Cairo-based Mad Distribution has acquired Jonathan Millet’s Critics’ Week opener Ghost Trail from mk2 Films, Somali director Mo Harawe’s Un Certain Regard drama The Village Next To Paradise from Totem Films and Anne-Marie Jacir’s upcoming All Before You for release in the Middle East and North Africa.
They are three of 30 titles secured by Mad Distribution for Mena territories, which also include Saif Hammash’s Palestinian short Deer’s Tooth, selected for La Cinef, and Rayane Mcirdi’s Algerian-French short After The Sun, which plays in Directors’ Fortnight.
The distribution arm of indie studio Mad Solutions plans...
They are three of 30 titles secured by Mad Distribution for Mena territories, which also include Saif Hammash’s Palestinian short Deer’s Tooth, selected for La Cinef, and Rayane Mcirdi’s Algerian-French short After The Sun, which plays in Directors’ Fortnight.
The distribution arm of indie studio Mad Solutions plans...
- 5/18/2024
- ScreenDaily
Indie Sales has hopped aboard Across The Sea, French-Moroccan director Saïd Hamich Benlarbi’s second feature that will premiere as a special screening at Cannes’ Critics’ Week.
Moroccan TV star Ayoub Gretaa stars in the Marseille-set 1990s melodrama as Nour, an undocumented immigrant from Morocco with big dreams whose life turns upside down when he meets a charismatic police officer and his wife and a love triangle unfolds.
Anna Mouglalis and Grégoire Colin co-star in the decade-spanning film that follows Nour as he grows older, explores love and seeks a better life amidst the backdrop of the Rai music-focused party...
Moroccan TV star Ayoub Gretaa stars in the Marseille-set 1990s melodrama as Nour, an undocumented immigrant from Morocco with big dreams whose life turns upside down when he meets a charismatic police officer and his wife and a love triangle unfolds.
Anna Mouglalis and Grégoire Colin co-star in the decade-spanning film that follows Nour as he grows older, explores love and seeks a better life amidst the backdrop of the Rai music-focused party...
- 5/1/2024
- ScreenDaily
Kaouther Ben Hania will make history for her native Tunisia on Sunday with its first Academy Award if her hotly tipped nominated work Four Daughters triumphs in the Best Documentary category on Sunday.
The director belongs to a generation of Tunisian filmmakers who emerged in the wake of their country’s so-called Jasmine Revolution, which ousted dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in early 2011.
Habib Attia, who is one of the original producers on Four Daughters, has been an integral part of this movement too.
The Tunis-based producer has cinema in his blood as the son of late producer Ahmed Bahaeddine Attia, whose credits included Moufida Tlatli’s 1994 breakout The Silences of the Palace, starring Tunisian-Egyptian star Hend Sabry in her first major big screen role.
On finishing his high school studies, Attia headed to his mother’s native Italy to study engineering in Milan, rather than immediately following in his father’s footsteps.
The director belongs to a generation of Tunisian filmmakers who emerged in the wake of their country’s so-called Jasmine Revolution, which ousted dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in early 2011.
Habib Attia, who is one of the original producers on Four Daughters, has been an integral part of this movement too.
The Tunis-based producer has cinema in his blood as the son of late producer Ahmed Bahaeddine Attia, whose credits included Moufida Tlatli’s 1994 breakout The Silences of the Palace, starring Tunisian-Egyptian star Hend Sabry in her first major big screen role.
On finishing his high school studies, Attia headed to his mother’s native Italy to study engineering in Milan, rather than immediately following in his father’s footsteps.
- 3/10/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
A rare flagship indie producer left on the French market, Bruno Nahon’s Paris-based company Unité is preparing to conquer international audiences with “Rematch,” a period psychological thriller chronicling the historical battle between world chess champion Garry Kasparov, and Ibm’s supercomputer Deep Blue in 1997.
The sprawling show, directed by Yan England (“The Red Band Society”) and co-created with Nahon and André Gulluni (“Sam”), was commissioned by Arte in France and has already been sold by Federation Studios to major outlets around the world, including HBO Europe for Spain, Portugal, the Nordics, Iceland, Baltics, Central Europe, Greece and the Netherlands. Disney+ has bought first-window rights for the U.K. and will air the show in France after the Arte broadcast.
Nahon, who created Unité a decade ago, has been making bold shows and movies exploring social, religious and political aspects of societies, and has often captured the zeitgeist in the process.
The sprawling show, directed by Yan England (“The Red Band Society”) and co-created with Nahon and André Gulluni (“Sam”), was commissioned by Arte in France and has already been sold by Federation Studios to major outlets around the world, including HBO Europe for Spain, Portugal, the Nordics, Iceland, Baltics, Central Europe, Greece and the Netherlands. Disney+ has bought first-window rights for the U.K. and will air the show in France after the Arte broadcast.
Nahon, who created Unité a decade ago, has been making bold shows and movies exploring social, religious and political aspects of societies, and has often captured the zeitgeist in the process.
- 2/28/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
A dozen 12 projects have been selected as part of the second 2023 session of the Cnc’s advance on receipts committee and floating at the top of the list we find the next works for Leyla Bouzid, Marjane Satrapi and a sophomore feature for Noémie Merlant, who co-wrote with Céline Sciamma. Merlant’s Les femmes au balcon focuses on three women in a Marseille apartment during a heatwave. Facing them is their mysterious neighbour, the object of all their fantasies. But the women soon find themselves stuck in a terrifying and wild scenario, with freedom their only goal. Merlant cast herself alongside Souheila Yacoub and Sandra Codreanu.…...
- 4/28/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Running Jan. 13-Feb. 13, this year’s MyFrenchFilmFestival, an online fest organized by France’s film-tv promotional body Unifrance, will mark its 13th edition with an emphasis on debut features and dynamic new voices.
Showcasing star power, animated auteur fare and award-winning documentaries – all subtitled in 15 languages – the 12 features and 17 shorts of this year’s selection will reach home viewers via 70 partner platforms as well on MyFrenchFilmFestival.com, where all the shorts will be available to screen free of charge.
In an effort to cast as wide a net as possible, this year’s competition will feature projects that run the gamut from Alice Diop’s breakthrough documentary “We” – which finds connections in the lives of immigrants, lovesick teens and retirees all connected by a commuter rail line north of Paris – to Jean-Christophe Meurisse’s satirical sketch comedy “Bloody Oranges,” which shreds polite society with anarchic glee.
In between are everything...
Showcasing star power, animated auteur fare and award-winning documentaries – all subtitled in 15 languages – the 12 features and 17 shorts of this year’s selection will reach home viewers via 70 partner platforms as well on MyFrenchFilmFestival.com, where all the shorts will be available to screen free of charge.
In an effort to cast as wide a net as possible, this year’s competition will feature projects that run the gamut from Alice Diop’s breakthrough documentary “We” – which finds connections in the lives of immigrants, lovesick teens and retirees all connected by a commuter rail line north of Paris – to Jean-Christophe Meurisse’s satirical sketch comedy “Bloody Oranges,” which shreds polite society with anarchic glee.
In between are everything...
- 1/5/2023
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
Cairo-based film marketing and distribution outfit Mad Solutions has acquired rights for Arab territories to three films that celebrated their premieres this year at the Cannes and Venice film festivals.
