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Spoiled Gen Z rich kids have a destructive queer romance while partying, doing drugs, and committing ludicrous crimes in the insufferable Pet Shop Days, which ticks every box on the checklist for terrible films. It's hard to believe that Hollywood stalwarts Willem Dafoe, Peter Sarsgaard, and Maribel Verdú play supporting roles in this dreck. There had to be a massive disconnect between the scripted material and what was filmed (multiple years ago) and then clumsily cobbled together in post-production. Pet Shop Days achieves that rare feat of having nothing positive to write about. The story, acting, and filmmaking on display are abysmal. MovieWeb doesn't have a tier for zero stars, but Pet Shop Days comes close.

In Mexico City, Alejandro (Darío Yazbek Bernal) lies in bed with his mother, Karla (Maribel Verdú) — insert ewww here — before an important family dinner. Neither wants to attend a birthday celebration for Alejandro's father,...

Pet Shop Days, written by Jack Irv, Olmo Schnabel, and Galen Core and directed by Schnabel in his debut, features a protagonist so unlikable, so emotionally ugly it’s almost to be admired. Alejandro (Darío Yazbek Bernal) is a rich Mexican kid and poster child for Freud: he hates his father (Jordi Mollà) and loves his mother (Maribel Verdú). There’s very little subtext in this film. The themes are as abrasive as the neon lights in any one of the many, many scenes set in strip clubs and underground drug dens hidden in the shadowy parts of New York City.

When Alejandro makes a deeply irrational mistake that nearly kills his mother, he runs to the United States, living off dwindling credit and short-term scams. He befriends Jack (Jack Irv), a gullible, aloof young man who quickly falls for Alejandro’s marginal charm. Jack’s parents (Emmanuelle Seigner...

New York icon Martin Scorsese is revealing his go-to films set in the Big Apple.

The auteur curated the screening series “Living, Breathing New York” for the Roxy Cinema, which features screenings of four of his favorite NYC movies out of a full list of Scorsese’s 32 favorite New York movies he’s created and which IndieWire is proud to share below.

“Living, Breathing New York” is curated by Scorsese in celebration of the new release of Olmo Schnabel’s NYC-set thriller, “Pet Shop Days,” which Scorsese executive produced. The film premieres March 15 at the Roxy Cinema in New York, and stars Dario Yazbek Bernal and Jack Irv as two lovers whose whirlwind romance sends them down a rabbit hole of drugs and depravity in Manhattan’s underworld. Willem Dafoe (who starred in Olmo Schnabel‘s father Julian Schnabel’s Vincent Van Gogh biopic “At Eternity’s Gate”), Emmanuelle Seigner, Peter Sarsgaard,...

"Captures a street-level realism." Utopia has unveiled an official trailer for a grainy, experimental indie film creation called Pet Shop Days, marking the feature directorial debut of young filmmaker / producer Olmo Schnabel. Yes he just so happens to be artist / filmmaker Julian Schnabel's son. This premiered at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, and it also played at SXSW & Santa Barbara last year, and is finally being released in NY & LA cinemas this March. For anyone intrigued. Impulsive black sheep Alejandro and pet store worker Jack, enter a whirlwind romance that sends them deep down the rabbit hole of depravity in Manhattan's underworld. It's executive produced & presented by Martin Scorsese, Michel Franco and Jeremy O. Harris, starring Jack Irv & Dario Yazbek Bernal, alongside Willem Dafoe, Peter Sarsgaard, Emmanuelle Seigner, and more. This is sort of an NYC drama, sort of an old school vibe film, and sort of just a strange crime thriller.

“Pet Shop Days” captures those reckless nights where it feels like anything can happen — and quite often, anything and everything does.

Olmo Schnabel’s directorial debut premiered at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, and has a star-studded cast to boot. Schnabel, the son of artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel, co-wrote the film with lead star Jack Irv and Galen Core.

The official synopsis reads: “In an act of desperation, impulsive black sheep Alejandro (Dario Yazbek Bernal) flees his home in Mexico. On the run from his unforgiving father, Alejandro finds himself in New York City, where he meets Jack (Jack Irv), a college-age pet store employee with similar parental baggage. Together the two enter a whirlwind romance sending them down the rabbit hole of drugs and depravity in Manhattan’s underworld. When Alejandro’s past threatens to catch up with him, Jack is forced to choose between his family and a life on the run.

Premiering back at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, Olmo Schnabel’s directorial debut Pet Shop Days went on to play at Chicago International Festival, SXSW, and more. The drama, which is backed by Martin Scorsese, Jeremy O. Harris, Michel Franco, and more as executive producers, will now finally come to theaters next month courtesy of Utopia. Ahead of screenings in NYC at Roxy Cinema on March 15 and in Los Angeles at Now Instant Image Hall on March 28, the new trailer and poster arrived for the film starring Dario Yazbek Bernal, Jack Irv, Willem Dafoe, Peter Sarsgaard, Maribel Verdú, Jordi Mollà, Camille Rowe, Emmanuelle Seigner, and Louis Cancelmi.

