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Fresh controversy is brewing in the French film industry just weeks after a bombshell documentary detailing sexual assault accusations against Gérard Depardieu divided its ranks.

In what promises to be another divisive affair, actress Judith Godrèche has publicly condemned the relationship she openly had with director Benoît Jacquot in the late 1980s, which she says began when she was only 14 years old and he was 40.

Godrèche said this week that she was “under his influence” and that the relationship was wrong.

Jacquot – whose films as director include 2015 drama Diary Of A Chambermaid, Farewell, My Queen and Casanova, Last Love – has always held that Godrèche was 15, the minimum age of consent in France.

Godrèche, who is now 51, lived with Jacquot for six years and appeared in his films The Beggars and The Disenchanted, before leaving him in her early 20s.

She went on to build a successful career as an actress...

As the titular character of The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon washes ashore in France, he'll be met by friends and foes that'll determine the outcome of his road home. Daryl might be enough to reel old and new Walking Dead fans to the new spinoff series in the franchise, but it'll be the fresh faces of supporting characters that'll make them stay.

To fit with the setting, the majority of Daryl Dixon's cast are French or British, creating an authentic experience for viewers. Given his American roots, Daryl will obviously be the fish out of water that'll be forced to adjust to the language barrier and culture shock, but having the dead as a common enemy might take precedence. Among the cast are familiar faces from big franchises and newcomers who might be defining Walking Dead actors in years to come.

Related: Norman Reedus Promises The Walking Dead: Daryl...

Beyond the Boys’ Club is a monthly column from journalist and radio host Anne Erickson, focusing on women in the heavy music genres, as they offer their perspectives on the music industry and discuss their personal experiences. Erickson is also a music artist herself and has a new EP and single out, “Last Love,” with Upon Wings. The latest edition of Beyond the Boys’ Club features an interview with Larissa Vale of Black Satellite.

New York City’s Black Satellite are a unique industrial-rock duo bringing together Larissa Vale and Kyle Hawken. After several years of writing music together, Vale and Hawken released their full-length debut, Endless, in 2017. The buzz surrounding the record earned them a support slot opening for Starset at NYC’s Gramercy Theatre, and since then, they’ve toured with everyone from John 5 to Nita Strauss.

Now, the band is gearing up to release its sophomore record,...

London, 18th century. Casanova, famous for his affinities for sexual pleasure and gambling, arrives recently exiled from Paris. Living in a new city completely foreign to him, Casanova meets the beautiful young prostitute, Marianne de Charpillon. He becomes enamoured with her to the point where he loses interest in all other women. The legendary lover is willing to do anything to seduce her, but Charpillon has other plans and refutes his advances. With her challenges to Casanova: “You will only have me if you stop desiring me!”, he must adopt a new philosophy to achieve the love he so desires. Told in flashbacks, the film exposes Casanova?s lifelong secret that Charpillon was the one true love of his life. Directed By: Benoît Jacquot Written By: Chantal Thomas, Jérôme Beaujour and Benoît Jacquot Starring: Vincent Lindon, Stacy Martin, and Valeria Golino Running Time: 98 mins | Language: French with English subtitles

The post Casanova,...

Casanova Last Love Trailers — Benoît Jacquot‘s Casanova Last Love / Dernier amour (2019) U.S. and French movie trailers have been released by Cohen Media Group. The Casanova, Last Love trailers stars Vincent Lindon, Stacy Martin, Valeria Golino, Julia Roy, Nancy Tate, Anna Cottis, Hayley Carmichael, Nathan Willcocks, Jesuthasan Antonythasan, Wolfgang Pissors, and Catherine [...]

Continue reading: Casanova, Last Love (2019) Movie Trailers: Vincent Lindon courts Stacy Martin in Benoît Jacquot’s Period-piece Film...

Has world premiere in Berlin Competition on February 12.

Elle Driver has sealed a slew of deals on Italian teenage crime boss drama Piranhas ahead of its world premiere in competition in Berlin this evening (Feb 12).

The feature is adapted from Italian writer Roberto Saviano’s bestseller La Paranza Dei Bambini, about the ferocious world of adolescent mobsters jockeying for power in the backstreets of Naples.

Saviano, whose 2006 breakthrough work Gomorrah was made into a hit feature and TV series, co-adapted the work with the film’s director Claudio Giovannesi, whose previous work includes jail-set romance Fiore.

On the eve of its world premiere,...

Kicking off on Jan. 17 with the world premiere of Philippe de Chauveron’s “Serial Bad Weddings 2,” the 21st edition of the UniFrance Rendez-Vous in Paris will showcase a flurry of French comedies, biopics and a raft of documentaries.

The Rendez-Vous in Paris, organized by the promotion org UniFrance, will take place over five days and will bring together 481 buyers from 56 countries, as well as 45 French sales companies.

Besides “Serial Bad Weddings 2,” the sequel of the smash hit film which grossed over $148 million, the anticipated comedy highlights set to have their market premieres at the Rendez-Vous include Hugo Gelin’s “Love at Second Sight,” Philippe Lacheau’s “City Hunter,” Eric Lavaine’s “No Filter,” Lisa Azuelos’s “Sweetheart,” Louis-Julien Petit’s “Invisibles” and Bertrand Blier’s “Heavy Duty.”

Sold by Studiocanal, “Love at Second Sight” is a romantic comedy which marks Gelin’s follow-up to the Omar Sy starrer “Two is a Family.

