Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook on Twitter and Instagram.FESTIVALSMay Days.As many as 200 French film festival workers plan to stage labor actions during Cannes, citing insufficient pay and the exclusion of many festival staff from unemployment benefits when they are not under contract. The movement is being organized under the banner of Sous Les Écrans La Dèche: Collectif Des Précaires Des Festivals De Cinéma.A new report outlines the institutional dysfunction at the Toronto International Film Festival, which recently lost the support of the telecommunications company Bell as its major sponsor. Citing a desire for “greater accessibility,” Slamdance Film Festival will relocate from Park City, Ut, to Los Angeles in 2025.NEWSHarlan County, U.S.A..Now that all thirteen IATSE locals have reached tentative agreements with the AMPTP,...
- 5/1/2024
- MUBI
Laurent Cantet's Palme d'Or winner The Class Photo: UniFrance The French director Laurent Cantet who struck gold at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008 with the Palme d’Or winner, The Class, has died at the age of 63.
Laurent Cantet Photo: Veeren Ramsamy for UniFrance The film was based on the novel Entre les murs which was a semi-autobiographical account of the author François Bégaudeau's own experiences in the school system in Paris - and featured him in the lead role of the teacher confronting “problem children.”
Beside the Palme d’Or the film also was nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign Language Film.
Cantet was a filmmaker who showed a lively interest in social issues and themes, often used non professional actors and took a naturalistic approach to his subjects. His kindred spirits would be Ken Loach and the Dardenne Brothers as well as the traditions of Roberto Rossellini and Robert Bresson.
Laurent Cantet Photo: Veeren Ramsamy for UniFrance The film was based on the novel Entre les murs which was a semi-autobiographical account of the author François Bégaudeau's own experiences in the school system in Paris - and featured him in the lead role of the teacher confronting “problem children.”
Beside the Palme d’Or the film also was nominated for an Oscar as Best Foreign Language Film.
Cantet was a filmmaker who showed a lively interest in social issues and themes, often used non professional actors and took a naturalistic approach to his subjects. His kindred spirits would be Ken Loach and the Dardenne Brothers as well as the traditions of Roberto Rossellini and Robert Bresson.
- 4/25/2024
- by Richard Mowe
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
French filmmaker Laurent Cantet, whose 2008 film The Class won the Palme d’Or in Cannes in 2008, died on April 25 at the age of 63.
The acclaimed filmmaker was planning to shoot his next film Enzo, co-written by Robin Campillo and produced by Anatomy Of A Fall producer Marie-Ange Luciani, later this year.
Cantet’s agent Isabelle de la Patellière confirmed to French media the filmmaker “died this morning in Paris from an illness.”
The Class is a Paris documentary-drama based on a semi-autobiographical book by François Bégaudeau set in a French classroom about a teacher in a tough Parisian neighbourhood that starred a mostly unprofessional cast.
The acclaimed filmmaker was planning to shoot his next film Enzo, co-written by Robin Campillo and produced by Anatomy Of A Fall producer Marie-Ange Luciani, later this year.
Cantet’s agent Isabelle de la Patellière confirmed to French media the filmmaker “died this morning in Paris from an illness.”
The Class is a Paris documentary-drama based on a semi-autobiographical book by François Bégaudeau set in a French classroom about a teacher in a tough Parisian neighbourhood that starred a mostly unprofessional cast.
- 4/25/2024
- ScreenDaily
Laurent Cantet, the French director who won the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival in 2008 for his film “The Class,” has died. He was 63.
A spokesperson for Cantet’s agency, Ubba, confirmed to Variety that he died on Thursday morning of an illness.
“The Class” is based on the novel of the same name by François Bégaudeau and is a semi-autobiographical account of his experience as a teacher in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. Bégaudeau also starred in the film. “The Class” received a unanimous vote for the Palme d’Or at Cannes, making it the first French film to do so since 1987. The movie also earned an Oscar nomination for best foreign language film.
After studying at the Institut des Hautes Études Cinématographiques in Paris and working in television, Cantet released his first feature film, “Human Resources,” in 1999. It followed a management trainee as he starts a job at his father’s factory.
A spokesperson for Cantet’s agency, Ubba, confirmed to Variety that he died on Thursday morning of an illness.
“The Class” is based on the novel of the same name by François Bégaudeau and is a semi-autobiographical account of his experience as a teacher in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. Bégaudeau also starred in the film. “The Class” received a unanimous vote for the Palme d’Or at Cannes, making it the first French film to do so since 1987. The movie also earned an Oscar nomination for best foreign language film.
After studying at the Institut des Hautes Études Cinématographiques in Paris and working in television, Cantet released his first feature film, “Human Resources,” in 1999. It followed a management trainee as he starts a job at his father’s factory.
- 4/25/2024
- by Ellise Shafer
- Variety Film + TV
French director Laurent Cantet, who won the Cannes Palme d’Or in 2008 for The Class, has died at the age of 63.
Based on the semi-autobiographical book by writer François Bégaudeau about his experiences working as a literature teacher in an inner city school in Paris, The Class featured a mainly unprofessional cast including the author.
Cantet had been due to shoot his next film Enzo, with Elodie Bouchez and Pierfrancesco Favino in the cast, this August
His second collaboration with Anatomy of a Fall producer Marie-Angle Luciani, after 2021 film Arthur Rambo, it revolved around a teenager who embarks on a mason apprenticeship in the South of France to escape a controlling father.
Cantet studied film at the Institut des Hautes Études Cinématographiques (Idhec) in Paris in the mid-1980s, where his contemporaries were Dominik Moll, Gilles Marchand and Robin Campillo.
They would continue to collaborate on one another’s projects throughout their careers,...
Based on the semi-autobiographical book by writer François Bégaudeau about his experiences working as a literature teacher in an inner city school in Paris, The Class featured a mainly unprofessional cast including the author.
