News

FrançoisScippa-Kohn’sDistrib Films has acquired US rights to French coming-of-age drama Block Pass (La Pampa), Antoine Chevrollier’s debut feature that first premiered at Cannes’ Critics’ Week.

Pulsar Content is handling international sales for the film that has sold some 154,000 tickets (and grossed approximately €1.1mn) since its February 5th release for local distributor Tandem.

The LGBTQ+ story focuses on the long friendship between two teenage boys in a small town – one a daredevil motocross competitor hiding a secret, and his friend and loyal sidekick who is mourning the death of his father. Sayyid El Alami and Amaury Foucher star as...

French-Danish actor and director Niels Arestrup, best known to international audiences for playing a Corsican crime boss in Jacques Audiard’s Cannes Grand Prix, Oscar-nominated A Prophet, has died at the age of 75.

His wife, actress and writer Isabelle Le Nouvel, announced the news, saying Arestrup had died on Sunday (December 1) following “a courageous battle against illness” at their home outside of Paris.

Arestrup won best supporting actor César awards for his 2009 A Prophet performance and for playing the petty gangster father in Audiard’s 2005 BAFTA-winning The Beat That My Heart Skipped. He earned a third César award for Bertrand Tavernier...

Niels Arestrup, an outstanding actor noted for his imposing performances in French cinema, stage, and television, passed away in an act on Sunday at his house outside Paris. His wife, Isabelle Le Nouvel, French actress and screenwriter, confirmed his death. He was 75.

Arestrup was praised for his ability to add depth and complexity to his parts, garnering three César Awards, France’s highest film accolade. His career, spanning decades, showed his versatility as an artist, shifting smoothly between stage and television.

Arestrup’s early life was distant from show business, as he was born to a French mother from Brittany and a Danish father. He struggled in school, failed his high school examinations, and performed various jobs before discovering his love of acting. Despite these hurdles, he forged a fantastic career, becoming one of France’s most reputable entertainers.

One of Arestrup’s most memorable parts was in Jacques Audiard’s 2009 crime drama A Prophet.

French-Danish actor, director and writer Niels Arestrup, known for his Cesar-winning performances in Jacques Audiard’s The Beat That My Heart Skipped and A Prophet, has died at his home outside Paris at the age of 75.

Arestrup’s wife, the actress, screenwriter and author Isabelle Le Nouvel announced her husband’s death on Sunday.

The actor won a record three French Césars across his career with the final one being Bertrand Tavernier’s political satire The French Minister (Quai d’Orsay).

Arestrup was born to French mother, from Brittany, and a Danish father and grew up in humble conditions in Paris. After failing his high-school exams, he did odd jobs and then slowly moved into TV and drama.

In A Prophet, Arestrup played ruthless Corsican mobster César Luciani, who enlists the protagonist Malik (Tahar Rahim), introducing him to a life of crime in return for his protection.

Further highlights of...

Antoine Chevrollier's debut feature Block Pass follows on the heels of a strong run in television for the writer/director, who created Oussekine - which considers the events that led to the death of a French-Algerian student at the hands of police - and helmed episodes of Baron Noir and The Bureau. Block Pass (La Pampa) focuses on the friendship between teenagers Willy (Sayyid El Alami) and Jojo (Amaury Foucher). Both have bonded over motocross, racing at a track founded by their fathers. Although Willy is still reeling from the death of his ten years afterwards, while Jojo comes under increasing pressure from his (Damien Bouchard). Chevrollier's film offers racing thrills and spills while also zeroing in on toxic masculinity, small-town prejudice and the pressure to conform to parental expectations. Block Pass had its premiere...

(Photo via Wikimedia Commons)

Canal Plus Group has launched a new budget streaming TV service that brings its linear channels and on-demand content under a single platform.

The service, called TV Plus, comes several weeks after competing streaming platforms by TF1 and M6 debuted in France.

TV Plus will offer 80 live channels — including TF1 and M6 — along with more than 20,000 hours of content each month for just €2 per month (about U.S. $2.15 per month).

The service is intended to compete with Molotov, a streaming pay television service owned by American media company Fubo.

