The first scores have landed on Screen’s 2024 Cannes jury grid with Agathe Riedinger’s Wild Diamond receiving an average score of 2.1.
The French filmmaker’s debut received nine scores of two (average) while Katja Nicodemus from Germany’s Die Zeit and Screen’s own critic gave it three (good). This was rounded off by a one star (poor) from Bangkok Post’s Kong Rithdee.
Click on the jury grid above for the most up-to-date version.
Wild Diamond follows a 19-year-old woman who sets her heart on success as a reality show star. Newcomer Malou Khebizi leads the way...
The French filmmaker’s debut received nine scores of two (average) while Katja Nicodemus from Germany’s Die Zeit and Screen’s own critic gave it three (good). This was rounded off by a one star (poor) from Bangkok Post’s Kong Rithdee.
Click on the jury grid above for the most up-to-date version.
Wild Diamond follows a 19-year-old woman who sets her heart on success as a reality show star. Newcomer Malou Khebizi leads the way...
- 5/16/2024
- ScreenDaily
Production has begun in Paris, France on Netflix’s French-language action thriller Ad Vitam starring Guillaume Canet.
Filming is taking place across the capital and its suburbs, including Versailles, from April 8 to June 20.
Ad Vitam follows a man who, after narrowly escaping an attempted murder, gets caught up in his past while trying to find his kidnapped wife. Other cast include Stéphane Caillard, Nassim Lyes, Zita Hanrot and Alexis Manenti.
Canet is also a producer, along with Cabanes’ Jean Cottin, and co-wrote the film with its director Rodolphe Lauga in association with David Corona.
It will be released on Netflix...
Filming is taking place across the capital and its suburbs, including Versailles, from April 8 to June 20.
Ad Vitam follows a man who, after narrowly escaping an attempted murder, gets caught up in his past while trying to find his kidnapped wife. Other cast include Stéphane Caillard, Nassim Lyes, Zita Hanrot and Alexis Manenti.
Canet is also a producer, along with Cabanes’ Jean Cottin, and co-wrote the film with its director Rodolphe Lauga in association with David Corona.
It will be released on Netflix...
- 4/17/2024
- ScreenDaily
French actor Guillaume Canet is starring, writing and producing the new Netflix thriller Ad Vitam.
Rodolphe Lauga (It’s Complicated) is directing the action film, which has begun shooting in Paris. Netflix will release the movie worldwide next year.
Canet plays Franck Lazareff who, after surviving an attempt on his life, finds his wife has been kidnapped by a mysterious group of armed men. Trying to rescue her, Frank finds his past catching up with him. Stéphane Caillard, Nassim Lyes, Zita Hanrot and Alexis Manenti co-star.
Canet and Lauga co-wrote the script to Ad Vitam in association with David Corona and Canet is producing, together with Jean Cottin for the Cabanes shingle.
Canet recently directed himself as Gallic comic book hero Asterix in the live-action feature Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom and appeared in the French thriller Breaking Point. from director Yvan Attal. The multi-hyphenate has directed several films, including...
Rodolphe Lauga (It’s Complicated) is directing the action film, which has begun shooting in Paris. Netflix will release the movie worldwide next year.
Canet plays Franck Lazareff who, after surviving an attempt on his life, finds his wife has been kidnapped by a mysterious group of armed men. Trying to rescue her, Frank finds his past catching up with him. Stéphane Caillard, Nassim Lyes, Zita Hanrot and Alexis Manenti co-star.
Canet and Lauga co-wrote the script to Ad Vitam in association with David Corona and Canet is producing, together with Jean Cottin for the Cabanes shingle.
Canet recently directed himself as Gallic comic book hero Asterix in the live-action feature Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom and appeared in the French thriller Breaking Point. from director Yvan Attal. The multi-hyphenate has directed several films, including...
- 4/17/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Netflix has announced the start of principal photography on action thriller Ad Vitam led by French star Guillaume Canet.
Canet co-wrote the screenplay with Rodolphe Lauga in association with David Corona. Canet also produces with Jean Cottin under their Cabanes banner.
Lauga is directing.
Canet stars as escaped murder suspect Franck Lazareff with other cast members including Stéphane Caillard, Nassim Lyes, Zita Hanrot, Alexis Manenti.
The official logline reads: “After escaping an attempted murder, Franck Lazareff must find his wife Leo, who has been kidnapped by a mysterious group of armed men. He is caught up by his past and plunged into a state affair that is beyond him.”
Filming in Paris and Versailles will run from April 8 to June 20, 2024. Ad Vitam will play exclusively on Netflix in 2015.
Canet co-wrote the screenplay with Rodolphe Lauga in association with David Corona. Canet also produces with Jean Cottin under their Cabanes banner.
Lauga is directing.
Canet stars as escaped murder suspect Franck Lazareff with other cast members including Stéphane Caillard, Nassim Lyes, Zita Hanrot, Alexis Manenti.
The official logline reads: “After escaping an attempted murder, Franck Lazareff must find his wife Leo, who has been kidnapped by a mysterious group of armed men. He is caught up by his past and plunged into a state affair that is beyond him.”
Filming in Paris and Versailles will run from April 8 to June 20, 2024. Ad Vitam will play exclusively on Netflix in 2015.
- 4/17/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Zee End Is Nigh
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., the disappointed bride in the failed engagement between Zee and Sony India, has formally ended its quest for a merger. On Tuesday, it withdrew its application before the industry regulator National Company Law Tribunal and said that it will focus instead on internal growth. Pulling the Nclt application also makes it somewhat easier for Zee to pursue its arbitration and other legal actions against Sony.
The plan to merge the two mid-size film and TV businesses was on the table for over two years, but finally (acrimoniously) collapsed in January 2024. Sony is also seeking restitution from Zee, which it says failed to live up to the agreed merger terms. Since the wedding bells stopped ringing, Zee has also announced that it will slice its workforce by 15%.
Netflix Starts Filming Guillaume Canet’S ‘Taken’-Style Thriller
Guillaume Canet, whose latest directorial outing “Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom...
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., the disappointed bride in the failed engagement between Zee and Sony India, has formally ended its quest for a merger. On Tuesday, it withdrew its application before the industry regulator National Company Law Tribunal and said that it will focus instead on internal growth. Pulling the Nclt application also makes it somewhat easier for Zee to pursue its arbitration and other legal actions against Sony.
The plan to merge the two mid-size film and TV businesses was on the table for over two years, but finally (acrimoniously) collapsed in January 2024. Sony is also seeking restitution from Zee, which it says failed to live up to the agreed merger terms. Since the wedding bells stopped ringing, Zee has also announced that it will slice its workforce by 15%.
Netflix Starts Filming Guillaume Canet’S ‘Taken’-Style Thriller
Guillaume Canet, whose latest directorial outing “Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom...
- 4/17/2024
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Netflix has unveiled an untitled French-language thriller starring Vincent Cassel as a jaded DJ alongside a cast also featuring YouTube star and rapper Mister V and music producer Kavinsky, best known for the Drive track Nightcall.
It is the first feature from French graphic designer, animator, director and music producer Bertrand Lagros de Langeron, who is known professionally as So Me.
Cassel plays Scorpex, a once-famous DJ on the downslide, who has not come to terms with the fact that his glory days are over.
When Rose (Laura Felpin), an eccentric agent from French Intelligence Agency offers him the opportunity to take down popular rival Vestax (Mister V), he sees it as a chance to revive his career with a bang.
Further cast members include Alexis Manenti, Déborah Lukumuena, Nina Zem, Nicolas Maury, Philippe Katerine, Paul Mirabel, Panayotis Pascot, Manu Payet and Alice Moitié.
The feature is produced by the...
It is the first feature from French graphic designer, animator, director and music producer Bertrand Lagros de Langeron, who is known professionally as So Me.
Cassel plays Scorpex, a once-famous DJ on the downslide, who has not come to terms with the fact that his glory days are over.
When Rose (Laura Felpin), an eccentric agent from French Intelligence Agency offers him the opportunity to take down popular rival Vestax (Mister V), he sees it as a chance to revive his career with a bang.
Further cast members include Alexis Manenti, Déborah Lukumuena, Nina Zem, Nicolas Maury, Philippe Katerine, Paul Mirabel, Panayotis Pascot, Manu Payet and Alice Moitié.
The feature is produced by the...
- 3/27/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Vincent Cassel plays an aging Edm DJ in the upcoming comedy thriller from French music video director So Me, aka Bertrand de Langeron. Artistic director of the Ed Banger label and known for his music videos for Justice, Kanye West, Mgmt, and Kid Cudi, So Me is making his feature film debut with the still-untilted French feature for Netflix.
Black Swan and Ocean’s Thirteen star Cassel plays Scorpex, a once-famous DJ now on the downside who gets a chance to return to the top when an agent from French intelligence agency Dgsi (played by Golden Mustache actress Laura Felpin) recruits him to take down Vestax (French YouTuber Mister V), his young and fast-rising rival on the Edm scene. Co-stars include Alexis Manenti, Déborah Lukumuena, Nina Zem, Nicolas Maury, Philippe Katerine, Kavinsky, Paul Mirabel, Panayotis Pascot, Manu Payet and Alice Moitié.
Netflix released the first image from the film (above), showing Cassel,...