The deals include Fyzal Boulifa’s “The Damned Don’t Cry,” which bowed in the Venice Days sidebar at the Italian fest and will have its Middle East and North Africa premiere at Marrakech before traveling to Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival. Also acquired was Rachid Hami’s “For My Country,” a Venice Horizons selection that will have its regional premiere at the Cairo Film Festival.
The company also picked up the rights to Clément Cogitore’s “Sons of Ramses,” which had its world premiere in the Cannes Film Festival’s Critics’ Week strand.
“We are delighted to have acquired the distribution rights to three artistically distinguished films in 2022, which is considered the climax of our efforts in...
The deals include Fyzal Boulifa’s “The Damned Don’t Cry,” which bowed in the Venice Days sidebar at the Italian fest and will have its Middle East and North Africa premiere at Marrakech before traveling to Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival. Also acquired was Rachid Hami’s “For My Country,” a Venice Horizons selection that will have its regional premiere at the Cairo Film Festival.
The company also picked up the rights to Clément Cogitore’s “Sons of Ramses,” which had its world premiere in the Cannes Film Festival’s Critics’ Week strand.
“We are delighted to have acquired the distribution rights to three artistically distinguished films in 2022, which is considered the climax of our efforts in...
- 11/16/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Reclaim the Frame x International unveils participants in Filmonomics training programme (exclusive)
The Filmonomics course will be led by director of Birds’ Eye View Melanie Iredale and training manager Simone Glover,
Birds’ Eye View, a UK organisation that campaigns to support women and non-binary people in all aspects of film, has named the writers, directors and producers who will take part in the 2022-2023 Filmonomics programme, as part of the Reclaim the Frame x International project.
The UK version of the Filmonomics business training programme for filmmakers from marginalised genders has undergone six iterations under Birds’ Eye View’s leadership. The training is aimed at up-and-coming filmmakers and balances the creative and...
Birds’ Eye View, a UK organisation that campaigns to support women and non-binary people in all aspects of film, has named the writers, directors and producers who will take part in the 2022-2023 Filmonomics programme, as part of the Reclaim the Frame x International project.
The UK version of the Filmonomics business training programme for filmmakers from marginalised genders has undergone six iterations under Birds’ Eye View’s leadership. The training is aimed at up-and-coming filmmakers and balances the creative and...
- 9/1/2022
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Netflix is launching an incubator to help foster female screenwriters in Egypt.
The U.S. streaming giant has partnered with Sard, a dedicated hub for screenwriters in the Arab world on a writing program called Because She Created.
Its stated goal is training twenty women from outside Cairo and to “expose untapped talent to the creative tools and industry insight needed to advance their creative and professional development,” Netflix said in a statement.
The program is financed by the Netflix Fund for Creative Equity.
Sard was founded by award-winning writer Mariam Naoum in 2016 as a space for aspiring screenwriters to improve their writing skills and unleash their creative potential.
Naoum is a prominent Egyptian screenwriter and social activist whose credits include Kamla Abou Zekry’s Cairo-set ensemble film “One/Zero”; and the TV series “A Girl named Zat,” “Heat Wave” and “The Women’s Prison,” a scathing exploration of the Egyptian prison system,...
The U.S. streaming giant has partnered with Sard, a dedicated hub for screenwriters in the Arab world on a writing program called Because She Created.
Its stated goal is training twenty women from outside Cairo and to “expose untapped talent to the creative tools and industry insight needed to advance their creative and professional development,” Netflix said in a statement.
The program is financed by the Netflix Fund for Creative Equity.
Sard was founded by award-winning writer Mariam Naoum in 2016 as a space for aspiring screenwriters to improve their writing skills and unleash their creative potential.
Naoum is a prominent Egyptian screenwriter and social activist whose credits include Kamla Abou Zekry’s Cairo-set ensemble film “One/Zero”; and the TV series “A Girl named Zat,” “Heat Wave” and “The Women’s Prison,” a scathing exploration of the Egyptian prison system,...
- 8/16/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
A gentle thrum of eroticism vibrates beneath this warm and unusual take on will they/won’t they romance from Leyla Bouzid right from the film’s opening moments when the camera gracefully but intently observes the naked form of Ahmed (Sami Outalbali) as he takes a shower. Although he is nude, this is shot in such a way that it seems sweet rather than intrusive by cinematographer Sébastien Goepfert, which sets the tone for a film that celebrates the joy and fears associated with youthful lust, while exploring ideas of internal cultural conflict, without making it feel tacky or like a diatribe.
Ahmed is first-generation French, the son of Algerian immigrants, and about to swap the working-class neighbourhood where he lives with his mum, dad and sister for the unfamiliar halls of the Sorbonne. Shy, in general, and even more so in the new environment, his first day in lectures on erotic Arabic.
Ahmed is first-generation French, the son of Algerian immigrants, and about to swap the working-class neighbourhood where he lives with his mum, dad and sister for the unfamiliar halls of the Sorbonne. Shy, in general, and even more so in the new environment, his first day in lectures on erotic Arabic.
- 5/2/2022
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
“Peaceful,” Emmanuelle Bercot’s Cesar-winning melodrama which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, has landed domestic distribution with New York-based banner Distrib US.
Sold by Studiocanal, the movie is headlined by Benoit Magimel and Catherine Deneuve (pictured). Magimel, who won the Cesar Award for best actor — beating fellow nominee Adam Driver — stars as a man dying of cancer. “Peaceful” world premiered out of competition at Cannes where it earn warm reviews.
Distrib US has also acquired “A Tale of Love and Desire” and “Les Inde Galantes,” which are both screening this week at the Film at Lincoln Center as part of the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in New York. The event is being co-organized by Unifrance, the French film and TV advocacy org.
“Les Inde Galantes,” directed by Philippe Béziat, is a documentary following 30 dancers reprising Jean-Philippe Rameau’s baroque masterpiece on the stage of Paris’s legendary Opéra Bastille.
Sold by Studiocanal, the movie is headlined by Benoit Magimel and Catherine Deneuve (pictured). Magimel, who won the Cesar Award for best actor — beating fellow nominee Adam Driver — stars as a man dying of cancer. “Peaceful” world premiered out of competition at Cannes where it earn warm reviews.
Distrib US has also acquired “A Tale of Love and Desire” and “Les Inde Galantes,” which are both screening this week at the Film at Lincoln Center as part of the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in New York. The event is being co-organized by Unifrance, the French film and TV advocacy org.
“Les Inde Galantes,” directed by Philippe Béziat, is a documentary following 30 dancers reprising Jean-Philippe Rameau’s baroque masterpiece on the stage of Paris’s legendary Opéra Bastille.
- 3/11/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Venice Golden Lion winner Happening won best film and best actress prizes
Audrey Diwan’s Venice Golden Lion winner Happening won best film at the 27th edition of France’s Lumière Awards on Monday evening, while its star Anamaria Vartolomei was awarded the best actress prize.
Adapted from French writer Annie Ernaux’s 2019 semi-autobiographical work, Happening recounts a gifted literature student’s struggle to get an abortion in 1964, 11 years before abortion was legalised in France in 1975.
It marks a first lead role for Vartolomei, whose previous credits include How To Be A Good Wife and The Royal Exchange. Vartolomei is...
Audrey Diwan’s Venice Golden Lion winner Happening won best film at the 27th edition of France’s Lumière Awards on Monday evening, while its star Anamaria Vartolomei was awarded the best actress prize.
