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Exclusive: Iconic French actress Catherine Deneuve has been set to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily next month. The Oscar nominee will be honored during a gala evening at the Teatro Antico, where she will present her most recent film, Spirit World, from director Erik Khoo.

The star of such films as The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, Belle de Jour, Le Dernier Métro, Indochine, Place Vendôme and 8 Women, Deneuve is next set to star in Asghar Farhadi’s Parallel Tales.

Spirit World, which released in France last year, will be distributed in Italy by Europictures beginning June 26.

Taormina Artistic Director, Tiziana Rocca, commented: “It is an immense honor to welcome Catherine Deneuve to the Taormina Film Festival. Her presence is a gift for our audience and for cinema as a whole. With her grace and talent, she has traversed the history of the seventh art,...

Reuniting two of the producers behind Walter Salles’ Oscar winning “I’m Still Here,” “Queen of the South” lead Alice Braga will star in an adaptation of Cannes jury member Leila Slimani’s debut novel “In the Garden of the Ogre,” produced by Conspiraçao, one of Brazil’s top producers, and Globoplay, the VOD service of Brazilian TV giant Globo.

To be directed by Carolina Jabor (“Liquid Truth”), the big screen makeover of the renowned Moroccan-French author figures as the second title in a four-pic co-production pact announced in 2023 by Globoplay and the Walt Disney Company, with Disney’s Star Original Productions, its label dedicated to Brazilian productions, co-producing the feature.

Announced by Variety at the Cannes Festival, the adaptation turns on Júlia, a successful journalist lives comfortably in São Paulo with her surgeon husband and young son. However, she hides a secret: her addiction to risky sex.

“When her husband...

Editor’s Note: This story was originally published in May 2019 and has been updated several times since.

Deserved or not, French cinema has a reputation for being a little racy. From classics like “Belle de Jour” to controversial modern films like “Blue Is the Warmest Color,” French film has consistently pushed the boundaries of sexuality and sensuality onscreen. So it’s perhaps no surprise that the country’s premier film festival Cannes is such an oasis for sexually explicit films, ones that have frequently generated controversy over its history — especially when these films feature unsimulated sexual acts.

Unsimulated sex onscreen at Cannes dates back to at least 1973, when the film “Thriller — a Cruel Picture,” featuring several acts of hardcore unsimulated porn, played at the festival. In the years afterwards, particularly provocative and avant-garde works like “Sweet Movie” and “The Idiots” caused shock at Cannes by presenting audiences with real, unvarnished sexual content.

What do Jonathan Glazer, Miguel Gomes, and now, Karyn Kusama all have in common? A shared appreciation for Spanish auteur Luis Buñuel.

During a visit to the Criterion Closet, “Jennifer’s Body” director Kusama cited how Buñuel played with power onscreen, especially in his satirical films focusing on the elite class. Kusama selected features that all dealt with the theme of power: who has it, who is seeking it, and who deploys it.

“Back to that notion of power, I feel like somebody who’s really always poked fun at it and done a great job of exploring it with humor and surrealism is Luis Buñuel,” Kusama said. “There’s a Buñuel set of three films: ‘Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie,’ ‘The Phantom of Liberty,’ and ‘That Obscure Object of Desire,’ all in one set. I’m going to get that and have my mind blown again.”

Buñuel directed 35 movies between...

Spanish auteur Luis Buñuel helped shape the language of cinema with his now-iconic surrealist reveries, so it’s only fitting that the re-release of one of his most beloved films lands in a time of collective social discord and disillusionment.

Buñuel, who arguably is best known for directing Catherine Deneuve in the legendary 1967 film “Belle de Jour,” helmed an ode to the frustrating pitfalls of the male id more than a decade prior, with 1953’s “Él.” Translated to simply be titled “Him,” the film centers on a paranoid priest (Arturo de Córdova) whose grasp on reality is skewed amid his obsession with a woman seeking solace and absolution (Delia Garcés).

The late Mexican filmmaker directed 35 movies between 1929 and 1977 in the span of his career.

The official synopsis for “Él” reads: “After fleeing her abusive husband, Delia Garcés seeks out the advice of a clergyman, only to discover that her husband...

Beguiling French actor who appeared in films such as Belle de Jour and El Cid, but whose true love was the stage

Screen and stage were not equal suitors for the affections of the French actor Geneviève Page, who once described working in cinema as a case of coitus interruptus. “You start a scene, you rehearse it, you’re ready. Then they do the sound and lighting. There comes a moment when you’ve got to charge in. And then: ‘Cut!’ It annoyed me each time,” Page told France Culture in 2009. “Whereas when you arrive in your theatre dressing room in the evening, you know it’ll start soon and you’ll see it through right to the end.”

Page, who has died aged 97, built a heavyweight theatre portfolio over more than five decades; she played roles such as Hermione in Euripides’s Andromache, Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler and the Fassbinder heroine Petra von Kant.

Geneviève Page, the alluring French actress who starred in such films as Belle de Jour, El Cid and The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, died Friday. She was 97.

