The Cannes Critics’ Week, the parallel film festival sidebar organized by the French film critics’ union, has unveiled its 2024 selection.
The psychological thriller Ghost Trail, the first feature from acclaimed French shorts director Jonathan Millet, will open the 2024 sidebar. Adam Bessa (star of 2022’s Un Certain Regard winner Harka) plays the lead in the manhunt drama about a man pursuing his former torturer, using only his sensory memories to guide him.
The competition lineup includes Brazilian drama Baby from director Marcelo Caetano, a portrait of a young outsider growing up in São Paulo; Constance Tsang’s Blue Sun Palace, which looks at the lives of Chinese immigrants in Queens; and the Egyptian/French/Danish/Qatari/Saudi Arabian drama The Brink of Dreams about a group of girls from the disenfranchised Christian Copts who defy tradition and set up an all-female street theater troupe.
Baby
Other competition titles include Antoine Chevrollier’s Block Pass,...
The psychological thriller Ghost Trail, the first feature from acclaimed French shorts director Jonathan Millet, will open the 2024 sidebar. Adam Bessa (star of 2022’s Un Certain Regard winner Harka) plays the lead in the manhunt drama about a man pursuing his former torturer, using only his sensory memories to guide him.
The competition lineup includes Brazilian drama Baby from director Marcelo Caetano, a portrait of a young outsider growing up in São Paulo; Constance Tsang’s Blue Sun Palace, which looks at the lives of Chinese immigrants in Queens; and the Egyptian/French/Danish/Qatari/Saudi Arabian drama The Brink of Dreams about a group of girls from the disenfranchised Christian Copts who defy tradition and set up an all-female street theater troupe.
Baby
Other competition titles include Antoine Chevrollier’s Block Pass,...
- 4/15/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Cannes Critics’ Week, the sidebar dedicated to first and second films, will open with Jonathan Millet’s psychological thriller “Ghost Trail” and wrap with Emma Benestan’s genre film “Animale.”
“Ghost Trail” and “Animale” are two of the 11 features slated for Critics’ Week, which runs alongside the Cannes Film Festival.
The sole U.S. film of the selection is Constance Tsang’s “Blue Sun Palace,” a bittersweet film about two Chinese immigrants living in Queens who bond following a tragic death and find meaning in each other’s company. “As humble and dignified as its characters, this first, realistic and intimate, film sheds light on a community that is little seen,” said Ava Cahen, Critics’ Week’s artistic director. “Blue Sun Palace” stars Lee Kang-sheng whose recent credits include “Twisted Strings.”
Besides the opening and closing films, the Special Screenings section will comprise of Saïd Hamich Benlarbi’s “Across the...
“Ghost Trail” and “Animale” are two of the 11 features slated for Critics’ Week, which runs alongside the Cannes Film Festival.
The sole U.S. film of the selection is Constance Tsang’s “Blue Sun Palace,” a bittersweet film about two Chinese immigrants living in Queens who bond following a tragic death and find meaning in each other’s company. “As humble and dignified as its characters, this first, realistic and intimate, film sheds light on a community that is little seen,” said Ava Cahen, Critics’ Week’s artistic director. “Blue Sun Palace” stars Lee Kang-sheng whose recent credits include “Twisted Strings.”
Besides the opening and closing films, the Special Screenings section will comprise of Saïd Hamich Benlarbi’s “Across the...
- 4/15/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Cannes Critics’ Week championing work by emerging filmmakers has unveiled the line-up for its 63rd edition running from May 15 to 23.
The traditionally compact parallel selection will showcase 11 features, seven in competition, as well as 13 short films, selected from 1,050 features and 2,150 short films. (scroll down for full list)
The 2024 edition marks Artistic Director Ava Cahen’s third at the helm, with buzzy discoveries under her directorship to date including Tiger Stripes, The Rapture, Aftersun and Love According To Dalva.
Opening and closing films
French director Jonathan Millet’s psychological manhunt thriller Ghost Trail (Les Fantômes) will open the section. It marks his first feature after half a dozen shorts including Tell Me About The Stars.
Adam Bessa, who won the Un Certain Regard prize for his performance in Harka in 2022, stars as a man in pursuit of his former torturer. He never saw his oppressor’s face, but knows his smell,...
The traditionally compact parallel selection will showcase 11 features, seven in competition, as well as 13 short films, selected from 1,050 features and 2,150 short films. (scroll down for full list)
The 2024 edition marks Artistic Director Ava Cahen’s third at the helm, with buzzy discoveries under her directorship to date including Tiger Stripes, The Rapture, Aftersun and Love According To Dalva.
Opening and closing films
French director Jonathan Millet’s psychological manhunt thriller Ghost Trail (Les Fantômes) will open the section. It marks his first feature after half a dozen shorts including Tell Me About The Stars.
Adam Bessa, who won the Un Certain Regard prize for his performance in Harka in 2022, stars as a man in pursuit of his former torturer. He never saw his oppressor’s face, but knows his smell,...
- 4/15/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Roll up, roll up for Part 2 of our Cannes Film Festival preview, this time with a focus on international, mainly non-English-language fare. If you didn’t catch Andreas’ English-language-focused Part 1, check it out.
As the fest basks in the warm glow of the Oscar wins for 2023 Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall and Grand Jury Prize winner The Zone of Interest, delegate general Thierry Frémaux and his team are furiously tying up the 2024 Official Selection.
With less than four weeks to go until the bulk of the 77th edition (running May 14-25) is revealed at the press conference in Paris on April 11, we’ve rounded up a host of the titles ready and in the running for a splash in either Official Selection or the main parallel sections of Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week.
The registration deadline was March 15, with March 22 the official cut-off for submissions to arrive...
As the fest basks in the warm glow of the Oscar wins for 2023 Palme d’Or winner Anatomy of a Fall and Grand Jury Prize winner The Zone of Interest, delegate general Thierry Frémaux and his team are furiously tying up the 2024 Official Selection.
With less than four weeks to go until the bulk of the 77th edition (running May 14-25) is revealed at the press conference in Paris on April 11, we’ve rounded up a host of the titles ready and in the running for a splash in either Official Selection or the main parallel sections of Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week.
The registration deadline was March 15, with March 22 the official cut-off for submissions to arrive...
- 3/18/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Production has wrapped on genre feature Animale, directed by French filmmaker Emma Benestan, with London and Paris-based sales agent Film Constellation unveiling a first-look image.
It is set against the wild backdrop of the southern France bull riding tradition of Camargue, and stars César winning actress Oulaya Amamra (pictured). Producers are French outfit June Films’ Julie Billy and Naomi Denamur; Titane producers Cassandre Warnauts and Jean-Yves Roubin of Belgium’s Frakas Productions; in co-production with broadcaster France 3 Cinema.
In this male-dominated environment, a 22-year-old woman trains hard to fulfil her dream of winning the upcoming annual competition. When...
It is set against the wild backdrop of the southern France bull riding tradition of Camargue, and stars César winning actress Oulaya Amamra (pictured). Producers are French outfit June Films’ Julie Billy and Naomi Denamur; Titane producers Cassandre Warnauts and Jean-Yves Roubin of Belgium’s Frakas Productions; in co-production with broadcaster France 3 Cinema.
In this male-dominated environment, a 22-year-old woman trains hard to fulfil her dream of winning the upcoming annual competition. When...
- 2/16/2024
- ScreenDaily
Quentin Dupieux’s chaotic, bizarre film about a monster-fighting squad controlled by a rat named Didier will greatly annoy some, which is one of its strengths
Only a pedant and a bore would complain that the last word of that title should be “cancer”. The phrase’s childlike naivety and irrelevance, apparently taken from an obsolete era when smoking was considered bad in the sense that eating cream cakes was bad, is a hint of what you’re in for: a fantastically silly and magnificently inconsequential comedy from French film-maker and former DJ Quentin Dupieux. For the life of me, I can’t think of another director right now who wants (or is allowed) to do just straight comedy for theatrical release, without having to buy the right to do so by also being unfunnily dark and disturbing.
Dupieux has put together something chaotic, disparate, entirely negligible yet oddly gripping and also funny.
