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Fashion fans are sure to be scrutinizing every detail of The New Look, the 10-episode Apple TV+ series that tells the story of Christian Dior (played by Ben Mendelsohn) launching his eponymous Paris label with the now-legendary 1947 New Look collection that inspired the production’s title.

It’s among the reasons both creator Todd A. Kessler (Damages, Bloodline) and costume designer Karen Serreau (The Serpent Queen) knew they had to approach Dior’s seminal post-World War II designs with an unrelenting attention to detail. In other words, the participation of the brand that Dior built was essential.

“Dior was very generous in opening up its archives to us,” Serreau tells The Hollywood Reporter. “The way Todd has crafted the story, early on we see Christian talking to an audience at the Sorbonne in 1955, with a runway showing of several designs, and then of course later we see the debut showing of the 1947 collection.

At the top of Episode 1 of Apple’s “The New Look,” a title card flashes some weighty words: “This is the story of how creation helped return spirit and life to the world.”

But Todd A. Kessler’s drama series is barely that. “The New Look” is largely insular, despite taking place during a turbulent era that still affects millions around the world, centering figures who certainly left their marks on culture and history — but the vague thesis statement sounds like just that; the kind of sweeping, half-formed idea that a high school student might retroactively tack on to the introduction of an essay.

“The New Look” is the concurrently told story of two fashion icons forged in the traumatic depths of World War II — concurrent, but not parallel — Christian Dior (Ben Mendelsohn) and Coco Chanel (Juliette Binoche). The series begins in 1955, when Chanel returned to Paris after years spent...

Plot:: This emotionally thrilling series reveals the shocking story of how fashion icon Christian Dior and his contemporaries, including Coco Chanel, Pierre Balmain, and Cristóbal Balenciaga navigated the horrors of World War Il and launched modern fashion.

Review: Fashion design has found great success as fodder for reality series and romantic comedies. Films like The Devil Wears Prada, Robert Altman’s Pret-a-Porter, and Ryan Murphy’s limited series Halston have looked at the intricacies of the fashion world, mostly from a contemporary standpoint. The new AppleTV+ series The New Look is designed as the start of an anthology series by looking at the tumultuous period after World War II when French fashion icons Christian Dior and Coco Chanel reinvented what we consider haute couture. With a stellar cast led by Ben Mendelsohn and Juliette Binoche, The New Look should have been an instant frontrunner for series of the year. Instead,...

This is a week where the Super Bowl takes place (on February 11) and a new series about Christian Dior’s post-World War II fashion movement (“The New Look”) also premieres. The bounty of television keeps giving. Also this week: the streaming premiere of “Bottoms,” the end of “La Brea,” a new documentary about Black astronauts (“The Space Race”) and the return of Jon Stewart to “The Daily Show.” Plus so much more! Sounds like it’ll kind of be a momentous week, huh?

On with the television!

“The New Look”

Wednesday, February 14, Apple TV+

Ben Mendelsohn as Christian Dior in “The New Look” (Apple TV+)

This new historical drama focuses on Christian Dior (Ben Mendelsohn), in his post-World War II period when he created the fashion line that unofficially went by The New Look. There are plenty of wonderful actors playing famous historical figures – Juliette Binoche is Coco Chanel, Maisie Williams is Catherine Dior,...

“The New Look”, written and directed by Todd A. Kessler, is a new 10-episode drama series following the rivalry between fashion icons ‘Christian Dior’ and ‘Coco Chanel’, starring Ben Mendelsohn, Juliette Binoche, Maisie Williams, John Malkovich, Emily Mortimer, Claes Bang, Glenn Close, Thomas Poitevin and Nuno Lopes, streaming February 14, 2023 on AppleTV+:

“…set against the World War II German occupation of Paris, when the Vichy government gave up Jews so they could keep their sculptures and paintings, ‘The New Look’ focuses on the pivotal moment in the 20th century when the French city led the world back to life through its fashion icon ‘Christian Dior’.

“As Dior rises to prominence with his groundbreaking, iconic imprint of beauty and influence, Chanel’s reign as the world’s most famous fashion designer is put into jeopardy.

“The interwoven saga follows the surprising stories of Dior’s contemporaries and rivals from ‘Chanel’ to...

