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After her break-out female empowerment portraits in the Cannes Un Certain Regard selected Papicha (2019) and Houria (2022), Franco-Algerian filmmaker Mounia Meddour is moving into WWII terrain with a currently untitled project loosely based on a play by Jean-Philippe Daguerre. Variety reports that Camille Razat, Elsa Zylberstein and Meddour muse Lyna Khoudri will topline the project (one top male lead will be announced prior to moving into production for May this year. Pablo Pauly (who add a bit part in The French Dispatch) also joins the project which is produced by Daï Daï Films’ Vanessa Djian. A Cannes 2026 showcase is not impossible.…...

“Emily in Paris” star Camille Razat, Elsa Zylberstein (“Simone: Woman of the Century”) and Lyna Khoudri (“The Three Musketeers”) will lead a WW2-set romance drama directed by “Papicha” helmer Mounia Meddour.

The movie is produced by Vanessa Djian at Daï Daï Films, a Newen Studios company, and co-produced by Genevieve Lemal at Scope in Belgium, and Bidibul in Luxembourg. Eric Jollant is executive producing. Wild Bunch Distribution will handle the theatrical release in France.

The untitled feature, whose exact plot remains under wrap, is loosely based on a play by Jean-Philippe Daguerre and was penned by Joanne Giger (“Le milieu de l’horizon”). It revolves around a love story unfolding against the backdrop of the liberation of Paris in 1944 which marked the end of the Nazi occupation of the French capital.

Djian had previously worked on “Farewell, Mr. Haffmann,” another movie set during WW2, in Nazi-occupied Paris. A male actor...

A star-studded edition of the Seville European Film Festival wrapped up over the weekend, with Ludovich and Zoran Boukherma’s French coming-of-age drama “And Their Children After Them” taking home the Giraldillo de Oro, the Festival’s top honor. Its lead, Paul Kircher, also scored a best actor win.

This year’s Official Selection jury included legendary British producer David Puttnam (“Chariots of Fire”) as president alongside Oscar-winning actor Jeremy Irons, Rome Film Festival artistic director Paola Malanga, Algerian filmmaker Mounia Meddour (“Papicha”) and Yelmo Cines programming manager Eva Rekettyei.

Now, in its second year under director Manuel Cristobal, Seville has expanded its selection to include all types of European cinema, from the most experimental arthouse indies to broad four-quadrant fare. The festival also aims to increase its influence on the awards season with the addition of the Puerto América Award – given to the best Oscar-submitted film in the program...

The 21st Sevilla European Film Festival will take place this Nov. 8-16, and Variety has been given an exclusive heads-up on this year’s competition juries that will choose the winners of the Gold and Silver Giraldillos as well as the special judges’ prize and a new award, the Puerta América Award.

Dedicated specifically to contemporary European film, Sevilla aims to bring the best in European cinematographic culture to the south of Spain for dialogues between the new artists and recognized figures from the industry while also dedicating space to new media for cinematographic expression.

Jurists for this year’s main competition section include British producer David Puttnam, who will chair the jury, Oscar-winning British actor Jeremy Irons, Rome Film Fest artistic director Paola Malanga, French programmer Eva Rekettyei, and French-Algerian director Mounia Meddour (“Papicha”).

Accompanying today’s jury announcements, Sevilla shared details about its new Puerta América Award, granted...

Rolling off their partnership on Studiocanal’s “‘Mayhem!” (“Farang”) and Netflix hit movie “Watch Under Paris,” popular genre filmmaker Xavier Gens (“Gangs of London”) is joining forces with Vincent Roget and Eric Lavaine’s banner Sameplayer to launch a new production company.

Named Good Players, the Paris-based company will aim at developing and producing action, thriller, aventure, fantasy and horror movies that have an international appeal. The inaugural slate of projects includes “Les Opposums,” directed by Eva Munoz (“Hannya”); “Drive” by Abel Danan; “C’est pas nous les diables” by Meryl Estragnat (“Promenons-nous”), and “Ferris Wheel” by Julien Hosmalin (“Magic World”). These projects will enter production between this year’s second half and end of 2025.

Gens, who is based in Paris, is also currently developing with Netflix “Malin Fors,” a gritty series based on Mons Kallentoft’s Scandinavian novels. Gens, who will produce via Good Players and direct, said the...

Two of France’s fastest-rising young stars, Lyna Khoudri and Rio Vega, will lead the French voice cast of animated feature “In Waves,” an unconditional first love story, and tale of loss and memories adapting American illustrator Aj Dungo’s same-titled multi-prized graphic novel.

