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Jacques Audiard’s crime musical “Emilia Perez” won a raft of prizes, including best film and director, at the 50th edition of the Cesar Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscars, on Friday in Paris.

“Emilia Perez” won a total of seven awards out of 12 nominations. While Zoe Saldana and Karla Sofía Gascón were both on hand and nominated for best actress, they lost to Hafsia Herzi, who starred as a prison supervisor in Stéphane Demoustier’s “Borgo.”

Gascón made her first award show appearance at the Cesar Awards ceremony after laying low in the wake of her offensive posts. Although she skipped the press line on the red carpet, Gascón sat on the same row as Audiard and Saldana inside the Olympia theater, but didn’t seat next to them and didn’t seem to be on speaking terms.

The ceremony’s emcee, French actor Jean-Pascal Zadi, tried to...

The 40th Santa Barbara Film Festival held their International Directors Panel on Sunday, February 9. Directors Gints Zilbalodis (“Flow”), Walter Salles (“I’m Still Here”), Mohammad Rasoulof (“The Seed of the Sacred Fig”), and Jacques Audiard (“Emilia Pérez”) joined festival Director Roger Durling for a wide ranging Q&a at the Arlington Theater.

Coming off a contentious last couple weeks for his film’s awards campaign, Audiard had a more light-hearted opportunity to reflect on his Best Picture nominee. Durling highlighted the director’s history with portraying music onscreen throughout his career. Audiard responded by noting how his “natural masochism” influences him to make films in languages he doesn’t speak or understand.

“It’s incredible because the only memory I actually have of really articulating music and opera in my work was for my second feature, ‘A Self-Made Hero,'” Audiard said. “At that time, I had thought of making a...

Jacques Audiard’s Mexico-set musical Emilia Perez swept France’s Lumiere Awards on Monday evening (January 20), winning five prizes including best film.

The Oscar and Bafta hopeful was the frontrunner going into the 30th edition of the awards with six nominations, and took home prizes for nearly all of them including best director, best screenplay, best score for Camille and Clément Ducol, and best actress for Karla Sofía Gascón.

Audiard set a new record at this year’s Lumieres, winning best film for a third time after 2006’s The Beat That My Heart Skipped and 2019’s The Sisters Brothers, and...

Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez” swept France’s 30th Lumiere Awards, the local equivalent to the Golden Globes, at a ceremony held on Monday in Paris at the Forum des Images auditorium.

“Emilia Pérez” dominated the show, winning a whopping five awards: best film, director, script, actress for Karla Sofía Gascón, and music for Camille and Clement Ducol. The awards were voted on by France-based journalists from 38 countries.

The Spanish-language, Mexico-set crime musical stars Gascón as notorious cartel leader Manitas del Monte, who fakes her own death to live authentically as a trans woman. The supporting cast includes Selena Gomez, who plays Manitas’ tormented wife Jessi, and Zoe Saldaña, who portrays Rita, a talented but overworked lawyer recruited by Emilia to help her start a new life. Since winning Cannes’ jury prize and an award for its female ensemble, “Emilia Pérez” has received a flood of international laurels and is now leading the U.

Exclusive: Jacques Audiard is in the thick of awards season with his much-buzzed film Emilia Pérez, and now he is set for a retrospective from the Santa Barbara International Film Festival next month.

That Cannes Jury Prize-winning film starring Oscar hopeful Karla Sofia Gascón along with Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldaña will screen on January 10 at the Sbiff Riviera Theatre, followed by an in-person chat with Audiard.

The program running through January 17 at the new Sbiff Film Center also will include his films Paris, 13th District (2021), and The Sisters Brothers (2018); Dheepan (2015); Rust and Bone (2012); A Prophet (2009) and The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005).

“Audiard is a master of cinema — combining genres in order to tell his complex yet compelling stories which always draw attention to important and urgent subjects like immigration and the disenfranchised,” festival executive director Roger Durling said. “As a filmmaker, he is generous, challenging and humane, and...

Emilia Pérez got an early boost in its awards campaign on Saturday night by cleaning up at the 37th European Film Awards, handed out in Lucerne, Switzerland.

Jacques Audiard’s Spanish-language transgender musical won best film, best director and best screenplay honors for Audiard. Karla Sofía Gascón, who plays the titular character, won best actress, becoming the first trans performer to win in the category.

“I didn’t prepare anything because I was sure I wasn’t going to receive anything tonight,” said Gascón, accepting her prize. She thanked Audiard, “the best European director for making the best European actress.” Gascón dedicated here prize “to my mother and to all mothers in this world because their values and their function are sometimes undervalued, [and] I would like to devote this prize to all families and ask all parents to love their children, because, unfortunately, in this world, there are families that...

French-Danish actor and director Niels Arestrup, best known to international audiences for playing a Corsican crime boss in Jacques Audiard’s Cannes Grand Prix, Oscar-nominated A Prophet, has died at the age of 75.