Stars: Beatriz Batarda, Nuno Lopes, Kris Hitchen | Written by Marco Martins, Ricardo Adolfo | Directed by Marco Martins

Three months before Brexit, hundreds of migrant workers arrive at the UK seaside town of Great Yarmouth looking for work. Many of them end up in local turkey processing plants, with Tânia (Beatriz Batarda) now overseeing many of their daily work routines. Married to callous hotel owner Richard (Kris Hitchen) while having a love affair with fellow migrant Carlos (Nuno Lopes), Tânia dreams of turning her husband’s abandoned hotel lots into a luxury retirement home for the elderly.

When we think of the British seaside, we think of staple motif imagery — slurping a 99 Mr Whippy on a pebble-ridden coast, giving yourself whiplash on the pier’s inevitable wooden rollercoaster, and spending so much time in the amusement arcade that you end up losing your parents. In Marco Martins’ latest feature Great Yarmouth,...

Portuguese auteur João Canijo (San Sebastián winner “Blood of My Blood”) has a brace of films at the Berlin Film Festival in 2023. “Bad Living” is in competition while its companion piece “Living Bad” is in the Encounters strand.

“Bad Living” follows five conflicted women who are operating an old family-run hotel, trying to save it from going under. The unexpected arrival of a granddaughter to this oppressive space stirs trouble, reviving latent hatred and piled-up resentments. “Living Bad,” which plays out like the reverse shot of “Bad Living,” follows the stories of three groups of guests in the same hotel with glimpses of what transpires in the first film.

The genesis of the films go back to “Blood of My Blood” (2011), where the lives of a family living in the outskirts of Lisbon are disrupted within a short period of time.

“‘Blood of My Blood’ was supposed to be two...

One of the most fascinating, ambitious cinematic projects premiering at the Berlin International Film Festival this month comes from Portuguese director João Canijo, who will be debuting a pair of connected films in different sections. First up, his Competition selection Mal Viver (Bad Living) draws inspiration from the plays of Strindberg and films of Rivette in telling the story of five women who are running a decaying hotel. Then the Encounters election Viver Mal (Living Bad) is set in the same location, but from the viewpoint of the guests. Ahead of the premieres, we’re thrilled to exclusively debut the first trailers.

With the same creative team behind both films, including cinematographer Leonor Teles, editor João Braz, sound team of Elsa Ferreira and Tiago Raposinho, production designer Nádia Henriques, and costumer designer Silvia Siopa, the cast of Mal Viver features Anabela Moreira, Rita Blanco, Madalena Almeida, Cleia Almeida, and Vera Barreto,...

Les Derniers Hommes

It’s been a fairly consistent film output for David Oelhoffen with not much waiting between projects at least with his first three features. His 2007 debut Nos retrouvailles premiered at the Critics’ Week in Cannes, and his 2014 film Far from Men was a huge sophomore film – winning three prizes at Venice. His fourth feature is a war film from the perspectives of the French and Japanese and is based on Alain Gandy’s autobiographical novel. Les Derniers Hommes and was produced by Galatée Films’ Jacques Perrin. Production took place in February of ’22 with Guido Caprino, Andrzej Chyra and Nuno Lopes toplining.…...

Entertainment One (eOne) have sold their first Soanish language series “Operación Marea Negra” to over 60 territories including the U.S. and Mexico (Roku), Austarlia (Sbs), Latin American (AMC Networks Intl), Canada (Teleus) and Spain (Disney-owned Fox channel).

The four-part series is based on the true story of Europe’s first intercepted narco-submarine in November 2019, when three smugglers crossed the Atlantic in a home-made sub-aquatic vessel carrying more than 3,000 kilos of cocaine. After boarding in the middle of the Amazon, they sailed to Europe while enduring terrible conditions including hunger, engine problems and storms before finally being captured on the Galician coast by the Civil Guard.

Álex González (“3 Caminos”) stars as “Nando, the ex-boxer and leader of the pack who turns to trafficking when his other financial options dry up.” Joining him are Nerea Barros (“La Isla Mínima”), Nuno Lopes (“White Lines”), Miquel Insua (“La Unidad”), Luis Zahera (“El Reino”), Xosé Barato...

At last week’s Iberseries, Movistar Plus+ Internacional unveiled “Natural Law,” one of its first forays into third-party acquisitions.

Produced by Arquipelago Filmes, it is co-created by Edgar Medina, whose previous series, “Sul,” received the Portuguese Film Academy Sophia award for best fictional series and the Portuguese Society of Authors award for best fictional program.