Only a pedant and a bore would complain that the last word of that title should be “cancer”. The phrase’s childlike naivety and irrelevance, apparently taken from an obsolete era when smoking was considered bad in the sense that eating cream cakes was bad, is a hint of what you’re in for: a fantastically silly and magnificently inconsequential comedy from French film-maker and former DJ Quentin Dupieux. For the life of me, I can’t think of another director right now who wants (or is allowed) to do just straight comedy for theatrical release, without having to buy the right to do so by also being unfunnily dark and disturbing.
Dupieux has put together something chaotic, disparate, entirely negligible yet oddly gripping and also funny.
- 7/5/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Now available On Demand, courtesy of Magnet Releasing, we have an exclusive clip from Smoking Causes Coughing! While everything may start out looking like a scene from Power Rangers, things take a very R-rated turn that you'll have to see for yourself!
"Labeled Dupieux’s “funniest yet” by The New York Times, Smoking Causes Coughing, the critically-acclaimed and Certified Fresh comedy arrives On Demand on June 27 from Magnolia Home Entertainment under the Magnet Label. The latest entry into the celebrated filmography of director Quentin Dupieux, Smoking Causes Coughing stands as a must-see French film, full of crude humor and absurd comedy as a group of heroes prepare for the fight of their lives by taking a mandated retreat in the woods.
After a brutal battle, the Tobacco Force, a team of five frivolous superheroes, receive a call from their boss informing them of their most difficult battle yet; Lézardin, Emperor of Evil,...
"Labeled Dupieux’s “funniest yet” by The New York Times, Smoking Causes Coughing, the critically-acclaimed and Certified Fresh comedy arrives On Demand on June 27 from Magnolia Home Entertainment under the Magnet Label. The latest entry into the celebrated filmography of director Quentin Dupieux, Smoking Causes Coughing stands as a must-see French film, full of crude humor and absurd comedy as a group of heroes prepare for the fight of their lives by taking a mandated retreat in the woods.
After a brutal battle, the Tobacco Force, a team of five frivolous superheroes, receive a call from their boss informing them of their most difficult battle yet; Lézardin, Emperor of Evil,...
- 6/27/2023
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
John Waters raved that Smoking Causes Coughing is a “superhero movie for idiots,” and Bloody Disgusting has an exclusive clip that perfectly encapsulates the absurdist humor and violence that ensues when the Tobacco Force attempts to prepare for battle.
Written/Directed by Quentin Dupieux (Rubber, Deerskin, Mandibles), the absurdist, gory French comedy releases On Demand on June 27 from Magnolia Home Entertainment under the Magnet Label.
In the exclusive clip below, members of the plucky Tobacco Force team fumble their way through helmet removal to comically lethal results. It feels safe to assume that whoever this wacky superhero team goes up against might have the upper hand. With Dupieux behind it, we’d expect nothing less.
The “wildly inventive new comedy” follows the misadventures of a team of five superheroes known as the Tobacco Force – Benzene (Gilles Lellouche), Nicotine (Anaïs Demoustier), Methanol (Vincent Lacoste), Mercury (Jean-Pascal Zadi), and Ammonia (Oulaya Amamra...
Written/Directed by Quentin Dupieux (Rubber, Deerskin, Mandibles), the absurdist, gory French comedy releases On Demand on June 27 from Magnolia Home Entertainment under the Magnet Label.
In the exclusive clip below, members of the plucky Tobacco Force team fumble their way through helmet removal to comically lethal results. It feels safe to assume that whoever this wacky superhero team goes up against might have the upper hand. With Dupieux behind it, we’d expect nothing less.
The “wildly inventive new comedy” follows the misadventures of a team of five superheroes known as the Tobacco Force – Benzene (Gilles Lellouche), Nicotine (Anaïs Demoustier), Methanol (Vincent Lacoste), Mercury (Jean-Pascal Zadi), and Ammonia (Oulaya Amamra...
- 6/22/2023
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
Picturehouse Entertainment has revealed the trailer for the darkly comic superhero movie ‘Smoking Causes Coughing.’ See our 4-star review from Glasgow FrightFest.
After a devastating battle against a diabolical turtle, a team of five avengers – known as the Tobacco Force – is sent on a mandatory retreat to strengthen their decaying group cohesion. Their break goes wonderfully well until Lézardin, Emperor of Evil, decides to annihilate planet Earth… But will they repair their relationship in time for a final epic battle?
Directed by Quentin Dupieux, the film stars Gilles Lellouche, Vincent Lacoste, Anais Demouster, Jean-Pascal Zadi and Oulaya Amamra.
Also in trailers – Full trailer swings in for season 3 of ‘The Witcher’
The movie is released on July 7th.
The post Darkly comic trailer drops for French superhero feature ‘Smoking Causes Coughing’ appeared first on HeyUGuys.
After a devastating battle against a diabolical turtle, a team of five avengers – known as the Tobacco Force – is sent on a mandatory retreat to strengthen their decaying group cohesion. Their break goes wonderfully well until Lézardin, Emperor of Evil, decides to annihilate planet Earth… But will they repair their relationship in time for a final epic battle?
Directed by Quentin Dupieux, the film stars Gilles Lellouche, Vincent Lacoste, Anais Demouster, Jean-Pascal Zadi and Oulaya Amamra.
Also in trailers – Full trailer swings in for season 3 of ‘The Witcher’
The movie is released on July 7th.
The post Darkly comic trailer drops for French superhero feature ‘Smoking Causes Coughing’ appeared first on HeyUGuys.
- 6/13/2023
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Quentin Dupieux is the unique, comically twisted mind behind the likes of Rubber, Wrong Cops, Mandibles and Incredible But True. He's back with his latest, superhero satire Smoking Causes Coughing, which played to acclaim at last year's Cannes and has been ping-ponging around the festival circuit since then. We have the new trailer for the film as an exclusive, and you can see it below.
Smoking Causes Coughing follows the misadventures of a team of five superheroes known as the Tobacco Force – Benzene (Gilles Lellouche), Nicotine (Anaïs Demoustier), Methanol (Vincent Lacoste), Mercury (Jean-Pascal Zadi), and Ammonia (Oulaya Amamra).
After a devastating battle against a diabolical giant turtle, the Tobacco Force is sent on a mandatory week-long retreat to strengthen their decaying group cohesion. Their sojourn goes wonderfully well until Lézardin, Emperor of Evil, decides to annihilate planet Earth. Oh, that old story… It's all very relevant to our superhero-saturated movie...
Smoking Causes Coughing follows the misadventures of a team of five superheroes known as the Tobacco Force – Benzene (Gilles Lellouche), Nicotine (Anaïs Demoustier), Methanol (Vincent Lacoste), Mercury (Jean-Pascal Zadi), and Ammonia (Oulaya Amamra).
After a devastating battle against a diabolical giant turtle, the Tobacco Force is sent on a mandatory week-long retreat to strengthen their decaying group cohesion. Their sojourn goes wonderfully well until Lézardin, Emperor of Evil, decides to annihilate planet Earth. Oh, that old story… It's all very relevant to our superhero-saturated movie...
- 6/9/2023
- by James White
- Empire - Movies
Wild Bunch Distribution has pre-bought French rights and will release the film in cinemas in 2024.
London and Paris-based sales outfit Film Constellation has boarded sales on French filmmaker Emma Benestan’s revenge feature Animale.
Wild Bunch Distribution has pre-bought French rights and will release the film in cinemas in 2024.
The film is set in the Camargue region of France, known for traditional bull fighting. In this male-dominated environment, a woman trains to fulfil her dream of wining the annual competition. When she is mauled after a drunken celebration, she starts to notice disturbing changes, while young men begin to be murdered.
London and Paris-based sales outfit Film Constellation has boarded sales on French filmmaker Emma Benestan’s revenge feature Animale.
Wild Bunch Distribution has pre-bought French rights and will release the film in cinemas in 2024.
The film is set in the Camargue region of France, known for traditional bull fighting. In this male-dominated environment, a woman trains to fulfil her dream of wining the annual competition. When she is mauled after a drunken celebration, she starts to notice disturbing changes, while young men begin to be murdered.
- 5/17/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
There were the three musketeers and now…we can expect to see that number shoot up to four in Houda Benyamina‘s long-awaited sophomore film project. Lou de Laâge leads Daphné Patakia, Héloise Letissier with Oulaya Amamra and Déborah Lukumuena (who both broke out in Benyamina’s debut) in Toutes pour une (which translates to All For One). Production takes place this month in France. Production companies include Easy Tiger and Haut et court in France, and Versus Production from Belgium.
