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A dozen years separate Agathe Riedinger’s feature-length directorial debut, Wild Diamond, and Matteo Garrone’s Reality, another continental European story of a working-class aspirant hoping to star on a reality television program. Yet the difference in what each film’s protagonist expects to receive from their selection proves illustrative of how the influencer economy has fundamentally rewired the nature of adolescent aspiration.

For Wild Diamond’s striving 19-year-old main character, Liane Pougy (Malou Khebizi), the program Miracle Island means more than a mere refuge from reality, like Grande Fratello (Italy’s Big Brother) represented to Garrone’s fishmonger Luciano. In Liane’s eyes, the show provides a rare opportunity to fully remake her lot in life and reorient herself as the star of her surroundings. But to become the person she so desperately wishes to be, she must first get the show’s producers to reconstitute her essence as...

Exclusive: Distrib Films has acquired US rights to Corsican director Frederic Farrucci’s second feature The Mohican that premiered at last year’s Venice Film Festival in the Horizons Extra section.

Alexis Manenti stars as a goatherd on the Corsican coast pressured by local mafia to leave his land, who finds himself the victim of a manhunt after he unwittingly kills a man sent to intimidate him. The cast also includes Mara Taquin, Pietri Théo Frimigacci, Paul Garatte and Marie-Pierre Nouveau.

Be For Films handles international sales for the film that has already sold to multiple territories. Ad Vitam released...

There is an undeniable silliness in Netflix’s latest offering, “Banger” (2025). Starring Vincent Cassel and directed by the multifaceted French artist So-Me, the French crime comedy set in the world of DJs and drugs revels in that silliness. And no one celebrates the intended frivolity more than the film’s lead character, played by Cassel. It is primarily due to the enigmatic French actor’s energetically humorous turn that the film rises above its middlingly trope-laden plot to become something memorable.

Banger (2025) Netflix Movie Synopsis and Plot Summary:

Luis (Vincent Cassel), who likes to go by his DJ Name ‘Scorpex,’ is raging against the dying light shining on his deejaying career. He has not produced a noteworthy track in a long time. Refusing to hear the bell tolling for him, Luis hangs around concerts for brief opportunities to play a set. One such opportunity comes. Luis gets to play his...

Women have been equated with witches for centuries now. The opening credit of Saïd Belktibia’s “Hood Witch (Roqya)” establishes that in a matter of a few seconds – running us through all the blame that has been put upon women just because some of them decide to stand up to the regressive nature of the patriarchy, refusing to be controlled. The idea with which the film begins is an interesting one too.

In Paris, Nour (Golshifteh Farahani) makes a living selling exotic animals – lizards, snakes, frogs, and other reptiles – to healers who use them in their witchcraft and exorcism processes. She is estranged from her abusive husband Dylan (Jérémy Ferrari) who often comes in her way threatening her of copping her out for her scheming ways. In hindsight, he wants to have sole custody of their son Amine (Amine Zariouhi).

Amine is fond of his mother, and occasionally helps her build an app named “Barakha,...

Over the past two decades, the Academy Awards have been in a constant state of flux: There are now 10 best picture nominees instead of five, the membership has grown (and diversified) by more than 50% in that time, streaming releases now routinely vie for the top prize. Amid all that change, one constant remains: For 20 years, U.K.-based Shorts International has been working with the short film nominees to get their work seen around the country. The theatrical audience for those releases grows each year, to the point that the “2025 Oscar Nominated Short Films: Live Action” package (which just crossed $3 million at the box office) is on track to outgross even best picture nominee “Nickel Boys.”

First up in an all-around strong (and impressively international) selection is the Croatian short that won the Palme d’Or at Cannes last year, “The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent.” Set...

Religious fanaticism collides with modern society in the social media age in the French horror thriller Hood Witch. Dark Sky Films has unveiled the official trailer today, unleashing an intense witchhunt for its titular witch.

Hood Witch releases in select theaters and digital platforms on March 21, 2025.

The film “follows a single mother Nour and her son. Nour makes a living from smuggling exotic animals and illicit products. Wishing to get her son out of the city and offer him a better future, she designs and develops a mobile app that connects clients and marabouts. It’s a success, but a patient’s consultation turns into a tragedy and Nour has to face a wave of violence that could cost her and her son their lives.”

Golshifteh Farahani stars as Nour. Amine Zariouhi, Denis Lavant, Alexis Manenti, Karim Belkhadra, and Issaka Sawadogo also star.

The film, which premiered last year at SXSW,...

Netflix is experiencing a series of hits on its platform, with many releases becoming very popular. Since the beginning of the year, three titles have reached Netflix's Most Popular Lists.

