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In a move that promises to create a new indie production powerhouse in Belgium, Caviar, the company behind The Sound Of Metal, War Pony and The Rider, has taken 45% of the shares of leading Belgian outfit Versus Production and its two sister companies Inver Invest and O’Brother Distribution.

The remaining 55% of the shares will stay in the hands of Versus founder Jacques-Henri Bronckart. Together, the aim is to develop larger-scale, international-facing projects across film and television.

Founded in 1999, Versus is one of Belgium’s most respected production outfits, known for its work with directors like Bouli Lanners and Joachim Lafosse...

Marion Cotillard joins star-studded cast of Apple TV+ hit series The Morning Show for highly anticipated fourth season. Cotillard brings acclaimed talent to role as 'Celine Dumont,' adding new depth to gripping workplace drama. The Morning Show continues to break records and gain acclaim, offering unapologetically candid look at power dynamics.

Apples award-winning, global hit series The Morning Show will expand its star-studded cast with Academy Award-winner Marion Cotillard for season 4. Apple TV+ has now revealed that Academy, BAFTA and Csar Award-winner Marion Cotillard is set to join the highly anticipated fourth season of The Morning Show, hailing from the studio Media Res and starring and executive produced by Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Aniston.

Cotillard, who is best known for roles in the likes of Inception and La Vie En Rose, will star as Celine Dumont, a savvy operator from a storied European family. In 2015, Cotillard garnered an Academy...

Paris-based sales company is bringing eight new titles to Rendez-Vous.

Julie Delpy’s immigration-themed comedy Meet The Barbarians (Les Barbares) is among eight new titles Paris-based sales company Charades is launching at Unifrance’s Rendez-Vous with French Cinema this month.

The event takes place from January 16-23 in Paris.

Charades extensive Rendez-Vous line-up also includes 3D animation Flow, romantic comedy Just A Couple of Days starring Camille Cottin, Jeremie Sein’s Olympic sports comedy Game Changers, Antoine Raimbault’s political thriller Smoke Signals, Gustave Kervern’s revenge story Enough Is Enough!, dark comedy Plastic Guns plus recently announced adaptation And...

Studiocanal has Samuel Beckett biopic ‘Dance First’.

Molly Manning Walker’s How To Have Sex, Emma Seligman’s Bottoms and Kitty Green’s The Royal Hotel are all opening in UK-Ireland cinemas, on a weekend with several well-reviewed films by and about women.

Starting in 150 cinemas through Mubi, How To Have Sex is the debut feature of Screen 2021 Star of Tomorrow Walker. The film follows three British teenage girls on a clubbing holiday in Malia, where one of the group has her first experiences with sex. The cast includes fellow Screen Stars Mia McKenna-Bruce and Samuel Bottomley, with casting director...

Bouli Lanners’ picturesque setting makes room for a lonely woman to take advantage of memory loss and kid the victim they had been lovers

‘Have you guys seen Jason Bourne?” asks Brian (Andrew Still), a farm labourer in the Outer Hebrides, near the start of Nobody Has to Know. “It’s exactly the same kind of set-up!” How droll of the writer-director Bouli Lanners to invoke that breakneck action franchise when his own film could scarcely be more different, save for a plot involving memory loss. The closest thing here to an action set-piece occurs when an estate agent is tardy returning to the office, leaving her colleague to take a later-than-usual lunch break.

If this isn’t a film to set the heart racing, it doesn’t leave that organ entirely untroubled; with his script’s echoes of 40s weepie Random Harvest, Lanners is aiming for similar status. The...

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.

A Compassionate Spy (Steve James)

See an exclusive clip above.

The latest film from acclaimed documentarian Steve James, A Compassionate Spy, comes with a fascinating subject: the spy who leaked nuclear information from the Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union, therefore ensuring that America could not establish a nuclear monopoly on the world. It’s easy to see why James would be drawn to the spy, Theodore “Ted” Hall, and his wife Joan as he has often been interested in using individuals as the framework to explore larger societal issues. Utilizing a hybrid of recreations, archival footage, and modern-day interviews, James crafts a portrait of a man, a relationship, and the sheer weight of the decision to betray your country to save the world.

A dramatization of true events, The Night of the 12th mines a particular subgenre of the crime picture, the “Cold Case” (its own Bush-era CBS procedural). The one it rips from headlines occurred on October 12th, 2016, where we find Clara (Lula Cotton Frappier), a happy 21-year-old girl leaving a party by herself in a sleepy suburb of France. Confronted by a masked stranger who, in the flash of an eye, throws embalming liquid and a lit match on her, her promising life is cut short as a charred corpse turns up. Tasked with solving the case are two Grenoble detectives, whose intellectual and experiential might are considered superior to the small town’s police force, and the young-ish Captain Yohan (Bastien Bouillon) and veteran cop Marceau (Bouli Lanners) form a decidedly complementary couple in their affect and appearance.

