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“Ghost Trail” director Jonathan Millet will plumb the depths of the unconscious with his sophomore feature, “Les Rêves Tempêtes” (“The Storm of Dreams”).

Currently in development, the psychological thriller will reunite the documentarian-turned-fiction filmmaker Millet with his “Ghost Trail” producers Lionel Massol and Pauline Seigland of Films Grand Huit, this time to delve into the life of the mind.

“It’s really an excursion deep into thought,” Millet tells Variety, describing the project as an investigative and immersive experience inspired by real events and then refracted into dreams.

“I believe in films that truly pull us in as spectators, films that make us want to discover something, films that make us feel that with each scene, we’ll learn a little more,” he says. “Cinema allows us to reach, to share, to penetrate what’s normally invisible—really, the depth of thoughts—and through this film, we’ll do just that.

Egyptian director Morad Mostafa and French-Palestinian filmmaker Lina Soualem were among the winners of the seventh edition ofMarrakech’s Atlas Workshop prizes.

Mostafa, a 2023 Screen Star Of Tomorrow won a post-production prize for his debut feature Aisha Can’t Fly Away Anymore, which was filmed in the summer of 2024 and is produced by Sawsan Yusuf of Cairo-based Bonanza Films, who also co-wrote with Mostafa and Mohamed Abdelqader.

Other winners include Soualem for her first fiction featureAlicante,currently in development and produced by Lebanon-based Omar El Kadi and France’s Nadia Turincev; and Tala Hadid’sBardi,produced by Morocco’sAbdelmonime El Jarib,...

“Aisha Can’t Fly Away,” “Chronicles From the Siege,” and “It’s a Sad and Beautiful World” claimed a trio of post-production prizes at this year’s Atlas Workshops, which ran from Dec. 1 – 5 as part of the Marrakech Film Festival.

Winner of the top award, “Aisha Can’t Fly Away” walked away with a €25,000 post-production grant. Directed by Morad Mostafa, the film follows a 26-year-old Sudanese woman working as a caregiver in Ain Shams, a Cairo neighborhood known for its sizable African migrant community. Governmental indifference mixes with racial tensions and gang violence, setting the stage for a dark turn when one gang offers Aisha protection – if she’ll offer a favor in return.

The project previously won top honors at Final Cut in Venice earlier this year. Set for delivery in 2025, the lauded title has had festival scouts buzzing for months.

Speaking with Variety from Marrakech, one prominent festival...

Late last week the Music Box Films people made a pick-up for a remarkable debut feature that kicked off last May’s Critics’ Week section in Cannes – a gem that I called “unhurried and in protracted process bliss, tonally enthralling and buoyantly evasive, revenge here is served … slow.” Jonathan Millet’s revenge thriller Ghost Trail (aka Les Fantômes) will receive a theatrical release next Spring. This is easily Adam Bessa’s career best work to date as an actor. Millet comes from a docu background – and his research is well served here. Films Grand Huit’s Pauline Seigland (Giacomo Abbruzzese’s Disco Boy) produced the film.…...

Music Box Films has bought U.S. rights to “Ghost Trail,” Jonathan Millet’s tense revenge thriller, from MK2 films (“Anatomy of a Fall”).

Millet’s feature debut premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, where it opened the Critic’s Week section. It has since screened at the BFI London and Vancouver film festivals.

“Ghost Trail” will hold its U.S. premiere at the Chicago International Film Festival on Friday night. Music Box Films will release “Ghost Trail” next spring.

Based on true events, “Ghost Trail” stars up-and-coming French actor Adam Bessa as Hamid, a Syrian refugee who has relocated to France as part of a secret group pursuing the Syrian regime’s fugitive leaders. “His mission takes him on the trail of his former torturer — spending his days locating the prison guard from his past. With his judgment clouded by pressure, doubt and revenge, will Hamid be ready to confront him?...

Swedish director Ruben Östlund, who won Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or for “The Square” and “Triangle of Sadness,” was among the guests at the German Films and Medienboard Reception on May 18 in the garden of the Mondrian Hotel in Cannes.

Östlund, who is in the Riviera resort to promote his latest production, “The Entertainment System Is Down,” was accompanied by Philippe Bober of Coproduction Office, one of the film’s producers, and Erik Hemmendorf of Plattform Produktion, Östlund’s Swedish producer. (They are pictured above.)

German Films, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, was represented at the event by managing director Simone Baumann, and Medienboard, which is a film fund for the Berlin-Brandenburg region, was represented by its CEO Kirsten Niehuus. Variety was the media partner for the reception.

Among the other guests attending were Karim Aïnouz, director of “Motel Destino,” which plays in this year’s Competition section at Cannes.