One of its surprise hits is the French action thriller Ad Vitam. The series premiered on the platform on Jan. 10, 2025, and has been raking in major views since its release, dominating the non-English charts. The film's ongoing popularity led to Ad Vitam joining Netflix's Most Popular Non-English Movies list, per Tudum.

RelatedThe Last of Us Star's New Drama About Wellness Culture With 79% Rt Score Becomes a Hit on Streaming

The limited series is loosely based on a real story.

Ad Vitam joined the list with 56 million views, and 91.5 million hours viewed. The French action thriller's success might not end here because it's close to replacing No. 9 on the list, the 2022 Italian film My Name is Vendetta, which has only 400,000 views more than Ad Vitam.

French-language action thriller Ad Vitam, starring Guillaume Canet, has entered Netflix’s all-time top ten for most popular non-English movies on its platform.

Per data collated by the streamer to coincide with the publication of its weekly top 10 charts, the movie has generated 54.5 million views since its release on January 10, in 93 countries including France, the U.S., Canada, Germany, Spain, the UK and Australia.

The achievement came as the movie clocked another 3.4M views over the past week, putting it in the No. 4 slot of this week’s chart.

Canet plays a former elite agent whose pregnant wife is kidnapped in an attack on their home by a mysterious group of armed men. As he embarks on a dangerous personal mission to get her back, his past catches up with him and he is plunged into a state affair that is beyond his control.

It marks a first major action...

In the last few years, Netflix has further expanded its slate with foreign titles that have proven to be extremely popular. Aside from the worldwide phenomenon series Squid Game and Money Heist, the streamer has released many popular movies, too, like 2023's Society of the Snow, 2019's The Platform, and 2024's Under Paris.

A new title that's making waves on the streaming service is Ad Vitam. The French action thriller debuted on Netflix on Jan. 10, 2025, and has been a huge hit ever since. Ad Vitam continued its dominance at the top of the non-English movie charts globally for a third week in a row, adding 8.4 million views, the equivalent of 13.7 million hours viewed for the week between Jan. 20 and Jan. 26, per Tudum.

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There's nothing people love more than a comeback story and Cameron Diaz proves that.

The French action thriller Ad Vitam has seen huge success on Netflix since being released earlier this month, but there’s another, hard-hitting action flick from France on the streaming platform that you should absolutely check out. Whether you enjoyed Ad Vitam or not. Released back in 2022, Athena drops audiences into the chaotic world of riots and violence following the tragic killing of a young boy. The boy’s three older brothers, one a soldier, the other a criminal, and the third out for revenge, find themselves at the center of the raging conflict.

Directed and co-written by Romain Gavras alongside Ladj Ly and Elias Belkeddar, Athena stars Dali Benssalah (No Time to Die), Sami Slimane (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice), Anthony Bajon (The Prayer), Ouassini Embarek (The Good Thief), Alexis Manenti. You can check out the official synopsis below.

“After the death of his youngest brother following an alleged police altercation, Abdel...

Netflix's latest movie, Ad Vitam, includes a small ensemble of talented French actors. Directed by Rodolphe Lauga, the Netflix international movie is currently the number one non-English film on the streaming platform. Ad Vitam follows Franck, a former member of the elite French tactical police, the Gign, as he is forced to delve into his past after his pregnant wife is kidnapped. While Ad Vitam uses a similar plotline that several films in the genre employ, it sets itself apart with its action and incredible performances from its cast.

Since most of the actors in Ad Vitam are French, they might not be familiar to an American audience, but they've featured in several French movies and TV Shows. The Netflix action movie is engaging from start to finish, with an intense storyline that makes audiences root for the primary protagonist. Although there's a lot to like about Ad Vitam,...

Ad Vitam has been climbing Netflix's charts, leaving some viewers confused by the film's title. The title of the movie is almost as mysterious as the film's plot, which follows a former police officer who has to save his wife from kidnappers. The chase sends him through France, and he has to use his officer skills to track down the officers while also avoiding being framed.

The French thriller's action-packed sequences and conspiracy-centered plot make the film's historically based name even more intriguing. The title comes from a mixture of ancient Rome and legal terms throughout history, which seems odd for a thriller. However, the meaning of Ad Vitam connects very closely to what happens in the movie and has a deeper meaning that some viewers might miss.

Ad Vitam ThrillerDramaCrimeAction

Release Date January 10, 2025Runtime 97 minutesCast Guillaume Canet, Alexis Manenti, Stéphane Caillard, Nassim Lyes, Zita Hanrot, Johan Heldenbergh, Etienne Guillou-Kervern...

The French action film “Ad Vitam” came out of nowhere to become the biggest movie on Netflix at the start of 2025.