An anticipated banner prestige animation title from Paris-based Silex Films, “In Waves” lead producer, the feature also marks the first animated co-production of both Anonymous Content and Charades, behind sales of Jeremy Clapin’s “I Lost My Body” and Mamoru Hosoda’s “Mirai,” both Oscar nominated titles.

In Waves is directed by Phuong Mai Nguyen, a former student of French animation schools Gobelins and La Poudrière who helmed episodes of the Silex-produced animated series “Brazen” and was Oscar-shortlisted for her short “My Home,” “In Waves” has just been announced as one of five titles at the Annecy Animation Showcase, part of Cannes’ Animation Day on May...

France has named a heavyweight Oscar selection committee to decide its submission in the international feature film category at the 2024 Academy Awards.

France’s Minister of Culture Rima Abdul Malak has appointed a seven-person committee proposed by Dominique Boutonnat, president of French film board Cnc. They include composer Alexandre Desplat, whose 11 Oscar nominations have led to two wins for “The Shape of Water” and “The Grand Budapest Hotel”; former Lionsgate executive and producer Patrick Wachsberger, Oscar winner for “Coda”; and two-time Cesar winning producer Charles Gillibert.

The committee also includes Olivier Assayas, Cannes best director winner for “Personal Shopper”; Mounia Meddour, Cesar winner for “Papicha”; Sabine Chemaly, executive VP, international distribution, TF1 Studio; and Tanja Meissner, former head of international sales at Memento Films International.

Members of the committee will will meet twice, in the presence of Boutonnat and Gilles Pélisson president of film promotion body Unifrance, both of whom...

Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s new strand in which, each fortnight, we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films killing it in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are appearing in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track. So we’re going to do the hard work for you.

This week we visit French director Xavier Gens’s Thailand-set fight-fest Farang, which has shown independent French action movies can hold their own in cinemas and find international buyers. Released against a real-life background of fury towards the police following the killing of a French teenager during a traffic stop in June, the film has shown there remains an appetite for genre movie in the country.

Name: Farang

Country: France

Distributor: Studiocanal

Networks: Canal+, France Télévisions

Where to watch: Due...

Apple TV+ will be tapping into France’s lavish culinary heritage with “Carême,” a new original series about the world’s first celebrity chef, Antonin Carême, which will be directed by Martin Bourboulon (“The Three Musketeers: d’Artagnan”).

Set in the 19th century, the eight-episode French drama will chart the sprawling story of Carême, who rose from humble beginnings in Paris to the height of culinary stardom in Napoleon’s Europe. He not only became an iconic chef, he also became a spy for France as his talent and ambitions attracted the attention of powerful politicians, including Napoleon. The series will shed light on the miserable reality of 19th century kitchens, contrasting with the opulence of the mansions and sophisticated of aristocrats.

“Carême” will be led by a starry French cast, including Benjamin Voisin, the Cesar-winning actor of “Lost Illusions” and “Summer of 85″ in the title role. Voisin will star opposite...

In a bid to showcase the utility of Nft’s in cinema, the team behind Mounia Meddour’s (“Papicha”) Rome-premiering film “Houria” is launching a limited impact Nft collection.

Meddour’s follow up to her Cesar-winning feature debut “Papicha,” “Houria” is still playing in theaters in France and was recently boarded by “Coda” Star Troy Kotsur who is now executive producer on the movie. Kotsur made history last year as the first Deaf man to take home an acting award at the Oscars.

The initiative, which is being engineered by the film’s producers Ink Connection and High Sea, as well as the banners MADworld and Lumiere, will allow for the creation of a series of Nft’s focusing on “Houria”‘s central themes — sign language and dance. Powered by blockchain technology, a portion of the Nft proceeds will be donated to the Paris-based non-profit org Femmes Sourdes Citoyennes et...

The Cannes Screenplay List, an initiative backed by the talent platform Wscripted in partnership with Mubi, will be back for a third edition at the Cannes Film Festival’s Marché du Film.

An international jury comprising filmmakers Mounia Meddour, Funa Maduka (“Waiting for Hassana”), and Camille Griffin (“The Silent Night”) will sift through submitted feature scripts from women and non-binary writers.

The final List of top scripts will be presented to producers during during the Cannes Marché du Film, in collaboration with Mubi.