Cantet had been due to shoot his next film Enzo, with Elodie Bouchez and Pierfrancesco Favino in the cast, this August
His second collaboration with Anatomy of a Fall producer Marie-Angle Luciani, after 2021 film Arthur Rambo, it revolved around a teenager who embarks on a mason apprenticeship in the South of France to escape a controlling father.
Cantet studied film at the Institut des Hautes Études Cinématographiques (Idhec) in Paris in the mid-1980s, where his contemporaries were Dominik Moll, Gilles Marchand and Robin Campillo.
They would continue to collaborate on one another’s projects throughout their careers,...
- 4/25/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Portraits trompeurs
Two decades after working together on the Un Certain Regard selected Saint-Cyr (2020), Patricia Mazuy is set to reteam with Isabelle Huppert and the always-convincing Hafsia Herzi on Portraits trompeurs. Production has actually not yet begun but we’re looking at a production start this month or next which means we could see this play year-end fests and a late domestic release. Co-written by François Bégaudeau, Pierre Courrège and Mazuy, the screenplay looks at two women sharing the burden of having their husbands incarcerated and the bound that develops between them. Production will take place in Metz and Strasbourg.…...
Two decades after working together on the Un Certain Regard selected Saint-Cyr (2020), Patricia Mazuy is set to reteam with Isabelle Huppert and the always-convincing Hafsia Herzi on Portraits trompeurs. Production has actually not yet begun but we’re looking at a production start this month or next which means we could see this play year-end fests and a late domestic release. Co-written by François Bégaudeau, Pierre Courrège and Mazuy, the screenplay looks at two women sharing the burden of having their husbands incarcerated and the bound that develops between them. Production will take place in Metz and Strasbourg.…...
- 1/13/2023
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
The initial outcry about Abdellatif Kechiche’s film “Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo” had mainly addressed its artistic merits (or lack thereof) for including a nearly 15-minute scene of unsimulated oral sex and and a seemingly never-ending parade of butts. But a report from a French paper is alleging that Kechiche had to employ unorthodox methods to convince his unwilling actors to perform the oral sex scene.
“Intermezzo” is the sequel to “Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno,” which premiered at Venice back in 2017. Both films, based on François Bégaudeau’s novel “La Blessure, la vraie,” feature Ophélie (Ophélie Bau) and Amin (Shaïn Boumédine) at the center of a complicated web of attraction and affairs.
In the scene in question, a man performs consensual oral sex on the character Ophélie. The Midi Libre posted an account Saturday morning from a person close to production who says that Kechiche had to push his actors to create that scene.
“Intermezzo” is the sequel to “Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno,” which premiered at Venice back in 2017. Both films, based on François Bégaudeau’s novel “La Blessure, la vraie,” feature Ophélie (Ophélie Bau) and Amin (Shaïn Boumédine) at the center of a complicated web of attraction and affairs.
In the scene in question, a man performs consensual oral sex on the character Ophélie. The Midi Libre posted an account Saturday morning from a person close to production who says that Kechiche had to push his actors to create that scene.
- 5/26/2019
- by Hanh Nguyen
- Indiewire
Abdellatif Kechiche is once again under the Cannes microscope for prolonged sexual content in his films. The director’s latest competition title, “Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo” premiered at the festival, inspiring largely negative responses from critics, journalists, and audience members alike.
“Intermezzo” is the sequel to “Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno,” which premiered at Venice back in 2017. Both films, based on François Bégaudeau’s novel “La Blessure, la vraie,” feature Ophélie (Ophélie Bau) and Amin (Shaïn Boumédine) at the center of a complicated web of attraction and affairs.
One scene in question from “Intermezzo” occurs roughly two-thirds of the way through the nearly four-hour film and involves a lengthy, consensual encounter in a bathroom between Ophélie and a man. The scene, which features what appears to be un-simulated oral sex, lasts much longer than the most extensive sex scene in Kechiche’s 2013 film “Blue Is the Warmest Colour.”
That film,...
“Intermezzo” is the sequel to “Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno,” which premiered at Venice back in 2017. Both films, based on François Bégaudeau’s novel “La Blessure, la vraie,” feature Ophélie (Ophélie Bau) and Amin (Shaïn Boumédine) at the center of a complicated web of attraction and affairs.
One scene in question from “Intermezzo” occurs roughly two-thirds of the way through the nearly four-hour film and involves a lengthy, consensual encounter in a bathroom between Ophélie and a man. The scene, which features what appears to be un-simulated oral sex, lasts much longer than the most extensive sex scene in Kechiche’s 2013 film “Blue Is the Warmest Colour.”
That film,...
- 5/24/2019
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
No filmmaker has ever loved anything as much as Abdellatif Kechiche loves butts.
Bringing up the rear of this year’s Cannes lineup in more ways than one, Kechiche’s “Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo” — an oft-threatened but completely unsolicited sequel to his 2017 bomb, “Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno” — devotes about 60% of its runtime to extreme close-ups of jiggling female derrieres. And while that horrifyingly unexaggerated statistic may sound like a bit of a red flag to begin with, it only gets worse when you consider that “Intermezzo” is the same length as “Lawrence of Arabia”.
Of course, none of this is much of a surprise. Not anymore. As shocking as it was when Kechiche celebrated his 2013 Palme d’Or win by pivoting to posteriors, “Canto Uno” made it irrevocably clear the filmmaker has no regrets for the wanton fetishization of nubile flesh that separated “Blue Is the Warmest Color” from his earlier,...
Bringing up the rear of this year’s Cannes lineup in more ways than one, Kechiche’s “Mektoub, My Love: Intermezzo” — an oft-threatened but completely unsolicited sequel to his 2017 bomb, “Mektoub, My Love: Canto Uno” — devotes about 60% of its runtime to extreme close-ups of jiggling female derrieres. And while that horrifyingly unexaggerated statistic may sound like a bit of a red flag to begin with, it only gets worse when you consider that “Intermezzo” is the same length as “Lawrence of Arabia”.
