With its impressive stunt scenes, pimped cars and groomed cops, Netflix’s “Lost Bullet” marks a big departure from the typical French thriller with run-down cops on the verge of depression or retirement.
Sara May, a Quebec-born executive who joined Netflix in 2018, has been a driving force behind a new wave of French action thrillers such as the “Lost Bullet” franchise that have been global hits on the streamer.
Released two weeks ago on the platform, the second opus of “Lost Bullet” currently ranks as the most-watched non-English language movie on Netflix, and it’s also in the top 10 across 80 countries. The movie also tops the charts across 80 territories including France, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Thailand and Jamaica.
Set in Southern France, in Marseille, “Lost Bullet 2” brings back the French cast including Alban Lenoir, Stéfi Celma and Pascale Arbillot. Lenoir (pictured above), who started his career as a stuntman on movies like “Taken,...
Sara May, a Quebec-born executive who joined Netflix in 2018, has been a driving force behind a new wave of French action thrillers such as the “Lost Bullet” franchise that have been global hits on the streamer.
Released two weeks ago on the platform, the second opus of “Lost Bullet” currently ranks as the most-watched non-English language movie on Netflix, and it’s also in the top 10 across 80 countries. The movie also tops the charts across 80 territories including France, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Thailand and Jamaica.
Set in Southern France, in Marseille, “Lost Bullet 2” brings back the French cast including Alban Lenoir, Stéfi Celma and Pascale Arbillot. Lenoir (pictured above), who started his career as a stuntman on movies like “Taken,...
- 11/30/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
China Selects Feelgood Hit ‘Nice View’ for Oscars Race
China has selected feelgood comedy drama film “Nice View” as its contender for the best international feature film category of the Academy Awards.
The Chinese film industry has pursued an increasingly separate course from the rest of the world this year – few foreign titles have been granted import permits and quota release slots, and, similarly, few Chinese films have been allowed to play at overseas film festivals. So, it was unclear whether Chinese authorities would participate in the Oscars process and submit a national contender.
Inviting comparisons with “The Pursuit of Happyness,” the plot of “Nice View” involves a 20-year orphaned man who moves to the Shenzhen megacity and works as a repair man to raise money for his six-year-old sister’s heart surgery. When it goes wrong, his plan to borrow money to buy crates full of second-hand telephones leaves...
China has selected feelgood comedy drama film “Nice View” as its contender for the best international feature film category of the Academy Awards.
The Chinese film industry has pursued an increasingly separate course from the rest of the world this year – few foreign titles have been granted import permits and quota release slots, and, similarly, few Chinese films have been allowed to play at overseas film festivals. So, it was unclear whether Chinese authorities would participate in the Oscars process and submit a national contender.
Inviting comparisons with “The Pursuit of Happyness,” the plot of “Nice View” involves a 20-year orphaned man who moves to the Shenzhen megacity and works as a repair man to raise money for his six-year-old sister’s heart surgery. When it goes wrong, his plan to borrow money to buy crates full of second-hand telephones leaves...
- 10/31/2022
- by Patrick Frater, Anna Marie de la Fuente, Elsa Keslassy, Leo Barraclough, Nick Vivarelli, Mark Schilling, John Hopewell, Jennie Punter, Naman Ramachandran and Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Kinology has dropped the trailer for “Alma Viva,” the feature debut of French-Portuguese actor-turned-filmmaker Cristèle Alves Meira which is world premiered today Cannes’ Critics Week.
The Paris-based sales banner already hosted a press and industry screening for the film today and earned some strong reviews.
“Alma Viva” follows Salomé, a little girl who returns to her family village nestled in the Portuguese mountains for the holidays. As the holidays begin in a carefree atmosphere, her beloved grandmother suddenly dies. While the adults are tearing each other apart over the funeral, Salomé is haunted by the spirit of the one who was considered a witch.
“Alma Viva” is a personal project for Alves Meira, who was born in France to Portuguese emigrant parents and cast her own daughter is the role of Salomé.
The helmer said the “project was born out of a feeling of injustice that I felt when my maternal grandmother died.
The Paris-based sales banner already hosted a press and industry screening for the film today and earned some strong reviews.
“Alma Viva” follows Salomé, a little girl who returns to her family village nestled in the Portuguese mountains for the holidays. As the holidays begin in a carefree atmosphere, her beloved grandmother suddenly dies. While the adults are tearing each other apart over the funeral, Salomé is haunted by the spirit of the one who was considered a witch.
“Alma Viva” is a personal project for Alves Meira, who was born in France to Portuguese emigrant parents and cast her own daughter is the role of Salomé.
The helmer said the “project was born out of a feeling of injustice that I felt when my maternal grandmother died.
- 5/18/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
French hub confirms €200m investment in French series and features this year.
