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The coveted Lumière Classics label is today as sought-after in the heritage film industry as any prestigious film festival label for contemporary film fare.

Launched back at the 2019 edition of the Lumière Film Festival, Europe’s leading classic film event, the label was created to showcase a carefully curated selection of restorations of 20th century films with the aim of highlighting the work carried out by archives, cinematheques, rights holders and foundations around the world.

“’Lune Froide’ [‘Cold Moon’] was selected among many other films, so it’s extremely gratifying for us. Lumière is the heritage film festival that fights to restore these films to their former glory and develop the public’s appetite for classic cinema,” explains Anne-Laure Brénéol, co-founder and co-director of Malavida.

The Paris-based niche vintage arthouse movies outfit is bringing two titles to Lumiere this year: 1991 cult movie “Cold Moon” by French actor-director Patrick Bouchitey, and rediscovered gem “Bushman,...

The recent retrospective of Juliet Berto’s acting work at the Brooklyn Academy of Music presents an artist who occupied the forefront of both formal and ideological reimaginings of the medium during her lifetime. An icon of the French New Wave for her roles in landmark films by Jacques Rivette and Jean-Luc Godard, she also regularly lent her presence to works of radical leftist filmmaking from directors such as Robert Kramer and Marin Karmitz. Neige, Berto’s 1981 directorial debut made in collaboration with her partner Jean-Henri Roger, bears the influence of these artists and synthesizes them into something entirely its own, a playful and unpretentious work that nonetheless retains a fierce political anger.

The title of the film—which translates to Snow in English—refers to heroin, the drug around which much of the plot revolves. Berto stars as Anita, a bartender in Paris’s racy Pigalle district whose committed...

“The Atomic Adventure,” a contender in UniFrance’s online MyFrenchFilmFestival, is the third short from Loïc Barché. Variety talked to the director about the short, and his feature debut “Feu de Paille.”

“The Atomic Adventure,” produced by young French outfits Punchline Cinéma and Leonis Productions, is set in 1961 in Algeria, where France has just detonated an atomic bomb, and a group of soldiers is sent to the zero zone to measure the radioactivity.

With touches of humor, documentary moments and an occasionally festive soundtrack that underscores the thoughtlessness of the atomic mission, “The Atomic Adventure” has a tragic, near surreal ending, offering a reflection about how progress evolves.

The story is inspired by true events. France carried out around 30 nuclear tests in the 1960s, mainly in the former French colonies of Algeria and Mururoa, an atoll in the French Polynesia. The tests ended in 1996.

Barché is working on his feature debut,...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveriesNEWSRadley Metzger's The Lickerish QuartetRadley Metzger, whose groundbreaking erotic films helped set standards of style for both mainstream and arthouse cinema, has died at 88. His classics Camille 2000 (1969) and The Lickerish Quartet (1970) were featured on Mubi last year. Critic and programmer Steve Macfarlane interviewed the director at Slant Magazine for the Film Society of Lincoln Center's 2014 retrospective devoted to Metzger.Recommended VIEWINGThe Cinémathèque française has been on a roll uploading video discussions that have taken place at their Paris cinema. This 34 minute talk is between Wes Anderson and director/producer Barbet Schroeder.The Criterion Collection has recently released a new edition of Michelangelo Antonioni's masterpiece Blow-Up, and has uploaded this stellar clip of actor David Hemmings speaking on a talk show about making the film.Recommended READINGHoward Hawks' ScarfaceHow does Chicago intertwine itself with crime and the culture created in the mix of the two?...

The Eighth Annual Robert Classic French Film Festival — co-produced by Cinema St. Louis and the Webster University Film Series — celebrates St. Louis’ Gallic heritage and France’s cinematic legacy. The featured films span the decades from the 1920s through the early 1990s, offering a comprehensive overview of French cinema.

The fest is annually highlighted by significant restorations, and we’re especially pleased to present Jacques Rivette’s long-unavailable epic Out 1: Spectre Additional restoration highlights include Jean-Luc Godard’s A Married Woman and Max Ophüls’ too-little-seen From Mayerling To Sarajevo. Both Ophüls’ film and Louis Malle’s Elevator To The Gallows – with a jazz score by St. Louis-area native Miles Davis — screen from 35mm prints. All films will screen at Webster University’s Moore Auditorium (47- E. Lockwood)

Music fans will further delight in the Rats & People Motion Picture Orchestra’s accompaniment and original score for Carl Th. Dreyer’s...

