Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has boarded international rights to “Death Does Not Exist” (“La mort n’existe pas”) which is being showcased in the work-in-progress section at the Annecy Film Festival.
Currently in production, “Death Does Not Exist” is directed by Félix Dufour-Laperrière who previously helmed “Archipel” which won the Annecy Contrechamps Jury Award in 2021, and ‘Ville Neuve’ which had its premiere at Venice Days 2018.
“Death Does Not Exist” takes place after young activists fail an armed attack to overthrow figures of the establishment in their sumptuous villa. Helen freezes and abandons her accomplices. Manon, another
member of her group, returns to haunt her. The film’s voice cast includes Zeneb Blanchet, Karelle Tremblay (“The Nature of Love”), Mattis Savard-Verhoeven, Barbara Ulrich and Irène Dufour.
“’Death Does Not Exist’ deals with difficult subjects – violence, commitment, profound convictions – in a way that exposes their underlying tensions, outbursts, dead ends,” said Félix Dufour-Laperrière,...
Currently in production, “Death Does Not Exist” is directed by Félix Dufour-Laperrière who previously helmed “Archipel” which won the Annecy Contrechamps Jury Award in 2021, and ‘Ville Neuve’ which had its premiere at Venice Days 2018.
“Death Does Not Exist” takes place after young activists fail an armed attack to overthrow figures of the establishment in their sumptuous villa. Helen freezes and abandons her accomplices. Manon, another
member of her group, returns to haunt her. The film’s voice cast includes Zeneb Blanchet, Karelle Tremblay (“The Nature of Love”), Mattis Savard-Verhoeven, Barbara Ulrich and Irène Dufour.
“’Death Does Not Exist’ deals with difficult subjects – violence, commitment, profound convictions – in a way that exposes their underlying tensions, outbursts, dead ends,” said Félix Dufour-Laperrière,...
- 6/10/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Disappointment hung in the air a few days into the 2024 Cannes Film Festival when no main competition films had universally wowed industry and press. But you have to know where to look, which often means going outside the official selection and into sidebars like Un Certain Regard and Directors’ Fortnight in search of gems.
By the end of the festival, though, more than a few stunners had emerged. The competition’s final days brought a series of potentially historic and beloved-on-the-ground Palme contenders: Mohammad Rasolouf’s searing Iranian drama “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” Payal Kapadia’s day-in-the-life Mumbai portrait “All We Imagine as Light,” and Sean Baker’s wild and crazy sex worker odyssey “Anora.”
Elsewhere, movies like Matthew Rankin’s Abbas Kiarostami homage “Universal Language” and Mahdi Fleifel’s “To a Land Unknown,” the only Palestinian movie to play Cannes this year, impressed in Directors’ Fortnight, the...
By the end of the festival, though, more than a few stunners had emerged. The competition’s final days brought a series of potentially historic and beloved-on-the-ground Palme contenders: Mohammad Rasolouf’s searing Iranian drama “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” Payal Kapadia’s day-in-the-life Mumbai portrait “All We Imagine as Light,” and Sean Baker’s wild and crazy sex worker odyssey “Anora.”
Elsewhere, movies like Matthew Rankin’s Abbas Kiarostami homage “Universal Language” and Mahdi Fleifel’s “To a Land Unknown,” the only Palestinian movie to play Cannes this year, impressed in Directors’ Fortnight, the...
- 5/27/2024
- by Ryan Lattanzio and David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Newsflash: Iran has invaded the sleepy Canadian city of Winnipeg. Correction: Iranian cinema has actually invaded Winnipeg. Precision: Two Iranian movies that launched the nation onto the international film scene, Abbas Kiarostami’s Where Is the Friend’s House? (1987) and Jafar Panahi’s The White Balloon (1995), have somehow found their way into the capital of Manitoba.
What exactly they’re doing there is never explained. Nor is it really the point of director Matthew Rankin’s bizarre and enchanting experimental comedy Universal Language, which picked up the first-ever audience award in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight. Starring the director himself alongside a cast of Farsi-speaking locals both young and old, the film is rather hard to describe on paper, but let’s give it a shot.
