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Mélita Toscan du Plantier has spent the best part of two decades running Morocco’s Marrakech International Film Festival.

This work carries on the legacy of her late husband, influential French producer Daniel Toscan du Plantier, who was the driving force behind the festival’s launch in 2001, overseeing two editions before his death in 2003 at the Berlin Film Festival.

Famously well-connected within the film world, Mélita Toscan du Plantier has since put the event on the international film festival map, pulling together starry juries and guest lists that would not look out of place at Cannes.

This year’s edition, running November 11 to 19, featured Paolo Sorrentino, Vanessa Kirby, Diane Kruger, Justin Kurzel, Nadine Labaki, Laïla Marrakchi and Tahar Rahim in the jury while other guests included Jim Jarmusch, Julia Ducournau, Leos Carax, Paul Schrader and Indian mega-star Ranveer Singh.

During the pandemic, this work was put on hold after the...

Turning on the waterworks and ripping open her blouse to cap a performance of Jean-Paul Sartre’s “The Respectful Prostitute,” aspiring actress Stella (Nadia Tereszkiewicz) concludes her audition for France’s most prestigious theatre school with a question from the jury. As he puffs a cigarette and speaks the first lines of dialogue written expressly for this film, an inscrutable juror looks to the ingénue and asks, “Do you think an actress needs to be an exhibitionist?”

In that opening, we find the fulcrum for Valeria Bruni Tedeschi’s “Forever Young.” Asking the same question to the audience and to herself — with the Stella character a clear analogue for the director — Bruni Tedeschi dances around a definitive answer, turning out an autobiographical portrait that somehow leaves you knowing less about the subject at hand, and a study of actors, warts and all, that offers little insight into the artistic process.

L’Etreinte

Initially announced in 2013, actor Ludovic Bergery (who has starred in films by Benoît Jacquot and Mia Hansen-Løve) finally broke bread with his directorial debut L’Etreinte (The Embrace) and will at last be premiering in 2020. Produced by Frédéric Niedermayer and lensed by Martin Roux, the title stars Emmanuelle Béart, Vincent Dedienne and Eva Ionesco. The project was initially announced with Isabelle Huppert to star.

Gist: Co-written by Julien Boivent, recently widowed fifty-something Margaux looks to start chapter two. Moving in with her sister, she re-enrolls at university for pursuits she’d never realized. However, Margaux begins to experience another kind of awakening, the compulsions of which begin to take over.…...

Youth Without Youth: Ionesco Waxes and Wavers on Partying at Le Palace

Writer-director Eva Ionesco returns to semi-autobiographical inspiration for her sophomore film Golden Youth (Une jeunesse dorée), reuniting with French icon Isabelle Huppert, who headlined 2011’s My Little Princess, an incendiary recapitulation of the director’s tempestuous relationship with her photographer mother. Her latest is set in the late 70s, during the fading days of the famed Parisian nightclub Le Palace, a mecca of the period’s varied iniquities (comparable to New York’s Studio 54), where a young couple in love find themselves sucked up into the bizarre sexual decadence of a much older couple who prey on the malleable young creatures they lasso at the club.…...

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Le Palace nightclub in central Paris was very much the city’s equivalent of Studio 54. Anyone from Karl Lagerfeld to Mick Jagger to Andy Warhol to Roland Barthes — who sang its praises in one of his essays — could be found on the dance floor, while concerts by the likes of Grace Jones, Devo or Iggy Pop marked a venue that became infamous for its extravagance and cutting-edge style.

In Eva Ionesco’s semi-autobiographical second feature, Golden Youth (Une jeunesse doree), Le Palace becomes the major stomping ground of Rose (Galatea Bellugi),...

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Le Palace nightclub in central Paris was very much the city’s equivalent of Studio 54. Anyone from Karl Lagerfeld to Mick Jagger to Andy Warhol to Roland Barthes — who sang its praises in one of his essays — could be found on the dance floor, while concerts by the likes of Grace Jones, Devo or Iggy Pop marked a venue that became infamous for its extravagance and cutting-edge style.

