"Why did you follow me home from the party?" Ketchup Entertainment (yes their real name) has unveiled the official trailer for an intimate drama titled Memory, the latest film (this one is in English set in NYC) by acclaimed Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco. This premiered at the 2023 Venice Film Festival as one of the final debuts, and it ended up winning Best Actor there. It also played at the AFI, London, San Sebastián, Chicago, and Zurich Film Festivals. Jessica Chastain stars as Sylvia is a social worker who leads a simple and structured life. Everything changes when Saul follows her home from their high school reunion. Their surprise encounter will profoundly impact both of them as they open the door to the past. Peter Sarsgaard co-stars, joined by Merritt Wever, Elsie Fisher, Brooke Timber, with Jessica Harper, and Josh Charles. Reviews are mostly positive, saying "Chastain & Sarsgaard are extraordinary as...
- 11/28/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
I’ve always defended Michel Franco, not that he requires further support from numerous areas of the industry. But he’s been something of a critical punching bag and dartboard target since his rise to relative acclaim, his festival placements and jury awards not translating to similarly good ink, or unignorable theatrical exposure. An important factor is the hangover from Haneke’s reign as the most influential Euro-festival auteur and attendant backlash that arose towards his punitive sensibility, especially those that imitated it. Franco, who first developed his career in the Mexican arthouse world, does indeed initiate a certain type of pain, but also much empathy.
Akin to Östlund, and especially Lanthimos, Franco has begun naturally integrating himself into a transnational mode, skipping between production scales and national tongues at ease. And Jessica Chastain, having now shot a second feature with him (under a SAG-AFTRA waiver), is threatening to become his Emma Stone.
Akin to Östlund, and especially Lanthimos, Franco has begun naturally integrating himself into a transnational mode, skipping between production scales and national tongues at ease. And Jessica Chastain, having now shot a second feature with him (under a SAG-AFTRA waiver), is threatening to become his Emma Stone.
- 9/15/2023
- by David Katz
- The Film Stage
Mexican director Michel Franco has been making waves for years on the festival circuit with films such as Cannes winner “After Lucia,” “New Order,” and “April’s Daughter.” His latest English-language effort, “Sundown,” starring actors Tim Roth and Charlotte Gainsbourg as siblings, made its debut at last year’s Venice Film Festival and was in limited release domestically back in January thanks to distributor Bleecker Street.
Continue reading Michel Franco To Direct Jessica Chastain & Peter Sarsgaard In NYC-Set Movie at The Playlist.
Continue reading Michel Franco To Direct Jessica Chastain & Peter Sarsgaard In NYC-Set Movie at The Playlist.
- 4/21/2022
- by Christopher Marc
- The Playlist
Mexico’s Michel Franco is back in Venice after his triumphant Silver Lion win last year for his dystopian thriller “New Order.” His new film “Sundown” is in competition at the Lido where it world premieres on Sunday. Variety spoke to the director and the film’s star Tim Roth.
While “New Order” used thousands of extras and was shot on a larger, more ambitious scale than any of Franco’s previous films, “Sundown” is a return to a more intimate, personal drama with Franco’s long-time collaborator and friend Roth leading the cast.
In it, Roth plays a wealthy man going through an existential crisis while vacationing in Acapulco with his family. Not much more can be said of the plot without revealing its twists.
This is the second time Roth stars in a Franco-directed film. Their relationship sparked nearly 10 years ago when Roth, as Cannes’ 2012 Un Certain Regard jury president,...
While “New Order” used thousands of extras and was shot on a larger, more ambitious scale than any of Franco’s previous films, “Sundown” is a return to a more intimate, personal drama with Franco’s long-time collaborator and friend Roth leading the cast.
In it, Roth plays a wealthy man going through an existential crisis while vacationing in Acapulco with his family. Not much more can be said of the plot without revealing its twists.
This is the second time Roth stars in a Franco-directed film. Their relationship sparked nearly 10 years ago when Roth, as Cannes’ 2012 Un Certain Regard jury president,...
- 9/4/2021
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
This excerpt is from The Faber Book of Mexican Cinema (2021), by Jason Wood. It was conducted before the premiere of Franco's latest film, New Order (2020).As a director, screenwriter and producer, Michel Franco is a prolific figure in Mexican cinema. Daniel & Ana (2009), Franco’s debut feature as director, premiered at Cannes and established him as a film-maker with a forensic eye for detail and character. Franco is also incredibly attuned to contemporary issues in Mexican society, in this instance the rise of underground pornography. The winner of the Un Certain Regard award at Cannes, After Lucia (2012) continues the director’s interest in fractured family lives and how technology can act as a powerful and poisonous tool. A los ojos (2014), a collaboration with Franco’s sister Victoria, adopts a documentary aesthetic to explore the ends to which a parent will go to protect their child, whilst also examining how little...
- 8/11/2021
- MUBI
If you’ve found yourself having just too good a time lately and need that to come to an end, hotfoot it to New Order, the new ordeal from Mexican director Michel Franco. In just 86 brisk, effectively brutalizing minutes, any tentative optimism you might have been feeling — say, due to a jaunty walk to a newly-reopened movie theater in sunny weather — will completely dissipate into a far more familiar downer fug. Not to suggest it’s all doom and depression! The film also makes you feel unpleasantly dirty.
Franco is...
Franco is...
- 5/26/2021
- by Jessica Kiang
- Rollingstone.com
Eugenio Derbez’s upcoming Apple comedy series “Acapulco” has added four new cast members, with Richard Shepard now onboard to direct the pilot.
Enrique Arrizon, Damian Alcázar, Camila Perez, and Raphael Alejandro will all star alongside Derbez in the half-hour series. It will be shot in both Spanish and English and is inspired by the film “How to Be a Latin Lover,” in which Derbez starred and produced.