“The TV Plus service addresses two market needs: It aggregates content under a single point, in order to simplify the viewing experience, and it is compatible with all new TV viewing habits,” Canal Plus said in a statement, which The Desk translated from French.

TV Plus subscribers will see many of the same benefits available in the standalone Canal Plus app,...

Detrás de la alta costura: Daniel Brühl y Théodore Pellerin protagonizan la serie sobre los orígenes de Karl Lagerfeld. © Disney Plus+

Ya se han publicado el primer tráiler y póster de “Becoming Karl Lagerfeld”, la nueva serie original de Disney Plus+ ambientada en plena década de los 70 en París, Mónaco y Roma, que narra la historia de Karl antes que Lagerfeld, la compleja e icónica personalidad de la alta costura parisina, alguien a punto de convertirse en el Emperador de la moda. Esta historia es una adaptación del best-seller “Kaiser Karl” de Raphaëlle Bacqué y llega por primera vez a la pantalla con un reparto estelar.

En 1972, Karl Lagerfeld (Daniel Brühl) tiene 38 años y aún no luce su icónico peinado. Es un diseñador de prêt-à-porter desconocido para el gran público. Cuando conoce y se enamora de Jacques de Bascher (Théodore Pellerin), un joven dandi ambicioso y atormentado, el más misterioso de los diseñadores de moda,...

Hulu has released the official trailer for the upcoming drama Becoming Karl Lagerfeld, which stars Daniel Brühl as the iconic couturier. The series will premiere with all six episodes on Friday, June 7, on Hulu in the U.S. and Disney+ internationally.

In 1972, Karl Lagerfeld (Daniel Brühl) was 38 and not yet wearing his iconic hairstyle. He was a ready-to-wear designer unknown to the general public.

While he meets and falls in love with the sultry Jacques de Bascher (Théodore Pellerin), an ambitious and troubling young dandy, the most mysterious of fashion designers dares to take on his friend (and rival) Yves Saint Laurent (Arnaud Valois), a genius of haute couture backed by the redoubtable businessman Pierre Bergé (Alex Lutz).

Becoming Karl Lagerfeld plunges us into the heart of the ’70s, in Paris, Monaco, and Rome, to follow the formidable blossoming of this complex and iconic personality of Parisian couture, already driven...

Cannes Critics’ Week championing work by emerging filmmakers has unveiled the line-up for its 63rd edition running from May 15 to 23.

The traditionally compact parallel selection will showcase 11 features, seven in competition, as well as 13 short films, selected from 1,050 features and 2,150 short films. (scroll down for full list)

The 2024 edition marks Artistic Director Ava Cahen’s third at the helm, with buzzy discoveries under her directorship to date including Tiger Stripes, The Rapture, Aftersun and Love According To Dalva.

Opening and closing films

French director Jonathan Millet’s psychological manhunt thriller Ghost Trail (Les Fantômes) will open the section. It marks his first feature after half a dozen shorts including Tell Me About The Stars.

Adam Bessa, who won the Un Certain Regard prize for his performance in Harka in 2022, stars as a man in pursuit of his former torturer. He never saw his oppressor’s face, but knows his smell,...

Chevrollier is behind hit French series including Oussekine and international hit thriller The Bureau

Paris-based sales house Pulsar Content has hopped aboard Antoine Chevrollier’s Block Pass and will kick off sales at Unifrance’s Rendez-Vous in Paris which takes place from January 16-23.

Block Pass is the anticipated debut feature from Chevrollier, who is well known as a series director in France. His credits including police brutality drama Oussekine, spy thriller The Bureau and political drama Baron Noir.

The film is produced by Nicolas Blanc’s Agat Films and reteams the director with Oussekine star Sayyid El Alami alongside fresh face Amaury Foucher,...

European powerhouse Studiocanal, part of Vivendi’s Canal+ Group, has rolled out robust sales on Xavier Dolan’s Sundance-selected psychological thriller “The Night Logan Woke Up,” Spanish period drama “The Vow” and a bevy of first documentaries.

The deals underscore the continuing upside for Studiocanal of illustrious cinema talent exploring premium TV direction, as well as the company’s beneficial diversification into documentary sales and daily series.

