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After closing out last month’s Cannes competition, Michel Hazanavicius’ “The Most Precious of Cargoes” opened this year’s Annecy Animation Festival on an auspicious note. With French productions accounting for one half of Annecy’s 12 competition slots, the Alpine showcase doubles a show of force for Gallic filmmakers writ large – a fact made all the more impressive given their sector’s relative youth.

“20 years ago, French animation barely existed,” says “The Most Precious of Cargoes” executive producer Valerie Schermann, who credits “Kirikou and the Sorceress” director Michel Ocelot with forging a new path that many have since followed. “Michel showed that it was possible to produce animated features in France; without him I would never have been able to make my own films.”

But if Schermann built a sterling filmography in those ensuing decades – with credits such as “Zarafa,” “Wolfy, the Incredible Secret” and “The Red Turtle” – the stalwart...

Annecy — Opening under the pall of Thursday’s knife attack, – which prompted a spirited show of solidarity and communal defiance at its opening ceremony on Sunday – this year’s Annecy Intl. Animation Film Festival has never been bigger. Creativity is exploding, from “Spider-Verse” and beyond.

Animation is flowering in India and Africa.

Yet studio work, much courtesy of streamer orders, may rebound, but never return to the halcyon levels of the last few years. Theatrical for most animation titles has yet to return, moreover – save for extraordinary mega-blockbusters such as “Across the Spider-Verse” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” 10 takes on this year’s Annecy, the biggest animation festival on the world:

The Big Plays

Three – and nearly four – high-profile U.S. movies world premiere at Annecy: Disney’s “Once Upon A Studio,” a 100th anniversary celebratory short; DreamWorks Animation’s comedy fantasy “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken”; and Netflix’s...

Norwegian distributor Fidalgo has acquired a number of award-winning titles following conversations began at the European Film Market in Berlin in February.

The company’s latest acquisitions include Fantastic Machine, directed by Axel Danielson and Maximilien Van Aertryck and sold by Heretic. Fidalgo plans a theatrical release this autumn for the documentary about humanity’s obsession with the image. The film won Sundance’s World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Creative Vision and the Ag Kino Award Cinema Vision Award at Berlinale Generation 14plus.

Fidalgo also bought another Sundance award-winning documentary, Anna Hints’ Smoke Sauna Sisterhood, sold by Autlook.

The Red Sea International Film Festival (Red Sea Iff) has confirmed the third edition will take place from 30 November – 9 December 2023 in Jeddah, nestled on the eastern shore of the Red Sea. The second edition, was widely applauded for significantly expanding the industry and events program alongside presenting 143 films from 66 countries to 39,410 filmgoers and 4,345 film professionals, media and students, with an overall percentage capacity increase of 12.

The 2022 Festival showcased seven new Saudi feature films and 16 short films from an exciting wave of filmmakers, demonstrating the flourishing local industry and innovative filmmakers responsible for driving and bringing an exciting new vibrancy to Saudi cinema.

Shining a light on films from Saudi Arabia, the Arab world, Asia, and Africa, the Festival’s film competition saw Academy Award-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone at the helm and along with his fellow jurors, present 13 Yusr Awards to recognise the highest achievements in storytelling. The Golden Yusr for...

Dominik Moll’s The Night of The 12th has won best film at the 28th edition of France’s Lumière Awards in Paris on Monday evening.

The investigative drama, which was nominated in six categories, also won Best Screenplay.

The film, which debuted in the Cannes Film Festival’s non-competitive Cannes Première section, stars Bastien Bouillon as a police detective who becomes obsessed with a case involving a complex female murder victim.

Best director went to Albert Serra for French Polynesia-set drama Pacification. The feature also clinched two other prizes: Best Actor for Benoît Magimal and Best Cinematography for Artur Tort.

Virginie Efira won Best Actress for her performance in Rebecca Zlotowski’s Other People’s Children about the challenge of navigating the stepmother role.

Nadia Tereszkiewicz won Best Female Revelation for her performance in Forever Young and Dimitri Doré, Best Male Revelation for Bruno Reidal.

Alice Diop clinched best documentary category for We,...

Dominik Moll’s The Night of The 12th, which world premiered in Cannes in May, has topped the nominations for the 28th edition of France’s Lumière Awards.

The awards are voted on by members of the international press corp hailing from 36 countries based in France.

The Night Of The 12th was nominated in six categories including best film, director and screenplay. The film debuted in the Cannes Film Festival’s non competitive Cannes Première section.

The investigative drama is Moll’s seventh feature. It stars Bastien Bouillon, with support from Bouli Lanners, as a police detective who becomes obsessed with a case involving a complex female murder victim.