We’re in snow-covered Winnipeg, which half-resembles the drab, midsized Canadian city, and half looks like a neigborhood somewhere in Tehran — not present-day Tehran, but Tehran circa the 1980s and 90s.
What exactly they’re doing there is never explained. Nor is it really the point of director Matthew Rankin’s bizarre and enchanting experimental comedy Universal Language, which picked up the first-ever audience award in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight. Starring the director himself alongside a cast of Farsi-speaking locals both young and old, the film is rather hard to describe on paper, but let’s give it a shot.
We’re in snow-covered Winnipeg, which half-resembles the drab, midsized Canadian city, and half looks like a neigborhood somewhere in Tehran — not present-day Tehran, but Tehran circa the 1980s and 90s.
- 5/27/2024
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Kodak, which had a momentous 2023 with more than 60 movies shot on film has gotten off to a promising start in 2024 with Luca Guadignino’s “Challengers” and Jane Shoenbrun’s “I Saw the TV Glow, which A24 released wide May 17. Upcoming releases include Jeff Nichols’ “The Bikeriders” and Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu.”
Meanwhile, Kodak premiered 33 movies shot on film at Cannes. These included nine winners, including Sean Baker’s “Anora,” which earned the Palme d’Or prize, Matthew Rankin’s “Universal Language”, which took the first Directors’ Fortnight Audience Award, and “Grand Tour,” which grabbed Best Director for Miguel Gomes. In addition, Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Kinds of Kindness” earned Jesse Plemons Best Performance by an Actor, and “Armand” won the Caméra d’or Prize for director Halfdan Ullmann Tondel.
Also, 16mm film continues to prove its popularity and relevance, with 26 of the on-film titles at the festival choosing it as their capture medium.
Meanwhile, Kodak premiered 33 movies shot on film at Cannes. These included nine winners, including Sean Baker’s “Anora,” which earned the Palme d’Or prize, Matthew Rankin’s “Universal Language”, which took the first Directors’ Fortnight Audience Award, and “Grand Tour,” which grabbed Best Director for Miguel Gomes. In addition, Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Kinds of Kindness” earned Jesse Plemons Best Performance by an Actor, and “Armand” won the Caméra d’or Prize for director Halfdan Ullmann Tondel.
Also, 16mm film continues to prove its popularity and relevance, with 26 of the on-film titles at the festival choosing it as their capture medium.
- 5/27/2024
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
The 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival has now concluded, with Sean Baker’s Anora taking home the Palme d’Or. While our coverage will continue with a few more reviews this week––and far beyond as we provide updates on the journey of these selections––we’ve asked our contributors on the ground to share favorites.
See their picks below, and explore all of our coverage here.
Leonardo Goi (@LeonardoGoi)
1. Grand Tour (Miguel Gomes)
2. All We Imagine As Light (Payal Kapadia)
3. Misericordia (Alain Guiraudie)
4. Anora (Sean Baker)
5. Eephus (Carson Lund)
6. Viet And Nam (Trương Minh Quý)
7. Christmas Eve In Miller’s Point (Tyler Taormina)
8. Black Dog (Guan Hu)
9. Megalopolis (Francis Ford Coppola)
10. Good One (India Donaldson)
Read all of Leonardo’s reviews here.
Luke Hicks (@lou_hicks)
1. Anora (Sean Baker)
2. Caught by the Tides (Jia Zhangke)
3. Oh, Canada (Paul Schrader)
4. Viet and Nam (Trương Minh Quý)
5. The Seed of the Sacred Fig...
See their picks below, and explore all of our coverage here.
Leonardo Goi (@LeonardoGoi)
1. Grand Tour (Miguel Gomes)
2. All We Imagine As Light (Payal Kapadia)
3. Misericordia (Alain Guiraudie)
4. Anora (Sean Baker)
5. Eephus (Carson Lund)
6. Viet And Nam (Trương Minh Quý)
7. Christmas Eve In Miller’s Point (Tyler Taormina)
8. Black Dog (Guan Hu)
9. Megalopolis (Francis Ford Coppola)
10. Good One (India Donaldson)
Read all of Leonardo’s reviews here.
