News

Belgian Valéry Carnoy’s “Wild Foxes” (“La Danse des renards”) has won this year’s Europa Cinemas Cannes Label for best European Film at the 2025 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

Announced Thursday by Europa Cinemas, ahead of the Directors’ Fortnight closing ceremony this afternoon, the prize is one of three at Directors’ Fortnight and awarded by one of the sidebar’s partners, given the section is non-competitive.

The section’s People’s Choice audience award and a second partner plaudit, the Sacd Prize, handed out by France’s Writers’ Guild, will be announced later today at an awards ceremony. There, French writer-director Thomas Cailley (“The Animal Kingdom”) will receive the inaugural Alpine Prize, which aims to highlight “filmmakers who dare to shatter conventions and blaze new trails in French and international cinema.”

Reconfirming his star potential, in “Wild Foxes,” France’s Samuel Kirchner, who scored a promising actor Cesar nomination for Cathérine Breillat...

Boxing movies are a dime a dozen and have been since the birth of cinema, or at least since the talkies. It’s a genre that offers instant gratification — because what’s more visceral and entertaining than watching two people beat the hell out of each other on screen?

Bringing something original to the genre is significantly harder, which is why Belgian writer-director Valéry Carnoy deserves kudos for making his feature début, Wild Foxes (La Danse des renards), stand apart from your typical testosterone-fueled slugfest.

He stages the action within a highly special location: an elite French sports-études boarding school where teenage athletes are selected to train throughout their high school years. The public institution seems to weigh as heavily on the young fighters as all the punches they take in the ring, driving them toward acts of desperation or self-sabotage as they try to becomes pros.

Wild Foxes adds...

Playtime (“Goodnight Mommy”) is producing and repping international sales on Safy Nebbou’s “Nobody’s Son,” a heart-wrenching adoption drama starring Romain Duris (“The Animal Kingdom”), at the Cannes film market.

Co-produced by Mandarin & Compagnie, the project has been boarded by Sony Pictures International Productions which will handle the release in the U.S., Canada, South America and France. Playtime is handling sales in the rest of the world.

The film, penned by Nebbou, revolves around Thomas and his wife, Mathilda, who finally adopted four-year-old Mapring from Thailand. “But just as their new life begins, Mathilde dies in a tragic accident, leaving Thomas alone with a child he barely knows and never truly wanted. Lost and grieving, he

decides to return to Thailand in search of Mapring’s roots and biological mother—and perhaps, in the process, heal both their fractured hearts,” reads the synopsis.

Nicolas Brigaud-Robert, François Yon at Playtime Production,...

French film entrepreneur Serge Hayat, who won the top prize at the inaugural World AI Film Festival (Waff) with the bible for “White Mask,” has partnered with his son Amaury to launch a new AI-powered start up, OzmaLabs.

OzmaLabs was first used to develop the bible for “White Mask,” an original story expanding on the universe of the social media content creator and influencer known as White Maskkk who has imagined a dystopian future in which Paris is totally deserted. His dozens of videos on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok, which see him wandering the ghostly streets and landmarks of Paris, have racked up tens of million of views. In the narration created with the help of OzmaLabs, White Mask – who has 340,000 and 600,000 followers, respectively, on Instagram and TikTok — explores other capitals.

The bible picked up the first prize at the Waff from a jury chaired by Claude Lelouch and presided...

European sales banner Newen Connect has boarded “Haunted Minds,” a psychological thriller directed by Belgian filmmaker Lucas Belvaux (“This Is Our Land”) on the eve of the European Film Market in Berlin.

“‘Haunted Minds” is led by a sexy cast, including Niels Schneider and Ramzy Bedia, who both starred in Xavier Giannoli’s acclaimed limited series “Of Money and Blood.” Deborah François (“Savage State”) and Linh-dan Pham (“Mr. Nobody”) complete the cast.

The movie, which is based on a Belgian novel penned by Belvaux, revolves around a skilled army veteran Skender suffering from Ptsd who’s been estranged from his children and their mother, and is now homeless. “Out of the blue, Max, his former sergeant, approaches him with a life-changing offer, to be the pray of a man. If Skender agrees to the offer, his family will receive a large sum of money upon his death. However, if he survives for one month,...

Exclusive: Deva Cassel (Netflix’s The Leopard), Julien De Saint Jean (The Count Of Monte Cristo) and Romain Duris (Heartbreaker) are set to co-star in a contemporary, French-language version of Gaston Leroux’s classic Paris-set novel The Phantom of the Opera, aimed at a young adult audience and taking its cue from the Twilight franchise.

Snd, the film production, distribution and sales arm of French commercial free-to-air broadcaster M6, is co-producing and selling the ambitious project and will launch pre-sales at the EFM with a sizzle.

