films by talented filmmakers from around the globe competed in the 2014 Hivos Tiger Awards Competition. The Jury consisted of distinguished filmmaker Elia Suleiman; celebrated Dutch filmmaker Nanouk Leopold, Indonesian filmmaker and former Tiger Award nominee Edwin; Violeta Bava, Bafici programmer and film producer from Argentina and Japanese actress and producer Kiki Sugino. Each Hivos Tiger Award comes with a prize of €15,000 for the filmmaker.

The winners of the three equal Hivos Tiger Awards 2014 are:

Anatomy of a Paper Clip (Yamamori clip koujo no atari)

by Ikeda Akira (Japan, 2013)

“Challenging narrative form with precision and economy, this film elevates observations of the absurd in human behavior, and brings it into the poetic domain.”

Ikeda Akira (1976, Japan) began to make his own short films while studying English literature at Bunkyo University. After being involved in various fields such as theatre, music and dance, he directed his first feature-length film The Blue Monkey in 2006. Anatomy of a Paper Clip is his second feature.

Something Must Break (Nånting måste gå sönder)

by Ester Martin Bergsmark (Sweden, 2014)

“A free-floating personal voyage traces the pains and pleasures of intimacy, recounted in a tender depiction of characters, with a sincere and playful use of cinematographic language.”

Ester Martin Bergsmark (1982, Sweden) trained at the Swedish University College of Arts, Crafts and Design. Together with Mark Hammarberg he made the award-winning documentary Maggie in Wonderland

(2008). In 2010, he made Fruitcake as part of the experimental feminist porn suite Dirty Diaries. She Male Snails (2012) won several awards at the Gothenburg International Film Festival.

Han Gong-Ju

by Lee Su-Jin (South Korea, 2013)

“A skilfully crafted and highly accomplished debut – deviating from classicist structure, this film lures the spectator to participate in the pleasures of storytelling through an extraordinary and intricate narrative puzzle.”

Lee Su-Jin (South-Korea) is a screenwriter and director. He made several award-winning short films in his homeland. His roll of honour continues with his debut feature Han Gong-Ju, which won two awards at Busan, plus the top prize at the film festival of Marrakech.

Hivos director Edwin Huizing:

“Hivos aims to give young filmmakers a voice. To inspire us; to push boundaries. Their work has the potential to break open societies, so thoughts and creativity can flow more freely. The Hivos Tiger Awards give them the recognition they deserve.”

The Big Screen Award

Iffr introduced a new competition in 2013: The Big Screen Award Competition, aimed at supporting the distribution of films in Dutch cinemas. Ten very recent films with no Benelux distributor confirmed were nominated for this prize. An audience jury, chaired in 2014 by Christine de Baan, chose the winner. Iffr will connect a prize of €10.000 to the award in 2014. The money is for the distributor to support the costs of publicity for the releases of the winning film in cinemas in the Netherlands.

The winner of The Big Screen Award 2014 is:

Another Year

(Yeshche odin god) by Oxana Bychkova (Russia, 2014)

“At a time when Dutch media abound with negative news about Russia, Another Year

takes us straight into the daily lives of the young people who will shape its future and makes us open up our hearts to them. More than just a simple love story, it shows us how globalization meets tradition in present-day Russia, how they clash, and how they might be reconciled. Pitch perfect, beautifully acted and choreographed, modest, subtle and utterly convincing.”

Oxana Bychkova (1972, Ukraine) is a screenwriter and director. She studied journalism in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, graduating in 1995. After a career as a radio journalist, Bychkova began studying directing in 2000, focusing on filmmaking. Another Year is her first feature film.

Netpac Award

The Netpac Jury (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) awards the best Asian film in the Iffr 2014 Official Selection. The Jury consisted of Paul Agusta, filmmaker, filmcritic and poet from Indonesia; Defne Gursoy, film critic and writer from Turkey; and Anu Rangachar, programme director of the Mumbai Film Festival, India.

The winner of the Netpac Award 2014 is:

28

by Prasanna Jayakody (Sri Lanka, 2014)

“A well-measured and crafted film that emotionally engages the audience through poetic storytelling of a critical subject.”

Prasanna Jayakody (1968, Sri Lanka) was born into an artistic family strongly rooted in traditional Sinhala values, and grew up in a Buddhist environment. This became a major inspiration for his productions. He made his debut at the age of 21 with the stage drama Shadows and Men, which was a critical success. He then started directing television dramas that were loved by the masses and won him numerous television awards. His earlier films Sankara (2006) and Karma (2010) have also screened at Iffr.

