The question of who will continue the legacy of the 4Ks and particularly their successes on the international movie scene is one of the most dominant in the discussions among critics and scholars of Japanese cinema. Following the 2016 Un Certain Regard Jury Prize for “Harmonium”, one of the names that provides an answer to the aforementioned question is that of Koji Fukada. In the following text, we will take a closer and more thorough look at all the elements that make the 1980 born filmmaker a worthy successor of the aforementioned masters, starting from the very beginning of his life.
Born in Tokyo in Tokyo on January 5, 1980, Koji Fukada had a father who was a film buff, which resulted in him growing up in an environment surrounded with hundreds of VHS tapes, and subsequently, to become a cineaste, just like his old man. He watched the movies that inspired him to...
Born in Tokyo in Tokyo on January 5, 1980, Koji Fukada had a father who was a film buff, which resulted in him growing up in an environment surrounded with hundreds of VHS tapes, and subsequently, to become a cineaste, just like his old man. He watched the movies that inspired him to...
- 3/30/2024
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Le chinoise.Most serious writing about Jean-Luc Godard tends to be both high-flown and forbidding, rather like the films it’s discussing. Translations from French to English or vice versa can make things even dicier. But according to the literary scholar Fredric Jameson, who contributes an enthusiastic preface and afterword, Reading with Jean-Luc Godard—a compendium of 109 three-page essays by 50 writers from a dozen countries, announced as the first in a series—launches “a new form” and “a new genre.”The brevity of each entry tends to confirm Jameson’s claim. The book can be described as an audience-friendly volume designed to occupy the same space between academia and journalism staked out by Notebook while proposing routes into Godard’s work provided by his eclectic reading—a batch of writers ranged alphabetically and intellectually from Louis Aragon, Robert Ardrey, Hannah Arendt, and Honoré de Balzac to François Truffaut, Paul Valéry,...
- 1/30/2024
- MUBI
McCance died aged 53 on December 19 last year, shortly after being diagnosed with cancer.
Colleagues and friends have paid tribute to “free spirit” and “brilliant role model”, Northern Ireland-born, Sweden-based film and TV writer and executive producer Ruth McCance, who has died aged 53 from cancer.
McCance was diagnosed in November of last year with stomach cancer, and died just five weeks later.
During her career she worked on films including Lynne Ramsay’s Ratcatcher, Thomas Vinterberg’s It’s All About Love, Soren-Kragh Jakobson’s Skagerrak and Garth Jennings’s Son Of Rambow.
McCance grew up in Belfast. Her mother was a...
Colleagues and friends have paid tribute to “free spirit” and “brilliant role model”, Northern Ireland-born, Sweden-based film and TV writer and executive producer Ruth McCance, who has died aged 53 from cancer.
McCance was diagnosed in November of last year with stomach cancer, and died just five weeks later.
During her career she worked on films including Lynne Ramsay’s Ratcatcher, Thomas Vinterberg’s It’s All About Love, Soren-Kragh Jakobson’s Skagerrak and Garth Jennings’s Son Of Rambow.
McCance grew up in Belfast. Her mother was a...
- 1/15/2024
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s strand in which, each fortnight, we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films killing it in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are appearing in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track. So we’re going to do the hard work for you.
This week we head to the Venice Film Festival to check out French director Xavier Giannoli’s international crime thriller Of Money and Blood, which world premiered in its official selection on August 31 to a buzzy reception.
Name: Of Money and Blood
Country: France
Network: Canal+
Distributor: Studiocanal
Where can I watch: Canal+ in France from October
For fans of: Michael Mann’s The Insider, Martin Scorsese’s Wall Street, Oliver Stone’s JFK, Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic
French writer-director Xavier...
This week we head to the Venice Film Festival to check out French director Xavier Giannoli’s international crime thriller Of Money and Blood, which world premiered in its official selection on August 31 to a buzzy reception.
Name: Of Money and Blood
Country: France
Network: Canal+
Distributor: Studiocanal
Where can I watch: Canal+ in France from October
For fans of: Michael Mann’s The Insider, Martin Scorsese’s Wall Street, Oliver Stone’s JFK, Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic
French writer-director Xavier...
- 9/6/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Xavier Giannoli is one of those rare French directors who has a stronger relationship with the Venice Film Festival than Cannes back home.
He has competed for Venice’s Golden Lion three times in the last decade with Superstar (2012), Marguerite (2015) and the sumptuous Honoré de Balzac adaptation Lost Illusions (2021).
The filmmaker is back for a fourth time this year playing Out of Competition with his first-ever drama series, the international thriller Of Money And Blood. All 12 episodes will world premiere in a marathon screening on Thursday, with further seances at the back end of the festival.
Liberally adapted from the eponymous book by investigative journalist Fabrice Arfi, the series delves into a real-life, carbon credit tax scam, which swindled the French state of at least $1.7 billion, in an operation that came to be known as the “fraud of the century” when it came to trial in 2018.
Related: Venice Film Festival...
He has competed for Venice’s Golden Lion three times in the last decade with Superstar (2012), Marguerite (2015) and the sumptuous Honoré de Balzac adaptation Lost Illusions (2021).
The filmmaker is back for a fourth time this year playing Out of Competition with his first-ever drama series, the international thriller Of Money And Blood. All 12 episodes will world premiere in a marathon screening on Thursday, with further seances at the back end of the festival.
Liberally adapted from the eponymous book by investigative journalist Fabrice Arfi, the series delves into a real-life, carbon credit tax scam, which swindled the French state of at least $1.7 billion, in an operation that came to be known as the “fraud of the century” when it came to trial in 2018.
Related: Venice Film Festival...
- 8/31/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Simone Cleary (Kate Hudson) greets Shriver (Michael Shannon) in Michael Maren’s whimsical A Little White Lie
Michael Maren’s whimsical A Little White Lie (adapted from Chris Belden’s book Shriver) stars Michael Shannon (also a producer), Kate Hudson (executive producer), Don Johnson, and M Emmet Walsh with Kate Linder, Romy Byrne, Mark Boone Junior, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Jimmi Simpson, Wendie Malick, and Zach Braff.
Honoré de Balzac, Jerzy Kosinski and Hal Ashby’s Being There, starring Peter Sellers (shown to Olivia Colman by Toby Jones in Sam Mendes’s Empire Of Light), The Landlord, Harold And Maude, Linda Lavin and Harris Yulin in A Short History Of Decay, Max Frisch’s I’m Not Stiller and Call Me Gantenbein, John Barth’s Giles Goat-Boy, James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake and Ulysses, Marcel Proust’s Remembrance Of Lost Time, Robert Musil’s The Man Without Qualities, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper,...
Michael Maren’s whimsical A Little White Lie (adapted from Chris Belden’s book Shriver) stars Michael Shannon (also a producer), Kate Hudson (executive producer), Don Johnson, and M Emmet Walsh with Kate Linder, Romy Byrne, Mark Boone Junior, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Jimmi Simpson, Wendie Malick, and Zach Braff.
Honoré de Balzac, Jerzy Kosinski and Hal Ashby’s Being There, starring Peter Sellers (shown to Olivia Colman by Toby Jones in Sam Mendes’s Empire Of Light), The Landlord, Harold And Maude, Linda Lavin and Harris Yulin in A Short History Of Decay, Max Frisch’s I’m Not Stiller and Call Me Gantenbein, John Barth’s Giles Goat-Boy, James Joyce’s Finnegan’s Wake and Ulysses, Marcel Proust’s Remembrance Of Lost Time, Robert Musil’s The Man Without Qualities, Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper,...
- 3/18/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
A retrospective on the late great French-Swiss director and New Wave pioneer Jean-Luc Godard as well as special screenings of three award-winning films are among the many elements of France’s participation at the 53rd International Film Festival of India (Iffi) in Goa, beginning on November 20.
France is the festival’s Country of Focus, in reciprocity of India being named the Country of Honour at the Marche du Cinema of the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the country’s Independence.
