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The vivid contrasts between the parched countryside of inland Australia and the throbbing lights and seductive beaches of Sydney echo the conflict playing out inside the head of the damaged protagonist in Lonesome. Writer-director Craig Boreham’s sexually explicit queer cowboy odyssey refuses to judge its corn-fed principal character, even as he blurs the line between desire and transaction, at his lowest point convincing himself that he deserves degradation, not love. At its most compelling, the film is an intimate study of emotionally scarred strangers who find communion through the flesh that opens a tentative window to their hearts.
If some of the acting is a bit stiff and the plotting becomes wayward — indulging in self-punishment clichés in a jarring late interlude by lurching into Bdsm territory with a disappointingly heavy hand — Lonesome is kept on track by the feeling invested in its troubled central love story.
The vivid contrasts between the parched countryside of inland Australia and the throbbing lights and seductive beaches of Sydney echo the conflict playing out inside the head of the damaged protagonist in Lonesome. Writer-director Craig Boreham’s sexually explicit queer cowboy odyssey refuses to judge its corn-fed principal character, even as he blurs the line between desire and transaction, at his lowest point convincing himself that he deserves degradation, not love. At its most compelling, the film is an intimate study of emotionally scarred strangers who find communion through the flesh that opens a tentative window to their hearts.
If some of the acting is a bit stiff and the plotting becomes wayward — indulging in self-punishment clichés in a jarring late interlude by lurching into Bdsm territory with a disappointingly heavy hand — Lonesome is kept on track by the feeling invested in its troubled central love story.
- 6/24/2022
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Broadcasting
Channel 4 and Sky in the U.K. have extended their pre-existing, long-term commercial partnership in a new multi-year agreement which, according to the companies, will facilitate greater opportunity for collaboration, commercial growth and innovation as broadcasting evolves going forward.
Under the terms of the new deal, Sky customers will have access to even more Channel 4 content as more than 1000 hours of All 4 — Channel 4’s VoD platform — exclusives are integrated into Sky’s current and future TV products. Channel 4 will benefit from under the new terms by opening avenues to new digital ad revenue streams which can support its Future4 strategy.
“When we set out our Future4 strategy last year, we made clear that securing strategic distribution partnerships would be a vital part of ensuring we can maximize our reach and impact with viewers in a digital age, grow our revenues and compete more effectively for the future,” said Alex Mahon,...
Channel 4 and Sky in the U.K. have extended their pre-existing, long-term commercial partnership in a new multi-year agreement which, according to the companies, will facilitate greater opportunity for collaboration, commercial growth and innovation as broadcasting evolves going forward.
Under the terms of the new deal, Sky customers will have access to even more Channel 4 content as more than 1000 hours of All 4 — Channel 4’s VoD platform — exclusives are integrated into Sky’s current and future TV products. Channel 4 will benefit from under the new terms by opening avenues to new digital ad revenue streams which can support its Future4 strategy.
“When we set out our Future4 strategy last year, we made clear that securing strategic distribution partnerships would be a vital part of ensuring we can maximize our reach and impact with viewers in a digital age, grow our revenues and compete more effectively for the future,” said Alex Mahon,...
- 7/2/2021
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Strand Releasing has picked up U.S. distribution rights to Franco-Lebanese auteur Danielle Arbid’s “Simple Passion,” a Cannes 2020 title that played strong on the fall festival circuit.
Announced as part of the Cannes 2020 selection, the French-language film premiered in San Sebastian, and would go on to play Busan, Moscow and Zurich ahead of a planned release in France later this year.
Adapted from Annie Ernaux’s 1992 bestseller, the film tracks an emotionally-toxic but physically combustible relationship between a Parisian academic (Laetitia Dosch) and her mercurial – and married – Russian paramour (dancer Sergei Polunin). Their relationship begins to curdle when one party shows more than carnal interest in the other.
Reviewing the film out of San Sebastian, Variety critic Guy Lodge praised lead actress Laetitia Dosch’s star turn, calling her a “vital life source” and noting that she “holds nothing back physically, but it’s her face, constantly registering shifting internal tides of desire,...
Announced as part of the Cannes 2020 selection, the French-language film premiered in San Sebastian, and would go on to play Busan, Moscow and Zurich ahead of a planned release in France later this year.
Adapted from Annie Ernaux’s 1992 bestseller, the film tracks an emotionally-toxic but physically combustible relationship between a Parisian academic (Laetitia Dosch) and her mercurial – and married – Russian paramour (dancer Sergei Polunin). Their relationship begins to curdle when one party shows more than carnal interest in the other.