Beta Cinema has exercised its first look rights option on “What Doesn’t Kill Us,” writer-director Sandra Nettelbeck’s return to German filmmaking and to the themes and even one character of the string of drama-comedies, particularly “Mostly Martha,” which founded her reputation.

With worldwide rights sold by Beta Cinema, “What Doesn’t Kills Us” will world premiere on Aug. 3 at Switzerland’s Locarno Festival, Europe’s biggest mid-Summer event, where it will play in the Piazza Grande, a showcase for the festival’s usually more audience-friendly fare.

To be released in German cinemas by Alamode, “What Doesn’t Kill Us” is an early production of the Ludwigsburg/Berlin-based production house Sommerhaus Filmproduktion (“In the Aisles”), launched in 2015 with Beta’s Jan Mojto on board as a founding partner. Beta Cinema has a first look but no obligation to handle word sales rights on Sommerhaus titles.

Fore-fronting “Mostly Martha’s...

Exclusive: Features from Sandra Nettelbeck, Thomas Stuber, Caroline Link and Burhan Qurbani on slate for German outfit.

New features by Sandra Nettelbeck, Thomas Stuber, Burhan Qurbani and Oscar-winner Caroline Link are being lined up by the Ludwigsburg/Berlin-based production company Sommerhaus Filmproduktion, which was launched by producers Jochen Laube and Fabian Maubach at the end of last year with Beta Film’s Jan Mojto as partner.

The first project to go into production this year will be the melancholic romantic comedy What Does Not Kill Us (Was Uns Nicht Umbringt) by writer-director Sandra Nettelbeck in August with a cast including August Zirner, Sophie Rois, Christian Berkel, Bjarne Mädel and Jenny Schily.

The German-language film will mark Nettelbeck’s return to filmmaking in Germany after working abroad for more than ten years on films including Helen and Mr. Morgan’s Last Love. It will also link to the director’s internationally successful romantic comedy Mostly Martha (Bella Martha) with...

In preparation for Sundance and Berlin, Beta has picked up worldwide rights to the Israeli feature in World Cinema Dramatic Competition Sundance, “Sand Storm” and Global Screen has picked up worldwide rights to the Colombian feature “Between Sand and Sea” (“La Ciénaga”)

By the producers of Venice Public Choice Award-winning “The Farewell Party”, “Sand Storm” is an Israeli drama, shot in Arabic by debut-writer/director Elite Zexer. It will have its World Premiere at Sundance on January 25 and the European premiere to follow at the Berlinale Panorama section in February.

“Sand Storm” is the second partnership between Beta Cinema and the Israeli 2-Team Productions ( Haim Mecklberg/ Estee Yacov-Mecklberg). The film was already given the top award at the Locarno Festival’s works-in-progress section.

As wedding festivities get underway in a Bedouin village in Southern Israel, Jalila finds herself in the awkward position of hosting her husband Suliman’s marriage to a second, much younger wife. During the celebration, Jalila stumbles across eldest daughter Layla’s involvement with a boy from her university—a strictly forbidden liaison that would shame the family. Burying the indignity of Suliman and his new bride living next door, Jalila also tries to contain Layla’s situation by clamping down on her. But younger and possessed of a boundless spirit, Layla sees a different life for herself...

Director Elite Zexer: “ ‘Sand Storm’ is 87 minutes, but for me, it's years. Years of an amazing ride, of passions, of struggles, of ups, of downs, of pure joy, of forever waiting or of an impossible run. Years of creation. What I learned during the making of this film is that the most wonderful part of filmmaking is the making. It's hard to part with it and let it run loose in the world. But it's also very exciting. I can't wait.”

Producer Haim Mecklberg (2-Team Production): “We're extremely proud of “Sand Storm”, which touched the hearts of everybody who was exposed to it so far. Our collaboration with Elite was a sheer delight. Her command of every aspect of the film did not seize to amaze us through every step of the production. After a great experience we had with Beta Cinema on “The Farewell Party” (Goldwyn distributed stateside), we were very happy to find out how much they loved “Sand Storm” and we're looking forward to another fruitful cooperation.”

Beta Cinema’s Thorsten Ritter says that “ ‘Sand Storm’ is a true gem. It depicts a very particular world and culture, but never in a folkloristic or exposing way. Instead it draws you right in to find yourself immersed in family dynamics that resonate universally and regardless of being a man or woman. And while the film has not a scene too many, it is yet nuanced and multi-layered, featuring beautiful performances and a filmmaker in full command. You can tell we’re very excited.”

The second announcement emanating about Sundance also comes from Germany

Colombian feature “Between Sea and Land” (“La Ciénaga”) directed by and starring Manolo Cruz was just picked up by Munich-based international sales agent Global Screen for the world (except for Latin America which will be handled by Cineplex and which Uip will distribute in Colombia itself).

It will have its world premiere January 22, 2016 at the Sundance Film Festival,

“Between Sea And Land” (“La Ciénaga”) is a breathtakingly tour de force from actor – writer - director Manolo Cruz, codirected with Carlos del Castillo. The film, set on a small inlet adjacent to the Caribbean Sea in Colombia, tells the moving story of 28-year-old Alberto and his mother Rosa.