Two splashy stylistic choices––the inciting incident presented in slow-motion and a superimposition of our cops’ faces,...

Watching a police-procedural homicide drama, whether it’s the grungiest of VOD potboilers or the most visionary film of the genre, Michael Mann’s silvery, dread-drenched “Manhunter,” we more or less know one thing: At the end of two hours, the grisly mystery we’ve been dunked in will have its catharsis and its resolution. We will know who the killer is, and in knowing that a kind of order will have been restored. David Fincher’s “Zodiac,” with its tantalizing ambiguities, might stand as an exception to the form — a singular winding creep-out, without the closure we’re thirsting for — yet even there you feel, by the end, that you’ve glimpsed the face of evil.

But “The Night of the 12th,” the French thriller that was nominated for 10 César Awards and won six of them, including best picture (it opens here on May 19), throws the audience a slow-motion...

"Where were you on October 12th?" Film Movement has revealed their official US trailer for this acclaimed French true crime drama titled The Night of the 12th. This was a big hit in France last year - it opened in July after premiering in Cannes, did very well at the box office, then went on to win 6 total César Awards (France's Oscars) including Best Film & Best Director. Now it's finally opening in the US starting in late May in art house theaters - check your local listings for info. It is said that every investigator has a crime that haunts them, a case that hurts him more than the others, without him necessarily knowing why. For Yohan that case is the murder of Clara in the town of Grenoble. It's a gritty mystery that's "both highly effective and brilliantly acted, where procedures and mindsets reveal a frayed society", posing uneasy...

Besting the likes of Albert Serra’s Pacifiction and Louis Garrel’s The Innocent to win Best Film at this year’s César Awards––not to mention picking up six other awards––Dominik Moll’s mystery thriller The Night of the 12th is now arriving at U.S. shores to kick off the summer. Based on a true crime book by Pauline Guéna, the film was picked up by Film Movement for a May 19 theatrical release, and we’re pleased to exclusively debut the first trailer.

“In nearly every police precinct, detectives are inevitably confronted with a case that goes unsolved. The more heinous the crime, the more it haunts those whose duty it is solve it,” the synopsis reads. “Such is the dilemma for Yohan Vivès—a young, recently promoted police Captain—when he begins investigating the gruesome murder of a young women named Clara in the town of Grenoble.

A young woman is murdered in this unnerving, fictionalised version of a real case that haunts the police officers unable to solve it

French film-maker Dominik Moll has given us a gripping true-crime procedural, a desolate study of the ubiquity of evil and misogynist violence and the abyss of unknowing into which everyone finds themselves gazing: crime victims, relatives and the police themselves. And crime in the real world is often not bounded by the Agatha Christie conventions of clearcut motives and culprits unmasked.

Moll and screenwriter Gilles Marchand have fictionalised a real case recounted by the French author Pauline Guéna in her 2020 eyewitness reportage book 18.3: Une Année à la Pj, for which she was embedded for a year with France’s Police Judiciaire (equivalent to the UK’s Cid); 18.3 being that part of the French penal code which governs their existence. On a certain ominous night in 2016, a...

Dominik Moll’s investigative drama earns awards in Paris for best film, director, adapted screenplay and more.

Dominik Moll’s investigative drama The Night Of The 12th enjoyed a big night at France’s 48th annual César Awards, picking up six awards including best film of the year at a starry ceremony at Paris concert hall l’Olympia on Friday night.

The film, which started the night on 10 nominations, prevailed in a competitive category alongside Louis Garrel’s crime-infused romantic comedy The Innocent, Cédric Klapisch’s dance drama Rise, Albert Serra’s political thriller Pacifiction, and Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi’s coming-of-age tale Forever Young.

Hollywood star power enlivens the Césars in Paris last night Photo: Academie des Césars

Director Dominik Moll had to wait 22 years to bag his second César, as Best Director for The Night Of The 12th, a thriller which delves into issues of gender and violence. It was a major winner in last night’s César awards, France’s answer to the Oscars, also winning the award for Best Film. Bouli Lanners and Bastien Bouillon, as two cops trying to solve a gruesome murder, received actor nods as Best Supporting Actor and Best Male Newcomer respectively.

Written in tandem with his frequent collaborator Gilles Marchand the pair were also rewarded with best adapted screenplay from the novel by Pauline Guéna. The last time Moll received the Best Director César was in 2001 for another thriller, Harry, He's Here To Help.

