News

It was the year 2002 when iconic Italian actress and model Monica Bellucci donned a gold gown for the role of Cleopatra. Starring in a film titled Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra, the film is simply one of the greatest ever made.

Gadot is known for playing Wonder Woman in the Dceu | Credits: DC Films

Before talks of Gal Gadot portraying the role of Cleopatra came to light, Monica Bellucci had already done it decades ago. Even after 2 decades, fans are still admiring the actress and her beauty.

When Monica Bellucci Portrayed The Role of Queen Cleopatra

Credit where credit is due, the French name for the film is actually Astérix et Obélix: Mission Cléopâtre. The 2002 film is a German-French comedy/adventure movie by director Alain Chabat.

Monica Bellucci in Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra | Credits: Katharina/Renn Productions

Starring a plethora of characters, the film had Christian Clavier and Gérard Depardieu...

Michel Blanc, the legendary French actor best known for his roles in the Les Bronzés films and Monsieur Hire, has died. He was 72.

He died early Friday morning at a Parisian hospital after suffering a heart attack the previous night, according to Agence France-Presse (Afp).

France’s President Emmanuel Macron also paid tribute to Blanc on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “He made us cry with laughter and moved us to tears. A monument of French cinema, Michel Blanc has gone. Our thoughts go out to his loved ones and his acting accomplices.”

Born on April 16, 1952, in Courbevoie (Hauts-de-Seine), France, Blanc had a passion for classical music from a young age. But he later changed direction and co-founded the Le Splendid troupe, a café-théâtre company, in the 1970s with his friends, Christian Clavier, Gérard Jugnot, Thierry Lhermitte, Josiane Balasko, Marie-Anne Chazel, Bruno Moynot and Claire Magnin.

As for his film projects,...

French actor Michel Blanc, best known for his roles in Le Splendid troupe comedy films like the 1978 cult classic Les Bronzés (French Fried Vacation) and its subsequent 1979 and 2006 sequels, died early Oct. 4 at 72 of a heart attack following anaphylactic shock, per the Agence France-Presse.

A fixture in French cinema, his death was mourned by president Emmanuel Macron, who wrote on X: “He made us cry with laughter and moved us to tears. A monument of French cinema, Michel Blanc is gone. Our thoughts go out to his loved ones and his acting accomplices.”

The French Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, added in a statement: “This morning the sorrow is immense, as great as his talent. In front of the camera of Bertrand Blier, Robert Altman or Pierre Schoeller, Michel Blanc amazed us with the variety of his acting, but also with his talents as a director with films like “Marche à l’ombre...

Michel Blanc, the French actor known for the “Les Bronzés” films and crime drama “Monsieur Hire,” has died. He was 72.

Blanc died early Friday morning after suffering a heart attack the previous night, according to Agence France-Presse (Afp).

Blanc was known for his role as the awkward bachelor Jean-Claude Dusse in the 1978 film “Les Bronzés” (“French Fried Vacation”), directed by Patrice Leconte. He starred in the 1979 and 2006 follow-up films to the cult French comedy.

Blanc was also revered for his dramatic performances in film, including in Leconte’s 1989 crime thriller “Monsieur Hire,” where he played the titular character. In 2012, Blanc received the César for best supporting actor for “L’Exercice de l’État” (“The Minister”), written and directed by Pierre Schoeller.

Blanc directed, co-wrote and starred in the 1984 film “Marche à l’ombre” and 2002’s “Summer Things.” Additional film credits include “Les Filles de Malemort” (1974), “Let Joy Reign Supreme” (1975), “The Best...

Newen Connect’s French-language comedies Family Therapy, Open Season and Lucky Punch have lured a long list of buyers across the globe for theatrical distribution in more than 50 markets and a raft of remakes in the pipelines.

Arnaud Lemort’s Family Therapy (Jamais Sans Mon Psy) has sold to over 30 territories including Italy (Movies Inspired), Spain (A Contracorriente Films), Germany and Austria (Lighthouse), Benelux (Paradiso), Switzerland (Pathé Films), Canada (Tva Films), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Donart), Hungary and Romania (Vertigo Media), Ukraine (Total Film Distribution), Bulgaria (Beta Film), Estonia (Estin Film), Israel (Forum Film), Portugal (Nos Lusomundo), Greece (Spentzos), Middle...

Mallory Wanecque, the breakout actor of “The Worst Ones” who headlines Cannes competition title “Beating Hearts,” is starring alongside Sami Bouajila (“Through the Fire”) in “Vultures,” a thriller directed by Peter Dourountzis (“Rascal”).

Produced by Mediawan-owned 24-25 Films (“Black Box”), “Vultures” is represented internationally by Ginger & Fed, the new international film sales arm of Federation Studios headed by former TF1 Studio boss Sabine Chemaly. The cast is completed by Sami Bouajila (“Through the Fire”), Jean-Pierre Darroussin (“All Your Faces”), Pierre Lottin (“The Night of the 12th”) and Valerie Donzelli (“Declaration of War”).

“Vultures” will be delivered during the second quarter of 2025. Bouajila stars as Samuel, a journalist who partners with his intern daughter Ava to cover the brutal murder of a young girl that lead them to a male supremacist group headed by the enigmatic Nemesis. The movie marks Dourountzis’ follow-up to “Rascal,” an edgy film starring Pierre Deladonchamps as an outsider-turned-killer.

