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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,...

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Uglies is a sci-fi drama film directed by McG from a screenplay co-written by Jacob Forman, Vanessa Taylor, and Whit Anderson. Based on the 2005 dystopian novel of the same name by author Scott Westerfeld, the Netflix film is set in a world with enforced beauty standards and it follows the story of Tally Youngblood, who has been waiting for her beauty surgery but when one of her friend goes missing, she goes on an adventure which helps her learn about herself and the world she is living in. Uglies stars Joey King in the lead role with Chase Stokes, Keith Powers, Laverne Cox, Brianne Tju, Jan Luis Castellanos, and Kevin Miles starring in supporting roles. If you loved the rebellious nature, interesting dystopian world, and compelling characters in Uglies here are some similar movies you should check out next.

1958 was quite the year for French novelist Françoise Sagan, who had not one but two film versions of her works given the Hollywood treatment: A Certain Smile and Bonjour Tristesse. The latter was directed by Otto Preminger to mixed reviews despite a starry cast including David Niven, Deborah Kerr and newcomer Jean Seberg who had made her debut in Preminger’s Saint Joan the year before. She was enthralling, but the Preminger take of Sagan’s coming-of-age tale set on the French Riviera is largely forgotten today. Both studio films had the feel of a lavish soap so popular for these widescreen romantic dramas of the time. Now we have a new take.

Though Bonjour Tristesse has also since been made a couple of times for French TV, this is the first major international film version since Preminger’s, and it is a gorgeous-looking, quite lilting tale of an 18-year-old...

“The Animal Kingdom” is a new ‘mutant’ science fiction thriller, directed by Thomas Cailley, starring Romain Duris, Paul Kircher, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Tom Mercier, Billie Blain, Nathalie Richard, Saadia Bentaieb, Gabriel Caballero, Iliana Khelifa, and Paul Muguruza, releasing March 15, 2024 in theaters:

“..immerse into an extraordinary world where mutations in human genetics cause people to transform into hybrid creatures, as ‘François’ does everything he can to save his wife, who is affected by this mysterious condition.

“As some of the creatures disappear into a nearby forest, François embarks with ‘Emile’, their 16-year-old son, on a quest to find her with help from a local police officer…”

Cluck the images to enlarge…...

“The Animal Kingdom” is a new science fiction thriller, directed by Thomas Cailley, starring Romain Duris, Paul Kircher, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Tom Mercier, Billie Blain, Nathalie Richard, Saadia Bentaieb, Gabriel Caballero, Iliana Khelifa, and Paul Muguruza, releasing March 15, 2024 in theaters:

“..immerse into an extraordinary world where mutations in human genetics cause people to transform into hybrid creatures, as ‘François’ does everything he can to save his wife, who is affected by this mysterious condition.

“As some of the creatures disappear into a nearby forest, François embarks with ‘Emile’, their 16-year-old son, on a quest to find her with help from a local police officer…”

Cluck the images to enlarge…...

Decadent, hermetic, and gleefully hostile to realism, French writer-director Bertrand Mandico’s She Is Conann is the cinematic equivalent of a French Symbolist poem. Throughout, the oneiric imagery seeping from every frame takes precedence over narrative linearity. And yet, even as the film embodies the self-indulgent ideal of art for art’s sake, it devours itself from within and drops the viewer back into the arena of politics.

Lest we forget even for moment that we’re watching a film, She Is Conann is shot in black and white, aside from the sporadic flash of violence and one framing sequence set in hell’s antechamber, where a dead Conann (Françoise Brion) takes stock of her life of barbarism. For her guide, there’s the dog-headed punk clairvoyant Rainer (Elina Löwensohn), whose name could be an allusion to Rainer Maria Rilke or Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Their dialogue at any given moment...

“She Is Conann” is a new science fiction fantasy thriller feature, directed by Bertrand Mandico, starring Claire Duburcq, Christa Théret, Sandra Parfait, Agata Buzek, Nathalie Richard, Françoise Brion, Julia Riedler and Elina Löwensohn, releasing February 2, 2024 in theaters:

“…traveling through the abyss, underworld dog ‘Rainer’ recounts the six lives of ‘Conann’, perpetually put to death by her own future, across eras, myths and ages.

‘Follow her, from her childhood as a slave of ‘Sanja’ and her barbarian horde…

“…to her accession to the summits of cruelty at the doors of our world…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

"Six lives. Six incarnations." Altered Innocence has revealed the US trailer for a wild & crazy experimental French film called She Is Conann, a unique re-imagining of the classic Conan the Barbarian myth through a modern gender-swapped lens. Yes, you read that right! This premireed at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival last year in Directors' Fortnight, with stops at Fantastic Fest and Sitges. It'll be opening in February in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Denver, and more, with director Bertrand Mandico and the star at opening weekend showings at Anthology Film Archives in NYC. Conan's life at different stages is shown with a different aesthetic and rhythm from the classic Sumerian era to the near future. The film is a barbaric fantasy sci-fi trip that boldly celebrates the influences of Fellini Satyricon, The Night Porter, The Hunger, and Fassbinder’s entire oeuvre to craft a moving portrait of a warrior...