Matteo Garrone’s refugee drama Io Capitano, an Oscar nominee this year for Italy in the best international feature category, was the big winner of this year’s 2024 David Di Donatello Awards, Italy’s equivalent to the Oscars, winning best film and director for Garrone.

Io Capitano also picked up prizes for best cinematography, editing, sound, and visual effects.

Paola Cortellesi’s There’s Still Tomorrow, a black-and-white feminist dramedy that became the top-grossing film in Italy last year, won Cortellesi the Donatello honors for best actress, directorial debut, and original script for the screenplay she co-wrote with Furio Andreotti and Giulia Calenda.

“I want to thank those who gave me the opportunity to write this role as I wanted it,” she said, accepting her actress honor.

Cortellesi’s film, a dramedy about an abused woman in post-wwii Rome that manages to combine serious social drama with situational comedy, sight gags and even a musical number,...

Matteo Garrone’s Oscar-nominated drama Io Capitano triumphed in Italy’s David di Donatello film awards on Friday evening, winning best film and best director.

The film about the trials and tribulations of two Senegalese teenagers as they try to make it to Europe via the Sahara desert and the Mediterranean Sea, also won best producer for companies Archimede, Rai cinema, Pathé and Tarantula as well as best sound, special effects, cinematography and editing.

Io Capitano premiered at the Venice Film Festival last September, where it won best director for Garrone and the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor for Seydou Sarr.

The movie went on to enjoy a buzzy awards season, securing a Golden Globe nomination for best non-English language film and an Academy Award nomination for best international film.

“This film tells the stories of those who are not listened to,” said Garrone, on receiving the best director award.

Producer Patrick Sobelman and Ariane Toscan du Plantier, director of Cinema Distribution France and International at film and TV company Gaumont, have been voted in as president and vice-president of France’s César Academy.

Their mandate begins on July 16 for two years. Sobelman was previously vice-president of the César Academy alongside outgoing president Véronique Cayla.

The president and vice-president, the members of the executive Academy Office, who assist them in their work, as well as the heads of the 22 professionals chapters were voted on by the 176 members of the general assembly of the Association for the Promotion of Cinema, the umbrella body overseeing Cesar Academy. The general assembly members are in turn voted in by the some 4,700 members of the academy.

Since 2020, the Apc has stipulated gender parity across the César Academy’s Presidency, Academy Office and different chapter representatives, following accusations of lack of gender equality within its ranks...

Italian actress and screenwriter Paola Cortellesi’s directorial feature debut, There’s Still Tomorrow (C’è Ancora Domani), and Matteo Garrone’s Io Capitano lead nominations at this year’s David Di Donatello Awards.

There’s Still Tomorrow nabbed 19 noms, including best film while Io Capitano landed 15, including best director for Garrone. Trailing the leading two is Alice Rohrwacher’s latest film, La Chimera, starring Josh O’Connor. Other leading films are Rapito (11), Comandante (10), Il Sol Dell’avvenire (7), and Adagio (5).

The 69th David di Donatello Awards take place May 3. The live show will be broadcast on Rai 1 in Italy. This year’s hosts include Carlo Conti and Alessia Marcuzzi. The ceremony will take place at the legendary Cinecittà studios.

Check out the full list of nominees below:

Best Film

C’È Ancora DOMANIprodotto da Mario Gianani e Lorenzo Gangarossa per Wildside società del gruppo Fremantle; Vision Distribution società del gruppo Sky; in collaborazione...

Danger Zone

Director: Vita Maria Drygas

Producer: Vita Żelakeviciute

Production companies: Drygas Film Production

Sales: Dogwoof

Documentary is a journey to places devastated by military conflicts, seen through the eyes of thrill-seeking tourists.

Delegation

(Generation 14plus)

Director: Asaf Saban

Cast: Yoav Bavly, Neomi Harari, Leib Lev Levin, Ezra Dagan, Alma Dishy

Producers: Agnieszka Dziedzic, Yoav Roeh, Aurit Zamir, Roshanak Behesht Nedjad

Production companies: Koi Studio, Gum Films, In Good Co.

Sales: New Europe Film Sales

Three Israeli friends visit Holocaust sites in Poland before their stints in the army, and deal with love, friendship and politics.

Disco Boy

(Competition)

Director: Giacomo Abbruzzese

Cast: Franz Rogowski, Morr Ndiaye, Laëtitia Ky, Leon Lučev

Producers: Lionel Massol, Pauline Seigland

Production companies: Films Grand Huit, Dugong Films, Panache Productions, La Compagnie Cinématographique, Donten & Lacroix, Division

Sales: Charades

Aleksei reaches Paris to enlist in the French Foreign Legion, which allows any foreigner, even undocumented, to be granted a French passport.