Reviewing the film out of San Sebastian, Variety critic Guy Lodge praised lead actress Laetitia Dosch’s star turn, calling her a “vital life source” and noting that she “holds nothing back physically, but it’s her face, constantly registering shifting internal tides of desire,...
- 1/13/2021
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
Organisations and publications reveal their top 20.
Lulu Wang’s The Farewell has been named the best film of 2019 in a poll of UK female film critics and commentators.
Conducted by female-centred film organisation Bechdel Test Fest, the poll surveyed 57 respondents from organisations and publications including the British Film Institute, Curzon, Birds Eye View, Mubi, Leeds Film Festival and Film London.
Olivia Wilde’s teen comedy-drama Booksmart came in second place while third went to documentary For Sama, from directors Waad Al-Kateab and Edward Watts.
Of the top 10 titles, six are directed or co-director by women - including Joanna Hogg’s...
Lulu Wang’s The Farewell has been named the best film of 2019 in a poll of UK female film critics and commentators.
Conducted by female-centred film organisation Bechdel Test Fest, the poll surveyed 57 respondents from organisations and publications including the British Film Institute, Curzon, Birds Eye View, Mubi, Leeds Film Festival and Film London.
Olivia Wilde’s teen comedy-drama Booksmart came in second place while third went to documentary For Sama, from directors Waad Al-Kateab and Edward Watts.
Of the top 10 titles, six are directed or co-director by women - including Joanna Hogg’s...
- 12/20/2019
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
Lorcan Finnegan’s science-fiction thriller “Vivarium” with Jesse Eisenberg and Imogen Poots, Jérémy Clapin’s fantasy-filled animated feature “I Lost My Body,” and Hlynur Pálmason’s Icelandic drama “A White, White Day” are among the 11 films set to compete at Critics’ Week, the section dedicated to first and second films that runs parallel with the Cannes Film Festival.
“Vivarium,” described by Critics’ Week’s artistic director Charles Tesson as reminiscent of “The Twilight Zone” and “The Truman Show,” follows a young couple (Eisenberg and Poots) who have just moved into a new housing development and find themselves in a maze of identical homes and a surreal world.
“A White, White Day” marks Pálmason’s follow up to his 2017 feature debut, “Winter Brothers,” which won three prizes at Locarno, followed by a healthy festival run. “A White, White Day” stars Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson (“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald”) as an...
“Vivarium,” described by Critics’ Week’s artistic director Charles Tesson as reminiscent of “The Twilight Zone” and “The Truman Show,” follows a young couple (Eisenberg and Poots) who have just moved into a new housing development and find themselves in a maze of identical homes and a surreal world.
“A White, White Day” marks Pálmason’s follow up to his 2017 feature debut, “Winter Brothers,” which won three prizes at Locarno, followed by a healthy festival run. “A White, White Day” stars Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson (“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald”) as an...
- 4/22/2019
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Founder and managing director of the UK’s Peccadillo Pictures awarded last night.
Tom Abell, founder and managing director of the UK’s Peccadillo Pictures, was presented last night (April 11) with the inaugural Iris Fellowship, honouring those who have made a significant contribution to the Lgbt+ film industry.
The award is an extension of the Iris Prize, which awards £30,000 annually to the best short film shown at Cardiff’s Lgbt+ Iris Prize Film Festival, with entries selected by multiple international partner festivals, and £20,000 to the best British short. The prizes are supported annually by a £50,000 donation by the Michael Bishop Foundation.
Tom Abell, founder and managing director of the UK’s Peccadillo Pictures, was presented last night (April 11) with the inaugural Iris Fellowship, honouring those who have made a significant contribution to the Lgbt+ film industry.
The award is an extension of the Iris Prize, which awards £30,000 annually to the best short film shown at Cardiff’s Lgbt+ Iris Prize Film Festival, with entries selected by multiple international partner festivals, and £20,000 to the best British short. The prizes are supported annually by a £50,000 donation by the Michael Bishop Foundation.
- 4/12/2019
- by Charles Gant
- ScreenDaily
In the opening scene of “Sauvage/Wild,” a routine check-up turns suspect when a doctor offers to relieve his patient’s tension down below. After a hurried hand job, money changes hands, revealing the true nature of the interaction. Before parting, the customer asks for a kiss. “Next time,” replies Léo, (though his name is rarely mentioned), embodied with a balance of rough-around-the-edges swagger and childlike vulnerability by Félix Maritaud (“Bpm”). Aside from one night snuggled up to a lonely old man, this is one of the mildest interactions in the film.