His wife, actress and writer Isabelle Le Nouvel, announced the news, saying Arestrup had died on Sunday (December 1) following “a courageous battle against illness” at their home outside of Paris.

Arestrup won best supporting actor César awards for his 2009 A Prophet performance and for playing the petty gangster father in Audiard’s 2005 BAFTA-winning The Beat That My Heart Skipped. He earned a third César award for Bertrand Tavernier...

Niels Arestrup, the French-Danish actor and muse to Emilia Pérez director Jacques Audiard who appeared in international features including Steven Spielberg’s War Horse and Julian Schnabel’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, has died. He was 75.

Arestrup’s wife, Isabelle Le Nouvel, confirmed his death to Agence France-Presse on Sunday, saying he died “at the end of a courageous fight against illness.”

Arestrup will forever be linked to Audiard and his performances in the filmmaker’s The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005) — playing the criminal father to Romain Duris’ would-be concert pianist — and A Prophet (2009), in which he embodies a terrifying Corsican mob boss who runs his operation from within prison.

Arestrup won best supporting acting César awards, France’s equivalent of the Oscar, for both roles, and the performances solidified his image as an onscreen villain with a piercing blue gaze who is barely holding back the violence within.

The French-Danish actor Niels Arestrup passed away on Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, according to his wife, the actor and writer Isabelle Le Nouvel. While he may not be well-known by mainstream Western audiences, he holds the record in France for the most César Awards for Best Supporting Actor, and has starred in films by many of Europe's best directors — Alain Resnais, Chantal Akerman, Claude Lelouch, Marco Ferreri, Jacques Audiard, Julian Schnabel, Bertrand Tavernier, Volker Schlöndorff, and Albert Dupontel, not to mention American directors like Steven Spielberg and Angelina Jolie. His wife wrote in an Afp press release:

I am extremely sad to announce the death of my husband, the immense actor Niels Arestrup, after a courageous fight against illness. He passed away surrounded by the love of his family.

Born to working-class parents and spending his youth in public housing projects, Arestrup failed school and took on odd jobs until he found...

French-Danish actor, director and writer Niels Arestrup, known for his Cesar-winning performances in Jacques Audiard’s The Beat That My Heart Skipped and A Prophet, has died at his home outside Paris at the age of 75.

Arestrup’s wife, the actress, screenwriter and author Isabelle Le Nouvel announced her husband’s death on Sunday.

The actor won a record three French Césars across his career with the final one being Bertrand Tavernier’s political satire The French Minister (Quai d’Orsay).

Arestrup was born to French mother, from Brittany, and a Danish father and grew up in humble conditions in Paris. After failing his high-school exams, he did odd jobs and then slowly moved into TV and drama.

In A Prophet, Arestrup played ruthless Corsican mobster César Luciani, who enlists the protagonist Malik (Tahar Rahim), introducing him to a life of crime in return for his protection.

Further highlights of...

French filmmaker Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez sizzles with energy, acing its tempo by rapidly pushing one scene after the other with a weaving of strategic ellipses. Audiard maintains the film’s accelerated pace with a steady hand, anchoring it as a musical crime melodrama like a bouncy symphony. The scenes are placed like a staccato, contributing to a mosaic that’s playful yet strikingly coherent. The plot of the film is emotionally charged, and the storyline moves with electrifying motions and creatively utilizes the brilliant use of cinematic language through which the filmmaker brings them to life. His approach allows us to focus closely on the characters’ words, their moments of hushed intimacy, and the smallest of gestures or expressions, all delivered in a pulsating style. The mastery shines through in his ability to draw empathy for morally ambiguous characters, making the audience feel invested in their fates. The film’s ambition,...

In the article series Sound and Vision we take a look at music videos from notable directors. This week: several music videos by Jacques Audiard. Jacques Audiard's newest film, Emilia Pérez will be released this week in cinemas and soon on Netflix. A darling at the Cannes Film Festival, and a probable oscar-contender, the film might seem like an odd fit for Audiard, since it's a full blown musical. But while Audiard is mostly known for his gritty humanist dramas, like Dheepan, Un Prophéte (A Prophet), De Rouille et d'Os (Rust and Bone) and De Battre Mon Coeur s'Est Arrêté (The Beat That My Heart Skipped), there has been a droll sense of humor to his films before (The Sisters Brothers), some magical realist touches...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

The film director on the music he works to, educating himself via podcasts, and why the Paris Olympics was a pleasant surprise

Jacques Audiard was born in Paris in 1952, the son of the prolific screenwriter and director Michel Audiard. He began writing films in the mid-1970s and made his directorial debut in 1994 with See How They Fall. He won Baftas for The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005) and A Prophet (2010) and the Cannes Palme d’Or with Dheepan in 2015. Audiard’s latest film, Emilia Pérez, a trans-empowerment musical set among Mexican drug cartels, won the Jury prize at Cannes and was described by Variety as “dazzling and instantly divisive”. It’s in cinemas now and will stream globally on Netflix from 13 November. Audiard lives in Paris.