Gilles Bourdos’ Cross Away, starring Vincent Lindon, a French remake of Steven Knight’s 2013 film Locke that starred Tom Hardy, is being launched at the EFM by Newen Connect.

Lindon plays the head of a construction company who takes a series of telephone calls in his car during one long night. The voices of his wife, his mistress, his boss and his co-worker and will be played by Micha Lescot, Pascale Arbillot, Gregory Gadebois, Brigitte Catillon and Cédric Kahn. Curiosa Films is producing.

Also in post for Newen is Marie-Hélène Roux’s second feature Mending Lives about real-life Congolese doctors Denis Mukwege,...

Newen Connect has closed a raft of sales on “Kina & Yuk,” a live action family adventure from the team behind “Ailo’s Journey,” ahead of the Unifrance Rendez-Vous showcase.

Directed by Guillaume Maidatchevsky (“Ailo’s Journey”), the feature is a wild arctic tale following two foxes who are separated by the melting polar ice and must overcome a number of dangers in the hope of being reunited and raise a family together. The movie was released in French theaters by Ugc on Dec. 27.

“Kina & Yuk” has been sold by Newen Connect to over 30 markets so far, including Australia and New Zealand (Rialto), Austria and Germany, Baltic states (Acme), Benelux (Distrib7), Bulgaria (Beta Film), Czech Rep. and Slovakia (Donart), Guyana, Guadeloupe and Martinique (Filmdis), Hungary (Vertigo), Indonesia (Pt Falcon), Middle East (Grand Entertainment), Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria (Golden Film), Poland (Best Film), Réunion, Mayotte and Maurice (Maurefilms and Investissement...

Pair of comedies headline TF1-owned company’s 2024 French-language slate

Newen Connect is heading to Unifrance’s Rendez-Vous with two French-language ensemble comedies, Family Therapy and Start Me Up.

Family Therapy is the fourth feature from Arnaud Lemort. and follows a man with severe anxiety whose therapist decides he cannot stand him, kicks him out of his practice and challenges him to find the woman of his dreams Christian Clavier and Baptiste Lecaplain star with Claire Chust, Cristiana Réali and Rayane Bensetti.

Produced by TF1 Studio and TF1 Films Production with Atelier de Production, Ugc will release the film in...

The company has boarded star-powered French features ‘Take Me Home’ and ’Under The Rainbow’.

Newen Connect, the international sales arm of the Tfi Group’s Newen Studios, has snapped up rights to star-powered French features Take Me Home and Under the Rainbow and will kick off sales in Cannes. Both will be released in France by Ugc Distribution.

Take Me Home is the first feature from directing duo Karine Blanc and Michel Tavares and stars Clovis Cornillac, alongside Eyé Haïdara in a story about a struggling country singer who moves with her children to a mountain village and turns the...

Italian actor Caterina Murino, best known globally for playing Solange in James Bond movie “Casino Royale,” will be the master of ceremonies at the upcoming Venice Film Festival.

Born in Cagliari, Sardegna, Murino made her big screen debut in 2002 in late Chilean writer/director Luis Sepulveda’s political drama “Nowhere” which played well in France. She returned to French film screens in 2004 in “L’Enquete Corse” opposite actors Christian Clavier and Jean Reno.

In 2006 Murino gained global visibility as the new 007 Bond Girl alongside Daniel Craig with her role as the shady seductive Solange Dimitrios in “Casino Royale.”

She subsequently starred in British comedy “St.Trinian’s” and in 2008 attended Venice as protagonist of Italian Director Pappi Corsicato’s “The Seed of Discord.”

In 2017 Murino starred in U.S. supernatural thriller “The Voice in Stone” and in 2021 appeared in Alex de la Iglesia’s “Veneciafrenia” and in Netflix family dramedy “My Brother, My Sister,...

The wedding comedy stars Christian Clavier and Sylvie Testud.

Snd has found distribution matches across the globe for Julien Hervé’s wedding comedy Ooh La La!, signing deals in several territories as the title gets its market premiere at EFM.

The feature film arm of France’s M6 broadcasting group has sold the film to Sphere in Canada, to Weltkino for Germany and Austria, to Kinoswiat in Poland, Vertigo in Hungary, Blitz for the Balkans, All Media for Cis and SKeye for in-flight entertainment. The sales follow Snd’s previous deals to Belga in Benelux, Tri Pictures in Spain, Nos...

Exclusive: Newen Connect CEO Rodolphe Buet is happy to be back in person at the Berlinale’s European Film Market after the three-year Covid-19 hiatus.

“It’s fun to be in Berlin. When I started in the industry in 2005, my first market was Berlin with Studiocanal,” he says.

In the interim, Buet rose through the Studiocanal ranks to become president of distribution and marketing from 2015 to 2017, overseeing the rollout strategies for Paddington and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy among other major films.

He was appointed CEO of Paris-based Newen Connect in 2020, piloting its creation in the wake of TF1’s 100 acquisition of Newen Studios out of the merger of their distribution arms TF1 Studio, Newen Distribution and Reel One International.