Léo’s days are comprised of one sordid, desperate chapter after the next, with very little respite. He follows around a fellow hustler like a puppy dog, and the man returns his affections with a punch to the face. Léo’s health is deteriorating, some rough clients stiff him, and he’s happiest when he’s smoking meth.
Léo’s days are comprised of one sordid, desperate chapter after the next, with very little respite. He follows around a fellow hustler like a puppy dog, and the man returns his affections with a punch to the face. Léo’s health is deteriorating, some rough clients stiff him, and he’s happiest when he’s smoking meth.
- 4/11/2019
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
You’re looking for real intimacy and you couldn’t pick a worse place to find it. Not if you’re the gay male hustler driving the plot of Sauvage/Wild, the raw and riveting debut feature from French writer-director Camille Vidal-Naquet.
“My name is whatever you want it to be,” this unnamed, unwashed wild child tells the tricks who use him as a piece of meat. He gets paid for it, after all. In interviews, Vidal-Naquet refers to this achingly vulnerable soul as Leo. And yet the homeless Leo,...
“My name is whatever you want it to be,” this unnamed, unwashed wild child tells the tricks who use him as a piece of meat. He gets paid for it, after all. In interviews, Vidal-Naquet refers to this achingly vulnerable soul as Leo. And yet the homeless Leo,...
- 4/11/2019
- by Peter Travers
- Rollingstone.com
There have been quite a few high-quality American films about male prostitution, from John Schlesinger’s Oscar-winning “Midnight Cowboy” to Gus Van Sant’s “My Own Private Idaho” and Gregg Araki’s “Mysterious Skin,” and from France there has been Patrice Chéreau’s “L’Homme blessé,” and several films from André Téchiné, most notably “J’embrasse pas,” which translates as “I Don’t Kiss.”
Camille Vidal-Naquet’s first feature “Sauvage/Wild” is very much in the Téchiné tradition of “J’embrasse pas,” and the subject of kissing or not kissing is actually central to the narrative. What’s most impressive about this film is the intricacy of Naquet’s screenplay, which plays out in a series of subtly mirroring episodes that follow the life of Leo, a 22-year-old street kid played by Félix Maritaud, who made an impression on screen in “Bpm (Beats Per Minute)” and carries this movie almost singlehandedly.
Camille Vidal-Naquet’s first feature “Sauvage/Wild” is very much in the Téchiné tradition of “J’embrasse pas,” and the subject of kissing or not kissing is actually central to the narrative. What’s most impressive about this film is the intricacy of Naquet’s screenplay, which plays out in a series of subtly mirroring episodes that follow the life of Leo, a 22-year-old street kid played by Félix Maritaud, who made an impression on screen in “Bpm (Beats Per Minute)” and carries this movie almost singlehandedly.
- 4/10/2019
- by Dan Callahan
- The Wrap
Leo (Félix Maritaud) never counts his money after he’s with a client. The gay sex worker at the center of Camille Vidal-Naquet’s film Sauvage/Wild is, honestly, happy to be there. Drifting from client to client and from place to place, the homeless hustler has one constant that is quickly disappearing: his unrequited feelings for fellow hustler (though “gay 4 pay”), Ahd (Éric Bernard). Leo’s intense yearning for human connection and affection, mixed with his somewhat paradoxical disinclination to be “kept” in a (facile) domestic situation, and ailing body but unrelenting spirit, are reminiscent of Giulietta Masina in Federico Fellini’s Nights […]...
- 4/10/2019
- by Kyle Turner
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Leo (Félix Maritaud) never counts his money after he’s with a client. The gay sex worker at the center of Camille Vidal-Naquet’s film Sauvage/Wild is, honestly, happy to be there. Drifting from client to client and from place to place, the homeless hustler has one constant that is quickly disappearing: his unrequited feelings for fellow hustler (though “gay 4 pay”), Ahd (Éric Bernard). Leo’s intense yearning for human connection and affection, mixed with his somewhat paradoxical disinclination to be “kept” in a (facile) domestic situation, and ailing body but unrelenting spirit, are reminiscent of Giulietta Masina in Federico Fellini’s Nights […]...
