News

Over the past couple of weeks we’ve been reporting on a new Joachim Lafosse project. With an October production start date just around the corner, and now thanks to the socials, we learned that the first thesp to board Les petits voleurs will be Guslagie Malanda. The actress who began her career with 2014’s Mon Amie Victoria by Jean-Paul Civeyrac, and who waited for her big break with the outstanding performance in 2022’s Saint Omer is now on top of casting director lists.

Lafosse will premiere A Silence (Un silence) at the upcoming Donostia-San Sebastián, while Malanda should be returning to Venice (and possibly hitting Toronto) with Bertrand Bonello’s The Beast — the film’s selection should be confirmed tomorrow and or on Tuesday.…...

Exclusive: French actress Guslagie Malanda has signed with Anonymous Content for management, on the heels of a career-elevating awards run with the acclaimed Alice Diop film, Saint Omer.

The French legal drama, billed as a contemporary version of the Medea myth, premiered to rave reviews at the 2022 Venice Film Festival, where it won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize, as well as the Luigi De Laurentiis Lion of the Future Award for Best Debut Feature, before going on to be named as France’s 2023 submission for the Best International Feature Oscar. It’s inspired by a true story and follows novelist Rama (Kayije Kagame) as she attends the trial of Laurence Coly (Guslagie Malanga), a young woman accused of killing her 15-month-old daughter by abandoning her to the rising tide on a beach in northern France. As the trial continues, the words of the accused and witness testimonies will shake...

This review originally ran September 7, 2022, in conjunction with the film’s premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

“A woman who has killed her baby can’t really expect any sympathy,” says Laurence Coly, who is accused of that very crime, in celebrated documentarian Alice Diop’s narrative debut “Saint Omer,” making its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. So, the logical question is: Why would anyone watch such a film? Fortunately, Diop gives us many reasons.

Diop — whose 2021 documentary “We” (“Nous”), revolving around Black immigrant communities in the Paris suburbs, won top honors at the Berlin International Film Festival — doesn’t abandon her nonfiction roots. Truth also fuels her feature film. In it, well-spoken, educated Senegalese immigrant Laurence Coly, like the real Fabienne Kabou only a few years back, stands trial in quaint Saint-Omer in northeastern France for killing her 15-month-old daughter.

There to capture it all is pregnant...

Click here to read the full article.

When Guslagie Malanda landed the co-starring role in the acclaimed French courtroom drama Saint Omer — winner of the Venice Film Festival’s Silver Lion and France’s official submission for the best international film Oscar race — she had appeared in just one movie (French director Jean-Paul Civeyrac’s 2014 drama My Friend Victoria) and hadn’t acted in more than seven years.

Although obsessed with cinema and the theater — she estimates she’s gone to plays or movies three times a week since she was 14 — Malanda, now 30, says acting was never something that was even remotely on her radar. “It’s a bit of an unrealistic dream, becoming an actress,” she says. “I grew up in France, where none of the big actresses are Black — none.”

Malanda won the part in My Friend Victoria after attending open auditions on a whim when a makeup...

Click here to read the full article.

The Oldenburg Film Festival, Germany’s leading fest for independent cinema, has announced its 2022 lineup.

The 29th Oldenburg Festival will kick off Sept. 14 with The Ordinaries, the first feature from German director Sophie Linnenbaum. The meta tragicomedy stars Fine Sendel as Paula, a simple Supporting Character in a repressive three class-society where there are Main Characters, Supporting Characters and the untouchable Outtakes. The Ordinaries premiered at the Munich festival this year, winning Linnebaum and her production team the German Cinema New Talent Award.

Also screening at Oldenburg this year will be Lola Quivoron’s Rodeo, which premiered in Cannes, Colin West’s SXSW sci-fi comedy Linoleum starring Jim Gaffigan and Better Caul Saul‘s Rhea Seehorn; TIFF 2022 title The Gravity from French director Cédric Ido; Andrea Bagney’s Spanish drama Ramona, which prmiered in Karlovy Vary this year; and Jean-Paul Civeyrac’s A Woman...

There’s a new giant in town, or at least at Locarno’s Match Me!, one of the festival’s biggest industry initiatives.

For years, by a large head, France has had more titles at the Locarno Festival’s two biggest sections, the Piazza Grande showcase and main International Competition than any other country in the world. 2022 is no exception.

Unifrance also hosts the Festival’s biggest industry bash, a first Friday night sit-down dinner or party which used to take place at Locarno’s hillside Belvedere Hotel and has now moved to the near Maggiore Lake-side Blu Restaurant.

Now, however, Unifrance, Europe’s biggest national film-tv promotion board, has put its weight behind Match Me!, a networking initiative this year bringing together 32 emerging producers from over the world.

“It’s a perfect fit,” said Locarno Pro head Markus Duffner. Unifrance’s first-time presence at Match Me! also says much...

Gina Gammell and Riley Keough’s “War Pony,” Charlotte Wells’ “Aftersun” and Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s “The Silent Twins” are among the several female-driven anticipated feature debuts slated for the Deauville American Film Festival’s competition.