In “Acapulco,” a young Mexican man’s dream comes true when he gets the job of a lifetime at the hottest resort in Acapulco. But he soon realizes the job is far more complicated than he ever imagined as all of his beliefs and morals start to be questioned. The show takes place in 1984 with Derbez narrating and playing the present-day version of the main character, Maximo.
Arrizon will play Young Maximo, who’s dream comes true when he gets the job...
Enrique Arrizon, Damian Alcázar, Camila Perez, and Raphael Alejandro will all star alongside Derbez in the half-hour series. It will be shot in both Spanish and English and is inspired by the film “How to Be a Latin Lover,” in which Derbez starred and produced.
In “Acapulco,” a young Mexican man’s dream comes true when he gets the job of a lifetime at the hottest resort in Acapulco. But he soon realizes the job is far more complicated than he ever imagined as all of his beliefs and morals start to be questioned. The show takes place in 1984 with Derbez narrating and playing the present-day version of the main character, Maximo.
Arrizon will play Young Maximo, who’s dream comes true when he gets the job...
- 3/31/2021
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
At the heart of the Spanish Screenings are its market premieres, new titles coming onto the market post-San Sebastian, sometimes with fest runs at other smaller festivals. Variety drills down on a score of titles at this year’s event, including a clutch of 2020 Malaga fest winners.
“Amateur,”.
A 2020 Malaga Wip entry, where it won best production, Gutiérrez’s first doc feature marks a strong personal take on what home means to him. Knit by three different stories, Gutierrez, shoots vignettes of life in a small mountain village. Also an Abycine and Fidba Prize winner at Malaga.
“Antonio Machado, the Blue Days,” (Laura Hojman)
Seville-based Summer Films, which also produces “Once Again,” delivers one take on the life story of Spanish poet Antonio Machado. The second film from Hojman after 2018’s “Solar Lands,” about poet Ruben Darío’s escape from Paris to Andalusia.
“Boat Rower Girl”
Blanco’s feature debut,...
“Amateur,”.
A 2020 Malaga Wip entry, where it won best production, Gutiérrez’s first doc feature marks a strong personal take on what home means to him. Knit by three different stories, Gutierrez, shoots vignettes of life in a small mountain village. Also an Abycine and Fidba Prize winner at Malaga.
“Antonio Machado, the Blue Days,” (Laura Hojman)
Seville-based Summer Films, which also produces “Once Again,” delivers one take on the life story of Spanish poet Antonio Machado. The second film from Hojman after 2018’s “Solar Lands,” about poet Ruben Darío’s escape from Paris to Andalusia.
“Boat Rower Girl”
Blanco’s feature debut,...
- 11/17/2020
- by John Hopewell and Pablo Sandoval
- Variety Film + TV
Gracia Querejeta’s “The Invisible,” toplining Emma Suárez, star of Pedro Almodovar’s “Julieta,” and Toni Bestard’s “Pullman” have been acquired for international sales by Feel Content.
They will be made available for online access to buyers as part of next week’s Malaga Festival’s Spanish Screenings Market Premieres showcase, one of the industry event’s main draws.
A distinguished director of now 10 increasingly varied features – including 2017 dark melodrama “Happy 140” and doc feature “Tanto Monta,” and 2018’s absurdist thriller “Crime Wave” – “The Invisible” sees Querejeta returning to her more observational, character-driven mode of 2004’s Malaga Festival winner “Hector,” and “15 Years and One Day,” a 2013 best picture Goya contender, and Spain’s 2014 Academy Awards submission.
She does so in “The Invisible,” written with regular co-scribe Antonio Mercero, with a directness contrasting with her early often more oblique work.
In what Querejeta herself recognizes as her most personal work to date,...
They will be made available for online access to buyers as part of next week’s Malaga Festival’s Spanish Screenings Market Premieres showcase, one of the industry event’s main draws.
A distinguished director of now 10 increasingly varied features – including 2017 dark melodrama “Happy 140” and doc feature “Tanto Monta,” and 2018’s absurdist thriller “Crime Wave” – “The Invisible” sees Querejeta returning to her more observational, character-driven mode of 2004’s Malaga Festival winner “Hector,” and “15 Years and One Day,” a 2013 best picture Goya contender, and Spain’s 2014 Academy Awards submission.
She does so in “The Invisible,” written with regular co-scribe Antonio Mercero, with a directness contrasting with her early often more oblique work.
In what Querejeta herself recognizes as her most personal work to date,...
- 11/13/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Michel Franco’s Venice winner “New Order” (“Nueva Orden”) has scored over 330,000 admissions and $950,000 in Mexico off an Oct. 22 bow, according to Comscore.
Released by Televisa’s Videocine distrib label, that box office would be notable in any normal circumstance, given that “New Order,” an often shocking dystopian thriller, is by no stretch of the imagination a comedy nor entertainment for all the family, Mexico’s box office staples.
It’s all the more an extraordinary feat for a Mexican movie during Covid-19 when box office is tracking at some 15%-20% of its full-on power before pandemia.
“It is satisfying to see brave releases that are helping the market and attracting audiences to cinemas,” said Comscore’s Luis Vargas.
Topping Mexico’s box office on release, “New Order’s” domestic box office run is also a good way of showing the distributors who have bought the film for release in...
Released by Televisa’s Videocine distrib label, that box office would be notable in any normal circumstance, given that “New Order,” an often shocking dystopian thriller, is by no stretch of the imagination a comedy nor entertainment for all the family, Mexico’s box office staples.
It’s all the more an extraordinary feat for a Mexican movie during Covid-19 when box office is tracking at some 15%-20% of its full-on power before pandemia.
“It is satisfying to see brave releases that are helping the market and attracting audiences to cinemas,” said Comscore’s Luis Vargas.
