News

Netflix’s hit Spanish comedy series “Machos Alfa,” “Alpha Males” in English, got the green light for a fourth season in Spain and a fourth international adaptation in Germany, joining other in-production adaptations of the show in France, the Netherlands and Italy.

“Machos Alfa” is the story of four middle-aged friends experiencing midlife crises in parallel as they attempt to adapt to modern sensibilities regarding masculinity. It was created and is written by Alberto and Laura Caballero, Spanish sitcom royalty who both worked on the iconic series “Aquí no hay quien viva” and “La que se avecina.”

The series launched in December 2022 and quickly became one of Spain’s most popular comedy series, where it ranked in Netflix’s top 10 for 13 weeks. Season 2 launched in February of this year, and Season 3 recently wrapped production, although no release date has been announced yet.

Germany’s version of “Machos Alfa,” which is currently untitled,...

It was never Suzy Bemba’s plan to become a professional actress. This year’s European Shooting Star from France had dabbled in performance — “10 years of ballet, maybe six years of singing classes,” she recalls. After a knee injury made it impossible to keep dancing, she switched to acting as “a new way of expression” and started trying out for open auditions, driving with her mother the two and half hours into Paris from their home in the French countryside. Her mother sent out inquiries to French talent agencies, and one agreed to sign Bemba after she graduated high school.

But when Bemba graduated, acting was the last thing on her mind. “I wanted to go to med school, that was always the dream, so when I graduated, that’s what I did,” she says. “I kind of forgot about the idea of acting.”

It was only after her freshman...

Indie Sales has boarded Nathalie Najem’s “No Way Back,” a timely feature debut tackling domestic violence with a cast led by Bastien Bouillon (“The Night of the 12th”) and Zita Hanrot (“Angry Annie”).

Now in post, “No Way Back” will be introduced to buyers by the banner Indie Sales at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous showcase next week.

“No Way Back” tells the story of Laura, who is rebuilding her life after years under the toxic influence of Joachim and is raising their daughter on her own. When Joachim’s new girlfriend, Shirine, shows up at her door in dire straits, Laura realizes that they must help each other to get rid of Joachim’s harmful influence. The film appears to be in a similar vein as Xavier Legrand’s Venice prizewinner “Custody,” with an emphasis on sisterhood.

Bouillon won last year’s Cesar Award for best male newcomer for his...

Elsa Zylberstein, the French César-winning actor and producer whose popular movie “Simone: Woman of the Century” recently opened in the U.S., is preparing a biopic movie of fashion icon Christian Dior.

The film is being penned by Julien Teisseire (“The Hookup Plan”) and is being developed by Zylberstein’s banner Sonia Films and Odile McDonald (“Ransom”).

Zylberstein, who is in Venice to participate in the Impact Jury along with Nadine Labaki (“Costa Brava Lebanon”) and Yalitza Aparicio (“Roma”), among others, told Variety that the film will open in 1947, in Paris, after World War II. Spanning a decade, the film sees Dior forging an empire alongside Raymonde Zehnacker, and falling madly in love with a much younger man, Jacques Benita.

“Christian Dior was a fiercely private man so people know very little about him and he was not a flamboyant character like other fashion designers or popular cultural icons, but he was no less fascinating,...

Nobel Prize-winning writer Annie Ernaux has signed an open letter in support of Amber Heard, decrying “the vilification” and “ongoing online harassment” of the actress.

Ernaux won the Nobel Prize in Literature in October 2022 for her work charting the lives of women in France from the 1960s onwards, including abortion drama Happening, which formed the basis for Audrey Diwan’s 2021 Venice Golden Lion winner of the same name.

She is among a group of 68 French feminists and cultural figures to have signed the online letter in an initiative coinciding with the first anniversary of the actress’s defeat last June in a highly-mediatized defamation trial brought by ex-husband Johnny Depp.

Further signatories included actresses Ariane Labed and Zita Hanrot as well as actress-director Aïssa Maïga, screenwriter Caroline Deruas Peano (The...

Charades and WTFilms have teamed on “Vermin,” a horror movie set in the French projects with a cast of local up-and-coming actors, who star alongside real spiders.

The movie will mark the feature debut of Sébastien Vaniček, who previously directed critically acclaimed shorts such as “Mayday.” Harry Tordjman at My Box Films is producing.

“Vermin” stars Théo Christine (“Suprêmes”), Finnegan Oldfield (“Final Cut”), Jérôme Niel (“Smoking Causes Coughing”), Sofia Lesaffre (“Les Misérables”) and Lisa Nyarko.