Here’s the synopsis: “In an act of desperation, impulsive black sheep Alejandro flees his home in Mexico. On the run from his unforgiving father, Alejandro finds himself in New York City where he meets Jack, a college age pet store employee with similar parental baggage.

Olmo Schnabel’s feature directorial debut “Pet Shop Days” has an official first trailer, and it’s as scandalous as initial festival runs promised in 2024.

Indie distributor Utopia acquired the film last March, after a successful premiere at the Venice Film Festival and the Texas-based SXSW. Led by Jack Irv and Dario Yazbek Bernal, “Pet Shop Days” costars Willem Dafoe, Peter Sarsgaard and Emmanuelle Seigner. The project boasts a powerful bench of executive producers in Martin Scorsese, Jeremy O. Harris and Michel Franco (“New Order”).

Bernal (Netflix’s “House of Flowers”) stars as Alejandro, the son of a Mexican crime lord on the run from his past in New York City. There he meets Jack (Irv), a 20-something living with upper-class parents Francis (Dafoe) and Diana (Seigner) while working in the titular pet shop. In a haze of drugs and sex, Alejandro seduces Jack and drags him into the city’s criminal underbelly.

A French court has acquitted filmmaker Roman Polanski of defamation charges brought by British actor Charlotte Lewis, who’d claimed that he raped her when she was a child, the New York Times has reported.

Lewis, now 56, had accused the now 90-year-old filmmaker of sexually assaulting her when she was 16, during a casting session at his Paris home. The French court was not ruling on that accusation. Instead, it was dealing with a 2019 interview with French magazine Paris Match in which Polanski had dismissed Lewis’ accusation of being a “heinous lie.” The court ruled on whether Polanski had overstepped the bounds of free speech by dismissing her account of the alleged events.

The trial kicked off in March, when the Franco-Polish filmmaker was sued by Lewis, who claimed he defamed her in the interview. Lewis first came forward with her allegations against Polanski in 2010.

During her defamation case testimony, Lewis,...

“Pet Shop Days,” the directorial debut from Hollywood scion Olmo Schnabel, has been acquired by Utopia for theatrical distribution in North America.

A Venice Film Festival premiere that just lit up SXSW, the provocative coming-of-age film stars stars Jack Irv, Dario Yazbek Bernal, Willem Dafoe, Peter Sarsgaard and Emmanuelle Seigner. Martin Scorsese, Jeremy O. Harris and Michel Franco (“New Order”) all serve as executive producers.

Bernal (Netflix’s “House of Flowers”) stars as Alejandro, the son of a Mexican crime lord on the run from his past in New York City. There he meets Jack (Irv), a 20-something living with his wealthy parents Francis (Dafoe) and Diana (Seigner) while working in a pet shop. In a haze of drugs and sex, Alejandro seduces Jack and drags him into the city’s criminal underbelly.

Shot on 35mm film by Hunter Zimny, the film generated buzz out of Venice for its daring lead performances.

A defamation trial against controversial director Roman Polanski is underway in Paris.

The 90-year-old Franco-Polish filmmaker is being sued by British actor Charlotte Lewis, who is claiming he defamed her by calling her sexual assault allegations against him a “heinous lie” in a 2019 interview with Paris Match magazine.

Lewis first came forward with her allegations against Polanski in 2010, alleging that the director had sexually assaulted her in Paris in 1983, when she was 16 years old. Lewis said she had traveled to Paris for a casting call, and she later appeared in Polanski’s 1986 movie “Pirates.”

Polanski has been accused of sexual assault by several women, beginning in 1977 when he was arrested for allegedly assaulting 13-year-old Samantha Gailey. He entered a plea bargain and plead guilty to one charge of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, later fleeing the U.S. and continuing his career in Europe. He remains a fugitive from the U.

Arturo Pérez-Reverte's supernatural mystery novel, "The Club Dumas," makes for an intriguing, labyrinthine read. Set in a universe where antiquarian booksellers are aplenty, the novel follows Lucas Corso, who is hired to authenticate a manuscript by Alexandre Dumas. Corso is soon led down an increasingly dangerous, absurd path that causes him to flit around the world in search of an elusive truth lost to humanity, specifically, the gates to hell.

Roman Polanski's take on Pérez-Reverte's work culminates in the atmospherically tense "The Ninth Gate," which follows the basic beats of the novel except for its open-ended conclusion. "The Club Dumas" also ends on an interpretative note, but the novel's merit lies in reinforcing its literary-heavy references in a meaningful manner, while the film takes a more loose stance in deepening its convoluted mythos. Almost nothing is explained for clarity, as the film assumes that its religio-mythical metaphors speak for themselves.

