Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Astrakan (David Depesseville)
Astrakhan fur is unique: dark, beautiful, and stripped exclusively from newborn lambs, even ones killed in their mother’s womb. (Stella McCarthy once said it’s like wearing a fetus.) That ruthlessness—a sense of lost innocence; blood sacrifice—runs deep in Astrakan, a new film from France and one of the better in Locarno this year; and if that title isn’t enough to give pause, plenty else in the opening exchanges will. The first act is a procession of flags, both red and false: at the opening the protagonist, Samuel, lightly goads a snake in the reptile house of a zoo; moments later a rabbit is hung and skinned in his kitchen with all the ceremony of...
Astrakan (David Depesseville)
Astrakhan fur is unique: dark, beautiful, and stripped exclusively from newborn lambs, even ones killed in their mother’s womb. (Stella McCarthy once said it’s like wearing a fetus.) That ruthlessness—a sense of lost innocence; blood sacrifice—runs deep in Astrakan, a new film from France and one of the better in Locarno this year; and if that title isn’t enough to give pause, plenty else in the opening exchanges will. The first act is a procession of flags, both red and false: at the opening the protagonist, Samuel, lightly goads a snake in the reptile house of a zoo; moments later a rabbit is hung and skinned in his kitchen with all the ceremony of...
- 4/5/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The film is directed by five rising female directors.
Six rising female directors from around the world have joined forces for the animation anthology Animal Tales Of Christmas Magic which is being launched by The Bureau Sales at this week’s Rendez -Vous With French Cinema in Paris this week.
Caroline Attia, Ceylan Beyoglu, Olesya Shchukina, Haruna Kishi, Camille Almeras and Natalia Chernysheva have used uses poetry and humour to tell five Christmas stories that take place across the globe from Japan to the Far North and the Northern Lights.
The stories are all told in 2D digital animation, and...
Six rising female directors from around the world have joined forces for the animation anthology Animal Tales Of Christmas Magic which is being launched by The Bureau Sales at this week’s Rendez -Vous With French Cinema in Paris this week.
Caroline Attia, Ceylan Beyoglu, Olesya Shchukina, Haruna Kishi, Camille Almeras and Natalia Chernysheva have used uses poetry and humour to tell five Christmas stories that take place across the globe from Japan to the Far North and the Northern Lights.
The stories are all told in 2D digital animation, and...
- 1/15/2024
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
And now, we wait. The bulk of precursor nominations have poured in, and Oscar voting is newly underway. Aside from the final BAFTA roster, most of what’s left is merely a swift march to January 23, nomination day. A couple of films in particular are making well-timed streaming premieres that function as end-of-the-road campaign strategies.
The contender to stream this week: “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project”
This Oscar-shortlisted documentary co-directed by spouses Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson, who also made 2013’s “American Promise,” follows the eponymous poet and activist through years of civil-rights evolutions. If Black women can withstand the hardships of Earth, Giovanni posits, maybe they can survive in space, too. “Going to Mars” is more experimental than the average biography, which makes sense for such an elusive figure. The film won a jury prize at Sundance and has an Independent Spirit Award nomination. It’s newly streaming on Max.
The contender to stream this week: “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project”
This Oscar-shortlisted documentary co-directed by spouses Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson, who also made 2013’s “American Promise,” follows the eponymous poet and activist through years of civil-rights evolutions. If Black women can withstand the hardships of Earth, Giovanni posits, maybe they can survive in space, too. “Going to Mars” is more experimental than the average biography, which makes sense for such an elusive figure. The film won a jury prize at Sundance and has an Independent Spirit Award nomination. It’s newly streaming on Max.
- 1/12/2024
- by Matthew Jacobs
- Gold Derby
321 films are in contention for this year’s Academy Awards, while 265 features are eligible in the best picture category, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced on Monday as it released its annual “reminder list” for members.
To be eligible in the general categories, films (meaning a runtime of more than 40 minutes) must open in a commercial theater in at least one of the following areas: Los Angeles County; the city of New York; the Bay Area; Chicago, Illinois; Miami, Florida; and Atlanta, Georgia, between Jan. 1, 2023 and Dec. 31, 2023. Additionally, it must complete a minimum qualifying run of seven consecutive days in the same venue.
To be eligible for the best picture category specifically, the movies must be eligible for the general entry and have “submitted a confidential Academy Representation and Inclusion Standards entry form.” Additionally, the film must meet two of the four standards required, in addition to the theatrical component.
To be eligible in the general categories, films (meaning a runtime of more than 40 minutes) must open in a commercial theater in at least one of the following areas: Los Angeles County; the city of New York; the Bay Area; Chicago, Illinois; Miami, Florida; and Atlanta, Georgia, between Jan. 1, 2023 and Dec. 31, 2023. Additionally, it must complete a minimum qualifying run of seven consecutive days in the same venue.