Alexandre Castagnetti is set to direct from a screenplay co-written with Camille Fontaine ( Coco Before Chanel).

Opéra Garnier

Filming will begin this summer at the world famous Palais Garnier opera house, or Opéra Garnier, in Paris, against the backdrop of its theatre, backstage areas, domed roof and subterranean vaulted cistern, sometimes referred to as its lake.

Bac Films has scooped up Hélène Merlin’s feature debut “Cassandre,” with the Gallic outfit set to launch international sales at next week’s Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris.

Set in a rural idyll during the summer of 1998, the coming-of-age drama casts rising star Billie Blain (“The Animal Kingdom”) opposite screen stalwart Zabou Breitman (“The New Look”), following an adolescent girl as she forges a new sense of self post-puberty.

“In the family’s small manor, her parents and older brother notice that her body has changed,” reads the description. “Fortunately, Cassandre is passionate about horses, and she joins a small riding center for the holidays, where she’s embraced as an odd but endearing character. Here, she discovers a different kind of normal, one that gradually frees her from the family dynamic that threatens to engulf her…”

“We are thrilled to have taken on Hélène Merlin’s debut,” says Bac Films’ Vincent Llobell.

Alain Guiraudie’s Misericordia, a rural melodrama with a sinister twist, has won France’s Louis Delluc prize for best film of the year.

The comedic crime thriller follows a man who returns to his native small town for a funeral, where his stay is greeted by unexpected twists.

Misericordia premiered in Cannes and went on to play the fall festival trifecta of Telluride, Toronto and New York. Oscar and Bafta-winning Anatomy Of A Fall notably took the same post-Cannes route in 2023.

Les Films du Losange has sold Misericordia to a slew of territories including Sideshow and Janus Films for...

Alain Guiraudie’s Misericordia, a rural melodrama with a sinister twist, has won France’s Louis Delluc prize for best film of the year.

The genre-hopping crime thriller and dark comedy follows a man who returns to his native small town for a funeral when a mysterious disappearance, a threatening neighbour, and a priest with strange intentions add an unexpected twist to his stay.

Misericordia premiered in Cannes and after that became one of few French titles to complete the fall festival trifecta of Telluride, Toronto and New York film festivals. Oscar and Bafta-winning Anatomy Of A Fall notably took...

London- and Paris-based production, finance and sales company Film Constellation has added new sales for Cannes Critics’ Week supernatural horror “Animale” by Emma Benestan, ahead of its North American premiere at Fantastic Fest later this month.

“Animale” sold to Scandinavia (Edge Entertainment), Cis (Nashe Kino), the Czech and Slovak republics (Film Europe), Brazil (Belas Artes), and Indonesia (Falcon Pt), adding to the previously announced territories which include Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy (Plaion), Spain (Filmin), Portugal (Nos Lusomundo), former Yugoslavia (McF Megacom), and Middle East and North Africa (Falcon).

Wild Bunch Distribution will release the film in French theaters nationwide on Nov. 27, with O’Brother releasing in Belgium on Dec. 18.

After its world premiere as closing film of the Cannes Critics’ Week, the film has been selected in some of the world’s foremost genre festivals including Fantastic Fest, Sitges Film Festival, MOTELx, and Neuchâtel Intl. Fantastic Film Festival to name a few.

If you’ve spent time in towns in the far-flung provinces of any number of European countries — particularly ones in which mills that supplied the economic lifeblood of working-class communities have closed, leaving inhabitants adrift without a raft — chances are you’ll recognize the fictional Northeastern French setting of And Their Children After Them (Leurs enfants aprés eux). These are places stuck in time, usually around the point when their industries were shuttered. That fossilization can be observed at public celebrations where the locals mob the dance floor when the cheesiest of Euro-pop relics are blasted over the speakers, in this case Boney M.’s “Rivers of Babylon.”

Writer-director brothers Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma capture that atmosphere with such specificity and melancholy fondness in their ambitious adaptation of Nicolas Mathieu’s 2018 Prix Goncourt-winning novel that it’s easy to imagine they lived it — or at least something very close to it.

Of the many ’90s needle drops in this episodic epic about a smalltown, working class French youth, it is one by Bruce Springsteen that captures its spirit. It takes a special film to earn the right to play ‘Born To Run’ over the end credits, and this does. The fourth feature by twin brothers Ludovic Boukherma and Zoran Boukherma, adapted from a 2018 novel by Nicolas Mathieu, is so close to the essence of The Boss that it might have been reverse-engineered from his DNA.