Chicago – The director debut is the flourishing element of any film festival, and the Chicago International Film Festival (Ciff) has always been a nurturing place for the latest cinema talent. “Pet Shop Days” is the debut of director and co-writer Olmo Schnabel, and screened at the 59th Ciff. The film continues on the fest circuit, as its currently at the Montclair (New Jersey) Film Festival.

When Alejandro (Dario Yazbek Bernal) flees Mexico after an impulsive act of violence, he lands in New York City on a mission to live life on his own terms. After befriending Jack (Jack Irv), who spends his days and nights getting high and sleeping with whomever he wants, the pair embark down a rabbit hole of vice, coming together and breaking apart … with a magnetic and obsessive attraction that will change their lives forever. Like an impulsive Butch and Sundance, the journey of the duo leads to an inevitable destination.

Olmo Schnabel's directorial debut Pet Shop Days was received well at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, and recently had its U.S. premiere at the Chicago International Film Festival. The emotion-driven film stars Jack Irv (Bobby) and Darío Yazebek Bernal (The House of Flowers) as two crazed romantics that slip down a rabbit hole of depravity in Manhattan’s underworld. Willem Dafoe, Peter Sarsgaard, Emmanuelle Seigner, Camille Rowe, and Maribel Verdu also star.

The plot revolves around Alejandro (Bernal), an impulsive black sheep, and pet store employee Jack (Irv) who test fate and enter a whirlwind romance. Expect some frenetic intensity in the film, which Schnabel co-wrote alongside star Jack Irv and Galen Core (The Great Pretender). The filmmaker says he initially co-wrote the film as a kind of “love letter” to a New York City that no longer exists.

“I left New York,” said Schnabel, “I wasn't...

There is a grand tradition of messy but glorious films about couples who bring out the crazy in one another and end up doing all manner of bad stuff. Sadly, Pet Shop Days, a directorial debut for writer-producer Olmo Schnabel (son of Julian Schnabel), is just messy and never glorious.

Even with the built-in advantage of Willem Dafoe and Emmanuelle Seigner taking major roles (neither at their best), cameos from Peter Sarsgaard and Maribel Verdu, and a mass list of executive producers who should have known better (including Michel Franco and Martin Scorsese), this poorly paced crime drama is afflicted with terrible dialogue and weak lead performances from Jack Irv (also a co-screenwriter, along with Schnabel and Galen Core) and Dario Yazbek Bernal as two repellent, entitled brats in love.

The opening sequence introduces us to Alejandro (Dario Yazbek Bernal, half brother of Gael Garcia Bernal), a young man in his 20s,...

From the mind of Olmo Schnabel — yes, he’s the son of artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel — comes one of the most frustrating protagonists to grace an indie film screen this year. The impulsive black sheep of his family, Alejandro is played in the queer romance “Pet Shop Days” by Dario Yazbek Bernal. And if your nepo baby light wasn’t already blinking at the name Schnabel, Dario Yazbek Bernal is also the brother of Gael García Bernal.

After almost killing his mother in a car accident, Alejandro flees the scene of his mobster family’s moneyed party, thrashing his way through the lives of everyone else he encounters in the aftermath while on the run. That includes Jack (Jack Irv), a pet shop worker in crisis with his dying mother (Emmanuelle Seigner) and philandering father (Willem Dafoe), with whom he lives in a pricy Manhattan penthouse. Jack and Alejandro...

A scrappy urban tale of misspent young adulthood, Olmo Schnabel’s “Pet Shop Days” evokes the blown-out, stolen-shot 16mm character studies of 1990s independent cinema, as well as the bohemian oeuvre of painter and filmmaker Julian Schnabel, his father. This isn’t attributable merely to the fact that the younger Schnabel includes a scene in which his characters watch Julian’s 1996 “Basquiat,” whose themes and aloof tone — not to mention the events of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s actual life — would seem an obvious inspiration for his first feature. But in a contemporary absence of true New York stories told by filmmakers with seemingly more moxie than money, newcomer Schnabel distinguishes himself with a debut that feels tactile, real and suitably off-putting as he attempts to capture the sensibilities (if not always common sense) of twentysomethings.

Dario Yazbek Bernal (of Netflix’s “House of Flowers”) plays Alejandro, a spoiled, rebellious young adult...

Roman Polanski’s black comedy “The Palace” was given a tepid three-minutes of applause when it world premiered in the Palazzo del Cinema’s Sala Grande on Saturday night.

Producer Luca Barbareschi, French star Fanny Ardant and other key cast members including German actor Oliver Masucci (“Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore”), Portugal’s Joaquim de Almeida and Italy’s Fortunato Cerlino (”Gomorrah”) stood up and took a bow, but the audience’s response seemed to be more polite than exited, though there were occasional bursts of laughter during the screening.