Topping Mexico’s box office on release, “New Order’s” domestic box office run is also a good way of showing the distributors who have bought the film for release in...
- 11/9/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Neon has acquired the North American rights to “New Order,” the latest feature from Mexican auteur Michel Franco that won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival this year.
“New Order” also made its North American premiere at Toronto and will next play at the BFI London Film Festival and the Chicago International Film Festival. Neon is planning a theatrical release for the film but will announce release plans at a later date.
“New Order” is a dystopian drama set in the near future that grapples class dynamics and government recapitulation, and it concerns a woman from a high society family trying to prepare for a wedding but is unable to keep protests and the real world from disturbing the party.
Franco conceived the film six years earlier, but critics have already hailed the film for its prescient themes. “New Order” is the follow-up to Franco...
“New Order” also made its North American premiere at Toronto and will next play at the BFI London Film Festival and the Chicago International Film Festival. Neon is planning a theatrical release for the film but will announce release plans at a later date.
“New Order” is a dystopian drama set in the near future that grapples class dynamics and government recapitulation, and it concerns a woman from a high society family trying to prepare for a wedding but is unable to keep protests and the real world from disturbing the party.
Franco conceived the film six years earlier, but critics have already hailed the film for its prescient themes. “New Order” is the follow-up to Franco...
- 9/29/2020
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Michel Franco has made a name for himself over the years with Daniel and Ana, After Lucia, Chronic, and April’s Daughter, all of which can be described as miserablist torture tests for audiences. Taking a page from Michael Haneke but only possessing a fraction of the depth, Franco has somehow tormented his way upward in the festival circuit, earning accolades and awards (including a Best Screenplay win at Cannes). Now he returns with New Order, by far his most ambitious and political effort, and it comes as no surprise that a director who peddles in extremes provides both his best and worst work to date.
The film opens at a wedding for a wealthy family, taking place at a house that coincidentally shares some resemblance to the mansion in Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite. A quick series of exchanges show the bride Marianne (Naian Gonzalez Norvind), her well-connected father, greedy mother,...
The film opens at a wedding for a wealthy family, taking place at a house that coincidentally shares some resemblance to the mansion in Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite. A quick series of exchanges show the bride Marianne (Naian Gonzalez Norvind), her well-connected father, greedy mother,...
- 9/14/2020
- by C.J. Prince
- The Film Stage
“New Order,” Mexican Michel Franco’s near-future dystopia thriller that world premieres at the Venice Film Festival Thursday, begins with protestors, daubed in green paint, bursting into a swanky wedding peopled by Mexico’s indecently rich. They rob the guests, then shoot them dead. Franco’s heart however is obviously on the side of the protestors.
“A Mexican disaster movie,” as Franco calls it, “New Order,” the only Latin American movie in Venice main competition, is Franco’s first direct social verdict on his homeland. “Mexico’s upper class are asking for trouble: They’re building up to a situation that will finally explode,” Franco told Variety in the run-up to Venice.
“The protesters have been saying for decades, hundreds of years: ‘Here we are. We need to heard.’” But nobody has really listened. “That’s why they explode,” Franco adds.
Breaking out when he won the biggest prize at...
“A Mexican disaster movie,” as Franco calls it, “New Order,” the only Latin American movie in Venice main competition, is Franco’s first direct social verdict on his homeland. “Mexico’s upper class are asking for trouble: They’re building up to a situation that will finally explode,” Franco told Variety in the run-up to Venice.
“The protesters have been saying for decades, hundreds of years: ‘Here we are. We need to heard.’” But nobody has really listened. “That’s why they explode,” Franco adds.
Breaking out when he won the biggest prize at...
- 9/9/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
It's time for a new order! The Match Factory has also released a promo teaser trailer for a Mexican film premiering at the Venice Film Festival this year titled New Order. Nuevo Orden (in Spanish) is the latest film from acclaimed filmmaker Michel Franco and is described in this trailer as a "gripping, hard-hitting, dystopian drama." This looks intense already and it's barely 45 seconds of footage. A high-society wedding is interrupted by the arrival of unwelcome guests, in what Venice Film Festival director Alberto Barbera calls "Franco's most ambitious & darkest film yet." The film stars Naian González Norvind, Diego Boneta, Mónica del Carmen, Fernando Cuautle, Darío Yazbek, Roberto Medina, Patricia Bernal, Lisa Owen, and Enrique Singer. This is looking great already. Not exactly sure what all the green is about, but I'm certainly curious to find out. Rattle those high society cages. Here's the first festival teaser trailer for Michel Franco's New Order,...
- 8/24/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
The German sales company unveils exclusive teasers for ‘New Order’, ‘Never Gonna Snow Again’ and ‘Assandira’.
Michael Weber’s The Match Factory is preparing for a very busy Venice Film Festival when it kicks off next week, with four features in official selection.
Michel Franco’s New Order, Malgorzata Szumowska’s Never Gonna Snow Again (co-directed with her regular cinematographer Michal Englert) and Gianfranco Rosi’s Notturno are all screening in Competition, while Salvatore Mereu’s Assandira will play out of Competition.
Screen can reveal the exclusive first teasers here for New Order, Never Gonna Snow Again and Assandira. The...
Michael Weber’s The Match Factory is preparing for a very busy Venice Film Festival when it kicks off next week, with four features in official selection.
Michel Franco’s New Order, Malgorzata Szumowska’s Never Gonna Snow Again (co-directed with her regular cinematographer Michal Englert) and Gianfranco Rosi’s Notturno are all screening in Competition, while Salvatore Mereu’s Assandira will play out of Competition.
Screen can reveal the exclusive first teasers here for New Order, Never Gonna Snow Again and Assandira. The...