Page died at her home in Paris, her granddaughter, actress Zoé Guillemaud, told the Afp news agency.

In a career of more than 50 years, Page appeared in other notable films including Fanfan la Tulip (1952); Foreign Intrigue (1956), opposite Robert Mitchum; The Silken Affair (1956), with David Niven; John Frankenheimer’s Grand Prix (1966); Mayerling (1968), directed by Terence Young; and Charles Vidor’s Song Without End (1960), where the director died mid-shoot and was replaced by George Cukor.

In 1967, Spanish director Luis Buñuel cast Page as Madame Anais, the owner and operator of the high-class brothel in Belle de Jour, an adaptation of Joseph Kessel’s 1928 novel.

The film centers on Severine Serizy (Catherine Deneuve), whose sexless marriage pushes her into prostitution — but only between the hours of 2 and 5 p.

Known to many for his role as Horatio Caine on Cis: Miami from 2002 to 2012, David Caruso first gained notoriety in the police procedural drama NYPD Blue. The actor chose to depart from the latter of these products in 1994 to pursue a career in film. During the brief erotic thriller craze brought about by the success of Paul Verhoeven's Basic Instinct, Caruso took a role in Jade. A thriller, released in 1995 and directed by William Friedkin, also featured a stacked cast that included Linda Fiorentino, Chazz Palminteri, Michael Bien, and Richard Crenna.

To say Jade was not well received by critics and audiences would be an understatement. Jade bombed at the box office and was subject to scathing reviews from many critics. Like other erotic thrillers from the time period, such as Sliver, Body of Evidence, and Color of Night, the overall reception was mostly negative, despite these films all...

Studiocanal have released a fantastic new 4K restoration of Orca, The Killer Whale, as part of the Cult Classics Collection. Terror is just below the surface in this ferocious action adventure of mythical proportions from legendary producer Dino De Laurentiis, starring screen legends Richard Harris (Oscar-nominated for This Sporting Life) and Charlotte Rampling (Oscar nominated for 45 Years). As well as a collectable 4K Uhd SteelBook, Blu-ray, DVD and Digital.

From Academy Award nominated director Michael Anderson (Around The World In Eighty Days) and screenwriter Luciano Vincenzoni comes a gripping and terrifying tale of man versus beast. Described by Scream Magazine as ‘Jaws with heart’, Orca, The Killer Whale features a marvellous lead performance from Harris as a sea captain targeted by a vengeful killer whale, and also stars Will Sampson, famous for his performance as in Chief Bromden One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Bo Derek (“10”), and Robert Carradine...

Catherine Deneuve will preside over the 50th edition of the Cesar Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscars.

As part of her honorary role as president of this milestone edition, Deneuve will be delivering the opening speech at the ceremony. The gala event will take place on Feb. 28 at the Olympia concert hall and will be broadcast on French pay TV group Canal+, a media partner of the Cesar Awards.

“Who better than an extraordinary actress to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Césars? Thanks to exceptional talent, a unique career and timeless grace, Catherine Deneuve embodies the very essence of the seventh art,” said the Académie des Arts et Techniques du Cinéma.

The French star, whose career spans nearly seven decades, has starred in a raft of iconic films directed by some of the world’s most revered filmmakers, from Luis Buñuel (“Belle de jour”) to François Truffaut (“Le Dernier Metro...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Film at Lincoln Center

An essential retrospective of Brazil’s L.C. Barreto Productions begins.

Roxy Cinema

Another Woman and The Lords of Flatbush play on 35mm.

Museum of the Moving Image

A retrospective of the Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden begins; The Gleaners and I plays on Saturday; Speed Racer shows on Sunday.

Anthology Film Archives

An honestly titled retrospective, “Essential/Unessential Warhol,” begins.

Film Forum

A Spielberg retrospective begins, featuring E.T. on 35mm; Army of Shadows continues and West Side Story plays on Sunday.

Museum of Modern Art

“Paramount in the 1970s” includes films by Warren Beatty, Elaine May, and Peter Bogdanovich.

IFC Center

Rosemary’s Baby and a 40th-anniversary restoration of Paris, Texas play daily; Caligula: The Ultimate Cut and The Conversation continue; Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Hostel, The Goonies, Mute Witness, and The Vanishing play late.

Metrograph

The Seventh Seal,...

Blind and paralyzed, Pierre sits in his well-appointed Paris apartment attended by Séverine, the bored housewife at the heart of Luis Buñuel’s 1967 classic film Belle du Jour. It is arguably Catherine Deneuve’s best movie and helped establish the career of the French star, who went on to become the country’s leading lady for decades. In the scene, Deneuve wears a little black dress, stylish with its rounded white collar and cuffs. It was designed by Yves Saint Laurent, his iteration of Coco Chanel’s game-changing design that became a staple of women’s fashion. You can now see the dress firsthand in California at Yves Saint Laurent: Line and Expression, on view at Orange County Museum of Art in Costa Mesa through Oct. 27.

“They became friends immediately,” notes Gaël Mamine, co-curator of the show that began at Marrakech’s Musée Yves Saint Laurent. “In her movies, he...