Before the film’s premiere “The Palace” set designer Tonino Zera received Venice’s Campari Passion for Film prize from artistic director Alberto Barbera.

Polanski directed the black comedy from a screenplay he wrote alongside Jerzy Skolimowski and Ewa Piaskowska. “The Palace” takes place during New Year’s Eve in 1999, when a dinner party at Switzerland’s Gstaad Palace hotel takes an unexpected turn.

In The Palace, guests of a luxury hotel prepare to celebrate the turn of the millennium. The caviar is tasted. The fireworks are readied. Soon (you guessed it) indulgence shifts to debauchery. The director, if you haven’t heard, is Roman Polanski, a filmmaker whose marketability in Europe seems to endure almost in spite of its continued non-existence in Britain and the United States. The Palace was made on a budget of €17,000,000, boasts an Alexandre Desplat score and a starry cast, and was shot in the Gstaad Palace of Switzerland, where a basic single room will set you back a grand a night. The Palace premiered this week at the Venice Film Festival, where Polanski’s last film, An Officer and A Spy, opened to cautiously positive reviews in 2019, ultimately winning him the Silver Lion for Best Director. At the time you could almost feel the critical consensus straining against its better judgment.

Actor, producer and director Luca Barbareschi is at the Venice Film Festival this year as one the main representatives of Roman Polanski’s new film The Palace.

The satire, poking fun at the ultra-rich against the backdrop of Switzerland’s luxury Gstaad Palace Hotel and featuring Mickey Rourke, Fanny Ardant and John Cleese in the ensemble cast, world premieres Out of Competition in a gala screening on Saturday.

Its selection for Venice’s 80th edition has sparked debate in the film world, which remains split over whether Polanski should be celebrated as an artist while 1970s charges of unlawful sex with a minor in the U.S. remain unresolved.

The director, who turned 90 in August, has not travelled to Italy, where it remains unclear whether he would be subject to Italy’s extradition treaty with the U.S., while a number of the film’s international stars including John Cleese...

Sex, crime and fish tanks converge in the officially titled “Pet Shop Days,” Olmo Schnabel’s directorial debut which will play at this year’s Venice Film Festival.

Variety has an exclusive first look at the project starring Jack Irv, Dario Yazbek Bernal and Willem Dafoe. Schnabel, son of Oscar nominated director Julian Schnabel, tells the story of two young men falling down a rabbit hole of rebellious desire – one running from a traumatic incident and a bitter authoritarian father, the other a privileged drifter in search of himself.

Irv and Bernal take the leads, hustling their way through a punishing city. Dafoe, Peter Sarsgaard and Emmanuelle Seigner are just a few of the hapless adults caught in their web.

“This is the perfect New York story in that anything can happen,” Schnabel said. “That’s how it was growing up. You meet a complete stranger, you’re enamored or infatuated with them,...

The 80th Venice Film Festival is shaping up to be a star-studded affair, with Michael Mann, Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, and David Fincher all set to premiere their latest films at the festival.

Mann will be bringing his long-awaited biopic of Enzo Ferrari, Ferrari, to Venice. The film stars Adam Driver as Ferrari and Penélope Cruz as his wife, Laura. It is scheduled to premiere on August 25, the opening night of the festival.

Polanski will be presenting his latest film, The Palace, a psychological thriller set in a luxury hotel in the 1980s. The film stars Emmanuelle Seigner, Rebecca Dayan, and Pauline Burlet. It is scheduled to premiere on August 30, the second day of the festival.

Woody Allen and Roman Poloanski

Allen will be showing his latest comedy, Coup de Chance, which stars himself, Cate Blanchett, and Louis Garrel. The film is a romantic comedy about a man who wins...

Director Roman Polanski, who has been a Hollywood outcast since 1978, when Samantha Geimer accused him of allegedly sexually assaulting her in 1977 when she was just 13 years old, recently posed for a selfie with his alleged victim.

Both Geimer and Polanski were pictured smiling despite the incident from 45 years ago, and the subsequent five charges of rape by use of drugs, perversion, lewd and lascivious act upon a child under fourteen, and furnishing a controlled substance to a minor, brought against Polanski.

Geimer, who had asked a judge to drop the case against Polanski in 2017, sat down for an interview for French publication Le Point with her alleged assaulter’s wife, former model Emmanuelle Seigner.

Speaking to Seigner, Geimer explained that it was time for them to finally meet and “speak, you know, together in solidarity of adult capable women who have opinions and don’t have to fall into this...

Samantha Geimer, who was raped by Roman Polanski when she was an under-age teenager, has once again spoken out denying that she is a victim – this time in an interview with Polanski’s wife, Emmanuelle Seigner.

Geimer, who was 13 when she was given alcohol and pills and raped by the French-Polish film director, told Seigner for an interview in Le Point magazine (translated by IndieWire) that what happened had “never been a problem for her.”

