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The Un Certain Regard jury of five in Xavier Dolan, Maïmouna Doucouré, Asmae El Moudir, Vicky Krieps, and Todd McCarthy offered a total of seven awards/mentions this year and as per our tradition, we were front row at the ceremony on the day before the closing of the 77th edition. This year, it is sixth generation Chinese filmmaker Guan Hu who landed the top prize of the section with Black Dog. Of the eighteen feature films in competition, a total of eight were up for the running for the Caméra d’or (Best Debut Feature) which was also claimed by Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel’s Armand.…...

The 2024 Cannes Film Festival was officially closed yesterday, on May 25, 2024, as the prizes for the movies and the actors were awarded at the closing ceremony. It was a very exciting and content-filled event, and we have also reported on numerous movies that had their premiere at Cannes, some of which were received well, while others… not so much. But, naturally, everyone wants to know who won and who lost at Cannes, and that is what we are going to report about in this article.

The article will be divided into two main sections. The first one will list all the juries at Cannes, since they are the ones who chose the winners at the film festival, so we think that it is only fair that you know who picked the winners. After that, we are going to list all the winners in each of the categories.

As we have said,...

The 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival concludes today with the Closing Ceremony and presentation of the coveted award, the Palme d’Or which was awarded to Sean Baker’s Anora, on Saturday, May 25.

The Jury, chaired by director Greta Gerwig was tasked with awarding the Palme d’Or to one of the 22 films in the Competition.

Related: Cannes Film Festival: ‘Anora’ Wins Palme D’Or; ‘All We Imagine As Light’ Takes Grand Prize; ‘Emilia Perez’ Jury Prize & Best Actresses

The jury included Turkish screenwriter and photographer Ebru Ceylan, American actress Lily Gladstone, French actress Eva Green and Lebanese director and screenwriter Nadine Labaki, as well as Spanish director and screenwriter Juan Antonio Bayona, Italian actor Pierfrancisco Favino, Japanese director Kore-eda Hirokazu, and French actor and producer Omar Sy.

Related: ‘Emilia Pérez’ Cannes Film Festival Premiere Photos: Édgar Ramírez, Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña & More

Hu Guan’s drama Black Dog...

The hype out of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, for those far-flung and on the ground, tells one story: This was among the weaker lineups in recent memory.

Sure, huge stories broke out of the festival, from Francis Ford Coppola’s distribution push for his self-funded, decades-in-the-making passion project “Megalopolis” to Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof fleeing his home country after being sentenced to eight years in prison, finally making it to Cannes with his new film “The Seed of the Sacred Fig.” This journey inspired the jury to award him and his film a Special Prize (Prix Spécial).

Elsewhere in the official selection, Un Certain Regard already handed out its prizes on Friday from a jury led by Xavier Dolan and including Maïmouna Doucouré, Asmae El Moudir, Vicky Krieps, and Todd McCarthy. Among the top winners were Roberto Minervini (“The Damned”) and Rungano Nyoni (“On Becoming a Guinea Fowl”) tying for Best Director,...

Guan Hu’s Black Dog has won the top prize in the Un Certain Regard section of this year’s Cannes Film Festival (May 14-25).

It is the Cannes debut for Mr. Six director Guan and follows a former convict who forms an unlikely connection with the titular animal, as he clears stray dogs in his remote hometown on the edge of the Gobi desert before the 2008 Olympic Games. Playtime are handling international sales.

The jury prize went to The Story Of Souleymane from Boris Lojkine, back at the festival 10 years after his 2014 feature Hope, with the story of a...

Chinese director Hu Guan’s drama Black Dog snagged the top prize in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard sidebar on Friday night.

The drama, set on the edge of the Gobi desert in Northwest China, follows a man who returns home after a stint in jail and gets a job clearing a town of stray dogs before the Olympic Games. But he forms an unexpected bond with a black dog, and together, they embark on a new journey.

The film’s canine star won a pooch prize earlier in the day, scooping up the Grand Jury award at the Palm Dog.

For Un Certain Regard, the Jury Prize went to The Story Of Souleymane, Boris Lojkine’s Paris-set story of an African immigrant struggling to make a living and get legalized in the city of lights. Lead Abou Sangare also clinched one of the Un Certain Regard performance awards. The other...

Chinese director Hu Guan’s drama Black Dog won the top prize in Cannes Un Certain Regard on Friday evening.

The Jury Prize went to Boris Lojkine’s Paris-set asylum-seeker tale The Story Of Souleymane.

Best Director went to in ex aequo to Roberto Minervini for U.S. civil war drama The Damned and Rungano Nyoni for On Becoming a Guinea Fowl.