Of course, none of this is much of a surprise. Not anymore. As shocking as it was when Kechiche celebrated his 2013 Palme d’Or win by pivoting to posteriors, “Canto Uno” made it irrevocably clear the filmmaker has no regrets for the wanton fetishization of nubile flesh that separated “Blue Is the Warmest Color” from his earlier,...
- 5/23/2019
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Abdellatif Kechiche’s three-hour epic seductively depicts the hedonistic antics of a twentysomething crowd hanging out in the Mediterranean heat
Abdellatif Kechiche’s Mektoub, My Love is a 90s summer-romance pastoral of epic length and sexiness, marinaded in sunshine. It spends its time among unfeasibly beautiful young people in microscopically tiny swimming costumes, and moves with them in a trance of heightened physicality, drifting across beaches, bars and dancefloors. The mood is dreamy unseriousness qualified occasionally by temporary stabs of jealousy or misery. The sexiness isn’t promiscuous exactly; more directionless. There is a sustained hedonism here of which you might have assumed heterosexuals were incapable. It floats along and you will wait a long time – three hours in fact – for something to happen in the boringly conventional narrative sense, some sudden event that will dramatically or ironically cut across all this sensuality.
It is adapted from the 2011 novel La Blessure,...
Abdellatif Kechiche’s Mektoub, My Love is a 90s summer-romance pastoral of epic length and sexiness, marinaded in sunshine. It spends its time among unfeasibly beautiful young people in microscopically tiny swimming costumes, and moves with them in a trance of heightened physicality, drifting across beaches, bars and dancefloors. The mood is dreamy unseriousness qualified occasionally by temporary stabs of jealousy or misery. The sexiness isn’t promiscuous exactly; more directionless. There is a sustained hedonism here of which you might have assumed heterosexuals were incapable. It floats along and you will wait a long time – three hours in fact – for something to happen in the boringly conventional narrative sense, some sudden event that will dramatically or ironically cut across all this sensuality.
It is adapted from the 2011 novel La Blessure,...
- 2/13/2019
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Every week, IndieWire asks a select handful of film critics two questions and publishes the results on Monday.
This week’s question: In honor of “Widows,” what is the greatest ensemble cast ever assembled in a movie?
Emily Sears (@emily_dawn), Birth.Movies.Death.
On March 24, 1984, five high school students entered Saturday morning detention and taught us to never judge a book by its cover. Over the course of one day, the young ensemble cast of “The Breakfast Club” tear down the walls between their disparate characters by dismantling the stereotypes of the American teenager. Collaborating with writer-director John Hughes, Anthony Michael Hall, Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald, and Judd Nelson contributed to the authenticity of characters that are still relevant and resonating more than three decades later. Hughes may have conceived his own idea of the brain, the athlete, the basket case, the princess, and the criminal on the page,...
This week’s question: In honor of “Widows,” what is the greatest ensemble cast ever assembled in a movie?
Emily Sears (@emily_dawn), Birth.Movies.Death.
On March 24, 1984, five high school students entered Saturday morning detention and taught us to never judge a book by its cover. Over the course of one day, the young ensemble cast of “The Breakfast Club” tear down the walls between their disparate characters by dismantling the stereotypes of the American teenager. Collaborating with writer-director John Hughes, Anthony Michael Hall, Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald, and Judd Nelson contributed to the authenticity of characters that are still relevant and resonating more than three decades later. Hughes may have conceived his own idea of the brain, the athlete, the basket case, the princess, and the criminal on the page,...
- 11/12/2018
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
When “Blue is the Warmest Color” won top honors at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, it made history by receiving three Palme d’Or trophies: One for director Abdellatif Kechiche and two for lead actresses Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux. It looks like the trio is going to be down one, however, as The Hollywood Reporter confirms Kechiche is auctioning off his prize in order to finance post-production on his next movie, “Mektoub Is Mektoub” (also known as “Mektoub, My Love”).
Read More: Abdellatif Kechiche Will Not Be at Cannes With His ‘Blue Is the Warmest Color’ Follow-Up — Here’s Why
Kechiche had been editing the film, his first since “Blue is the Warmest Color,” when the production’s financing bank blocked its line of credit. In order to avoid a hiatus, Kechiche is selling his Palme as well as other items from his filmography, including oil paintings from his Cannes winner.
Read More: Abdellatif Kechiche Will Not Be at Cannes With His ‘Blue Is the Warmest Color’ Follow-Up — Here’s Why
Kechiche had been editing the film, his first since “Blue is the Warmest Color,” when the production’s financing bank blocked its line of credit. In order to avoid a hiatus, Kechiche is selling his Palme as well as other items from his filmography, including oil paintings from his Cannes winner.
- 6/7/2017
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
As we await the Cannes closing ceremony with all its awards glamour, let's take a look back at a previous Palme winner which has connections to a competition entry this year. Here's John Guerin...
The Class, Laurent Cantent’s 2008 Palme d’Or winner, left me both exhausted and inspired. An autobiographical chronicle of François Bégaudeau’s first year of teaching French language and literature at an inner-city high school in Paris, The Class is an entirely self-contained glimpse into the daily challenges, joys, dead-ends, nuisances, amusements, and tensions in one especially spirited classroom. Although The Class is spatially confined to the school building, the currents of the outside world frequently wash ashore and brush up against Bégaudeau’s attempts to lead a discussion of the imperfect tense or find meaning in The Diary of Anne Frank or do just about anything constructive.
Cantent and Bégaudeau, with the assistance of co-writer...
The Class, Laurent Cantent’s 2008 Palme d’Or winner, left me both exhausted and inspired. An autobiographical chronicle of François Bégaudeau’s first year of teaching French language and literature at an inner-city high school in Paris, The Class is an entirely self-contained glimpse into the daily challenges, joys, dead-ends, nuisances, amusements, and tensions in one especially spirited classroom. Although The Class is spatially confined to the school building, the currents of the outside world frequently wash ashore and brush up against Bégaudeau’s attempts to lead a discussion of the imperfect tense or find meaning in The Diary of Anne Frank or do just about anything constructive.