Adapted from French writer Annie Ernaux’s 2019 semi-autobiographical work, Happening recounts a gifted literature student’s struggle to get an abortion in 1964, 11 years before abortion was legalised in France in 1975.
It marks a first lead role for Vartolomei, whose previous credits include How To Be A Good Wife and The Royal Exchange. Vartolomei is...
- 1/18/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
The awards are voted on by 95 international correspondents from 36 countries.
Xavier Giannoli’s literary adaptation Lost Illusions leads the nominations of the 27th edition of France’s Lumière awards, followed by Audrey Diwan’s Venice Golden Lion winner Happening and Arthur Harari’s Onoda, 10,000 Nights In The Jungle.
The awards, which are voted on by 95 international correspondents hailing from 36 countries this year, are France’s equivalent of the Golden Globes.
Giannoli’s adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s eponymous 19th-century novel, which premiered in competition in Venice this year, was nominated in five categories including best film, director, screenplay, actor...
Xavier Giannoli’s literary adaptation Lost Illusions leads the nominations of the 27th edition of France’s Lumière awards, followed by Audrey Diwan’s Venice Golden Lion winner Happening and Arthur Harari’s Onoda, 10,000 Nights In The Jungle.
The awards, which are voted on by 95 international correspondents hailing from 36 countries this year, are France’s equivalent of the Golden Globes.
Giannoli’s adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s eponymous 19th-century novel, which premiered in competition in Venice this year, was nominated in five categories including best film, director, screenplay, actor...
- 12/10/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Throughout the pandemic that has ravaged Central America, the region’s most prominent film event, the Panama International Film Festival (Iff Panama), has forged on virtually in its continued bid to bolster local projects and talent.
To mark its 10th anniversary this year, a smaller hybrid edition kicks off on Dec. 3 with “Plaza Catedral,” Panama’s submission to the Oscars, and wraps Dec. 5 with Michel Franco’s “Sundown,” starring Tim Roth, which competed for the Golden Lion at Venice.
“We couldn’t pass up celebrating our 10th anniversary, even if it were on a smaller scale this year,” said festival director Pituka Ortega Heilbron, who cites encouragement from the international and local industry as key reasons to push onward, notwithstanding the setbacks from the pandemic.
“We’re still very much in the mind of the industry, especially Central America,” she asserted, pointing out that two films spawned by the festival’s rough cuts sidebar,...
To mark its 10th anniversary this year, a smaller hybrid edition kicks off on Dec. 3 with “Plaza Catedral,” Panama’s submission to the Oscars, and wraps Dec. 5 with Michel Franco’s “Sundown,” starring Tim Roth, which competed for the Golden Lion at Venice.
“We couldn’t pass up celebrating our 10th anniversary, even if it were on a smaller scale this year,” said festival director Pituka Ortega Heilbron, who cites encouragement from the international and local industry as key reasons to push onward, notwithstanding the setbacks from the pandemic.
“We’re still very much in the mind of the industry, especially Central America,” she asserted, pointing out that two films spawned by the festival’s rough cuts sidebar,...
- 12/3/2021
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Blue Monday Productions has boarded “Cora,” the feature directorial debut of visual artist and filmmaker Evi Kalogiropoulou, which was awarded at the Rotterdam Film Festival’s CineMart and the Cannes Cinefondation’s Atelier earlier this year.
“Cora” is the story of two working-class women fighting for freedom and their own identity against a dystopian patriarchal society. It follows the director’s short film, “Motorway 65,” which played in competition in Cannes last year.
Speaking to Variety at the Thessaloniki Film Festival, Kalogiropoulou said she drew inspiration for her feature debut during an artistic residency in the working-class town of Elefsina, where local women shared stories about the struggles they faced, especially as recent waves of immigration altered the social dynamic of the community. “For me the biggest question to explore is how it feels for a woman to be working and living in an area with so much contradiction and struggle,...
“Cora” is the story of two working-class women fighting for freedom and their own identity against a dystopian patriarchal society. It follows the director’s short film, “Motorway 65,” which played in competition in Cannes last year.
Speaking to Variety at the Thessaloniki Film Festival, Kalogiropoulou said she drew inspiration for her feature debut during an artistic residency in the working-class town of Elefsina, where local women shared stories about the struggles they faced, especially as recent waves of immigration altered the social dynamic of the community. “For me the biggest question to explore is how it feels for a woman to be working and living in an area with so much contradiction and struggle,...
- 11/14/2021
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Africa’s biggest film festival unfolded in Burkina Faso from October 16 to 23.
Finnish-Somali filmmaker Khadar Ayderus Ahmed’s The Gravedigger’s Wife scooped the top prize at the 27th edition of the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (Fespaco) in Burkina Faso over the weekend.
The largest film festival in Africa, the biannual event normally takes place end-February, start-March but was pushed to October 16-23 this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Its top prize is the $36,000 Golden Stallion of Yennenga (Étalon de Yennenga) award. The prizes are named after legendary warrior princess Yennenga, who is considered the mother...
Finnish-Somali filmmaker Khadar Ayderus Ahmed’s The Gravedigger’s Wife scooped the top prize at the 27th edition of the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (Fespaco) in Burkina Faso over the weekend.
The largest film festival in Africa, the biannual event normally takes place end-February, start-March but was pushed to October 16-23 this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Its top prize is the $36,000 Golden Stallion of Yennenga (Étalon de Yennenga) award. The prizes are named after legendary warrior princess Yennenga, who is considered the mother...
- 10/25/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Colcoa Classics to stage Bertrand Tavernier tribute.
The North American Premiere of Emmanuel Carrère’s Cannes Directors’ Fortnight opener Between Two Worlds starring Juliette Binoche will open the in-person 25th Colcoa French film and series festival on November 1.
The event runs until November 7 and will screen 55 films and series at the DGA Theatre in Hollywood with a Colcoa Classics tribute to Bertrand Tavernier.
The closing films are Xavier Giannoli’s recent Venice Film Festival Lost Illusions and Arthur Harari’s 2021 Cannes Un Certain Regard opener Onoda, 10,000 Nights In The Jungle.
The feature line-up includes Leyla Bouzid’s A Tale Of Love And Desire...
The North American Premiere of Emmanuel Carrère’s Cannes Directors’ Fortnight opener Between Two Worlds starring Juliette Binoche will open the in-person 25th Colcoa French film and series festival on November 1.
The event runs until November 7 and will screen 55 films and series at the DGA Theatre in Hollywood with a Colcoa Classics tribute to Bertrand Tavernier.
The closing films are Xavier Giannoli’s recent Venice Film Festival Lost Illusions and Arthur Harari’s 2021 Cannes Un Certain Regard opener Onoda, 10,000 Nights In The Jungle.
The feature line-up includes Leyla Bouzid’s A Tale Of Love And Desire...
- 10/11/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Emmanuel Carrère’s Ouistreham (Between Two Worlds) has been set as the opening film of the 25th Colcoa French Film and Series Festival. The anniversary edition of the City of Lights, City of Angels fest kicks off on November 1 with the Juliette Binoche-starrer that opened Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes last July before winning the Audience Award at San Sebastian. Cohen Media Group releases in the U.S. in 2022.