They’ve cut their hair, strapped their chests, and slipped leather pieces under their pants, but they’re women. When Sara, a young Morisco on the run, unmasks the three musketeers protecting the Queen of France, she has only one thing in mind, to cling to these women and their brilliant idea: to dress up to be free.…...
They’ve cut their hair, strapped their chests, and slipped leather pieces under their pants, but they’re women. When Sara, a young Morisco on the run, unmasks the three musketeers protecting the Queen of France, she has only one thing in mind, to cling to these women and their brilliant idea: to dress up to be free.…...
- 4/11/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for the newly released “Smoking Causes Coughing,” an official selection of the Cannes Film Festival, and a ripe, necessary superhero genre parody. Currently in theaters, since March 31st.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
This is a French film that involves the Tobacco Force … five plasticine clad heroes who themselves look like the Power Rangers, fight evildoers who look like Japanese monsters from the 1950s, have an off-putting robot companion and use their powers of spraying cancer causing agents found in cigarettes. And that’s not all … they also tell stories that become a short film within the film … all having nothing to do with the heroes themselves.
”Smoking Causes Coughing” is currently in theaters, including (click link) Chicago’s Music Box Theatre through April 6th. Featuring Gilles Lellouche, Vincent Lacoste, Anais Demoustier, Jean-Pascal Zadi and Oulaya Amamra. Written and Directed by Quentin Dupieux. Not Rated.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
This is a French film that involves the Tobacco Force … five plasticine clad heroes who themselves look like the Power Rangers, fight evildoers who look like Japanese monsters from the 1950s, have an off-putting robot companion and use their powers of spraying cancer causing agents found in cigarettes. And that’s not all … they also tell stories that become a short film within the film … all having nothing to do with the heroes themselves.
”Smoking Causes Coughing” is currently in theaters, including (click link) Chicago’s Music Box Theatre through April 6th. Featuring Gilles Lellouche, Vincent Lacoste, Anais Demoustier, Jean-Pascal Zadi and Oulaya Amamra. Written and Directed by Quentin Dupieux. Not Rated.
- 4/4/2023
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
For starters, they’re called the Tobacco Force, and these intergalactic “avengers” battle extraterrestrial monsters by giving them cancer via chemicals like nicotine, mercury and ammonia… but let’s assume that any similarities to other groups of helmeted, high-kicking heroes, living or dead, are not coincidental.
This quintet — technically a sextet if you count their suicidal robot, Norbert 500 — have just blown up an oversized, homicidal turtle in a quarry when a message comes through from their leader. His name is Chief Didier, and though he’s a grotty rat puppet...
This quintet — technically a sextet if you count their suicidal robot, Norbert 500 — have just blown up an oversized, homicidal turtle in a quarry when a message comes through from their leader. His name is Chief Didier, and though he’s a grotty rat puppet...
- 4/1/2023
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
French filmmaker Quentin Dupieux has almost never steered us wrong with his droll satires like psychokinetic horror movie “Rubber,” about a murderous anthropomorphic tire, awards season satire “Reality,” or insectoid comedy “Mandibles.”
With his latest parody, “Smoking Causes Coughing,” the zany maestro also known as Mr. Oizo takes a puff off Marvel and other superhero IP by centering his bizarre comedy on a band of spandex-clad dimwits known as the Tobacco Force. It’s , even if not for all tastes, which he knows.
The ridiculously named fivesome are made up of Benzene (Gilles Lellouche), Nicotine (Anaïs Demoustier), Methanol (Vincent Lacoste), Mercury (Jean-Pascal Zadi), and Ammonia (Oulaya Amamra). We first meet them by happenstance, following a family on a road trip who stumble upon them battling a giant, rubber-made tortoise.
Everything looks cheesy by design, with Justine Pearce’s costumes stretching over-the-top artifice to its limits thanks to the giant, hulking tortoise,...
With his latest parody, “Smoking Causes Coughing,” the zany maestro also known as Mr. Oizo takes a puff off Marvel and other superhero IP by centering his bizarre comedy on a band of spandex-clad dimwits known as the Tobacco Force. It’s , even if not for all tastes, which he knows.
The ridiculously named fivesome are made up of Benzene (Gilles Lellouche), Nicotine (Anaïs Demoustier), Methanol (Vincent Lacoste), Mercury (Jean-Pascal Zadi), and Ammonia (Oulaya Amamra). We first meet them by happenstance, following a family on a road trip who stumble upon them battling a giant, rubber-made tortoise.
Everything looks cheesy by design, with Justine Pearce’s costumes stretching over-the-top artifice to its limits thanks to the giant, hulking tortoise,...
- 3/31/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Smoking Causes Coughing is ostensibly a riff on Power Rangers/Super Sentai, Ultraman, and other tokusatsu-style media in which spandex-clad superheroes battle intergalactic monsters, but — as is the case with writer-director Quentin Dupieux’s entire filmography — his latest genre-bending slice of French absurdity is predictably unpredictable.
The Tobacco Force is a team of avengers in which each of its five members represents a different chemical found in cigarettes: Benzene, Nicotine (Anaïs Demoustier), Methanol (Vincent Lacoste), Mercury (Jean-Pascal Zadi), and Ammonia (Oulaya Amamra). When they’re unable to defeat an enemy in hand-to-hand combat, they call upon their powers — which only work when they’re sincere — to infect their foe with cancer to the point of bodily combustion.
The Tobacco Force has a mentor in Chief Didier. He’s a wise, mutant rat, like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles‘ Splinter, except Didier is a womanizer that drools green goo. The team is...
The Tobacco Force is a team of avengers in which each of its five members represents a different chemical found in cigarettes: Benzene, Nicotine (Anaïs Demoustier), Methanol (Vincent Lacoste), Mercury (Jean-Pascal Zadi), and Ammonia (Oulaya Amamra). When they’re unable to defeat an enemy in hand-to-hand combat, they call upon their powers — which only work when they’re sincere — to infect their foe with cancer to the point of bodily combustion.
The Tobacco Force has a mentor in Chief Didier. He’s a wise, mutant rat, like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles‘ Splinter, except Didier is a womanizer that drools green goo. The team is...
- 3/29/2023
- by Alex DiVincenzo
- bloody-disgusting.com
Phoenix Film Festival & International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival: "The Phoenix Film Festival started in 2000 by 3 local filmmakers as a way to get their films some exposure in their home town. Twenty-two years and thousands of movies later, the Phoenix Film Foundation has grown from a 3-day exhibition to an 11 day celebration of film with over 250 films, filmmaking seminars, parties and student workshops for over 20,000 attendees all at the Harkins Scottsdale 101.
The Phoenix Film Festival has been named one of The 25 Coolest Film Festivals and a Top 50 Worth the Entry Fee by MovieMaker Magazine and has been called the most filmmaker-friendly festival out there. Most recently, we've also earned a spot on MovieMaker's 20 Great Film Festivals for First-Time Moviemakers."
This year's event takes place from March 23-April 2, 2023 at Harkins Theatres Scottsdale 101 and you can learn more at: https://www.phoenixfilmfestival.com/
International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival
Showcase Films...
The Phoenix Film Festival has been named one of The 25 Coolest Film Festivals and a Top 50 Worth the Entry Fee by MovieMaker Magazine and has been called the most filmmaker-friendly festival out there. Most recently, we've also earned a spot on MovieMaker's 20 Great Film Festivals for First-Time Moviemakers."
This year's event takes place from March 23-April 2, 2023 at Harkins Theatres Scottsdale 101 and you can learn more at: https://www.phoenixfilmfestival.com/
International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival
Showcase Films...
- 3/10/2023
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
While at least half of the month’s film-related discussion will, unfortunately, be consumed by the endless Oscar race chatter, we’re here to cut through the noise and highlight gems worth seeking out in March. From a superhero film actually worth a watch to a fascinating archival documentary to highlights from not only this year’s Sundance but the 2022 edition as well, check out my picks to see.
