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Exclusive: Leviathan Productions has acquired the remake rights to L’Homme de la Cave (The Man in the Basement), the French psychological thriller from director Philippe Le Guay, which was released just last year.

Inspired by a true story, the film is about a Jewish couple who sell their basement to a history professor, only to discover his secret life as an antisemitic conspiracy theorist. As the couple struggles to unwind the sale, the professor starts to indoctrinate their impressionable teenaged daughter.

Marc Weitzmann, Le Guay and Gilles Taurand wrote the script for the original film, with Anne Dominique Toussaint producing. Rights were acquired from Tournellovision and the remake will be produced by Ben Cosgrove, Frederic Golchan and Neal Israel.

Founded by veteran film producer Cosgrove and bestselling author Josh Foer, Leviathan Productions is an independent production company focused on acquiring and developing mass-market films and television content based on Jewish history,...

The St. Louis Jewish Film Festival has begun is 29th season and hosted a special opening night celebration on Sunday, April 7 at B&b Theater in Creve Coeur.

“On October 7, 2023, Hamas’s brutal terrorist attack caused the evacuation and cessation of all activities at Sapir College in Sderot, Israel—home to its premier film program. Sapir students were just weeks away from presenting their final film projects at the annual film festival at Cinema South. In solidarity with Israel, and to specifically draw attention to the Israeli filmmakers coming out of Sapir College, the St. Louis Jewish Film Festival featured five students’ films. Attached to each one is a one-of-a-kind story about the directors, actors, and other individuals who participated in the making of the film whose lives have been turned upside down in the days since October 7, 2023. With Israel fighting for its very existence, these films can be viewed...

French mini-major Pathé has acquired Les Films des Tournelles, the production company founded by Anne-Dominique Toussaint whose recent credits include Louis Garrel’s Cesar-winning “The Innocent.”

Besides Garrel, Les Films des Tournelles has worked with a flurry of auteurs on some of their most successful films, including Riad Sattouf’s “The French Kissers,” which won the Cesar for best first film in 2010; Nadine Labaki’s “Caramel”; Emanuele Crialese’s “Respiro”; Valeria Golino’s “Miele”; and Mona Achache’s “The Hedgehog.” “The Innocent” won two prizes at last year’s Cesar Awards and screened at Cannes on the 75th anniversary of the festival.

Toussaint has also worked with Philippe Le Guay and Emmanuel Carrère. Toussaint, whose career spans over three decades, has produced 27 films so far, including iconic French movies such as Martine Dugowson’s “Mina Tannenbaum.”

As part of the deal, Pathé is acquiring Films des Tournelles’ full library while...

Film starring Sami Bouajila and Julie Gayet started shooting this week in Northern France.

Snd, the film arm of French broadcaster M6, has teamed with prolific French production company Empreinte Cinema for Juan Carlos Medina’s upcoming race-against-the-clock cop thriller The Chase (Abime) starring Sami Bouajila and Julie Gayet.

Snd has international rights for the film and will kick off sales at AFM for the murder mystery meets action film. Snd and Empreinte produce with Paris-based Once Upon A Time on board as co-producer.

The Chase stars Bouajila as a police officer who failed to find the murderer of a young girl 11 years earlier.

Neon and Topic Studios present writer/director Brandon Cronenberg’s Infinity Pool at 1,835 theaters in a lively specialty weekend sandwiched between a new crop of Sundance films and noteworthy expansions in the glow of Oscar nominations.

Infinity Pool, staring Alexander Skarsgard, Mia Goth, Cleopatra Coleman and Jalil Lespert, had a splashy debut last weekend in the Midnight section of just wrapped Sundance Film Festival. Skarsgard and Coleman are enjoying a perfect vacation at a beach getaway in the fictional state of Li Tolqa — until another tourist couple convinces them to venture outside the resort grounds, where they find themselves in a culture filled with violence, hedonism and horror. Deadline review here.

A24 presents Belgian director Lukas Dhont’s Close, just nominated for Best International Feature and winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. The drama follows Leo (Eden Dambrine) and Remi (Gustav De Waele), two thirteen-year-old...

French actress Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu plays chic French boss Sylvie Grateau, the nemesis of Emily Cooper (Lily Collins), in Netflix’s ‘Emily in Paris’.

With sophisticated outfits and a Machiavellian management style, she nearly steals the show.

While ‘Emily in Paris’ had propelled her to global fame, Leroy-Beaulieu is a veteran of French films and TV, having worked with renowned filmmakers such as Roger Vadim, Coline Serreau and Philippe Le Guay as well as Andrzej Wajda, James Ivory and Robert Altman, reports ‘Variety’.

The actress revealed that she had a blast playing her character’s dark sides.

Philippine told ‘Variety’ that her character is more vulnerable than she is mean.

“It’s like Darren. When you meet him for the first time, he’s very cold, but in fact he’s like many people who are highly sensitive: He protects himself. In a way, Darren and Sylvie have a lot in common.

Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu plays chic French boss Sylvie Grateau, the nemesis of Emily Cooper (Lily Collins), in Netflix’s “Emily in Paris.” With sophisticated outfits and a Machiavellian management style, she nearly steals the show. In real life, Leroy-Beaulieu emanates the same strength and determination as Sylvie, but she can usually be found on her scooter zipping around Paris in biker boots (albeit chic ones). While “Emily in Paris” has propelled her to global fame, Leroy-Beaulieu is a veteran of French film and TV, having worked with renowned filmmakers such as Roger Vadim, Coline Serreau and Philippe Le Guay, as well as Andrzej Wajda, James Ivory and Robert Altman. Audiences also know her from another hit Netflix series, “Call My Agent!,” in which she had a recurring role. The actor is turning 60 next year, but she’s never been busier or more popular.

How did you land this part in “Emily in Paris”?

One day,...

The Man in the Basement Trailer — Philippe Le Guay‘s The Man in the Basement / L’homme de la cave (2021) movie trailer has been released by Greenwich Entertainment. The Man in the Basement trailer stars François Cluzet, Jérémie Renier, Bérénice Bejo, Jonathan Zaccaï, Victoria Eber, and Denise Chalem. Crew Philippe Le Guay, Gilles Taurand, and [...]

Continue reading: The Man In The Basement (2021) Movie Trailer: A Couple’s Life is Turned Upside Down by a New Renter...