Experimental French filmmaker Bertrand Mandico isn’t for everyone — i.e. an acquired taste whose visions push boundaries of cinematic expression — but he’s achieved something of a cult fandom over the last three decades. After last pairing with the director on 2022’s “After Blue” and 2017’s uninhibited Venice winner “The Wild Boys” — Cahiers du Cinéma’s top film of 2018 — the distributor Altered Innocence again teams with Mandico on another provocation. His 2023 Cannes premiere “She Is Conann,” nominated for the Queer Palm before going on to play at other festivals including Locarno, is an acid-trip transgressive riff on the Conan the Barbarian myth. IndieWire shares the trailer here.

Influences on the film include Tony Scott’s “The Hunger,” the works of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Liliana Cavani’s “The Night Porter,” and Fellini’s “Satyricon.” Throw Ken Russell in there for good measure, with profane images in “She Is Conann” reminiscent of “The Devils.

For our most comprehensive year-end feature we’re providing a cumulative look at The Film Stage’s favorite films of 2023. We’ve asked contributors to compile ten-best lists with five honorable mentions––some of those personal selections will be shared in coming weeks––and from tallied votes has this top 50 been assembled.

Without further ado, check out our rundown of 2023 below, our ongoing year-end coverage here (including where to watch many of the below picks, both on streaming and in theaters), and return in the coming weeks as we look towards 2024.

50. Sick of Myself (Kristoffer Borgli)

Kristoffer Borgli’s first Norwegian feature is a work of disgusting, hilarious, horrifying genius. Signe (played brilliantly by Kristine Kujath Thorp) is an early-20s narcissist who, galled by the success of her equally self-centered boyfriend, spirals into full-on Munchausen syndrome. As timely as it is hard to watch, Sick of Myself doesn’t...

Following The Wild Boys and After Blue, Conann marks the third feature-length project from prolific shorts filmmaker Bertrand Mandico. Many are still not convinced long-form fits his intense and imaginative style, but what’s certain is that Conann makes one heck of a watch. Part of the self-contained cosmos of Mandico’s explosive vision, this new film is a provocative tale of endurance and self-discovery inspired by the fantasy character Conan the Barbarian (or the Cimmerian). Mandico takes the figure of a sword and sorcery hero––obviously interested in his pulp magazine origins––and fashions a timeless, iterative narrative of phantasmagoric fluidity… and glitter.

Conann is framed by a first-person narration, that of Rainer the hellhound (Elina Löwensohn in impressive dog-faced costume), who roams the netherworld and is suspiciously attracted to the main protagonist, however antagonistic he may appear. But the hero is Conann, a queer rendition of an otherwise masculine symbol,...

Danger Zone

Director: Vita Maria Drygas

Producer: Vita Żelakeviciute

Production companies: Drygas Film Production

Sales: Dogwoof

Documentary is a journey to places devastated by military conflicts, seen through the eyes of thrill-seeking tourists.

Delegation

(Generation 14plus)

Director: Asaf Saban

Cast: Yoav Bavly, Neomi Harari, Leib Lev Levin, Ezra Dagan, Alma Dishy

Producers: Agnieszka Dziedzic, Yoav Roeh, Aurit Zamir, Roshanak Behesht Nedjad

Production companies: Koi Studio, Gum Films, In Good Co.

Sales: New Europe Film Sales

Three Israeli friends visit Holocaust sites in Poland before their stints in the army, and deal with love, friendship and politics.

Disco Boy

(Competition)

Director: Giacomo Abbruzzese

Cast: Franz Rogowski, Morr Ndiaye, Laëtitia Ky, Leon Lučev

Producers: Lionel Massol, Pauline Seigland

Production companies: Films Grand Huit, Dugong Films, Panache Productions, La Compagnie Cinématographique, Donten & Lacroix, Division

Sales: Charades

Aleksei reaches Paris to enlist in the French Foreign Legion, which allows any foreigner, even undocumented, to be granted a French passport.

Ordinarily, The Hollywood Reporter doesn’t review films that were released more than a year ago. But an exception had to be made for After Love, a transcendent chamber piece that was slated to debut in Critics’ Week at the 2020 edition of Cannes — the one that didn’t actually take place. Even without that high-profile launching pad, the film nevertheless went on to garner awards and praise in its domestic markets (the U.K. and France) and beyond, especially for lead Joanna Scanlan. Her exceptional performance as Mary/Fatima, an English woman who converted to Islam for marriage years ago and suddenly finds out that her husband was leading a double life, is a miraculous study of grief, jealousy and ultimately compassion, all executed with very little dialogue.