In Eva Ionesco’s semi-autobiographical second feature, Golden Youth (Une jeunesse doree), Le Palace becomes the major stomping ground of Rose (Galatea Bellugi),...

The $34,000 prize is aimed at promoting gender equality.

The Goteborg Film Festival will open with Miia Tervo’s Aurora from Finland, about a party animal Finnish woman in Lapland who meets an Iranian asylum seeker, on January 26.

The festival will close with the world premiere of Swedish directors’ Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein’s Swoon on February 4. The period romance is about two young lovers from families who own rival amusement parks.

The festival will screen 376 films from 83 countries.

Full lists of the films in the festival’s five competitions below.

The festival will host Eurimages’ Audentia Award competition for...

The 42nd edition of the Goteborg Film Festival will open on a light note with Miia Tervo’s romantic comedy “Aurora,” which marks the Finnish director’s feature debut. Also set to compete in the Nordic and Audentia sections, “Aurora” marks Tervo’s follow up to her critically acclaimed documentary short, “Lumikko,” which was nominated at the European Film Awards in 2010.

The festival will close with “Swoon,” a fantasy-filled love story directed by Stein and Mårlind, the pair behind hit drama series “The Bridge,” “Midnight Sun” and “Shelter” with Julianne Moore. “Swoon” follows the impossible romance between Ninni and John, the young heirs of two rival families who own neighboring amusement parks.

Along with the launch of the Dragon Award for best acting, the Goteborg Film Festival will also host the Audentia Award, a prize created by Eurimages to honor the best female-directed film of the year. The Audentia Award...

A Golden Youth (Une jeunesse dorée)

Actress and director Eva Ionesco re-teams with Isabelle Huppert for her sophomore film A Golden Youth, which also stars her son Lukas Ionesco, renowned actor Melvil Poupaud, Manal Issa, Alain-Fabian Delon and Galatea Bellugi. Ionesco’s latest is produced by Marie-Jeanne Pascal and Melissa Toscan du Plantier for Macassar Productions (Eva), with Njj Entertainment and Scope Productions (Belgium) as co-producers. Lensed by Dp Agnes Godard (who won a Cesar for Claire Denis’ Beau Travail and is also the favored cinematographer of Ursula Meier), the film will also feature a score from Betrand Burgular.…...

Une jeunesse dorée

Eva Ionesco, daughter of Romanian-French photographer Irina Ionesco, documented her incendiary tell-all of her tumultuous relationship with her mother in the 2011 debut My Little Princess, which found Isabelle Huppert in Mommie Dearest mode.

Continue reading...

A total of 21 projects will be presented at the development and financing platform.

Caroline Deruas, Jonathan Nossiter and David Verbeek will be among the directors presenting their upcoming projects at the eighth edition of the Les Arcs Coproduction Village (Dec 10-13).

A total of 24 projects will presented at the three-day event unfolding within the Les Arcs European Film Festival (10-17) which announced the bulk of its programme last week.

Verbeek will present his long-gestating vampire project Dead & Beautiful.

Jonathan Nossiter will be at the market with The Last Words, his big screen adaptation of France-based Argentine writer Santiago Amigorena’s novel Mes derniers mots revolving around the last two members of the human race as they contemplate a world destroyed by mankind.

Deruas will present her second feature Sad Liza after Daydreams which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival over the summer.

Two animation projects have also made it into this year’s selection, Dutch experimental...

At the time of its production, Louis Malle’s 1978 title Pretty Baby (the title derived from the Tony Jackson song) was quite the scandal, a period piece frankly depicting child prostitution in turn of the century New Orleans. But like many provocative titles from the period (another being Richard Brooks’ Looking For Mr. Goodbar), decades of suppression has resulted in unavailability and a disappearance from modern cinematic conversations. Recently made available courtesy of the Warner Bros. Archive collection (solely on DVD) this is property begging for a more masterful restoration.