- 4/10/2019
- by Kyle Turner
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
There have been any number of films about lonely men who fall in love with a prostitute, but Camille Vidal-Naquet’s raw and visceral “Sauvage / Wild” is the rare film about a prostitute who falls in love with another man. But Leo can’t afford to be stingy with his affections; he’s driven by an insatiable and undiscriminating desire for intimacy.
An untethered 22-year-old sex worker who lives on the streets of Strasbourg, and is ferally embodied by Félix Maritaud (who played a supporting role in the bracing “Bpm”), Leo doesn’t care about money or moving up in the world, nor does he resent his clients the way that some of his fellow sex workers do. In fact, he seems to lack any natural ability to separate feeling from fucking, and he needs as much from his johns as his johns need from him. When Leo offers to...
An untethered 22-year-old sex worker who lives on the streets of Strasbourg, and is ferally embodied by Félix Maritaud (who played a supporting role in the bracing “Bpm”), Leo doesn’t care about money or moving up in the world, nor does he resent his clients the way that some of his fellow sex workers do. In fact, he seems to lack any natural ability to separate feeling from fucking, and he needs as much from his johns as his johns need from him. When Leo offers to...
- 3/29/2019
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSWanuri Kahiu on the set of RafikiRafiki director Wanuri Kahiu has announced her latest project, an adaptation of Octavia Butler's 1980 Wild Seed, produced by Viola Davis and written by novelist Nnedi Okorafor. Butler's novel follows two immortal African beings whose tumultuous rivalry takes them across pre-colonial West Africa to a plantation in the American South. Recommended VIEWINGFrom March 20–April 2, Vdrome is screening Adam Khalil and Zack Khalil's documentary Inaate/Se/ [it shines a certain way. to a certain place/it flies. falls./]. The film "imagines new indigenous futures, looking simultaneously backward and forward." The new trailer for Hong Sang-soo's Grass is at once simple and cryptic, conveying one of many mysteries encountered by a young writer observing intimate interactions in a bustling cafe. The dreamy, video game-inspired images of Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel's Jessica Forever come to life in a new trailer.
- 3/27/2019
- MUBI
SauvageNew Directors/New Films (Nd/Nf) returns to the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Museum of Modern Art for its 48th edition, and once again proves that for New Yorkers it’s the key festival to discover an exciting new crop of young filmmakers, most of them presenting debut or second features. The program includes some movies previously covered on Notebook: Sofia Bohdanowicz’s Ms Slavic 7, Peter Parlow’s The Plagiarists, and Mark Jenkin’s Bait (Berlin Film Festival premieres), Andrea Bussmann’s Fausto (Locarno Festival), Phuttiphong Aroonpheng’s Manta Ray (Venice), Ognjen Glavonić’s The Load (Directors' Fortnight), and Eva Torbisch’s All Is Good (Locarno). While diverse, overall, this year’s slate is thoughtful and yet agile, with films that invite both risk and ambiguity.Not since Agnès Varda’s Vagabond (1985) has there been a film in which the main character drifts into willful dissolution with as...
- 3/26/2019
- MUBI
Sauvage/Wild opens with a gay hustler in a doctor’s office. As he discusses his ill health—his cough, his odd stomach pains—the camera, like the examiner’s hands, passes carefully over the bruises on his ribcage, his abdomen, down over his groin. Such frank corporeality is familiar from other gay films which seek to expose and honor the wounds society inscribes onto vulnerable bodies—Sauvage’s star, Félix Maritaud, played one of the Act Up members in 120 Bpm—but then the scene shifts gears, becoming not quite a parody, but certainly an affectionate meta-joke on the ways in which the serious-minded and erotic prerogatives of queer cinema elide into each other.
It’s the wittiest moment in a film which frequently falls back on contrived, conventional storytelling at odds its with its body-and-soul immersion into the physical and emotional toll of life on the game. One is...
It’s the wittiest moment in a film which frequently falls back on contrived, conventional storytelling at odds its with its body-and-soul immersion into the physical and emotional toll of life on the game. One is...
- 3/25/2019
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
The 58th edition of Cannes Critics’ Week will take place May 15-23.
Cannes Critics’ Week has kicked off the Cannes 2019 season with the revelation of the poster for its 58th edition.
The parallel section, celebrating emerging directors and first and second features, has used its poster this year to highlight its role in promoting rising young actors too
It features French actor Félix Maritaud in his role of a good-hearted but tortured gay prostitute in Camille Vidal-Naquet’s debut Sauvage which premiered in Cannes Critics’ Week last year, courting controversy for some of its hard-core sex scenes.