The Performance award went to Anasuya Sengupta for her performance as a young sex worker on the run in Bulgarian director Konstantin Bojanov’s India-set drama The Shameless, and Abou Sangare for his performance in Boris Lojkine’s The Story Of Souleymane as a young asylum seeker.

In other prizes, French director Louise Courvoisier won the Youth Prize for Holy Cow, while Saudi director Tawfik Alzaidi was feted with a Special Mention for Nora.

This year’s jury was presided over by Canadian actor, director, screenwriter and producer Xavier Dolan,...

Exactly ten years after the genre-mixing, canine-driven Hungarian thriller “White God” landed the Prix Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival, this year’s ceremony culminated in the same prize going to a somewhat corresponding title: Chinese director Guan Hu’s “Black Dog,” a fusion of western, film noir and offbeat comedy with a highly lovable mutt at its center. The film, about a damaged loner returning to his desert hometown after a spell in prison and finding a kindred spirit in an equally world-weary greyhound, beat 17 other titles to take the top prize in the festival’s second-most prestigious competitive section. (The festival’s Official Competition awards will be handed out tomorrow night.)

Jury president Xavier Dolan, the actor-auteur behind such films as “Mommy” and “Laurence Anyways,” commended Guan’s film for “its breathtaking poetry, its imagination, its precision [and] its masterful direction.” He echoed the enthusiasm of Variety critic Jessica Kiang,...

The Cannes Film Festival is many things: A prestigious platform for the best of world cinema, a massive industry event where film acquisitions get made, a testament to the French film industry’s classism and rampant sexual abuse. But more than anything, it’s one of the world’s greatest photo opps.

Sure, sure, everyone wants the Palme D’or. But even more people would kill to get seen on the iconic Cannes red carpet, and get their picture snapped by the hordes of press that camp on the Croisette. Some of the world’s most glamorous and beautiful celebrities can be seen on the steps outside the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès every year posing for the cameras, and while it’s not quite the fashion moment that the Met Gala is, it still offers a great opportunity for us pleebs to gawk at some particularly shiny stars in all of their finery.

Producer Patrick Sobelman and Ariane Toscan du Plantier, director of Cinema Distribution France and International at film and TV company Gaumont, have been voted in as president and vice-president of France’s César Academy.

Their mandate begins on July 16 for two years. Sobelman was previously vice-president of the César Academy alongside outgoing president Véronique Cayla.

The president and vice-president, the members of the executive Academy Office, who assist them in their work, as well as the heads of the 22 professionals chapters were voted on by the 176 members of the general assembly of the Association for the Promotion of Cinema, the umbrella body overseeing Cesar Academy. The general assembly members are in turn voted in by the some 4,700 members of the academy.

Since 2020, the Apc has stipulated gender parity across the César Academy’s Presidency, Academy Office and different chapter representatives, following accusations of lack of gender equality within its ranks...

The Cannes Film Festival has unveiled the eight jurors who will be joining jury president Greta Gerwig for the event’s 2024 edition (May 14-25).

They are American actress Lily Gladstone, French actress Eva Green, French actor and producer Omar Sy, Lebanese director and screenwriter Nadine Labaki, Spanish director and screenwriter Juan Antonio Bayona, Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda, Turkish screenwriter and photographer Ebru Ceylan, and Italian actor Pierfrancisco Favino.

The jury will award the Palme d’Or to one of the 22 films in competition at the closing ceremony on May 25. Anatomy Of A Fall picked up the top prize last year.

Update: Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan, whose film “Mommy” received the Cannes Jury Prize in 2014, will head the jury of Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival.

Joining him on the jury will be “Cuties” director Maïmouna Doucouré, “The Mother of All Lies” helmer Asmae El Moudir, “Phantom Thread” actor Vicky Krieps and film critic Todd McCarthy.

“I am humbled and delighted to return to Cannes as President of the Un Certain Regard Jury,” he said in a statement. “Even more than making films myself, discovering the work of talented filmmakers has always been at the very heart of both my personal and professional journeys. I see, in this responsibility I’m assigned, the opportunity to focus with the members of the Un Certain Regard Jury on an essential aspect of the art of film : stories told truthfully.”

Dolan wrote, directed, produced and starred in his first feature “I Killed My Mother...

Canadian actor and filmmaker Xavier Dolan will be joined on this year’s Un Certain Regard Jury by French-Senegalese filmmaker Maïmouna Doucouré, Moroccan director Asmae El Moudir, German-Luxembourg actress Vicky Krieps, and American film critic and writer Todd McCarthy.