In the Red Lights district of 1917 New Orleans, legal prostitution is on the wane as a surge of conservative, religious rhetoric begins to sweep through the country. Nell (Francis Faye) owns a booming brothel in the famed Storyville district, and one of her most notable employees is Hattie (Susan Sarandon), whose twelve-year-old daughter Violet (Brooke Shields) has grown up within the house.

One Flew Over the Housing Project: Forbes Relates Childhood Memories in Debut

Screenwriter Maya Forbes makes her directorial debut with Infinitely Polar Bear, an exploration of a specific and potentially tumultuous period from her youth. Potentially because she paints these memories over with a glossy lamination, and despite some seriously committed performances, the end result feels a bit too removed from reality to feel as emotionally potent or resonant as one would hope.

In 1978 Cambridge, Massachusetts, Amelia (Imogene Wolodarsky) and her younger sister Faith (Ashley Aufderheide) have grown up with caring parents under problematic circumstances. Manic depressive father, Cameron (Mark Ruffalo) is unable to hold down a job, leaving mother Maggie (Zoe Saldana) to take care of most things on her own. Following a nervous breakdown and brief institutionalization, Cameron and Maggie separate. However, Maggie’s inability to find a decent job leads her to desperate measures so she can...

Once again I have the good fortune of spending some time with Sophie Dulac who is not only President of the Champs Elysees Film Festival but producer currently of three coproductions, one with Germany and one with Armenia and whose past co-productions include "Hannah Arendt" by Margarethe Von Trotta, "Last Days in Jerusalem" by Tawfik Abu-Wael and "The Band's Visit". She is also a distributor of over 70 films since the 2003 founding of Sophie Dulac Distribution with films of Bela Tarr, Frederick Wiseman, Alexandre Sokourov, Jacques Doillon and Theo Angelopoulos as well as new talents like Katel Quillévéré or Eva Ionesco, from festivals such as Cannes, Locarno, Berlin, Toronto, Sundance or Venice among others.

She also owns key theaters in Paris without whose support films would flounder and die. The company, Screens in Paris (Les Ecrans de Paris), is a circuit of five independent cinemas with 13 screens and 2,300 seats on Paris: Harlequin, the Medici Reflection Panorama El Escorial, the Majestic and Majestic Passy Bastille. When a film shows in some of these, then its success is nearly guaranteed. And last, but hardly least, she is Vice President of Publicis, founded by her grandfather, Marcel Blaustein, in 1926, abandoned while he fought in the Resistance and reclaimed after the war and rebuilt into the third largest public relations/ advertising corporation in the world. Marcel Blaustein was first to use radio as a means of advertising,

When we spoke two years ago, the Champs Elysees Film Festival was just beginning.

See Women to Watch.

Now in its third edition, taking place June 11 - 17, 2014, it has grown in recognition among professionals and the public worldwide, and it is enhancing the Champs Elysees as a place for the French to attend cinema once again. It is also creating ties between the French and American cineastes in many new ways. This popular and festive Franco-American film festival taking place on the most prestigious avenue offered an even more eclectic and exciting program this year. It was presided over by Bertrand Tavernier and Jacqueline Bisset.

Guests of Honor giving master classes include :

- Agnès Varda, present to talk about her films shot in the States

- Keanu Reeves, who presented the documentary "Side by Side" which he produced

- Whit Stillman whose cult film "Metropolitan" was shown in the festival and will shortly be released in France. He spoke French as did many other American filmmakers during their presentations.

- Mike Figgis spoke about fashion and film following a documentary and several short films he has made this subject

The Feature Film Competition of newly released American Independent films includes "1982" by Tommy Oliver which won U.S. in Progress in 2013 and will soon be released in the U.S., "American Promise", a documentary by Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson, "Fort Bliss" by Claudia Myers, "Obvious Child" by Gillian Robespierre, "Rich Hill" a documentary by Andrew Droz Palermo & Tacy Droz Tragos, "See You Next Tuesday" by Drew Tobia, "Summer of Blood" by Onur Tukel, a former U.S. in Progress entry, "Sun Belt Express" by Evan Buxbaum - another former U.S. in Progress entry, "The Magic City" by R. Malcolm Jones.