Meddour made her feature debut “Papicha” in 2019 which played to acclaim at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and went on to win two Cesar Awards for best first film and female newcomer Lyna Khoudri. Her sophomore outing, “Houria”, is a tale of sorority about a dancer’s dream to join the Algerian National Ballet. The lushly lensed film, which reteams Meddour with Khoudri, debuted in French theatres on...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSHaunted Hotel.The British Film Institute has begun unveiling the program for the London Film Festival, which runs from October 5-16. So far, they have announced the official competition, featuring films from Alice Diop, Mark Jenkin, and Hlynur Pálmason, and the VR- and Ar-oriented "Extended Realities" strand, including a new work from Guy Maddin, Haunted Hotel.Production has begun on Bruno Dumont's The Empire. Cineuropa reports that the science-fiction film depicts the "epic parallel life of knights from interplanetary kingdoms"; the cast includes Lyna Khoudri (César-winner for Papicha) and the gendarmerie duo from Li'l Quinquin, Bernard Pruvost and Philippe Jore.The international film critics association Fipresci have chosen the winner of their 2022 Grand Prix for Film of the Year: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi's Drive My Car.Recommended VIEWINGAndrew Mau and Alan Mak's seminal...

Revered Algerian actor Ahmed Benaissa died on Friday after a long illness, according to the Algerian Ministry of Culture. He was 78.

Benaissa’s latest film, Clement Cogitore’s “Sons of Ramses,” (“Goutte d’Or”) in which he had a key role, playing Ramses’s (Karim Leklou) father, is premiering at Cannes on Friday, as a special screening in the Critics’ Week strand of the festival.

“I am deeply saddened at the sudden passing of Ahmed Benaissa,” Cogitore said. “The film would not exist without him and words can’t express our sorrow at premiering the film in Cannes today.”

“Sons Of Ramses” is produced by Jean-Christophe Reymond for Kazak Productions. It is distributed in France by Diaphana Distribution. MK2 is handling international sales.

A statement released by Kazak, MK2, Diaphana and Karim Leklou said: “We have learned of the sudden death of comedian Ahmed Benaissa. All our heartfelt thoughts go...

Pathé and Dimitri Rassam’s Chapter 2, a Mediawan Company, have unveiled the first stills of their sprawling 75 million two-part European film based on Alexandre Dumas’s masterpiece “The Three Musketeers” – D’Artagnan” and “The Three Musketeers – Milady.”

The companies will present a 15-minute promo reel at Cannes. Directed by Martin Bourboulon (“Eiffel”), the two ‘Musketeers’ films are currently completing principal photography after more than 140 days of shooting at prestigious French landmarks, including the Louvre Palace, the Hôtel des Invalides, the Castles of Fontainebleau and Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Fort la Latte and Chantilly, as well as the citadel of Saint-Malo and the historic city center of Troyes.

Penned by Alexandre de la Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte (“What’s in a Name?”), the films are headlined by a galaxy of stars who have an international profile, including François Civil (“The Stronghold”), Vincent Cassel (“Black Swan”), Eva Green (“Casino Royal”), Romain Duris (“Eiffel”), Vicky Krieps (“Phantom Thread...

The feature is being showcased as a work in progress at Qumra this week.

Algerian cinema has enjoyed a high profile at Cannes over the past decade, with titles making a splash including Karim Moussaoui’s Waiting For Swallows, Mounia Meddour’s Papicha and Amin Sidi-Boumédiène’s Abou Leila.

French-Algerian director Damien Ounouri is hoping to continue the trend this year with his debut feature The Last Queen, which breaks fresh ground for Algerian cinema as its first-ever full-scale costume drama. Set in the Mediterranean port city of Algiers in 1516, it revolves around the heroic female figure of Zaphira, who...

Syrian filmmaker Anas Khalaf, French-Moroccan filmmaker Sofia Alaoui and Egypt’s Ahmed Fawzi Saleh have also received backing.

Algerian-French filmmaker Mounia Meddour’s third feature Délit de Solidarité is among 35 projects to have secured Doha Film Institute (Dfi) funding as part of its autumn 2021 grants round.

The drama, which is in development, revolves around a young woman living at a key crossing point for migrants on the Italian-French border. Its French title translates as “a crime of solidarity”.

The Dfi previously supported Meddour’s debut feature Papicha which premiered to critical acclaim in Cannes Un Certain Regard. The filmmaker is...

Paris-based sales powerhouse has rented Berlin gallery off Potsdamer Platz.

Wild Bunch International (Wbi) has released a first look image of Algerian-French director Mounia Meddour’s new drama Houria, ahead of its sales launch at the upcoming European Film Market (February 10-17).