Cantent and Bégaudeau, with the assistance of co-writer...
- 5/27/2017
- by John Guerin
- FilmExperience
Production blocked on Mektoub Is Mektoub after director delivered two films rather than one.
Franco-Tunisian Palme d’Or winner Abdellatif Kechiche’s upcoming feature production Mektoub Is Mektoub has been high-up on Cannes 2017 prediction and wish-lists in recent weeks.
But the Blue Is The Warmest Colour director told regional French newspaper Nice Matin this week that it will not go to Cannes this year because it is blocked in the editing room due to a contractual dispute with France Télévisions.
At the heart of the issue is the fact that the production - based on François Bégaudeau’s novel La blessure, la vraie - was conceived as a single film but has morphed into two films, Les dés sont jetés (which translates as “the dice are thrown”) and Pray For Jack.
“I signed with several financial partners including France Télévisions, Canal+ and Pathé Films. I was committed to making one film and in the end, there are two...
Franco-Tunisian Palme d’Or winner Abdellatif Kechiche’s upcoming feature production Mektoub Is Mektoub has been high-up on Cannes 2017 prediction and wish-lists in recent weeks.
But the Blue Is The Warmest Colour director told regional French newspaper Nice Matin this week that it will not go to Cannes this year because it is blocked in the editing room due to a contractual dispute with France Télévisions.
At the heart of the issue is the fact that the production - based on François Bégaudeau’s novel La blessure, la vraie - was conceived as a single film but has morphed into two films, Les dés sont jetés (which translates as “the dice are thrown”) and Pray For Jack.
“I signed with several financial partners including France Télévisions, Canal+ and Pathé Films. I was committed to making one film and in the end, there are two...
- 4/6/2017
- ScreenDaily
Over the past few months, movie nerds and trade publications have been throwing darts at the Cannes Film Festival Speculation Board, but one picture that nearly everyone declared as a near certainty was “Blue Is The Warmest Color” director Abdellatif Kechiche‘s “Mektoub Is Mektoub.” The film, an adaptation of “La Blessure, la vraie” by François Bégaudeau, follows a young screenwriter who travels to the Mediterranean and gets involved in a love triangle, went into production last summer, with details being kept secret (in fact, there’s still no word on the cast members).
Continue reading Legal Woes Will Keep Abdellatif Kechiche’s ‘Mektoub Is Mektoub’ Out Of Cannes, Project Has Expanded Into 2 Films at The Playlist.
Continue reading Legal Woes Will Keep Abdellatif Kechiche’s ‘Mektoub Is Mektoub’ Out Of Cannes, Project Has Expanded Into 2 Films at The Playlist.
- 4/5/2017
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
It’s been over three years since Abdellatif Kechiche’s romantic drama Blue is the Warmest Color premiered at Cannes, where the Palme d’Or was not only awarded to the director, but, for the first time ever, shared between its actors, Adèle Exarchopoulos and Léa Seydoux. Not long after we got a hint at what this Tunisian-French director would be making but seemingly after some delays, it’s finally coming together.
For the last month he’s been secretly shooting the drama going by the title Mektoub is Mektoub in Sète, Cineuropa reports. As previously reported, it’s based on La blessure, la vraie, a novel from François Bégaudeau, an author who’s already earned some cinematic cachet for penning The Class, the main source for 2008’s Palme d’Or winner. While no casting has been unveiled yet, considering shooting has been ongoing since September 8, expect an update soon.
For the last month he’s been secretly shooting the drama going by the title Mektoub is Mektoub in Sète, Cineuropa reports. As previously reported, it’s based on La blessure, la vraie, a novel from François Bégaudeau, an author who’s already earned some cinematic cachet for penning The Class, the main source for 2008’s Palme d’Or winner. While no casting has been unveiled yet, considering shooting has been ongoing since September 8, expect an update soon.
- 10/4/2016
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
For the fifth year, IndieWire is co-hosting the Locarno Critics Academy, giving a group of talented up-and-coming critics a chance to help their role in the current climate for film criticism and journalism at the Locarno International Film Festival. With assistance from Penske Media, the Swiss Alliance of Film Journalists and the Film Society of Lincoln Center, participants will engage in a series of activities and then get to work. They will spend the first half of the festival which begins today, in roundtable discussions with working critics and industry figures; beginning next week, they’ll write about films at this year’s festival, as well as topics ranging from television to digital media.
Before then, take a minute to get to know them, and find out what they’re looking forward to checking out. Keep up with their dispatches from this year’s festival here and follow them on Twitter.
Before then, take a minute to get to know them, and find out what they’re looking forward to checking out. Keep up with their dispatches from this year’s festival here and follow them on Twitter.
- 8/3/2016
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
As Cannes gets closer and buyers, distributors, producers and more gear up to hit the marketplace, lots of casting news will be coming. So strap for the next batch round of news, to stay on top of a variety of developing projects. Gérard Depardieu has joined "Blue Is The Warmest Color" director Abdellatif Kechiche's next film, "The Real Wound." Based on the book "La Blessure, la vraie" by François Bégaudeau, the film will track a teenage boy trying to lose his virginity while on holiday in Tunisia. No word yet on Depardieu's role, but production begins in August. [Allocine] Aaron Eckhart has been tapped to star in "My All American," written and directed by Angelo Pizzo of "Hoosiers" fame (he's making his helming debut with this one). The movie will tell the story of football legend Freddie Steinmark "a standout player on the national-title-winning [University Of Texas] 1969 team, before his gridiron career was...
- 5/7/2014
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Exclusive: Wild Bunch to launch new films from Verhoeven, Noé, Kechiche as well as Spring Breakers 2, Maniac Cop remake and market premiere Welcome to New York.