The film is currently in shooting in Paris, with a March 3 end date. It will distributed in France by Tandem. France Télévisions pre-bought the movie and Netflix got the pay TV window in France.

“Vermin” is set in an underprivileged suburb that has been thrown into chaos following an invasion of venomous spiders. Ordered to be placed in quarantine, the project sees inhabitants living on lockdown alongside terrifying spiders that are becoming bigger and bigger.

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...

Disney Plus has unveiled the trailer and key art for “Parallels,” its new French Original series which has been described as a fantasy sci-fi series in the vein of “Stranger Things.” All six episodes will launch on March 23 on Disney Plus’ platform worldwide.

“Parallels” tells the story of four friends — Bilal, Romane, Samuel and Victor — whose lives are turned upside down when a mysterious event scatters the group into different timelines. The four teenagers will do all they can to understand what has happened and try to get back to the carefree innocence of their former lives.

The series is headlined by teenagers and features many fresh faces, including Thomas Chomel (“Clem”), Omar Mebrouk, Jules Houplain (“Hpi”), Jade Pedri (“Ils étaient dix”), Naidra Ayadi and Guillaume Labbé. Other cast members include Gil Alma (“César Wagner”), Elise Diamant (“Mensonges”), Dimitri Storoge, Agnès Miguras (“Askip”), Maxime Bergeron, Victoria Eber (“Beyond Appearances”) and Timoté Rigault.

Entertainment Master Class (Emc), established in 2005 as a new platform for peer-to-peer TV industry education, has launched the Showrunner Society, a hybrid online/in-person community for showrunners and media executives. The first face-to-face masterclass is planned for this summer, hosted in Germany with supported from film funding agency Film- und Medienstiftung Nrw.

Described by Emd as “a new way for experienced writers and writing producers to learn the craft of Showrunning,” the platform was designed as a transmedia experience offering users the opportunity to meet and interact with established showrunners from their own regions and from around the world.

In addition to a wide-reaching range of online offerings, the jewel in the Showrunner Society’s crown will be its annual four-day, in-person Showrunning Masterclass where a small group of experienced writers, directors, producers and executives will be joined by showrunners from around the world for a series of mentoring sessions and potential shadowing opportunities.

Netflix is ringing in the new year in atypical fashion. Throughout 2021, the streaming giant’s original offerings swelled while its library titles shrunk. With its list of new releases for January 2022, however, Netflix is expanding its non-original market quite a bit.

Jan. 1 sees the arrival of a truly stunning amount of impressive non-Netflix movies and TV shows. The big titles available on the first of the month include: 300, Interview with the Vampire, Paranormal Activity, Superman Returns, Terminator 2, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and much more. Later on in the month, Netflix is also set to add Phantom Thread (Jan. 16) to its roster.

Read more TV Interview with the Vampire Series Will Tweak Anne Rice’s Story By Alec Bojalad and 1 other Movies Superman Returns: What Went Wrong? By Mike Cecchini

Though Netflix is lighter on original content in January 2022, there is still plenty of intriguing titles to check out.

Netflix will start 2022 with a number of series and film debuts, including the first part of the final season of “Ozark” and “Home Team,” a comedy about NFL coach Sean Payton starring Kevin James. But beyond its originals, Netflix will welcome a number of major library titles, among them “Phantom Thread” from Paul Thomas Anderson, Best Picture winner “Braveheart,” Ben Affleck’s blockbuster hit “The Town,” Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver,” David Fincher’s “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” and Joel and Ethan Coen’s “True Grit.”

Ahead, everything coming to Netflix in January 2022 – plus what movies will expire from the platform in January 2022 as well.

Coming Soon

All of Us Are Dead — Netflix Series

A zombie virus breaks out fast inside a school. Endangered students fight to survive and escape.

I Am Georgina — Netflix Series

A revealing look at the life of Georgina Rodríguez: model, mother, influencer,...

Exclusive: Disney Branded Television is in early development on Noggin, a Disney+ series based on John Corey Whaley’s book of the same name, which was pitched by writer Scott Weinger.

Released in 2014 by Simon & Schuster imprint Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Noggin was a National Book Award Finalist and made Time Magazine’s list of the 100 Best YA Novels of All Time.

The series billed as part Fault in Our Stars and part coming-of-age science-fiction will follow Travis Coates, a leukemia survivor and successful participant of a head-onto-somebody-else’s-donor-body transplant. At 16, just before Travis died, he decided to have his head cryogenically frozen in the hope that future medical technology would allow his head to receive a donor body, such that he could live a full and healthy life. What he and his family didn’t account for was that it wouldn’t take very long. Now, Travis...