Netflix France has given a taster of the 25 original French series and films due to be launched on the platform this year at a press event in Paris on Thursday (March 10) and revealed a further 20 titles are in production.
The French hub, which officially opened on the eve of the Covid-19 pandemic in January 2020, also confirmed it would be investing €200m in French content this year.
The Paris team announced two new French feature projects, the presidential election comedy En Place and Le Roi Des Ombres, a family...
Netflix France has given a taster of the 25 original French series and films due to be launched on the platform this year at a press event in Paris on Thursday (March 10) and revealed a further 20 titles are in production.
The French hub, which officially opened on the eve of the Covid-19 pandemic in January 2020, also confirmed it would be investing €200m in French content this year.
The Paris team announced two new French feature projects, the presidential election comedy En Place and Le Roi Des Ombres, a family...
- 3/10/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Action star Jean-Claude Van Damme has begun shooting in France for a Netflix action-comedy called “The Last Mercenary,” Netflix announced Friday.
The film is directed by David Charhon and is a French-language film that stars Van Damme as a mysterious former secret service agent who must urgently return to France when his estranged son (Samir Decazza) is falsely accused of arms and drug trafficking by the government, following a blunder by an overzealous bureaucrat (Alban Ivanov) and a mafia operation.
Charhon and Ismaël Sy Savané wrote the film that co-stars Alban Ivanov, Assa Sylla, Samir Decazza, Patrick Timsit, Eric Judor and Miou-Miou, and the film will debut soon on Netflix. “The Last Mercenary” will shoot in France and Ukraine.
Also Read: Naya Rivera to Appear as Judge on Netflix's 'Sugar Rush' Episode Filmed Before Her Death
“The Last Mercenary” is produced by Jean-Charles Levy, Nicolas Manuel (Forecast Pictures), Olivier Albou,...
The film is directed by David Charhon and is a French-language film that stars Van Damme as a mysterious former secret service agent who must urgently return to France when his estranged son (Samir Decazza) is falsely accused of arms and drug trafficking by the government, following a blunder by an overzealous bureaucrat (Alban Ivanov) and a mafia operation.
Charhon and Ismaël Sy Savané wrote the film that co-stars Alban Ivanov, Assa Sylla, Samir Decazza, Patrick Timsit, Eric Judor and Miou-Miou, and the film will debut soon on Netflix. “The Last Mercenary” will shoot in France and Ukraine.
Also Read: Naya Rivera to Appear as Judge on Netflix's 'Sugar Rush' Episode Filmed Before Her Death
“The Last Mercenary” is produced by Jean-Charles Levy, Nicolas Manuel (Forecast Pictures), Olivier Albou,...
- 7/31/2020
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Netflix has begun production on O2, a French survival thriller to be directed by Alexandre Aja and starring Melanie Laurent. Getaway Films’ Vincent Maraval, Brahim Chioua and Noëmie Devide are producing the Black List script by Christie LeBlanc. The film will be released on Netflix in mid-2021. Mathieu Amalric and Malik Zidi have also joined the cast.
This is a project that previously had Noomi Rapace attached to star for director Franck Khalfoun and with Aja producing (Wild Bunch International kicked off sales at the Efm). Prior to that, Anne Hathaway was in the mix. The most recent switch-up marks Aja’s return behind the camera on a French-language project after such U.S.-based films as Crawl, The Hills Have Eyes and Piranha 3D. Aja will also produce alongside longtime associate Gregory Levasseur.
O2 tells the story of a young woman who wakes up in a medical cryo unit.
This is a project that previously had Noomi Rapace attached to star for director Franck Khalfoun and with Aja producing (Wild Bunch International kicked off sales at the Efm). Prior to that, Anne Hathaway was in the mix. The most recent switch-up marks Aja’s return behind the camera on a French-language project after such U.S.-based films as Crawl, The Hills Have Eyes and Piranha 3D. Aja will also produce alongside longtime associate Gregory Levasseur.
O2 tells the story of a young woman who wakes up in a medical cryo unit.
- 7/23/2020
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Netflix has boarded “O2,” a French survival thriller directed by Alexandre Aja, whose credits include “Crawl,” “The Hills Have Eyes” and “Piranha 3D.”
The film, which marks the return of Aja to a French-speaking project after a 15-year career in the U.S., is produced by Vincent Maraval, Brahim Chioua and Noëmie Devide for Getaway Films.
Mélanie Laurent will headline the film, alongside Mathieu Amalric (“The French Dispatch”) and Malik Zidi (“Play”).
Aja also acts as producer alongside his longtime associate Gregory Levasseur. The film will be released on Netflix mid 2021.
David Kosse, VP, international original film, and Gaëlle Mareschi, creative manager of international original film, Netflix, said that Aja would be “taking us on a thrilling and unexpected ride physically, but also emotionally, bringing his imagination to another level.”