The jury will be in charge of awarding prizes for the Un Certain Regard sidebar. This year, 18 films have been selected, including eight first features. The 2023 Un Certain Regard top prize went to director Molly Manning Walker’s debut feature How to Have Sex. When the light breaks by Rúnar Rúnarsson will open the Un Certain Regard section on May 15.

A self-taught filmmaker, Dolan made his feature directorial debut at 19 with I Killed My Mother, an adaptation of his own short story, which was chosen to represent Canada at the Academy Awards. He followed up that film with the 2010 romantic drama Heartbeats, which brought him into the Un Certain Regard section...

Actress Vicky Krieps and filmmaker Maimouna Doucoure are among the jury members for the Un Certain Regard section of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

Also joining are Moroccan filmmaker Asmae El Moudir, and American film critic and writer Todd McCarthy.

Xavier Dolan was announced as jury president earlier this year.

The quintet will watch 18 films as part of the Un Certain Regard selection, including eight debut films.

Last year’s Un Certain Regard jury, headed by John C. Reilly, awarded six prizes including the main award to Molly Manning Walker’s How To Have Sex.

This year’s Un Certain Regard...

Nolita Cinema’s musical Hear Me Love, starring France’s biggest pop star Clara Luciani in her first lead role, has started shooting in Paris as part of a revival of the film musical in France.

Set between Paris and Rome’s Cinecitta’s Studios in the 1970s, Hear Me Love (Joli Joli) follows a struggling writer looking for inspiration for his second novel who falls in love with a famous movie star. It is the fifth feature by French film and theatre director Diastème and is being scored by composer Alex Beaupain.

Ginger & Fed is selling the film...

Netflix wins its Cuties lawsuit, successfully blocking child pornography charges. The controversial film Cuties received backlash for perceived lewd content and a poorly-received trailer. Despite the criticism, Cuties does not contain sex scenes or graphic nudity, and the court has dismissed the child pornography charges.

Netflix comes out on top in a lawsuit against Cuties, one of its most controversial films. Originally released in 2020, Cuties is a French coming-of-age movie from director Maïmouna Doucouré. Its plot focuses on an eleven-year-old French-Senegalese girl named Amy, who decides to join a risqué dance group in order to rebel against her conservative family.

Following a 2022 lawsuit, Netflix successfully won their appeal to block child pornography charges against Cuties. As per Variety, Netflix won this case 3-0 in a vote held in the Texas 5th Circuit Court of Appeals under the claims that they had “been subjected to a bad-faith prosecution.” Of the ruling,...

In an excoriating opinion issued Monday, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against a Texas district attorney’s attempt to prosecute Netflix on bogus child pornography charges over the company’s 2020 film “Cuties.”

Tyler County D.A. Lucas Babin subjected Netflix “to a bad-faith prosecution,” the court said in its unanimous 3-0 opinion. This consituted “an injury we have already deemed ‘irreparable.'”

The court also cited First Amendment concerns, saying in part that “the state has no legitimate interest in a bad-faith prosecution. Our precedent similarly establishes that injunctions protecting First Amendment rights ‘are always in the public interest.’ Netflix has therefore shown that it is entitled to preliminary injunctive relief.”

“We end with what we expressed at the beginning,” the decision concludes. “We do not take accusations of prosecutorial bad faith or harassment lightly. Nor, absent extraordinary circumstances, are we inclined to exercise our jurisdiction in...

Tyler County District Attorney Lucas Babin came short in federal court a year ago in his attempt to hit Netflix with child pornography charges over the controversial Cuties, and now an appeals court has handed the former School of Rock actor another defeat and the streamer another win.

“We do not take accusations of prosecutorial bad faith or harassment lightly,” wrote 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Don R. Willett today of the case from the Woodville, TX-based prosecutor “Nor, absent extraordinary circumstances, are we inclined to exercise our jurisdiction in a way that interferes with ongoing state-court proceedings, he added in a 28-page order from himself and two other judges in Netflix’s favor (read the Cuties appeals court ruling here).

“But the injunction is preliminary, our review is deferential, and existing Supreme Court precedent has calibrated the principles of equity and federalism in a way that authorized the district court’s intervention.

An appeals court on Monday blocked a Texas district attorney from pursuing child pornography charges against Netflix for showing the French film “Cuties.”

In a 3-0 ruling, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court injunction that put the prosecution on an indefinite hold.

Netflix released the film in September 2020, sparking immediate controversy over its depiction of a teen dance troupe. Lucas Babin, the elected D.A. in Tyler County, Texas, indicted the streamer for “promotion of lewd visual material depicting a child.”

