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Film financier, producer and distributor Sky Original Film has acquired U.K. rights to upcoming action-thriller “Mutiny,” starring Jason Statham.

“Mutiny” follows Statham as Cole, an ex-Special Forces and New York cop who was kicked off the force and now works in private security for Thai shipping tycoon and friend, Tibu. Cole is framed for the murder of Tibu at the hands of corrupt cops, forcing him to escape through Tibu’s freight ships, where Cole discovers that the corruption is deeper and more sinister than ever expected.

Principal photography on the film, directed by Jean-Francois Richet, will commence at U.K. locations in September. The film is written by J.P. Davis (“Plane”) and Lindsay Michel (“Sandpiper”).

Statham will produce “Mutiny” under his production company Punch Palace Productions alongside Marc Butan for MadRiver Pictures. Sky Original Film will release “Mutiny” on Sky Cinema and theatrically, alongside Lionsgate which recently picked up North American rights.

Looking to build on the exposure offered by recent hits like Netflix’s “Emily in Paris” and “Lupin,” France’s Centre National du Cinema has set out an ambitious reinvestment plan for the country’s production ecosystem. This past July, the Gallic national film body announced a $11.5 million scheme to “shock and modernize [France’s] production apparatus,” dividing those public subsidies between eight studios and 12 digital facilities as part of a larger initiative to lure international shoots.

Among the selected projects are a handful of post-production studios, the country’s first LED-operated digital soundstage – spearheaded by an alum of Disney’s “The Mandalorian” – and the Tsf Backlot – an expansive, open-air studio run by the country’s leading production services facilitator.

“There’s been an explosion of series production, and that’s going to continue for the next few years,” says Tsf marketing director Laurent Kleindienst. “So we want to be ready. We...

Exclusive: Industry and Skins star Freya Mavor has joined the cast of UK thriller Freegard, which is filming in London.

As previously revealed, cast is led by James Norton (Little Women), Gemma Arterton (The King’s Man), Shazad Latif (Star Trek Discovery), Marisa Abela (Industry), Edwina Findley (The Wire), Julian Barratt (The Mighty Boosh), Sarah Goldberg (Barry) and Jimmy Akingbola (In The Long Run).

Rounding out the cast are Rob Malone (Vikings), Philip Wright (Line Of Duty), Micheal Fenton Stevens (Benidorm) and Charlotte Avery (Doctors).

Based on true events, the movie will chart the story of career conman, Robert Freegard, played by Norton, with Gemma Arterton as the woman who brought him down.

Adam Patterson and Declan Lawn — who won an IFTA last night for their short film Rough — are directing from a script by Michael Bronner (The Mauritanian), Patterson and Lawn (The Salisbury Poisonings). Rabbit Track Pictures and The Development Partnership...

Gaumont has signed a five-year deal with the international aggregator Under The Milky Way to handle the digital distribution of Gaumont’s new releases and library titles on transactional VOD services.

Under the pact, Under The Milky Way will handle the distribution of Gaummont’s movie across global platforms such as Apple, Google, Amazon, iTunes, and Sony, as well as local services outside of France.

“Gaumont was one of the first studios to believe in Under The Milky Way back in 2013, and we are now thrilled and proud that Gaumont of renewing their trust through this major deal,” said Jérôme Chung, the co-founder of Under The Milky Way.

“Under The Milky Way currently oversees international operations in key regions such as North and Latin America, Asia, and of course Europe. It is fully ready to ensure a successful handling of this mission,” said Chung.

Founded a decade ago, Under The...

As French outfits move to expand their studio offerings, industry eyes have turned to a 20-hectare stretch of land 20 miles south of Paris. There, in the commune Plessis-Pâté, sits the Tsf Backlot 217, a converted air base that has become one the Gallic industry’s banner initiatives.

One of France’s leading production suppliers, Tsf scoped the onetime military airfield for the 2017 shoot of Jean-Francois Richet’s period thriller, “The Emperor of Paris.” Rather than relocating to Eastern Europe, the film’s design team recreated the cobblestone streets of 19th century Paris on the former base’s two miles of unused tarmac. Delighted with the results, Tsf renamed the base Backlot 217, and opened it for business the following year.