There will be special screenings of Iffi favourite Claire Denis’s ‘Both Sides of the Blade’, starring Juliette Binoche and Vincent Lindon; Albert Serra’s ‘Pacifiction’ with Benoit Magimel; and Mia Hansen Love’s ‘One Fine Morning’, which features former Bond girl Lea Seydoux in a lead role.
France will also be represented by a heavyweight delegation, which will include producer Olivier Delbosc,...
France is the festival’s Country of Focus, in reciprocity of India being named the Country of Honour at the Marche du Cinema of the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the country’s Independence.
There will be special screenings of Iffi favourite Claire Denis’s ‘Both Sides of the Blade’, starring Juliette Binoche and Vincent Lindon; Albert Serra’s ‘Pacifiction’ with Benoit Magimel; and Mia Hansen Love’s ‘One Fine Morning’, which features former Bond girl Lea Seydoux in a lead role.
France will also be represented by a heavyweight delegation, which will include producer Olivier Delbosc,...
- 11/16/2022
- by Glamsham Bureau
- GlamSham
The primary appeal of the Marvel Cinematic Universe has long been its interconnectivity. While it may be fun to watch the solo adventures of, say, Thor or Doctor Strange, the real thrill for the McU's fans came from obsessive, enthused note-taking. Characters and events in one film would inevitably carry over into the next chapter, and a world slowly developed in front of our very eyes. At some point, the MCU -- initially set on a familiar Earth -- separated from the real world, and became an elaborate constructed realm of its own, all derived from many decades of comic book lore. Like Honoré de Balzac's multi-volume La Comédie Humaine, all the stories would now overlap.
The secondary appeal of the MCU is, of course, based in marketing. Because all the stories now overlap, every small detail and minor character could be teased ahead of time. This led to...
The secondary appeal of the MCU is, of course, based in marketing. Because all the stories now overlap, every small detail and minor character could be teased ahead of time. This led to...
- 9/8/2022
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
The premiere of "Star Trek: Lower Decks" season 3 arrived on Paramount+ today, which is exciting twofold for Trekkies. Not only is one of the better "Trek" shows back, but "Lower Decks" in particular gives detail-obsessed nerds a chance to take out their notepads and go reference hunting. The "Lower Decks" writers clearly know "Star Trek" quite well, and their references from previous episodes run from the obvious to the downright oblique. One needs to look closely to see some of the clever in-jokes snuck into the background.
These kinds of references are cute, yes, but it's worth noting that callbacks and canonical mapping have long been a "Star Trek" birthright. In terms of sci-fi TV, the notion of a larger, expanded universe that is operating somewhere far beyond the events of the central show -- a universe that can be periodically visited -- is something that "Star Trek" helped pioneer.
These kinds of references are cute, yes, but it's worth noting that callbacks and canonical mapping have long been a "Star Trek" birthright. In terms of sci-fi TV, the notion of a larger, expanded universe that is operating somewhere far beyond the events of the central show -- a universe that can be periodically visited -- is something that "Star Trek" helped pioneer.
- 8/25/2022
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Honore de Balzac must have owned a time machine. When he wrote “Illusions Preludes,” there was no internet or Twitter or talk shows devoted to “hot takes;” there was no Stephen A. Smith yelling about Lebron James; there was no Tucker Carlson yelling about Hunter Biden. And yet he wrote a novel about that very same subject 200 years ago?
An assured and eerily prophetic work, “Illusions Preludes” is one of the great social satires and a potent meditation on the power of fame to corrupt and create, to divide and demolish.
Continue reading ‘Lost Illusions’ Review: Xavier Giannoli Directs One Of The Best Balzac Adaptations To Date at The Playlist.
An assured and eerily prophetic work, “Illusions Preludes” is one of the great social satires and a potent meditation on the power of fame to corrupt and create, to divide and demolish.
Continue reading ‘Lost Illusions’ Review: Xavier Giannoli Directs One Of The Best Balzac Adaptations To Date at The Playlist.
- 6/24/2022
- by Asher Luberto
- The Playlist
Following its Venice Film Festival bow and seven César Awards including for Best Film, Lost Illusions was the top weekend title at two core NYC arthouses — taking 10,850 of its estimated 13,579 three-day gross from Film Forum and Film at Lincoln Center.
The period piece based on the Honoré de Balzac novel about greed and hypocrisy in the art world of 1800s Paris was also the top film at the Laemmle Royal in LA. It opened on six screens for a PSA 2,263. Distributor Music Box Films is giving Lost Illusions (Illusions Perdues), from director Xavier Giannoli, a traditional platform rollout with a 60-day theatrical window, expanding to San Francisco, Miami, Denver, Minneapolis and Atlanta next Friday and additional markets including Boston and Seattle on June 24.
“We’re happy with New York. New York has come back,” said Music Box theatrical distribution chief Kyle Westphal.
The most decorated film at the French equivalent...
The period piece based on the Honoré de Balzac novel about greed and hypocrisy in the art world of 1800s Paris was also the top film at the Laemmle Royal in LA. It opened on six screens for a PSA 2,263. Distributor Music Box Films is giving Lost Illusions (Illusions Perdues), from director Xavier Giannoli, a traditional platform rollout with a 60-day theatrical window, expanding to San Francisco, Miami, Denver, Minneapolis and Atlanta next Friday and additional markets including Boston and Seattle on June 24.
“We’re happy with New York. New York has come back,” said Music Box theatrical distribution chief Kyle Westphal.
The most decorated film at the French equivalent...
- 6/12/2022
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
S.S. Rajamouli’s Rrr, a huge hit when it opened in March, is dipping back into the U.S. market in a novel and, so far, successful bid by distributors to expand the reach of the Telugu period drama beyond the traditional audience for Indian film.
Originally out March 23 on 1,000 screens, wide for an Indian release Stateside, Rrr (Rise! Roar! Revolt!) grossed more than 14 million in North America, and over 140 million globally. In India, the epic story of two friends who discover they’re on opposite sides of India’s struggle for independence (Deadline review here), smashed records to set the best opening day for a local film ever. That was director Rajamouli topping his own previous record-holder in the market, 2017’s Baahubali 2: The Conclusion. See Rajamouli interview.
Indian films are a staple of the U.S. box office but rarely stick around for more than a week.
Originally out March 23 on 1,000 screens, wide for an Indian release Stateside, Rrr (Rise! Roar! Revolt!) grossed more than 14 million in North America, and over 140 million globally. In India, the epic story of two friends who discover they’re on opposite sides of India’s struggle for independence (Deadline review here), smashed records to set the best opening day for a local film ever. That was director Rajamouli topping his own previous record-holder in the market, 2017’s Baahubali 2: The Conclusion. See Rajamouli interview.
Indian films are a staple of the U.S. box office but rarely stick around for more than a week.
- 6/10/2022
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
There is an intoxicating smugness to Xavier Giannoli’s new adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s “Illusions perdue,” as though this filmmaker couldn’t wait to shove this movie right in the faces of every human being on television, or on Twitter, or indeed who has ever criticized a movie, complained about the news, or whined about anything even remotely related to popular culture in the last 20 years.
Balzac got there first. Balzac said it better. And Giannoli damn well knows it.
Giannoli’s film, “Lost Illusions,” is a sexy and mean-spirited social satire about a young poet named Lucien who follows his heart, and his wealthy married lover, Louise, to Paris in the mid-19th century. Promptly discarded for fear of scandal, Lucien is left destitute and gets the only writing job he can find, releasing controversial hot takes for a local rag.
Also Read:
Black Comedy ‘Bye Bye...
Balzac got there first. Balzac said it better. And Giannoli damn well knows it.
Giannoli’s film, “Lost Illusions,” is a sexy and mean-spirited social satire about a young poet named Lucien who follows his heart, and his wealthy married lover, Louise, to Paris in the mid-19th century. Promptly discarded for fear of scandal, Lucien is left destitute and gets the only writing job he can find, releasing controversial hot takes for a local rag.
Also Read:
Black Comedy ‘Bye Bye...
