News

Ioncinema.com’s Chief Film Critic Nicholas Bell reviewed the entire competition and more. Here is a comprehensive guide to all the feature films across all sections, including logged reviews and forthcoming ones. Our Cannes coverage continues well beyond the festival dates.

Competition

Alpha – Julia Ducournau – [Review]

Dossier 137 – Dominik Moll – [Review]

Die, My Love – Lynne Ramsay – [Review]

Eagles of the Republic – Tarik Saleh – [Review]

Eddington – Ari Aster – [Review]

Fuori – Mario Martone – [Review]

The History of Sound – Oliver Hermanus – [Review]

It Was Just an Accident – Jafar Panahi – [Review]

La Petite Dernière – Hafsia Herzi – [Review]

The Mastermind – Kelly Reichardt – [Review]

Nouvelle Vague – Richard Linklater – [Review]

The Phoenician Scheme – Wes Anderson – [Review]

Renoir – Chie Hayakawa – [Review]

Resurrection – Bi Gan – [Review]

Romería – Carla Simón – [Review]

The Secret Agent – Kleber Mendonça Filho – [Review]

Sentimental Value – Joachim Trier – [Review]

Sirât – Óliver Laxe – [Review]

Sound of Falling – Mascha Schilinski – [Review]

Two Prosecutors – Sergei Loznitsa – [Review]

Woman and Child – Saeed Roustayi – [Review]

Jeunes mères – Dardennes – [Review]

Un Certain Regard

Aisha Can’t Fly Away – Morad Mostafa – [Review]

Caravan – Zuzana Kirchnerová – [Review]

The Chronology of Water...

Stéphane Demoustier’s film centers on Otto von Spreckelsen, a Danish architect entrusted with La Grande Arche in Paris’s La Défense during the early 1980s. That era’s spirit of modernist ambition meets a clash of national identities as a foreign visionary navigates French bureaucratic intricacies. Demoustier grounds the story in specific cultural rituals—state assemblies, architectural competitions, presidential audiences—while allowing von Spreckelsen’s Scandinavian design ethos, with its minimalist rigor and devotion to craft, to resonate on a global stage.

Claes Bang embodies this duality, portraying an outsider whose classical training and religious devotion infuse every blueprint with both precision and personal conviction. Viewers familiar with Denmark’s functionalist tradition will recognize von Spreckelsen’s insistence on pure materials and geometric clarity. Meanwhile, the film’s Parisian sequences, staged in opulent government offices and avant-garde construction sites, underscore how regional tastes and political priorities reshape artistic vision.

French presidents appear to have a obsessive compulsive disorder about leaving behind them imposing buildings or institutions such as the Centre Georges Pompidou, which posterity can admire (or not as the case made be).

Stéphane Démoustier offers an absording accourt of the travails and tribulations of a Danish architect, Otto Von Spreckelsen (Claes Bang), who unexpectedly wins a competition to design one of the most imposing public monuments in Paris for a long time - the white cube to sit at the end of axis from the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs-Elysées and the Louvre. Today it’s become a Mecca for skateboarders – not exactly the original intention.

He is as surprised as anyone to be named the recipient of the architectural award but with the bit between his teeth, he emerges as intransigent in the face of his political masters, who want changes.

President Mitterand (Michel Fau) gives his backing and seems.

Between Megalopolis and The Brutalist, obsessive architects were at the center of two of the most ambitious arthouse movies released last year. A more modest addition to the group, but fueled by some of the same ego-tripping, technical hurdles, bureaucratic infighting and money squabbles, Stéphane Demoustier’s The Great Arch follows the tragic true story of Johan Otto von Spreckelsen, an idealistic Danish builder whose design for a massive new monument next to Paris wound up destroying his life.

Filled with more French-bashing than most movies coming out of Gaul, the film offers a play-by-play account of what von Spreckelsen went through after he was chosen to erect a brand-new arch in the futuristic La Défense district west of the city. He had high ambitions that his “cube,” as he constantly referred to it, would stand alongside the Arc de Triomphe and Eiffel Tower as an enduring part of the Paris landscape.

Joaquin Phoenix, Juliette Binoche, Pedro Pascal, Riz Ahmed and Guillermo del Toro are among a group of figures to have added their names to a letter condemning the film industry for its “silence” over the ongoing and deadly impact of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

The letter, published on the first day of Cannes and initially signed by more than 370 actors and filmmakers, also condemned Israel’s killing of Fatma Hassona, the protagonist of festival-bound doc “Put Your Soul in Your Hand and Walk.”

The new signatories also includes the likes of Rooney Mara, Jim Jarmusch, Omar Sy, Peter Straughan, Camille Cottin, Michael Moore, Boots Riley and Alice Rohrwacher.