15. Rodeo (Lola Quivoron; March 17)
One of the breakouts of last year’s Cannes Film Festival, where it premiered in the Un Certain Regard section and picked up a jury prize, was Lola Quivoron’s feature debut Rodeo. Starring Julie Ledru Kaïs, Yannis Lafki Ophélie, Antonia Buresi, Cody Schroeder, Louis Sotton, and Junior Correia, it follows a young woman who enters the underground world of dirt biking. Set for a NYC premiere at First Look, it’ll arrive later this month from Music Box Films.
15. Rodeo (Lola Quivoron; March 17)
One of the breakouts of last year’s Cannes Film Festival, where it premiered in the Un Certain Regard section and picked up a jury prize, was Lola Quivoron’s feature debut Rodeo. Starring Julie Ledru Kaïs, Yannis Lafki Ophélie, Antonia Buresi, Cody Schroeder, Louis Sotton, and Junior Correia, it follows a young woman who enters the underground world of dirt biking. Set for a NYC premiere at First Look, it’ll arrive later this month from Music Box Films.
- 3/2/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Working at such a clip it can be hard to discern when his films actually arrive stateside and on what platform, Quentin Dupieux’s second movie of last year, Smoking Causes Coughing, will finally land in the U.S. next month and the first trailer has now arrived. Starring Gilles Lellouche, Anaïs Demoustier, Vincent Lacoste, Jean-Pascal Zadi, and Oulaya Amamra, the John Waters-approved film follows five superheroes known as the Tobacco Force – Benzene. After a devastating battle against a diabolical giant turtle, the Tobacco Force is sent on a mandatory week-long retreat to strengthen their decaying group cohesion. Their sojourn goes wonderfully well until Lézardin, Emperor of Evil, decides to annihilate planet Earth.
Leonardo Goi said in his review, “Teeming with all kinds of freaks and plots that toggle freely between the real and the absurd, Quentin Dupieux’s films are the work of an inveterate, shamelessly playful raconteur.
Leonardo Goi said in his review, “Teeming with all kinds of freaks and plots that toggle freely between the real and the absurd, Quentin Dupieux’s films are the work of an inveterate, shamelessly playful raconteur.
- 2/23/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
"Why are you wearing weird outfits?" Meet the Tobacco Force! They might just ruin your day. Magnolia Pictures has revealed an official US trailer for a wacky indie comedy from France titled Smoking Causes Coughing, one of the latest creations from director Quentin Dupieux. This is the second of the two brand new Dupieux films that premiered in 2022, the other being Incredible But True (which still has never been released in the US). A group of superhero vigilantes called the "Tobacco Forces" is falling apart. To rebuild team spirit, their leader suggests that they meet for a week-long retreat, before returning to save the world. Can they pull it off? This comedy plays like - what if Dupieux made an Avengers movie, but about cigarettes instead. Starring Gilles Lellouche, Anaïs Demoustier, Vincent Lacoste, Jean-Pascal Zadi, Oulaya Amamra, and Adèle Exarchopoulos. There's also a downbeat talking robot team member, who's voiced by Ferdinand Canaud.
- 2/22/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Up next from Rubber, Deerskin and Mandibles director Quentin Dupieux is the superhero movie spoof Smoking Causes Coughing, and Magnet has debuted the official trailer today.
Earning a rave review from cult filmmaker John Waters, Magnet Releasing will release Smoking Causes Coughing in theaters and on demand March 31, 2023.
The “wildly inventive new comedy” follows the misadventures of a team of five superheroes known as the Tobacco Force – Benzene (Gilles Lellouche), Nicotine (Anaïs Demoustier), Methanol (Vincent Lacoste), Mercury (Jean-Pascal Zadi), and Ammonia (Oulaya Amamra).
“After a devastating battle against a diabolical giant turtle, the Tobacco Force is sent on a mandatory week-long retreat to strengthen their decaying group cohesion. Their sojourn goes wonderfully well until Lézardin, Emperor of Evil, decides to annihilate planet Earth.”
John Waters raves that Smoking Causes Coughing is a “superhero movie for idiots,” as well as “one of the best movies of the year.” If it’s good enough for Waters,...
Earning a rave review from cult filmmaker John Waters, Magnet Releasing will release Smoking Causes Coughing in theaters and on demand March 31, 2023.
The “wildly inventive new comedy” follows the misadventures of a team of five superheroes known as the Tobacco Force – Benzene (Gilles Lellouche), Nicotine (Anaïs Demoustier), Methanol (Vincent Lacoste), Mercury (Jean-Pascal Zadi), and Ammonia (Oulaya Amamra).
“After a devastating battle against a diabolical giant turtle, the Tobacco Force is sent on a mandatory week-long retreat to strengthen their decaying group cohesion. Their sojourn goes wonderfully well until Lézardin, Emperor of Evil, decides to annihilate planet Earth.”
John Waters raves that Smoking Causes Coughing is a “superhero movie for idiots,” as well as “one of the best movies of the year.” If it’s good enough for Waters,...
- 2/22/2023
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
‘All My Friends Hate Me’ and ‘The Almond And The Seahorse’ also won prizes.
Frances O’Connor’s Emily proved the big hit of the 33rd edition of Dinard Film Festival, the French seaside festival that spotlights UK and Irish cinema, for French audiences that closed on October 2.
Emily won the Golden Hitchcock for best film, with Emma Mackey receiving the award for best performance. The period drama also scooped the audience prize for best feature film. The film premiered at Toronto, and marks the directorial debut of actor O’Connor.
Sex Education star Mackey plays a rebellious version of Wuthering...
Frances O’Connor’s Emily proved the big hit of the 33rd edition of Dinard Film Festival, the French seaside festival that spotlights UK and Irish cinema, for French audiences that closed on October 2.
Emily won the Golden Hitchcock for best film, with Emma Mackey receiving the award for best performance. The period drama also scooped the audience prize for best feature film. The film premiered at Toronto, and marks the directorial debut of actor O’Connor.
Sex Education star Mackey plays a rebellious version of Wuthering...
- 10/3/2022
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
The festival celebrates UK independent cinema and runs September 28 - October 2.
Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees Of Inisherin will screen at France’s Dinard Festival Of British Film (September 28 - October 2), with Sophie Hyde’s Good Luck To You, Leo Grande closing the event.
Both films will have their French premiere at the festival which is held on the coastal town of Dinard, France and celebrates independent cinema from the UK.
Scroll down for full line-up
McDonagh’s Ireland-set comedy drama recently premiered at Venice Film Festival and stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as two lifelong friends hurtled into...
Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees Of Inisherin will screen at France’s Dinard Festival Of British Film (September 28 - October 2), with Sophie Hyde’s Good Luck To You, Leo Grande closing the event.
Both films will have their French premiere at the festival which is held on the coastal town of Dinard, France and celebrates independent cinema from the UK.
Scroll down for full line-up
McDonagh’s Ireland-set comedy drama recently premiered at Venice Film Festival and stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as two lifelong friends hurtled into...
- 9/8/2022
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
After staging a vastly scaled-down version in 2020, organizers of the Cannes Film Festival brought buzz back to the Croisette last year as the industry dipped its toes into the annual French gathering. As the 75th edition kicked off May 17, many in the business are all-in on the in-person experience and there are plenty of completed films for sale.
Mubi took an early lead in acquisitions, scooping up Léa Mysius’s sophomore film “The Five Devils” and Park Chan-wook’s mystery “Decision to Leave” in recent weeks. Other films arriving with distribution include Brett Morgen’s David Bowie doc “Moonage Daydream,” from Neon. A24 has five films premiering at Cannes, including Alex Garland’s “Men” and Claire Denis’ “The Stars at Noon.”
Still up for grabs are films like “Hunt,” the directorial debut of “Squid Game” star Lee Jung-jae, and Arnaud Desplechin’s “Brother and Sister.”
Below find a constantly updated...
Mubi took an early lead in acquisitions, scooping up Léa Mysius’s sophomore film “The Five Devils” and Park Chan-wook’s mystery “Decision to Leave” in recent weeks. Other films arriving with distribution include Brett Morgen’s David Bowie doc “Moonage Daydream,” from Neon. A24 has five films premiering at Cannes, including Alex Garland’s “Men” and Claire Denis’ “The Stars at Noon.”