Other multi-nominated titles include Albert Serra’s French Polynesia-set drama Pacification five nominations.

Four films received four nominations each: Alice Diop’s Saint-Omer; Rebecca Zlotowski’s Other People’s Children; Louis Garrel’s The Innocent and Gaspar Noé’s Vortex.

Diop,...

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Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival, due to kick off its second edition Dec. 1, is continuing to add significant talent to its lineup, including two Oscar winners.

Spike Lee, Jackie Chan and Andrew Dominik are joining a growing assortment of big-name directors flying out to the coastal city of Jeddah to participate in a series of in-conversation sessions over the course of the next 10 days.

They join the likes of Andy Garcia, Akshay Kumar, Nadine Labaki, Guy Ritchie, Luca Guadagnino, Fatih Akin, Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah, Kaouther Ben Hania, Michel Ocelot, Gaspar Noé, Nelly Karim, Ranbir Kapoor and Hrithik Roshan, with more names still set to be confirmed.

“Our schedule of In-Conversations taking place at this year’s festival brings together some of the leading voices in international, Bollywood and Arab cinema, sharing their journeys to the big screen and the...

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival has unveiled a star-studded In-Conversations program as the second edition gets underway in the port city of Jeddah today.

Confirmed guest speakers include Oscar winners Spike Lee and Jackie Chan, Oscar-nominees Andy Garcia and Luca Guadagnino as well as actors Akshay Kumar, Nelly Karim, Ranbir Kapoor, and Hrithik Roshan and actress-director Nadine Labaki.

A raft of top directors will also be talking about their careers including Guy Ritchie, Gurinder Chadha, Andrew Dominik, Fatih Akin, Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah, Kaouther Ben Hania, Michel Ocelot, and Gaspar Noé.i

“Our schedule of In-Conversations taking place at this year’s Festival brings together some of the leading voices in international, Bollywood and Arab cinema, sharing their journeys to the big screen and the wisdom that they have learned along the way,” said Red Sea Film Festival CEO Mohammed Al Turki.

“We are thrilled to...

Georgia Oakley’s ‘Blue Jean’ won the audience award.

French cinema is this year the true winner at Seville European Film Festival (Seff), as France’s production companies are involved in the production of the eight main prizes at the Seville’s event which wrapped on Saturday.

Alice Diop’s first fiction feature Saint Omer adds Seville’s best feature award, the Golden Giraldillo to its brilliant career kicking off at Venice where it took the Silver Lion award.

The film has also been nomimated for France’s prestigiousLouis Delluc prize in both best feature and best debut categories and...

Six awards will be presented with two ‘in-kind’ prizes.

Filmmakers Houda Benyamina and Yasmine Benkiran, and Locarno Film Festival artistic director Giona Nazzaro are among the jurors for the industry programme of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival (December 1-10).

French director Benyamina, Moroccan filmmaker Benkiran and Nazzaro comprise the jury of the Work-In-Progress showcase, which selected six feature projects in post-production last month. The trio will award a 30,000 post-production prize.

Benyamina’s solo directorial debut Divines won the Camera d’Or for best debut feature at Cannes in 2016. She is in post-production on her next film Toutes Pour Une.

Emphasizing its consolidated position as an important bridge between European creators and cinemagoers, the Seville Festival is expanding its reach with an ambitious sidebar, Essential Voices, to bring together decisive European filmmakers for a discussion forum.

At the same time, the Seff continues strengthening its industrial heft with the announcement of Sevilla Cinema Lab, an initiative which, kicking-off in 2023, aims to promote high-level training for film professionals, as well as the development of film projects in international co-productions. It is supported by Spain’s Icaa film institute and Europe’s Next Generation Funds.

Juan Antonio Bayona and Álex de la Iglesia, two of the most renowned Spanish filmmakers, will take part in the Essential Voices section together with revered Russian director Alexandr Sokurov and two animation auteurs, France’s Michel Ocelot (“Kirikou and the Sorceress”) and Latvia’s Signe Baumane (“Rocks in My Pockets”).

In addition to the joint presence of two European emerging talents,...

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The 27th Busan International Film Festival opened Wednesday night on a long overdue note of optimism with the premiere of Scent of Wind by Iranian director Hadi Mohaghegh. Festival organizers have indicated that they view the 2022 festival as a full-scale comeback edition, following two hard years of pandemic restrictions and a sequence of prior political challenges.

“We believe that the seat occupancy rates have recovered to about 80 to 90 percent compared to 2019,” said Huh Moon-young, the festival’s director, on opening night.