"What scares you? The truth." Greenwich Entertainment has debuted a new official US trailer for The Man in the Basement, an eerie French thriller from filmmaker Philippe Le Guay. This is finally opening in the US in January 2023. It first premiered in France in 2021 and has taken a few years to make its way across the Atlantic. After a Jewish couple (Renier and Bejo) sell their basement to a former history teacher, they discover his secret life as an anti-Semitic conspiracy theorist. As the couple struggles to rescind the sale and deal with him, the buyer befriends their naive teenage daughter. The intense French thriller stars François Cluzet, Jérémie Renier, Bérénice Bejo, Jonathan Zaccaï, Victoria Eber, & Denise Chalem. This looks so frustrating! The tension in this trailer gets me so worked up I'm almost afraid to watch just because it will be unbearable. This asshole! How dare he get away...

Greenwich Entertainment has taken U.S. distribution rights to Man in the Basement directed by Philippe Le Guay (The Women on the 6th Floor) and starring François Cluzet (The Intouchables), Jérémie Renier (Summer Hours), and Bérénice Bejo (The Artist). Last month, the film won the top prize at the U.K. Jewish Film Festival.

Greenwich has set a U.S. theatrical release for January 27, timed to National Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 28.

Based on a true story of friends of co-writer and director Le Guay, a happily married Parisian couple (Renier and Bejo) sell a basement storage area in their apartment building to a seemingly ordinary man (Cluzet) to keep his archives.

It soon becomes apparent that this man has taken up permanent residence in the basement, while he is revealed to be a notorious Holocaust denier and [fired] former history teacher. The couple desperately try to cancel the sale to...

Exclusive: French-Italian actress Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu has signed with David Unger’s Artist International Group for management.

Leroy-Beaulieu currently stars alongside Lily Collins in Darren Star’s hit Netflix series Emily in Paris, which returns for its third season on December 21. The actress there plays Sylvie, the fierce French boss of Emily (Collins) at the Parisian marketing firm, Savoir. She is otherwise best known for appearing in three seasons of the acclaimed comedy-drama Call My Agent! from Netflix and France 2.

Leroy-Beaulieu launched her career on the stage before making her screen debut in Roger Vadim’s Surprise Party. She then went on to star in the Academy Award-nominated Three Men and a Cradle, for which she received a César Award nomination for Most Promising Actress. Other notable credits include starring in Andrzej Wajda’s Les Possédés, Philippe Le Guay’s Les Deux Fragonard, and Robert Enrico’s and Richard T. Heffron’s La Révolution Française.

Philippe Le Guay’s “The Man in the Basement” scooped the top prize at the U.K. Jewish Film Festival on Sunday evening.

The 2021 film, which stars François Cluzet, Jérémie Renier and Bérénice Bejo, was awarded the prize for best film.

Runner-up “Karaoke,” from director Moshe Rosenthal, which had opened the festival earlier this month, was given a special mention.

The best film winner was selected by a jury comprised of “Made of Honor” director Paul Weiland, Kefi Chadwick, Liraz Chamami, producer Dominique Green, Sharon Levi and Michael Samuels.

“The jury was impressed by this tense thriller, with its strong performances and direction, and bristling with symbolism that intelligently explores France’s hidden history and contemporary issues around antisemitism,” they said in a statement. “‘The Man in the Basement’ confronts Jewish identity, Holocaust denial and attitudes to France’s Jewish minority, but yet the film still works effectively as compelling and suspenseful storytelling.

They were producers on Sian Heder’s Oscar best-picture winner ‘Coda’

Need to know: Co-CEOs Philippe Rousselet and Fabrice Gianfermi are currently flying high as the producers of Sian Heder’s Oscar best-picture winner Coda. They were the first European producers to achieve this feat since Thomas Langmann with The Artist in 2011. Paris-born Rousselet, who has had a foot on both sides of the Atlantic since early in his career, created the group in the early 1990s. He was joined by Gianfermi in 2000. It produces French-­language films under the banners of Vendôme Films and subsidiaries Jerico Films and Prelude,...

The words “War of the Roses” take on a lighter meaning in “The Rose Maker,” a sweet, gently scented French diversion that is likely to teach you far more than you already knew about hybridizing flowers, even if it doesn’t have a whole lot else to say. Following veteran rose farmer Eve Vernet as she attempts to keep her family business afloat in the face of soulless corporate competition — even if it entails a little botanical skulduggery — Pierre Pinaud’s short but unhurried film benefits immensely from the warmly flinty presence of Catherine Frot (“Marguerite”) in the lead, lending a sense of purpose and personality to a character without much color on the page.

Outside her performance, “The Rose Maker” is short on texture and shading, except when it comes to the spectacular multi-hued roses bred by Eve, and caressed by Dp Guillaume Deffontaines’ camera with dewy reverence. Pinaud...

The Rose Maker (La fine fleur) Music Box Films Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net, linked from Rotten Tomatoes by Harvey Karten Director: Pierre Pinaud Screenwriters: Fadette Drouard, Blandine Jet, Philippe Le Guay, Pierre Pinaud Cast: Catherine Frot, Manel Foulgoc, Fatsah Bouyahmed, Olivia Côte, Marie Petiot, Vincent Dedienne Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 3/10/21 Opens: April […]

The post The Rose Maker Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

"Promise us you won't talk to him." Madman Films in Australia has unveiled an official trailer for The Man in the Basement, an eerie French thriller from filmmaker Philippe Le Guay. It already opened in France this fall, and will be out in 2022 with English subtitles for those intrigued. Yes indeed, this is about a man in a basement. A couple in Paris decide to sell a basement in their building. A very ordinary, nondescript man, Mr Fonzic, shows up to buy it. Nothing unusual, until he moves into the cellar and makes it his permanent residence. But soon they discover that this man who bought it has a troubled past and the couple's life is turned upside down. It stars François Cluzet, Jérémie Renier, Bérénice Bejo, Jonathan Zaccaï, Victoria Eber, and Denise Chalem. This looks quite creepy & unsettling in the best of ways - a guy who doesn't seem threatening is the ultimate manipulator,...

About 100 celebrated French filmmakers warn against a new media chronology that would be too favourable to streaming platforms. Jacques Audiard, Arnaud Desplechin, Claire Denis, Olivier Assayas, Michel Hazanavicius, Laurent Cantet, Stéphane Brizé, Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano, Robert Guédiguian, Emmanuel Mouret, Michel Ocelot, Agnès Jaoui, Pierre Salvadori, Cédric Klapisch, Catherine Corsini, Philippe Faucon, Rachid Bouchareb, Emmanuel Finkiel, Claire Simon, Philippe Lioret, Philippe Le Guay, Martin Provost, Nicolas Philibert, Bruno Podalydès, etc. In an open letter published today in the daily newspaper Le Monde, a very large number of some of the most prestigious French filmmakers add their voices to the debate, just as the 31 March deadline for the interprofessional negotiation regarding the reform of France’s media chronology rears its head. If no agreement is reached, then it is the government that will decide on this reform, which concerns the timing and rhythm of films’ screening windows across various...

