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Studiocanal launched a brand new official podcast – and the host might just be familiar to Film Stories listeners.

This is a bit of an odd story for me to write. Basically, well, because I’m in it. I’ll see how I get on.

The rather fine folks at Studiocanal have launched an official podcast, digging into the huge archive of movies under its stewardship. It’s arriving regularly, and as well as focusing on a movie of the month, there’s a broader exploration of other bits and bobs too.

Don’t take our word for it. Here’s Jamie McHale, the head of theatrical marketing at the studio: “We’re thrilled to be launching an official podcast to celebrate our incredible library of titles and upcoming theatrical releases. The in-depth analysis and regular features such as “Dream Double Bills” and “Hidden Gems” from Simon and his guests are...

Werner Herzog’s The Twilight World, the German director’s first feature animation and new projects from leading animation directors including Anca Damian,Alain Ughetto, Filip Pošivač, Vincent Paronnaud and Alexis Ducord, will be among the projects presented at European co-production and pitching event Cartoon Movie, taking place in Bordeaux, France, from March 4-6.

Additionally, Chloé Nicolay’sBrume, based on a script written by Celine Sciamma and produced by French animation powerhouseFolivari, is being showcaed as a film in development.It is a 2D coming-of-age film for children about a feisty seven-year-old girl who dreams of becoming a powerful witch.

Exclusive: Shout! Studios has acquired North American rights to animated feature Into The Wonderwoods, in a deal struck with Paris-based Urban Sales.

The movie brings together the talents of Vincent Paronnaud, co-director of Cannes Jury Prize winner and Oscar-nominated, Iran-set work Persepolis, and Alexis Ducord, who co-directed César-nominated Halloween Theme Park caper Zombillenium.

Their new movie is a based on a comic book by Paronnaud (a.k.a. Winshluss) who adapted it to the big screen and co-directed with Ducord.

The fantastical tale follows the adventures of Angelo, a 10-year-old boy with dreams of becoming an explorer and a zoologist, who is left behind by his distracted parents during a rest stop while on route to see his beloved granny.

When Angelo cuts through the nearby forest in pursuit of his family, he discovers a dark and mysterious world inhabited by strange creatures, some friendlier than others.

Into The Wonderwoods...

It’s hard to say The Boy and the Heron isn’t Hayao Miyazaki’s magnum opus. The 2024 drama film captivated audiences worldwide and earned its storied director his second Academy Award. Aside from its gorgeous visuals, Ghibli’s latest masterpiece drew in audiences with a multilayered story of human resilience and transformation. Its brightly colored fantasy settings often mask the semi-autobiographical narrative, but its jarring visions of war-torn Japan infrequently return audiences to the film’s roots. Now, it’s not an exaggeration to say The Boy and the Heron is hard to beat. It has Studio Ghibli’s outstanding visual appeal supporting the work of a master storyteller.

In a world where traditional animation is a sadly fading art, Miyazaki’s genre-blending epic stands high above many of its competitors. However, its themes and ideas are far from new. While there are few films capable of delivering them...

When one thinks of movies during the holidays, one usually pictures films about Santa Claus, gifts, and snow. However, Christmas Day has also become a prime release date for high-profile dramas by top-tier directors. While autumn is traditionally the season for most award-winning releases, December 25th has emerged as a premium date for prestige films.

Christmas Day sees little competition in theaters, making it an attractive choice for major releases every few years. Though these films often aren’t massive box office hits, they generate significant awareness and position themselves well for the following year’s award season. December 25th may very well hold the record for producing the highest number of quality films in a single calendar day.

Related Every Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio Movie, Ranked

Collaborating on 6 films, Martin Scorsese and Leonardo Dicaprio created many instant cinema classics.

1917 Tricks the Audience into Thinking the Entire Movie...

2024 saw DC Comics yet again trot out "Watchmen," this time as a two-part animated film. First debuting in 1986, "Watchmen" is the beloved superhero murder mystery comic created by writer Alan Moore (who infamously has no interest in any "Watchmen" adaptations) and artist Dave Gibbons. It's also the one superhero comic that it's broadly acceptable for literary critics to enjoy -- so much so it spawned a new term for the comic medium: "graphic novel."

The term goes back a bit further, such as the Marvel Graphic Novel line (begun in 1982). These longer (and more expensive) than usual comic issues told a standalone story. They also tended to be darker than contemporary Marvel comics. Take the "X2" inspiration "X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills" (by Chris Claremont and Brent Anderson) where the X-Men battled a televangelist and religious bigotry, and "The Death of Captain Marvel" (by Jim Starlin), where the cosmic hero succumbed to cancer.

The Valladolid International Film Festival, Seminci, will take place for the 69th time this fall, running Oct. 18-26.

To prepare, we’ve scanned the festival’s catalog for ten standout titles that attendees won’t want to miss at this year’s event. Below, we explain why each is a must-see proposition at this year’s Semicni.

