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A sun-soaked tale full of beautiful rich people doing terrible things, including a transgressive sexual act that’s got the tabloids foaming at the mouth. On paper, BritBox import “Towards Zero” sounds like another salacious drama to ride on the coattails of “The White Lotus.” Yet it stems, in fact, from the bygone era of cozy crime fiction where the only stiff appendage was the upper lip.

Indeed, following the likes of “And Then There Were None,” “The Pale Horse,” and “Ordeal by Innocence,” the 1930s tale is the latest Agatha Christie whodunit to get a semi-contemporary spin. And just like her predecessor, period drama queen Sarah Phelps, screenwriter Rachel Bennette gives the purists plenty to scream blue murder over.

“BBC viewers left stunned by ‘filthy’ X-rated scene,” was a typical conservative media headline after the three-part series premiered in the UK last month. “Is ‘Towards Zero’ the raciest Agatha Christie ever?...

BBC Sets Cast For ‘Two Weeks In August’ Disaster Drama

Casting has been set for BBC disaster drama Two Weeks in August. Jessica Raine stars as Zoe, Damien Molony is her troubled husband Dan and the cast also features Nicholas Pinnock as their old friend Solomon and Antonia Thomas as his new wife Jess, alongside Leila Farzad and Hugh Skinner as uni friends Nat and Jacob. Revealed by Deadline in February, the show comes from Shrink Next Door scribe Catherine Shepherd and I May Destroy You producer Various Artists. Set in Greece, it tells the story of a woman who goes on holiday with her family and friends to rediscover joy in her life. But, here in paradise, what starts with...

Today, BritBox and the BBC released first-look pictures of Towards Zero, based on the classic mystery by the best-selling author of all time, Agatha Christie. The series was adapted for the screen by BAFTA-nominated Rachel Bennette (Nw) and directed by the Olivier Award-winning Sam Yates (Magpie).

Featuring coastal views, heated summer soirees, and a trip to Wimbledon Centre Court, the new pictures give a first glimpse at Lady Tressilian (Anjelica Huston), Inspector Leach (Matthew Rhys), and British tennis star Nevile Strange (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) – seen here with the two ladies in his life: ex-wife Audrey (Ella Lily Hyland) and new wife Kay (Mimi Keene).

Photo courtesy of BritBox/Mammoth Screen

Clarke Peters, Anjana Vasan, and Jack Farthing are also seen in the new pictures from the series, which co-stars Jackie Clune (Motherland), Grace Doherty (Call the Midwife), Khalil Gharbia (Mary & George), and Adam Hugill (Sherwood).

England, 1936. After a scandalous celebrity divorce,...

Production is now underway on the three-part series adaptation of the Agatha Christie murder mystery novel Towards Zero, which is coming from the BBC and BritBox International, and The Hollywood Reporter revealed that the cast includes Anjelica Huston (The Addams Family), Oliver Jackson-Cohen (The Invisible Man), Ella Lily Hyland (Five and a Half Love Stories in an Apartment in Vilnius), Mimi Keene (Sex Education), Jackie Clune (Motherland), Grace Doherty (Call the Midwife), Jack Farthing (Rain Dogs), Khalil Gharbia (Mary & George), Adam Hugill (Sherwood), Clarke Peters (The Wire), Matthew Rhys (The Americans), and OAnjana Vasan (Black Mirror: Demon 79)

Sam Yates (Magpie) is directing the series, while Bel Ami screenwriter Rachel Bennette wrote the adaptation.

Set in 1936 England, Towards Zero has the following synopsis: After a scandalous celebrity divorce, British tennis star Nevile Strange (Jackson-Cohen) and his ex-wife, Audrey (Hyland), make the unthinkable decision to spend a summer together at Gull’s Point,...

Academy Award winner Anjelica Huston, Mike Flanagan repertory company member Oliver Jackson-Cohen and Ella Lily Hyland (Fifteen-Love) are set to star in Towards Zero, a three-part adaptation of the 1944 Agatha Christie mystery novel.

The BBC production is now filming in Bristol and Devon, and will stream Stateside on BritBox.

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Adapted by BAFTA-nominated Rachel Bennette and directed by the...