She said: “Let me be very clear: what happened with Polanski was never a big problem for me. I didn’t even know it was illegal, that someone could be arrested for it. I was fine, I’m still fine. The fact that we’ve made this thing up weighs on me terribly. To have to constantly repeat that it wasn’t a big deal, it’s a terrible burden.”

In the interview, Geimer and...

Samantha Geimer is once again defending Roman Polanski, who raped her in 1977 when she was 13 years old. Geimer has often spoken out in support of Polanski, although this time she did it in an interview with France’s Le Point magazine that was conducted by none other than Polanski’s wife, the actor Emmanuelle Seigner.

Polanski was arrested in 1977 for having unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor. He accepted a plea bargain and only served 42 days in prison. He fled the United States in 1978 while still under probation after his legal team got word that he was going to face imprisonment on additional charges. He was detained by Swiss police decades later in 2009 while traveling to the Zurich Film Festival in an attempt by the United States to extradite him. The Swiss court ultimately rejected the request and released Polanski.

“Let me be very clear: what happened with Polanski was...

Samantha Geimer, whom Roman Polanski raped when she was 13 in Los Angeles, is once again reaffirming that the sexual assault was never an issue for her in a new interview with his wife, Emmanuelle Seigner.

In the interview conducted by Le Point, as translated by IndieWire, Geimer, who was 13 when Polanski gave her alcohol and pills and raped and sodomized her in the home of Jack Nicholson, said, “Let me be very clear: what happened with Polanski was never a big problem for me. I didn’t even know it was illegal, that someone could be arrested for it. I was fine, I’m still fine. The fact that we’ve made this thing up weighs on me terribly. To have to constantly repeat that it wasn’t a big deal, it’s a terrible burden.”

Geimer is among five other women who have accused Polanski of underage sexual abuse.

Leonis Productions, the Newen Studios-owned French banner created by Jean-Benoit Gillig, is developing a raft of international shows on the heels of “Liaison,” Apple TV+’s first French original.

The company reached a milestone with “Liaison,” a thriller series created and entirely penned by Virginie Brac (“Spiral”) and directed by Stephen Hopkins. Vincent Cassel and Eva Green lead a cast that includes Peter Mullan, Gérard Lanvin, Daniel Francis, Stanislas Merhar, Irène Jacob, Laëtitia Eïdo, Eriq Ebouaney, Tchéky Karyo, Bukky Bakray and Thierry Fremont.

“It’s a sprawling French-British thriller set against the backdrop of Brexit, and there’s a metaphor between the love tragedy playing as the primary plot and the political tragedy embodied by Brexit unfolding in the background,” said Gillig.

“The starting point of this series was our wish to create a series using Brexit as a canvas, and from there Virginie Brac was able to conceive a...

Filmmaker Olmo Schnabel has assembled a cast of heavyweights for his directorial debut – a romantic thriller about two young men exploring the underbelly of New York and one other.

“Pet Shop Boys” will mark the first time behind the camera for Schnabel, son of Oscar-nommed director Julian Schnabel. Already wrapped, the project is led by newcomers Dario Yazebek Bernal (“The House of the Flowers”) and Jack Irv (“Giants Being Lonely”).

The film follows the impulsive black sheep Alejandro (Bernal) and college-age pet store employee Jack (Irv) who engage in a whirlwind affair that sends them down a rabbit hole of vice.

The men will have pedigreed costars in four-time Oscar nominee Willem Dafoe and the prolific Peter Sarsgaard. Also on board is Emmanuelle Seigner (“The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”), Jordi Mollà (“Riddick”), Louis Cancelmi (“The Looming Tower”), Camille Rowe (“The Deep House”), Maribel Verdu (“Blancanieves”) and Angela Sarafyan.

“Someone...

Rene van Pannevis on his UK drama starring Charley Palmer Rothwell and Morgane Polanski.

Dutch filmmaker Rene van Pannevis is at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival with the world premiere of his debut feature Looted.

The UK drama - selected for the festival’s First Feature Competition - is very much the successor to the London-based director’s short Jacked, which was nominated for a Berlin Crystal Bear in 2016 and won a Bifa.

Not only does Looted explore similar themes, of car jackers in an urban setting, but also reunites the director with actors Charley Palmer Rothwell (Legend) and Thomas Turgoose...

Roman Polanski's Venice Silver Lion winner An Officer and a Spy topped the French box office in its first week of release despite calls to boycott the film after actress Valentine Monnier accused the director of rape.

The film, starring Oscar-winner Jean Dujardin, Louis Garrel and Polanski's wife Emmanuelle Seigner, had the strongest opening for Polanski in France in years, with 501,000 tickets sold across 545 screens for the week ended Wednesday. His 2003 Oscar-winner The Pianist sold 1.8 million tickets during its release, but recent films haven't fared as well, with 2013's Venus in Fur topping ...