Fipresci Award

The Jury of the International Association of Film Critics Fipresci (Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique) awards the best film among the twenty-two world premieres in Bright Future 2014. The Jury consisted of president Blagoja Kunovski, Macedonia (Mrtv, Kinopis, Sintheses); Maria Fosheim Lund, Norway (Aftenposten, Wuxia); Guilhem Caillard, Canada (Séquences, Panorama-Cinéma, Cineuropa); Alberto Castellano, Italy (Il Manifesto, Segnocinema) and Sasja Koetsier, the Netherlands (De Filmkrant, Tijdschrift Lover).

The winner of the Rotterdam Fipresci Award 2014 is:

The Songs of Rice (Pleng khong kao)

by Uruphong Raksasad (Thailand, 2014)

“Fully relying on its strong cinematography, it creates an immersive sensory experience that makes us part of a vivid community revolving around the cultivation of a tiny grain.”

Uruphong Raksasad (1977, Thailand) studied film and photography at Thammasat University. After graduating in 2004, he worked as an editor and post-production supervisor on several Thai feature films. Since 2004, he has focused on his own career, returning to the region where he was born and shooting his feature debut Stories from the North (2006). The Songs of Rice is his third feature.

Knf Award

For the Knf Award, The Dutch Circle of Film Critics (Knf) Jury chose the winner out of the ten films in The Big Screen Award Competition 2014. The Knf Award consists of a subtitled Dcp. The Knf Jury consisted of Kees Driessen (Vrij Nederland); Paul van Es (Troskompas/TVKrant); Jelle Schot (Vpro/Cinema.nl); Nienke Huitenga (Lola/Filmtab) and Quirijn Foeken (Biosagenda).

The winner of the Knf Award 2014 is:

To Kill a Man (Matar a un hombre)

by Alejandro Fernández Almendras (Chile/France, 2013)

Read the review by Carlos Aguilar Here

“A compelling film with great visual style, impressive acting, and exactly the right length. The story is both simple and challenging. We follow the humiliation of the protagonist step by step and are confronted with our own fears in the process. This unremitting psychological thriller deserves to be seen on the big screen.”

Alejandro Fernández Almendras (1971, Chile) has a degree in journalism and worked as a film critic, photographer and journalist. Since 2002, he makes short films and video installations. His award-winning feature film debut Huacho (Alone)

premiered in Cannes in 2009.

MovieZone Award

MovieZone Jury gives young people the opportunity to fully experience a film festival and present their opinions on film. The MovieZone Iffr Jury consisted of five members between the ages of 15 and 18: Hanneke Bijker; Dzifa Kusenuh; Mauro Casarini; Moeddie Sherif and Floris Detering. In Rotterdam, they selected the winner out of eighteen eligible festival films. The winner of the MovieZone Iffr Award 2014 receives € 1,500 for promotion of the film among young people. The film also has a chance to become part of an Eye educational film programm.

The winner of the MovieZone Award 2014 is:

Jacky in the Kingdom of Women (Jacky au royaume des filles)

by Riad Sattouf (France, 2014)

“It was like a classical fairytale but with a completely different point of view. The makers of the film created a whole new world with the art direction and costume design and the film had a theme that everyone can relate to. The film was really funny but also had a great message.”

Riad Sattouf (1978, France) is a French writer, comic book artist and director with Syrian roots. He has successfully published various graphic novels and has a weekly comic in the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. In 2009, he made his directing debut with the award-winning film Les beaux gosses. Jacky au royaume des filles is his second film.

Iffr previously announced winners of the Canon Tiger Awards for Short Films

and Arte International and Eurimages for best CineMart 2014 projects...

Now in its second year, Rotterdam’s Big Screen Award Competition aims to support the distribution fo films in Dutch cinemas.

Nominees for this prize are ten new films from Iffr sections Spectrum or Bright Future with no Benelux distributor confirmed at time of invitation. An audience jury chooses the winner.

The award comes with a €10,000 prize for a distributor to support publicity efforts in releasing the winning film in the Netherlands. Last year’s winner was Italian feature Bellas mariposas by Salvatore Mereu.

Also, the Dutch Circle of Film Critics (Knf) will choose another winner from the 10 nominees for the Knf Award.

The full line-up of The Big Screen Award Competition 2014

Another Year, Oxana Bychkova, RussiaLa distancia, Sergio Caballero, SpainIt’s Us, Nick Reding, KenyaJacky au royaume des filles, Riad Sattouf, FranceThe Militant, Manolo Nieto, Uruguay/ArgentinaObvious Child, Gillian Robespierre, USR100, Matsumoto Hitoshi, JapanReimon, Rodrigo Moreno, Argentina/GermanySee No Evil, Jos de Putter, the Netherlands...