Oscar winner Anjelica Huston will lead a three-part adaptation of Agatha Christie’s classic mystery novel “Towards Zero” from the BBC and Britbox International.

Set in England in 1936, “Towards Zero” follows British tennis star Nevile Strange (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) and his ex-wife Audrey (Ella Lily Hyland), who “make the unthinkable decision to spend a summer together at Gull’s Point, their childhood home and the coastal estate of Nevile’s aunt, Lady Tressilian (Huston),” the plot description reads.

“With unfinished business between the former childhood sweethearts, plus the presence of Nevile’s new wife Kay (Mimi Keene), tensions are running high. Add to this a long-suffering lady’s companion, a mysterious gentleman’s valet, an exiled cousin with a grudge, a venerable family lawyer, an inquisitive orphan and a French con man, and soon there will be murder,” the synopsis continues. “A troubled detective must rediscover his purpose to untangle a toxic web of jealousy,...

An adaptation of Agatha Christie‘s mystery novel Towards Zero starring Anjelica Huston is in production, the BBC and BritBox International unveiled on Wednesday.

The three-part series, starring Oliver Jackson-Cohen (The Haunting of Hill House, The Invisible Man), Ella Lily Hyland (Five and a Half Love Stories in an Apartment in Vilnius, Lithuania), Huston (Prizzi’s Honor, The Addams Family) and Mimi Keene (Sex Education) has been adapted for the screen by Rachel Bennette. Sam Yates (Magpie) directs.

The murder mystery takes place in England, in 1936. After a scandalous celebrity divorce, British tennis star Nevile Strange (Jackson-Cohen) and his ex-wife, Audrey (Hyland), “make the unthinkable decision to spend a summer together at Gull’s Point, their childhood home and the coastal estate of Nevile’s aunt (Huston).” With unfinished business between the former childhood sweethearts and the presence of Nevile’s new wife, Kay (Keene), tensions run high. A troubled detective...

The BBC and BritBox International have secured A-list talent for their latest Agatha Christie adaptation.

Oscar-winner Anjelica Huston has been cast in Towards Zero, potentially the highest-profile actor to appear in a BBC Christie series since John Malkovich played Poirot in 2018’s The ABC Murders.

Huston will play the aunt of lead character Nevile Strange (Oliver Jackson-Cohen). After a scandalous celebrity divorce, the British tennis star and his ex-wife Audrey (Ella Lily Hyland) make the unthinkable decision to spend a summer together at Gull’s Point, their childhood home and the coastal estate of Nevile’s aunt, Lady Tressilian (Huston).

Revealed by Deadline several months back, the series will star Jackie Clune (Motherland), Grace Doherty (Call the Midwife), Jack Farthing (Rain Dogs), Khalil Gharbia (Mary & George), Adam Hugill (Sherwood), Mimi Keene (Sex Education), Clarke Peters (The Wire), Emmy winner Matthew Rhys (The Americans) and Oliver Award-winner Anjana Vasan (Black Mirror:...

To celebrate the release of The Lost Boys available to Stream from 19th February and on Collectors’ Edition DVD and Blu-ray on 4th March, we are giving away Blu-Rays to 3 lucky winners!

Joe is about to be released from a youth detention centre. Should the judge approve his discharge, he will be allowed to live on his own. But when a new detainee, William, arrives in his facility, Joe starts to question his desire for freedom.

Directed By Zeno Graton and Featuring stand-out performances from Khalil Gharbia (Peter Von Kant) and Julien De Saint Jean (Lie With Me), filmmaker Zeno Graton’s acclaimed first feature The Lost Boys is a compelling and sensitively observed portrait of burgeoning masculinity and sexuality.

Exclusive Content Including:

· Interview with director Zeno Graton

· Interview with lead actors Khalil Gharbia and Julien De Saint Jean

· Interview with actors Khalil Gharbia, Samuel Di Napoli and N’Landu...

Zeno Graton Photo: Caroline Monnet

Zeno Graton’s claustrophobic, youth detention centre set feature debut, centres on a love story between newcomer William (Julien De Saint Jean) and Joe (Khalil Ben Gharbia), who is preparing to leave. The pair feel an instant attraction, yet their paths are destined to diverge, provoking a conflict in Joe between his forthcoming freedom and this newfound connection, that offers him hope.