Emilia Pérez director Jacques Audiard says it was a simple decision for him to cast a trans woman in the title role of his award-winning film.

Audiard, whose film picked up a Best Actress award shared between the female cast at Cannes Film Festival this summer, cast Spanish trans actress Karla Sofía Gascón in the role of mobster turned activist. He told The Times of London this weekend:

“It just makes sense to cast a trans woman to portray a trans woman. And the specificity of Karla Sofía is that she transitioned at 46, and that informs her performance. What does it mean to have suffered for 46 years, and then not to suffer any more?”

Of potential controversy arising from the subject matter of the film, Audiard said: “I take a very specific viewpoint here. As an artist I am free to have an opinion and to give my perspective on anything at all,...

November 2024, Criterion Channel is set to deliver an exceptional lineup of films that will excite cinephiles and casual viewers alike. The month promises a rich exploration of genres, featuring a strong selection of Coen Brothers classics such as Blood Simple (1984) and The Big Lebowski (1998), along with their more recent works like A Serious Man (2009) and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013). Noir and crime enthusiasts will revel in an array of titles, including The Maltese Falcon (1941), Gilda (1946), and The Big Heat (1953), showcasing the genre’s iconic narratives and stylistic depth. International cinema also shines through with compelling French dramas like Fat Girl (2001) and Dheepan (2015), highlighting diverse storytelling from around the globe.

The lineup doesn’t shy away from classic drama, featuring timeless films like On the Waterfront (1954) and Seven Samurai (1954), which continue to resonate with contemporary audiences. Additionally, viewers can look forward to a variety of documentary and experimental films, including Wild Wheels...

With Janus possessing the much-needed restorations, Catherine Breillat is getting her biggest-ever spotlight in November’s Criterion Channel series spanning 1976’s A Real Young Girl to 2004’s Anatomy of Hell––just one of numerous retrospectives arriving next month. They’re also spotlighting Ida Lupino, directorial efforts of John Turturro (who also gets an “Adventures In Moviegoing”), the Coen brothers, and Jacques Audiard.

In a slightly more macroscopic view, Columbia Noir and a new edition of “Queersighting” ring in Noirvember. Gregg Araki’s Teen Apocalypse trilogy and Miller’s Crossing get Criterion Editions, while restorations of David Bowie-starrer The Linguini Incident, Med Hondo’s West Indies, and Dennis Hopper’s Out of the Blue make streaming debuts; and Kevin Jerome Everson’s Tonsler Park arrives just in time for another grim election day.

See the full list of titles arriving in November below:

36 fillette, Catherine Breillat, 1988

Anatomy of Hell, Catherine Breillat,...

Sean Baker‘s “Anora” is currently the Oscar front-runner for Best Picture, but there’s another major contender bubbling under the surface: “Emilia Perez.” In fact, four of the last five Expert journalists who have updated their predictions — Christopher Rosen (Gold Derby), Anne Thompson (IndieWire), Nikki Novak (Fandango) and Perri Nemiroff (Collider) — are predicting the Netflix musical to prevail. Scroll down to see a chart with a cross-section of their predictions. Click on that chart to see more Experts’ forecasts.

As of September 16, there are six Experts currently predicting “Emilia Perez,” the same number as are betting on “Anora.” A week earlier on September 9, four Experts were predicting “Emilia Perez.” A week before that on September 2, only two Experts were picking it. So the film has been on a steady upward trajectory. Following the title cartel leader as she seeks gender confirmation surgery, the film made its first appearance at...

Hulu has revealed the official trailer for Last Days of the Space Age, an eight-part series that will premiere on the streaming service on October 2, 2024.

Starring Radha Mitchell and Jesse Spencer, Last Days of the Space Age is a dramedy series set in 1979 Western Australia, when Perth was at the center of the world’s headlines.

A power strike threatens to plunge the region into darkness while the city hosts the iconic Miss Universe pageant and the US space station, Skylab, crashes just beyond the city’s suburbs.

Against this backdrop of international cultural and political shifts, three families in a tight-knit coastal community find their marriages, friendships, and futures put to the test.

The series is led by Radha Mitchell (Olympus Has Fallen) and Jesse Spencer (Chicago Fire) as wife and husband, Judy and Tony Bissett. Deborah Mailman (Total Control) and Linh-Dan Pham (The Beat That My Heart Skipped...

Imagine a world in which Stephen Sondheim made Sicario. Yes, that Stephen Sondheim; yes, that 2015 thriller about the world of Mexican drug cartels. Got that? Good. Now add in Selena Gomez as the wife of a narco who, in a moment of deep grief and remembrance, utters the line, “My pussy still hurts when I think of you” — which, to be fair, sounds a lot more poetic in Spanish. She believes her husband, a major drug lord for the Los Globales cartel, had been murdered. This is not true. Rather,...