The opening ceremony, which took place at the festival’s main venue, the Busan Cinema Center, was attended by Asian cinema luminaries and celebrities, including Hong Kong screen icon Tony Leung, Korean star Song Kang-ho, Korean-American actor Daniel Dae Kim, Thai actor-model Mario Maurer and Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda.

Leung, who starred last year in Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of...

Alain Ughetto’s ‘Interdit aux chiens et aux italiens’ scoops two awards.

Amandine Fredon and Benjamin Massoubre’s French-Luxembourgish 2D animation Little Nicholas – Happy As Can Be won the Cristal for a Feature Film at Annecy International Animation Festival, which held its awards on Saturday, June 18.

Produced by France’s Foliascope and Luxembourg’s Bidibul Productions, the film follows the adventures of a mischievous boy and his schoolmates, teacher and parents in 1960s Paris.

Scroll down for the full list of winners

The story is by Anne Goscinny, Michel Fessler and Massoubre, with Julien Maret leading the animation. France’s Charades is handling world sales,...

Celebrated actor was married three times, loved motor racing.

Jean-Louis Trintignant, a leading light of the French New Wave who broke out in Claude Lelouch’s A Man And A Woman and later in life starred in Michael Haneke’s Amour, has died. He was 91.

According to Agence France-Presse Trintignant died on Friday (June 17) at his home in the southern region of Gard. His wife Marianne Hoepfner was with him.

Trintignant was born on December 11 1930 in the southern Vaucluse region to businessman Raoul and Claire. As a shy man in his 20s – his personality would inform a personal aversion to...

Mia will take place alongside the Rpme Film Festival from October 11-15.

Rome’s Audiovisual International Market (Mia), film and TV market is launching a section entirely devoted to animation, inclusive of series, stand-alone specials as well as feature films.

The new section at Italy’s key audiovisual market adds to the existing ones of drama series; documentaries; and films. Animation projects that may be accepted may originate from any geographical or nationality background.

The eighth edition of Mia, which runs alongside the Rome Film Festival, is scheduled for October 11-15 this year.

“We wish not only to strengthen the...

Working titles of ‘Making Europe Through Fairy Tales’, ‘Petit Films Pour Les Grandes’.

French animation legend Michel Ocelot has detailed his next two projects, including a pan-European series of fairy tales taking one story from each country on the continent.

With the working title of Making Europe Through Fairy Tales, the project will be a collection of shorts.

Ocelot will provide his famous black silhouette characters, including the princes and princesses that populate many of his works; the stories themselves will be written and directed by different animation filmmakers in each country. The stories will have no connection to each...

“The Black Pharaoh, the Savage and the Princess,” BAFTA-winning French director Michel Ocelot (“Kirikou and the Sorceress”)’s anticipated new animated feature, has been sold by Paris-based Playtime to major territories.

The colorful film is playing at this week’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival where Ocelot is the recipient of the Honorary Cristal Award paying tribute to his laureled career.

Launched at the Cannes film market, “The Black Pharaoh, the Savage and the Princess” has already been acquired for Italy (Movies Inspired), Canada (Axia), Ex-yougoslavie (McF) and Portugal (Leopardo). The company is currently in talks with other buyers in the rest of Europe.

Ocelot’s film, which is produced by Christophe Rossignon’s well-established banner Nord-Ouest Films, tells three tales set in three different eras and worlds. In Ancient Egypt, a young king becomes the first black pharaoh to deserve the hand of his loved one. During the French Middle Ages,...

Two of the most awaited European animation films of the year – Alberto Vázquez’s “Unicorn Wars” and Pierre Foldes’ “Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman” – look set to world premiere in competition at France’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the biggest animation festival in the world.

Sneak peeks at Annecy’s Work in Progress strand, its industry cornerstone, include Apple Original and Skydance title “Luck,” from Peggy Holmes, Cartoon Network’s “Unicorn: Warriors Eternal,” from legendary U.S. director Genndy Tartakovsky (“Samurai Jack”) and the latest works from directors whose prior animated features have scored Oscar nominations: Spain’s Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal and France’s Alain Gagnol.

Announced Monday evening in Paris’ Cnc state film agency by Annecy director Mickaël Marin and artistic director Michel Jean, this year’s festival is deigned as fully-fledged return to the on-site encounters and in-person discovery which is the soul of Annecy, Marin emphasized,...

Persian art and music provide the inspiration for this tale of lost love, rendered in detailed cutout animation and shadow puppetry by Iranian director Reza Riahi that could easily sit alongside the similarly accomplished work of Michel Ocelot and Lotte Reiniger. The film has been recently listed as one of the ten on the Oscar shortlist, from which five will be chosen for the final vote.