The film does not contain any sex scenes. The underage actors are shown doing provocative dance steps while clothed, and there is also a brief glimpse of an adult woman’s bare breast.

The streamer took the case to federal court, arguing that Babin was pursuing the case in bad faith and had no hope of obtaining a conviction. In November 2022, a federal judge granted...

Directors’ guild the Srf issued a statement saying “the far right is attacking culture”.

France’s directors’ guild, the Srf, and the producers guilds Spi and Upc, have all come out in support of Mehdi Fikri’s family drama After The Fire, about a woman on a quest for justice when her brother dies in police custody, blaming the film’s poor box office and scathing reviews on a far-right campaign they say is putting free speech at risk.

Fikri’s first feature was released in France on November 15 by Bac Films after a world premiere in Toronto’s Discovery section.

The American French Film Festival, which had been due to take place in L.A. from October 18 to 22, has been shelved due to the writers and actors strikes.

The Franco-American Cultural Fund (Facf) which oversees the event (formerly known as Colcoa) said it had made the difficult to decision to cancel the 2023 edition after a board meeting.

“The Facf Board of Directors determined this week that it was not possible to continue with business as usual,” the fund said in a statement.

The festival said it would still announce the full 2023 festival slate as originally planned on September 27 to honor the projects that were selected.

Previously announced elements of the program included the U.S. premiere of TV bio-drama Bardot, about the life of Brigitte Bardot, in the presence of co-creator Danièle Thompson.

“The Facf is keenly aware of the impact of this decision on the filmmakers, actors, producers, and...

Senegalese and French director Ramata-Toulaye Sy is only the second Black woman to make it into Competition in Cannes. Her debut feature, Banel & Adama, which had its debut Saturday, follows in the footsteps of Mati Diop’s 2019 Atlantics.

Sy draws on her roots in the Fulani, or Peul, culture of the Futa region in northern Senegal for her magic-realist film about a young couple whose passion brings chaos to their remote rural community. “The people of Futa have the reputation of being very dignified and sticking to their community,” says Sy, who was born and grew up in France. “I was raised in the Fulani tradition at home and French culture outside.”

Inspiration for Banel & Adama came from a desire to create a tragic African heroine on par with Pierre Corneille’s Médée or Jean Racine’s Phèdre. “We don’t really have these mythical, tragic characters, or we do,...

More than 300 leading figures from the French film and TV world have gotten behind a petition decrying controversial pension reforms spearheaded by the government of President Emmanuel Macron.

French stars Juliette Binoche, Audrey Fleurot, Camille Cottin, Swann Arlaud, Jeanne Balibar, Bérenice Béjo, Laure Calamy, Camille Cottin, Pierre Deladonchamps and Noémie Merlant; directors Michel Hazanavicius, Alice Diop, Kim Chapiron, Maimouna Doucouré, Robert Guédiguian and Alain Guiraudie, as well as producer Saïd Ben Saïd were among the signatories.

“It is high time to make our voices heard, because cinema, theater, culture, even if they sometimes offer dreams and a means of escape, above all speak of our world,” read an open letter to Macron accompanying the petition.

The petition was launched under the banner of the Cinema Entertainment Collective on the Liberation newspaper website on Thursday afternoon, as a national strike brought public services to a standstill and saw outbreaks of violence...

The American French Film Festival, formerly known as Colcoa, has set the dates of its 2023 edition to Oct. 18-22.

Organized by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, the festival will host its 27th edition at the Directors Guild of America Theater on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.

“Created by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, this event is the largest French film festival in North America and the largest festival dedicated to French Films and TV programs in the world,” said Cécile Rap-Veber, CEO of Sacem who presides over the Franco-American Cultural Fund.

Rap-Veber said “the American French Film Festival is a wonderful symbol to embody the Franco-American friendship and a crucial moment and spotlight to promote French cinema and all its talented creators.”

A Hollywood launchpad for French movies, the festival was launched in 1996 and has hosted premieres of movies by critically acclaimed filmmakers such as Jean-Jacques Annaud, Emmanuel Mouret, Maïmouna Doucouré, Céline Devaux,...

Chairman and CEO Maxime Saada stresses that film ‘defines’ Canal+.

French media powerhouse Canal+ has pledged to invest €1bn in cinema in the next five years and has showcased its high profile production slate for 2023.

“2023 will be the best year for cinema in Canal+ history,” Canal+ chairman and CEO Maxime Saada declared at a press event in Paris on Wednesday, which focused on the group’s investment in the country’s seventh art.