It doesn’t take long for Simon (Yvan Attal), a straight-out-of prison, middle-aged thief, to agree to another burglary. This time around, his friend Albert (Jean-François Stévenin) and their associates plan to steal an ancient 137 carat diamond Florentine at its long-awaited auction. Part of their clever strategy is to befriend the auctioneer, Julia (Bérénice Bejo),

The post The Last Diamond Review appeared first on HeyUGuys.

"Le vieux Paris s’en va!"1

—Rallying cry, late 1800s

"Old Paris is no more (the form of a city

Changes more quickly, alas! than the human heart)"

—Charles Baudelaire, “Le Cygne,” Fleurs du mal

Paris s’en va. Paris goes away. Paris disappears.

Two women lying next to each other on a bench, wake up. A hard cut to a shot of one of the women approaching a newspaper stand on a Parisian street. She scans the rack of postcards and chooses five with a picture of the Arc de Triomphe. The characters played by Bulle and Pascale Ogier in Jacques Rivette’s Le Pont du Nord (1981) could be described as that classic French type, the flâneur, “masking under multiple impressions the void” felt within and around themselves.2 In Paris s’en va (1981), these unnamed characters appear more like spirits, ghosts awoken from a centuries-long slumber by the expansive...

Spiritismes

Director: Guy Maddin

Writer(s): Evan Johnson, Robert Kotyk

Producer(s): Phyllis Laing

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available

Cast: Charlotte Rampling, Geraldine Chaplin, Maria de Medeiros, Mathieu Amalric, Udo Kier, Amira Casar, Adèle Haenel, Ariane Labed, Elina Löwensohn, Mathieu Demy, Jean-François Stévenin, André Wilms, Grégory Gadebois, Jacques Nolot

High set of profile actors join one crazy project which is best described by the avant-gardist himself – “Over eighty percent of silent films are lost. I’ve always considered a lost film as a narrative with no known final resting place — doomed to wander the landscape of film history, sad, miserable and unable to project itself to the people who might love it.”

Gist: Every day, Guy Maddin invites visitors of the Centre Pompidou to witness the making of a new film inspired by a long-lost movie. Summoning these wandering spirits of cinema in theatrical “séances”, Maddin and his actors inhabit their ghostly scenarios.

Zeitgeist Films has sent along the poster and images from Mikael Buch's Let My People Go!, starring Nicolas Maury and Carmen Maura. The film opens on January 11th in New York City, and the Los Angeles the week after. Mikael Buch directs from he script he wrote alongside renowned arthouse auteur Christophe Honoré (Love Songs), A sweet and hilarious fusion of gay romantic comedy, Jewish family drama and French bedroom farce, Mikael Buch’s Let My People Go! follows the travails and daydreams of the lovelorn Reuben (Regular Lovers’ Nicolas Maury), a French-Jewish gay mailman living in fairytale Finland (where he got his Ma in “Comparative Sauna Cultures”) with his gorgeous Nordic boyfriend. But just before Passover, a series of mishaps and a lovers’ quarrel exile the heartbroken Reuben back to Paris and his zany family—including Almodovar goddess Carmen Maura (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown,...

Zeitgeist Films has sent along the poster and images from Mikael Buch's Let My People Go!, starring Nicolas Maury and Carmen Maura. The film opens on January 11th in New York City, and the Los Angeles the week after. Mikael Buch directs from he script he wrote alongside renowned arthouse auteur Christophe Honoré (Love Songs), A sweet and hilarious fusion of gay romantic comedy, Jewish family drama and French bedroom farce, Mikael Buch’s Let My People Go! follows the travails and daydreams of the lovelorn Reuben (Regular Lovers’ Nicolas Maury), a French-Jewish gay mailman living in fairytale Finland (where he got his Ma in “Comparative Sauna Cultures”) with his gorgeous Nordic boyfriend. But just before Passover, a series of mishaps and a lovers’ quarrel exile the heartbroken Reuben back to Paris and his zany family—including Almodovar goddess Carmen Maura (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown,...

Title: Sister (L’enfant d’en haut) Adopt Films Reviewed for Shockya by Harvey Karten Grade: B+ Director: Ursula Meier Screenwriter: Antoine Jaccoud, Ursula Meier w/ Gilles Taurand’s collaboration Cast: Léa Seydoux, Kacey Mottet Klein, Martin Compston, Gillian Anderson, Jean-François Stévenin Screened at: Review 1, NYC, 9/24/12 Opens: October 5, 2012 Switzerland may have been able to avoid wars on its soil for over four hundred years in part because it remains non-aligned, but director Ursula Meier, using a script developed with Antoine Jaccoud, is anything but neutral. She believes that kids who steal for food and rent for themselves and their families are different from those who steal to buy X-Box [ Read More ]...