A Sundance world premiere and Canal+ original based on Michel Marc Bouchard’s play “La Nuit où Laurier Gaudreault s’est réveille,” “The Night Logan Woke Up” has sold to Netflix for the U.S., Star Channel Japan, Sbs Australia, Filmin for Spain and Portugal and Wdr Germany, among major territories.

Among a slew of deals, “Logan,” which marks the first TV series from Cannes Jury Prize-winning Quebecois actor-director Dolan, has also been licensed by Studiocanal to BeTV Belgium, Lumiere Benelux, Ltv Latvia,...

Xavier Giannoli is one of those rare French directors who has a stronger relationship with the Venice Film Festival than Cannes back home.

He has competed for Venice’s Golden Lion three times in the last decade with Superstar (2012), Marguerite (2015) and the sumptuous Honoré de Balzac adaptation Lost Illusions (2021).

The filmmaker is back for a fourth time this year playing Out of Competition with his first-ever drama series, the international thriller Of Money And Blood. All 12 episodes will world premiere in a marathon screening on Thursday, with further seances at the back end of the festival.

Liberally adapted from the eponymous book by investigative journalist Fabrice Arfi, the series delves into a real-life, carbon credit tax scam, which swindled the French state of at least $1.7 billion, in an operation that came to be known as the “fraud of the century” when it came to trial in 2018.

Related: Venice Film Festival...

After exploring the tumults of French politics in “Baron Noir,” Oscar-nominated French-Lebanese filmmaker Ziad Doueiri immerses audiences into the rough world of French Special Forces in Iraq in “Dark Hearts.”

Ordered by Amazon Prime Video in France, “Dark Hearts” is set on the eve of the battle for Mosul in October 2016 and follows the lives of men and women who are part of a commando group deployed in Iraq to fight Isis. They are tasked with exfiltrating the daughter and grandson of an important Isis leader who will only cooperate with them on this condition.

Doueiri, who started his career in Hollywood working as a first assistant camera on movies like Quentin Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs,” was always curious about war movies but thought of them as a genre pre-empted by American filmmakers. So when French producer Gilles de Verdière at Mandarin Télévision approached him with the pitch for “Dark Hearts,...

U.S. streaming service Topic is expanding its roster of French content with such recent acquisitions as the Arte fantasy-thriller miniseries “The Rope,” picked up from Wild Bunch TV, and Season 2 of political satire “Parliament,” sold internationally by France TV Distribution.

Launched by First Look Media in 2019, Topic specializes in crime and thrillers, including top Nordic shows like “The Killing,” “The Bridge,” “Arctic Circle” and “The Bridge”-inspired German thriller “Pagan Peak.”

Jennifer Liang, Topic’s vice president of programming strategy, acquisitions and sales, is attending this year’s Unifrance Rendez-Vous TV programming market in Biarritz for the first time and on the lookout for titles that fit the niche streamer’s high standards.

“For over a year, Topic has been hyper-focused on elevated crime, true crime, thriller and suspense programming from all over the world,” Liang said. “We found that our subscribers appreciate how we bypass the standard crime...

Vincent Maël Cardona, whose 2021 pic “Magnetic Beats” won a prize at Cannes’ Directors Fortnight and a Cesar Award for best first film, is set to direct “De Grâce,” a sprawling crime thriller unfolding in the northern French port city of Le Havre.

The series is being co-produced and commissioned by Arte France, and is produced by Pierre-Emmanuel Fleurantin at Ego Productions, a Mediawan company. Belgium’s Savage Films is co-producing. Mediawan Rights is representing the show in international markets.

Set to start shooting on location in Le Havre on Aug. 8, “De Grâce” features a strong ensemble cast including Olivier Gourmet (“The Minister”), Margot Bancilhon (“Five”), Panayotis Pascot (“Mon chien stupide”), Pierre Lottin (“Notre-Dame on Fire”), Astrid Whettnall (“Baron noir”), Philippe Rebbot.(“L’amour flou”) and French rapper Gringe.

“De Grâce,” penned by Maxime Crupaux (“Cherif”) and Baptiste Fillon, tells the story of Pierre Leprieur (Gourmet), a native of Le Havre who...