- 6/9/2022
- by William Bibbiani
- The Wrap
Benjamin Voisin and Cécile de France star in a superb costume coming-of-age story for the Netflix generation
Xavier Giannoli brings his natural force and flair to this rake’s-progress spectacular, a blue-chip French costume drama adapted from Honoré de Balzac’s 1837 novel about a poetic youth who comes to the big city with provincial idealism and callow sensitivity, only to replace them with ambition, lust, corruption and (worst of all) journalism. An earlier generation might have shrugged at this as cinéma du papa, and modern audiences might smirk at the kind of decorative movie that features archly in the opening credits of Netflix’s French TV comedy Call My Agent! But it’s acted with such terrific panache that not enjoying it is impossible.
Our hero is Lucien Chardon, pertly played by Benjamin Voisin (one of the lovers in François Ozon’s recent drama Summer of 85). Lucien is a...
Xavier Giannoli brings his natural force and flair to this rake’s-progress spectacular, a blue-chip French costume drama adapted from Honoré de Balzac’s 1837 novel about a poetic youth who comes to the big city with provincial idealism and callow sensitivity, only to replace them with ambition, lust, corruption and (worst of all) journalism. An earlier generation might have shrugged at this as cinéma du papa, and modern audiences might smirk at the kind of decorative movie that features archly in the opening credits of Netflix’s French TV comedy Call My Agent! But it’s acted with such terrific panache that not enjoying it is impossible.
Our hero is Lucien Chardon, pertly played by Benjamin Voisin (one of the lovers in François Ozon’s recent drama Summer of 85). Lucien is a...
- 5/10/2022
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
"The sound of scandal is in the air." Music Box Films has revealed the official US trailer for a compelling French period comedy drama titled Lost Illusions, originally known as Illusions Perdues in French. This was a big premiere at last year's Venice Film Festival, playing in the main competition, and it's a fascinating film about the early days of "journalism" in France - at a time when it was common to accept bribes to write rave reviews (or not). Lucien de Rubempré, a young, lower-class unknown poet, leaves his family's printing house for Paris. Soon, he learns the dark side of the arts business as he tries to stay true to his dreams. It's also described as: "Xavier Giannoli’s sumptuous adaptation of Honoré de Balzac's epic novel, Lost Illusions is a ravishing vision of the birth of modern media." A decadent tale of delight and madness as...
- 5/1/2022
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Update, writethru: Xavier Giannoli’s Lost Illusions (Illusions Perdues) scooped the Best Film prize at France’s César Awards this evening in Paris. Along with the top honor, the period drama adapted from the Honoré de Balzac classic took a further six statues and was the overall biggest laureate of the evening. (Scroll down for the full list of winners.)
An absent Leos Carax was named Best Director for Annette, his musical starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard that opened the Cannes Film Festival last year — where Carax was also named Best Director — and which took a total five Césars tonight.
Lost Illusions and Annette led nominations coming into the evening, followed by Valérie Lemercier’s Céline Dion-inspired Aline which converted in the Best Actress category for Lemercier’s titular portrayal.
Cédric Jiminez’s Bac Nord (The Stronghold) was shut out across its seven nominations. A box office success at home,...
An absent Leos Carax was named Best Director for Annette, his musical starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard that opened the Cannes Film Festival last year — where Carax was also named Best Director — and which took a total five Césars tonight.
Lost Illusions and Annette led nominations coming into the evening, followed by Valérie Lemercier’s Céline Dion-inspired Aline which converted in the Best Actress category for Lemercier’s titular portrayal.
Cédric Jiminez’s Bac Nord (The Stronghold) was shut out across its seven nominations. A box office success at home,...
- 2/25/2022
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Edouard Weil and Alice Girard, the producers of Audrey Diwan’s Venice Golden Lion-winning “Happening” and Valerie Lemercier’s Celine Dion movie “Aline,” won the Toscan du Plantier Award at a fancy Paris ceremony hosted by the Cesar Academie.
Weil and Girard, who run the Paris-based production banner Rectangle Productions, were selected by 1,557 voters, including all the artists and crew members who have been nominated at the Cesar Awards since 2008, as well as the 164 members of the Association for the Promotion of Cinema.
Besides “Happening” and “Aline,” Rectangle Productions delivered several other critically acclaimed films within the last year, including Jean-Christophe Meurisse’s “Bloody Oranges” and Gaspar Noé’s “Vortex” which played at Cannes.
Since being created by Weil in 2003, the company has also produced films by international auteurs, including Elia Suleiman. Girard, an industry veteran who previously held a senior executive position at French broadcasting group France Televisions, joined...
Weil and Girard, who run the Paris-based production banner Rectangle Productions, were selected by 1,557 voters, including all the artists and crew members who have been nominated at the Cesar Awards since 2008, as well as the 164 members of the Association for the Promotion of Cinema.
Besides “Happening” and “Aline,” Rectangle Productions delivered several other critically acclaimed films within the last year, including Jean-Christophe Meurisse’s “Bloody Oranges” and Gaspar Noé’s “Vortex” which played at Cannes.
Since being created by Weil in 2003, the company has also produced films by international auteurs, including Elia Suleiman. Girard, an industry veteran who previously held a senior executive position at French broadcasting group France Televisions, joined...
- 2/16/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Ceremony for awards voted on by 4,363 members of the César academy will take place on February 25.
Xavier Giannoli’s literary adaptation Lost Illusions is the frontrunner in the nomination stage of the 47th edition of France’s César awards, followed by Leos Carax’s Annette and Valérie Lemercier’s Aline.
France’s Academy of Cinema and Arts and Sciences unveiled the nomination list online on Wednesday morning (January 26), ahead of the ceremony scheduled to take place on February 25.
Giannoli’s adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s eponymous 19th-century novel, which premiered in competition at Venice last year, was nominated in...
Xavier Giannoli’s literary adaptation Lost Illusions is the frontrunner in the nomination stage of the 47th edition of France’s César awards, followed by Leos Carax’s Annette and Valérie Lemercier’s Aline.
France’s Academy of Cinema and Arts and Sciences unveiled the nomination list online on Wednesday morning (January 26), ahead of the ceremony scheduled to take place on February 25.
Giannoli’s adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s eponymous 19th-century novel, which premiered in competition at Venice last year, was nominated in...
- 1/26/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Xavier Giannoli’s sprawling period piece “Lost Illusions,” Valerie Lemercier’s Celine Dion biopic “Aline” and Leos Carax’s musical romance “Annette” with Marion Cotillard and Adam Driver are leading the race at France’s 47th Cesar Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscars.
Other top Cesar contenders include Cedric Jimenez’s action-packed cop drama “Bac Nord,” Catherine Corsini’s social drama “La fracture,” Yann Gozlan’s thriller Boite noire,” Jacques Audiard’s contemporary love drama “Paris, 13th District” and Arthur Harari’s WW2-set “Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle.”
Audrey Diwan’s Venice Golden Lion-winning “Happening” and Julia Ducournau’s Cannes’ Palme d’Or-winning “Titane” earned four nods each.
Vying for 15 Cesar Awards, “Lost Illusions” is a big-budget adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s masterpiece starring Benjamin Voisin (“Summer of 85”), Cecile de France (“The Young Pope”), Vincent Lacoste (“Victoria”), Xavier Dolan and Jeanne Balibar (“Les Miserables”) all of whom earned nominations.
Other top Cesar contenders include Cedric Jimenez’s action-packed cop drama “Bac Nord,” Catherine Corsini’s social drama “La fracture,” Yann Gozlan’s thriller Boite noire,” Jacques Audiard’s contemporary love drama “Paris, 13th District” and Arthur Harari’s WW2-set “Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle.”
Audrey Diwan’s Venice Golden Lion-winning “Happening” and Julia Ducournau’s Cannes’ Palme d’Or-winning “Titane” earned four nods each.