“Ad Vitam” beat out a number of film classics and nostalgic movies to climb to the top of Netflix’s Top 10 ranking since it’s debut on Jan. 10. The film is certain to scratch the itch for action movie lovers – particularly those who adored Liam Neeson’s “Taken” franchise.

Here is what you need to know about “Ad Vitam” before you check it out for yourself.

What is ‘Ad Vitam’ about?

“Ad Vitam” follows a counterterrorism agent for the French national police called Gign who has fallen from grace right as he’s embroiled in a mission involving the kidnapping of his pregnant wife. Here’s the official synopsis of the film:

“After escaping an attempted murder, Franck Lazareff must find his wife Leo, who has been kidnapped by...

Guillaume Canet makes like Bruce Willis and other past regular-guy-as-action-hero models in “Ad Vitam,” which he co-wrote. The entertaining Netflix concoction stars Canet as a Parisian ex-cop forcibly pulled into new perils connected to the shootout that got him sacked. Putting its hero through paces that embrace everything from parkour to parasailing, Rodolphe Lauga’s feature is not dull. But it is increasingly hard to take seriously, as the script veers between gritty thriller terrain to the kind of overscaled set-pieces more apt for James Bond.

Those elements’ failure to gel gets exacerbated by an awkward story structure whose midsection is a long, two-part flashback. The splashy yet vague end result feels like a hoped-for launch to a franchise that lacks the distinct character to become one — in trying to be too many things at once, it emerges a slippery composite of familiar genre concepts.

At the start, Franck Lazarev...

Netflix has continued to bring some incredibly popular action movies to streaming, and not just those from U.S. studios. Their new chart-topping release is the French movie Ad Vitam, which has already been compared to Liam Neeson’s Taken – even if its reviews have fallen a little short of that classic tale of skills and revenge. Having landed on the platform on January 10, the movie immediately overtook popular titles like Despicable Me and the Rush Hour trilogy to claim the number one spot easily.

Action movies have been the name of the game for many streamers in recent years, with movies from veterans like Van Damme and Statham charting high alongside new movies like Carry-On and Rebel Ridge. Now Ad Vitam has provided thrill-seekers with another blistering movie to usher them into a new year of movies. The action thriller is directed by Rodolphe Lauga, with Guillaume Canet starring as Franck,...

The central struggle of Netflix’s French action thriller, Ad Vitam, hinges upon the age-old question of whether the concept of nationalism equates loyalty to the state or to the ones who control the power dynamics of the state. While the execution of the theme left much to be desired due to a lackluster script, the performance by the ensemble cast was strong enough to keep the audience entertained.

Franck Lazarev Played By Guillaume Canet

French actor, director, and screenwriter Guillaume Canet has been active in the movie industry for over the last three decades and has starred in acclaimed movies like the crime noir Next Time, I’ll Aim for the Heart, the adventure drama titled The Beach, and the thrilling Tell No One, which was also directed by him.

In Ad Vitam, Guillaume Canet plays the lead role of former Gign Captain Franck Lazarev, whose quest to serve...

The French action thriller Ad Vitam, directed by Rodolphe Lauga, attempts to mix adrenaline with existential themes. The film, which stars Guillaume Canet as Franck, a former elite Gign officer, examines duty and family ties. The Latin word for “for life” in the title suggests an intellectual depth that the book often avoids.

When masked attackers kidnap Franck’s pregnant wife, Léo (Stéphane Caillard), the narrative begins, sending him on a bloody mission. But instead of a well-thought-out story, we get a rough outline of well-known plot points.

Franck feels guilty about a terrible event that ruined his job. This history is interesting to learn about, but it’s told through forced flashbacks. When does an action movie become more serious? This is the question it begs.

Léo represents vulnerability and power, consistent with larger societal themes about gender roles in action films. Even though she has trained, she often plays the damsel in trouble,...

Last year saw Netflix unleash several hugely popular, and critically acclaimed, action movies, including the gritty crime thriller Rebel Ridge, the brutal and bloody revenge epic The Shadow Strays, and the Christmas action outing Carry-On. And it looks like the streamer is all set to continue that success, with the upcoming action thriller Ad Vitam promising to be the next Taken. That’s right, the beloved Liam Neeson movie that kick-started the renowned actor’s aged action hero career.

Directed by Rodolphe Lauga, the French action thriller Ad Vitam stars Guillaume Canet as Franck, a man with a mysterious past who, after surviving a home invasion, must save his kidnapped wife while facing the deadly consequences of his painful past. The rest of the cast includes Stéphane Caillard, Nassim Lyes, Zita Hanrot, Alexis Manenti, Johan Heldenbergh, Etienne Guillou-Kervern, and Rayan Bouazza. Ad Vitam is all set to land on Netflix...