Colcoa is running as a live week-long event taking place at the DGA Theater Complex from November 1-7. This year’s edition is dedicated to late filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier and will pay homage to him in the Classics section. The full program will include 55 films and series, as well as 19 shorts. Thirty of the films will compete for the Colcoa Cinema Awards and the Colcoa High School Screenings program will also return, welcoming 3,000 high school students from across Southern California.
Two...
Colcoa is running as a live week-long event taking place at the DGA Theater Complex from November 1-7. This year’s edition is dedicated to late filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier and will pay homage to him in the Classics section. The full program will include 55 films and series, as well as 19 shorts. Thirty of the films will compete for the Colcoa Cinema Awards and the Colcoa High School Screenings program will also return, welcoming 3,000 high school students from across Southern California.
Two...
- 10/11/2021
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
“A Tale of Love and Desire” is the story of a young Arab man in Paris whose first love is accompanied by the discovery of a very different Arab culture than the one he knows, one that is sensual and liberating.
The film screens as part of the Zurich Film Festival’s New World View section, which this year is celebrating a new generation of Tunisian filmmakers.
In making her sophomore feature, Leyla Bouzid says she wanted to tell the story of a young man experiencing his first love and first sexual experience. The idea, she says, was “to propose another vision of masculinity, another kind of story that has not been presented in other films. It’s something that is absent from our cinema.”
Simply broaching the subject is difficult due to modern social customs. “Filming the body of a young Arab man, even if he’s French, how that is seen by others,...
The film screens as part of the Zurich Film Festival’s New World View section, which this year is celebrating a new generation of Tunisian filmmakers.
In making her sophomore feature, Leyla Bouzid says she wanted to tell the story of a young man experiencing his first love and first sexual experience. The idea, she says, was “to propose another vision of masculinity, another kind of story that has not been presented in other films. It’s something that is absent from our cinema.”
Simply broaching the subject is difficult due to modern social customs. “Filming the body of a young Arab man, even if he’s French, how that is seen by others,...
- 10/3/2021
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
A Tale of Love and Desire opens sensuously: a silhouette behind an opaque shower door, beads of water dotting olive-bronze shoulders, the raspy sound of a towel rubbing against the body. This is Ahmed (Sami Outabali), an 18-year-old French-Algerian university student getting ready for his first day of classes at the Sorbonne. He is bright, reserved, incredibly indecisive and, we find out eventually, has never had sex. Whether he wants to or not is the question at the center of Tunisian writer-director Leyla Bouzid’s (As I Open My Eyes) languorous and subtly erotic coming-of-age film.
Stories of first sexual encounters brim with ...
Stories of first sexual encounters brim with ...
- 7/16/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
A Tale of Love and Desire opens sensuously: a silhouette behind an opaque shower door, beads of water dotting olive-bronze shoulders, the raspy sound of a towel rubbing against the body. This is Ahmed (Sami Outabali), an 18-year-old French-Algerian university student getting ready for his first day of classes at the Sorbonne. He is bright, reserved, incredibly indecisive and, we find out eventually, has never had sex. Whether he wants to or not is the question at the center of Tunisian writer-director Leyla Bouzid’s (As I Open My Eyes) languorous and subtly erotic coming-of-age film.
Stories of first sexual encounters brim with ...
Stories of first sexual encounters brim with ...
- 7/16/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Omar El Zohairy’s comedy-drama “Feathers” has won the Nespresso Grand Prize at Critics’ Week, the Cannes Film Festival’s strand dedicated to first and second films.
Set in contemporary Egypt, “Feathers” follows the journey of a woman with three children whose idealist husband is turned into a chicken by a magician in a magic-trick gone awry. El Zohairy used over 30 real chickens in the production with the assistance of an animal trainer. It was produced by Still Moving (France), and co-produced by Film Clinic (Egypt), Lagoonie Film Production (Egypt), Kepler Film (The Netherlands) and Heretic (Greece).
Meanwhile, the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award went to Sandra Melissa Torres for her performance in Simón Mesa Soto’s “Amparo,” about a working-class mother desperately attempting to save her son from military conscription in Colombia.
The Grand Prize and Rising Star awards were given by the jury which was presided over...
Set in contemporary Egypt, “Feathers” follows the journey of a woman with three children whose idealist husband is turned into a chicken by a magician in a magic-trick gone awry. El Zohairy used over 30 real chickens in the production with the assistance of an animal trainer. It was produced by Still Moving (France), and co-produced by Film Clinic (Egypt), Lagoonie Film Production (Egypt), Kepler Film (The Netherlands) and Heretic (Greece).
Meanwhile, the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award went to Sandra Melissa Torres for her performance in Simón Mesa Soto’s “Amparo,” about a working-class mother desperately attempting to save her son from military conscription in Colombia.
The Grand Prize and Rising Star awards were given by the jury which was presided over...
- 7/14/2021
- by K.J. Yossman
- Variety Film + TV
With the pandemic still impeding world travel, the Cannes Film Festival chose five key cities for its satellite events, with Mexico City, Beijing, Melbourne, Seoul and Tokyo screening a selection of titles world premiering at the French event.
From July 8 to 16, Mexico City’s Diana arthouse cinema, of giant exhibition circuit Cinepolis, has hosted a dozen Cannes titles that were not available online.
In a statement, Cannes director general Thierry Fremaux said: “This exceptional year gives us the chance, for the first time, to present the films of the Cannes Selection to Mexican buyers in a theater in Mexico City, while the festival takes place in Cannes. I have no doubt that these screenings will help the films find a distributor.”
“With the realization of this important event, Mexico is confirmed as a vital business platform in the audiovisual industry,” said Cannes en Cdmx producer Daniel de la Vega.
“The...
From July 8 to 16, Mexico City’s Diana arthouse cinema, of giant exhibition circuit Cinepolis, has hosted a dozen Cannes titles that were not available online.
In a statement, Cannes director general Thierry Fremaux said: “This exceptional year gives us the chance, for the first time, to present the films of the Cannes Selection to Mexican buyers in a theater in Mexico City, while the festival takes place in Cannes. I have no doubt that these screenings will help the films find a distributor.”
“With the realization of this important event, Mexico is confirmed as a vital business platform in the audiovisual industry,” said Cannes en Cdmx producer Daniel de la Vega.
“The...
- 7/14/2021
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Palme d’Or-winning filmmaker Jacques Audiard and rising director Léa Mysius reminisce about presenting their respective debut features, “See How They Fall” and “Ava,” at Cannes’ Critics’ Week in an exclusive video celebrating the 60th anniversary of the sidebar.
Under the helm of Charles Tesson since 2011, Critics’ Week, which is dedicated to first and second films, has showcased more dozens of emerging filmmakers over the years. Some of them will have their latest movies unspool in competition at the festival. These include Audiard with “Paris, 13th District” which was co-written with Mysius and Celine Sciamma, as well as Julia Ducournau (“Raw”) with “Titane,” and Nadav Lapid (“The Kindergarten Teacher”) with “Ahed’s Knee.”
Audiard and Mysius are two of the 60 talents and artists who have shared testimonies about Critics’ Week brought to their lives and careers through videos and letters. Critics’ Week is unveiling these tributes throughout the month of June.
Under the helm of Charles Tesson since 2011, Critics’ Week, which is dedicated to first and second films, has showcased more dozens of emerging filmmakers over the years. Some of them will have their latest movies unspool in competition at the festival. These include Audiard with “Paris, 13th District” which was co-written with Mysius and Celine Sciamma, as well as Julia Ducournau (“Raw”) with “Titane,” and Nadav Lapid (“The Kindergarten Teacher”) with “Ahed’s Knee.”