Happy nights: Virginie Emir named Best Actress in the Césars Photo: Academie...

Update, writethru: Dominik Moll’s The Night Of The 12th swept the board at the 48th edition of France’s César awards in Paris on Friday evening.

The film, which was nominated in 10 categories, also won best male newcomer for its star Bastien Bouillon, best-supporting actor for Belgian actor Bouli Lanners as well as best sound and adapted screenplay.

The investigative drama world premiered in Cannes’ non-competitive Cannes Première section last May.

Bouillon plays a police detective who becomes obsessed with a case involving a complex female murder victim in a small town close to the city of Grenoble in the foothills of the French Alps.

Louis Garrel’s comedy The Innocent, which led the nominations making it into 11 categories, won best original screenplay for the director and co-writers Tanguy Viel and Naïla Guiguet as well as best supporting actress for Tár star Noemie Merlant.

Brad Pitt & Virginie Efira presented...

Dominik Moll’s brooding procedural thriller “The Night of the 12th” won big at the 48th Cesar Awards Friday night in Paris.

Out of 10 nominations, “The Night of the 12th” picked up best film, director, male newcomer for Bastien Bouillon, supporting actor for Bouli Lanners, adapted screenplay and sound. Bouillon and Lanners star as two cops trying to solve the gruesome murder of a young woman. The film opened at Cannes in the Premieres section.

Caroline Benjo, who produced “The Night of the 12th” with Carole Scotta and Simon Arnal at Haut et Court, made a searing speech denouncing the violence against women. “When Dominic and Gilles came to us to make this film it was obvious that we (needed to address this issue) and that the perspective of men on this matter was crucial, and that filmmakers had to tell this story,” said Benjo. “A few days ago, Dominic...

The 46th César Awards, France’s top film honors, have been handed out in Paris, with Dominik Moll’s crime thriller The Night of the 12th winning the best picture trophy.

Moll’s The Night of the 12th, which premiered in Cannes last year, scored 10 César noms coming into the awards show, just behind Louis Garrel’s The Innocent, which picked up 11 nominations. Moll also won for best director, and Bouli Lanners earned the best supporting actor trophy for his performance in The Night of the 12th.

Cédric Klapisch’s Rise, about a ballet dancer (Marion Barbeau) who, after an injury, seeks a new future in contemporary dance, was up for 9 Césars, as was Albert Serra’s Pacifiction, a thriller featuring Benoît Magimel as a morally-challenged Haut-Commissaire on an island in French Polynesia.

Valeria Bruni Tedeschi’s dramedy Forever Young, Cedric Jimenez’s terrorism drama November, Eric Gravel’s family...

Duo are behind Dominik Moll’s ’The Night of the 12th’

Haut et Court’s Carole Scotta and Barbara Letellier were named best producers of the year at the 16th annual edition of France’s Academy of Film Arts & Sciences’ Daniel Toscan du Plantier Prize held on Monday night (February 14) in Paris.

The duo are notably behind Dominik Moll’s investigative drama The Night Of The 12th, which has been sweeping awards season in France, winning the Best Film Lumiere Award and nominated for 10 César awards.

A swanky gala dinner celebrated the winning pair along with the finalists for the prize,...

Carole Scotta and Barbara Letellier, the French producers of Dominik Moll’s thriller “The Night of the 12th,” won the Toscan du Plantier Award at a Paris ceremony hosted by the Cesar Academie.

The pair, who produced the movie at Haut et Court (“The Class”), were voted on by 1,641 people, including artists and crew members who were previously nominated at the Cesar Awards, along with the governing body members of the Cesar Academie.

On stage with Letellier, Scotta praised Moll’s vision for the “The Night of the 12th” and said the film was “driven by the power of the collective effort. “That’s what we see with this group of cops working tirelessly to solve a case,” she continued.

“The Night of the 12th” is vying for 10 Cesar awards. The brooding topical procedural, which also opened as part of Cannes’ Premiere section, stars Bastien Bouillon and Bouli Lanners as...

Good cop, bad cop: Bastien Bouillon, left, and Bouli Lanners in Dominik Moll’s The Night Of The 12th Photo: Picturehouse Entertainment As a man of two countries - Germany and France - you could be forgiven for thinking that director Dominik Moll who shot to prominence 22 years ago with the psychological shocker Harry He’s Here to Help, might harbour a split personality.

Not a bit of it - he seems remarkably grounded and feels much more French than German. At this precise moment he’s feeling rather pleased with himself that his most recent brooding investigative thriller The Night Of The 12th has been a runaway success in France and also has been selling well around the globe, and will feature as part of Glasgow Film Festival next month.