Charades has dropped the trailer for “Disco Boy,” the anticipated feature debut of Giacomo Abbruzzese, starring Franz Rogowski (“Passages”) which is competing at the Berlin Film Festival.

The movie is produced by the rising French production company Films Grand Huit. Shot across two continents by Hélène Louvart, the movie boasts a diverse international cast and a soundtrack by electronic music artist Vitalic.

“Disco Boy stars Rogowski as Aleksei, who embarks on a difficult journey across Europe and reaches Paris to enlist in the French Foreign Legion, a highly selective military corp that allows any foreigner, even undocumented, to be granted a French passport. In the Niger Delta, Jomo (Morr Ndiaye) fights against oil companies that threaten the survival of his village. His sister Udoka (Laëtitia Ky), meanwhile, dreams of escaping, knowing that all is already lost here. Beyond borders, life and death, their destinies will intertwine.

The film marks the feature debut of Abbruzzese,...

Rabia

A new voice in German cinema embarks on a journey that could have been pulled from the headlines but it’s the destination and possible examination into psychological darkness that could be the alluring facet to this feature debut. Mareike Engelhardt had early support for her project winning the Arte Kino International Prize and she lassoed the likes of Megan Northam and Lubna Azabal to explore a power-dynamic set in inside a women’s shelter in Syria. Rabia moved into production late last year and wrapped up this month. Grand Huit’s Lionel Massol and Pauline Seigland produced the film.

Gist: A 19-year-old French woman travels to a country at war and finds herself trapped in a house full of women with a number of other young arrivals from all corners of the globe.…...

Disco Boy

A project that received backing in the shape of a Cinefondation residency and an Arte Development Prize at the Arcs Film Festival’s Village of Coproductions, Italian filmmaker Giacomo Abbruzzese worked in the short form before graduating to this feature debut. Filmed in France and in Poland, Disco Boy was filmed in September of 2021. This depicts the painful journey of moving to an uncertain destination. Franz Rogowski, Morr N’Diaye, Laetitia Ky, Leon Lucev, Matteo Olivetti, Robert Wieckiewcz and Mutamba Kalonji star. Films Grand Huit’s Lionel Massol and Pauline Seigland produced the project. Hélène Louvart is the cinematographer here.…...

Following a backlash within its membership ranks and the resignation of its board of directors and president earlier this year, France’s Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma has set new leadership. At a general assembly today, the Académie, which hands out the country’s César Awards, elected former Cnc and Arte chief Veronique Cayla as president and Intouchables co-director and filmmaker Eric Toledano as vice president. They will hold their positions for a two-year term.

The duo replaces Margaret Menegoz who was interim president following Alain Terzian’s departure in February. Terzian left amid rising controversy in the wake of this year’s César nominations which gave Roman Polanski’s An Officer And A Spy the lead at 12. The film ultimately won three prizes at the protested ceremony.

Prior to the awards, the film org was called out as “elitist and closed” by some 200 artists who said they...

Exclusive: Global streamer Mubi has taken worldwide Svod rights (excl. Spain) to Little Hands, Rémi Allier’s short film that is in the running for this year’s Live Action Short Film Oscar.

The pic screened at Telluride and also won last year’s César short film award in France. It tells the story of a factory employee who, upon discovering that the management is closing down his workplace, kidnaps the toddler of the director in order to negotiate.

It was produced by Benoît Roland (Wrong Men) and Pauline Seigland and Lionel Massol (Film Grand Huit). Wim Wenders and Dario Suter (Dcm) are executive producers.

The deal was struck between François Morisset from Salaud Morisset, a regular distributor of short films, and Kevin Chan from Mubi.

Paris and Berlin based Salaud Morisset has previously worked on Guy Nattiv’s 2019 Live Action Short Oscar-winning film Skin, Ladj Li’s short Les Miserables,...

This last half-decade, few French screenwriters have run up such an illustrious list of co-write credits as Noé Debré. Thomas Bedigain’s writing partner on Jacques Audiard’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner “Deephan,” Debra co-penned Bedigain’s own debut, “The Cowboys,” “Racer and the Jailbird,” by Michael Roskam, and “Le Brio,” directed by Yvan Attal. He has now made his directorial debut, “The Seventh Continent.” Few films in MyFrenchFilmFestival, which launched yesterday.

In it, Emile, a rotund-girthed private investigator is asked by Thybaud to find his girlfriend Claire Soares, who has been abducted by billionaire John Rapoport, or so Thybaud says. The first person Emile down his local club says she knows Rapport very well – he comes to cry on her shoulder every night; the second announces he’s going to a party at Claire’s place, just nearby. But Emile really shouldn’t take Mdma, when he’s on the job.