- 8/24/2020
- by 1100796¦Matt Mueller¦47¦
- ScreenDaily
Visar Morina’s “Exile,” a tense psychodrama about a Kosovan pharmacologist in Germany who becomes increasingly paranoid over a series of menacing events, won the top prize at the Sarajevo Film Festival, earning the Kosovo-born German director the Heart of Sarajevo.
The award ceremony took place online Thursday night, with Morina winning top honors from a jury led by Academy Award-winning director Michel Hazanavicius (“The Artist”) and comprised of Carlo Chatrian, artistic director of the Berlin Intl. Film Festival; Croatian actress Jadranka Đokić; Serbian director Srdan Golubović; and Andrea Stavenhagen, head of industry and training projects at the Morelia Film Festival.
Director Michel Franco and actor Mads Mikkelsen were given honorary Heart of Sarajevo awards.
The timely drama from Morina, who was named one of Variety‘s 10 Europeans to Watch earlier this year, is a poignant study of identity and belonging at a time of ongoing uncertainty in Europe over...
The award ceremony took place online Thursday night, with Morina winning top honors from a jury led by Academy Award-winning director Michel Hazanavicius (“The Artist”) and comprised of Carlo Chatrian, artistic director of the Berlin Intl. Film Festival; Croatian actress Jadranka Đokić; Serbian director Srdan Golubović; and Andrea Stavenhagen, head of industry and training projects at the Morelia Film Festival.
Director Michel Franco and actor Mads Mikkelsen were given honorary Heart of Sarajevo awards.
The timely drama from Morina, who was named one of Variety‘s 10 Europeans to Watch earlier this year, is a poignant study of identity and belonging at a time of ongoing uncertainty in Europe over...
- 8/20/2020
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Michel Franco’s “New Order,” a Venice Festival main competition premiere, looks set to mark a huge step-up in scale for Franco and indeed most Latin American movies at large.
It couldn’t be otherwise, Mexican writer-director-producer Franco said at a Sarajevo Film Festival masterclass, hosted Wednesday in the Variety Streaming Room.
Teasing through-lines in a career that has made him one of the most laureled of Latin American directors, Franco also used the masterclass to talk, often with refreshing candor, about the game-changing impact of Tim Roth on his career, directors’ necessity for reassurance, and his need to produce his own movies.
A recipient of a Heart of Sarajevo Award at this year festival, Franco has risen rapidly to prominence after releasing debut feature “Daniel & Ana” in 2009, making intimate and intense movies turning on the victims of trauma – high-school bullying in 2012’s “After Lucia,” the death of an...
It couldn’t be otherwise, Mexican writer-director-producer Franco said at a Sarajevo Film Festival masterclass, hosted Wednesday in the Variety Streaming Room.
Teasing through-lines in a career that has made him one of the most laureled of Latin American directors, Franco also used the masterclass to talk, often with refreshing candor, about the game-changing impact of Tim Roth on his career, directors’ necessity for reassurance, and his need to produce his own movies.
A recipient of a Heart of Sarajevo Award at this year festival, Franco has risen rapidly to prominence after releasing debut feature “Daniel & Ana” in 2009, making intimate and intense movies turning on the victims of trauma – high-school bullying in 2012’s “After Lucia,” the death of an...
- 8/20/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
For many of the visitors who descended on the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year, packing their day planners with meetings at the Gropius Bau and red-carpet premieres at the Berlinale Palast, there was a surreal sense of business as usual. But with coronavirus already ravaging Italy—and soon to be sweeping across the rest of Europe—Sarajevo Film Festival director Mirsad Purivatra knew that he and his team had little time to spare.
“We started immediately to think what to do with our festival,” Purivatra told Variety on the eve of Sarajevo’s 26th edition, which runs Aug. 14-21. Even though the festival’s opening night was still months away, “we had [in mind] the worst-case scenario that it could be a bad situation with the numbers of Covid-19” cases in Bosnia.
As spring turned to summer, Purivatra and his colleagues were confident that a scaled-down version of the physical festival...
“We started immediately to think what to do with our festival,” Purivatra told Variety on the eve of Sarajevo’s 26th edition, which runs Aug. 14-21. Even though the festival’s opening night was still months away, “we had [in mind] the worst-case scenario that it could be a bad situation with the numbers of Covid-19” cases in Bosnia.
As spring turned to summer, Purivatra and his colleagues were confident that a scaled-down version of the physical festival...
- 8/14/2020
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
The Variety Steaming Room will present the 2020 Sarajevo Film Festival’s Masterclass Aug. 17-21. The series features intimate hour-long conversations with award-winning international filmmakers and actors.
Featured speakers include Michel Hazanavicius, Director & Sff 2020 jury president; Bérénice Bejo, Actor,; Michel Franco, writer, director and producer; Rithy Panh, filmmaker, writer and producer; and Mads Mikkelsen, actor.
The Masterclass series, moderated by Variety journalists, will focus on the entire breadth of the creative talents’ career achievements. The conversations are at 17:30 p.m. Cet / 8:30 a.m. Pt daily.
The 26th annual Sff, running Aug. 14-21, is a leading festival focusing on Southeast Europe filmmaking.
The Variety Streaming Room is dedicated to presenting virtual conversations that span private screenings of upcoming projects in film and TV, exclusive Q&As with creators and talent and relevant B2B discussions with industry thought leaders.
Register for the free series at: variety.com/sarajevofilmfestival...
Featured speakers include Michel Hazanavicius, Director & Sff 2020 jury president; Bérénice Bejo, Actor,; Michel Franco, writer, director and producer; Rithy Panh, filmmaker, writer and producer; and Mads Mikkelsen, actor.