The letter urged cinema — which it said was a “breeding ground for socially committed works” — to use its art form to “draw lessons from history, to make films that are committed” and to be “present to protect oppressed voices.”

The...

France’s VFX industry has grown rapidly, initially driven by a 2020 tax measure that allowed qualifying international productions to claim a full 40% rebate on digital expenses. This incentive revitalized the post-production sector, attracting major projects that, in turn, spurred further development.

Subsequent public initiatives have only accelerated this virtuous cycle, as the government’s France 2030 investment plan looks to widen a talent pool that now boasts 4,500 professionals while the country’s national film board, Cnc, has rolled out a series of VFX bonuses and incentives for local productions as well.

“We’ve seen a dramatic rise in local VFX spending over the past two to three years, helping to grow the sector despite a general international slowdown,” says Cnc director of digital Pauline Augrain. “French productions have really embraced VFX — both artistically and industrially. From that perspective, we’ve clearly reached a new level of maturity.”

This new creative maturity...

While the Trump administration has sparked uproar in the European Union over the president’s aggressive new trade policy, it’s also fueled tensions between the U.S. and European film industries.

Jacques Audiard (“Emilia Perez”), Costa-Gavras (“Z”), Audrey Diwan (“Happening”) and Claude Lelouch (“A Man and a Woman”) are among the French filmmakers who have called out the the offensive led by the American film community against EU regulations, including the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (Avms), which forces foreign streaming services to invest a portion of their revenues into local productions.

In an open letter signed on behalf of France’s two main film orgs, Arp and Srf (Society of French Directors), French filmmakers said they were “astonished” by the memorandum signed by the Directors Guild of America (DGA) and the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE).

The message, which was sent in March to the United States...

The Cannes Film Festival 2025 line-up reveals the films that likely will be chatted about long through the year. Here’s what’s showing.

Cannes Film Festival has published its official line-up for this year’s event, and we get our first hint at the films that are set to be part of the awards conversation for the coming months. The festival will be screening several interesting films, including the directorial debuts of Scarlett Johansson and Harris Dickinson in the new filmmaker category.

Screening out of competition will be Spike Lee’s latest offering, Highest 2 Lowest, and Tom Cruise and company are taking Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning to the festival too. This has proved to be a public relations misstep in the past (remember Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny?) but with Mission releasing so soon after the festival, this seems like a savvy move to us.

The full list of films that will be screening at the 78th Annual Cannes Film Festival has been released. The line-up was announced this morning by the Cannes delegate general Thierry Frémaux and President Iris Knobloch at a press conference in Paris. The Hollywood Reporter has shared the program listing for this year’s event. While there are a number of anticipated high-profile titles, a bevy of auteurs will be showcasing their latest, including Kelly Reichardt, who will be returning to the competition with The Mastermind. The film is an art-heist drama and stars Josh O’Connor and John Magaro, which takes place during the Vietnam War.

Joachim Trier, the Norwegian filmmaker who made a splash in 2021 with The Worst Person of the World, returns with the new film Sentimental Value, which features Renate Reinsve. Julia Ducournau, the director of the surreal film, Titane, which got her a Palme d’Or...

The guessing game around which films could make the lineup for the 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, which runs from May 13—24, came to an end this morning at a press conference in Paris by Cannes delegate general Thierry Frémaux and president Iris Knobloch. If you tapped the latest works by Ari Aster (Eddington), Kelly Reichardt (The Mastermind), Richard Linklater (Nouvelle Vague), Wes anderson (The Phoenician Scheme), and the Dardenne brothers (Young Mothers) to make the cut, then you were correct.

Neon, which is on a five-year winning streak of Palme d’Or winners, two of which went on to win best picture at the Oscars (Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite and Sean Baker’s Anora), will try to make it a sixth with, for now, either of the two films it already has in its stable: Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value and Julie Ducournau’s Alpha.

Absent from the...

Among the lineup for the Cannes Film Festival’s 78th edition are some big names from Hollywood and global cinema. We already knew that Tom Cruise will light the fuse on Paramount/Skydance’s Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning on May 14 out of competition, while there was plenty of speculation that Scarlett Johansson would have a pair of movies on the Croisette. The latter has now been confirmed with Johansson’s directorial debut Eleanor the Great set for Un Certain Regard, and her acting reteam with Wes Anderson in his latest, The Phoenician Scheme, in Competition. Also confirmed is Ari Aster’s Eddington with Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal and Emma Stone.

Many more stars are potentially in store now that the bulk of the official selection has been revealed. Not everyone is confirmed to attend the Riviera shindig, but here’s a look at some of the possibilities.

Cannes...

Dieciséis años después, el cine español vuelve a duplicar presencia en la Competición Oficial de la Croisette.

