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Memento International has boarded “Atropia,” the directorial feature of “Uncut Gems” actor Hailey Gates which is produced by “Queer” director Luca Guadagnino. The war comedy stars Alia Shawkat (“Blink Twice”), Callum Turner (“Masters of the Air”), Chloë Sevigny (“Bonjour Tristesse”) and Tim Heidecker (“Tim & Eric”).

Guadagnino is producing at Frenesy Films, along with Naima Abed and Emilie Georges at Paradise City and Lana Kim and Jett Steiger for Ways & Means. Executive producers include director Hailey Gates and actress Alia Shawkat, along with David Siegel, Scott McGehee and Mike Spreter for Big Creek Projects and Kc Wallace for Mary of Exeter.

The feature is based on Gates’ 2019 short “Shako Mako” which she originally produced for fashion brand Miu Miu’s Women’s Tales series. UTA and WME Independent are handling North American sales.

Set against the backdrop of the Mojave Desert at the Fort Irwin National Training Center, “Atropia” tells the story of Fayruz,...

Françoise Sagan’s 1954 novel “Bonjour Tristesse” introduced generations of readers to a carefree summer spent along the sunny coastline of southern France. At just 18 years old, Sagan captured the melancholy joys and simmering jealousies of adolescence with insight well beyond her years. Her tale of a teenage girl navigating relationships both new and old during a family vacation quickly became a classic.

Two adaptations followed—the first a 1958 film directed by Otto Preminger. Known for his no-holds-barred approach, Preminger brought Sagan’s story of youthful passions and reckless desires to vibrant life. Over half a century later, writer-director Durga Chew-Bose took on the challenge of interpreting this beloved coming-of-age story for a new audience. Her 2024 film update seeks not just to retell Sagan’s plot but to recreate the bittersweet atmosphere and quietly profound insights of those memorable summer days.

Set along the sun-drenched Mediterranean coast that first drew readers in,...

French actress Christine Boisson, who got her big-screen break as a 17-year-old in Emmanuelle, has died at the age of 68 in Paris.

Boisson had just left school and was still a minor when Just Jaeckin cast her in his 1974 erotic classic as the sexually adventurous teenager Marie-Ange, who introduces Emmanuelle (Sylvia Kristel) to the shady libertine figure of Mario.

After being cast in a handful of smaller roles purely on the basis of her physique, Boisson decided to go back to school and studied acting at France’s prestigious Conservatoire.

On completing the three-year course, she refused to take on roles where the principal consideration for the casting was her physique.

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Over the course of her 40-year career, Boisson ratcheted up more than 50 film credits including Michelangelo Antonioni’s Identification of a Woman (1984), Daniel Schmid’s Jenatsch (1987), Jacques Bral’s Exterior, Night, Yves Boisset’s Radio Rave...

AFI Fest is primed and ready to roll out.

The American Film Institute revealed the full lineup for this month’s festival, scheduled to take place in Los Angeles from Oct. 23-27. Joining the previously announced roster of films will be Tim Fehlbaum’s September 5, Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine as Light, Samir Oliveros’ The Luckiest Man in America, Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault’s abortion rights documentary Zurawski v Texas (executive produced by Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and Jennifer Lawrence), and Paul Schrader’s Oh, Canada, among many others.

The lineup includes six red carpet premieres, 12 special screenings, 13 luminaries picks, 15 discovery films, 12 world cinema films, 14 documentaries, four after-dark titles, 54 films in the short film competition and 28 films from the AFI Conservatory Showcase presented by AMC Networks. Other notable titles include Durga Chew-Bose’s Bonjour Tristesse with Chloë Sevigny; Mike Leigh’s Hard Truths, starring Marianne Jean-Baptiste; Paolo Sorrentino...

by Matt St Clair

Photo Credit: Giacomo Bernasconi

When the 1958 film adaptation of the novel Bonjour Tristesse by Françoise Sagan was released, it was both a beacon for the arrival of star Jean Seberg and a showcase for six-time Oscar-nominated legend Deborah Kerr to play with her star persona. Kerr’s interpretation of the high-strung Anne Larsen was a send-up of her “proper English ladies” casting niché that simultaneously allowed her to play into her sex appeal seen previously in From Here to Eternity and An Affair to Remember.

The newest film adaptation from author-turned-director Durga Chew-Bose follows the same story beat-for-beat...