To be eligible for the best picture category specifically, the movies must be eligible for the general entry and have “submitted a confidential Academy Representation and Inclusion Standards entry form.” Additionally, the film must meet two of the four standards required, in addition to the theatrical component.
- 1/8/2024
- by Beatrice Verhoeven
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
I’ll admit I didn’t expect to see an overt Vertigo homage in the middle of this rather matter-of-fact Isabelle Huppert procedural. Fixating for a second on the bun on the back of her noticeable-through-the-runtime blonde wig, La Syndicaliste affords some time, in the middle of all its backroom dealings and court hearings, to ponder her as a star and film history. For all the dramatic proceedings surrounding her, the icon––who’s essentially been anointed France’s Meryl Streep (though far less annoying and mechanical a performer)––is given some opportunities to “serve” throughout; chiefly she looks very poised answering her cell phone.
She portrays real-life figure Maureen Kearney, who as a rep on behalf of the nuclear-workers union was a figure under constant threat from the country’s corporate establishment. But despite the nation shifting from the right-wing Sarkozy to left-wing Hollande in the early goings of its narrative,...
She portrays real-life figure Maureen Kearney, who as a rep on behalf of the nuclear-workers union was a figure under constant threat from the country’s corporate establishment. But despite the nation shifting from the right-wing Sarkozy to left-wing Hollande in the early goings of its narrative,...
- 12/1/2023
- by Ethan Vestby
- The Film Stage
Isabelle Huppert isn’t always an actress who disappears into her roles because, like perhaps her American counterpart Meryl Streep, her presence is already iconic and bigger than the screen itself. But in Jean-Paul Salomé’s “La Syndicaliste,” she goes full Hitchcock-blonde, bangs and all, to play Irish whistleblower Maureen Kearney. A trade unionist who exposed corruption at multinational nuclear powerhouse Areva in 2012, Kearney was violently assaulted in her own home after she brought to light secret dealings with China, but police and press didn’t believe her, and she was accused of staging her own attack.
While the story was widely publicized in Europe, Huppert herself wasn’t familiar with Kearney’s case. Kearney, forced into confessing to fabricating the assault after a brutal and longwinded police custody, eventually retracted her statement and was cleared of charges. But “La Syndicaliste,” even if you know the story, still plays...
While the story was widely publicized in Europe, Huppert herself wasn’t familiar with Kearney’s case. Kearney, forced into confessing to fabricating the assault after a brutal and longwinded police custody, eventually retracted her statement and was cleared of charges. But “La Syndicaliste,” even if you know the story, still plays...
- 11/30/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Isabelle Huppert is one of cinema’s most fearless and compelling performers: she can be both powerfully raw and impenetrably composed at once. It is even more impressive that such an intimidating and disarming onscreen presence is disarmingly cheerful and warm in person. She is also a workhorse and appearing in four films this year, including a pair of December releases: her second collaboration with Jean-Paul Salomé (following 2019’s La Daronne), La Syndicaliste, and the upcoming murder mystery romp The Crime is Mine, directed by François Ozon.
La Syndicaliste is an elegant, ambiguous true-crime story that explores women in the workplace, corporate greed, and the slippery nature of truth. Huppert plays Maureen Kearney, a union rep for the massive nuclear company, Areva, who becomes a whistle-blower when she learns of the company’s secret deal with China that threatens thousands of French jobs. While the film has all the trademarks...
La Syndicaliste is an elegant, ambiguous true-crime story that explores women in the workplace, corporate greed, and the slippery nature of truth. Huppert plays Maureen Kearney, a union rep for the massive nuclear company, Areva, who becomes a whistle-blower when she learns of the company’s secret deal with China that threatens thousands of French jobs. While the film has all the trademarks...
- 11/30/2023
- by Gabrielle Marceau
- The Film Stage
Comedy of Power: Huppert Shines in Whistleblower Expose from Salomé
Making a rare appearance in a ‘based on a true story’ film, Isabelle Huppert elevates a character study in whistle-blowing with La syndicaliste (The Sitting Duck), a reunion with her Mama Weed (2020) director Jean-Paul Salomé. It’s also rather an anomaly for the consummately bustling actor in how she’s somewhat cast against type as a resilient but fragile personality.
Based on the 2019 publication from investigative journalist Caroline Michel-Aguirre, corruption, violence, and political intrigue swirl maliciously in this tale of blatant misogyny following the sexual assault against a woman whose position allowed her access to the president, ultimately forced to clear her own name against charges of filing a false report.…...
Making a rare appearance in a ‘based on a true story’ film, Isabelle Huppert elevates a character study in whistle-blowing with La syndicaliste (The Sitting Duck), a reunion with her Mama Weed (2020) director Jean-Paul Salomé. It’s also rather an anomaly for the consummately bustling actor in how she’s somewhat cast against type as a resilient but fragile personality.
Based on the 2019 publication from investigative journalist Caroline Michel-Aguirre, corruption, violence, and political intrigue swirl maliciously in this tale of blatant misogyny following the sexual assault against a woman whose position allowed her access to the president, ultimately forced to clear her own name against charges of filing a false report.…...
