News

Warner Bros. Discovery’s pay TV group Eurosport has unveiled a massive French programming lineup for the Olympic Games, which kick off July 26 in Paris.

Eurosport, which owns linear and streaming rights to the Olympic Games in France, will showcase more than 3,800 hours of competitions across seven channels dedicated to fans. Each Eurosport channel will have a different focus, including international stars, French champions, racket sports, golf, artistic sports, football, basketball, combat sports, handball and volleyball.

The group will also broadcast competitions in ultra HD on Eurosport 4K. All Olympics content will also be streaming on Eurosport.fr and on the Eurosport app, with 62 simultaneous programming threads in more than 20 languages.

Aside from live content, Eurosport will editorialize content around the Olympics will three daily shows hosted by well-known figures including Lesly Boitrelle, Victoria Vergara, Géraldine Weber, Vincent Desagnat, Christine Arron, Nathalie Péchalat, Matthias Dandois and Kevin Rolland. There will...

Paris and Los Angeles-based sales agency has boarded films by Nicolas Benamou, Artus and Christophe Duthuron

Paris and Los Angeles-based Other Angle Pictures has boarded three French comedy dramas: Nicolas Benamou’s We Should Have Gone to Greece, Artus’ A Little Something Extra and Christophe Duthuron’s Happiness Therapy.

The company will launch sales for all three films at this week’s Unifrance’s Rendez-Vous in Paris in the French capital.

We Should Have Gone to Greece is the latest feature from Benamou, known for co-directing local and international hit comedies Babysitting and Babysitting 2 with Philippe Lacheau, 2020’s Mystery in St. Tropez,...

Warner TV, the French pay-tv channel and on-demand service launched by WarnerMedia, is teaming with Mediawan Group’s MakingProd for its first French original TV series, “Visitors,” a fantasy comedy by Simon Astier.

The eight-part half-hour series was created, written and is being directed by Astier, whose fanboy profile and graphic universe seem to be the perfect match for Warner TV’s identity. Astier’s previous credits include the comedic science fiction series “Hero Corp” in which he also starred, and Netflix’s supernatural series “Mortel.” Stéphane Drouet at MakingProd is producing “Visitors,” which recently started filming.

Astier stars in “Visitors” as Richard, a rookie police officer who sees two strange lights colliding in the sky on his first day on the job. The series’ large ensemble cast also includes Florence Loiret Caille, Damien Jouillerot, Vincent Desagnat, Tiphaine Daviot, Grégoire Ludig, Julie Bargeton, David Marsais, Arnaud Tsamere, Delphine Baril and Adrien Ménielle.

The Franco-American Cultural Fund, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, has announced the program for the 20th Colcoa French Film Festival that will run April 18-26 at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles. The festival will showcase a record 70 films and television series - among them 64 in competition for Colcoa Awards - including four World Premieres, seven International Premieres, 19 North American or U.S. Premieres, 17 West Coast Premieres - and 21 new shorts. Colcoa, is now the world's largest event dedicated to French films and television.

"This 20th anniversary deserves a spectacular, strong program that reflects the diversity of French production, as well as the creativity and dynamism of French filmmakers and producers," stated François Truffart, Colcoa Executive Producer and Artistic Director. "More than ever, we are about to involve audiences in a journey that will stir them, make them laugh, cry, tickle their curiosity, and help them remain optimistic, while recognizing the urgent world zeitgeist."

 "20 years is an achievement for any film festival in Hollywood. This would not have been possible without the commitment of the Franco-American Cultural Fund - a unique partnership of the DGA, the Mpa, la Sacem and the WGA West - creator of the festival in 1996 and supporter of its subsequent development. We also salute French sales companies, official supporters, sponsors, and U.S. distributors, whose loyalty and trust have given the festival its continuing excellence," he added.

Colcoa will open Monday, April 18th with the North American Premiere of "Monsieur Chocolat," a biopic about the first French black clown, co-written by Cyril Gely, Olivier Gorce, Gérard Noiriel, Roschdy Zem, directed by Roschdy Zem, and starring Omar Sy and James Thiérrée. The film will be presented in association with Gaumont, which celebrates its 120th anniversary.