Written in tandem with his frequent collaborator Gilles Marchand whom he met decades ago at film school in Paris,...

It’s a fair cop: Roschdy Zem and Louise Garrel received acting nods in Garrel’s comedy The Innocent Photo: UniFrance

After the Oscars it’s the turn of the French César Academy to reveal the list of nominations today, ahead of the 48th ceremony, which is scheduled for 24 February at the fabled Parisian music hall, the Olympia.

Dominik Moll’s taut thriller The Night Of The 12th leads the fray alongside Louis Garrel’s police comedy The Innocent which he directs and co-stars in with Noémie Merlant, followed closely by Cédric Klapisch’s dance extravaganza Rise/En Corps; Albert Serra’s Pacifiction; Valéria Bruni Tedeschi’s Forever Young/Les Amandines; Cédric Jimenez’s Bataclan police drama November; Eric Gravel’s Full Time/A Plein Temps, and Alice Diop’s Saint Omer. The latter has been much favoured by international critics but did not make the final round for Oscars for best foreign film.

’Rise’ and ’Pacifiction’ are also strong contenders.

Louis Garrel’s crime-infused romantic comedy The Innocent and Dominik Moll’s investigative drama The Night Of The 12th are the frontrunners for France’s 48th annual Cesar Awards with 11 and 10 nominations respectively.

Scroll down for full list of nominations

Cédric Klapisch’s dance drama Rise and Albert Serra’s political thriller Pacifiction follow with nine nominations each.

The titles are all selected in the best film category alongside Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi’s Forever Young.

Despite a strong showing from French female directors at both the box office and festivals, the best director category is all-male this year.

Update: Louis Garrel’s The Innocent has taken a surprise lead in the nominations for the 48th César Awards, which were announced on Wednesday ahead of the ceremony at Olympia concert hall in Paris on February 24.

The comedy-drama, which debuted in Cannes, was nominated in 11 categories followed by Dominik Moll’s detective drama The Night Of The 12th with 10 nominations.

Albert Serra’s Pacifiction and Cedric Klapisch’s Rise both snared nominations in nine categories, followed by Forever Young and November with seven each.

Garrel directs and co-stars in The Innocent as a man who tries to derail his mother’s relationship with a recently released convict, played by Roschdy Zem, in a campaign that will find him flirting with the wrong side of the law.

The film has received strong reviews and was a hit in France where it drew more than 700,000 spectators, but did not figure among the...

Louis Garrel’s “The Innocent” and Dominik Moll’s thriller “The Night of the 12th” are leading the race at the 48th Cesar Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscars.

Nominated for 11 Cesar nominations, “The Innocent” is a heist romantic comedy starring Garrel, Roschdy Zem and Noemie Merlant, who previously starred in “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” and most recently in “Tár.” Produced by Anne-Dominique Toussaint at Les Films des Tournelles, the crowdpleaser world premiered out of competition at Cannes for the 75th anniversary of the festival.

“The Night of the 12th,” meanwhile, is in the running for 10 Cesar awards. The brooding topical procedural, which also opened as part of Cannes’ Premiere section, stars Bastien Bouillon and Bouli Lanners as two cops trying to solve a gruesome murder. The movie, produced by Haut et Court (“The Class”), delves into issues of gender and violence.

Other top Cesar contenders include Cedric Klapisch’s dance-filled “Rise,...

Raw (Grave) is a horror and drama movie directed and written by Julia Ducournau magnificently starred by Garance Marillier who is given a life changing opportunity that does not go wasted.

Terror that is not suitable for all audiences in a movie that goes into the taboo of cannibalism.

Raw is the (already famous) movie directed in 2016 by Julia Ducournau. And, yes, it is about cannibalism, so if you are having a bad day… it is not a movie for you. However, the movie is not bad at all and it surprises us with a different focus and although at times it is sensationalistic and even morbid, it undertakes the narrative in a special, different way and with a blatant setting that matches the plot very well.

Storyline

Justine is a brilliant girl who starts studying veterinary sciences. She, and her family, is vegetarian, and a sort of initiation ritual...

Pacifiction star Benoit Magimel wins best actor award for third time.

Dominik Moll’s investigative drama The Night Of The 12th (La Nuit Du 12) was named best film and also won the best screenplay prize at the 28th edition of France’s Lumiere Awards at a ceremony at Paris’ Forum des Images on Monday evening.

The film shared the spotlight with Albert Serra’s tropical thriller Pacifiction which earned Serra the best director award and a best actor prize for the film’s star Benoit Magimel.

It was a record win for Magimel who becomes the third actor in Lumière...