Maritaud, whose previous...
Cannes Critics’ Week has kicked off the Cannes 2019 season with the revelation of the poster for its 58th edition.
The parallel section, celebrating emerging directors and first and second features, has used its poster this year to highlight its role in promoting rising young actors too
It features French actor Félix Maritaud in his role of a good-hearted but tortured gay prostitute in Camille Vidal-Naquet’s debut Sauvage which premiered in Cannes Critics’ Week last year, courting controversy for some of its hard-core sex scenes.
Maritaud, whose previous...
- 3/21/2019
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
"Raw, uncompromising and yet strangely romantic." Strand Releasing has debuted an official Us trailer for an erotic French drama titled Sauvage, which translates to Wild in French, which is why the poster and trailer list the titled as "Sauvage / Wild" together. From writer/director Camille Vidal-Naquet, the film follows a young French male prostitute named Leo, played by Félix Maritaud. "The men come and go, and he stays right here — longing for love. He doesn't know what the future will bring. He hits the road. His heart is pounding." It's described as a "powerful portrait of a gay male prostitute in free fall", and premiered in the Critics' Week sidebar at the Cannes Film Festival last year. Also starring Eric Bernard and Nicolas Dibla. Certainly not for everyone, but still worth a look especially considering good reviews from festivals. Here's the official Us trailer (+ poster) for Camille Vidal-Naquet's Sauvage, direct...
- 3/7/2019
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
‘The Aftermath’ with Keira Knightley is another new opener.
Stephen Merchant’s solo directorial debut Fighting With My Family leads the openers at the UK box office this weekend, and will look to dethrone three-time champion The Lego Movie 2 from the summit.
The film, which premiered as a ‘secret screening’ in Sundance this year, follows a family of wrestlers from Norwich, as siblings Saraya and Zak work to make it in the WWE. Screen Stars of Tomorrow Florence Pugh (2016) and Jack Lowden (2014) lead the cast, which also includes Nick Frost, Lena Headey and executive producer and former wrestler Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
Stephen Merchant’s solo directorial debut Fighting With My Family leads the openers at the UK box office this weekend, and will look to dethrone three-time champion The Lego Movie 2 from the summit.
The film, which premiered as a ‘secret screening’ in Sundance this year, follows a family of wrestlers from Norwich, as siblings Saraya and Zak work to make it in the WWE. Screen Stars of Tomorrow Florence Pugh (2016) and Jack Lowden (2014) lead the cast, which also includes Nick Frost, Lena Headey and executive producer and former wrestler Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
- 3/1/2019
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Camille Vidal-Naquet kicks off a candid account of the savage realities facing a young sex worker with a startling twist
Feature first-timer Camille Vidal-Naquet creates a tough, intriguing if incurious study of a young homeless hustler, starring Félix Maritaud (who was Max in Robin Campillo’s Act Up drama 120 Beats Per Minute). He plays Leo, who makes an impact in the opening scene in a doctor’s office, as this beautiful young man talks about his cough and takes his clothes off, to reveal various marks and lesions that he is carefully asked about. The scene ends with a startling twist, establishing a note of irony that is ingenious but slightly out of kilter with the succeeding action.
Related: 'I'm a faggot': Félix Maritaud on reclaiming a term of abuse – and his friendship with Béatrice Dalle...
Feature first-timer Camille Vidal-Naquet creates a tough, intriguing if incurious study of a young homeless hustler, starring Félix Maritaud (who was Max in Robin Campillo’s Act Up drama 120 Beats Per Minute). He plays Leo, who makes an impact in the opening scene in a doctor’s office, as this beautiful young man talks about his cough and takes his clothes off, to reveal various marks and lesions that he is carefully asked about. The scene ends with a startling twist, establishing a note of irony that is ingenious but slightly out of kilter with the succeeding action.
Related: 'I'm a faggot': Félix Maritaud on reclaiming a term of abuse – and his friendship with Béatrice Dalle...
- 2/27/2019
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
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.
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.
- 2/23/2019
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
After winning best director at the Venice Film Festival, Jacques Audiard’s The Sisters Brothers” picked up three awards, including best film, director and cinematography, at the 24th Lumières Awards, France’s équivalent to the Golden Globes. The ceremony took place on Monday at the Institut du Monde Arabe.
Although it has not made its way into the awards season in the U.S. despite its fall festival bow, the movie is well-positioned in France where it will be vying for nine Cesar Awards, France’s équivalent to the Oscars, on Feb. 22.