Disney+’s French historical drama Oussekine will present the “dark part of our national history books,” according to its creator, who sought inspiration from Ava DuVernay’s U.S. Netflix smash When They See Us.

Antoine Chevrollier’s four-parter, one of the first Disney+ France originals to be greenlit, tells the story of the tragic death of Malik Oussekine, the response of his family down the years and the ripple effect on French society. In 1986, the young French-Algerian student was chased and beaten to death by police at a protest against immigration restrictions, which were scrapped days later after the protests intensified in the wake of Oussekine’s death.

Launching on adult-skewing vertical Star on May 11, the show features Messiah‘s Sayyid El Alami as Malik and Succession’s Hiam Abbas as his mother Aicha Oussekine and is the first to be showrun by The Bureau director Chevrollier, who oversaw...

Paris-based sales powerhouse has rented Berlin gallery off Potsdamer Platz.

Wild Bunch International (Wbi) has released a first look image of Algerian-French director Mounia Meddour’s new drama Houria, ahead of its sales launch at the upcoming European Film Market (February 10-17).

The previously announced project is Meddour’s second feature after Cannes Un Certain Regard breakout Papicha and reunites her with that film’s star Lyna Khoudri, whose other credits include The French Dispatch and The Blessed, for which she won best actress when it debuted in Venice’s Horizons sidebar in 2017.

Khoudri plays a talented ballerina who makes...

Olivier Bibas is to join the French pay TV giant Canal Plus as head of its fiction label Création Originale. As such, Bibas will be responsible for Canal Plus’ French drama and international co-productions. He starts on Feb. 14.

Bibas will report to Gérald-Brice Viret, managing director, French TV Channels and Programs at Canal Plus Group, who said Bibas’ “vision, recognized expertise and talent will be invaluable in proposing new major series with worldwide appeal.”

Fabrice de la Patellière, who has held the position of head of drama at Canal Plus since 2002, will now move into production and partner with Studiocanal, under the direction of Anna Marsh, to develop ambitious French and international series, for both television and platforms.

In a statement, Canal Plus said it would like to thank De la Patellière for “his tremendous contribution to the numerous successes” of Création Originale, which he launched over 15 years ago with Arielle Saracco.

Awards

MTV has unveiled the star-studded lineup of award presenters for the upcoming “2021 MTV EMAs.” Pop star Rita Ora, model Winnie Harlow, musician and producer Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, WWE star Drew McIntyre, singer-songwriter Olly Alexander, DJ and producer Joel Corry and Brazilian singer-actor Manu Gavassi will each present prizes during the ceremony.

The hosts join an in-person lineup of celebrity talent which includes Maluma, Måneskin, Kim Petras, Yungblud, Griff, girl in red, show host Saweetie and World Stage headliner OneRepublic. The 2021 “MTV EMAs” will take place Nov. 14 in the Papp László Budapest Sportaréna in Hungary and be broadcast globally on MTV networks.

Distribution

Vice Distribution has pre-sold the upcoming GameStop documentary “The Big Squeeze,” produced by Vice World News, in several key territories. Turned around quickly, the documentary revisits this year’s GameStop shot squeeze scandal, which dominated headlines around the world for weeks. Presales were closed with Svt in Sweden,...

Grierson Awards: Netflix And BBC Neck-And-Neck

Netflix was nearly neck-and-neck with the BBC at last night’s Grierson Awards, winning five gongs including for David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet in Best Single Documentary – Domestic. The streamer was only one behind the BBC’s six wins as the pair dominated on a night where the BBC tends to be out in front. Netflix’s other victories came for Biggie: I Got A Story To Tell (Best Music Documentary), Athlete A (Best Sports Documentary), My Octopus Teacher (Best Natural History or Environmental Documentary) and A Love Song For Latasha (Best Short). BBC2 doc Once Upon a Time in Iraq won two awards (Best History Documentary and Best Documentary Series) while all other BBC awards went to BBC4 shows. Channel 4 won for The School That Tried To End Racism (Best Constructed Documentary Series) and Yinka Bokinni (Best Documentary Presenter), while...