The Toronto Film Festival kicked off September 5 with a multi-move opening night that included David Gordon Green’s family comedy Nutcrackers starring Ben Stiller. It kicked off a slate of world premieres and buzzy movies across 11 days for the 49th edition of one of North America’s biggest film festivals.

Other key titles making their debuts in Toronto included The Luckiest Man in America starring Paul Walter Hauser, the Amy Adams-starring Nightbitch, theater guru Marianne Elliott’s The Salt Path, DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot and Mike Flanagan’s The Life of Chuck, which won the coveted People’s Choice Award.

Documentaries that made a splash included Elton John: Never Too Late and Paul Anka: His Way.

Click below to read Deadline’s reviews from the ground in Toronto, where the festival wrappred September 15.

The Assessment ‘The Assessment’

Section: Special Presentations

Director: Fleur Fortune

Cast: Alicia Vikander, Elizabeth Olsen,...

Another Toronto International Film Festival has arrived, and the People’s Choice Award winner might dictate a certain film’s Oscar chances come 2025.

Over the past 25 years since 1999, six films that won the TIFF People’s Choice Award went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture: American Beauty (1999), Slumdog Millionaire (2008), The King’s Speech (2010), 12 Years a Slave (2013), Green Book (2018) and Nomadland (2020).

Read on for the past 25 TIFF People’s Choice Award winners.

Related: TIFF 2024: Laura Carreira’s ‘On Falling’ & ‘Bonjour Tristesse’ Starring Chloë Sevigny Among Titles Set For Discovery Sidebar...

Shabana Shines

The International Film Festival of South Asia (Iffsa) Toronto 2024 will honor “Halo” and “Fire” star Shabana Azmi‘s five-decade career during its 13th edition, running Oct. 10-20. The festival’s tribute program includes a screening of Shyam Benegal’s “Mandi,” a masterclass, and a musical celebration titled “Shab-e-Sur.”

The festival will feature premieres and events with industry figures including Imtiaz Ali, Deepa Mehta, Boman Irani and Anup Singh. Irani’s directorial debut “The Mehta Boys,” co-written by Oscar winner Alexander Dinelaris, will open the festival with its Canadian premiere. Ali’s Netflix film “Amar Singh Chamkila” will receive a theatrical screening, followed by a masterclass and a “Chamkila Night” musical event.

The lineup includes Payal Kapadia‘s Cannes Grand Prix winner “All We Imagine as Light” and Madhumita’s “Kaalidhar Laapata” starring Abhishek Bachchan and Nimrat Kaur. Films from Srijit Mukherji, Leesa Gazi and Kaushal Oza will also be featured.

I have to confess I don’t know much about William Tell, the legendary 14th century huntsman who we were told as school children took his bow and arrow and heroically shot an apple off the top of his son’s head. And there is also the infamous “William Tell Overture” played in concerts around the globe. So that’s it. That is all I knew, until now, when I was completely captivated by a rousing new adventure William Tell, which does indeed tell the tale of this reluctant warrior. But did he ever really exist or is this tale a tall one? Director-writer Nick Hamm tries valiantly to put the pieces together. It all happened a long time ago, as this film’s events are set in 1307, but whatever the facts I have to say this is perfect movie material, reminiscent in spirit and execution of 1995’s Oscar-winning Braveheart.

London- and Paris-based production, finance and sales company Film Constellation has added new sales for Cannes Critics’ Week supernatural horror “Animale” by Emma Benestan, ahead of its North American premiere at Fantastic Fest later this month.

“Animale” sold to Scandinavia (Edge Entertainment), Cis (Nashe Kino), the Czech and Slovak republics (Film Europe), Brazil (Belas Artes), and Indonesia (Falcon Pt), adding to the previously announced territories which include Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy (Plaion), Spain (Filmin), Portugal (Nos Lusomundo), former Yugoslavia (McF Megacom), and Middle East and North Africa (Falcon).

Wild Bunch Distribution will release the film in French theaters nationwide on Nov. 27, with O’Brother releasing in Belgium on Dec. 18.

After its world premiere as closing film of the Cannes Critics’ Week, the film has been selected in some of the world’s foremost genre festivals including Fantastic Fest, Sitges Film Festival, MOTELx, and Neuchâtel Intl. Fantastic Film Festival to name a few.

