News

Yes Studios (“Fauda”) will be launching “Embassy Down,” a riveting six-part thriller from the creator “Your Honor,” at Series Mania in Lille.

Inspired by true events, “Embassy Down” unfolds in 2011 and charts the takeover of the Israeli embassy in Cairo’s Tahrir Square in Egypt, amid the Arab Spring, a time of revolts in Arab countries. The character-driven series follows five Israelis who became trapped inside the Israeli embassy for 24 hours, while thousands of angry demonstrators tried to break in by taking down the embassy wall.

“Embassy Down” was shot in Hebrew, Arabic, English and French. It has been written and co-created by Shlomo Moshiach whose best-known credits include hit series such as “Your Honor” and “The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem.

The strong international cast is led by Sean Softi (“Checkout”), Maor Schwietzer (“Shtisel”), Yael Elkana (“The Chef”), Ran Kaplan (“Superdaddy”), Yoel Rozenkier (“The Commune”), Ali Ali (“The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem”), Hisham Suliman,...

Exclusive: Israel’s yes Studios has struck a deal with Jewish streamer ChaiFlicks for a suite of shows including award-winning pre-#MeToo era series Unsilenced.

ChaiFlicks has also taken on the upcoming fourth season of breakout comedy Checkout, while renewing its license for the prior three.

Starring Yaakov Zada Daniel (Fauda) and Avraham Shalom Levi (Shtisel), Israeli Television Academy Award-winning drama Unsilenced is based on novel The Confidante. It follows the newly elected Israeli president with rumors of sexual assault and rape of a staffer swirling around him. His top adviser realizes that if news of this leaks out, the scandal could destroy the President’s career and his own.

July August Productions’ Checkout, meanwhile, has been one of ChaiFlicks’ most-watched series since it debuted in 2021, according to the streamer. Created by Nadav Frishman and Yaniv Zohar, it takes place in the Yavne branch of a fictional supermarket and follows...

Light spoilers for "The Bear" season 3 follow.

There's a whole lot of interesting foodie knowledge in the hit FX and Hulu series "The Bear," which follows the crew of a failing restaurant as they try to rescue it, start over, and then make the new place into the best damn restaurant Chicago has ever seen. In fact, by the end of season 2 they've even decided to try and earn a coveted Michelin star, leading audiences everywhere to research just how exactly Michelin stars even work. As head chef Carmen (Jeremy Allen White), sous chef Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), and the rest of the team have taken The Beef to The Bear through the first two seasons, they've given audiences the opportunity to learn a lot about not only cooking and restaurants but the culinary world. From pastry chef Marcus' (Lionel Boyce) exquisite tutelage in desserts from a chef played by Will Poulter...

Angela Pagan, the 33-year-old professional chef from Atlanta was eliminated in ninth place on Thursday’s episode of “Next Level Chef.” Despite Team Richard Blais cooking in the top kitchen, Angela struggled to find the ingredients for a Next Level Greek dish and grabbed lamb neck for a protein. The chef then found herself up for elimination against Team Nyesha Arrington‘s Christina Miros. Watch her exclusive video interview with Gold Derby above.

“It becomes overwhelming,” she says of cooking in the top kitchen. “You’re scanning the whole platform. I think it’s easier when there’s less items and you can see more. Everybody just gets nervous up there.”

See Chris Tzorin (‘Next Level Chef’) exit interview: ‘I was overconfident’ and that biscuit dough ‘threw me off’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

Angela explains why she had to throw her plate onto the platform, despite being well-aware of the time constraints. “Those two...

“Shtisel,” the popular series following the lives of a tight-knit ultra-Orthodox family in Jerusalem, is changing its U.S. home. Previously available on Netflix, all three seasons of “Shtisel” have been acquired by Amazon Prime Video from Yes Studios.

The award-winning drama, which helped launch the international careers of Shira Haas (“Unorthodox”) and Michael Aloni (“Beauty Queen of Jerusalem”), will begin its rollout on Prime Video this month with Season 1 debuting on Jan. 16.

The deal comes on the heels of “Shtisel” launching last month on global Israeli content platform Izzy, as well as the Jewish storytelling platform ChaiFlicks for the U.S., Australia and New Zealand.

Created and written by Ori Elon and Yehonatan Indursky, the series became a global phenomenon when it first aired on Netflix, offering unique insights into Haredi society. “Shtisel” is produced by Abot Hameiri Barkai for Yes TV. The series won 17 Israeli Academy Awards, including best drama series,...