This debut feature from writer-director Aleem Khan, whose wise script and sensitive direction feel like the work of a more seasoned auteur,...

Sony Pictures Classics present Florian Zeller’s The Son on 554 screens, an emotional family drama that folllows the director’s 2020 Oscar-winning The Father. As with that film, The Son is adapted from Zeller’s own stage play along with Christopher Hampton. Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, Zen McGrath and Anthony Hopkins star in the cautionary tale of a family struggling to reunite,

Jackman is Peter, whose hectic life with new baby and new partner Beth (Kirby) is upended when ex-wife Kate (Dern) appears to discuss their troubled teenage son Nicholas (McGrath). Peter strives to care for Nicholas and be the father he would have liked but discovers that by reaching for the past to correct mistakes, he loses sight of how to hold onto Nicholas in the present. The Son received a ten-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival where it premiered. Deadline review here.

The latest crop...

Exclusive: Vertigo Releasing has set a January 20th North American release for BAFTA winner After Love, marking the company’s first stateside theatrical release.

Aleem Khan’s well-received debut stars Joanna Scanlan (The Thick of It), Nathalie Richard and Tali Ariss in the story of a widow who discovers her husband’s secret family after his unexpected death.

Scanlan plays Mary, a white English woman who converted to islam when she married her Pakistani husband, Ahmed, and they settled in Dover, England. Following Ahmed’s unexpected death, Mary discovers that her late husband had a secret life just twenty-one miles away across the Channel in Calais, France. The shocking discovery compels her to go there to find out more, and as she grapples with her shattered sense of identity, her search for understanding has surprising consequences.

UK distributor and producer Vertigo will release the film on at least 20 screens stateside,...

As the crow flies, only about 30 miles separate the port towns of Dover and Calais — a distance that, in many parts of the world, wouldn’t span any greater culture shift than a slight tweak in accent. When those miles are filled with the English Channel, however, opposite coastlines represent opposite worlds, where everything from language to sexual mores are poles apart. It’s a short but jolting journey, an exercise in social and geographic disorientation that British-Pakistani filmmaker Aleem Khan probes to layered, thoughtful effect in his auspicious first feature “After Love.”

Galvanized by Joanna Scanlan’s quiet, searing turn as a white Muslim widow piecing together the separate lives her late husband led on both shores, Khan’s debut confidently blends old-school melodrama with a contemporary political consciousness, suggesting broader, Brexit-era cross-cultural friction while maintaining an intimate domestic focus. Selected for the Critics’ Week program of 2020’s nixed Cannes festival,...

It’s our favourite night of the year! The 2021 BIFA awards took place this evening at Old Billingsgate in London. Hosted by People Just Do Nothing’s Asim Chaudhry, those attending include Emma Corrin, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Joe Cole, Lucy Boynton, Jude Law, Harris Dickinson, Paapa Essiedu, Caitriona Balfe, Morfydd Clark, Riz Ahmed, Wumni Mosaku, Ruth Wilson, Stephen Graham and James Norton.

The 24th British Independent Film Awards saw Joanna Scanlan’s After Love take home a handful of awards, Clio Barnard’s Ali & Ava also did well – and there’s something wonderful in championing the very best in British Independent film – so, hey – we’re all winners here.*

David Sztypuljak and Scott Davis were our men at the event, asking questions.

You can see our interviews below, as well as a full list of tonight’s winners and nominees.

*Actual winners are below.

The 2021 BIFA Red Carpet Interviews

The...

’After Love’ wins best British independent film, plus actress and director prizes.

Aleem Khan’s feature directing debut After Love won six awards at this year’s British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs), which took place tonight (December 5) in London.

Scroll down for full lst of winners

After Love won best British independent film, with Khan taking home three prizes: best director, best debut director and best screenplay. Khan was named a Screen Star of Tomorrow in 2015 and his 2014 short Three Brothers received a Bafta nomination.

The film stars Joanna Scanlan, who also won best actress, as a Muslim woman who...

Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast” and Philip Barantini’s “Boiling Point” lead nominations at the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA), with 11 nods each.

Nominations for “Belfast,” Branagh’s autobiographical tale of life as a young boy in Belfast in 1969 in the midst of the Troubles, include best actress for Caitríona Balfe, best supporting actress for Judi Dench, best supporting actor for Ciarán Hinds and a breakthrough performance nomination for newcomer Jude Hill in addition to seven craft nominations.

Nominations for single take film “Boiling Point,” which follows an up-and-coming chef under extreme pressure, include best actor for Stephen Graham, best supporting actor for Ray Panthaki, best supporting actress for Vinette Robinson and a breakthrough performance nomination for Lauryn Ajufo.