Alberto is afflicted with a neurological disorder that confines him to his bed, and his mother, Rosa, lovingly protects and takes care of him. Alberto’s wry humor and creativity help them muster the strength to endure, and he greatly enjoys the company of his neighbor Giselle, who showers Alberto with affection. But the life Alberto can imagine feels just as close-yet-out-of-reach as the sea he looks upon, and which he dreams of one day visiting.

Manolo Cruz (who also wrote the film) gives a tremendous performance as Alberto, a young man trapped by physical hardship but unbound by spirit. Working in close alliance with his co-director Carlos del Castillo during filming allowed Cruz the space to portray the extraordinary resilience and grace of a character caught in between the margins of a beautiful and fragile landscape.

Klaus Rasmussen, Senior Sales and Acquisitions Manager at Global Screen states, “Our whole team was amazed with this unique and exceptional film that takes the viewer into a different world poor in materialism but rich in human heart and courage. We are very happy to present Manolo Cruz’s film to the international audience.”

“Between Sea And Land” (“La Ciénaga”) is produced by Mago Films in coproduction with Photogroup Films and Scarlett Cinema.

Global Screen GmbH is a leading German sales & distribution company for theatrical and TV films outside of German-speaking territories. Our company is one of the largest world-sales outfits in Europe and has a catalogue containing more than 15,000 titles. The theatrical distribution handles a varied portfolio of German- and foreign-speaking feature films focusing on commercial arthouse films, family entertainment, and high-profile documentary features.

Among Global Screen’s current theatrical films are “The Memory of Water” starring Elena Anaya, apocalyptic Sci-Fi Thriller "Sum1" starring Iwan Rheon, German action blockbuster “Nick – Off Duty” and Dominik Graf’s "Beloved Sisters", which represented Germany at the Academy Awards as well as Nadav Sherman’s "The Green Prince", who won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival 2014. Global Screen’s portfolio contains also Erik Pope’s "A Thousand Times Good Night" starring Juliette Binoche and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Sandra Nettelbeck’s "Mr. Morgan’s Last Love" with Michael Caine as well as Academy-Award-winning "Nowhere in Africa" (2001), "The Boat" (1981), "Good Bye, Lenin!" (2003), "When We Leave" (2009) and the very successful vampire arthouse hit "Let the Right One In" (2008). The high-profile 3D animation films "Niko & The Way to the Stars" and "Ooops! Noah is Gone…" were sold all over the world and established the company as one of the leaders in family entertainment distribution.

Read More: Watch: Michael Caine and Clemence Poesy Form an Unlikely Bond in Exclusive Clip From 'Last Love' Magnolia Pictures has gained U.S. rights to "The Ones Below," a film that proposes to be a psychological thriller akin to Roman Polanski's work. The story takes place in modern-day London and centers around a young engaged couple, played by Clemence Posey of "Harry Potter" fame and Stephen Campbell Moore. The two must deal with the torment that their new tenants downstairs make them suffer through. The film screened at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.  Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles said of the upcoming film, "David Farr has concocted an incredibly satisfying and clever suspense thriller evocative of classics like 'Rosemary's Baby' and 'Fatal Attraction.'" "The Ones Below" is a Cuba Pictures production, produced by Nikki Parrott of Tigerlily Films in association with Protagonist Pictures,...

The Toronto International Film Festival kicks off next week, and it's the place where awards season contenders start the road to potential Oscar glory. However, there are many other movies, in a variety of styles and genres, that are potential for breakout status too, and one to keep an eye on is "The Ones Below," and today we have an exclusive clip.  Read More: Review: 'Last Love' With Clémence Poésy Clémence Poésy, David Morrissey, Stephen Campbell Moore, and Laura Birn star in the picture, directed by playwright David Farr, about a London couple whose arrival of a new baby, and the friendship with a new tenant that moves in downstairs, brings an increasing sense of paranoia. And as you'll see in this clip, strange things start happening around the home in this Polanski-esque drama. Here's the official synopsis:  Kate (Clémence Poésy) and Justin (Stephen Campbell Moore) are an...

Here’s the first thing you should know about The Last Love Song, Tracy Daugherty’s cradle-to-very-old-age account of the life of Joan Didion, which is out August 25 and is already ushering in a new season of Didion think-pieces and Didion reckonings and general Didion mania: Joan didn’t participate. Neither (obviously) did her deceased husband and screenwriting partner (and journalist and novelist in his own right), John Gregory Dunne; nor did her deceased daughter, Quintana Roo; nor did Quintana’s husband; nor many of her close friends. Instead, Daugherty pieced together Didion and Dunne’s lives (it really is almost a dual biography) using old interviews, some personal letters, archived materials, public records, and new interviews with the peripheral characters in the couple’s lives. Still, his main source seems to be Didion and Dunne’s own writing about themselves. This strategy at times makes for odd reading, since...

The Brazilian distributor launches Tucaman France to promote Brazilian and Latin American cinema and kicks off with Sand Dollars.

Geraldine Chaplin stars in Israel Cárdenas and Laura Amelia Guzmán’s Dominican Republic-set drama (Dólares De Areia) that will screen in Cinélatino Rencontres de Toulouse in France next week.

The showcase will also present Tucaman France’s Brazilian amateur football story Sunday Ball from Eryk Rocha.

The distributor’s line-up includes Rio 2096 - A Story Of Love And Fury (Brazil), The Other Side Of Paradise (Brazil), The Telescope Of Time (Brazil) and Chronicles Of The End Of The World (Colombia).