Eight titles out of 13 features set to compete at Deauville as first films. “War Pony” world premiered at Un Certain Regard in Cannes and won the Camera d’Or for best debut. “War Pony” is a collaborative experience portraying two young Oglala Lakota men who are torn between traditions and the consumer culture surrounding them. “The Silent Twins,” which also bowed at Un Certain Regard, is a biopic of troubled twin writers June and Jennifer Gibbons starring Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance.

“Aftersun,” meanwhile, world premiered at Cannes’ Critics Week where it won the French Touch Prize and was acquired by A24. The melodrama stars Paul Mescal and newcomer Frankie Corio as a young father...

Medusa Deluxe (Thomas Hardiman).The lineup for the 75th-anniversary edition of the festival has been announced, including new films by Helena Wittmann, João Pedro Rodrígues, Aleksandr Sokurov and others, alongside retrospectives, tributes, and much more.Piazza GRANDEAlles über Martin Suter. Ausser die Wahrheit. (Everything About Martin Suter. Everything but the Truth.) (André Schäfer)Annie Colère (Blandine Lenoir)Bullet Train (David Leitch)Compartiment tueurs (The Sleeping Car Murder) (Costa-Gavras)Delta (Michele Vannucci)Home of the Brave (Laurie Anderson)Imitation of Life (Douglas Sirk)Last Dance (Delphine Lehericey)Medusa Deluxe (Thomas Hardiman)My Neighbor Adolf (Leon Prudovsky)Paradise Highway (Anna Gutto)Piano Piano (Nicola Prosatore)Printed Rainbow (Gitanjali Rao)Semret (Caterina Mona)Une femme de notre temps (Jean Paul Civeyrac)Vous n'aurez pas ma haine (You Will Not Have My Hate) (Kilian Riedhof)Where the Crawdads Sing (Olivia Newman)Human Flowers of Flesh (Helena Wittmann).Concorso INTERNAZIONALEAriyippu (Declaration) (Mahesh Narayanan)Balıqlara xütbə...

Ten world premieres among 17 international competition titles.

The Locarno Film Festival (August 3-13) has revealed the line-up for its 75th edition, which includes the world premiere of Russian filmmaker Aleksandr Sokurov’s Fairytale.

The international competition will comprise 17 films, including 10 world premieres, which will vie for the coveted Golden Leopard awards.

Scroll down for full line-up

These titles include Fairytale, a Belgium-Russia co-production written and directed by Sokurov, whose films have played in Competition at Cannes five times with features including Russian Ark in 2002. His debut The Lonely Voice Of a Man received the Bronze Leopard in Locarno in 1987.

The...

Returning for its milestone 75th edition, Locarno Film Festival has now unveiled its full lineup. Taking place from August 3 through 13th, the selection includes Helena Wittmann’s Human Flowers of Flesh, Jean-Paul Civeyrac’s Une femme de notre temps, Aleksandr Sokurov’s Fairytale, Patricia Mazuy’s Bowling Saturne, Abbas Fahdel’s Tales of the Purple House, Ana Vaz’s It Is Night In America, Leon Prudovsky’s My Neighbor Adolf, a massive Douglas Sirk retrospective, and much more.

“The selection of films that we have put together, after watching and appraising over 3,000 titles (of every length and format), is intended to be the mark of a time and of a cinema in motion,” Artistic Director Giona A. Nazzaro said. “A historic time that is moving in multiple directions simultaneously, and a cinema that is probing the issues facing the world, and how to live in it re- sponsibly, sustainably. The...

Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival has revealed the lineup for its 75th edition, sticking to its promise of discovering new talent.

A slew of debuting filmmakers will showcase their works, from Italy’s Nicola Prosatore with “Piano Piano” to Caterina Mona, focusing in “Semret” on an Eritrean single mother working at a Zurich hospital and dreaming of becoming a midwife.

Thomas Hardiman’s U.K.’s proposition “Medusa Deluxe,” a murder mystery set in a competitive hairdressing competition — boarded by New Europe Film Sales — is also bound to generate some excitement.

“‘Medusa Deluxe’ is one of the coolest debuts of the year,” the company’s CEO Jan Naszewski enthused to Variety.

“I’m sure it will rock the Piazza Grande and give the festival a great spark.”

But Locarno will also bring in heavyweights, starting with a screening of the much-anticipated Brad Pitt vehicle “Bullet Train,” directed by “Atomic Blond” helmer David Leitch,...

Click here to read the full article.

The Locarno Film Festival has unveiled the lineup for its 2022 edition, to be held from Aug. 3-13.

And the Swiss festival will be hoping Brad Pitt will be kicking some butt when Locarno gives an international festival premiere to Sony’s upcoming Bullet Train. The action thriller, set to hit theaters Aug. 5, comes from the director of Deadpool 2, David Leitch, and has an ensemble cast that includes Joey King, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Brian Tyree Henry, Andrew Koji, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michael Shannon and Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio.

Locarno also booked world premieres for the Sophie Marceau starrer Une Femme de Notre Temps, by director Jean Paul Civeyrac; Leon Prudovsky’s My Neighbor Adolf; John Swab’s horror thriller Candy Land; Blandine Lenoir’s Annie Colere; and Delta, by director Michele Vannucci. Debut features bowing at Locarno include Jeff Rutherford’s A Perfect Day for...

