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Cowboy Bebop creator Shinichiro Watanabe’s latest anime series, Lazarus, has officially come to an end with Episode 13, "The World is Yours." However, as the show's title -- named after a biblical story about a man who was resurrected from the dead -- suggests, the end could also mean a new beginning.

Lazarus’ early reviews and mixed viewer reception suggested doom for the new series from the outset. However, as the series settled into its second half, not only did many viewers change their opinion of the show, but it consistently landed in the top 10 on the streaming charts for HBO Max in America, as well as in the top 10 on Netflix in Japan. This may be at least partially why, in a recent live-streamed two-hour interview following the release of Lazarus’ finale, Watanabe revealed that his new anime could very well get a second season.

Cowboy Bebop's Shinichiro Watanabe...

July will be an excellent month for Lazarusanime fans. The hit HBO Max anime just finished its final episode of the season, but there might be more in store for the spiritual successor to Cowboy Bebop.

Cartoon Network has updated its programming schedule for July. According to Anime Superhero, the July 12, 2025, schedule for Adult Swim's Saturday night Toonami block will be dedicated entirely to Lazarus. All 13 episodes of Season 1 will air that night in original Japanese audio with English subtitles. The Toonami marathon will begin at 11 Pm Est and end at 5:30 Am Est.

Toonami Will Air All 13 Episodes of Lazarus Subbed in July on Adult Swim

Below is the complete Lazarus schedule for July 12, 2025. Toonami will start an hour earlier than usual for the marathon, preempting the 11 Pm airing of Rick and Morty. The following episodes will be aired with original Japanese voice acting, with English subtitles.

11:...

Exclusive: Directorial duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (Adil & Bilall) have signed to direct a feature film adaptation of Riders Republic, the award-winning video game from French games giant Ubisoft.

The project, which seeks to bring the spills and thrills of the extreme sports-focused game to the big screen – is being developed and produced by Gaumont and Ubisoft Film & Television. Gaumont’s international sales arm is launching the project in Cannes.

The partners have also signed award-winning writer Noé Debré, whose credits include Cannes Palme d’Or Dheepan, Stillwater and The World Is Yours, for the screenplay adaptation.

Adil & Bilall broke out in their native Belgium in 2018 with hit Gangsta, and then gained international recognition with the third and fourth instalment of the Bad Boys franchise: Bad Boys for Life (2020) and Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024) which together grossed over $830M at world box office.

With more than 10 million players worldwide,...

With its near sweep at the Oscars on Sunday night, five-time Academy Award winner Anora entered the history books as one of the last decade’s most decorated Best Picture winners. In hindsight, the result seemed obvious: Of course, the Best Picture winner would also take every other category in which it was win-competitive. However, there are always several lessons to take away from each awards season, and this one — mainly because of its unpredictability — was no different. Ahead are the five lessons to remember when predicting next year’s awards season.

It’s Always Oscar Season

Last year, the famously cantankerous actor Brian Cox lambasted Hollywood because of its focus on what he deemed “Oscar season” while lamenting the fact that his 2017 biopic Churchill (released in June) was overtaken in the conversation by the Oscar-winning Darkest Hour (released in November) that same year.

“Our film came out in the summer,...

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...

On his upcoming album, Gonzy is singing from the perspective of a villain. On Monday, the musician unveiled the 18-song track list for his third album The World Is Yours via Rolling Stone, and shared new details about the project set to drop on Oct. 10.

“It shows you all the sides of a villain,” the Cuban American star tells Rolling Stone. “In some movies, you might feel bad for them or you might feel happy they’re being attacked, while others sympathize. It depends on what side you see.”

“It...

Thirty years ago, Common looked back ruefully at his favorite genre in “I Used to Love H.E.R.,” his classic riff on hip-hop as a wayward ex-girlfriend. “She was really the realest before she got into showbiz,” he lamented. The couple patched things up after that, and Common grew from a prematurely scolding young man to a genial elder statesman, upholding what he sees as rap’s traditional values with a smile and a serious commitment to his craft. It’s been a happy marriage, for the most part.

Now, in...

“Le Monde est à Vous,” translated to The World Is Yours, is the moniker for Pharrell Williams’ third collection with Louis Vuitton in his role helming the French luxury brand’s men’s division. With more than 75 looks, Louis Vuitton’s Spring-Summer 2025 line accentuated a broad range of colorful gradient pieces that pulled inspiration from the creative director’s musical heritage. Williams has been outspoken about his lifelong experience as an artist who has sound-color synesthesia — an innate way of perceiving music as color — to illustrate a deeper visual story. This season’s Louis Vuitton collection upholds his aptitude for blending song and color to create a beautiful portrait of Black American fashion.