Aubrey Plaza is expanding her TV empire with an “Emily The Criminal” series.

The actress who led the 2022 Sundance breakout crime thriller will executive produce a series adaptation of John Patton Ford’s film for Legendary Television, an individual with knowledge of the project told IndieWire. She won’t however star in the new series.

“Emily The Criminal” was written and directed by John Patton Ford, who will also executive produce the series adaptation. Ford will also direct the show.

The original film followed Emily (Plaza) who tries to pay off her student debt by working as a “dummy shopper” and purchasing goods with stolen credit cards. The scheme is run by Youcef (Theo Rossi), who becomes entangled with Emily.

“Emily the Criminal” was released by Roadside Attractions and Vertical Entertainment and earned four Film Independent Spirit Award nominations, including for Plaza’s performance and Ford’s screenplay. Plaza was...

The French horror film The Animal Kingdom has been making the festival rounds for the last year, and after reaching theatres in its home country last October it ended up earning 12 Nominations at this year’s César Awards, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Actor. We’ll have to wait a couple weeks to find out if it’s going to win those César Awards (the ceremony is set to be held on February 23rd), but in the meantime a trailer for the film’s American release has made its way online and can be seen in the embed above. Magnet Releasing will be giving The Animal Kingdom a theatrical and VOD release on March 15th.

Directed by Thomas Cailley, who also wrote the screenplay with Pauline Munier, The Animal Kingdom, which is described as “a visionary thriller”, drops viewers into an extraordinary world where mutations...

International sales are handled by Brussels-based Be For Film.

Belgian director and screenwriter Guillaume Senez has started shooting A Missing Part starring Romain Duris in Japan today (October 16).

It will film in locations including Tokyo, Sagami Bay and Yokohama until December 3.

Duris stars as Jay, alongside Judith Chemla and Mei Cirne-Masuki. The film sees Jay driving his cab every day through Tokyo in search of his daughter, Lily. Separated for nine years, he has never been able to get custody of her. Just as he’s given up hope of seeing her again and is about to return to France,...

If the independent film world had to crown a queen, there’s a good chance it would select Aubrey Plaza. The “Parks and Recreation” alum has been a fixture at Sundance for years, consistently starring in cool films and helping new directors gain crucial opportunities in the process. Her latest indie is “Emily the Criminal,” a heist movie she produced in addition to playing the eponymous criminal. In a new interview with L’Officiel, Plaza opened up about some of the films that influenced her and “Emily the Criminal” director John Patton Ford while making the film.

“John is a really big fan of Jacques Audiard,” Plaza said. “There’s a movie called ‘The Beat That My Heart Skipped’ and that movie was a big reference for him. A lot of foreign films. We talked a lot about ‘Head-On,’ which is Fatih Akın. And also the Safdie Brothers’ ‘Good Time.’ That...

The tousle-haired star could be regarded as the quintessential Parisian actor – and now he’s taking on the city icon that looms largest

If Michael Caine is the quintessential London actor, Romain Duris could become his Paris equivalent. Born and raised in the city, he rose to international fame in 2005 playing the real-estate hustler with ambitions to be a pianist in Jacques Audiard’s The Beat That My Heart Skipped. Quick to the punch but nifty in his fingerwork, dropping rats in a sack on unwanted tenants while wearing Cuban heels, he was Parisian squalor and glamour in one snake-hipped paradox. Then he cashed in his tousle-haired bourgeois-bohème cachet in Christopher Honoré’s Dans Paris and Cédric Klapisch’s Paris. And now the pinnacle: he is starring in a new biopic about engineer Gustave Eiffel.

Duris couldn’t resist the man’s ubiquity. “I don’t know if it’s because I’m Parisian,...

I’ve been following the career of French actress Noemie Merlant since I saw her in Celine’s Sciamma queer romance film Portrait of a Lady on Fire at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019. Since her performance as Marian in Sciamma’s film, Merlant has worked non-stop as an actress appearing films including:

Jumbo directed by Zoe Wittock which premiered at Sundance 2020. A Good Man from frequent collaborator, director Marie-Castille Mention-Schaar. One Year, One Night by director Isaki Lacuesta which premiered at Berlinale this year.

And the Todd Field’s film Tar where she acts alongside two-time Oscar winning actress Cate Blanchett. The actress told the Guardian that working with Blanchett was a dream come true and inspiration. “Cate Blanchett – she’s always been a key reference for me. I like to rewatch my favourite scenes of hers, sometimes right before I shoot a scene myself – not to copy her,...