Black Swan and Ocean’s Thirteen star Cassel plays Scorpex, a once-famous DJ now on the downside who gets a chance to return to the top when an agent from French intelligence agency Dgsi (played by Golden Mustache actress Laura Felpin) recruits him to take down Vestax (French YouTuber Mister V), his young and fast-rising rival on the Edm scene. Co-stars include Alexis Manenti, Déborah Lukumuena, Nina Zem, Nicolas Maury, Philippe Katerine, Kavinsky, Paul Mirabel, Panayotis Pascot, Manu Payet and Alice Moitié.
Netflix released the first image from the film (above), showing Cassel,...
- 3/27/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Ahead of its launch in France, Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming service Max unveiled at Series Mania Festival its pipeline of ambitious local scripted projects, “Malditos” (working title), the adaptation of “Living with our deads,” the memoir of Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur, and
“Malditos,” created by Jean Charles Hue (“Eat Your Bones”) and Olivier Prieur (“The Accident”), is an action-packed crime thriller revolving around the leader of a Gypsy community and her two sons who struggle to save their clan threatened with eviction by rising waters in Southern France. The series is produced by Eve Muller and Noor Sadar at Mediawan-owned White Lion Films, was penned by Hue, Prieur and Maya Haffar (“En thérapie”). Hue is directing the first five episode and Cécilia Verheyden (“Undercover”) is directing the remaining two.
Max has also boarded the series adaptation of the book “Living with our deads” (“Vivre avec nos morts”), which is...
“Malditos,” created by Jean Charles Hue (“Eat Your Bones”) and Olivier Prieur (“The Accident”), is an action-packed crime thriller revolving around the leader of a Gypsy community and her two sons who struggle to save their clan threatened with eviction by rising waters in Southern France. The series is produced by Eve Muller and Noor Sadar at Mediawan-owned White Lion Films, was penned by Hue, Prieur and Maya Haffar (“En thérapie”). Hue is directing the first five episode and Cécilia Verheyden (“Undercover”) is directing the remaining two.
Max has also boarded the series adaptation of the book “Living with our deads” (“Vivre avec nos morts”), which is...
- 3/20/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Max has unveiled a trio of French shows ahead of launch, with commissioning head Vera Peltekian saying “we don’t want to do a French Succession or White Lotus.“
Peltekian and French scripted boss Clémentine Bobin unveiled series about the Bataclan attacks, the gypsy community and an adaptation of a memoir by a French rabbi.
The previously-announced Bataclan series has been given title Black Lies and will co-star Laure Calamy and César-winning The Goldman Case actor Arieh Worthalter alongside Les Misérables’ Alexis Manenti and Mother And Son’s Annabelle Lengronne.
The show tells the story of a woman who cons her way into a victim’s association following the deadly attack in 2015. Produced by StudioFact Stories with June Films, the psychological thriller is directed by Just Philippot and written by Fanny Burdino, Jean-Baptiste Delafon, Samuel Doux and Alexandre Kauffmann. The story is loosely based on the non-fiction...
Peltekian and French scripted boss Clémentine Bobin unveiled series about the Bataclan attacks, the gypsy community and an adaptation of a memoir by a French rabbi.
The previously-announced Bataclan series has been given title Black Lies and will co-star Laure Calamy and César-winning The Goldman Case actor Arieh Worthalter alongside Les Misérables’ Alexis Manenti and Mother And Son’s Annabelle Lengronne.
The show tells the story of a woman who cons her way into a victim’s association following the deadly attack in 2015. Produced by StudioFact Stories with June Films, the psychological thriller is directed by Just Philippot and written by Fanny Burdino, Jean-Baptiste Delafon, Samuel Doux and Alexandre Kauffmann. The story is loosely based on the non-fiction...
- 3/20/2024
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max platform has unveiled its first French originals slate ahead of its launch in the country this summer.
Max has just kicked off production for crime actioner Western Malditos set in the Gypsy community of Southern France. The series is produced by Eve Muller Noor Sadar of Mediawan’s White Lion Films and follows two brothers and mother as they fight to keep a dark secret from destroying their legacy.
It has also greenlit an adaptation of French female rabbi Delphine Horvielleur’s best-seller Living With Our Dead (Vivre Avec Nos Morts) that follows a young...
Max has just kicked off production for crime actioner Western Malditos set in the Gypsy community of Southern France. The series is produced by Eve Muller Noor Sadar of Mediawan’s White Lion Films and follows two brothers and mother as they fight to keep a dark secret from destroying their legacy.
It has also greenlit an adaptation of French female rabbi Delphine Horvielleur’s best-seller Living With Our Dead (Vivre Avec Nos Morts) that follows a young...
- 3/20/2024
- ScreenDaily
Near the end of the political drama “Les Indésirables,” a precisely angled wide shot of a run-down apartment complex depicts the immigrant families that have inhabited it for many years throwing their most precious belongings over their balconies in a last-ditch effort to save them. Scores of virulent riot police have shown up to evict them without prior notice. Amid such extreme circumstances, it’s the unconditional solidarity between all of those surviving in this constantly dehumanized Parisian neighborhood that defines the chaotic scene.
It’s the rare instance when French director Ladj Ly allows the images to speak for themselves, rather than having one of his many characters instructively proclaim why we must care, in the second feature from the Oscar-nominated director of “Les Misérables.” Another impassioned statement against social and racial inequality, “Les Indésirables” feels no less urgent, and yet, the film stumbled at the French box office...
It’s the rare instance when French director Ladj Ly allows the images to speak for themselves, rather than having one of his many characters instructively proclaim why we must care, in the second feature from the Oscar-nominated director of “Les Misérables.” Another impassioned statement against social and racial inequality, “Les Indésirables” feels no less urgent, and yet, the film stumbled at the French box office...
- 1/29/2024
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Variety Film + TV
WTFilms will be at the Rendez-Vous with a genre-focused slate.
Paris-based sales outfit WTFilms has taken on Fabrice du Welz’s Belgian crime thriller Maldoror and unveiled a first look at the film inspired by a true story.
The film stars Anthony Bajon as an impulsive police recruit tasked with a secret mission to track a dangerous sex offender. But when the operation fails, he goes rogue to hunt down the culprits. Now in post, the film is produced by Belgium’s Frakas Productions, with The Jokers Films’ production arm.
Maldoror also stars Alexis Manenti, Béatrice Dalle, Sergi Lopez, Laurent Lucas...
Paris-based sales outfit WTFilms has taken on Fabrice du Welz’s Belgian crime thriller Maldoror and unveiled a first look at the film inspired by a true story.
The film stars Anthony Bajon as an impulsive police recruit tasked with a secret mission to track a dangerous sex offender. But when the operation fails, he goes rogue to hunt down the culprits. Now in post, the film is produced by Belgium’s Frakas Productions, with The Jokers Films’ production arm.
Maldoror also stars Alexis Manenti, Béatrice Dalle, Sergi Lopez, Laurent Lucas...
- 1/15/2024
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
Ladj Ly not only wants to be the truth-teller of French cinema, but a director of exciting, dynamic action as well. His concentration on Paris’ underprivileged immigrant populations, many of whom are forced to live in substandard housing that the government willfully neglects––then tears down to build gentrified housing for white and rich families––brims with an energy that involves swerving drone shots, French rap soundtracks, and a cast of characters who speak like every sentence is a declaration of will. By virtue (or dint) of the need to balance the emotional anger and complicated political webs of Parisian immigrant communities while remaining entertaining, his cinema’s politics often come across muddled and unclear.
Ly’s filming of apartment buildings in Les Indésirables (Bâtiment 5) is just as chaotic as it was in Les Misérables and drums up the claustrophobia of its narrow, dark, murky hallways, beginning with a long...
Ly’s filming of apartment buildings in Les Indésirables (Bâtiment 5) is just as chaotic as it was in Les Misérables and drums up the claustrophobia of its narrow, dark, murky hallways, beginning with a long...
- 9/13/2023
- by Soham Gadre
- The Film Stage
French filmmaker Ladj Ly has returned to his home turf of Paris with Les Indésirables, a searing portrait of police violence and political injustice in angry suburbs that has a world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival this week.
On Saturday, Ly told a TIFF panel that little has changed for the better for the marginalized communities depicted in his follow-up to Les Misérables, which earned the Jury Prize in Cannes. “There’s absolutely no political volition to make anything better,” Ly said during an informal conversation with The Hollywood Reporter‘s Scott Roxborough, which was presented as part of the Visionaries series.
“The problems that touched the suburbs have now extended to the rest of France,” Ly added, as he pointed to the police crackdown of Yellow Vests protests countrywide against economic injustice, which included grassroots protests earlier this year against pension reforms.
“The police have a free pass to kill Blacks and Arabs,...
On Saturday, Ly told a TIFF panel that little has changed for the better for the marginalized communities depicted in his follow-up to Les Misérables, which earned the Jury Prize in Cannes. “There’s absolutely no political volition to make anything better,” Ly said during an informal conversation with The Hollywood Reporter‘s Scott Roxborough, which was presented as part of the Visionaries series.
“The problems that touched the suburbs have now extended to the rest of France,” Ly added, as he pointed to the police crackdown of Yellow Vests protests countrywide against economic injustice, which included grassroots protests earlier this year against pension reforms.
“The police have a free pass to kill Blacks and Arabs,...