Still up for grabs are films like “Hunt,” the directorial debut of “Squid Game” star Lee Jung-jae, and Arnaud Desplechin’s “Brother and Sister.”
Below find a constantly updated...
- 7/12/2022
- by Chris Lindahl
- Indiewire
Cannes comedy becomes Quentin Dupieux’s third release with distributor.
Magnolia Pictures has acquired North American rights to Smoking Causes Coughing, the French comedy from Quentin Dupieux that had its world premiere in the Midnight section at last month’s Cannes festival.
Written and directed by Dupieux, the film follows the misadventures of the Tobacco Force, a team of five superheroes who face a villain trying to annihilate the Earth.
Hugo Selignac produced the film for Chi-Fou-Mi Productions in coproduction with Gaumont, with the participation of Canal+, Ocs and Tmc.
Magnolia, which previously released Dupieux’s Mandibles and Rubber, is planning a 2023 release for Smoking,...
Magnolia Pictures has acquired North American rights to Smoking Causes Coughing, the French comedy from Quentin Dupieux that had its world premiere in the Midnight section at last month’s Cannes festival.
Written and directed by Dupieux, the film follows the misadventures of the Tobacco Force, a team of five superheroes who face a villain trying to annihilate the Earth.
Hugo Selignac produced the film for Chi-Fou-Mi Productions in coproduction with Gaumont, with the participation of Canal+, Ocs and Tmc.
Magnolia, which previously released Dupieux’s Mandibles and Rubber, is planning a 2023 release for Smoking,...
- 6/22/2022
- by John Hazelton
- ScreenDaily
Magnolia has acquired North American rights to Quentin Dupieux’s wild comedy “Smoking Causes Coughing” rolling off its world premiere at Cannes festival’s Midnight section. Gaumont co-produced the film and is representing it in international markets.
The deal reteams Dupieux with Magnolia which previously released two of the French director’s most successful films “Mandibles” and “Rubber.”
As other films by Dupieux, “Smoking Causes Coughing” features an ensemble cast of highly popular French stars, including Gilles Lellouche (“The Stronghold”), Anais Demoustier (“Alice and the Mayor”), Vincent Lacoste (“Victoria”), Jean-Pascal Zadi (“Simply Black”) and Oulaya Amamra (“Divines”).
The film follows the misadventures of a team of five superheroes known as the Tobacco Force – Benzene, Nicotine, Methanol, Mercury and Ammonia. After a devastating battle against a diabolical giant turtle, the Tobacco Force is sent on a mandatory week-long retreat to strengthen their decaying group cohesion. Eventually their mission goes south when Lézardin,...
The deal reteams Dupieux with Magnolia which previously released two of the French director’s most successful films “Mandibles” and “Rubber.”
As other films by Dupieux, “Smoking Causes Coughing” features an ensemble cast of highly popular French stars, including Gilles Lellouche (“The Stronghold”), Anais Demoustier (“Alice and the Mayor”), Vincent Lacoste (“Victoria”), Jean-Pascal Zadi (“Simply Black”) and Oulaya Amamra (“Divines”).
The film follows the misadventures of a team of five superheroes known as the Tobacco Force – Benzene, Nicotine, Methanol, Mercury and Ammonia. After a devastating battle against a diabolical giant turtle, the Tobacco Force is sent on a mandatory week-long retreat to strengthen their decaying group cohesion. Eventually their mission goes south when Lézardin,...
- 6/22/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy and Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Teeming with all kinds of freaks and plots that toggle freely between the real and the absurd, Quentin Dupieux’s films are the work of an inveterate, shamelessly playful raconteur. With ten features now to his name, the musician-turned-filmmaker has amassed an oeuvre whose leitmotif isn’t (just) the director’s penchant for the gonzo, but his passion for storytelling itself. Stories and storytellers abound in his latest, Smoking Causes Coughing. A Russian doll of tales-within-tales, it features one of Dupieux’s most bizarre concoctions yet—which, for a man that gave us a sentient killer tire (Rubber), an oversized fly-turned-pet (Mandibles), and a leather jacket with homicidal powers (Deerskin), is to say plenty. That’d be the Tobacco Force, a group of five superheroes who roam the Earth slaughtering monsters with the power of the toxic substances they borrow their names from—but which, curiously, none of them has ever consumed.
- 6/6/2022
- by Leonardo Goi
- The Film Stage
Quentin Dupieux’s film debuted out of Competition.
Picturehouse Entertainment has made Quentin Dupieux’s Smoking Causes Coughing its latest Cannes 2022 acquisition, buying UK-Ireland rights for the out of Competition title.
Smoking Causes Coughing debuted as a Midnight screening on the Croisette; it is sold by France’s Gaumont.
The film follows a team of five avengers known as the Tobacco Force. After a devastating battle against a diabolical turtle, they are sent on a retreat to strengthen their cohesion, which goes well until Lezardin, Emperor of Evil, decides to annihilate planet Earth.
Gilles Lelouche, Vincent Lacoste, Anais Demoustier, Jean-Pascal Zadi and Oulaya Amamra star.
Picturehouse Entertainment has made Quentin Dupieux’s Smoking Causes Coughing its latest Cannes 2022 acquisition, buying UK-Ireland rights for the out of Competition title.
Smoking Causes Coughing debuted as a Midnight screening on the Croisette; it is sold by France’s Gaumont.
The film follows a team of five avengers known as the Tobacco Force. After a devastating battle against a diabolical turtle, they are sent on a retreat to strengthen their cohesion, which goes well until Lezardin, Emperor of Evil, decides to annihilate planet Earth.
Gilles Lelouche, Vincent Lacoste, Anais Demoustier, Jean-Pascal Zadi and Oulaya Amamra star.
- 5/28/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania’s “I and the Stupid Boy,” the new title in the Prada-commissioned Miu Miu Women’s Tales short film series directed by women, was unveiled Sept. 4 at the Venice Film Festival’s independently run Venice Days section.
The short by Ben Hania, who directed the Oscar-nominated “The Man Who Sold His Skin,” is a tale of male-female power, sexuality and shame — with a biting, feminist twist.
In “I and the Stupid Boy,” the protagonist, Nora, is a striking young woman, newly in love. All dressed up, she takes a short cut through an abandoned building, on the way to her date, only to run into Kevin, her ex, who pulls up in a scooter and starts to harass her.
Nora is played by Oulaya Amamra, who won the 2017 César Award for best emerging actress for her role in the film “Divines” by Houda Benyamina, set in the Paris banlieu.
The short by Ben Hania, who directed the Oscar-nominated “The Man Who Sold His Skin,” is a tale of male-female power, sexuality and shame — with a biting, feminist twist.
In “I and the Stupid Boy,” the protagonist, Nora, is a striking young woman, newly in love. All dressed up, she takes a short cut through an abandoned building, on the way to her date, only to run into Kevin, her ex, who pulls up in a scooter and starts to harass her.
Nora is played by Oulaya Amamra, who won the 2017 César Award for best emerging actress for her role in the film “Divines” by Houda Benyamina, set in the Paris banlieu.
- 9/4/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Kad Merad, Fatsah Bouyahmed and Oulaya Amamra lead the cast of the French adaptation of The Distinguished Citizen, produced by Axel Films. Having kicked off on 5 March in Morocco, filming on Citoyen d'honneur, the 5th feature film by Mohamed Hamidi (discovered in 2013 via Homeland and nominated for the 2016 European Film Award for Best Comedy thanks to One Man and His Cow) is set to wrap in the Paris region tomorrow. Shining bright in the cast are Kad Merad, Fatsah Bouyahmed (who led the cast of One Man and His Cow), Oulaya Amamra (who bagged the Best New Hope César and...
Yasin Houicha and Oulaya Amamra lead the cast of the filmmaker’s first full-length work, a Unité production set to be distributed in France by Haut et Court. Having kicked off on 31 August, filming on Emma Benestan first feature Fragile wrapped in Sète yesterday, 13 October. Hailing from La Fémis’s Editing Department, the director previously drew attention with her numerous short films, in particular the fiction offering Goût bacon and the documentary Un monde sans bêtes. Distinguishing themselves at the head of the cast are Yasin Houicha and Oulaya Amamra (the winner of the Best New Hope César and the Best Newcomer Lumières award in 2017 for Divines, similarly well-received in The World is Yours, Farewell to the Night and The Salt...
