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The world premiere of Agathe Riedinger’s Wild Diamond in Cannes Competition is the only one by a first-time filmmaker and heralds Riedinger as part of a new wave of French female directors to arrive en force on the Croisette.

The film explores western society’s obsession with beauty and fame and the omnipresence of social media through the story of a 19 year-old girl who sets out to earn a spot on a reality TV show.

Also in Competitoin is France-born Coralie Fargeat’s second feature The Substance. The body horror is produced by the UK’s Working Title Films and stars Demi Moore,...

Hulu has released the official trailer for the upcoming drama Becoming Karl Lagerfeld, which stars Daniel Brühl as the iconic couturier. The series will premiere with all six episodes on Friday, June 7, on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ internationally.

In 1972, Karl Lagerfeld (Daniel Brühl) was 38 and not yet wearing his iconic hairstyle. He was a ready-to-wear designer unknown to the general public.

While he meets and falls in love with the sultry Jacques de Bascher (Théodore Pellerin), an ambitious and troubling young dandy, the most mysterious of fashion designers dares to take on his friend (and rival) Yves Saint Laurent (Arnaud Valois), a genius of haute couture backed by the redoubtable businessman Pierre Bergé (Alex Lutz).

Becoming Karl Lagerfeld plunges us into the heart of the ’70s, in Paris, Monaco, and Rome, to follow the formidable blossoming of this complex and iconic personality of Parisian couture, already driven...

Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall won Best Film and Best Director at the 49th edition of the French César awards Friday.

Triet is only the second women to clinch the Best Director prize in the near 50-year history of the César Awards, after Tonie Marshall for Venus Beauty in 1976.

The director took to the stage with her producers Marie-Ange Luciani at Les Films de Pierre and David Thion at Les Films Pelléas.

Luciani suggested the Best Film honor, which is voted on by the some 4,600 members of the César Academy, was a sign of solidarity for the film and Triet in the light of her controversial Cannes d’Or acceptance speech which provoked a political backlash after she criticized the attitude of Emmanuel Macron’s government towards culture and cinema.

“After Justine’s speech in Cannes and the lively debate she provoked we’d like to say this...

Justine Triet became the second female filmmaker in the Cesar Award’s 49-year history to win the best director trophy for “Anatomy of a Fall,” which also won best film, original screenplay, actress for Sandra Huller, supporting actor for Swann Arlaud and editing at the French film industry’s big night. Thomas Cailley’s supernatural drama “The Animal Kingdom” also dominated the race, picking up a raft of prizes, including cinematography, costumes, visual effects and music. The ceremony unfolded at the Olympia Theater in Paris on Friday evening and aired lived on Canal+.

Triet’s movie, which is vying for five Oscars, stars Hüller as a novelist who is put on trial following the mysterious death of her husband at their remote chalet. The movie is produced by Marie-Ange Luciani at Les Films de Pierre and David Thion at Les Films Pelleas.

Triet dedicated her best film award to all women,...

Christopher Nolan, whose latest movie “Oppenheimer” just won five Golden Globes, will will receive an honorary Cesar Award, alonsgide Agnes Jaoui, a beloved French actor, screenwriter and filmmaker, during its 49th edition, which will be held at Olympia Concert Hall on Feb. 23.

“Christopher Nolan is a master of mise-en-scene, capable of redefining the limits of cinematic excellence and propelling us beyond the boundaries of space and time,” stated the Cesar Awards.

Jaoui, meanwhile, formed a duo with the late Jean-Pierre Bacri for over three decades, collaborating on a number of films that were both critical and commercial hits. This included “The Taste of Others,” which won two Cesar Awards and was nominated for a best foreign-language Oscar in 2001, as well as the Cannes competition entry “Look at Me” in 2004. She’s also had a successful solo career, starring in the popular series “En therapie” and films including “La vie de ma mere,...