Mathieu Amalric with Anne-Katrin Titze on a link between Robert Musil’s The Man Without Qualities, Jerry Lewis, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, and Peter Sellers: “Somebody that is there, that didn’t ask anything and that puts the world in disorder.”

Mathieu Amalric’s terrific Hold Me Tight (Serre Moi Fort), starring Vicky Krieps and Arieh Worthalter was a highlight of the 74th Cannes Film Festival and New York’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. He just premiered Zorn III (2018 - 2022) in Cinéma du réel at the Centre Pompidou and this weekend he will be in Hamburg on stage with Barbara Hannigan to perform Zorn’s The Song of Songs (written for Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson). Then Mathieu is off to Rome to star in Nanni Moretti’s Il Sol Dell'Avvenire.

Barbara Hannigan and John Zorn in Mathieu Amalric’s Zorn III (2018 - 2022)

In the first of my series...

Nicole Garcia’s Lovers (Amants) is a New York’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema highlight Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Emmanuelle Béart’s tour-de-force performance in Ludovic Bergery’s Margaux Hartmann; and Emmanuel Mouret’s The Things We Say, The Things We Do, aka Love Affair(s) with Camélia Jordana, Niels Schneider, Vincent Macaigne, Guillaume Gouix, Julia Piaton, Émilie Dequenne, and Jenna Thiam which both were produced by Frédéric Niedermayer; Hélier Cisterne’s Faithful, starring Vincent Lacoste and Vicky Krieps; and Nicole Garcia’s Lovers (Amants), with Stacy Martin, Pierre Niney, Benoît Magimel, and a brilliant score by Grégoire Hetzel are four of the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema early bird highlights tackling the subject of love.

Sasha in the opening night selection, Sébastien Lifshitz’s Little Girl (Petite Fille)

Opening the festival on March 4 is another highlight, Sébastien...

Sophie Marceau and Johan Heldenbergh lead the cast of Jean-Paul Civeyrac’s new movie, a Moby Dick Films production which will be sold by Kinology. The first clapperboard is primed and ready to slam on 17 February, in the Paris region, on Une femme de notre temps, Jean-Paul Civeyrac’s 10th feature film. Shining bright at the head of the cast is Sophie Marceau and Belgium’s Johan Heldenbergh. Written by the director, the story centres around Juliane Deroux, a police superintendent in Paris. She’s...

Other openers include Working Title’s period drama ‘Emma’.

Sonic The Hedgehog marks the first cinema outing for the popular Sega video game character at the UK box office this weekend, as Oscars winner Parasite expands its locations by over 200%.

Released through Paramount, Sonic The Hedgehog sees a small-town police officer discover the titular animal, and attempt to defeat an evil genius who wants to do experiments on it. Ben Schwartz voices Sonic, with James Marden and Jim Carrey as the cop and evil genius.

Films based on video games have had mixed success at the box office; a pre-existing...

Other openers include Working Title’s period drama ‘Emma’.

Sonic The Hedgehog marks the first cinema outing for the popular Sega video game character at the UK box office this weekend, as Oscars winner Parasite expands its locations by over 200%.

Released through Paramount, Sonic The Hedgehog sees a small-town police officer discover the titular animal, and attempt to defeat an evil genius who wants to do experiments on it. Ben Schwartz voices Sonic, with James Marden and Jim Carrey as the cop and evil genius.

Films based on video games have had mixed success at the box office; a pre-existing...

Other openers include Working Title’s period drama ‘Emma’.

Sonic The Hedgehog marks the first cinema outing for the popular Sega video game character at the UK box office this weekend, as Oscars winnerParasite expands its locations by over 200%.

Released through Paramount, Sonic The Hedgehog sees a small-town police officer discover the titular animal, and attempt to defeat an evil genius who wants to do experiments on it. Ben Schwartz voices Sonic, with James Marden and Jim Carrey as the cop and evil genius.

Films based on video games have had mixed success at the box office; a pre-existing fanbase can provide a ready-made audience,...

Paris calling … Andranic Manet as Etienne in A Paris Education by Jean-Paul Civeyrac Photo: UniFrance

Art imitates life in French director Jean-Paul Civeyrac’s black and white ode to the New Wave, in which a young cinephile leaves Lyon to study film in Paris, finds a flat with fellow film geeks, and spends hours expounding on Bresson and obscure Russian directors.

Wind back a few years to 1987 and it was Civeyrac, born in 1964, who left a small town near St Etienne and travelled to Paris to work in cinema.

“Finally I decided to stay in Paris. In a few years I completed my first feature and at the same time I began teaching cinema. So I know how students behave and what they think. The film, of course, is inspired by things that I experienced but also by things that students go through today,” Civeyrac told me during the Unifrance Rendezvous with French Cinema.