Roman Polanski's Venice Silver Lion winner An Officer and a Spy topped the French box office in its first week of release despite calls to boycott the film after actress Valentine Monnier accused the director of rape.

The film, starring Oscar-winner Jean Dujardin, Louis Garrel and Polanski's wife Emmanuelle Seigner, had the strongest opening for Polanski in France in years, with 501,000 tickets sold across 545 screens for the week ended Wednesday. His 2003 Oscar-winner The Pianist sold 1.8 million tickets during its release, but recent films haven't fared as well, with 2013's Venus in Fur topping ...

Roman Polanski’s latest film, “An Officer and a Spy,” is leading the French box office after its opening weekend and fifth day out in theaters despite new sexual-assault accusations against the director and truncated promotion for the film.

Released by Gaumont last Wednesday across 545 screens, “An Officer and a Spy” has grossed an estimated €1.5 million ($1.6 million) from 370,000 tickets sold in France as of midday Monday, taking the lead at the weekend B.O. ahead of James Mangold’s “Ford v. Ferrari,” according to Comscore France. It’s the seventh-best start for a French film since the beginning of the year, Gaumont said.

The film’s main Parisian premiere last Tuesday evening went smoothly, with Polanski and lead actor Jean Dujardin in attendance, but another premiere screening scheduled at a different Paris venue, which co-star Louis Garrel was supposed to attend, was canceled amid a protest by women’s-rights activists.

Following recent explosive allegations by actresses Adele Haenel and Valentine Monnier of harassment and assault at the hands of male directors, France’s authors, directors and producers guild said Tuesday that it will consider sanctions against any member being investigated for or found guilty of a sexual offense.

The Société Civile des Auteurs, Réalisateurs, Producteurs (Arp) said in a statement that, although it is not an adjudicator of such allegations, “as an organization we must take into account the fact that our profession, because of the power it yields, can open the door to reprehensible excesses. These can’t in any case be justified, nor can they be tolerated. That’s why the board of the Arp will propose during the next administrative council that, from now on, any member who has been convicted of a sexual offense be expelled and any member under investigation be suspended” from the guild.

In the wake of French actress Valentine Monnier’s allegation of rape against Roman Polanski, the promotion of the director’s latest film, “An Officer and a Spy,” has been axed in France, but the movie’s premiere Tuesday night and its theatrical release are scheduled to go forward.

Real-life period drama “An Officer and a Spy” is set to premiere Tuesday evening in Paris on the Champs Elysees. It’s unknown at this point if Polanski will attend. Distributor Gaumont told Variety that it would press ahead with its plan to give the film a wide release across France starting Wednesday on 545 screens, despite the accusation against Polanski of sexual assault.

However, several promotional activities have been canceled following Monnier’s allegation last Friday that Polanski raped her at a ski chalet in Gstaad, Switzerland, in 1975, when she was just 18. Le Parisien newspaper, which published Monnier’s story, said...

Roman Polanski's An Officer and a Spy, lensed by his frequent collaborator Pawel Edelman (The Pianist), will open the 27th EnergaCamerimage cinematography festival Nov. 9 in Torun, Poland.

The thriller, based on the novel by Robert Harris, recently received the Silver Lion and the Fipresci Award at the Venice Film Festival. An Officer and a Spy tells the story of Alfred Dreyfus, a French officer wrongly convicted of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment.

The cast includes Jean Dujardin (The Artist), Louis Garrel (The Dreamers) and Emmanuelle Seigner (Venus in Fur).

As previously announced, this year Camerimage will honor ...

Roman Polanski's An Officer and a Spy, lensed by his frequent collaborator Pawel Edelman (The Pianist), will open the 27th EnergaCamerimage cinematography festival Nov. 9 in Torun, Poland.

The thriller, based on the novel by Robert Harris, recently received the Silver Lion and the Fipresci Award at the Venice Film Festival. An Officer and a Spy tells the story of Alfred Dreyfus, a French officer wrongly convicted of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment.

The cast includes Jean Dujardin (The Artist), Louis Garrel (The Dreamers) and Emmanuelle Seigner (Venus in Fur).

As previously announced, this year Camerimage will honor ...

What road should one take when approaching a film like An Officer and a Spy? On one hand, it is a perfectly robust, informative, prestige-y and even timely dramatization of the Dreyfus affair, the infamous late 19th-century political scandal in which a French Jewish soldier was wrongfully imprisoned for treason. On the other hand, it is a story about injustice and prosecution directed by, of all people, Roman Polanski.

So to that first hand: an especially dashing and mustachioed Jean Dujardin stars as George Picquart, the man responsible for pulling the thread from which the Dreyfus scandal ultimately unraveled. Polanski arranges the narrative in much the same way that Mike Leigh did with Peterloo, another film about 19th-century social injustice–and one in which the director carefully set out the names, dates, and people involved before going for the jugular in the final act. The first half of An Officer...