Un Métier sérieux

Production on Thomas Lilti‘s fifth feature commenced back in February of ’22 in Normandy with a formidable comprised of Vincent Lacoste, François Cluzet, Louise Bourgoin, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Lucie Zhang, William Lebghil and Bouli Lanners. Having built his filmography around worlds with white coats or institution-themed films, it comes as no surprise that Un Métier sérieux (aka A Real Job) features a dramedy that revolves around the notion of training for the next level. Our money is on the cast here.

Gist: Benjamin, a PhD student without a scholarship, accepts a contract professorship in a college. Without training or experience, faced with a weakened institution, he discovered the difficulties of this profession.…...

Paris-based outfit releases first look image from Jérémy Clapin’s Meanwhile On Earth.

Paris-based Charades has sold Laurent Tirard’s Oh My Goodness! (Juste Ciel!) to a slew of territories and will kick off sales on several all-new titles at Unifrance’s annual Rendez-Vous in Paris including Jérémy Clapin’s Meanwhile On Earth.

Charades will host the first market screening for buyers of Oh My Goodness! after selling the anticipated title from veteran filmmaker Tirard to Prokino in Germany, Selecta Vision in Spain, I Wonder in Italy, Cineart in Benelux, Praesens in Switzerland, Thim Films in Austria, Ads in Hungary,...

Paris-based outfit releases first look image from Jérémy Clapin’s Meanwhile On Earth.

Paris-based Charades has sold Laurent Tirard’s Oh My Goodness! (Juste Ciel!) to a slew of territories and will kick off sales on several all-new titles at Unifrance’s annual Rendez-Vous in Paris including Jérémy Clapin’s Meanwhile On Earth.

Charades will host the first market screening for buyers of Oh My Goodness! after selling the anticipated title from veteran filmmaker Tirard to Prokino in Germany, Selecta Vision in Spain, I Wonder in Italy, Cineart in Benelux, Praesens in Switzerland, Thim Films in Austria, Ads in Hungary,...

’Saint Omer’, ‘Other People’s Children’ and ’Pacifiction’ also receive multiple nods.

Dominik Moll’s police procedural The Night Of The 12th tops the nominations for the 28th annual Lumière Awards.

France’s version of The Golden Globes, the Lumière Awards are voted on by international correspondents from 36 countries.

The Night Of The 12th leads with six nominations, just ahead of Albert Serra’s political thriller Pacifiction with five. Rebecca Zlotowski’s Other People’s Children and Alice Diop’s Saint Omer tie on four nods each. The films will vie for the Best Film prize alongside Alice Winocour’s Paris Memories.

Dominik Moll’s The Night of The 12th, which world premiered in Cannes in May, has topped the nominations for the 28th edition of France’s Lumière Awards.

The awards are voted on by members of the international press corp hailing from 36 countries based in France.

The Night Of The 12th was nominated in six categories including best film, director and screenplay. The film debuted in the Cannes Film Festival’s non competitive Cannes Première section.

The investigative drama is Moll’s seventh feature. It stars Bastien Bouillon, with support from Bouli Lanners, as a police detective who becomes obsessed with a case involving a complex female murder victim.

Other multi-nominated titles include Albert Serra’s French Polynesia-set drama Pacification five nominations.

Four films received four nominations each: Alice Diop’s Saint-Omer; Rebecca Zlotowski’s Other People’s Children; Louis Garrel’s The Innocent and Gaspar Noé’s Vortex.

Diop,...

Flanders Image, the promotional arm of the Vaf film fund of Belgium’s Flemish-speaking community, has unveiled the 80 projects selected for its annual Connext showcase, running as a hybrid event from October 10-24.

The showcase, which will hold a physical component in Antwerp from October 9-11, unfolds against the backdrop of a high-profile year for Belgian film and the cinema of its Flemish-speaking community in particular.

Lukas Dhont’s Close won Cannes Grand Prize and is now a frontrunner in the best international film category of the Oscars as Belgium’s submission; while Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch clinched Cannes Jury Prize for Italian-language drama The Eight Mountains (ex-acquo with Jerzy Skolimowski’s Eo).

Rebel, the homecoming film of Bad Boys For Life directorial duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, has also been making waves internationally after debuting Out of Competition at Cannes.

These films were all showcased at previous editions of Connext.

Raft of sales for police procedural following Cannes Premiere debut.

Memento International has sold Dominik Moll’s The Night Of The 12th to a slew of territories, including the US and the UK, following its debut in Cannes’ Premiere section.

Film Movement has acquired the title in North America, while Picturehouse Entertainment has picked it up for the UK and Ireland.

Night Of The 12th has also sold to Australia and New Zealand (Potential Films), Latin America (Impacto), Taiwan (Swallow Wings), Poland (Aurora), the Baltics (A-one Films) and Israel (Lev Cinema).