The Cnc is also throwing its weight behind films helmed by Julia Ducournau, Emmanuelle Bercot, Xavier Beauvois, Thierry de Peretti, Jean-Paul Civeyrac and Mehran Tamadon. Seven projects have been accepted during the third 2019 session of the Cnc’s second advance on receipts committee. Standing out among them is Viens je t’emmène by Alain Guiraudie, which will be produced by CG Cinéma and which is slated to begin principal photography at the end of the year. This will be the sixth feature by the filmmaker, following No Rest for the Brave (Directors’ Fortnight in 2003), Time Has Come (2005), The King of Escape (Directors’ Fortnight in 2009), Stranger by the Lake (Best Director Award in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2013) and Staying Vertical (in competition at Cannes in 2016).A young female filmmaker is also among the batch of directors selected, as the Cnc will also be throwing its weight...

Hélène Fillières on Nick Cave's Into My Arms in Raising Colors (Volontaire): "It's probably the most romantic song I've ever heard." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze Laure (Diane Rouxel) with Commander Rivière (Lambert Wilson)

The last time I saw Lambert Wilson in person, he was performing his tribute to Yves Montand at the French Institute Alliance Française in New York. He was Jacques Cousteau in Jérôme Salle's The Odyssey (L'Odyssée) and now in Hélène Fillières' Raising Colors (Volontaire), co-written with Mathias Gavarry, he is Commander Rivière at the École Navale. The Commander is lovingly called 'the monk' by the chief training officer Albertini, played by Alex Descas. Laure (Diane Rouxel) in her twenties and with a first-rate education, decides to accept a job offer in the administration of the French Navy. Her mother (Josiane Balasko), a famous stage actress, is particularly upset and vocal about this turn of events.

A limited-perspective snapshot of a perpetually moving target, and insistent on adhering to 2018 theatrical premieres — thus haunted both by the past and the specter of already-seen “2019” cinema that deserves notice as much as anything herein. Or: it is what it is.

Honorable Mentions

Mandy, A Star Is Born, Cold War, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, The Wandering Soap Opera

10. 24 Frames (Abbas Kiarostami)

A push-pull experience par excellence: plainly beautiful for its still and natural landscapes, roughshod with the superimposition of effects; statically framed but open to variables, experimentation, “accidents” that are perhaps part of a larger plan, depending on what production story you buy; and thrilling for the breadth of its imagination while also a bit boring in the follow-through. More and more it seems our minds need opportunities to sit, wander, think for themselves amidst stimuli rendering the likes of 24 Frames all the more far-flung. Woe betide the audience saddled with...

For our most comprehensive year-end feature, we’re providing a cumulative look at The Film Stage’s favorite films of 2018. We’ve asked our contributors to compile ten-best lists with five honorable mentions–those personal lists will be shared in the coming days–and, after tallying the votes, a top 50 has been assembled.

It should be noted that, unlike our previous year-end features, we placed no requirement on a selection being a U.S theatrical release, so you may see some repeats from last year and a few we’ll certainly be discussing more during the next twelve months. So, without further ado, check out our rundown of 2018 below, our ongoing year-end coverage here (including where to stream many of the below picks), and return in the coming weeks as we look towards 2019.

50. Ash is Purest White (Jia Zhangke)

For over two decades the filmmaker Jia Zhangke has, through his movies,...

Christophe Honoré’s drama “Sorry Angel,” which world premiered in competition at Cannes Film Festival, won France’s prestigious Louis Delluc Prize.

Kicking off France’s award season, the Louis Delluc prize is chosen by French critics and has been described as the film equivalent to the coveted Goncourt prize for literature.

“Sorry Angel” stars French actors Pierre Deladonchamps as a jaded, HIV-positive 30-something novelist who comes across an enthusiastic aspiring writer, Arthur (Vincent Lacoste), in his early 20s. “Sorry Angel” marks the director’s comeback to Cannes’ competition 11 years after “Love Songs.”

In winning the Louis Delluc Prize, “Sorry Angel” beat out Jacques Audiard’s “The Sisters Brothers,” Emmanuel Mouret’s “Mademoiselle de Joncquières,” Gilles Lellouche’s “Le Grand Bain,” Claire Denis’ “High Life,” Pierre Salvadori’s “En liberté!”, Cedric Kahn’s “La Prière,” Jean-Paul Civeyrac’s “Mes provinciales,” and Emmanuel Finkiel’s “Memoir of War,” which represents France in the foreign-language Oscar race.

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’re highlighting the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.

A24 Films on Kanopy

With FilmStruck sadly heading into its early grave last night, one may be looking for more options for streaming. One of the best alternatives is Kanopy, which can be accessed for free with a library card in select areas. They’ve also just added a wealth of A24 films ranging from this year’s First Reformed and Lean on Pete all the way back to their first offerings like Enemy and Spring Breakers.

Where to Stream: Kanopy

De Palma (Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow)

Recently, Kent Jones’ Hitchcock /Truffaut — a documentary on the famous interview sessions between the two directors — boasted perhaps the most chaotic,...

Mexican drama Ya Veremos is dominating the slew of specialty newcomers this Labor Day weekend, though overall limited release launches are trending slow. IFC Films doc Pick Of The Litter, however, is showing some gusto, scoring the weekend’s highest per-theater average among the specialties. Sony Classics, meanwhile, expanded Glenn Close starrer The Wife, crossing $1M, while A24’s Eighth Grade is expected to go over $13M by the end of the holiday weekend.