Studiocanal announce a superb new restoration of Night Of The Eagle, as part of the Cult Classics Collection. Dare you believe in the existence of witches in this nerve-shattering, atmospheric horror starring Peter Wyngarde (Jason King) and Janet Blair (I Love Trouble)? The film will be available on 1st July 2024 on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital, with the striking original UK poster artwork featuring on the sleeve

Based on the novel Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber – a story so good it’s been filmed three times – Night Of The Eagle (also known as Burn, Witch, Burn) is a taut and terrifying film that provides genuine chills, as well as a horrifying twist, and remains a much-loved cult classic to this day. Directed by Sidney Hayers (Circus of Horrors), with a screenplay by three masters of the macabre, Richard Matheson (I Am Legend), Charles Beaumont (The Premature Burial) and George Baxt (Vampire...

A little bit of sex is always appreciated in movies and TV shows and a lot of it also doesn’t go unnoticed I am looking at you Fifty Shades of Grey and its half-a-billion-dollar box office earnings. If you also love steamy movies and shows then this article is for you as we are here to list the most erotic films and TV shows you can find on Max (formerly known as HBO Max), where you will find most of the HBO shows and Warner Bros. movies. So, here are the most steamiest movies and TV shows you should watch on Max.

Euphoria (TV Series) Credit – HBO

Euphoria is a teen drama series created by Sam Levinson. Based on an Israeli miniseries of the same name by Ron Leshem and Daphna Levin, the HBO series follows the story of a troubled 17-year-old drug-addicted girl Rue, and her group of...

Isabella Rossellini's Green Porno and Other Shorts is now showing on Mubi in many countries.Green Porno: Mantis. Ask any film lover about Isabella Rossellini, and the first image that springs to their mind is most likely to be the star’s iconic performance as songstress Dorothy Vallens, the femme fatale of David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986), a glamorous yet tortured vision draped in sensual, shimmering black. Revealing a delightfully eccentric side to her screen image, Rossellini’s directorial career ventures into a very different realm of sexuality: that of the mating and maternal habits seen in the animal kingdom. Rossellini’s playful and educational micro-shorts—divided into three series cheekily titled Green Porno (2006–2008), Seduce Me (2010), and Mammas (2013)—are vaudevillian studies in animal behavior, awash in puppetry, construction-paper sets, and slapstick. In addition to her writing and directing duties, Rossellini also gamely performs these frisky rituals in inventive,...

Studiocanal has promoted Chloé Marquet to Head of International Sales for Films and TV Series, in a move that will see the TV sales team now report to her.

Marquet in turn will report to Anne Chérel, Studiocanal EVP Global Sales and Distribution.

Pauline Saint-Hilaire, who is currently head of International Library Sales, has had her remit expanded to include documentaries and catalogue TV series, in addition to catalogue film sales and direct sales to channels and local platforms.

She will report to Juliette Hochart Studiocanal EVP Library.

“For many years they have both contributed significantly to the international success of Studiocanal movies and have built strong relationships with all our partners. Their leadership and passion, combined with our talented sales team, will be extremely beneficial to the success of our prestigious TV series,” said Cherel.

Current and upcoming titles on the Studiocanal slate include the Paddington 3, Autumn and the Black Jaguar,...

French cinema icon Catherine Deneuve has begun filming in Japan of “Spirit World,” a fantasy-drama film directed by Singapore’s Eric Khoo.

Deneuve portrays a singer who dies suddenly while on tour in Japan. But her spirit lives on and she embarks on a journey to find humanity in the after-world.

The project was revealed by the city government of Takasaki, an ancient town on Honshu Island between Tokyo and Kyoto, where production began over the weekend. Work is expected to continue for 10 days, before moving to other locations.

“I’m happy that a movie starring Deneuve is filmed in Takasaki. I’d like to cooperate in the filming,” said city mayor, Tomioka Kenji.

The film is understood to be based on an original screenplay. It is structured as a three-way production involving companies from Singapore, Japan and France and with financial support from authorities in Singapore. The producers are...

A new restoration of the 1959 horror film on Blu-ray and DVD, and making its UK digital debut, Horrors Of The Black Museum, starring Michael Gough and directed by Arthur Crabtree (Fiend Without a Face), marked the first film in the “Sadian Trilogy”, followed by the Hammer favourite Circus of Horrors and Michael Powell’s infamous Peeping Tom – introducing cinema audiences to a more shocking and salacious brand of onscreen horror.

A series of grisly, macabre murders sweep London and leave Scotland Yard completely baffled. Bancroft, an evil crime journalist, is hypnotising his assistant to commit murders using items curated in his own personal “Black Museum” – inspired by the infamous real-life collection of weapons and torture instruments used by criminals. Using these murders to fuel his own crime stories, Bancroft delights in the Yard’s embarrassment.

Experience fear beyond belief in this gruesome British horror treat that features a splendid lead...

A new restoration of the 1954 British black-and-white science fiction film Devil Girl From Mars, directed by David MacDonald and starring Patricia Laffan, Hugh McDermott, Hazel Court, Peter Reynolds and Adrienne Corri.

