Notizie

Exclusive: France’s Studio TF1 has taken on international sales rights to Ludovic Bernard’s Scotland-set con artist comedy The Perfect Family (Les Parfait(s)) and to Frédéric Forestier and Antonin Fourlon’s ensemble comedy sequel Open Season 2 (Chasse Gardée 2).

The Paris-based company, which has just rebranded from its former Newen Studios label, will kick off sales for both films at the Cannes Marche.

The Perfect Family, which stars Audrey Fleurot, Ramzy Bedia and Alan Cumming, is about three generations of a family of master scammers on the run from bloodthirsty gangsters who flee to Scotland where they steal the identities of a picture-perfect family.

Newen Connect’s French-language comedies Family Therapy, Open Season and Lucky Punch have lured a long list of buyers across the globe for theatrical distribution in more than 50 markets and a raft of remakes in the pipelines.

Arnaud Lemort’s Family Therapy (Jamais Sans Mon Psy) has sold to over 30 territories including Italy (Movies Inspired), Spain (A Contracorriente Films), Germany and Austria (Lighthouse), Benelux (Paradiso), Switzerland (Pathé Films), Canada (Tva Films), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Donart), Hungary and Romania (Vertigo Media), Ukraine (Total Film Distribution), Bulgaria (Beta Film), Estonia (Estin Film), Israel (Forum Film), Portugal (Nos Lusomundo), Greece (Spentzos), Middle...

Studiocanal and Editions Albert René have signed an exclusive development agreement for the fifth live action movie inspired by the adventures of French comic strip hero Asterix.

The deal comes as French publishing house Éditions Albert René marks the 65th anniversary of the creation of the plucky Gaul warrior Asterix and his sidekick Obelix by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo in 1959.

Since then, 400 million Asterix books in 130 languages and dialects have sold worldwide, with 40 albums of Asterix adventures published since 1961.

The Asterix & Obelix comic books are embedded in French culture and have inspired five live-action films to date: Claude Zidi’s Asterix & Obelix Take On Caesar (1999), Alain Chabat’s Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (2002), Frédéric Forestier and Thomas Langmann’s Asterix At The Olympic Games (2008), Laurent Tirard’s Asterix & Obelix: God Save Britannia (2012) and Guillaume Canet’s Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom (2023).

They have had mixed fortunes...

Pair of comedies headline TF1-owned company’s 2024 French-language slate

Newen Connect is heading to Unifrance’s Rendez-Vous with two French-language ensemble comedies, Family Therapy and Start Me Up.

Family Therapy is the fourth feature from Arnaud Lemort. and follows a man with severe anxiety whose therapist decides he cannot stand him, kicks him out of his practice and challenges him to find the woman of his dreams Christian Clavier and Baptiste Lecaplain star with Claire Chust, Cristiana Réali and Rayane Bensetti.

Produced by TF1 Studio and TF1 Films Production with Atelier de Production, Ugc will release the film in...

‘Sulak’ is the first production from Alain Goldman’s Pitchipoï Productions.

Amazon Prime Video France is reteaming with director Melanie Laurent for the feature Sulak and has greenlit five new French feature films and three original series. Laurent directed Amazon’s first French-language original The Mad Women’s Ball in 2021.

Sulak will star newcomer Lucas Bravo as Bruno Sulak, a notorious real-life French criminal known for his non-violent heists on multiple jewelry stores in the 1980s. Sulak managed to escape from prison several times in order to reunite with his lover and accomplice, becoming public enemy number one in the process.

The company has boarded star-powered French features ‘Take Me Home’ and ’Under The Rainbow’.

Newen Connect, the international sales arm of the Tfi Group’s Newen Studios, has snapped up rights to star-powered French features Take Me Home and Under the Rainbow and will kick off sales in Cannes. Both will be released in France by Ugc Distribution.

Take Me Home is the first feature from directing duo Karine Blanc and Michel Tavares and stars Clovis Cornillac, alongside Eyé Haïdara in a story about a struggling country singer who moves with her children to a mountain village and turns the...

Exclusive: Newen Connect CEO Rodolphe Buet is happy to be back in person at the Berlinale’s European Film Market after the three-year Covid-19 hiatus.