Vying for 15 Cesar Awards, “Lost Illusions” is a big-budget adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s masterpiece starring Benjamin Voisin (“Summer of 85”), Cecile de France (“The Young Pope”), Vincent Lacoste (“Victoria”), Xavier Dolan and Jeanne Balibar (“Les Miserables”) all of whom earned nominations.
- 1/26/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Audrey Diwan’s “Happening” won best film and actress for Anamaria Vartolome at France’s Lumière Awards on Monday evening.
“Happening,” which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and was acquired by IFC Films, beat out Leos Carax’s “Annette,” Emmanuelle Bercot’s “Living,” Xavier Giannoli’s “Lost Illusions” and Arthur Harari’s “Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle.”
Julia Ducournau’s Cannes’ Palme d’Or winning “Titane” was surprisingly snubbed from the best film and director categories. The daring movie won the female newcomer prize which was picked up by Agathe Rousselle. The Lumiere Awards are meant to be selected by France-based members of the foreign press, as are the Golden Globes.
Carax, meanwhile, won best director with “Annette,” a musical drama with Marion Cotillard and Adam Driver. The movie also won best cinematography for Caroline Champetier and best music for Sparks. “Annette” previously earned Carax...
“Happening,” which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and was acquired by IFC Films, beat out Leos Carax’s “Annette,” Emmanuelle Bercot’s “Living,” Xavier Giannoli’s “Lost Illusions” and Arthur Harari’s “Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle.”
Julia Ducournau’s Cannes’ Palme d’Or winning “Titane” was surprisingly snubbed from the best film and director categories. The daring movie won the female newcomer prize which was picked up by Agathe Rousselle. The Lumiere Awards are meant to be selected by France-based members of the foreign press, as are the Golden Globes.
Carax, meanwhile, won best director with “Annette,” a musical drama with Marion Cotillard and Adam Driver. The movie also won best cinematography for Caroline Champetier and best music for Sparks. “Annette” previously earned Carax...
- 1/18/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
After a chaotic year marked by a five-month shutdown and Covid-related restrictions, the French box office bounced back during the last quarter of 2021, bolstered by “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and a flurry of big-budgeted U.S. and French releases.
After reopening on May 18, French theaters pulled 96 million admissions — not a bad result considering that it’s just 23.2% drop from 2019, when France’s box office broke a 50-year record. Compared with 2020, when cinemas were closed for several months, tickets were up by 47.2%, according to Comscore France. Based on an estimated average of €6.75 per ticket, the French B.O. reached €648 million ($731 million).
Hollywood tentpoles dominated the top 10 highest-grossing films of 2021, starting with Sony’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which sold over 5 million tickets. Universal’s “No Time to Die” and Warner Bros.’s “Dune” followed. The other U.S. titles in the top 10 are Disney’s “Encanto,” Universal’s “F9,” Warner Bros.
After reopening on May 18, French theaters pulled 96 million admissions — not a bad result considering that it’s just 23.2% drop from 2019, when France’s box office broke a 50-year record. Compared with 2020, when cinemas were closed for several months, tickets were up by 47.2%, according to Comscore France. Based on an estimated average of €6.75 per ticket, the French B.O. reached €648 million ($731 million).
Hollywood tentpoles dominated the top 10 highest-grossing films of 2021, starting with Sony’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” which sold over 5 million tickets. Universal’s “No Time to Die” and Warner Bros.’s “Dune” followed. The other U.S. titles in the top 10 are Disney’s “Encanto,” Universal’s “F9,” Warner Bros.
- 1/3/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
The awards are voted on by 95 international correspondents from 36 countries.
Xavier Giannoli’s literary adaptation Lost Illusions leads the nominations of the 27th edition of France’s Lumière awards, followed by Audrey Diwan’s Venice Golden Lion winner Happening and Arthur Harari’s Onoda, 10,000 Nights In The Jungle.
The awards, which are voted on by 95 international correspondents hailing from 36 countries this year, are France’s equivalent of the Golden Globes.
Giannoli’s adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s eponymous 19th-century novel, which premiered in competition in Venice this year, was nominated in five categories including best film, director, screenplay, actor...
Xavier Giannoli’s literary adaptation Lost Illusions leads the nominations of the 27th edition of France’s Lumière awards, followed by Audrey Diwan’s Venice Golden Lion winner Happening and Arthur Harari’s Onoda, 10,000 Nights In The Jungle.
The awards, which are voted on by 95 international correspondents hailing from 36 countries this year, are France’s equivalent of the Golden Globes.
Giannoli’s adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s eponymous 19th-century novel, which premiered in competition in Venice this year, was nominated in five categories including best film, director, screenplay, actor...
- 12/10/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Music Box Films has picked up US rights to Lost Illusions (Illusions Perdues), Xavier Giannoli’s adaptation of the classic Honoré de Balzac comedic novel starring Summer of ’85 actor Benjamin Voisin. Cécile de France (The French Dispatch), Xavier Dolan (I Killed My Mother), Vincent Lacoste (Sorry Angel) and Gérard Depardieu co-star.
Lost Illusions premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival this year. It will have its North American premiere as the closing film at Hollywood’s Colcoa French Film Festival on Sunday, Nov. 7. The film will have its French bow on Oct. 20.
Music Box is planning a theatrical release followed by ...
Lost Illusions premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival this year. It will have its North American premiere as the closing film at Hollywood’s Colcoa French Film Festival on Sunday, Nov. 7. The film will have its French bow on Oct. 20.
Music Box is planning a theatrical release followed by ...
- 10/19/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Music Box Films has picked up US rights to Lost Illusions (Illusions Perdues), Xavier Giannoli’s adaptation of the classic Honoré de Balzac comedic novel starring Summer of ’85 actor Benjamin Voisin. Cécile de France (The French Dispatch), Xavier Dolan (I Killed My Mother), Vincent Lacoste (Sorry Angel) and Gérard Depardieu co-star.
Lost Illusions premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival this year. It will have its North American premiere as the closing film at Hollywood’s Colcoa French Film Festival on Sunday, Nov. 7. The film will have its French bow on Oct. 20.
Music Box is planning a theatrical release followed by ...
Lost Illusions premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival this year. It will have its North American premiere as the closing film at Hollywood’s Colcoa French Film Festival on Sunday, Nov. 7. The film will have its French bow on Oct. 20.
Music Box is planning a theatrical release followed by ...
- 10/19/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Music Box has acquired Xavier Giannoli’s “Lost Illusions,” a sprawling costume drama with Benjamin Voisin (“Summer of 85”) and Xavier Dolan (“Mommy”), that competed at the Venice Film Festival and played at San Sebastian.
A critically acclaimed film adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s literary masterpiece, “Les Illusions perdues,” the movie has now been sold in key markets by Gaumont. The French studio co-produced the film and will give it a wide release in France on Wednesday (Oct. 20).
“Lost Illusions” is one of the biggest budgeted and most anticipated French films this fall. It will have its North American premiere on the closing night of Colcoa, the French film festival in Los Angeles, on Nov. 7.
Cecile de France (“The Young Pope”) and Vincent Lacoste (“Amanda”) complete the lead cast of “Lost Illusions,” with Gerard Depardieu and Jeanne Balibar playing supporting roles.
Voisin stars as Lucien de Rubempré, a young...
A critically acclaimed film adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s literary masterpiece, “Les Illusions perdues,” the movie has now been sold in key markets by Gaumont. The French studio co-produced the film and will give it a wide release in France on Wednesday (Oct. 20).
“Lost Illusions” is one of the biggest budgeted and most anticipated French films this fall. It will have its North American premiere on the closing night of Colcoa, the French film festival in Los Angeles, on Nov. 7.
Cecile de France (“The Young Pope”) and Vincent Lacoste (“Amanda”) complete the lead cast of “Lost Illusions,” with Gerard Depardieu and Jeanne Balibar playing supporting roles.
Voisin stars as Lucien de Rubempré, a young...