One winter evening in a lonely Scottish inn, guests become prisoners when Nyah, a pitiless Martian with a robot minion, lands on earth and traps them within an invisible wall. With Martian males extinct after a battle of the sexes, Nyah aims to capture breeding stock on Earth. As escape attempts falter, the helpless humans must decide which one of them will die to save the others and possibly the world!

A famously economical film, Devil Girl From Mars was filmed over three weeks with no retakes in order to use up pre-booked studio time when another project finished ahead of schedule.

With a cast including the magnificent Patricia Laffan (Quo Vadis) as Nyah, and genre favourites Adrienne Corri...

In movie history, there are a rare few directors whose style has coined an adjective: Felliniesque, Hitchcockian, Chaplinesque. The modern filmmaker most likely to join that class is Yorgos Lanthimos, the Greek auteur famed for “The Lobster” and “The Favourite,” whose newest, wildest project, “Poor Things,” is his most colorful and phantasmagorical to date.

The look of the film – set in a fairy tale 19th century world unlike any you’ve ever seen – is singular, even if the moniker Lanthimosian doesn’t quite roll off the tongue.

“That’s a really hard word to say,” said cinematographer Robbie Ryan with a laugh. The Irish camera maestro earned an Oscar nomination for “The Favourite,” his previous collaboration with Lanthimos.

“Maybe Lanthimosesque is better – or is it even worse? I do totally agree, though: His filmmaking is signature, for sure. It’s inventive in a way that’s undefinable. I can describe...

“Poor Things” marks a radical shift for Yorgos Lanthimos. The director gained global acclaim with the microbudget “Dogtooth” in 2009; by 2018, he scored 10 Oscar nominations and one win for star Olivia Colman with the $15 million “The Favourite” ($95 million worldwide). With Venice Golden Lion winner “Poor Things,” he has a $35 million budget, critical acclaim, and another crack at multiple Oscars.

Based on the 1992 novel by Scottish artist and author Alisdair Gray, screenwriter Tony McNamara (“The Favourite”) focused the narrative on young Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a woman reanimated by scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) who placed her own baby’s brain into her skull.

Lanthimos loved Gray’s book and in 2009 traveled to Scotland to meet the author and plead his case for adaptation. Around 2015, Irish producers Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe of Element Pictures optioned the rights with Film4, Lanthimos’ longtime backer.

“We were all in. Yorgos was so passionate about it,...

Marina Cicogna, a film producer and one of the first women to establish herself in the traditionally male cinema environment in Italy, died Saturday in Rome. She was 89.

Cicogna produced several important Italian films, including Metti, una Sera a Cena by Giuseppe Patroni Griffi and Indagine su un Cittadino al di Sopra di Ogni Sospetto (Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion) by Elio Petri, with the latter winning the Oscar for best foreign language film in 1971. The New York Times called her “one of the most powerful women in European cinema.”

Her extraordinary experience and career were recounted in 2021 in the documentary film Marina Cicogna. Life and Everything Else by Andrea Bettinetti and in her autobiography, Ancora Spero, released this year by Marsilio Publishing.

Cicogna died with Benedetta Gardona, her companion of more than 30 years, by her side.

Ahead of receiving the 2023 David Award for Lifetime Achievement this year, Cicogna...

Marina Cicogna, Italy’s first major female film producer who shepherded films by Pier Paolo Pasolini, Franco Zeffirelli and Elio Petri, including Petri’s Oscar-winning “Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion,” has died. She was 89.

Cicogna died on Nov. 4 in her Rome home after a long battle with an unspecified form of cancer, according to Italian news agency Ansa.

The Venice Biennale foundation is a statement, praised her as “the first female film producer in Europe” and noted that she was always deeply linked to the Venice Film Festival that was founded by her grandfather, Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata.

Born in Rome on May 29, 1934, to Count Cesare Cicogna Mozzoni and Countess Annamaria Volpi di Misurata, Cicogna attended high school in Italy and graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in New York, where she struck up a friendship with Jack Warner’s daughter Barbara Warner and established a connection with Hollywood.

In...

Kristina Klebe is raising funds for her new movie Nyx on Indiegogo, which combines elements of a psychological thriller, relationship drama, and horror film. The plot follows Mia Nox, a renowned pianist who suffers a spinal injury and finds herself in a wheelchair, leading to a dark and complex story about love and art. Nyx aims to shed light on spinal shock syndrome, a little known condition resulting from high-impact trauma that can have physical, psychological, and emotional effects.

Kristina Klebe is currently raising funds for her new movie Nyx on Indiegogo. The movie is described as having "the visuals of a psychological thriller, the naturalistic acting of a relationship drama and the sound design of a horror film." Klebe will serve as writer, director, actor, and producer on the project, while the other members of the film's cast consist of Byron Clohessy, Robert Clohessy and Kim Director. As per Klebe's pitch:

"So,...

Held annually since 1932, the Venice Film Festival is the world's oldest film festival. Along with the Cannes Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival is one of the "Big Three" European Film Festivals. Recently, many potential Academy Award front-runners have used the Venice Film Festival as a launching pad for their Oscar campaigns.