“Natural Law” sees Medina, co-creator Rui Cardos Martins, and director Joao Nuno Pinto weave crime noir with courtroom drama to craft a narrative spanning seven episodes.

The series follows the impact of a teenager’s murder, as it reverberates throughout a tightknit community. It focuses on a small town judge, Ana, played by Margarida Vila-Nova, also seen in “Sul,” as she faces a dilemma which threatens her family. The criminal investigation unfolds with detectives Mario and Maria, played by Nuno Lopes and Caterina Wallenstein respectively.

The early episodes are steeped with foreboding, as the town...

Danish international sales and aggregation outfit LevelK has boarded the thought-provoking drama “Great Yarmouth: Provisional Figures” by award-winning Portuguese director Marco Martins, which world premieres in main competition at next month’s San Sebastian Film Festival.

Hailed by Variety as “a powerful study of intense grief,” Martin’s debut feature, “Alice,” won the Prix Regards Jeune at Cannes in 2005.

The story unravels three months before Brexit, as hundreds of migrants descend on the UK village of Great Yarmouth seeking work in the region’s turkey processing plants. Once there, Tânia greets them with matronly authority, taking charge as innkeeper, accountant, and fixer. As she’s forced to deceive them, her conscience grows heavy and she dreams of a brighter, seemingly unattainable, future transforming derelict hotels into modern retreats for elderly tourists.

Tânia’s struggle unfolds with dim and hazy shots that add a raw and unnerving aesthetic to the film,...

Entertainment One (eOne) has picked up international distribution rights (outside of Spain and Portugal) to Operación Marea Negra, a four-part submarine drama series.

The Spanish-language project comes from Amazon Prime Video and Ficción Producciones. The deal was brokered by Noel Hedges, eOne’s EVP, Acquisitions, International Distribution and marks eOne’s first Spanish-language acquisition.

Set in November 2019 and inspired by real events, the show follows three companions as they attempt to cross the Atlantic in a homemade sub loaded with more than 3,000 kilos of cocaine. While aboard, they fight for survival – battling storms, unpredictable currents, hunger, infighting, and the authorities – in this risky underwater adventure.

Álex González stars along with Nerea Barros, Nuno Lopes, Miquel Insua, and Luis Zahera.

Mamen Quintas and Julio Casal serve as executive producers with Portugal’s Ukbar Filmes. Co-producers are Forta, led by Tvg, and the Portuguese Rtp. The series will be directed by Daniel Calparsoro,...

Streaming

Over the weekend, the La Biennale di Venezia launched its new Biennale Cinema Channel in collaboration with Italian streamer MYmovies, offering up a streamable selection of films which have featured in previous editions of the Venice International Film Festival but which are not currently available elsewhere in Italy. The channel drops with an initial library of 36 titles which featured in various sections of the festival between 2007 and 2020. In September, the first group of films will be supplemented with titles available on the 2021 festival’s Sala Web from Sept. 1-11, and continuously updated thereafter. The channel is available as a monthly subscription for €7.90 ($9.38) or in three-month blocks for €19.90 ($23.62).

Venice prizewinning titles from the initial lineup include 2014 best screenplay winner “Tales” by Rakhshan Banietemad, Gastón Solnicki’s 2016 Fipresci Award-winner “Kékszakállú” (“Bluebird”), and Amat Escalante’s “La región salvaje” (“The Untamed”), which won the filmmaker the Golden Lion for best director in...

White Lines has been cancelled so, there won't be a second season of the thriller series. The Netflix show revolves around a woman's quest to discover who murdered her brother after his body is found 20 years after his disappearance.

Laura Haddock, Nuno Lopes, Daniel Mays, Marta Milans, Juan Diego, Botto Laurence, Fox Angela, and Griffin Pedro star in the series. The 10-episode first season was released by the streaming service in May.

Read More…...

Élodie Bouchez, Yannick Choirat, Nuno Lopes, Thomas Scimeca, Maya Sansa and Laetitia Dosch will star in the filmmaker’s first feature, produced by Tabo Tabo Films. Just as France’s Health and Safety Guide for Film Production Activities is undergoing validation by the ministries of Health and Work, and the compensation fund for film shoots, steered by the Cnc, is set to launch on 1 June, actor Matthieu Rozé is busy pre-producing Azuro, the first feature film he has directed, which he is due to shoot from 7 July on southern France’s Blue Coast. Shining bright at the head of the cast is Élodie Bouchez. Standing tall alongside her are Yannick...