- 10/14/2020
- Cineuropa - The Best of European Cinema
Philippe Garrel’s modus operandi since 2013’s Jealousy has been unfussy, melancholic, black-and-white tales of Parisian men in the throes of romance, typically under 75 minutes. His latest, The Salt of Tears, which played in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, stretches to 100 minutes, but retains much of the lo-fi monochrome aesthetic, here centering on a cocky, shaggily attractive 20-something whose predilection for spurning women won’t win admirers from the MeToo generation.
But The Salt of Tears, with its title that sounds like a philosophical tract by Sartre, is a distant, ruminative film that refrains from wallowing in snide judgments of its characters. Perhaps to its fault, it’s a sober, adult, sincere film that seeks to consider some truth of the fallacy present in all human relationships.
The story follows trainee carpenter Luc through a trio of romantic misadventures, as he moves from the French countryside for something akin to a sentimental Parisian education.
But The Salt of Tears, with its title that sounds like a philosophical tract by Sartre, is a distant, ruminative film that refrains from wallowing in snide judgments of its characters. Perhaps to its fault, it’s a sober, adult, sincere film that seeks to consider some truth of the fallacy present in all human relationships.
The story follows trainee carpenter Luc through a trio of romantic misadventures, as he moves from the French countryside for something akin to a sentimental Parisian education.
- 3/21/2020
- by Ed Frankl
- The Film Stage
One bold gesture the new Berlinale team has made at the festival this year is to put Philippe Garrel back in competition. His last two movies, small films with grand sensitivity, have premiered at the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes, a fitting place for their discretion but not necessarily the director’s stature. His new film, The Salt of Tears, is no different in scale, effectively embracing cinema’s affinity for, in literary terms, short stories rather than novels. Like his last film, Lover for a Day, we find Garrel channeling the energy of young actors cast mostly from the acting classes he teaches to bring a light-footed freshness to his atmosphere and storytelling. And like his two most recent films, it has a swift, sketch-like quality that sometimes works well and sometimes doesn’t with the film’s essentially fable-like, rather than realistic storytelling. This friction between the exactitude required...
- 2/24/2020
- MUBI
Philippe Garrel’s ‘The Salt Of Tears’ split opinion amongst our critics.
Kelly Reichardt has hit the front in the early stages of Screen’s Berlin 2020 Competition jury grid with her latest film First Cow.
It received consistent scores from all seven critics, with nothing lower than a two (average) and this year’s first score of four (excellent) from Screen’s own critic, culminating in a 2.7 average.
The film, which premiered at Telluride last year, centres on a cook who signs on to serve a party of fur trappers in the Pacific Northwest, forming a friendship with a Chinese immigrant.
Kelly Reichardt has hit the front in the early stages of Screen’s Berlin 2020 Competition jury grid with her latest film First Cow.
It received consistent scores from all seven critics, with nothing lower than a two (average) and this year’s first score of four (excellent) from Screen’s own critic, culminating in a 2.7 average.
The film, which premiered at Telluride last year, centres on a cook who signs on to serve a party of fur trappers in the Pacific Northwest, forming a friendship with a Chinese immigrant.
- 2/23/2020
- by 1101321¦Ben Dalton¦26¦
- ScreenDaily
Handsome twentysomething Luc is a trainee joiner, a craft inherited from his doting single dad: a man at once proud of his son’s continuation of their trade, and hopeful that he’ll do something greater with it. When Luc asks his father if he ever wanted to design furniture rather than simply build it, the reply is simple and resigned: “It’s all been done already.” Six decades and 28 features into his career, French writer-director Philippe Garrel seems to be saying something similar with his latest, “The Salt of Tears”: A minor romantic roundelay that deviates little from the essential template of his last three films, it’s very much the work of an artist less preoccupied with innovation than with signature craftsmanship.
Which is not to say “The Salt of Tears,” even within its narrow bracket of ambition, is an especially careful or well-turned example of Garrel’s form.
Which is not to say “The Salt of Tears,” even within its narrow bracket of ambition, is an especially careful or well-turned example of Garrel’s form.
- 2/22/2020
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
It takes a few beats to get through the quaint setup in “The Salt of Tears” and recognize its protagonist is an asshole. That’s Luc (sullen newcomer Logann Antuofermo), the young aspiring cabinetmaker at the center of French director Philippe Garrel’s latest stab at generational angst and ill-fated love. Over the course of this spry black-and-white sketch of a movie, Luc seduces one woman, rekindles love with another, and rejects them both for a third before everything finally collapses on top of him. There’s not a lot of sophistication to Luc’s arc, as his self-centered universe of problems accelerates to grating extremes, but
Few filmmakers have held as tight to their themes as Garrel, who has cranked out intimate portraits of young men doomed by delusions of romantic grandeur for decades. Though the filmmaker technically completed his so-called “trilogy of love” with 2017’s “Lover for a Day,...
Few filmmakers have held as tight to their themes as Garrel, who has cranked out intimate portraits of young men doomed by delusions of romantic grandeur for decades. Though the filmmaker technically completed his so-called “trilogy of love” with 2017’s “Lover for a Day,...
- 2/22/2020
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
In an immensely promising Berlinale lineup, one of our most-anticipated films is from French master Philippe Garrel. Following 2017’s Lover for a Day, he’s now back with The Salt of Tears (aka Le sel des larmes), which is, of course, shot in black-and-white and features themes of first love and shifting romance.
Starring Logan Antuofermo, Oulaya Amamra, Andre Wilms, Louise Chevillotte, and Souheila Yacoub, the film specifically follows a young man’s short-lived romance in Paris, one which he still holds on to even after returning to his hometown and striking up another. Clocking in at 100 minutes and set for an April 8 release in France, the first trailer and poster have now arrived.
See the trailer below and we’ll update if English subtitles arrive.
Luc travels to Paris for the first time to sit the entrance exam for a carpentry school. There he meets Djemila, a young worker...
Starring Logan Antuofermo, Oulaya Amamra, Andre Wilms, Louise Chevillotte, and Souheila Yacoub, the film specifically follows a young man’s short-lived romance in Paris, one which he still holds on to even after returning to his hometown and striking up another. Clocking in at 100 minutes and set for an April 8 release in France, the first trailer and poster have now arrived.
See the trailer below and we’ll update if English subtitles arrive.
Luc travels to Paris for the first time to sit the entrance exam for a carpentry school. There he meets Djemila, a young worker...
- 2/3/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The Berlinale lineup already includes films from Jia Zhangke, Matías Piñeiro, and more, but now the competition slate has arrived and it’s an incredibly promising selection. Headed by Carlo Chatrian, it includes many of our most-anticipated films of the year with Christian Petzold’s Undine, Hong Sang-soo’s The Woman Who Ran, Tsai Ming-Liang’s Days, Philippe Garrel’s The Salt of Tears, Abel Ferrara’s Siberia, and Caetano Gotardo & Marco Dutra’s All the Dead Ones, plus recent festival favorites: Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow and Eliza Hittman’s Never Rarely Sometimes Always.
Check out the lineup below and return for our coverage.
Competition
Berlin Alexanderplatz
Germany / Netherlands
by Burhan Qurbani
with Welket Bungué, Jella Haase, Albrecht Schuch, Joachim Król, Annabelle Mandeng, Nils Verkooijen, Richard Fouofié Djimeli
World premiere
Dau. Natasha
Germany / Ukraine / United Kingdom / Russian Federation
by Ilya Khrzhanovskiy, Jekaterina Oertel
with Natalia Berezhnaya, Olga Shkabarnya, Vladimir Azhippo,...
Check out the lineup below and return for our coverage.
Competition
Berlin Alexanderplatz
Germany / Netherlands
by Burhan Qurbani
with Welket Bungué, Jella Haase, Albrecht Schuch, Joachim Król, Annabelle Mandeng, Nils Verkooijen, Richard Fouofié Djimeli
World premiere
Dau. Natasha
Germany / Ukraine / United Kingdom / Russian Federation
by Ilya Khrzhanovskiy, Jekaterina Oertel
with Natalia Berezhnaya, Olga Shkabarnya, Vladimir Azhippo,...