He has spent the last three years steadily putting in place a structure in step with the convergence between the audiovisual and cinema worlds, appointing Leona Connell as Chief Commercial Officer...

Exclusive: Film and TV distribution division Newen Connect has announced the promotion of Alice Damiani to SVP International Film Sales on the eve of the Berlinale’s European Film Market.

Damiani takes over from Sabine Chemaly, who has been head of film sales at TF1 Studio, and then Newen Connect, since 2012.

Newen Connect was created in 2020 in the wake of TF1’s acquisition of French production giant Newen Studios, out of the fusion of their distribution divisions Newen Distribution, TF1 Studio and Reel One International.

Damiani’s promotion is part of an ongoing restructuring and expansion of the resulting division by CEO Rodolphe Buet, which also saw Leona Connell being upped to Chief Commercial Officer last September, in a role giving her oversight of international and French markets for both film and TV.

In her new role, Damiani will take on responsibility for identifying and championing new cinema projects from...

French actor and director Guillaume Canet has revealed he is feeling the pressure ahead of the release next week of his ambitious 70M production Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom.

Canet directs and stars in the film as iconic plucky Gaul Asterix in an all-star ensemble cast also featuring Gilles Lellouche as Obelix, Vincent Cassel as Julius Caesar, Marion Cotillard as Cleopatra and Swedish soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimović as Caesar’s bodyguard Antivirus.

The production is Canet’s eighth feature after 2006 breakout Tell No One, 2010 hit Little White Lies, Brooklyn-set, English-language debut Blood Ties and the smaller more personal pandemic-shot film Lui.

Long-time collaborator Alain Attal at Trésor Films produces with Pathé and Yohan Baiada at Les Enfants Terribles.

Pathé will launch Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom on 1,200 screens on February 1. Local media is hailing the release as the biggest film event of early 2023.

Canet has said he...

Newen Connect, the film and TV distribution arm of the French media group Newen Studios, is launching a raft of comedies at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous event in Paris this week.

New titles include “Mr. Putifar’s Wacky Plan,” based on the book “Comedy.” It’s produced by Ugc and Romain Rotjman’s Les Films du 24, the team behind “Serial (Bad) Weddings.”

Directed by Pierre-François Martin-Laval (“Serial Teachers”), the movie stars Christian Clavier and Isabelle Nanty. Clavier stars as a retired school teacher plotting a revenge on the kids who made his life hell twenty years ago and destroyed his one chance at love.

“Open Season,” produced by Starman Films and Curiosa Films (“Stars at Noon”), is directed by Frédéric Forestier and Antonin Fourlon. The film stars Didier Bourdon (“Alibi.com 2”), Camille Lou (“Spoiled Brats”), Hakim Jemili (“A Good Doctor”), Thierry Lhermitte (“Just Retired”) and Chantal Ladesou.

The film follows Adelaide,...

For the first time since 1989, there were no French movies among the country’s top 10 box officers grossers, which was exclusively dominated by U.S. studio movies.

James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” led the 2022 chart with an estimated 54 million grossed from 7.8 million admissions since its Dec. 14 release, followed by “Top Gun: Maverick,” “Minions: the Rise of Gru,” “Jurassic World Dominion,” “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness,” “The Batman,” “Thor: Love and Thunder,” “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore.”

But even these blockbusters failed to lift the French box office back to its pre-pandemic levels. It was down 28 on 2019.

Ticket sales reached 152 million in 2022, a 60 year-on increase, but that’s because theaters were shut down for more than 5 months in 2021. Comscore France says the French box office was impacted by several factors, including the threat of Covid variants,...

French sales company’s titles include ’The Book of Wonders’, ‘The Baby’ and ’The Braid’.

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French sales company Snd has revealed a first look image and fresh production details for Princes Of The Desert, Eric Barbier’s adventure film starring Alexandra Lamy, and has unveiled details of its extensive AFM slate.

Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Mika is behind the soundtrack for Princes of the Desert which was previously titled Tehu. Lamy, whose credits include Rolling To You, replaces the previously announced Charlotte Gainsbourg in the film.

The film, produced by Snd alongside Vertigo Productions, follows a young Berber boy who...

’There is no point in releasing 25 movies a year. We need to be selective,’ says Belga’s Patrick Vandenbosch.

Patrick Vandenbosch, chief executive of leading Benelux distributor Belga, has outlined the company’s new strategy following its acquisition this week of Marc Punt’s Amsterdam-based distributor Independent Films.

Belga previously had a 50/50 partnership with Independent and released its films in the Netherlands through the company, while Independent’s films were released in Belgium through Belga. Now, Belga has taken over the Dutch outfit entirely.

“Independent is becoming for us a key profit centre instead of just an operational partnership,” Vandenbosch said,...

Snd has closed a flurry of sales across its slate, including the animated feature “The Jungle Bunch: World Tour,” the French comedy “Ooh La la,” and the international melodrama “The Braid.”

Produced by leading animation studio Tat Productions, “The Jungle Bunch: World Tour” is the sequel to the animated feature hit “The Jungle Bunch – The 3D Movie” which was one of the highest grossing French productions worldwide in 2017 and sold to over 70 territories. The spinoff movies expand on the popular animated series “The Jungle Bunch” which follows the adventures of a group of misfit animals on a mission to protect their kingdom.