Tucuman Films launched in 2009 to release Latin American and European art house cinema in Brazil. Its roster includes Jealousy, La Ritournelle, Mr. Morgan’s Last Love and 7 Boxes.

★★★☆☆In Sandra Nettelbeck's wistful romance Mr. Morgan's Last Love (2013) Michael Caine plays Matthew Morgan, a retired American professor living in Paris several years on from the death of his wife (Jane Alexander). A lonely grief-stricken man, Matthew wanders the city, eating his usual fussily ordered sandwich, visiting his wife's grave and occasionally lunching with Colette (Anne Alvaro) in a platonic friendship/English lesson. Apart from this weak connection, Matthew has withdrawn into his self, isolating himself from the world, stumbling through his days and the gorgeous city in a grief numbed daze and even refusing to learn French, almost stubbornly protracting his isolation and melancholy.

To mark the release of Mr. Morgan’s Last Love on 1st September, we’ve been given 3 copies to give away one DVD.

From the day Pauline (Clémence Poésy) lends him a helping hand on the bus, the stubborn, weary Matthew Morgan (Michael Caine) stumbles back to happiness. Swept off his old feet by the young woman’s disarming vitality and unwavering optimism, the quiet teacher becomes an unlikely student of living. In their everyday adventures of walks through Paris, lunches in the park, and trips to the country, the odd couple explores the treasures of friendship, the comfort of companionship, the taste of romance – and the meaning of family. Through their mutual restoration of faith in people who care, Pauline embraces the idea of a new kind of family while Matthew finally reconnects with his estranged son Miles (Justin Kirk), who in turn finds himself deeply affected by the changes in his father.

Two weeks after launch, Dendy Direct is tracking above expectations in one key metric: the number of people who have registered with the film and TV VoD platform. Icon CEO Greg Hughes isn.t volunteering any figures except to note that around 10,000 people expressed interest in registering by email before the August 6 launch.

.The number of registered users is well ahead of expectations,. he told If. .We are happy with the encouraging responses from consumers..

At launch more than 600 film and TV titles were available to rent or buy online and 10-20 are being added each day. As If reported, Dendy Direct has licensing deals with 20th Century Fox, the Walt Disney Co, ABC Commercial, Beyond Home Entertainment and leading independent distributors. Deals with other Us distributors are pending and Hughes said, .The door is still open for those suppliers who have yet to come in.. The initial film line-up included The Lego Movie,...

Dendy Direct launched on Wednesday, initially offering more than 600 film and TV titles to rent or buy online.

Kate Stapleton, Dendy.s head of digital, said titles are being added at the rate of around 30 per day and the catalogue will soon expand to 1,000.

As If reported, Dendy Direct has licensing deals with 20th Century Fox, the Walt Disney Co, ABC Commercial, Beyond Home Entertainment and all the leading independent distributors. Deals with other Us studios are pending and the VoD service aims to strengthen its TV content by signing agreements with the BBC and HBO. The initial film line-up includes The Lego Movie, Dallas Buyers Club, Nebraska, Pompeii, Tracks, The Railway Man, Around the Block, Wolf Creek 2, Nymphomaniac, The Raid 2 and Mr. Morgan's Last Love.

The TV slate includes The Walking Dead, Peaky Blinders, The Time of Our Lives, Miss Fisher.s Murder Mysteries, Hannibal and Rectify.

Dendy Cinemas will launch its Video-on-Demand service on August 6, initially providing 800-1,000 films to rent or buy online.

Dendy Direct will also offer Us and Australian TV series, in some cases one day after their broadcast airing, just as iTunes does. The company announced licensing deals with ABC Commercial, Beyond Home Entertainment, Entertainment One Australia, Madman Entertainment, Pinnacle Films, Roadshow, Transmission and Umbrella Entertainment.

It will soon announce deals with the Us studios and other independents. The line-up will include Roadshow.s The Wolf of Wall Street, The Lego Movie and Red Dog,. Transmission.s Tracks, The Railway Man, Chinese Puzzle and Nymphomaniac, eOne's Divergent, Madman's The Raid 2 and God's Pocket. and Umbrella's Mr. Morgan's Last Love. Among the upcoming titles will be Roadshow.s Transcendence and Edge of Tomorrow.

The TV slate includes eOne's The Walking Dead, Peaky Blinders and Klondike, the ABC's The Time of Our Lives...

In the opening scene to Sandra Nettelbeck’s amiable and touching drama Mr. Morgan’s Last Love, we’re introduced to the eponymous lead, played by Michael Caine, as he’s being ushered out of a room by a small collective of people. They’re all speaking French to him, and the director refuses to subtitle their words. Instantly we’re put into his shoes, somewhat unaware and confused, establishing a sense of loneliness from the word, which ultimately proves to be the prevalent component to this affecting piece.

Caine plays Matthew Morgan, widowed and isolated in his Paris apartment, longing for some attention from his son Miles (Justin Kirk) and daughter Karen (Gillian Anderson), as he contemplates suicide. However he is inspired and rejuvenated when he meets the young Pauline (Clémence Poésy) on the bus home, instantly forming a rapport with the dance teacher, who convinces him to take one of her classes.