Though it is dialogue-free, memories whisper through the story like the wind we see rustling a weeping willow at key moments. The year is 1279, six decades after the Mongol invasion of Persia and a Mongol emperor is enjoying a feast day. Among those in attendance is a blind musician, whose stringed kamancheh provides a melancholy soundtrack for the action, scored with emotion by . Iranian musician Saba Alizadeh. Dangling from the instrument is an earring, which holds a second tale - from years ago,...

The Criterion Channel has unveiled their lineup for next month and it’s another strong slate, featuring retrospectives of Carole Lombard, John Waters, Robert Downey Sr., Luis García Berlanga, Jane Russell, and Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman. Also in the lineup is new additions to their Queersighted series, notably Todd Haynes’ early film Poison (Safe is also premiering in a separate presentation), William Friedkin’s Cruising, and Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Teorama.

The new restorations of Manoel de Oliveira’s stunning Francisca and Francesco Rosi’s Christ Stopped at Eboli will join the channel, alongside Agnieszka Holland’s Spoor, Bong Joon Ho’s early short film Incoherence, and Luc Dardenne & Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s Rosetta.

See the lineup below and explore more on criterionchannel.com.

#Blackmendream, Shikeith, 2014

12 Angry Men, Sidney Lumet, 1957

About Tap, George T. Nierenberg, 1985

The AIDS Show, Peter Adair and Rob Epstein, 1986

The Assignation, Curtis Harrington, 1953

Aya of Yop City,...

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...

Rémi Chayé’s Calamity, A Childhood Of Martha Jane Cannary

The French Institute Alliance Française in New York has announced that Rémi Chayé’s Calamity, A Childhood Of Martha Jane Cannary, co-written with Sandra Tosello and Fabrice de Costil will open the fourth annual Animation First Festival. Calamity Jane is voiced by Salomé Boulven. Rémi Chayé joins Michaël Dudok de Wit (The Red Turtle), Michel Ocelot (Kirikou And The Sorceress) and Jean-François Laguionie to become the fourth guest of honour. Chayé’s 2015 film Long Way North (Tout En Haut Du monde), written by Claire Paoletti and Patricia Valeix with a screenplay by Fabrice de Costil will also screen during the festival. Wes Anderson, the first American special guest, has selected four animated films that inspired him.

Wes Anderson selects Suzie Templeton’s Oscar-winning Peter & The Wolf

Rémi Chayé: “It's an honour to bring Calamity Jane [Crystal Award winner for best feature at the.

Wes Anderson selects David Hand’s Bambi

Wes Anderson has selected four films that inspired him: David Hand’s Bambi, Martin Rosen’s The Plague Dogs (1982), and two shorts, Garry Trudeau’s A Doonesbury Special (1977), and Suzie Templeton’s Peter & The Wolf (2006) to screen during the French Institute Alliance Française Animation First Festival in New York, co-curated by Delphine Selles-Alvarez and Catherine Lamairesse.

Mathieu Amalric: Renaissance Man poster featuring Fantastic Mr. Fox and Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell And The Butterfly Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Michaël Dudok de Wit (The Red Turtle) was the honoured guest of the inaugural Animation First Festival in 2018, Michel Ocelot (Kirikou and the Sorceress) and Jean-François Laguionie were the guests of honour in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

Fi:af President Marie-Monique Steckel: “This year's Animation First promises to be the richest in the Festival's history. We are delighted to have so many exciting new films, cult classics,...

Feminist mystery “Dilili in Paris,” a new feature-length enterprise from French animation legend Michel Ocelot spotlights the prominence of noxious ideologies, misogyny and racism through an occasionally dazzling, though oddly rendered, adventure set during the Belle Epoque period of the late 1800s and early 1900s in Paris.

Dilili (voiced by Angelina Carballo in the English dub), a young biracial and bilingual Kanak immigrant from New Caledonia, a French colony in the South Pacific, snuck into a ship to reach Europe, where she now performs her tribe’s daily tasks as exotic amusement for Parisians. Speaking openly about the racially motivated discrimination she’s endured, Dilili shines as a rare heroine of color in a white world. She feels neither fully French nor Kanak, because she is either two fair or too dark depending on where she finds herself geographically.

Intrigued by her linguistic abilities, Orel (Jason Kesser), a local courier,...

Dilili is an adorable, charmingly unconventional heroine: a 6-year-old Kanak girl from New Caledonia who dresses like Shirley Temple and speaks like royalty. And Paris, glittering with elegant couture and a shiny new Eiffel Tower, never looked more splendid than it did around the turn of the 20th century, when Michel Ocelot’s new computer-animated feature is set. So why does “Dilili in Paris” feel like such a waste of both of these appealing assets?