In “The Jungle Bunch: World Tour,” a mysterious super-villain covers the jungle with a toxic pink foam that explodes on contact with water, prompting the heroic animals to set off on a race-against-time journey around the world to find an antidote before the start of the rainy season.

“Peaceful,” Emmanuelle Bercot’s Cesar-winning melodrama which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, has landed domestic distribution with New York-based banner Distrib US.

Sold by Studiocanal, the movie is headlined by Benoit Magimel and Catherine Deneuve (pictured). Magimel, who won the Cesar Award for best actor — beating fellow nominee Adam Driver — stars as a man dying of cancer. “Peaceful” world premiered out of competition at Cannes where it earn warm reviews.

Distrib US has also acquired “A Tale of Love and Desire” and “Les Inde Galantes,” which are both screening this week at the Film at Lincoln Center as part of the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in New York. The event is being co-organized by Unifrance, the French film and TV advocacy org.

“Les Inde Galantes,” directed by Philippe Béziat, is a documentary following 30 dancers reprising Jean-Philippe Rameau’s baroque masterpiece on the stage of Paris’s legendary Opéra Bastille.

Snd is set to host market premieres for Patrice Leconte’s period detective film “Maigret,” as well as high concept comedies “Employee of the Month” and “The Bodins” at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris, a showcase of French content hosted this week in Paris.

“Maigret,” based on Georges Simenon’s literary masterpiece, will star Gérard Depardieu (“Cyrano de Bergerac”) as detective Maigret, who investigates the death of a young girl in 1953. During his inquiry, Maigret crosses paths with Betty, a young offender who reminds him of the dead girl. The movie will be released by Snd on April 6.

“We’ve pre-sold ‘Maigret’ across 90% of Europe, it’s really a highlight on our slate due to the strength of the franchise, director and cast – Gerard Depardieu is outstanding in this role,” said Ramy Nahas, head of international sales at Snd.

“Employee of the Month” will be directed by French comedian Jerome...

The French box office, hampered by an increasingly rigorous series of Covid health protocols, took a plunge in recent months, resulting in week-to-week falls of up to 41%. But for all their caveats, industry analysts talk about the current landscape in tones of cautious optimism.

In France, a growing number of commercial spaces are prohibited from those without proof of double anti-covid vaccinations.

“The sanitary passport had a pronounced effect in depressing the market,” says Comscore France’s Eric Marti. “There was a lot of uncertainty this summer, and we saw that once there’s a hint of confusion, the impact is immediate.” But at the same time, those same local audiences disproved the most pessimistic prognoses that came from during the lockdowns. “Viewers have displayed a real willingness” to return to the theaters, Marti says. “Remarkably, the market was able to absorb the [escalating restrictions], and, despite them, to pick back up.

Exclusive: David Hasselhoff (Baywatch) is set to star in English-language comedy C’est Magique (It’s Magic!), which is being launched as the debut film for new production company South Pointe Pictures during the Cannes film festival and market.

Hasselhoff will star in the movie with South Pointe’s Larry Cech. French filmmaker Nicolas Benamou, director of French box office hits Babysitting and Babysitting II, is set to direct. Benamou’s latest film, Do You, Do You Saint Tropez, with Benoit Poelvoorde and Christian Clavier, is due to release this month.

C’est Magique will tell the story of two French magicians who accidentally qualify to compete in the world’s largest magic competition in Las Vegas. The film is based on actual events about Cech’s time in Las Vegas working on large magic shows. The story was written by Benamou – making his English-language debut – and Cech.

According to Benamou,...

On Friday night, three crew members involved with French sequel Serial (Bad) Weddings 3 died in a car crash near Châtellerault.

A fourth crew member, who was also in the car, was taken to the Poitiers University Hospital in critical condition. News of the collision was first reported by French publication, La Nouvelle Republique.

While none of the crew members have been named yet, those who died were aged 19, 47 and 49. The head-on crash happened around 9 p.m., after the group had wrapped up filming for the day. In the other car caught up in the crash, there was only one person, who left the scene slightly injured, according to firefighters.

The French law enforcement branch known as the gendarmerie is now undertaking an investigation into the accident, to confirm the cause. As is typical in the case of fatal accidents, blood alcohol and narcotics tests were conducted, though the results have not yet been released.

Three crew members from the production of French comedy “Serial (Bad) Weddings 3” died in a car accident on Friday night. A fourth crew member is currently in critical condition. The events were first reported by local newspaper La Nouvelle Republique.

The three crew members — whose names are still unknown but who are aged 19, 47 and 49 — were on their way back from filming in Châtellerault in western France, where the production was supposed to shoot for four days, according to Le Parisien.

The accident occurred at around 9 p.m. on a regional road where the crew members’ car collided head-on with another vehicle that was in the wrong lane trying to overtake the car in front of it, per Le Parisien.

An investigation has been launched to determine the circumstances of the accident.

Filming on “Serial (Bad) Weddings 3” has been suspended, according the the city hall of Châtellerault. The movie is the...

Exclusive: Timberman-Beverly Productions has partnered with filmmaker Tod Williams (The Door In the Floor) on a drama series focused on the rarely explored origin story of one of history’s most iconic figures, Napoleon Bonaparte. The project, which is being taken out to the streaming marketplace, hails from ABC Signature where Timberman-Beverly is under a deal.