Three Yes Studio shows have been licensed to Israeli streamer Izzy, including Shtisel, an authentic portrayal of Haredi life that ran for three seasons on Netflix.

The deal includes yes shows Who Died?, a romantic comedy centered around two cancer patients, Just for Today, wherein a social worker deals with the shutting down of her life’s work and the reemergence of her former ward and flame, and The Chef, a restaurant drama.

In addition to the scripted shows, Izzy will also be adding new documentary series and films.

All 12 first-season episodes of Shtisel will be available for streaming worldwide on Izzy today. Seasons 2 and 3 will follow, airing in Q1 of 2024.

“Welcoming Shtisel to our platform is a landmark event for Izzy,” said Nati Dinnar, cofounder and CEO of Izzy. “With its rich storytelling and authentic portrayal of Haredi life, this series perfectly fits our mission to bring the best...

Phoenix, the upcoming Malayalam movie starring Aju Varghese in the lead role, has released its first look poster. The poster shows Aju Varghese’s character, his wife and three kids going in a boat at night, with a smile on their faces. The movie is directed by Vishnu Bharathan, who made his debut with the critically acclaimed The Chef.

The script is written by renowned director and writer Midhun Manuel Thomas, who is known for his hit movies like Aadu and Anjaam Pathiraa. Another highlight of the movie is the music by Sam C S, who rose to fame with his songs and background score for the Tamil blockbuster Vikram Vedha. The movie also features Anoop Menon and Chandhunadh in pivotal roles.

Phoenix First Look

Phoenix is expected to be a family entertainer with a twist. The movie is produced by Aju Varghese himself under the banner of Funtastic Films.

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Valentine’s Day is fast approaching, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a fancy dinner might have to take place in your kitchen this year: a study by Yelp found that mentions of inflated prices on menus in reviews for restaurants have raised 28 since 2021. Affordability is clearly a priority lately, with searches for budget dining and grocery options also going up by 11 since the beginning...

Olias Barco shooting Polina with international cast.

Ukraine’s reputation as a location for international shoots has been given a welcome boost this week as production begins on the English-language family adventure-fantasy Polina by the French-Belgian director Olias Barco (Kill Me Please) in Kyiv.

The cast of the co-production between the Belgian-French company Wild Tribe Films and Ukraine’s Film.UA features an international cast including German-born Canadian actor Saul Rubinek, Audrey Marnay (The Monuments Men), Virgile Bramly (Inception), Wim Willaert (When The Sea Rises), Daniel Cohen (Le Chef) and Severija Janusauskaite (The Star), with the French DoP Thierry Arbogast, known for his collaboration with Luc Besson on such films as The Fifth Element and Lucy, behind the camera.

Ukrainian child actor Polina Pechenenko is cast in the title role as a 11-year-old girl setting off on a magical journey in search of the truth about her lost parents.

Shooting is located at the Film.UA studios...

Chef Boyardee: Wells Fails with Filmmaking Recipe

For his third film outing, director John Wells delves into the catty universe of high-end cuisine with Burnt (formerly titled Adam Jones for its lead character) with the same square generalities formulating the emotionless energy of previous dramas August: Osage County and The Company Men. Bradley Cooper once again plays a smug playboy, one of those confused personalities charged with simultaneous duties as narcissistic tyrant and charismatic romantic lead.

Attempting to extol the high-stakes wheeling and dealing of the fine-dining universe, it’s a film professing to depict the elegance and privilege of a specific scene but couldn’t be any more thanklessly banal. Much like another Bradley Cooper vehicle, the literary minded The Words (2012), the subject matter is sidelined by standard issue formulaic tropes, satisfying every conceivable audience expectation.

A once revered two-star Michelin rated chef, Adam Jones (Cooper), sucks down his...

No, not the one with Jon Favreau and the food truck. Sadly, still not the one with Scarlett Johansson and Sofia Vergara. Instead, France’s Le Chef hinges on the always appealing talent of The Professional himself, Jean Reno. Falling into the strangely popular food-porn genre that is all the rage at the moment – think Helen Mirren in The Hundred-Foot Journey or, yes, even Ratatouille – Le Chef delivers on the promise of a culture and a cuisine. Paris is exhibited in all its romantic glory and the food is done up in its seductive best, beautifully lit and tantalizingly displayed. Like all such movies, the film is enough to get any foodie ravenous and has endearing, if simple, performances, from the cast.

Read more...

