News

French romantic comedy “This Charming Girl” and French comedy “Vanishing Goats” have joined the slate of Paris-based sales company MPM Premium, which will introduce the films to buyers at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris.

“This Charming Girl,” directed by Jean-Luc Gaget and co-written with Raphaële Moussafir, will be released in France by Nour Films. The cast is led by Pauline Clément, Arthur Dupont, Emilie Caen (“Ducobu”) and Karin Viard.

The film centers on Clémence, a quiet yet amusing Parisian, who had a complicated childhood. At the age of 30, she struggles with low self-esteem. Fate intervenes when she meets Paul, a man with a domineering personality whom everyone calls “Paul Pot.” Clémence begins to ask herself: could he be the one?

The production companies are La Féline Films, Les Films du Capitaine and Karé Productions.

“This Charming Girl” will have a market screening at Rendez-Vous on Jan. 16.

Marie Rémond’s “Vanishing Goats,...

“Sweethearts” does not disappoint in delivering college nostalgia and a party playlist to match.

Jordan Weiss, creator of “Dollface,” made her directorial debut with the Max original rom-com and said that her collaboration with co-writer Dan Brier mirrored the relationship between on-screen best friends, Jamie (Kiernan Shipka) and Ben (Nico Hiraga).

“There’s so many benefits to Dan [Brier], and I’s real life, male-female perspectives,” director and executive producer Jordan Weiss told TheWrap. “I love that our soundtrack had a mix of Tyler, The Creator and Carly Rae [Jepsen]. We both brought our own music tastes, and I think it helps it appeal to a broader audience.”

“The DNA is very mixed,” Dan Brier added.

The film follows two college freshmen, who make a pact to break up with their high school sweethearts over Thanksgiving break. Their breakup plot does not quite go to plan, leading them on a chaotic night...

Warning: This article includes Major Spoilers for Max's Sweethearts!

Max’s Sweethearts is packed with upbeat songs that help shape the pacing and tone of the movie. While Christmas and New Years Eve-themed rom-coms are abundant, Thanksgiving-themed films aren’t a staple of the genre, setting apart the HBO Max original movie Sweethearts. The show follows Jamie and Ben, a pair of best friends who make a pact to break up with their high school sweethearts on Drunksgiving – the day before Thanksgiving, where all the high schoolers party and drink. However, their plan doesn’t go as smoothly as they hoped, taking the pair all across a rural Ohio city.

The Keirnan Shipka movie might have a divisive ending, with the lead couple not getting together, but it’s still a fantastic movie that keeps the audience's attention. The story includes laugh-out-loud moments and likable moments that are held together with an A+ soundtrack.

You don't have to wait any longer. The Cruel Intentions reboot series is finally available to stream on Prime Video, so you can now binge-watch all eight episodes of the first season.

In this new drama series, viewers are taken to the fictional prestigious Manchester College, where your social status means everything and fraternities and sororities hold all the power. We follow the ambitious and power-hungry step-siblings, Caroline Merteuil and Lucien Belmont, who will do anything to stay at the top of the ruthless social hierarchy at their school. After a brutal hazing incident that left a frat member unable to remember what happened, the entire Greek Life system is put at risk.

But Caroline refuses to let this incident affect her power and status, so she quickly devises a plan with Lucien to get her sorority and his fraternity out of the red. That plan involves getting the Vice...

Clementine Gayet and Jimmy Desmarais, a pair of senior executives in charge of Netflix’s French scripted originals, are set to step down from the streamer at the end of the year, Variety has learned.

They follow a string of high-profile exits at Netflix in France, including Damien Couvreur, VP of series and documentaries, who left the streamer over the summer. A junior executive, Ingha Mago, who is creative associate of French Original Series at Netflix, will also be stepping down at the same time as Desmarais and Gayet. Netflix declined to comment.

Netflix’s French team has been spearheaded by Pauline Dauvin, the former VP at The Walt Disney Company France, since the start of 2024 in the newly created position of VP of content in France.

Spearheaded by Dauvin, the French team is now comprised of head of unscripted series Dolores Emile, scripted series boss Pierre Saint-André and Gaelle Mareschi,...

There are casting changes coming to The Real Housewives of New Jersey. The cast has been tight-lipped about who will be returning next season. Now, a recent social media post from Rachel Fuda makes it seem like she may have been let go from Bravo. Will she return for Season 15 of Rhonj? Here is what has been revealed.

Is Rachel Fuda Leaving Rhonj?

Everyone on the cast of Rhonj has been sending mixed signals about whether or not they are coming back for Season 15. Rachel Fuda, who has swiftly become a fan-favorite on the show, seems to have broken her silence on whether or not she’s returning.