Bonaparte’s rise to become the emperor of France is possibly the grandest epic driven by a single individual in all of human history, except it isn’t the story of an individual at all. It’s the story of a family, more specifically, a mother and her eight children, rising up from obscurity to become the most powerful dynasty in the world. Beautiful, unruly, intelligent, and competitive, but united as a pack of wolves when threatened. In this family, blood is thicker than everything.

The series will explore Napoleon the son, brother, and...

René Goscinny and illustrator Albert Uderzo gave the world a charming gift when they debuted The Adventures of Asterix in 1959. 60 years on, through excursions off the page and across the big and small screens, our affection for the diminutive Gaul and his giant sidekick remains. The rose-tinted glasses of nostalgia are a powerful accessory.

This time – despite the ever-present threat of the Romans – the challenge faced by the feisty villagers comes from within. Getafix the Druid (brewer of the magic potion which sustains the village and gives Asterix his mighty powers) has taken a tumble and broken his leg. With his mortality mortifyingly evident and his present handicap, Getafix realises he needs an apprentice.

Armed with a shortlist from his fellow druid elders, protected by Asterix (Christian Clavier) and Obelix (Guillaume Briat) and accompanied by inquisitive young Impedimenta (Florence Foresti), Getafix (Bernard Alane) crisscrosses Gaul in search of a worthy...

Rolling off the success of “Serial (Bad) Weddings 2,” Romain Rojtman is reteaming with Ugc and Orange Studio on the the third opus of France’s comedy B.O. hit franchise.

“Serial (Bad) Weddings 2” was released on Jan. 30 and grossed over 45 million euros from 7 million admissions in France, breaking a four-year record for a local language film. The movie is currently having a theatrical roll-out in several countries, including Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and Canada.

The franchise centers on the Verneuil family, an upper-class Catholic couple (Christian Clavier and Chantal Lauby) from a French province and their three daughters who have married men of different faiths. Rojtman, who is producing “Serial (Bad) Weddings” for Les Films du 24 and Ugc Images, said the project’s plot will have a greater international appeal than the second opus, notably through the characters of the in-laws.

“Serial (Bad) Weddings 3” will bring back the Verneuil clan...

In Bertrand Blier’s Heavy Duty (Convoi exceptionnel), the 80-year-old French auteur revisits some of the themes that have marked his oeuvre ever since his 1974 breakout hit, Going Places (Les Valseuses), which was a rambunctious and altogether scandalous road movie starring the late Patrick Dewaere alongside a young Gerard Depardieu.

This time, Depardieu, who’s now 70, partakes in another sort of road trip, teaming up with comic star Christian Clavier (Serial (Bad) Weddings) in a meta-fictional narrative about two men trying to make their way through a film that keeps rewriting itself aloud. There’s something playful and Pirandello-like ...

In Bertrand Blier’s Heavy Duty (Convoi exceptionnel), the 80-year-old French auteur revisits some of the themes that have marked his oeuvre ever since his 1974 breakout hit, Going Places (Les Valseuses), which was a rambunctious and altogether scandalous road movie starring the late Patrick Dewaere alongside a young Gerard Depardieu.

This time, Depardieu, who’s now 70, partakes in another sort of road trip, teaming up with comic star Christian Clavier (Serial (Bad) Weddings) in a meta-fictional narrative about two men trying to make their way through a film that keeps rewriting itself aloud. There’s something playful and Pirandello-like ...

Paris-based Orange Studio has nearly sold out its two French comedy highlights, Philippe de Chauveron’s “Serial (Bad) Weddings 2” and Philippe Lacheau’s “City Hunter.”

“Serial (Bad) Weddings 2,” which opened the UniFrance Rendez-Vous in Paris last week, is the sequel of the smash hit film which grossed over $148 million worldwide. The movie has been acquired for Spain (A Contracorriente), Japan (Cetera), Italy (Iif), Greece (Odeon), Germany (Neue Visionen), Austria (Filmladen), Switzerland (Jmh Distributions), Benelux (Belga) and Canada (A-Z Films).

More deals were signed for Poland (Gutek), Czech Republic (Cinemart), Russia (Exponenta), Middle East and North Africa (Falcon), Baltics (A One Films), and Romania, Hungary, Moldavia (Mediasquad) and airlines (Skeye).

“Serial (Bad) Weddings 2” will be released on Jan. 30 in Paris. The sneak premieres of the movie across France have been packed. The sequel brings back the Verneuil family, an upper-class Catholic couple (Christian Clavier and Chantal Lauby) from a French...

Paris — In his first feature since 2010’s “The Clink of Ice,” filmmaker Bertrand Blier returns with a somber, existentialist farce reminiscent of the last century’s most celebrated absurdist theater.

Vladimir and Estragon, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, meet Taupin and Foster (Gérard Depardieu and Christian Clavier). One is homeless, the other well off, though that dynamic eventually flips. As they ramble the streets of Brussels, the two are constantly met by legions of script supervisors, who deliver them the latest pages and revisions that will inform their next steps.