- 11/27/2023
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
"Watch out, this is the big league." Kino Lorber has debuted the US trailer for La Syndicaliste, a French dramatic thriller based on a true story about a whistleblower. This first premiered at the 2022 Venice Film Festival last year, playing at many other fests along the way. This is the story of Maureen Kearney, played by Isabelle Huppert, the head union representative of a French multinational nuclear powerhouse. She became a whistle-blower, denouncing top-secret deals that shook the French nuclear sector. Alone against the world, she fought government ministers and industry leaders, tooth and nail to bring the scandal to light and to defend more than 50,000 jobs... Her life was turned upside down when she was violently assaulted in her own home... The investigation is carried out under pressure. However, new elements create doubt in the minds of the investigators. At first a victim, Maureen becomes a suspect. The cast also includes Grégory Gadebois,...
- 11/22/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Exclusive: After world premiering at the 2023 Tribeca Festival, the custody battle drama Our Son, starring Billy Porter (Pose), Luke Evans (Beauty and the Beast), and newcomer Christopher Woodley, has set release plans with Vertical. Directed by Bill Oliver, from his script written with Peter Nickowitz, the indie is set to hit select theaters December 8th.
Other titles opening that day include Searchlight’s Poor Things starring Emma Stone, Studio Ghibli/Gkids’ The Boy and the Heron, Kino Lorber’s thriller La Syndicaliste, Outsider Pictures doc Elis and Tom, Janus Films’ doc Anselm, and Republic Pictures’ The End We Start From.
Also starring Andrew Rannells (A Simple Favor), Robin Weigert (Deadwood), Kate Burton (Grey’s Anatomy), and Phylicia Rashad (Creed III), Our Son depicts the next step in the zeitgeist of Lgbtqia+ equality: the right to divorce. Married for 13 years, aspiring artist Gabriel (Porter) and his ambitious partner Nicky (Evans) appear to...
Other titles opening that day include Searchlight’s Poor Things starring Emma Stone, Studio Ghibli/Gkids’ The Boy and the Heron, Kino Lorber’s thriller La Syndicaliste, Outsider Pictures doc Elis and Tom, Janus Films’ doc Anselm, and Republic Pictures’ The End We Start From.
Also starring Andrew Rannells (A Simple Favor), Robin Weigert (Deadwood), Kate Burton (Grey’s Anatomy), and Phylicia Rashad (Creed III), Our Son depicts the next step in the zeitgeist of Lgbtqia+ equality: the right to divorce. Married for 13 years, aspiring artist Gabriel (Porter) and his ambitious partner Nicky (Evans) appear to...
- 11/15/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
As a female union rep in the oppressively male-dominated French nuclear industry, Maureen Kearney — the real-life heroine of Jean-Paul Salomé’s “La Syndicaliste” (“The Sitting Duck” in the U.K.) — is accustomed to keeping a cool head in a crisis. That doesn’t stop her male superiors from accusing her of the opposite, with then-President Nicolas Sarkozy allegedly branding her a “hysteric in a skirt”: In this men’s club, a woman’s mere presence is deemed her weakness. Yet when Kearney is raped and mutilated by unknown assailants, seemingly as a professional warning, it’s her lack of hysteria under the circumstances that is declared suspicious by men in power. As she’s first disbelieved, then charged without outright fabrication, Salomé’s film pivots from itchy whistleblower thriller to irate courtroom drama, with institutional misogyny as its binding thread.
A rape survivor criticized for her composure: sounds like an assignment for Isabelle Huppert,...
A rape survivor criticized for her composure: sounds like an assignment for Isabelle Huppert,...
- 7/24/2023
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Also opening this weekend was ‘Insidious: The Red Door’ which made £2.3m for Sony.
RankFilm (distributor)Three-day gross (June 30-July 2)Total gross to date Week 1. Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny (Disney) £3m £13.2m 2 2. Elemental (Disney) £2.9m £3m 1 3. Insidious: The Red Door (Sony) £2.3m £2.3m 1 4. Spider-Man: Across The Spiderverse (Sony) £964,646 £27.7m 6 5. The Little Mermaid (Disney) £490,133 £26m 7
Disney titles went head-to-head at the UK-Ireland box office this weekend after Pixar animation Elemental narrowly missed out on knocking Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny off the top spot.
While previews helped push the Elemental over the £3m mark, its three-day...
RankFilm (distributor)Three-day gross (June 30-July 2)Total gross to date Week 1. Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny (Disney) £3m £13.2m 2 2. Elemental (Disney) £2.9m £3m 1 3. Insidious: The Red Door (Sony) £2.3m £2.3m 1 4. Spider-Man: Across The Spiderverse (Sony) £964,646 £27.7m 6 5. The Little Mermaid (Disney) £490,133 £26m 7
Disney titles went head-to-head at the UK-Ireland box office this weekend after Pixar animation Elemental narrowly missed out on knocking Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny off the top spot.