© Cannes

Hoy es un día para celebrar. Porque esta mañana se ha desvelado la programación oficial del Festival de Cannes 2025 y, por primera vez desde aquel histórico 2009 –cuando coincidieron Isabel Coixet y Pedro Almodóvar–, dos cineastas españoles competirán por la ansiada Palma de Oro. Ellos son Carla Simón (recordemos que ganó el Oso de Oro en la Berlinale 2022 con Alcarràs) y Oliver Laxe. España vuelve a estar doblemente representada en la Croisette con sus nuevos largometrajes: Romería y Sirat, respectivamente.

Romería, tercer largometraje de Carla Simón, es una obra profundamente personal en la que la directora catalana se sumerge en la memoria de su familia biológica paterna. La historia sigue a Marina (interpretada por la debutante Llúcia Garcia Torras), una joven adoptada que viaja a Vigo para encontrarse por primera con la familia de su padre biológico.

New films from Wes Anderson, Richard Linklater and the Dardenne brothers will premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Cannes organizers announced at a press conference in Paris on Thursday.

Anderson will be back in Cannes with “The Phoenician Scheme,” which premiered a baffling trailer at CinemaCon last week. Linklater is heading to France with a bold movie, “Nouvelle Vague,” which tackles the sacred ground of Jean-Luc Godard and the filming of “Breathless” in the 1960s. The Dardenne brothers have “Young Mothers,” which gives them a chance to become the first filmmakers to win the Palme d’Or three times.

Actors in the festival making their directorial debuts include Scarlett Johansson, who is in Un Certain Regard with “Eleanor the Great,” starring Joan Squibb; and Harris Dickinson, the star of the Palme d’Or winner “The Triangle of Sadness,” with “Urchin.”

The main competition will include a number of...

The Cannes Film Festival announced its 2025 lineup on Thursday morning. Several expected contenders are set for world premieres on the French Riviera, including new projects from Scarlett Johansson, Richard Linklater, Wes Anderson, Ari Aster, Kelly Reichardt, Joachim Trier, and more.

Among the titles that will premiere at Cannes this year are Eleanor the Great, Johansson’s directorial debut with a lead role for June Squibb; Nouvelle Vague, Linklater’s tribute to the French New Wave and the making of Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless; The Mastermind, Reichardt’s latest about an art-world heist with roles for Josh O’Connor, Alana Haim, and John Magaro; Splitsville (directed by Michael Angelo Covino), a Neon release with Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona; and Sentimental Value, Triet’s follow-up to The Worst Person in the World with Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, and Elle Fanning in the cast.

Other films of note include Alpha (Cannes winner Julia Ducournau...

The Official Selection for the 78th Cannes Film Festival was revealed Thursday, with 19 movies in Competition. See full lists below.

Familiar names who will launch new works in the Competition include Wes Anderson, who brings his latest flick The Phoenician Scheme; Richard Linklater will launch his Paris-shot Nouvelle Vague; Jochim Trier debuts his latest feature Sentimental Value; and Titane Palme d’Or winner Julia Ducournau returns with Alpha.

Cannes will open this year with Leave One Day by first-time French filmmaker Amelie Bonnin. Thierry Frémaux said during his presser this morning that it was the first time a debut film has been selected to open the festival. Also hitting the Croisette for the first time is horror auteur Ari Aster, who returns to feature filmmaking with his buzzy A24 feature Eddington.

Related: Thierry Frémaux Talks ‘Mission: Impossible’; Star Presence; Hollywood Introspection & Oscar Track Record

Elsewhere, American filmmaker Kelly Reichardt will...

Ahead of the 78th Cannes Film Festival, taking place May 13 to 24, the lineup has now been unveiled. Iris Knobloch, President of the Festival de Cannes, and Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate, have revealed the slate this morning.

Highlights include Ari Aster’s Eddington, Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme, Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind, Joachim Trier’s Sentimal Value, Kleber Mendonça Filho’s The Secret Agent, Richard Linklater’s Nouvelle Vague, Julia Ducournau’s Alpha, Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just An Accident, Carla Simon’s Romeria, and more. In other sections we have Rebecca Zlotowski’s Vie Privée, the directorial debuts of Scarlett Johansson and Harris Dickinson, Michael Angelo Covino’s Splitsville, Sebastián Lelio’s The Wave, Sylvain Chomet’s The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol, and more.

See below.

In Competition

After (Oliver Laxe)

Alpha (Julia Ducournau)

The Eagles of the Republic (Tarik Saleh)

Eddington (Ari Aster)

Dossier 137 (Dominik Moll...