International Film Festival Rotterdam 2014

Bright Future

World Premieres

Above: The Pinkie

About Sarah (Elisa Miller, Mexico, United Kingdom)

Bella Vista (Vera Brunner-Sung, USA)

Creator of the Jungle (Jordi Morató (Spain)

La distancia (Sergio Caballero, Spain)

Dzma/Brother (Téona Mghvdeladze & Thierry Grenade, France, Georgia)

L’éclat furtif de l'ombre (Alain-Pascal Housiaux & Patrick Dechesne, Belgium, Germany)

Edén (Elise DuRant, USA, Mexico)

Helium (Eché Janga, Netherlands)

History of Eternity (Camilo Cavalcante, Brazil)

Hotel Nueva Isla (Irene Gutiérrez & Javier Labrador, Cuba, Spain)

The Iranian Film (Yassine el Idrissi, Morocco, Netherlands, Egypt)

Jacky au royaume des filles (Riad Sattouf, France)

L for Leisure (Lev Kalman & Whitney Horn, USA, Mexico, France, Iceland)

Little Crushes (Aleksandra Gowin & Ireneusz Grzyb, Poland)

Masked Monkey - The Evolution of Darwin’s Theory (Ismail Fahmi Lubish, Indonesia)

Oilfields Mines Hurricanes (Fabian Altenried, Germany, Iceland)

The Pinkie (Lisa Takeba, Japan)

The Quiet Roar (Henrik Hellström, Sweden, Norway)

Sitzfleisch (Lisa Weber, Austria)

The Songs of Rice (Uruphong Raksasad,...

Picks include the latest documentary from Ai Weiwei [pictured].

The International Film Festival Rotterdam has unveiled the selections for its Bright Future and Spectrum programmes (list of premiere titles below).

Across both sections there are 37 world premieres.

Bright Future is comprised of 63 films, all first and second features. Bright Future includes five films supported by the Hubert Bals Fund, including Carlos Armella’s Las voces.

Five films from Bright Future will compete in the Big Screen Award Competition, including telepathic dwarf thriller La distancia by Sergio Caballero; and Riad Sattouf’s Jacky au royaume des filles starring Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Other notable seelctions include Burrowing director Henrik Helstrom’s second feature The Quiet Roar, about a dying woman who reconnects with her past through an acid trip.

Spectrum, focusing on artistic and experimental cinema, includes 69 films, including three supported by the Hubert Bals Fund. Five Spectrum Films, including Jos de Putter’s See No Evil and Oxana Bychkova’s Another...

On the eve of this week’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in Paris, Melanie Goodfellow examines why the French film industry looks set for a challenging 2014.

Barely two years ago, the French cinema industry was riding high: record audiences, record exports and seven Oscars for The Artist. French film was not only cool, it was also very, very successful.

But as the industry’s main players gather for the Rendez-vous with French Cinema in Paris (Jan 10-20), the mood will be gloomy: 2013 was tough at home and abroad, 2014 threatens to be even tougher.

Some wonder how Europe’s most powerful film industry will emerge from the perfect storm of recession at home, the disruptive force of technology and threats to what was once viewed as the one of the most successful film financing systems in the world.

“The mood across the industry is very tense and nervous at the moment, whatever the sector...

Everyone's thoughts are turning towards the 66th edition of the Cannes Film Festival (from May 15th to 26th, 2013) and predictions abound about which films might be chosen by Thierry Frémaux. Overview of the main contenders for a selection on the Croisette, with an opening that would look good with The Great Gatsby by Australian director Baz Lurhmann, for example.

On the European side, where exceptionally Lars Von Trier and Pedro Almodóvar will be absent, the most widely expected contenders are Only God Forgives by Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, Twelve Years a Slave (an American production) by British director Steve McQueen, La grande belleza by Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, and the French favourites: Un indien des plaines (Jimmy P.) by Arnaud Desplechin, Blue is the Warmest Colour by Abdellatif Kechiche, Bird People by Pascale Ferran, and possibly Venus in Fur by Roman Polanski if editing is speeded up. Amongst the outsiders, it is worth mentioning Nine Minutes Interval by Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu, Michael Kohlhaas by Arnaud des Pallières (starring Mads Mikkelsen), Un château en Italie by Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Jeune et jolie by François Ozon, Abus de faiblesse by Catherine Breillat and Bastards by Claire Denis.