Since then, the backlot has been used for a variety of commercials and period films, with the long stretch of runway recreating the streets of Paris for Roman Polanski’s recent “An Officer and a Spy,...

François Ozon on By The Grace Of God (Grâce À Dieu): “It was important to show the complexity of all these characters.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

François Ozon’s timely and relevant By The Grace Of God (Grâce À Dieu), shot by Manuel Dacosse (Jean-François Richet’s The Emperor Of Paris) edited by Laure Gardette, and costumes by Pascaline Chavanne, stars Melvil Poupaud, Denis Ménochet and Swann Arlaud with Aurélia Petit, Josiane Balasko, Éric Caravaca, Martine Erhel, François Marthouret, Bernard Verley, Amélie Daure, Hélène Vincent, Max Libert, Nicolas Bauwens, Zuri François, Timi-Joy Marbot, and Zéli Marbot.

Alexandre Guérin (Melvil Poupaud) and François Debord (Denis Ménochet) with Gilles Perret (Éric Caravaca)

In the second half of my in-depth conversation with the director/screenwriter we discuss the complexity of the characters who are struggling to come to grips with memories from the past and the importance of the flashbacks in telling the story.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s directorial debut also won best actor for Damson Idris.

Farming, the directorial debut of UK filmmaker Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, has won the top prize at the 73rd Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff).

The film, which had its UK premiere at the festival, won the Michael Powell award for best British feature film. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2018 and is set for release in the UK in September via Lionsgate.

Writer-director Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s autobiographical story centres on a Nigerian boy Enitan (Damson Idris), who is ‘farmed out’ by his parents to a white British family...

Statistics were unveiled during a Cannes press conference.

The number of people working in film and TV production in the Paris region rose by 6.7% in 2017 due to the re-localisation of French productions and the shoots of a number of high-profile international features including Mission: Impossible – Fallout.

According to the joint report by the Ile de France Film Commission and Audiens, the body overseeing a mutual social security fund aimed at media and entertainment professionals, 146,777 people were employed in film and TV production in the region in 2017, for a total payroll of $2bn (€1.8bn).

This compared with 135,313 people, for a total...

Period comedy-drama is a big screen adaptation of long-running hit play about writing of Cyrano de Bergerac.

Gaumont has announced a raft of deals on Alexis Michalik’s period comedy-drama Edmond, reimagining the colourful world and events surrounding the writing of the play Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand in 1897.

The film has sold to Austria (Prokino/Filmladen), Belgium and the Netherlands (Athena), Germany (Prokino), Denmark, Finland and Norway (Studio S Entertainment/Another World), Sweden (Studio S Entertainment/Njuta), Greece (Odeon), Italy (Officine Ubu), Portugal (Cinemundo), Spain (A Contracorriente), Switzerland (Impuls), the Balkans (Dexin Film) and Romania (Independenta).

It has...

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.

If you think the City of Lights is a dangerous place to visit nowadays, you should see how it is in the historical thriller The Emperor of Paris (L’Empereur de Paris), which is set in the early 19th century under the reign of Napoleon.

Not only is the city depicted as a cesspool of open sewers, rotting pig carcasses and vicious robbers waiting to pounce upon their next victim, but it’s also a place where blood literally flows through the streets and bodies pile up faster than baguettes at the boulangerie.

Whether or not this is at all realistic ...

If you think the City of Lights is a dangerous place to visit nowadays, you should see how it is in the historical thriller The Emperor of Paris (L’Empereur de Paris), which is set in the early 19th century under the reign of Napoleon.

Not only is the city depicted as a cesspool of open sewers, rotting pig carcasses and vicious robbers waiting to pounce upon their next victim, but it’s also a place where blood literally flows through the streets and bodies pile up faster than baguettes at the boulangerie.

Whether or not this is at all realistic ...