In the end, Emilia Pérez went two for 13. Jacques Audiard’s unclassifiable Mexican cartel transgender musical went into the 97th Academy Awards as the theoretical frontrunner. It’s 13 nominations — for best picture, director, actress, supporting actress, adapted screenplay, international feature, cinematography, film editing, makeup/hairstyling, original score, sound and two for original song — were the most ever for a non-English-language film, beating the 10 noms each for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Roma, and within touching distance of the all-time record held by All About Eve, Titanic and La La Land, which earned 14 each.

But when the votes were counted, Emilia Pérez walked away with just two awards: A best supporting actress nod for Zoe Saldaña and the best original song honor for “El Mal.”

We all know why. Emilia Pérez suffered the most spectacular derailing of an Oscar campaign in recent memory. There was just a week between the Jan.

“Emilia Pérez” won Best Film from the French 2025 César Awards, a major win for the Netflix film ahead of the Oscars. Jacques Audiard’s movie had earned 13 Oscar nominations but then fell out of frontrunner status.

The film also won both Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for Jacques Audiard, though Zoe Saldaña, who has dominated the awards circuit all year, lost in an upset to Hafsia Herzi for the film “Borgo.” Saldaña though was nominated alongside Karla Sofía Gascón in the Best Actress category, and not in Best Supporting Actress.

In all, “Emilia Pérez” took home seven Césars out of 12 nominations, including Best Visual Effects, Best Sound, Best Original Music, and Best Cinematography. “The Count of Monte Cristo,” a new version of the Dumas revenge tale, led all nominees with 14, and it won two.

While the Césars this year largely did not resemble the Oscars, a few others won...

Jacques Audiard’s crime musical “Emilia Perez” won a raft of prizes, including best film and director, at the 50th edition of the Cesar Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscars, on Friday in Paris.

“Emilia Perez” won a total of seven awards out of 12 nominations. While Zoe Saldana and Karla Sofía Gascón were both on hand and nominated for best actress, they lost to Hafsia Herzi, who starred as a prison supervisor in Stéphane Demoustier’s “Borgo.”

Gascón made her first award show appearance at the Cesar Awards ceremony after laying low in the wake of her offensive posts. Although she skipped the press line on the red carpet, Gascón sat on the same row as Audiard and Saldana inside the Olympia theater, but didn’t seat next to them and didn’t seem to be on speaking terms.

The ceremony’s emcee, French actor Jean-Pascal Zadi, tried to...

Jacques Audiard’s Oscar contender Emilia Pérez was the big winner at the 50th César Awards, France’s equivalent of the Oscars, taking best film and best director among multiple honors.

Audiard won best director and best adapted screenplay for Emilia Pérez, and the film also took honors for best sound, best cinematography, best visual effects and best original music.

But Emilia Pérez star Karla Sofía Gascón, who walked the red carpet at the Paris gala, returning to the spotlight for the first time since the eruption of the controversy surrounding her offensive resurfaced tweets, lost out in the best actress race to Hafsia Herzi, who won for her role as a female prison guard in Stéphane Demoustier’s drama Borgo.

Gascón, who is Spanish, skipped Spain’s national film awards, the Goyas, earlier this month following the backlash over her past social media posts. Netflix removed the actress, the...

The Count of Monte Cristo, Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière’s retelling of the classic French revenge tale, is the front-runner for this year’s César Awards, scoring 14 nominations, including in the best film and best directing categories.

The period drama, starring Pierre Niney, beat out Jacques Audiard’s Oscar frontrunner Emilia Pérez, which got 12 noms, and Beating Hearts, Gilles Lellouche’s contemporary reimagining of Romeo and Juliet featuring François Civil and Adèle Exarchopoulos, which earned 13 nominations.

Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patelliere’s lavish adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ classic was the biggest French box office hit of last year, drawing close to 10 million viewers for a $40 million local take. Globally, the film has grossed more than $75 million.

Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or winner, and Oscar contender, Anora, is up for the Cesar for best foreign film, against Academy Award hopefuls including Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance,...

“The Count of Monte Cristo,” a three-hour epic adventure adapted from Alexandre Dumas’s literary classic, is leading the race at the Cesar Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscars, with a whooping 14 nominations. “Beating Hearts,” Gilles Lellouche’s sprawling crime romance, follows shortly with 13 nominations.

A favorite in the Oscar race, Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Perez” is nominated for 12 Cesar Awards, including best film and actress for Karla Sofía Gascón and Zoe Saldana. The French awards show has highlighted international performers before, notably Kristen Stewart, who won a Cesar nod in 2015 for her supporting role in Olivier Assayas’ “Cloud of Sils Maria.”

It’s worth noting that the two Cesar frontrunners — “The Count of Monte Cristo” and “Beating Hearts” — were also France’s second and third highest grossing local films in 2024. Both movies are produced by Mediawan-owned banners, Chapter 2 and Chi-Fou-Mi (the latter produced “Beating Hearts...