First introduced in 1949, the Golden Lion is the highest prize awarded at the Venice Film Festival. The Golden Lion remains one of the film industry's most prestigious and coveted awards. Countless winners of the Golden Lion now rank among the best films ever made.

Related: 10 Best Low-Budget Movies That Won An Oscar

Belle de Jour (1967)

Luis Buñuel's Belle de Jour stars Catherine Deneuve as a young housewife who constantly daydreams about erotic fantasies. Eventually, unbeknownst to her husband, she becomes a prostitute, working during the daytime while her husband is at work.

To mark the release of Le Mépris which is available on 4K Uhd, Blu-Ray, DVD & digital, from June 26, we have 2 Blu-Rays to give away!

To mark the 60 th anniversary of one of the most notable examples of the French New Wave, Studiocanal is delighted to announce a brand-new 4K restoration of Le MÉPRIS. Fresh from its inclusion in the Cannes Classic selection at this year’s festival, this landmark in world cinema from cinema’s original enfant terrible; Jean-Luc Godard will be available to own on 4K Uhd for the first time, on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital on 26 June.

Featuring the style icon Brigitte Bardot as Camille, and legendary French talent Michel Piccoli as Paul, Le MÉPRIS boasts a strong and eclectic supporting cast featuring ‘master of darkness’ Director, Fritz Lang as himself, renowned American actor Jack Palance as Jeremy, and the infamous Giorgia Moll as Francesca. The restoration also...

Sydney, June 11 (Ians) These days Jane Campion — Palme d’Or and Oscar-winning film director — is celebrated for a vein of heartfelt cinema that is aching and quirky, rather than gushing, writes ‘Variety’.

She’s also an intelligent and determined female pioneer who has had to struggle for her present standing in a male-dominated industry.

The Sydney Film Festival this week is showcasing and contextualising Campion’s body of work, ‘Variety’ reports. Its screening programme includes all nine of her feature films, from “Two Friends” to “The Power of the Dog”, and a selection of her shorts.

“For our 70th edition, we wanted to present a retrospective commensurate with the milestone, reflecting the audacious and boundary pushing filmmaking synonymous with our festival and region. There was no one more appropriate than Jane Campion,” said Sff Director Nashen Moodley in notes ahead of the event.

India, incidentally, is being represented at the Festival,...

These days Jane Campion – Palme d’Or and Oscar-winning film director – is celebrated for a vein of heartfelt cinema that is aching and quirky, rather than gushing. She’s also an intelligent and determined female pioneer who has had to struggle for her present standing in a male-dominated industry.

The Sydney Film Festival this week is showcasing and contextualizing her body of work. Its screening program includes all nine of her feature works, from “Two Friends” to “The Power of the Dog,” and a selection of her short films.

“For our 70th edition, we wanted to present a retrospective commensurate with the milestone, reflecting the audacious and boundary pushing filmmaking synonymous with our festival and region. There was no one more appropriate than Jane Campion,” said Sff director Nashen Moodley in notes ahead of the event.

On Saturday, the festival screened Julie Bertucelli’s 2022 documentary “Jane Campion, the Cinema Woman...

The Cannes Film Festival has unveiled the poster for the 76th edition featuring none other than Gallic cinema icon Catherine Deneuve.

The black and white photo pictures the noted performer in the film “La Chamade” (Heartbeat), directed by Alain Cavalier. Shot in 1968 on Pampelonne beach, near Saint-Tropez, the film stars Deneuve as Lucile, who the festival describes as living a “worldly and superficial life, tinged with ease and a taste for luxury. Her heart beats frantically, hurriedly, passionately.”

Cannes official 2023 poster featuring Catherine Deneuve

The festival called her “an embodiment of cinema, far from what is conventional or appropriate. Without compromise and always in tune with her convictions, even if it means going against the grain of the times,” recalling that Deneuve has been the muse of filmmakers including Jacques Demy, Agnès Varda, Luis Buñuel, François Truffaut, Marco Ferreri, Manoel de Oliveira, André Téchiné, Emmanuelle Bercot and Arnaud Desplechin.

In...

The Cannes Film Festival is about to get even more fashionable, as two short films – including Pedro Almodóvar’s highly anticipated “Strange Way of Life” – will debut next month from the newly formed Saint Laurent Productions, a film production banner led by its artistic director Anthony Vaccarello.

Saint Laurent Productions is being described as the first production banner operated by a fashion house, the new outfit is also developing projects by a wide range of diverse filmmakers including Paolo Sorrentino, David Cronenberg, Abel Ferrara, Wong Kar Wai, Jim Jarmusch and Gaspar Noé. The second short film hitting Cannes hasn’t been announced yet; let the speculation begin. The plan is produce two or three films each year, with a possible expansion after that.

Vaccarello became the artistic director of Saint Laurent in 2016. In 2019 “Lux Æterna,” a strobe-heavy 51-minute film directed Noé, premiered at Cannes. Vaccarello was one of the credited...