Saada’s pledge to spend €1bn spend is in line with the group’s previously announced plans to invest €200m per year in film, and includes €20-...

Chairman and CEO Maxime Saada stresses that film ‘defines’ Canal+.

French media powerhouse Canal+ has pledged to invest €1 billion in cinema in the next five years and has showcased its high profile production slate for 2023.

“2023 will be the best year for cinema in Canal+ history,” Canal+ chairman and CEO Maxime Saada declared at a press event in Paris on Wednesday, which focused on the group’s investment in the country’s seventh art.

Saada’s pledge to spend €1 billion spend is in line with the group’s previously announced plans to invest €200m per year in film, and includes €20-...

French pay-tv giant Canal+ went on the offensive at a special event in Paris on Wednesday, promoting its historic role as the biggest supporter of local and international cinema in France and laying out its past track record and future plans.

The roadshow-style conference was part of an operation laying the ground for the launch of a new high-end, cinema-focused channel Canal+ Box Office which was teased at the end of the event.

“2023 will be the most beautiful year for cinema in the history of Canal+. We’ve never held an event like this before devoted only to cinema, but we felt the need to talk about this,” declared Canal+ Group Chairman and CEO Maxime Saada.

The exec said the banner year was due to three factors, topped by the agreement it signed with the French cinema guilds in early 2022, pledging to invest at least €200M (213M) annually in cinema over five years.

Maimouna Doucouré, a French director of Senegalese origins who grew up in a social housing project in Paris and started her career with a screenwriting contest, isn’t one to buckle under any type of pressure or challenge.

She certainly didn’t dwell on the misguided backlash to her film “Cuties.” The controversy was provoked by Netflix’s promotional material for her Sundance prizewinning feature debut, which aimed to shed light the sexualization of children. In her sophomore outing, “Hawa,” Doucouré embarked on another challenging project, a modern-day fable boasting a cast entirely made up of non-professionals, including the celebrated Malian singer-songwriter Oumou Sangaré, astronaut Thomas Pesquet and popular singer Yseult.

As with “Cuties,” which earned Fathia Youssouf a Cesar award for best promising actress, the Amazon original film “Hawa” is headlined by Sania Halifa, a newcomer who delivers a robust performance. Halifa, a teenager with albinism, plays the title role,...

Coming off the TIFF world premiere of her sophomore film Hawa — a very PG Capraesque adventure film bursting with magic dust, Maïmouna Doucouré will take on the life of the iconic Josephine Baker. Deadline reports that Studiocanal project have the support from the family and Bien Ou Bien Productions’ Zangro will once again produce. This should be a big deal for whoever lands the part of Josephine. Production is expected to begin next year so we can date this for a possible 2024 showing.

Baker was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and she renounced her U.S. citizenship to became a French national.…...

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French director Maïmouna Doucouré (Cuties, Hawa) has signed on to write and direct a new biopic on American-born French icon Josephine Baker.

Studiocanal and Bien ou Bien Productions are set to produce the film together with Cpb Films, with principal photography expected to begin next year. The project is being developed with the support of Josephine Baker’s sons Jean-Claude Bouillon Baker and Brian Bouillon Baker.

A singer, dancer, actress and civil rights activist, Josephine Baker was born in Saint Louis, Missouri, but after coming to Paris to perform, remained, enjoying a life free of the institutionalized racism and segregation she experienced at home.

Performing in her trademark banana skirt, or shimmering sequins, Baker became the darling of Parisian society and a symbol of the Jazz Age. She was also a pioneering figure in cinema, becoming the first Black woman to star in...

The film will start shooting next year

French filmmaker Maimouna Doucouré is set to write and direct a biopic of French dancer, singer and actor Josephine Baker.

The film is in development and will shoot in 2023.

Studiocanal are producing with France’s Bien Ou Bien Productions. Cpb Films are co-producing.

Doucoure is best known for 2020’s Cuties which won her the directing award in world cinema at Sundance.

Her most recent film Hawa had its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) in the Platform strand.

XYZ Films founders on working with international filmmakers and their...

Josephine Baker is coming back to the big screen.

Maïmouna Doucouré, the director behind controversial film “Cuties,” is confirmed to write and direct the upcoming Baker biopic, with Baker’s sons Jean-Claude Bouillon Baker and Brian Bouillon Baker supporting the Studiocanal film.

“I am very excited to be involved in this wonderful project. Josephine Baker is such an inspiration for me and so many people around the world,” Doucouré said in a press statement. “It’s a huge honor and also a beautiful challenge to board this project with Studiocanal. To think that through fiction I can tell her great and profoundly rich story, her beauty, her fights, her wounds, and her humanity. I can’t wait to breathe new life into this incredible legend on screen.”