"You have four hours to bring me what we want." Netflix has unveiled an official trailer for a French action thriller film called Ad Vitam, directed by the camera operator turned filmmaker Rodolphe Lauga. The film features a screenplay co-written by Rodolphe Lauga and French actor Guillaume Canet, telling a story about a man trying to save his wife while tangled in a bigger conspiracy. After escaping from an attempted murder, Franck Lazarev must find his wife Léo, who has been kidnapped by a mysterious group of armed men. He is caught up by his past as a former member of the French Elite Intervention Squad (Gign) and pulled into a state affair far beyond his control. Starring Guillaume Canet as Franck (doing lots of running), Stéphane Caillard, Nassim Lyes, Zita Hanrot, Alexis Manenti, & Johan Heldenbergh. Yet another localized French film offering from Netflix - it does look entertaining but...

Netflix presented its first international showcase yesterday with a look at what is coming down down the pike. Below is a preview of what’s on deck for feature films. Of note, was the title announcement and treatment of the Japanese movie Bullet Train Explosion. Also made a official was Troll 2, the sequel to the streamer’s most watched non-English language film from Norway. Roar Uthaug returns to the director’s chair.

Also of note, the streamer dated the Mexican movie Los Dos Hemisferios de Lucca from Marina Chenillo for Jan. 31 next year.

Not made official by the streamer was a part two to their widely watched shark movie of 102.3M viewers, Under Paris, from director Xavier Gens and starring Oscar nominated The Artist actress, Bérénice Bejo.

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Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria announced the slate at...

Joseph’s quiet life herding goats along the rugged coastline of Corsica is suddenly disrupted. As the last remaining pastoral shepherd in the remote area, he stubbornly refuses to sell his land despite facing increasing pressure.

Powerful interests have their eyes on transforming the lonely shores into a paradise for wealthy tourists. But their heavy-handed methods will only harden Joseph’s resolve to protect the traditional way of life that has sustained his community for generations.

When mysterious figures armed with threats and violence come seeking to force his hand, Joseph has no choice but to go on the run to save himself. Now viewed as an enemy by the faceless forces intent on remaking the landscape, he finds an unlikely ally in his tech-savvy niece Vannina.

From her home in Paris, she uses social media to spread Joseph’s story far and wide, awakening a groundswell of support from...

Shooting has kicked off in Bordeaux for Gaya Jiji’s Pieces Of A Foreign Life (L’Etrangère), with Cannes best actress winner Zar Amir Ebrahimi starring as a Syrian woman seeking freedom and a new life in France.

France tv distribution has picked up international sales rights to the film and will kick off discussions with buyers at the upcoming American Film Market. It has also released this first-look image.

Ebrahimi, who won Cannes’ best actress prize in 2022 for Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider, plays a woman who flees war-torn Syria, leaving her son and husband behind, and ends up seeking asylum in Bordeaux.

Brussels-based sales agency Be For Films has closed distribution deals on Frédéric Farrucci’s “The Mohican,” which world premiered in the Horizons Extra section of the Venice Film Festival.

Territories deals closed include Frenetic Films for Switzerland, Splendid Film for Germany and Austria, Edge Entertainment for Scandinavia, One From the Heart for Greece, and Imovision for Brazil.

The company is in discussion for deals for Benelux, Australia, U.S. and Japan.

The French distributor is Ad Vitam.

The French- and Corsican-language drama centers on Joseph, one of the last goatherds on the Corsican coastline, who receives a visit from the Mafia. They want to take his land. Despite the pressure, he says no, he won’t move.

After unwittingly killing the man sent to intimidate him, he becomes the victim of a merciless manhunt that takes place from the southern to the northern reaches of Corsica, in the middle of summer.

Max has revealed the trailer for its first French four-part limited series, The Confidante, which will debut on the streaming service on Friday, October 11. New episodes will debut weekly.

Inspired by true events, this psychological thriller follows Christelle “Chris” Blandin, a rock music-obsessed Parisian who, after witnessing the harrowing November 13, 2015 terrorist attacks, quickly latches onto a community of survivors.

Claiming that her best friend Vincent was one of dozens critically injured at the Bataclan Theatre, Chris becomes an indispensable resource for the group, working her way into a prominent role in a survivors’ association.

Though her commitment seems relentless, discrepancies begin to pepper her story – raising serious doubts among the true victims of the tragedy. A thought-provoking series, The Confidante questions the very nature of truth… and the web of lies left in one woman’s wake.

The cast of this psychological thriller includes Laure Calamy Arieh Worthalter (Le procès...

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Max is ready with an entertainment-packed October this year. The upcoming month will see the return of some of HBO’s brilliant original comedy series Somebody Somewhere and also new original movies like Salem’s Lot. Just like every month, Max is ready to overload you with great content. So, we’re here to tell you about the 10 new movies and TV shows coming to Max in October 2024.