Jacques Audiard, known for his superb thrillers, became the supreme purveyor of French outlier cinema, chronicling gritty immigrant experiences in an increasingly diverse nation with such films as The Prophet, Dheepan and even to some extent Rust and Bone, comes out with a slight, sexy romance film based on Adrian Tomine's graphic novels called Paris, 13th District. With its diverse cast and unusual setting, Audiard is upending the typical notion of romantic French film taking place in Paris. He also introduces us his new ingénue, Lucie Zhang, a 21 year old French actress of Chinese descent, giving a star making performance as...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

As a writer and director, Jacques Audiard is known for muscular crime dramas, including “The Beat That My Heart Skipped,” “A Prophet,” “Rust and Bone,” and 2015’s Palme d’Or winner “Dheepan.” His work has largely had an air of seriousness to it that doesn’t leave much room for comedy or frivolity of any sort. His films are dark looks into the souls of characters struggling to exist in a world that isn’t often built for the majority to thrive — magnificent achievements, no doubt, but also tough to crack a smile while watching.

In 2018, Audiard made his English-language debut alongside his frequent co-writer Thomas Bidegain with the western “The Sisters Brothers,” taking a more comedic bent to his fascination with masculinity to explore a quartet of buffoons seeking gold in 1850s Oregon.

Continue reading Jacques Audiard On Sex, Comedy, & Computers In ‘Paris, 13th District’ [Interview] at The Playlist.

With “Paris, 13th District,” Jacques Audiard found himself back at Cannes in 2021 for the first time since he won 2015’s Palme d’Or with “Dheepan.” The director skipped the festival for his slightly more mainstream-skewing “The Sisters Brothers,” which went to Venice in 2018, and with this black-and-white ode to love and sex in the City of Lights, found himself back in his rightful place on the Croisette. Now, IFC Films is set to release the movie April 15 in stateside theaters. Exclusive to IndieWire, watch the trailer for the film below.

For this love quadrangle involving three women and one man, Audiard co-writes the film with “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” filmmaker Céline Sciamma as well as screenwriter Léa Mysius. The cast includes “Portrait” star Noémie Merlant as Nora, Lucie Zhang as Emilie, Makita Samba as Camille, and Jehnny Beth as Amber, all moving pieces in a chessboard of erotic entanglements.

The Portrait of a Lady on Fire star talks about her role in Jacques Audiard’s new dating drama, making a documentary about her own family, and the Hollywood actor who inspires her

The French actor Noémie Merlant is in demand these days – especially since 2019, when Céline Sciamma’s acclaimed Portrait of a Lady on Fire massively boosted her international profile. When I talk to her on Zoom, she’s rushing between two films, on her mobile in a car travelling from one shoot in Brest in northern France to another in the Pyrenees.

Despite her busy schedule, and the distraction of having just lost her bank card, Merlant is focused enough to talk with enthusiastic intensity about Jacques Audiard’s Paris, 13th District, which is released in the UK next month. The film is something of a departure for the 69-year-old director, who is often associated with crime dramas.

Southern Spain’s annual showcase of standout recent European auteur cinema, the Seville European Film Festival, wrapped its 18th edition Saturday, Nov. 13 with a slew of prizes scattered among its various contenders, with the top prize, the Giraldillo de Oro, going to Sebastian Meise’s “Great Freedom” and its lead, Franz Rogowski, nabbing the best actor award. The Andalusian screenwriters association, Asecan, also chose the drama as the best film in the festival’s official selection.

Set in post-war Germany, “Great Freedom” has been racking up rave reviews and prizes across the festival circuit, starting with its Cannes Un Certain Regard jury prize and most recently in Athens and Sarajevo where it topped their awards. In it, Hans, played by Rogowski, is imprisoned repeatedly for being gay. The only constant in his life is his cellmate, Viktor, a convicted murderer, with whom his initial repulsion turns to something akin to love.

The Seville European Film Festival, a key gateway into Spain for recent European movies, celebrates its 18th edition honoring German-Spanish actor-director Daniel Brühl.

Confronting film’s post-covid recovery challenges, the festival is also strengthening its commitment to the industry.

Seville, which runs Nov. 5-13, will grant Brühl the City of Seville 2021 award and screen the Spanish premiere of his directorial debut, Beta-sold comedy thriller “Next Door,” as part of the festival’s Official Section.

French actress Emmanuelle Béart (“8 Women”) will also receive a City of Seville 2020 award as she was unable to travel to last year’s edition due to pandemic restrictions.

Seville’s figures – 225 films, 90 Spanish premieres, six competitive sections, more than 500 guests and around thirty parallel activities – confirm the event’s solidity and projection as a major cultural gathering in Spain and a reference for the European industry.

As part of the festival’s industry growth, Seville...

French distributor Pathe has announced a delay in the release of its big budget historical drama “Eiffel.”

The film is due to receive its French premiere on Aug. 24, 2021 at the Festival du Film Francophone d’Angouleme. Its commercial release was scheduled for the following day, Aug. 25.

In a circular, the distributor said Tuesday that the film will now reach multiplexes on Oct. 13.