- 9/10/2023
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The elevator hasn’t worked in years, so the men carry the casket down several flights of stairs. The hallway lights flicker at unpredictable intervals. The descent to the street, where the men will meet a hearse, is a treacherous one. At the sight of their hunched backs and the sound of barked instructions, a grieving woman asks: “How can we live and die in a place like this?” Welcome to Batiment 5, the setting of French Malian director Ladj Ly’s blistering feature Les Indésirables.
Ly knows how to stage scenes of visceral power, deftly moving between full-hearted flashes of community and taut, antagonistic ones laced with a dreadful foreboding. In Les Misérables, his 2019 Cannes Jury Prize-winning and Oscar-nominated film, the helmer examined tensions between working-class residents and a French anti-crime unit. He harnessed the propulsive energy of thrillers and blended it with the insistent morals of a political drama.
Ly knows how to stage scenes of visceral power, deftly moving between full-hearted flashes of community and taut, antagonistic ones laced with a dreadful foreboding. In Les Misérables, his 2019 Cannes Jury Prize-winning and Oscar-nominated film, the helmer examined tensions between working-class residents and a French anti-crime unit. He harnessed the propulsive energy of thrillers and blended it with the insistent morals of a political drama.
- 9/8/2023
- by Lovia Gyarkye
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The title alone suggests what’s in store. Three years ago, French director Ladj Ly burst onto the international scene with his Oscar-nominated “Les Misérables,” a brutally tense and adrenalized drama about the tensions between French police and young people of color in a suburb of Paris. And the fact that his follow-up has a similar title, “Les Indésirables,” suggests that to some degree, we’re in for more of the same.
Well, we are. “Les Indésirables,” which had its world premiere on Friday at the Toronto International Film Festival, isn’t a sequel by any means, but it is also set in a Paris neighborhood largely populated by immigrants and people of color. And it is also a charged look at systematic injustice that runs on anger and packs a wallop.
It does so from the opening sequence, a tour-de-force of hand-held photography that snakes through a decaying apartment...
Well, we are. “Les Indésirables,” which had its world premiere on Friday at the Toronto International Film Festival, isn’t a sequel by any means, but it is also set in a Paris neighborhood largely populated by immigrants and people of color. And it is also a charged look at systematic injustice that runs on anger and packs a wallop.
It does so from the opening sequence, a tour-de-force of hand-held photography that snakes through a decaying apartment...
- 9/8/2023
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
It would be easy to mistake Ladj Ly’s “Les Indésirables” for a direct sequel to his 2019 debut “Les Misérables.” Beyond possessing a similar title, some of the same cast, and a shared focus on the oppressive living conditions of Paris’ most vulnerable immigrant communities, Ly’s second narrative feature picks up where his first left off: In the crowded stairwell of a suburban housing project as its residents ask themselves, this time aloud: “How can we live and die in a place like this?”
The fade-to-black in the final moments of Ly’s Cannes breakout suggested that loss was imminent, and the ominous drone shot that begins his more expansive sophomore effort ultimately arrives at the sight of a corpse in a coffin. But if these equally combustible films are set in different buildings, and in different communities (with the town of “Grand-Bosquet” standing in for Montfermeil), they’re...
The fade-to-black in the final moments of Ly’s Cannes breakout suggested that loss was imminent, and the ominous drone shot that begins his more expansive sophomore effort ultimately arrives at the sight of a corpse in a coffin. But if these equally combustible films are set in different buildings, and in different communities (with the town of “Grand-Bosquet” standing in for Montfermeil), they’re...
- 9/8/2023
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
The social drama is set to debut at this year’s Toronto film festival.
Goodfellas has unveiled the first English-language trailer for Ladj Ly’s Les Indésirables (Bâtiment 5) set to world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival tonight (September 8).
Watch the trailer above.
The social drama follows a young woman (newcomer Anta Diaw) deeply involved in the life of her community, who discovers a redevelopment plan for her neighbourhood calling for the demolition of the block where she grew up and led behind closed doors by a young doctor thrust into the role of mayor (Les Misérables’ co-writer and star...
Goodfellas has unveiled the first English-language trailer for Ladj Ly’s Les Indésirables (Bâtiment 5) set to world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival tonight (September 8).
Watch the trailer above.
The social drama follows a young woman (newcomer Anta Diaw) deeply involved in the life of her community, who discovers a redevelopment plan for her neighbourhood calling for the demolition of the block where she grew up and led behind closed doors by a young doctor thrust into the role of mayor (Les Misérables’ co-writer and star...
- 9/8/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
The social drama is set to debut at this year’s Toronto film festival.
Goodfellas has unveiled the first English-language trailer for Ladj Ly’s Les Indésirables (Bâtiment 5) set to world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival tonight (September 8).
Watch the trailer above.
The social drama follows a young woman (newcomer Anta Diaw) deeply involved in the life of her community, who discovers a redevelopment plan for her neighbourhood calling for the demolition of the block where she grew up and led behind closed doors by a young doctor thrust into the role of mayor (Les Misérables’ co-writer and star...
Goodfellas has unveiled the first English-language trailer for Ladj Ly’s Les Indésirables (Bâtiment 5) set to world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival tonight (September 8).
Watch the trailer above.
The social drama follows a young woman (newcomer Anta Diaw) deeply involved in the life of her community, who discovers a redevelopment plan for her neighbourhood calling for the demolition of the block where she grew up and led behind closed doors by a young doctor thrust into the role of mayor (Les Misérables’ co-writer and star...
- 9/8/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
The Hollywood Reporter arts and culture critic Lovia Gyarkye shares her list of the 10 must-see films at this month’s Toronto Film Festival.
The Boy and the Heron The Boy and the Heron
How lucky for us that Hayao Miyazaki, the animation master with a gift for enchanting world-building, didn’t stay retired? The prolific Japanese filmmaker makes an exciting return with The Boy and the Heron, which opened in Japan earlier this summer. Inspired by Genzaburo Yoshino’s novel How Do You Live?, The Boy and the Heron chronicles the adventures of a young, bereft boy who discovers an abandoned tower and a persistent grey heron while exploring his new town.
Dicks: The Musical
A24’s first musical feature is a ride that, for better or worse, I’m ready to get on. Comedians Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp play two businessmen who find out they are twins and try to reunite their parents.
The Boy and the Heron The Boy and the Heron
How lucky for us that Hayao Miyazaki, the animation master with a gift for enchanting world-building, didn’t stay retired? The prolific Japanese filmmaker makes an exciting return with The Boy and the Heron, which opened in Japan earlier this summer. Inspired by Genzaburo Yoshino’s novel How Do You Live?, The Boy and the Heron chronicles the adventures of a young, bereft boy who discovers an abandoned tower and a persistent grey heron while exploring his new town.
Dicks: The Musical
A24’s first musical feature is a ride that, for better or worse, I’m ready to get on. Comedians Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp play two businessmen who find out they are twins and try to reunite their parents.
- 9/7/2023
- by Lovia Gyarkye
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Arriving at a moment when interest in all things atomic has been piqued by the global success of “Oppenheimer,” Dragan Bjelogrlić’s “Guardians of the Formula” offers a far more classical, but no less gripping take on a little-known episode marking a historical intersection between the medical and nuclear sciences. Based on Goran Milašinović’s book “Vinča Case,” there are further echoes of Christopher Nolan’s epic in how this elegantly constructed movie centers the ethical and ideological dilemmas of brilliant men of science thrust, somewhat reluctantly, onto the international political stage. But it differs in its careful inclusion of the heroism of ordinary people, and in showing how, while genius is valuable, it’s only prolonged exposure to more everyday human decency that can irradiate the more bull-headed scientific ego with the compassion needed for actual wisdom.
It is 1958 and Georges Mathé is at work in his cluttered lab...
It is 1958 and Georges Mathé is at work in his cluttered lab...
- 8/12/2023
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
Dragan Bjelogrlić’s tale of secret nuclear experiments in Cold War Yugoslavia to be repped by Belgrade-based sales firm.
Belgrade-based boutique sales outfit Soul Food Films is to handle international distribution of Serbian filmmaker Dragan Bjelogrlić’s third feature film The Guardians Of The Formula which will have its world premiere on Locarno’s Piazza Grande on Friday evening (August 4).
Based on the novel Vinča Case by Goran Milašinović, Bjelogrlić’s film has a cast including Alexis Manenti (Les Miserables) and Radivoje Bukvić (A Good Day To Die Hard). It tells the true and little-known story of secret nuclear experiments...
Belgrade-based boutique sales outfit Soul Food Films is to handle international distribution of Serbian filmmaker Dragan Bjelogrlić’s third feature film The Guardians Of The Formula which will have its world premiere on Locarno’s Piazza Grande on Friday evening (August 4).
Based on the novel Vinča Case by Goran Milašinović, Bjelogrlić’s film has a cast including Alexis Manenti (Les Miserables) and Radivoje Bukvić (A Good Day To Die Hard). It tells the true and little-known story of secret nuclear experiments...
- 8/2/2023
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
Ladj Ly’s “Les Indésirables” is set to make its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, making it the first international title to debut at TIFF 2023.
“We are honored to showcase Ladj Ly’s remarkable talent once again with the World Premiere of his latest work, ‘Les Indésirables,’” Cameron Bailey, CEO of TIFF, said. “This deeply personal film beautifully captures the struggles and aspirations of a community, reflecting Ly’s unparalleled storytelling skills.”