“They Will Be Dust,” Carlos Marques-Marcet (Spain)

Opening this year’s festival is Carlos Marques-Marcet’s Toronto Platform winner, “They Will Be Dust.” In this tragicomic musical, a woman diagnosed with a terminal illness decides to go to Switzerland to end her life, accompanied by her partner of 40 years, Flavio. Seminci organizers praise the film as “an unexpected celebration of life itself and of the unconditional love of those who accompany us along the way.”

“Vermiglio,” Maura Delpero

Italy’s submission to the upcoming International Feature Oscar race, Maura Delpero’s intimate epic “Vermiglio,...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Brooklyn Center for Theatre Research

Éric Rohmer’s A Tale of Autumn screens on Sunday courtesy of Amnesiascope and Rohmer Fits.

Roxy Cinema

A 35mm print of Silent Hill shows Friday and Saturday, as does a Radiohead-scored Nosferatu; the latter day brings Apocalypse Now: Final Cut and a print of Love Streams; Francis Ford Coppola’s Tetro screens on Sunday.

Anthology Film Archives

A Brad Dourif retrospective includes the actor in-person for Wise Blood on Saturday and Horseplayer on Sunday; films by Dreyer play in “Essential Cinema.”

IFC Center

The Guy Maddin series “Forbidden Rooms” begins; black-and-white restoration of Johnny Mnemonic and Julian Schnabel’s Basquiat play, as does a 40th-anniversary restoration of Paris, Texas; Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Hedwig and the Angry Inch play late.

Museum of Modern Art...

Canal+ has commissioned French animation house Dandelooo to produce a new 2D animated series for three- to five-year-olds titled “Max & Rabbit.”

Based on the best-selling kids’ book series by French author Astrid Desbordes, illustrated by Pauline Martin, the show follows its titular protagonists through their daily routine.

Told from Max’s perspective, the show features unique and clever tools to teach young viewers about dealing with emotions, being a better listener, verbalizing and finding solutions to everyday problems that children may encounter.

Animation on the series will be executed out of Dandelooo’s Ooolala studio in Cartoucherie, Valence, starting next month. Episodes will be directed by Clément Céard, whose animator credits include Oscar-nominee “Persepolis,” the popular adult animated series “Lastman” and 2D sequences in Jim Capobianco and Pierre-Luc Granjon’s “The Inventor.”

Dandelooo and Canal+ share a fruitful history of working together. The former is currently in production on “The Upside-Down River,...

One chaotic morning, as his mother struggles to concentrate on a work call and his father fumbles breakfast, that Angelo (voiced by Dario Hardouin Spurio), a rowdy young boy with a pronounced rectangular-shaped head and an even bigger imagination, learns his grandmother (Yolande Moreau) has fallen ill with a slim chance of recovery. The life-changing news propels the innocuous French animated feature “Into the Wonderwoods,” which Oscar-nominated artist and filmmaker Vincent Paronnaud (“Persepolis”) adapted from his own 2016 comic book (published under the nom de plume Winshluss) and co-directed with Alexis Ducord (“Zombillenium”).

The mature nature of the inciting incident feels reminiscent of the heart-rending Swiss stop-motion gem “My Life as a Zucchini,” but soon “Wonderwoods” arrives at a familiar, if still charming, place that’s more squarely family-friendly than tonally audacious. To see Grandma before it’s too late, the family travels by car — Angelo has a pair of siblings,...

Zack Snyder's first major comic book adaptation, 300, is coming to Netflix soon. A historical epic based on the comic book by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley, it tells the story of the Battle of Thermopylae, where a small group of Spartans stood against Persia's forces to defend the whole of Greece. While the story is an entirely fantastical version of the actual battle, it became a box office hit, earning $456 million on a budget of just $65 million. 300 also saw largely positive reviews from critics and exceptional audience responses.

With an all-star cast, consisting of Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Michael Fassbender, and more, the acting has only become more acclaimed over the years. The 1 hour and 57-minute movie has aged gracefully, especially since Zack Snyder went on to direct Man of Steel, Zack Snyder's Justice League, and Watchmen. It will now be coming to Netflix on September 1st,...

Quick Links Gena Rowlands' Powerhouse Career Rowlands' Mabel Goes From Bad to Worse Why Rowlands' Performance Is the Best of the 1970s

The entertainment industry lost a legendary Hollywood titan with the passing of Gena Rowlands on August 14, 2024. The 2-time Oscar nominee and 2016 Academy Award honoree was a pioneering actress in independent cinema who, along with her husband John Cassavetes, turned in some of the rawest and most realistic indie films of the '60s and '70s. While younger generations may recognize her performance in her son Nick Cassavetes' The Notebook, cinephiles will never forget Rowland's breathtaking performance in A Woman Under the Influence.

