News

French film producer and cinema operator Pathé has sold a 20 percent stake as part of a “strategic partnership” with Merit France, the holding company of the family of French-Lebanese logistics magnate Rodolphe Saadé.

Financial details of the deal, unveiled on Monday, weren’t disclosed.

“Amid a rapidly evolving macroeconomic and industrial landscape rich with opportunity, this transaction is aimed at equipping Pathé with the resources needed to accelerate its growth — particularly in the production of internationally-oriented films and series, as well as the modernization of its cinema network to offer customers a premium, innovative experience unmatched in Europe,” the company said. “This long-term partnership enables Rodolphe Saadé and his family to continue diversifying their assets into the cultural sector.”

The Monday news of the deal came a day before the 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival opens with Pathé’s Amélie Bonnin-directed movie Leave One Day, starring Juliette Armanet,...

Tran Anh Hung’s The Taste of Things is almost halfway done before it even hints that there’s something going on within its fin-de-siècle setting besides the creation and consumption of beautiful meals. The film’s first half hour is in fact just that, with Eugénie (Juliette Binoche), a veteran cook in the manor home of Dodin (Benoît Magimel), the epicure for whom she’s been working for over 20 years, making an extravagant, multi-course meal for him and his friends. The men eat the food, then compliment Eugénie on her cooking.

Given the close yet unfussy attention paid to the choreography of cooking, with Jonathan Ricquebourg’s camera flowing sinuously through the kitchen and peeking into pots as ingredients are added and steam billows out, it would have been satisfying if Hung had just concluded the film with well-fed Frenchmen chatting over a digestif. Fortunately, he’s interested not...

Netflix has set the premiere date for its police interrogation drama Criminal. The series, which stars For Life’s Nicholas Pinnock, Doctor Who’s David Tennant and Agent Carter’s Hayley Atwell, will launch on September 20.

The Svod service has also unveiled the first images for the format bending series.

Criminal consists of 12 episodes of 45 minutes with three episodes each set across four countries – France, Spain, Germany and the UK. The drama takes place exclusively within the confines of a police interview suite. It is a stripped down, cat-and-mouse drama that will focus on the intense mental conflict between the police officer and the suspect in question.

Pinnock, Cheat’s Katherine Kelly, Lee Ingleby, Mark Stanley, Rochenda Sandall and Shubham Saraf star in the UK episodes with Tennant and Atwell guest starring alongside Youssef Kerkour, and Clare-Hope Ashitey.

In France, Margot Bancilhon, Laurent Lucas, Stéphane Jobert, Anne Azoulay and Mhamed Arezki...

Here’s a series taking a new spin on the old British procedural. Netflix is bringing us an anthology series that set in four different countries, with different casts and directors, and different stories… that are all set in the interrogation rooms in police stations.

The series will be set in France, Spain, Germany and the U.K. The series is described by Deadline as a “stripped down, cat-and-mouse drama that will focus on the intense mental conflict between the police officer and the suspect in question” that will be written, directed, and produced by the local language and talent to each country.

Deadline reports the following descriptions and cast info for each installment:

Pinnock, Cheat’s Katherine Kelly Lee Ingleby, Mark Stanley, Rochenda Sandall and Shubham Saraf star in the UK episodes with Tennant and Atwell guest starring alongside Youssef Kerkour, and Clare-Hope Ashitey.

In France, Margot Bancilhon, Laurent Lucas,...

Nicholas Pinnock, star of ABC’s forthcoming legal drama For Life, Doctor Who’s David Tennant and Agent Carter’s Hayley Atwell are to star in Netflix’s police interrogation drama Criminal.

The format bending series consists of 12 episodes of 45 minutes with three episodes each set across four countries – France, Spain, Germany and the UK. The drama takes place exclusively within the confines of a police interview suite. It is a stripped down, cat-and-mouse drama that will focus on the intense mental conflict between the police officer and the suspect in question.

Pinnock, Cheat’s Katherine Kelly Lee Ingleby, Mark Stanley, Rochenda Sandall and Shubham Saraf star in the UK episodes with Tennant and Atwell guest starring alongside Youssef Kerkour, and Clare-Hope Ashitey.

In France, Margot Bancilhon, Laurent Lucas, Stéphane Jobert, Anne Azoulay and Mhamed Arezki star alongside guest stars Nathalie Baye, Jérémie Renier and Sara Giraudeau.

In Germany, Eva Meckbach,...

Ok, I know that I'm almost one month late. After all, the list of the candidates for the Best Male and Female Hopes has been public knowledge since November 25. Anyway, I just want to post the information since I'm a lover of French culture. Enjoy.

The 2010 César for the Best Female Hope:

Marie-Julie Baup in Micmacs à tire-larigot

Astrid Berges Frisbey in Un barrage contre le Pacifique

Agathe Bonitzer in Un chat un chat

Sophie Cattani in Je suis heureux que ma mère soit vivante

Judith Davis in Je te mangerais

Anaïs Demoustier in Sois sage

Mati Diop in 35 rhums

Pauline Etienne in Qu’un seul tienne et les autres suivront

Alice de Lencquesaing in Le père de mes enfants

Florence Loiret-Caille in Je l’aimais

Sara Martins in Mensch

Lola Naymark in L’armée du crime

Vimala Pons in La Sainte Victoire

Soko in A l’Origine

Christa Theret...

Paris -- First-time directors will be center stage at this year's 48th annual International Critics Week, where eight of nine announced competition titles will be up for the Camera d'Or.

As previously announced, first-time filmmaker Mathias Gokalp's "Rien de Personnel" (Nothing Personal) will open the Festival de Cannes sidebar. And fellow French filmmaker Nassim Amaouche will screen his dark drama "Adieu Gary," which stars actor-director Jean-Pierre Bacri alongside Dominique Reymond, Yasmine Belmadi, Sabrina Ouazani and Mahmed Arezki.

"It's been an extraordinary year for French cinema. We couldn't have done it any other way," Critics Week artistic director Jean-Christophe Berjon said. "This is the first time there have been so many great French titles to choose from for as long as I've been doing this. It's just great!"

Vladimir Perisic will present his directorial debut, "The Ordinary People," a Franco-Serbian co-production about how ordinary men can turn into monsters.

"What's...

Getting To Know … Shameless

The love life of gay teenager Ian Gallagher (Gerard Kearns) on the U.K. series Shameless has never been easy. Whether it’s having to steal a bed just so he can have sex with his hot new boyfriend (somehow landing in prison because of it), trying to keep his ongoing affair with a married man a secret, or that fling with a homophobic drug dealer who has a strange sexual quirk (big surprise), something always comes along to make finding love (or just getting laid) a trying ordeal for poor Ian.

Gerard Kearns as Ian Gallagher

Shameless, which airs on Channel 4, the same network that brings us Hollyoaks, is a dark and perverse comedy/drama about the twisted lives of the extremely dysfunctional Gallagher family, as well as their friends and their enemies. Created by Paul Abbott, who is also the executive producer, the series...