The June 18 show kicked off with a grand live orchestra, whose members all donned silk-lined pixelated-checkered Louis Vuitton garb as they carried their instruments to the base of the runway in Paris at the city’s Unesco center.

XYZ Films has acquired U.S. rights to the classic Cannes Directors’ Fortnight title “The World is Yours” directed by Romain Gavras from StudioCanal and to the TIFF hit film “We Gotta Get Out of This Place,” directed by Simon Hawkins and Zeke Hawkins. The hyper-stylized films are the first titles in a new XYZ initiative to introduce audiences to classic festival hits that cater to cinema fans.

“The World is Yours” premiered at Cannes in 2018 and stars Karim Leklou, Isabelle Adjani, Vincent Cassel and Oulaya Amamra and was co-written by Gavras, Karim Boukercha and Noe Debre. In the film, a mid-level drug dealer (Leklou) dreams of having a new life, but his mother (Adjani) has gambled away his savings. He must take one last job in Spain, but his entourage gets involved: his mother, his ex-con friend, his crush, and possibly The Illuminati.

Meanwhile, “We Gotta Get Out of This Place...

French filmmaker Romain Gavras, whose previous credits include the drama Our Day Will Come, the crime comedy The World Is Yours, and the thriller Athena, is set to make his English-language debut with a new film called Sacrifice, and he has assembled a jaw-dropping cast for it. Deadline reports that Sacrifice, which is described as having “a similar combustible and propulsive anarchy” to Athena while being “closer to satire,” is set to star Chris Evans (Avengers: Endgame), Anya Taylor-Joy (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga), Salma Hayek Pinault (Magic Mike’s Last Dance), and Brendan Fraser (The Whale).

Scripted by Gavras and Will Arbery (who won a WGA award for working on Succession), Sacrifice will show us what happens when a high end charity gala is raided by a violent group of radicals on a mystical quest to fulfill a prophecy. The script was just sent out to talent four days ago,...

Filmmaker Romain Gavras has announced his next project, and it is going to feature some major star power. The French storyteller will soon start work on Sacrifice, serving as a director and co-writer for the project. The cast for the movie that has been announced so far includes Chris Evans, Anya Taylor-Joy, Salma Hayek Pinault, and Brendan Fraser.

The news of the casting coup is gaining a lot of traction on social media. Netizens have expressed their enthusiasm over the prospect of seeing so many fan-favorite actors working on the same project. The movie, which is said to be something in the vein of a satire, will be Gavras’ first foray into English-language filmmaking. More names are expected to be added to the main cast in the coming days.

Romain Gavras Prepares To Take On Hollywood With Sacrifice A still from Le Monde est à toi (The World is Yours...

Barack Obama has once again let people in on his version of the sounds of summer with his annual playlist for the season, with songs including “Fast Car” by Luke Combs, “Snooze” by Sza and the classic “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay” by Otis Redding.

The former commander-in-chief curated 41 songs for the list, which he posted on his Twitter account Thursday, representing genres ranging from folk to rap to pop. Among those chosen that drew attention on social media: Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj’s “Princess Diana,” and Boygenius’ “Not Strong Enough.”

Janelle Monáe’s “I Only Have Eyes for 42,” seemingly an ode to threesomes, also made the cut, which the entertainer noted on her Instagram stories: “Barack know what’s up!”

But Obama also featured more traditional songs on the list, like Aretha Franklin’s “Doctor Feelgood” and a live version of Leonard Cohen’s “Dance Me to the End of Love.

Andy Rourke, who played bass for The Smiths on all four of the English band’s albums, died today of pancreatic cancer at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. He was 59.

Tributes from the music world poured in following the announcement of Rourke’s death, which was made by his friend and Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr this morning.

“It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Andy Rourke after a lengthy illness with pancreatic cancer,” tweeted Marr. “Andy will be remembered as a kind and beautiful soul by those who knew him and as a supremely gifted musician by music fans. We request privacy at this sad time.”

Marr followed up with an image of himself and Rourke from The Smiths’ days.

The Smiths in 1985, from left: Johnny Marr, Morrissey, Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke

Rourke was born on January 17, 1964, in Manchester, England, becoming friends...

Andy Rourke, bassist of The Smiths, has died at the age of 59 following a battle with cancer.

Rourke’s death was announced by his longtime friend and former bandmate, Johnny Marr. “It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Andy Rourke after a lengthy illness with pancreatic cancer,” Marr wrote. “Andy will be remembered as a kind and beautiful soul by those who knew him and as a supremely gifted musician by music fans. We request privacy at this sad time.”