- 1/29/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The Berlin International Film Festival on Wednesday morning revealed the main competition lineup and gala selections for festival’s 70th edition.
The festival, which begins February 20, will screen 18 films in competition, including movies from Sally Potter, Kelly Reichardt, and Eliza Hittman. Six are from female directors.
Among the gala presentations is Pixar’s” Onward.” The Dan Scanlon-helmed urban fantasy includes the voices of Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Julia-Louis Dreyfus, Octavia Spencer, Mel Rodriguez, Kyle Bornheimer, Lena Waithe, and Ali Wong.
Here is the complete list:
Competition
“Berlin Alexanderplatz” (Germany/Netherlands)
Director: Burhan Qurbani
Cast: Welket Bungué, Jella Haase, Albrecht Schuch, Joachim Król, Annabelle Mandeng, Nils Verkooijen, and Richard Fouofié Djimeli
“Dau. Natasha” (Germany/Ukraine/United Kingdom/Russia)
Directors: Ilya Khrzhanovskiy and Jekaterina Oertel
Cast: Natalia Berezhnaya, Olga Shkabarnya, Vladimir Azhippo, Alexei Blinov, and Luc Bigé
“Domangchin yeoja” (“The Woman Who Ran”) (South Korea)
Director: Hong Sangsoo
Cast: Kim Minhee,...
The festival, which begins February 20, will screen 18 films in competition, including movies from Sally Potter, Kelly Reichardt, and Eliza Hittman. Six are from female directors.
Among the gala presentations is Pixar’s” Onward.” The Dan Scanlon-helmed urban fantasy includes the voices of Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Julia-Louis Dreyfus, Octavia Spencer, Mel Rodriguez, Kyle Bornheimer, Lena Waithe, and Ali Wong.
Here is the complete list:
Competition
“Berlin Alexanderplatz” (Germany/Netherlands)
Director: Burhan Qurbani
Cast: Welket Bungué, Jella Haase, Albrecht Schuch, Joachim Król, Annabelle Mandeng, Nils Verkooijen, and Richard Fouofié Djimeli
“Dau. Natasha” (Germany/Ukraine/United Kingdom/Russia)
Directors: Ilya Khrzhanovskiy and Jekaterina Oertel
Cast: Natalia Berezhnaya, Olga Shkabarnya, Vladimir Azhippo, Alexei Blinov, and Luc Bigé
“Domangchin yeoja” (“The Woman Who Ran”) (South Korea)
Director: Hong Sangsoo
Cast: Kim Minhee,...
- 1/29/2020
- by Chris Lindahl
- Indiewire
The Berlin International Film Festival has unveiled its 2020 line-up, with 18 films playing in competition from directors such as Abel Ferrara, Sally Potter, Christian Petzold, Hong Sangsoo, Kelly Reichardt and Eliza Hittman.
Abel Ferrara’s Willem Dafoe starrer “Siberia” is a world premiere in competition, as is Sally Potter’s “The Roads Not Taken.”
Among the U.S. films at the Berlinale, Reichardt’s “First Cow” is an international premiere, and so too is Hittman’s “Never Rarely Sometimes Always.”
Pixar’s latest animation, “Onward”, also has its international premiere out of competition in the Special Galas section.
Previous Berlin Silver Bear winner Christian Petzold’s latest, “Undine”, world premieres, while Iranian director Mohammed Rasoulof, who is not allowed to travel outside his home country, world premieres his latest, “There is No Evil.”
Six out of the 18 films in competition are helmed by female directors.
The 70th edition of the festival...
Abel Ferrara’s Willem Dafoe starrer “Siberia” is a world premiere in competition, as is Sally Potter’s “The Roads Not Taken.”
Among the U.S. films at the Berlinale, Reichardt’s “First Cow” is an international premiere, and so too is Hittman’s “Never Rarely Sometimes Always.”
Pixar’s latest animation, “Onward”, also has its international premiere out of competition in the Special Galas section.
Previous Berlin Silver Bear winner Christian Petzold’s latest, “Undine”, world premieres, while Iranian director Mohammed Rasoulof, who is not allowed to travel outside his home country, world premieres his latest, “There is No Evil.”
Six out of the 18 films in competition are helmed by female directors.
The 70th edition of the festival...
- 1/29/2020
- by Tim Dams
- Variety Film + TV
Streaming giant officially announces collaborations with Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Fanny Herrero and Julien Leclercq.
Steaming giant Netflix officially opened its new French headquarters in Paris on Friday in a move that Netflix chairman and CEO Reed Hastings said signalled a long-term commitment to the country.
Hastings, who flew into Paris to celebrate the official launch, said the new French office would enable Netflix ”to work even more closely with the French creative community on great shows and films that are made in France and watched all around the world.”
Some 40 staff are due to be based at the new French offices...
Steaming giant Netflix officially opened its new French headquarters in Paris on Friday in a move that Netflix chairman and CEO Reed Hastings said signalled a long-term commitment to the country.
Hastings, who flew into Paris to celebrate the official launch, said the new French office would enable Netflix ”to work even more closely with the French creative community on great shows and films that are made in France and watched all around the world.”
Some 40 staff are due to be based at the new French offices...
- 1/17/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings today officially opened Netflix’s vast new French headquarters in the center of Paris.
Currently home to 40 employees in film, TV and marketing, and with ample space for at least 100 more, the shiny new space is a major sign of intent for the streamer in one of Europe’s most important – and heavily regulated – markets.
Netflix announced today that it will significantly increase investment in France, with 20 new French productions, and partnerships with leading French creative institutions.
The streamer’s French content executives today unveiled a handful of original shows as well as a range of series and films made by production partners for the streamer. They include:
BigBug, the new film by César Award winner Jean-Pierre Jeunet, based on a script written by Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant — a comedy set in the future with a cast including César Award winner Elsa Zylberstein, César Award nominee Isabelle Nanty and Manu Payet.
Currently home to 40 employees in film, TV and marketing, and with ample space for at least 100 more, the shiny new space is a major sign of intent for the streamer in one of Europe’s most important – and heavily regulated – markets.
Netflix announced today that it will significantly increase investment in France, with 20 new French productions, and partnerships with leading French creative institutions.
The streamer’s French content executives today unveiled a handful of original shows as well as a range of series and films made by production partners for the streamer. They include:
BigBug, the new film by César Award winner Jean-Pierre Jeunet, based on a script written by Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant — a comedy set in the future with a cast including César Award winner Elsa Zylberstein, César Award nominee Isabelle Nanty and Manu Payet.
- 1/17/2020
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Netflix continued to make strides in its European expansion on Thursday, unveiling a swanky multi-floor Paris office and announcing 20 new French shows and movies in the pipeline.
Located in the heart of the city and staffed with 40 employees, Netflix’s office launch attracted French industry figures, including producers and filmmakers working with or looking to work with Netflix.
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who was on hand at the event, said the service will be stepping up its investment locally and will target high-profile talent in 2020. New titles include the film “Big Bug,” directed by “Amelie” director Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Penned by Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant, “Big Bug” is a comedy set in the future starring Elsa Zylberstein, Isabelle Nanty and Manu Payet.
Jeunet participated in the first roundtable organised for the event, along with the directors Julien Leclercq and Leïla Sy, as well as rapper-turned-actor Kery James, and Sara May, director...
Located in the heart of the city and staffed with 40 employees, Netflix’s office launch attracted French industry figures, including producers and filmmakers working with or looking to work with Netflix.
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who was on hand at the event, said the service will be stepping up its investment locally and will target high-profile talent in 2020. New titles include the film “Big Bug,” directed by “Amelie” director Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Penned by Jeunet and Guillaume Laurant, “Big Bug” is a comedy set in the future starring Elsa Zylberstein, Isabelle Nanty and Manu Payet.
Jeunet participated in the first roundtable organised for the event, along with the directors Julien Leclercq and Leïla Sy, as well as rapper-turned-actor Kery James, and Sara May, director...
- 1/17/2020
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Le sel des larmes
2020 will see the premiere of the 27th feature by French auteur Philippe Garrel with The Salt of Tears, which reunites him with scribes Jean-Claude Carriere and Arlette Langmann. Dp Renato Berta (who lensed Garrel’s last two feature) is on board, as is producer Edouard Weil (who previously produced A Burning Hot Summer and Frontier of Dawn for the director). Garrel’s youthful cast consists of Louise Chevillotte (who made her debut in Lover for a Day and has since starred in Nadav Lapid’s Synonyms and Verhoeven’s upcoming Benedetta), Oulaya Amamra (Cesar winner for 2017’s Divines), Souheila Yacoub, Andre Wilms and newcomer Logann Antuofermo.…...