The Count of Monte Cristo has topped the nominations for France’s prestigious César awards, followed by Beating Hearts and Oscar frontrunner Emilia Pérez.

The film has made it into 14 categories in the nominations, which were announced in Paris on Wednesday morning. Beating Hearts clinched 13, followed by Emiia Pérez with 12.

Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patelliere’s lavish and fast-paced adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel starring Pierre Niney was one of France’s top performing movies at the local box office in 2024, drawing close to 10M spectators and its top international export.

Gilles Lellouche’s modern Romeo and Juliet tale Beating Hearts – co-starring François Civil and Adèle Exarchopoulos – has also performed well at home, drawing more than five million spectators.

The 12 nominations for Jacques Audiard’s Cannes Jury prize-winning musical film Emilia Pérez continue its buzzy awards season run which has seen it clinch four Golden Globes and...

Lars Mikkelsen and François Cluzet have signed to star in Stephane Demoustier’s The Great Arch, a 1980s-set saga about a Danish architect tasked with building France’s famed La Defense structure.

Sidse Babett Knudsen, Vincent Macaigne and Swann Arlaud round out the starry cast of the film adapted from Laurence Cossé’s book of the same name that is set to start shooting later this year.

Mikkelsen plays Johan Otto von Spreckelsen, a real-life architecture teacher from Copenhagen who surprised the world when he won an open- call competition launched by French president François Mitterrand (Cluzet) and is...

Paris-based sales company is bringing eight new titles to Rendez-Vous.

Julie Delpy’s immigration-themed comedy Meet The Barbarians (Les Barbares) is among eight new titles Paris-based sales company Charades is launching at Unifrance’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema this month.

The event takes place from January 16-23 in Paris.

Charades extensive Rendez-Vous line-up also includes 3D animation Flow, romantic comedy Just A Couple of Days starring Camille Cottin, Jeremie Sein’s Olympic sports comedy Game Changers, Antoine Raimbault’s political thriller Smoke Signals, Gustave Kervern’s revenge story Enough Is Enough!, dark comedy Plastic Guns plus recently announced adaptation And...

Ibiza

He has been steadily building his filmography with 2014’s 40-Love, 2018’s Cléo & Paul and 2019’s The Girl with a Bracelet and we have a feeling that this fourth feature film (which went into production this past May) might have plenty to offer. Stéphane Demoustier enlisted Hafsia Herzi and the less-known Moussa Mansaly for a project that was formerly known as Borgo, and while details are non-existent we’ve come to understand that the island and sun setting are indeed important details to the the film’s core. Ibiza was actually filmed in Corsica. Petit Film and France 3 Cinéma are producing.…...

To be seen next year in Mektoub, My Love: Canto Due and Stéphane Demoustier’s Ibiza, the always busy Hafsia Herzi leads a quartet of players in a new directorial debut that might be worth keeping tabs on. A short filmmaker and La Fémis grad, Iris Kaltenbäck will have Herzi, Alexis Manenti, Nina Meurisse and Younès Boucif to work with on Le Ravissement. Cineuropa reports that production began this week and will move into mid November. Marianne Productions’ Alice Bloch (The Heroics) and MacT Productions’ Thierry de Clermont-Tonnerre (yes part of the filmmaker family) are producing. Marine Atlan (Summer Scars – read review) is the cinematographer.…...

Italy’s Satine Film has picked up Julie Lerat-Gersant’s Locarno Film Festival title “Little Ones” about teen pregnancy, Variety has learned in Locarno. In the past, the company has also released such titles as “Beasts of the Southern Wild” and Golden Bear winner “There Is No Evil.”

“We aim to discover and introduce visionary and courageous cinematographic voices from all over the world,” said Claudia Bedogni, Satine Film’s founder and managing director.

“The film struck me with its gentle but secure narration and captivating, emotional performances. It’s one of these rare gems where you feel tremendous empathy for the characters as if you were there with them, sharing the same sorrows and dilemmas,” she added. The company is hoping to encourage young audiences to watch the film. “We have done the same with Stéphane Demoustier’s ‘The Girl With a Bracelet,’ also acquired in Locarno, and it...

Hafsia Herzi will be setting her sights on her third outing as early as next year. We’ve known Herzi as the face of Abdellatif Kechiche’s The Secret of the Grain and in Mark Jackson’s last pair of films in War Story and This Teacher, but she has firmly made her place as a filmmaker with two Cannes Film Festival selected films of You Deserve a Lover (2019) and Bonne Mère (2021).

Currently toplining Stéphane Demoustier’s Ibiza (formerly titled Borgo), and with the status of Patricia Mazuy’s Portraits trompeurs unknown, Herzi recently received some coin for La Petite Dernière (back in March) and will likely be going through some extensive casting to find the film’s lead.…...