Aleem Khan’s “After Love,” Prano Bailey-Bond’s “Censor” and Joanna Hogg’s “The Souvenir Part II” have nine nominations each, while Clio Barnard’s “Ali & Ava” has seven nominations, Sean Durkin...

Kenneth Branagh’s autobiographical drama Belfast and Philip Barantini’s single-take title Boiling Point both lead nominations for this year’s British Independent Film Awards with 11 nods a piece.

Belfast, which chronicles the tale of life as a young boy in the city in 1969 in the midst of the Troubles, earned a Best Actress nom for Caitríona Balfe, Best Supporting Actress nom for Judi Dench, Best Supporting Actor for Ciarán Hinds and a Breakthrough Performance nomination for newcomer Jude Hill. The title, which is being released in the U.S. by Focus Features on November 12, also earned seven craft nominations including Best Casting and Best Cinematography.

Boiling Point, which follows an up-and-coming chef under extreme pressure, scored a Best Actor nom for Stephen Graham, Best Supporting Actor for Ray Panthaki, Best Supporting Actress for Vinette Robinson and a Breakthrough Performance nomination for Lauryn Ajufo as well as a Breakthrough Producer nomination.

In the quarter-century since its debut, Olivier Assayas’ hilarious, mischievous, altogether unclassifiable Irma Vep stands merrily uninterested in many things contemporary movies are meant to be interested in—not ultra-sophisticated narrative gimmickry nor obsequious adherence to genre constraints nor even universality, the ability to speak at once to the interests and experiences of all audience members. Cinephiles, a group left ravenous this past year for very obvious reasons, remains the ideal and intended viewers for Irma Vep, which is being released by the Criterion Collection in a new, director-approved 2k digital restoration made from the original camera negative.

Irma Vep still has something of importance to say to those, like its writer-director, who care deeply about the movies and want to, perhaps, radically reorganize the priorities of the form by bringing its maddening contradictions to the fore. Assayas doesn’t offer any easy fixes to the troubles afflicting cinema circa...

Olivier Assayas takes a very different trip into silent movie nostalgia, with a director’s ill-fated attempt to remake the 1915 serial Les Vampires. Hong Kong action star Maggie Cheung is cast as the erotic rooftop nightcrawler Irma Vep! We see the state of Paris filmmaking in the mid-90s, with a clueless, frustrated director (Jean-Pierre Léaud) out of ideas — what business has Irma Vep in the modern world? Meanwhile, Cheung dons her vinyl catsuit for a personal creepy crawly mission — just to see if it gives her a thrill. Criterion’s special edition contains both a full episode of the silent serial plus a must-see documentary on the life and work of the legendary Musidora, a major sex symbol of the silent era.

Irma Vep

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 1074

1996 / Color / 1:66 widescreen / 99 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date April 27, 2021 / 39.95

Starring: Maggie Cheung, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Nathalie Richard, Bernard Nissile,...

The BFI has revealed a new trailer for the critically acclaimed drama from Aleem Khan ‘After Love’.

The film tells the story of Mary Hussain (Joanna Scanlan), who converted to Islam when she married and now is in her early 60s, living quietly in Dover with her husband Ahmed. Following his unexpected death, she discovers that Ahmed had a secret life just twenty-one miles away, across the Channel in Calais. The shocking discovery compels her to go there to find out more, and as she grapples with her shattered sense of identity, her search for understanding has surprising consequences.

The debut feature by writer and director Aleem Khan features a cast of Joanna Scanlan, alongside French actor Nathalie Richard and newcomer Talid Ariss in his first major English language role.

Also in trailers – Terry Gilliam reveals his anguish behind the making of ‘The Man Who Killed Don Quixote’ in trailer...

After Love will have its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival in October.

BFI Distribution has secured UK and Ireland rights to Aleem Khan’s After Love from Paris-based The Bureau Sales.

The UK drama will receive its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival (Lff) next month after previously being selected for Cannes Critics’ Week and Telluride Film Festival – both of which were cancelled due to the pandemic. It also received an industry screening at Toronto International Film Festival earlier this month.

BFI Distribution is planning a theatrical release in the UK and Ireland in spring...

Film was one of five features selected for the Cannes Critics’ Week 2020 label.

Paris-based The Bureau Sales has sold French rights to UK filmmaker Aleem Khan’s debut feature After Love to Rezo Films, in a first major territory deal for the film.

The drama was among five features selected for Cannes Critics’ Week’s special 2020 label, which the parallel section created this year in the absence of a physical event due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Set in the port town of Dover in southeast England, it stars Joanna Scanlan as a woman who suddenly finds herself a widow following...

Film was one of five features selected for the Cannes Critics’ Week 2020 label.

Paris-based Le Bureau Sales has sold French rights to UK filmmaker Aleem Khan’s debut feature After Love to Rezo Films, in a first major territory deal for the film.