Interview with the Vampire (October 1)

Interview with the Vampire is a gothic horror drama film directed by Neil Jordan from a screenplay by Anne Rice. Based on Rice’s 1976 novel of the same name, the 1994 film follows the story of Louis, a vampire as he tells his life story to an eager biographer and his violent maker Lestat tries to make Louis stay with him. Interview with the Vampire stars Tom Cruise,...

The first scores have landed on Screen’s 2024 Cannes jury grid with Agathe Riedinger’s Wild Diamond receiving an average score of 2.1.

The French filmmaker’s debut received nine scores of two (average) while Katja Nicodemus from Germany’s Die Zeit and Screen’s own critic gave it three (good). This was rounded off by a one star (poor) from Bangkok Post’s Kong Rithdee.

Click on the jury grid above for the most up-to-date version.

Wild Diamond follows a 19-year-old woman who sets her heart on success as a reality show star. Newcomer Malou Khebizi leads the way...

Religion, Karl Marx said, is the opiate of the masses. Today, he would likely say that the opiate of the masses is fame — the desire for it, the things you have to do to get it, the fragmentary nature of it, and everything it’s supposed to bring you. The new fame, the lusty fickle kind bred by social media, is at the center of the startlingly bold French drama “Wild Diamond.”

It tells the story of Liane (Malou Khebizi), a 19-year-old glam trainwreck who lives with her mother and kid sister in the town of Fréjus in Southern France. Liane’s entire existence is driven by her compulsion to connect with the up-from-nowhere apparatus of fame, the kind that transforms people on Instagram and TikTok — and, the subject of “Wild Diamond,” reality TV — into overnight spangly vessels of adoration.

In the first scene, Liane is in a department store,...

Production has begun in Paris, France on Netflix’s French-language action thriller Ad Vitam starring Guillaume Canet.

Filming is taking place across the capital and its suburbs, including Versailles, from April 8 to June 20.

Ad Vitam follows a man who, after narrowly escaping an attempted murder, gets caught up in his past while trying to find his kidnapped wife. Other cast include Stéphane Caillard, Nassim Lyes, Zita Hanrot and Alexis Manenti.

Canet is also a producer, along with Cabanes’ Jean Cottin, and co-wrote the film with its director Rodolphe Lauga in association with David Corona.

It will be released on Netflix...

French actor Guillaume Canet is starring, writing and producing the new Netflix thriller Ad Vitam.

Rodolphe Lauga (It’s Complicated) is directing the action film, which has begun shooting in Paris. Netflix will release the movie worldwide next year.

Canet plays Franck Lazareff who, after surviving an attempt on his life, finds his wife has been kidnapped by a mysterious group of armed men. Trying to rescue her, Frank finds his past catching up with him. Stéphane Caillard, Nassim Lyes, Zita Hanrot and Alexis Manenti co-star.

Canet and Lauga co-wrote the script to Ad Vitam in association with David Corona and Canet is producing, together with Jean Cottin for the Cabanes shingle.

Canet recently directed himself as Gallic comic book hero Asterix in the live-action feature Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom and appeared in the French thriller Breaking Point. from director Yvan Attal. The multi-hyphenate has directed several films, including...

Netflix has announced the start of principal photography on action thriller Ad Vitam led by French star Guillaume Canet.

Canet co-wrote the screenplay with Rodolphe Lauga in association with David Corona. Canet also produces with Jean Cottin under their Cabanes banner.

Lauga is directing.

Canet stars as escaped murder suspect Franck Lazareff with other cast members including Stéphane Caillard, Nassim Lyes, Zita Hanrot, Alexis Manenti.

The official logline reads: “After escaping an attempted murder, Franck Lazareff must find his wife Leo, who has been kidnapped by a mysterious group of armed men. He is caught up by his past and plunged into a state affair that is beyond him.”

Filming in Paris and Versailles will run from April 8 to June 20, 2024. Ad Vitam will play exclusively on Netflix in 2015.

Zee End Is Nigh

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., the disappointed bride in the failed engagement between Zee and Sony India, has formally ended its quest for a merger. On Tuesday, it withdrew its application before the industry regulator National Company Law Tribunal and said that it will focus instead on internal growth. Pulling the Nclt application also makes it somewhat easier for Zee to pursue its arbitration and other legal actions against Sony.

The plan to merge the two mid-size film and TV businesses was on the table for over two years, but finally (acrimoniously) collapsed in January 2024. Sony is also seeking restitution from Zee, which it says failed to live up to the agreed merger terms. Since the wedding bells stopped ringing, Zee has also announced that it will slice its workforce by 15%.

Netflix Starts Filming Guillaume Canet’S ‘Taken’-Style Thriller

Guillaume Canet, whose latest directorial outing “Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom...