Mounia Meddour, the director of the Cesar-winning film “Papicha” that also played to acclaim at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in 2019, will next direct “Houria,” an Algeria-set drama headlined by “Papicha” star Lyna Khoudri.

Meddour, who is on the jury of this year’s Un Certain Regard, wrote the original screenplay for “Houria.”

The film is set in contemporary Algeria and will star Khoudri (“The French Dispatch”) as a young woman who is passionate about ballet dancing and experiences a trauma. Following this personal tragedy, she meets other women who have experienced similar situations and finds a creative way to pursue her passion. Besides Khoudri, who has become one of France’s hottest actors, “Houria” will star Amira Hilda Douaouda, another “Papicha” actor, as well as Rachida Brakni (“Baron Noir’).

“Like ‘Papicha,’ ‘Houria’ will tell the story of strong-willed women on their paths to resilience and emancipation which are themes that drive me,...

Kad Merad, Fatsah Bouyahmed and Oulaya Amamra lead the cast of the French adaptation of The Distinguished Citizen, produced by Axel Films. Having kicked off on 5 March in Morocco, filming on Citoyen d'honneur, the 5th feature film by Mohamed Hamidi (discovered in 2013 via Homeland and nominated for the 2016 European Film Award for Best Comedy thanks to One Man and His Cow) is set to wrap in the Paris region tomorrow. Shining bright in the cast are Kad Merad, Fatsah Bouyahmed (who led the cast of One Man and His Cow), Oulaya Amamra (who bagged the Best New Hope César and...

Sold by France Télévision Distribution, this Jerico and Père et Fils production will star the director alongside Sandrine Kiberlain, Manon Lemoine and Emmanuelle Devos. Halted on 13 March due to the health crisis, with four weeks of shooting yet to unfurl, Hear Me Out’s film shoot, helmed by Pascal Elbé, has finally wrapped. After Turk’s Head (nominated for the 2011 Best First Film César) and Thank You for Calling (2015), this will be the 3rd feature film directed by the actor (the winner of 2004’s Best New Hope César for Père et fils and recently drawing attention in the series Baron noir) who’s also headlining his new opus alongside Sandrine Kiberlain (who we’ll soon be seeing in Les deux Alfred and Pour le meilleur et pour le pire).Joining them in the cast is the young actress Manon Lemoine, Emmanuelle Devos (touring French cinemas in Perfumes), Valérie Donzelli (gracing last year’s.

Romantic comedy is third feature for popular French actor in the director’s chair.

France TV Distribution is launching international sales on Pascal Elbé’s romantic comedy Hear Me Out ,about a history teacher in denial about losing his hearing, at next week’s virtual Cannes.

Elbé directs and stars opposite Sandrine Kiberlain who plays the mother of a young girl who has stopped talking. She helps him to open up to the world and find peace with his condition.

They are joined by a strong ensemble cast featuring Manon Lemoine, François Berléand, Valérie Donzelli, Antoine Gouy, Claudia Tagbo, Marthe Villalonga and Emmanuelle Devos.

Nicolas Fustier, Pablo Pauly, Julia Piaton and Patrick Rocca all feature in the cast of the director’s first feature film, which is produced by Elemiah. Since 15 October, Vincent Duquesne has been shooting his first feature film Garder ton nom. Starring in the movie are two actors whom the filmmaker previously cast in his short film JJ Showman (2018): Nicolas Fustier (playing his first lead role in a feature film) and Pablo Pauly. They will flanked by Julia Piaton (Serial (Bad) Weddings, Roommates Wanted, and who we’ll be seeing next year in C’est la vie) and seasoned actor Patrick Rocca (who recently stood out in the series Baron noir). Written by Vincent Duquesne, the story...

French programs have brought in €276 million ($304.7 million) from international sales and foreign investment through co-productions in 2018. It marks the third highest performance of the last 25 years, according to a study unveiled by the French National Film Board, or Cnc, and TV France International.

Sales of French programs alone accounted for $190 million (compared with €205 million last year), driven by animation and fiction shows. The report, unveiled during the Rendez-Vous With French Cinema hosted by TV France International in Biarritz, also said that the rise of international streaming services has bolstered the sales of French TV programs, in particular animation and crime series such as “Baron noir,” which was acquired by Amazon U.K., HBO Go Scandinavia and Spain and Ivi in Russia.