Daniel Brühl is set to star as late fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld in “Kaiser Karl,” the anticipated Disney+ original series which Gaumont (“Lupin”) is currently producing. The show is currently shooting in France, Monaco and Italy.

The six-part series will chronicle the rise of Karl Lagerfeld through the world of 1970s Parisian high fashion. In 1972, a 38-year-old Karl Lagerfeld aspired to become the most famous French fashion designer, at a time when Yves Saint Laurent reigned supreme. Lagerfeld went on to become the head designer and creative director of Chanel, Fendi and his own label.

The series will also explore the rivalry between Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent’s partner Pierre Berge, as well as his love story with Jacques de Bascher.

Along with depicting the clan rivalries and ego battles of the high fashion world, the series will also portray the epic partying and decadence, tragic love affairs and...

Orange Studio has taken the opportunity of this year’s Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris to lift the curtain on season two of “L’Opéra,” a premium series that offers a backstage look at the inner workings and private passions of the dancers who illuminate Paris’ prestigious Opera Garnier. Ahead of Wednesday’s market presentation, execs from Orange Studio confirmed to Variety that two-time César winner Anne Alvaro will join the cast as the sophomore season’s chief antagonist.

The lauded performer will join a cast headed by veteran Ariane Labed as a hard-living 35-year-old fighting to remain in the spotlight and newcomer Suzy Bemba (of the upcoming Yorgos Lanthimos project “Poor Things”) as a 19-year-old from an underprivileged background looking for a chance to prove herself. Season one’s third lead Raphael Personnaz (“Anna Karenina”) will also return, this time taking a more supporting role as the troupe’s outgoing director.

France has been a supreme force in the Oscars’ international feature race for decades. This year, three acclaimed films from women directors — Céline Sciamma, Audrey Diwan and Julia Ducournau — are believed to be at the top of the list to represent the country for the upcoming 94th ceremony, set to take place on March 27. Though France is the most-nominated country in the history of the category, it hasn’t walked away with the prize in nearly 30 years. Can that change this year?

The French submission is decided annually by the National Cinema Center. The committee will hold its first meeting on Thursday to pre-select a shortlist of films, with the producers being “auditioned” by the committee on Oct. 12, before the final choice is made. Sciamma’s “Petite Maman,” Ducournau’s “Titane” and Diwan’s “Happening” are believed to be the favorites for consideration. “Happening” was just acquired by IFC Films...

French actor and screenwriter Jean-Pierre Bacri died of cancer in Paris on Monday at the age of 69. Bacri’s death was confirmed by his agent, Anne Alvares-Correa, to Afp.

Bacri, whose career started in the 80s, delivered, along with Agnes Jaoui, his wife and lifelong friend, films and plays such as “The Taste of Others” and “Kitchen and Outbuildings,” which gained cult status in France. And he never stopped working. He was celebrated by many different generations of audiences and artists for his sharp humor, sense of observation and uncompromising integrity.

Bacri’s popularity could be observed through the success of most films he headlined. His most recent roles include “C’est la vie,” a 2017 comedy-drama directed by Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano, and “Place Publique,” which he co-wrote with Jaoui, who directed. Together with Jaoui, Bacri created and often starred in films which explored human nature and relationships through dark humor.

Jean-Pierre Bacri, the French actor and screenwriter known for his collaborations with Agnès Jaoui, has died at the age of 69. He died after a battle with cancer according to multiple French reports which cited his agent Anne Alvares-Correa.

Bacri broke out on the stage and screen in the 1980s, including appearing in Luc Besson’s 1985 thriller Subway alongside Isabelle Adjani and Christopher Lambert. It was in that decade that he also first met Jaoui, and the pair would go on to have a vibrant creative partnership that spanned films including the multi-Cesar Award-winning Smoking / No Smoking, Family Resemblances and The Taste Of Others, with the latter also nominated for the foreign language film Oscar in 2001.

The duo’s work for the stage was also highly regarded, with their play Cuisine Et Dépendances winning then a Molière Award before they adapted it for the big screen. Their writing also won prizes...