Based on Christie LeBlanc’s original script which was on The Black List, “O2″ tells the story of a young...
The film, which marks the return of Aja to a French-speaking project after a 15-year career in the U.S., is produced by Vincent Maraval, Brahim Chioua and Noëmie Devide for Getaway Films.
Mélanie Laurent will headline the film, alongside Mathieu Amalric (“The French Dispatch”) and Malik Zidi (“Play”).
Aja also acts as producer alongside his longtime associate Gregory Levasseur. The film will be released on Netflix mid 2021.
David Kosse, VP, international original film, and Gaëlle Mareschi, creative manager of international original film, Netflix, said that Aja would be “taking us on a thrilling and unexpected ride physically, but also emotionally, bringing his imagination to another level.”
Based on Christie LeBlanc’s original script which was on The Black List, “O2″ tells the story of a young...
- 7/23/2020
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Critics’ Week launched The Next Step initiative in 2014 to help directors of shorts that premiere in its selection to progress to their first feature.
Finnish director Mikko Myllylahti, who co-wrote Un Certain Regard winner The Happiest Day In The Life Of Olli Mäki, has won the inaugural €5,000 Critics’ Week Step Prize, for his debut feature project The Woodcutter Story.
Produced by Aamu Film Company, the black comedy will explore the power of hope against obscurantism through the tale of a village blighted by the opening of a mine.
Critics’ Week launched The Next Step initiative in 2014 to help directors of...
Finnish director Mikko Myllylahti, who co-wrote Un Certain Regard winner The Happiest Day In The Life Of Olli Mäki, has won the inaugural €5,000 Critics’ Week Step Prize, for his debut feature project The Woodcutter Story.
Produced by Aamu Film Company, the black comedy will explore the power of hope against obscurantism through the tale of a village blighted by the opening of a mine.
Critics’ Week launched The Next Step initiative in 2014 to help directors of...
- 5/19/2019
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Finnish poet-turned-filmmaker Mikko Myllylahti’s feature debut, “The Woodcutter Story,” won Cannes’ Critics’ Week inaugural Next Step award, part of a program aimed at helping the directors of the 10 shorts playing in the sidebar to make their feature debut.
“The Woodcutter Story,” which is being developed by the production banner Aamu Film Company, unfolds in Finland’s Lapland, in a quiet village where a dark force enters and sparks a series of tragic events. The tragedies start dragging down the morale of all but one villager, the local woodcutter whose unflinching optimism becomes suspicious.
Myllylahti said the movie mixed black comedy, surrealism and metaphorical thriller elements. He said the movie would also carry an environmental theme and would be about hope. The filmmaker, who has had four collections of poems published, said the tone of “The Woodcutter Story” was inspired by the Coen brothers’ “No Country for Old Men” and the work of Robert Bresson.
“The Woodcutter Story,” which is being developed by the production banner Aamu Film Company, unfolds in Finland’s Lapland, in a quiet village where a dark force enters and sparks a series of tragic events. The tragedies start dragging down the morale of all but one villager, the local woodcutter whose unflinching optimism becomes suspicious.
Myllylahti said the movie mixed black comedy, surrealism and metaphorical thriller elements. He said the movie would also carry an environmental theme and would be about hope. The filmmaker, who has had four collections of poems published, said the tone of “The Woodcutter Story” was inspired by the Coen brothers’ “No Country for Old Men” and the work of Robert Bresson.
- 5/18/2019
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
The benefits and potential downfalls of film funds and the strength of genre films were among topics covered during Frontières panel at Bifff, hosted by Eave and moderated by Tailored Films’ Ruth Treacy.
House of Netherhorror’s Jan Doense noted that one of the benefits of film funds in the European market when it came to genre films was that as it was soft money, they generally give “more artistic freedom”.
“The system gives the opportunity for original ideas to get funded in an easier way than in North America where there isn’t the support of a film fund.”
However, Xyz Films’ Todd Brown countered that support from film funds does have a potential downfall. “It’s certainly the company line about giving creative freedom, but what I see in Canada all the time is that it creates a cycle of dependence. Producers developing projects according to the tastes of the funding body as opposed to the...
House of Netherhorror’s Jan Doense noted that one of the benefits of film funds in the European market when it came to genre films was that as it was soft money, they generally give “more artistic freedom”.
“The system gives the opportunity for original ideas to get funded in an easier way than in North America where there isn’t the support of a film fund.”
However, Xyz Films’ Todd Brown countered that support from film funds does have a potential downfall. “It’s certainly the company line about giving creative freedom, but what I see in Canada all the time is that it creates a cycle of dependence. Producers developing projects according to the tastes of the funding body as opposed to the...
- 4/15/2015
- by ian.sandwell@screendaily.com (Ian Sandwell)
- ScreenDaily
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