Dominique Boutonnat, the new president of the Cnc, said the export of French TV programs has been thriving in spite of the competitive marketplace. “It is key to continue...

Ilene Chaiken, a creative force behind “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Empire” and “The L Word,” will participate in a keynote interview at the upcoming MipTV market in Cannes.

Chaiken is best-known for creating the Showtime series “The L Word.” She also executive produced Hulu’s critically acclaimed “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and was the showrunner for the first four seasons of the Golden Globe-nominated Fox series “Empire.” Chaiken is an executive producer on “The L Word” reboot, which was recently commissioned by Showtime.

MipTV praised Chaiken for “bringing more awareness [of] the importance of diverse and equal representation in all its forms, both in front of and behind the camera,” through the series she has created. She’s currently under a multi-year producing deal with 20th Century Fox Television.

Chaiken’s keynote interview will be one of the highlights of MipTV’s content development side, which notably includes the second edition of In Development,...

Studiocanal has pre-sold Movistar+’s original drama “Instinto” to Amazon Prime Video in Latin America and to Pantaya, the premium Spanish-language streaming service recently launched by Lionsgate and Hemisphere Media Group.

An erotic thriller, “Instinto” is produced by Bambú Producciones, the Studiocanal-owned Spanish company behind Spanish-language hit series such as “Velvet” and “Grand Hotel.” The series will mark the first show from Bambú distributed by Studiocanal and the company’s first partnership with Telefonica.

The eight-part drama, directed by Carlos Sedes, will premiere on Movistar+ in Spain and will also roll out on a first-run basis across the U.S. on Pantaya. Amazon Prime Video will then stream the series in the entire Latin American region, including Brazil.

“Instinto” stars Mario Casas (“The 33”) as Marco, a tormented young businessman who regularly escapes to a private club to fulfill his fantasies. The show was created by executive producers Ramón Campos and Teresa Fernández-Valdés.

Canal Plus Group is set to shut down its subscription-based VOD service CanalPlay, which launched seven years ago and saw its subscriber base plummet in late 2015 in the wake of Netflix’s debut.

Canal Plus Group president Maxime Saada told the Senate Committee on Culture that the group’s streaming service had been greatly penalized by the strict regulations imposed by France’s broadcasting authorities and the anti-trust board that banned CanalPlay from having exclusive rights to content it developed and produced.

“Right when Netflix launched, the anti-trust board banned CanalPlay from having exclusive rights to content. Back then we had 800,000 subscribers, now we have 200,000 of them,” Saada said.

“This ban has just been lifted, but it’s too late. In two years, we’ve been crossed off a market, which is gradually replacing linear TV,” Saada said, adding that if French lawmakers didn’t improve the conditions for Canal Plus Group,...

Head of fiction programming at Canal Plus since 2002, Fabrice de la Patelliere has been a driving force behind the French pay TV’s channel’s push into ambitious French and English-language drama series, notably “Versailles,” whose third season world premiered at Canneseries on Wednesday, opening the new TV festival.

The French TV maven spoke to Variety about the making of “Versailles” and how the show fits into the editorial line of Canal Plus’ Creation Originale label, He also discussed upcoming projects and new challenges sparked by the high-end drama series boom.

What were the challenges in creating this third season of “Versailles” and why did you decide to make it the final season?

From the start, “Versailles'” producer Claude Chelli had spoken to us about making three seasons. The series was meant to chronicle the coming of age and rise to power of Louis Xiv and show how he...

Eric Barbier’s “Promise at Dawn” will headline the 2018 Colcoa French Film Festival on April 23, the Franco-American Cultural Fund announced Tuesday.

“Promise at Dawn” is an adaptation of French author Romain Gary’s autobiography that stars Pierre Niney and Charlotte Gainsbourg. The film will kick off the screenings of 37 new features and documentaries competing for the Colcoa Cinema Awards at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles. The event will present a record total of 86 films, TV shows, digital series, and virtual reality programs, 75 of which will be considered for the Colcoa awards throughout the week’s festivities, which will culminate on May 1.