The film – whose title is a nod to the Victor Hugo novel – is set in the suburbs of Paris and follows a young doctor (Alexis Manenti) who is appointed to replace the mayor after the politican’s sudden death. As he tries to continue the plans of his predecessor, which involve rehabilitating a working-class neighborhood, he comes face-to-face with a local French woman (Anta Diaw) of Malian origin who refuses to let her family lose their home.
“We are honored to showcase Ladj Ly’s remarkable talent once again with the World Premiere of his latest work, ‘Les Indésirables,’” Cameron Bailey, CEO of TIFF, said. “This deeply personal film beautifully captures the struggles and aspirations of a community, reflecting Ly’s unparalleled storytelling skills.”
The film – whose title is a nod to the Victor Hugo novel – is set in the suburbs of Paris and follows a young doctor (Alexis Manenti) who is appointed to replace the mayor after the politican’s sudden death. As he tries to continue the plans of his predecessor, which involve rehabilitating a working-class neighborhood, he comes face-to-face with a local French woman (Anta Diaw) of Malian origin who refuses to let her family lose their home.
- 7/5/2023
- by Kayla Cobb
- The Wrap
The fall fest season is revving up.
The Toronto Film Festival said Wednesday that French director Ladj Ly’s new feature Les Indésirables will world premiere at its 48th edition, running from September 7-17.
It is the first international world premiere title to be unveiled by TIFF ahead of fuller lineup details in the coming weeks. Last week, organizers said Searchlight’s Taika Waititi soccer comedy Next Goal Wins will have its world premiere there.
Les Indésirables is Ly’s second fiction feature after his award-winning debut Les Misérables, which won the Cannes Jury Prize in 2019 and went on to make its North American premiere at TIFF that same year.
Les Misérables won a slew of French Césars the following year and was also France’s Academy Awards submission, getting through to the final nominations stage in the International Feature category, going up up against Parasite.
Ly’s work, capturing...
The Toronto Film Festival said Wednesday that French director Ladj Ly’s new feature Les Indésirables will world premiere at its 48th edition, running from September 7-17.
It is the first international world premiere title to be unveiled by TIFF ahead of fuller lineup details in the coming weeks. Last week, organizers said Searchlight’s Taika Waititi soccer comedy Next Goal Wins will have its world premiere there.
Les Indésirables is Ly’s second fiction feature after his award-winning debut Les Misérables, which won the Cannes Jury Prize in 2019 and went on to make its North American premiere at TIFF that same year.
Les Misérables won a slew of French Césars the following year and was also France’s Academy Awards submission, getting through to the final nominations stage in the International Feature category, going up up against Parasite.
Ly’s work, capturing...
- 7/5/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Ladj Ly, the French filmmaker behind “Les Misérables,” will return to the Toronto International Film Festival with his latest drama, “Les Indésirables.” The film will have its world premiere at the fall festival, where it is selling distribution rights.
Buyers, particularly those looking to land the rare foreign language film that could appeal to U.S. audiences, will certainly be keen to see what Ly has brought to Toronto. “Les Misérables,” with its searing depiction of police violence and roiling tensions in an immigrant community on the outskirts of Paris electrified critics when it debuted in Cannes in 2019. It won Cannes’ Jury Prize and went on to pick up Oscar and BAFTA nominations after it sold to Amazon.
“Les Indésirables,” which translates to undesirables, stars Alexis Manenti, Jeanne Balibar, Steve Tientcheu, Anta Diaw and Aristote Luyindula. Like “Les Misérables,” it is also set in the suburbs of Paris. After the...
Buyers, particularly those looking to land the rare foreign language film that could appeal to U.S. audiences, will certainly be keen to see what Ly has brought to Toronto. “Les Misérables,” with its searing depiction of police violence and roiling tensions in an immigrant community on the outskirts of Paris electrified critics when it debuted in Cannes in 2019. It won Cannes’ Jury Prize and went on to pick up Oscar and BAFTA nominations after it sold to Amazon.
“Les Indésirables,” which translates to undesirables, stars Alexis Manenti, Jeanne Balibar, Steve Tientcheu, Anta Diaw and Aristote Luyindula. Like “Les Misérables,” it is also set in the suburbs of Paris. After the...
- 7/5/2023
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
French filmmaker won the jury prize at Cannes with ‘Les Misérables’, which went on to secure an Oscar nomination.
Les Indésirables, the second feature of Cannes award-winner Ladj Ly, will receive its world premiere at the 48th Toronto International Film Festival.
The French filmmaker was previously at TIFF in 2019 with debut Les Misérables, which won the jury prize when it premiered in Competition at Cannes and went on to secure an Oscar nomination for best international feature film.
Les Indésirables is a timely tale of revolution, set in the suburbs on the outskirts of Paris, and stars Alexis Manenti, Jeanne Balibar and Steve Tientcheu,...
Les Indésirables, the second feature of Cannes award-winner Ladj Ly, will receive its world premiere at the 48th Toronto International Film Festival.
The French filmmaker was previously at TIFF in 2019 with debut Les Misérables, which won the jury prize when it premiered in Competition at Cannes and went on to secure an Oscar nomination for best international feature film.
Les Indésirables is a timely tale of revolution, set in the suburbs on the outskirts of Paris, and stars Alexis Manenti, Jeanne Balibar and Steve Tientcheu,...
- 7/5/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Ladj Ly, whose debut feature Les Miserables won the Jury Prize in Cannes and became a box office hit in France, is bringing his follow-up feature Les Indesirables to the Toronto International Film Festival for a world premiere.
The French filmmaker will return to Toronto with Les Indésirables after his debut feature, Les Misérables, had a North American premiere at TIFF in 2019, received the Jury Prize at Cannes and earned an Oscar nomination for best international feature at the 2020 Oscars, where it lost out to Parasite.
Ly skipped Cannes with Les Indésirables and Venice was also under consideration for a world premiere ahead of a Nov. 22 commercial release. Set in the suburbs of Paris, Les Indésirables stars Alexis Manenti, Jeanne Balibar, Steve Tientcheu, Anta Diaw, and Aristote Luyindula.
After the sudden death of a town’s mayor, Pierre (Manenti), an idealistic young doctor, is appointed to replace him. He intends...
The French filmmaker will return to Toronto with Les Indésirables after his debut feature, Les Misérables, had a North American premiere at TIFF in 2019, received the Jury Prize at Cannes and earned an Oscar nomination for best international feature at the 2020 Oscars, where it lost out to Parasite.
Ly skipped Cannes with Les Indésirables and Venice was also under consideration for a world premiere ahead of a Nov. 22 commercial release. Set in the suburbs of Paris, Les Indésirables stars Alexis Manenti, Jeanne Balibar, Steve Tientcheu, Anta Diaw, and Aristote Luyindula.
After the sudden death of a town’s mayor, Pierre (Manenti), an idealistic young doctor, is appointed to replace him. He intends...
- 7/5/2023
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This year’s Toronto International Film Festival is continuing to take shape. Today, the festival has announced the world premiere of Ladj Ly’s “Les Indésirables,” which also gives film fans a glimpse at the first international title to be announced from this year’s slate.
It will not be Ly’s first TIFF appearance: the French filmmaker previously screened his “Les Misérables” at the 2019 festival. That film received the Jury Prize at Cannes, was nominated for a Palme d’Or at Cannes as well as several César awards, and ultimately earned an Academy Award nomination for Best International Feature.
Per today’s announcement, the festival promises that “Ly continues to push artistic boundaries, offering audiences a thought-provoking cinematic experience.” “We are honored to showcase Ladj Ly’s remarkable talent once again with the World Premiere of his latest work, ‘Les Indésirables,’” said Cameron Bailey, CEO, TIFF in an official statement.
It will not be Ly’s first TIFF appearance: the French filmmaker previously screened his “Les Misérables” at the 2019 festival. That film received the Jury Prize at Cannes, was nominated for a Palme d’Or at Cannes as well as several César awards, and ultimately earned an Academy Award nomination for Best International Feature.
Per today’s announcement, the festival promises that “Ly continues to push artistic boundaries, offering audiences a thought-provoking cinematic experience.” “We are honored to showcase Ladj Ly’s remarkable talent once again with the World Premiere of his latest work, ‘Les Indésirables,’” said Cameron Bailey, CEO, TIFF in an official statement.
- 7/5/2023
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Amanda Nell Eu’s debut feature wins sidebar’s €10,000 grand prize.
Malaysian director Amanda Nell Eu’s art horror Tiger Stripes won the top €10,000 grand prize of the 62nd edition of Cannes’ Critics Week sidebar.
Nell Eu’s debut feature explores themes of metamorphosis and rebellion in her film about a teenage girl whose body begins to morph at an alarming rate as she learns to embrace her true self. The film is a multi-territory co-production between Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Indonesia and Qatar.
Screen’s review said the film “truly growls in its depiction of the...
Malaysian director Amanda Nell Eu’s art horror Tiger Stripes won the top €10,000 grand prize of the 62nd edition of Cannes’ Critics Week sidebar.
Nell Eu’s debut feature explores themes of metamorphosis and rebellion in her film about a teenage girl whose body begins to morph at an alarming rate as she learns to embrace her true self. The film is a multi-territory co-production between Malaysia, Taiwan, Singapore, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Indonesia and Qatar.
Screen’s review said the film “truly growls in its depiction of the...