- 10/19/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Period drama has a bad name, especially period drama drawn from literary classics, but there is a European tradition of grand historical films that match their sources’ canonical status with the cinematic strengths of narrative sweep and visual opulence. Think The Leopard as a peerless example: Visconti’s masterpiece is a tribute to Giuseppe di Lampedusa’s novel, but a tribute paid between equals. Xavier Giannoli’s Lost Illusions (Les Illusions Perdues), in competition at the Venice Film Festival, stands proudly with that tradition.
Lost Illusions takes as its text the novel by Honoré de Balzac, originally written as a serial between 1837 and 1843. A young aspiring poet arrives in Paris from the unspeakably unfashionable provincial town of Angoulème, hoping for recognition in the capital’s literary circle. Lucien (appropriately dewy Benjamin Voisin) is fresh-faced and full of sincerity; he believes in a cult of beauty, the purity of literature and...
Lost Illusions takes as its text the novel by Honoré de Balzac, originally written as a serial between 1837 and 1843. A young aspiring poet arrives in Paris from the unspeakably unfashionable provincial town of Angoulème, hoping for recognition in the capital’s literary circle. Lucien (appropriately dewy Benjamin Voisin) is fresh-faced and full of sincerity; he believes in a cult of beauty, the purity of literature and...
- 9/7/2021
- by Stephanie Bunbury
- Deadline Film + TV
In France, the names Rastignac and Rubempré serve as a kind of shorthand even today — two iconic characters who signify opposite sides of the same vice. Both prominent players in Honoré de Balzac’s expansive “La Comédie Humaine,” the ambitious parvenus are virtual nobodies of vaguely noble extraction who arrive agog in early-19th-century Paris, and compromise their way to the top. For Rastignac, the strategy works to his advantage; not so much for Lucien de Rubempré, whose swift ascent and humiliating fall are dramatically detailed in Balzac’s masterpiece, “Lost Illusions,” laying the roller-coaster track for this sumptuous and surprisingly au courant cinematic retelling.
Adapting Balzac is no small feat for any filmmaker, and in whittling down the three volumes (and 700-plus pages) that comprise “Lost Illusions” to a robust two and a half hours, director Xavier Giannoli has a million choices to make. Casting was crucial — he shrewdly...
Adapting Balzac is no small feat for any filmmaker, and in whittling down the three volumes (and 700-plus pages) that comprise “Lost Illusions” to a robust two and a half hours, director Xavier Giannoli has a million choices to make. Casting was crucial — he shrewdly...
- 9/6/2021
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
The French box office, hampered by an increasingly rigorous series of Covid health protocols, took a plunge in recent months, resulting in week-to-week falls of up to 41%. But for all their caveats, industry analysts talk about the current landscape in tones of cautious optimism.
In France, a growing number of commercial spaces are prohibited from those without proof of double anti-covid vaccinations.
“The sanitary passport had a pronounced effect in depressing the market,” says Comscore France’s Eric Marti. “There was a lot of uncertainty this summer, and we saw that once there’s a hint of confusion, the impact is immediate.” But at the same time, those same local audiences disproved the most pessimistic prognoses that came from during the lockdowns. “Viewers have displayed a real willingness” to return to the theaters, Marti says. “Remarkably, the market was able to absorb the [escalating restrictions], and, despite them, to pick back up.
In France, a growing number of commercial spaces are prohibited from those without proof of double anti-covid vaccinations.
“The sanitary passport had a pronounced effect in depressing the market,” says Comscore France’s Eric Marti. “There was a lot of uncertainty this summer, and we saw that once there’s a hint of confusion, the impact is immediate.” But at the same time, those same local audiences disproved the most pessimistic prognoses that came from during the lockdowns. “Viewers have displayed a real willingness” to return to the theaters, Marti says. “Remarkably, the market was able to absorb the [escalating restrictions], and, despite them, to pick back up.
- 9/3/2021
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
Ahead of its world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival, “Lost Illusions,â€. Xavier Giannoli’s $17.5 million period film, has already lured major buyers in key territories for Gaumont.
Produced by Olivier Delbosc, “Lost Illusionsâ€. is a modern adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s masterpiece starring Benjamin Voisin (“Summer of 85â€.), Cecile de France (“The Young Popeâ€.), Vincent Lacoste (“Victoriaâ€.), Gerard Depardieu, Xavier Dolan and Jeanne Balibar (“Les Miserablesâ€.).
Gaumont, which is co-producing and handling international sales, has pre-sold the movie for Latin America (California), Canada (Les Films d’Opale), Spain (A Contracorriente), Benelux (Cineart), Bulgaria (Cine Libri), China (Huanxi), South Korea (Contents Gate), former Yugoslavia (McF), Israel (Lev), Italy (I Wonder), New Caledonia (Trident), Portugal (Nos Lusomundos), Romania (Independenta), Switzerland (Pathé), Taiwan (Avjet) and Russia/Cie
(White Nights).
“Lost Illusionsâ€. revolves around Lucien de Rubempré (Voisin), a young, lower-class poet who is madly in love with the baroness Louise de Bargeton.
Produced by Olivier Delbosc, “Lost Illusionsâ€. is a modern adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s masterpiece starring Benjamin Voisin (“Summer of 85â€.), Cecile de France (“The Young Popeâ€.), Vincent Lacoste (“Victoriaâ€.), Gerard Depardieu, Xavier Dolan and Jeanne Balibar (“Les Miserablesâ€.).
Gaumont, which is co-producing and handling international sales, has pre-sold the movie for Latin America (California), Canada (Les Films d’Opale), Spain (A Contracorriente), Benelux (Cineart), Bulgaria (Cine Libri), China (Huanxi), South Korea (Contents Gate), former Yugoslavia (McF), Israel (Lev), Italy (I Wonder), New Caledonia (Trident), Portugal (Nos Lusomundos), Romania (Independenta), Switzerland (Pathé), Taiwan (Avjet) and Russia/Cie
(White Nights).
“Lost Illusionsâ€. revolves around Lucien de Rubempré (Voisin), a young, lower-class poet who is madly in love with the baroness Louise de Bargeton.
- 9/3/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Sheffield-based Warp Films, whose musical “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie” hits Amazon next month, has announced a partnership with production and financing studio Anton.
The two companies plan to develop a slate of television series and feature films, with Anton financing a development fund from which they plan to identify and develop “high-value IP projects,” with Anton representing global rights on any project that goes ahead.
As part of the initiative, Kasheina Vencatasawmy has been promoted to head of development at Warp Films and Gwen Gorst has been promoted from senior development producer to executive producer.
The first projects in development are an adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s novel “Lost Illusions,” written by Ruth McCance, who has moved from executive producer on Sky Atlantic’s “Little Birds” to a writer-showrunner role as well as “Blade in the Dark” (based on the role-playing game), while Gorst is working with “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie...
The two companies plan to develop a slate of television series and feature films, with Anton financing a development fund from which they plan to identify and develop “high-value IP projects,” with Anton representing global rights on any project that goes ahead.
As part of the initiative, Kasheina Vencatasawmy has been promoted to head of development at Warp Films and Gwen Gorst has been promoted from senior development producer to executive producer.
The first projects in development are an adaptation of Honoré de Balzac’s novel “Lost Illusions,” written by Ruth McCance, who has moved from executive producer on Sky Atlantic’s “Little Birds” to a writer-showrunner role as well as “Blade in the Dark” (based on the role-playing game), while Gorst is working with “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie...
- 8/27/2021
- by K.J. Yossman
- Variety Film + TV
Sheffield-based production house Warp Films (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie) is partnering with production and financing studio outfit Anton on a slate of high-end television series and feature films.
Anton will finance a development fund to identify high-value IP and commission scripts from leading UK and international talent, and will handle sales on the projects. On the initial slate is an English-language TV adaptation of French novel Lost Illusions by Honoré de Balzac. Ruth McCance will write the project as she transitions into a writer-showrunner role following a stint executive producing Warp Films’ melodrama Little Birds.
Also in development is Blades in the Dark, which is described as “an ambitious television adaptation of one of the most popular role-playing games in the world”.