Set over four summers “And Their Children After Them” drops us into a formative day in the life of 14-year-old Anthony (Paul Kircher). The first shot is of perfect blue sky; the camera pans down to reveal a vista so tranquil as to be almost banal — puffy clouds, forest, lake — until it is sullied by a cigarette butt flicked into the water. In this world, it...

French cinema rarely ventures into full-blown sci-fi — a genre largely dominated by deep-pocketed U.S. productions — but filmmaker Aude Lea Rapin (“Heroes Don’t Die”), rose to the challenge with “Planet B,” a dystopian thriller headlined by Adele Exarchopoulos and Souheila Yacoub (“Dune 2”) playing rebels with a cause. The movie world premieres at Venice where it kicks off the Critics’ Week section.

Like many sci-fi movies, “Planet B” has a politically charged storyline, centering on hardcore climate activists who get locked up in a virtual prison in a seemingly idyllic location. Among the hot-button topics explored in the movie are immigration, police brutality, the limits of radical activism and threats to democracy.

Yacoub and Exarchopoulos star alongside an ensemble cast of up-and-comers, including India Hair, Jonathan Couzinié, Yassine Stein, Paul Beaurepaire and Eliane Umuhire.

Exarchopoulos plays Julia, the leader of the group of eco-activists who are imprisoned and tortured psychologically,...

Barely a decade out of film school, Gallic twins Ludovic and Zoran Boukherma are primed for an international splash once their fourth feature, “And Their Children After Them,” premieres in competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival.

Adapted from a literary sensation that won the Prix Goncourt, France’s equivalent to the Pulitzer Prize, the film explores teenage heartache and working-class doldrums with a novelistic sweep, playing as a coming-of-age power ballad full of operatic emotions and chart-topping tunes.

“We wanted to turn a story made up of fairly ordinary, small conflicts into something vast and cinematic,” says director Zoran Boukherma, who co-wrote with his brother Ludovic after actor-filmmaker Gilles Lellouche handed each of them a copy of the book over lunch two years ago.

“That idea stemmed from our discussion with Gilles and with [original author] Nicolas Mathieu, who recognized that a very small event could lead to an entire family’s downfall.

Exclusive: Calvin Leon Smith, who appeared in the Tony-nominated comedy Fat Ham, will return to Broadway this fall when he takes over the role of Cabaret‘s Clifford Bradshaw from Ato Blankson-Wood.

Smith will be part of a replacement cast that includes Adam Lambert as Emcee and Auli’i Cravalho as Sally Bowles. Original cast members Eddie Redmayne, Gayle Rankin and Blankson-Wood end their limited engagements Sunday, September 14, with the new cast members beginning performances on Monday, September 16.

Smith’s casting was announced today by producers Ambassador Theatre Group Productions, Underbelly, Gavin Kalin Productions, Hunter Arnold, Smith & Brant Theatricals, and Wessex Grove.

Smith most recently appeared in James Ijames’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play Fat Ham in the role of Larry, a Marine with a secret. Smith’s other theater credits include roles in regional and Off Broadway productions, including The Animal Kingdom , Open Throat, and Lynn Nottage’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Sweat.

France’s Cnc has introduced a series of reforms to boost distribution of arthouse cinema in the country that will roll out over the next two years.

Scroll down for the top 10 arthouse releases in France in 2024

The annual budget for what is known in France as “le cinéma art et essai” has been set at €19m for 2024, up €1m from the previous year.

The increased funding is meant to better reward exhibitors who give what they call “fragile arthouse films a chance” and support the marketing of arthouse titles especially to the younger 15-25 age demographic.

The Cnc is...

A terrier poodle mix was the star of the Los Angeles premiere of Twisters. The dog — which doesn’t actually appear in the film at all — arrived in the arms of the film’s actual star, Glen Powell, playing the role of leading man’s best friend. Brisket posed for photos with the actor and fellow cast members Daisy Edgar-Jones and Anthony Ramos.

On Sunday, Powell shared a carousel of pictures on Instagram from the film’s U.S. premiere. Brisket was featured in three of the images, but has...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

The Animal Kingdom (Thomas Cailley)

In The Animal Kingdom, an Un Certain Regard-selected science-fiction romp from France, human-animal mutations are the new norm. Director Thomas Cailley begins things in media res with a familiar disaster-movie scene: François (Romain Duris) and Émile (Paul Kircher)––father and son, respectively––are stuck in traffic, making chit-chat, when something slowly begins capturing the attention of other drivers. An ambulance across the way begins to rumble. Then a man with a large winged arm bursts out, causing some damage before scurrying down a tunnel. Only mildly ruffled, François exchanges a jaded aphorism with another driver over: “Strange times.” – Rory O. (full review)

Where to Stream: Hulu

The Bikeriders (Jeff Nichols)

Using photographer Danny Lyon’s iconic The...