The sales are the latest in a raft of...

“Game of Thrones” star Michelle Fairley is set to appear in Bouli Lanners feature film “Nobody Has To Know.” Lanners will write, direct and co-star in the project.

Fairley, who has also appeared in “Suits” and “Gangs of London,” plays Millie MacPherson in the film. She takes care of Philippe Haubin, a middle-aged man suffering from memory loss following a stroke. Millie tells Philippe that they were secretly in love with each other before he suffered his stroke – the only problem is it’s not true.

Julian Glover (“The Crown”), Cal MacAninch (“Downton Abbey”) and Clovis Cornillac (“Chefs”) round out the cast.

Jacques Henri Bronckart is producing the film with Ciara Barry and Rosie Crerar set to co-produce. “Nobody Has To Know” is a Belgian, Scottish and French co-production between Versus Productions, Barry Crerar, Playtime and Prime Tim with Screen Scotland.

Parkland Entertainment are set to distribute the film in the U.

French director Dominik Moll’s seventh feature debuts in the Cannes Premiere section.

Memento International has unveiled first deals for French director Dominik Moll’s Night Of The 12th ahead of its debut in Official Selection’s Cannes Premiere section.

In Europe, it has sold to Italy (Teodora), Spain (Filmin), Greece (Cinobo), ex-Yugoslavia (McF Megacom), Bulgaria (Beta Films) and Ascot Elite has acquired rights for Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

The title is also generating interest in Asia with deals for Japan (Tohokushinsha Film Corporation) and Indonesia (Pt Falcon).

Paris-based Haut et Court, which produced the film, distributes in France. Brussel-based...

New titles join 47 unveiled at April 14 press conference and previously announced Elvis and Top Gun: Maverick.

Cannes Film Festival has added a flurry of new titles to its 2022 Official Selection, as promised by delegate general Thierry Frémaux at last week’s press conference unveiling the bulk of the titles due to premiere at its 75th edition, running May 17-28.

A total of 17 fresh additions were announced, joining the 47 films unveiled on April 14 as well as Elvis and Top Gun: Maverick, which were announced earlier. This brings the total number of films in selection so far to 66 against 83 in last year’s special July edition.

Les Arcs Film Festival, the European film fest programmed by Tribeca’s artistic director Frederic Boyer and set in the French Alps, has unveiled the lineup of its Coproduction Village which will be back as a live event after a virtual 2020 edition. The 13th edition of the industry sidebar will showcase 18 projects in development from 11 countries, including 8 projects directed by female directors.

Projects by female directors represented 34% of projects submitted and 44% of the final selection. There are seven feature debuts, and five projects by more experienced filmmakers. The coproduction Village aims at helping filmmakers find co-producers, sales agents, distributors and other financial partners.

Selected projects, which will all vie for the international ArteKino prize worth €6,000, include Frida Kempff’s historical drama “The Swedish Torpedo” and Johanna Pyykkö’s LGBT coming-of-age “Sweden-Finn,” produced by Swedish banners Momento Film and Verket Produktion, respectively; Stephan Komandarev’s drama “Made In Eu,” produced by...

Chicago – The Chicago International Film Festival (Ciff) is competitive, and the 57th edition presented its awards on October 22nd, 2021, as a live virtual and online event.. The winner of the Gold Hugo as Best International Film was “Memoria” (Columbia), directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

The 57th Chicago International Film Festival continues on Day 11, featuring screenings in theater, at the drive-in and virtual/online. Click here for a complete how-to guide on navigating the 57th Ciff. And click Day 11 for the complete line up of films.

The awards were presented by the various jury members in each film category, and were hosted by Artistic Director Mimi Plauché and Managing Director Vivian Teng. The Festival’s highest honor is the Gold Hugo, named for the mythical God of Discovery.

International Feature Film Competition

‘Memoria’

Photo credit: Chicago International Film Festival

The Gold Hugo for Best Film: “Memoria” (Columbia) Directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul

In...

French sales companies are getting behind Mia’s film and TV market in Rome this week.

French sales companies will be out in force at Rome’s Mia film and TV market (October 13-17) as the global film and TV market circuit continues to shift due to the pandemic Covid-19.

French sellers have been busy networking at the Venice and San Sebastian film festivals this autumn, but Mia represents the first physical market since Cannes in July for most after only a handful of European professionals made the trip to Toronto in September.

Mia will also be the last opportunity...