In conversation with Eye For Film, Graton discussed the film’s literary and personal origins, liberating masculinity from imprisoned constructs, and challenging the narrative of shame and guilt.

Paul Risker: How do you reflect on your personal journey of cinematic discovery, and the films that have defined this experience?

Zeno Graton: What I now understand is when you sit down and try to write, you can't lie to yourself. You have to write about you, and even if you're not writing about yourself,...

Director Zeno Graton’s debut subtly yet powerfully shows two young men growing closer and pushing back against the system

Inside the austere walls of a juvenile detention centre, love dares to blossom against all odds in Zeno Graton’s bold and tender feature debut. After yet another of his many escape attempts, the restless Joe (brilliantly played by Khalil Ben Gharbia) is sent back to this forbidding facility. His wandering mind is awakened to new desires by the arrival of William (Julien De Saint Jean), a detainee with a penchant for breaking rules. While physical escape remains elusive, the mutual attraction between the two boys forms a means of emotional rescue.

Imbued with red-hot passion as well as tenderness, their intense bond defies the system of rules and surveillance that governs their every move. The days now come not only with tasks and lessons, but also kisses and embraces.

16 nominees in each category will compete in the first round of voting.

France’s Cesar Academy has revealed the breakout stars selected for its annual Revelations list of local up-and-coming talent who will vie in the most promising actor and actress categories at the 2024 awards set for February 23 in Paris.

16 nominees in each category will compete in the first round of voting among Academy members, that will then be whittled down to five in each category.

The Revelations committee is comprised of 18 casting directors active in French film production and is then validated by the board of the Academy.

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France’s César Academy has unveiled its annual Revelations list showcasing 32 emerging acting talents making their mark in the French-speaking cinema world.

The 16 selected actresses include Suzy Bemba for her performance year in Catherine Corsini’s Homecoming. Bemba was also seen in Venice Golden Lion winner Poor Things this year.

The selection also features Rebecca Marder for Corsica-set thriller Grand Expectations; Garance Marillier, for bio-pic Marinette about French female soccer pioneer Marinette Pichon, and Park Ji-min for her award-winning performance in Return To Seoul.

The actor list includes Milo Machado Graner, who plays the visually impaired son in Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall, Marc Zinga’s for his performance in Belgium’s Oscar entry Omen and Samuel Kircher for Catherine Breillat’s taboo-breaking drama Last Summer. His brother Paul Kircher is also in the selection for The Animal Kingdom.

The talents were selected by a committee of...

EFM project ‘Maria Montessori’ has also sold robustly.

Paris-based Indie Sales has sold Belgian filmmaker Zeno Graton’s Berlinale Generation film The Lost Boys to Dark Star Pictures in the US, Pecadillo Pictures in the UK/Ireland and to the Filmin platform in Spain.

The film stars Khalil Gharbia alongside Julien de Saint Jean in a story of two young men attempting to keep their burgeoning relationship under wraps at a tough juvenile detention centre. The Lost Boys is produced by France’s Silex Films and Belgium’s Tarantula and will be released in Belgium by O’Brother and in...

Further titles include ‘Eismayer’ and ’You Can Live Forever’.

UK LGBTQ+ specialist Peccadillo Pictures has picked up The Lost Boys from Paris-based Indie Sales for distribution in the UK and Ireland, following its premiere in the Generation strand at the Berlinale, plus a raft of other titles off the back of the European Film Market (EFM).

Belgian filmmaker Zeno Graton’s The Lost Boys sees two young men attempt to keep their burgeoning relationship under wraps at a tough juvenile detention centre. It stars Peter Von Kant’s Khalil Ben Gharbia alongside Julien De Saint Jean. It is produced by...

Paris-based company Indie Sales has acquired “The Lost Boys,” the feature debut of up-and-coming Belgian filmmaker Zeno Graton which will play at the Berlin Film Festival in the Generation section.