Playtime has acquired international sales rights to Philippe Le Guay’s “The Man From the Basement,” a Paris-set thriller produced by Anne-Dominique Toussaint’s Les Films des Tournelles.

Now in post, the film shot during the lockdown on location in Paris, with a stellar cast including François Cluzet, Jérémie Renier (“Slalom”), Bérénice Bejo and Jonathan Zaccaï (“The Bureau”).

“The Man From The Basement” was written by Le Guay, Gilles Taurand, the critically acclaimed screenwriter of “Wild Reeds” and “Farewell, My Queen,” and Marc Weitzmann, a French journalist and novelist.

The thought-provoking thriller revolves around a Parisian couple who decide to sell an unsanitary basement in their building. A seemingly ordinary man, Mr. Fonzic, shows up to buy it and makes it his permanent residence. But slowly, Mr. Fonzic becomes a threat to the family as he turns out be a hateful man spreading anti-semitic lies and exerting a perverted influence...

Anne-Dominique Toussaint, a Belgian-born revered yet discreet film producer based in Paris, has uncovered and championed many promising filmmakers through her company Les Films des Tournelles. And the best is yet to come.

Since launching her company 32 years ago, Toussaint, who is known for her spot-on artistic taste and elegant demeanor, has nurtured long-term relationships with talent such as Nadine Labaki (“Caramel”), Riad Sattouf (“The French Kissers”), Louis Garrel (“Les deux amis”) and Philippe Le Guay (“The Cost of Living”). She produced their debuts and kept up with them, giving them the necessary freedom to deliver original movies that found an international audience.

Always on the lookout for stimulating challenges, Toussaint is now getting ready to produce the feature debut of one of France’s best-known actors, Emmanuelle Devos (“Read My Lips”).

Devos’ project “On the Road Again” is an ambitious 1913-set movie headlined by two female protagonists, which will be played by Anais Demoustier,...

Screenwriter-playwright Christopher Hampton, who won an Oscar for “Dangerous Liaisons” and was Oscar nominated for “Atonement,” has penned a screen version of his one-woman play “A German Life,” about the life of Brunhilde Pomsel, the infamous secretary of Nazi Joseph Goebbels. Maggie Smith is set to reprise the role she played to great acclaim at The Bridge Theatre in London’s West End, with leading stage and opera helmer Jonathan Kent to make his feature film debut.

“A German Life” is based on a series of interviews that Pomsel gave when she was 103. The plan was to take the play to Broadway, which was curtailed by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.

“What with Covid, Maggie decided that she didn’t really want to go back and do it again on stage, which was a great shame because it meant that an enormous number of people hadn’t seen it and her great performance,...

Bérénice Béjo, Jérémie Rénier, François Cluzet and Jonathan Zaccaï star. Produced by Les Films des Tournelles, sold internationally by Playtime. After beginning on 19 October, filming on L'homme de la cave by Philippe Le Guay is now entering the final stretch in Paris. This is the 10th feature from the director, after The Women on the 6th Floor, Cycling With Moliere and Florida (Piazza Grande at Locarno in 2015), among other titles.The cast includes Bérénice Béjo, Belgian actor Jérémie...

Italy’s Il Cinema Ritrovato Festival, which is dedicated to cinematic treasures of the past, last week wrapped its 33rd edition with a record-breaking turnout. Long a summer fixture for vintage film geeks and distributors it also draws prominent contemporary cinema personalities. This year these included Academy president John Bailey, Francis Ford Coppola, Nicolas Winding Refn, Jane Campion, Thierry Fremaux, and Philippe Le Guay. The fest is the brainchild of Gianluca Farinelli, also chief of the Bologna Film Archives and its film restoration lab known globally as a prime film preservation entity. Farinelli spoke to Variety about the fest’s easy co-existence with his friend Thierry Fremaux’s similar but younger Lumière Festival in Lyon, how they both drive this market segment, and singled out some gems of this edition starting from the world’s first film with a gay narrative. Excerpts.

What makes Il Cinema Ritrovato different from the Lumière fest in Lyon?...

Paris-based sales outfit Charades has boarded Pierre Pinaud’s sophomore feature “The Rose Maker,” a comedy with French star Catherine Frot (“The Midwife”), along with “Africa Mia,” a documentary about the birth of Afro-Cuban music, as well as the U.K. drama “Lynn + Lucy.”

Pinaud will be directing “The Rose Maker” with the popular French helmer Philippe Le Guay, whose credits include the critically acclaimed romantic comedy “The Women on the 6th Floor.”

Penned by Pinaud and Fadette Drouard, the film is a social comedy starring Frot as Eve, a childless woman who has isolated herself from others and is a famous rose maker on the verge on bankruptcy. In a desperate attempt to rescue her business, she hires Serge, Nadège and Fred, three lame ducks enrolled in a back-to-work program who do not have any horticulture skills, and unexpectedly finds out that nurturing others is even more rewarding than creating flowers.

‘Creed II’ (Photo: Warner Bros).

MGM/Warner Bros’ Creed sequel and Universal/Illumination’s The Grinch understandably didn’t pack the punch of their stellar Us debuts in Australian cinemas last weekend – but the former opened far better than the original and the latter is positioned to trade strongly as school holidays approach.

Mks Retail’s science-fiction thriller 2.0. attracted plenty of Bollywood fans but it will need to make a motza given the reported budget of ₹543 crore ($A106 million).

Among the limited releases, Palace’s Normandy Nude and Transmission’s Lean on Pete struggled and Universal’s zany comedy Sorry to Bother You resonated strongly on just four screens.

Louis Theroux admirers turned up for Sharmill Films’ alternate content release Love Without Limits at upscale venues such as Cinema Nova but in lesser numbers at other locations.

The top 20 titles harvested $14.8 million, virtually flat with the previous weekend, according to Numero.

Sameh Zoabi’s Tel Aviv On Fire wins top prize.

The 34th Haifa International Film Festival (September 22-October 1) came to a close with Sameh Zoabi’s Tel Aviv On Fire winning the Haifa Cultural Fund Award for the Best Feature Film in the Israeli feature competition. It comes with a $27,000 prize.

Zoabi’s third feature, a comic take on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, made its debut at Venice Orizzonti strand.

This year’s jury comprised Julie Schlez, Philippe Le Guay, Salwa Nakkara, Yaron Scharf, Jordi Rediu

The full list of winners are below.

Best Israeli film

Tel Aviv on Fire (dir.

Eric Barbier’s “Promise at Dawn” will headline the 2018 Colcoa French Film Festival on April 23, the Franco-American Cultural Fund announced Tuesday.