Joker won over audiences in Venice Photo: Courtesy of Nyff Todd Phillips' Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix, has won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

The film about the Batman villain, which has inspired a slew of debate online since its premiere, will be released in the UK on October.

Roman Polanski's An Officer And A Spy - which had already sparked controversy by being included due to the director's Us fugitive status after his conviction for statutory rape in 1978 - won the Grand Jury Prize.

Polanski's wife Emmanuelle Seigner, who stars in his dramatisation of the Dreyfus affair political scandal - which also won the Fipresci award - collected the award on his behalf.

The Silver Lion went to Roy Andersson for About Endlessness, while writer/director Yonfan won the best screenplay for his Hong Kong animation No. 7 Cherry Lane.

The acting awards in the main...

Todd Phillips’ dark supervillain origin story “Joker” has come up trumps at the Venice Film Festival, taking the Golden Lion from a jury headed by Argentine auteur Lucrecia Martel. Controversial veteran Roman Polanski, meanwhile, took the runner-up Grand Jury Prize for his film “An Officer and a Spy,” capping a festival marked by debate over gender representation and the impact of #MeToo in the industry.

It’s a rarity for a major Hollywood studio production to take the top prize at Venice, and unprecedented for a superhero-adjacent property to take any such honor, but the Warner Bros. title established itself early on as the festival’s lightning rod: a film that sparked headlines and critical discussion to the very end of the festival, as many other competing titles came and went without a ripple.

Variety chief critic Owen Gleiberman was among its many champions, acclaiming it as “a neo-‘Taxi Driver...

Title: J’accuse (An Officer and A Spy) Director: Roman Polanski Cast: Jean Dujardin, Louis Garrel, Emmanuelle Seigner, Grégory Gadebois Hervé Pierre de la Comédie Française, Wladimir Yordanoff, Didier Sandre de la Comédie Française, Melvil Poupaud, Eric Ruf de la Comédie Française, Mathieu Amalric, Laurent Stocker de la Comédie Française, Vincent Perez, Michel Vuillermoz de la […]

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Update: The biggest talking point ahead of and into the early days of the Venice Film Festival, Roman Polanski’s An Officer And A Spy had its official competition world premiere this evening. Inside the Sala Grande, the film was well-received with a five-minute standing ovation. That’s not a Lido record in this year or others. It is, however, indicative of the division between how certain audiences may accept, or not, a movie whose maker comes with baggage.

From critics, the film has received mixed to solid reviews since it screened for the press this morning. It was warmly-received at a press conference this afternoon, during which the focus was on the movie and the actors rather tha Polanski’s long history as a fugitive from U.

Roman Polanski has absolutely no intention of asking you to separate the art from the artist. His “Officer and a Spy” — — seems determined to remind viewers that it was directed by cinema’s most storied rapist.

The film’s more damning and transparent moments are as nakedly autobiographical as anything Polanski has ever made, as the story’s hero — a reformed anti-Semite fueled by the guilt he carries after condemning an innocent Jewish man to Devil’s Island — arrives in court to ridicule the whole of French society for rushing to judgment and ruining someone’s life. Of course, it might be more accurate to contextualize these scenes as the stuff of unfettered wish fulfillment, as Polanski has no claim on total innocence, and he rather famously neglected to stick around for his own trial.

If nothing else, “An Officer and a Spy” leaves you with the sense that its...

The film was warmly received at its first Venice screening.

The producers of Roman Polanski’s An Officer And A Spy attempted to draw a line under the controversy swirling around the film after it was warmly received by press and industry on the Lido ahead of its official premiere tonight (Aug 30).

Venice’s decision to invite the film has prompted criticism due to 40-year-old sexual assault charges against Polanski related to having unlawful sex with a 13-year-old following a photoshoot in Los Angeles.

Tension around its selection flared on the opening day when jury president Lucrecia Martel told the...

Roman Polanski’s “An Officer and a Spy” has been sparking debate on the Lido since it was announced that it would premiere at the Venice Film Festival. But the movie’s press conference Friday was remarkably drama-free, perhaps in part because Polanski himself, as expected, did not attend.

The film’s producers, including France’s Alain Goldman and Italy’s Luca Barbareschi, and key cast members Jean Dujardin, Louis Garrel and Emmanuelle Seigner received a hearty ovation at the presser Friday afternoon, ahead of the movie’s evening premiere. Barbareschi, who had said he considered pulling the film out of the festival if jury president Lucrecia Martel didn’t clarify her comment that she would “not congratulate” Polanski, seemed placid, if not philosophical. Asked if he feared Martel’s stance could cause prejudice against “An Officer and a Spy” within the jury, Barbareschi said: “The past is the past.