Ocelot no doubt intends to set some kind of positive example with his latest adventure, the first to take place in the marvelous city he calls home, but about one girl’s fight for respect and gender equality in the early 1900s. It’s a complicated issue with an ugly past, which Ocelot has the courage to acknowledge — the film introduces young Dilili topless, chopping vegetables outside a straw hut in the park while well-dressed...

The Shanghai International Film Festival unveiled a competition lineup Tuesday that features entries from countries ranging from Indonesia to Estonia – but not the U.S., which is engaged in an increasingly bitter trade war with China.

The government-affiliated festival, which runs June 15-24, will open with the premieres of two Chinese films: Huayi Bros.’ patriotic World War II epic “The Eight Hundred,” directed by Guan Hu, and “Chuanyue Shikong de Huhuan” by Zhang Jiarui, according to Chinese website Mtime. Actor Wu Jing – whose “Wolf Warrior II” and “Wandering Earth” are the top two earning films in Chinese film history – will be the festival’s ambassador.

Fifteen films from around the world will vie for the Golden Goblet Award in the main competition. Notable among them are “Many Happy Returns,” a new title directed by Germany-based Uruguayan filmmaker Carlos Morelli and produced by Germany’s Weydemann Brothers, and “Chicuarotes,” Gael Garcia...

Domestic violence drama earns four prizes in Paris.

Xavier Legrand’s domestic violence drama Custody (Jusqu’à La Garde) was named best film at the 44th Cesar Awards in Paris on Friday (23).

Legrand’s feature directorial debut and Venice 2017 Silver Lion winner began the night on a field-leading 10 nominations alongside Gilles Lellouche’s comedy Sink Or Swim (Le Grand Bain), and also won awards for Legrand’s original screenplay, best actress Lea Drucker, and editor Yorgos Lamprinos.

Jacques Audiard was named best director for The Sisters Brothers at the ceremony in the Salle Pleyel, presided over by Kristin Scott Thomas.

Produced by Germany’s Gringo Films, “Stitch Head” will pitch at March’s Cartoon Movie in Bordeaux, a leading European event for animation coming down the pipeline. Fellow German studios Lavalabs and Studio Rakete co-produce.

“Stitch Head” will be a stereoscopic 3D animated feature directed by Toby Genkel, co-director –alongside Reza Memari– of the successful “A Stork’s Journey,” a German production from Ulysses Filmproduktion which secured a U.S. release through Grindstone and Lionsgate, and was sold by Global Screen.

“Stitch Head” is a family entertainment adventure-comedy intended for mainstream audiences. According to its producers, it’s a fun take on the Frankenstein myth, where the monsters are the good guys, and the humans are scary.

“It’s based on a simple premise: If a mad professor is obsessively bringing monstrous creatures to Almost-Life in his castle’s laboratory… then who takes care of the monsters? Who keeps them fed and clean?...

In today’s film news roundup, J.K. Simmons’ “I’m Not Here” and French animated movie “Dilili in Paris” get releases and Andrea Friedman nabs a film role.

Acquisitions

Gravitas Ventures has acquired worldwide rights to the J.K. Simmons drama “I’m Not Here” for a March 8 release, Variety has learned exclusively.

The film also stars Sebastian Stan, Maika Monroe, Mandy Moore, and Max Greenfield. It’s directed by Michelle Schumacher, who wrote the film alongside Tony Cummings.

Simmons portrays a man haunted by his past as every object in his home, every sound he hears, reminds him of a specific event in his life as he attempts to move past the pain and forgive his trespassers, and more importantly, forgive himself.

Schumacher said, “Tony and I wanted to explore the idea of understanding one’s life by connecting the dots of meaningful events and viewing them through the lens of quantum mechanics.

Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired U.S. rights to Michel Ocelot’s animated Dilili in Paris, which is part of Sgf’s plan to expand into distributing more family entertainment films. A 2019 theatrical release is in the works.

Dilili centers on a young girl who becomes caught up in a mystery plot that will take her through the upper reaches and lower depths of Belle Époque-era Paris. In the course of her investigation, she visits incredible places and encounters a series of extraordinary characters, each providing her with clues that will help in her quest to save the women of Paris. Prunelle Charles-Ambron, Enzo Ratsito and Natalie Dessay voice the cast.

Ocelot, whose credits include the animated Kirikou and the Sorceress, Princes and Princesses and Azur & Asmar: The Princes’ Quest, wrote and directed Dilili, which opened the 2018 Annecy animation festival, bowed in French theaters last fall and was nominated for a César Award.

Jacques Audiard’s dark comedy western won best film and best director.

Jacques Audiard’s dark comedy western The Sisters Brothers, co-starring John C. Reilly and Joaquin Phoenix, won best film and best director at the 24th edition of France’s Lumière awards on Monday evening.