This week in our roundup of the big cinema releases including Tammy starring Melissa McCarthy and Susan Sarandon, more DreamWorks beasties in How to Train Your Dragon 2, and Michael Caine in Mr Morgan's Last Love. Plus, Games of Thrones star Kit Harington on playing an animal trapper in How to Train Your Dragon 2

 This is an audio version of the Guardian Film Show which exists as video here Continue reading...

Catherine Shoard and Peter Bradshaw join Xan Brooks for our weekly roundup of the big cinema releases. Offering respite from the World Cup this week: Tammy, in which Melissa McCarthy goes on a road trip with hard-drinking granny Susan Sarandon, more DreamWorks beasties in How to Train Your Dragon 2, and a sexless trip to Paris for old codger Michael Caine in Mr Morgan's Last Love. Plus, Games of Thrones star Kit Harington on playing an animal trapper in How to Train Your Dragon 2 Continue reading...

Of all the movies in which an old man rediscovers a will to live (after the typical disaster of the death of his wife), there probably isn't one quite so dour as Last Love. Obviously, you need to have your characters go through something fairly tragic to make their eventual catharsis at all interesting, but a sense of doom so pervades the film that even when things start looking up, you can’t help but think that they had the right idea when they wanted to end it all.

Read more...

Tenth edition of the Glasgow Film Festival to host a record 60 UK premieres; Under the Skin to receive Scottish premiere as closing film.

Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel will receive its UK premiere as the opening film of this year’s Glasgow Film Festival (Gff) on Feb 20.

With the festival celebrating its tenth edition this year, its opening gala recalls their first-ever closing gala, Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, which will also receive a screening during the festival on Glasgow’s Tall Ship.

Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin, which was partly shot in Glasgow and stars Scarlett Johansson as a predatory alien seductress, will receive its Scottish premiere as the closing film on March 2.

Premieres

This year’s edition (supported by Glasgow City Marketing Bureau, EventScotland and Creative Scotland) will feature a record 60 UK premieres, including Michel Gondry’s Mood Indigo; Sandra Nettelbeck’s Mr. Morgan’s [link...

The Grand Budapest Hotel

This year's Glasgow Film Festival was officially launched tonight with the news that Wes Anderson's latest, The Grand Budapest Hotel, will be its opening gala. Other UK premières screening there will include Mr Morgan's Last Love and agnès b's My Name is Hmmm…. The popular Frightfest weekender will return in all its gory glory and there's a new strand dedicated to the very best new cinema from Chile.

Guests at this year's festival will include George Sluizer, introducing his recently completed film Dark Blood, which stars River Phoenix. Richard Ayoade will present his new film, The Double, and there will be a chance to meet legendary set designer Roger Christian, who gave us Star Wars and Alien.

"In the decade since the Festival began, it’s grown almost beyond recognition," said co-director Allan Hunter. "One thing remains essential, though – Gff is and will always be an access-all-areas event,...

The Glasgow Film Festival has announced the line-up for its tenth year, and Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel leads the charge, getting its UK premiere as the Opening Gala film. Anderson’s period piece will kick off proceedings, but it’s not the only UK premiere playing at the festival. Also confirmed is Mood Indigo, Michel Gondry’s latest. A quirk-tastic fantasy about a woman with flowers growing in her lungs, it stars Romain Duris and Audrey Tautou. Plus, there’s also Mr Morgan’s Last Love, with Michael Caine and Clémence...

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Romance is in the air just in time for Valentine's Day when Joanie Loves Chachi: The Complete Series arrives on DVD February 4th from CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media Distribution. Starring Scott Baio and Erin Moran in their roles as young teenagers in love, the new collection marks the very first time the series becomes available on DVD.

Created by Garry Marshall (Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley) and Lowell Ganz (Laverne & Shirley) Joanie Loves Chachi: The Complete Series includes all 17 episodes of the classic show in a three-disc collection.

Set in the 1960s, the spin-off to Happy Days follows Joanie Cunningham (Moran) and Chachi Arcola (Baio) as they move to Chicago and start a rock band. Often performing at Chachi's family's Italian restaurant, every episode of the beloved TV comedy is filled with romance and unforgettable musical numbers.

Joanie Loves Chachi: The Complete Series will be...

Sandra Kaudelka and Sebastian Metz have been named joint winners of the Berlinale’s third “Made in Germany” prize.

The €15,000 cash prize towards the development of a new feature will be shared equally between the two filmmakers who had presented projects at last year’s Perspektive Deutsches Kino.

At that time, both films were documentaries: Metz’s Metamorphosen was set in Russia, while Kaudelka’s Einzelkaempfer focused on cases of doping among East German athletes.

But Metz and Kudelka had each submitted fiction film treatments for consideration for the Made in Germany grant.

Metz’s project, entitled 274, which follows a man on his journey to Manila to end his life, had impressed the jury of film directors Andres Veiel and Frieder Schlaich and writer-producer Katja Eichinger by its “intensity” and “visual power”.

Meanwhile, Kaudelka’s Intershop centres on a love story in the setting of one of former East Germany’s hard currency Intershops.

According to Perspektive...

Moviefone's Top DVD of the Week

"Insidious: Chapter 2"

What's It About? The Lamberts are back, and they're still haunted! Rose Byrne and Patrick Wilson (who's becoming the go-to guy for haunted house films!) return with Ty Simpkins in tow as the three try and find out why they're still hooked in to the spirit world.

Why We're In: James Wan and Leigh Whannell manage to keep things way spooky in this sequel to the surprise hit.