Although Rachel has only appeared in two seasons of Real Housewives of New Jersey, it seems her time has already come to an end. She shared a video to TikTok that referenced being “unemployed.”

Rachel Fuda-YouTube

The writing over the video read,...

Exclusive: Natalie Portman has joined the voice cast for French director Ugo Bienvenu’s upcoming animated feature Arco about a boy who uses rainbows to travel through time and his adventures as he gets stuck in the wrong era.

Portman is also producing with Sophie Mas under their joint Paris and New York banner MountainA with Félix de Givry at Paris-based Remembers.

Taking its cue from the fantasy premise that rainbows are time machines, the movie revolves around 10 year old rainbow-child Arco, who lives in the distant future, 2932.

His maiden journey in his multi-colored suit does not go to plan. He loses control and veers off course to land in a near future, 2075, where Iris, a girl the same age as Arco, witnesses his fall and then makes it her mission to get him home.

Arco

Arco is the first feature for Bienvenu after short films Maman and L’entretien and comic books.

Exclusive: Last month, Michael Sheen’s appearance on new BBC interview series The Assembly popped on social media, and now Australia’s biggest and brightest names will get the chance of a similar experience.

We can reveal public broadcaster the ABC has ordered an Australian version of The Assembly (aka The A Talks), with Mark Fennessy’s Helium Pictures attached to produce a six-part series. The production was announced at the ABC’s upfront today in Sydney.

The Assembly is being adapted from French hit Les Rencontres du Papotin, which launched two years ago on France 2. Helium began production yesterday, and will continue for six weeks with a potential network premiere date in Q3.

The Australian show will follow a group of autistic student journalists, as they prepare to interview six of the nation’s biggest names, including Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. The other stars are under wraps, but...

French-Senegalese actor and producer Seydina Baldé has worn many hats across his career including World Karate Champion and stuntman on films such as Brian de Palma’s Femme Fatale and Bond movie Casino Royale, but his dream since childhood has been to be an actor.

After a dozen small parts, Baldé engineered his first starring role with the self-produced, English-language action thriller Covert Operation (aka The Borderland). The North Korean-set movie, about a bounty hunter on a mission to break prisoners out of high-security military compound, sold to Lionsgate for the U.S. and won praise from action movie fans.

A decade later, Baldé is appearing in the most ambitious production of his career, six-part show Lex Africana, which is being billed as the first martial arts-based action thriller to come out of West Africa.

Baldé plays brilliant architect and martial arts expert Gabriel Aliou Thiam who returns after a...

Newly-launched Carrousel Studios has appointed French film industry veteran Cécile Gaget as its CEO, with effect from May 1.

Billed as an artists-first European independent studio and media company, Carrousel Studios was launched in March by actor-producer Omar Sy, producer-director Louis Leterrier and entrepreneur/producer Thomas Benski.

Their aim is to develop and produce multi-generational, high quality and high-concept entertainment for the global audience.

In her new role, Gaget will utilize her sales and film finance expertise to help expand and grow upon the Carrousel’s founders’ capabilities.

Based out of Paris, her mission will be to ramp up a local and global production slate, forge strategic partnerships and more specifically oversee development, production, financing and distribution strategies.

“I am very grateful to Omar, Louis, and Thomas for their trust in my abilities to help build and lead this studio to its fullest potential. I’m thrilled to embark on this journey with Carrousel Studios,...

Matthew Houck of Phosphorescent has announced his new album Revelator, out April 5th and marking his debut for Verve Records. As a preview, he’s also shared the record’s title track.

Houck self-produced Revelator and recorded it in his own Nashville studio over the course of six months. It features collaborators including Jack Lawrence of The Raconteurs and Jim White of Dirty Three, as well as Houck’s partner, singer-songwriter/pianist Jo Schornikow. The album is billed as an exploration of “unspoken truths that come with the gravity of navigating home, partnership, and family,” contemplating the dark sides bubbling beneath one’s seemingly idyllic life.

Houck says that he considers “Revelator” to be perhaps the best song he’s ever written. “You’ve ridden beyond where you can safely touch down/ And you’re out in the void past where you could’ve had turned around,” he sings over an expectedly dreamy instrumental.

French film executive previously spent a decade at Gaumont.

Cecile Gaget has been appointed head of film at European studio Wild Bunch, stepping down from her senior role at UK-based producer and financier Anton.

The French executive takes up the new role from today (September 1), joining from Anton where she was president of international production and distribution for nearly two years. She previously spent a decade on the executive team of French studio Gaumont as head of international production and distribution, setting up the company’s US film division during her tenure.

Based in Paris, Gaget will lead Wild Bunch...