Iconic French fashion house Saint Laurent is launching a film production banner spearheaded by its artistic director Anthony Vaccarello.

Named Saint Laurent Productions, the subsidiary is kicking off with a trio of films from renowned filmmakers, including a pair of shorts world premiering at Cannes: “Strange Way of Life” by Pedro Almodóvar, starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal.

Vaccarello, a cinephile who became the artistic director of Saint Laurent in 2016, said launching this new division gives him “the opportunity to expand the vision I have for Saint Laurent through a medium that has more permanence than clothes.”

“You can still see a film in 10 or 30 years, if it’s good. In some ways, making a film can be more impactful than a seasonal collection. For me it’s a natural extension to another field of creativity that perhaps is more general and popular,” the Belgian native continued.

Presented as the...

Click here to read the full article.

On the rooftop of Holloway House, one of the newest hotel properties of Soho House, a host of actresses who are fans of Roger Vivier brands came out to celebrate the accessories brand on the evening of Dec. 9.

During cocktails, Mayfair Witches and The White Lotus star Alexandra Daddario chatted with Roger Vivier creative director Gherardo Felloni about his unique holiday home in Italy, a former lighthouse on Giglio Island off the coast of Tuscany. Cheryl Strayed, the best-selling writer of Wild, was there to see Laura Dern, one of the co-hosts of the party and the star of 2014 film based on the book.

Dern, who shared hosting duties for the evening with consultant and former InStyle editor-in-chief Laura Brown, told The Hollywood Reporter that she has been a fan of the brand’s shoes for decades.

“I have been since I started watching movies.

A Few Personal Messages, translated into English by Claire Foster, is available from Small Press. Pierre Clémenti runs October 13-31, 2022 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.Belle de jour (1967). Courtesy of Janus Films.As Pierre Clémenti tells it, Luis Buñuel cast him in Belle de jour (1967) without Clémenti needing to open his mouth. One can understand why; the role, which would be Clémenti’s best known as well as his break-out, needed someone who had as much appeal as they did threat. Belle de Jour is a film built from the fantasies of a housewife, Catherine Devenue’s Séverine, who decides to be a sex worker while her husband is at work. Only appearing an hour into the film, Clémenti’s Marcel, a young criminal, quickly fixates on Séverine. In contrast with the classically handsome but bland Jean Sorel as Séverine’s husband, Marcel could be someone...

Updated with reaction to film: The 79th edition of the Venice Film Festival kicked off Wednesday night with an emotional opening ceremony celebrating 90 years of the world’s oldest film festival, which launched in 1932.

The evening at the Sala Grande at the Palazzo del Cinema included Catherine Deneuve receiving the festival’s Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, followed by Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivering a video message much like he did at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

Venice Film Festival 2022 Photos

Zelenskyy referenced cinema during his taped subtitled message, calling Russia’s invasion of his country “a horror which is not 120 minutes long, but 189 days of war going on in Ukraine.” He said Russia’s “lowbrow plot in three scenes” was to nudge the world to make three dramatic mistakes including getting used to the war, forgetting the war and turning their backs on the war.

“This design of...

Catherine Deneuve “very proud” with honorary award; emphasises ongoing work.

A three-minute video message from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and a harrowing tribute to the children killed in Ukraine formed part of the opening ceremony of the 79th Venice Film Festival this evening.

The story of the war “is beyond the limits of humanity and common sense,” said Zelenskyy, in his latest address to the film community, having previously spoken at events including the opening of Cannes Film Festival this year.

Scroll down to read Zelenskyy’s message in full

“It is a drama based on real-life events,” continued the president,...

Click here to read the full article.

French cinema legend Catherine Deneuve was all smiles as she glided into the press conference room of the Venice International Film Festival on Wednesday.

Deneuve is being honored in Venice this year with the festival’s Golden Lion award for lifetime achievement.

Naming her this year’s honoree, Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera rattled off the long list of acclaimed creatives Deneuve has worked with, and inspired, from directors Roger Vadim, Jacques Demy, Luis Buñuel, François Truffaut and Roman Polanski to such actors as Marcello Mastroianni and Gérard Depardieu. She is also one of the rare performers to have received an Oscar nomination for a non-English performance, picking up a best actress nom in 1993 for Régis Wargnier’s Indochine.

“It is always very difficult when you have to stop and look back at things as if you made decisions as if you were thinking of the future,...

Cam and See: Murat Explores Pleasure Principles in Provocative Portrait

“She does it for the thrill, even if it kills,” might be a good tagline for the sobering but subversive Regra 34 (Rule 34), the third film from Brazil’s Júlia Murat, walking down a dark road of titillation, impulse control and the oft repressed parallels between sex and death. The film, which plays like the even kinkier, contemporary version of something like Belle de Jour (1967), really is about sex death in its protagonist’s fascination and eventual obsession with autoerotic asphyxiation, a compulsion both countered and enhanced by her daytime proclivities as a student of criminal law defending the rights of women who often have no control over their bodies.…...

A wealth of film and TV titles are available at launch on streamer Studiocanal Presents, which is now available as an Amazon Prime Video channel in the U.K.