Venice’s Critics’ Week, Berlinale and Locarno filmmaker Stéphane Demoustier is set to begin production on his fourth feature film which will film in May on the island of Corsica. There appears to have been a change in location as the initial title was “Ibiza.” We’ve yet to get a logline on Borgo but we found out a bit late in the casting process that Hafsia Herzi and the less known Moussa Mansaly will topline the project. Demoustier’s last film the courtroom thriller The Girl with a Bracelet (read review) “offers a surprising amount of jealousy and sexuality lurks beneath the façade of normalcy between two teen girls which makes for gripping melodrama in an oft-acrimonious courtroom drama.”…...

Emmanuel Mouret’s “Love Affair(s),” Samir Guesmi’s “Ibrahim” and Elie Wajeman’s “Night Doctor” won top prizes at Colcoa, the French film and TV festival.

The festival, which marked its 25th edition, wrapped at the DGA on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles on Nov. 7. It was attended by 14,000 people.

The festival, programmed by Francois Truffart, is organized by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, a collaboration between the Directors Guild of America (DGA), the Motion Picture Association (MPA), The Writers Guild of America West (Wgaw) and France’s Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music (Sacem).

Colcoa shifted its spring dates to the fall in 2019 as the DGA was being renovated and is now ideally positioned at the start of the awards season in the U.S. The awards ceremony took place at the Sacem headquarters near Paris in the presence of many honorees, notably Guesmi and “Love Affair(s)” producer Frédéric Niedermayer,...

Colcoa, the L.A.-based French film and series festival, has unveiled the television section of its upcoming 25th anniversary edition.

“In Treatment,” Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache’s French adaptation of the original Israeli series “BeTipul”; Julie Delpy’s series debut “On The Verge”; and “Germinal,” the 19th century-set ambitious period series adapted from Emile Zola’s masterpiece created by Julien Lilti (“Hippocrate”) are among the nine TV titles set to have their North American premiere at Colcoa.

The other series set to compete at Colcoa include “High Intellectual Potential” starring Audrey Fleurot (“Spiral”) as an intractable cleaning lady-turned-ace detective and “Nona and her Daughters,” co-written and directed by Valerie Donzelli (“Declaration of War”).

Set to take place Nov. 1-7 at the DGA, the festival will showcase 12 programs, including seven series, four TV movies and one documentary. The section is being backed by Titrafilm and has enlisted some of France’s top companies,...

The UK and Ireland-based distributor acquires Cannes’ titles.

UK and Ireland-based distributor Peccadillo Pictures has acquired the rights to French director Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet’s Anaïs In Love, Brazilian director Anita Rocha da Silveira’s Medusa, and Clara Sola by Costa Rican and Swedish director Nathalie Álvarez Mesen.

The deals were done with sales outfits BeFor Films, Best Friend Forever and Luxbox respectively.

Bourgeois-Tacquet’s Cannes Critics’ Week selection and Camera d’Or nominated debut film Anaïs In Love, follows a woman as she leaves Paris to move to Brittany for a fast-evolving friendship.

It is produced by Igor Auzépy, Stéphane Demoustier,...

Cannes’ Critics’ Week title “Anais in Love,” Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet’s romantic comedy starring Anais Demoustier, is set to travel in key territories. The French-language film is represented in international markets by Pamela Leu’s Be For Films.

Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet’s feature debut centers on a spirited young woman who falls in love with the novelist wife of the man with whom she’s having an affair. Demoustier, who previously appeared in “Les Grandes Personnes” and “Marguerite & Julien,” leads the cast.

Magnolia acquired U.S. rights to the movie during the festival where it earned strong reviews. Be For Films has also sold the movie to Germany and Austria (Prokino Filmverleih), Australia & New Zealand (Kismet Movies), United Kingdom & Eire (Peccadillo Pictures), Canada (Axia Films), Benelux (Athena Films), Switzerland (Frenetic Films), Italy (Officine Ubu), Poland (Aurora Films), Greece (One from the Heart) and Brazil (Imovision). Be For Films is currently in negotiations to close Taiwan,...

Magnolia Pictures has nabbed U.S. rights to “Anais in Love,” a French-language comedy that marks the feature directing debut of Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet. The film is a Cannes Critics’ Week selection and centers on a spirited young woman who falls in love with the novelist wife of the man with whom she’s having an affair. Anaïs Demoustier, who previously appeared in “Les Grandes Personnes” and “Marguerite & Julien,” leads the cast.

“Anaïs Demoustier is spectacularly incandescent in this incredibly entertaining film about the vagaries of love as only the French can do,” said Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles.

The film has earned strong reviews since screening at the festival.

“As light and airy as a summer breeze, ’Anais In Love’ captures a portrait of a young woman impulsively navigating the unpredictable twists of life and love,” wrote Screen’s Allan Hunter. “Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet’s elegant debut feature is pitched between the...