Luke Hicks (@lou_hicks)
1. Anora (Sean Baker)
2. Caught by the Tides (Jia Zhangke)
3. Oh, Canada (Paul Schrader)
4. Viet and Nam (Trương Minh Quý)
5. The Seed of the Sacred Fig...
- 5/27/2024
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
Despite being set in a parallel-universe Winnipeg where the people talk in Farsi and the world around them seems as if it’s been frozen in time since the mid-1980s, the haunted but hopeful “Universal Language” is an unmistakably modern film at heart.
Described by writer-director Matthew Rankin as a piece of “autobiographical hallucination,” this wonderfully deadpan whatsit is the work of a white 43-year-old Canadian man who fell in love with the movies a time when “foreign” cinema was becoming more available to people outside major cultural hubs. He found that Kanoon-style fables like “Where Is the Friend’s House?” and “The White Balloon” spoke to him in a way that few English-language films ever had. That discovery sparked a cross-cultural dialogue that eventually compelled Rankin to visit Tehran in an effort to locate the auteurs who had inspired him and learn why their films had whispered in his ear.
Described by writer-director Matthew Rankin as a piece of “autobiographical hallucination,” this wonderfully deadpan whatsit is the work of a white 43-year-old Canadian man who fell in love with the movies a time when “foreign” cinema was becoming more available to people outside major cultural hubs. He found that Kanoon-style fables like “Where Is the Friend’s House?” and “The White Balloon” spoke to him in a way that few English-language films ever had. That discovery sparked a cross-cultural dialogue that eventually compelled Rankin to visit Tehran in an effort to locate the auteurs who had inspired him and learn why their films had whispered in his ear.
- 5/24/2024
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Der kanadische Regisseur Matthew Rankin ist für sein Drama „Universal Language“ mit dem Publikumspreis der Quinzaine des Cinéastes ausgezeichnet worden, mit dem in diesem Jahr erstmals auf dem Festival de Cannes ein Publikumspreis vergeben wurde.
Publikumspreisgewinner der Quinzaine des Cinéastes: „Universal Language“ von Matthew Rankin (Credit: Quinzaine des Cinéastes)
In diesem Jahr wurde im Rahmen der Quinzaine des Cinéastes der erste Publikumspreis auf dem Festival de Cannes verliehen. Die mit 7.500 Euro dotierte und von der Chantal Akerman Foundation gestiftete Auszeichnung ging an den kanadischen Regisseur Matthew Rankin für sein persisch- und französischsprachiges Drama „Universal Language“.
In seinem Drama verknüpft Rankin die Geschichten mehrerer Charaktere miteinander: die Grundschüler Negin und Nazgol, die im Eis eine höhere Geldsumme finden und versuchen, an sie ran zu kommen, Massoud, der eine Gruppe Touristen durch Winnipeg führt und Matthew, der seinen bedeutungslosen Job in einem Büro der Regierung von Quebec kündigt und sich auf eine...
Publikumspreisgewinner der Quinzaine des Cinéastes: „Universal Language“ von Matthew Rankin (Credit: Quinzaine des Cinéastes)
In diesem Jahr wurde im Rahmen der Quinzaine des Cinéastes der erste Publikumspreis auf dem Festival de Cannes verliehen. Die mit 7.500 Euro dotierte und von der Chantal Akerman Foundation gestiftete Auszeichnung ging an den kanadischen Regisseur Matthew Rankin für sein persisch- und französischsprachiges Drama „Universal Language“.
In seinem Drama verknüpft Rankin die Geschichten mehrerer Charaktere miteinander: die Grundschüler Negin und Nazgol, die im Eis eine höhere Geldsumme finden und versuchen, an sie ran zu kommen, Massoud, der eine Gruppe Touristen durch Winnipeg führt und Matthew, der seinen bedeutungslosen Job in einem Büro der Regierung von Quebec kündigt und sich auf eine...
- 5/24/2024
- by Jochen Müller
- Spot - Media & Film
Matthew Rankin’s Universal Language and late French director Sophie Fillieres’ This Life Of Mine both won prizes in the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight sidebar.