Netflix has unveiled an untitled French-language thriller starring Vincent Cassel as a jaded DJ alongside a cast also featuring YouTube star and rapper Mister V and music producer Kavinsky, best known for the Drive track Nightcall.

It is the first feature from French graphic designer, animator, director and music producer Bertrand Lagros de Langeron, who is known professionally as So Me.

Cassel plays Scorpex, a once-famous DJ on the downslide, who has not come to terms with the fact that his glory days are over.

When Rose (Laura Felpin), an eccentric agent from French Intelligence Agency offers him the opportunity to take down popular rival Vestax (Mister V), he sees it as a chance to revive his career with a bang.

Further cast members include Alexis Manenti, Déborah Lukumuena, Nina Zem, Nicolas Maury, Philippe Katerine, Paul Mirabel, Panayotis Pascot, Manu Payet and Alice Moitié.

The feature is produced by the...

Vincent Cassel plays an aging Edm DJ in the upcoming comedy thriller from French music video director So Me, aka Bertrand de Langeron. Artistic director of the Ed Banger label and known for his music videos for Justice, Kanye West, Mgmt, and Kid Cudi, So Me is making his feature film debut with the still-untilted French feature for Netflix.

Black Swan and Ocean’s Thirteen star Cassel plays Scorpex, a once-famous DJ now on the downside who gets a chance to return to the top when an agent from French intelligence agency Dgsi (played by Golden Mustache actress Laura Felpin) recruits him to take down Vestax (French YouTuber Mister V), his young and fast-rising rival on the Edm scene. Co-stars include Alexis Manenti, Déborah Lukumuena, Nina Zem, Nicolas Maury, Philippe Katerine, Kavinsky, Paul Mirabel, Panayotis Pascot, Manu Payet and Alice Moitié.

Netflix released the first image from the film (above), showing Cassel,...

Ahead of its launch in France, Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming service Max unveiled at Series Mania Festival its pipeline of ambitious local scripted projects, “Malditos” (working title), the adaptation of “Living with our deads,” the memoir of Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur, and

“Malditos,” created by Jean Charles Hue (“Eat Your Bones”) and Olivier Prieur (“The Accident”), is an action-packed crime thriller revolving around the leader of a Gypsy community and her two sons who struggle to save their clan threatened with eviction by rising waters in Southern France. The series is produced by Eve Muller and Noor Sadar at Mediawan-owned White Lion Films, was penned by Hue, Prieur and Maya Haffar (“En thérapie”). Hue is directing the first five episode and Cécilia Verheyden (“Undercover”) is directing the remaining two.

Max has also boarded the series adaptation of the book “Living with our deads” (“Vivre avec nos morts”), which is...

Max has unveiled a trio of French shows ahead of launch, with commissioning head Vera Peltekian saying “we don’t want to do a French Succession or White Lotus.“

Peltekian and French scripted boss Clémentine Bobin unveiled series about the Bataclan attacks, the gypsy community and an adaptation of a memoir by a French rabbi.

The previously-announced Bataclan series has been given title Black Lies and will co-star Laure Calamy and César-winning The Goldman Case actor Arieh Worthalter alongside Les Misérables’ Alexis Manenti and Mother And Son’s Annabelle Lengronne.

The show tells the story of a woman who cons her way into a victim’s association following the deadly attack in 2015. Produced by StudioFact Stories with June Films, the psychological thriller is directed by Just Philippot and written by Fanny Burdino, Jean-Baptiste Delafon, Samuel Doux and Alexandre Kauffmann. The story is loosely based on the non-fiction...

Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max platform has unveiled its first French originals slate ahead of its launch in the country this summer.

Max has just kicked off production for crime actioner Western Malditos set in the Gypsy community of Southern France. The series is produced by Eve Muller Noor Sadar of Mediawan’s White Lion Films and follows two brothers and mother as they fight to keep a dark secret from destroying their legacy.

It has also greenlit an adaptation of French female rabbi Delphine Horvielleur’s best-seller Living With Our Dead (Vivre Avec Nos Morts) that follows a young...

Near the end of the political drama “Les Indésirables,” a precisely angled wide shot of a run-down apartment complex depicts the immigrant families that have inhabited it for many years throwing their most precious belongings over their balconies in a last-ditch effort to save them. Scores of virulent riot police have shown up to evict them without prior notice. Amid such extreme circumstances, it’s the unconditional solidarity between all of those surviving in this constantly dehumanized Parisian neighborhood that defines the chaotic scene.

It’s the rare instance when French director Ladj Ly allows the images to speak for themselves, rather than having one of his many characters instructively proclaim why we must care, in the second feature from the Oscar-nominated director of “Les Misérables.” Another impassioned statement against social and racial inequality, “Les Indésirables” feels no less urgent, and yet, the film stumbled at the French box office...