Despite the iconic movie performances throughout the 1970s, including Gene Hackman in The French Connection, Marlon Brando in The Godfather, Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver, and Jack Nicholson in Chinatown, none outrank the convincing candor of Rowlands' work in A Woman Under the Influence.

Beloved actor Gena Rowlands has died at the age of 94, it has been confirmed. The star – best known for films like A Woman Under The Influence and Gloria, directed by her husband John Cassavetes – was renowned for her raw and uncompromising performances, making an indelible impact on cinema often while working outside of the Hollywood studio system. Rowlands passed away at home, following a previous diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.

While Rowlands made her big-screen debut in 1958’s The High Cost Of Loving, her cinematic collaborations with Cassavetes as director began in 1963 with A Child Is Waiting – and continued through the likes of 1968’s Faces, 1971’s Minnie And Moskowitz, 1974’s A Woman Under The Influence, 1977’s Opening Night, 1980’s Gloria, and 1984’s Love Streams. Their work together marked early examples of independent cinema. A Woman Under The Influence – for which Rowlands won a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Oscar...

Gena Rowlands, the two-time Oscar-nominated star of Gloria and A Woman Under The Influence as well as The Notebook, has died. She was 94.

Rowlands earned widespread renown for her performance as a mother wrestling with mental illness in husband John Cassavetes’ 1974 drama A Woman Under The Influence, for which she won a Golden Globe.

She received her second lead actress Academy Award nomination in 1981 as a tough woman who protects her neighbour from The Mob in Cassavetes’ Gloria.

Rowlands had met Cassavetes in her early television days. They were married in 1954 and went on to make 10 films together.

In 2004 Rowlands...

Gena Rowlands, the two-time Oscar-nominated star of Gloria and A Woman Under The Influence, has died. She was 94.

Rowlands earned widespread renown for her performance as a mother wrestling with mental illness in husband John Cassavetes’ 1974 drama A Woman Under The Influence, for which she won a Golden Globe.

She received her second lead actress Academy Award nomination in 1981 as a tough woman who protects her neighbour from The Mob in Cassavetes’ Gloria.

Rowlands had met Cassavetes in her early television days. They were married in 1954 and went on to make 10 films together.

In 2004 Rowlands starred in her son Nick...

Mad World has acquired global rights to Sylvie Ballyot’s Lebanon Civil War documentary feature “Green Line,” which will be competing for the Golden Leopard in the main competition of the Locarno Film Festival.

“Green Line,” co-written by Ballyot and Fida Bizri, uses miniature sets of Beirut and figurines to reconstruct Bizri’s turbulent upbringing during the Lebanese Civil War, which took place between 1975 and 1990. With the help of these models, Bizri confronts the ex-militiamen who operated during her 1980s childhood in West Beirut — the same militiamen who claimed to protect her but who actually frightened her so much.

She then embarks on meeting those who operated in East Beirut, and who scared her just as much, being on the enemy side. These judgement-free encounters on both sides open the door for a universal vision of war.

Ballyot and producer Céline Loiseau said: “Children raised amidst a war often find...

French actor Chiara Mastroianni and iconic Hong Kong director Johnnie To are among a pack of heavyweight names joining Tony Leung Chiu-wai on the main competition jury of this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival. The festival is set to run Oct. 28 – Nov. 6.

Completing the judging panel are Hungarian screenwriter and director Ildiko Enyedi and Japanese star actor Hashimoto Ai.

The festival’s full lineup of films and events will be outlined at a presentation in late September.

The selection of Enyedi, who won the 2017 edition of the Berlin festival with her “On Body and Soul,” cannot be a coincidence. She is directing Leung in upcoming title “Silent Friend,” a picture which marks Leung’s first European movie role.

“Being in a jury is always an exceptional, very intense experience. This is not a field for small talk. Jury work is a series of unusually deep and revealing meetings,” said Enyedi.

When it comes to animation, you can always rely on the French. They've been innovating and experimenting with the form since the dawn of motion pictures. From magic lantern presentations at the turn of the 20th century to modern works of art like The Triplets Of Belleville and Persepolis, French...

After closing out last month’s Cannes competition, Michel Hazanavicius’ “The Most Precious of Cargoes” opened this year’s Annecy Animation Festival on an auspicious note. With French productions accounting for one half of Annecy’s 12 competition slots, the Alpine showcase doubles a show of force for Gallic filmmakers writ large – a fact made all the more impressive given their sector’s relative youth.

“20 years ago, French animation barely existed,” says “The Most Precious of Cargoes” executive producer Valerie Schermann, who credits “Kirikou and the Sorceress” director Michel Ocelot with forging a new path that many have since followed. “Michel showed that it was possible to produce animated features in France; without him I would never have been able to make my own films.”

But if Schermann built a sterling filmography in those ensuing decades – with credits such as “Zarafa,” “Wolfy, the Incredible Secret” and “The Red Turtle” – the stalwart...