The previously announced project is Meddour’s second feature after Cannes Un Certain Regard breakout Papicha and reunites her with that film’s star Lyna Khoudri, whose other credits include The French Dispatch and The Blessed, for which she won best actress when it debuted in Venice’s Horizons sidebar in 2017.

Khoudri plays a talented ballerina who makes...

Houria

Another Un Certain Regard breakout filmmaker, Mounia Meddour quietly began filming her sophomore film this past September on a project that reunited her with her Papicha (César Award for Best First Feature Film) stars Lyna Khoudri and Amira Hilda Douaouda. Filmed in Algeria and France, Houria pursues the female empowerment agenda looking at personal triumphant tussling with personal tragedy. Rachida Brakni stars as well. She reteams with cinematographer Léo Lefèvre (most recently worked on Luzzu) The Ink Connection’s Xavier Gens (Meddour’s hubby) and Gregoire Gensollen will produce with High Sea Productions’ Patrick André.

Gist: Khoudri stars as a young woman who is passionate about ballet dancing and experiences a trauma.…...

Studiocanal is unveiling a raft of French projects with high commercial potential, including Claude Zidi Jr.’s “Tenor,” the romantic comedy “The Tasting” and “Happy 50,” starring Lambert Wilson (“Benedetta”) and Frank Dubosc (“Rolling to You”).

“Tenor” (pictured) marks Zidi Jr.’s follow up to “Divorce Club” and boasts an eclectic cast, including César nominee Michèle Laroque, beatboxing world champion MB14, and opera singer Roberto Alagna. “Tenor” tells the uplifting journey of a talented young underdog who rises from suburban streets to the grand stage of the Paris Opéra. The movie is produced by Firstep, Raphael Benoliel’s Paris-based banner whose credits include “Emily in Paris,” “Magic in the Moonlight,” “Midnight in Paris,” and Darka Movies (“Gogo”). “Tenor” is available worldwide excluding Benelux, France and Poland. The company will release it in French cinemas on May 4.

​”The Tasting” is penned and directed by Ivan Calberac (“The Student and Mr Henri”) and...

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...

Now in its 17th year, the Thessaloniki Film Festival’s Crossroads Co-Production Forum has become a de rigueur stop on the fall circuit for producers, distributors, festival programmers and sales agents from across Europe – and increasingly the rest of the world – as they look to spot promising projects in development from Southeast Europe, the Black Sea, and the wider Mediterranean region.

For Yianna Sarri, who heads Thessaloniki’s industry arm, Agora, the reason is obvious. “They know that they will find the best possible projects in Thessaloniki,” Sarri told Variety.

Recent Crossroads success stories include Christos Nikou’s debut “Apples,” which opened the Horizons strand of last year’s Venice Film Festival, and “Ghosts,” the first feature from Turkey’s Azra Deniz Okyay, which won the Grand Prize at Venice Critics’ Week. Other notable titles in recent years include Mounia Meddour’s Algerian civil-war drama “Papicha,” which premiered in Cannes...

Distrib Films has acquired U.S. rights to a flurry of high-profile foreign-language films, including the Cesar Award-winning animated feature “Josep,” the Isabelle Adjani starrer “Sisters,” and “Tokyo Shaking” with Karin Viard.

Directed by Yamina Benguigui, “Sisters” stars Adjani, Maiwenn and Rachida Brakni as siblings who tear each other apart when one of them decides to tell the life of their dying father in the theater.

The movie will be released by Distrib Films on Oct. 29 in L.A., followed by other cities. “Sisters” is set to play at the Women in Film Festival as part of of Martha’s Vineyard Film Society in October.

François Scippa Kohn, Distrib Films’ founder and president, said “Sisters” was a personal film for Benguigui as it reflects her take on family bonds, cultural identity and what it means to be a modern woman.

“Like other movies we’ve handled, notably ‘Papicha,”The Chef’s Wife,...

Lina El Arabi, the emerging French actor of the Cesar-nominated “A Wedding,” is set to headline “The Malediction” (“Leana”), a horror-thriller which will mark the feature debut of Abel Danan.

The film is being produced by Leo Maidenberg, whose credits include “Sisters in Arms” and “The Bunker Game.” Xavier Gens, the producer of Mounia Meddour’s Cesar-winning film “Papicha,” is co-producing. Gens is also a director specialised in genre films with a track record including “Frontiere (s).” El Arabi was featured as a rising star at Toronto in 2017.