“Promise at Dawn” is an adaptation of French author Romain Gary’s autobiography that stars Pierre Niney and Charlotte Gainsbourg. The film will kick off the screenings of 37 new features and documentaries competing for the Colcoa Cinema Awards at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles. The event will present a record total of 86 films, TV shows, digital series, and virtual reality programs, 75 of which will be considered for the Colcoa awards throughout the week’s festivities, which will culminate on May 1.

Colcoa executive producer and artistic director Francois Truffart also announced that this year’s festival will set aside a day exclusively for screening first films made by female writers and directors. The day, titled “Focus on a Filmmaker Day,” will honor writer, director, and actor Melanie...

For a film that is technically a French take on The Full Monty and Calendar Girls set in rural Normandy — Calvados Girls, anyone? — Normandie nue is surprisingly tame. But an even bigger surprise is the fact that the command of tone of popular writer-director Philippe Le Guay, who directed the hits Service Entrance (aka The Women on the 6th Floor) and Cycling With Moliere, is wobbly throughout, awkwardly oscillating between gritty and glossy and frequently occupying the rather vague middle ground where dire sociopolitical tract and crowd-pleasing comedy supposedly intersect. That said, a sprawling and motley cast that includes...

In typical dandy-esque pose: Jean Rochefort who, besides acting, harboured a life-long passion for equestrian pursuits. Photo: Unifrance Veteran French actor Jean Rochefort who only two years ago with his last screen appearance in Floride by Philippe Le Guay, received an honorary César (French Oscar), has died in Paris at the age of 87.

In Floride, he played an octogenarian former industrialist who is suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease. In one interview about the film in which she shared the bill with Sandrine Kiberlain, he declared that he could sense his own demise on the horizon. “There are moments when I would be happy for it to happen … the body asks for it and some times the head as well. But I don’t want to cause sorrow to others,” he was quoted as saying.

In another quote on the subject he opined: “I don’t want to snuff it right...

City of Lights: City of Angeles. The largest French film festival in the world and one of the largest festivals in L.A.!

Colcoa French Film Festival, “9 Days of Premieres in Hollywood” takes place April 24 to May 2 in the prestigious theaters of the Directors Guild of America on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood (3 theaters (600, 160 and 37 seats), a 210 capacity lounge and a 1,500 capacity lobby).

Colcoa is the acronym of “City of Light, City of Angels” the original name of an event celebrating relationships between filmmakers from two capital cities of cinema. In 2015, the festival’s name was officially changed to Colcoa French Film Festival. Colcoa was founded in 1997 by The Franco-American Cultural Fund, a unique collaborative effort of the Directors Guild of America, the Motion Picture Association, the Writers Guild of America West, and France’s Society of Authors Composers and Publishers of Music (Sacem). Colcoa is also supported by l’Association...

The first trailer for director Jean-Paul Rappeneau premiered as part of the Toronto International Film festival line-up announcement, showing off the latest film from star Mathieu Amalric (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The Grand Budapest Hotel).

The film is directed by Rappeneau from a script by himself, Philippe Le Guay, and Julien Rappeneau. The film stars Amalric, Marine Vacth, and Gilles Lellouche.

According to the festival’s website, Families is a “rollicking and romantic country-house farce from lauded director Jean-Paul Rappeneau (Cyrano de Bergerac, The Horseman on the Roof).”

The film is Rappeneau’s first since 2003’s Bon Voyage and 1995’s The Horseman on the Roof. It is set to premiere as part of the special presentations portion of the festival. Find the full line-up for the Toronto International Film Festival here.

The post Tiff ’15: ‘Families’ trailer shows a rom-com farce for a ‘Grand Budapest Hotel’ star appeared first on Sound On Sight.

Hong Sang-soo's Right Now, Wrong Then.The lineup for the 2015 festival has been revealed, including new films by Hong Sang-soo, Andrzej Zulawski, Chantal Akerman, Athina Rachel Tsangari, and others, alongside retrospectives and tributes dedicated to Sam Peckinpah, Michael Cimino, Bulle Ogier, and much more.Piazza GRANDERicki and the Flash (Jonathan Demme, USA)La belle saison (Catherine Corsini, France)Le dernier passage (Pascal Magontier, France)Der staat gegen Fritz Bauer (Lars Kraume, Germany)Southpaw (Antoine Fuqua, USA)Trainwreck (Judd Apatow, USA)Jack (Elisabeth Scharang, Austria)Floride (Philippe Le Guay, France)The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino, UK/USA)Erlkönig (Georges Schwizgebel, Switzerland)Guibord s'en va-t-en guerre (Philippe Falardeau, Canada)Bombay Velvet (Anurag Kashyap, India)Pastorale cilentana (Mario Martone, Italy)La vanite (Lionel Baier, Switzerland/France)The Laundryman (Lee Chung, Taiwan)Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, USA) I pugni ni tasca (Marco Bellocchio, Italy)Heliopolis (Sérgio Machado, Brazil)Amnesia (Barbet Schroeder,...

World premieres for new films by Athina Rachel Tsangari, Hong Sangsoo, Ben Rivers; Southpaw, Trainwreck among Piazza Grande titles.

The 68th Locarno Film Festival (August 5-15) will open with Jonathan Demme’s musical comedy-drama Ricki And The Flash, in which Meryl Streep stars as a musician who tries to make things right with her family after giving up everything to pursue her dream of rock-and-roll stardom.

Written by Diablo Cody, the film gets a Piazza Grande berth alongside Judd Apatow’s Trainwreck, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s Me And Earl And The Dying Girl, Catherine Corsini’s La Belle Saison and Antoine Fuqua’s Southpaw.

Also playing is Michael Cimino’s The Deer Hunter. Cimino is being honoured with a Pardo D’onore Swisscom and will be taking part in an onstage conversation.

14 of the 18 films competing in the festival’s International Competition section for the Golden Leopard Award are world premieres including Andrzej Zulawski’s Cosmos, Ben Rivers’ The Sky...

Catherine Deneuve: César Award Besst Actress Record-Tier (photo: Catherine Deneuve in 'In the Courtyard / Dans la cour') (See previous post: "Kristen Stewart and Catherine Deneuve Make César Award History.") Catherine Deneuve has received 12 Best Actress César nominations to date. Deneuve's nods were for the following movies (year of film's release): Pierre Salvadori's In the Courtyard / Dans la Cour (2014). Emmanuelle Bercot's On My Way / Elle s'en va (2013). François Ozon's Potiche (2010). Nicole Garcia's Place Vendôme (1998). André Téchiné's Thieves / Les voleurs (1996). André Téchiné's My Favorite Season / Ma saison préférée (1993). Régis Wargnier's Indochine (1992). François Dupeyron's Strange Place for an Encounter / Drôle d'endroit pour une rencontre (1988). Jean-Pierre Mocky's Agent trouble (1987). André Téchiné's Hotel America / Hôtel des Amériques (1981). François Truffaut's The Last Metro / Le dernier métro (1980). Jean-Paul Rappeneau's Le sauvage (1975). Additionally, Catherine Deneuve was nominated in the Best Supporting Actress category...