Amongst the Old Continent’s other potential candidates for a trip to the Croisette are We Come As Friends by Austrian director Hubert Sauper, The Invisible Woman by British director Ralph Fiennes, A Field in England by Ben Wheatley, the German film Happy Birthday by French director Denis Dercourt, Nude Area by Urszula Antoniak, a Dutch director of Polish origin, the mysterious Dau by Russian director Ilya Khrzhanovsky, The Gambler by Hungarian director Szabolcs Hajdu, Oktober November by Austrian director Götz Spielmann, Histoire de la Meva Mort by Portuguese director Albert Serra, Open Windows by Spanish director Nacho Vigalondo and Goodbye to Language by Jean-Luc Godard.

The selection is not short of American possibilities this year, with notably The Nightingale by James Gray, Inside Llewyn Davies by the Coen brothers, The Bling Ring by Sofia Coppola, Nebraska by Alexander Payne, Her by Spike Jonze, Night Moves by Kelly Reichardt, and maybe Only Lovers Left Alive by Jim Jarmusch and The Butler by Lee Daniels. We can also dream about the out-of-competition screenings of The Wolf of Wall Street by Martin Scorsese, Blue Jasmin by Woody Allen and Pacific Rim by Guillermo del Toro. As for Canada, it will be placing its bets on Tom à la ferme by Xavier Dolan and An Enemy by Denis Villeneuve.

Asia could be in the running with, amongst others, Le Passé by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, The Congress by Israeli director Ari Folman, Snowpiercer by Korean director Bong Joon-ho, Diary of a Young Boyby Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-Liang, Blind Detective by Chinese director Johnnie To and three Japanese movies: A Perfect Day for Plesiosaur by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Like Father, Like Sonby Hirokazu Kore-Eda and Dog Eat Dog by Shinji Aoyama

While Africa will set its hopes on Grisgris by Chadian director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun,surprisescould come from Latin America where only Mexican productions appear in the predictions so far, with Manto Acuifero by Michael Rowe, Chavez by Diego Luna and A los ojos by Vicky and Michel Franco.

Finally, it is worth mentioning on the French side (probably out of competition), possibilities like Once Upon a Forest by Luc Jacquet, Mood Indigo by Michel Gondry(even if its release in April seems incompatible for the moment with the selection process), L’extravagant voyage du jeune et prodigieux T.S Spivet by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Blood Ties by Guillaume Canet, Grace de Monaco by Olivier Dahan and Malavita by Luc Besson. Also aiming for selection are Grand Central by Rebecca Zlotowki, Suzanne by Katell Quillevéré, Jacky in Women’s Kingdom by Riad Sattouf, Une autre vie by Emmanuel Mouret, Eastern Boys by Robin Campillo, Gare du Nord by Claire Simon,Tip Top by Serge Bozon, Tirez la langue mademoiselle by Axelle Ropert, L’inconnu du lac by Alain Guiraudie, Réalité by Quentin Dupieux and Dark Touch by Marina de Van. So many enticing titles for a hypothetical panorama, which is not exhaustive and that only Thierry Frémaux will clarify at the press conference on April 18th.

This article was written by Fabien Lemercier and also appeared in Cineuropa.org.

#35. Riad Sattouf’s Jacky In Women’s Kingdom

Gist: Similar in theme as something akin to Egalia’s Daughters by Gerd Brantenberg, Sattouf’s film is set in the gender role reversed world known as the Popular Democratic Republic of Bubunne, where women have power and fight wars and men wear veils and look after the home. Jacky (Vincent Lacoste) has one desire, and that’s to marry the Colonel (Charlotte Gainsbourg), daughter to the land’s female dictator (Anemone). However, things may not quite go as he wishes when the General throws a ball to find the Colonel a husband.

Prediction: Sattouf’s first film, 2009’s The French Kissers, was selected to play Directors’ Fortnight and went on to win a Cesar for Best First Film. Sporting a cast that includes Charlotte Gainsbourg, director Michel Hazanavicius, Vincent Lacoste, and Noemie Lvovsky, we’re predicting this will land as a selection in Un Certain Regard.

The 17th edition of the International Film Festival of Kerala (Iffk) has announced its lineup. The festival will run from 7th to 14th December, 2012 in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

Some of the highlights of the lineup are festival favourites of the year Amour, Chitrangada, Samhita, The Sapphires, Drapchi, Miss Lovely, Me and You, Celluloid Man, and Baandhon.

Fourteen films will screen in the Competition section while seven contemporary films will be screened in “Indian Cinema Now” section.

Complete list of films:

Competition Films

Fourteen feature films from Asia, Africa and Latin America will compete for the coveted “Suvarna Chakoram” (Golden Crow Pheasant) and other awards.