There is also a short film competition of over 35 French and American shorts, including a selection from film schools (AFI, USC and Columbia in the States and La Fémis, Eicar, ArtFx and Les Gobelins schools in France).

Since the Paris Film Festival lost its funding by the city earlier this year, Ceff is the only Film Festival in the city and the Paris Coproduction Village moved over to it with 12 features. Run by the same team which runs the Les Arcs Coproduction Village in the French Alps in December, CEO Pierre Emmanuel Fleurantin, head of industry Vanja Kaludjercic, general manager Guillaume Calop and consultant co-founder Jeremy Zelni, it kept up the high quality of its projects. More than 130 companies registered and 160 professionals attended. There were 560 one-to-one meetings over the two days. The main focus of the event is to connect international filmmakers with potential French sales agents and producers but alongside representatives of companies such as Bac Films, Other Angle, Les Films d’ici 2 a number of international companies also attended including the UK’s WestEnd Films, Bankside, The Match Factory and The Works.

The festival poster is a cross between movie icon Marilyn Monroe and the icon of French Liberty, Marianne. Nicknamed "Marilyanne", it is being featured on T shirts, buttons, post cards and are all for sale. A new pass for full entry for the week is offered for 50 Euros.

The Smell Of Us

Director: Larry Clark

Writer: Mathieu Landais

Producers: Morgane Production’s Gérard Lacroix, Polyesters’ Pierre-Paul Puljiz

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available

Cast: Michael Pitt, Alex Martin, Lucas Ionesco

Larry Clark is back again, and quite quickly, since his last film was 2012’s Marfa Girl. The often controversial filmmaker turns his sights to skateboarders, which automatically puts us in mind of Gus Van Sant’s Paranoid Park. A cast led by Michael Pitt lends to the intrigue, as well as the presence of Lucas Ionesco, son of Eva Ionesco and grandson of Irina Ionesco, an infamous family in France (and Eva Ionesco directed a 2011 film called My Little Princess starring Isabelle Huppert, which documented her childhood as a nude model for her mother’s photographs).

Gist: Follows a group of self-destructive skateboarders in Paris.

Release Date: Clark’s last film, 2012’s Marfa Girl won top honors at the Rome Film Fest,...

Name Dropper: Conflicting Techniques Clutter Agnes B.’s Debut

French fashion designer and film producer Agnes Trouble makes her directorial and screenwriting debut under the pseudonym Agnes B. with Je M’appelle Hmm…, a hodge podge of jarring techniques that distorts an otherwise difficult narrative hinged upon such taboo subject matter as incestuous pedophilia. A debut born from a creative mind outside of the cinematic medium, it shares many shortcomings and other similarities with the 2011 debut of Eva Ionesco, My Little Princess. While that film’s subpar elements hide neatly behind the blonde frizzied monstrous feminine of Isabelle Huppert, Agnes B. has no such forgiving beacon, truncating narrative growth at every turn.

Celine (Lou-Lelia Demerliac) is an 11 year-old with a rather troubling secret, one she can only discuss while alone with her disheveled Barbie doll. While mom (Sylvie Testud) wastes away her time as a waitress, out of work dad...

Jean Dujardin, Missi Pyle, The Artist The Artist Wins, Jean Dujardin Loses: César Awards Best Film La guerre est déclarée / Declaration of War produced by Edouard Weil, directed by Valérie Donzelli Le Havre produced by Fabienne Vonier, directed by Aki Kaurismäki * The Artist produced by Thomas Langmann, directed by Michel Hazanavicius Intouchables / Untouchable produced by Denis Freyd, directed by Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache L'exercice de l'État / The Minister produced by Nicolas Duval Adassovsky, Yann Zenou, Laurent Zeitoun, directed by Pierre Schöller Pater produced by Michel Seydoux, directed by Alain Cavalier Polisse produced by Alain Attal, directed by Maïwenn Best Foreign Film Drive (United States) directed by Nicolas Winding Refn Black Swan (United States) directed by Darren Aronofsky Incendies (Canada) directed by Denis Villeneuve Melancholia (Denmark / Sweden / France / Germany) directed by Lars von Trier * A Separation (Iran) directed by Asghar Farhadi The King's Speech (United Kingdom) directed by Tom Hooper Le...