December 24

"More Than Honey"

What's It About? Nope, this isn't a making-of doc about Nicolas Cage in "The Wicker Man," it's about actual bees -- and specifically, the alarming rate at which they're disappearing around the world. Learn all about "colony collapse disorder" and why it's very bad news for pretty much everything on earth.

In or Out: In. The holidays are over. Take a break from all that cheer.

December 31

"Cbgb"

What's It About?...

Danish producer Peter Aalbaek Jensen of Zentropa is “enthusiastic” for the future of European cinema – but doesn’t “give a shit” about the Danish film industry.

Speaking on a panel about film finance at the at the Les Arcs European Film Festival (Dec 14-21), the prolific producing partner of Lars von Trier said: “I’m very enthusiastic about Europe because I remember how it was. It wasn’t fun 20 years ago. It’s much better now and there is much more to believe in.

“When you see that prices are going up in the States because of video on demand and Netflix, there is a life for small, shitty countries and our very small, very shitty films. There are 7.5 billion people and some of them might accidentally drop in and buy a Danish film.”

Jensen, who is in Les Arcs to attend an invite-only preview of Nymphomanic with French distributor Films du Losange, also talked...

Danish producer Peter Aalbaek Jensen of Zentropa is “enthusiastic” for the future of European cinema – but doesn’t “give a shit” about the Danish film industry.

Speaking on a panel at the at the Les Arcs European Film Festival (Dec 14-21), the prolific producing partner of Lars von Trier said: “I’m very enthusiastic about Europe because I remember how it was. It wasn’t fun 20 years ago. It’s much better now and there is much more to believe in.

“When you see that prices are going up in the States because of video on demand and Netflix, there is a life for small, shitty countries and our very small, very shitty films. There are 7.5 billion people and some of them might accidentally drop in and buy a Danish film.”

Jensen, who is in Les Arcs to attend an invite-only preview of Nymphomanic with French distributor Films du Losange, also talked...

Distributors throughout the Mena region face a spectacular range of challenges, including a lack of screens, curfews and soaring piracy. Melanie Goodfellow profiles the major players.

The recent period of rapid political and economic change across Mena has resulted in wildly different theatrical fortunes from territory to territory.

Saudi Arabia continues to ban movie theatres but neighbouring UAE and Qatar are witnessing a huge increase in screen numbers and multiplexes and a resulting growth in box office, which is spilling over into Jordan and Iraq.

A 16-screen multiplex, a partnership between Ibrahim Taher’s Al Taher for Cinemas, Eagle Films and Selim Ramia & Co, opened in Amman over the summer. Lebanese exhibitor and distributor Empire is planning a 14-screen venue for the Kurdish Iraqi city of Erbil.

In Egypt, total box-office grosses are down compared to last year after nightly curfews led to the cancellation of evening screenings during the Eid Al-Fitr festivities, traditionally a busy...

Ginger Alden, Elvis Presley's fiancée when he died in 1977, has revealed the cover for her upcoming memoir, Elvis & Ginger: Elvis Presley's Fiancée and Last Love Finally Tells Her Story. Photos: Elvis Before He Was King Alden's title will not only narrate her relationship with the King in Graceland -- from when they first met to when he passed away -- but also "set the record straight" about their bond, and rescue the musician from the rumors and tabloid attention in which she found herself surrounded just before and after his death. She will also share details about his exploration of

read more...

A widowed, elderly man living in Paris meets a lovely young dance instructor... what will happen next? Well, not what you're thinking. At least early on, writer/director Sandra Nettelbeck's "Last Love" is actually fairly refreshing. It's the kind of intimate drama that's becoming rarer, one that doesn't hurry to meet plot points, but instead invests time in character and setting, so that at least for a little while, the audience falls into the world of the movie like wearing an old sweater. But that mood only lasts so long and unfortunately for all of Nettelbeck's smart choices early on, she can't navigate out of them, and by time the third act arrives, the film turns harshly toward cliché, convenience and melodrama to disastrous effect.  Michael Caine plays Matthew Morgan, a retired philosophy professor settled in Paris, deeply mourning the loss of his wife Joan (Jane Alexander in flashbacks...

Often in the world of movies, the hardest stories to tell are the ones based on reality. It’s even harder when there’s no access to the main people involved, leaving a tale built on hearsay and embellishments. And when the movie is about “the most famous woman in the world,” there is almost no way to do her justice. So instead, the film Diana does the impossible – it turns the world’s favorite princess into a little more than a spoiled, selfish brat. The problem is, I don’t think that was director Oliver Hirschbiegel’s intention.

The film begins in 1995, two years before Princess Diana’s untimely death. She and Prince Charles are separated, not yet officially divorced, when Diana (Naomi Watts) first lays eyes on Dr. Hasnat Kahn (Naveen Andrews) in a local hospital. Stunned as soon as she sees him, Diana quickly begins to pursue the doctor romantically.

Writer/director Sandra Nettelbeck discusses working with Michael Caine for her new movie Last Love. It’s been twelve years since German filmmaker Sandra Nettelbeck delivered her award-winning drama Mostly Martha, an intelligent and believable romance about a workaholic female chef and reluctant caregiver to her young niece who’s changed for the better by her handsome sous-chef and described by critics as a “Bridget Jones for the culinary set.” Nettelbeck remembers well visiting the set of the Hollywood remake No Reservations starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart, a big-budget version of her story with additional helpings of Hollywood sentimentality and cuteness.