Warp Films’ Kasheina Vencatasawmy has been promoted to head of development to oversee the slate, she will work alongside Regional Development Assistant Soph Webberley. Elsewhere, Gwen Gorst is...
Anton will finance a development fund to identify high-value IP and commission scripts from leading UK and international talent, and will handle sales on the projects. On the initial slate is an English-language TV adaptation of French novel Lost Illusions by Honoré de Balzac. Ruth McCance will write the project as she transitions into a writer-showrunner role following a stint executive producing Warp Films’ melodrama Little Birds.
Also in development is Blades in the Dark, which is described as “an ambitious television adaptation of one of the most popular role-playing games in the world”.
Warp Films’ Kasheina Vencatasawmy has been promoted to head of development to oversee the slate, she will work alongside Regional Development Assistant Soph Webberley. Elsewhere, Gwen Gorst is...
- 8/27/2021
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
First project is a reinvention of Balzac’s novel ‘Lost Illusions’.
UK-based production company Warp Films has formed a creative and commercial partnership with Anglo-French producing and financing outfit Anton to develop a slate of features and television series with an international focus.
Anton will finance a development fund to identify high-value IP and commission scripts from leading talent, both in the UK and internationally, which both companies will jointly develop. Anton, which co-finance will also represent global rights on all projects.
The joint venture begins with an irreverent English language re-invention of the classic French novel Lost Illusions by Honoré de Balzac,...
UK-based production company Warp Films has formed a creative and commercial partnership with Anglo-French producing and financing outfit Anton to develop a slate of features and television series with an international focus.
Anton will finance a development fund to identify high-value IP and commission scripts from leading talent, both in the UK and internationally, which both companies will jointly develop. Anton, which co-finance will also represent global rights on all projects.
The joint venture begins with an irreverent English language re-invention of the classic French novel Lost Illusions by Honoré de Balzac,...
- 8/27/2021
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
The Venice Film Festival has unveiled a star-studded lineup full of hotly anticipated new works from Jane Campion, Ana Lily Amirpour, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Denis Villeneuve, Ridley Scott, Paolo Sorrentino and Edgar Wright — to name a few standouts — who are likely to bolster the Lido’s standing as an awards season kingmaker.
Amirpour’s “Mona Lisa And The Blood Moon,” in competition, starring Kate Hudson as girl with unusual powers who escapes from a mental asylum, will bring the Iranian-American director back to Venice after her post-apocalyptic cannibal love story “The Bad Batch,” scored the Special Jury Prize in 2016.
Campion, as anticipated by Variety, is competing with “The Power of the Dog,” a drama about feuding brothers set in 1920s Montana starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons. “Dog” is one of two Netflix Original films in the Venice competition, the other one being Paolo Sorrentino’s personal drama “The Hand of God,...
Amirpour’s “Mona Lisa And The Blood Moon,” in competition, starring Kate Hudson as girl with unusual powers who escapes from a mental asylum, will bring the Iranian-American director back to Venice after her post-apocalyptic cannibal love story “The Bad Batch,” scored the Special Jury Prize in 2016.
Campion, as anticipated by Variety, is competing with “The Power of the Dog,” a drama about feuding brothers set in 1920s Montana starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons. “Dog” is one of two Netflix Original films in the Venice competition, the other one being Paolo Sorrentino’s personal drama “The Hand of God,...
- 7/26/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
In showbiz, they have awards for everything — Oscars, Golden Globes and, of course, the Palme d’Or. Adult film actor Mikey Davies, aka “Mikey Saber,” has five Avn Awards, and he creates opportunities to humble-brag about them constantly now that he’s back in Texas City, the tiny Gulf Coast town he and girlfriend Lexi left together shortly after high school. They got married, moved to Los Angeles, and made a decent living shooting porn together for a time. But that was roughly 20 years ago, and now, Mikey has fallen on hard times. Or limp times, as the case may be.
There must be dozens, if not hundreds, of American indie films about young people escaping a dead end like Texas City and heading east or west, where opportunity lies. Sean Baker’s “Red Rocket” (the director’s first film to compete for the top prize at Cannes) is about...
There must be dozens, if not hundreds, of American indie films about young people escaping a dead end like Texas City and heading east or west, where opportunity lies. Sean Baker’s “Red Rocket” (the director’s first film to compete for the top prize at Cannes) is about...
- 7/14/2021
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
The Venice Film Festival is gearing up to take place as a full-fledged physical event in September with a back-to-normal atmosphere and what could be a high-profile selection of films.
While the Toronto Film Festival, which runs Sept. 9-18, is sticking with a combination of digital and in-person screenings, as is Sundance 2022, Venice’s upcoming Sept. 1-11 edition is on track, barring complications, to run as a completely in-person celebration of cinema with hundreds of journalists and dozens of film delegations expected to make the trek to the Lido from all over the world.
That’s the scenario the fest’s parent org, the Venice Biennale, is looking to pull off for its upcoming Architecture Biennale which has the timely theme of “How Will We Live Together?” and opens in Venice on May 22.
Delegations representing more than 100 Architecture Biennale projects are expected to soon arrive in Venice from 46 countries, along with more than 400 international journalists.
While the Toronto Film Festival, which runs Sept. 9-18, is sticking with a combination of digital and in-person screenings, as is Sundance 2022, Venice’s upcoming Sept. 1-11 edition is on track, barring complications, to run as a completely in-person celebration of cinema with hundreds of journalists and dozens of film delegations expected to make the trek to the Lido from all over the world.
That’s the scenario the fest’s parent org, the Venice Biennale, is looking to pull off for its upcoming Architecture Biennale which has the timely theme of “How Will We Live Together?” and opens in Venice on May 22.
Delegations representing more than 100 Architecture Biennale projects are expected to soon arrive in Venice from 46 countries, along with more than 400 international journalists.
- 5/14/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
“Dukun”, the directorial debut of Dain Said, finally reached mass audience after an online leak in 2018. Responding to the release, Dain Said took a subtle but witty approach by saying the film was like an ex-girlfriend he already moved on. After all, no one knows why Astro Shaw (the production company) shelved it for 12 years.
“Dukun” is streaming on Mubi Malaysia
Initially written in English by Huzir Sulaiman, it became the screenplay we know today with help from Dain Said and Fariza Azlina Isahak. The writing credits are rounded-up by Al Jafree Md Yusof who translated it into Malay. “Dukun” won four awards out of eleven nominations in the 30th Malaysian Film Festival in 2019.
This particular review will employ a literary theory introduced by Roland Barthes in “S/Z”. It is a network of codes that Barthes developed as a method of reading Honoré de Balzac’s “Sarrasine”. There are...
“Dukun” is streaming on Mubi Malaysia
Initially written in English by Huzir Sulaiman, it became the screenplay we know today with help from Dain Said and Fariza Azlina Isahak. The writing credits are rounded-up by Al Jafree Md Yusof who translated it into Malay. “Dukun” won four awards out of eleven nominations in the 30th Malaysian Film Festival in 2019.
This particular review will employ a literary theory introduced by Roland Barthes in “S/Z”. It is a network of codes that Barthes developed as a method of reading Honoré de Balzac’s “Sarrasine”. There are...
- 12/11/2020
- by Abdul Rahman Shah
- AsianMoviePulse
The Berlinale usually offers fertile ground for the Jewish Film Festival programmers. At the informal gathering around Nicola Galliner, the founder and director of the Jewish Film Festival of Berlin Brandenburg, programmers trade information and impressions as they meet with old and new friends. This year seems rather slim in programming although the good was great.
This was very best film with Jewish content at the Berlinale 2020 !!!
Persian Lessons by Vadim Perelman was a Special Gala. Why it was not in Competition I do not know but it could have won…It can still win next year’s Academy Award for Best International Film. It brought raves from everyone. “A fantastic performance by Lars Eidinger — best Nazi ever !!!” said one fan.
Persian Lessons’ world premiere came days after the racially motivated, right-wing extremist mass shooting in the German city of Hanau which left nine dead.