François Cluzet, Intouchables / Untouchable The 2012 César winners will be announced on February 24. The ceremony will be presided by Guillaume Canet; Antoine de Caunes will act as master of ceremonies. Best Film La guerre est déclarée / Declaration of War produced by Edouard Weil, directed by Valérie Donzelli Le Havre produced by Fabienne Vonier, directed by Aki Kaurismäki The Artist produced by Thomas Langmann, directed by Michel Hazanavicius Intouchables / Untouchable produced by Denis Freyd, directed by Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache L'exercice de l'État / The Minister produced by Nicolas Duval Adassovsky, Yann Zenou, Laurent Zeitoun, directed by Pierre Schoeller Pater produced by Michel Seydoux, directed by Alain Cavalier Polisse produced by Alain Attal, directed by Maïwenn Best Foreign Film Drive (United States) directed by Nicolas Winding Refn Black Swan (United States) directed by Darren Aronofsky Incendies (Canada) directed by Denis Villeneuve Melancholia (Denmark / Sweden / France / Germany) directed by Lars von Trier A Separation...

Omar Sy, Maïwenn Best Film L'Apollonide – Souvenirs de la maison close / House of Tolerance by Bertrand Bonello * The Artist by Michel Hazanavicius L'Exercice de l'État by Pierre Schoeller Le Havre by Aki Kaurismaki Intouchables / Untouchable by Eric Toledano, Olivier Nakache Best Director Bertrand Bonello for House of Tolerance Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist Aki Kaurismaki for Le Havre * Maiwenn for Polisse Pierre Schoeller for L'Exercice de l'État Best Actress * Bérénice Bejo in The Artist by Michel Hazanavicius Catherine Deneuve, Chiara Mastroianni in Les Bien-Aimés / Beloved by Christophe Honoré Valérie Donzelli in La Guerre est déclarée / Declaration of War by Valérie Donzelli Marina Fois, Karin Viard in Polisse by Maïwenn Clotilde Hesme in Angèle et Tony / Angèle and Tony d'Alix Delaporte Best Actor Jean Dujardin in The Artist by Michel Hazanavicius Olivier Gourmet in L'Exercice de l'État by Pierre Schoeller Joey Starr in Polisse by Maïwenn * Omar Sy in Untouchable d'Eric Toledano,...

The 13th Mumbai Film Festival, a Reliance entertainment initiative organized by Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (Mami) that kick started on 13th October, concluded this evening, after showcasing over 200 films from 60 countries across various sections at its three venues- Cinemax Versova, Cinemax Sion and Metro Big Cinemas. The gala eight day affair came to an end with its closing film Dolphin's Tale directed by Charles Martin Smith starring Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd amongst others which was followed by the closing night awards function event at 'Sun n Sand' hosted by actress Essha Koppikhar. The event witnessed numerous celebrities that include award winning International and Indian actors, directors and producers. The International lifetime achievement award was given to Morgan Freeman and Indian lifetime achievement award was given to Gulzar. In the International Competition category, The Golden Gateway Award and cash prize of Us $ 100,000 for The Best Film was presented to French...

The 13th Mumbai Film Festival, a Reliance entertainment initiative organized by Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (Mami) that kick started on 13th October, concluded this evening, after showcasing over 200 films from 60 countries across various sections at its three venues- Cinemax Versova, Cinemax Sion and Metro Big Cinemas. The gala eight day affair came to an end with its closing film Dolphin's Tale directed by Charles Martin Smith starring Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd amongst others which was followed by the closing night awards function event at 'Sun n Sand' hosted by actress Essha Koppikhar. The event witnessed numerous celebrities that include award winning International and Indian actors, directors and producers. The International lifetime achievement award was given to Morgan Freeman and Indian lifetime achievement award was given to Gulzar. In the International Competition category, The Golden Gateway Award and cash prize of Us $ 100,000 for The Best Film was presented to French...