Philippe (Benoît Magimel) and Andres (Nuno Lopes) with Calypso (Clotilde Courau) in Rebecca Zlotowski’s An Easy Girl (Une Fille Facile)

At the UniFrance and Film at Lincoln Center’s 25th Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, just days before the announcement came that Rebecca Zlotowski’s An Easy Girl (Une Fille Facile), co-written with Teddy Lussi-Modeste, and starring Mina Farid, Zahia Dehar, Benoît Magimel and Nuno Lopes would be the last screening of the festival, I met with the director at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center. Governor Andrew M Cuomo announced at that time (March 13) that he was limiting gathering in public spaces due to the coronavirus pandemic in New York, which eventually led to the closing of all cinemas by March 16.

Rebecca Zlotowski on Benoît Magimel: “There’s something about him being very melancholic, very sad.”

In the second half of my conversation with Rebecca Zlotowski, André Gide, Marguerite Duras,...

Rebecca Zlotowski on intertextuality in An Easy Girl (Une Fille Facile): “It’s a reproduction of the prologue of the summer tale by Éric Rohmer, the beginning of La Collectionneuse is Haydée Politoff, the main actress on the beach, shot exactly the same.” Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

There is nothing easy about being an easy girl in Rebecca Zlotowski’s An Easy Girl (Une Fille Facile), co-written with Teddy Lussi-Modeste, shot by Georges Lechaptois, which is a highlight of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema.

Naïma (Mina Farid), Sofia (Zahia Dehar), Philippe (Benoît Magimel), and Andres (Nuno Lopes) in An Easy Girl (Une Fille Facile)

Naïma (Mina Farid) has just turned 16. She lives in Cannes with her mother who works as a maid in one of the fancy hotels. When her older bombshell cousin Sofia (Zahia Dehar) visits for the summer, a new chapter begins in her life. Naima is in awe...

Rebecca Zlotowski’s An Easy Girl (Une Fille Facile) featuring Mina Farid, Zahia Dehar, Benoît Magimel, Nuno Lopes, Clotilde Courau and Lakdhar Dridi, is a Rendez-Vous with French Cinema highlight Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Rendez-Vous with French Cinema Early Bird highlights in the UniFrance and Film at Lincoln Center 25th edition include Nicolas Pariser’s Alice And The Mayor (Alice Et Le maire), starring Anaïs Demoustier and Fabrice Luchini with Antoine Reinartz and Nora Hamzawi; Alice Winocour’s Proxima with Eva Green, Zélie Boulant, Matt Dillon, Sandra Hüller, and Lars Eidinger, score by Ryuichi Sakamoto; Bruno Dumont's Joan Of Arc (Jeanne), his sequel to Jeannette: The Childhood Of Joan of Arc, starring Lise Leplat Prudhomme, and Rebecca Zlotowski’s An Easy Girl (Une Fille Facile).

Opening the festival is Hirokazu Kore-eda’s The Truth (La Vérité), starring Catherine Deneuve (also in Cédric Kahn’s Happy Birthday - Fête De Famille), Juliette.

Laura Haddock (“Guardians of the Galaxy”), Marta Milans (“Shazam”) and Juan Diego Botto (“Good Behavior”) are set to star in “White Lines,” the Netflix original series written by “La Casa de Pavel” creator Alex Pina.

The 10 episode show will start shooting later this month until October in the Balearic Islands including Majorca and Ibiza. On top of writing the series, Pina also serve as showrunner. Nick Hamm, Luis Prieto, Ashley Way and Alvaro Brechner will be directing it.

After the body of a legendary Manchester DJ is discovered twenty years after his mysterious disappearance from Ibiza, his sister returns to the beautiful Spanish island to find out what happened. Her investigation will lead her through a thrilling world of dance clubs, lies and cover-ups, forcing her to confront the darker sides of her own character.

The cast is completed by Nuno Lopes, Laurence Fox (“Victoria”) and Angela Griffin.

The series...

Netflix is under way on ten-part UK-Spanish crime-drama series White Lines, which is written by Money Heist creator Álex Pina (who is serving as showrunner) and executive-produced by Andy Harries and Sharon Hughff for The Crown outfit Left Bank Pictures.