Penned by Danan and Emma Lacoste, “The Malediction” takes place today, in a world that is slowly recovering from a mysterious epidemic. The movie is set in Paris and follows Yara, a 25 year-old young Moroccan woman who came to study in Paris and has not left her home for several months, as she is agoraphobic since childhood because of terrible family events.

French actor Judith Chemla, the 37 year-old French star of “Mes freres et moi,” will not attend the world premiere of the film at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard on July 12 after an alleged incident involving the director of her film throwing a cell phone at her, Variety has learned.

Chemla filed a complaint on July 4 against Yohan Manca, the director of “Mes freres et moi,” who is also her boyfriend. The alleged assault took place on July 3 in the street near Theatre du Rond-Point in Paris.

Chelma’s and Manca’s reps have not responded to Variety’s requests for comments.

According to a source close to Chemla, the actor is alleging Manca, with whom she has a daughter, of throwing a cell phone at her face. A source close to Manca and Chemla told Variety that the couple was having an argument and Manca became very violent. They’ve been dating for five years.

Mounia Meddour, the director of the Cesar-winning film “Papicha” that also played to acclaim at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in 2019, will next direct “Houria,” an Algeria-set drama headlined by “Papicha” star Lyna Khoudri.

Meddour, who is on the jury of this year’s Un Certain Regard, wrote the original screenplay for “Houria.”

The film is set in contemporary Algeria and will star Khoudri (“The French Dispatch”) as a young woman who is passionate about ballet dancing and experiences a trauma. Following this personal tragedy, she meets other women who have experienced similar situations and finds a creative way to pursue her passion. Besides Khoudri, who has become one of France’s hottest actors, “Houria” will star Amira Hilda Douaouda, another “Papicha” actor, as well as Rachida Brakni (“Baron Noir’).

“Like ‘Papicha,’ ‘Houria’ will tell the story of strong-willed women on their paths to resilience and emancipation which are themes that drive me,...

After a year of grounded flights, video conference calls, and countless other workarounds to help the global film industry through the coronavirus pandemic, the organizers of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival are ready to roll out the red carpet for the 23rd edition.

With travel restrictions in Europe and across much of the globe easing in recent weeks, this year’s hybrid edition will include roughly 100 industry guests taking part in the activities of the Agora, the festival’s industry arm, which will host events both online and onsite in Thessaloniki from June 25-July 4.

The organizers have made the most of recent experience. Last year, as the pandemic began spreading across Europe, the festival was forced to hastily pivot to an online edition, livestreaming the pitching forum of the annual Agora Doc Market just days after the festival’s 22nd edition was postponed. “Everything was coordinated in three days,” says Agora head Yianna Sarri.

Cannes Official Selection section will showcase 20 films this year.

UK director Andrea Arnold has been announced as president of the Un Certain Regard jury at the 74th edition of the Cannes Film Festival which is due to unfold July 6-17.

The other jury members will comprise French-Algerian director, screenwriter and producer Mounia Meddour, French actress Elsa Zylberstein, Argentinian director, producer and screenwriter Daniel Burman and US writer/director, producer and actor Michael Covino.

Arnold will also be attending the festival with her documentary Cow which is due to show in the new Cannes Première section.

She has a long relationship with the festival.

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,...

After a year of upheaval, France’s Cesar Awards will host its 46th edition under new leadership on Friday with more diversity and parity within its 4,292-strong membership. Across the administration board and general assembly, however, there’s still a dearth of Black creatives.

More women and visible minorities have joined the ranks of Cesar Awards’ voting members since the arrival of a new president, Veronique Cayla, the former boss of the Franco-German public culture channel Arte France, and vice chair Eric Toledano, the popular co-director of smash-hit “The Intouchables,” in late September.

The annual awards, which are France’s equivalent of the Oscars, reformed its operating model and corporate leadership last year following an industry-wide revolt that led to the resignation of long-time Cesar Academy president Alain Terzian, along with the rest of the 21-member board of governors.

Joining the org just six months ago, Cayla and Toledano were...

The Party Films Sales, the sales outfit behind the Golden-Globe nominated drama “Two of Us,” has acquired a trio of feature debuts from promising filmmakers, “Too Close to the Sun,” “The Sea Ahead,” and the animated film “My Neighbor’s Neighbours.”

All three films are set to be delivered later this year and are expected to world premiere in the festival circuit. The Party Films Sales will introduce all three projects at the virtual European Film Market.