Produced by Pascal Caucheteux’s Why Not, “The Sisters Brothers” stars starring Joaquin Phoenix, John C. Reilly and Jake Gyllenhaal.
“The Sisters Brothers” won over Jeanne Herry’s adoption drama “In Safe Hands,” Mikhaël Hers’ “Amanda,” Alex Lutz’s “Guy” and Emmanuel Mouret’s “Mademoiselle de Joncquières.”
Xavier Legrand’s heart-pounding domestic violence drama “Custody” won best first film.
Although it has not made its way into the awards season in the U.S. despite its fall festival bow, the movie is well-positioned in France where it will be vying for nine Cesar Awards, France’s équivalent to the Oscars, on Feb. 22.
Produced by Pascal Caucheteux’s Why Not, “The Sisters Brothers” stars starring Joaquin Phoenix, John C. Reilly and Jake Gyllenhaal.
“The Sisters Brothers” won over Jeanne Herry’s adoption drama “In Safe Hands,” Mikhaël Hers’ “Amanda,” Alex Lutz’s “Guy” and Emmanuel Mouret’s “Mademoiselle de Joncquières.”
Xavier Legrand’s heart-pounding domestic violence drama “Custody” won best first film.
- 2/5/2019
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Paris — Two Cannes Critics’ Week hits – ‘Guy,” “Sauvage” – and Erick Zonca’s comeback, “Black Tide,” are three potential highlights in a still-expanding MyFrenchFilmFestival, French promotion org UniFrance’s annual online selection of French and French-language films.
Unveiling MyFFF’s 2019 edition in Paris on Wednesday, UniFrance also revealed that this year’s ninth edition will bow a TV strand, showcasing espionage thriller “The Bureau,” a recent and game-changing Canal Plus Création Originale. The international filmmakers’ jury – unveiled by UniFrance’s president Serge Toubiana and co-managing director Isabelle Giordano on Wednesday morning at Google’s offices in Paris — comprises Jaco Van Dormael (“The Brand New Testament”), Houda Benyamina (“Divines”), Coralie Fargeat (“Revenge”), Mikhaël Hers (“Amanda”) and Kim Nguyen (“Rebelle”). Citing “Divines” which sold to Netflix, and “Revenge” which was acquired by AMC’s Shudder, Toubiana and Giordano said all the filmmakers on the jury have had a connection with a digital service.
Unveiling MyFFF’s 2019 edition in Paris on Wednesday, UniFrance also revealed that this year’s ninth edition will bow a TV strand, showcasing espionage thriller “The Bureau,” a recent and game-changing Canal Plus Création Originale. The international filmmakers’ jury – unveiled by UniFrance’s president Serge Toubiana and co-managing director Isabelle Giordano on Wednesday morning at Google’s offices in Paris — comprises Jaco Van Dormael (“The Brand New Testament”), Houda Benyamina (“Divines”), Coralie Fargeat (“Revenge”), Mikhaël Hers (“Amanda”) and Kim Nguyen (“Rebelle”). Citing “Divines” which sold to Netflix, and “Revenge” which was acquired by AMC’s Shudder, Toubiana and Giordano said all the filmmakers on the jury have had a connection with a digital service.
- 1/9/2019
- by John Hopewell and Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Best Israeli documentary went to ‘Jonathan Agassi Saved My Life’.
Jerusalem Film Festival presented its awards on Thursday August 2, with Yona Rozenkier’s The Dive and Tsivia Barkai-Yacov’s Red Cow sharing the best Israeli feature film prize and best debut film.
The Israeli competitions jury split the prizes between the two films ”for their profound qualities and unique cinematic modes of expression, each in its own special way.” The former award comes with a prize of 50,000 Ils.
The Dive is about three brothers who reunite for a weekend to bury their father, before they head to war. The deserted...
Jerusalem Film Festival presented its awards on Thursday August 2, with Yona Rozenkier’s The Dive and Tsivia Barkai-Yacov’s Red Cow sharing the best Israeli feature film prize and best debut film.
The Israeli competitions jury split the prizes between the two films ”for their profound qualities and unique cinematic modes of expression, each in its own special way.” The former award comes with a prize of 50,000 Ils.
The Dive is about three brothers who reunite for a weekend to bury their father, before they head to war. The deserted...