Pantelion/Lionsgate Ya Veremos opened in 369 locations, grossing an estimated $1,800,000 in the three-day. The company is estimating a $2.27M gross for the entire weekend, for a 4-day $6,165 average. Pantelion has had a good run with Labor Day weekend period releases including Instructions Not Included, opening at the end of August, 2013, eventually totaling over $44.46M, the highest-grossing Spanish-language film stateside. There was also Un Gallo con Muchos Huevos which opened in early September 2015, which had a cume of $9M.

Halfway through writer-director Jean-Paul Civeyrac’s cinephile coming-of-age story A Paris Education, a girl confronts a budding filmmaker: “You seem out of touch with reality… like you live an armchair life.” It is not the first time aspiring cineastes in Civeyrac’s IndieLisboa entry get scolded for being self-centered navel-gazers, nor does the slap feel entirely undeserved. A mélange between Garrel’sRegular Lovers (with which it shares a gorgeous black and white cinematography, courtesy of Dp Pierre-Hubert Martin) and Mia Hansen-Løve’s Eden (of which it echoes the same affection for deranged, self-destructive loners), A Paris Education follows the solipsistic journeys of a few film students whose only real concern in life seem to be whether or not they’ll ever join the ranks of the auteurs they binge-watch before reality catches up with their dreams.

Long-haired and clean-shaven Etienne (Andranic Manet) is the protagonist. A native of Lyon, he...

Kino Lorber has acquired all North American rights to Jean-Paul Civeyrac's cinephile coming-of-age drama A Paris Education, which had its world premiere at the Berlin film festival this February and centers on a young man who moves to Paris to study filmmaking at the Sorbonne.

The black-and-white film centers on Etienne, who moves to Paris and meets Mathias and Jean-Noel, who both share his passion for film. But as they spend the year studying, they have to face friendship and love challenges, as well as choose their artistic battles.

The film, produced by Moby Dick Films, stars Andranic Manet, Corentin Fila, Gonzague Van Bervesseles, Diane Rouxel, Jenna Thiam, Sophie Verbeeck, and Charlotte Van Bervesseles....

Kino Lorber has acquired all North American rights to Jean-Paul Civeyrac's cinephile coming-of-age drama <em>A Paris Education</em>, which had its world premiere at the Berlin film festival this February and centers on a young man who moves to Paris to study filmmaking at the Sorbonne.

The black-and-white film centers on Etienne, who moves to Paris and meets Mathias and Jean-Noel, who both share his passion for film. But as they spend the year studying, they have to face friendship and love challenges, as well as choose their artistic battles.

The film, produced by Moby Dick Films, stars Andranic Manet, ...

A Paris Education (Mes Provinciales)‬ director Jean-Paul Civeyrac: "I had the idea for the film after seeing the Marlen Khutsiev film of which we see an excerpt in the film. It's called La Porte D'Ilitch [I Am Twenty]." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

When was the last time Novalis (writer of the early Romantic movement and champion of the blue flower) was quoted in a film? Jean-Paul Civeyrac's A Paris Education (shot by Pierre-Hubert Martin, edited by Louise Narboni), starring Andranic Manet (Katell Quillévéré's Heal The Living) with Sophie Verbeeck (Jérôme Bonnell's All About Them), Diane Rouxel (Frédéric Mermoud's Moka), Jenna Thiam (Cédric Kahn's Wild Life), Gonzague Van Bervesseles, and Corentin Fila, illuminates the sundry elements of what actually constitutes education.

Jean-Paul Civeyrac: "I think there's a parallel there with the end of Flaubert's Sentimental Education where the characters say, what we lived that was most powerful, is something that happened before.

The many layers of feeling captured in Mathieu Amalric's Barbara is cinema at its best Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

New York's Rendez-Vous with French Cinema opens with Mathieu Amalric's spellbinding Barbara, starring César Best Actress winner Jeanne Balibar. They will present the film on March 8. Bruno Dumont, Vincent Macaigne, Xavier Beauvois, Marine Francen, Emmanuel Finkiel, Léonor Serraille with Julie Roué, Rachid Hami, Jean-Paul Civeyrac, Laurent Cantet, Gilles Bourdos with Richard Bausch, Xavier Legrand, Raymond Depardon with Claudine Nougaret, Tonie Marshall, and Eugène Green are also are expected to attend.

Civeyrac's A Paris Education (Mes provincials), starring Andranic Manet; Serraille's Montparnasse Bienvenüe (Jeune femme) with Laetitia Dosch; Dumont's Jeannette, The Childhood of Joan of Arc (Jeannette, l'enfance de Jeanne d’Arc), and Barbara - are four of the early bird highlights.

Mathieu Amalric also can be seen during the festival in Noémie Lvovsky's Tomorrow and Thereafter (Demain et tous les...

The Us premiere of Mathieu Amalric’s Barbara will open the 23rd Rendez-Vous With French Cinema, set to run in Hollywood from March 8-18.