Mumbai – French director Eva Ionesco's autobiographical tale My Little Princess picked three awards at the 13th Mumbai Film Festival Thursday night winning the Golden Gateway Award for best film and a cash prize of $100,000.

The film also won the Silver Gateway Award for best director and the Silver Gateway Award for best actress shared by Isabelle Huppert and Anamaria Vartolomei.

Mff honored Morgan Freeman with a lifetime achievement award while his latest film Dolphin Tale closed the festival. Though Freeman couldn't be present in Mumbai, he sent a video message in which he said, “I ...

Mumbai – French director Eva Ionesco's autobiographical tale My Little Princess picked three awards at the 13th Mumbai Film Festival Thursday night winning the Golden Gateway Award for best film and a cash prize of $100,000.

The film also won the Silver Gateway Award for best director and the Silver Gateway Award for best actress shared by Isabelle Huppert and Anamaria Vartolomei.

Mff honored Morgan Freeman with a lifetime achievement award while his latest film Dolphin Tale closed the festival. Though Freeman couldn't be present in Mumbai, he sent a video message in which he said, “I ...

French film My Little Princess, directed by Eva Ionesco and produced by Rancois Marquis, swept the awards at the international competition at the 13th Mumbai Film Festival, winning the Best Film, Best Director and the Best Actress award that went to Isabelle Huppert and Anamaria Vartolomei.This year, six of the 14 films in competition were by first time woman directors in the festival, organised by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (Mami). Other awards included Jury Award for technical excellence to Las Acasias from Argentina, Best Actor ...

The Golden Gateway Award and cash prize of Us $ 100,000 for The Best Film at the 13th Mumbai Film Festival was presented to French film My Little Princess directed by Eva Ionesco.

The festival came to an end with the closing film Dolphin’s Tale directed by Charles Martin Smith starring Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd amongst others which was followed by the closing night awards function event at ‘Sun n Sand’ hosted by actress Isha Koppikar.

The Silver Gateway Award for Jury Grand Prize and cash prize of Us $ 50,000 was presented to Canadian film The Salesman (Le Vendeur) directed by Sebastien Pilote.

The Silver Gateway Award for Best Director was presented to Eva Ionesco for My Little Princess. The Silver Gateway Award for Best Actress was presented to Isabelle Huppert and Anamaria Vartolomei for their performance in the same film.

The Silver Gateway Award for Best Actor was presented to Gilbert Sicotte...

French film .My Little Princess., directed by Eva Ionesco and produced by Rancois Marquis, swept the awards at the international competition at the 13th Mumbai Film Festival, winning the Best Film, Best Director and the Best Actress award that went to Isabelle Huppert and Anamaria Vartolomei.This year, six of the 14 films in competition were by first time woman directors in the festival, organised by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (Mami).Other awards included Jury Award for technical excellence to .Las Acasias. from Argentina, Best Actor award to Gibert Sikote from .The Salesman., Jury Grand Prize to .The Salesman. and Special Jury Award in international competition to the German film .Michael..Morgan Freeman was given the International Lifetime Achievement Award. In a video message, Freeman said: .I have played crooks and cops. I have even played god. But my goal has always been to tell stories. I cannot describe...

Mumbai, Oct 20: French film 'My Little Princess', directed by Eva Ionesco and produced by Rancois Marquis, swept the awards at the international competition at the 13th Mumbai Film Festival, winning the Best Film, Best Director and the Best Actress award that went to Isabelle Huppert and Anamaria Vartolomei.

This year, six of the 14 films in competition were by first time woman directors in the festival, organised by the Mumbai Academy of Moving Image (Mami).