Colcoa executive producer and artistic director Francois Truffart also announced that this year’s festival will set aside a day exclusively for screening first films made by female writers and directors. The day, titled “Focus on a Filmmaker Day,” will honor writer, director, and actor Melanie...

Lucas Taylor..

Brisbane-based screenwriter and director Lucas Taylor is off to Europe later this year, having been named the 2017 recipient of Greg Coote Scholarship.

The scholarship will put Taylor in writers rooms with UK and European producers from FremantleMedia..

In Europe, FreemantleMedia owns Ufa in Germany (Deutschland 83), Wildside in Italy (The Young Pope), Miso Film in Denmark, Sweden and Norway (Modus), Kwai in France (Baron Noir), and Euston Films in the UK (Hard Sun).

Fremantle.s director of global drama Sarah Doole said the company believes passionately in supporting a new generation of writers. .

.Lucas [will] have access to our family of award-winning producer across the UK and Europe which will help him to not only further develop his already impressive skills, but also to gain first-hand knowledge of the international industry..

Taylor, a former creative director at Hoodlum, has worked on projects such as.The Bourne Legacy, Salt, Dance Academy,...

Colcoa is keeping up with the times. Now in its twenty-first year, the lauded French film festival, sponsored by the Franco-American Cultural Fund, has added a pair of forward-thinking new categories for its newest edition. This year will include a virtual reality program and a web series competition, in addition to its Cinema, Television and Shorts competitions.

“These two new popular formats offer more opportunities to showcase the creativity of French producers and filmmakers as well as the diversity of French production,” said François Truffart, Colcoa Executive Producer and Artistic Director. “While entertainment is still the key word for the program, with a balanced mix of comedies and dramas, several topical issues will cover the program this year, including the environment, discrimination, racism, terrorism, and the role of the artist in society. More than ever, Colcoa will offer a unique opportunity to see these universal topics from different angles.”

Read...

Gurinder Chadha indie gets backing; Series Mania launches in Australia.

Freemantle backs Gurinder Chadha’s Bend It TV

British production company FreemantleMedia has taken a 25% stake in Bend It Like Beckham and Viceroy’s House director Gurinder Chadha’s UK indie Bend It TV, which focuses on scripted content.

Walter Presents grabs Studiocanal political thriller

Studiocanal has inked further deals on its political thriller series Baron Noir, including with Us based SVoD platform Walter Presents, which is a joint venture from Channel 4 and Global Series Network.

The 8x60 drama series was broadcast in France last year and a second season is now in development. The programme was recently acquired by Sony Channel for Germany where it will launch on April 6, as well as Sbs Australia and Amazon Prime in the UK.

Baron Noir

Series Mania launches in Australia

French TV festival Series Mania is launching an Australian incarnation in partnership with the Australian Centre for the...

Studiocanal has sold political thriller Baron Noir to the new U.S. Svod platform Walter Presents, a joint venture between Channel 4 and Global Series Network. The 8×60 suspenseful drama from creators and writers Eric Benzekri and Jean-Baptiste Delafon (Maison Close) is directed by Ziad Doueiri and produced by Kwai with the participation of Canal+. The second season, a Canal+ Creation Originale series, is currently in development and has been acquired by Sony Entertainment…...

Exclusive: Hugo Becker [pictured] stars in project from the director of Dealer.

Paris-based Versatile is starting sales at the European Film Market (Efm) on buzzy young French film-maker Jean Luc Herbulot’s organised crime thriller Döner set against the backdrop of a kebab restaurant in Paris.

It is the second feature for Herbulot – who is represented by Wme and has projects in development in the Us too — after his much-praised French-language feature debut Dealer, which shot over two weeks on a budget of just $175,000.

Hugo Becker, whose recent credits include playing ambitious political aide Cyril in hit series Baron Noir, plays a Max, a young man with entrepreneurial ambitions who gets a job in a kebab shop following his release from jail. He soon learns that there is more to the fast food joint than meets the eye.

“I got the idea for the script one night when I went for a kebab with a friend and a fight...