With one movie opening last week in limited release ("Last Love"), riding high off this summer's hit "Now You See Me," and currently filming "Interstellar" with old pal Christopher Nolan, there's no stopping 80 year-old Michael Caine. And the ever-busy actor has just signed up for two more movies. First off, he'll be teaming up with acclaimed Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino ("Il Divo," the forthcoming "The Great Beauty") for his next effort, "In The Future." What's it about? Well, as Variety notes details are under wraps for the moment, but lensing is expected to begin early next year for a 2015 release, and we can only imagine yet another Cannes Film Festival premiere for Sorrentino, whose last few movies have all screened there. And while we wait for more information about that movie, Caine's next one is almost too mind-boggling to believe. The actor, who has refined the art of serving eccentric...

Love is the Perfect Crime and The Notebook among competition titles.Scoll down for competition line-up

France’s end-of-year, alpine Les Arcs European Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for its fifth edition (Dec 14-21).

In a joint statement, the event’s Paris-based co-founders Pierre Emmanuel Fleurantin and Guillaume Calop, who both hail from Les Arcs, said: “Les Arcs is celebrating its fifth year. It’s been five years of cinephile pleasures, surprises, discoveries, snowflakes, faith, hard work and storms - both figuratively and literally.”

A total of 12 titles selected by artistic director Frédéric Boyer will compete for the festival’s top prize, the Crystal Arrow. The international jury will be announced at a later date.

The contenders include French Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu’s Love is the Perfect Crime, which also opens the festival, Hungary’s foreign language Oscar submission The Notebook by Janos Szasz, Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida and Bosnian Jamila Zbanic’s For Those Who Can Tell No Tales about...

Love is the Perfect Crime [pictured] and The Notebook among competition titles.

France’s end-of-year, alpine Les Arcs European Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for its fifth edition running Dec 14-21.

“Les Arcs is celebrating its fifth year! It’s been a first five years of cinephile pleasures, surprises, discoveries, snowflakes, faith and hard work, and storms - both figuratively and literally,” said the event’s Paris-based co-founders Pierre Emmanuel Fleurantin and Guillaume Calop, who both hail from Les Arcs, said in a joint statement.

A total of 12 titles selected by artistic director Frédéric Boyer will compete for the festival’s top prize, the Crystal Arrow. The international jury will be announced at a later date.

The contenders comprise French Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu’s Love is the Perfect Crime, which also opens the festival, Hungary’s foreign language Oscar submission The Notebook by Janos Szasz, Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida and Bosnian Jamila Zbanic’s For Those Who Can Tell No Tales about...

Michael Caine and Samuel L. Jackson will star in George C. Wolfe's Harry and the Butler which Philippe Rivier of Spirit Films and Colin Callender of Playground Entertainment are producing, reports The Hollywood Reporter. The story follows Jackson as a derelict rollercoaster mechanic and one-time jazz virtuoso now living in New Orleans, in a converted train caboose. After inheriting a lot of money, he gets drunk and decides to hire a British butler (Caine) who's down on his luck. Damian F. Slattery wrote the script, and shooting starts in spring, 2014 in Louisiana. Jackson just boarded the adaptation of Stephen King's Cell with John Cusack. Prior to that he was in Django Unchained, and can be seen next in Spike Lee's Oldboy starring Josh Brolin. Caine was in the over-done Now You See Me magician thriller and prior to that, in Chris Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises.

Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino (The Consequences of Love, Il Divo) has secured British thesp Michael Caine to star in his next feature film, a mysterious project tentatively titled In the Future. The film will be Sorrentino’s second English-language effort; his first, This Must Be the Place, premiered to mostly positive reviews when it screened in competition at Cannes back in 2011.

In the Future‘s plot is being kept entirely under wraps for now, but we do know that Sorrentino is planning to roll cameras on the film at some point next year, with the goal of unveiling the finished product at film festivals in 2015. Medusa Film will distribute the project, while Indigo Film will produce.

Though This Must Be the Place was not greeted with overenthusiastic praise, Sorrentino’s last project, The Great Beauty, is currently in the mix for a Best Foreign Film Oscar nomination – Italy officially submitted...

With a movie titled Last Love, it’s natural to expect a love story to end all love stories. A tale of two people finally finding something more than what they want – what they need. But instead of the love story you’d expect to get from a film with a title like Last Love, director Sandra Nettelbeck teases a more traditional romance, and instead delivers a tale of platonic love between a man who needs someone to care, and a kind woman who cares enough to be that someone.

Last Love tells the story of Matthew Morgan (Michael Caine), an elderly man who is trying to get along three years after his wife’s death. He has very few friends, a strained relationship with his children, and just doesn’t know what to do with his life without the person that he was with for so long. He struggles...

Each Monday we present you with the most up-to-date list of Top 10 (Indie) Movies in iTunes (this list combines rentals and purchases). The big addition to the list this week is "Frances Ha," the Noam Baumbach-directed film starring Greta Gerwig, which landed at number 9 in its first week on iTunes. "Girl Most Likely" and "Stuck in Love" continued to occupy the first two spots on the list. Also new to the list is "The Last Days on Mars," the sci-fi film starring Liev Schreiber,' "Last Love," starring Michael Caine (which opens in theaters on Friday) and "A Perfect Man" also starring Liev Schreiber. The top 10 indies in iTunes are listed below (number represents North American gross, where applicable): 1. Girl Most Likely (Roadside Attractions, $1,378,591) 2. Stuck in Love (Millenium Entertainment, $81,071) 3. The Last Days on Mars (Magnolia Pictures, N/A) 4. Parkland (Exclusive Media, $652,900) 5. The Bling Ring (A24, $5,845,732) 6. Last Love (Rjl Entertainment,...