“Too Close to the Sun” is directed by Brieuc Carnaille, a screenwriter-turned-filmmaker who is also a rock singer for the band Duel.

The film follows Clément Roussier (“Churchmen”) as Basile, a 30-something man who has just come out of the hospital and moved in with this youngest sister and closest confidant, Sarah. Suffering from a psychiatric disorder, Basil tries his best to re-establish a sense of normality in both his work and his love life.

MyFrenchFilmFestival, an online film festival dedicated to French movies launched by the promotion org UniFrance, will showcase 33 titles, including a competitive lineup of 10 feature films and 10 shorts.

Set to run Jan. 15 to Feb. 15, the 11th edition of the festival will collaborate with more than 60 platforms around the world to allow movies to be watched across more than 200 territories.

The roster of films selected to compete as part of this year’s MyFrenchFilmFestival includes Sébastien Lifshitz’s “Adolescents,” a documentary exploring the evolving friendship of two young women through the years; Hafsia Herzi’s “You Deserve a Lover,” a drama about a young woman struggling to overcome a breakup; and Frédéric Fonteyne’s “Filles de joie,” a social drama about family women leading double lives to make ends meet.

The rest of the lineup comprises Bruno Merle’s “Felicita,” a family dramedy about an eccentric couple raising a child; Stéphane Batut...

The McU has become the most dominant franchise in Hollywood, over a course of 20+ movies spanning more than a decade. While that kind of achievement is impressive, it has also led to some fans complaining that every Marvel movie looks and feels the same, no matter who directs the film. According to filmmaker Xavier Gens, who directed the 2007 action-thriller Hitman, Marvel Studios insists on taking complete charge of the action and CGI sequences of each of their films, which is why Gens turned down the chance to make an McU feature.

"I was in discussion with différents studios [including Marvel]. But now, I understand that the previews of the digital effects and action scenes are done by VFX companies like the Third floor in London, and that I would be there to take care of only the direction of the actors... As director living in Europe, we are in charge of the entire process of the film.

The cast also includes Sabine Azéma, Maud Wyler and Laurent Poitrenaux. Produced by 31 Juin Films, this third feature from the director will be sold by Pyramide. Three more weeks of filming for Aurélia Georges’ La place d’une autre, the third feature from the director, after L'Homme qui marche (selected in the Acid competition in Cannes in 2007) and La fille et le fleuve (2014). The cast includes Lyna Khoudri, Sabine Azéma (winner of the Best Actress César award in 1985 and 1987 and nominated four other times), Maud Wyler (very well received in The Bare Necessity and a stand out in Alice and the Mayor) and Laurent Poitrenaux. Very freely...

The coronavirus pandemic might have shut down film and television production across the globe, with many industries still struggling to relaunch with the latest health and safety protocols, but Yianna Sarri, who heads the Thessaloniki Film Festival’s industry arm, Agora, knew there would be an upside for the annual Crossroads Co-Production Forum.

“During the lockdown everywhere, people had the opportunity to stay at home and write scripts,” she said. “It was in our mind that we were going to have many submissions.”

Now in its 16th year, Agora has emerged as a leading forum for filmmakers from Southeast Europe, the Middle East, and the wider Mediterranean region, reflecting the ancient heritage of Thessaloniki as a cultural crossroads—a meeting point of East and West.

To that end, the Crossroads Co-Production Forum has gradually evolved into a de facto launching pad for films from Greece and neighboring countries. “Every year,...

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...

To mark the release of Papicha on 28th September, we’ve been given 3 copies to give away on DVD.

Set in nineties Algiers, the film opens to the sound of dance music as men and women, dressed to the nines, slip through checkpoints to party the night away. Meanwhile tensions mount between armed police forces and anti government religious fundamentalists. What headstrong fashion student Nedjma, Papicha (Lynda Khoudri) to her friends, doesn’t know is that her life is about to change forever….

Lifting the lid on the radical events of the Algerian Civil War, Mounia Meddour’s “Papicha” follows the trials and tribulations of a group of determined young women as they come face to face with a new, dangerous reality.

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Open to UK residents only The competition will close 1st October 2020 at...

With ‘Tenet’ opening in multiple territories, this is a key weekend for European cinemas.

France, opening Wednesday August 26

As the population gears up for the country’s traditional September Rentrée, marking the return to work and school after the summer, a number of films that were held back due to the Covid-19 pandemic are finally being released this week in addition to Tenet which Warner Bros France has opened on 800 prints.