They didn’t make our final Top 100 cut, but here is a list of foreign film titles that are on our radar for 2015. We being with…

200. Remember – Dir. Atom Egoyan

199. Suffragette – Dir. Sarah Gavron

198. Kills on Wheels – Dir. Attila Till

197. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend – Dir. Yuen Woo-ping

196. The Go-Between – Dir. Pete Travis

195. Peur de Rien Dir. Danielle Arbid

194. Regular Boy – Dir. Michele Civetta

193. Flaskepost – Dir. Nikolaj Arcel

192. The Lady in the Van – Dir. Nicolas Hytner

191. Zoom – Dir. Pedro Morelli

190. Away from the Sea – Dir. Imanol Uribe

189. Tulip Fever – Dir. Justin Chadwick

188. Ulrike’s Brain – Dir. Bruce La Bruce

187. Tsunami – Dir. Jacques Deschamps

186. And Your Sister? – Dir. Marion Vernoux

185. There Was Las Vegas – Dir. Alexandre Castas

184. Prejudice – Dir. Antoine Cuypers

183. Stepne – Dir. Maryna Vroda

182. Irreplaceable – Dir. Olivier Masset-Depasse

181. Histoire de Judas Iscariot – Dir. Rabah Ameur-Zaimeche

180. The First, the Last – Dir. Bouli Lanners

179. Selection Officielle – Dir. Jacques Richard

178. Desierto – Dir.

Heartwarming, witty and with intelligence in spades, Philippe Le Guay's Cycling with Molière (2013) is a likable French comedy about two arrogant yet affable middle-aged men is like a French version of BBC's The Trip. To celebrate the eagerly anticipated home entertainment release of Cycling with Molière this coming Monday (25 August), we've kindly been provided with Three DVD copies of Le Guay's Gallic gallivant to give away to our francophile readership, courtesy of the hardworking cineastes at independent and world cinema specialists Artificial Eye. This is an exclusive competition for our Facebook and Twitter fans, so if you haven't already, 'Like' us at facebook.com/CineVueUK or follow us @CineVue before answering the question below.

★★☆☆☆Jean-Baptiste Poquelin - or Molière to use his nom de plume - created comedy out of farce and underlaid a fierce anger that railed against the church and moral hypocrisy. In Philippe Le Guay's Cycling with Molière (2013), we have what François Truffaut called the cinéma de papa; a bland concoction that peters out from a premise that promises so much but ultimately leaves its audience disappointed. It appears at first glance that all the elements conjoining within Cycling with Molière would edge us towards an experience that alternates between the highs and lows of culture while focusing on the foibles of the original odd couple: Alceste and Philinte, from Molière's The Misanthrope.

Each year, devoted cinephiles around the world are treated to an array of filmic adaptations of popular novels, plays, or tales merely inspired by real events. It’s by no means a bad thing – but often an audience can crave an original, unique idea. Well it seems that the French are subverting the notion intriguingly, as following on from Roman Polanski’s Venus in Fur, which studied and explored Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s eponymous novel, comes Philippe Le Guay’s Cycling With Moliére. In this instance the source material is The Misanthrope, yet rather than merely adapt the play, instead the characters in the film sub-consciously reflect the characters within it, all while deconstructing the original text, in what is effectively an adaptation within an adaptation.

The picture tells the story of an actor named Gauthier Valence (Lambert Wilson), who travels to meet his old friend, and colleague, Serge Tanneaur...

Upcoming comedy drama, directed by Philippe Le Guay [pictured], sells to Canada and Benelux, with further deals expected in the coming days.

French director Philippe Le Guay’s upcoming comedy drama Florida, starring Jean Rochefort as an elderly man with memory problems who jets off to the Us to see his youngest daughter, is proving a hit with buyers.

Launched by Gaumont just prior to Cannes, the film has sold to Canada (Metropole Films Distribution) and Benelux (Victory) and Italy (Acadamy Two), and deals in Switzerland and Germany are expected to be sealed in the coming days.

“It’s a tender drama comedy about family relationships and old age… Rochefort’s character Claude is starting to lose his memory, but sometimes he also pretends he’s forgotten something because it suits him,” said Gaumont’s deputy sales chief Yohann Comte.

Sandrine Kiberlain, who won the César for best actress this year for her performance in 9-Month Stretch, plays...

These days, the number of indies premiering on a weekly basis can be both thrilling and intimidating. To help sift through the number of new releases (independent or otherwise), we've created the Weekly Film Guide. Below you'll find basic plot, personnel and cinema information for today's fresh offerings. Happy viewing! Here are the films opening theatrically in the U.S. today, Friday, April 25th. (Synopses provided by distributor unless listed otherwise.) Bicycling with Moliere Director: Philippe Le Guay Cast: Fabrice Luchini, Lambert Wilson, Maya Sansa, Camille Japy, Annie Mercier Synopsis: "A kind of theatrical odd couple, Serge Tanneur (Fabrice Luchini) and Gauthier Valence (Lambert Wilson) aren’t really friends but they’re willing to pretend if it’s to their mutual advantage. And perhaps it is: Gauthier is the star of a hit TV show, but he has an itch to stage Moliere’s Le Misanthrope, and he wants to persuade Serge,...

Strand Releasing has acquired all U.S. rights to Philippe Le Guay's comedy, "Bicycling with Moliere." The film stars Fabrice Luchini as renowned actor Serge Tanneur, who one day chooses to live his life in solitude and becomes a hermit on a small coastal town in France. He's then pursued by a well-loved TV actor Gauthier Valence (played by Lambert Wilson), who wants to recruit Tanneur for a role in Moliere's classic, "The Misanthrope." Strand Releasing previously handled Le Guay's "The Women On The Sixth Floor" that also starred Luchini in the lead role.

Strand Releasing has acquired all Us rights to Philippe Le Guay’s comedy Cycling With Moliere.

Fabrice Luchini plays renowned actor Serge Tanneur who chooses to become a hermit in a small coastal town in France and is pursued for a role in Moliere’s classic play The Misanthrope.

Strand plans a spring 2014 release on the film, which also stars Lambert Wilson, Maya Sansa, Camille Japy and Ged Marlon.

Jon Gerrans of Strand Releasing brokered the deal with Saya Huddleston of Pathe International.

Strand Releasing previously released Le Guay’s comedy The Women On The Sixth Floor which also starred Luchini.

Col*Coa is winding down, but you can still catch a few stellar films and see the award winners for free Monday, April 22, 2013.