Rourke first met Marr at the age of 11 while living in Manchester. As teenagers, they frequently played music together and formed several bands, with Rourke eventually picking up the bass guitar. In 1982, after Marr and Morrissey formed their own band together, they invited Rourke to come aboard as bassist. The group, which was rounded out by drummer Mike Joyce, became known as The Smiths.

Throughout The Smiths’ career,...

Does Dua Lipa have a new man in her life? On Feb. 28, the "One Kiss" singer was spotted out with French filmmaker and music video director Romain Gavras, as the two were photographed leaving Saint Laurent's Paris Fashion Week show hand-in-hand, per photos published by Entertainment Tonight. Reps for Lipa and Gavras did not immediately respond to Popsugar's requests for comment, but their latest outing comes after they were reportedly seen leaving a London party together last month.

Lipa was last linked to Trevor Noah after the two sparked dating rumors in September 2022. The comedian and former "The Daily Show" host appeared on the singer's "Dua Lipa: At Your Service" podcast amid speculation, but Lipa confirmed that she was single during an October episode.

"For me, this is the first year I've not been in a relationship for a very long time," said Lipa, who previously dated Gigi and Bella Hadid's brother,...

Paris-based sales company beefs up slate ahead of Berlinale market.

Paris-based sales company Pyramide International has boarded Anna Novion’s Le Théorème de Marguerite and Marie Garel-Weiss’s Sur La Branche and will kick off pre-sales for the French dramas at the upcoming EFM.

Novion’s Le Théorème de Marguerite stars Ella Rumpf as the titular character, a brilliant mathematics student at France’s top university the Ecole Normale Supérieure. On the day of her thesis presentation, a mistake shakes up all the certainty in her planned-out life and she decides to quit everything and start afresh.

Rumpf notably starred...

Fall is almost, which means that spooky season is also just around the corner.

And while we’ve got a couple of good Halloween-adjacent options for our September rundown, there are plenty of other great movies hitting Netflix this month, including a bunch of original films that look absolutely incredible — including a long-in-the-works Marilyn Monroe biopic and the new film from French director Romain Gavras.

So whether you want to revisit a cult favorite (“Road House”), watch two of your favorite TV stars team up in a movie (“Do Revenge”) or enjoy one of the odder films in the grand Adam Sandler catalog (“Little Nicky”), there’s something for everybody on the streaming service this month.

Also Read:

Here’s What’s New on Amazon Prime Video in September 2022 “Road House”

Jake Gyllenhaal recently shared a photo from the first day of photography on his “Road House” remake with director Doug Liman.

Pardon my French, but the first shot of Romain Gavras’ “Athena” — a sketch of a Greek tragedy transplanted into a housing project on the outskirts of Paris — is absolutely fucking insane. Even in a digital age where dazzling long-takes have become a dime a dozen (and all too easy to fake), the oner that ignites this roman candle of a movie about a police siege on a poor neighborhood is something else. It stands out for its fiery violence, for the ground that it covers, and for the incandescent energy that explodes off the screen like the molotov cocktail that Karim (Sami Slimane) hurls into a crowd of cops and reporters who’ve gathered for a press conference at the local precinct.

The news of the day is personal for the young agitator: Karim’s 13-year-old brother has been murdered, and a video of police officers beating him to death has gone viral.

Click here to read the full article.

With his incendiary 2019 debut feature, Les Misérables, director Ladj Ly brought the urban unrest, the police brutality and the festering social and racial inequality of the Paris banlieue drama La Haine hurtling into the 21st century, its belly aflame with righteous anger and indignation. Ly serves as a writer and producer on Romain Gavras’ Athena, which is both a companion piece to those films and a thundering amplification of their themes. Where the earlier works built to stunning crescendos of violence, Athena is a live grenade, beginning in full ignition mode and dialing up its intensity throughout with virtuoso technique.

That latter factor will surprise no one familiar with the output of Gavras, son of renowned Greek director Costa-Gavras, who made a mark with his dynamic music videos for artists including Kanye West, Jay-Z and M.I.A. His third feature is a...

Click here to read the full article.

French filmmaker Romain Gavras is best known to the screen-watching world thanks to his arresting and visually ambitious music videos, which have included Jamie xx’s “Gosh,” Kanye West’s “No Church in the Wild” and M.I.A.’s “Bad Girls,” among various others. But that could change when his third feature film, Athena, releases on Netflix on Sept. 23 after its world premiere this week in Venice.