Some 300 films and series from Studiocanal’s catalogue are available at launch, including Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now: Final Cut” in 4K; Brian Helgeland’s “Legend”; Joel and Ethan Coen’s “Inside Llewyn Davis”; a digitally restored version of Carol Reed’s “The Third Man”; Lynne Ramsay’s “You Were Never Really Here,” zombie horror “Train to Busan” and Céline Sciamma’s “Girlhood.”

Also available are Nicolas Roeg’s “The Man Who Fell To Earth” and Sidney Lumet’s “Murder on the Orient Express,” award-winners “Manchester by the Sea” and “Room,” seminal titles like Luis Buñuel’s “Belle de Jour” and Jean-Luc Godard’s “Breathless” and modern British classics “Submarine” and “Four Lions.” Other recent additions include Sharon Stone classic...

Distributor, Kinology reunite after Oscar-nominated Mustang.

Cohen Media Group has picked up all North American rights from Kinology to actress Aurélie Saada’s feature directorial debut Rose starring Françoise Fabian.

The film received its world premiere inat Locarno Film Festival in August and centres on a 78-year-old woman who has just lost her husband of more than 50 years. Devastation gives way to a strong desire to live life to the full even though the woman’s newfound joie de vivre threatens to upset the family balance.

The cast includes Aure Atika, Grégory Montel, Damien Chapelle, Pascal Elbé and Mehdi Nebbou.

Michel Piccoli, the French screen star known for roles in Luis Buñuel’s “Belle de jour” and Jean-Luc Godard’s “Contempt,” has died. He was 94.

The actor’s family confirmed his death last week to Afp and Le Figaro on Monday.

Piccoli’s vast filmography, which spanned more than 200 films from 1949 to as recently as 2015, included a number of Buñuel’s films, including “Belle de jour,” “The Milky Way” and “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie.”

He also garnered acclaim for Godard’s “Contempt” (also known as “Le Mépris”), Jacques Rivette’s “La Belle Noiseuse,” Louis Malle’s “Milou in May,” Richard Dembo’s “Dangerous Moves” and Peter Del Monte’s “Traveling Companion.”

Most recently, Piccoli starred in Leos Carax’s “Holy Motors” (2012) and Nanni Moretti’s “We Have a Pope” (2011), for which he won the David di Donatello prize for Best Actor. He also provided the narration for Bertrand Mandico...

Prolific French actor Michel Piccoli, well known for his memorable performances in seminal European movies Le Mépris (Contempt) and Belle De Jour, has died aged 94 his family has confirmed to French media.

Piccoli starred in more than 200 movies during an acclaimed stage and screen career which began in the late 1940s and lasted until 2015.

Piccoli worked with iconic directors such as Jean-Luc Godard, Luis Bunuel, Jean Renoir, Alfred Hitchcock, Jacques Rivette and Jean-Pierre Melville. His collaborations with Godard included 1963’s Contempt and 1982’s Passion while multiple collaborations with Spanish director Buñuel included 1967’s Belle de jour, 1969’s The Milky Way and 1972’s The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie.

The film vet won the best actor prize in Cannes in 1980 for Marco Bellochio’s A Leap In The Dark and a Silver Bear in Berlin two years later for Pierre Granier-Deferre’s Strange Affair. He received four Cesar nominations.

The actor...

In Luis Buñuel’s “Belle de Jour,” a housewife slips out during the day to an elite brothel, where she’s able to explore kinky fantasies she wouldn’t dare suggest to her husband. It’s one of the most daring films ever made, not so much because of anything it overtly depicts as what this controversial classic reveals about the infinitely complicated psychology of human sexuality.

Director Josephine Mackerras’ “Alice” shares that rebel spirit, thrusting its demure leading lady into some of those same shadows. But unlike Catherine Deneuve’s masochistic character, young married mother Alice Ferrand isn’t trying to feed any particular fetish when she starts work for a high-class Paris brothel. Rather, she discovers this hidden world quite by accident the day her credit cards stop working, after calling phone numbers she finds among her husband’s private records. She agrees to become an escort since...

There are a multitude of reasons why any film may get unfairly overlooked. It could be a lack of marketing resources to provide a substantial push, or, due to a minuscule roll-out, not enough critics and audiences to be the champions it might require. It could simply be the timing of the picture itself; even in the world of studio filmmaking, some features take time to get their due. With an increasingly crowded marketplace, there are more reasons than ever that something might not find an audience and we’ve rounded up the releases that deserved more attention.

Note that all of the below films made less than $100K at the domestic box office at the time of posting–with a few exceptions for stellar Netflix/VOD films that went completely under the radar–and are, for the most part, left out of most year-end conversations. Sadly, many documentaries would qualify for this list,...

Here is a wrap-up of all the news you need to know from Tuesday, December 17, 2019.

Syfy is gearing up to say goodbye to another series.

The cable network has renewed Van Helsing for a fifth and final season, set to air sometime in 2020.

The news broke days before the Season 4 finale of the vampire drama.