"Even my death doesn't interest them!" Is any of this funny? Studiocanal has revealed an official trailer for a film titled Dear Paris, also called Paradis Paris (Paradise Paris), another Paris anthology film creation featuring an interconnected set of stories. Not related to 2006's Paris, I Love You anthology, but it reminds me of it anyway. A new film from the award-winning director Marjane Satrapi, witness a darkly hilarious love letter to the city of light - with a stunning ensemble cast including Monica Bellucci, Rossy de Palma, Alex Lutz, Martina García, Eduardo Noriega , and Ben Aldridge. A comedy with a dark sense of humor, where a flurry of charming characters confront death only to embrace life once again. This opens in France soon this month, but no international dates are set yet – expected later this year. This looks charming & amusing, with plenty of awkward humor. // Continue Reading ›...

Of all the films premiering at Cannes this year, “The Most Precious of Cargoes” is both an anomaly (the first animated feature to compete for the Palme d’Or since “Persepolis” in 2007) and the most likely to become a classic. Blending the heavy lines of early-20th-century woodcuts with the gentle pastels of watercolor painting, “The Artist” director Michel Hazanavicius finds a poignant way to address not only the horrors of the Holocaust, but the kindness that combated it, crafting an indelible parable destined to be watched and shared by generations to come.

The polar opposite of “The Zone of Interest,” his hand-drawn adaptation of the slender but impactful novel by Jean-Claude Grumberg engages audiences at the gut, rather than in some abstract intellectual way. It focuses on neither the culprits nor the victims, but average folk who tried to remain neutral — as if such a thing were possible — until...

Interested in independent Asian animation, but not sure where to start? Well, we could give you a list of anime, but we've already got (three parts!) to an anime tribute already. Instead, here's a list of 15 animated indies from the last few years that fall outside of mainstream animation studios like Disney, Pixar and Ghibli.

This list is in no way prescriptive nor comprehensive, and is merely organized by date of release. Some of these filmmakers are more established; others are just beginning their careers. Some of these are shorts, others are features, a few are even series. Regardless, with each of these animated indies, prepare to laugh, cry, and have your mind blown by the unbridled joy of animation.

1. Your Name (2016) by Makoto Shinkai (Japan)

While Makoto Shinkai had been churning out his own shorts and mid-length films for almost a decade preceding “Your Name,” he doesn't really nail...

Urban Sales has closed a raft of deals on the upcoming animated feature “Into the Wonderwoods” ahead of its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in the Special Screenings section.

The film, which bows with a special screening May 22 at the prestigious French fest, has sold to 45 territories, the Paris-based sales outfit announced during the Cannes Market. Pic has sold to Volga for the Cis territories and the Baltics; Selim Ramia & Co. for the Mena region; Skyline for Vietnam; New Horizons for Poland; Ascot Elite for Switzerland; Movies Inspired for Italy; Vercine for Spain; and Pris Audiovisuais for Portugal.

The family animation next travels to the Annecy International Animation Film Festival to compete in the main competition for the prestigious Cristal award. Le Pacte will be releasing the film in France on Oct. 23. Advanced negotiations are ongoing for Benelux, China, Germany, Turkey, Latin America and North America.

“Into the Wonderwoods...

The filmmakers of My Life as a Courgette and Persepolis are set to return to the big stage with their latest films as the Cannes Film Festival have pumped in the very last titles for the 2024 edition pumping a pair of animated films in the Screening for Young Audiences section and a quartet of premieres for Cinéma de la Plage section.

Not unlike the spotlight inclusion of Robot Dreams last year, Claude Barras‘ Sauvages! is the tale of 11-year-old Kéria who lives with her father in the rural suburbs of the province of Sarawak, on the island of Borneo.…...

As part of the 2025 Oscar rule changes for the 97th Academy Awards, animated movies can be simultaneously submitted for Best International Feature and Best Animated Feature. This will simplify the qualifying method for the latter and specifically help animated international films that may not have access to U.S. distribution.

“Previously, animated movies selected as a country’s international feature selection [which do not require U.S. theatrical distribution] were not qualified to enter for animated feature consideration unless they also met the qualifying standards for general entry [which require U.S. theatrical distribution],” an Academy insider told IndieWire.

“This consisted of separate submission forms. Submitters will still need to complete different forms, but now animated movies selected as a country’s international feature selection no longer need to meet general entry standards to be considered for the Animated Feature award. They would, however, still need to be ruled eligible under the Academy’s definition of ‘animation.'”

Two examples of animated international feature...

Ben Aldridge (“Knock at the Cabin”) and Martina Garcia (“The Hidden Face”) have joined the cast of “Dear Paris,” Marjane Satrapi’s (“Persepolis”) ensemble drama which is one Studiocanal’s highlights at this week’s Unifrance Rendez-Vous showcase, along with Gilles Lellouche’s sprawling romance thriller “Beating Hearts.”