The drama was among five features selected for Cannes Critics’ Week’s special 2020 label, which the parallel section created this year in the absence of a physical event due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Set in the port town of Dover in southeast England, it stars Joanna Scanlan as a woman who suddenly finds herself a widow following...

Sales agent Le Bureau Films has added to its lineup British writer and director Aleem Khan’s “Afterlove,” which is one of only five films selected to receive the Cannes Critics’ Week Label. Variety has been given an exclusive image to the film.

“Afterlove,” set in the port town of Dover in the South-East of England, centers on Mary Hussain, who suddenly finds herself a widow following the unexpected death of her husband. A day after the burial, she discovers he has a secret just 21 miles across the English Channel in Calais.

The cast includes Joanna Scanlan, Nathalie Richard, Talid Ariss and Nasser Memarzia. The director of photography is Alexander Dynan, whose credits include Paul Schrader’s “First Reformed.” Matthieu de Braconier is producing, and Gabrielle Dumon and Gerardine O’Flynn are co-producing. The film was supported by the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program.

Khan, who was a BAFTA nominee for the short film “Three Brothers,...

The Critics’ Week, the parallel Cannes Film Festival strand dedicated to first and second films, has revealed the features and shorts that will get the 2020 Critics’ Week label.

Critics’ Week was canceled along with all other Cannes festival strands due to the coronavirus.

The lineup consists of only five features. Four of them are French.

The selected films are Anna Cazenave Cambet’s Gold For Dogs, Just Philippot’s The Swarm, Chloé Mazlo’s Skies Of Lebanon, Naël Marandin’s Beasts and Aleem Khan’s After Love.

The French films are expected to get world premieres at the upcoming Angouleme Film Festival at the end of August.

Skies Of Lebanon stars Alba Rohrwacher as a young Swiss woman who falls in love with a Lebanese man during the war in 1975. The film is sold by Charades.

Sold by Wild Bunch, The Swarm is a genre film following a single mother...

While the Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival was announced yesterday, Critics Week, the strand dedicated to first and second films which traditionally runs parallel to the fest, has unveiled the titles that will get the “2020 Semaine de la Critique” label.

Critics Week was canceled along with with Directors Fortnight and Acid in April due to the coronavirus crisis, but the strand’s artistic director Charles Tesson and his committee went ahead and selected five movies and 10 shorts that will receive a label.

As with Cannes’ Official Selection, the roster of this year’s Critics’ Week boasts a strong French presence with four local-language films out of the five. These are Anna Cazenave Cambet’s “Gold For Dogs,” Just Philippot’s “The Swarm,” Chloé Mazlo’s “Skies of Lebanon” and Naël Marandin’s “Beasts.” Aleem Khan’s U.K. film “After Love” rounds up the pack.

Tesson said the...

The Bureau is producing the feature, with backing from BFI and BBC Films.

Joanna Scanlan has signed to star in After Love, the debut feature from writer-director Aleem Khan, a former Screen UK Star of Tomorrow, which is now in production in Kent, London and Calais.

It is produced by Matthieu de Braconier of London and Paris-based outfit The Bureau and is backed by BBC Films and the BFI.

Scanlan plays a woman who, having converted to Islam after meeting her future husband, suffers an identity crisis following his sudden death. When she uncovers details of his secret family in the French town of Calais,...

If one needs a span longer than Joan of Arc’s actual life to watch every film made on it, one should be confident in calling Jacques Rivette’s two-part Joan the Maid–first half subtitled The Battles, second half The Prisons–the very finest. However many years it’s been since I’ve done so myself, though, the effects of watching it make counter-arguments hard to even entertain. Another intimate, Rivettian portrait of shadowy societies that’s nevertheless inscribed on the epic scale of a war film, anchored by a Sandrine Bonnaire performance both tactile and otherworldly, and never flagging despite running through history told many times over, it is so great that, as with much of his filmography, a proper restoration seemed forever unlikely.

In a major turn, Cohen Media Group have salvaged the nearly six-hour project and will debut it at New York’s Quad Cinema on...

Mubi's retrospective Bertrand Mandico's Cinema is showing July 26 - October 7, 2017 in many countries around the world.The cinema of French filmmaker and animator Bertrand Mandico is unique in its approach to depicting the human body. For Mandico, the body’s status as a film subject is comparable to and interchangeable with that of any other film subject. That is, ‘animate objects’—such as human characters or animals—occupy the same cinematic roles as ‘inanimate’ ones—such as housewares or artificial structures, collapsing the binary that exists between the two. Mandico’s films time and again blur the line between binaries—animate and inanimate, male and female—and in doing so demonstrate their arbitrary nature as film subjects. Bodies and objects in Mandico’s cinema often appear abstracted and juxtaposed vis-a-vis each other, such as when women portray lamps and men portray statues in Our Lady of Hormones (2014). At first glance,...