The Us premiere of Mathieu Amalric’s Barbara will open the 23rd Rendez-Vous With French Cinema, set to run in Hollywood from March 8-18.

The annual French cinema showcase will showcase 24 films from both emerging and established filmmakers, Film Society of Lincoln Centre and UniFrance announced on Wednesday (February 7).

Amalric and his leading lady and co-star Jeanne Balibar will attend the screening of his drama, which was recently nominated for nine Cesar awards including best film, actor, and actress.

Other films in the 2018 series include: Léonor Serraille’s Montparnasse Bienvenue, which received the Camera d’Or award in Cannes; Jean-Paul Civeyrac’s A Paris Education (Mes Provinciales); Noémie Lvovsky’s Tomorrow And Thereafter; (Demain Et Tous Les Autres Jours); Xavier Legrand’s Custody (Jusqu’à La Garde); Xavier Beauvois’ The Guardians (Les Gardiennes); and Nobuhiro Suwa...

The Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama sidebar is now complete, bursting with 47 titles from 40 countries, and mixing documentary and features. Among the new additions today is Idris Elba’s directorial debut Yardie which just premiered at Sundance. Other selections announced include the Pedro Almodovar-produced Franco regime doc The Silence Of Others and Lemonade, produced by Romania’s Cristian Mungiu.

Also on deck are new works from Korea’s Kim Ki-duk, Human, Space, Time And Human; and Ursula Meier’s Shock Waves – Diary Of My Mind.

Wolfgang Fischer’s Styx will open Panorama Special on February 16. The nearly dialogue-free film film tells the story of a female doctor on a sailing holiday gone unexpectedly sour somewhere between Europe and Africa. The main program will open on the evening before with the previously announced River’s Edge from Isao Yukisada.

Below is the full...

Eric Lavallee: Name me three of your favorite “2015 discoveries”.

This year I discovered Extras, the series Ricky Gervais did after The Office. It’s so funny. This guy is insane. I want his talent and his brain.

I go the cinema all the time, I think one movie that really impressed me was Foxcatcher. The script is incredible, the ideas, the atmosphere.

I want to buy the dvd. The last thing that comes to mind right now is David Bowie. All his songs. I can’t stop listening to him. Ashes to ashes. Heroes. Woew. He was wonderful. I also can’t stop listening to a Pink Floyd song at the moment, Paintbox. I love the melody. I want it in my next short film but I’ll never have the money for it. It must be so expensive to have Pink Floyd in a movie. Oh, I must say...

Zeitgeist Films opens the French drama in the USA, starting this Friday, December 4, in New York City, at IFC theaters. *** It could just be lack of exposure (or adventure) on my part, but I’ve become accustomed to (and almost expect), films set in modern day France and featuring black people, to be about immigration, social marginalisation, disaffected black youth… all of which tend to serve up images of grit, grime, poverty… So Jean-Paul Civeyrac’s "My Friend Victoria," was something of a surprise. Set in Paris, the film is based on a Doris Lessing story, "Victoria and the Staveneys," and tells the story of Victoria, a young black woman of no remarkable talent,...

Zeitgeist Films will open the French drama in the USA, starting in New York City, at IFC theaters, starting on December 4. *** It could just be lack of exposure (or adventure) on my part, but I’ve become accustomed to (and almost expect), films set in modern day France and featuring black people, to be about immigration, social marginalisation, disaffected black youth… all of which tend to serve up images of grit, grime, poverty… So Jean-Paul Civeyrac’s "My Friend Victoria," was something of a surprise. Set in Paris, the film is based on a Doris Lessing story, "Victoria and the Staveneys," and tells the story of Victoria, a young black woman of no remarkable...

My Friend Victoria

Directed and written by Jean-Paul Civeyrac

France, 2015

Civeyrac’s adaptation of Doris Lessing’s short story Victoria and the Staveneys has a soft charm to its story but finds itself hampered by its comparison to the source material. Set in Paris, rather than its original London setting, My Friend Victoria chronicles the life of its eponymous protagonist, Victoria (Guslagie Malanga) and her struggles with boys, children, jobs, etc, in a realistic, albeit distanced, manner. Narrated by Victoria’s friend Fanny (Keemyah Omolongo), who is a surrogate sister after her mother adopts Victoria, as an already written book, the story unfolds in chapters of life. At first, these chapters are devoted to Victoria’s love interests, and then to her first child, Marie. Loosely centred around her relationship with the Staveneys, a white family at whose house Victoria spends the night once during grade school, the film purports to discuss racial/social politics,...

Asif Kapadia’s Amy, Anna Muylaert’s The Second Mother, Abderrahmane Sissako’s Timbuktu, John Maclean’s Slow West and Céline Sciamma’s Girlhood are among the fiction and documentary line-up.

The fiction selections are: Chus Gutiérrez’s Ciudad Deliro (Colombia); Chaitanya Tamhane’s Court (India); Miguel Llansó’s Crumbs (Ethiopia-Spain); Girlhood (France), Mario Crespo’s Gone With The River (Venezuela); Ana V. Bojórquez, Lucía Carreras’ The Greatest House In The World (Guatemala-Mexico); Alonso Ruizpalacios’ Güeros (Mexico); Rebecca Johnson’s Honeytrap (UK); Shonali Bose’s Margarita, With A Straw (India); Jean-Paul Civeyrac’s My Friend Victoria (France); and Carolina Borrero, Pinky Mon, Luis Franco, Abner Benaim and Pituka Ortega Heilbron’s Panama Canal Stories (Panama).