“Dear Paris” (“Paris Paradis”), produced by Vito Films, is a dark comedy set in the French capital where a flurry of charming characters confront death only to embrace life once again. The film also stars Monica Bellucci as a narcissistic Italian opera singer and Rossy De Palma as an eccentric elderly Colombian woman, as well as Eduardo Noriega, André Dussollier, Alex Lutz, Roschdy Zem and singer-turned-actor Gwendal Marimoutou (“Sam”).

The biggest title on Studiocanal’s roster is “Beating Hearts” (“L’amour ouf”), the highly anticipated epic love story starring François Civil, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Mallory Wanecque and Malik Frikah. The unconventional movie, now in post production,...

When people think of Star Wars, the name that springs to mind is George Lucas. He is, after all, the director and creator of the franchise. His name is literally in the production company Lucasfilm Ltd. One name that might not come immediately to mind is that of Kathleen Kennedy.

Kennedy is easily one of the most successful producers of all time, having been attached to some of the most iconic movies in current film history. She has also been acting president of Lucasfilm for the past decade. Though she was a natural fit to take the reins back in 2012, her tenure as president of Lucasfilm has been equal parts productive and complicated. Fans have been critical of her handling of their beloved Star Wars property. While some of these criticisms are warranted, others are rooted in something more sinister - sexism.

So, who exactly is Kathleen Kennedy, and how...

Former French President François Hollande is part of the voice cast for “Silex & the City – The Movie,” a big-screen spinoff of the popular short-format animated series set in the Stone Age.

“Silex & the City” is adapted from the comic book series by the same name created by French cartoonist Jul, which has sold over a million copies. The animated series, meanwhile, has been a hit on Franco-German network Arte, airing on primetime.

Written and co-directed by Jul alongside Jean-Paul Guigue, the film will blend 2D animation with live-action sequences. Besides Hollande, the well-known voice cast includes Bruno Solo, Julie Gayet, Stéphane Bern, Léa Drucker, Frédéric Beigbeder, Guillaume Gallienne, Léa Salamé and Amélie Nothomb. Now in production, the film is expected to be completed by spring 2024.

“Silex & the City – The Movie” follows the adventure of the Dotcom family — which consists of hunting professor Blog, geography teacher Spam and their rebellious children...

The pioneering French-Iranian producer and sales agent leaves behind a long-lasting legacy

Pioneering producer and celebrated Celluloid Dreams founder Hengameh Panahi died on November 5 following a long illness, sending shockwaves of sadness throughout the international film community and leaving a long-lasting legacy of both championing auteur cinema and shaking up the status quo in her wake.

The revered French-Iranian industry executive was known for finding and following emerging directors and accompanying their films to festival glory and international acclaim. Her career spanned four decades and more than 800 films.

She worked alongside iconic directors from across the globe including Jacques Audiard,...

News of the death of Celluloid Dreams CEO Hengameh Panahi has sparked an outpouring of admiration and tributes from the independent film community.

Panahi, a pivotal figure in the global art house scene, died Nov. 5, aged 67. In her decades in the business — as a producer, co-financier and sales agent — Panahi introduced the world to international auteurs from Iran (Jafar Panahi, Marjane Satrapi), Europe (Jacques Audiard, François Ozon, Gaspar Noé, Marco Bellocchio, Aleksandr Sokurov, the Dardenne brothers) and across Asia (Takeshi Kitano, Naomi Kawase, Jia Zanghke, Hirokazu Kore-eda).

“She took films that were challenging, that were difficult to make, to sell, to promote, and she fought for them,” says Oscar-winning producer Jeremy Thomas (The Last Emperor) who knew and worked with Panahi for more than 30 years. “She was a unique part of the film ecosystem. She was really inspirational, with the films that she enabled to be made, and seen.”

Celluloid Dreams,...

Hengameh Panahi, the French-Iranian producer and sales agent who founded Celluloid Dreams and was a pivotal figure in bringing works from such auteurs as Jacques Audiard, Jafar Panahi (no relation), François Ozon, Marjane Satrapi and Todd Haynes to the world, has died. She was 67.

Viviana Andriani, a press attaché who had worked with Panahi for many years, confirmed Thursday that Panahi died on November 5 after battling a long illness.

Celluloid Dreams, which Panahi launched in 1985, was a groundbreaking sales and production company that helped build the global market for international arthouse films. Over the course of three decades, Paris-based Celluloid helped package and sell more than 800 films, including the first works from François Ozon (See The Sea), Gaspar Noé (I Stand Alone), Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis) and Bruno Dumont (The Life of Jesus), among many others.

Alongside many European talents, Panahi, who was born in Iran but moved to Europe aged...

Hengameh Panahi, the celebrated French-Iranian producer who founded Celluloid Dreams and forged long-standing bonds with auteurs around the world, has died. She was 67.