The film is directed by Martin Bourboulon (“Divorce French Style”) and stars Romain Duris (The Beat That My Heart Skipped”) in the title role as the famous French inventor who is asked to design a tower for the 1889 Paris World Fair. While doing so, he encounters a mysterious and beautiful woman from his past played by Emma Mackey.

No reason was specified by Pathe for the delayed release. But current coronavirus conditions and the possibility of a fourth wave in France due to the highly infectious Delta Variant...

Korean-American actor and filmmaker Justin Chon crafts a partly autobiographical tale with his latest film, “Blue Bayou.” Scooped by Focus Features out of the 2020 Cannes virtual market, “Blue Bayou” is Chon’s fourth feature after acclaimed festival favorites “Ms. Purple,” “Gook,” and “Man Up,” and he stars in his film alongside Alicia Vikander. As the film premieres at Cannes this week, watch the trailer below.

Here’s the official synopsis from Focus Features: “From award-winning writer/director Justin Chon, Blue Bayou is the moving and timely story of a uniquely American family fighting for their future. Antonio LeBlanc (Chon), a Korean adoptee raised in a small town in the Louisiana bayou, is married to the love of his life Kathy (Alicia Vikander) and stepdad to their beloved daughter Jessie. Struggling to make a better life for his family, he must confront the ghosts of his past when he discovers...

Having been a mainstay of the Croisette for years and a Palme d’Or winner in 2015 for “Dheepan,” French filmmaker Jacques Audiard, is no stranger to the Cannes Film Festival. Since 2005, all of his films have debuted at Cannes save one (2018’s “The Sisters Brothers” that went to Venice).

Continue reading ‘Les Olympiades’ Trailer: Jacques Audiard Redefines Modern Love & Sex In Paris’ 13th District at The Playlist.

Aure Atika, Grégory Montel, Damien Chapelle, Pascal Elbé and Mehdi Nebbou likewise star in the cast of this Silex Films and Germaine Films production, distributed by Apollo. Shot in Paris between 2 November and 15 December, Rose, the debut feature film by Aurélie Saada (who forms one half of musical duo Brigitte) is now in post-production. Gracing the cast is seasoned actress Françoise Fabian, Aure Atika, Grégory Montel (known for his role as Gabriel in the series Call My Agent! and recently at his best in...

Although Jacques Audiard was fairly well-known on the international circuit with The Beat That My Heart Skipped, it was his follow-up, the crime drama A Prophet, that firmly put him on the map of worldwide attention. Following that 2009 release, there’s been talk of an English-language remake for a number of years and now it’s finally coming together.

Variety reports Russell Crowe will lead the film, which is now titled American Son. Scripted by the great Dennis Lehane, newcomer Andrew “Rapman” Onwubolu (Blue Story) will direct the Paramount project, which follows a man, who, after falling under the control of a ruthless mobster (Crowe) while in prison, builds a multiracial crime syndicate, takes down his mentor, and earns a place for his crew alongside the Italian and Russian mafias.

When it comes to our lead, the studio is said to hopefully find a newcomer and casting will get underway soon.

The duo shine leading the cast of Martin Bourboulon’s new film, produced by Vvz Production and sold by Pathé, which follows in the trail blazed by the Eiffel Tower’s inventor. The first clapperboard slammed on 13 August for Eiffel, Martin Bourboulon’s third feature film after Daddy or Mommy (2.8 million admission in France in 2015) and Divorce French Style (Daddy or Mommy 2) (1.36 million viewers by the end of 2016). Standing tall among the cast are Romain Duris and the French-British rising star Emma Mackey (discovered in the series Sex Education and soon to be seen in the Irish film The Winter Lake).Written by the director, alongside Caroline Bongrand, Tatiana de Rosnay...

French sales, distribution and production company Pathé has closed a raft of sales deals on three titles at the Cannes Film Market: “La Belle Epoque,” “Misbehaviour” and project “Eifel.” The company will handle distribution in France and Switzerland on all three.

Nicolas Bedos’ “La Belle Epoque,” which screened out of competition at the festival, is the story of Victor, who in his 60’s meets an entrepreneur who offers the unbelievable chance to revisit the most memorable parts of his life using a new technology. Daniel Auteuil, Guillaume Canet, Doria Tillier and Fanny Ardant fill out the main cast. The film will release on Nov 6 in France and Switzerland.

The feature has already sold to Germany (Constantin), Italy (IWonder Pictures), Latam/Spain, Japan (Kinoshita), Cis + Baltics (Volga), Portugal (Cinemundo), Romania (Independenta), Ex Yougoslavia (McF), Hungary (Cirko), Greece (Rosebud 21) and Belgium (Alternative), and Pathé says that negotiations are ongoing with several other territories.

Cannes — Few recent novels have impacted more in France than the “Vernon Subutex,” from Virginie Despentes (“Baisse Moi”), published as a trilogy from 2015 to 2017.