Among the sea of headless torsos and shirtless bathroom selfies that populate the symmetrical grid of gay hook-up app Grindr, one is also likely to find users who deem themselves as more of the romantic kind, who claim in their profiles that they are not interested in “meaningless sex.” In 4 Days in France, writer-director Jérôme Reybaud establishes that almost any connection between humans, whether physically or digitally, can never truly be meaningless. As the film opens we meet Pierre (Pascal Cervo) a boyishly handsome 36-year-old who stands in the darkness, shining a light over the body of his sleeping lover Paul (Arthur Igual). Pierre runs the light from head to toes, as if trying to take all of him in one last time, or perhaps, the first. Soon after Pierre is on the road in a white Alfa Romeo, carrying nothing but a small weekender bag and his phone open to Grindr,...

Sundance Selects has acquired U.S. rights to Francois Ozon's Cannes Film Festival competition title 'Young & Beautiful.' Full press release below. Cannes, France (May 22, 2013) – Sundance Selects announced today from the 2013 Cannes Film Festival that the company is acquiring U.S. rights to writer-director François Ozon's Young & Beautiful from Wild Bunch. The film, with a star-making turn by Marine Vacth in thelead role, also stars Geraldine Pailhas, Frederic Pierrot, Fantin Ravat, Johan Leysen, Charlotte Rampling, Nathalie Richard, Djedje Apali, Lucas Prisor, Laurent Delbecque, Jeanne Ruff, and Serge Hefez. Produced by Eric & Nicolas Altmayer, and with a screenplay by Ozon, Young & Beautiful made its world premiere this week in Competition at the festival.Ozon’s film Swimming Pool was in Competition at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. Ozon's Young & Beautiful is a provocative drama about a young woman coming of age from her sexual awakening to...

Sundance Selects has picked up N. American film distribution rights to the drama which also stars Geraldine Pailhas, Frederic Pierrot, Fantin Ravat, Johan Leysen, Charlotte Rampling, Nathalie Richard, Djedje Apali, Lucas Prisor, Laurent Delbecque, Jeanne Ruff, and Serge Hefez, reports Deadline. The French title also known as Jeune & jolie, which is written and helmed by François Ozon, tells of seventeen-year-old Isabelle, who is starting to explore her sexuality. Pic takes place over a year and is split into four segments, each of which is separated by a Françoise Hardy song. Covers her journey of losing her virginity and taking on a life of prostitution. Eric Altmayer and Nicolas Altmayer produce.

François Ozon has concocted a tense, serious study of a 17-year-old girl's sexual awakening. It plays a little like Belle de Jour without the subversion

François Ozon's new film is a luxurious fantasy of a young girl's flowering: a very French and very male fantasy, like the pilot episode of the world's classiest soap opera. There's some softcore eroticism and an entirely, if enjoyably, absurd final scene with Charlotte Rampling, whose cameo lends a grandmotherly seal of approval to the drama's sexual adventure. But this is well-crafted and well-acted, with strong performances from Géraldine Pailhas and Frédéric Pierrot as well-to-do middle-aged couple Sylvie and Patrick, and from newcomer Marine Vacth as Isabelle, their 17-year-old daughter, who is on the verge of a seismic personal transformation. There is also a nice contribution from Fantin Ravat as Isabelle's kid brother Victor: a saucer-eyed onlooker and confidant – and also, I suspect,...

Jeune et Jolie

Director/Writer: François Ozon

Producer(s): Mandarin Cinéma’s Eric and Nicolas Altmayer

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available

Cast: Marine Vacth, Géraldine Pailhas, Frédéric Pierrot, Fantin Ravat, Nathalie Richard, Charlotte Rampling

I often mention how François Ozon (and Michael Winterbottom) are the most prolific filmmakers of the past two decades, and what I like best about the pair is that they often deviate from their previous films. Falling into the comedy genre, his 14th film sees model-turned-actress Marine Vacth (Klapisch’s Ma part du Gâteau) in the lead and will once again have the participation of Charlotte Rampling of Swimming Pool fame – Ozon’s 2003 film.

Gist: This is about a young woman who becomes a prostitute for pleasure.

Release Date: Filming began in mid 2012, so without any mentions of a showing at the Berlin Film Festival, we think this either hits Cannes or Venice.

prev next...

An interesting central team unite for the latest project from Alex Garland, the author of The Beach and screenwriter of Sunshine and 28 Days Later. Garland worked closely with Booker Prize-winning novelist, Kazuo Ishiguro, in adapting his 2005 novel, Never Let Me Go for the big screen. Mark Romanek, a relatively low-key director better known for music videos than cinema (One Hour Photo), later came on board and soon old acting chums Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley were reunited, alongside a predominantly English cast.