Award Screenings at 6:00 pm: The evening will start with the rerun of two awarded films in the Renoir and Truffaut Theaters at the DGA. Films will be announced on Sunday April 21 on the Col*Coa website, on Facebook, Twitter and on the Col•Coa info line (310) 289 5346. Free admission on a First comes First Served basis. No RSVP needed.

You can stay and also see the Closing Night Films at 8:30 pm at the DGA. Reservations needed. Those are both North American Premieres of two very anticipated French films. The thriller Moebus by Eric Rochant will show for free as will the comedy Like Brothers by Hugo Gélin.

Being among the French filmmakers (and I saw way too few of the films) gave me such a surprising sense of renewal - again because of this upcoming generation. After seeing City of Lights, the short by Pascal Tessaud which preceded the classic Jacques Demy film Bay of Angels starring a platinum blond gambling-addicted Jeanne Moreau in Cannes, Nice and Monte Carlo in 1963, we spoke at length about what is called "The New Vibe". City of Lights stars a deeply quiet young man from "les banlieus", the notorious "suburbs" surrounding Paris where the international mix of young (and old) proletariat population is invisible to the rest of France except when the anger erupts into riots. This first generation has the French education but not the money or jobs and it hurts. They have picked up the cameras and with no money are creating films which express their lives in many ways like the new Latin American filmmakers or the new Eastern European filmmakers. Tessaud gave me an entire education in the hour we talked and I will share this in time. For now, aside from his wonderfuly trenchant film which played like a feature, which captured the Paris this young generation recognizes as The City of Lights - dancing, the kitchen of a very upscale restaurant, the dreary streets filled with construction, there is another example of The New Vibe, started by Rachid Djaïdani (a story in himself) the film Hold Back (Rengaine) leads the pack of the 20-some-odd new films of The New Vibe. It is produced by Anne-Dominque Toussaint (Les Films des Tournelles) whose films are too numerous to name but include my favorite The Hedgehog which I wrote about at Col*Coa two years ago, Col*Coa's current Cycling with Moliere, 2002's Respiro and many many others. Hold Back took 9 years to make and most of the team was unpaid. The New Vibe makes films without the aid of the French system of funding; it is more guerilla-style, not New Wave, not Dogma but New Vibe. Hold Back took Cannes by storm when it showed last year in Directors Fortnight and went on to New Directors/ New Films in New York. The classic story of a Catholic and a Muslim who want to marry but whose family objects, this rendition the Juliet has a brother who marches throughout Paris to alert her 39 other brothers that she wants to marry outside her cultural and religious traditions. "This fresh debut mixes fable, plucky social commentary - particularly about France's Arab community - and inventive comic setpieces" (Col*Coa)

Hold Back (Rengaine) (Isa: Pathe) goes beyond the funny but "establishmant" film Intouchable which played here last year. It is the exact opposite of such films as Sister or even Aliyah (Isa: Rezo) which played here this year and also in Directors Fortnight last year. Aliyah is about a young French Jewish man who must make his last drug sale in order to escape his brother's destructive behavior. He escapes by immigrating to Israel. These films are made by filmmakers within the French establishment and describe a proletariat existence which exists in their bourgeois minds. They lack a certain "verite" which can only be captured by one who knows viscerally what such marginal existence is.

At the opposite end of the contemporary spectrum of films today, a real establishment film is You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet by Alain Renais (you have to be a Renais fan to love it who was so avant-garde in his day). Those old New Wave films one could see here stand out in beautiful contrast to today's New Vibe: Renais' Stavisky or the 1963 film The Fire Within (Le feu follet) by Louis Malle again starring the beautiful Jeanne Moreau. I missed them both to my regret. When I miss a film I always tell myself I can see it when it's released or on DVD or Mubi, but rarely do I get to see it. Instead I can only read about it as here written up by Beth Hanna on Indiewire blog ToH. The Fire Within was part of Wes Anderson's choices, one of the various showcases of Col*Coa. Says Hanna: "Anderson's taste is impeccable: He has selected Louis Malle's 1963 lyrical depression drama The Fire Within." It was made after the classic Elevator to the Gallows (1958) which Miles Davis scored and which also starred the young Jeanne Moreau. She also could be seen her in Col*Coa in the classic 1963 Jacques Demy-directed Bay of Angels.

Col*Coa really offered something for everyone this year. Another of my favorite film genres, the Jewish film, was represented by Aliyah and The Dandelions (Du Vent dans mes mollets) (Isa: Gaumont), Stavisky, and It Happened in St. Tropez (Isa: Pathe), a classic French comedy -- though a bit dark and yet still comedic, about romance, love and marriage switching between generations in a neurotic, comfortably wealthy Jewish family. The Dandelions was, according to my friend Debra Levine, a writer on culture including film and dance, (see her blog artsmeme), "darling, so touching, so well made, so creative ... i really liked it. Went into that rabbit hole of little girls together ... Barbie doll play. Crazy creative play. As looney as kids can be."

Ian Birnie's favorite film was Becoming Traviata. Greg Katchel's favorite originally was Rendez-vous à Kiruna by Anna Novion, but when I saw him later in the festival his favorite was Cycling with Moliere (Alceste a bicyclette) (Isa: Pathe), again produced by Anne-Dominque Toussaint and directed by Philippe Le Guay who directed one of my favorites, The Women on the 6th Floor. Greg also liked Three Worlds though it was a bit "schematic" in depicting the clash of different cultures which were also shown in Hold Back.

Of the few films I was able to see, the most interesting was Augustine by Alice Winokur. It is the French response to David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method and the British film Hysteria. All three were about the turn of the century concern of psychologists or doctors with female hysteria. This one concerned Jean-Martin Charcot and the neurologist's belief that hysteria was a neurological disease and he used hypnosis to get at its roots, whild in A Dangerous Method it was seen by Freud and Jung as a mental disorder and in Hysteria by Tanya Wexler (Tiff 2011) in which Dr. Mortimer Granville devises the invention of the first vibrator in the name of medical science.

Take a look at Indiewire's own article here for more on Los Angeles's greatest French attraction, the second largest French film festival in the world.

Several American distributors will present their films at Col•Coa before their U.S. release: Kino Lorber – You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet, co-written and directed by Alain Resnais (Focus on a Filmmaker); Mpi Media – Thérèse, the last film of director/co-writer Claude Miller starring Audrey Tautou; Cohen Media Group – In the House, written and directed by François Ozon and The Attack, co-written and directed by Ziad Doueiri; Distrib Films for two documentaries: Becoming Traviata and The Invisibles; Film Movement for two thrillers: Aliyah and Three Worlds; The Weinstein Company - Populaire.