Director: Ursula Meier Starring: Kacey Mottet Klein, Léa Seydoux, Martin Compston, Gillian Anderson, Jean-François Stévenin, Yann Trégouët, Gabin Lefebvre, Magne-Håvard Brekke, Simon Guélat Economic disparity is at the dead center of Ursula Meier's Sister. At the top of the mountain is a wealthy conglomerate of European vacationers who head downhill with the highest quality of skis, clothing and goggles. At the bottom of the mountain is a housing project populated with the poorest of the poor. The frontier is vertical and social, dividing the peaks of a ski resort from the working class valley it overlooks.

"Over eighty percent of silent films are lost. I've always considered a lost film as a narrative with no known final resting place — doomed to wander the landscape of film history, sad, miserable and unable to project itself to the people who might love it." That's Guy Maddin, as quoted by Kim Morgan, introducing Maddin's Spiritismes, happening now at the Centre Pompidou in Paris ("During 'séances'... Maddin and his actors will allow themselves to be possessed by the wandering spirits of the dead, to bring their movies back to life") through March 12:

Filmmaking, dead made undead, is happening live at the Centre — lost or unrealized films by directors as diverse as Jean Vigo, Kenji Mizoguchi, Lois Weber, William Wellman, von Stroheim (I will appear in that particular Poto-Poto), Alexandre Dovjenko and more are coming — rising from the dead, in their own unique way. Maddin will be shooting one film a day.

The Jeanne Captive (The Silence of Joan) Teaser Trailer has premiered. Philippe Ramos‘ Jeanne Captive (The Silence of Joan) 2011 teaser trailer stars Clémence Poésy, Liam Cunningham, Mathieu Amalric, Bernard Blancan, and Christopher Craig. Jeanne Captive‘s plot synopsis: “The Silence of Joan (Jeanne Captive) takes place in 1403 with Joan a captive of a powerful French lord who sells her off to the English…Between the walls that imprison her and the stake at which she will perish, men attempt to approach this young woman who embodies the infinite.”

I have seen two Joan of Arc productions: Christian Duguay‘s Joan of Arc TV mini-series starring Leelee Sobieski and Luc Besson‘s The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc starring Milla Jovovich. I have never seen Carl Theodor Dreyer‘s The Passion of Joan of Arc.

Jeanne Captive also stars Thierry Frémont, Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, and Jean-François Stévenin. Watch Jeanne Captive...

Jeanne Captive is the latest version of the story of Jeanne D'Arc - a 15th-century teenage girl who led the French to [temporary] victory over the English at age 17.

Milla Jovovich and LeeLee Sobieski tackled the role in the 1990s in two English-language versions that are both love-or-hate-them. This time, a French version starring Clémence Poésy and directed by Philippe Ramos is set in 1403 during the time that Joan was a prisoner of a traitorous French lord who sold her to the English (who eventually burned her at the stake as a witch). Joan is portrayed as a manic-depressive who fears the loss of her "voices". Anyone who has undergone Cymbalta-withdrawal can relate, I'm sure, to what Joan goes through.

THR's review isn't extremely flattering. In fact, they call it "tedious". But then again, they barely allocated 4.5 paragraphs of digital space on their website to talk about the movie, so they...

Over the years, there have been numerous interpretations of the legend of Joan of Arc. Two of my favourites are Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc and at the other end of the scope, Luc Besson's over the top The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc which presents the young woman as a warrior (a version I enjoy though it is by far the most bombastic of the bunch).

It's been a few years since we've seen a new interpretation and this time, it's coming to us care of the French with Clémence Poésy in the lead role. The Silence of Joan (Jeanne Captive) takes place in 1403 with Joan a captive of a powerful French lord who sells her off to the English. The synopsis continues to read:

Between the walls that imprison her and the stake at which she will perish, men attempt to approach this...

We're all for getting out in the summertime, but there might not be anything more refreshing than cooling off in a movie theater... or seeing a movie in the comfort of your air-conditioned home on demand, on DVD, or online... or better yet catching a classic on the big screen at a nearby repertory theater. With literally hundreds of films to choose from this summer, we humbly present this guide to the season's most exciting offerings.