The ceremony will take place on March 12.

Emmanuel Mouret’s love triangle drama Love Affair(s) leads the nominations in France’s César awards this year, followed by Albert Dupontel’s Bye Bye Morons and Summer Of 85.

France’s Academy of Cinema and Arts and Sciences unveiled the nomination list for the 46th edition of the awards on its website on Wednesday morning, ahead of the ceremony scheduled to take place on March 12.

Scroll down for nominations list

Its traditional news conference in Fouquet’s restaurant in Paris was not possible this year as bars and restaurants are currently...

Camélia Jordan and Vincent Macaigne in Emmanuel Mouret’s award-winning Love Affair(s) Photo: Moby Dick Films Voters in France’s Lumière awards, comprising international journalists based in France, which are regarded as a pertinent precursor to the Césars (the Oscar equivalent), have selected Emmanuel Mouret’s Love Affair(s)/Les Choses qu’on dit, les choses qu’on fait as the best film of the year.

Mouret continues his exploration of the trials and tribulations of the heart, soul and passion in a series of inter-linked tales featuring such acting talent as Vincent Macaigne, Camélia Jordana, Emilie Duquenne, Guillaume Gouix and Niels Schneider.

Emmanuel Mouret, director of best film in Lumière Awards Photo: UniFrance The best director gong went to Maïwenn for her fifth feature DNA in which she also stars alongside Fanny Ardant and Louis Garrel in family melodrama revolving around cultural identity and roots.

Stéphane Demoustier was...

Emmanuel Mouret’s “Love Affairs” won best film at the 26th Lumieres Awards, which are prizes given by France-based members of the foreign press. The film weaves together a series of romantic tales with an ensemble cast including Camelia Jordana and Niels Schneider.

This year, the ceremony became a televised event. The show was broadcast on Canal Plus and hosted by French journalists Laurie Cholewa and Laurent Weil with the participation of several voting journalists. The Lumieres event traditionally kicks off France’s awards season.

Filippo Meneghetti’s romance “Two of Us,” which represents France in the international feature film race at the Oscars, won two prizes, including best first film, and best actress for the duo Martine Chevallier and Barbara Sukowa. The feature debut follows Nina and Madeleine, two pensioners who have hidden their deep and passionate love for many decades and see their bond put to the test...

Awards ceremony will take place on January 19, 2021.

Italian director Filippo Meneghetti’s debut feature Two Of Us leads the nominations in the 26th edition of France’s Lumière awards, which were unveiled online today (December 14).

The awards, which are voted on by some 130 international correspondents hailing from 40 countries, are France’s equivalent of the Golden Globes.

In spite of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has delayed numerous releases this year, they have retained their traditional time slot and the awards ceremony will take place on January 19, 2021, in line with previous years.

Meneghetti’s Two Of Us is also France’s submission...

There's a cool ambiguity to Stéphane Demoustier's French remake of Argentinian film The Accused - which sees a teenager standing trial for the murder of her friend.

The bracelet she has isn't jewellery but the tag Lise Batallie (Melissa Guers) is given to wear by police while she waits for her day in court. It's also an indication of what is going to come under scrutiny in the course of the film - not just the girl herself but what she is associated with. This is the sort of story that will be familiar to viewers of the likes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, as the lifestyle of the accused is put on trial as much as her actions.

Lise doesn't betray her emotions much in the dock as she is questioned over the murder of her friend Flora by the prosecution (the director's sister Anaïs Demoustier) and defence.

Murder was the Case That They Gave Her: Demoustier Delivers a Chilly Courtroom Thriller

While it’s far from the first film to examine the popular, “how well can someone really know another person” rhetorical question, Stéphane Demoustier gets a lot of uncomfortable mileage out of such musings with his third feature The Girl with a Bracelet. Casting his sister, noted actress Anaïs Demoustier, as an unrelenting prosecutor, the result is an engrossing Gallic remake of Argentinean Gonzalo Tobal’s 2018 The Accused, which competed in the Venice Film Festival (and has yet to secure Us distribution). Not unlike the lurid elements which turned the Amanda Knox trial into a global media frenzy back in 2007, a surprising amount of jealousy and sexuality lurks beneath the façade of normalcy between two teen girls which makes for gripping melodrama in an oft-acrimonious courtroom drama.…...

Single mother drama opened Critics’ Week at Cannes.

Curzon Artificial Eye has secured UK rights to Franco Lolli’s Litigante in a deal with Paris-based sales company Kinology.

The distributor plans to release the film exclusively on streaming platform Curzon Home Cinema (Chc) on July 3.