While previews helped push the Elemental over the £3m mark, its three-day...
- 7/10/2023
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
The Harrison Ford blockbuster dethroned ‘Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse’.
Rank Film (distributor) Three-day gross (June 30-July 2) Total gross to date Week 1. Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny (Disney) £5.4m £7.1m 1 2. Spider-Man: Across The Spiderverse (Sony) £1.5m £25.9m 5 3. Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (Universal) £884,898 £884,898 1 4. The Little Mermaid (Disney) £837,544 £25m 6 5. Asteroid City (Universal) £797,946 £2.7m 2
Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.27
Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny opened to £5.4m at the UK-Ireland box office this weekend – enough to top the charts, but significantly down on the most recent title in the action franchise.
The Dial Of Destiny had the widest release of...
Rank Film (distributor) Three-day gross (June 30-July 2) Total gross to date Week 1. Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny (Disney) £5.4m £7.1m 1 2. Spider-Man: Across The Spiderverse (Sony) £1.5m £25.9m 5 3. Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (Universal) £884,898 £884,898 1 4. The Little Mermaid (Disney) £837,544 £25m 6 5. Asteroid City (Universal) £797,946 £2.7m 2
Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.27
Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny opened to £5.4m at the UK-Ireland box office this weekend – enough to top the charts, but significantly down on the most recent title in the action franchise.
The Dial Of Destiny had the widest release of...
- 7/3/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Also new this weekend: Dreamworks animation ’Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken’ and ’La Syndicaliste (The Sitting Duck)’, starring Isabelle Huppert.
Disney is leading the pack this weekend with Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny out at 743 venues, the widest UK-Ireland release of 2023 so far.
It opens ahead of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, which debuted at 732 sites in May. The Cannes premiere, the fifth instalment in the franchise, sees James Mangold take the reins from Steven Spielberg. Harrison Ford returns as the titular adventurer, this time in 1969. Jones is living a quieter life, until his estranged goddaughter – played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge...
Disney is leading the pack this weekend with Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny out at 743 venues, the widest UK-Ireland release of 2023 so far.
It opens ahead of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, which debuted at 732 sites in May. The Cannes premiere, the fifth instalment in the franchise, sees James Mangold take the reins from Steven Spielberg. Harrison Ford returns as the titular adventurer, this time in 1969. Jones is living a quieter life, until his estranged goddaughter – played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge...
- 6/30/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Also new this weekend: Dreamworks animation ’Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken’ and ’La Syndicaliste (The Sitting Duck)’, starring Isabelle Huppert.
Disney is leading the pack this weekend with Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny out at 743 venues, the widest UK-Ireland release of 2023 so far.
It opens ahead of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, which debuted at 732 sites in May. The Cannes premiere, the fifth instalment in the franchise, sees James Mangold take the reins from Steven Spielberg. Harrison Ford returns as the titular adventurer, this time in 1969. Jones is living a quieter life, until his estranged goddaughter – played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge...
Disney is leading the pack this weekend with Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny out at 743 venues, the widest UK-Ireland release of 2023 so far.
It opens ahead of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, which debuted at 732 sites in May. The Cannes premiere, the fifth instalment in the franchise, sees James Mangold take the reins from Steven Spielberg. Harrison Ford returns as the titular adventurer, this time in 1969. Jones is living a quieter life, until his estranged goddaughter – played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge...
- 6/30/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Back in Paris at the turn of the year, HeyUGuys were fortunate enough to sit in on a roundtable with French icon Isabelle Huppert, promoting her latest film La Syndicaliste, where the actress discusses her latest film, politics, her career – and her love for Bryan Cranston.
Below is an edited transcription of the conversation, of which we were the only UK outlet. We have included questions from varying publications, though have highlighted at the start of a question when it was one we asked ourselves.
This woman is fearless. Do you feel similar to her?
She doesn’t fear people, but I don’t think she is fearless. I think if she knew what was going to happen to her she would be afraid, but she was never afraid of people above her, that’s for sure. She can be intimidated sometimes, because she’s a woman and she knows exactly what she represents,...
Below is an edited transcription of the conversation, of which we were the only UK outlet. We have included questions from varying publications, though have highlighted at the start of a question when it was one we asked ourselves.
This woman is fearless. Do you feel similar to her?
She doesn’t fear people, but I don’t think she is fearless. I think if she knew what was going to happen to her she would be afraid, but she was never afraid of people above her, that’s for sure. She can be intimidated sometimes, because she’s a woman and she knows exactly what she represents,...
- 6/30/2023
- by Stefan Pape
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse” swung back to pole position atop the U.K. and Ireland box office, dethroning Warner Bros.’ “The Flash” in the process.
In its fourth weekend, “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse” collected £1.99 million ($2.5 million) for a total of £23.4 million, according to numbers from Comscore. In its second weekend, “The Flash” took £1.3 million for a total of £6.7 million.