Although its inclusion in Venice’s competition has stirred some controversy, Roman Polanski’s “An Officer and a Spy” has lured buyers in several key markets ahead of its world premiere on Friday.

Since unveiling the film’s first footage at Cannes, Paris-based sales company Playtime has pre-sold it to Japan (Longride); Spain (Caramel Films); Greece (Odeon); Portugal (Midas Filmes); Israel (United King Films); Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Iceland (Future Film); Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia and Cis (Top Film); Poland (Gutek Film); and former Yugoslavia (Fivia). Playtime is in negotiations to close several more deals in major markets.

“An Officer and a Spy” is France’s biggest-budgeted film slated for theaters this year. Gaumont will release the film Nov. 13. The €25.5 million ($28 million) historical espionage thriller is based on Robert Harris’ novel and headlined by Oscar-winning actor Jean Dujardin (“The Artist”) and Mathieu Amalric (“At Eternity’s Gate”).

The movie tells...

The 2019 Venice Film Festival officially kicked off with a press conference featuring the event’s chief, Alberto Barbera, and this year’s jury president Lucrecia Martel, the Argentine director behind “La Ciénaga,” “The Headless Woman,” and “Zama.” As reported by Deadline, one of the most pressing topics discussed was the inclusion of Roman Polanski in this year’s competition lineup. The French director is debuting his Dreyfus affair drama “An Officer and a Spy,” starring Emmanuelle Seigner, Louis Garrel, Jean Dujardin, and Mathieu Amalric.

The Venice Film Festival has been under fire for including Polanski in this year’s competition because the director was charged with rape in the 1970s. The #MeToo era has put a new focus on Polanski’s behavior, resulting in his expulsion from the Academy in May 2018. Barbera continued to defend Polanski’s inclusion at Venice 2019 during the opening press conference.

“[I am] convinced that we have to...

The French sales agent’s slate boasts 3 films being showcased on the Lido, 2 of which are competing for the Golden Lion, 4 on the programme of the Canadian festival and 6 titles in post-production. French international sales agent Playtime is all set to tout its tantalising line-up, brimming with 13 features, at the 76th Venice Film Festival (28 August-7 September 2019) and the 44th Toronto Film Festival (5-15 September).On the Lido, Nicolas Brigaud-Robert, François Yon, Sébastien Beffa, Valery Guibal and Frédérique Rouault’s team will be pinning its hopes on three films being world-premiered, two of which are taking part in the competition: An Officer and a Spy by Roman Polanski and Guest of...

Director Roman Polanski may not be welcome in many places, but Venice is not one of them. His new film, An Officer and a Spy, about the Dreyfus affair, will compete in the 76th edition of the world’s oldest film festival.

Based on the book by Robert Harris, the film follows Jewish military officer Alfred Dreyfus, who is wrongfully convicted of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment. Polanski penned the script with Harris. The pic stars Emmanuelle Seigner, Louis Garrel and Jean Dujardin.

New assault accusations have surfaced against Polanski in the past few years, following the notorious 1977 Los Angeles ...

Director Roman Polanski may not be welcome in many places, but Venice is not one of them. His new film, An Officer and a Spy, about the Dreyfus affair, will compete in the 76th edition of the world’s oldest film festival.

Based on the book by Robert Harris, the film follows Jewish military officer Alfred Dreyfus, who is wrongfully convicted of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment. Polanski penned the script with Harris. The pic stars Emmanuelle Seigner, Louis Garrel and Jean Dujardin.

New assault accusations have surfaced against Polanski in the past few years, following the notorious 1977 Los Angeles ...

Over the past few years, the Venice Film Festival has become a magnet for awards-season hopefuls, having hosted world premieres of three of the past five Best Picture Oscar winners. This year again, there is no shortage of big-ticket titles that we’re likely to be talking about for the next six months. In what’s beginning to look like another recurring theme, fest chief Alberto Barbera has shown he is not one to shy away from controversy.

After becoming the first major fest boss to embrace Netflix back in 2015, he is already facing criticism from European cinema groups for putting three of the streamer’s movies in the lineup that was announced today. The fest also has a pretty lousy track record with female directors. While Barbera did increase the number of women in competition by 100%, that means there are two this year versus one last year. And, sure...

There are only two films by female directors in competition.

The line-up of the 76th Venice Film Festival (August 28 – September 7) has been announced.

Scroll down for the full line-up

This year features some high-profile projects including Todd Phillips’ Joker and James Gray’s Ad Astra, a lack of female directors in competition once again, and the controversial selection of Roman Polanski’s latest film.

Australian title Babyteeth, from first-time director Shannon Murphy, and Saudi filmmaker Haifaa Al-Mansour’s The Perfect Candidate are the two films in the 21-strong competition from female filmmakers. Last year festival chief Alberto Barbera was heavily...