They included Benoit Delépine and Gustave Kervern’s Silver Bear-winning comedy Delete History for Ad Vitam, which was originally scheduled for the spring and was one of the hits of the Berlinale this year,...

Lyna Khoudri, most promising newcomer in Papicha Photo: Unifrance In a relatively short space of time French-Algerian actress Lyna Khoudri seems to be everywhere - from Mounia Meddour’s multi-award winning Papicha (now available to view on digital platforms) to Wes Anderson’s much anticipated The French Dispatch in which she plays a student activist and co-star Timothée Chalamet’s girlfriend.

She still cannot quite believe she won a César award for most promising newcomer in Papicha for which Meddour won best first film as well as the accolade of representing Algeria at the Oscars.

“I wanted it so much that I still cannot fathom that I actually won it,” Khoudri said. Rather than residing ostentatiously at her flat in Paris, the statuette is safely under lock and key at her agent’s office.

Meddour says she was captivated by Khoudri’s “strength and fragility.” She appreciated the actress’s chemistry.

"The party's over, Papicha." Peccadillo Pictures in the UK has debuted an official UK trailer for Papicha, an Algerian film which originally premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section last year. Set in Algiers in 1997, following four women trying to navigate an oppressive life in Algeria just as the civil war is about to get worse and change everything forever. "Lifting the lid on the radical events of the Algerian Civil War, Mounia Meddour's Papicha follows the trials and tribulations of a group of determined young women as they come face to face with a new, dangerous reality." Starring Lyna Khoudri as Papicha, with Shirine Boutella, Nadia Kaci, Amira Hilda Douaouda, Zahra Doumandji, Yasin Houicha, Khalissa Houicha, and Meryem Medjkane. This looks like an excellent and brutally honest look at life in Algeria in the 90s and how it was all about to change...

Chicago – Using safety-first precautions, the Music Box Theatre of Chicago has reopened as of July 3rd for limited seating (see link below for details). The Gene Siskel Film Center continues “Film Center From Your Sofa.”

Music Box Theatre Screens Vertigo, Tales From The Crypt: Demon Knight and Relic at the Re-Opened Theater. Plus Virtual Films for At Home Continue.

Vertigo

Photo credit: MusicBoxTheatre.com

As of July 3rd, 2020, Music Box Theatre became on of the first movie houses in Chicago to re-open in compliance with Illinois State guideline Phase 4 protocol. The complete rules for coming to the theater can be accessed by clicking here.

For virtual cinema, Music Box Theatre will continue get a percentage of the proceeds from any screening. Click site link below for details.

Scheduled: Simultaneous with the open theater.

Description: In Theater: Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo in 70mm. Tales From The Crypt: Demon brings the popular...

Paris-based sales company Totem Films has unveiled a teaser for “Gagarine,” a feature debut by Fanny Liatard and Jeremy Trouilh which is part of Cannes’ Official Selection.

Totem Films will be hosting two virtual market screening at Cannes’ online Marché du Film that kicks off on Monday. Haut et Court, one of France’s top arthouse distributors, will release “Gagarine” locally on Feb. 10.

The movie is headlined by an attractive cast, including the newcomer Alséni Bathily, rising actors Lydia Khouri, Jamil McCraven (“Nocturama”), Finnegan Oldfield (“Bang Gang”), as well as well-known thesp Denis Lavant (“Holy Motors”).

The movie tells the story of Youri, a French teenager who has lived all his life in Gagarine Cité, a huge, red-brick housing project on the outskirts of Paris. When Youri finds out about plans to demolish his community’s home, he joins his friends Diana and Houssam on a mission to save Gagarine.

Arab Blues Photo: Courtesy of London Film Festival/Carole Bethuel The French Film Festival has announced it will screen a streamlined programme for its 28th edition across dates in November and December.

The programme, which is still a work in progress, will feature films including culture-clash comedy Arab Blues and Papicha - which sees teens fighting fundamentalism - alongside classics like Costa-Gavras' murder mystery The Sleeping Car Murders. Other familiar names joining the line-up include Robert Guédiguian, whose heartfelt family drama Gloria Mundi will also screen.

Festival director Richard Mowe said: "We felt it important that the 28th edition of the French Film Festival UK should continue to keep faith with our colleagues in cinemas and our loyal and enthusiastic audiences stretching from Shetland to Plymouth. The festival will follow the guidelines for distancing and self-protection."

The programme so far - with further titles due to be announced later this...