Sony’s “No Hard Feelings” bowed in third place with £1.18 million, while Universal’s “Asteroid City” debuted close behind in fourth position with £1.17 million.
Rounding off the top five was Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” which earned £1.08 million in its fifth weekend for a total of £23.7 million.
The big release this week is “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” with Harrison Ford back for one last crack of the whip. Disney is releasing the film, which also stars Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Mads Mikkelsen, wide across more than 300 locations.
In its fourth weekend, “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse” collected £1.99 million ($2.5 million) for a total of £23.4 million, according to numbers from Comscore. In its second weekend, “The Flash” took £1.3 million for a total of £6.7 million.
Sony’s “No Hard Feelings” bowed in third place with £1.18 million, while Universal’s “Asteroid City” debuted close behind in fourth position with £1.17 million.
Rounding off the top five was Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” which earned £1.08 million in its fifth weekend for a total of £23.7 million.
The big release this week is “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” with Harrison Ford back for one last crack of the whip. Disney is releasing the film, which also stars Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Mads Mikkelsen, wide across more than 300 locations.
- 6/27/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
The fearless French actor is known for playing powerful, complex women, mostly recently in Jean-Paul Salomé’s corporate drama La Syndicaliste. But she has her own way of balancing loyalty to film with her feminist principles
Isabelle Huppert has a way of inspiring intrigue – even without trying. On the red carpet at Cannes last month, she raised eyebrows with her choice of footwear: a pair of Balenciaga Anatomic heels, whose tips are moulded to look like human toes. It seemed like quintessential Huppert: an arch joke about the furore over the festival’s insistence on heels for women at events, rising above the idiotic dictate and the barefoot rebels who have recently flouted it.
Except apparently I’m overthinking it: “People were looking at my shoes?” asks the actor, in her soigné tones, on the phone from Paris. Yes, those weird ones with toes. “No, I wasn’t making any statement.
Isabelle Huppert has a way of inspiring intrigue – even without trying. On the red carpet at Cannes last month, she raised eyebrows with her choice of footwear: a pair of Balenciaga Anatomic heels, whose tips are moulded to look like human toes. It seemed like quintessential Huppert: an arch joke about the furore over the festival’s insistence on heels for women at events, rising above the idiotic dictate and the barefoot rebels who have recently flouted it.
Except apparently I’m overthinking it: “People were looking at my shoes?” asks the actor, in her soigné tones, on the phone from Paris. Yes, those weird ones with toes. “No, I wasn’t making any statement.
- 6/23/2023
- by Phil Hoad
- The Guardian - Film News
Harvest Moon, the film that was last year selected as Mongolia’s Oscars contender, has secured distribution deals in Europe and Asia through sales agent Asian Shadows.
Directed by Amarsaikhan Baljinnyam, as an adaptation of a novel by T. Bum-Erdene, the narrative tells of the encounter between a man, who unexpectedly returns from the big city to the countryside and then stays on to take up an agricultural role, and boy being brought up by his grandparents. Both are forced to re-evaluate what they had taken for granted.
The film had its world premiere last year at the Vancouver festival, where it won the audience award and followed that with further audience award at Fescaal Milan and two more prizes at the Miworld Young Film Festival Milan. Additionally, Tenuum-Erdene Garamkhand who played the role of the young boy collected the best actor award at the Fribourg Iff.
The film was...
Directed by Amarsaikhan Baljinnyam, as an adaptation of a novel by T. Bum-Erdene, the narrative tells of the encounter between a man, who unexpectedly returns from the big city to the countryside and then stays on to take up an agricultural role, and boy being brought up by his grandparents. Both are forced to re-evaluate what they had taken for granted.
The film had its world premiere last year at the Vancouver festival, where it won the audience award and followed that with further audience award at Fescaal Milan and two more prizes at the Miworld Young Film Festival Milan. Additionally, Tenuum-Erdene Garamkhand who played the role of the young boy collected the best actor award at the Fribourg Iff.
The film was...
- 5/22/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Isabelle Huppert (Elle) and Finn Wittrock (Luckiest Girl Alive) have closed deals to star in Free Radicals, an English-language home invasion thriller based on the same-name short story originally published in The New Yorker by Nobel Prize-winning author Alice Munro.
With psychological twists and a Hitchockian flair, Free Radicals revolves around the harrowing encounter between an ailing woman (Huppert) and a young killer on the run (Wittrock). Xia Magnus (Sanzaru) is set to direct from his script written with Alyssa Polk. Pic’s producers are Academy Award nominee Alexandra Milchan (Tár) and Theo Vieljeux (Monica).
Charades will handle international sales for the film, following its success with a number of other titles from emerging filmmakers, including Carlo Mirabella-Davis’ Swallow starring Haley Bennett; Zachary Wigon’s Sanctuary with Christopher Abbott and Margaret Qualley, which Neon will release in the U.S on May 19; Charlotte Regan’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize...