This Russian-German-Belarus feature, set in...
This was very best film with Jewish content at the Berlinale 2020 !!!
Persian Lessons by Vadim Perelman was a Special Gala. Why it was not in Competition I do not know but it could have won…It can still win next year’s Academy Award for Best International Film. It brought raves from everyone. “A fantastic performance by Lars Eidinger — best Nazi ever !!!” said one fan.
Persian Lessons’ world premiere came days after the racially motivated, right-wing extremist mass shooting in the German city of Hanau which left nine dead.
This Russian-German-Belarus feature, set in...
- 4/30/2020
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Olivier Delbosc’s Paris-based company Curiosa Films is partnering with Wild Bunch Germany on “Charlotte,” a WWII-set film about the short and prolific life of the German-Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon, who died in Auschwitz in 1943 at the age of 26.
“Charlotte” will be directed by Gilles Bourdos. His film “Renoir” played in Un Certain Regard at Cannes and represented France in the foreign-language Oscar race in 2014. The film will mark the first adaptation of David Foenkinos’ 2015 prize-winning novel “Charlotte.”
Bourdos penned the script with his frequent collaborator Michel Spinosa, as well as Foenkinos.
The ambitious period film will tell the story of Salomon, a young prodigy who left her mark on the world of arts with “Life? Or Theatre?” — an autobiographical series of 769 paintings that she created between 1941 and 1943 in the south of France, where she lived before she was captured by the Gestapo and deported to Auschwitz.
“Charlotte Salomon’s...
“Charlotte” will be directed by Gilles Bourdos. His film “Renoir” played in Un Certain Regard at Cannes and represented France in the foreign-language Oscar race in 2014. The film will mark the first adaptation of David Foenkinos’ 2015 prize-winning novel “Charlotte.”
Bourdos penned the script with his frequent collaborator Michel Spinosa, as well as Foenkinos.
The ambitious period film will tell the story of Salomon, a young prodigy who left her mark on the world of arts with “Life? Or Theatre?” — an autobiographical series of 769 paintings that she created between 1941 and 1943 in the south of France, where she lived before she was captured by the Gestapo and deported to Auschwitz.
“Charlotte Salomon’s...
- 2/24/2020
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Gaumont has come on board Xavier Giannoli’s “Lost Illusions,” a big-budget French drama based on Honoré de Balzac’s masterpiece powered by a cast including Benjamin Voisin, Xavier Dolan, Vincent Lacoste, Cecile de France, Gerard Depardieu and Jeanne Balibar.
Gaumont is handling international sales, kicking off at Afm, and will release the film in France at the end of next year. Olivier Delbosc at Curiosa Films is producing the ambitious movie that boasts a budget of 17.5 million euros ($19 million) and ranks as one of the biggest French-language films slated for 2020.
“Lost Illusions” revolves around Lucien de Rubempré (Voisin), a young, lower-class poet who is madly in love with the baroness Louise de Bargeton. The risk of scandal forces them to flee to Paris where they could live freely, but Lucien is abandoned by the baroness and finds himself alone and penniless, until he meets a young journalist who takes him under his wing.
Gaumont is handling international sales, kicking off at Afm, and will release the film in France at the end of next year. Olivier Delbosc at Curiosa Films is producing the ambitious movie that boasts a budget of 17.5 million euros ($19 million) and ranks as one of the biggest French-language films slated for 2020.
“Lost Illusions” revolves around Lucien de Rubempré (Voisin), a young, lower-class poet who is madly in love with the baroness Louise de Bargeton. The risk of scandal forces them to flee to Paris where they could live freely, but Lucien is abandoned by the baroness and finds himself alone and penniless, until he meets a young journalist who takes him under his wing.
- 11/7/2019
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Standing out among the cast of the film, which is currently being shot, are Benjamin Voisin, Gérard Depardieu, Vincent Lacoste, Jeanne Balibar, Cécile de France and Xavier Dolan. French group Gaumont will be rocking up at the bustling informal market of the 44th Toronto International Film Festival (5-15 September) with a top-notch trump card up its sleeve: La Comédie Humaine by Xavier Giannoli. With principal photography currently under way (since mid-July) and scheduled to wrap in late October, the eighth feature by the filmmaker who has been selected twice in competition at Cannes (The Singer in 2006 and In the Beginning in 2009) and at Venice (Superstar in 2012 and Marguerite in 2015) is an adaptation of the works of famous writer Honoré de Balzac, and particularly the novel Lost Illusions.The cast includes young actor Benjamin Voisin (who, just prior to this, was filming the upcoming, as-yet-untitled movie by François...
After collaborating on Mounia Meddour’s 2019 Un Certain Regard title “Papicha,” High Sea Production and Tribus P have joined forces with CG Cinema to launch an investment fund, Dock, which is dedicated to financing and co-financing director-driven film and TV content for the international market.
Patrick André at High Sea, Charles Gillibert at CG Cinema and Paul-Dominique Vacharasinthu at Tribus P Films will work together to co-finance four to five films as well as three series or other formats per year during the next five years. The fund’s committee will include André, Gillibert, Vacharasinthu and investors. The fund will be open to international third-party productions that are not set up at High Sea Production, CG Cinéma or Tribus P.
Dock’s first slate of projects include Alex Carvalho’s “La salamandre,” inspired by Jean-Christophe Rufin’s novel and set in Brazil. The movie will star Marina Fois, Jesuita Barbosa and Laetitia Dosch.
Patrick André at High Sea, Charles Gillibert at CG Cinema and Paul-Dominique Vacharasinthu at Tribus P Films will work together to co-finance four to five films as well as three series or other formats per year during the next five years. The fund’s committee will include André, Gillibert, Vacharasinthu and investors. The fund will be open to international third-party productions that are not set up at High Sea Production, CG Cinéma or Tribus P.
Dock’s first slate of projects include Alex Carvalho’s “La salamandre,” inspired by Jean-Christophe Rufin’s novel and set in Brazil. The movie will star Marina Fois, Jesuita Barbosa and Laetitia Dosch.
- 5/17/2019
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
When the grandson of the richest man in the world was snatched off the streets of Rome in 1973, the most shocking aspect about John Paul Getty III’s ordeal was that the person with the power to save him, J. Paul Getty, refused to do so.
Young Paul Getty, then 16, endured five long months held in captivity by Italian gangsters and the gruesome removal of his right ear before his grandfather agreed to pay the ransom that would set him free, Even then, the only reason J. Paul agreed to pay anything was due to a tax loophole through which...
Young Paul Getty, then 16, endured five long months held in captivity by Italian gangsters and the gruesome removal of his right ear before his grandfather agreed to pay the ransom that would set him free, Even then, the only reason J. Paul agreed to pay anything was due to a tax loophole through which...
- 1/3/2018
- by Kara Warner
- PEOPLE.com
“You may imitate, but never counterfeit,” French novelist Honoré de Balzac famously once said. In other words, imitation is fine, even essential. However, if it’s done so without passion, without heart and without an authentic understanding of what is being imitated, then the endeavour in question becomes as hollow and fake as a pre-fab, cardboard cut-out. I’m saying this as The Surge is an action-rpg that borrows heavily from From Software’s seminal Dark Souls series. Like Deck13 Interactive’s previous medieval fantasy RPG Lords of the Fallen, it very much fits the mould of yet another unabashed love-letter to Hidetaka Miyazaki’s critically lauded franchise. However, it’s important to ask: is this imitation a counterfeit, or is it heartfelt? Well, the short answer is, it’s a bit of both.
The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic, dystopian future closely overseen by a powerful and ominous technology corporation known as Creo.
The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic, dystopian future closely overseen by a powerful and ominous technology corporation known as Creo.