Etienne Comar, a well-established French producer and screenwriter who made his directorial debut with the Berlinale opener “Django” in 2017, is stepping back behind the camera for the prison drama “A L’ombre des filles.”

The movie, which will soon begin shooting, is headlined by a top-notch European cast including Alex Lutz (“Guy”), Agnès Jaoui (“The Taste of Others”), Veerle Baetens (“The Broken Circle Breakdown”), Hafsia Herzi (“Mektoub My Love”) and Marie Berto (“Grand Central”).

Set over a summer, the film follows Luc, a renowned singer who agrees to give singing lessons in a women’s prison. Quickly, Luc will have to deal with their unpredictable temperaments and keep them in harmony throughout the various prison dramas.

“A l’ombre des filles” is being produced by Didar Domehri at Maneki Films and Comar at Arches Films, and is co-produced by Jacques-Henri Bronckart and Gwenaëlle Libert at Versus Production in Belgium. Playtime...

Place Publique

The multi-faceted Agnès Jaoui is a highly decorated director/writer/actress with a commendable resume. Of her four Cesar wins, three have been for Best Screenplay (including for Alain Resnais’ 1993 Smoking/No Smoking, Cedric Klapisch’s 1996 Family Resemblances, and her own directorial debut, 2000’s The Taste of Others, which also won Best Film (she also snagged a Best Actress win for Resnais’ Same Old Song in 1997, which she also co-wrote with her usual collaborator Jean-Pierre Bacri).

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Jessica Chastain, Will Smith and The Young Pope director Paolo Sorrentino will join president Pedro Almodovar on this year's Cannes Film Festival jury.  

Two of the stars of last year's festival: German director Maren Ade (Toni Erdmann) and South Korean helmer Park Chan-wook (The Handmaiden) will be back this year in the judges' chair. Chinese star Fan Bingbing (Iron Man 3), French actress Agnes Jaoui (The Taste of Others) and Oscar-winning composer Gabriel Yared (The English Patient) complete this year's nine-person international jury.

The awards for the 70th festival will be handed out on the closing night of the...

By: Carson Blackwelder

Managing Editor

The greatest thing about the best foreign-language film category is the recognition of works from all around the world. Throughout the years, movies made outside the United States of America have gotten the recognition they deserve thanks to the implementation of this specific award. With the 2017 Oscars right around the corner, let’s take a look back at the distribution of nominations and wins across the seven continents that make up this big world we inhabit.

This year’s best foreign-language film contenders are: Toni Erdmann (Germany), The Salesman (Iran), Land of Mine (Denmark), A Man Called Ove (Sweden), Paradise (Russia), The King’s Choice (Norway), My Life as a Zucchini (Switzerland), It’s Only the End of the World (Canada), and Tanna (Australia). This site’s namesake, The Hollywood’s Scott Feinberg, lists the first five of those as frontrunners and the other four as major threats.

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

Anthropoid (Sean Ellis)

Throw a dart at a map, and you can make a World War II movie set in whatever place you hit. Of course, pretty much any film about the Good War that doesn’t focus on the American (sometimes British) point of view of the conflict will probably seem “random” to the mainstream; one odd side-effect of Hollywood’s Oscar-baity love of the era. But there...

2015 was a successful year regarding the quantity and quality of foreign productions shot in Poland. At the beginning of the year, Anne Fontaine (“Coco Before Chanel,” “Perfect Mothers”) filmed a French-Polish co-production “Agnus Dei” in Warmia, which premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival. The film features Polish and French actresses among others Lou de Laage, Agata Kulesza, Agata Buzek and Joanna Kulig.

In the spring, the crew of a Polish-German-French-Belgian co-production about the life of Maria Sklodowska-Curie (dir. Marie Noelle) spent 20 days on the set in among others Lodz, Leba and Krakow. The cast is international, and the film is made in French. The Polish Nobelist is portrayed by Karolina Gruszka (“Oxygen”).