Developed with the support of Cannes’ Cinefondation, “The Lost Boys” is headlined by Khalil Gharbia, the promising young actor of François Ozon’s “Peter von Kant,” alongside newcomer Julien de Saint-Jean.

The film is set contemporary Belgium and follows Joe, a teenager who is about to be released from a youth detention center. But when a new detainee arrives in his facility, Joe starts to question his desire for freedom and live on his own.

Produced by Belgium’s Tarantula, “The Lost Boys” is produced by France’s Silex Films and Belgium’s Menuetto Film. The movie will be released in the spring by O’Brother in Belgium and Rezo in France.

“Zeno Graton impresses with this first film in...

The Berlin Film Festival has revealed the first tranche of titles for its Panorama and Generation strands.

The Panorama lineup includes films from Ukraine, Yemen and about Iran. Of the 14 films selected, 11 are world premieres. There are new films by Sepideh Farsi, Jennifer Reeder, Tina Satter, Sacha Polak, Malene Choi and Ira Sachs.

The films selected for the Generation Kplus and Generation 14plus competitions include nine shorts and nine features, including 11 world premieres.

Stars featured in titles across the strands include Willem Dafoe, Ben Whishaw, Adèle Exarchopoulous, Leon Dai and Sydney Sweeney.

The festival takes place Feb. 16-26, 2023.

Panorama Titles

“Al Murhaqoon” (“The Burdened”)

by Amr Gamal. With Khaled Hamdan, Abeer Mohammed, Samah Alamrani, Awsam Abdulrahman, Shahd Algonfedy

Yemen/Sudan/Saudi Arabia

“Au cimetière de la pellicule” (“The Cemetery of Cinema”)

by Thierno Souleymane Diallo

France/Senegal/Guinea/Saudi Arabia

“El castillo” (“The Castle”)

by Martín Benchimol. With Justina Olivo,...

Selected actors will vie for five coveted spots in each of the most promising actor and actress categories.

France’s Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques, which runs the prestigious César awards, has unveiled its annual Revelations shortlist of local rising stars. They will vie for five coveted spots in each of the most promising actor and actress categories that will make the official nominees selection ahead of the 48th annual Cesars ceremony in Paris on February 24.

Among this year’s breakout stars are Saint Omer actresses Guslagie Malanda and Kayije Kagame, Cannes’ title Forever Young stars Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Clara Bretheau and Sofiane Bennacer,...

Peter (Denis Ménochet) is a famous filmmaker living in Cologne, Germany in the 1970s. He lives in a beautiful, colorful apartment with his assistant Karl (Stefan Crepon), a tall, thin, mustachioed man who dutifully does everything asked of him, all while never saying a word. Peter is hard at work on his next script — or not so hard, as he seems to spend most of his time lounging around, drinking, and listening to music while Karl types away. While his professional life is extremely successful, his personal life is far less so. There's an emptiness eating away at his soul — despite having it all, he has nobody to share it with. That might change, however, when a gorgeous young man appears at his door, at the request of his friend, who might finally make Peter's life bearable.

If this all sounds a bit familiar to you, then you're onto something.

Rainer Werner Fassbinder died as he lived: at many frames per second. The cinephile’s errand of trying to watch everything the German filmmaker made in his lifetime, from all 10 hours of “Berlin Alexanderplatz” to more modestly scaled melodramas like “The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant,” often feels like an act of running in place. Reports of his “contradictory” and “complex” nature reveal what we already know: He was a self-medicating, workaholic perfectionist who drove himself into the ground, completing more than 40 films in his short life, and died because of it. He also did not believe in love, or so say his latest collaborators in absentia, director François Ozon and Fassbinder’s longtime muse Hanna Schygulla.

Ozon has made his best film in years with “Peter von Kant,” one that will be seen by few but relished by all who do. The movie is both a response to...

More than 20 years after adapting a Rainer Werner Fassbinder play called “Waters Drops on Burning Rocks” into a movie, François Ozon has made this gender-flipped adaptation of one of Fassbinder’s greatest films, “The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant,” in an attempt to understand Fassbinder’s real-life struggle with the power plays of love.