As in “The Truman Show,” an all-seeing showrunner lies behind the scenes; as in “Six Characters in Search of an Author,” our protagonists sometimes bristle at the roles they have been cast into.

Still, the film’s premise is less an existential treatise than a malleable platform for a series of monologues, dialogues and testy exchanges. More than anything else, “Heavy Duty...

Kicking off on Jan. 17 with the world premiere of Philippe de Chauveron’s “Serial Bad Weddings 2,” the 21st edition of the UniFrance Rendez-Vous in Paris will showcase a flurry of French comedies, biopics and a raft of documentaries.

The Rendez-Vous in Paris, organized by the promotion org UniFrance, will take place over five days and will bring together 481 buyers from 56 countries, as well as 45 French sales companies.

Besides “Serial Bad Weddings 2,” the sequel of the smash hit film which grossed over $148 million, the anticipated comedy highlights set to have their market premieres at the Rendez-Vous include Hugo Gelin’s “Love at Second Sight,” Philippe Lacheau’s “City Hunter,” Eric Lavaine’s “No Filter,” Lisa Azuelos’s “Sweetheart,” Louis-Julien Petit’s “Invisibles” and Bertrand Blier’s “Heavy Duty.”

Sold by Studiocanal, “Love at Second Sight” is a romantic comedy which marks Gelin’s follow-up to the Omar Sy starrer “Two is a Family.

Convoi exceptionnel

The soon-to-be 80-year-old Bertrand Blier breaks a ten-year hiatus from directing with Convoi exceptionnel (Wide Load), a comedy which reunites him with Gerard Depardieu, who headlined some of the director’s most memorable early works, such as the exceptional Going Places in 1974, 1978’s Get Out Your Handkerchiefs, 1979’s Buffet Froid, 1986’s Menage, 1989’s Too Beautiful for You, and 2005’s How Much Do You Love Me? Depardieu is joined by his old co-star Christian Clavier in the project, produced by Olivier Delbosc of Curiosa Films, Clavier’s company Ouille Productions, Belgium’s Versus Productions, with co-production from Orange Studio.…...

The American Film Market has unveiled the initial lineup of screenings for its 2018 edition, with 64 world premieres landing amid the more than 300 films set to be showcased.

Among the world premieres are Killers Anonymous, starring Gary Oldman and Jessica Alba; Running With the Devil, starring Nicolas Cage and Laurence Fishburne; Stano, starring Joe Manganiello and Sofia Vergara; Killerman, starring Liam Hemsworth; and Beautiful Darkness, starring Matthew Broderick and Chloe Sevigny.

Other films making their debut include Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion, starring Christian Clavier, Guillaume Briat and Elie Semoun; Balloon, starring Friedrich Mucke and Karoline Schuch; and the documentary Fidel Up Close....

The American Film Market has unveiled the initial lineup of screenings for its 2018 edition, with 64 world premieres landing amid the more than 300 films set to be showcased.

Among the world premieres are Killers Anonymous, starring Gary Oldman and Jessica Alba; Running With the Devil, starring Nicolas Cage and Laurence Fishburne; Stano, starring Joe Manganiello and Sofia Vergara; Killerman, starring Liam Hemsworth; and Beautiful Darkness, starring Matthew Broderick and Chloe Sevigny.

Other films making their debut include Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion, starring Christian Clavier, Guillaume Briat and Elie Semoun; Balloon, starring Friedrich Mucke and Karoline Schuch; and the documentary Fidel Up Close....

Launched six months ago, Orange Studio’s international sales division will be hitting Cannes Film Festival with three movies across various selections, including a pair of new acquisitions, Guillaume Nicloux’s Directors’ Fortnight player “To the Ends of the World” and “Rafiki” (pictured), Wanuri Kahiu’s Lgbt love story slated for Un Certain Regard.

“Rafiki” has just been banned by authorities in Kenya where homosexuality is illegal. Adapted from “Jambula Tree,” a short story by Uganda’s Monica Arac de Nyeko, the film tells the story of two teenage girls whose developing romance put them at odds with their families and community.

Météore Films will release “Rafiki” in France. Andrei Kamarowsky, who heads up Orange Studio’s international sales division with Emilie Serres, pointed out “Rafiki” will be the first Kenyan movie to be presented at Cannes Film Festival.

Orange Studio has also acquired international sales rights to...

Jamel Debbouze is producing under his Kissfilms banner alongside Nicolas Duval-Adassovsky.

Source: Arno Roth

‘;New Biz In The Hood’

French director Mohamed Hamidi, whose 2016 breakout picture One Man And His Cow drew 1.3 million spectators in France and sold well internationally, has started shooting his latest comedy about a trendy communication agency forced to locate to a tough, no-go zone in an outer Paris suburb.

TF1 Studio will launch sales on the film – entitled New Biz In The Hood! (Zone Franche) - at the Unifrance Rendez-vous with French Cinema in Paris this week (Jan 18-22). The company has released an exclusive first image from the first week on set.

Nicolas Duval-Adassovsky at Paris-based Quad is producing alongside actor-producer star Jamel Debbouze under his Kissfilms banner. Directorial duo Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache are also on board through their production company Ten Films.

Lellouche co-stars as Paris entrepreneur Fred Bartel who falsely claims his rising communication agency is situated...