The summer brought about increased activity of German producers. A Zdf TV show, “Ein Sommer in…” was filmed in two resort towns in the north-eastern Poland – Mikolajki and Mragowo. Ard and Tvp collaborated on the set of "Polizeiruf 110" ("Police Call 110"), which was filmed in July and August among others in a Polish border-town – Swiecko. Also in July began the shooting of a new part of detective TV series "Der Usedom-Krimi" filmed on both the Polish and German side of the Usedom island.

However, a true influx of foreign productions took place in the autumn. American-Polish thriller “Chronology” was filmed in Poznan. The cast includes William Baldwin (TV series "Gossip Girl," "Adrift in Manhattan") and Danny Trejo (“Machete,” “From Dusk till Dawn”).

The Goetz Palace in Brzesk, in Malopolska hosted filmmakers from India who for six days were shooting “Fitoor,” an Indian adaptation of Dickens's “Great Expectations.” The crew consisted of over 40 Indians and almost 80 Poles. Another crew from India – this time from the so-called Kollywood in the south of the country – spent twenty days on the set in various Polish locations (among others Zakopane, Walbrzych, Krakow, Leba). The film titled “24” features Surya, a Tamil superstar, in the main role.

The autumn months were also very intensive in Lodz with three simultaneous big film sets. Andrzej Wajda (“The Promised Land,” “Walesa. Man of Hope”) worked on his new film “Powidoki”; Opus Film, the producer of “Ida”, organized for an Israeli partner eleven-day shoot to a film set in 1970s – “Past Life,” directed by Avi Nesher; and American director Martha Coolidge (“The Prince and Me,” TV shows “Sex and the City,” “The Twilight Zone,” “Weeds”) filmed her project “Music, War and Love,” whose producer is among others Fred Roos known from such films as “Apocalypse Now,” “The Godfather” or “Lost in Translation.” The picture features Adelaide Clemens (“The Great Gatsby”), Connie Nielsen (“Gladiator”), Toby Sebastian (“Game of Thrones”) and Stellan Skarsgård (“Nymphomaniac”).

The end of the year was also very successful for Malopolska and Krakow. Two movies were filmed in the region – an American-British biography of Martin Luther commissioned by PBS with Padraic Delaney (“The Wind that Shakes the Barley,” “The Tudors”) in the main role; and a feature titled “True Crimes” starring two-time winner of a Golden Globe – Jim Carrey (“The Truman Show,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “The Mask”) as the protagonist. The crew spent 32 days on the set in Krakow. The picture was directed by Greek Alexandros Avranas (“Miss Violence”), written by Jeremy Brock (“Brideshead Revisited,” “The Last King of Scotland”), and produced by Brett Ratner (“X-Men 3: the Last Stand,” TV series “Rush Hour”). Accompanying Jim Carrey were Charlotte Gainsbourg (“Nymphomaniac,” “Antichrist”); Marton Csokas (“The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King,” “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”) and Polish actors Agata Kulesza (“Ida”) and Robert Wieckiewicz (“Walesa. Man of Hope”).

The first information about productions planned for 2016 has already been released. In January, Krakow will host the crew of French black comedy “Grand Froid,” Gérard Pautonnier's debut featuring Jean-Pierre Bacri (“The Taste of Others,” “Let It Rain”), Olivier Gourmet (“Rosetta,” “The Son”) and Arthur Dupond (“Bus Palladium”). The project won the first edition of the Krakow International Film Fund.

By Anjelica Oswald

Managing Editor

The nine foreign-language films shortlisted by the Academy hail from three continents: South America, Europe and Africa. From South America, Argentina’s Wild Tales and Venezuela’s The Liberator made the list. From Africa, Mauritania’s Timbuktu did as well. From Europe, Estonia’s Tangerines, Georgia’s Corn Island, the Netherlands’ Accused, Poland’s Ida, Russia’s Leviathan and Sweden’s Force Majeure all made the top nine.