Always Brando by Ridha Behi (Tunisia)

Inheritors of the Earth by T V Chandran (India)

A Terminal Trust by by Masayuki Suo (Japan)

Shutter by Joy Mathew (India)

Today by Alain Gomis (Senegal-France)

The Repentant by Merzak Allouache (Algeria)

Sta. Niña by Manny Palo (Philippines)

Present Tense...

Clearly as the maker of a 2011 silent film, Michel Hazanavicius is a filmmaker drawn to risky endeavors. After winning worldwide acclaim for The Artist its writer-director is now taking a new risk, pursuing acting with the satirical comedy Jacky au royaume des filles, which translates to Jacky in Women's Kingdom. Though he's previously appeared in such French comedies as Yvan Attal's My Wife is an Actress and Alain Chabat's Didier, Jacky in Women's Kingdom--which is what we'll call it until U.S. distributors bestow it a flashier title.will mark his first major role. Variety reports comic book artist turned filmmaker Riad Sattouf, who made his directorial debut with the 2009 coming-of-age comedy The French Kissers, wrote and will helm this funny feature which is set in a world where gender roles are reversed, and women reign in a military dictatorship. Hazanavicius will reteam with My Wife is an Actress...

Excuse such a broad and short way of looking at the future of a recent Oscar winner, but the possibilities are nearly endless for Michel Hazanavicius. As of this moment, 2011′s Best Director™ has two helming projects on his plate — those being a take on The Search and something, whatever it really is, titled Will@ — both of which are bound to have a few extra eyes on them this time out. He’s not just sneaking those into Cannes again.

Variety drops a surprising bit of news on his part, telling us he’ll actually make an onscreen move before taking up the camera once again. It’s on a good project, too: Jacky in Women’s Kingdom, a satirical political comedy which is currently slated to star Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Riad Sattouf is behind the farce, set in an alternate world wherein women act as dictators and men wear veils...

Plush

Emily Browning ("Sucker Punch") is in talks to star in Catherine Hardwicke's "Plush."

The story follows a psychic psychologist who delves into the minds of patients and sees their memories in order to help them unleash past demons. Browning plays a teen who shares his gift. [Source: Variety]

Identity Theft

Eric Stonestreet ("Modern Family") and Morris Chestnut ("Anacondas") have joined the cast of Seth Gordon's comedy "Identity Thief" about a man (Jason Bateman) who becomes the victim of identity fraud (Melissa McCarthy plays the thief).

Stonestreet will play a real estate broker with a larger-than-life personality, Chestnut plays a Boston police detective. Jon Favreau, John Cho, Amanda Peet, Genesis Rodriguez and Ti also star. [Source: THR]

Jacky

Charlotte Gainsbourg will star in Riad Sattouf's satirical comedy "Jacky au royaume des filles" (Jacky in Women's Kingdom). The story is set in an imaginary matriarchal military dictatorship in which gender roles are...

Carrying on the Gallic theme of the Cannes Film Festival, we now have news from two major French talents in the form of Charlotte Gainsbourg and Mathieu Amalric who have both lined up their next projects. We also have the first trailer for Pawel Pawlikowski's Paris-set "The Woman In The Fifth," starring Ethan Hawke and Kristin Scott-Thomas.

Gainsbourg will star in comic book artist-turned-filmmaker Riad Sattouf's satirical comedy "Jacky au royaume des filles," roughly translated as "Jacky In Woman's Kingdom." Sattouf latest film is the Cesar-winning "French Kissers," while Gainsbourg is fresh off a starring role opposite former Libertines/Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty in "Confession of A Child Of The Century," which just screened on the Croisette. 'Jacky' will tackle the story of a young man who falls in love with an attractive colonel (Gainsbourg) and dreams of marrying her, even though she's completely out of his league.

Antichrist has ensured that I will never, ever be able to look at Charlotte Gainsbourg without having a flurry horrible images invade my brain — Christ knows von Trier‘s The Nymphomaniac isn’t going to assuage that problem — and as long as she continues to act, this is something I’ll just have to live with. It should be said, then, that one of the next films bound to get the mental scissors snipping is Jacky in Women’s Kingdom, a high-concept, satirical comedy from writer-director Riad Sattouf (French Kisses). [Variety]

Vincent Lacoste is reuniting with his Kisses helmer on Jacky, which takes place in a female-led dictatorship that makes men wear veils; the plot centers on Jacky, who finds himself smitten with “an attractive colonel, played by Gainsbourg, and dreams of marrying her, even though she’s completely out of his league.” Producer Anne-Dominique Toussaint, of Les Films Des Tournelles,...