Audiard and Mysius are two of the 60 talents and artists who have shared testimonies about Critics’ Week brought to their lives and careers through videos and letters. Critics’ Week is unveiling these tributes throughout the month of June.
- 6/18/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Selected titles to screen for buyers in Australia, Mexico, China, South Korea and Japan.
Cannes’ Marché du Film is to host physical screenings of titles from the festival’s Official Selection for industry in five key territories, all outside Europe.
With travel restrictions still in place as a result of the ongoing pandemic, the market has organised screenings in Melbourne, Mexico City, Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo.
They will be reserved for buyers, distributors, streaming platforms and festival programmers and will take place on July 8, 9 and from July 12-16, the day after their official screening in Cannes.
More than 20 titles have...
Cannes’ Marché du Film is to host physical screenings of titles from the festival’s Official Selection for industry in five key territories, all outside Europe.
With travel restrictions still in place as a result of the ongoing pandemic, the market has organised screenings in Melbourne, Mexico City, Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo.
They will be reserved for buyers, distributors, streaming platforms and festival programmers and will take place on July 8, 9 and from July 12-16, the day after their official screening in Cannes.
More than 20 titles have...
- 6/17/2021
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
The Cannes Film Festival’s parallel Critics’ Week section is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2021 with a lineup that is heavy on French talent and nonexistent when it comes to U.S. filmmakers. This year’s Critics’ Week selection includes 13 world premieres, seven of them in competition. As always, Critics’ Week is made of up first and-second time directorial efforts. The selection committee says it received 1,620 short films and watched 1,000 features in 2021. The lineup was selected by Critics’ Week artistic director Charles Tesson and his committee. Each section of the Critics’ Week lineup is made up of about 30 percent of films directed by women.
“The competition is very international and showcases films with many different styles and topics,” Tesson said in a statement (via Variety). “Many films tackle relationships, friendships, family bonds — especially mothers with their children, loved ones we lost, or fighting to get back into our lives.”
Critics...
“The competition is very international and showcases films with many different styles and topics,” Tesson said in a statement (via Variety). “Many films tackle relationships, friendships, family bonds — especially mothers with their children, loved ones we lost, or fighting to get back into our lives.”
Critics...
- 6/7/2021
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
It marks Tesson’s 10th edition at the helm of Critics’ Week.
The upcoming edition of Cannes Critics’ Week (July 7-15) will be a momentous one for its artistic director Charles Tesson on a number of levels.
As well as being the first physical edition since 2019, after last year’s hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the parallel section’s 60th edition, it will also be respected film critic and academic Tesson’s tenth edition at the helm. Screen talked to Tesson about the line-up, which was unveiled on Monday, and plans for the 60th edition.
According to the press release,...
The upcoming edition of Cannes Critics’ Week (July 7-15) will be a momentous one for its artistic director Charles Tesson on a number of levels.
As well as being the first physical edition since 2019, after last year’s hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the parallel section’s 60th edition, it will also be respected film critic and academic Tesson’s tenth edition at the helm. Screen talked to Tesson about the line-up, which was unveiled on Monday, and plans for the 60th edition.
According to the press release,...
- 6/7/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
With most of the main Cannes Film Festival lineup now confirmed, it’s now time for the sidebars to be unveiled. First up is the lineup for the Critics Week aka Semaine de la Critique. A spotlight on new filmmakers, in recent years they’ve featured works by Julia Ducournau (who now has a film in competition this year with Titane), Hlynur Pálmason, Oliver Laxe, Agnieszka Smoczyńska, Jonas Carpignano, Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, Ritesh Batra, and more.
This year’s slate is full of a new class of emerging filmmakers, with the opening selection, Constance Meyer’s Robuste starring Gérard Depardieu and Déborah Lukumuena, the Adèle Exarchopoulos-led Zero Fucks Given by Julie Lecoustre & Emmanuel Marre, and more. The jury this year is headed by Cristian Mungiu.
Check out the lineup below and see more about each film at the links here.
Opening Film
“Robuste,” Constance Meyer
Special Screenings
“Anaïs in Love,...
This year’s slate is full of a new class of emerging filmmakers, with the opening selection, Constance Meyer’s Robuste starring Gérard Depardieu and Déborah Lukumuena, the Adèle Exarchopoulos-led Zero Fucks Given by Julie Lecoustre & Emmanuel Marre, and more. The jury this year is headed by Cristian Mungiu.
Check out the lineup below and see more about each film at the links here.
Opening Film
“Robuste,” Constance Meyer
Special Screenings
“Anaïs in Love,...
- 6/7/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The Cannes Film Festival’s parallel Critics’ Week section has unveiled its lineup for the 60th edition, which will run from July 7-15. There are seven feature films in competition, each of which is a debut meaning they are all eligible for the Camera d’Or. Romanian filmmaker and former Palme d’Or winner Cristian Mungiu is president of this year’s jury which will award the Nespresso Grand Prize, The Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award and the Leitz Cine Discovery Prize for short film. Scroll down for the full list of films.
The section will open with Gérard Depardieu-starrer Robuste (Robust) from Constance Meyer (the first time since 2004 that a film directed by a French woman has opening-night honors). Closing the proceedings is Tunisian filmmaker Leyla Bouzid with Une Histoire D’Amour Et De Désir (A Tale of Love and Desire). Among the Special Screenings is...
The section will open with Gérard Depardieu-starrer Robuste (Robust) from Constance Meyer (the first time since 2004 that a film directed by a French woman has opening-night honors). Closing the proceedings is Tunisian filmmaker Leyla Bouzid with Une Histoire D’Amour Et De Désir (A Tale of Love and Desire). Among the Special Screenings is...
- 6/7/2021
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Critics’ Week, the Cannes Film Festival parallel strand dedicated to first and second films, follows the official selection’s lead in announcing an expanded lineup after taking a year off.
The 2021 program — which marks the sidebar’s 60th edition — will feature 13 world premieres, seven of them in competition, chosen from nearly 1,000 films by Charles Tesson, artistic director, and his committee. The lineup is heavy on French talent, with no American directors in the mix.
Constance Meyer’s “Robust” (previously titled “Misfit”), a drama-comedy starring Gérard Depardieu and Déborah Lukumuena (“Divines”), will open the 2021 edition of Critics’ Week. Set in contemporary Paris, “Robust” stars Depardieu as a lonely film star in decline, who forms an unexpected bond with Aïssa, a semi-pro wrestler earning a living as a security officer.
Leyla Bouzid’s “A Tale of Love and Desire” will close the edition and will also be part of the Special Screenings section,...
The 2021 program — which marks the sidebar’s 60th edition — will feature 13 world premieres, seven of them in competition, chosen from nearly 1,000 films by Charles Tesson, artistic director, and his committee. The lineup is heavy on French talent, with no American directors in the mix.
Constance Meyer’s “Robust” (previously titled “Misfit”), a drama-comedy starring Gérard Depardieu and Déborah Lukumuena (“Divines”), will open the 2021 edition of Critics’ Week. Set in contemporary Paris, “Robust” stars Depardieu as a lonely film star in decline, who forms an unexpected bond with Aïssa, a semi-pro wrestler earning a living as a security officer.
Leyla Bouzid’s “A Tale of Love and Desire” will close the edition and will also be part of the Special Screenings section,...