- 5/24/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
The thorny subject of child abuse is depicted delicately and with great attention to detail in this affecting debut feature from young Belgian filmmaker Emanuelle Nicot. The film is part of this year’s Cannes Critics’ Week programme and features an impressive turn by newcomer Zelda Samson. Les Miserables and The Eddy stars Alexis Manenti also stars alongside Marie Denarnaud and Jean-Louis Coulloc’h.
Twelve year old Dalva (Samson) lives alone with her father Jaques. One evening, the police storm into their home and arrest her father. Confused about the series of events that took place, a terrified Dalva demands to be reunited with the father she calls by his first name, but is instead given a physical exam and taken into care. Later the teenager befriends her feisty new roommate Samia who reluctantly agrees to teach her naive new friend about things she should have known by now.
Meanwhile Dalva...
Twelve year old Dalva (Samson) lives alone with her father Jaques. One evening, the police storm into their home and arrest her father. Confused about the series of events that took place, a terrified Dalva demands to be reunited with the father she calls by his first name, but is instead given a physical exam and taken into care. Later the teenager befriends her feisty new roommate Samia who reluctantly agrees to teach her naive new friend about things she should have known by now.
Meanwhile Dalva...
- 4/28/2023
- by Linda Marric
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Sidebar devoted to first and second films runs May 17-25.
Cannes Critics’ Week, the sidebar devoted to first and second films, has unveiled the selection for its 62nd edition running May 17-25.
Scroll down for full list of titles
A selection committee led by Ava Cahen, now in her second year in the position, chose 11 titles from 1,000 films screened and seven were selected for the competition.
All of the films in selection are world premieres. Seven are first films that will vie for the Camera d’Or and six are directed by women, including four of the seven films in competition.
Cannes Critics’ Week, the sidebar devoted to first and second films, has unveiled the selection for its 62nd edition running May 17-25.
Scroll down for full list of titles
A selection committee led by Ava Cahen, now in her second year in the position, chose 11 titles from 1,000 films screened and seven were selected for the competition.
All of the films in selection are world premieres. Seven are first films that will vie for the Camera d’Or and six are directed by women, including four of the seven films in competition.
- 4/17/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
Cannes Critics’ Week has announced the selection for its 62nd edition, running from May 17 to 25.
The parallel Cannes section will screen 11 features, seven in competition, and four as special screenings, selected from 1,000 submissions. Scroll down for the full list.
The section, which is overseen by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics, focuses on first and second features as well as shorts by emerging talents.
Stories of couples, parenthood, family relationships and friendships unfolding against difficult political or societal realities abound in this year’s line-up.
In Competition, Brazilian director Lillah Halla’s Power Alley (Levante) follows a budding teenage volleyball champion who discovers she is pregnant on the eve of an important championship and then comes up against Brazil’s abortion ban.
Blocked in her attempts to seek an illegal termination, the girl’s future seems to be in everyone’s hands but hers, until help comes from an unexpected quarter.
The parallel Cannes section will screen 11 features, seven in competition, and four as special screenings, selected from 1,000 submissions. Scroll down for the full list.
The section, which is overseen by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics, focuses on first and second features as well as shorts by emerging talents.
Stories of couples, parenthood, family relationships and friendships unfolding against difficult political or societal realities abound in this year’s line-up.
In Competition, Brazilian director Lillah Halla’s Power Alley (Levante) follows a budding teenage volleyball champion who discovers she is pregnant on the eve of an important championship and then comes up against Brazil’s abortion ban.
Blocked in her attempts to seek an illegal termination, the girl’s future seems to be in everyone’s hands but hers, until help comes from an unexpected quarter.
- 4/17/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
"I'm scared... of being alone." 606 Distribution has revealed an official trailer for a lively French drama titled Love According to Dalva, marking the feature directorial debut of filmmaker Emmanuelle Nicot. This originally premiered in the Critics Week sidebar section at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival last year, and also Camerimage in Poland, and just won the Audience Award at the 2023 Rotterdam Film Festival. The film stars newcomer Zelda Samson as the young woman at the center of it all. Dalva is 12, but she dresses and lives like a woman. One day, she's taken away from her house. Dumbfounded at first, she later meets Jayden, a social worker, and Samia, a teen with a temper. A new life seems to start for Dalva. The film also stars Alexis Manenti, Fanta Guirassi, Marie Denarnaud, & Jean-Louis Coulloc'h. There's still no US release set, but it'll open this April in the UK - which...
- 2/24/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Exclusive: Wild Bunch International (Wbi) has boarded sales on buzzy Portuguese director, artist and producer Gabriel Abrantes’ upcoming English-language feature Amelia’s Children.
The film is among half a dozen new titles being launched by Wbi at the EFM, alongside a raft of previously announced upcoming films, including Cannes hopefuls such as Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s Monster.
The company is also handling Berlinale Competition selections, Philippe Garrel’s The Plough and Makoto Shinkai’s hotly awaited anime Suzume, and the Panorama title Heroic, which world premiered at Sundance.
Abrante’s psychological thriller Amelia’s Children is his solo feature debut and his first feature since his 2018 Cannes Critics’ Week winner Diamantino (co-directed with Daniel Schmidt).
The film reunites him with its star Carloto Cotta. Other key cast members are Brigette Lundy-Paine (Atypical) and Alba Baptiste (Warrior Nun).
Cotta plays a man whose search for his biological family leads him and his...
The film is among half a dozen new titles being launched by Wbi at the EFM, alongside a raft of previously announced upcoming films, including Cannes hopefuls such as Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s Monster.
The company is also handling Berlinale Competition selections, Philippe Garrel’s The Plough and Makoto Shinkai’s hotly awaited anime Suzume, and the Panorama title Heroic, which world premiered at Sundance.
Abrante’s psychological thriller Amelia’s Children is his solo feature debut and his first feature since his 2018 Cannes Critics’ Week winner Diamantino (co-directed with Daniel Schmidt).
The film reunites him with its star Carloto Cotta. Other key cast members are Brigette Lundy-Paine (Atypical) and Alba Baptiste (Warrior Nun).
Cotta plays a man whose search for his biological family leads him and his...
- 2/2/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Les Indésirables
One of the last major projects to move into production in ’22 and on this list is Ladj Ly‘s sophomore film with the nifty sounding and complimentary title. Ly won Jury Prize Les Misérables and he reteams with certain elements from that film with Les Indésirables. Starring Anta Diaw and Alexis Manenti, Ly penned (alongside Giordano Gederlini) another drama where the backdrop is an important character. Production took place in December and will end next month. Produced by Srab Films’ Toufik Ayadi and Christophe Barral (Saint Omer), this is proposed as a chronicle the young woman’s emancipation, and explores the inhabitants feeling threatened by gentrification plans.…...
One of the last major projects to move into production in ’22 and on this list is Ladj Ly‘s sophomore film with the nifty sounding and complimentary title. Ly won Jury Prize Les Misérables and he reteams with certain elements from that film with Les Indésirables. Starring Anta Diaw and Alexis Manenti, Ly penned (alongside Giordano Gederlini) another drama where the backdrop is an important character. Production took place in December and will end next month. Produced by Srab Films’ Toufik Ayadi and Christophe Barral (Saint Omer), this is proposed as a chronicle the young woman’s emancipation, and explores the inhabitants feeling threatened by gentrification plans.…...
- 1/12/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Ladj Ly, the French filmmaker whose feature debut “Les Miserables” won Cannes’ Jury Prize and earned Oscar and BAFTA nominations, has just started shooting his next film, “Les Indesirables” (Undesirables).
The movie reteams Ly and “Les Miserables” producers Toufik Ayadi and Christophe Barral at Srab Films, the Paris-based banner whose recent credits include Alice Diop’s buzzed-about French Oscar entry “Saint Omer.”
“Les Indesirables” brings back the entire team behind “Les Miserables”: Wild Bunch International for world sales and Le Pacte for French distribution, as well as the pay TV channel Canal+ and Cine+ which pre-bought the film. The local public broadcaster France Televisions also scooped French free-to-air rights to the movie which will be headlined by a promising newcomer, Anta Diaw, and Alexis Manenti, whose gripping performance in “Les Miserables” earned him a Cesar Award for best male newcomer.
Penned by Ly and Giordano Gederlini (“Les Miserables”), “Les...
The movie reteams Ly and “Les Miserables” producers Toufik Ayadi and Christophe Barral at Srab Films, the Paris-based banner whose recent credits include Alice Diop’s buzzed-about French Oscar entry “Saint Omer.”
“Les Indesirables” brings back the entire team behind “Les Miserables”: Wild Bunch International for world sales and Le Pacte for French distribution, as well as the pay TV channel Canal+ and Cine+ which pre-bought the film. The local public broadcaster France Televisions also scooped French free-to-air rights to the movie which will be headlined by a promising newcomer, Anta Diaw, and Alexis Manenti, whose gripping performance in “Les Miserables” earned him a Cesar Award for best male newcomer.
Penned by Ly and Giordano Gederlini (“Les Miserables”), “Les...
- 12/19/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Netflix’s masterpiece, Athena, was shot mainly on the Arri Alexa 65 by cinematographer Matias Boucard AFC. Boucard utilized this extra-large sensor to enhance motion and storytelling in long takes, and within extreme environments.