Hulu is giving Shark Week a run for its money this July with not one but seven National Geographic specials dropping on the streaming service at the start of the month. From Shark Beach with Anthony Mackie to Baby Sharks in the City, there are plenty of options for fans of these fearsome finned creatures.

Hulu also has a couple of fun offerings for adult animation fans with the full second season of Marvel’s Hit Monkey dropping on July 15 and Futurama returning for its 12th season on July 29th.

There’s not really anything notable in the way of original movies on Hulu this month, but Aliens, Step Brothers, and (500) Days of Summer are just a few of the noteworthy movies joining the library.

Here’s everything that’s coming to (and leaving) Hulu in July.

Hulu New Releases – July 2024

July 1

Attack of the Red Sea Sharks: Special Premiere...

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

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

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

Sales and production house Film Constellation is launching world sales rights on U.S. comedy drama “Eephus,” directed by Carson Lund, set to world premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight section in Cannes in May.

In the film, as an imminent construction project looms over a beloved small-town baseball field, a pair of New England Sunday league teams face off for the last time over the course of a day. Tensions flare up and ceremonial laughs are shared as an era of camaraderie and escapism fades into an uncertain future.

“Eephus” is the feature directorial debut of American filmmaker Lund, who also has a cinematography credit on another Directors’ Fortnight title, “Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point.”

“Eephus” is produced by Lund, Tyler Taormina, Michael Basta, David Entin and Gabe Klinger for U.S.-based Omnes Films, in collaboration with executive producers Michael Tonelli, Ashish Shetty, Brian Clark and Jim Christman of Magmys.

The Animal Kingdom portrays a metaphor for tolerance between humans and animal hybrids. The visual effects immerse viewers into a stunning world of human-animal mutants. The film follows the journey of François and his son Émile in a visually captivating, emotional narrative.

When François Marindaze (Romain Duris) moves his son Émile (Paul Kircher) to the South of France in The Animal Kingdom, he inadvertently sets them on a path that changes their lives forever. The movie takes place in a timeline where a genetic mutation causes humans to spontaneously transform into different types of animals, or critters, as the human-only advocates call them. The Animal Kingdom is the second feature by director Thomas Cailley, and leaves us questioning how much Cailley himself would like to shed the conventions of human society and join the animals in the forest.

6/10

The Animal Kingdom is a visionary new thriller that drops viewers into...

Well, it’s over. Now that the 2024 film awards season is in the rearview mirror, the onslaught of prestige titles hitting digital platforms will come to a temporary halt. Thankfully, this week still brings a pretty decent crop of new releases.

The contender to watch this week: “Drive-Away Dolls“

Ethan Coen‘s second movie without Joel — his first was the documentary “Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind,” which is streaming exclusively on Prime Video — has posted modest box-office returns, but the breezy road comedy seems destined for cult-favorite status. Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan play friends who get caught up in a band of maladroit criminals during a road trip down South. Co-written with Tricia Cooke, who edited “The Big Lebowski” and other Coen-brother movies, “Drive-Away Dolls” also features Beanie Feldstein, Pedro Pascal, Matt Damon, and newly minted Oscar nominee Colman Domingo. It’s available to rent or purchase on VOD.

People are animals. Literally. Biologically. Much as our species has always tried to separate ourselves from the rest of God’s creations and reign above the “lesser creatures” who lack the curse of reason, there’s ultimately less difference than we’d like to imagine between homo sapiens and horses, or fish, or dogs.

And yet, from the first displays of tribalism to the days of strictly bordered nation-states, our instinct to other everything under the sun has defined us almost as much as our ability to walk upright. We like to think of humans as being made in God’s image, and yet our abiding need to justify our dominion — to find some way to live with our nagging awareness of death — has made it so that people can hardly even see themselves in their fellow man.

That’s by design. Anything that dares to challenge that dynamic is...

A trio of moderate releases – One Life, The American Society Of Magical Negroes and Knox Goes Away join Janus Films’ celebration of master musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, and César award winning The Animal Kingdom as the next wave of 2024 indie films rolls out post-Oscars.

Focus Features’ American Society Of Magical Negroes, the feature directorial debut of Kobi Libii opens at 1,146 theaters across the North America. Premiered at Sundance, see Deadline review. A satirical comedy about a young man, Aren (Justice Smith) who is recruited by Roger (David Alan Grier) into a secret society of magical Black people who dedicate their lives to a cause of utmost importance: making sure white people never feel bad about themselves or get stressed out — because bad things happen when they do. Also stars Rupert Friend, Michaela Watkins, An-Li Bogan, Drew Tarver and Nicole Byer. Libii originally developed the project as an alumnus of both the Sundance Writers and Directors Labs.