Rankin’s second feature Universal Language took the first-ever Audience Award in the section, which came with a €7,500 cash prize sponsored by the Chantal Akerman Foundation. It is the first audience award across the major Cannes sections, with no audience prizes given in the Official Selection or Critics’ Week sections.
The Persian- and French-language film is a comedy in which various storylines intertwine, including two women trying to retrieve some frozen cash; a tour guide leading...
Rankin’s second feature Universal Language took the first-ever Audience Award in the section, which came with a €7,500 cash prize sponsored by the Chantal Akerman Foundation. It is the first audience award across the major Cannes sections, with no audience prizes given in the Official Selection or Critics’ Week sections.
The Persian- and French-language film is a comedy in which various storylines intertwine, including two women trying to retrieve some frozen cash; a tour guide leading...
- 5/23/2024
- ScreenDaily
Late screenwriter-director Sophie Fillières’ seventh and final feature, “This Life of Mine” was the opening film at this year’s Directors’ Fortnight and today wrapped things up as the France Writers’ Guild’s favorite French-language feature, winning the Sacd Authors’ Favorite Prize.
In the film, Barbie, once a devoted mother and partner, faces the realities of middle age as she turns 55. Following a classic three-act structure, the film advances from comedy to tragedy to epiphany, at times toying with the absurd.
Said Anne Villacèque, Sacd administrator: “This year, we had to decide from a particularly eclectic selection. Choosing between novel and poetry, right arm and left arm, grandiose or more modest films. We chose the film whose heart beat the strongest and continued to move us long after seeing it.
“A daring, delicate, unpredictable film, the culmination of a work full of dissonance and side steps, as its director liked to say,...
In the film, Barbie, once a devoted mother and partner, faces the realities of middle age as she turns 55. Following a classic three-act structure, the film advances from comedy to tragedy to epiphany, at times toying with the absurd.
Said Anne Villacèque, Sacd administrator: “This year, we had to decide from a particularly eclectic selection. Choosing between novel and poetry, right arm and left arm, grandiose or more modest films. We chose the film whose heart beat the strongest and continued to move us long after seeing it.
“A daring, delicate, unpredictable film, the culmination of a work full of dissonance and side steps, as its director liked to say,...
- 5/23/2024
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Chinese writer and director Jing Zou’s feature film project A Girl Unknown has won the top prize at the Next Step initiative of Cannes Critics’ Week, aimed at supporting filmmakers as they make the move from short films to their first feature.
Inspired by the true phenomenon of generations of girls who were abandoned in China as a result of the country’s one-child policy, A Girl Unknown depicts a young Chinese woman from the age of six through to her thirties, living in three different families.
It is billed as an intimate coming-of-age story that explores existential pain, self-discovery, and how one learns to love. The film is produced by Wang Yang at Paris-based Memoria Films, which works between France and China.
Born in 1984, Zou is a Chinese director and writer based out of Shanghai and Los Angeles. She comes from a literature background, but she found her...
Inspired by the true phenomenon of generations of girls who were abandoned in China as a result of the country’s one-child policy, A Girl Unknown depicts a young Chinese woman from the age of six through to her thirties, living in three different families.
It is billed as an intimate coming-of-age story that explores existential pain, self-discovery, and how one learns to love. The film is produced by Wang Yang at Paris-based Memoria Films, which works between France and China.
Born in 1984, Zou is a Chinese director and writer based out of Shanghai and Los Angeles. She comes from a literature background, but she found her...
- 5/22/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has acquired international rights of Alireza Khatami’s “The Things You Kill.” The film is in post-production.
Khatami is already known for Cannes 2023 Un Certain Regard title “Terrestrial Verses” and “Oblivion Verses,” which was awarded best screenplay in Venice Horizons competition 2017 and won the Fipresci Prize.
Le Pacte will release “The Things You Kill” in France.
In the film, Ali, a university professor, is haunted by the suspicious death of his ailing mother, and coerces his enigmatic gardener to execute a cold-blooded act of vengeance. As long-buried family secrets resurface, the police tighten their noose, and doubts begin eroding his conscience, Ali has no choice but to look into the abyss of his own soul.