Athena BTS. Picture: Netflix Athena: Children of Men
Athena is a 2022 French epic action tragedy film directed by Romain Gavras. Starring Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon, Ouassini Embarek, and Alexis Manenti, the film examines inequality and police violence in a French banlieue community. The film had its world premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on September 2022, where it competed for the Golden Lion award, and was released on 23 September 2022 by Netflix.
Athena BTS. Picture: Netflix Athena BTS. Picture: Netflix
It was praised for its acting, score, direction, and technical aspects, especially regarding its cinematography. Athena’s Dp is Matias Boucard AFC, who used the extra-large sensor of the Arri Alexa 65 to enhance motion, and camera kinetics,...
Athena BTS. Picture: Netflix Athena: Children of Men
Athena is a 2022 French epic action tragedy film directed by Romain Gavras. Starring Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon, Ouassini Embarek, and Alexis Manenti, the film examines inequality and police violence in a French banlieue community. The film had its world premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival on September 2022, where it competed for the Golden Lion award, and was released on 23 September 2022 by Netflix.
Athena BTS. Picture: Netflix Athena BTS. Picture: Netflix
It was praised for its acting, score, direction, and technical aspects, especially regarding its cinematography. Athena’s Dp is Matias Boucard AFC, who used the extra-large sensor of the Arri Alexa 65 to enhance motion, and camera kinetics,...
- 11/10/2022
- by Yossy Mendelovich
- YMCinema
To be seen next year in Mektoub, My Love: Canto Due and Stéphane Demoustier’s Ibiza, the always busy Hafsia Herzi leads a quartet of players in a new directorial debut that might be worth keeping tabs on. A short filmmaker and La Fémis grad, Iris Kaltenbäck will have Herzi, Alexis Manenti, Nina Meurisse and Younès Boucif to work with on Le Ravissement. Cineuropa reports that production began this week and will move into mid November. Marianne Productions’ Alice Bloch (The Heroics) and MacT Productions’ Thierry de Clermont-Tonnerre (yes part of the filmmaker family) are producing. Marine Atlan (Summer Scars – read review) is the cinematographer.…...
- 10/18/2022
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
The leaves are withering, the air is turning crisp, and film festival season is well underway — which means even more foreign-language movies to receive raves on the fall awards circuit before getting promptly buried on a streamer. But don't let that happen to "Athena," a staggering French drama that is in danger of falling into the Netflix abyss, crowded out by your "Gray Men" or "Kissing Booth's." Or check out one of last year's forgotten festival darlings in Céline Sciamma's "Petite Maman." And because spooky season is now here, we have a horror anime classic making their streaming debuts, alongside a cyberpunk anime classic. Plus, "Little Women," but make it crime?
Let's fire up those subtitles and get streaming.
Athena – Netflix
Country: France
Genre: Action drama
Director: Romain Gavras
Cast: Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon, Ouassini Embarek, Alexis Manenti.
"Athena" is a Molotov cocktail of a movie: incendiary,...
Let's fire up those subtitles and get streaming.
Athena – Netflix
Country: France
Genre: Action drama
Director: Romain Gavras
Cast: Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon, Ouassini Embarek, Alexis Manenti.
"Athena" is a Molotov cocktail of a movie: incendiary,...
- 9/27/2022
- by Hoai-Tran Bui
- Slash Film
The Film Circuit begins with Telluride, a small but perfect film festival in the mountains of Colorado as simultaneously Venice unfurls the films that will soon be released in the wonderful arthouse cinemas of Europe, followed closely by Toronto whose films foretell the coming year’s Oscars nominees. It is a very exciting time to be on the festival circuit.
And simultaneously with these great screenings are sidebars, panel discussions, workshops, master classes and all around great networking for filmmakers around the world.
Venezia 79 Competition
Il Signore Delle Formiche
Director Gianni Amelio
Main Cast Luigi Lo Cascio, Elio Germano, Leonardo Maltese, Sara Serraiocco / Italy / 134’
The Whale
Director Darren Aronofsky
Main Cast Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink, Hong Chau, Samantha Morton, Ty Simpkins / USA / 117’
White Noise
Director Noah Baumbach
Main Cast Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, Don Cheadle, Raffey Cassidy, Sam Nivola, May Nivola, Jodie Turner-Smith, André L. Benjamin and Lars Eidinger / USA / 136’
L’IMMENSITÀ
Director Emanuele Crialese
Main Cast Penélope Cruz, Luana Giuliani, Vincenzo Amato, Patrizio Francioni / Italy, France / 97’
Saint Omer
Director Alice Diop
Main Cast Kayije Kagame, Guslagie Malanda, Valérie Dréville, Aurélia Petit / France / 123’
Blonde
Director Andrew Dominik
Main Cast Ana de Armas, Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale, Xavier Samuel, Julianne Nicholson, Lily Fisher / USA / 166’
TÁR
Director Todd Field
Main Cast Cate Blanchett, Noémie Merlant, Nina Hoss, Sophie Kauer, Julian Glover, Allan Corduner, Mark Strong / USA / 158’
Love Life
Director Kôji Fukada
Main Cast Fumino Kimura, Kento Nagayama, Atom Sunada / Japan, France / 123’
Bardo, Falsa CRÓNICA De Unas Cuantas Verdades
Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Main Cast Daniel Giménez Cacho, Griselda Siciliani, Ximena Lamadrid, Iker Sanchez Solano, Andrés Almeida, Francisco Rubio / Mexico / 174’
Athena
Director Romain Gavras
Main Cast Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon, Ouassini Embarek, Alexis Manenti / France / 97’
Bones And All
Director Luca Guadagnino
Main Cast Taylor Russell, Timothée Chalamet, Mark Rylance, André Holland, Chloë Sevigny, Jessica Harper, David Gordon Green, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jake Horowitz / USA / 130’
The Eternal Daughter
Director Joanna Hogg
Main Cast Tilda Swinton, Joseph Mydell, Carly-Sophia Davies / UK, USA / 96’
Shab, Dakheli, Divar (Beyond The Wall)
Director Vahid Jalilvand
Main Cast Navid Mohammadzadeh, Diana Habibi, Amir Aghaee / Iran / 126’
The Banshees Of Inisherin
Director Martin McDonagh
Main Cast Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, Barry Keoghan / Ireland, UK, USA / 109’
Argentina, 1985
Director Santiago Mitre
Main Cast Ricardo Darín, Peter Lanzani, Alejandra Flechner, Norman Briski / Argentina, USA / 140’
Chiara
Director Susanna Nicchiarelli
Main Cast Margherita Mazzucco, Andrea Carpenzano, Carlotta Natoli, Paola Tiziana Cruciani, Luigi Lo Cascio / Italy, Belgium / 106’
Monica
Director Andrea Pallaoro
Main Cast Trace Lysette, Patricia Clarkson, Adriana Barraza, Emily Browning, Joshua Close / USA, Italy / 113’
Khers Nist (No Bears)
Director Jafar Panahi
Main Cast Jafar Panahi, Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobaseri, Bakhtiar Panjeei, Mina Kavani, Reza Heydari / Iran / 107’
All The Beauty And The Bloodshed
Director Laura Poitras
USA / 117’
Un Couple
Director Frederick Wiseman
Main Cast Nathalie Boutefeu / France, USA / 64’
The Son
Director Florian Zeller
Main Cast Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, Zen McGrath, Anthony Hopkins, Hugh Quarshie / UK / 124’
Les Miens
Director Roschdy Zem
Main Cast Sami Bouajila, Roschdy Zem, Meriem Serbah, Maïwenn, Rachid Bouchareb, Abel Jafrei, Nina Zem / France / 85’
Les Enfants Des Autres
Director Rebecca Zlotowski
Main Cast Virginie Efira, Roschdy Zem, Chiara Mastroianni, Callie Ferreira / France / 104’
Toronto is in spite of itself in a civilized sort of way in competition for the premieres with Venice, though the sequential festivals are serving different constituencies. Still, The Whale, for example is premiering in Venice and then traveling to TIFF.
TIFF Gala Presentations:
The Whale directed by Darren Aronofsky, produced and to be distributed in U.S. and actng as international sales agent A24.
TIFF says: “Brendan Fraser gives a career-defining performance in Darren Aronofsky’s arrestingly intimate drama about a reclusive English professor struggling with personal relationships and self-acceptance, adapted from the stage play by Samuel D. Hunter.”
Alice, Darling by Mary Nighy
Also playing are Alice, Darling (Mary Nighy) in which Anna Kendrick captures the anxious psychology of a woman in an abusive relationship as her friends try to reconnect with her while on a cottage getaway.
Black Ice(Hubert Davis) about Black hockey players facing systemic racism in the sport.
The Greatest Beer Run Ever (Peter Farrelly) about man’s story of leaving New York in 1967 to bring beer to his childhood buddies in the Army while they are fighting in Vietnam. An Apple TV+ production.