As far as high concepts scenarios go, Thomas Cailley’s The Animal Kingdom has been blessed with a primo what-if premise: France is in the middle of a pandemic. (No, not that one.) A good deal of the population has been stricken with what doctors and scientists have been calling a “mutation.” Whether it’s a natural evolution or some sort of devolution caused by man-made factors is anyone’s guess. But the symptoms are basically a slow, steady transformation into …an animal.

It could be a bird, like the...

A visionary thriller from director Thomas Cailley, Magnet’s The Animal Kingdom drops us into an extraordinary world where mutations in human genetics cause people to transform into hybrid creatures. Think Clive Barker’s Nightbreed meets modern arthouse cinema.

Magnet just released the film in theaters and on VOD today, March 15.

To whet your appetite, you can check out an exclusive clip below, which begins a body horror transformation. Like all good body horror, we must admit it’s a little hard to watch…

From acclaimed director Thomas Cailley, the film world premiered as the opening night selection of Cannes Un Certain Regard. Watch the official trailer for The Animal Kingdom below.

In The Animal Kingdom, “François (Roman Duris) does everything he can to save his wife, who is affected by this mysterious condition. As some of the creatures disappear into a nearby forest, François embarks with Emile (Paul Kircher), their 16-year-old son,...

A magical-realist fairytale exploring a world in transition. Brilliant performances bring humanity to animalistic characters. Challenges of coming of age in a new, uncanny world.

“Oh, the times we live in,” a man shouts banally from the street in the opening to French filmmaker Thomas Cailley’s sophomore outing, The Animal Kingdom. A mutated bird man has just escaped from an emergency vehicle, glowering threateningly at the humans caught in traffic before he flies off. This, it seems, is the new normal. The follow-up to Cailley’s debut feature Love at First Fight, The Animal Kingdom follows a father and son as they try to navigate the strangeness of this new world, where some humans have begun undergoing transformations into animal creatures that are unable to and uninterested in participating in society as it’s always been.

The Animal Kingdom follows François and his son Emile as they adjust to...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

The Animal Kingdom (Thomas Cailley)

In The Animal Kingdom, an Un Certain Regard-selected science-fiction romp from France, human-animal mutations are the new norm. Director Thomas Cailley begins things in media res with a familiar disaster-movie scene: François (Romain Duris) and Émile (Paul Kircher)––father and son, respectively––are stuck in traffic, making chit-chat, when something slowly begins capturing the attention of other drivers. An ambulance across the way begins to rumble. Then a man with a large winged arm bursts out, causing some damage before scurrying down a tunnel. Only mildly ruffled, François exchanges a jaded aphorism with another driver over: “Strange times.” – Rory O. (full review)

Where to Stream: VOD

Dream Scenario (Kristoffer Borgli)

The ever-evolving nature of fame and infamy gets examined in Dream Scenario,...

“The Animal Kingdom” is a new ‘mutant’ science fiction thriller, directed by Thomas Cailley, starring Romain Duris, Paul Kircher, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Tom Mercier, Billie Blain, Nathalie Richard, Saadia Bentaieb, Gabriel Caballero, Iliana Khelifa, and Paul Muguruza, releasing March 15, 2024 in theaters:

“..immerse into an extraordinary world where mutations in human genetics cause people to transform into hybrid creatures, as ‘François’ does everything he can to save his wife, who is affected by this mysterious condition.

“As some of the creatures disappear into a nearby forest, François embarks with ‘Emile’, their 16-year-old son, on a quest to find her with help from a local police officer…”

Cluck the images to enlarge…...

by Chad Kennerk

Director Thomas Cailley behind the scenes.

All images courtesy of Magnet Releasing

While participating in a jury at the French film school La Fémis, writer/director Thomas Cailley read a script by Pauline Munier exploring a hybridization between humans and animals. It was a metaphor that fascinated Cailley, one that would provide an opportunity to talk about the world we inherit and the one we leave behind for future generations. Cailley and Munier began developing the script in 2019 and the eventual introduction of a certain world-disrupting virus validated their idea of what a new normal might look like and demonstrated how quickly humans adapt in unforeseen circumstances. Firmly cemented as a recent memory in society, the pandemic experience provides yet another lens to view Cailley’s multi-layered creation The Animal Kingdom.

Following his 2014 feature debut Love at First Fight, The Animal Kingdom marks Thomas Cailley’s second feature as writer/director.

This Sunday is St. Patrick’s Day, but if you’ve exhausted all options with the Leprechaun franchise at this point, maybe try out a new movie you haven’t seen this coming weekend?

Here’s all the new horror releasing March 11 – March 17, 2024!

For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.