As “Kathy H” Mulligan's voice-over escorts us through Ishiguro's bittersweet but ultimately depressing tale. The title sequence tells us medical breakthroughs in 1952 have led to life expectancy on average being 100 by the 60s but little else is given away until we have invested enough emotional energy in the central characters for the truth to really hurt.

We're told the seemingly parentless “children of Hailsham are different” and see the electronic wrist-swipers all possess.

Win tickets to the the Fox Searchlight Pictures' drama/thriller "Never Let Me Go" Cincinnati, Columbus and Indianapolis! (See below for entry, dates, etc) The critically-acclaimed film stars Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley, Charlotte Rampling, Sally Hawkins, Domhnall Gleeson, Charlie Rowe, Andrea Riseborough, Ella Purnell, Nathalie Richard, Izzy Meikle-Small and Hannah Sharp. Mark Romanek directs from the writing by Alex Garland based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. As children, Ruth (Keira Knightley), Kathy (Carey Mulligan) and Tommy (Andrew Garfield), spend their childhood at a seemingly idyllic English boarding school. As they grow into young adults, they find that they have to come to terms with the strength of the love they feel for each other, while preparing themselves for the haunting reality that awaits them...

'Never Let Me Go' is the adaption of Kazuo Ishiguro novel, adapted for the screen by Alex Garland and directed by Mark Romanek. It stars Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Charlotte Rampling, Sally Hawkins, Nathalie Richard and Andrea Riseborough.

Set in an alternate England where a medical breakthrough has made it possible for people to live longer lives, though at the expense of others, it stars Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield as three young people who get caught up in a love triangle while coping with the fragility of their own lives.

Below are two featurettes on author Kazuo Ishiguro & director Mark Romanek on why he chose to bring 'Never Let Me Go' to the screen. Also a host of clips from the upcoming film.

Trailer #2

Featurettes: Meet the Author

Mark Romanek on 'Never Let Me Go'

Clips:...

A clip from director Mark Romanek's Never Let Me Go is online and can be watched using the player below. The drama, opening September 15th, stars Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield (upcoming Spider-Man reboot ), Charlotte Rampling, Sally Hawkins, Nathalie Richard and Andrea Riseborough. The film is based on the highly acclaimed novel by Kazuo Ishiguro ("The Remains of the Day"). In it he posed the fundamental question: What makes us human? Kathy (Mulligan), Tommy (Garfield) and Ruth (Knightley) live in a world and a time that feel familiar to us, but are not quite like anything we know. They spend their childhood at Hailsham, a seemingly idyllic English boarding school. When they leave the shelter of the school and the terrible truth of their fate is...

Here's a great interesting film clip from director Mark Romanek's new film Never Let Me Go, which is based on the highly acclaimed novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. The film has a solid cast of young actors that includes Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Charlotte Rampling, Sally Hawkins, Nathalie Richard and Andrea Riseborough.

I'm really looking forward to seeing this movie. It's been getting great reviews from those who have seen it, and it seems like it will be worth watching. I really liked what I saw in the tailer for and this film clip. This looks like a well written film with some great acting. The Daily Mail gave a little review of the film, and they said the following:

In certain directorial and thespian hands, Ishiguro’s work could have been turned into mawkish slop. But, with these actors, the film’s a thing of rare beauty.

• Director Mark Romanek talks with Find about his latest feature Never Let Me Go -

 

It has been eight years since director Mark Romanek helmed a feature, but his latest feature, Never Let Me Go, is one he has been waiting to do for many years. Based on the novel by acclaimed author Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go, is set in a dystopian England where children are cloned for the sole purpose of organ donations. Once they are grown and have donated two or three times, they have "completed" their lives--or usefulness. The film, which stars Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, and Andrew Garfield, focuses on the love story between the main characters and the brevity of life. While it is set strictly in England, Romanek wanted to imbue the film with the sense of yugen--a Japanese term for profound grace and subtlety--that Ishiguro's writing conveys. Romanek says working...

Fox Searchlight Pictures has released a film clip for Mark Romanek's latest film "Never Let Me Go" starring Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, Andrew Garfield, Charlotte Rampling, Sally Hawkins, Nathalie Richard, and Andrea Riseborough.In his highly acclaimed novel "Never Let Me Go," Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day) created a remarkable story of love, loss and hidden truths. In it he posed the fundamental question: What makes us human? Now director Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo), writer Alex Garland and DNA Films bring Ishiguro's hauntingly poignant and emotional story to the screen.Kathy (Oscar® nominee Carey Mulligan, An Education), Tommy (Andrew Garfield, Boy A, Red Riding) and Ruth (Oscar® nominee Keira Knightley, Pride & Prejudice, Atonement) live in a world and a time that feel familiar to us, but are not quite like anything we know. They spend their childhood at Hailsham, a seemingly idyllic English boarding school. When...