WTFilms will be at the Rendez-Vous with a genre-focused slate.

Paris-based sales outfit WTFilms has taken on Fabrice du Welz’s Belgian crime thriller Maldoror and unveiled a first look at the film inspired by a true story.

The film stars Anthony Bajon as an impulsive police recruit tasked with a secret mission to track a dangerous sex offender. But when the operation fails, he goes rogue to hunt down the culprits. Now in post, the film is produced by Belgium’s Frakas Productions, with The Jokers Films’ production arm.

Maldoror also stars Alexis Manenti, Béatrice Dalle, Sergi Lopez, Laurent Lucas...

Ladj Ly not only wants to be the truth-teller of French cinema, but a director of exciting, dynamic action as well. His concentration on Paris’ underprivileged immigrant populations, many of whom are forced to live in substandard housing that the government willfully neglects––then tears down to build gentrified housing for white and rich families––brims with an energy that involves swerving drone shots, French rap soundtracks, and a cast of characters who speak like every sentence is a declaration of will. By virtue (or dint) of the need to balance the emotional anger and complicated political webs of Parisian immigrant communities while remaining entertaining, his cinema’s politics often come across muddled and unclear.

Ly’s filming of apartment buildings in Les Indésirables (Bâtiment 5) is just as chaotic as it was in Les Misérables and drums up the claustrophobia of its narrow, dark, murky hallways, beginning with a long...

French filmmaker Ladj Ly has returned to his home turf of Paris with Les Indésirables, a searing portrait of police violence and political injustice in angry suburbs that has a world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival this week.

On Saturday, Ly told a TIFF panel that little has changed for the better for the marginalized communities depicted in his follow-up to Les Misérables, which earned the Jury Prize in Cannes. “There’s absolutely no political volition to make anything better,” Ly said during an informal conversation with The Hollywood Reporter‘s Scott Roxborough, which was presented as part of the Visionaries series.

“The problems that touched the suburbs have now extended to the rest of France,” Ly added, as he pointed to the police crackdown of Yellow Vests protests countrywide against economic injustice, which included grassroots protests earlier this year against pension reforms.

“The police have a free pass to kill Blacks and Arabs,...

The elevator hasn’t worked in years, so the men carry the casket down several flights of stairs. The hallway lights flicker at unpredictable intervals. The descent to the street, where the men will meet a hearse, is a treacherous one. At the sight of their hunched backs and the sound of barked instructions, a grieving woman asks: “How can we live and die in a place like this?” Welcome to Batiment 5, the setting of French Malian director Ladj Ly’s blistering feature Les Indésirables.

Ly knows how to stage scenes of visceral power, deftly moving between full-hearted flashes of community and taut, antagonistic ones laced with a dreadful foreboding. In Les Misérables, his 2019 Cannes Jury Prize-winning and Oscar-nominated film, the helmer examined tensions between working-class residents and a French anti-crime unit. He harnessed the propulsive energy of thrillers and blended it with the insistent morals of a political drama.

The title alone suggests what’s in store. Three years ago, French director Ladj Ly burst onto the international scene with his Oscar-nominated “Les Misérables,” a brutally tense and adrenalized drama about the tensions between French police and young people of color in a suburb of Paris. And the fact that his follow-up has a similar title, “Les Indésirables,” suggests that to some degree, we’re in for more of the same.

Well, we are. “Les Indésirables,” which had its world premiere on Friday at the Toronto International Film Festival, isn’t a sequel by any means, but it is also set in a Paris neighborhood largely populated by immigrants and people of color. And it is also a charged look at systematic injustice that runs on anger and packs a wallop.

It does so from the opening sequence, a tour-de-force of hand-held photography that snakes through a decaying apartment...

It would be easy to mistake Ladj Ly’s “Les Indésirables” for a direct sequel to his 2019 debut “Les Misérables.” Beyond possessing a similar title, some of the same cast, and a shared focus on the oppressive living conditions of Paris’ most vulnerable immigrant communities, Ly’s second narrative feature picks up where his first left off: In the crowded stairwell of a suburban housing project as its residents ask themselves, this time aloud: “How can we live and die in a place like this?”

The fade-to-black in the final moments of Ly’s Cannes breakout suggested that loss was imminent, and the ominous drone shot that begins his more expansive sophomore effort ultimately arrives at the sight of a corpse in a coffin. But if these equally combustible films are set in different buildings, and in different communities (with the town of “Grand-Bosquet” standing in for Montfermeil), they’re...

The social drama is set to debut at this year’s Toronto film festival.