The past comes to claim its revenge in Screambox Exclusive horror movie Followers, which is now on the Bloody Disgusting-powered Screambox streaming service.

In Followers, “A year after surviving a brutal attack, a social media influencer and her friends find themselves once again in the crosshairs of a dangerous and relentless dark web cult, thirsting for retribution and willing to stop at nothing to get it.”

In this Chattanooga Film Festival official selection, director James Rich and co-writer Zac Hersh imbue the horror genre with timely social commentary. Gigi James, Revell Carpenter, Molly Leach, Jackson Jones,...

Exclusive: Thomas Cailley’s French box office hit The Animal Kingdom has continued its crowd-pleasing run to take the Audience Award prize at the 29th edition of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in New York.

Set in a world where human beings start transmuting into animals, The Animal Kingdom world premiered as the opening film of Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2023 and went on to make more than $8.5M at the French box office.

Magnolia Pictures opens the fantasy drama, which went on to top the nominations for France’s 2024 César Awards with nods in 12 categories, in major U.S. markets on March 15.

Nathan Ambrosioni’s Toni received a Special Mention for the Audience Award. The drama stars Camille Cottin as a single mother and former singer contemplating her next step in life as her five children start to leave the family nest.

In other prizes Iris Kaltenbäck’s The Rapture...

Vivendi saw its revenues rise by 9.5% to €10.5 billion ($11.4 billion) in 2023, bolstered by the performance of Canal+ Group and Havas, as well as the integration of French media and publishing giant Lagardere in December. Vivendi also posted a net profit of $443 million (€405 million).

Canal+ Group, which comprises pay TV giant Canal+ and the production-distribution company Studiocanal (“Paddington”), is pursuing its international development, particularly in Asia, the Nordic countries and Africa. Canal + Group has just increased its stake in leading Chinese streamer Viu to 30%, and also owns a 30% stake in South African streamer MultiChoice, along with a 29.33% stake in Viaplay in the Nordics. Vivendi said it will make a mandatory offer for MultiChoice by April 8.

Canal+ has also increased its subscriber base to 900,000 new subs, both in France and abroad in 2023. The group currently boasts 26.4 million subscribers in nearly 50 countries. In mainland France, Canal+ also recorded a net growth of 290,000 subscribers over the past twelve months,...

A hike in subscribers for French pay-tv giant Canal+ Group as well as a successful year at the box office in France for Studiocanal helped drive positive 2023 results for parent company Vivendi, which were released Thursday evening after the close of the local stock exchange.

The media and communications giant posted a net profit of $443M (€405M) after a loss of $1.07B (1.01B Euros) for 2022, linked to the deconsolidation of its Telecom Italia stake.

Full-year revenue rose 9.5% to $11.4B (€10.5B), against $10.1B (€9.6B) in 2022. Earnings before interest, taxes, and amortisation (Ebita) rose by 7.5% year-on-year to $1.02B (€934M), against $915M (€868M) in 2022.

Despite the positive results, the Vivendi share price was trading lower in Paris on Friday morning, with analysts citing the lack of an update on plans to split the group into separate entities, first announced last December, as a factor weighing on the title.

Vivendi Chairman Yannick Bolloré gave...

Two years after a mysterious malady began to sweep through France, humans continue to mutate into other animal species. Hybrid creatures who aren’t sitting in rehabilitation clinics that are really detention centers roam the streets and countryside. And while there are humans who are paranoid about the malady, pleading for members of their communities to keep each other safe, much of society has adjusted just fine to this strange new reality.

If Thomas Cailley’s The Animal Kingdom sounds like a sociopolitical allegory for a certain pandemic, that’s more an accident of timing than of intention, as the film, which was co-written by Cailley and Pauline Munier, was conceived before Covid-19 was even known to us. In fact, The Animal Kingdom is an allegory for many different ideas, from race relations to coming into one’s queerness. And while its genre hybridity is apt given its premise, in...

Taking place from February 29 through March 10, this popular annual festival showcases the verve, creativity, and depth of contemporary French cinema in a variety of genres. This year's opening night film is the critical and box office hit The Animal Kingdom, starring Romain Duris and Adèle Axarchopoulos. Others in the lineup include Little Girl Blue with Marion Cotillard; Book of Solutions, Michel Gondry's first new film in eight years; and loads of films by talented newcomers, such as Ama Gloria by Marie Amachoukeli, Banel & Adama by Ramata-Toulaye Sy and Nora El Hourch's Sisterhood (Hlm Pussy). With the recent critical success of Justine Triet's Anatomy of a Fall and Tran Anh Hung's The Taste of Things, French cinema is having a moment with American audiences. As always,...