Other awards included Jury Award for technical excellence to 'Las Acasias' from Argentina, Best Actor award to Gibert Sikote from 'The Salesman', Jury.

The 13th edition of the Mumbai Film Festival(Mami)that kickstarted Thursday has an impressive line-up of over 200 films from 60 countries. Almost half the films in the competition section are by women directors.During the seven-day-long film festival, movie buffs will enjoy visual delights from the masters of the art like renowned international directors Lars Von Trier, Wim Wenders, Gus Van Sant and Bela Tarr.Apart from this, the winners from the world.s best film festivals, including Cannes, Berlin and Venice, will also be showcased during the festival..This is by far the best festival we have had under Mami so far and the best in the country,. Mami chairman Shyam Benegal told Ians..The quality of any film festival should be judged by its films. This year we have an enviable line up of not only the best films made in the world last year, but also the...

The 13th Mumbai Film Festival, a Reliance entertainment initiative is all set to welcome some of the best new French cinema and artists for the 4th edition of the Rendez-vous with French Cinema co-organized with the French Embassy in India and Unifrance. The festival will see renowned French cinema personalities such as Delphine Coulin, Muriel Coulin, Nassim Amouache, Martin Provost, Jose Alcala and Stephane Robelin amongst others in attendance. Jean-Raphael Peytregnet, Consul General of France said, "We are happy to be associated with the Mumbai Film Festival. The Mumbai Film Festival has certainly etched a place for itself, to be recognized as one of the best film festivals both in India and Internationally. The '4thRendez-vous with French Cinema' section will showcase some of the best new French Cinema, with the participation of some well-known French stars." The special section seeks to establish an exhilarating platform for showcasing the various facets of French contemporary cinema,...

There's something really disturbing about Eva Ionesco's My Little Princess. The plot for the film, the story of a failed artist who takes up the camera and makes a splash in the world of photography by taking provocative photos of models (the most prominent of which feature her young daughter) is already eyebrow-raising but there's an added layer of creepiness when one realizes that not only is the film written and directed by a woman but Ionesco is mining her own experiences with her mother for the story.

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Updated through 5/21 — with awards announcements.

As noted last week, with support from the 4+1 Film Festival, we're celebrating the 50th anniversary of Critics' Week with a free retrospective of some of the greatest films screened over the past 50 editions. What follows is a roundup of what the critics are saying about the films screening this year.

"Jonathan Caouette's film Tarnation — created for $300 (£185) on his iMac out of old Super 8 videos and family photos — created a stir at Cannes in 2004 for its original visual language," begins Charlotte Higgins in the Guardian. "In his latest he returns to Tarnation's material: his rich but intensely difficult family life. At the heart of Walk Away Renée is a road trip he takes with his mother, Renée, from Houston to New York State, as he helps her transfer from one assisted-living facility to another. Renée, who received electric shock therapy from the age...

Regardless what larger themes or shifting styles that are discovered or get attached to this year's Cannes batch, one of the major conversation starters is the prominence of global female filmmakers at the festival. There are 22 feature films by female directors (and I'm not even including the short films) which should be a record for any festival in recent memory. We have renowned auteurs Naomi Kawase and Lynne Ramsay to actress-turned-directors, Jodie Foster, Maiwenn, Nadine Labaki, Eva Ionesco, Hagar Ben Asher. Among the 22, with have a dozen or so from first time filmmakers including Julia Leigh (see below) whose first film is in the official competition and comes with the blessing from fellow Australian and Palme d'Or winner Jane Campion. See the 22 names below. The Official Competition Naomi Kawase, Hanezu No Tsuki Julia Leigh, Sleeping Beauty Maiwenn, Polisse Lynne Ramsay, We Need to Talk about Kevin Out of Competition Jodie Foster,...