- 8/3/2018
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Yona Rozenkier’s “The Dive” and Tsivia Barkai-Yacov’s “Red Cow” have scooped The Haggiag Award for Best Israeli Feature Film and the Anat Pirchi Award for Best Debut Film at the 35th edition of the Jerusalem Film Festival.
“The Dive” and “Red Cow” shared the award Thursday for best debut film. Produced by Efrat Cohen and Koby Mizrahi ,”The Dive” follows three brothers who reunite for one weekend to bury their father in their native kibbutz on the border with Lebanon before going to war. The movie, which also played at Locarno, is being sold by Stray Dogs.
“Red Cow” is set in an Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem and follows the sexual awakening of a teenage girl living with her widowed father, who is an Orthodox Jew. The movie world premiered at Berlin in the Generation section.
The Israeli competition jury, which comprised Romanian director Calin Peter Netzer,...
“The Dive” and “Red Cow” shared the award Thursday for best debut film. Produced by Efrat Cohen and Koby Mizrahi ,”The Dive” follows three brothers who reunite for one weekend to bury their father in their native kibbutz on the border with Lebanon before going to war. The movie, which also played at Locarno, is being sold by Stray Dogs.
“Red Cow” is set in an Israeli settlement in East Jerusalem and follows the sexual awakening of a teenage girl living with her widowed father, who is an Orthodox Jew. The movie world premiered at Berlin in the Generation section.
The Israeli competition jury, which comprised Romanian director Calin Peter Netzer,...
- 8/3/2018
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Strand Releasing has acquired all North American rights to Camille Vidal-Naquet’s feature debut
“Sauvage” which world premiered at Cannes’s Critics Week.
Felix Maritaud, who stars in the film as a 22-year old gay male prostitute in free fall, won the best actor prize at Critics’ Week. Maritaud previously starred in Robin Campillo’s Cannes’s Grand Jury prize-winning “(Bpm) Beats Per Minute).”
Besides exploring the world of male prostitution, “Sauvage” also tells the story of an unrequited love between Maritaud and a fellow hustler.
“We’re thrilled to be working again with Pyramide and to have this amazing discovery by a first time feature filmmaker is a revelation. Both director and actor make this such an stunning film that best reflects the kinds of films that we strive to acquire and bring to American audiences,” said Strand Releasing’s topper Marcus Hu who negotiated the deal along with...
“Sauvage” which world premiered at Cannes’s Critics Week.
Felix Maritaud, who stars in the film as a 22-year old gay male prostitute in free fall, won the best actor prize at Critics’ Week. Maritaud previously starred in Robin Campillo’s Cannes’s Grand Jury prize-winning “(Bpm) Beats Per Minute).”
Besides exploring the world of male prostitution, “Sauvage” also tells the story of an unrequited love between Maritaud and a fellow hustler.
“We’re thrilled to be working again with Pyramide and to have this amazing discovery by a first time feature filmmaker is a revelation. Both director and actor make this such an stunning film that best reflects the kinds of films that we strive to acquire and bring to American audiences,” said Strand Releasing’s topper Marcus Hu who negotiated the deal along with...
- 5/18/2018
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
“Diamantino” by co-directors Gabriel Abrantes, Daniel Schmidt was announced Wednesday as the winner of the annual Critics Week sidebar at Cannes.
The Franco-Brazilian-Portuguese comedy drama had emerged as the hot favorite to win the section. Directed by first timers Abrantes and Schmidt, it chronicles the fall from grace of a top football (soccer) player after his knee collapses and ends his career. What follows is a descent into and exploration of numerous dark sides of life.
The prize for the best short film was awarded to “Hector Malot – The Last Day Of The Year” (aka “Ektoras Malo : I Teleftea Mera Tis Chronias”) by Greek director Jacqueline Lentzou.
Other prizes awarded at the ceremony included: the Sacd Prize for Icelandic-French-Ukrainian film “Woman at War” by Benedikt Erlingsson; and the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution, to Franco-Indian effort “Sir.” Felix Maritaud won the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award for his...
The Franco-Brazilian-Portuguese comedy drama had emerged as the hot favorite to win the section. Directed by first timers Abrantes and Schmidt, it chronicles the fall from grace of a top football (soccer) player after his knee collapses and ends his career. What follows is a descent into and exploration of numerous dark sides of life.
The prize for the best short film was awarded to “Hector Malot – The Last Day Of The Year” (aka “Ektoras Malo : I Teleftea Mera Tis Chronias”) by Greek director Jacqueline Lentzou.