The festival will close its competition on Monday, April 25th with the World Premiere of "Up For Love," the new romantic comedy written and directed by Laurent Tirard, starring Academy Award winner Jean Dujardin and Virginie Efira. "Call My Agent" (Season 1), the most popular French TV series of the year, about a talent agency with actors playing their own roles, will close the Colcoa TV Competition.

Two other TV series, shown for the first time in North America, will be part of the program, presented in association with TV France International and Titrafilm: "The Disappearance," a drama co-written by Marie Deshaires and Catherine Touzet and directed by Charlotte Brändström; and "The Secret of Elise," a supernatural drama written by lsa Marpeau, Marie Vinoy, Marie Deshaires, and Catherine Touzet and directed by Alexandre Laurent, Samir Boitard, Mathieu Simonet, and Mehdi Meskar. The first two episodes of each series will be shown to the Colcoa audience.

To complete the competition, five TV movies will premiere at Colcoa: the North American Premiere of "Borderline," a thriller co-written and directed by Olivier Marchal, the International Premiere of "Carpets and Chaos," a comedy co-written and directed by Nader Takmil Homayoun, the International Premiere of "Stolen Babies," a drama written by Julie Jézéquel and directed by Golden Globe winner Alain Berliner; the International Premiere of "The Wall-Crosser," a fantasy written and directed by Dante Desarthes, based on Marcel Aymé's book; and the North American Premiere of "Woman Under the Influence," a drama written and directed by Claude-Michel Rome. 

The feature film selection (40 features and documentaries and 21 shorts), will feature exclusive presentations. "Fanny's Journey," an epic drama written and directed by Lola Doillon, starring Cecile de France, is also a World Premiere. The U.S. Premiere of the thriller "Made in France," written and directed by Nicolas Boukhrief, is a film which did not have theatrical release in France because of sensitivity following the recent terrorist attacks in Paris.  Colcoa also will present the U.S. Premiere of Robert Guédiguian's provocative film about the Armenian genocide, "Don't Tell Me the Boy Was Mad." The U.S. Premiere of Oscar ® winner Claude Lelouch's new film "Un plus Une," starring Jean Dujardin and Elsa Zylberstein, will screen, in addition to another U.S. Premiere of "All Gone South," the comedy sequel co-written and co-directed by Nicolas Benamou and Philippe Lacheau, two years after the success of Babysitting at Colcoa in 2014.

Several established writers/directors return and other known artists have been selected: Academy Award nominee Christian Carion ("Come What May"- with Cohen Media Group), Anne Fontaine ("The Innocents" - with Music Box Films), Vincent Garencq ("Kalinka"), Academy Award nominee Jean-Paul Rappeneau ("Families"), Christian Vincent ("Courted"), Maïwenn ("My King" - with Film Movement)

Every year, the Colcoa program is dedicated to a new generation of talent, many of whose films are included in Colcoa's French NeWave 2.0 Series: Samuel Collardey ("Land Legs"), Clément Cogitor ("Neither Heaven Nor Earth" - with Film Movement), Philippe Faucon - the writer/director of the 2016 César Best film winner ("Fatima" - with Kino Lorber), Emmanuel Finkiel ("A Decent Man"), Eva Husson ("Bang Gang" - with Samuel Goldwyn), Laurent Larivière ("I am a Soldier"), and Orelsan and Christophe Offenstein ("Uncompleted Song").

The After 10 Series at Colcoa invites audiences to explore new frontiers with an exclusive program, including the French-Belgian co-production from writer/director Bouli Lanners ("The First, the Last"), the new dark comedy from Benoît Delépine, Gustave Kervern, starring Gérard Depardieu ("Saint Amour"), and Frédéric Schoendoerffer ("Past Convoy").