Paris-based sales and production powerhouse Wild Bunch has unveiled a packed Cannes slate, featuring future films from Paul Verhoeven, Gaspar Noé and Abdellatif Kechiche as well as Spring Breakers 2 and the remake of Maniac Cop.
The untitled Paul Verhoeven project is an adaptation of French writer Philippe Djian’s 2012 novel Oh!, revolving around a psychological game of cat-and-mouse between a businesswoman and a stalker who raped her, a crime for which she is seeking revenge.
“Casting is being finalised. It’s a very intelligent script but it’s also pure Verhoeven, extremely erotic and perverted, so the actress has to be prepared to take that on,” said Wild Bunch co-chief Vincent Maraval.
Wild Bunch will also launch Spring Breakers: The Second Coming, in which the Spring Breakers do battle with an...
Paris-based sales and production powerhouse Wild Bunch has unveiled a packed Cannes slate, featuring future films from Paul Verhoeven, Gaspar Noé and Abdellatif Kechiche as well as Spring Breakers 2 and the remake of Maniac Cop.
The untitled Paul Verhoeven project is an adaptation of French writer Philippe Djian’s 2012 novel Oh!, revolving around a psychological game of cat-and-mouse between a businesswoman and a stalker who raped her, a crime for which she is seeking revenge.
“Casting is being finalised. It’s a very intelligent script but it’s also pure Verhoeven, extremely erotic and perverted, so the actress has to be prepared to take that on,” said Wild Bunch co-chief Vincent Maraval.
Wild Bunch will also launch Spring Breakers: The Second Coming, in which the Spring Breakers do battle with an...
- 5/6/2014
- ScreenDaily
After winning the Palme D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and sending art-house cinema fans into a tizzy over the three-hour coming-of-age lesbian romance, Blue is the Warmest Color, Abdellatif Kechiche has decided on a new project. The Film Stage reports that the director will adapt The Wound (La Blessure in French), a semi-autobiographical novel from François Bégaudeau, best known as the screenwriter for another French Palme D’Or winner, 2008′s The Class.
Like Blue is the Warmest Color, The Wound is a coming-of-age tale about a teenager, although this one is male. The novel takes place in the summer of 1986, when the author was just 15, and is set during his holidays to The Vendée, where he goes through the tormenting and liberating experiences of his youth during those warm months.
Few directors seem as well suited to capture this story on film as Kechiche, whose last effort was an absorbing,...
Like Blue is the Warmest Color, The Wound is a coming-of-age tale about a teenager, although this one is male. The novel takes place in the summer of 1986, when the author was just 15, and is set during his holidays to The Vendée, where he goes through the tormenting and liberating experiences of his youth during those warm months.
Few directors seem as well suited to capture this story on film as Kechiche, whose last effort was an absorbing,...
- 4/17/2014
- by Jordan Adler
- We Got This Covered
Following his critically acclaimed "Blue Is The Warmest Color," director Abdellatif Kechiche toyed with a few ideas for this follow-up. He talked about an extended cut of his lesbian romance film, a potential biopic of '70s porn star Marilyn Chambers, and a film about Héloïse & Abélard. But now he's decided on his next film and....it's none of those. Figaro reports that this summer, Kechiche will get rolling on "La Blessure," based on the book "La Blessure, la vraie" by François Bégaudeau (who wrote the novel that inspired Laurent Cantet's excellent "The Class"). The film will tell the coming-of-age story of a fifteen-year-old, but unlike the book which is set in France, Kechiche will relocate the story to Tunisia, with filming to take place in North Africa. The director is already looking at casting actors aged 14-22. With the Cannes market set to go into full swing next month,...
- 4/16/2014
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Acclaimed French director, Laurent Cantet is best known in the States for his Oscar nominated drama The Class, which was based on its star’s semi-autobiographical novel Entre les murs (translation: Between the walls). The film followed François Bégaudeau, a language and lit teacher, in his struggles to get through to his inner city middle school class, and was heralded for its raw and realistic look at the modern-day experiences of teachers and students.
Now The Playlist (via Screen Daily) has revealed Cantet will be taking on his first English language production, an adaptation of the feminist Joyce Carol Oates novel Foxfire: Confessions Of A Girl Gang. This is not the book’s first film adaptation. As fans of early Angelina Jolie may remember, Foxfire was first adapted in 1996, though the 1950′s story of working class girls in upstate New York had been shifted to 1990′s suburbanites of the Pacific Northwest.
Now The Playlist (via Screen Daily) has revealed Cantet will be taking on his first English language production, an adaptation of the feminist Joyce Carol Oates novel Foxfire: Confessions Of A Girl Gang. This is not the book’s first film adaptation. As fans of early Angelina Jolie may remember, Foxfire was first adapted in 1996, though the 1950′s story of working class girls in upstate New York had been shifted to 1990′s suburbanites of the Pacific Northwest.
- 11/8/2010
- by Kristy Puchko
- The Film Stage
Look at it this way. We have the chance to see virtually every American film that's released, and many of the English language films in general. But with the crisis in U.S. distribution, the only foreign-language films are those someone paid hard cash for, and risked opening here. "You always like those foreign films," I'm told, often by someone making it sound like a failing. Not always, but often. They tend to involve characters of intelligence and complexity. If
they're about people of subnormal intelligence, they're about that, or acknowledge it. In most of the world, people want to hurry into adulthood, not clinging to adolescence.
Have you noticed how many American mainstream films are about stupid people who are presented as normal? One opened recently: "Did You Hear About the Morgans?" No one in that film has an interesting thought as they stumble from one plot point to the next.
they're about people of subnormal intelligence, they're about that, or acknowledge it. In most of the world, people want to hurry into adulthood, not clinging to adolescence.