Our International Sales Agent (Isa) of the Day coverage resumed for this year's Cannes Film Festival. We feature successful, upcoming, innovative and trailblazing agents from around the world (during and after the festival) and cover the latest trends in sales and distribution. Beyond the numbers and deals, this segment will also share inspirational and unique stories of how these individuals have evolved and paved their way in the industry, and what they envision for the new waves in global cinema.

Other Angle Pictures is a fresh and energetic film sales and acquisitions company with a welcoming boutique approach and an unparalleled and eclectic slate. Based in Paris, it was started by the husband and wife team of Laurence Schonberg and Olivier Albou.

It's impressive that Other Angle Pictures has only been around for five years; this family style company has been on a steady climb and has scored great success with films that most thought would never succeed. At last year's Cannes Film Festival, cop comedy “On the Other Side of the Tracks" starring Omar Sy of "The Untouchables", sold to over 40 territories and was picked up by The Weinstein Co.

This year, sales have also been solid with Asia Argento’s Un Certain Regard entry "Incompresa" starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, "Babysitting", the second highest grossing French comedy of the year, and "Go Go Boys", a documentary about legendary producers Menachem Golam and Yoram Globus (which was in Cannes Classics and is getting ready for a solid international rollout).

Other Angle Pictures intends to develop its slate with more English language projects moving forward. The company is also producing its first film "The Beggars," which is in a similar vein as "The Band's Visit". It will star "Monsieur Lazar's" Fellag and will be directed by Daniel Cohen who directed "Le Chef" (recently released by Cohen Media).

General Manager Laurence Shonberg and head of Sales and Acquisitions Nathan Fischer took time to share their backgrounds, success and intentions moving forward...

Laurence: We decided to create our company because we had the vision of bringing something new to the market. Since then, we decided to focus on finding films that no one expected to break out. We started with a comedy called "The French Kissers", which was in the Cannes Director’s fortnight in 2009. It sold two million tickets in France and was distributed worldwide.

This year is a breakout year for us. We had three movies in Cannes. Two were chosen for Un Certain Regard, and one was a Cannes Classique. We're a small family company, and we're very excited and proud of this. It has a lot of heart, and that's what Other Angle is looking for - films with heart, films that aren't expected to do well in the beginning, films that are going to be something special to the audience, and films that are funny, moving and sincere. Our films speak to what's important in life.

We are leading in French comedies, but we're definitely moving towards more international, director-oriented films. We hope to be a magnet for international directors looking for co-production opportunities. I think that's really the way to evolve right now, and getting involved in sales at an early stage.

We also have French mainstream comedies that are great potential remake movies, like Babysitting, or "The Last Diamond", by Barbier Eric, which was recently acquired by Cohen Media. My First Star is a story of a family on a ski trip for the first time. It's based on a true story of a guy from Martinique who came from a poor family. We sold the remake rights to Chris Rock, and he's working on it right now. It's a very funny and moving story.

Nathan: I first lived in Los Angeles when I was 20 and worked as a production assistant for Anonymous Content. It was a great place, and I realized that I only wanted to be in film. I kept doing internships, and started doing international sales with Wild Bunch. They had "The Artist", "Polisse" and a number of great films that broke out of Cannes. This is how I learned how exciting international sales could be. After this time, I traveled in Asia for a year, before coming back to Los Angeles where I had stints with Endgame Entertainment, Voltage Pictures, and went on to work for the producers of The Lunchbox.

This gave me a better understanding of the leading markets. I think that international sales are great when you're passionate about film, but you also have to be passionate about your distributors and your territories.

Laurence: Olivier started with Ugc as the head of international sales, and sold "Amelie" worldwide. Following this, he was hired to work at Warner Bros as the director of international distribution in the Us for three years and then moved on to be the director of acquisitions at TF1 in France.

We care about our films. It's not just one more film; we have strong relationships with our producers, and keep them updated every step of the way. We form a community with our clients and treat them like family. It's more than a business for us; it's our life.

More about Other Angle Pictures:

Other Angle Pictures is an international sales and acquisitions company involved in features films from France and other countries. We are not handling more than 10 films a year for foreign sales, in order to provide filmmakers and our clients with the best possible care and service. We also acquire foreign films for France, and are involved in international co-productions...

Served up by the smiling Jean Reno and the persnickety Michael Youn, Le Chef (originally, Comme un chef) is French comfort food in the traditional sense. It may not be particularly good for you, nutrition-wise, but it sure is tasty. Jacky Bonnot (Youn) is blessed -- and/or cursed, depending on your point of view -- with a perfect sense of taste, complemented by a perfect sense of smell, and accented by a refusal to accept anything less than perfection in the kitchen. His self-righteous judgment extends into the dining room, where he does not hesitate to inform hapless diners what it is that they should be eating and drinking. As might be imagined, this has led to a succession of jobs where he comes into...