Butcher’s Crossing (Gabe Polsky) is a frontier epic about an Ivy League drop-out as he travels to the Colorado wilderness, where he joins a team of buffalo hunters on a journey that puts his life and sanity at risk. Based on the highly acclaimed novel by John Williams. Isa Altitude
The Hummingbird (Francesca Archibugi)Hunt (Jung-jae Lee)A Jazzman’s Blues (Tyler Perry)Kacchey Limbu (Shubham Yogi)Moving On (Paul Weitz)Paris Memories (Alice Winocour)Prisoner’s Daughter (Catherine Hardwicke)Raymond & Ray (Rodrigo García)Roost (Amy Redford)Sidney (Reginald Hudlin)The Son (Florian Zeller)The Swimmers (Sally El Hosaini)What’s Love Got to Do With It? (Shekhar Kapur)The Woman King(Gina Prince-Bythewood)
Special PRESENTATIONSAllelujah (Sir Richard Eyre)All Quiet on the Western Front (Edward Berger)The Banshees Of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh)Blueback (Robert Connolly)The Blue Caftan (Maryam Touzani)Broker (Hirokazu Kore-eda)Brother (Clement Virgo)Bros (Nicholas Stoller)Catherine Called Birdy (Lena Dunham)Causeway (Lila Neugebauer)Chevalier (Stephen Williams)Corsage (Marie Kreutzer)Decision to Leave (Park Chan-wook)Devotion (Jd Dillard)Driving (Madeleine Christian Carion)El Suplente (Diego Lerman)Empire of Light...
And simultaneously with these great screenings are sidebars, panel discussions, workshops, master classes and all around great networking for filmmakers around the world.
Venezia 79 Competition
Il Signore Delle Formiche
Director Gianni Amelio
Main Cast Luigi Lo Cascio, Elio Germano, Leonardo Maltese, Sara Serraiocco / Italy / 134’
The Whale
Director Darren Aronofsky
Main Cast Brendan Fraser, Sadie Sink, Hong Chau, Samantha Morton, Ty Simpkins / USA / 117’
White Noise
Director Noah Baumbach
Main Cast Adam Driver, Greta Gerwig, Don Cheadle, Raffey Cassidy, Sam Nivola, May Nivola, Jodie Turner-Smith, André L. Benjamin and Lars Eidinger / USA / 136’
L’IMMENSITÀ
Director Emanuele Crialese
Main Cast Penélope Cruz, Luana Giuliani, Vincenzo Amato, Patrizio Francioni / Italy, France / 97’
Saint Omer
Director Alice Diop
Main Cast Kayije Kagame, Guslagie Malanda, Valérie Dréville, Aurélia Petit / France / 123’
Blonde
Director Andrew Dominik
Main Cast Ana de Armas, Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale, Xavier Samuel, Julianne Nicholson, Lily Fisher / USA / 166’
TÁR
Director Todd Field
Main Cast Cate Blanchett, Noémie Merlant, Nina Hoss, Sophie Kauer, Julian Glover, Allan Corduner, Mark Strong / USA / 158’
Love Life
Director Kôji Fukada
Main Cast Fumino Kimura, Kento Nagayama, Atom Sunada / Japan, France / 123’
Bardo, Falsa CRÓNICA De Unas Cuantas Verdades
Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Main Cast Daniel Giménez Cacho, Griselda Siciliani, Ximena Lamadrid, Iker Sanchez Solano, Andrés Almeida, Francisco Rubio / Mexico / 174’
Athena
Director Romain Gavras
Main Cast Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon, Ouassini Embarek, Alexis Manenti / France / 97’
Bones And All
Director Luca Guadagnino
Main Cast Taylor Russell, Timothée Chalamet, Mark Rylance, André Holland, Chloë Sevigny, Jessica Harper, David Gordon Green, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jake Horowitz / USA / 130’
The Eternal Daughter
Director Joanna Hogg
Main Cast Tilda Swinton, Joseph Mydell, Carly-Sophia Davies / UK, USA / 96’
Shab, Dakheli, Divar (Beyond The Wall)
Director Vahid Jalilvand
Main Cast Navid Mohammadzadeh, Diana Habibi, Amir Aghaee / Iran / 126’
The Banshees Of Inisherin
Director Martin McDonagh
Main Cast Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon, Barry Keoghan / Ireland, UK, USA / 109’
Argentina, 1985
Director Santiago Mitre
Main Cast Ricardo Darín, Peter Lanzani, Alejandra Flechner, Norman Briski / Argentina, USA / 140’
Chiara
Director Susanna Nicchiarelli
Main Cast Margherita Mazzucco, Andrea Carpenzano, Carlotta Natoli, Paola Tiziana Cruciani, Luigi Lo Cascio / Italy, Belgium / 106’
Monica
Director Andrea Pallaoro
Main Cast Trace Lysette, Patricia Clarkson, Adriana Barraza, Emily Browning, Joshua Close / USA, Italy / 113’
Khers Nist (No Bears)
Director Jafar Panahi
Main Cast Jafar Panahi, Naser Hashemi, Vahid Mobaseri, Bakhtiar Panjeei, Mina Kavani, Reza Heydari / Iran / 107’
All The Beauty And The Bloodshed
Director Laura Poitras
USA / 117’
Un Couple
Director Frederick Wiseman
Main Cast Nathalie Boutefeu / France, USA / 64’
The Son
Director Florian Zeller
Main Cast Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, Zen McGrath, Anthony Hopkins, Hugh Quarshie / UK / 124’
Les Miens
Director Roschdy Zem
Main Cast Sami Bouajila, Roschdy Zem, Meriem Serbah, Maïwenn, Rachid Bouchareb, Abel Jafrei, Nina Zem / France / 85’
Les Enfants Des Autres
Director Rebecca Zlotowski
Main Cast Virginie Efira, Roschdy Zem, Chiara Mastroianni, Callie Ferreira / France / 104’
Toronto is in spite of itself in a civilized sort of way in competition for the premieres with Venice, though the sequential festivals are serving different constituencies. Still, The Whale, for example is premiering in Venice and then traveling to TIFF.
TIFF Gala Presentations:
The Whale directed by Darren Aronofsky, produced and to be distributed in U.S. and actng as international sales agent A24.
TIFF says: “Brendan Fraser gives a career-defining performance in Darren Aronofsky’s arrestingly intimate drama about a reclusive English professor struggling with personal relationships and self-acceptance, adapted from the stage play by Samuel D. Hunter.”
Alice, Darling by Mary Nighy
Also playing are Alice, Darling (Mary Nighy) in which Anna Kendrick captures the anxious psychology of a woman in an abusive relationship as her friends try to reconnect with her while on a cottage getaway.
Black Ice(Hubert Davis) about Black hockey players facing systemic racism in the sport.
The Greatest Beer Run Ever (Peter Farrelly) about man’s story of leaving New York in 1967 to bring beer to his childhood buddies in the Army while they are fighting in Vietnam. An Apple TV+ production.
Butcher’s Crossing (Gabe Polsky) is a frontier epic about an Ivy League drop-out as he travels to the Colorado wilderness, where he joins a team of buffalo hunters on a journey that puts his life and sanity at risk. Based on the highly acclaimed novel by John Williams. Isa Altitude
The Hummingbird (Francesca Archibugi)Hunt (Jung-jae Lee)A Jazzman’s Blues (Tyler Perry)Kacchey Limbu (Shubham Yogi)Moving On (Paul Weitz)Paris Memories (Alice Winocour)Prisoner’s Daughter (Catherine Hardwicke)Raymond & Ray (Rodrigo García)Roost (Amy Redford)Sidney (Reginald Hudlin)The Son (Florian Zeller)The Swimmers (Sally El Hosaini)What’s Love Got to Do With It? (Shekhar Kapur)The Woman King(Gina Prince-Bythewood)
Special PRESENTATIONSAllelujah (Sir Richard Eyre)All Quiet on the Western Front (Edward Berger)The Banshees Of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh)Blueback (Robert Connolly)The Blue Caftan (Maryam Touzani)Broker (Hirokazu Kore-eda)Brother (Clement Virgo)Bros (Nicholas Stoller)Catherine Called Birdy (Lena Dunham)Causeway (Lila Neugebauer)Chevalier (Stephen Williams)Corsage (Marie Kreutzer)Decision to Leave (Park Chan-wook)Devotion (Jd Dillard)Driving (Madeleine Christian Carion)El Suplente (Diego Lerman)Empire of Light...
- 9/10/2022
- by Sydney
- Sydney's Buzz
Click here to read the full article.
With his incendiary 2019 debut feature, Les Misérables, director Ladj Ly brought the urban unrest, the police brutality and the festering social and racial inequality of the Paris banlieue drama La Haine hurtling into the 21st century, its belly aflame with righteous anger and indignation. Ly serves as a writer and producer on Romain Gavras’ Athena, which is both a companion piece to those films and a thundering amplification of their themes. Where the earlier works built to stunning crescendos of violence, Athena is a live grenade, beginning in full ignition mode and dialing up its intensity throughout with virtuoso technique.
That latter factor will surprise no one familiar with the output of Gavras, son of renowned Greek director Costa-Gavras, who made a mark with his dynamic music videos for artists including Kanye West, Jay-Z and M.I.A. His third feature is a...
With his incendiary 2019 debut feature, Les Misérables, director Ladj Ly brought the urban unrest, the police brutality and the festering social and racial inequality of the Paris banlieue drama La Haine hurtling into the 21st century, its belly aflame with righteous anger and indignation. Ly serves as a writer and producer on Romain Gavras’ Athena, which is both a companion piece to those films and a thundering amplification of their themes. Where the earlier works built to stunning crescendos of violence, Athena is a live grenade, beginning in full ignition mode and dialing up its intensity throughout with virtuoso technique.
That latter factor will surprise no one familiar with the output of Gavras, son of renowned Greek director Costa-Gavras, who made a mark with his dynamic music videos for artists including Kanye West, Jay-Z and M.I.A. His third feature is a...