Netflix is getting ready to ring in the new year with plenty of fresh titles for every viewing taste as we head into January 2020. Among the returning favorites are originals like Ricky Gervais‘ After Life and the highly anticipated first part of Ozark Season 4. And don’t miss Kristen Bell‘s dark turn in the lengthy new title The Woman in the House Across the Street From the Girl in the Window. These titles and more are coming to the Netflix library in January. Below, see the full lineup of what’s coming and going from the streamer as we head into the new year. After Life (Credit: Netflix) Available This Month on Netflix: January Tba All of Us Are Dead — Netflix Series I Am Georgina — Netflix Series Yeh Kaali Kaali Ankhein — Netflix Series January 1 Chief Daddy 2 – Going for Broke — Netflix Film The Hook Up Plan: Season 3 — Netflix Series...

Rolling off the smashing success of “Lupin,” Netflix and French star Omar Sy have entered a multi-year feature film deal. It’s the streamer’s first deal with a French talent or filmmaker.

The partnership will see Sy’s Paris and L.A.-based production company develop original films for Netflix, with Sy starring in and acting as executive producer on the projects.

“I have experienced Netflix’s collaboration with artists and their passion to bring unique and diverse stories to homes all over the world,” said Sy, who was a creative producer on some episodes of “Lupin.”

Sy added that he was “happy to have the opportunity to extend the relationship and look forward to this next step of our journey together.” Sy broke through with Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano’s hit comedy “The Intouchables” a decade ago, which marked his first leading role after many years in acting.

Muriel Sauzay, Pathe Intl.’s former head, and Agnès Mentré, Wild Bunch’s former acquisition topper, have launched Maremako, a Paris-based banner banner with a special interest in adaptations and remakes.

The company’s first slate includes an English-language remake of “Stalk” with Endeavor Content, in association with Drake’s DreamCrew and Ben Stiller’s Red Hour Prods.; and “French Love,” a anthology series with Noemie Saglio (Netflix’s “The Hook Up Plan”) showrunning and Richard Grandpierre’s Eskwad producing. “Stalk” follows a teenage hacker who gets hazed in his freshman year at a prestigious engineering school and sets off to take his revenge by cyber-stalking his tormentors.

“French Love,” meanwhile, will be based on the highly popular Elle magazine weekly column “C’est mon histoire” (It’s My Story). The column, which boasts one of the highest readerships of French women’s magazine segments on love stories in France,...

Paris-based company Indie Sales has boarded Blandine Lenoir’s “Angry Annie,” headlined by “Call My Agent!” star Laure Calamy, Zita Hanrot (Netflix’s “The Hook Up Plan”) and India Hair (“Mandibules”).

Inspired by true events, the film takes place in France in 1974 and tells the story of Annie, a working mother of two teenagers who accidentally becomes pregnant at a time when abortion was illegal in the country. Annie comes across doctors and women who are part of the Movement for the Liberation of Abortion and Contraception (Mlac) and becomes a pro-choice activist.

Lenoir previously directed “Aurore” which traveled to nearly 30 territories. Calamy, who plays Noémie in the popular “Call My Agent” series, just won the Cesar Award for her performance in “My Donkey, My Lover & I.”

Indie Sales will start sharing the script with buyers during the Cannes Pre-Screenings. The film will soon start shooting.

“It is an honor...

Legendary Television has appointed Netflix’s original series executive Jennifer Breslow as EVP, Television & Digital Media. She will report to Chris Albrecht, Head of Legendary Television.

As Director of Content for International Original Series at Netflix, a position Breslow held since 2016, she worked on a variety of series in such territories as Mexico, Brazil (O Mecanismo), India (Sacred Games), Korea (Love Alarm), France, Italy and Sweden (Quicksand). She spent most of 2018 living in Amsterdam to help build Netflix’s team and content hub in Europe while overseeing the slates for France and Italy.

In April of 2019, Breslow transitioned from international originals to US series, and was responsible for such popular new shows as Fate: The Winx Saga and Firefly Lane.

Prior to joining Netflix, Breslow was SVP and VP of Scripted Series at A+E Networks’ Lifetime,...

Netflix has chosen France to test its first channel offering.

Named Direct, the linear channel — which is only available to subscribers — will air French, international and U.S. feature films and TV series that are available on the streaming service. However, the channel will only be accessible via the service’s web browser, unlike its streaming service, which is found on set-top boxes thanks to distribution deals with French telco groups such as Orange, Canal Plus and Sfr.