A Canal Plus Création Originale – Original Series – sold abroad by Studiocanal, starring Romain Duris (“The Beat That My Heart Skipped”) and opening 2019’s 2nd Canneseries this Friday, “Vernon Subutex”, which bows on Canal Plus on Monday, is one of the most anticipated French premium of the year. Whether it is at all a faithful adaptation of the novel is another question.

The plots still there.In the 1980s, young Vernon Subutex was a living legend, owner of a record shop worshipped for its tastes its partying. 20, 30 years later, after his shop went bust, he’s getting evicted from his flat.

Reaches out to former contacts still involved in the music industry. After a night with rock star Alex Bleach, Vernon becomes a wanted man when Bleach...

“Vernon Subutex,” one of Canal Plus’ banner Original Series, will world premiere at the opening night of this year’s Canneseries.

Directed by Cathy Verney and starring Romain Duris (“The Beat That My Heart Skipped”) and Céline Sallette (“House of Tolerance”), the Canal Plus Création Originale will premiere three episodes, out of competition, at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes on April 5. International sales are handled by Studiocanal.

The premier and opening night slot will give a high-profile at this year’s event to Canal Plus, a partner of Canneseries, as the French pay TV giant attempts to mark itself apart in France as a quality but still edgy and Ya-appealing original series producer.

The series is inspired by a popular pair of novels from author Virginie Despentes, a bestseller in France which was crying out for a small screen adaptation.

The series’ nine, half-hour episodes track the titular main character,...

"Are you forgetting somethin'? We're the Sisters Brothers, and we finish the job." Annapurna Pictures has debuted the final official trailer for Jacques Audiard's western The Sisters Brothers, which is playing in theaters in NY & La now (and more cities later this month). The film won Best Director at the Venice Film Festival, and earned some rave reviews from critics. The film is about two brothers, Eli and Charlie Sisters played by Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly, who are hired to kill a prospector who has stolen from their boss. It's set in Oregon in 1851 and is a dark comedy in addition to being a western thriller, which is a good blend of genres for Audiard. The full cast includes Jake Gyllenhaal, Riz Ahmed, Rutger Hauer, Carol Kane, and Rebecca Root. Ride on. Here's the final Us trailer (+ posters) for Jacques Audiard's The Sisters Brothers, ...

French director Jacques Audiard has been one of the country’s most acclaimed filmmakers for years, with his gritty, socially conscious movies digging deep into the moral fiber of French identity. This year, Audiard’s distinctive voice will take a new form, as the director makes his English-language debut with “The Sisters Brothers,” the Oregon-set western co-starring Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly opening on September 21. New Yorkers will also have the opportunity to explore the scope of Audiard’s filmography with a comprehensive mid-career retrospective taking place at the Museum of Modern Art from August 31 through September 20.

In an exclusive interview with IndieWire ahead of the series, Audiard insisted that — unlike many European auteurs — none of his successes in France compelled him to work in English.

While movies such as “A Prophet” and the Palme d’Or-winning “Dheepan” expanded his international profile, “I never particularly felt a need to work in the U.

"Alright - you're not going to like what comes next..." Annapurna has debuted the first official trailer for a new western from French filmmaker Jacques Audiard, titled The Sisters Brothers, adapted from Patrick Dewitt's acclaimed novel of the same name. The film is about two brothers, Eli and Charlie Sisters played by Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly, who are hired to kill a prospector who has stolen from their boss. It's set in Oregon in 1851 and is a dark comedy in addition to being a western thriller, which is a good blend of genres for Audiard. The full cast includes Jake Gyllenhaal, Riz Ahmed, Rutger Hauer, Carol Kane, and Niels Arestrup. This is a wacky, but amusing trailer that certainly introduces this film in a way that will get your attention. Enjoy it. Here's the first official Us trailer for Jacques Audiard's The Sisters Brothers, direct from ...

Engel also co-founded UK distributor New Wave Films.

Art-house “trailblazer” Pamela Engel, known for co-founding distributor Artificial Eye and programming London cinemas including the Lumiere, Chelsea Cinema, Camden Plaza and the Renoir, has died aged 82.

A huge figure in the UK’s independent film business, Engel’s death has sparked messages of praise across the distribution and exhibition sectors.

Born Pamela Balfry in 1934, the UK executive started out in the late 1950s as a secretary for then Sight and Sound editor Penelope Houston.

She would go on to work as an assistant to Richard Roud at the London and New York Film Festivals before joining Derek Hill’s art-house venue Essential Cinema in the late 1960s.

Odyssey

Balfry and first husband Andi Engel established distributor Artificial Eye in 1976, thus “beginning an odyssey of distribution and exhibition unlikely ever to be surpassed,” in the words of former London Film Festival director Sheila Whitaker.

Despite separating...