Below you can see the international sales agents for the current features showing.

11.6 / 11.6 (Isa: Wild Bunch)

Directed by: Philippe Godeau

Written by: Philippe Godeau, Agnès De Sacy

A Few Hours Of Spring / Quelques heures de printemps (Isa: Rezo)

Directed by: Stéphane Brizé ♀

Written by: Stéphane Brizé, Florence Vignon

Cast: Vincent Lindon, Hélène Vincent, Emmanuelle Seigner, Olivier Perrier

Aliyah/Alyah ✡ (Isa: Rezo, U.S.: Film Movement

Directed by: Élie Wajeman

Written by: Élie Wajeman, Gaëlle Macé

Armed Hands / Mains armées (Isa: Films Distribution)

Directed by: Pierre Jolivet

Written by: Pierre Jolivet, Simon Michaël

Augustine / Augustine (Isa: Kinology, U.S.: Music Box)

Directed by: Alice Winocour ♀

Written by: Alice Winocour

Aya Of Yop City / Aya de Yopougon (Isa: TF1)

Directed by: Clément Oubrerie, Marguerite Abouet ♀

Written by: Marguerite Abouet

Bay Of Angels / La Baie des anges (U.S.: Criterion)

Directed by: Jacques Demy

Written by: Jacques Demy

Becoming Traviata /Traviata et nous (Isa: Films Boutique, U.S. Distrib Films and Cinema Guild)

Directed by: Philippe Béziat

Written by: Philippe Béziat

Cycling With MOLIÈRE / Alceste à bicyclette (Isa: Pathe)

Directed by: Philippe Le Guay

Written by: Philippe Le Guay, based on an original idea by Fabrice Luchini and Philippe Le Guay

Fly Me To The Moon / Un plan parfait (Isa: Kinology)

Directed By: Pascal Chaumeil

Written By: Laurent Zeitoun, Yoann Gromb, Philippe Mechelen

Haute Cuisine / Les Saveurs du palais (Isa: Wild Bunch, U.S.: The Weinstein Company)

Directed by: Christian Vincent

Written by: Etienne Comar & Christian Vincent, based on the life of Danièle Mazet-Delpeuch

Hidden Beauties / Mille-Feuille (Isa: Other Angle Pictures)

Directed by: Nouri Bouzid

Written by: Nouri Bouzid, Joumène Limam

Hold Back / Rengaine (Isa: Pathe)

Directed by: Rachid Djaïdani

Written by: Rachid Djaïdani

In The House / Dans la maison (Isa: Wild Bunch, U.S.: Cohen Media Group)

Directed by: François Ozon

Written by: François Ozon

It Happened In Saint-tropez / Des Gens qui s’embrassent (Isa: Pathe)

Directed by: Danièle Thompson ♀

Written by: Danièle Thompson, Christopher Thompson

Jappeloup/ Jappeloup (Isa: Pathe)

Directed by: Christian Duguay

Written by: Guillaume Canet

Le Grand Soir / Le grand soir (Isa: Funny Balloons)

Directed by: Benoît Delépine and Gustave de Kervern

Written by: Benoît Delépine and Gustave de Kervern

Little Lion / Comme un Lion (Isa: Pyramide)

Directed by: Samuel Collardey

Written by: Catherine Paillé, Nadège Trebal, Samuel Collardey

Moon Man / Jean de la lune (Isa: Le Pacte)

Directed By: Stephan Schesch

Written By: Stephan Schesch, Ralph Martin. Based on the book by: Tomi Ungerer

Populaire / Populaire (Isa: Wild Bunch, U.S.: TWC)

Directed By: Régis Roinsard

Written By: Régis Roinsard, Daniel Presley, Romain Compingt

Rendezvous In Kiruna / Rendez-vous à Kiruna (Isa: Pyramide)

Directed by: Anne Novion ♀

Written by: Olivier Massart, Anne Novion, Pierre Novion

Sons Of The Wind / Les Fils du vent (Isa: Wide)

Directed by: Bruno Le Jean

Written by: Bruno Le Jean

Stavisky / Stavisky (1974) (Isa: StudioCanal)

Directed by: Alain Resnais

Written by: Jorge Semprún

The Attack / L’Attentat

France, Belgium, Lebanon, Qatar, 2013

Directed by: Ziad Doueiri (Isa: Wild Bunch, U.S.: Cohen Media Group)

The BRONTË Sisters / Les Soeurs Brontë (Isa: Gaumont, U.S.: Cohen Media Group)

Directed by: André Téchiné

Written by: André Téchiné, Jean Gruault, Pascal Bonitzer

The Dandelions / Du Vent dans mes mollets ✡

Directed By: Carine Tardieu ♀

Written By: Carine Tardieu, Raphaële Moussafir, Olivier Beer

The Fire Within / Le Feu Follet (1963) (Isa: Pyramide, U.S.: Janus Films)

Directed by: Louis Malle

Written by: Louis Malle

The Invisibles / Les Invisibles (Isa: Doc & Film, U.S. Distrib Films))

Directed By: Sébastien Lifshitz

The Man Who Laughs/ L’Homme qui rit (Isa: EuropaCorps)

Directed by: Jean-Pierre Améris

Written by: Jean-Pierre Améris , Guillaume Laurant

THÉRÈSE / Thérèse Desqueyroux (Isa: TF1, U.S.: Mpi)

Directed by: Claude Miller

Written by: Claude Miller, Natalie Carter

Three Worlds / Trois mondes (Isa: Pyramide, U.S.: Film Movement)

Directed by: Catherine Corsini ♀

Written by: Catherine Corsini, Benoît Graffin

To Our Loves / À nos amours (1983) (U.S. Janus)

Directed By: Maurice Pialat

Written By: Arlette Langmann, Maurice Pialat

True Friends / Amitiés sincères (Isa: Snd Groupe 6)

Directed By: Stéphan Archinard, François Prévôt-Leygonie

Written By: Stéphan Archinard, François Prévôt-Leygonie, Marie-Pierre Huster

Welcome To Argentina / Mariage à Mendoza (Isa: Kinology)

Directed By: Édouard Deluc

Written By: Anaïs Carpita, Édouard Deluc, Thomas Lilti, Philippe Rebbot

What’S In A Name / Le prénom (Isa: Pathe, U.S. Under The Milky Way)

Directed by: Alexandre de La Patellière, Matthieu Delaporte

Written by: Alexandre de La Patellière, Matthieu Delaporte

You Ain’T Seen Nothin’ Yet / Vous n’avez encore rien vu (Isa: StudioCanal, U.S.: Kino Lorber)

Directed By: Alain Resnais

Written By: Alain Resnais, Laurent Herbiet...