The film arrives as if the perfect vehicle for Gavras background and ambitions. The youngest son of Oscar-winning Greek director, Costa-Gavras, and French political journalist and film producer, Michèle Ray-Gavras, Romain Gavras grew up steeped in the Greek classics and politically informed art and activism. In 1995, he co-founded the film collective Kourtrajmé with his childhood friends Kim Chapiron and Ladj Ly (director of the Oscar-nominated Les Misérables), and his second feature, The World Is Yours, debuted to...

After the edgy crime comedy “The World Is Yours,” Romain Gavras is back with thriller “Athena.” Produced by Paris-based Iconoclast for Netflix, the ambitious, €15 million film (15 million) unfolds in the aftermath of the tragic killing of a young boy in what appears to be an act of police brutality. An all-out war sparks in an imaginary community called Athena. It’s the first French movie that Netflix is presenting in competition at the Venice Film Festival.

“Athena” tells the story of the boy’s three siblings, who are responding to the tragedy in different ways and clashing with one another. French star Dali Benssalah plays the older brother, Abdel, a devoted French soldier. Faced with an impossible moral dilemma, Abdel is called back from the frontline to help diffuse the all-out war that has been sparked by his younger brother Karim (Sami Slimane), who wants revenge. Athena becomes the backdrop...

"For some reason, all boys look for trouble." The Match Factory has revealed an early festival promo trailer for a film titled Luxembourg, Luxembourg, from Ukrainian filmmaker Antonio Lukich. It's premiering at two major festivals - the 2022 Venice Film Festival and Toronto Film Festival coming up in a few weeks. Yes, there is a brand new Ukrainian comedy out there and this one is not about the war or anything about Russia, but much more about Ukraine's relationship with Europe. And the differences. It feels akin to a film like The World Is Yours more than anything else. Twin brothers, played by Ramil and Amil Nasirov from rap group Kurgan & Agregat, set out on a journey to see their dying father, who left them as children, in Luxembourg once last time. This looks like it might be damn good and I'm glad these two film festivals are featuring it this year.

"When they strike, we strike back. When they kill, we kill." Holy! Sh*t! Strap in – this looks Awesome! Netflix has debuted the full official trailer for Athena, the latest from French filmmaker Romain Gavras (The World Is Yours). He teams up with the talented filmmaker Ladj Ly, who co-wrote the script and co-produces this, to make a film about youth clashing with police in France. Hours after the tragic death of their youngest brother in unexplained circumstances, three siblings have their lives thrown into chaos. This is premiering at the 2022 Venice Film Festival which kicks off next week and it looks like it's going to knock us out. It looks like Ladj Ly's Les Miserable meets La Haine meets Snyder's 300, with a "war" kicking off in the streets of Paris. Athena stars Dali Benssalah, Alexis Manenti, Anthony Bajon, Sami Slimane, and Ouassini Embarek. I really love these kind...

While making his name with his striking music videos for the likes of M.I.A., Jay-Z & Kanye West, Jamie xx, and more, French director Romain Gavras has also proven prowess in the feature-length department with Our Day Will Come and The World Is Yours. He’s now back with Athena, which will premiere at the Venice Film Festival before coming to Netflix on September 23, and now the first trailer has landed.

Co-written by Ladj Ly (Les Misérables) and Elias Belkeddar alongside Gavras, the film follows three siblings thrown into chaos after the death of their young brothers following an alleged police altercation. Starring Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon, Ouassini Embarek, and Alexis Manenti, Gavras’ third feature looking to be a stylish, gripping tragedy.

See the trailer below.

Athena premieres at Venice and arrives on Netflix on September 23.

The post Athena Trailer: Romain Gavras' Venice-Bound Drama Finds Siblings at...

Justice will be served as anarchy erupts following a murder at the hands of a rogue police officer.

Romain Gavras’ “Athena” tells an all-too-timely tale of cop corruption, militant protests, and the intersection between nationalism and personal duty. The film premieres at the 2022 Venice Film Festival on September 2, followed by a September 23 Netflix release.

Per the official synopsis, after the death of his youngest brother following an alleged police altercation, Abdel (Dali Benssalah) is called back from the frontline to find his family torn apart. Caught between his younger brother Karim’s (Sami Slimane) desire for revenge and the criminal dealings of his older brother Moktar (Ouassini Embarek), he struggles to calm the rising tensions. As the situation escalates, their community Athena is transformed into a fortress under siege, becoming a scene of tragedy for both the family and beyond.

Gavras directed, produced, and co-wrote the feature along with Ladj Ly...