Goodfellas has unveiled the first English-language trailer for Ladj Ly’s Les Indésirables (Bâtiment 5) set to world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival tonight (September 8).

Watch the trailer above.

The social drama follows a young woman (newcomer Anta Diaw) deeply involved in the life of her community, who discovers a redevelopment plan for her neighbourhood calling for the demolition of the block where she grew up and led behind closed doors by a young doctor thrust into the role of mayor (Les Misérables’ co-writer and star...

The social drama is set to debut at this year’s Toronto film festival.

Goodfellas has unveiled the first English-language trailer for Ladj Ly’s Les Indésirables (Bâtiment 5) set to world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival tonight (September 8).

Watch the trailer above.

The social drama follows a young woman (newcomer Anta Diaw) deeply involved in the life of her community, who discovers a redevelopment plan for her neighbourhood calling for the demolition of the block where she grew up and led behind closed doors by a young doctor thrust into the role of mayor (Les Misérables’ co-writer and star...

The Hollywood Reporter arts and culture critic Lovia Gyarkye shares her list of the 10 must-see films at this month’s Toronto Film Festival.

The Boy and the Heron The Boy and the Heron

How lucky for us that Hayao Miyazaki, the animation master with a gift for enchanting world-building, didn’t stay retired? The prolific Japanese filmmaker makes an exciting return with The Boy and the Heron, which opened in Japan earlier this summer. Inspired by Genzaburo Yoshino’s novel How Do You Live?, The Boy and the Heron chronicles the adventures of a young, bereft boy who discovers an abandoned tower and a persistent grey heron while exploring his new town.

Dicks: The Musical

A24’s first musical feature is a ride that, for better or worse, I’m ready to get on. Comedians Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp play two businessmen who find out they are twins and try to reunite their parents.

Arriving at a moment when interest in all things atomic has been piqued by the global success of “Oppenheimer,” Dragan Bjelogrlić’s “Guardians of the Formula” offers a far more classical, but no less gripping take on a little-known episode marking a historical intersection between the medical and nuclear sciences. Based on Goran Milašinović’s book “Vinča Case,” there are further echoes of Christopher Nolan’s epic in how this elegantly constructed movie centers the ethical and ideological dilemmas of brilliant men of science thrust, somewhat reluctantly, onto the international political stage. But it differs in its careful inclusion of the heroism of ordinary people, and in showing how, while genius is valuable, it’s only prolonged exposure to more everyday human decency that can irradiate the more bull-headed scientific ego with the compassion needed for actual wisdom.

It is 1958 and Georges Mathé is at work in his cluttered lab...

Dragan Bjelogrlić’s tale of secret nuclear experiments in Cold War Yugoslavia to be repped by Belgrade-based sales firm.

Belgrade-based boutique sales outfit Soul Food Films is to handle international distribution of Serbian filmmaker Dragan Bjelogrlić’s third feature film The Guardians Of The Formula which will have its world premiere on Locarno’s Piazza Grande on Friday evening (August 4).

Based on the novel Vinča Case by Goran Milašinović, Bjelogrlić’s film has a cast including Alexis Manenti (Les Miserables) and Radivoje Bukvić (A Good Day To Die Hard). It tells the true and little-known story of secret nuclear experiments...

Ladj Ly’s “Les Indésirables” is set to make its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, making it the first international title to debut at TIFF 2023.

“We are honored to showcase Ladj Ly’s remarkable talent once again with the World Premiere of his latest work, ‘Les Indésirables,’” Cameron Bailey, CEO of TIFF, said. “This deeply personal film beautifully captures the struggles and aspirations of a community, reflecting Ly’s unparalleled storytelling skills.”

The film – whose title is a nod to the Victor Hugo novel – is set in the suburbs of Paris and follows a young doctor (Alexis Manenti) who is appointed to replace the mayor after the politican’s sudden death. As he tries to continue the plans of his predecessor, which involve rehabilitating a working-class neighborhood, he comes face-to-face with a local French woman (Anta Diaw) of Malian origin who refuses to let her family lose their home.

The fall fest season is revving up.

The Toronto Film Festival said Wednesday that French director Ladj Ly’s new feature Les Indésirables will world premiere at its 48th edition, running from September 7-17.

It is the first international world premiere title to be unveiled by TIFF ahead of fuller lineup details in the coming weeks. Last week, organizers said Searchlight’s Taika Waititi soccer comedy Next Goal Wins will have its world premiere there.

Les Indésirables is Ly’s second fiction feature after his award-winning debut Les Misérables, which won the Cannes Jury Prize in 2019 and went on to make its North American premiere at TIFF that same year.

Les Misérables won a slew of French Césars the following year and was also France’s Academy Awards submission, getting through to the final nominations stage in the International Feature category, going up up against Parasite.

Ly’s work, capturing...