This year could mark the first Oscar nomination for Estonia, Georgia, Mauritania (whose film was the country’s first Oscar-submitted film) and Venezuela. Argentina, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden have each received two Oscar nominations in the past 14 years. Of those four countries, Argentina is the only one to win an Oscar, which it did in 2010 for The Secret in Their Eyes. If Russia lands a nomination, it will be the country’s second in the 21st century.

Oscar-winner Michael Caine and Clémence Poésy star in this lovely trailer for director Sandra Nettelbeck’s charming film Mr. Morgan’S Last Love – the bittersweet tale of a lonely American widower in Paris who learns to love life again after a chance encounter with a beautiful and vibrant young woman. They both spend a short but precious time together – a time that touches their hearts and changes their lives.

The film had it’s world premiere at the Shanghai International Film Festival in June and showed at the Munich International Film Festival in July where Caine received the lifetime achievement CineMerit Award.

The romantic drama has been picked up by Image Entertainment in the U.S.

From the day Pauline lends him a helping hand on the bus, the stubborn, weary Matthew Morgan stumbles back to happiness. Swept off his old feet by the young woman’s disarming vitality and unwavering optimism,...

Nadine Labaki, Where Do We Go Now? Today it was announced that Patty Jenkins, whose Monster earned Charlize Theron a Best Actress Oscar in early 2004, will be directing Thor 2. Officially, Perkins is the first woman director at the helm of a big-budget, Hollywood superhero movie. Below you'll find ten movies directed by female filmmakers that are among the 63 contenders for nominations for the 2012 Academy Awards' Best Foreign Language Film category. Seven of those hail from Europe; one is from the Americas, one from East Asia, and one from West Asia (or the Middle East). They are: the Dominican Republic's Leticia Tonos for Love Child, France's Valérie Donzelli for the semi-autobiographical Declaration of War, Greece's Athina Rachel Tsangari for Attenberg, Hong Kong's Ann Hui for A Simple Life, and Ireland's Juanita Wilson for As If I Am Not There. Also: Lebanon's Nadine Labaki for Toronto Film Festival Audience Award winner Where Do We Go Now?...

If it's too cold to leave the house for your local theater, there's plenty of options if you stay inside online, on demand and on DVD. What follows is your guide to all the new releases coming your way between now and April.

Online and On Demand

My French Film Festival

Thanks to bids for Oscar consideration, the winter is traditionally one of the rare times foreign films get plenty of attention in the States, particularly at West Coast festivals such as Palm Springs and Santa Barbara. However, Francophiles in particular will be excited to know you won't have to go to California or New York -- or even Paris for that matter -- to be able to catch some of the most recent cinema from France since uniFrance is unveiling My French Film Festival, which is being billed as the "first exclusively online film festival celebrating French talent" that...

Reviewer: James Van Maanen

Rating (out of 5): ***½

We look to the films of Agnès Jaoui -- The Taste of Others, Look at Me, and now Let It Rain (Parlez-moi de la pluie) -- for a kind of confirmation: the suggestion that life, however harried and bizarre, is full of marvelous little things, moments sad or sweet and often funny that quietly resonate. There are plenty of these moments in the writer/director/actress' new film. The husband in bed at the end of the day, feeling abandoned because his wife is reading; the French-Algerian young man who has decided to make a documentary and now must endure round-after-round of eyebrow-raising from the "French"; there's even a scene of characters getting high on pot that manages, against all odds, to break new ground.

A look at what's new on DVD today:

"The Films of Rita Hayworth"

Released by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

A collection of five of the brunette bombshell's films -- the 1944 Gene Kelly musical "Cover Girl" and her most famous film "Gilda," as well as the 1945 musical "Tonight and Every Night," "Miss Sadie Thompson" and "Salome," which are making their first appearance on DVD -- with introductions by Martin Scorsese on "Tonight and Every Night," Baz Luhrmann on "Cover Girl" and Patricia Clarkson on "Miss Sadie Thompson," the original trailers for each of the films and a featurette with Scorsese and Luhrmann comparing notes on "Gilda."

