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Actress-filmmaker (she forever stole our cinephile heart for her role in Abdellatif Kechiche’s The Secret of the Grain back in 2007) Hafsia Herzi has made a striking impression adored on the Croisette with Tu mérites un amour (2019) locking up a premiere in the Critics’ Week and Bonne Mère (2021) being showcased in the Un Certain Regard section. Now, with La Petite Dernière (The Little Sister) she is one of very few films representing French cinema in comp this year.

The fifth film in competition was shot this past May. This third feature stars Aloïse Sauvage, Anouar Kardellas, Luna Ribeiro, Elisa Libri, Nacer Bouhanni, Olivia Courbis, Vincent Pasdermadjian, Rita Benmanana, Victorien Bonnet, and Nemo Schiffman.…...

La Petite Dernière

Hafsia Herzi

Producers: June Films’ Naomi Denamur and Julie Billy

World Sales: mk2

In her first pair of attempts, actress-filmmaker Hafsia Herzi has managed to have the Un Certain Regard selection committee smitten with her output – both 2019’s Tu mérites un amour and 2021’s Bonne Mère were selected for the prestigious sidebar. Perhaps with La Petite Dernière she’ll step over to the other section. Production on her third feature took place this past May with the likes of Aloïse Sauvage, Anouar Kardellas, Luna Ribeiro, Elisa Libri, Nacer Bouhanni, Olivia Courbis, Vincent Pasdermadjian, Rita Benmanana, Victorien Bonnet and Nemo Schiffman.…...

Zurich Film Festival has revealed a second wave of Gala titles, which includes films starring Tilda Swinton, Sebastian Stan, Nicole Kidman, Pierce Brosnan and Samuel L. Jackson.

Among the 10 added titles are four world premieres, two international premieres and one European premiere.

Zurich will screen, among others, Ali Abbas’ “The Apprentice,” starring Stan, Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Room Next Door,” starring Swinton, and Halina Reijn’s “Babygirl,” starring Kidman.

Richard Gray’s Western “The Unholy Trinity,” starring Brosnan and Jackson, has its world premiere.

The other world premieres are “Frieda’s Case” by Maria Brendle, “Aiming High – A Race Against the Limits” by Flavio Gerber and Alun Meyerhans, and German epic adventure “Hagen.”

“The fact that we have the opportunity to present so many world and European premieres goes to show that the Zff holds a strong position in the international calendar,” Christian Jungen, artistic director of the festival, said.

"Watch out, this is the big league." Kino Lorber has debuted the US trailer for La Syndicaliste, a French dramatic thriller based on a true story about a whistleblower. This first premiered at the 2022 Venice Film Festival last year, playing at many other fests along the way. This is the story of Maureen Kearney, played by Isabelle Huppert, the head union representative of a French multinational nuclear powerhouse. She became a whistle-blower, denouncing top-secret deals that shook the French nuclear sector. Alone against the world, she fought government ministers and industry leaders, tooth and nail to bring the scandal to light and to defend more than 50,000 jobs... Her life was turned upside down when she was violently assaulted in her own home... The investigation is carried out under pressure. However, new elements create doubt in the minds of the investigators. At first a victim, Maureen becomes a suspect. The cast also includes Grégory Gadebois,...

“Stalk,” Simon Bouisson’s timely French show tackling cyber spying and bullying, has lured a flurry of top TV channels across the world.

Produced by Priscilla Bertin and Judith Nora at Silex Films, the half-hour psychological thriller series was a big hit on France Televisions’s platform Slash and later aired on the broadcaster’s linear channel France 2 in the slot following “Call My Agent! The second season, which won best half-hour series and best music (for Paul Sabin) at La Rochelle TV Festival, recently premiered.

FranceTV Distribution, the commercial arm of the broadcaster, has sold the first two seasons to HB0 Latin America, Gsn in Russia and Shahid in the Middle East. South Korea’s Navel picked up season one, while the second season has been picked up by Wdr and Sony in Germany, Rai Play in Italy and Ici tou.tv in Canada.

Bouisson, who previously helmed the...

by Nathaniel R

Catherine Corsini celebrates her Queer Palm win

The Queer Palm jury this year was led by actor Nicolas Maury (Call My Agent), and included Josza Anjembe, Vahram Murayan, Roxane Mesquida, and Aloïse Sauvage. They've given their prize to La Fracture / The Divide by Catherine Corsini (reviewed here) which is about a fifty-something lesbian couple (inspired by Corsini's own relationship) who are trying to survive a night in a chaotic hospital during a yellow vest protest. The film is also rumored to be a contender for a prize tonight when Spike Lee's jury hands out their awards in the main competition.

The other eligible feature films vying for the unofficial prize were...