In a third prize for Audiard’s English-language debut, Benoît Debie, who was also nominated for his work on Gaspar Noé’s Climax, won best cinematography.

The Sisters Brothers was a front-runner at the nomination stage alongside comedy of manners Mademoiselle de Joncquières, adoption drama Pupille and Venice-winning divorce drama Custody although there were no stand-out favourites this year.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon, France, has cemented its position as a favorite event for generations of leading international filmmakers with its showcase of classic films and tributes to legendary cinematic heroes.

Launched in 2009 by Bertrand Tavernier and Cannes topper Thierry Frémaux, the president and director of the Institut Lumière, respectively, the event has become one of the largest international festivals of classic cinema.

Last year 171,000 festivalgoers attended, up from 160,500 in 2016.

This year’s honorees and guests at the event, running Oct. 13-21, include such luminaries as Jane Fonda, who is receiving the Lumière Award, Peter Bogdanovich, Stephen Frears, Liv Ullmann, Javier Bardem and Jerry Schatzberg.

In addition to a retrospective of her work that will include such films as “Coming Home,” “The China Syndrome,” “Klute” and “On Golden Pond,” Fonda will bring the festival to a close with a tribute to her father,...

Frøyseth co-founded the Norwegian distributor in 1990.

Arild Frøyseth, co-founder of Norwegian distributor Fidalgo, passed away at the age of 60, on Aug 29 at his home in Kristiansand, Norway.

After co-founding Fidalgo in 1990, he worked with films from directors including Aki Kaurismaki, Mike Leigh, Hal Hartley, Suzanne Osten, Michel Ocelot and Jacques Doillon.

Frøyseth had suffered a stroke in 1998 and had to gradually step down from his active role at Fidalgo. But he had remained involved in the company’s work especially looking after artwork and materials.

Frank L. Stavik, CEO of Fidalgo, said, ”During his almost 20 active years in the international film industry,...

UK paticipation grows from 17 to 40+ venues.

European Art Cinema Day, the one-day international initiative undertaken by exhibitors to actively promote European films and the local cinema experience, is plotting further expansion for its 2018 edition, it was announced during Venice Film Festival.

The event, run by the Cicae (International Confederation of Art Cinemas) in partnership with Europa Cinemas, will take place on October 14, 2018. It aims to foster growth in European arthouse film through a series of specially-curated preview screenings, children’s films and cinema classics, as well as a wide variety of guests, events and exhibitions all designed to attract local audiences.

Annecy, France — If the animated art and family film distribution business remains as lively as the 10th anniversary celebration of Gkids, the emblematic U.S. distributor, held at the Annecy Festival, then it will be in very good health indeed.

Not that the business’ prospects are negative at all. The Gkid 10th anni party proved something of a metaphor, for the company and the business.

First, it was held in France. The Annecy Intl. Animation Film Festival was the place where Gkids could to get together the largest number of friends, reasoned Gkids founder Eric Beckman.

To celebrate, Gkids snagged the Mifa Chill-Out Lounge, Annecy Festival prime real estate, a Mifa market outhouse overlooking the town’s lake and steep-backed mountains. That in turn is a reflection of the industry position Gkids now commands at Annecy.

“When we started, we were total outsiders, my first time at Annecy we were kind of tip-toeing around,...

Annecy, France — 20 years ago, this Dec. 19, with “Kirikou and the Sorceress,” director Michel Ocelot and producer Didier Brunner brought the flag down on the modern age of movie animation in Europe.

Sold by Sc Films, “Pachamama,” to be unveiled Thursday at an Annecy Festival Music and Animated Movies presentation, shows Brunner remaining true to his principles but not to a style. It comes as Folivari, the Paris-based production house he launched in 2014, also underscores just how much Europe’s animation industry has flourished, despite headwinds.

“Every production has its own personality and originality,” says Brunner. Washed through by the world view and aesthetics of indigenous South American, “Pachamama” harks back in some ways to “Kirikou.” But it is chalk and cheese, however, compared to the near photo-realism of “The Summit of the Gods,” an Everest-set epic, or the mellow water colors of “The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales,” a stereotype-busting barnyard caper,...

Taking his lyrical and pedagogical brand of animation all the way back to La Belle Epoque, writer-director Michel Ocelot offers up a pleasantly meaningful journey through French cultural history in his latest feature, Dilili in Paris (Dilili a Paris).

Opening up this year’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival, which is now in its 42nd edition, the film will roll out locally in October and should see a decent following among Gallic tykes — and even more so among their teachers, who could use this as an educational tool to explore the major currents of French art, music and literature during ...