The Masterclass series, moderated by Variety journalists, will focus on the entire breadth of the creative talents’ career achievements. The conversations are at 17:30 p.m. Cet / 8:30 a.m. Pt daily.
The 26th annual Sff, running Aug. 14-21, is a leading festival focusing on Southeast Europe filmmaking.
The Variety Streaming Room is dedicated to presenting virtual conversations that span private screenings of upcoming projects in film and TV, exclusive Q&As with creators and talent and relevant B2B discussions with industry thought leaders.
Register for the free series at: variety.com/sarajevofilmfestival...
- 8/11/2020
- by Variety Staff
- Variety Film + TV
Director Michel Hazanavicius and actress Bérénice Bejo, Oscar winner and Oscar nominee respectively for “The Artist,” will present individual Masterclasses at the 26th Sarajevo Film Festival this year. Also delivering Masterclasses are directors Michel Franco and Rithy Panh.
The Masterclasses, which like the rest of the festival are running online via ondemand.sff.ban, are organized in cooperation with Variety, and will be available worldwide via the Variety Streaming Room.
Hazanavicius shot his first feature-length film, “Mes Amis,” in 1999. In 2006, he directed his second feature, “Oss 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies,” and then, three years later, “Oss 17: Lost in Rio.”
In 2011, he made “The Artist,” the silent, black-and-white film starring Bejo and Jean Dujardin, which won five Academy Awards in 2012, including best film, director and actor for Dujardin, while Bejo was an Oscar nominee for supporting actress.
The film premiered at Cannes, as did Hazanavicius’ “The Players” and “Redoubtable.
The Masterclasses, which like the rest of the festival are running online via ondemand.sff.ban, are organized in cooperation with Variety, and will be available worldwide via the Variety Streaming Room.
Hazanavicius shot his first feature-length film, “Mes Amis,” in 1999. In 2006, he directed his second feature, “Oss 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies,” and then, three years later, “Oss 17: Lost in Rio.”
In 2011, he made “The Artist,” the silent, black-and-white film starring Bejo and Jean Dujardin, which won five Academy Awards in 2012, including best film, director and actor for Dujardin, while Bejo was an Oscar nominee for supporting actress.
The film premiered at Cannes, as did Hazanavicius’ “The Players” and “Redoubtable.
- 8/6/2020
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Dystopian drama has been selected for Toronto and will debut at Venice in competition.
Leading German sales company The Match Factory has acquired international sales rights to Michel Franco’s New Order, which was today selected to screen at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
The film, which will receive its world premiere in competition at Venice ahead of TIFF, marks the first collaboration between The Match Factory and Franco’s Mexican production company Teorema.
The dystopian drama explores Mexico’s economic and social inequalities through a high-society wedding, which is crashed by a group of impoverished people. The cast...
Leading German sales company The Match Factory has acquired international sales rights to Michel Franco’s New Order, which was today selected to screen at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
The film, which will receive its world premiere in competition at Venice ahead of TIFF, marks the first collaboration between The Match Factory and Franco’s Mexican production company Teorema.
The dystopian drama explores Mexico’s economic and social inequalities through a high-society wedding, which is crashed by a group of impoverished people. The cast...
- 7/30/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
The Mexican filmmaker will receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo and enjoy a Tribute programme, while the festival plans a reduced, live edition with fewer guests and no parties or receptions. The Sarajevo Film Festival, set to take place from 14-21 August, has announced that Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco will receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo and a retrospective of his works in the festival’s “Tribute to” programme. Franco served as president of the jury of the Feature Competition Programme in 2017, when his Cannes Un Certain Regard Jury Prize-winning film April's Daughter screened at the 3,000-seat Open Air Cinema. He is currently in post-production with the highly anticipated Nuevo Orden. Meanwhile, the festival is pressing on with the plans for a combined on-site and online edition, in accordance with the situation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Festival director Mirsad Purivatra says: “Covid-19 has affected all aspects of life worldwide,...
After a number of attempts to delay this year’s Jerusalem Film Festival, organizers have now scrapped plans for a summer edition following a recent spike in Covid-19 cases in Israel, which has resulted in new restrictions from the Ministry of Health on gatherings of large groups, expected to last several months.
Instead, a winter edition is now in the works for Dec. 10-20. The new event will include several films selected for the original summer festival as well as new titles ready to launch this winter. Jff is also developing a series of online programs intended to showcase festival selected titles on the Jerusalem Cinematheque-Israel Film Archive’s streaming platform.
“This is a difficult and painful decision as we have been working on the 37th edition of the Jerusalem Film Festival over the course of the past year,” said Noa Regev, director of the Jerusalem Cinematheque and Jerusalem Film Festival,...
Instead, a winter edition is now in the works for Dec. 10-20. The new event will include several films selected for the original summer festival as well as new titles ready to launch this winter. Jff is also developing a series of online programs intended to showcase festival selected titles on the Jerusalem Cinematheque-Israel Film Archive’s streaming platform.
“This is a difficult and painful decision as we have been working on the 37th edition of the Jerusalem Film Festival over the course of the past year,” said Noa Regev, director of the Jerusalem Cinematheque and Jerusalem Film Festival,...
- 7/13/2020
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Mexican filmmaker to be awarded Honorary Heart of Sarajevo.
Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco is to receive the honorary Heart of Sarajevo award at the upcoming Sarajevo Film Festival (Sff), which is set to go ahead as a mix of physical and online events.
The Cannes award-winner is expected to attend the 26th edition of the festival, which will take place from August 14-21, as Covid-19 lockdown measures continue to be eased around the world.
The festival will also programme a retrospective of Franco’s films in its Tribute strand.
The Mexican director, writer and producer is best known for features including After Lucia,...
Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco is to receive the honorary Heart of Sarajevo award at the upcoming Sarajevo Film Festival (Sff), which is set to go ahead as a mix of physical and online events.