- 6/7/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Samir Guesmi’s movie walks away with the French festival’s Grand Prize, while other prize winners include Paloma Sermon-Daï’s Petit samedi and Iryna Tsilyk’s The Earth is Blue as an Orange. Victory at the 33rd Angers European Premiers Plans Film Festival (organised online on account of the health crisis) was claimed by Ibrahim, directed by France’s Samir Guesmi to whom the jury presided over by Pierre Salvadori awarded the European feature film competition’s Grand Prize. The first feature film helmed by actor Samir Guesmi, Ibrahim has already earned itself the 2020 Cannes Film Festival’s Official Selection label, as well as triumphing at the Angoulême Film Festival and walking away with Rome’s Alice nella Città Golden Camera Award. Produced by Why Not and sold worldwide by Wild Bunch, Ibrahim stars Abdel Benhader, Samir...
Top 100 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2021: #61. Leyla Bouzid’s Une histoire d’amour et de désir
Une histoire d’amour et de désir
It’s now been six years since French-Tunisian director Leyla Bouzid (daughter of director Nouri Bouzid) premiered her 2015 debut As I Open My Eyes. She should be all set with sophomore title Une histoire d’amour et de désir (A Story of Love and Desire) in 2021, produced by Sandra da Fonseca. Sami Outalbali and Zbeida Belhajamor topline this bill. As I Open My Eyes premiered in Venice Days at the 2015 Venice Film Festival, winning the audience award and Label Europa Cinemas award. Cnc backed the project.…...
It’s now been six years since French-Tunisian director Leyla Bouzid (daughter of director Nouri Bouzid) premiered her 2015 debut As I Open My Eyes. She should be all set with sophomore title Une histoire d’amour et de désir (A Story of Love and Desire) in 2021, produced by Sandra da Fonseca. Sami Outalbali and Zbeida Belhajamor topline this bill. As I Open My Eyes premiered in Venice Days at the 2015 Venice Film Festival, winning the audience award and Label Europa Cinemas award. Cnc backed the project.…...
- 1/4/2021
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
The Maternal director joins the ranks of previous women selected by the initiative, which is sponsored by Kering in partnership with the Cannes Film Festival with a view to supporting young filmmakers. Despite the cancellation of this year’s Cannes Film Festival on account of anti-Covid restrictions, Kering and the Cannes Film Festival were nonetheless keen to hand out their Young Talent Women In Motion Award, which was first introduced in 2015 and is aimed at providing support for works by young women directors trying to forge a path in the film industry. As such, Italian filmmaker Maura Delpero, who drew copious attention with her first fiction feature Maternal (which notably walked away with a Special Jury Prize in Locarno), now joins the ranks of previous winners of the award, which has formerly distinguished Tunisia’s Leyla Bouzid, Syria’s Gaya Jiji, Iran’s Ida Panahandeh, Palestine’s Maysaloun Hamoud,...
- 12/10/2020
- Cineuropa - The Best of European Cinema
Italian director Maura Delpero is the winner of this year’s annual Women in Motion Young Talent Award, being bestowed by the Kering Group and the Cannes Film Festival despite the cancellation of the 2020 festival due to the pandemic.
Delpero, who studied playwriting in Buenos Aires, after two documentaries made her feature film debut in 2019 with “Maternal,” a drama inspired by her spending four years in an Argentinian refuge for adolescent single mothers run by nuns.
“Maternal” world premiered in the Locarno competition where it won the Special Jury Prize. The film has since segued to screen at a slew of festivals and was released theatrically in France this past October to positive reviews.
Variety critic Guy Lodge in his Locarno review praised the film as “a moving, lively study of conflicting duties and desires” marking “an assured shift into narrative filmmaking.”
“At a time when the debate about women...
Delpero, who studied playwriting in Buenos Aires, after two documentaries made her feature film debut in 2019 with “Maternal,” a drama inspired by her spending four years in an Argentinian refuge for adolescent single mothers run by nuns.
“Maternal” world premiered in the Locarno competition where it won the Special Jury Prize. The film has since segued to screen at a slew of festivals and was released theatrically in France this past October to positive reviews.
Variety critic Guy Lodge in his Locarno review praised the film as “a moving, lively study of conflicting duties and desires” marking “an assured shift into narrative filmmaking.”
“At a time when the debate about women...
- 12/10/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Parent company Jour2Fête will retain existing name for French distribution activities.
Paris-based film company Jour2Fête is rebranding the merged sales operations of its recent acquisition Doc & Film International and in-house sales team under the banner of The Party Film Sales.
Jour2Fête’s French theatrical distribution business will continue to operate under its existing name.
Sarah Chazelle and Etienne Ollagnier’s Jour2Fête acquired Paris-based Doc & Film International last October, following the departure of its long-time CEO Daniela Elstner for French cinema agency Unifrance to take up the role of managing director.
Under the deal, the aim was to merge the existing staff,...
Paris-based film company Jour2Fête is rebranding the merged sales operations of its recent acquisition Doc & Film International and in-house sales team under the banner of The Party Film Sales.
Jour2Fête’s French theatrical distribution business will continue to operate under its existing name.
Sarah Chazelle and Etienne Ollagnier’s Jour2Fête acquired Paris-based Doc & Film International last October, following the departure of its long-time CEO Daniela Elstner for French cinema agency Unifrance to take up the role of managing director.
Under the deal, the aim was to merge the existing staff,...
- 2/5/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Top 150 Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2020: #92. Une histoire d’amour et de désir – Leyla Bouzid
Une histoire d’amour et de désir
It’s been five years since French-Tunisian director Leyla Bouzid (daughter of director Nouri Bouzid) premiered her 2015 debut As I Open My Eyes. She should be all set with sophomore title Une histoire d’amour et de désir (A Story of Love and Desire) in 2020, produced by Sandra da Fonseca. Sami Outalbali and Zbeida Belhajamor will star. As I Open My Eyes premiered in Venice Days at the 2015 Venice Film Festival, winning the audience award and Label Europa Cinemas award. Cnc backed the project.
Gist: Bouzid’s sophomore film details the sexual awakening of Ahmed, a young French man of Algerian origins.…...
It’s been five years since French-Tunisian director Leyla Bouzid (daughter of director Nouri Bouzid) premiered her 2015 debut As I Open My Eyes. She should be all set with sophomore title Une histoire d’amour et de désir (A Story of Love and Desire) in 2020, produced by Sandra da Fonseca. Sami Outalbali and Zbeida Belhajamor will star. As I Open My Eyes premiered in Venice Days at the 2015 Venice Film Festival, winning the audience award and Label Europa Cinemas award. Cnc backed the project.
Gist: Bouzid’s sophomore film details the sexual awakening of Ahmed, a young French man of Algerian origins.…...
- 12/31/2019
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
French sales companies to merge staff, infrastructure and slates.
Jour2Fête, the Paris-based sales and distribution company co-headed by Sarah Chazelle and Etienne Ollagnier, is set to acquire compatriot sales company Doc & Film International, as its CEO Daniela Elstner heads to French cinema agency Unifrance in the role of managing director.
Under the deal, which is in the final stages of completion, Jour2Fête will merge the existing staff, infrastructure, slates and catalogues of both companies into one entity over the coming months.
For the time being, the separate banners of Jour2Fête and Doc & Film will remain in place,...