With psychological twists and a Hitchockian flair, Free Radicals revolves around the harrowing encounter between an ailing woman (Huppert) and a young killer on the run (Wittrock). Xia Magnus (Sanzaru) is set to direct from his script written with Alyssa Polk. Pic’s producers are Academy Award nominee Alexandra Milchan (Tár) and Theo Vieljeux (Monica).
Charades will handle international sales for the film, following its success with a number of other titles from emerging filmmakers, including Carlo Mirabella-Davis’ Swallow starring Haley Bennett; Zachary Wigon’s Sanctuary with Christopher Abbott and Margaret Qualley, which Neon will release in the U.S on May 19; Charlotte Regan’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize...
- 5/12/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Modern Films has shared an exclusive look at the trailer for the political thriller ‘La Syndicaliste.’
Based on the true story of Maureen Kearney, a trade union organiser in the French nuclear industry who became both a victim and suspect in a shocking scandal. Starring Isabelle Huppert in an electrifying performance as Kearney.
Maureen Kearney (Isabelle Huppert) was the head union representative of a French multinational nuclear powerhouse. She became a whistleblower, denouncing top-secret deals that shook the French nuclear sector. Alone against the world, she fought government ministers and industry leaders tooth and nail to bring the scandal to light and to defend more than 50,000 jobs. Her life was turned upside down when she was
violently assaulted in her own home. The investigation was carried out under pressure: the subject was sensitive. Suddenly, new elements created doubt in the minds of the investigators, and at first a victim, Maureen became a suspect.
Based on the true story of Maureen Kearney, a trade union organiser in the French nuclear industry who became both a victim and suspect in a shocking scandal. Starring Isabelle Huppert in an electrifying performance as Kearney.
Maureen Kearney (Isabelle Huppert) was the head union representative of a French multinational nuclear powerhouse. She became a whistleblower, denouncing top-secret deals that shook the French nuclear sector. Alone against the world, she fought government ministers and industry leaders tooth and nail to bring the scandal to light and to defend more than 50,000 jobs. Her life was turned upside down when she was
violently assaulted in her own home. The investigation was carried out under pressure: the subject was sensitive. Suddenly, new elements created doubt in the minds of the investigators, and at first a victim, Maureen became a suspect.
- 5/11/2023
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Isabelle Huppert as Maureen Kearney: “We wanted to represent her physically as close as possible - hence the blonde chignon hair style, the jewellery, the bright red lipstick and her glasses.” Photo: UniFrance
“Bonjour - let’s go,” says France’s reigning art house queen Isabelle Huppert with a brisk flourish as we gather around to talk about one of the most incredible and intriguing roles in a career where an interviewer is spoilt for choice.
With her famed meticulous eye for detail, she plays a trade union leader in a French nuclear engineering company who became involved in a Kafka-esque scenario in which truth emerges stranger than any fiction.
Huppert has never met the subject of her portrayal of Maureen Kearney in The Sitting Duck (La Syndicaliste). She’s an Irish woman who has lived in France since she arrived as teacher in her twenties and married a Frenchman.
“Bonjour - let’s go,” says France’s reigning art house queen Isabelle Huppert with a brisk flourish as we gather around to talk about one of the most incredible and intriguing roles in a career where an interviewer is spoilt for choice.
With her famed meticulous eye for detail, she plays a trade union leader in a French nuclear engineering company who became involved in a Kafka-esque scenario in which truth emerges stranger than any fiction.
Huppert has never met the subject of her portrayal of Maureen Kearney in The Sitting Duck (La Syndicaliste). She’s an Irish woman who has lived in France since she arrived as teacher in her twenties and married a Frenchman.
- 2/22/2023
- by Richard Mowe
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Kino Lorber has bought U.S. rights to Jean-Paul Salomé’s true life thriller “The Sitting Duck,” starring Isabelle Huppert as the French union organizer and whistleblower Maureen Kearney.
Represented in international markets by The Bureau Sales, “The Sitting Duck” world premiered at Venice where it won the Premio Fondazione Fai Persona Lavoro Ambiente Prize. The film will open theatrically in France in March, and Kino Lorber is planning a U.S. theatrical release later this year, followed by a digital and home video release on all major platforms.
“The Sitting Duck” has now been sold around the world. The Bureau Sales has closed deals for Canada (Axia Films Inc.), UK (Modern Films), Germany/Austria (Weltkino Filmverleih Gmbh), Italy (I Wonder Pictures), France (Le Pacte), Spain (Wanda Vision S.A.), Benelux (September Film), Switzerland (Filmcoopi Zurich Ag), Greece (Cinobo), Portugal, Bulgaria (Beta Film Ltd.), Hungary (Ads Service Ltd.), Romania (Transilvania Film), Israel (Forum Film Ltd.
Represented in international markets by The Bureau Sales, “The Sitting Duck” world premiered at Venice where it won the Premio Fondazione Fai Persona Lavoro Ambiente Prize. The film will open theatrically in France in March, and Kino Lorber is planning a U.S. theatrical release later this year, followed by a digital and home video release on all major platforms.
