News

A still from Party Girl

Party Girl, a first film written and directed by Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger and Samuel Theis, has been chosen to open the Official Selection of Un Certain Regard at the 67th Cannes Film Festival.

Party Girl shows the life of Angélique, a 60 year-old night club hostess who still loves men and enjoys partying, but now as the senior member on staff, feels she has reached the end of the line. On an impulse, she agrees to marry her regular client, Michel. The film is a portrait of a free woman who has chosen to live on the margins of conventional society, and delves deep into a France that is often underrepresented. With total realism, the lead role is played by the real-life Angélique.

The three co-directors met at Fémis film school in Paris, where they studied screenwriting and editing and began their collaboration. They produced...

Director Vishal Bhardwajhas now been invited to direct a play titled 'A Flowering Tree' at the prestigious state-owned Chatelet theatre in Paris. The said play is an adaptation of the legendary A.K. Ramanujan's famous poems. While Vishal would be interpreting the same in Indian style, it will have the famous DadiPudumjee who will be making puppets for the same. Talking about this, Vishal said that he was very excited to be directing a choir of 24 great singers with a 100-member philharmonic orchestra on such an impressive platform. He added that he was eagerly looking forward to spending his April in Paris with this pure form of art, which premieres on May 5.

Looking like a frazzled new fabulous mom, Beyoncé and her adorable 15-month-old daughter Blue Ivy enjoyed catching up while having lunch in Paris on Thursday.Even while in the middle of her Mrs. Carter Show world tour, Bey always finds time for a little mother/daughter bonding time.Blue knows there's nothing quite like April in Paris. Read more...

Turner Classic Movies (TCM), Sony Masterworks and Warner Home Video (Whv) are teaming up on a multi-tiered celebration of one of Hollywood’s most beloved stars: Doris Day. The celebration includes a new four-movie DVD package of memorable Day performance from Whv (in stores now); a brand new double CD set from Sony Masterworks (releasing April 3), with a collection of 31 songs curated by Day herself; and a five-night salute on TCM (April 2-6) This multi-pronged Doris Day tribute is timed to coincide with her birthday on April 3.

.I am so thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Sony Music on this collection of my recordings. I sang hundreds of songs, but because I was so busy singing, I rarely had the time to be involved in the compilation of the albums. So in this collection are some of my favorites, ones that I loved singing, and I hope you like them too,...

From Fred and Ginger to Jennifer and Ashton, romantic comedies used to be one of the safest bets in Hollywood. But it seems that rom is just not into com any more

Is it the end for the romcom? You can imagine the celebrity mag headlines: "Romcom's relationship on the rocks?" "Com: I'm just not that into Rom" "Rom: Com doesn't make me laugh any more."

After all, who says romance and comedy go together like a horse and carriage? It seems to be a chiselled Hollywood commandment that the two shall be forever conjoined in cinematic matrimony, but perhaps it's time they went their separate ways. Sure, they got off to a great start: in those early years it was all fun and games and sparkling repartee, but recently they haven't quite looked the happy couple; the spark just hasn't been there.

They've been stuck in the same repetitive formula: boy meets girl,...

Irish feature, 'Charlie Casanova', independently produced, written and directed by Terry McMahon is to have its European premiere at the ÉCU European Independent Film Festival. The event will showcase 77 films from 26 countries from 1 - 3 April in Paris. The film, which has now received funding from the Irish Film Board, stars Emmett Scanlan (The Guards), Leigh Arnold (The Clinic), Damien Hannaway (The Guards), Ruth McIntyre (Shackled), Tony Murphy, Valeria Bandino (The Doppleganger) and Johnny Elliott.

Mathieu Kassovitz and Juliette Binoche are teaming for Sylvie Testud's directorial debut, the dramedy "La Vie d'une auto" reports Variety.

The $6.5 million pic follows a young mother on the verge of a divorce, trying to save her marriage. Testud penned the script based on the novel by Frederique Deghelt.

Michele Halberstadt, Emmanuel Jacquelin and Laurent Petin are producing. Shooting kicks off in April in Paris, Belgium and Luxembourg.

Patagonia, Chile -- Forget April in Paris, I just did New Year's in Patagonia. Like the song says, "How you gonna keep 'em down on the farm after they've seen Paree?" So, after you've done the Caribbean, the Paris-London-Rome routine, plus Australia and Africa, then knocked off Eastern Europe, the Far East, Near East, Middle East, East St. Louis and every East but Clint Eastwood -- what's left? Chile. I am, as we speak, in downtown Patagonia, South America's furthest southernmost tip. Two more inches and you're an icefloat off Antartica.

Jazz fans may appreciate Count Basie more than the rest of us, but the jazz pianist's cameo in Blazing Saddles is pretty funny even if you don't know much about him. It's all part of the 1974 Mel Brooks comedy's shtick that plays with conventional aspects of Hollywood films, culminating in the sidesplitting climactic sequence that blends movie sets, pie fights and Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

The Count Basie cameo occurs fairly early in Blazing Saddles. Bart (Cleavon Little) is headed to the Old West town of Rock Ridge as the new sheriff, dressed to the nines. Count Basie's signature jazz number, "April in Paris," plays in the background, highlighting Bart's urbane demeanor. And as Bart rides across the prairie, he encounters ... Count Basie and his orchestra, performing "April in Paris" right there on the frontier. It's one of the more subtle laughs in the film, but it never fails to amuse me,...

DVD Playhouse—April 2009

By

Allen Gardner

Milk (Universal) Sean Penn deservedly captured his second Best Actor Oscar (and Dustin Lance Black a statuette for his original screenplay) in director Gus Van Sant’s portrait of San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to hold public office in the U.S. Alternately heartbreaking, infuriating and very funny, a film that both captures a bygone era and is still very timely. Fine support from Josh Brolin, Victor Garber, James Franco and Emile Hirsch. Also available on Blu-ray disc. Bonuses: Three featurettes. Widescreen. Dolby and DTS 5.1 surround.

Slumdog Millionaire (20th Century Fox) The Best Picture of 2008 is a kinetic, clever audience-pleaser about a determined lad (Dev Patel) from the slums of Mumbai, who has his chance at literal and financial redemption as a contestant on India’s version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Best Director Danny Boyle dazzles...