- 5/15/2017
- by Dylan Chaundy
- We Got This Covered
Midway through “Paris 05:59 Théo & Hugo,” Hugo (François Nambot) mentions a favorite book, Honoré de Balzac’s “The Seamy Side of History.” He’s walking and talking with Théo (Geoffrey Couët) as the pair of young gay men search for something to eat in the middle of the night. The book’s title is the sort of detail that comes up when two people are meeting for the first time and the possibility of romance is in the air, delivered in the hope of signaling identity in a compact amount of time, an autobiographical footnote. “The Seamy Side of History” has an.
- 1/27/2017
- by Dave White
- The Wrap
Produced by Condé Nast Entertainment and Jigsaw Productions, “The New Yorker Presents,” which Amazon revealed in weekly installments starting in February, is unlike anything else. Each of the 10 half-hour episodes is a uniquely curated set of documentary and fiction shorts, comedy, poetry, animation, and cartoons drawn from the rich content of The New Yorker. Both unexpected and hugely entertaining, the series is up for Emmy consideration in the informational program category.
Look at the range of the first two shows. They include Steve James (“Hoop Dreams”) on bull riding, Edwidge Danticat on the connection between Jacob Lawrence’s “Migration Series” and outbreaks of racist violence in America, Nick Paumgarten on closing the $2.4 billion Revel casino, cartoons by Roz Chast, Benjamin Schwartz, and Liana Finck, a look at The New Yorker’s archive library and fact-checking department, a beekeeper and a man who raises pigeons who work atop tall buildings, and...
Look at the range of the first two shows. They include Steve James (“Hoop Dreams”) on bull riding, Edwidge Danticat on the connection between Jacob Lawrence’s “Migration Series” and outbreaks of racist violence in America, Nick Paumgarten on closing the $2.4 billion Revel casino, cartoons by Roz Chast, Benjamin Schwartz, and Liana Finck, a look at The New Yorker’s archive library and fact-checking department, a beekeeper and a man who raises pigeons who work atop tall buildings, and...
- 6/22/2016
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Produced by Condé Nast Entertainment and Jigsaw Productions, “The New Yorker Presents,” which Amazon revealed in weekly installments starting in February, is unlike anything else. Each of the 10 half-hour episodes is a uniquely curated set of documentary and fiction shorts, comedy, poetry, animation, and cartoons drawn from the rich content of The New Yorker. Both unexpected and hugely entertaining, the series is up for Emmy consideration in the informational program category.
Look at the range of the first two shows. They include Steve James (“Hoop Dreams”) on bull riding, Edwidge Danticat on the connection between Jacob Lawrence’s “Migration Series” and outbreaks of racist violence in America, Nick Paumgarten on closing the $2.4 billion Revel casino, cartoons by Roz Chast, Benjamin Schwartz, and Liana Finck, a look at The New Yorker’s archive library and fact-checking department, a beekeeper and a man who raises pigeons who work atop tall buildings, and...
Look at the range of the first two shows. They include Steve James (“Hoop Dreams”) on bull riding, Edwidge Danticat on the connection between Jacob Lawrence’s “Migration Series” and outbreaks of racist violence in America, Nick Paumgarten on closing the $2.4 billion Revel casino, cartoons by Roz Chast, Benjamin Schwartz, and Liana Finck, a look at The New Yorker’s archive library and fact-checking department, a beekeeper and a man who raises pigeons who work atop tall buildings, and...
- 6/22/2016
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
Mubi is showing Jacques Rivette's Out 1: noli me tangere (1971) in four parts in the UK and most other parts of the world, beginning April 25, 2016.“How strange, it’s like being in a cloak and dagger story.”—Frédérique, Out 1“Is this a game?”“It’s lots of things.”—Sarah and Thomas, Out 1The word is casual. The world, too. In Jacques Rivette’s seminally bizarre, alluringly demanding twelve-hour-plus opus Out 1 (1971), listless Parisians float into one another’s lives as if they live in an incestuously tiny village. They come, they go, they never quite collide. They drift: their stories, if they can be called that, don’t so much intertwine with dramatic intricacy as overlap prettily like translucent jellyfish. Outward, inward, engines in decline. Eventually, of course, drifting accumulates its own tensions, acquires its own charms. Little things begin to matter, take on revelatory qualities. Hopes for a bigger...
- 4/26/2016
- by Michael Pattison
- MUBI
The Eighth Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — co-produced by Cinema St. Louis and the Webster University Film Series — celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. The featured films span the decades from the 1920s through the early 1990s, offering a comprehensive overview of French cinema.
The fest is annually highlighted by significant restorations, and we’re especially pleased to present Jacques Rivette’s long-unavailable epic Out 1: Spectre Additional restoration highlights include Jean-Luc Godard’s A Married Woman and Max Ophüls’ too-little-seen From Mayerling To Sarajevo. Both Ophüls’ film and Louis Malle’s Elevator To The Gallows – with a jazz score by St. Louis-area native Miles Davis — screen from 35mm prints. All films will screen at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (47- E. Lockwood)
Music fans will further delight in the Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra’s accompaniment and original score for Carl Th. Dreyer’s...
The fest is annually highlighted by significant restorations, and we’re especially pleased to present Jacques Rivette’s long-unavailable epic Out 1: Spectre Additional restoration highlights include Jean-Luc Godard’s A Married Woman and Max Ophüls’ too-little-seen From Mayerling To Sarajevo. Both Ophüls’ film and Louis Malle’s Elevator To The Gallows – with a jazz score by St. Louis-area native Miles Davis — screen from 35mm prints. All films will screen at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (47- E. Lockwood)
Music fans will further delight in the Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra’s accompaniment and original score for Carl Th. Dreyer’s...
- 2/16/2016
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Exclusive: Slate also includes new films by Alain Guiraudie and Raymond Depardon.
Wild Bunch will launch a new biopic of legendary sculptor Auguste Rodin at Unifrance’s January event Rendez-vous with French Cinema in Paris.
Vincent Lindon (The Measure Of A Man) will star in the film entitled Rodin, which will shoot in 2016 for a 2017 release to coincide with the centenary of the sculptor’s death in November 1917.
French director Jacques Doillon (Love Battles) will direct from his own screenplay.
It is Lindon’s first major role since his Palme d’Or-winning performance in social drama The Measure Of A Man at Cannes last May.
Casting is currently underway for the role of Rodin’s tragic collaborator and lover Camille Claudel and his long-suffering, life-long companion Rose Beuret.
The picture will start as Rodin turns 40 and enters one of the most productive periods of his artistic career in which he created works such as The Thinker and The...
Wild Bunch will launch a new biopic of legendary sculptor Auguste Rodin at Unifrance’s January event Rendez-vous with French Cinema in Paris.
Vincent Lindon (The Measure Of A Man) will star in the film entitled Rodin, which will shoot in 2016 for a 2017 release to coincide with the centenary of the sculptor’s death in November 1917.
French director Jacques Doillon (Love Battles) will direct from his own screenplay.
It is Lindon’s first major role since his Palme d’Or-winning performance in social drama The Measure Of A Man at Cannes last May.
Casting is currently underway for the role of Rodin’s tragic collaborator and lover Camille Claudel and his long-suffering, life-long companion Rose Beuret.
The picture will start as Rodin turns 40 and enters one of the most productive periods of his artistic career in which he created works such as The Thinker and The...
- 12/29/2015
- ScreenDaily
This article accompanies the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s dual retrospective of the films of Jacques Rivette and David Lynch and is part of an ongoing review of Rivette’s films for the Notebook, in light of several major re-releases of his work.At first, David Lynch’s most rigid film, the mellifluous Blue Velvet (1986), being paired with Jacques Rivette’s buoyant, fluid 2007 adaptation of Balzac’s La Duchess de Langeais, might seem like a rather unusual way to begin a film series intending to strike up parallels between the two (at least heretofore) unconnected film directors. The swings from love to hate and back again between the lovers in The Duchess of Langeais are matched and counterpointed by the swings of Rivette’s late camera, both balanced and frantic in its restless pursuit of clarification which, of course, it never seems to find. In contrast, Lynch presents Blue Velvet...
- 12/13/2015
- by Christopher Small
- MUBI
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