Panahi, who worked with the likes of Jafar Panahi, Jacques Audiard, Hirokazu Kore-eda and Jia Zhangke, died on Nov. 5 after battling a long illness, according to a statement sent by a film publicist who worked with Panahi for many years.

Panahi was born in Iran and lived in Belgium from the age of 12 before moving to France in 1993. That’s where she founded the sales company Celluloid Dreams and played a major role in co-producing, co-financing and selling international rights to a number of politically minded films, such as Panahi’s Berlinale Golden Bear-winning “Taxi Tehran”; Audiard’s “A Prophet” and his Palme d’Or winning “Dheepan”; Ramin Mohseni’s ”From Afar”; Marjane Satrapi’s “Persepolis” and “Chicken With Plums”; and Iranian master Abbas Kiarostami’s “Where...

Groundbreaking French-Iranian sales agent and producer Hengameh Panahi, who represented a myriad of renowned Cannes and Venice prize-winning auteur directors, has died at the age of 67.

Paris-based press attaché Viviana Andriani, who handled press campaigns for a number of Panahi’s films, announced the news in a short communiqué.

She said Panahi had died on November 5 after bravely battling a long illness.

Panahi was a force to be reckoned with on the international film industry circuit, who launched dozens of renowned arthouse directors at the beginning of their careers and accompanied them as they won awards and fame.

Born in Iran, Panahi was sent to Belgium to complete her education as teenager.

She got her first big break in the film industry as head of international at Brussels-based animation studio Graphoui.

In an early sign of her flare for scouting promising talent, Panahi connected with John Lasseter and Tim Burton...

Following musical sequences in her latest doc “Vika!,” Polish director Agnieszka Zwiefka will turn to animation for an upcoming project under the working title “Runa.”

“What can I say? I really like fusion cuisine,” she laughs.

“I like hybrid films, because this division between documentary and fiction is completely pointless. I see documentary as a very capacious bag. There is room for everything.”

Partially animated “Runa,” produced by Chilli Productions (Poland), Real Lava (Denmark) and Ma.ja.de (Germany) – with Arte and Swr also on board – introduces a Kurdish girl who needs to care for her siblings after their mother dies on the Polish-Belarusian border.

“There is always strength in my characters and she’s probably the strongest one yet,” says Zwiefka, opening up about the film’s visual style developed by Yellow Tapir Films and Marcin Podolec.

“Our reference was ‘Persepolis.’ These black and white forms, almost childlike drawings that,...

What does it even mean, to come of age? The process of growing up can look entirely different from one person to the other, and even more so when we factor in social and political contexts. As much as similarities can be found between kids in various parts of the world, there is no doubt that coming of age in, say, a fascist state in the middle of a war and modern-day Sacramento are completely opposed experiences. And, yet, when it comes to movies, we don’t hesitate to call both Jojo Rabbit and Lady Bird coming-of-age stories. There is, indeed, a constant underlying both tales, and that is that the main character goes through some transformative experience that allows them to gain some level of new understanding about how the world works. Still, there’s no denying that some stories that we categorize as “coming of age” deal with...

Walt Disney has been synonymous with high-quality animation for nearly a century. Since the groundbreaking release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated movie, Disney's animated features have been the gold standard. However, Disney is far from the only one producing high-quality, beautifully designed animated films.

From Disney's main competitors to independent studios, the movie industry has seen the release of many feature films that employ incredible visuals to tell engaging stories. Whether they innovate on previously used animation techniques or create breathtaking landscapes that could belong in a museum, these films delight viewers with their artistry.

Related: 10 Great Animated Movies That Could Never Be Live-Action

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole

In Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, the young owl Soren seeks the titular Guardians of Ga'Hoole to defend owlkind from the evil of the Pure Ones. Directed by Zack Snyder,...

“Decorado,” the awaited next animated feature film from Alberto Vázquez, director of 2015’s “Birdboy: The Forgotten Children” and last year’s “Unicorn Wars,” has been boarded by Le Pacte.

One of France’s most important independent film companies, a distributor in France of Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Drive” and Ken Loach’s “I: Daniel Blake” among its biggest foreign hits, Le Pacte, headed by Jean and Alice Labadie, has acquired rights to “Decorado” for distribution in France and international sales.

“We picked up ‘Decorado’ because we were in love with ‘Unicorn Wars’ and ‘Decorado is even crazier,” said Jean Labadie. “We love animation and bold projects which are out of boundaries.”

The “Decorado” feature was presented at Cartoon Movie in March where its producers met Le Pacte and initiated discussions after Le Pacte’s expressions of enthusiasm for the story and the project.

Vázquez’s follow-up to “Unicorn Wars,” a Gkids U.

The majority of the movie industry is male-dominated, and animation is no exception. Studio heads that found success in early films were continuously given the opportunity to keep writing more stories, often leaving women out of equal opportunities. However, when given the chance, women writers have contributed to creating some of the best animated films to date.