The upcoming Venice Film Festival is getting ready to unleash a robust roster of Oscar hopefuls promoted by boatloads of Hollywood stars, with Netflix spearheading the Lido landing in September.

As Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera begins to lock in his selection, Variety understands there are four Netflix original films in the Venice mix.

The streamer’s Venice titles include Andrew Dominik’s Marilyn Monroe drama “Blonde” starring Bond girl Ana de Armas (“No Time to Die”) as the Hollywood icon; Noah Baumbach’s “White Noise,” with Greta Gerwig, Adam Driver and Jodie Turner-Smith, which is based on the 1985 novel of the same name by Don DeLillo; “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths,” the new film from Oscar winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu, which chronicles the story of a Mexican journalist and documentary filmmaker going through an existential crisis; and Romain Gavras’ modern tragedy “Athena,” co-written by the French...

Clement Cogitore’s “Sons Of Ramses” (“Goutte d’Or”) will have its world premiere in Cannes as a special screening in the Critics’ Week strand of the festival.

The film follows Ramses, a skilful clairvoyant in the multicultural Parisian district of La Goutte d’Or. When a gang of fearless kids start terrorizing the locals, the balance of his thriving business and of the whole neighborhood is disturbed. Until one day, when Ramses has a real vision.

The cast includes Karim Leklou (“The World is Yours”), Malik Zidi (“Oxygen”), Elsa Wolliaston (“Victoria”), Jawad Outouia, Elyes Dkhissi, Yilin Yang (“Three Times Nothing”) and Loubna Abidar (“Much Loved”).

After studying at Le Fresnoy (France’s National Studio for Contemporary Arts), Cogitore developed his artistic practice between the spaces of cinema and contemporary art. In 2015, his first feature film, “The Wakhan Front” was selected at the Cannes Critics’ Week, where it won the...

International feature film and commercial content group Iconoclast and Berlin-based StickUp Films have established a new joint venture to produce feature films and series for the domestic and international markets.

Represented by Creative Artists Agency (CAA), the new shingle, Iconoclast Films Germany, is aiming to produce a minimum of three film or series projects annually within a five-year ramp-up period.

The company is headed by Luis Singer and Dennis Schanz of StickUp Films – the creators and co-producers of Netflix’s award-winning series “Skylines” — as well as Iconoclast executive producer Swantje Rummel.

Iconoclast sees the new venture as part of its international content strategy and a logical extension of its brand. In addition to producing recent works by the likes of Gus Van Sant, Julian Schnabel (“At Eternity’s Gate”), Harmony Korine (“The Beach Bum”) and Romain Gavras (“The World Is Yours”) through its companies in the U.S. and France, Iconoclast...

Moussa

Look for a title change to occur on Romain Gavras‘ third feature film project which is passing as RG03 and Moussa — a term we believe means the sexiest man on this planet. The encouraging news is that Gavras (who is best known as fashion commercial directors/music video helmer) doesn’t appear to be moonlighting as a filmmaker anymore with less time between features (his debut Our Day Will Come was released in 2010). Production began in late summer for a post production beginning in October and by the looks of some social media posts we gather that this is more thug life, gun play, cops and robbers — but will likely be more of a tonal shift from slapstick The World is Yours (which premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight in 2018).…...

Entertainment industry heavyweights from France are sharing thoughts on their successes, the challenges they faced in a year overshadowed by Covid, as well as predicting what’s in store for the movie business in 2022.

Some of the country’s milestones in 2021 include the implementation of the E.U.’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive (Avms) to get global streamers like Netflix, Amazon and Apple TV Plus to start investing 20% of their annual revenues in French content, which broadcasting authorities (CSA) expect to be from €250 million ($282 million) to €300 million ($330 million) on average annually.

The country’s strict windowing rules are also getting a significant revamp which will allow streamers to have an earlier access — possibly 15 months — to newly released movies, compared with the current 36 months. While the indie film biz and the box office have been weakened by the pandemic, the French industry managed to get local pay TV group Canal Plus...

Netflix is teaming with Romain Gavras, the French filmmaker of “The World is Yours” and “Our Day Will Come,” for his next film which will start production this week in France.

The untitled film will mark Gavras’s follow up to his 2018 film “The World is Yours,” a crime comedy with Isabelle Adjani and Vincent Cassel, which world premiered at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. His 2010 feature debut, “Our Day Will Come,” played at Toronto and SXSW. Aside from his filmmaking career, Garvas is also a renown director of music videos for Jay Z, Kanye West, Jamie Xx, M.I.A and Justice, among others, and has directed short films for luxury brands, including Louis Vuitton, Yves Saint Laurent and Dior.