“It’s fun to be in Berlin. When I started in the industry in 2005, my first market was Berlin with Studiocanal,” he says.

In the interim, Buet rose through the Studiocanal ranks to become president of distribution and marketing from 2015 to 2017, overseeing the rollout strategies for Paddington and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy among other major films.

He was appointed CEO of Paris-based Newen Connect in 2020, piloting its creation in the wake of TF1’s 100 acquisition of Newen Studios out of the merger of their distribution arms TF1 Studio, Newen Distribution and Reel One International.

He has spent the last three years steadily putting in place a structure in step with the convergence between the audiovisual and cinema worlds, appointing Leona Connell as Chief Commercial Officer...

Exclusive: Film and TV distribution division Newen Connect has announced the promotion of Alice Damiani to SVP International Film Sales on the eve of the Berlinale’s European Film Market.

Damiani takes over from Sabine Chemaly, who has been head of film sales at TF1 Studio, and then Newen Connect, since 2012.

Newen Connect was created in 2020 in the wake of TF1’s acquisition of French production giant Newen Studios, out of the fusion of their distribution divisions Newen Distribution, TF1 Studio and Reel One International.

Damiani’s promotion is part of an ongoing restructuring and expansion of the resulting division by CEO Rodolphe Buet, which also saw Leona Connell being upped to Chief Commercial Officer last September, in a role giving her oversight of international and French markets for both film and TV.

In her new role, Damiani will take on responsibility for identifying and championing new cinema projects from...

Newen Connect, the film and TV distribution arm of the French media group Newen Studios, is launching a raft of comedies at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous event in Paris this week.

New titles include “Mr. Putifar’s Wacky Plan,” based on the book “Comedy.” It’s produced by Ugc and Romain Rotjman’s Les Films du 24, the team behind “Serial (Bad) Weddings.”

Directed by Pierre-François Martin-Laval (“Serial Teachers”), the movie stars Christian Clavier and Isabelle Nanty. Clavier stars as a retired school teacher plotting a revenge on the kids who made his life hell twenty years ago and destroyed his one chance at love.

“Open Season,” produced by Starman Films and Curiosa Films (“Stars at Noon”), is directed by Frédéric Forestier and Antonin Fourlon. The film stars Didier Bourdon (“Alibi.com 2”), Camille Lou (“Spoiled Brats”), Hakim Jemili (“A Good Doctor”), Thierry Lhermitte (“Just Retired”) and Chantal Ladesou.

The film follows Adelaide,...

Bruce Campbell will be the voice of President Richard M. Nixon in an indie thriller and dark comedy set in the Watergate era called “18 1/2” as directed by Slamdance Film Festival co-founder Dan Mirvish, Bugeater Films announced Friday.

The film’s live-action cast was also unveiled and stars Willa Fitzgerald, John Magaro, Vondie Curtis Hall, Catherine Curtin and Sullivan Jones. And alongside Campbell in the voice cast are Ted Raimi as Gen. Al Haig and Jon Cryer as H. R. Haldeman.

“18 1/2” is a historical fiction film about the 18 1/2 minutes of audio erased from President Nixon’s Oval Office voice recording system that led to the unraveling of the Watergate scandal. It made the audio’s erasure one of the worst incidents of evidence destruction by a presidential administration and something that’s been ripe for conspiracy theories. Campbell has previously played another President, playing Ronald Reagan on “Fargo,” and his voice...

Awards were handed out Thursday at the 25th annual Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, with nine films earning honors in the jury, audience and sponsored categories.

The narrative jury prize was awarded to the feminist puppet animation film “Dollhouse: The Eradication of Female Subjectivity in American Popular Culture,” directed by Nicole Brending. Honorable mention was given to “Cat Sticks,” directed by Ronny Sen.

“Dollhouse wasn’t like any other film at the festival or any festival. It was outrageous, bold, hilarious,” read the jury statement from Frédéric Forestier, Shih-Ching Tsou and Jeremiah Zagar. “We’re also giving it the grand prize because we think it really embodies the spirit of the Slamdance. ‘Cat Sticks’ is unbelievably gorgeous and has some of the most incredible poetic moments of any movies we’ve ever seen. We hope it finds a vein in American culture!”

The documentary jury prize was awarded to David Hambridge’s “Kifaru,...