I just finished the audiobook of Kazuo Ishiguro‘s novel Never Let Me Go and it was beautiful. The sci-fi aspect is very, very subtle so if you are expecting another genre masterpiece from Sunshine writer Alex Garland (who co-wrote this screenplay), you may be disappointed. But, it turned out to be a vibrantly captured story of friendship amongst three people, played by Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, and Andrew Garfield.

Now the official site for One Hour Photo director Mark Romanek‘s next film has launched and we get separate posters for each of our main characters. You can check them out below and the film also stars Charlotte Rampling, Sally Hawkins, Nathalie Richard and Andrea Riseborough.

Plot: As children, Ruth, Kathy & Tommy, spend their childhood at a seemingly idyllic boarding school. As they grow into adults, they find they have to come to terms with the strength of the...

Here's the press release for the Venice Days selections folks: lots of names we know! Official Selection   World Premiere La Vida De Los Peces/The Life Of Fish by Matias Bize with Santiago Cabrera, Blanca Lewin Chile - Production co.: Cenecca Producciones A young Chilean returns to Santiago after 10 years in Europe and ponders his past and future over a long night of encounters with old friends and his great love. This sentimental, urban comedy depicts a South America far from the stereotypes and folklore.   International Premiere - Opening film Le Bruit Des Glacons/The Clink Of Ice by Bertrand Blier with Jean Dujardin, Albert Dupontel, Anne Alvaro, Myriam Boyer France, Sales co.: Wild Bunch An alcoholic writer is confronted by an incarnation of his own cancer in this no-holds-barred, black comedy on illness and death. Nothing is spared politically incorrect derision - except for the desire to live and love.

Fox Searchlight has premiered the first poster for One Hour Photo director Mark Romanek‘s upcoming drama Never Let Me Go. One of the first big Oscar contenders of the year, the film is written by 28 Days Later and Sunshine‘s Alex Garland based upon Kazuo Ishiguro‘s novel and stars Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, Andrew Garfield, Charlotte Rampling, Sally Hawkins, Nathalie Richard and Andrea Riseborough. Cinematography is by Adam Kimmel (Capote, Lars and the Real Girl). Check out the poster below.

Synopsis: In his highly acclaimed novel Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains Of The Day) created a remarkable story of love, loss and hidden truths. In it he posed the fundamental question: What makes us human? Now director Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo), writer Alex Garland and DNA Films bring Ishiguro’s hauntingly poignant and emotional story to the screen. Kathy (Oscar® nominee Carey Mulligan, An Education), Tommy (Andrew Garfield,...

Fox Searchlight Pictures has debuted the trailer for director Mark Romanek's Never Let Me Go , opening in theaters on October 1 and starring Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Charlotte Rampling, Sally Hawkins, Nathalie Richard and Andrea Riseborough. In the film, based on Kazuo Ishiguro's ("The Remains of the Day") highly acclaimed novel, Kathy (Mulligan), Tommy (Garfield) and Ruth (Knightley) live in a world and a time that feel familiar to us, but are not quite like anything we know. They spend their childhood at Hailsham, a seemingly idyllic English boarding school. When they leave the shelter of the school and the terrible truth of their fate is revealed to them, they must also confront the deep feelings of love, jealousy and betrayal that threaten to...

See the first trailer for Fox Searchlight Pictures' "Never Let Me Go" starring Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Charlotte Rampling, Sally Hawkins, Domhnall Gleeson, Charlie Rowe, Andrea Riseborough, Ella Purnell, Nathalie Richard, Izzy Meikle-Small and Hannah Sharp. The drama/thriller helmed by Mark Romanek ("") from the screenplay by Alex Garland, is based on the novel written by Kazuo Ishiguro. Film finds limited venues on October 1st. As children, Ruth (Keira Knightley), Kathy (Carey Mulligan) and Tommy (Andrew Garfield), spend their childhood at a seemingly idyllic English boarding school. As they grow into young adults, they find that they have to come to terms with the strength of the love they feel for each other, while preparing themselves for the haunting reality that awaits them.

Here we have a fantastic trailer for the upcoming film Never Let Me Go, which looks like a great little film. The movie comes from Fox Seachlight and director Mark Romanek who adapted the Novel of the same name written by Kazuo Ishiguro. Never Let Me Go was named one of Time Magazines Best Novels from 1923 to the present. It looks like Romanek has done a solid job adapting the novel for the big screen.

The screenplay was written by screenwriter Alex Garland, who also wrote Beach, 28 Days Later and Sunshine. The dramatic thriller has a great young cast of actors that includes Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, Andrew Garfield, Charlotte Rampling, Sally Hawkins, Nathalie Richard, and Andrea Riseborough.

Synopsis:

In his highly acclaimed novel Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains Of The Day) created a remarkable story of love, loss and hidden truths. In it he posed the...