"Angel"

Directed by François Ozon

Released by Mpi Home Video

It's been a long journey for French filmmaker Ozon's first fully-English film - he's already made three others since "Angel" premiered at Berlinale in 2007, but it boasts a bunch of big names including Michael Fassbender,...

The Americanized title of Agnès Jaoui’s Parlez-moi De La Pluie doesn’t match up with a literal translation—“talk to me of the rain”—but marketers can’t be blamed for trying to infuse a hint of action into a movie that boils down to a series of tart conversations. Jaoui and her husband Jean-Pierre Bacri (with whom she traditionally co-writes and co-stars), specialize in barbed comedies of haute bourgeois manners; they wrote Smoking/No Smoking and Same Old Song for Alain Resnais before stepping out on their own with 2000’s The Taste Of Others. In Let ...

In her new film, Let it Rain, French writer/director/actress, Agnès Jaoui, tackles race, class, gender, and politics in a dramedic kind of way. Oh, and she explains why The West Wing wouldn't fly in France. Agnès Jaoui directing Let it RainFrench talent Agnès Jaoui is a multi-hyphenate of the highest order: as a writer, director and actress, she is just as at home in the theatre as she is behind (and in front of) the camera. With her longtime writing partner, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Jaoui has developed a body of work (including The Taste of Others, Look at Me) that depict the daily lives of French citizens with wit, charm, and authenticity. In her third effort as director, Jaoui presents Let it Rain (French title: Parlez-moi de la pluie, which translates to Talk to Me About the Rain). Jaoui plays...

Agnès Jaoui directing Let it Rain French talent Agnès Jaoui is a multi-hyphenate of the highest order: as a writer, director and actress, she is just as at home in the theatre as she is behind (and in front of) the camera. With her longtime writing partner, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Jaoui has developed a body of work (including The Taste of Others, Look at Me) that depict the daily lives of French citizens with wit, charm, and authenticity. In her third effort as director, Jaoui presents Let it Rain (French title: Parlez-moi de la pluie, which translates to Talk to Me About the Rain), Jaoui plays Agathe, a feminist politician from Paris who's visiting her married sister at their childhood home in the south of France. Local filmmakers Karim (Jamel Debbouze, who also starred in the French crossover hit Amelie) and Michel (Bacri) ask her to be a part of a...

Chicago – We’re back with week two of the 13th Annual EU Film Festival at the Siskel Film Center, one of the best film events of the year in the Windy City. If you missed part one of our coverage, and want to relive highlights of last week, check it out here. On to week two…

This year’s edition, running from March 5th to April 1st, includes high profile films from world renowned filmmakers like Peter Greenaway, Jacques Rivette, Neil Jordan, Catherine Breillat, Amos Gital, Bruno Dumont, Jan Hrebejk and Caroline Link. Moviegoers should take note of the fact that several of these titles won’t be screened outside of the EU festival in Chicago, making their appearance here all the more priceless.

The 13th Annual European Union Film Festival includes 59 feature films, all of which are making their Chicago premiere. If you’ve had your fill with Hollywood,...

LONDON -- British Sky Broadcasting further outlined Monday the rebranding of its digital film subscription service with nine numbered channels named Sky Movies (HR 9/9). The service will feature current hits and classics, and two channels named Sky Cinema, featuring international films and documentaries. Sky director of films and acquisitions Sophie Turner Laing said at a media briefing that Sky Movies had reached 5 million subscribers and was now the largest movie service outside the United States. The new Sky Movies package begins Nov. 1, with 2,000 movies scheduled per year. The World Cinema strand will feature such foreign-language films as Le Gout des Autres, La Dolce Vita and the debut of Y Tu Mama Tambien.