“We are thrilled to be able to bring the amazing Van Helsing saga to a close,” said Chad Oakes, Executive Producer and Co-Chairman of Nomadic Pictures.

“This could not have been done without the support of our incredible cast, crew, Syfy, Netflix and SuperEcran.”

“We are so proud of Van Helsing and would like to thank Syfy and the amazing fans who embraced this series,” said Daniel March, Managing Partner, Dynamic Television.

“We are excited to end the show on its own terms and to give our story, these characters, and our fans the conclusion they so richly deserve.

Whether a curse or a blessing, “May you live in interesting times” certainly applies to the Lgbtq community — the past decade saw the legalization of same-sex marriages and the end of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, but every advancement has been met with pushback and threats to overturn equal protections under the law. Trans characters got their largest public spotlight on television shows like “Pose” and “Transparent,” while at the same time they remain the targets of violence and of hysterical and reactionary lawmakers. Whatever triumphs and travails the community faced in day-to-day life, their lives and loves continued to be reflected on the big screen; here are some of the decade’s greatest examples, listed alphabetically.

Runners-Up: “1985,” “Appropriate Behavior,” “Booksmart,” “Bpm,” “Cola de Mono,” “Drunktown’s Finest,” “Kiki,” “Love, Simon,” “Paris 05:59 Théo & Hugo,” “Portrait of a Lady on Fire”

“Call Me By Your...

Nearly two weeks after suffering a stroke reported as minor, French screen icon Catherine Deneuve is “feeling fine” but still recuperating in a Paris hospital, her publicist said Tuesday.

The 76-year-old actress suffered what her family called a “very limited” ischemic stroke – an incident caused by reduced blood flow to the brain – on Nov. 6. She was taken to Salpetriere hospital, which specializes in treating strokes.

After a few days, Deneuve was moved to the private Hospital Fondation Adolphe de Rothschild in northern Paris, which specializes in neurological services, among other things. Deneuve’s publicist said the actor was “feeling fine” but remains at the hospital to get some “much-needed rest.”

Deneuve had the stroke while filming a scene in a hospital in Gonesse, near Paris, for the movie “De Son Vivant,” which is being directed by Emmanuelle Bercot and stars Benoit Magimel and Cecile de France.

It’s unknown whether...

French actress Catherine Deneuve is in the hospital after suffering a stroke.

The actress’ family said in a statement to Agence France-Presse on Wednesday that the 76-year-old had a “very limited stroke which is reversible.”

“Happily she has no loss of motor function, although she will of course have to rest for a while,” the statement added.

A source tells People that the stroke occurred Tuesday afternoon while the actress was on the set of her latest film, De son vivant (In Her Lifetime), in Gonesse, France.

The legendary actress began her career in the 1960s and starred in classic films including Belle de Jour,...

French actress Catherine Deneuve was in the hospital in Paris on Wednesday after her family said that she suffered a mild stroke. The actress is 76.

Deneuve’s family via a statement from her agent to the BBC explained that the actress did not suffer damage to her motor function but would need time to recuperate and that her condition is not considered serious. Representatives for Deneuve did not immediately reply to TheWrap for comment.

Deneuve is an iconic French star of films such as “Belle de Jour,” “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” and “Repulsion,” having worked with directors such as Luis Bunuel, Roman Polanski, Jacques Demy, Francois Truffaut and more. She’s come to be known as the “Ice Maiden” for her icy and mysterious allure on screen.

Also Read: 'The Truth' Film Review: Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche Grapple With Honesty and Each Other

Her latest film “The Truth...

French screen icon Catherine Deneuve has been hospitalized in Paris following a minor stroke, media reports said Wednesday.

Deneuve’s family told Agence-France Presse that the 76-year-old actress had suffered a “very limited” ischemic stroke. Such strokes are caused by reduced blood flow to the brain.

Newspaper Le Parisien first broke the news Wednesday of Deneuve’s hospitalization, saying she was in a “serious state” and in need of “extensive examinations.” But a source told Variety that Deneuve’s associates were reporting that her condition was not alarming. Italian news agency Ansa quoted a source saying the actress was suffering from “fatigue.”

Le Parisien, which is among France’s oldest dailies, did not specify which hospital Deneuve was taken to.

The star of “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” and “Indochine” was at the Venice Film Festival earlier this year with Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest film, “The Truth,” in which she appears alongside Juliette Binoche.

French actor Louis Garrel has been married twice, first to Iranian talent Golshifteh Farahani, and now to model-cum-actress Laetitia Casta. He has also directed two features, the first a free-wheeling love-triangle comedy called “Two Friends” in which Garrel plays the cad who comes between his best friend and the object of his obsession (played by Farahani), and the other the relatively low-key drama “A Faithful Man,” centered on a different sort of triangle, in which two women (one played by Casta) compete for Garrel’s affections.

That description grossly oversimplifies both movies, and yet, their personalities could not be more different, hardly even the work of the same filmmaker, which must say something about Garrel’s state of mind in these two marriages. If “Two Lovers” was a lively New Wave lark, exploding with color and energy, then “A Faithful Man” is its sober, cerebral opposite, gray and stylistically restrained,...