Comedy from director Mohamed Hamidi (One Man And His Cow) to start shooting in Paris.

Source: Wiki Commons

Jamel Debbouze, Gilles Lellouche, Mohamed Hamidi

French director Mohamed Hamidi, whose 2016 breakout picture One Man And His Cow drew 1.3 million spectators in France and sold well internationally, has started shooting his latest comedy starring Gilles Lellouche and Jamel Debbouze.

The film, provisionally entitled New Biz In The Hood! (Zone Franche), is about a trendy communication agency forced to locate to a tough, no-go zone in an outer Paris suburb.

TF1 Studio will launch sales on the project at the Unifrance Rendez-vous with French Cinema in Paris this week (Jan 18-22).

Nicolas Duval-Adassovsky at Paris-based Quad is producing alongside actor-producer star Debbouze under his Kissfilms banner. Directorial duo Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache are also on board through their production company Ten Films.

Lellouche co-stars as Paris entrepreneur Fred Bartel who falsely claims his rising communication agency is situated in a tough...

Deals in Germany, Italy, Spain, Asia for film co-starring Kristin Scott Thomas.

Source: TF1 Studio

‘In Your Hands’

TF1 Studio has announced first sales on French director Ludovic Bernard’s drama In Your Hands starring Jules Benchetrit as a talented young pianist, with a tearaway streak, struggling to fulfil his full potential.

The feature has sold to Germany (Neue Visionen), Italy (Cinema), Spain (Avalon), Belgium (Splendid Film), Switzerland (Pathé), Japan (Ccc), South Korea (Cinema de Manon) and Taiwan (Creative Century Entertainment).

TF1 Studio film team, led by Sabine Chemaly, kicked off sales on the production at the Afm last November.

Screen can also reveal a first look of Benchetrit in the lead role of Mathieu, a troublemaker from a poor background with a special talent for the piano.

Lambert Wilson co-stars as a music school director, who is captivated by Mathieu’s playing on a public piano in a train station in Paris and decides to help him...

Exclusive: Comedy centres on woman who wakes up one morning with something extra.

Elle Driver is reporting brisk business on Audrey Dana’s comedy If I Were A Boy following a packed screening at the Unifrance Rendez-vous With French Cinema in Paris, which runs from January 12-16.

Popular French actress Dana directs and stars as the unlucky-in-love heroine Jeanne – a recently-divorced single mother who has sworn off men.

One morning she wakes up with a penis – a development that mystifies her gynaecologist and results in some quirky situations as Jeanne navigates her way – emotionally and physically – through the unprecedented development.

Other cast members include Serial (Bad) Weddings star Christian Clavier; Eric Elmosnino, whose recent credits include the hit La Famille Bélier; and Alice Belaïdi (A Little Job, The Climb).

It is Dana’s second feature in the director’s chair after her 2014 ensemble work French Women (Sous Les Jupes des Filles) co-starring Isabelle Adjani, Laetitia Casta, [link...

Exclusive: World War Two drama is based on Joseph Joffo’s best-selling classic novel.

Gaumont has secured a slew of sales on Christian Duguay’s heart-warming drama A Bag Of Marbles about two young Jewish brothers fending for themselves in German-occupied during World War Two.

The picture, which world market premieres at the Afm, is based on Joseph Joffo’s eponymous best-selling novel based on his own experiences.

The film has sold to South Korea (Double & Joy), Switzerland (Ascot Elite), Spain (A Contracorriente), Greece (Odeon), Italy (Notorious), Portugal (Lusomundo) and Yugoslavia (Dexin).

It has also been picked up for Israel (Lev), the Middle East (Four Star) and Turkey (Medyavizyon). Cine Video y TV have done a pan-Latin America deal covering Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela.

Canadian director Duguay’s recent credits include family film Belle And Sebastian: The Adventure Continues.

Key adult cast includes Patrick Bruel, Christian Clavier, [link...

Philippe de Chauveron is re-teaming with star Christian Clavier following the pair’s 2014 box-office hit.

Philippe de Chauveron {pictures, top], director of French box office hit Serial (Bad) Weddings, will reunite with Christian Clavier for new comedy Pleeeeeze, also starring Anne Dorval (Mommy) and François Damiens (La Famille Bélier).

Production companies are Puslar Productions and Clavier’s Ouille Productions. The film will be co-produced by Paris-based sales company Snd, who will also handle worldwide sales and French distribution.

The culture-clash comedy stars Clavier as Jean Etienne Fougerole a brilliant, left-wing intellectual with an heiress wife (Dorval) and a new book to promote. But Fougerole is forced to practice what he preaches after a TV talk show host challenges him to open his own home to those in need, rather than encouraging others to do so.

Fougerole accepts and shares his address, only to find his life turned upside down by the arrival of Romanian gypsy father, Babik...

Exclusive: Sequel due to hit French screens in December.

TF1 International has been racking up sales on Babysitting 2, titled All Gone South, in which the original film’s gang of madcap, accident-prone friends wreak havoc on an upscale resort in Brazil, before heading off for a disastrous excursion into the Amazon jungle.