Two anticipated films about women in Muslim countries will be part of theWord Cinema Produced by France Series: the Franco-Moroccan co-production, "Much Loved," written and directed by Nabil Ayouch, premiered at the Director's Fortnight in 2015, and remains banned in Morocco; and, "As I Open My Eyes," a Franco-Tunisian film from female writer/director Leyla Bouzid (with Kino Lorber). The Argentine film, "Eva Doesn't Sleep," written and directed by Pablo Agüero will complete the series.

Two documentaries focusing on significant environmental issues will premiere at Colcoa: the closing film of the last Cannes Film Festival, "Ice and the Sky" (with Music Box Films) from Academy Award winner Luc Jacquet (March of the Penguins), and a special presentation following the United Nations screening of the 2016 Cesar winner for Best Documentary, "Tomorrow," written and directed by Cédric Dion and Mélanie Laurent. "The Frankenstein Complex," a tribute to the creators of big screen creatures, written and directed by Gilles Penso and Alexandre Poncet, will complete this high profile documentary series.

All other Colcoa series are back in 2016: the Colcoa Classics Series with an exclusive program of digitally restored premieres (see February 19th press release); the Happy Hour Talks PanelSeriesin association withVariety (April 19-25); the Short Film Competition (Sunday, April 24 -  March press release); the Focus on a Filmmaker, this year with writer/director Jean-Paul Rappeneau (Thursday, April 21); and the Focus on a Producer will be with Dominique Besnehard (Saturday, April 23).

Animation, an important part of the French film industry, will be shown at Colcoa with the premiere of Rémi Chayé's new film: "Long Way North" (with Shout Factory).

 As is Colcoa tradition, comedieswill join the program almost every day, including the romantic comedy "Love at First Child," co-written and directed by Anne Giaffieri, starring Patrick Bruel and Isabelle Carré, Benoît's Graffin's "Hopefully," with Sandrine Kiberlain and Edouard Baer, Jean-Francois Richet's "One Wild Moment," starring Francois Cluzet and Vincent Cassel, and the new French hit "One Man and His Cow," written and directed by Mohamed Hamidi.

This last film will also be shown to the 3,000 students and teachers who will attend the now five High School Screenings (April 19-25) as part of the Colcoa Educational Program presented in association with Elma (European Languages and Movies in America). Two master classes for college and university students will complete the program.

For the ninth year, Lafca will partner with Colcoa Cinema for the Critics' Awards. The complete recipients list of the 2015 Awards - including the U.S. distributor winner of the Colcoa Coming Soon Award, presented in association with Kpcc, will be announced on Wednesday, April 27. Colcoa Awards are presented in association with Titrafilm, TV5 Monde USA, and Air Tahiti Nui.

Exclusive: Sequel due to hit French screens in December.

TF1 International has been racking up sales on Babysitting 2, titled All Gone South, in which the original film’s gang of madcap, accident-prone friends wreak havoc on an upscale resort in Brazil, before heading off for a disastrous excursion into the Amazon jungle.

The sequel has sold to Germany and Austria (Square One), Benelux (Cineart), Switzerland (Pathé), Greece (Odeon), Turkey (Associated Euromedia), Portugal (Pris Audiovisuals), the Cis and Central Europe (All Media Company), Poland (Kino Swiat), Middle East (Falcon), Latin America (Antonio Fernandes Filmes) and Japan (Nikkatsu).

Philippe Lacheau, who co-directs alongside Nicolas Benamou, reprises his role as Franck opposite Alice David as girlfriend Sonia and Vincent Desagnat and Tarek Boudali as best pals Ernest and Sam.In the sequel, the quartet head off to a luxury hotel in Brazil owned by Sonia’s pompous father Alain, played by popular French actor Christian Clavier.

Franck is planning...

Wwedvd.co.uk

To celebrate the release of this year’s SummerSlam event on DVD and Blu-ray, we’ve teamed up with WWE to offer you the chance to win one of five DVD copies.

The event will go down in history as the time The Undertaker got even with Brock Lesnar following The Beast’s streak-breaking win at WrestleMania XXX. It’s a rivalry that felt like no other in the modern era of WWE. The build up was spectacular and the matchup itself defied all expectations.