Urban Distribution, a French based international sales agent founded in 2004 by Frédéric Corvez has changed its name from UMedia. This new name, coupled with an expansion into theatrical distribution, will be inaugurated in style at the Film Market at the 64th Cannes Film Festival where the company has two titles selected in the different sections. Brazilian duo Marco Dutra and Juliana Rojas’s ♀ Hard Labor will be in Un Certain Regard selection. Last year the French seller October (Octubre) won the Jury Prize. The company will also sell Eva Ionesco’s ♀French film My Little Princess starring Isabelle Huppert. This…...

Updated through 4/28.

La Semaine de la Critique, known in the English-speaking world as Critics' Week, is celebrating its 50th year, and festivals and institutions from all over — and we at Mubi are excited to be among them — are chiming in with special series and retrospectives saluting some the greatest film that have premiered at this parallel section of the Cannes Film Festival. Watch this space for upcoming details. Meantime, here's the lineup for Critics' Week 2011.

Feature Films

Hagar Ben Asher's The Slut. This debut feature "will tell of a woman (Ben Asher herself) drifting away from one sexual encounter to another," writes Eithan Weitz at Ioncinema. Tamar’s behavior is fixed. One man after another, a hand job, a blow job, and so on. But she is also the mother of Mika and Noa, 12 and 8. She no longer seeks redemption, until Shai arrives. He comes in order to handle his dead mother’s property.

The 50th edition of the Cannes Critics Week announced its lineup on Monday. War is declared by French director Valerie Donzelli will be the opening film of the Critics Week. Why are you crying? by Katia Lewcowicz will be the closing film of the selection.

The Special Session will include screening of Walk Away Renee by Jonathan Caouette (Etats-Unis/France/Belgique) and My Little Princess by Eva Ionesco (France).

Founded in 1962 by the Union of French Film Critics, the Critics Week is the oldest of the Cannes festival sidebars. Each year, a panel of international critics selects around a dozen shorts and features from first and second-time filmmakers to compete in this section.

This year, the event will take place from May12-20, 2011.

The complete lineup:

Feature films

Las Acacias by Giorgelli Pablo (Argentina / Spain)

Hail by Konstantin Bojanov (Bulgaria / France)

17 girls by Delphine Coulin, Coulin Muriel (France)

Sauna on...

Last year the Cannes Film Festival Critics’ Week includes Janus Metz‘s fantastic war doc Armadillo (in limited theaters as of last week) and Quentin Dupieux‘s delightfully wacky Rubber. Today, 2011′s line-up has been unveiled. The two big films include one of my favorites from Sundance, Jeff Nichol’s Shotgun Stories follow-up Take Shelter (starring Man of Steel’s Michael Shannon) and Jonathan Caouette‘s first feature since his intimate documentary Tarnation, titled Walk away Renée. Check out the full list below (as well as the rest of the line-up here) and come back for our reviews straight from Cannes.

Feature Films

• Las Acacias, directed by Pablo Giorgelli – Arg

• Ave, directed by Konstantin Bojanov – Bul/Fr

• 17 Filles, directed by Delphine & Muriel Coulin – Fr

• The Slut (Hanotenet), directed by Hagar Ben Asher – Isr/All

• Snowtown (Les Crimes de Snowtown), directed by Justin Kurzel – Aus

• Sauna on Moon, directed by Zou Peng – Chi

• Take Shelter,...

A Sundance favorite, a follow-up to a budget-less art house hit, and an anticipated Israeli film are a few of the highlights from the announced lineup for the 2011 Critic's Week (aka Semaine de la Critique), the oldest sidebar in Cannes. The selection only admits films which are either debut or sophomore efforts, so we'll be going in knowing scant details on what to expect, and likely coming out with some new major voices to follow. As we can see in the quintet of posters, past Critic's Week discoveries includes cinema gods Wong Kar-wai and Bernardo Bertolucci, as well as Jacques Audiard and Barbet Schroeder. As this is the sidebar's 50th anniversary, there might be even more treats to be announced in the near future. Yesterday, we reported that Hagar Ben Asher's The Slut had been selected for competition, and this was corroborated this morning. Ben Asher is an alumni of...