Have you noticed how many American mainstream films are about stupid people who are presented as normal? One opened recently: "Did You Hear About the Morgans?" No one in that film has an interesting thought as they stumble from one plot point to the next.
- 12/30/2009
- by Roger Ebert
- blogs.suntimes.com/ebert
Here’s a list of some of the new DVD and Blu-ray releases this week we’re particularly interested in. Plus, some old favorites (and not so favorites) coming out this week for the first time on Blu-ray.
Movies
About Last Night… ~ Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, James Belushi (Blu-ray)
Alien Trespass ~ Eric McCormack, Dan Lauria, Robert Patrick, and Jenni Baird (DVD and Blu-ray)
Blue Thunder ~ Roy Scheider, Warren Oates, Candy Clark, and Daniel Stern (Blu-ray)
Chaos ~ Jason Statham (Blu-ray)
The Class (Entre Les Murs) ~ François Bégaudeau, Agame Malembo-Emene, and Angélica Sancio (DVD)
Cutthroat Island ~ Geena Davis, Frank Langella, Matthew Modine (Blu-ray)
Eagles Over London ~ Van Johnson, Frederick Stafford, Francisco Rabal, and Luigi Pistilli (Blu-ray)
Gigantic ~ Zooey Deschanel, Paul Dano, John Goodman, and Ed Asner (DVD)
I Love You, Man ~ Paul Rudd, Jason Segal (DVD and Blu-ray)
Katyn ~ Artur Amijewski, Maja Ostaszewska, and Andrzej Chyra (DVD)
Michael Jackson: Moonwalking – The...
Movies
About Last Night… ~ Rob Lowe, Demi Moore, James Belushi (Blu-ray)
Alien Trespass ~ Eric McCormack, Dan Lauria, Robert Patrick, and Jenni Baird (DVD and Blu-ray)
Blue Thunder ~ Roy Scheider, Warren Oates, Candy Clark, and Daniel Stern (Blu-ray)
Chaos ~ Jason Statham (Blu-ray)
The Class (Entre Les Murs) ~ François Bégaudeau, Agame Malembo-Emene, and Angélica Sancio (DVD)
Cutthroat Island ~ Geena Davis, Frank Langella, Matthew Modine (Blu-ray)
Eagles Over London ~ Van Johnson, Frederick Stafford, Francisco Rabal, and Luigi Pistilli (Blu-ray)
Gigantic ~ Zooey Deschanel, Paul Dano, John Goodman, and Ed Asner (DVD)
I Love You, Man ~ Paul Rudd, Jason Segal (DVD and Blu-ray)
Katyn ~ Artur Amijewski, Maja Ostaszewska, and Andrzej Chyra (DVD)
Michael Jackson: Moonwalking – The...
- 8/11/2009
- by Joe Gillis
- The Flickcast
I Love You, Man
Bro-mance, schmo-mance, this is a funny movie, centered by a very good performance by Paul Rudd as a befuddled "ladies' man" in search of a best man for his upcoming wedding to Rashida Jones. He starts awkwardly 'man dating' until he stumbles across the happy-go-lucky bachelor Jason Segal, and an unlikely triangle is formed. "A sweet, amusing, and perfectly acceptable comedy all around," wrote Eugene Novikov. Also on Blu-ray. Buy it.
Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon
17 Again
Personally, I have zero interest in seeing this movie, but if you're a devoted fan or even curious about the star, help yourself. 17 Again is "a run-of-the-mill family comedy that would be tiresome," Jette Kernion opined, "if not for [Zac] Efron and a few of the other cast members." Also on Blu-ray. Skip it.
Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon
The Class (Entre les Murs)
Laurent Cantet...
Bro-mance, schmo-mance, this is a funny movie, centered by a very good performance by Paul Rudd as a befuddled "ladies' man" in search of a best man for his upcoming wedding to Rashida Jones. He starts awkwardly 'man dating' until he stumbles across the happy-go-lucky bachelor Jason Segal, and an unlikely triangle is formed. "A sweet, amusing, and perfectly acceptable comedy all around," wrote Eugene Novikov. Also on Blu-ray. Buy it.
Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon
17 Again
Personally, I have zero interest in seeing this movie, but if you're a devoted fan or even curious about the star, help yourself. 17 Again is "a run-of-the-mill family comedy that would be tiresome," Jette Kernion opined, "if not for [Zac] Efron and a few of the other cast members." Also on Blu-ray. Skip it.
Add to Netflix queue | Buy at Amazon
The Class (Entre les Murs)
Laurent Cantet...
- 8/11/2009
- by Peter Martin
- Cinematical
The Class
Starring François Bégaudeau, Nassim Amrabt, and Laura Baquela
Directed by Laurent Cantet
Rated PG-13
All I knew about The Class is what most people who knew about knew about it: It won the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Over the years, I've learned not to completely trust film festival awards, primarily because their juries are usually comprised of several actors, and actors make bad movies all the time thinking they're good movies.
I mean, Fahrenheit 9/11 picked up the Golden Palm once, so, you know...
I also knew that The Class had recently become an Oscar nominee in the Best Foreign Language Film category this year, although the likely winner is Waltz With Bashir, which could've been nominated in the documentary and animated categories, as well.
So that encompasses all I knew about the film, and in most cases, when I can avoid knowing about a movie going in,...
Starring François Bégaudeau, Nassim Amrabt, and Laura Baquela
Directed by Laurent Cantet
Rated PG-13
All I knew about The Class is what most people who knew about knew about it: It won the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Over the years, I've learned not to completely trust film festival awards, primarily because their juries are usually comprised of several actors, and actors make bad movies all the time thinking they're good movies.
I mean, Fahrenheit 9/11 picked up the Golden Palm once, so, you know...
I also knew that The Class had recently become an Oscar nominee in the Best Foreign Language Film category this year, although the likely winner is Waltz With Bashir, which could've been nominated in the documentary and animated categories, as well.