The film, the plot of which is under wraps, is co-written by Gavras and Ladj Ly, the director of the Oscar-nominated “Les Misérables” and Elias Belkeddar (“My days of glory”). Gavras...

French-Greek filmmaker Romain Gavras, whose credits include the 2018 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight selection The World Is Yours and 2020 Toronto premiere Our Day Will Come, is underway on his new film, this time with Netflix.

The streamer is keeping title, plot and genre under wraps on the mysterious movie, which is now in production in France.

The script comes from Gavras and Ladj Ly, who directed the 2019 Cannes hit Les Miserables, which was Oscar nominated. Elias Belkeddar (My Days Of Glory) is also a writer on the project.

Starring are Dali Benssalah (No Time To Die), Anthony Bajon (Teddy), Cesar Winner Alexis Manenti (Les Misérables), Ouassini Embarek (The Eddy), and newcomer Sami Slimane. Iconoclast is producing. Netflix is aiming to release in 2022.

Romain Gavras, the French-Greek filmmaker best known for French comedy The World is Yours and music videos for the likes of M.I.A., Jamie xx, Jay-Z and Kanye West, is working on a new feature for Netflix.

The as-yet-untitled production — which has now started shooting in France — was written by Gavras alongside Ladj Ly, who caused a splash with his Oscar-nominated French drama Les Misérables (also winner of Cannes’ Jury Prize in 2019) and Elias Belkeddar (My Days of Glory). Iconclast (Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot, At Eternity’s Gate) is producing).

While Netflix is keeping ...

Romain Gavras, the French-Greek filmmaker best known for French comedy The World is Yours and music videos for the likes of M.I.A., Jamie xx, Jay-Z and Kanye West, is working on a new feature for Netflix.

The as-yet-untitled production — which has now started shooting in France — was written by Gavras alongside Ladj Ly, who caused a splash with his Oscar-nominated French drama Les Misérables (also winner of Cannes’ Jury Prize in 2019) and Elias Belkeddar (My Days of Glory). Iconclast (Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot, At Eternity’s Gate) is producing).

While Netflix is keeping ...

Mediawan Group has acquired a majority stake in Hugo Selignac’s Chi-Fou-Mi, the thriving Paris-based outfit behind Cedric Jimenez’s “Bac Nord” which world premiered out of competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

The deal follows Mediawan & Leonine Studios’s joint acquisition of Drama Republic, a major U.K. TV production banner, which was announced the start of Cannes by Mediawan’s co-founder Pierre-Antoine Capton and Leonine Studios CEO Fred Kogel.

The acquisition of Chi-Fou-Mi underscores Mediawan’s drive to become a major purveyor of premium content; and will solidify Mediawan’s footing in the French film business.

Chi-Fou-Mi is a 10 year-old company boasting an access to A-list French talent and a track record with popular and ambitious French films such as Gilles Lellouche’s “Le Grand Bain,” Antonin Baudry’s Omar Sy starrer “Le chant du Loup,” Jeanne Herry’s “Pupille,” Romain Gavras’ “Le Monde est à toi” and...

Still the fiercest and most cinematic of the first wave of gangster classics, Howards Hughes and Hawks’s pre-Code rule-breaker was the one that brought down the ban on ‘glamorous’ gangster movies. In this case classic hardly means dated: the cars and clothes are vintage but the sex and violence are sizzling hot. Paul Muni is the primitive killer who falls in love with submachine guns and George Raft is his loyal trigger man. Karen Morley and especially Ann Dvorak are indeed the hottest pre-Code seducers in film. Plus, Boris Karloff contributes a mobster snarl as a lightly-disguised Bugs Moran. It’s a bullet-ridden city, that’s for sure, and the filmmakers frequently use expressionist effects: like X Marks The Spot!

Scarface

Blu-ray

Viavision [Imprint] 37

1932 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 93 min. 33 sec. + 95 min. 34 sec. / Scarface, Shame of a Nation / Street Date April 28, 2021 / Available from / 34.95 (au)

Starring: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley,...

Director Laura Wandel’s Foreign Bodies played in the short film section of Official Selection in 2014.

Paris-based Indie Sales has boarded sales on Belgian director Laura Wandel’s feature debut Playground, which has been selected to screen in Cannes in Un Certain Regard next month.

As well as the Un Certain Regard prize, the drama will also be in the running for Cannes’ Caméra d’Or, open to all first features across the Official Selection and parallel sections of Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week.