The French-Senegalese writer-director won a César award for the short film “Maman(s),” which was inspired by her experience being raised in a polygamous family.

Studiocanal has announced it is in development on a biopic feature film devoted to the life of iconic U.S.-born, French artist Josephine Baker.

Maïmouna Doucouré, who is best known for the French-language coming-of-age tale Cuties, is attached to write and direct.

Studiocanal is producing with Doucouré’s longtime producers at Bien Ou Bien Productions in co-production with Cpb Films.

The project is in development with the support of Josephine Baker’s sons Jean-Claude Bouillon Baker, Brian Bouillon Baker and the Rainbow tribe, the affectionate name the artist gave to the 12 children from a variety of different backgrounds that she adopted after World War Two.

They said in a joint statement: “Josephine Baker. The universal artist, woman and mother. We are honoured to partner with Studiocanal and collaborate with Maïmouna on this feature film about the incredible and humanist achievements of our mother. Yes she could. And she did.

Studiocanal is developing a feature film about Josephine Baker, the pioneering American-born French dancer, singer and actor, which Maïmouna Doucouré (“Cuties”) is attached to write and direct.

The project is being produced by Studiocanal and Doucouré’s banner Bien ou Bien Prods., in co-production with Cpb Films. The biopic has also been endorsed by Josephine Baker’s sons, Jean-Claude Bouillon Baker and Brian Bouillon Baker, and the Rainbow Tribe, which is what she dubbed her adopted children.

“We are honoured to partner with Studiocanal and collaborate with Maïmouna on this feature film about the incredible and humanist achievements of our mother,” said Baker’s sons and the Rainbow tribe, who described Baker as a “universal artist.” “Yes she could. And she did. Thank you, Mum,” the children continued.

Doucouré, who won best director at Sundance with “Cuties,” said, “Josephine Baker is such an inspiration for me and so many people around the world.

Casting is complete and cameras are currently rolling on Catherine Corsini‘s Le retour. We recently reported that Aïssatou Diallo Sagna was the first to join the project, and now we learned that Esther Gohourou (breakout in Maïmouna Doucouré’s Cuties) and Suzy Bemba will also topline the film and they’ll be supported by Lomane de Dietrich, Cédric Appietto, Marie-Ange Géronimi, Harold Orsoni, Jean Michelangeli, Virginie Ledoyen and Denis Podalydès. Cineuropa reports that Chaz Productions’ Élisabeth Perez will produce. Corsini reteams with cinematographer Jeanne Lapoirie (who has Robin Campillo’s Vazaha to be released next year). Production will last close to two months and a Cannes premiere is entirely possible.…...

Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is...

A bold celebration of taking up space in places you’re told you don’t belong, “Hawa” is a crowd-pleasing fable with a fluffy heart, fierce spirit and disarming sense of humor. These qualities also define the titular heroine of Maïmouna Doucouré’s lovely sophomore feature, co-written by Doucouré, Alain-Michel Blanc, Zangro and David Elkaim. Hawa is both sensitive and fearless while she roams the streets of Paris on a life-defining quest with her dependable scooter and unapologetic blonde afro, seeing the world through her idiosyncratic coke-bottle glasses as she earns the help and goodwill of a parade of strangers.

Don’t be alarmed by the crowded group of writers here — despite the many cooks in the kitchen, “Hawa,” under the baton of Doucouré, is as coherently envisioned and tightly structured as movies come. You might recall the gifted Doucouré’s name and recognize her style from her debut “Cuties,...

Event formerly known as Colcoa runs October 10-16.

The North American premiere of Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Notre-Dame On Fire (Notre-Dame Brûle), a dramatised account of the April 2019 fire that damaged the Gothic Parisian landmark, will open American French Film Festival (formerly Colcoa) in Los Angeles on October 16.

The week-long event will close with the North American premiere of Dominik Moll’s thriller The Night Of The 12th (La Nuit du 12) and the annual filmmaker focus will be dedicated to Moll. The world theatrical premiere of Olivier Assayas’s series Irma Vep will also screen on closing day.

The line-up...

The American French Film Festival, formerly known as Colcoa, will kick off Oct. 10 with the North American premiere of docudrama “Notre-Dame on Fire,” from “Quest for Fire” director Jean-Jacques Annaud. The weeklong festival at the DGA Theater Complex in Los Angeles closes with Dominik Moll’s thriller “The Night of the 12th,” about a cold case where the only certainty is the night it occurred. Moll will also be the focus of the festival’s annual “Focus on a Filmmaker.”