The Cannes award-winner is expected to attend the 26th edition of the festival, which will take place from August 14-21, as Covid-19 lockdown measures continue to be eased around the world.
The festival will also programme a retrospective of Franco’s films in its Tribute strand.
The Mexican director, writer and producer is best known for features including After Lucia,...
- 7/13/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
Cannes titles The Desert Bride and April’s Daughters among 12 titles.
The 65th San Sebastian Film Festival (Sept 22-30) has revealed the 12 titles in its Horizontes Latinos programme, featuring some of the best Latin American films of the year to date.
This year’s selection includes Cannes Un Certain Regard title The Desert Bride (pictured) directed by Cecilia Atán and Valeria Pivato, and Gustavo Rondón’s debut La Familia, which was screened at Cannes Critics’ Week.
Another Un Certain Regard title, Michel Franco’s April’s Daughters, has also been selected. His film After Lucia won the Prize Un Certain Regard in 2012, and his follow-up, Chronic competed for the Palme d’Or and won the best screenplay award at Cannes in 2015.
All 12 feature films compete for the Horizontes Award and its €35,000 ($40,958) prize. The six first and second films in the selection (La Educación De Rey, La Familia, Medea, Arábia, La Novia Del Desierto and Temporada De Caza) are also...
The 65th San Sebastian Film Festival (Sept 22-30) has revealed the 12 titles in its Horizontes Latinos programme, featuring some of the best Latin American films of the year to date.
This year’s selection includes Cannes Un Certain Regard title The Desert Bride (pictured) directed by Cecilia Atán and Valeria Pivato, and Gustavo Rondón’s debut La Familia, which was screened at Cannes Critics’ Week.
Another Un Certain Regard title, Michel Franco’s April’s Daughters, has also been selected. His film After Lucia won the Prize Un Certain Regard in 2012, and his follow-up, Chronic competed for the Palme d’Or and won the best screenplay award at Cannes in 2015.
All 12 feature films compete for the Horizontes Award and its €35,000 ($40,958) prize. The six first and second films in the selection (La Educación De Rey, La Familia, Medea, Arábia, La Novia Del Desierto and Temporada De Caza) are also...
- 8/16/2017
- by orlando.parfitt@screendaily.com (Orlando Parfitt)
- ScreenDaily
'Good Time' with Robert Pattinson: All but completely bypassed at the Cannes Film Festival, Ben and Joshua Safdie's crime thriller – co-written by Joshua Safdie and Ronald Bronstein – may turn out to be a key contender in various categories next awards season. Bypassed Palme d'Or contenders (See previous post re: Cannes winners Diane Kruger & Sofia Coppola's Oscar chances.) The Cannes Film Festival has historically been both U.S.- and eurocentric. In other words, filmmaking from other countries in the Americas, Africa, Asia, and the Pacific tend to be ignored either at the awards ceremony or at the very outset – in other words, they don't even get the chance to compete for the Palme d'Or. This year was no different, with a mere two non-u.S., non-European productions (or co-productions) among the 19 films in the Official Competition: Naomi Kawase's Japanese romantic drama Radiance and Hong Sang-soo's South Korean romantic drama The Day After. Both came out empty-handed. Among the other movies that failed to win any of the Official Competition awards, several may have a shot in some category or other come Oscar time. Notably: The socially conscious family drama Happy End, produced by veteran Margaret Ménégoz (Pauline at the Beach, Europa Europa) and a Sony Pictures Classics release in North America. Dir.: Michael Haneke. Cast: Isabelle Huppert. Jean-Louis Trintignant. Mathieu Kassovitz. The mix of time-bending mystery and family drama Wonderstruck, a Roadside Attractions / Amazon Studios release (on Oct. 20) in the U.S. Dir.: Todd Haynes. Cast: Julianne Moore. Millicent Simmonds. Cory Michael Smith. The crime drama Good Time, an A24 release (on Aug. 11) in the U.S. Dir.: Ben and Joshua Safdie. Cast: Robert Pattinson. Jennifer Jason Leigh. Barkhad Abdi. Cannes non-win doesn't mean weaker Oscar chances It's good to remember that the lack of a Cannes Film Festival win doesn't necessarily reduce a film's, a director's, a screenwriter's, or a performer's Oscar chances. Case in point: last year's Cannes Best Actress “loser” Isabelle Huppert for Elle. Here are a few other recent examples of Cannes non-winners in specific categories that went on to receive Oscar nods: Carol (2015), Best Actress (Cate Blanchett) nominee. Two Days, One Night / Deux jours, une nuit (2014), Best Actress (Marion Cotillard) nominee. The Great Beauty / La grande bellezza (2013), Best Foreign Language Film winner. The Hunt / Jagten (2012), Best Foreign Language Film nominee (at the 2013 Academy Awards). The Artist (2011), Best Picture and Best Director (Michel Hazanavicius) Oscar winner. And here's a special case: Amour leading lady and 2012 Best Actress Oscar nominee Emmanuelle Riva could not have won the Best Actress Award at Cannes, as current festival rules prevent Palme d'Or winners from taking home any other Official Competition awards. In other words, Isabelle Huppert (again), Julianne Moore, and Robert Pattinson – and their respective films – could theoretically remain strong Oscar contenders despite the absence of Cannes Film Festival Official Competition victories. Mohammad Rasoulof and Leslie Caron among other notable Cannes winners Besides those already mentioned in this article, notable winners at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival include: Mohammad Rasoulof's A Man of Integrity. Having infuriated Iran's theocracy, in 2010 Rasoulof was sentenced to a year in prison following accusations of “filming without a permit.” He has been out on bail. In 2011, Rasoulof won the Un Certain Regard sidebar's Best Director Award for Goodbye. Two years later, his Un Certain Regard entry Manuscripts Don't Burn won the International Film Critics' Fipresci Prize. Veteran Leslie Caron and her 17-year-old pet rescue dog Tchi Tchi shared the Palm DogManitarian Award for their work in the British television series The Durrells in Corfu / The Durrells. Caron, who will be turning 86 on July 1, made her film debut in Vincente Minnelli's 1951 musical An American in Paris – that year's Best Picture Academy Award winner. She would be shortlisted twice for the Best Actress Oscar: Lili (1953) and The L-Shaped Room (1963). Last year, she was the subject of Larry Weinstein's documentary Leslie Caron: The Reluctant Star and will next be seen in Thomas Brunot's short The Perfect Age. Faces Places / Visages, villages, which offers a tour of the French countryside, won Cannes' Golden Eye Award for Best Documentary. The directors are veteran Agnès Varda (Cléo from 5 to 7, Vagabond), who turned 89 on May 30, and photographer/muralist Jr. Faces Places is supposed to be Varda's swan song, following a career spanning more than six decades. Her 2008 César-winning documentary The Beaches of Agnès was one of the 15 semi-finalists for the Best Documentary Feature Oscar. See below a comprehensive list of the 2017 Cannes Film Festival winners. Leslie Caron in 'The Durrells in Corfu.' TV series a.k.a. 'The Durrells' earned the veteran two-time Best Actress Oscar nominee ('Lili,' 1953; 'The L-Shaped Room,' 1963) and her dog companion Tchi Tchi this year's Palm DogManitarian Award at the Cannes Film Festival. 2017 Cannes Film Festival winners Official Competition Palme d'Or: The Square (dir.: Ruben Östlund). Grand Prix: 120 Beats per Minute (dir.: Robin Campillo). Jury Prize: Loveless (dir.: Andrey Zvyagintsev). Best Screenplay (tie): The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Yorgos Lanthimos & Efthymis Filippou. You Were Never Really Here, Lynne Ramsay. Best Actress: Diane Kruger, In the Fade. Best Actor: Joaquin Phoenix, You Were Never Really Here. Best Director: Sofia Coppola, The Beguiled. Best Short Film: A Gentle Night (dir.: Qiu Yang). Short Film Special Mention: Katto (dir.: Teppo Airaksinen). Un Certain Regard Un Certain Regard Award: A Man of Integrity (dir.: Mohammad Rasoulof). Jury Prize: April's Daughter / Las hijas de abril (dir.: Michel Franco). Best Director: Taylor Sheridan, Wind River. Best Actress / Best Performance: Jasmine Trinca, Fortunata. Prize for Best Poetic Narrative: Barbara (dir.: Mathieu Amalric). International Film Critics' Fipresci Prize Official Competition: 120 Beats per Minute. Un Certain Regard: Closeness (dir.: Kantemir Balagov). Directors' Fortnight: The Nothing Factory / A Fábrica de Nada (dir.: Pedro Pinho). Directors' Fortnight / Quinzaine des Réalisateurs Prix Sacd (Société des Auteurs Compositeurs Dramatiques) (tie): Lover for a Day / L'amant d'un jour (dir.: Philippe Garrel). Let the Sunshine In / Un beau soleil intérieur (dir.: Claire Denis). C.I.C.A.E. Art Cinema Award: The Rider (dir.: Chloe Zhao). Europa Cinemas Label: A Ciambra (dir.: Jonas Carpignano). Prix Illy for Best Short Film: Back to Genoa City / Retour à Genoa City (dir.: Benoît Grimalt). Critics' Week Grand Prize: Makala (dir.: Emmanuel Gras). Visionary Award: Gabriel and the Mountain / Gabriel e a Montanha (dir.: Fellipe Barbosa). Gan Foundation Award for Distribution: Version Originale Condor, French distributor of Gabriel and the Mountain. Sacd Award: Léa Mysius, Ava. Discovery Award for Best Short Film: Los desheredados (dir.: Laura Ferrés). Canal+ Award for Best Short Film: The Best Fireworks Ever / Najpienkniejsze Fajerwerki Ever (dir.: Aleksandra Terpinska). Other Cannes Film Festival 2017 Awards 70th Anniversary prize: Nicole Kidman. Caméra d'Or for Best First Film: Montparnasse Bienvenue / Jeune femme (dir.: Léonor Serraille). Golden Eye Award for Best Documentary: Faces Places / Visages, Villages (dir.: Agnès Varda, Jr). Prize of the Ecumenical Jury: Radiance (dir.: Naomi Kawase). Queer Palm: 120 Beats per Minute. Queer Palm for Best Short Film: Islands / Les îles (dir.: Yann Gonzalez). Cannes Soundtrack Award for Best Composer: Daniel Lopatin, Good Time. Vulcan Prize for Artist Technicians: Josefin Åsberg, The Square. Kering Women in Motion Award: Isabelle Huppert. Palm Dog: Einstein the Dog for The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected). Palm DogManitarian Award: Leslie Caron and the dog Tchi Tchi for The Durrells in Corfu. Chopard Trophy for Male/Female Revelation: George MacKay and Anya Taylor-Joy. This article was originally published at Alt Film Guide (http://www.altfg.com/).
- 6/21/2017
- by Steph Mont.