2020 will see the premiere of the 27th feature by French auteur Philippe Garrel with The Salt of Tears, which reunites him with scribes Jean-Claude Carriere and Arlette Langmann. Dp Renato Berta (who lensed Garrel’s last two feature) is on board, as is producer Edouard Weil (who previously produced A Burning Hot Summer and Frontier of Dawn for the director). Garrel’s youthful cast consists of Louise Chevillotte (who made her debut in Lover for a Day and has since starred in Nadav Lapid’s Synonyms and Verhoeven’s upcoming Benedetta), Oulaya Amamra (Cesar winner for 2017’s Divines), Souheila Yacoub, Andre Wilms and newcomer Logann Antuofermo.…...
- 1/3/2020
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Update: Images removed at the request of Wild Bunch.
With a prolific streak like few others directors this decade thus far, we’ve been getting a new (uniformly excellent) Philippe Garrel film every two years like clockwork. While the French director’s latest project, The Salt of Tears, didn’t show up at Cannes like his previous two films, might he be eying a Venice premiere instead? We’ll find out soon, but in the meantime, the first batch of stills and synopsis have arrived, courtesy of Wild Bunch and Rectangle Productions.
See them above and below for the film starring Logan Antuofermo, Oulaya Amamra, Andre Wilms, Louise Chevillotte, Souheila Yacoub. While we wait for his new feature, his son Louis Garrel’s next directorial effort A Faithful Man will arrive this month in the United States, and one can see the trailer below as well.
Luc travels to Paris...
With a prolific streak like few others directors this decade thus far, we’ve been getting a new (uniformly excellent) Philippe Garrel film every two years like clockwork. While the French director’s latest project, The Salt of Tears, didn’t show up at Cannes like his previous two films, might he be eying a Venice premiere instead? We’ll find out soon, but in the meantime, the first batch of stills and synopsis have arrived, courtesy of Wild Bunch and Rectangle Productions.
See them above and below for the film starring Logan Antuofermo, Oulaya Amamra, Andre Wilms, Louise Chevillotte, Souheila Yacoub. While we wait for his new feature, his son Louis Garrel’s next directorial effort A Faithful Man will arrive this month in the United States, and one can see the trailer below as well.
Luc travels to Paris...
- 7/3/2019
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Slate also includes four new festival title acquisitions and five previously announced Palme d’Or contenders.
Wild Bunch will launch sales on eight new titles at Cannes this year including Sylvie Verheyde’s Madame Claude about an infamous French brothel owner and Lou Ye’s upcoming black and white thriller Saturday Fiction.
The slate also features two recent acquisitions out of the Official Selection as well as two new Cannes Critics’ Week films alongside the five previously announced Palme d’Or contenders.
Verheyde’s Madame Claude stars Karole Rocher as the real-life, late Paris brothel owner whose clients allegedly included John F.
Wild Bunch will launch sales on eight new titles at Cannes this year including Sylvie Verheyde’s Madame Claude about an infamous French brothel owner and Lou Ye’s upcoming black and white thriller Saturday Fiction.
The slate also features two recent acquisitions out of the Official Selection as well as two new Cannes Critics’ Week films alongside the five previously announced Palme d’Or contenders.
Verheyde’s Madame Claude stars Karole Rocher as the real-life, late Paris brothel owner whose clients allegedly included John F.
- 5/9/2019
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Slate also includes four new festival title acquisitions and five previously announced Palme d’Or contenders.
Wild Bunch will launch sales on eight new titles at Cannes this year including Sylvie Verheyde’s Madame Claude about an infamous French brothel owner and Lou Ye’s upcoming black and white thriller Saturday Fiction.
The slate also features two recent acquisitions out of the Official Selection as well as two new Cannes Critics’ Week films alongside the five previously announced Palme d’Or contenders.
Verheyde’s Madame Claude stars Karole Rocher as the real-life, late Paris brothel owner whose clients allegedly included John F.
Wild Bunch will launch sales on eight new titles at Cannes this year including Sylvie Verheyde’s Madame Claude about an infamous French brothel owner and Lou Ye’s upcoming black and white thriller Saturday Fiction.
The slate also features two recent acquisitions out of the Official Selection as well as two new Cannes Critics’ Week films alongside the five previously announced Palme d’Or contenders.
Verheyde’s Madame Claude stars Karole Rocher as the real-life, late Paris brothel owner whose clients allegedly included John F.
- 5/9/2019
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
"We're in too much trouble, let's call your mum." Studiocanal UK has debuted an official UK trailer for the French crime comedy The World Is Yours, originally released under the title Le monde est à toi (which translates to the same) in France last year. It premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in Directors' Fortnight last summer, and earned some rave reviews (read mine here). The World Is Yours is a fun crime comedy / thriller about a former drug dealer who has to get back in the business one more time to get his life back on track. The film stars Karim Leklou, Vincent Cassel, Isabelle Adjani, Oulaya Amamra, Philippe Katerine, François Damiens, and Norbert Ferrer. Featuring a score by Jamie Xx and SebastiAn. This is a fantastic French crime film, and it's definitely worth discovering whenever you have a chance to catch it. Here's the official UK trailer (+ French...
- 4/11/2019
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Of course a filmmaker of André Téchiné’s standing doesn’t simply “toss off” a feature, but it remains dispiriting that a director who can make emotionally trenchant movies — including the recent success “Being 17” — is also able to turn out duds like “Farewell to the Night.” Though “based on an original idea,” there’s very little originality in this story of a woman (Catherine Deneuve) discovering her grandson has been radicalized by Islamist extremists. As one of the more inclusive Western directors when it comes to Arab talent, Téchiné aims for a bit of character balance, but in the end, the film stumbles into the usual banal pitfalls and features some truly lamentable scenes. A modest Euro release is the best that can be expected.
Clunky chapter demarcations — “First day of spring 2015,” “Second day of spring 2015,” etc. — unintentionally call attention to how slowly each day passes rather than lend...
Clunky chapter demarcations — “First day of spring 2015,” “Second day of spring 2015,” etc. — unintentionally call attention to how slowly each day passes rather than lend...
- 2/12/2019
- by Jay Weissberg
- Variety Film + TV
French actress-turned-director Nicole Garcia is set to direct “Lisa Redler” (working title), a drama starring Stacy Martin. France Television Distribution has come on board to handle international sales on “Lisa Redler.”
Produced by Les Films Pelléas and Mars Films, “Lisa Redler” is set in Paris and follows Lisa, who, while on vacation with her husband, rekindles a passionate affair with her ex-boyfriend. But that may lead to murder.
Martin stars with Benoit Magimel (“Marseille”) and Pierre Niney (“Yves Saint Laurent”). France Television Distribution is kicking off pre-sales at the European Film Market.
“Lisa Redler” marks Garcia’s follow up to “From the Land of the Moon,” which starred Marion Cotillard and competed at the Cannes Film Festival.
France Televisions is also selling Andre Techine’s “Farewell to the Night” with Catherine Deneuve, Kacey Mottet Klein and Oulaya Amamra, which is playing at the festival out of competition.
The film, produced by Curiosa Films,...
Produced by Les Films Pelléas and Mars Films, “Lisa Redler” is set in Paris and follows Lisa, who, while on vacation with her husband, rekindles a passionate affair with her ex-boyfriend. But that may lead to murder.
Martin stars with Benoit Magimel (“Marseille”) and Pierre Niney (“Yves Saint Laurent”). France Television Distribution is kicking off pre-sales at the European Film Market.
“Lisa Redler” marks Garcia’s follow up to “From the Land of the Moon,” which starred Marion Cotillard and competed at the Cannes Film Festival.
France Televisions is also selling Andre Techine’s “Farewell to the Night” with Catherine Deneuve, Kacey Mottet Klein and Oulaya Amamra, which is playing at the festival out of competition.
The film, produced by Curiosa Films,...
- 2/7/2019
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
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