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

Director Édouard Salier tells the story of twin brothers training to become stellar explorers. But whether we should accept that space is reserved for humanity’s best remains unclear

A strain of science fiction has emerged lately, especially in Europe and more specifically France, that’s very sparing with visual effects and more dependent on tricks involving makeup and sets, sprinkled with a bit of body horror, à la David Cronenberg. French director Thomas Cailley’s The Animal Kingdom, which debuted in Cannes and played at the London film festival but has yet to open in the UK, is very much in this style, with genetically mutated people turning into animal-human hybrids – lizards, birds, all manner of mammals – and leaving the civilised world behind.

Tropic, a film directed by Édouard Salier, who has a horror feature, Cabeza Madre, under his belt, and lots of shorts and music videos – is in a similar vein.

by Nathaniel R

the great Juliette Binoche announcing Best Actress at the César Awards on Feb 23, 2024 in Paris

This has not been an awards season full of surprises. The expected winners just keep on winning whether we're talking awards bodies in the US, UK, or France. The 49th annual César Awards took place Friday in Paris with the expected winner, Justine Triet's Anatomy of a Fall, taking home six prizes. The nomination leader, Thomas Cailley's mutant adventure The Animal Kingdom also won multiple prizes with five statues in total... all for craft awards.  As expected the stupidly maligned but brilliant Oscar submission The Taste of Things was shut out from any wins after a paltry nomination showing.

The winners of each category and a few comments after the jump... ...

Thomas Cailley’s 2023 thriller drama, The Animal Kingdom is indeed a very rare film. The symbolism hidden in the narrative represents countless themes that sweep us into the thought-provoking ideas behind them. People might call it science fiction, except it’s not just sci-fi; The Animal Kingdom is an amalgamation of creature-feature, fantasy, sci-fi, and drama. It is also a commentary on xenophobia and the fear of change. The narrative highlights how people from younger generations are more open to identifying injustice and the steps required to make a change.

Spoilers Ahead

What Are The Themes Addressed?

The Animal Kingdom brings together themes hinting at the complexities of mental health, society’s attitude towards LGBTQ+ individuals, and the challenges of neurodiversity in a world that often fails to accommodate their needs. Furthermore, the movie’s candid portrayal of Adhd stands out for me the most. It challenges misconceptions and fosters empathy towards neurodivergent people.

Anatomy Of A Fall was named best French film of the year at the 49th annual César awards, among six prizes for Justine Triet’s film during an evening dominated by female solidarity that saw actress Judith Godrèche set the tone with a #MeToo-motivated speech.

Scroll down for full list of winners

Anatomy Of A Fall also earned prizes for best director for Triet, best actress for Sandra Hüller, best original screenplay for Triet and Arthur Harari, best supporting actor for Swann Arlaud and best editing for Laurent Senechal.

Triet’s best director prize made her the first female filmmaker...

The César Awards are always the biggest night of the year for French cinema, but the massive award season impact of “Anatomy of a Fall” ensured that this year’s event took on additional importance for Oscar watchers around the globe. When the 49th César Awards took place in Paris on Friday night, all eyes were on Justine Triet and her Palme d’Or-winning film.

Predictably, “Anatomy of a Fall” swept many of the night’s biggest categories. In addition to winning the top prize of Best Film, Triet was honored with Best Director and shared Best Screenplay with her partner Arthur Harari. Stars Sandra Hüller and Swann Arlaud also won Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor, respectively.

The night’s other big winner was Thomas Cailley’s “The Animal Kingdom,” which won awards for Cinematography, Visual Effects, Costume Design, and Sound.

Keep reading for a complete list of winners from the 2024 César Awards.

The 49th Cesar Awards, France’s top film honors, have been handed out in Paris, with Justine Triet‘s Oscar contender Anatomy of a Fall emerging as the big winner.

The French courtroom drama — which is competing at the Oscars in five categories — earned the best film prize, best actress for Sandra Hüller, best director for Triet, best original screenplay shared between Triet and co-writer Arthur Harari, and Swann Arlaud took home the best supporting actor trophy.

Hüller won in the best actress category over Oscar winner Marion Cotillard, nominated for Little Girl Blue; Lea Drucker, up for Last Summer; Hafsia Herzi, nominated for The Rapture; and Belgian actress Virginie Efira, nominated for her work in Just the Two of Us.

The other big winner on the night was The Animal Kingdom, French director Thomas Cailley’s follow-up to 2014’s Love at First Fight. Cailley picked up the best cinematography...

Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall won Best Film and Best Director at the 49th edition of the French César awards Friday.

Triet is only the second women to clinch the Best Director prize in the near 50-year history of the César Awards, after Tonie Marshall for Venus Beauty in 1976.