Indiewire has obtained an exclusive clip from "Last Love," which opened in theaters Friday. Michael Caine stars in the film as Matthew, a retired American expatriate living out the final stretch of his life in Paris. Having grown distant from his kids and still unable to fully process and get over his wife's passing, he seems to be operating on autopilot. Upon meeting a spirited young Frenchwoman named Pauline (Clemence Poesy) on a bus, the two strike up an unlikely friendship that his children react to with confusion and concern upon their arrival to visit him in the city of lights. Watch the scene below:...

Oliver Hirschbiegel's critically reviled biopic Diana -- starring Naomi Watts as the late Princess of Wales -- was quickly dethroned by moviegoers in North America, grossing $64,914 from 38 theaters for a bleak location average of $1,708. From a screenplay based on Kate Snell's 2001 book Diana: Her Last Love, the ill-fated biopic recounts the final two years of Princess Diana's life, including her love affairs with heart surgeon Hasnat Khan and Dodi Fayed. Story: 'Diana' Director Oliver Hirschbiegel Says Negative Reviews Are 'Devastating' Diana opened a month ago in the U.K., where it also bombed (one British

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Diana is a film about a royal subject that is not given a royal treatment. From the pen of first-time screenwriter Stephen Jeffreys, it is a flat rendition of a fascinating public figure, settling on a focus of the Princess of Wales’ love affair with heart surgeon Hazmat Khan, which ultimately turns its protagonist into a withering, indecisive, lovesick girl. Naomi Watts, an actor often strong-willed and full of grace, brings to Princess Diana a complexion that the script slights for a more superficial romantic angle.

The biopic only briefly touches on Diana’s desire for privacy away from the prying paparazzi, as well as her humanitarian work in the mid-1990s to ban land mines. Interestingly, these are also the most compelling sections of the film, which directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall). Ultimately, the soapy romance between Diana and Haznat (Naveen Andrews) turns Diana into a clumsy, corny trifle,...

Diana, which hits theaters in the Us today, is a film starring Naomi Watts and Naveen Andrews. Inspired by the book Diana: Her Last Love by Kate Snell, the film looks at the last two years of the life of Diana, Princess of Wales, through her infamous interview, her divorce, the lady coming into royalty, and her death. The film, and the book, which was written with extensive interviews with close friends and confidantes, also tells the tale of Diana’s last love, or is it first? Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, Diana shines the light on her secret love affair with heart surgeon Dr. Haznat Khan and the complications they face because she was the most famous woman in the world.

As a movie there should be nothing more compelling than Diana’s story, and through this film you see a little known side of the woman, but I doubt it is a true reflection.

Transforms the beloved “People’s Princess” into a drippy, unappealing rom-com heroine, sort of like Bridget Jones with bodyguards. I’m “biast” (pro): loved Hirschbiegel’s Downfall

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

I have not read the source material

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

I’m no fan of the British royals, but if I were, I think I’d be fairly cheesed off that this wet blanket of a flick transforms the beloved Diana, Princess of Wales, into a drippy, unappealing rom-com heroine, sort of like Bridget Jones with bodyguards (whom she can’t stand cuz they just won’t let her be herself *stamps foot*). As a big fan of good storytelling, I absolutely am cheesed off that Diana cannot seem to decide what it’s aiming to do with the final few years of her life. If it wanted to show...

The Dish On Di: Hirschbiegel’s Dissection of Princess’ Last Two Years a Trifling Affair

Whether ambivalent or not about Oliver Hirschbiegel’s Princess Di biopic, Diana, which focuses on the last two years of her life leading up to her tragic death, the film’s legacy amounts to little more than a missed opportunity, a judgment that seems to be agreed upon in even the kindest of critical circles. Hirschbiegel, a German director whose best two titles are now at least a decade old, forges onward in a procession of underwhelming English language vehicles and his latest is unlikely to win him any new fans, though it’s evident that a great deal of effort went into making this a respectful and overly sympathetic portrait of the famous princess. Perhaps if the project had debuted before something like Stephen Frears’ 2006 film The Queen, which unfurls from a much more complicated,...

Sleepy Time Love: Nettlebeck Underwhelms with Latest Character Study

German director Sandra Nettlebeck returns with her fourth feature, Last Love, adapted from a novel by writer/actress Francoise Dorner, a co-production effort that is mostly an English language feature, though not likely to reach the heights of acclaim achieved by her successful 2001 debut, Mostly Martha. As usual, Nettlebeck has amassed an interesting cast likely to attract attention, so it’s disheartening that the film is ultimately a rather ungainly and predictable familial drama with narrative dynamics similar to a slew of recent titles dealing with the loss, regret, and estrangement.

Matthew Morgan (Michael Caine) is a grief stricken American professor living in Paris, unable to get over the death of his wife Joan (Jane Alexander), who passed away in 2007. Life seems to have hit a standstill, with Matthew wallowing in an unkempt existence, refusing to learn the native language of...