This first feature of Kirsten Tan premiered in Sundance ‘17 World Cinema Dramatic Competition. Its provenance is Singapore but it takes place in Thailand. It continued onward to the Hivos Tiger Competition at Iffr (R’dam).

The thrill of interviewing here in Sundance is that you see a film; you have an impression and while it is still fresh you meet the filmmakers without having much time for any research or reflection. And then you get to see them again as “old friends” when you meet again in Rotterdam.

As Kirsten, her producer Weijie Lai and I sat down at the Sundance Co-op on Main Street here in Park City, I really had little idea of where the interview would take us, somewhat analogously to her film in which an architect, disenchanted with life in general, being put aside as “old” in his own highly successful architectural firm and in a stale relationship with his wife,...

Arms dealers are the bad guys in Ryan Bonder’s respectable crime drama which unfolds to a northern soul soundtrack

An intriguing anomaly: a London-set crime thriller boasting just enough storytelling heft and idiosyncratic style to merit investigation. Writer-director Ryan Bonder takes a borderline preposterous set-up – brooding Canuck Adam (Tygh Runyan) hides out as a Tate cloakroom clerk in a doomed bid to escape his arms-dealing family – then develops it to keep generating fresh perspectives on both the city and his characters. Thematically, it’s more Jacques Audiard than Nick Love: Adam’s relationship with a deaf dancer (Noémie Merlant) echoes Read My Lips (2001), the piano playing 2005’s The Beat That My Heart Skipped. (Again, it’s crime versus culture: we intuit that the brother who shows up is trouble from his brusque handling of Adam’s vinyl collection.) Not every gamble pays off – certain narrative backalleys remain under-illuminated...

Joaquin Phoenix may become part of the family for Jacques Audiard’s English-language debut, The Sisters Brothers.

Word comes by way of Deadline, revealing that the actor – who has also emerged as a frontrunner for the Jesus Christ role in Garth Davis’ religious opus, Mary Magdalene – has opened negotiations to board the period piece, itself set against the Californian Gold Rush of the mid-1800s.

Lifted from Patrick deWitt’s eye-catching and indeed award-winning novel of the same name, we learned late last year that John C. Reilly boarded Audiard’s adaptation as either Eli or Charlie Steers, the brothers at the heart of deWitt’s western. While Deadline didn’t disclose official details of Phoenix’s potential role, it’s safe to assume he’s in contention for the other sibling opposite Reilly.

Taking place in the Oregon of 1851, The Sisters Brothers “recounts the story of two brothers — Eli...

Jacques Audiard’s confident Palme d’Or-winner has a rare and keen interest in its characters – a trio of Tamil refugees in Paris – and an exhilarating mastery of style

Related: Jacques Audiard: ‘I wanted to give migrants a name, a shape… a violence of their own’

There is such exhilarating movie mastery in this powerful new film about Tamil refugees in France from director Jacques Audiard, who gave us A Prophet, Rust and Bone and The Beat That My Heart Skipped. It’s bulging with giant confidence and packed with outbursts of that mysterious epiphanic grandeur, like moments of sunlight breaking through cloud-cover, with which Audiard endows apparently normal sequences and everyday details. There is also something not always found in movies or books or TV drama – that is to say, intelligent and sympathetic interest in other human beings. Every scene, every line, every frame has something of interest.

Jacques Audiard’s confident Palme d’Or-winner has a rare and keen interest in its characters – a trio of Tamil refugees in Paris – and an exhilarating mastery of style

Related: Jacques Audiard: ‘I wanted to give migrants a name, a shape… a violence of their own’

There is such exhilarating movie mastery in this powerful new film about Tamil refugees in France from director Jacques Audiard, who gave us A Prophet, Rust and Bone and The Beat That My Heart Skipped. It’s bulging with giant confidence and packed with outbursts of that mysterious epiphanic grandeur, like moments of sunlight breaking through cloud-cover, with which Audiard endows apparently normal sequences and everyday details. There is also something not always found in movies or books or TV drama – that is to say, intelligent and sympathetic interest in other human beings. Every scene, every line, every frame has something of interest.

★★★★☆ Ostensibly a remake of James Toback's 1978 film Fingers, The Beat That My Heart Skipped sees an electric Romain Duris fill Harvey Keitel's boots as livewire musician and borderline crook, Thomas Seyr. The fourth feature from French director Jacques Audiard, it is a vibrant, kinetic depiction of obsession, desire and filial responsibility which freewheels around the City of Lights, largely at night. At its heart a tale of fathers and sons, Beat takes place at the intersection of the bourgeoisie, a real estate racket and the more dangerous elements of Paris' criminal underworld. Built around a stellar lead performance, it is a dynamic film, constantly on the move and tightly coiled with the ever present threat of violence. Backed up by an eclectic score that veers from electro to acid jazz to classical and superbly framed by cinematographer Stéphane Fontaine - who would go on to collaborate with Audiard...