The sequel has sold to Germany and Austria (Square One), Benelux (Cineart), Switzerland (Pathé), Greece (Odeon), Turkey (Associated Euromedia), Portugal (Pris Audiovisuals), the Cis and Central Europe (All Media Company), Poland (Kino Swiat), Middle East (Falcon), Latin America (Antonio Fernandes Filmes) and Japan (Nikkatsu).

Philippe Lacheau, who co-directs alongside Nicolas Benamou, reprises his role as Franck opposite Alice David as girlfriend Sonia and Vincent Desagnat and Tarek Boudali as best pals Ernest and Sam.In the sequel, the quartet head off to a luxury hotel in Brazil owned by Sonia’s pompous father Alain, played by popular French actor Christian Clavier.

Franck is planning...

Exclusive: Last Call for Nowhere sold to Neue Visionen for Germany and Frenetic for Switzerland.

TF1 International has boarded Last Call For Nowhere, the latest film from director Philippe de Chauveron, whose French comedy hit Serial (Bad) Weddings grossed $172m worldwide in 2014.

Two distributors who enjoyed success with Serial (Bad) Weddings have already jumped on board. Neue Visionen has acquired the new film for Germany, where Serial (Bad) Weddings topped the box office and drew 3.9m admissions, while Frenetic has taken Swiss rights.

Last Call reunites de Chauveron with Serial (Bad) Weddings co-stars Ary Abittan and Medi Sadoun. Abittan plays José Fernandez, a French border officer sent to Malta to execute an extradition order against Sadoun’s Akim, a man wrongly accused of committing terrorist offences. Fernandez is supposed to accompany Akim on a flight to Kabul, but Akim has other ideas. When he escapes, a wild goose chase across the island ensues.

Serial (Bad) Weddings...

Exclusive: Last Call for Nowhere sold to Neue Visionen for Germany and Frenetic for Switzerland.

TF1 International has boarded Last Call For Nowhere, the latest film from director Philippe de Chauveron, whose French comedy hit Serial (Bad) Weddings grossed $172m worldwide in 2014.

Two distributors who enjoyed success with Serial (Bad) Weddings have already jumped on board. Neue Visionen has acquired the new film for Germany, where Serial (Bad) Weddings topped the box office and drew 3.9m admissions, while Frenetic has taken Swiss rights.

Last Call reunites de Chauveron with Serial (Bad) Weddings co-stars Ary Abittan and Medi Sadoun. Abittan plays José Fernandez, a French border officer sent to Malta to execute an extradition order against Sadoun’s Akim, a man wrongly accused of committing terrorist offences. Fernandez is supposed to accompany Akim on a flight to Kabul, but Akim has other ideas. When he escapes, a wild goose chase across the island ensues.

Serial (Bad) Weddings...

Exclusive: Last Call for Nowhere sold to Neue Visionen for Germany and Frenetic for Switzerland.

TF1 International has boarded Last Call For Nowhere, the latest film from director Philippe de Chauveron, whose French comedy hit Serial (Bad) Weddings grossed $172m worldwide in 2014.

Two distributors who enjoyed success with Serial (Bad) Weddings have already jumped on board. Neue Visionen has acquired the new film for Germany, where Serial (Bad) Weddings topped the box office and drew 3.9m admissions, while Frenetic has taken Swiss rights.

Last Call reunites de Chauveron with Serial (Bad) Weddings co-stars Ary Abittan and Medi Sadoun. Abittan plays José Fernandez, a French border officer sent to Malta to execute an extradition order against Sadoun’s Akim, a man wrongly accused of committing terrorist offences. Fernandez is supposed to accompany Akim on a flight to Kabul, but Akim has other ideas. When he escapes, a wild goose chase across the island ensues.

Serial (Bad) Weddings...

Exclusive: Oscar-nominated Bouchareb explores plight of parents who lose children to Isis.Elle Driver has boarded Jorge Michael Grau’s earthquake drama 7.19 am and Rachid Bouchareb’s Road to Istanbul [pictured], about a mother who goes in pursuit of her Isis recruit daughter, ahead of the American Film Market (Afm). The company also start pre-sales on Audrey Dana’s comedy If I Were a Boy, in which she stars as a woman who wakes up with a penis, and Harry Cleven’s fantasy romance Angel. Franco-Algerian Bouchareb’s Road to Istanbul stars Belgian actress Astrid Whettnall as a single mother on a quest to find her 18-year-old daughter after she leaves Belgium to join the Islamic State with a Jihadist boyfriend. “My goal is to film the incomprehension of a mother totally caught off guard by the changes in her daughter on reaching legal age… Alone, divorced and abandoned by the authorities, she must try...

Title: Une heure de tranquillité (Do Not Disturb) Director: Patrice Leconte Starring: Christian Clavier, Carole Bouquet, Valerie Bonneton, Stephane De Groodt, Rossy de Palma, Arnaud Henriet, Sebastien Castro. Director Patrice Leconte adapts Florian Zeller’s hit stage play ‘Une heure de tranquilité’ for the big screen. The film, just like its inspirer, enhances the luxury of solitude: the moment we crave so much for ourselves, that is conquered with incommensurable plight. Through the traditional French farce, ‘Do Not Disturb’ tells the story of Michel Leproux who finds a rare vinyl by Niel Youart — Me, Myself and I — and the minute he gets home wants to be left alone to [ Read More ]

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