This year’s 2024 TIFF Tribute Award honorees addressed a packed black-tie Fairmont Royal York Ballroom. Sometimes the tributees go on to Oscar glory. For example, after his 2019 tribute, Joaquin Phoenix went on to win Best Actor for “Joker,” Variety Artisan Award winner Roger Deakins landed a cinematography win for “1917,” and after his 2020 tribute, Anthony Hopkins grabbed an Oscar for Best Actor for “The Father” and TIFF tributee Chloé Zhao won Best Director for her movie “Nomadland.” The list goes on. Eventual Best Actress Oscar-winner Jessica Chastain was tributed at TIFF for “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” as was Brendan Fraser for his work as an actor on the movie “The Whale.” And tributee Michelle Yeoh went on to win Best Actress for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

Many on this year’s list harbor similar hopes. Here are the award winners:

Angelina Jolie, TIFF Tribute Award in Impact Media,...

Cate Blanchett thanked Knix, the underwear maker, for sponsoring her TIFF Tribute Award on Sunday night, which was ironic because the Elizabeth and Carol actress apparently went bottomless to the glittering festival event.

“I’m not actually wearing any underwear,” Blanchett revealed, jokingly or not, while wearing a long party dress on stage at the Royal York Hotel. “As Michelle Obama says, when I go low, you go high,” she added during a freestyle acceptance speech without the use of a teleprompter or her cellphone.

On a more serious note, Blanchett paid tribute to fellow women actors. “We have to keep asking questions that open locked doors and knowing our worth — our worth creatively as well as financially — as greater inclusivity on our sets leads to less homogenous and more vibrant storytelling,” she said.

“I think homogeneity is the enemy of everything we make,” Blanchett, also the star of Tár and Blue Jasmine,...

Das Zurich Film Festival hat weitere Filme seiner Glamour-Reihe „Gala Premieren“ verraten. Mit dabei sind die Venedig-Hits „Babygirl“ und „The Room Next Door“. „Hagen – Im Tal der Nibelungen“ von Constantin Film feiert dort seine Weltpremiere.

„Hagen – Im Tal der Nibelungen“ von Philipp Stennert und Cyrill Boss (Credit: Constantin Film)

Bereits Mitte August hat das Zurich Film Festival einen ersten Schwung Titel seiner Glamour-Reihe „Gala Premieren“ bekanntgegeben (siehe hier). Heute wurden weitere zehn Filme verkündet, darunter nach „Der Spitzname“ und „September 5” ein weiteres Highlight aus dem Line-up von Constantin Film: „Hagen – Im Tal der Nibelungen“ von Cyrill Boss & Philipp Stennert wird in Zürich wie „Der Spitzname” seine Weltpremiere feiern. Auch zwei Schweizer Produktionen hat Artistic Director Christian Jungen neu eingeladen: Das historische Gesellschaftsdrama „Friedas Fall“ von Maria Brendle und den Dokumentarfilm „Aiming High – A Raca Against the Limits“ von Flavio Gerber & Alun Meyerhans über das höchstgelegene Skirennen...

The Zurich Film Festival has lined up world premieres of Constantin Film’s fantasy drama Hagen and western The Unholy Trinity starring Pierce Brosnan and Samuel L. Jackson as part of its Gala programme.

Two Swiss productions - Frieda’s Case by Maria Brendle and Aiming High - A Race Against The Limits by Flavio Gerber and Alun Meyerhans – will also world premiere in the ten strong Gala section.

Produced by Constantin, Hagen is a reimagining of the medieval Nibelungen folk saga directed by Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stenner. As well as a feature, it has been made as a six-part series.

Toronto Film Festival programmers have unveiled the Discovery lineup, showcasing a mix of contemporary international cinema.

This year’s slate has 24 titles that represent more than 25 countries including Argentina, Bangladesh, Colombia, Greece, Italy and Thailand. The schedule boasts 20 world premieres such as Durga Chew-Bose’s “Bonjour Tristesse,” César Augusto Acevedo’s “Horizonte,” K’naan Warsame’s “Mother Mother,” Laura Carreira’s “On Falling” and Jasmin Gordon’s “The Courageous.”

The 2024 Discovery selection has been programmed by Dorota Lech, Jason Anderson, Kelly Boutsalis, Diana Cadavid, Robyn Citizen, Nataleah Hunter-Young, June Kim, Jason Ryle and Norm Wilner. Prominent directors like Alfonso Cuarón, Christopher Nolan, Yorgos Lanthimos and Barry Jenkins are alumni of the Discovery program, according to TIFF.

As previously announced, director David Gordon Green’s “Nutcrackers,” starring Ben Stiller, will open the festival while Rebel Wilson’s directorial debut “The Deb” will close the 49th edition. Other movies already on the schedule...