Laura Haddock (Transformers: The Last Knight) leads cast in the English-language series in which the body of a legendary Manchester DJ is discovered twenty years after his mysterious disappearance from Ibiza. When his sister returns to the beautiful Spanish island to find out what happened her investigation leads her through a world of dance clubs, lies and cover-ups.

Also starring are Marta Milans (Shazam), Juan Diego Botto (Good Behavior), Nuno Lopes (Saint George), Daniel Mays (The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn), Laurence Fox (Victoria) and Angela Griffin (Turn Up Charlie).

The series will film from June-October in the Balearic Islands including Majorca and Ibiza. Directors will be Nick Hamm,...

Netflix has announced final casting details and the start of shooting on White Lines, the new series from showrunner Alex Pina, whose International Emmy-winning Money Heist became Netflix’s most-watched non-English language show of all time.

Laura Haddock (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Marta Milans (Shazam!) star opposite Juan Diego Botto (Good Behavior), Nuno Lopes (Saint George), Daniel Mays (Rogue One), Laurence Fox (Victoria) and Angela Griffin (Turn Up Charlie).

Written by Pina, the show follows a woman investigating the death of her brother, a legendary DJ from Manchester, whose body turns up 20 years after he disappeared in Ibiza. The search ...

Rebecca Zlotowski, director of the fascinating, disturbing romance Grand Central with Léa Seydoux and Tahar Rahim, and the rather less successful Natalie Portman-starrer Planetarium, has come up with a summer popsicle of a movie set in Cannes, with the flair of Luca Guadagnino and Éric Rohmer.

The director herself calls An Easy Girl a “simple film on a complex subject,” which is as fine a one-liner as I’ll ever come up with. This is a straightforward coming-of-age story from France, a country for whom this is almost a national cliché, but elevated by a key eye for gender roles of its protagonists and an up-to-date message for a teenage generation growing up in a #MeToo world.

School’s out for the summer and 16-year-old Naïma (enchanting first-timer Mina Farid) is enjoying her freedom in the Riviera sun, before she has to make big decisions about the rest of her life.

A farming couple trying to live an ecologically pure and ethical life are stymied by nature and their own uncontainable inner forces in Bettina Oberli’s solid and engaging “With the Wind.” Handsomely shot in the Swiss Jura mountains, the film nicely explores the unpredictable intersection of ideals and passion, making a parallel between mankind’s inability to control the natural world and human fallibility when it comes to keeping emotions in check. Although the male lead gets little scope for development, the female characters experience a meaningful trajectory, resulting in a satisfying drama that could do good business in European markets.

A quote from British writer Rebecca West about our species’ self-destructiveness — “Only part of us is sane,” it begins — acts as a concise introduction for what’s to come, implying a turbulence matched by a rain storm that forms a backdrop to the delivery of a stillborn calf.

Handling more films than any other international sales agent at this year’s Locarno Festival, Europe’s biggest mid-summer film event, Brussels-based B For Films will represent new films by Bettina Oberli, one of Switzerland’s most popular cineasts, Canadian Philippe Lesage’s return to A-fest international competition after debut “The Demons” dazzled at San Sebastian, and Antoine Russbach’s first feature, the highest-profile Swiss debut this year at the Swiss festival.

The two Swiss titles are for “no special reason,” said B For Films Pamela Lau, who set up the sales company with pan-European sales-financing-production company Playtime.

But Lau recognized that Be For Films has been approached by Swiss producers since the success of Lisa Brühlmann’s “Blue My Mind,”which sold 15 territories off a San Sebastian Festival world premiere last year.

Only about half B For Films’ titles are Belgian, and often minority co-productions. Reteaming Lesage with producer...

The Berlin International Film Festival announced 13 additions to its 2017 line-up, including the international premiere of Danny Boyle’s hotly anticipated “Trainspotting” follow-up, “Trainspotting: T2,” and the world premiere of James Mangold’s “Logan,” the third in the growing “Wolverine” franchise, starring Hugh Jackman. Both films will play out of competition.

Read More: ‘Logan’ Trailer: Hugh Jackman’s Final Wolverine Movie Mixes The Superhero Genre With The Western

Hong Sangsoo’s “On the Beach Alone at Night” will make its world premiere at the festival, the latest from the idiosyncratic Korean director whose last film, “Right Now, Wrong Then,” garnered attention at festivals in 2016.