The director took to the stage with her producers Marie-Ange Luciani at Les Films de Pierre and David Thion at Les Films Pelléas.

Luciani suggested the Best Film honor, which is voted on by the some 4,600 members of the César Academy, was a sign of solidarity for the film and Triet in the light of her controversial Cannes d’Or acceptance speech which provoked a political backlash after she criticized the attitude of Emmanuel Macron’s government towards culture and cinema.

“After Justine’s speech in Cannes and the lively debate she provoked we’d like to say this...

Justine Triet became the second female filmmaker in the Cesar Award’s 49-year history to win the best director trophy for “Anatomy of a Fall,” which also won best film, original screenplay, actress for Sandra Huller, supporting actor for Swann Arlaud and editing at the French film industry’s big night. Thomas Cailley’s supernatural drama “The Animal Kingdom” also dominated the race, picking up a raft of prizes, including cinematography, costumes, visual effects and music. The ceremony unfolded at the Olympia Theater in Paris on Friday evening and aired lived on Canal+.

Triet’s movie, which is vying for five Oscars, stars Hüller as a novelist who is put on trial following the mysterious death of her husband at their remote chalet. The movie is produced by Marie-Ange Luciani at Les Films de Pierre and David Thion at Les Films Pelleas.

Triet dedicated her best film award to all women,...

Aurore (Louise Chevillotte) with André Masson (Alex Lutz) at Scottie’s in Pascal Bonitzer’s mysterious and witty Auction (Le Tableau Volé)

Catherine Breillat’s incomparably daring Last Summer starring Léa Drucker, Samuel Kircher, and Olivier Rabourdin has received four César nominations: Best Director and Adapted Screenplay, Actress (Léa Drucker), Male Revelation (Samuel Kircher in competition with his brother Paul Kircher for Thomas Cailley’s The Animal Kingdom). In the first installment with Pascal Bonitzer, we start out discussing his work on Last Summer which is based on May el-Toukhy’s 2019 film Queen of Hearts and then delve into his latest film, Auction (Le Tableau Volé).

Pascal Bonitzer with Anne-Katrin Titze on Scottie’s in Auction: “It’s an allusion to Vertigo because it’s a great movie. Scottie’s, yes, it’s Sotheby’s, it’s Christie’s, it’s a big auction house.”

Pascal Bonitzer, who put a...

Simon Moutaïrou, the critically acclaimed screenwriter behind the spy thriller hit “Black Box,” has partnered with some of France’s biggest players — leading producer Chi-Fou-Mi and Studiocanal — on his ambitious directorial debut, “No Chains, No Masters.”

Now in post, “No Chains, No Masters,” is an epic movie inspired by historical accounts of former slaves in West Africa, nicknamed Maroons, who emancipated themselves from French settlements.

Set in 1759, in the French colony of Mauritius Island, “No Chains, No Masters” is an epic historical drama following a father, Massamba (Ibrahima Mbaye Thié), and his fierce teenage daughter Mati (Anna Thiandoum) who defy all odds to survive a manhunt across the jungle and emancipate themselves from the hell of a colonial plantation.

The story revolves around Mati, who refuses to accept her fate and flees from the plantation, hoping to seek freedom in a remote part of the island, where a community of fugitives is said to live.

“The Animal Kingdom” is a new science fiction thriller, directed by Thomas Cailley, starring Romain Duris, Paul Kircher, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Tom Mercier, Billie Blain, Nathalie Richard, Saadia Bentaieb, Gabriel Caballero, Iliana Khelifa, and Paul Muguruza, releasing March 15, 2024 in theaters:

“..immerse into an extraordinary world where mutations in human genetics cause people to transform into hybrid creatures, as ‘François’ does everything he can to save his wife, who is affected by this mysterious condition.

“As some of the creatures disappear into a nearby forest, François embarks with ‘Emile’, their 16-year-old son, on a quest to find her with help from a local police officer…”

Cluck the images to enlarge…...

"They're living beings, like us!" Magnolia Pictures has unveiled the first official US trailer for an impressive French fairy tale thriller titled The Animal Kingdom, from filmmaker Thomas Cailley. This premiered at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival last year, and it also played at the Karlovy Vary, Vancouver, Sitges Film Fests and Fantastic Fest. Now set to arrive in the US this March. The film is an adventure between a father and his son, in a world where some humans have started mutating into other animal species. It is a mutant movie unlike any ever seen before, with hyper-realistic effects and prosthetics for all the creature characters. Plus a heartfelt story about a father and son trying to figure out how to navigate this strange, new society they've found themselves existing within. The Animal Kingdom stars Romain Duris, Paul Kircher, and Adèle Exarchopoulos. I wrote a strong review from Cannes, saying...

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...