Where Have All the Flowers Gone?: Meddour Goes Back to Black Decade with Debut

Fashion is certainly far from one’s mind when dealing with the atrocities of civil war, but such is the entry point for director Mounia Meddour’s solid directorial debut, Papicha, which means ‘pretty girl.’ Set in 1997 Algiers in the midst of the Algerian Civil War (otherwise referred to as the Black Decade), which transpired from 1991 to 2002, a young woman coming of age rebels against the trenchant misogyny of the period to stage a fashion show, which is regarded as a dangerous political statement.…...

Rithy Panh, Karim Ainouz, Annemarie Jacir, Tala Hadid, Ghassan Salhab join efforts to continue key project development activities.

The Doha Film Institute (Dfi) has set up an online mentorship programme to replace its Qumra talent and project development event which was cancelled earlier this month due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A total of 46 projects were to have received support and advice from some 100 industry professionals at the sixth edition of the meeting, originally scheduled to run March 20-25 in Doha.

French director Claire Denis, Greek cinematographer Phedon Papamichael, Us director James Gray, Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner and Oscar-winning sound editor...

“Papicha” filmmaker Mounia Meddour was awarded the 2020 Academy Gold Fellowship Award for Women from the AMPAS during a luncheon hosted by French actress Juliette Binoche in Paris.

The luncheon was part of a two-day event jointly organized by the French film promotion org UniFrance and the AMPAS to celebrate the achievements of women in the French movie industry. Maimouna Doucouré, whose feature debut “Cuties” earned her a best director nod at Sundance, won the inaugural Academy Gold Fellowship Award for Women last year.

Binoche, whose upcoming film “The Good Wife” will be released in France next Wednesday, delivered a keynote speech at the luncheon addressing the condition of women in our contemporary world.

“Women have been hidden, are still hidden, some are under veils, some have been locked down, reduced to a state of servitude and even slavery, and in other societies were they seem more free, women are...

France’s Oscars unfold amid politically charged atmosphere following protests over nominations for Polanski’s An Officer And A Spy.

Ladj Ly’s explosive social drama Les Misérables won best film at a politically charged 45th Cesar awards on Friday evening which also saw Roman Polanski feted with best director for historical drama An Officer and A Spy.

The ceremony for France’s equivalent of the Oscars in the Salle Pleyel concert hall in central Paris unfolded in an atmosphere of heightened tension.

It has been a rocky six weeks for the awards, following a backlash by female rights activists...

France’s Oscars unfold amid politically charged atmosphere following protests over nominations for Polanski’s An Officer And A Spy.

Ladj Ly’s explosive social drama Les Misérables won best film at a politically charged 45th Cesar awards on Friday evening which also saw Roman Polanski feted with best director for historical drama An Officer and A Spy.

The ceremony for France’s equivalent of the Oscars in the Salle Pleyel concert hall in central Paris unfolded in an atmosphere of heightened tension.

It has been a rocky six weeks for the awards, following a backlash by female rights activists...

France’s Oscars unfold amid politically charged atmosphere following protests over nominations for Polanski’s An Officer And A Spy.

Ladj Ly’s explosive social drama Les Misérables won best film at a politically charged 45th Cesar awards on Friday evening which also saw Roman Polanski feted with best director for historical drama An Officer and A Spy.

The ceremony for France’s equivalent of the Oscars in the Salle Pleyel concert hall in central Paris unfolded in an atmosphere of heightened tension.

It has been a rocky six weeks for the awards, following a backlash by female rights activists...

France’s Oscars unfold amid politically charged atmosphere following protests over nominations for Polanski’s An Officer And A Spy.

Ladj Ly’s explosive social drama Les Misérables won best film at a politically charged 45th Cesar awards on Friday evening which also saw Roman Polanski feted with best director for historical drama An Officer and A Spy.

The ceremony for France’s equivalent of the Oscars in the Salle Pleyel concert hall in central Paris unfolded in an atmosphere of heightened tension.

It has been a rocky six weeks for the awards, following a backlash by female rights activists...

France’s Oscars unfold amid politically charged atmosphere following protests over nominations for Polanski’s An Officer And A Spy.

Ladj Ly’s explosive social drama Les Misérables won best film at a politically charged 45th Cesar awards on Friday evening which also saw Roman Polanski feted with best director for historical drama An Officer and A Spy.

The ceremony for France’s equivalent of the Oscars in the Salle Pleyel concert hall in central Paris unfolded in an atmosphere of heightened tension.

It has been a rocky six weeks for the awards, following a backlash by female rights activists...