So that encompasses all I knew about the film, and in most cases, when I can avoid knowing about a movie going in,...
- 2/20/2009
- by Colin Boyd
- GetTheBigPicture.net
Winner of the Palme D’Or at Cannes last year, Laurent Cantet’s The Class (Entre les murs - literally ‘Between the walls’) is getting a welcome UK theatrical release on 27th February. Based on the 2006 novel by François Bégaudeau, the film also stars the author in a semi-autobiographical tale of his time teaching at a rough inner city school in Paris. You can read Michael’s review here and see the trailer below the break.
- 2/16/2009
- by James Dennis
- Screen Anarchy
Speed Racer Release Date: Jan. 30
Director: Laurent Cantet
Writers: François Bégaudeau, Robin Campillo, Laurent Cantet
Cinematographer: Pierre Milon
Starring: François Bégaudeau,
Studio/Run Time: Sony Pictures Classics, 128 mins.
The schoolroom drama—one teacher versus a room full of wild adolescents—has been so debased by Hollywood that the mention of another one, even if it arrives from Europe, causes both of my knees to jerk. These films document the existence of a mythical maverick who can fight an ineffective education system and inspire hoodlums to greatness. But I’m pleased to discover that The Class, like the real world, has no use for such fairy tales.
Director: Laurent Cantet
Writers: François Bégaudeau, Robin Campillo, Laurent Cantet
Cinematographer: Pierre Milon
Starring: François Bégaudeau,
Studio/Run Time: Sony Pictures Classics, 128 mins.
The schoolroom drama—one teacher versus a room full of wild adolescents—has been so debased by Hollywood that the mention of another one, even if it arrives from Europe, causes both of my knees to jerk. These films document the existence of a mythical maverick who can fight an ineffective education system and inspire hoodlums to greatness. But I’m pleased to discover that The Class, like the real world, has no use for such fairy tales.
- 1/28/2009
- Pastemagazine.com
Laurent Cantet's acclaimed drama "Entre les murs" (The Class) picked up the award for best picture Monday at France's Lumiere Awards.
Based on the book by François Bégaudeau, the film documents daily life in a junior high school classroom. "Entre les murs" also won the presitious Palme d’Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.
The award for best director went to François Dupeyron for his comedy "Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera" (With a Little Help from Myself), about a family of immigrants living outside of Paris.
Meanwhile, the prize for best screenplay was awarded to Samuel Benchetrit for "J'ai toujours rêvé d'être un gangster" (I Always Wanted to Be a Gangster), which also took home the World Cinema Screenwriting Award at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.
Vincent Cassell was named best actor for "Mesrine," while Yolande Moreau won best actress for "Séraphine." Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne won the award for the...
Based on the book by François Bégaudeau, the film documents daily life in a junior high school classroom. "Entre les murs" also won the presitious Palme d’Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.
The award for best director went to François Dupeyron for his comedy "Aide-toi, le ciel t'aidera" (With a Little Help from Myself), about a family of immigrants living outside of Paris.
Meanwhile, the prize for best screenplay was awarded to Samuel Benchetrit for "J'ai toujours rêvé d'être un gangster" (I Always Wanted to Be a Gangster), which also took home the World Cinema Screenwriting Award at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.
Vincent Cassell was named best actor for "Mesrine," while Yolande Moreau won best actress for "Séraphine." Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne won the award for the...
- 1/21/2009
- by Franck Tabouring
- screeninglog.com
When François Bégaudeau, the co-writer and star of Laurent Cantet’s The Class, strides confidently into an ethnically mixed middle-school classroom—where he’ll spend most of the film’s 128 minutes—audiences can be forgiven for expecting him to work miracles. The movies have trained us to believe that an inspirational teacher can turn inner-city thugs into rapping scholars and disaffected private-school kids into barbaric yawpers, so surely a man of Bégaudeau’s talents can stir up this melting pot, no? Well, not exactly. The beauty of The Class is that it puts the lie to the one-teacher-can-make-a-difference myth propagated by so many other films; Bégaudeau may well have an impact on his students, but he and the film have the wisdom to understand that some kids can’t be reached, and teachers often find that cultural or bureaucratic conditions leave their hands tied. Shot with a skeleton crew, including three digital cameras,...
- 12/19/2008
- by Scott Tobias
- avclub.com
By Stephen Saito
It was the kind of coincidence that doesn't happen in a Laurent Cantet film: on the press tour for his last feature, "Heading South," the filmmaker appeared on the same radio talk show as François Bégaudeau, a former teacher and film critic who recently published a novel about his time working at a junior high school entitled "Entre les Murs (Between the Walls)." Cantet was already intent on making a film about a classroom when he met Bégaudeau outside the studio and offered to buy the rights to his book on the spot. The resulting film, which won the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes and impressed at the New York Film Festival, also stars Bégaudeau along with a group of 24 students from Françoise Dolto Junior High in Paris, playing more or less themselves. Over the school year documented in the film, "The Diary of Anne Frank...
It was the kind of coincidence that doesn't happen in a Laurent Cantet film: on the press tour for his last feature, "Heading South," the filmmaker appeared on the same radio talk show as François Bégaudeau, a former teacher and film critic who recently published a novel about his time working at a junior high school entitled "Entre les Murs (Between the Walls)." Cantet was already intent on making a film about a classroom when he met Bégaudeau outside the studio and offered to buy the rights to his book on the spot. The resulting film, which won the Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes and impressed at the New York Film Festival, also stars Bégaudeau along with a group of 24 students from Françoise Dolto Junior High in Paris, playing more or less themselves. Over the school year documented in the film, "The Diary of Anne Frank...
- 12/17/2008
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
By Neil Pedley
There's a noticeably European flavor this week, combined with some good old-fashioned work-a-day miserablism just in time for the holidays. Laurent Cantet's Palme d'Or-winning doc shows a French school in minor crisis, Mickey Rourke battles his demons and Jim Carrey flails about -- all in good festive fun!