“The Sitting Duck” has now been sold around the world. The Bureau Sales has closed deals for Canada (Axia Films Inc.), UK (Modern Films), Germany/Austria (Weltkino Filmverleih Gmbh), Italy (I Wonder Pictures), France (Le Pacte), Spain (Wanda Vision S.A.), Benelux (September Film), Switzerland (Filmcoopi Zurich Ag), Greece (Cinobo), Portugal, Bulgaria (Beta Film Ltd.), Hungary (Ads Service Ltd.), Romania (Transilvania Film), Israel (Forum Film Ltd.
- 2/15/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Coinciding with its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, Warsaw-based New Europe Film Sales has provided Variety with an exclusive peek at the trailer for Chilean writer-director Fernando Guzzoni’s (“Jesus”) thriller, “Blanquita.”
Based on the young witness at the center of the Spinak case, a scandal involving Chilean pedophilia and prostitution networks that rocked the country, the film grapples with morality and the struggle towards justice for those without means.
In the film, Blanca (Laura López) leads investigators, and the public, on a baffling journey as she plants herself at the center of a trial against powerful politicians.
“I think that what seduced me about the case is how a girl who was an outsider kept the entire Chilean community on edge for almost a year,” relayed Guzzoni.
“Her appearance in the case seemed very performative to me and how she, to some extent, built a character that...
Based on the young witness at the center of the Spinak case, a scandal involving Chilean pedophilia and prostitution networks that rocked the country, the film grapples with morality and the struggle towards justice for those without means.
In the film, Blanca (Laura López) leads investigators, and the public, on a baffling journey as she plants herself at the center of a trial against powerful politicians.
“I think that what seduced me about the case is how a girl who was an outsider kept the entire Chilean community on edge for almost a year,” relayed Guzzoni.
“Her appearance in the case seemed very performative to me and how she, to some extent, built a character that...
- 9/5/2022
- by Holly Jones
- Variety Film + TV
The Unifrance cocktail event at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday, held in partnership with Variety, saw a heady mix of film executives and artists mingle at the sea terrace of the plush Excelsior hotel.
Presiding over proceedings was Unifrance executive director Daniela Elstner and artists present included director Romain Gavras and actor Ouassini Embarek, whose film “Athena” is in the main competition at the festival. Also attending were actor Swann Arlaud, César winner for “Bloody Milk” and “By the Grace of God,” who is at Venice with his new film “Beating Sun,” by Philippe Petit, who was also present; and filmmaker Audrey Diwan, who won the Venice Golden Lion last year for “Happening” and is serving on the jury this year.
Jean-Paul Salomé and Bertrand Faivre, the director and producer respectively of Horizons strand selection “The Sitting Duck,” were also present as was “The Blessed” filmmaker Sofia Djama, who...
Presiding over proceedings was Unifrance executive director Daniela Elstner and artists present included director Romain Gavras and actor Ouassini Embarek, whose film “Athena” is in the main competition at the festival. Also attending were actor Swann Arlaud, César winner for “Bloody Milk” and “By the Grace of God,” who is at Venice with his new film “Beating Sun,” by Philippe Petit, who was also present; and filmmaker Audrey Diwan, who won the Venice Golden Lion last year for “Happening” and is serving on the jury this year.
Jean-Paul Salomé and Bertrand Faivre, the director and producer respectively of Horizons strand selection “The Sitting Duck,” were also present as was “The Blessed” filmmaker Sofia Djama, who...
- 9/5/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
After taking a break from his filmmaking career to preside over the French film promotion org Unifrance, Jean-Paul Salomé has made a big comeback with a pair of films with Oscar-nominated French actor Isabelle Huppert. The latest one, “The Sitting Duck,” is world premiering at Venice in the Horizons section.
Adapted from Caroline Michel-Aguirre’s book “La Syndicaliste,” “The Sitting Duck” tells the true story of Maureen Kearney, the head union representative of a French multinational nuclear powerhouse who becomes a whistleblower, denouncing top-secret deals that shook the French nuclear sector. One day, Kearney is found in her home, tied to a chair, the letter “A” carved into her abdomen, and a knife handle inserted into her vagina. Traumatized, she has no memory of the assault. However, after an investigation, the police accused her of staging the attack herself.
Penned by Salomé and Fadette Drouard, the film has already been...
Adapted from Caroline Michel-Aguirre’s book “La Syndicaliste,” “The Sitting Duck” tells the true story of Maureen Kearney, the head union representative of a French multinational nuclear powerhouse who becomes a whistleblower, denouncing top-secret deals that shook the French nuclear sector. One day, Kearney is found in her home, tied to a chair, the letter “A” carved into her abdomen, and a knife handle inserted into her vagina. Traumatized, she has no memory of the assault. However, after an investigation, the police accused her of staging the attack herself.