With so many animated movies featuring women leads, it makes sense that having a woman writer only helps to bring a more authentic story to life. From tall tales of heroines to coming-of-age stories and fantasy, women writers are capable of building incredible worlds and writing even better stories.

Related: 10 Best R-Rated Animated Films

Persepolis

Adapted from Marjane Satrapi's autobiographical graphic novel of the same name, Persepolis centers around the life of a young girl growing up amid the Iranian Revolution. Satrapi's graphic novel is an incredibly touching story. Her ability to...

Due to historical reasons, and some economic reasons preceding and following the historical ones, we should know by now that Iranian diaspora in the so-called Western World is large. Also, it is often well-educated and active in arts and culture, sometimes even on the both sides, in both homelands, old and new. Cinema is not an exception, but this list is not about, for instance, Asghar Farhadi working in the context of the French or Spanish cinema, nor is touching some well-established common places of greatness, such as Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis. We bring you five relatively recent films made by the filmmakers coming from the Iranian diaspora that might have flown under the radar somehow, in order of quality.

5. At Any Price

Ramin Bahrani reached greater success both with critics and audiences both before and after this film, either by touching the subjects from the (immigrants') margin, like in...

The winds of change are sweeping Iran as the ‘Woman Life Freedom’ protests, provoked by the killing of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini last September, continue. Here, four Iranian disruptors talk about their struggles, their acts of solidarity for the pro-democracy movement, and their hopes for the future of their country.

Marjane Satrapi Marjane Satrapi

Marjane Satrapi, who was 9 years old when Ayatollah Khomeini came to power in 1979, recalls taking to the streets with her politically active parents to protest against the imposition of the hijab. “My mum went to demonstrate, and I went too, and so did my dad,” recalls the graphic novelist and filmmaker. “He was one of the very few men; they didn’t understand at the time that women’s rights are society’s rights.”

Satrapi’s parents sent her to Europe to study as a teenager and encouraged her to make her permanent home there. Satrapi captured...

News that the new Babylon 5 animated movie, Babylon 5: The Road Home, will be rated PG-13 for “some action/violence” has resulted in some manufactured controversy from clickbait factories.

In the UK, the original show was certified 12 by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), so perhaps what people aren't asking for isn’t actually Babylon 5. The show was always more mature and complex than its contemporaries, but being mature doesn’t necessarily mean being ‘unsuitable.’

The PG-13 rating was invented, after all, in the wake of the heart-tearing human sacrifice in Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom (1984) – the first PG-13 was then given to bleak Cold War ‘what-if?’ Red Dawn (1984). A study in 2013 revealed that modern PG-13 movies are more violent than R-rated movies:

Gun violence in PG-13 films has more than tripled since the rating was first introduced in the mid-'80s, say the researchers.

The Annecy International Animation Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for its 2023 edition, running from June 11 to 17.

More than 13,000 animation professionals are set to descend on the French festival’s lakeside setting for its traditional mix of screenings programs across all formats, Work-in-Progress and First-Look sneak peeks, and presentations going behind the scenes of upcoming animation productions.

Competition title Sirocco And The Kingdom Of The Winds by French director Benoît Chieux opens the festival. The fantasy follows the adventures of two young sisters as they try to make their way home after getting trapped in the world of their favorite book.

A Cat In Paris and Phantom Boy director Alain Gagnol co-wrote the screenplay for the feature lead produced by Paris-based Sacrebleu Productions.

The film, which world premieres in Annecy, is among 11 titles competing for the festival’s Crystal award.

Another three French productions debut in Competition: Chiara Malta and...

During “Polite Society,” writer-director Nida Manzoor’s boisterous, shrewdly funny and altogether wonderful coming-of-age action-adventure, you might try to recall the last time you’ve seen a young female on the big screen with as much fire in her belly as Ria. Was it the football-loving and tradition defying Jess in “Bend it Like Beckham,” the precocious rebel Marjane in “Persepolis,” the all-female trash metal stars of the recent documentary “Sirens” or the real-life Syrian sisters Yusra and Sarah Mardini in “Swimmers”?

While the lead Pakistani character of “Polite Society”—a die-hard martial arts enthusiast played by a fierce Priya Kansara—isn’t an existing hero based on a real-life story of courage, her defiant spirit is so lovingly and precisely defined by Manzoor that you unreservedly believe in her when Ria claims: “I am the fury!”

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2023 Movie Release Dates: A Schedule of Films Coming This Year

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This article contains potential spoilers for Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.Puss in Boots: The Last Wish has a deep connection to the life of Antonio Banderas that proves that animation is not only for children. Starring Salma Hayek Pinault, Wagner Moura, Florence Pugh, Olivia Colman, Ray Winstone, Harvey Guillén, and John Mulaney alongside Banderas, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is one of Dreamworks Animation's most successful movies. As well as grossing nearly half a billion dollars worldwide, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish has garnered a fantastic response from both critics and audiences alike for its unique storybook-inspired visual style, poignant story, and surprisingly mature themes.