"The Class"
Considering that the ongoing debate over the education system approaches a national pastime in France, it's not difficult to see why Laurent Cantet's pseudo-documentary chronicling a year in a Paris classroom took home the Palme d'Or on its home turf in Cannes. Based on a semi-autobiographical account from former lit teacher François Bégaudeau, playing a similar role here for the cameras, Cantet delivers a studied microcosm of French society via a multiethnic school with an administration run by committee. During the course of a turbulent school year, every aspect of the human social dynamic is played out with points made,...
There's a noticeably European flavor this week, combined with some good old-fashioned work-a-day miserablism just in time for the holidays. Laurent Cantet's Palme d'Or-winning doc shows a French school in minor crisis, Mickey Rourke battles his demons and Jim Carrey flails about -- all in good festive fun!
"The Class"
Considering that the ongoing debate over the education system approaches a national pastime in France, it's not difficult to see why Laurent Cantet's pseudo-documentary chronicling a year in a Paris classroom took home the Palme d'Or on its home turf in Cannes. Based on a semi-autobiographical account from former lit teacher François Bégaudeau, playing a similar role here for the cameras, Cantet delivers a studied microcosm of French society via a multiethnic school with an administration run by committee. During the course of a turbulent school year, every aspect of the human social dynamic is played out with points made,...
- 12/15/2008
- by Neil Pedley
- ifc.com
- On the outset, The Class is deceptive and microscopic enough in nature that that you won’t feel the film’s powerful grip until you’re reminded of how invested you are in the plight of several of the film’s characters. Stitched together by a cast of non-professional actors, the Palme d’or-winning picture is a multi-ethnic milieu set within the limitations of an institution and within the timeline constraints of a full school year. Based on the novel by François Bégaudeau who wrote the script and stars as the film’s lead, the film is specific in its setting, but the story is timeless, universal and stretches way beyond the storyline’s settings – it could easily take place in your neck of the concentrate jungle. Director Laurent Cantet’s demonstrates the daily grind of one teacher taking on a group of very opinionated youths. Cultures clash, and feelings get hurt.
- 12/4/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
The first film I saw at the AFI Fest in Hollywood was a French feature called The Class. It won the Palme d'Or at Cannes earlier this year and looked pretty interesting, even though most of the winners coming out of that fest I don't usually like. But this time around, it was a definite change of a pace - The Class is an utterly fascinating look at French society as told through the experiences of a middle school teacher. I really loved this film, so much so that I didn't want it to end, I wanted to just keep watching. It's quite rare that a film truly transcends being great cinematic art, but this does just that. It's so much more than just a narrative feature, it's a captivating exploration into human nature and the progress of society. Novelist François Bégaudeau plays Mr. Marin, a middle school French teacher...
- 11/3/2008
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
The Class Directed by: Laurent Cantet Cast: François Bégaudeau Time: 2 hrs 8 mins Rating: Not yet rated Plot: A middle school teacher (Bégaudeau), in a multi-ethnic public school outside of Paris ,spends a year struggling with a crop of resistant students. As he tries to do his job - which is to teach his pupils how to read, write and speak proper French - he finds himself constantly at odds with their rebelliousness, their sharpening intellect and the surprising things he doesn't know about them that makes each one an individual. As he works to find the balance between teaching and preaching, he lets his temper get the better of him. Consequences, both for himself and for his students, aren't far behind. Who’s It For? Though it's award-winning, the film is not for those expecting...
- 10/19/2008
- The Scorecard Review
- #16. The Class (Entre les Murs)Director/Writer: Laurent Cantet directs and co-writes the story with Robin Campillo. Screenplay cred goes to François Bégaudeau.Producers: Caroline Benjo (Coco avant Chanel) and Carole Scotta (Vers le Sud).Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics The Gist: Based on Francois Begaudeau's book "Entre les murs", this follows the year in the life of a French schoolteacher (Francoise Begaudeau) working at a high-school in a tough neighborhood of Paris. Ethnicities, cultures and attitudes often clash in the classroom. As amusing and inspiring as the teenage students can be, their difficult behavior can still jeopardize any teacher's enthusiasm for the low-paying job. Fact: The book's author Bégaudeau met Cantet as a fellow guest on a talk show. Bégaudeau wrote not only the screenplay but was the lead actor in this docu-drama. See It: Claimed Cannes' top prize for a good reason. Sincere portrait a must for anyone
- 9/4/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
Laurent Cantet’s French drama “The Class” ("Entre les murs"), a film based on François Bégaudeau's book about life in a junior high-school classroom, took home the Film Critics Award Thursday at the 2008 edition of the Norwegian International Film Festival at Haugesund.
Cantet's film won several prestigious awards at festivals all over the world in the past months. After winning the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, "The Class" also picked up the One Future Prize at the 25th Munich Film Festival.
The Ray of Sunshine Award went to Mike Leigh's dramedy "Happy-Go-Lucky," about the ups and downs in the life of a London teacher. The film stars Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan and Andrea Riseborough.
Meanwhile, Thomas Vinterberg's "A Man Comes Home" ("En Mand kommer hjem") won the festival's audience prize. The comedy follows a famous opera singer who returns home to find his hometown drowning in chaos.
Cantet's film won several prestigious awards at festivals all over the world in the past months. After winning the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, "The Class" also picked up the One Future Prize at the 25th Munich Film Festival.
The Ray of Sunshine Award went to Mike Leigh's dramedy "Happy-Go-Lucky," about the ups and downs in the life of a London teacher. The film stars Sally Hawkins, Eddie Marsan and Andrea Riseborough.
Meanwhile, Thomas Vinterberg's "A Man Comes Home" ("En Mand kommer hjem") won the festival's audience prize. The comedy follows a famous opera singer who returns home to find his hometown drowning in chaos.
- 8/24/2008
- by Franck Tabouring
- screeninglog.com
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