Jour2Fête, the Paris-based sales and distribution company co-headed by Sarah Chazelle and Etienne Ollagnier, is set to acquire compatriot sales company Doc & Film International, as its CEO Daniela Elstner heads to French cinema agency Unifrance in the role of managing director.
Under the deal, which is in the final stages of completion, Jour2Fête will merge the existing staff, infrastructure, slates and catalogues of both companies into one entity over the coming months.
For the time being, the separate banners of Jour2Fête and Doc & Film will remain in place,...
- 10/11/2019
- by 1100380¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Sami Outalbali and Zbeida Belhajamor star in the second feature from the director of As I Open My Eyes. A Blue Monday production sold by Pyramide. On 14 October, shooting will begin on Une histoire d’amour et de désir (lit. A Story of Love and Desire), Leyla Bouzid’s second feature, following As I Open My Eyes. Heading the cast are Sami Outalbali and Zbeida Belhajamor. Written by the director, the film paints the portrait of Ahmed, a young French man of Algerian origins, at the crucial moment of his sexual awakening. Through his decisive encounters with Farah, a young woman who has just arrived...
Respected international sales veteran replaces outgoing Isabelle Giordano.
Sales veteran Daniela Elstner, best known as the head of Paris-based sales company Doc & Film International, has been appointed as the new managing director of French cinema promotional body Unifrance.
She replaces Isabelle Giordano who is leaving at the end of July after six years in the role.
The appointment was overseen by Unifrance president Serge Toubiana who was unanimously re-elected for another two-year term last week.
“I’m overjoyed that Daniela Elstner, a major figure in the export of French cinema, who is recognised throughout the profession for her knowledge...
Sales veteran Daniela Elstner, best known as the head of Paris-based sales company Doc & Film International, has been appointed as the new managing director of French cinema promotional body Unifrance.
She replaces Isabelle Giordano who is leaving at the end of July after six years in the role.
The appointment was overseen by Unifrance president Serge Toubiana who was unanimously re-elected for another two-year term last week.
“I’m overjoyed that Daniela Elstner, a major figure in the export of French cinema, who is recognised throughout the profession for her knowledge...
- 7/8/2019
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Cannes Lens 2019: Kering Presents the Fifth Women in Motion Award to Actress Gong LiThe Young Talent Award will be presented to director Eva Trobisch.
François-Henri Pinault, Chairman and CEO of Kering, Pierre Lescure, President of the Festival de Cannes, and Thierry Frémaux, Festival General Delegate, will present the Awards at the official Women In Motion dinner on Sunday May 19, 2019.
Gong Li, an iconic figure of Chinese cinema, has established a truly global renown during a remarkable, most singular career. She is the first Chinese actress to have achieved success at the major international festivals, such as Berlin, Venice and Cannes, where her performances have won great critical acclaim. Her prominence in the movie industry and her strong personality have also led to her presiding at many of the world’s film festivals.
She has played central leading roles, bringing life and success to the works of famous directors such as Zhang Yimou,...
François-Henri Pinault, Chairman and CEO of Kering, Pierre Lescure, President of the Festival de Cannes, and Thierry Frémaux, Festival General Delegate, will present the Awards at the official Women In Motion dinner on Sunday May 19, 2019.
Gong Li, an iconic figure of Chinese cinema, has established a truly global renown during a remarkable, most singular career. She is the first Chinese actress to have achieved success at the major international festivals, such as Berlin, Venice and Cannes, where her performances have won great critical acclaim. Her prominence in the movie industry and her strong personality have also led to her presiding at many of the world’s film festivals.
She has played central leading roles, bringing life and success to the works of famous directors such as Zhang Yimou,...
- 5/14/2019
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Screen’s regularly updated list of foreign language Oscar submissions.
Nominations for the 91st Academy Awards are not until Tuesday January 22, but the first submissions for best foreign-language film are now being announced.
Last year saw a record 92 submissions for the award, which were narrowed down to a shortlist of nine. This was cut to five nominees, with Sebastián Lelio’s transgender drama A Fantastic Woman ultimately taking home the gold statue.
Screen’s interview with Mark Johnson, chair of the Academy’s foreign-language film committee, explains the shortlisting process from submission to voting.
Submitted films must be released theatrically...
Nominations for the 91st Academy Awards are not until Tuesday January 22, but the first submissions for best foreign-language film are now being announced.
Last year saw a record 92 submissions for the award, which were narrowed down to a shortlist of nine. This was cut to five nominees, with Sebastián Lelio’s transgender drama A Fantastic Woman ultimately taking home the gold statue.
Screen’s interview with Mark Johnson, chair of the Academy’s foreign-language film committee, explains the shortlisting process from submission to voting.
Submitted films must be released theatrically...
- 9/17/2018
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the emergence of the #MeToo movement, Women in Motion, the initiative launched in 2015 by fashion powerhouse Kering and backed by the Cannes Film Festival, is proving more timely than ever.
The 4-year-old initiative, whose mission is to highlight to role of women before and behind the camera, has already begun to bear fruit. Variety is a partner in the initiative.
Syrian helmer Gaya Jiji, who won the Women in Motion’s Young Talents Award and a grant along with Leyla Bouzid and Ida Panahandeh in 2016, will be back in Cannes this year to present her feature debut “My Favorite Fabric” in Un Certain Regard.
Aside from paying tribute to iconic women in the industry such as Olivia de Havilland and Isabelle Huppert, Women in Motion has also been turning the spotlight on emerging women filmmakers, including Jiji.
“Kering was the first...
The 4-year-old initiative, whose mission is to highlight to role of women before and behind the camera, has already begun to bear fruit. Variety is a partner in the initiative.
Syrian helmer Gaya Jiji, who won the Women in Motion’s Young Talents Award and a grant along with Leyla Bouzid and Ida Panahandeh in 2016, will be back in Cannes this year to present her feature debut “My Favorite Fabric” in Un Certain Regard.
Aside from paying tribute to iconic women in the industry such as Olivia de Havilland and Isabelle Huppert, Women in Motion has also been turning the spotlight on emerging women filmmakers, including Jiji.
“Kering was the first...
- 5/8/2018
- by Carole Horst
- Variety Film + TV
Patty Jenkins will receive the 2018 Women in Motion award during the Cannes Film Festival. The “Wonder Woman” director will receive the honor from festival president Pierre Lescure, its artistic director, Thierry Fremaux, and Francois-Henri Pinault, president and CEO of luxury goods firm Kering, which is behind the Women in Motion initiative. The presentation will take place at a Women in Motion dinner on May 13.
It will be the fourth edition of Women in Motion, which is part of the film festival’s official program. It spans industry talks focused on women’s contribution to cinema, both in front of and behind the camera, and the annual awards.
Robin Wright, Salma Hayek, and Diane Kruger were among those who spoke at last year’s event. Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon are past recipients of the Women in Motion award. The young talent award has gone to honorees including Tunisian director Leyla Bouzid...
It will be the fourth edition of Women in Motion, which is part of the film festival’s official program. It spans industry talks focused on women’s contribution to cinema, both in front of and behind the camera, and the annual awards.
Robin Wright, Salma Hayek, and Diane Kruger were among those who spoke at last year’s event. Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon are past recipients of the Women in Motion award. The young talent award has gone to honorees including Tunisian director Leyla Bouzid...