- 9/2/2022
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
After the edgy crime comedy “The World Is Yours,” Romain Gavras is back with thriller “Athena.” Produced by Paris-based Iconoclast for Netflix, the ambitious, €15 million film (15 million) unfolds in the aftermath of the tragic killing of a young boy in what appears to be an act of police brutality. An all-out war sparks in an imaginary community called Athena. It’s the first French movie that Netflix is presenting in competition at the Venice Film Festival.
“Athena” tells the story of the boy’s three siblings, who are responding to the tragedy in different ways and clashing with one another. French star Dali Benssalah plays the older brother, Abdel, a devoted French soldier. Faced with an impossible moral dilemma, Abdel is called back from the frontline to help diffuse the all-out war that has been sparked by his younger brother Karim (Sami Slimane), who wants revenge. Athena becomes the backdrop...
“Athena” tells the story of the boy’s three siblings, who are responding to the tragedy in different ways and clashing with one another. French star Dali Benssalah plays the older brother, Abdel, a devoted French soldier. Faced with an impossible moral dilemma, Abdel is called back from the frontline to help diffuse the all-out war that has been sparked by his younger brother Karim (Sami Slimane), who wants revenge. Athena becomes the backdrop...
- 9/2/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Athena Trailer 2 — Netflix has released the second movie trailer for Athena (2022). Crew Romain Gavras‘ Athena stars Dali Benssalah, Alexis Manenti, Anthony Bajon, Sami Slimane, and Ouassini Embarek. Romain Gavras, Ladj Ly, and Elias Belkeddar wrote the screenplay for Athena. Plot Synopsis Athena‘s plot synopsis: “It is difficult to fight anger; for a man will [...]
Continue reading: Athena (2022) Movie Trailer 2: Romain Gavras’ Community Under Siege & Siblings at War Film...
Continue reading: Athena (2022) Movie Trailer 2: Romain Gavras’ Community Under Siege & Siblings at War Film...
- 8/24/2022
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
"When they strike, we strike back. When they kill, we kill." Holy! Sh*t! Strap in – this looks Awesome! Netflix has debuted the full official trailer for Athena, the latest from French filmmaker Romain Gavras (The World Is Yours). He teams up with the talented filmmaker Ladj Ly, who co-wrote the script and co-produces this, to make a film about youth clashing with police in France. Hours after the tragic death of their youngest brother in unexplained circumstances, three siblings have their lives thrown into chaos. This is premiering at the 2022 Venice Film Festival which kicks off next week and it looks like it's going to knock us out. It looks like Ladj Ly's Les Miserable meets La Haine meets Snyder's 300, with a "war" kicking off in the streets of Paris. Athena stars Dali Benssalah, Alexis Manenti, Anthony Bajon, Sami Slimane, and Ouassini Embarek. I really love these kind...
- 8/24/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
While making his name with his striking music videos for the likes of M.I.A., Jay-Z & Kanye West, Jamie xx, and more, French director Romain Gavras has also proven prowess in the feature-length department with Our Day Will Come and The World Is Yours. He’s now back with Athena, which will premiere at the Venice Film Festival before coming to Netflix on September 23, and now the first trailer has landed.
Co-written by Ladj Ly (Les Misérables) and Elias Belkeddar alongside Gavras, the film follows three siblings thrown into chaos after the death of their young brothers following an alleged police altercation. Starring Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon, Ouassini Embarek, and Alexis Manenti, Gavras’ third feature looking to be a stylish, gripping tragedy.
See the trailer below.
Athena premieres at Venice and arrives on Netflix on September 23.
The post Athena Trailer: Romain Gavras' Venice-Bound Drama Finds Siblings at...
Co-written by Ladj Ly (Les Misérables) and Elias Belkeddar alongside Gavras, the film follows three siblings thrown into chaos after the death of their young brothers following an alleged police altercation. Starring Dali Benssalah, Sami Slimane, Anthony Bajon, Ouassini Embarek, and Alexis Manenti, Gavras’ third feature looking to be a stylish, gripping tragedy.
See the trailer below.
Athena premieres at Venice and arrives on Netflix on September 23.
The post Athena Trailer: Romain Gavras' Venice-Bound Drama Finds Siblings at...
- 8/24/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Whoa!! Netflix has revealed the first look teaser trailer for a new film titled Athena, the latest from French filmmaker Romain Gavras. He teams up with the talented filmmaker Ladj Ly, who co-wrote the script and co-produces this, to make a film about youth clashing with police in France. Hours after the tragic death of their youngest brother in unexplained circumstances, three siblings have their lives thrown into chaos. That's the only very brief synopsis available so far, and it sounds very similar to La Haine or Ly's last film Les Miserables (which rules) - from this footage, it looks like a combination of both. Athena stars Dali Benssalah, Alexis Manenti, Anthony Bajon, Sami Slimane, and Ouassini Embarek. It might premiere at a few festivals in the fall, but nothing has been announced yet. For now get a first look at some footage below - which reveals a quote to...
- 6/29/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
One need only look to France’s literary heroes, politicians, and films to see the country’s obsession with young girls — and its penchant for protecting pedophiles. In 2020, the French writer Gabriel Matzneff was outed as the country’s Jeffrey Epstein, after writing about his sexual relations with minors for decades with little consequence. A year later, prominent French intellectual and politician Olivier Duhamel admitted to sexually abusing his stepson following publication of a memoir by his stepdaughter Camille Kouchner. As the last generation to grow up with such laissez-faire attitudes about child abuse comes of age as artists, they are leading the charge on shifting mores as the #MeToo reckoning finally comes for France.
That maturation is apparent in the first feature film from writer/director Emmanuelle Nicot, “Love According to Dalva,” an audacious and unsettling portrait of a young girl dealing with the immediate after-effects of sexual abuse...
That maturation is apparent in the first feature film from writer/director Emmanuelle Nicot, “Love According to Dalva,” an audacious and unsettling portrait of a young girl dealing with the immediate after-effects of sexual abuse...
- 5/21/2022
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
Child grooming is a tough subject to tackle, but Belgian director Emmanuelle Nicot takes a sensitive approach in her Critics Week feature Love According To Dalva. The key here is perspective: almost everything is shown from the point of view of a victim who has been taken into care, and who doesn’t realize she has been abused. Watching the truth slowly dawn upon her gives this film real tension, while also providing the possibility of recovery and enlightenment.
Dalva (Zelda Samson) is a 12-year-old girl who dresses like a grown woman, wears make up and does not expect to be treated like a child. She’s horrified when she’s taken from her father and into a temporary facility for teenagers with problems. She’s even more dismayed when she learns that her father has been arrested. Slowly, it transpires that Dalva believes that the “love” he has shown...
Dalva (Zelda Samson) is a 12-year-old girl who dresses like a grown woman, wears make up and does not expect to be treated like a child. She’s horrified when she’s taken from her father and into a temporary facility for teenagers with problems. She’s even more dismayed when she learns that her father has been arrested. Slowly, it transpires that Dalva believes that the “love” he has shown...
- 5/20/2022
- by Anna Smith
- Deadline Film + TV
Whenever a film begins with a disclaimer asserting that the story you’re about to see is fictional — and furthermore, that what shall unfold on-screen “should not be considered a reflection of a reality” — it’s hard not to go in assuming the exact opposite. Why protest so much if there’s no factual basis there? In the case of “Undercover,” our skepticism is precisely the filmmakers’ intent: That introductory, legally obligatory text could hardly make its irony any clearer with actual scare quotes. Names have been changed, but anyone familiar with the headlines can tell that Thierry de Peretti’s no-frills, teeth-gritted procedural thriller has been drawn from the real-life case of former French anti-narcotics chief Francois Thierry, charged in 2017 with complicity in large-scale drug smuggling using police resources. It’s a sensational affair that de Peretti treats with sober practicality, emulating the patient investigative techniques of the journalist...
- 9/26/2021
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Netflix is teaming with Romain Gavras, the French filmmaker of “The World is Yours” and “Our Day Will Come,” for his next film which will start production this week in France.
The untitled film will mark Gavras’s follow up to his 2018 film “The World is Yours,” a crime comedy with Isabelle Adjani and Vincent Cassel, which world premiered at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. His 2010 feature debut, “Our Day Will Come,” played at Toronto and SXSW. Aside from his filmmaking career, Garvas is also a renown director of music videos for Jay Z, Kanye West, Jamie Xx, M.I.A and Justice, among others, and has directed short films for luxury brands, including Louis Vuitton, Yves Saint Laurent and Dior.
The film, the plot of which is under wraps, is co-written by Gavras and Ladj Ly, the director of the Oscar-nominated “Les Misérables” and Elias Belkeddar (“My days of glory”). Gavras...
The untitled film will mark Gavras’s follow up to his 2018 film “The World is Yours,” a crime comedy with Isabelle Adjani and Vincent Cassel, which world premiered at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight. His 2010 feature debut, “Our Day Will Come,” played at Toronto and SXSW. Aside from his filmmaking career, Garvas is also a renown director of music videos for Jay Z, Kanye West, Jamie Xx, M.I.A and Justice, among others, and has directed short films for luxury brands, including Louis Vuitton, Yves Saint Laurent and Dior.
The film, the plot of which is under wraps, is co-written by Gavras and Ladj Ly, the director of the Oscar-nominated “Les Misérables” and Elias Belkeddar (“My days of glory”). Gavras...
- 7/19/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
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