May 1

"Eldorado"

The Cast: Bouli Lanners, Fabrice Adde, Philippe Nahon, Didier Toupy, Franise Chichy

Director: Bouli Lanners

Fest Cred: Cannes, Warsaw, Glasgow, Palm Springs,

The Gist: When Elie (Adde), a hapless young thief attempts to rob Yvan (Lanners), a 40-year-old car dealer, the two form a unlikely friendship that leads to a road trip across Belgium in this slight comedy that won the Best European Film at the Director's Fortnight at Cannes last year.

20th Century Fox’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” opened on Friday with a big $35 million estimate from 4,099 theatres. On Saturday, the film directed by Academy Award®-winner Gavin Hood, added a further $29.7 million and Sunday’s figured are indicated to be somewhere in the region of $22.5 million, making the actioner’s total opening weekend around $87 million. Film averaged $21,225 per theatre. Looking at the franchise’s run, “Wolverine” is second only to “X-Men: The Last Stand” which debuted on Friday, May 26th, 2006 with $45.1million. David Benioff and Skid Woods write. Cast constists of Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Liev Schreiber (Victor Creed/Saber tooth), Danny Huston (Stryker), Will I Am (John Wraith), Taylor Kitsch (Gambit), Dominic Monaghan (Beak), Lynn Collins (Silver Fox), Thayne Tizzy (Diamond Girl), Kevin Durand (The Blob), Daniel Hennery (Agent Zero), and Ryan Reynolds (Wade Wilson/Deadpool) Second placed romantic comedy “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” finished in second place with a very respectable $15.3 million from 3,175 theatres.

“Wolverine” ready to rip through the weekend. 20th Century Fox’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” unspools into a massive 4,099 theatres. Directed by Gavin Hood, the Academy Award®-winning helmer of South African film “Tsotse,” “Wolverine” has had its hurdles thanks to its bootlegged availability and review of the leaked, incomplete material by entertainment blogger Roger Friedman. Still, “Wolverine” is ready to carve up a hefty slice of the box office pie. “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” looks to attract fans of the romance and comedy genres with Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner frontlining. Mark Waters, director of “The Spiderwick Chronicles,” “Mean Girls” and the “Freaky Friday” remake, helms from the writing by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore. The film debuts in 3,175 locations. (Read the Review) The next widest release comes in “Battle for Terra,” the animated sci-fi flick from Roadside Attractions. Film is directed by Canadian-born Greek Aristomenis Tsirbas, an experienced digital...

Back in the early '60s, when Sonny Liston ruled boxing and hard bop could still be found on the corner jukebox, just wearing a sharkskin suit could be construed as an act of aggression, passive or otherwise. Sharkskin is the uniform of choice worn by the protagonist of Jim Jarmusch's alluring, enigmatic "The Limits of Control." Isaach De Bankolé's Lone Man (for that's how he is ID'd in the program notes, if not the movie itself) is like Jarmusch's Ghost Dog, taciturn and resolute, if also exposed to more sunlight. Lone Man's granite-slab impassiveness is buttressed by the sharkskin's implicit provocation. Yet, as with his suits, De Bankolé maintains his character's angular, creased surfaces throughout the movie. Only when the routine is ruffled does his composure show nicks -- as when a café waiter brings him a double espresso in one cup instead of two espressos in separate cups,...

We have new clips in from Jim Jarmusch's "The Limits of Control," starring Isaach De Bankolé, Alex Descas, Jean-François Stévenin, Luis Tosar, Paz De La Huerta, Tilda Swinton, Youki Kudoh, John Hurt, Gael García Bernal, Hiam Abbass, and Bill Murray.   Jarmusch returns to the helm after his last film of 2005 "Broken Flowers" also starred Bill Murray. The Ohio born director's previous credits include "Coffee and Cigarettes" and the documentary "Year of the Horse."   Focus Features releases this on May 1st in limited areas.   See the clips here!   What's "The Limits of Control" about?   The story of a mysterious loner (to be played by Mr. De Bankolé), a stranger, whose activities remain meticulously outside the law. He is in the process of completing a job, yet he trusts no one, and his objectives are not initially divulged. The film is set in the striking and varied landscapes of contemporary Spain...