On top of that, The New Day faced-off against WWE Tag Team Champions, The Prime Time Players, The Lucha Dragons and Los Matadores in a Fatal 4-Way tag team match with the gold on the line; Dolph Ziggler (with Lana) went head-to-head with old foe Rusev (with Summer Rae); Ryback defended his Intercontinental Championship against The Big Show and The Miz; actor...

Marie Dubois, actress in French New Wave films, dead at 77 (image: Marie Dubois in the mammoth blockbuster 'La Grande Vadrouille') Actress Marie Dubois, a popular French New Wave personality of the '60s and the leading lady in one of France's biggest box-office hits in history, died Wednesday, October 15, 2014, at a nursing home in Lescar, a suburb of the southwestern French town of Pau, not far from the Spanish border. Dubois, who had been living in the Pau area since 2010, was 77. For decades she had been battling multiple sclerosis, which later in life had her confined to a wheelchair. Born Claudine Huzé (Claudine Lucie Pauline Huzé according to some online sources) on January 12, 1937, in Paris, the blue-eyed, blonde Marie Dubois began her show business career on stage, being featured in plays such as Molière's The Misanthrope and Arthur Miller's The Crucible. François Truffaut discovery: 'Shoot the...

This week’s episode of SNL felt like it had something to prove, though what that was never became entirely clear.

If its intention was to prove that Kerry Washington brings a spark of energy to most anything she touches, it succeeded. If its intention was to prove that Jay Pharoah has grown into more than just a skilled impressionist — and judging by previous seasons, not without a considerable amount of work — then it succeeded. Further, it succeeded in addressing – but only addressing – the elephant in the room that is the lack of diversity in its cast.

SNL proved that...

An new France/Germany/South Africa co-production comedy feature film titled Yes We Can, directed by Frenchman Olivier Abbou, from a screenplay penned by Abbou, Delphine Bertholon, and Nicolas Jones-Gorlin. Starring Vincent Desagnat, Denis Wolf Elion, Jenny mutella, and Henri Guybet, the film's synopsis reads: Jordan and Michael, friends for twenty years and roommates for the last ten, are unemployed but skilled at scraping by through alternative means—including kidnapping pets for ransom, one of their specialities. Sprawled out on the couch watching the news, they learn that President Obama is planning to visit his grandmother in Kenya. Inspiration strikes Jordan: they...

By Sean O’Connell

Hollywoodnews.com: “Sleepless Night” and “The Raid” were the two breakout hits from this year’s Midnight Madness program at the Toronto International Film Festival. Both were so popular, they’ve already triggered American remakes. But you want to know when you can see the originals, right? Of course.

So, good news. Tribeca Film announced today that it has acquired all U.S. rights to “Sleepless Night,” which will be released in 2012 on VOD and theatrically by Tribeca Film. Warner Bros. recently acquired the English-language remake rights to the film, which is directed by Frédéric Jardin.

“I am thrilled and honored to work with Tribeca for the North American release of Sleepless Night,” Jardin said. “It’s a superb opportunity for my film.”

From the release:

Sleepless Night tells the story of Vincent, a respected and dedicated police officer, or so it seems. After stealing a...

I hate to sound like an old fogy, but boy, they sure don’t make ‘em like they used to. And by ‘em, I mean spoof movies in the Zucker mold (specifically Airplane and The Naked Gun) that were amusing enough at the time, but in retrospect have come to seem like small miracles in comparison with the films that they have inspired. Vampire Party is just one of those films, and it does absolutely nothing to better the image of the parody film as lazy, uninspired, and more irritating than funny. But unlike Scary Movie, Scary Movie 2, Scary Movie 3, Scary Movie 4, Date Movie, Epic Movie, Disaster Movie, and Superhero Movie, this is from France.

Sam (Patrick Mille), Alice (Frederique Bel), and Prune (Julie Fournier) are young people who (as is clearly established in the opening narration, perhaps the only very French touch in the whole movie) love to party.