Playground is about a seven year-old girl and her older brother who start at a new...

“All I have in this world is my balls and my word, and I don’t break them for no one,” Tony Montana declares in the 1983 gangster classic, Scarface. Yet Al Pacino’s antihero breaks both in his quest for money, power, and women. And just as he is on the brink of winning the trifecta, he is blown away like so much dust up a nose.

Did he lose because the Cuban mobster didn’t heed the advice of his first crime boss? Or is it because he just couldn’t stand to see his sister and his best friend wearing his-and-her pajamas? In truth, Montana’s fall can probably be traced back to when he learned to speak English by “watching guys like Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney.”

Directed by Brian De Palma, and written by Oliver Stone, Scarface is a remake of Howard Hawks’ vastly influential 1932 mob movie,...

Cedric Jimenez, the French director of “The Connection,” the Rosamund Pike-starrer “HHhH” and “Bac Nord,” will next be directing “November,” an action-packed thriller set against the backdrop of the Paris terror attacks of 2015 with a prestigious cast led by Oscar-winning Jean Dujardin (“The Artist”), Anais Demoustier (“Alice and The Mayor”) and Sandrine Kiberlain (“In Safe Hands”).

Written by Olivier Demangel, the screenwriter of Mati Diop’s “Atlantics,” “November” unfolds during the five days following the attacks which shook Paris, and revolves around the sprawling investigation carried on by a highly-secretive police brigade called Sdat (anti-terrorist sub-directorate) to track down the terrorists – including the two masterminds — behind the attacks.

Budgeted at $20 million, “November” is produced by Hugo Selignac at Chi-Fou-Mi Films, who had teamed with Jimenez on “Bac Nord,” and Mathias Rubin at Recifilms. Studiocanal is co-producing and is handling French distribution, as well as international sales on the film,...

Yasin Houicha and Oulaya Amamra lead the cast of the filmmaker’s first full-length work, a Unité production set to be distributed in France by Haut et Court. Having kicked off on 31 August, filming on Emma Benestan first feature Fragile wrapped in Sète yesterday, 13 October. Hailing from La Fémis’s Editing Department, the director previously drew attention with her numerous short films, in particular the fiction offering Goût bacon and the documentary Un monde sans bêtes. Distinguishing themselves at the head of the cast are Yasin Houicha and Oulaya Amamra (the winner of the Best New Hope César and the Best Newcomer Lumières award in 2017 for Divines, similarly well-received in The World is Yours, Farewell to the Night and The Salt...

With readers turning to their home viewing options more than ever, this daily feature provides one new movie each day worth checking out on a major streaming platform. Parts of this article were published when “The World Is Yours” premiered at Cannes.

Even at Cannes, where the film world’s brightest spotlight beams down on every movie that’s fortunate enough to premiere there, the occasional banger can still manage to slip through the cracks. Premiering in the Director’s Fortnight sidebar of the 2018 festival, and forced to compete for attention with the likes of “BlackKklansman,” “Shoplifters,” and “Under the Silver Lake” (never forget), Roman Gavras’ “The World Is Yours” didn’t receive the deafening buzz that it deserved, even if both of its big screenings were interrupted by raucous cheers of approval from the audience.

Maybe this wildly infectious French heist comedy was just too much fun to make a splash on the Croisette,...

Continuing the series where writers recommend underappreciated films available to stream, a call to watch and admire Tom Hardy’s single-location masterwork

At first glance, Stephen Knight’s 2013 single location road movie Locke might seem like an antithetical quarantine watch. The plot, which revolves around a concrete pour, and takes place entirely within the claustrophobic confines of a slate grey BMW X5, is not exactly escapist fare for those negotiating the mundanity of life under lockdown. Yet 85 minutes trapped in a car with Tom Hardy turns out to be a transfixing, transporting experience.

Related: My streaming gem: why you should watch The World Is Yours...

In the first of a new series of writers recommending hidden gems available to stream, a plea to discover a snappy French crime caper from Roman Gavras

Netflix was supposed to be the great democratizer. The streaming platform’s most ardent fans have argued in its favor as a level playing field, instantaneously providing a global audience of millions to smaller independent films that would otherwise never reach them. Critics of the service’s business model have posited that dropping little-known films into such a vast library with little-to-no marketing or promotion would damn those titles to an obscurity even more severe. Just one of the cases in point for the latter school of thought: The World Is Yours by Romain Gavras, a sly crime comedy that Netflix acquired for the Us after a positive premiere at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, then allowed to languish for six months before unceremoniously...