Tribeca’s 12th annual festival, running from April 17-28, recently announced its feature film selections in the Spotlight and Midnight sections. According to Tribeca’s website, “The Spotlight section features 33 films — 21 narratives and 12 documentaries — that blur the lines of independent and mainstream filmmaking. Twenty-three films in the selection will have their world premieres at the Festival, a record number for the section.” See below for the official press release of this year’s lineup in all four categories.

2013 Tribeca Film Festival Announces Selections

For Spotlight, Midnight And New Storyscapes Sections, And Special Screenings

First-ever Storyscapes Section Showcases Innovative New Media Projects with Cross-platform Approaches to Storytelling

The Tribeca Film Festival (Tff) announced its feature film selections in the Spotlight and Midnight sections, projects in the new Storyscapes section and Special Screenings. The 12th edition of the Festival will take place from April 17 to April 28 in New York City.

The Spotlight...

Yesterday the Tribeca Film Festival announced their feature film selections for their Spotlight and Midnight sections which include 21 narrative and 12 documentary projects.

This year’s choices bring us films featuring a bevy of top Hollywood talent including Paul Rudd, Paul Giamatti, John Cusack,, Gemma Arterton and Zoe Kazan.

In a press release that accompanied the roster, Genna Terranova, Director of Programming for the festival said: “The documentary films in the Spotlight section this year highlight several famous individuals (including one very cute cat) who use their wit and bold personas to make us think and laugh. A mix of established filmmakers and rising talent top off the rest of the section with features exploring some fresh takes on unconventional relationships.”

The festival will feature the world premieres of several highly-anticipated film projects from indie mainstays like Neil Labute and Richard Linklater, as well as new projects from veteran directors like...

Tribeca Film Festival organizers announced on Wednesday 33 films ticketed for the Spotlight section of the April fest, including new movies starring John Cusack, Ethan Hawke, Zoe Kazan and Melissa Leo.

“A mix of established filmmakers and rising talent top off the rest of the section with features exploring some fresh takes on unconventional relationships,” said Tribeca director of programming Genna Terranova in a press release. The Tribeca Film Festival had previously announced "Mistaken For Strangers," a documentary about The National, as the opening night film, plus a full slate of documentary and feature films in competition.

Some highlights from the Spotlight roster include the world premieres of "Adult World" (with Emma Roberts and John Cusack), "Almost Christmas" (with Paul Rudd and Paul Giamatti), "A Case of You" (with Justin Long), "Some Velvet Morning" (with Stanley Tucci and Evan Rachel Wood), "Trust Me" (with Sam Rockwell, William H. Macy and more...

The Tribeca Film Festival announced the second half of its movie slate today with a lineup that includes Emma Roberts in Adult World, Zac Efron in racing-cum-farming drama At Any Price, and Richard Linklater’s Before Midnight. The releases are in the following categories, which make up the second half of the festival’s feature list: Spotlight, Midnight, Special Screenings, and Storyscapes, a new category this year to recognize work in transmedia — films the incorporate web-based and cross-platform elements.

The Spotlight selection — 33 films: 21 narratives and 12 documentaries — stands out for its range of titles, including premieres from indie darlings (Junebug director Phil Morrison,...

Cannes Fest gets Lincoln director to preside jury Steven Spielberg may have lost the Best Director Academy Award last Sunday evening, but he has won the presidency of the jury of this year's upcoming Cannes Film Festival. Following on the footsteps of Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti, who headed last year's jury that awarded Michael Haneke's drama Amour the coveted Palme d'Or, Spielberg will preside the jury at the next Cannes Film Festival, which runs from May 15 to 26. (Pictured above: Steven Spielberg looking straight at the camera.) So far, Spielberg has won only one award at the Cannes Fest: as one of the writers (along with Matthew Robbins and Hal Barwood) of the 1974 drama The Sugarland Express, starring Goldie Hawn and William Atherton, and which Spielberg himself directed. Also, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial had its world premiere at Cannes as the closing-night gala film in 1982, while the melodrama The Color Purple...

Paris -- A warm and winning chamber piece about two actors taking on The Misanthrope and trying not to strangle one another in the process, Philippe Le Guay’s Cycling With Moliere (Alceste a bicyclette) provides further proof of the Gallic writer-director’s talent for crafting finely acted, middlebrow dramedies with a heart. Featuring a scene-stealing performance from leading man Fabrice Luchini, who also starred in The Woman on the 6th Floor, the film should find similar success at home, with strong overseas possibilities if marketed to older art house audiences. Based on an idea conceived by Luchini and Le Guay

read more...

The Amazing Spider-Man (12A)

(Marc Webb, 2012, Us) James Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Martin Sheen, Sally Field, Denis Leary. 136 mins

New, improved-formula Spider-Man: does whatever last decade's Spider-Man couldn't! The world was hardly screaming out for a rejigged "origins" story, but this at least gives you less comic-book primary colour and more teen-drama shading. Plus better special effects, although the rooftop monster-battle climax feels same-old. Yes, it's a brazenly commercial exercise, but Garfield's limber geekiness tips the balance.

God Bless America (15)

(Bobcat Goldthwait, 2011, Us) Joel Murray, Tara Lynne Barr, Mackenzie Brooke Smith. 105 mins

American media idiocy literally comes under fire in this outlandish Falling Down-meets-Natural Born Killers shooting spree.

The Hunter (15)

(Daniel Nettheim, 2011, Aus) Willem Dafoe, Frances O'Connor, Sam Neill. 102 mins

Dafoe's craggy gravitas dominates this scenic tale of a hunt for the extinct (or is it?) Tasmanian Tiger.

Strawberry Fields (15)

(Frances Lea, 2012, UK) Anna Madeley, Christine Bottomley.

Unless you count Roman Polanski’s Tess as a significant invite, Pathe International is pretty much relegated to market screenings, but this week it was announced that Denis Villeneuve’s An Enemy to be shot in Toronto with Jake Gyllenhaal, so it looks like there is definitely something to look forward to with this French sales co.

An Enemy by Denis Villeneuve

Beauty And The Beast (La Belle Et La BÊTE) by Christophe Gans

Jappeloup by Christian Duguay

Alceste A Bicyclette by Philippe Le Guay

Bowling by Marie-Castille Mention Schaar

Happiness Never Comes Alone (Un Bonheur N’Arrive Jamais Seul) by James Huth

Houba! On The Trail Of The Marsupilami (Sur La Piste Du Marsupilami) by Alain Chabat

It Happened In Saint Tropez (Des Gens Qui S’Embrassent) by Danièle Thompson

Last Passenger by Omid Nooshin

My Best Holidays (Nos Plus Belles Vacances) by Philippe Lellouche

No One Lives by Ryuhei Kitamura

Sea,...