- 5/4/2018
- by Stewart Clarke
- Variety Film + TV
Capturing the ups and downs of working-class lives on opposite ends of the Mediterranean, <em>Northern Wind</em> (<em>Vent du nord</em>) marks a promising feature debut for writer-director Walid Mattar. Set simultaneously in France and Tunisia, the film follows what happens when a factory closes in one country and then opens in the other, focusing on two families affected by economic and social transformations that are out of their control. Smartly scripted and backed by a solid cast, <em>Wind</em> deserves to be carried to select festivals and art houses overseas.
Written by Mattar, Leyla Bouzid and Claude Le Pape (Cesar-award winner <em>Bloody Milk</em>), the ...
Written by Mattar, Leyla Bouzid and Claude Le Pape (Cesar-award winner <em>Bloody Milk</em>), the ...
- 3/30/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Capturing the ups and downs of working-class lives on opposite ends of the Mediterranean, Northern Wind (Vent du nord) marks a promising feature debut for writer-director Walid Mattar. Set simultaneously in France and Tunisia, the film follows what happens when a factory closes in one country and then opens in the other, focusing on two families affected by economic and social transformations that are out of their control. Smartly scripted and backed by a solid cast, Wind deserves to be carried to select festivals and art houses overseas.
Written by Mattar, Leyla Bouzid and Claude Le Pape (Cesar-award winner Bloody...
Written by Mattar, Leyla Bouzid and Claude Le Pape (Cesar-award winner Bloody...
- 3/29/2018
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Kering, official partner to the Festival de Cannes, has chosen Isabelle Huppert as the 2017 face of Women in Motion.For three years, Women in Motion has shone a spotlight on women’s contribution to cinema through a series of discussions between major figures from the film world and two Awards in celebration of talented women in film.
To mark the 70th anniversary of the Cannes International Film Festival, Kering, an official partner to the Festival has chosen a portrait of Isabelle Huppert for the official poster of the third annual Women in Motion program. Her penetrating gaze dominates the photograph, which draws on the aesthetics of the silver screen in vibrant homage to the power of women in cinema.
A leading actress universally acclaimed for her filmography featuring the world’s greatest directors, Isabelle Huppert is an iconic figure in film, and in particular at the Festival de Cannes, where...
To mark the 70th anniversary of the Cannes International Film Festival, Kering, an official partner to the Festival has chosen a portrait of Isabelle Huppert for the official poster of the third annual Women in Motion program. Her penetrating gaze dominates the photograph, which draws on the aesthetics of the silver screen in vibrant homage to the power of women in cinema.
A leading actress universally acclaimed for her filmography featuring the world’s greatest directors, Isabelle Huppert is an iconic figure in film, and in particular at the Festival de Cannes, where...
- 4/19/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Welcome back to the Weekend Warrior, your weekly look at the new movies hitting theaters this weekend, as well as other cool events and things to check out.
This Past Weekend:
As expected, Labor Day weekend wasn’t good for the two new wide releases at all, although the romantic drama The Light Between Oceans (DreamWorks), starring Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, ended up doing far better of the two. Also as expected, Fede Alvarez’s Don’t Breathe (Screen Gems) won the weekend with a four-day total of $19.7 million, a little less than I predicted. The Light Between Oceans ended up with slightly over $6 million, roughly the same as my original prediction but 20th Century Fox’s thriller Morgan, starring Kate Mara, bomb-bomb-bombed with a ridiculously bad four-day opening of just $2.5 million in its first four days. The Mexican comedy No Manches Frida (Lionsgate/Pantelion) ended up faring better in just 362 theaters,...
This Past Weekend:
As expected, Labor Day weekend wasn’t good for the two new wide releases at all, although the romantic drama The Light Between Oceans (DreamWorks), starring Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander, ended up doing far better of the two. Also as expected, Fede Alvarez’s Don’t Breathe (Screen Gems) won the weekend with a four-day total of $19.7 million, a little less than I predicted. The Light Between Oceans ended up with slightly over $6 million, roughly the same as my original prediction but 20th Century Fox’s thriller Morgan, starring Kate Mara, bomb-bomb-bombed with a ridiculously bad four-day opening of just $2.5 million in its first four days. The Mexican comedy No Manches Frida (Lionsgate/Pantelion) ended up faring better in just 362 theaters,...
- 9/7/2016
- by Edward Douglas
- LRMonline.com
As I Open My Eyes (À peine j’ouvre les yeux) Kino Lorber Reviewed by: Harvey Karten, Shockya Grade: B Director: Leyla Bouzid Written by: Leyla Bouzid, Marie-Sophie Chambon Cast: Baya Medhaffer, Ghalia Benali, Montassar Ayari, Aymen Omrani, Lassaad Jamoussi Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 8/30/16 Opens: September 9, 2016 Rock stars make more money than doctors. People pay happily to see rock stars because they’re exciting, but they pay doctors, generally less entertaining, regretfully. And people collect autographs from rock stars, but not from doctors, whose signatures are unreadable anyway. So what does a protective mother want her rock-inclined daughter to be? A doctor, of course. “As I Open My [ Read More ]
The post As I Open My Eyes Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post As I Open My Eyes Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 9/5/2016
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Adolescence is largely defined by conflict between the younger and older generations, providing reliable material for many coming-of-age stories in past, present, and the future. Leya Bouzid’s debut feature “As I Open My Eyes,” a musically charged French-Tunisian film that follows a young woman as she navigates familial, cultural, and social ideal in the build up to the 2010 Jasmine Revolution in Tunis. The 18-year-old Farah (Baya Medhaffar) has just graduated and her family already sees her as a future doctor, but Farah has other plans. She sings in a political rock band, drinks casually, and discovers love and life in the city at night against the will of her mother Hayet (Ghalia Benali), who knows the dangers of Tunisia too well. Watch an exclusive clip from the film below.
Read More: Venice Review: ‘As I Open My Eyes’ is the Best Fictional Film Yet About the Arab Spring
“As...
Read More: Venice Review: ‘As I Open My Eyes’ is the Best Fictional Film Yet About the Arab Spring
“As...
- 9/2/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
As I Open My Eyes tells the story of a Tunis band and the Ben Ali regime. But even after the Arab spring, the region’s youth are still waiting for freedom, says its director, Leyla Bouzid
Tunisians used to say that one in five of their countrymen worked for the secret police. Leyla Bouzid was an aspiring young noughties film-maker in Tunis’s Fédération des Cinéastes Amateurs when she found out that one of her close friends in the club was an informer. It wasn’t an isolated experience. Of the paranoia that runs through her galloping debut feature As I Open My Eyes, about a rock group trying to find their voice and hold their nerve in the final months of former president Ben Ali’s rule, she says plainly: “These are things either that I saw, or that friends or myself lived through.”
Bouzid left Tunisia shortly...
Tunisians used to say that one in five of their countrymen worked for the secret police. Leyla Bouzid was an aspiring young noughties film-maker in Tunis’s Fédération des Cinéastes Amateurs when she found out that one of her close friends in the club was an informer. It wasn’t an isolated experience. Of the paranoia that runs through her galloping debut feature As I Open My Eyes, about a rock group trying to find their voice and hold their nerve in the final months of former president Ben Ali’s rule, she says plainly: “These are things either that I saw, or that friends or myself lived through.”
Bouzid left Tunisia shortly...
- 9/1/2016
- by Phil Hoad
- The Guardian - Film News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.