The section continues with: Nagesh Kukunoor’s Rainbow (India); Debbie Tucker Green’s Second Coming (UK); The Second Mother (Brazil, pictured); Walter Tournier’s Selkirk, The Real Robinson Crusoe (Uruguay-Argentina-Chile-Spain); John Maclean’s Slow West (UK-New Zealand); Jim Chuchu’s Stories Of Our Lives (Kenya-South...

After receiving a limited run only in New York City in mid-December of 2014, Serge Bozon’s bizarre new film Tip Top comes to Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. A socially conscious dark comedy that features the delicious pairing of Isabelle Huppert and Sandrine Kiberlain as two incredibly awkward female investigators, it’s bound to be one of those titles that garners a slow-burn cult following.

The most visible member of a small coterie of filmmakers operating independently outside of the French film system, including names like Marc Fitoussi, Axelle Ropert, Jean-Paul Civeyrac, each with several credits to his name, though generally without international distribution. Critic Scott Foundas penned a succinct and incredibly worthwhile write-up on this group several years back, not too long after Bozon’s third feature La France (2007) broke through the distribution fog. Discussing terms like New New Wave, etc, and the dangers of bracketing clusters of filmmakers with such labels,...

Having just been had the chance to shine at Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema last month, it may have flown under the radar and been passed over by the top tier film fests, but according to IndieWIRE, Zeitgeist Films’ extremely picky Emily Russo and Nancy Gerstman have chosen to adopt Jean-Paul Civeyrac’s My Friend Victoria. We briefly touched base with the project on last year’s Most Anticipated list; this is perhaps his longest time between features since he began making films and according to this interview, has been the most prosperous in term of box office back at home. My Friend Victoria will open in New York and Los Angeles in the early fall.

Gist: Adapted from a short story by Doris Lessing, this is about Victoria, a little black girl aged 8 who comes from a humble background, happens to spend the night...

Read More: Watch: Trailer for Fslc's 20th Rendez-Vous with French Cinema Demands 'Regardez Moi!' Zeitgeist Films has acquired Jean-Paul Civeyrac's "My Friend Victoria," which premiered at the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Rendez-Vous with French Cinema. The film was adapted from a short story by Doris Lessing, which follows Victoria, a young Parisian orphan who is overwhelmed by an evening with a bourgeois family.  Zeitgeist Co-Presidents Emily Russo and Nancy Gerstman said that they were thrilled by the acquisition, noting that the mostly unknown cast is brilliant.  "Civeyrac is a real auteur," they said. "Lessing is a complex writer and everyone involved has made a touching and accessible film from her work." "My Friend Victoria" will open in New York and Los Angeles in the early fall. Read More: 5 Must-See New French Films From Rendez-Vous with French Cinema...

Rendez-vous with French Cinema, a co-presentation of Film Society of Lincoln Center and Unifrance Films, has become a de facto film festival for francophiles over the years. A showcase of contemporary French cinema, this year's lineup includes 22 features and four short films making their New York, U.S., or North American premieres. Celebrating its 20th year, Rendez-vous opens with Benoit Jacquot (Farewell My Queen)'s 3 Hearts, starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Chiara Mastroianni and Catherine Deneuve and closes with Quentin Dupieux (Rubber)'s new film Reality. The returning notable directors include - Jacquot, André Téchiné, Cedric Kahn, Jean-Paul Civeyrac and Christophe Honoré. The ever-diverse lineup includes gritty policiers (The Connection, Next Time I'll Aim for the Heart, SK1), comedies (Gaby Baby Doll, Reality) and several films starring Catherine...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Annual event set to showcase 90 French productions, 48 of them market premieres.

Unifrance’s annual Rendez-vous with French Cinema in Paris will kick-off as planned on Thursday (Jan 15), a week after a series of terrorist attacks, in which 17 people were killed, rocked the capital.

France remains on high alert after the shooting of 12 people at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, by two radicalised brothers offended by its cartoon depictions of the Islamic prophet Mohammed; the shooting of a police woman and the slaughter of four people at a kosher supermarket in the east of the city.

The French government announced on Monday that it was deploying 10,000 troops to protect vulnerable sites across the country — including Jewish schools and neighbourhoods – amid news that security forces believed at least six members of the terrorist cell that plotted the attacks may still be at large.

Charlie Hebdo’s surviving staff have responded to the attack with a new edition of the...

Annual event set to showcase 90 French productions, 48 of them market premieres.

Unifrance’s annual Rendez-vous with French Cinema in Paris will kick-off as planned on Thursday (Jan 15), a week after a series of terrorist attacks, in which 17 people were killed, rocked the capital.

France remains on high alert after the shooting of 12 people at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, by two radicalised brothers offended by its cartoon depictions of the Islamic prophet Mohammed; the shooting of a police woman and the slaughter of four people at a kosher supermarket in the east of the city.