Other prizes awarded at the ceremony included: the Sacd Prize for Icelandic-French-Ukrainian film “Woman at War” by Benedikt Erlingsson; and the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution, to Franco-Indian effort “Sir.” Felix Maritaud won the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award for his...
- 5/16/2018
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
New Wave godmother Agnès Varda has been laden with any number of honors and tributes in recent years, but she hasn’t received a better one, albeit indirectly so, than “Sauvage.” Even the title of Camille Vidal-Naquet’s tough but invigorating debut feature recalls the unmoored, asphalt-pounding energy of Varda’s seminal 1985 character study “Vagabond,” though the feral human subject here is a gay male prostitute, as hardened by the elements and the travails of his profession as he is vulnerable to them. Played with potent, unpredictable abandon by Félix Maritaud, he’s a protagonist you fear and fear for by turns, as he recklessly roams the streets, nightclubs and backwoods of Strasbourg in search of more than just the physical contact he’s freely selling. Though hardly revolutionary in form, the frank, sometimes violent queerness of its perspective makes his Cannes Critics’ Week entry genuinely bracing: Distributors inclined towards...
- 5/14/2018
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
The title of Camille Vidal-Naquet's intimate portrait of a 22-year-old gay male Strasbourg prostitute, Sauvage, immediately suggests something wild and feral. But as played with emotional nakedness and complete physical surrender by the remarkable Felix Maritaud, Leo also evokes the gentler, more Thoreauvian sense of the word — of a solitude divorced from social norms, expectations and material needs, an aspect amplified in the film's haunting final image. The fact that Leo never lets go of his ability to give or receive love is part of the complexity of a character who keeps you watching even when the drama seems...
- 5/10/2018
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Paris-based company has sealed deals to Greece, Turkey and Germany amongst others.
Sergei Loznitsa’s new drama Donbass, reflecting on the bloody conflict in Eastern Ukraine, has secured a number of theatrical deals ahead of opening Un Certain Regard today (May 9).
Paris-based Pyramide International has sold the film to Greece (Ama Film), Turkey (Fabula Films), Germany (Salzgeber & Co), Ukraine (Arthouse Traffic), Poland (Against Gravity) and Benelux (Imagine Films). Sister company Pyramide Distribution will release the film in France.
The Ukrainian filmmaker returns to Cannes for a sixth time with Donbass, having previously premiered in Competition with A Gentle Creature,...
Sergei Loznitsa’s new drama Donbass, reflecting on the bloody conflict in Eastern Ukraine, has secured a number of theatrical deals ahead of opening Un Certain Regard today (May 9).
Paris-based Pyramide International has sold the film to Greece (Ama Film), Turkey (Fabula Films), Germany (Salzgeber & Co), Ukraine (Arthouse Traffic), Poland (Against Gravity) and Benelux (Imagine Films). Sister company Pyramide Distribution will release the film in France.
The Ukrainian filmmaker returns to Cannes for a sixth time with Donbass, having previously premiered in Competition with A Gentle Creature,...
- 5/9/2018
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
The Cannes Film Festival’s official selection might be lacking in new works from female directors, but elsewhere in this year’s lineup, women are staking a claim for supremacy. In the International Critics’ Week sidebar, they’re actually leading the way. In the first time in a decade, this year’s competition slate includes a majority of films made by female directors.
The seven titles that will play in Critics’ Week include four directed by women: Agnieszka Smoczynska’s (best known for her wild debut “The Lure”) “Fugue,” Anja Kofmel’s “Chris the Swiss,” Rohena Gera’s “Sir,” and Sofia Szilagyi’s “One Day.” Also competing in the section: Benedikt Erlingsson’s “Kona Fer I Strid” (“Woman at War”), Camille Vidal-Naquet’s “Sauvage,” and Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt’s “Diamantino.”
The last time female directors offered up the majority of films in the sidebar’s competition, it was...
The seven titles that will play in Critics’ Week include four directed by women: Agnieszka Smoczynska’s (best known for her wild debut “The Lure”) “Fugue,” Anja Kofmel’s “Chris the Swiss,” Rohena Gera’s “Sir,” and Sofia Szilagyi’s “One Day.” Also competing in the section: Benedikt Erlingsson’s “Kona Fer I Strid” (“Woman at War”), Camille Vidal-Naquet’s “Sauvage,” and Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt’s “Diamantino.”
The last time female directors offered up the majority of films in the sidebar’s competition, it was...
- 4/16/2018
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
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