The second feature from French-Colombian director Lolli opened Cannes Critics’ Week in 2019 and went on to screen at Zurich, Gent, Chicago and Torino. It also received a theatrical release in France on February 19, ahead of cinema closures due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Filmed in Bogota, the character-driven drama revolves around a female lawyer facing a...

Titles include Cannes award-winner ‘On A Magical Night’ and courtroom drama ‘The Girl With A Bracelet’.

Curzon Artificial Eye has secured UK rights to Christophe Honoré’s Cannes award-winner On A Magical Night and Stéphane Demoustier’s courtroom drama The Girl With A Bracelet in a deal with Paris-based sales company Charades.

The distributor initially plans to release both exclusively on streaming platform Curzon Home Cinema (Chc) later this month but intends to give each title theatrical screenings when cinemas reopen. While no date has yet been specified, it is anticipated that UK cinemas could reopen from July 4.

On A...

Wide French theatrical release in March was cancelled due to Covid-19 lockdown.

Paris-based distributor Le Pacte has sold French rights for Italian director Matteo Garrone’s Pinocchio to Amazon Prime Video, after being forced to delay a planned wide theatrical release due to the Covid-19 lockdown in France.

It is a significant and rare move for the French distributor, which had been due to launch the film across France on March 18, to coincide with the midterm school holiday period.

Le Pacte hastily pulled the release on March 6 as the Covid-19 outbreak intensified in the country. On March 14, French cinemas were...

Wide French theatrical release in March was cancelled due to Covid-19 lockdown.

French distributor Le Pacte has sold French rights for Italian director Matteo Garrone’s Pinocchio to Amazon Prime Video, after being forced to delay a planned wide theatrical release due to the Covid-19 lockdown in France.

It is a significant and rare move for the Paris-based distributor, which had been due to launch the film with a wide theatrical release across France on March 18, to coincide with the midterm school holiday period.

Le Pacte hastily pulled the release on March 6, however, as the outbreak intensified in the country.

France’s National Cinema Centre was granted powers in March to soften windows.

The French branches of Universal Pictures International (Upi) and Warner Bros are among a dozen distributors operating in France to have been granted permission by the country’s National Cinema Centre (Cnc) to break the theatrical window due to the shutdown of cinemas amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

They are joined by local studios Gaumont and Pathé as well as independent distributors Le Pacte, Diaphana, Memento Films Distribution and Ad Vitam, Rezo and Apollo, all of which are strong supporters of France’s media windows.

France’s notoriously...

Festival chief Intishal Al Tamimi says El Gouna Film Festival has built solid foundations.

Sudanese drama You Will Die At Twenty has scooped the top prize at the third edition of Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival, the $50,000 El Gouna Golden Star for narrative film. The festival ran in the Red Sea resort from September 17-27.

The debut feature of Dubai-born Sudanese filmmaker Amjad Abu Alala is a contemporary drama about a young man raised to believe that will die at the age of 20-years-old.

You Will Die At Twenty world premiered in Venice where it won the Lion of...

The upbeat state of Arab cinema will be on the screen and in the balmy air at Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival (Sept. 19-27), which is steadily gaining traction in its stated ambition to become a key platform and solid driver for Middle-East producers.

“This year was one the best for Arab cinema,” says Intishal Al Timimi, artistic director of the event held in a Red Sea resort. As evidence, he points out that each one of the five Arab films he selected for his 15-title main competition lineup is by a first-time director, and three are by women.

“It shows that young Arab filmmakers are thriving,” Al Timimi says.

Now at its third edition, El Gouna has, since its inception, aimed to combine a cream-of-the-crop lineup offering the finest and freshest global and Arabic offerings alongside its CineGouna market component, which nurtures projects, in either development or post,...

‘Aladdin’ star Mena Massoud confirmed to attend.

The El Gouna Film Festival, taking place on the Egyptian Red Sea coast Sept 19-27, has unveiled the line-up for its third edition.

A dozen international features, mainly selected from recent A-list festivals, will compete for the El Gouna Golden Star, worth $50,000, as well as other prizes.

Nearly half the competition titles hail from the Arab world including Lebanese filmmaker Oualid Mouaness’s 1982, about a school boy determined to declare his love to a classmate as war breaks out changing both their lives forever.

Nadine Labaki has a supporting role in the film,...

Like its deceiving title, which is more suitable for a Dutch Renaissance painting than for a courtroom drama, Stéphane Demoustier’s The Girl With a Bracelet (La Fille au bracelet) is very much about how one should never judge a book by its cover — or, more specifically here, judge a murder suspect by her outward emotional bearing.

Indeed, the titular bracelet in question has nothing to do with a band from Cartier or Chanel, referring instead to the electronic ankle monitor worn by 16-year-old Lise, a French teenager charged with killing her best friend. Much of the movie, adapted from ...