BenedictionThe lineup has been unveiled for the 2021 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, which will take place over 10 days (September 9-18) both in-person and physically in Toronto, and digitally across Canada. Wavelengths - FEATURESFutura (Pietro Marcello, Francesco Munzi, Alice Rohrwacher)The Girl and the Spider (Ramon Zürcher, Silvan Zürcher)Neptune Frost (Saul Williams, Anisia Uzeyman)A Night of Knowing Nothing (Payal Kapadia)Ste. Anne (Rhayne Vermette)The Tsugua Diaries (Maureen Fazendeiro, Miguel Gomes)Wavelengths - SHORTSThe Capacity for Adequate Anger (Vika Kirchenbauer)Dear Chantal (Querida Chantal) (Nicolás Pereda)earthearthearth (Daïchi Saïto)Inner Outer Space (Laida Lertxundi)Polycephaly in D (Michael Robinson)“The red filter is withdrawn.” (Minjung Kim)Train Again (Peter Tscherkassky)Midnight Madness After Blue (Dirty Paradise) (Bertrand Mandico)Dashcam (Rob Savage)Saloum (Jean Luc Herbulot)Titane (Julia Ducournau)You Are Not My Mother (Kate Dolan)Zalava (Arsalan Amiri)TIFF DOCSAttica (Stanley Nelson)Beba (Rebeca Huntt)Becoming Cousteau...

The Toronto International Film Festival has revealed the slate of titles that will round out its contemporary world cinema and discovery programs.

Among the films playing in the contemporary world cinema lineup include director Wen Shipei’s “Are You Lonesome Tonight,” Lorenzo Vigas’ “The Box,” Manuel Martín Cuenca’s “The Daughter” and Bouli Lanners’ “Nobody Has to Know.” The discovery program will host Tea Lindeburg’s “As In Heaven,” filmmaker Hong Sung-eun’s “Aloners” and Anatolian Leopard from director Emre Kayış.

“TIFF Programmers continue discovering compelling and diverse stories from around the globe,” said Diana Sanchez, TIFF’s senior director of film. “With these two programmes, Contemporary World Cinema and Discovery, audiences can look forward to this stellar lineup to immerse themselves in. TIFF is dedicated to amplifying the voices of Black and Indigenous filmmakers and filmmakers of colour, emerging Canadian talent, and powerful storytellers who identify as women, and...

New TIFF Rewind features filmmakers in conversation about memorable selections from the past.

World premieres of Ruth Paxton’s UK horror A Banquet, Agustina San Martín’s Argentinian genre tale To Kill The Beast and Sébastien Pilote’s Canadian period drama Maria Chapdelaine are among Contemporary World Cinema and Discovery selections announced by Toronto International Film festival.

Scroll down for full list of new titles

The festival also unveiled additional Gala and Special Presentations titles, and introduced TIFF Rewind featuring filmmakers in conversation about memorable selections from the past.

Gala screenings include the world premiere of Camille Griffin’s UK...

Leading Belgian filmmaker Koen Mortier is directing the series.

Maze Runner star Thomas Brodie-Sangster has joined an ambitious new Netflix-backed documentary series about the Second World War.

Voices Of Liberation is an 11-part, English-language series written and directed by leading Belgian filmmaker Koen Mortier, whose credits include crime drama Ex Drummer.

UK actor Sangster, also known for roles in Game Of Thrones and The Queen’s Gambit, will front the first two episodes of the documentary that traces the “liberation route” across Europe, and will share his own family connections to the war effort.

Other hosts include Bouli Lanners, the...

Stars: Garance Marillier, Ella Rumpf, Rabah Nait Oufella, Laurent Lucas, Joana Preiss, Bouli Lanners, Marion Vernoux, Thomas Mustin, Marouan Iddoub, Jean-Louis Sbille | Written and Directed by Julia Ducournau

When Raw was first released it was one of those movies that caught people’s attention based on the fact people felt sickened from watching it, even walked out of the movie theatres instead of watching it to the end. For those who could stomach it though, they found an experience that may be Raw, but is also a very good movie. This of course makes it perfect for a Second Sight Blu-ray re-release.

Raised as a strict vegetarian Justine’s (Garance Mirillier) beliefs are tested when she goes to veterinarian school. When forced to eat meat, this awakens a new hunger in her that she did not expect, which opens up a whole new world to her. This wakes her up...

The Walloon Regional Investment Fund will support a variety of new works to the overall tune of €1.3 million. On the occasion of its 101st session, held under such very special circumstances, Wallimage’s Walloon Regional Investment Fund is throwing its weight behind 8 new film projects, as well as 2 considerable animated series projects. The first work supported by the fund is C’est de famille!, a debut feature film by young Belgian director Elodie Lélu, which follows in the footsteps of Manon, an introverted, 16-year-old teen who finds herself having to co-habit with her unbearable grandma Yvonne, a former militant feminist now unable to live alone. The situation intensifies when Yvonne becomes confused and starts to believe Manon is her daughter… Toplining the film, we find the likes of young Belgian actress Fantine Harduin (the heroine of Fabrice du Welz’s Adoration) alongside Bouli Lanners and Hélène Vincent. The film is...