Other promising titles include the world premiere of “The Tin Drum” director Volker Schlöndorff’s “Return To Montauk,” starring Stellan Skarsgård, and “Viceroy’s House,” a period drama from the woman behind “Bend it Like Beckham,” Gurinder Chadha. The Austrian actor Josef Hader also will make...

X-Men spinoff and Trainspotting sequel to play Out of Competition.

A further 13 films have been invited to screen in the Competition and Berlinale Special section at the 67th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival.

The festival has added commercial clout to its Out Of Competition lineup in the shape of Danny Boyle’s T2 Trainspotting and X-Men spinoff Logan.

There are also competition berths for new films by Hong Sangsoo, Thomas Arslan, Volker Schlöndorff, Sabu, Álex de la Iglesia and Josef Hader.

Bend It Like Beckham director Gurinder Chadha’s latest, Viceroy’s House, will have its world premiere out of competition at the festival. Starring Hugh Bonneville alongside Gillian Anderson, the period drama set in 1947 India depicts Lord Mountbatten, the man charged with handing India back to its people.

Also having its world premiered out of competition will be Álex de la Iglesia’s The Bar, a comedy-thriller about a group of strangers who get...

After an initial line-up that included Aki Kaurismäki‘s The Other Side of Hope, Oren Moverman‘s Richard Gere-led The Dinner, Sally Potter‘s The Party, and Agnieszka Holland‘s Spoor, the Berlin International Film Festival have added more anticipated premieres. Highlights include one of two (maybe three) new Hong Sang-soo films this year, On the Beach at Night Alone, along with Volker Schlöndorff‘s Return to Montauk with Stellan Skarsgård and Nina Hoss, as well as the high-profile world premiere of James Mangold‘s Logan and the international premiere of Danny Boyle‘s T2: Trainspotting.

With Paul Verhoeven serving as jury president for the 67th edition of the festival, check out the new additions below.

Competition

Bamui haebyun-eoseo honja (On the Beach at Night Alone)

South Korea

By Hong Sangsoo (Nobody’s Daughter Haewon, Right Now, Wrong Then)

With Kim Minhee, Seo Younghwa, Jung Jaeyoung, Moon Sungkeun,...

With the jury winners announced this past weekend (see at the bottom), the 73rd Venice International Film Festival has now come to an end. As always, it was a strong kick-off to the fall festivals, with some premieres of dramas that we’ll see over the next few months, as well as a great many that won’t arrive until next year (or perhaps later, pending distribution). We’ve wrapped up the festival by selecting our 9 favorite films, followed by our complete coverage. Check out everything below and let us know what you’re most looking forward to.

Austerlitz (Sergei Loznitsa)

Having experimented with feature-length fiction films, shorts, and archival-footage documentaries in the course of his career, Sergei Loznitsa’s output since his 2014 Ukrainian crisis documentary Maidan has both garnered him greater acclaim than before and zeroed in on cinema as a collectively generated form. – Tommaso T. (full review)

Hacksaw Ridge...

Lav Diaz’s The Woman Who Left from the Philippines won the Golden Lion at the 73rd Venice Film festival on Saturday while Emma Stone claimed the Coppa Volpi best actress prize for La La Land and Oscar Martínez took actor honours for El Ciudadano Ilustre.

The Silver Lion – grand jury prize went to Tom Ford’s Nocturnal Animals and the Silver Lion award for best director was a tie between Andrei Konchalovsky for Paradise and Amat Escalante for The Untamed.

Noah Oppenheim prevailed in the screenplay category for Jackie, while Ana Lily Amirpour earned a special jury prize for The Bad Batch.

Venice Winners In Full

Golden Lion for best film

The Woman Who Left (Ang Babaeng Humayo; Philippines) by Lav Diaz

Silver Lion – grand jury prize

Nocturnal Animals (USA) by Tom Ford

Silver Lion award for best director (tie)

Andrei Konchalovsky, Paradise (Cis)

Amat Escalante, The Untamed (La Región Salvaje, Mexico-Denmark-France-Germany- Norway-Switzerland...

Asia Argento and Nuno Lopes in Obsessive Rhythms She was one of the original Nouvelle Vague stars. Now Fanny Ardant, who after more than 60 films, 25 theatre runs and a dozen-plus television series, has emerged as a grande dame of French cinema, although do not mention the phrase in her presence.