Penned by Salomé and Fadette Drouard, the film has already been...
- 9/3/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Maureen Kearney’s story is unbelievable. It is a story of unbelief, in fact — of denial, cover-ups, corruption and injustice directed at a small woman who was just doing her job. She’s played with an electric stillness by the great Isabelle Huppert in Jean-Paul Salome’s Venice Film Festival Horizons title The Sitting Duck (La Syndicaliste). There are still plenty of people who openly doubt her story, including people on her own side of politics. Perhaps it would be easier all round if it weren’t true.
Kearney was a union officer working within the partly French government-owned energy company Areva, which included a significant nuclear reactor business with projects all over the world. Kearney was no Karen Silkwood; she posed no threat to the concept of nuclear power. She maintains she was targeted when...
Kearney was a union officer working within the partly French government-owned energy company Areva, which included a significant nuclear reactor business with projects all over the world. Kearney was no Karen Silkwood; she posed no threat to the concept of nuclear power. She maintains she was targeted when...
- 9/2/2022
- by Stephanie Bunbury
- Deadline Film + TV
There’s an air of positivity among Italian film professionals as they head to the Venice Film Festival this year, in spite of the country’s depressed theatrical box office in the wake of Covid and a looming cost of living crisis across Europe.
The optimistic mood is driven in large part by recent state-backed support for the country’s audiovisual sector, which is increasingly regarded as a pole for future economic growth and employment
Under the country’s post-pandemic economic recovery plan, put in place by the former unity government of Mario Draghi, 300m has been set aside for investment in the sector for the period running 2021 to 2026.
Following the fall of Draghi’s government over the summer, a general election will take place on September 25. Whatever the outcome, the potential successors are being urged to maintain the recovery plan and cinema spending is not expected to be impacted.
The optimistic mood is driven in large part by recent state-backed support for the country’s audiovisual sector, which is increasingly regarded as a pole for future economic growth and employment
Under the country’s post-pandemic economic recovery plan, put in place by the former unity government of Mario Draghi, 300m has been set aside for investment in the sector for the period running 2021 to 2026.
Following the fall of Draghi’s government over the summer, a general election will take place on September 25. Whatever the outcome, the potential successors are being urged to maintain the recovery plan and cinema spending is not expected to be impacted.
- 8/31/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
White NoiseCOMPETITIONWhite Noise (Noah Baumbach)Il Signore Delle Formiche (Gianni Amelio)The Whale (Darren Aronofsky)L’Immensita (Emanuele Crialese)Saint Omer (Alice Diop)Blonde (Andrew Dominik)Tár (Todd Field)Love Life (Koji Fukada)Bardo, False Chronicle Of A Handful Of Truths (Alejandro G. Inarritu)Athena (Romain Gavras)Bones & All (Luca Guadagnino)The Eternal Daughter (Joanna Hogg)Beyond The Wall (Vahid Jalilvand)The Banshees Of Inisherin (Martin McDonagh)Argentina, 1985 (Santiago Mitre)Chiara (Susanna Nicchiarelli)Monica (Andrea Pallaoro)No Bears (Jafar Panahi)All The Beauty And The Bloodshed (Laura Poitras)A Couple (Frederick Wiseman)The Son (Florian Zeller)Our Ties (Roschdy Zem)Other People’s Children (Rebecca Zlotowski)Out Of COMPETITIONFictionThe Hanging Sun (Francesco Carrozzini)When The Waves Are Gone (Lav Diaz)Living (Oliver Hermanus)Dead For A Dollar (Walter Hill)Call Of God (Kim Ki-duk)Dreamin’ Wild (Bill Pohlad)Master Gardener (Paul Schrader)Siccità (Paolo Virzi)Pearl (Ti West)Don’t Worry Darling...
- 7/28/2022
- MUBI
Other EFM acquisitions including ‘Rimini’, ’Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom’, ’Peter Von Kant’ and ’La Syndicaliste’.
Pim Hermeling’s Amsterdam-based September Films, one of Benelux’s leading art house distributors, has been on a buying spree at the EFM.
The company has acquired Li Ruijun’s Berlin competition entry Return To Dust from Berlin-based m-appeal. This follows other EFM acquisitions including Ulrich Seidl’s Rimini from the Coproduction Office; Oscar international feature film nominee Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom (from Films Boutique); François Ozon’s Berlinale opening film Peter Von Kant (sold by Playtime) and La Syndicaliste (The...
Pim Hermeling’s Amsterdam-based September Films, one of Benelux’s leading art house distributors, has been on a buying spree at the EFM.
The company has acquired Li Ruijun’s Berlin competition entry Return To Dust from Berlin-based m-appeal. This follows other EFM acquisitions including Ulrich Seidl’s Rimini from the Coproduction Office; Oscar international feature film nominee Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom (from Films Boutique); François Ozon’s Berlinale opening film Peter Von Kant (sold by Playtime) and La Syndicaliste (The...
- 2/16/2022
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
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