We have new clips in from Jim Jarmusch's "The Limits of Control," starring Isaach De Bankolé, Alex Descas, Jean-François Stévenin, Luis Tosar, Paz De La Huerta, Tilda Swinton, Youki Kudoh, John Hurt, Gael García Bernal, Hiam Abbass, and Bill Murray. Jarmusch returns to the helm after his last film of 2005 "Broken Flowers" also starred Bill Murray. The Ohio born director's previous credits include "Coffee and Cigarettes" and the documentary "Year of the Horse." Focus Features releases this on May 1st in limited areas. The story of a mysterious loner (to be played by Mr. De Bankolé), a stranger, whose activities remain meticulously outside the law...

We have new clips in from Jim Jarmusch's "The Limits of Control," starring Isaach De Bankolé, Alex Descas, Jean-François Stévenin, Luis Tosar, Paz De La Huerta, Tilda Swinton, Youki Kudoh, John Hurt, Gael García Bernal, Hiam Abbass, and Bill Murray. Jarmusch returns to the helm after his last film of 2005 "Broken Flowers" also starred Bill Murray. The Ohio born director's previous credits include "Coffee and Cigarettes" and the documentary "Year of the Horse." Focus Features releases this on May 1st in limited areas. The story of a mysterious loner (to be played by Mr. De Bankolé), a stranger, whose activities remain meticulously outside the law...

We have new images in from Focus Features' "The Limits of Control," starring Isaach De Bankolé, Alex Descas, Jean-François Stévenin, Luis Tosar, Paz De La Huerta, Tilda Swinton, Youki Kudoh, John Hurt, Gael García Bernal, Hiam Abbass, and Bill Murray.   The story of a mysterious loner (to be played by Mr. De Bankolé), a stranger, whose activities remain meticulously outside the law. He is in the process of completing a job, yet he trusts no one, and his objectives are not initially divulged. The film is set in the striking and varied landscapes of contemporary Spain (both urban and otherwise).   See more images here.   There are also new exclusive clips over at MySpace you'd want to see.   The film opens on May 1st, 2009  ...

We have new images in from Focus Features' "The Limits of Control," starring Isaach De Bankolé, Alex Descas, Jean-François Stévenin, Luis Tosar, Paz De La Huerta, Tilda Swinton, Youki Kudoh, John Hurt, Gael García Bernal, Hiam Abbass, and Bill Murray. The story of a mysterious loner (to be played by Mr. De Bankolé), a stranger, whose activities remain meticulously outside the law. He is in the process of completing a job, yet he trusts no one, and his objectives are not initially divulged. The film is set in the striking and varied landscapes of contemporary Spain (both urban and otherwise).

We have new images in from Focus Features' "The Limits of Control," starring Isaach De Bankolé, Alex Descas, Jean-François Stévenin, Luis Tosar, Paz De La Huerta, Tilda Swinton, Youki Kudoh, John Hurt, Gael García Bernal, Hiam Abbass, and Bill Murray. The story of a mysterious loner (to be played by Mr. De Bankolé), a stranger, whose activities remain meticulously outside the law. He is in the process of completing a job, yet he trusts no one, and his objectives are not initially divulged. The film is set in the striking and varied landscapes of contemporary Spain (both urban and otherwise).

Here is the trailer for Focus Features new film, The Limits of Control. The film is set to open in theaters May 22 2009. Directed by Jim Jarmusch, the film stars Isaach De Bankolé, Alex Descas, Jean-François Stévenin, Luis Tosar, Paz De La Huerta, Tilda Swinton, Youki Kudoh, John Hurt, Gael García Bernal, Hiam Abbass and Bill Murray. The Limits of Control is the new movie from filmmaker Jim Jarmusch (Broken Flowers, Down by Law). The film is set in the striking and varied landscapes of contemporary Spain (both urban and otherwise). The location shoot there united the writer/director with acclaimed [...]...

A trailer for The Limits of Control, the latest flick from indie filmmaker Jim Jarmusch (Broken Flowers, Coffee and Cigarettes), has just surfaced. Opening in limited release May 22, Control stars Isaach De Bankolé, Hiam Abbass, Gael Garcia Bernal, Tilda Swinton, Paz de la Huerta, Alex Descas, John Hurt, Youki Kudoh, Jean-François Stévenin, Luis Tosar and Bill Murray. The Limits of Control is the story of a mysterious loner (De Bankole), a stranger, whose activities remain meticulously outside the law. He is in the process of completing a job, yet he trusts no one, and his objectives are not initially divulged. His journey, paradoxically both intently focused and dreamlike, takes him not only across Spain but also through his own consciousness.