Thomas Scimeca, Nicolas Belvalette, Jonathan Capdevielle and Léonie Dahan-Lamort are among the cast of this feature staged by Envie de tempête Productions. On Tuesday 30 March, Sébastien Betbeder wrapped the shoot for his eighth feature, Les Braves. Having risen to prominence at Locarno in 2007 with Nuage, and been selected for the Cannes Acid programme in 2013 and 2016 with 2 Autumns 3 Winters and Journey to Greenland, and for Toronto in 2012 and 2018 with Nights with Theodore and Ulysses & Mona, this time around, the director has assembled a cast toplined by Thomas Scimeca, Nicolas Belvalette, Jonathan Capdevielle (Boys Like Us) and Léonie Dahan-Lamort (the series Chronicles of the Sun). They are flanked by Marc Fraize, Aloïse Sauvage,...

HBO Max has acquired StudioCanal’s psychological thriller series Possessions.

It will become available on the WarnerMedia streaming service in December as an international original.

The six-episode Possessions stars Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Reda Kateb (Django), Dominique Valadié, Ariane Ascaride, Judith Chemla, Noa Koler, Aloïse Sauvage, Tzahi Grad Roy Nik and Tchéky Karyo.

The show focuses on Natalie, a young French expatriate in Israel who is charged with the murder of her husband on their wedding night. Karim, a French diplomat, slowly falls for Natalie, but cannot figure her out. “Obsessed with this case, Karim will dive into Natalie and her family’s mysterious past,”...

HBO Max has acquired StudioCanal’s psychological thriller series Possessions.

It will become available on the WarnerMedia streaming service in December as an international original.

The six-episode Possessions stars Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Reda Kateb (Django), Dominique Valadié, Ariane Ascaride, Judith Chemla, Noa Koler, Aloïse Sauvage, Tzahi Grad Roy Nik and Tchéky Karyo.

The show focuses on Natalie, a young French expatriate in Israel who is charged with the murder of her husband on their wedding night. Karim, a French diplomat, slowly falls for Natalie, but cannot figure her out. “Obsessed with this case, Karim will dive into Natalie and her family’s mysterious past,”...

HBO Max, the streaming-video hub of WarnerMedia, has acquired anticipated Studiocanal title “Possessions,” a psychological thriller series created by Shachar Magen (“Sirens”) and directed by BAFTA-nominated Thomas Vincent (“Bodyguard”).

As an international Max Original, the series will be made available on the U.S. streaming platform in December.

Commissioned for Canal Plus’s Creation Original and Israel’s Yes TV, the series was shot in Israel in French, Hebrew and English. The show was produced by Caroline Benjo, Barbara Letellier, Simon Arnal and Carole Scotta from the leading Paris-based production company Haut et Court TV, whose credits include “No Man’s Land” and “The Returned.” Eilon Ratzkovsky, Osnat Nishri and Keren Misgav Ristvedt from Israel’s Quiddity (“Sirens”) co-produced the series.

“The demand for non-English language content continues to grow throughout the world and I am delighted that this exceptional drama will be available for a wide, global audience via HBO Max...

In this year’s foreign-language race, a number of Lgbt-oriented titles are vying for attention. France’s Bpm (Beats Per Minute), directed by Robin Campillo, could be the favorite: a rich, sensual, impassioned study of early AIDS activism and gay awakening in Paris, it took the Grand Prix at Cannes and has been winning hearts on the festival circuit and kudos from critics.

After Cannes, Bpm (Beats Per Minute) played Toronto International Film Festival and New York Film Festival among others, winning many awards along the way.

“Impassioned and deeply absorbing. Notable for both its hot-blooded sensuality and its intricate, bittersweet play with memory.”

- Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times

“Broadly enlightening and piercingly intimate. A vital contribution to queer and political cinema. Campillo has given his movie the breath of true life. It grieves and triumphs and haunts with abounding grace and understanding, its heartbeat thumping with genuine, undeniable resonance.

"Our friends are dying. Fight! Fight!" The Orchard has unveiled the Us trailer for a French film titled 120 Bpm, also known as Bpm (Beats Per Minute) in America, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. I am a big fan of this film, it's an emotional, powerful, inspiring recreation of the true story of a group of AIDS activists in the 90s fighting for medicine & support against indifference & intolerance. The film won the Grand Prix Jury Prize at Cannes, as well as the Fipresci Prize. "A film about love. A film about life. Life stronger than death. A film as a glimpse of hope." 120 Bpm's ensemble cast includes Nahuel Pérez Biscayart, Arnaud Valois, Adèle Haenel, Antoine Reinartz, Félix Maritaud, Médhi Touré, Aloïse Sauvage, Simon Bourgade, and Catherine Vinatier. This film is definitely worth your time. Here's the official Us trailer (+ French poster) for Robin Campillo's 120 Bpm,...