The star-studded Turkish cast includes Ekin Koç (“Burning Days”), Erkan Kolçakköstendil, Hazar Ergüçlü (“The Wild Pear Tree”) and Ercan Kesal (“Once Upon a Time in Anatolia”).
Khatami said: “‘The Things...
Khatami is already known for Cannes 2023 Un Certain Regard title “Terrestrial Verses” and “Oblivion Verses,” which was awarded best screenplay in Venice Horizons competition 2017 and won the Fipresci Prize.
Le Pacte will release “The Things You Kill” in France.
In the film, Ali, a university professor, is haunted by the suspicious death of his ailing mother, and coerces his enigmatic gardener to execute a cold-blooded act of vengeance. As long-buried family secrets resurface, the police tighten their noose, and doubts begin eroding his conscience, Ali has no choice but to look into the abyss of his own soul.
The star-studded Turkish cast includes Ekin Koç (“Burning Days”), Erkan Kolçakköstendil, Hazar Ergüçlü (“The Wild Pear Tree”) and Ercan Kesal (“Once Upon a Time in Anatolia”).
Khatami said: “‘The Things...
- 5/14/2024
- by Leo Barraclough and Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Following the main lineups for the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, a handful of sidebar slates have been unveiled, featuring Directors Fortnight, Critics Week, and Acid. Notable highlights include the Sundance favorite Good One (read our review here), Tyler Taormina’s Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point starring Michael Cera, the first film in over a decade from James White director Josh Mond, the Christopher Abbott-led It Doesn’t Matter, Eat the Night from Jessica Forever duo Caroline Poggi & Jonathan Vinel, Carson Lund’s Eephus, Patricia Mazuy’s Visting Hours, The Hyperboreans, a new film from The Wolf House directors Cristobal Leo & Joaquin Cocina, Matthew Rankin’s The Twentieth Century follow-up Universal Language, and more.
Check out the lineups below.
Cannes Directors Fortnight
Feature films:
“Ma Vie Ma Gueule,” Sophie Fillieres (France) – opening film
“A Son Image,” Thierry de Peretti (France)
“Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point,” Tyler Taormina (USA)
“Desert of Namibia,...
Check out the lineups below.
Cannes Directors Fortnight
Feature films:
“Ma Vie Ma Gueule,” Sophie Fillieres (France) – opening film
“A Son Image,” Thierry de Peretti (France)
“Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point,” Tyler Taormina (USA)
“Desert of Namibia,...
- 4/16/2024
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Exclusive: Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever (Bff) has acquired international sales rights for Canadian director Matthew Rankin’s Universal Language.
The intriguing Persian and French-language drama is among 21 feature films announced as being selected for the 2024 edition of Cannes parallel section Directors’ Fortnight on Tuesday.
In a first key distribution deal for the movie, Oscilloscope Laboratories have taken U.S. rights. Quebecois distributor Maison4Tiers will release in Canada.
Universal Language is Rankin’s second feature after The Twentieth Century, on which Bff also handled international sales. The surrealist dark comedy won the Berlinale Fipresci Award in 2020 and Best Canadian debut award in TIFF Midnight Madness 2019.
Rankin has also made multiple short films including The Tesla World Light, which premiered in Cannes Critic’s Week 2017.
Going under the Persian title of Avaz boughalamoune (Lovesong for a Turkey), Rankin’s new film Universal Language is described as taking place “somewhere between...
The intriguing Persian and French-language drama is among 21 feature films announced as being selected for the 2024 edition of Cannes parallel section Directors’ Fortnight on Tuesday.
In a first key distribution deal for the movie, Oscilloscope Laboratories have taken U.S. rights. Quebecois distributor Maison4Tiers will release in Canada.
Universal Language is Rankin’s second feature after The Twentieth Century, on which Bff also handled international sales. The surrealist dark comedy won the Berlinale Fipresci Award in 2020 and Best Canadian debut award in TIFF Midnight Madness 2019.
Rankin has also made multiple short films including The Tesla World Light, which premiered in Cannes Critic’s Week 2017.
Going under the Persian title of Avaz boughalamoune (Lovesong for a Turkey), Rankin’s new film Universal Language is described as taking place “somewhere between...
- 4/16/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
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