The French government announced on Monday that it was deploying 10,000 troops to protect vulnerable sites across the country — including Jewish schools and neighbourhoods – amid news that security forces believed at least six members of the terrorist cell that plotted the attacks may still be at large.

Charlie Hebdo’s surviving staff have responded to the attack with a new edition of the...

Vive La France!: Bozon Returns With a Strangeness

Actor turned director Serge Bozon is the most visible member of a small coterie of filmmakers operating independently outside of the French film system, including names like Marc Fitoussi, Axelle Ropert, Jean-Paul Civeyrac, each with several credits to his name, though generally without international distribution. Critic Scott Foundas penned a succinct and incredibly worthwhile write-up on this group several years back, not too long after Bozon’s third feature La France (2007) broke through the distribution fog. Discussing terms like New New Wave, etc, and the dangers of bracketing clusters of filmmakers with such labels, there is a distinct flavor to their films as we witness slick sidestepping and reinvention of narrative form and motif, at least enough to note a similar temperament amongst their works (perhaps something more like Frayed Wave works better). Bozon’s latest genre mash, Tip Top, which...

It could just be lack of exposure (or adventure) on my part, but I’ve become accustomed to (and almost expect), films set in modern day France and featuring black people, to be about immigration, social marginalisation, disaffected black youth… all of which tend to serve up images of grit, grime, poverty… So Jean-Paul Civeyrac’s "My Friend Victoria," was something of a surprise. Set in Paris, the film is based on a Doris Lessing story, "Victoria and the Staveneys," and tells the story of Victoria, a young black woman of no remarkable talent, drive or ambition. The story is narrated by Fanny (Nadia Moussa), Victoria’s literature devouring adopted sister and friend,...

It could just be lack of exposure (or adventure) on my part, but I’ve become accustomed to (and almost expect), films set in modern day France and featuring black people, to be about immigration, social marginalisation, disaffected black youth… all of which tend to serve up images of grit, grime, poverty… So Jean-Paul Civeyrac’s My Friend Victoria, was something of a surprise. Set in Paris, the film is based on a Doris Lessing story, Victoria and the Staveneys, and tells the story of Victoria, a young black woman of no remarkable talent, drive or ambition. The story is narrated by Fanny (Nadia Moussa), Victoria’s literature devouring adopted sister and friend, and starts when...

Love and Mercy

Director: Bill Pohlad

Writer: Oren Moverman

Producers: Bill Pohlad, Claire Rudnick Polstein, John Wells, Brian Wilson

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available

Cast: Elizabeth Banks, Paul Dano, John Cusack, Jake Abel and Paul Giamatti

He has proven himself as an discerning producer (e.g: 12 Years A Slave, The Tree of Life, Into the Wild) and unlike his directing debut (1990′s Old Explorers) Pohlad is working from an Oren Moverman script, has got a solid acting team and has two of those major actors (John Cusack and Paul Dano) playing the Brian Wilson and a solid tech team for this uncharacteristic biopic.

Gist: This explores Brian Wilson’s life and explores his legendary battle with mental illness, as well as the love that keeps him alive. Paul Giamatti will play Brian Wilson’s therapist Dr. Eugene Landy, while John Cusack and Paul Dano are set to star as the...

My Friend Victoria (Mon amie Victoria)

Director: Jean-Paul Civeyrac

Writers: Jean-Paul Civeyrac

Producer(s): Les Films Pelleas

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available

Cast: Catherine Mouchet, Pascal Greggory, Aurore Broutin

Director Jean-Paul Civeyrac has debuted his films at notable festivals for years now, yet his works don’t seem to get Us distribution. Now, with his 8th feature, he turns to Doris Lessing for inspiration, a British author whose works seem to be an inspiration for many French directors (last year Anne Fontaine made her English language debut with Adore, an adaptation of a Lessing story). Mouchet and Broutin are actresses that have popped up in a number of notable features, while Pascal Greggory is always a welcome addition to any cast (he also headlined 2007’s La France, from Civeyrac’s contemporary, Serge Bozon).

Gist: Based on the novel by Doris Lessing, Victoria, an 8 year-old black girl from a poor background,...

Noah

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Writers: Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel

Producers: Darren Aronofsky, Scott Franklin, Arnon Milchan, Mary Parent

U.S. Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Cast: Russell Crowe, Emma Watson, Jennifer Connelly, Logan Lerman, Kevin Durand, Douglas Booth, Anthony Hopkins, Sami Gayle, Marton Csokas, Dakota Goyo, Madison Davenport, Barry Sloane, Nick Nolte, Frank Langella, Ray Winstone

We’re more curious as to how it’ll fit in a timeline that gave us Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler and Black Swan than the actual budget size of the project. Taking a page from Alfonso Cuarón’s playbook – Noah may warrant the mandatory popcorn fare a la Gravity label or will be Darren Aronofsky’s Titanic-sized shipwreck.

Gist: The Biblical Noah suffers visions of an apocalyptic deluge and takes measures to protect his family from the coming flood.

Release Date: Wide release on March 28th. Happy Easter everyone!

More Top...