Benoit Delépine and Gustave Kervern’s eighth joint feature won the Berlinale’s special Silver Bear this year.

Wild Bunch has secured a slew of sales on French directorial duo Benoit Delépine and Gustave Kervern’s comedy Delete History, which won the Berlinale’s special Silver Bear this year.

Deals tied up at the Berlinale’s European Film Market include to France (Ad Vitam), Benelux (September Film), Switzerland (Pathé), Germany (X Verleih), Spain (La Aventura Audiovisual), Italy (Officine Ubu), Portugal (Apm), Sweden (Njutafilms), ex-Yugoslavia (McF), Hungary (Cirko Film), Czech Republic (Film Europe) and Baltics (A-One).

Outside of Europe, it sold...

If you’ve ever felt frustrated when a website asks you to select photos of traffic lights in order to prove that you’re not a robot, or struggled for a way to keep all your internet passwords straight, then digital-age satire “Delete History” was made with you in mind. Like the spam folder on your Google Mail account, it’s stuffed to bursting with wry observations about how smartphones, social media and the modern world in general — innovations which were putatively intended to simplify our lives — appear to be complicating it instead.

In this laugh-out-loud, low-concept comedy from French directing team Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern (known for renegade road movies “Aaltra” and “Mammuth”), the thinnest of storylines unites a loose collection of gags involving a trio of middle-aged, middle-class neighbors each suffering from a host of 21st-century headaches. The big joke, such as it is, hinges on the...

Ahead of its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, Stephen Maxwell Johnson’s “High Ground” has found a U.S. home with Samuel Goldwyn. The film, headlined by Simon Baker, is represented in international markets by pan-European group Playtime and is having a gala screening at the festival.

Set in 1919, “High Ground” tells the story of former WWI sniper Travis, who is now a policeman in the vast and remote landscape of Northern Australia. He loses control of an operation, resulting in the massacre of an indigenous tribe.

While his superiors decide to bury the truth, the experience leaves a scar on Travis’ conscience, but he’s forced to return there 12 years later on a mission to track down an Aboriginal outlaw. Travis soon realizes the young man he’s chasing is the only known survivor of the massacre.

“High Ground” shot on location in the world heritage-listed Kakadu...

Under the new leadership of industry veteran Kristina Zimmermann, Orange Studio, the film/TV division of the French telco group Orange, is launching three new projects at Berlin’s European Film Market: “Last Film Show,” “Old Fashioned” and “Love Song for Tough Guys.”

Directed by Pan Nalin (“Samsara”), “Last Film Show” follows Samay, a 9-year-old boy living with his family in a remote village in India. One day, he discovers films and is instantly mesmerized. Against his father’s wishes, he returns to the cinema day after day and sets off to become a filmmaker at all costs.

“It’s a personal film for Pan Nalin as it’s inspired by his own life, and it has a beautiful cinematography, because Pan Nalin is also a talented photographer,” said Zimmermann, who joined Orange Studio last July after working for nearly three decades at Canal Plus Group. “‘Last Film Show’ is...

Effacer l’historique

Kooky Belgian duo Gustave Kervern and Benoît Delépine will present their ninth collaboration in 2020, Effacer l’historique, another exercise about social misfits attempting to succeed in tasks which seem woefully out of their depth. Sylvie Pialat and Benoit Quainon are producing, starring a lead trio of Blanche Gardin (who will also be appearing in Bruno Dumont’s latest), Denis Podalydes, and Corinne Masiero. Some of the directors’ usual suspects are also on hand in the cast, including Yolande Moreau, Benoit Poelvoorde, Bouli Lanners, and Michel Houellebecq. And they’ll be joined by American actor Denis O’Hare. The filmmakers reunite with their regular Dp, Hugues Poulain.…...

Around 20 French companies are attending the last major international market of the year, which gets under way today in Santa Monica. Today, the curtain rises on the 40th Afm (American Film Market), which will unspool in Santa Monica until 13 November, and as is their wont, the French international sales agents have a huge number of trump cards on their slates that they fully intend to play at the event. Here is an overview of the most enticing films and projects that are sure to tempt distributors from all around the world. Playtime will be unveiling the market premiere of The Breitner Commando by Abdel Raouf Dafri (see the news), and will be selling Wise Blood by Belgium’s Bouli Lanners (see the article), which is currently being shot, based on...