“Every year, The American French Film Festival presents the very best of French cinema and television, and this year is no exception. I am personally excited about the opening night selection of Jean-Jacques Annaud’s ‘Notre-Dame on Fire’ as I think it perfectly embodies the Franco-American Cultural Fund’s mission,” said Andrea Berloff, writer and board member of the Franco-American Cultural Fund.

The festival will screen 75 films and TV series and 20 shorts,...

“In the event that the violating content continues to be available, the necessary legal measures will be taken.”

Six Gulf states have called on Netflix to remove content deemed offensive from its platform.

A joint statement from the Saudi General Commission for Audiovisual Media and the Gulf Cooperation Council (Gcc) Committee of Electronic Media Officials said Netflix had been approached because it was “broadcasting visual material and content which violates content controls in Gcc countries.”

It added that un-specified content on the streaming platform “violates Islamic and societal values and principles. As such, the platform was contacted to remove this content,...

The WhaleWAVELENGTHS - FEATURESConcrete Valley (Antoine Bourges)De Humani Corporis Fabrica (Véréna Paravel, Lucien Castaing-Taylor)Dry Ground BurningHorse Opera (Moyra Davey)Pacifiction (Albert Serra)Queens of the Qing Dynasty (Ashley McKenzie)Unrest (Cyril Schäublin)Will-o’-the-Wisp (João Pedro Rodrigues)Wavelenghths - SHORTSAfter Work (Céline Condorelli, Ben Rivers)Bigger on the Inside (Angelo Madsen Minax)Eventide (Sharon Lockhart)F1ghting Looks Different 2 Me Now (Fox Maxy)Fata Morgana (Tacita Dean)Hors-titre (Wiame Haddad)I Thought the World of You (Kurt Walker)Moonrise (Vincent Grenier)The Newest Olds (Pablo Mazzolo)Puerta a Puerta (Jessica Sarah Rinland, Luis Arnías )The Time That Separates Us (Parastoo Anoushahpour)What Rules the Invisible (Tiffany Sia)Gala PRESENTATIONSAlice, Darling (Mary Nighy)Black Ice (Hubert Davis)The Greatest Beer Run Ever (Peter Farrelly)Butcher’s Crossing (Gabe Polsky)The Hummingbird (Francesca Archibugi)Hunt (Jung-jae Lee)A Jazzman’s Blues (Tyler Perry)Kacchey Limbu (Shubham Yogi)Moving On (Paul Weitz)Paris Memories...

Company has won last three Palme d’Or awards.

Neon is reportedly exploring a sale of all or part of its assets and has retained the services of merchant bank Raine, according to an article in The New York Times.

The company co-founded in 2017 by Tom Quinn and Tim League is looking to grow its international distribution, television, streaming and production business. Sources have confirmed this to Screen.

Since launch, Neon has established itself as a purveyor of arthouse and left-field darlings, most recently winning the Palme d’Or with Triangle Of Sadness, its third Cannes triumph in a row...

“Emily,” a biopic starring Emma Mackey as “Wuthering Heights” writer Emily Brontë, will have its world premiere through Toronto International Film Festival’s Platform program, the festival announced Wednesday.

Platform, which was established in 2015 and is named after the 2000 film by Jia Zhang-ke, screens eight to 12 films from a diverse range of global filmmakers with rising careers. After the screenings, the Platform Prize, an award of 20,000 Cad, is given to one film selected by an international jury. Previous Platform selections include acclaimed films such as “Sound of Metal,” “The Death of Stalin,” “Jackie,” “Moonlight,” “Lady Macbeth” and “High-Rise.”

“Emily,” the directorial debut of English actor Frances O’Connor, will be the opening film for this year’s Platform program. The other nine films selected for Platform are: “Carvão” by Brazilian director Carolina Markowicz, “La Gravité” by French director Cédric Ido, “Hawa” by French “Cuties” director Maïmouna Doucouré, “How to Blow Up...

The Toronto International Film Festival today revealed the 10 feature films that will make up its Platform section. The festival, which runs September 8 through 18 this year, annually hosts the Platform vertical to shine a light on first-time and veteran filmmakers and their bold directorial visions from around the globe.

The program’s opening night selection is the directorial debut of actor Frances O’Connor, “Emily,” which centers on author Emily Brontë and the years leading up to the publication of her novel “Wuthering Heights.” Notably the selection also includes two Canadian films as well as the latest movie from Maïmouna Doucouré, the director of 2020’s controversial “Cuties.” All 10 films in the program are world premieres.