Fassbinder’s “Petra von Kant” was shot very quickly on a very low budget, and he used a lot of long takes; every camera movement in Fassbinder’s version of this material feels so ultra-controlled that watching it is like getting tied up in an S & M dungeon or getting slowly strangled by a python. Ozon shoots his own “Peter von Kant” with a casualness that can feel frivolous, and he uses very conventional short takes for shot/reverse shot conversations.

Fassbinder’s “Petra von Kant” revolves around a lesbian love triangle that consists of...

François Ozon is one of France’s most prolific filmmakers, directing 21 features and a handful of shorts since 1997. But his latest, “Peter von Kant,” is one of the most unique films of the director’s career. The playful spin on Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s “The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant” is more than just a gender-swapped remake of Fassbinder’s classic German film about an abusive fashion designer.

Ozon made waves by reimagining Fassbinder’s film as an experimental biography of the director himself, casting Denis Menochet as a thinly veiled allegory for the legendary director, and replacing other characters in the film with members of his inner circle. The resulting movie was a hit at the 2022 Berlin International Film Festival and is set to make its North American theatrical debut this weekend. Watch the exclusive trailer below.

“The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant” starred Margit Carstensen as the eponymous fashion designer,...

Festival apologises to filmmakers and audience.

The 72nd Berlinale got underway after an inauspicious start on Thursday evening (10) as “technical problems” during the opening night screening of Francois Ozon’s Peter von Kant caused the film to cut out after about 30 minutes.

During a scene in which the eponymous character is shooting a film himself, the screen at the Berlinale Palast venue suddenly went blank.

The audience was left in the dark for roughly 10 minutes, before the film restarted at a different point. It played for another couple of minutes before cutting out again, to groans from the crowd.

Audience...

The breath of life and beating heart at the center of countless, Russian nesting doll layers of artifice and art-house reference, actor Denis Menochet doesn’t just anchor “Peter von Kant,” he makes the Francois Ozon project a film. Because without its venerable lead, this twenty-first feature from France’s most prolific modern director might be something of a lark — and wrangles it into a deep-in-the-weeds pseudo-biopic of the German filmmaker himself.

In some ways a sort of spiritual — if admittedly much less audacious — cousin to Todd Haynes’ “I’m Not There,” “Peter von Kant” looks to explore an artist through the prism of his own creations, pulling up the script to Fassbinder’s 1972 film (itself adapted from an earlier play) and Ctrl+H-ing each character with analogues for the director and those in his orbit. And so, in this telling, Peter von Kant is a hard-partying, West German director at...

It’s a neat conceit, making the directing colossus of 1970s German cinema into the star of his own show. Peter Von Kant, the opening film of the Berlin Film Festival, is “freely adapted” by French director François Ozon from The Bitter Tears Of Petra Von Kant, Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s highly stylized 1972 story of three women locked in a toxic triangle of love, jealousy, domination and submission. The storyline and much of the dialogue, is the same; where Ozon shakes it up is by making the trio all men.

Ozon has tangled with Fassbinder before. His 2000 film, Water Drops On Burning Rocks, which also dealt with power struggles within sexual relationships, was adapted from a Fassbinder play. Taking on The Bitter Tears Of Petra Von Kant, a recognized landmark of European cinema, is a bolder move, made at a different moment in Ozon’s career. This is maestro on...

Netflix officially opened its offices in Paris a year ago today and to mark the anniversary the streamer has confirmed details of four upcoming projects.

On the film side, Guillaume Pierret will direct a sequel to his 2020 action pic Lost Bullet, which was a hit for Netflix, attracting more than 37 million viewers in its first four weeks, the company said.

Also in film, Régis Blondeau will remake the 2014 Korean film A Hard Day as A Tombeau Ouvert, starring Franck Gastambide and Simon Abkarian.

In TV, the company confirmed production today on two new series including The 7 lives Of Lea, created by Charlotte Sanson and produced by Empreinte Digitale. The cast will feature Raïka Hazanavicius, Khalil Ben Gharbia, Mélanie Doutey and Samuel Benchetrit. The story follows a woman who stumbles upon the body of Ismael, a teenager who disappeared thirty years earlier, with the event taking her back to 1991 and seeing...