The initiative marks Netflix’s first foray into real-time, scheduled programming. The service previously tested the option Shuffle Play, which wasn’t in real time but featured recommended programming to a sample of international users, explained a source at Netflix. The difference this time around is that the test is being localized in one country, rather than a sample of users.

On its website, Netflix said it chose France to test its...

Exclusive: Rome and Generation Kill executive producer Anne Thomopoulos is reuniting with her former HBO boss Chris Albrecht at Legendary Global.

Thomopoulos has joined the joint venture between Legendary and Albrecht as a partner, and comes from CAA’s Global Television department. She has been tasked with focusing on identifying and acquiring international content that Legendary Global can develop, produce and finance for local and global platforms.

Thomopoulos and Albrecht are reuniting after a successful run together at HBO, where Albrecht served as chairman and CEO and Thomopoulos created and oversaw the network’s dramatic series department. Kicking off with Oz, she first established HBO’s miniseries division with projects including From the Earth to the Moon, Band of Brothers and The Corner, before going on to exec produce Rome and Generation Kill.

She subsequently served as exec producer on Camelot for Starz, where she had a first-look producing deal.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings today officially opened Netflix’s vast new French headquarters in the center of Paris.

Currently home to 40 employees in film, TV and marketing, and with ample space for at least 100 more, the shiny new space is a major sign of intent for the streamer in one of Europe’s most important – and heavily regulated – markets.

Netflix announced today that it will significantly increase investment in France, with 20 new French productions, and partnerships with leading French creative institutions.

The streamer’s French content executives today unveiled a handful of original shows as well as a range of series and films made by production partners for the streamer. They include:

BigBug, the new film by César Award winner Jean-Pierre Jeunet, based on a script written by Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant — a comedy set in the future with a cast including César Award winner Elsa Zylberstein, César Award nominee Isabelle Nanty and Manu Payet.

It’s that time of year, and of month, again. October means Halloween, pumpkins and trick-or-treating, but now is also when we get to feast our eyes upon all the new horror movies coming to Netflix.

Of course, we’ll be losing a few of our favorites, too. When September ends, Eight Legged Freaks and Ghost Ship, among others will be gone. If you’re a fan of witches, cursed statues and Stephen King, though, then next month is your time.

For starters, we have 2009’s The Figurine arriving on the streaming platform, which is reminiscent of a certain Supernatural episode involving a lucky rabbit’s foot. It follows two boys who find a cursed statue in the woods that gives whoever finds it seven years of good luck, followed by seven years of the opposite.

Another adaptation of a King horror novella, In The Tall Grass, is also on the way.

Every year, critics summarize the year in cinema with top 10 lists, but they’re not the only members of the film community paying attention to the art form all year long. From programmers to publicists, sales agents, and distributors, many of the hardworking influencers behind the scenes are passionate movie buffs tracking the highlights of the year both for work and their personal enjoyment.

So while IndieWire has already provided its own rundowns of the best of 2018, this annual tradition provides an opportunity for the indie film community we cover throughout the year to weigh in. Here’s what they had to say.

Cameron Bailey, Artistic Director and Co-Head, Tiff

“Roma” d. Alfonso Cuaron “The Favourite” d. Yorgos Lanthimos “Widows” d. Steve McQueen “Leave No Trace” d. Debra Granik “If Beale Street Could Talk” d. Barry Jenkins “You Were Never Really Here” d. Lynne Ramsay “Black Panther” d. Ryan Coogler “Burning” d.

Netflix has confirmed that 64 new original series, movies and specials will be debuting on the streaming service in December, including the red-hot Oscar contender “Roma.” Among the returning shows are the second half of season 3 of “The Ranch” and season 4 of “Fuller House.”

Available December 1

“8 Mile”

“Astro Boy”

“Battle” (Netflix original)

“Bride of Chucky”

“Christine”

“Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs”

“Crossroads: One Two Jaga” (Netflix original)

“Friday”

“Friday After Next”

“Hellboy”

“Man vs Wild with Sunny Leone,” Season 1

“Meet Joe Black”

“Memories of the Alhambra” (Netflix original)

“My Bloody Valentine”

“Next Friday”

“Reindeer Games”

“Seven Pounds”

“Shaun of the Dead”

“Terminator Salvation”

“The Big Lebowski”

“The Great British Baking Show: Masterclass,” Season 5 Masterclasses

“The Last Dragon”

“The Man Who Knew Too Little”

Available December 2

“The Lobster”

Available December 3

“Blue Planet II,” Season 1

“Hero Mask” (Netflix original)

“The Sound of Your Heart: Reboot,” Season 2 (Netflix original)

Available December 4

“District 9”

Available December 6

“Happy!