She continues to reinvent herself – not least behind the camera as a director. That’s the reason she’s at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival for presentations of Obsessive Rhythms (Cadences Obstinées) a drama about a former cellist stuck in a dead-end relationship with an obsessive architect and featuring an impressive cast of Asia Argento, Nuno Lopes, Ricardo Pereira, Gerard Depardieu, and Franco Nero.

"The point of view of someone else has always interested me" Photo: Richard Mowe The reviews may not have been wildly enthusiastic but Ardant is nonplussed because she never reads the critics. More successful was...

Mel Gibson - honour for contribution to world cinema in Karlovy Vary

Mel Gibson will give a boost to the star power lining up for the 49th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival which runs from 4 to 12 July in the quaint spa town close to Marienbad.

The Festival will honour Gibson’s contribution to world cinema. Gibson (58), best known for his roles in Braveheart and Lethal Weapon, recently has played an ex-con who protects his estranged teenage daughter from murderous drug dealers in Blood Father, from French director Jean-François Richet. Erin Moriarty also stars and Peter Craig adapted the script from his novel.

Fanny Ardant - goes behind the camera for the third time

Another stellar name will be French actress and now director Fanny Ardant who will present her third film behind the camera Obsessive Rhythms (Cadences obstinées), in which Asia Argento stars as Margo, a brilliant classical musician who...

Other guests of the festival will include Hollywood actress Laura Dern and French actress Fanny Ardant as well as directors Alice Rohrwacher, Bong Joon-ho and David Mackenzie among others.

Mel Gibson is to receive the Crystal Globe for Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema at the 49th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Kviff), which runs July 4-12.

The actor and filmmaker will attend the festival in the Czech Republic to receive the honour and present a screening of his most recent work as a director, the 2006 action-adventure Apocalypto.

The Crystal Globe is the festival’s highest award and has been presented in previous years to John Travolta and Helen Mirren.

Gibson is best known for his roles in Mad Max and the Lethal Weapon series as well as for his award-winning turns as director of Braveheart and The Passion of the Christ. He will next be seen in action sequel The Expendables 3.

Festival [link=tt...

Bruno Dumont is joining the ranks of acclaimed filmmakers trading in the big screen for the home screen. Set to develop a police drama for French network Arte, this will be his first foray into television. Dumont’s work, which includes L’humanité (1999) and Hors Satan (2011), has long been controversial and his filmmaking practises have challenged audiences through their intimate approach to violence and sex, and an unconventional sense of spiritualism.

Though popular on the arthouse circuit, Bruno Dumont has yet to find popularity in the mainstream. So is it just wishful thinking to believe that Dumont’s efforts could work to help open up foreign language television to new audiences? It seems as though the next big step for television is to be globalized, as most of us (at least in North America) are still dominated almost completely by the American market. Other English language programs squeak in, but...

Raul Ruiz and Valeria Sarmiento are behind Lines of Wellington, an epic set in and around the Battle of Bussaco. Which means – this time in Venice we have a movie which will take us back in 1810, and compete for the festival’s Golden Lion statue.

Not bad, right? Definitely not, and if you check out the rest of this report you’ll actually see that this looks quite interesting, and that some seriously good cast is on board for the whole thing as well!

But, first of all, let me just remind you that director Ruiz died in August 2011, and that his widow Valeria Sarmiento decided to take over directing duties as a homage to him. One thing is for sure – we’re dealing with a powerful and original story, which comes from “Mysteries of Lisbon’s” writer, Carlos Saboga. Here’s a synopsis part:

On September 27, 1810, the French troops under Marshal Massena,...

Following the Toronto International Film Festival line-up earlier this week, the 69th Venice Film Festival has weighed in with their choices this morning. Outside of films also premiering at Tiff — including most notably Ramin Bahrani‘s At Any Price and Terrence Malick‘s To the Wonder – they have a strong batch of films not at that fest. We have the highly anticipated next feature from Olivier Assayas (Summer Hours, Carlos), titled Something In The Air, as well as Brian De Palma‘s sensual thriller Passion with Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace.

Then things get a little silly with Harmony Korine‘s James Franco and Selena Gomez gangster/party film Spring Breakers. Rounding out the other major titles are Susanne Bier following up her Oscar win with Love Is All You Need and Spike Lee’s Michael Jackson documentary Bad 25. The lack of Paul Thomas Anderson‘s heavily rumored The Master...