Taking his lyrical and pedagogical brand of animation all the way back to La Belle Epoque, writer-director Michel Ocelot offers up a pleasantly meaningful journey through French cultural history in his latest feature, Dilili in Paris (Dilili a Paris).

Opening up this year’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival, which is now in its 42nd edition, the film will roll out locally in October and should see a decent following among Gallic tykes — and even more so among their teachers, who could use this as an educational tool to explore the major currents of French art, music and literature during ...

Annecy – When director Michel Ocelot learned that Monday night’s Opening Ceremony screening of his film “Dilili in Paris” would only be open to festival invitees, he insisted that the organizers book an additional public screening. The filmmaker had just cause – that open-to-all-screening would go on to ​sell out in under five minutes times, and festival heads are now looking to book a third showing for Ocelot’s latest work, a female-led adventure set in Belle Époque Paris.

That fervent public demand speaks to the director’s impressive stature in the animation world. His 1998 hit “Kirikou and the Sorceress” proved there was a real market for auteurist animated fare, and the filmmaker has become something of an industry elder statesman in the two decades since. Variety spoke with him in ahead of Monday night’s world premiere.

This latest film mixes both 2D and 3D animated figures against a photorealist backdrop – in this case,...

Embracing Hollywood’s animation grandees, France’s Annecy Intl. Animation Festival will screen exclusive first images of Disney’s “Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck It Ralph 2.” It will also host a world premiere of an unfinished version of Sony Pictures Animation’s Adam Sandler-voiced “Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation,” presented by director Genndy Tarkovsky, the Festival announced Monday in Paris unveiling its full 2018 line-up.

In feature terms, Annecy will open with Michel Ocelot’s Wild Bunch-sold “Dilili in Paris,” with the celebrated French director, whose “Kirikou and the Sorceress” brought down the flag on Europe’s arthouse animation build, attending Annecy to present the feature.

Special sneak peek screenings for “Wreck It Ralph 2” and “Hotel Transylvania 3” join director Dean DeBlois’ work-in-progress footage presentation of “How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World,” from DreamWorks Animation, which will open and close Annecy with two titles from its shorts program: “Bird Karma” and “Bilby.

This first feature of Kirsten Tan premiered in Sundance ‘17 World Cinema Dramatic Competition. Its provenance is Singapore but it takes place in Thailand. It continued onward to the Hivos Tiger Competition at Iffr (R’dam).

The thrill of interviewing here in Sundance is that you see a film; you have an impression and while it is still fresh you meet the filmmakers without having much time for any research or reflection. And then you get to see them again as “old friends” when you meet again in Rotterdam.

As Kirsten, her producer Weijie Lai and I sat down at the Sundance Co-op on Main Street here in Park City, I really had little idea of where the interview would take us, somewhat analogously to her film in which an architect, disenchanted with life in general, being put aside as “old” in his own highly successful architectural firm and in a stale relationship with his wife,...

Exclusive: Paris-based company reshuffles sales team as Carole Baraton steps down as head of sales.

Wild Bunch will launch sales on new films by Jean-Luc Godard, Christian Carion, Michel Ocelot, Raymond Depardon as well as a feel-good, Senegal-set drama starring Omar Sy at Unifrance’s upcoming Rendez-vous with French Cinema in Paris (Jan 12-16).

The event will also mark the first outing for the company’s reconfigured sales team following Carole Baraton’s decision to step down as head of sales to set-up her own company.

Baraton’s long-time territories the Us, France and the UK will be carved up between the sales team, now consisting of Silvia Simonutti, Emilie Serres, Olivier Barbier, recent hire Fanny Beauville and Esther Devos for festivals.

Notably, Beauville will co-handle Canada and the Us in partnership with La’s Creative Artist Agency (CAA), working closely with the agency’s film finance and sales group co-chief Roeg Sutherland and his team.

Bilingual...

Producer Didier Brunner talks updating the Oscar-nominated animation into a TV series backed by Canal+ and France Television.

Veteran French producer Didier Brunner (The Triplets Of Belleville) has revealed further details about the TV spin off from his 2012 Oscar-Nominated animated feature, Ernestine & Celestine.

The 26-part series is expected to be ready in September of this year.

Speaking on an Annecy Film Festival panel ‘From Feature Film To TV Series (and Vice Versa)’, Brunner highlighted the challenges in transforming a hit feature into a small screen series.

“We didn’t just want to do Ernest & Celestine 2,” Brunner commented.

In order to make the TV series,...