The cast of the film, which is being produced by Agat Films & Cie and sold by Be for Films, includes Niels Schneider, Sofian Khammes, India Hair, Denis Lavant and Thomas Daloz. On 16 March, the first clapperboard is due to slam for Sentinelle Sud (lit. “South Sentry”) by Mathieu Gérault, who made a splash with his short film Hautes herbes. The cast includes Niels Schneider, Sofian Khammes (who rose to fame in Chouf, turned heads in The World Is Yours and Fast Convoy, and can be seen in movie theatres from 1 April in Fishlove and, in the second half of the year, in The Swarm and Arthur...

“The Atomic Adventure,” a contender in UniFrance’s online MyFrenchFilmFestival, is the third short from Loïc Barché. Variety talked to the director about the short, and his feature debut “Feu de Paille.”

“The Atomic Adventure,” produced by young French outfits Punchline Cinéma and Leonis Productions, is set in 1961 in Algeria, where France has just detonated an atomic bomb, and a group of soldiers is sent to the zero zone to measure the radioactivity.

With touches of humor, documentary moments and an occasionally festive soundtrack that underscores the thoughtlessness of the atomic mission, “The Atomic Adventure” has a tragic, near surreal ending, offering a reflection about how progress evolves.

The story is inspired by true events. France carried out around 30 nuclear tests in the 1960s, mainly in the former French colonies of Algeria and Mururoa, an atoll in the French Polynesia. The tests ended in 1996.

Barché is working on his feature debut,...

Paris-based sales powerhouse to launch new titles by Maïwenn, Stephane Brizé, Louis Garrel and Bruno Podalydès.

Wild Bunch is to launch sales on new films by Maïwenn, Stéphane Brizé, Louis Garrel and Bruno Podalydès at Unifrance’s Rendez-vous with French Cinema in Paris next week (January 16-20).

Drawing on her own complex history, Maïwenn’s fifth feature DNA revolves around a woman with close ties to a beloved Algerian grandfather who protected her from a toxic home life as a child. When he dies, it triggers a deep identity crisis as tensions between her extended family members escalate revealing new depths of resentment and bitterness.

La Daronne

Director Jean-Paul Salomé’s international reputation should expand significantly with his eighth feature, La Daronne aka Mama Weed, adapted from a celebrated novel by Hannelore Cayre and starring the inimitable Isabelle Huppert. The crime comedy, produced by Jean-Baptiste Dupont and Kristina Larsen is scored by Bruno Calais (Oscar nominated for 2004’s The Chorus) and features a noted supporting cast, including Hippolyte Girardot, Liliane Rovere, Iris Bry (a recent Cesar nominee for The Guardians), Jade Nadja Nguyen, Youssef Sahraoui, Kamel Guenfoud and Farida Ouchani.…...

Arthur Rambo

Palme d’Or winner Laurent Cantet unites with some new collaborators for his eighth feature, Arthur Rambo, produced by Marie-Ange Luciani (of Robin Campillo’s Eastern Boys; Bpm) and lensed by Pierre Milon and The Workshop). Cantet recruits Bpm actor Antoine Reinartz, Raw, Nocturama and The Class actor Rabah Nait Oufella and Sofian Khammes (Chouf; The World is Yours) for his leads. Cantet won the Palme d’Or in 2008 for The Class and returned to Cannes in Un Certain Regard as part of the omnibus 7 Days in Havana in 2012 and again to the sidebar in 2017 with his last feature, The Workshop.…...

La Nuée

Promising to be one of 2020’s more bizarre debut is Just Philippot’s La Nuée (The Swarm), produced by Thierry Lounas and Manuel Chiche. Suliane Brahim (“Black Spot” – the French “Fleabag”) and Sofiane Khammes are among the cast in the production lensed by Romain Carcanade. Philippot’s 2016 short “Ses souffles” was shortlisted for a Cesar and his 2018 short “Acid” competed at Sundance and the national competition at Clermont-Ferrand.

Gist: Written by Jérôme Genevray and Franck Victor, in order to save her farm from bankruptcy, a single mother breeds edible grasshoppers but then begins to have a strange, obsessive relationship with them.…...

La Troisième Guerre

2020 promises to be a big year for director Giovanni Aloi, set to debut both his debut and sophomore features. His second title will be the French production La Troisième Guerre / The Third War, produced by Thierry Lounas. Aloi nabs Anthony Bajon, Leila Bekhti and Karim Leklou in the cast. Aloi’s first solo feature Tensione Superficiale will bow in 2020 and his 2015 short “E.T.E.R.N.I.T…...