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

Chef Mate: Cohen’s Poke at the Restaurant World Written for Fast Food Mentality

Connoisseurs of world food porn will perhaps take keen interest in the Gallic trifle, Le Chef, a 2012 title finally unfurling stateside this summer. So wan and frothy with its generic little plot, even fans of Jean Reno will be slightly disappointed at the saccharine ambivalence evident in every aspect. Hardly as sophisticated as other recently released French food fare, like Catherine Frot headlined Haute Cuisine, or even similarly themed American titles like Jon Favreau’s Chef, director Daniel Cohen would seem inspired by a growing universal trend in the appeal of food themes, even though it technically was written and filmed before these. While it’s certainly not a terrible endeavor to experience (to its credit, the film is certainly better than Roger Gaul’s Tasting Menu) Cohen seems perfectly fine with resting in the gutter of floundering cliché,...

Sam Keeley has been cast in Chef.

The young Irish actor will appear alongside Bradley Cooper in John Wells's drama, reports Deadline.

Chef centres around a top chef in Paris (Cooper) who loses his restaurant and must start from scratch in London.

Keeley will play a chef recruited to the new restaurant.

Omar Sy and Sienna Miller are also attached to the project.

The film is not to be confused with Jon Favreau's new release Chef or the upcoming Jean Reno-starring French cooking movie Le Chef.

Keeley will also star in Ron Howard's In the Heart of the Sea.

I think when Les Garçons et Guillaume, à table! (otherwise known as Me, Myself and Mum) not only took home the top prizes in the Directors’ Fortnight but several months down the road beat out Stranger at the Lake and Blue is the Warmest Color for the top prize at the César Awards, it might have made a case for French comedies, which for some reason I have a prejudice against. Flash back to the year before he made his third Luc Besson film – The Professional, Jean Reno hit paydirt with Les visiteurs — a travel-in-time buddy-com. Two decades later we find him in the gastronomic comedy, the 2012 item which goes by Le Chef. The Franco friendly distrib folks in the Cohen Media Group are taking Daniel Cohen’s laugher one out of the oven this Friday, June 27th in NYC and opening in select theaters nationwide. In the clip below,...

When done right, films about food naturally also touch on larger subjects like love, ambition, and artistic fulfillment. But Daniel Cohen's Le Chef does little more than illuminate the superficiality of the restaurant business.

Jacky (Michaël Youn) is an upstart chef who can't hold down a job and idolizes Alexandre Lagarde (Jean Reno), a bastion of classic French cooking. After Alexandre serendipitously tastes Jacky's food, Jacky is invited to work at Cargo Lagarde, a three-star restaurant being threatened with conversion to molecular cuisine by its slimy new owner (Julien Boisselier).

It's a breezy enough setup that makes use of Reno and Youn's comedic rapport, but Cohen makes the mistake of herding his characters into a one-sided discourse about mo...

Sienna Miller has been cast in Chef.

The actress will join Bradley Cooper in John Wells's drama, reports Variety.

The film is not to be confused with Jon Favreau's new release Chef or the upcoming Jean Reno-starring French cooking movie Le Chef.

The film will centre around a top chef in Paris (Cooper) who loses his restaurant and must start from scratch in London.

Omar Sy will also star in the film.

Miller is currently shooting Black Mass with Johnny Depp. She previously worked with Cooper on the recently wrapped American Sniper.

Chef is yet to announce its production schedule.

Back in December, we got our first look at Forum Expanded, a program of exhibitions, performances and other works that don't necessarily entail lowering the lights and peering straight ahead at the big white screen. So we already know that we'll be seeing new work by Luke Fowler, Harun Farocki and many others. The first of today's announcements from the Berlinale (February 9 through 19) fills in the details.

The addition, for example, of whiteonwhite:algorithmicnoir (image above) by Eve Sussman/Rufus Corporation, "a film edited live in real time which shows a man under surveillance in a fictional East European city," solidifies the impression that Forum Expanded is a rough equivalent of Toronto's Future Projections program and Sundance's New Frontier since, by the time it rolls into Berlin, it'll already have been presented by both.

Other notable additions since December's announcement: Luc Moullet's "uncompleted project about two thieves (mother and daughter...