Michel Ocelot, the French writer and director of animated films, likely best known for his 1998 début feature "Kirikou and the Sorceress," which has been written about a few times on this blog (as well as its sequels; it's a trilogy) is prepping to launch production on what will be his next film, "Dilili à Paris" ("Dilili in Paris"), another feature-length animation - his 7th. The story, set in Paris, follows the adventures of the titular Dilili, a mixed-race girl of the Kanak (the indigenous inhabitants of New Caledonia) during the Belle Époque era (1900-ish), who teams up with a boy her age to solve a mystery of little girls who are...

UK distributor Soda Pictures has teamed with the BFI, film education programme Into Film, UK children’s festivals and indie exhibitors to launch Children’s Cinema Club, an initiative to boost the number of independent children’s films on release in the UK.

Four films will be selected for distribution by a panel of 12 curators and programmers including Mike Tait from Discovery Film Festival in Dundee; Chris Shaw from Cinemagic in Belfast; Joan Parsons from Showcomotion in Sheffield; Gemma Woolley from Zoom Cymru in Wales; Ian Francis from Flatpack Film Festival in Birmingham; and Nicky Beaumont from Brighton’s Cine City, alongside Simon Ward from the Independent Cinema Office, Leah Byrne from Picturehouse Cinemas, Susie Evans from the Barbican, Kate Gerova from Birds Eye View Film Festival; Moira McVean from Into Film; and Soda MD Edward Fletcher.

The partners will collaborate on the acquisitions, press and marketing for the films.

Sally Hodgson of [link...

Currently underway here in New York City, through December 15, 2013, is the 21st annual New York African Diaspora International Film Festival (Adiff), with a lineup that includes 73 films - 35 of them being World, Us and NY Premieres - from 35 countries.Today's screening highlights - Monday, December 2 - include: - The School Program, which starts at 11am, at The Chapel - Teachers College, Columbia University, with a screening of the universally-acclaimed Kirikou and the Sorceress, the animated feature, directed by Michel Ocelot, that follows...

French animation writer-director Michel Ocelot has made a career of using shadow plays as the basis for his productions, but in the case of Tales of the Night he truly outdoes himself with the magnificent visual elements of this film. Ocelot places the film's three protagonists (voiced by Julien Béramis, Marine Griset and Yves Barsacq) in a dilapidated cinema in Paris; together they brainstorm on a variety of narrative pitches that blend historical tales and traditions from around the world with novel fictional elements in order to develop a series of six short narratives.

Blu-ray & DVD Release Date: Jan. 29, 2013

Price: DVD $29.95, Blu-ray/DVD Combo $34.95

Studio: Gkids/Cinedigm/New Video

The 2011 animated fantasy family film Tales of the Night by French filmmaker Michel Ocelot (Kirikou and the Sorceress, Azur & Asmar) weaves together six exotic fables, each of which unfolds in a unique locale, from Tibet, to medieval Europe, to the Land of the Dead.

Tales of the Night (or Les contes de le nuit in its original French) extends the shadow puppet style of Ocelot’s earlier works, with black silhouetted characters set off against exquisitely detailed, colorfully kaleidoscopic patterns.

The half-dozen fables in the unrated film include the following:

• The Werewolf – Two sisters are in love with the same dashing young man. The older girl wins the young man’s heart through deceit, leaving her younger sister in despair. But this perfect man has a terrible secret.

• Ti Jean and the Belle-Sans-Connaître – In the Antilles,...

Day three of the 21st Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival promises more great films and an appearance at the Hi-Pointe by director Joe Dante. And there are still 8 days to go!

Sliff’s main venues are the the Hi-Pointe Theatre, Tivoli Theatre, Plaza Frontenac Cinema, Webster University’s Winifred Moore Auditorium, Washington University’s Brown Hall Auditorium and the Wildey Theatre in Edwardsville, Il

The entire schedule for the 21st Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival be found Here.

http://cinemastlouis.org/sliff-2012

Here is what will be screening at The 21st Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival today, Saturday, November 10th

Director Jennifer Lynch

A Fall From Grace Program is at 11:00 am at the Tivoli Theatre – A Free Event Sliff guest Jennifer Lynch (Chained.) has plans to shoot her next film, A Fall from Grace, in St. Louis. Post-Dispatch film critic Joe Williams leads a...

Courtney most excellently wrote about Michel Ocelot's heralded new animation feature, Tales of the Night. when the film played for a week in New York, back in September (Here).  And now the latest film by the director of the Kirikou animated series, will be playing in Chicago for a week's engagement, at the end of this month, at the Gene Siskel Film Center in downtown Chicago (the same place where John Amokfrah's The Nine Muses will be playing next week on Thursday Nov. 15 with Akomfrah in person). Tales of the Night will screen Nov. 23-29, twice a day (four times on Sat. the 24th) in both an English dubbed, and subtitled versions, and you can find out...