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish's reception strongly contrasts that of the rest of the later films in the Shrek franchise. Shrek Forever After and Shrek the Third had considerably more negative reactions than the other films in the series,...

Using clean lines, a controlled color palette and a flattened 2D drawing style, Sepidah Farsi’s engrossing Berlin Panorama opener “The Siren” paradoxically creates a story rich with dimensional detail and riven with the tragedy of war. Much like Marjane Satrapi did with 2007’s “Persepolis,” Farsi uses animation as a way to set the acutely painful civilian experience of the Iran-Iraq conflict at enough of a remove to make it bearable: From a distance, like a floating overhead angle or a wide cityscape vista, even smoke clouds and flying rubble can acquire a sort of beauty.

Unlike Satrapi’s film, however, “The Siren” leans into the form’s fictionalizing possibilities until it becomes less an illustrated snapshot of life in post-revolution Iran than a kind of wish-fulfilment fantasy, such as might have been dreamed up by a teenager, in which resourcefulness, resilience and fellowship eventually win out over forces of oppression and violence.

Following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in Iran, more than 50 French female artists have banded together to show their support of the ongoing protests in Iran.

Amini died in police custody on September 16 after being arrested for not properly wearing her hijab to fully cover her hair. Iranian police said she died of a heart attack, but eyewitnesses claim she was beaten to death. Women around the world have since cut a lock of their hair with #HairForFreedom to show their support for Amini and in solidarity with Iranian women living under the Islamic Republic’s strict theocratic rule.

Juliette Binoche, Marion Cotillard, Isabelle Huppert, Isabelle Adjani, and Charlotte Gainsbourg were among the French actresses to cut their hair in a viral Instagram video. Binoche says “for freedom” when blindly cutting her hair atop her head. A Persian version of Italian anti-fascist resistance ballad “Bella Ciao” is performed by...

More than 1,000 industry professionals also sign letter in solidarity with Iranian women.

The French film industry has rallied together in support of women in Iran who are protesting the death of Mahsa Amini while in police custody.

More than 50 of France’s most famous stars, including Juliette Binoche, Marion Cotillard, Isabelle Adjani, Berenice Bejo, Julie Gayet, Isabelle Huppert and Charlotte Gainsbourg, have cut off locks of their hair in a video captioned #Hairforfreedom.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 French film industry professionals and organisations have signed a strongly-worded letter in solidarity with Iranian women.

The #Hairforfreedom video begins with an image of...

More than 50 French female artists from the worlds of cinema and music have symbolically cut their hair in a video campaign showing support for the ongoing protests in Iran calling for more freedom for women following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, reports ‘Deadline’.

French actresses Isabelle Adjani, Berenice Bejo, Juliette Binoche, Laure Calamy, Marion Cotillard, Julie Gayet, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Isabelle Huppert and Alexandra Lamy were among those sharing images of themselves cutting off their hair.

According to ‘Deadline’, Amini died in police custody on September 16 after being arrested for not wearing her hijab properly in accordance with the country’s strict religious laws and allowing some locks of hair to escape.

Police say she died of a heart attack but eyewitnesses and people who were detained with the young woman said she was severely beaten. ‘Deadline’ further states that women around the world have been cutting a lock of...

More than 50 French female artists from the worlds of cinema and music have symbolically cut their hair in a video campaign showing support for the ongoing protests in Iran calling for more freedom for women following the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini.

French actresses Isabelle Adjani, Berenice Bejo, Juliette Binoche, Laure Calamy, Marion Cotillard, Julie Gayet, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Isabelle Huppert and Alexandra Lamy were among those sharing images of themselves cutting off their hair.

Amini died in police custody on September 16 after being arrested for not wearing her hijab properly in accordance with the country’s strict religious laws and allowing some locks of hair to escape.

Police say she died of a heart attack but eyewitnesses and people who were detained with the young woman said she was severely beaten.

Women around the world have been cutting a lock of hair and posting the act on social networks around...

Encapsulating humanity’s weighty history and paths toward healing, director Véra Belmont (“Red Kiss”) takes a leap from live-action cinema to animated feature with her latest project, “My Father’s Secrets,” a Holocaust story that tackles generational familial trauma and redemption.

Based on the graphic novel “Second Generation” by Israeli illustrator Michel Kichka, the film is set for its market premiere at the Cannes Marché du Film, with the incentive for international markets of Elliott Gould leading the English voice cast.

“My Father’s Secrets,” set in Belgium, introduces two young brothers, Michel and Charly, who struggle with their father Henri’s reclusive nature surrounding his time at Auschwitz.

Their imaginations get the better of them as their father retreats inward on a personal journey to recoup his life after surviving the tragedies of internment. They hypothesize, snoop and act out in response, causing familial friction.

Sold by Simon Crowe...