“We launched Platform to shine a brighter light on some of the most original films and distinct voices at our Festival,” said Cameron Bailey, the CEO of the Toronto International Film Festival. “Now in year seven, it...

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) unveiled the 10 films that will make up the 2022 Platform section, with Frances O’ Connor’s directorial debut, “Emily,” a biopic about “Wuthering Heights” author Emily Brontë, serving as the opening night feature. The “Mansfield Park” actress’ first feature film behind the camera will star Emma Mackey (“Sex Education”) as the storied author.

All 10 films will be making their world premiere at TIFF and include titles from Canada, Iran, France, Switzerland, Brazil and India. Previous films that have debuted in the Platform section include Barry Jenkins’ Best Picture Oscar winner “Moonlight,” Darius Marder’s Best Picture–nominated “Sound of Metal” and Armando Iannucci’s “The Death of Stalin.”

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Along with “Emily,” other titles include “How to Blow Up a Pipeline,” an environmental thriller from Daniel Goldhaber that shares...

Ten features selected for competitive strand championing bold visions.

Frances O’Connor’s feature directorial debut Emily will open 2022 Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) Platform, the competitive section championing bold visions which also includes Hawa from French director Maïmouna Doucouré.

Emily charts the romantic life of Emily Brontë in the lead-up to her classic novel Wuthering Heights. Hawa, the follow-up to Doucouré’s 2020 Sundance and Berlin entry Cuties, centres on a teenage girl who sets off to get adopted by one of the most powerful women in the world.

The 10 Platform selections feature Subtraction from Iranian filmmaker Mani Haghighi, the...

Case expected to last up to five or six weeks.

Allegations flew back and forth in a Virginia courthouse on Tuesday (April 12) as lawyers for Johnny Depp and ex-wife Amber Heard delivered opening statements in a 50m defamation trial.

Depp is suing Heard over an op-ed she wrote about domestic abuse in The Washington Post which he claims damaged his reputation and career.

While the December 18 2018 article did not mention Depp by name, the Hollywood star’s attorney Benjamin Chew said it contained statements “that falsely and unfairly cast Mr Depp as a villain, a man who would violently abuse...

Dujardin stars in comedy-drama Alphonse, written and directed by Nicolas Bedos.

Amazon Prime Video has unveiled a slate of seven new French original productions including projects from Jean Dujardin, Maïmouna Doucouré and Franck Gastambide.

Dujardin stars in comedy-drama Alphonse, written and directed by Nicolas Bedos and produced by Alain Goldman for Montmartre Films. Described as a “sharp-and-witty comedy”, it is based on an original idea by Dujardin and Bedos

Gastambide (creator of TV series Validé) has written and directed action comedy Medellín, about a young YouTuber fascinated by Pablo Escobar who gets kidnapped.

Maïmouna Doucouré follows up Sundance entry Cuties with coming-of-age film Hawa,...

Amazon Prime Video has unveiled seven new shows from the likes of Jean Dujardin, Nicolas Bedos, Franck Gastambide and Maïmouna Doucouré, while recommissioning Celebrity Hunted and Lol: Qui Rit, Sort!. in the region.

The new shows include Academy Award-winning The Artist star Dujardin’s Alphonse, based on an original idea by Dujardin and Bedos and produced by Alain Goldman, who recently signed a deal with Banijay.

The show was positioned by Amazon as a “surprising and funny take on comedy.”

Gastambide’s feature Medellín follows Pablito, a young YouTuber fascinated by Pablo Escobar, who makes his dream come true by flying to the Colombian city to walk in the notorious drug lord’s footsteps. A few days later, a video is posted on social media, showing that Pablito has been kidnapped by a group of dangerous Narcos.

Meanwhile, Federation Entertainment and Yvette Production’s comedy Clasico will be out later...

Audrey Diwan’s Venice’s Golden Lion prize-winning “Happening,” has won France’s Alice Guy Award for the best female-directed French film of the year.

The Alice Guy Prize, which was named in honor of the first female helmer, was created by veteran film journalist Veronique Le Bris in 2018 to highlight the work of women directors.

The other four movies which were vying for the prize were Aissa Maiga’s lushly-lensed documentary feature “Marcher sur l’eau” and Catherine Corsini’s timely social drama “La fracture” which world premiered at last year’s Cannes in the official selection; as well as Aurélie Saada’s uplifting dramedy “Rose” and Charlène Favier’s “Slalom,” a coming-of-age film set in the world of competitive skiing.

These contenders, which are all French movies which were theatrically released within the year, were selected by 3,260 voters, while the final winner was chosen by a jury of filmmakers and professionals,...