- Alt Film Guide
As the star-studded Cannes 70th anniversary gala dinner wrapped up on May 23, a mariachi band came out to play “Cielito lindo,” “México lindo y querido,” and the Spanish version of “Happy Birthday” turning this year’s Cannes Film Festival into a celebration of #MexiCannes.2017 Cannes.. Photograph by Justin Bishop. Salma Hayek wears Yves Saint Laurent and a Boucheron necklace. Francois-Henri Pinault wears Gucci.Read more in Remezcla here. In a few red-tinted videos, Salma Hayek, Guillermo del Toro, Emmanuel Lubezki, Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, and BFFs Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal can be seen gathering around Table 46 to sing along with the mariachis. They also attracted other celebrities like Isabelle Huppert and quickly became the center of attention. As they loudly sang, a larger group surrounded them and recorded them on their phones. And with GdT giving the performance of a lifetime, it’s hard to blame onlookers.
- 6/5/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Michel Franco has built a reputation as an actor’s director, with his films featuring no shortage of unforgettable lead performances. Tim Roth’s creepy leading turn in Chronic comes to mind, as well as Tessa Ia in the underseen, worthy After Lucia. The central character in Franco’s latest film, April’s Daughter (Las Hijas De Abril), is April, the mother from hell, played by Emma Suárez. While she reached new attention with Pedro Almodóvar’s Julieta, her latest role confirms we’ll be hearing her name much more in the coming years.
April’s decision to visit her daughters in Puerto Vallarta takes both of them by surprise. Clara (Joanna Larequi) is quiet, depressed, and overweight, and her mom isn’t shy in telling her that either, even making her take laxatives to start a weight loss “program.” Her 17-year-old sister, Valeria (Ana Valeria Becerril), had an unexpected,...
April’s decision to visit her daughters in Puerto Vallarta takes both of them by surprise. Clara (Joanna Larequi) is quiet, depressed, and overweight, and her mom isn’t shy in telling her that either, even making her take laxatives to start a weight loss “program.” Her 17-year-old sister, Valeria (Ana Valeria Becerril), had an unexpected,...
- 5/23/2017
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Tim Roth among executive producers on Un Certain Regard entry.
Protagonist Pictures and mk2 films will jointly handle worldwide sales on Michel Franco’s Spanish-language drama April’s Daughter (Las Hijas de Abril).
The Un Certain Regard selection marks Mexican auteur Franco’s fourth film in Cannes and centres on 17-year-old Valeria, who learns she is pregnant by her teenage boyfriend but has not informed her absent mother April.
When her sister Clara goes behind her back and calls their mother, she arrives full of concern, support and tenderness. But once the baby is born, it soon becomes clear why Valeria wanted to keep April as far away as possible.
The film stars Emma Suarez, Ana Valeria Becerril, Joanna Larequi, Enrique Arrizon, and Hernán Mendoza.
Protagonist Pictures and mk2 films will launch sales in Cannes and first partnered in Berlin on Cold War from director Pawel Pawlikowski.
“We think Michel’s new film is his best yet...
Protagonist Pictures and mk2 films will jointly handle worldwide sales on Michel Franco’s Spanish-language drama April’s Daughter (Las Hijas de Abril).
The Un Certain Regard selection marks Mexican auteur Franco’s fourth film in Cannes and centres on 17-year-old Valeria, who learns she is pregnant by her teenage boyfriend but has not informed her absent mother April.
When her sister Clara goes behind her back and calls their mother, she arrives full of concern, support and tenderness. But once the baby is born, it soon becomes clear why Valeria wanted to keep April as far away as possible.
The film stars Emma Suarez, Ana Valeria Becerril, Joanna Larequi, Enrique Arrizon, and Hernán Mendoza.
Protagonist Pictures and mk2 films will launch sales in Cannes and first partnered in Berlin on Cold War from director Pawel Pawlikowski.
“We think Michel’s new film is his best yet...
- 5/8/2017
- ScreenDaily
All you need to know about Cannes 2017 line-up announcement.Scroll down for the line-up
The films chosen for the Cannes Official Selection will be announced on April 13 at 11am Cet (10am GMT).
Festival President Pierre Lescure and General Delegate Thierry Frémaux will reveal the line-up at a press conference, which you can watch below (or on mobile Here).
The 70th Cannes Film Festival is scheduled to run from May 17-28. The films as they are announced are below:
Competition
Wonderstruck, Todd Haynes
Le Redoutable, Michel Hazanavicius
Geu-Hu (The Day After), Hong Sangsoo
Hikari (Radiance), Naomi Kawase
The Killing Of The Sacred Deer, Yorgos Lanthimos
A Gentle Creature, Sergei Loznitsa
Jupiter’s Moon, Kornél Mundruczó
L’amant Double, François Ozon
You Were Never Really Here, Lynne Ramsay
Good Time, Benny Safdie & Josh Safdie
Loveless, Andrey Zvyagintsev
The Meyerowitz Stories, Noah Baumbach
Ismael’s Ghosts, Arnaud Desplechin (opening film)
In The Fade, Fatih Akin
[link...
The films chosen for the Cannes Official Selection will be announced on April 13 at 11am Cet (10am GMT).
Festival President Pierre Lescure and General Delegate Thierry Frémaux will reveal the line-up at a press conference, which you can watch below (or on mobile Here).
The 70th Cannes Film Festival is scheduled to run from May 17-28. The films as they are announced are below:
Competition
Wonderstruck, Todd Haynes
Le Redoutable, Michel Hazanavicius
Geu-Hu (The Day After), Hong Sangsoo
Hikari (Radiance), Naomi Kawase
The Killing Of The Sacred Deer, Yorgos Lanthimos
A Gentle Creature, Sergei Loznitsa
Jupiter’s Moon, Kornél Mundruczó
L’amant Double, François Ozon
You Were Never Really Here, Lynne Ramsay
Good Time, Benny Safdie & Josh Safdie
Loveless, Andrey Zvyagintsev
The Meyerowitz Stories, Noah Baumbach
Ismael’s Ghosts, Arnaud Desplechin (opening film)
In The Fade, Fatih Akin
[link...
- 4/12/2017
- ScreenDaily
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.