‘Anatomy of a Fall’ Wins Best Film, Actress, Screenplay at France’s Lumiere Awards

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Netflix Original “The Society of the Snow” won best picture and director for J.A. Bayona at Saturday night’s 38th Spanish Academy Goya Awards. Those plaudits were two of a total 12 prizes, the third-highest kudos count for any title in the Goyas’ near 40-year history.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent French mini-major Pathé has acquired Les Films des Tournelles, the production company founded by Anne-Dominique Toussaint whose recent credits include Louis Garrel‘s Cesar-winning “The Innocent.” Besides Garrel, Les Films des Tournelles has worked with a flurry of auteurs on some of their most successful films, including Riad Sattouf’s “The French Kissers,” which won the Cesar for best first film in 2010; Nadine Labaki’s “Caramel”; Emanuele Crialese’s “Respiro”; Valeria Golino’s “Miele”; and Mona Achache’s “The Hedgehog.” “The Innocent” won two prizes at last year’s Cesar Awards and screened at Cannes on the 75th anniversary of the festival. Toussaint has also worked with Philippe Le Guay and Emmanuel Carrère.

Thomas Cailley’s fantasy drama The Animal Kingdom topped the nominations for France’s César Awards, which were announced in Paris on Wednesday.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Thomas Cailley’s supernatural drama “The Animal Kingdom” and Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or winning “Anatomy of a Fall” are leading the race at the 49th Cesar Awards with 12 and 11 nominations, respectively. Triet’s movie, which just garnered an impressive five Oscar nominations, and “The Animal Kingdom,” which opened at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and won a prize, will vie for for top Cesar awards, including best director and film.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent By now, even the most hardcore fans of French cuisine and “Chocolat” star Juliette Binoche can agree that Justine Triet‘s “Anatomy of a Fall” – rather than Tran Anh Hung’s “The Taste of Things” — was the one movie that could have given France its first Oscar win for best international feature in over 30 years, since Régis Wargnier’s “Indochine.” Over the last three decades, a number of French movies have earned Oscar recognition, but none have been the official French Oscar submission. Michael Haneke’s “Amour” earned five Oscar noms in 2013 and even won the best foreign-language Oscar but it represented Austria.

The Academy has confirmed to Deadline that this is the first time two international foreign-language movies have been nominated for Best Picture in the same year and the first time that two foreign-language movies have received five Oscar nominations apiece in the same year.

Three female directors saw their movies nab Best Picture Nominations this year — the first time that’s ever occurred in Oscar’s 96-year history: Celine Song with Past Lives, Great Gerwig with Barbie and Justine Triet with Anatomy of a Fall.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Women filmmakers hit a milestone with this year’s 2024 Oscar nominations. For the first time in history, three of the 10 movies nominated for best picture — Justine Triet’s “Anatomy of a Fall,” Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Celine Song’s “Past Lives” — were directed by a female auteur, the most recognized in the Academy Awards’ 96-year history. The other best picture nominees are: “American Fiction,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Maestro,” “Oppehneimer,” “The Holdovers,” “Poor Things,” and “The Zone of Interest.” Before this year’s best picture nominees, 591 movies were nominated by the Academy.

Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall continued its prize-winning run on Monday at France’s 29th Lumière Awards clinching Best Film and Best Screenplay, while its German star Sandra Hüller won Best Actress.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Leading Korean rights sales firm Finecut is to handle the international distribution of “A Traveler’s Needs,” which on Monday was confirmed as debuting in the main competition section of next month’s Berlinale. Remarkably, it is director Hong Sang-soo’s sixth selection for Berlin since 2020. The picture is also the third time that French acting icon Isabelle Huppert stars in a film by the Korean veteran director, following their previous joint efforts “Claire’s Camera” and “In Another Country.” A synopsis provided reads: “She came from France.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Gaumont has unveiled a first still and trailer for “Black Tea,” Abderrahmane Sissako‘s highly anticipated follow-up to his 2015 Oscar-nominated film “Timbuktu.” The movie will world premiere in competition at the Berlin Film Festival. A lushly-lensed romance drama, “Black Tea” (previously titled “The Perfumed Hill“) tells the story of Joice, who leaves the Ivory Coast after walking out on her wedding day and sets off to start a new life in Guangzhou, China.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has acquired international rights to Lenny and Harpo Guit’s new feature “Heads or Fails,” the duo’s follow-up to Sundance comedy “Mother Schmuckers.” Now in post, “Heads or Fails” tells the story of Armande Pigeon, a queen of shenanigans in Brussels who struggles to make ends meet because she can’t stop gambling on everything, always ending up on the wrong side of luck. When she teams up with Ronnie one night, everything changes – they win it all.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Agnes Jaoui, a beloved French actor, screenwriter and filmmaker, will receive an honorary Cesar Award during its 49th edition, which will be held at Olympia Concert Hall on Feb. 23. Jaoui formed a duo with the late Jean-Pierre Bacri for over three decades, collaborating on a number of films that were both critical and commercial hits.

Good afternoon Insiders, Jesse Whittock back with you. So much news to get through this week — here’s a pick of the biggest and best stories. Sign up for the newsletter here.

Former TF1 Group CEO and chairman Gilles Pélisson has gone through a baptism of fire this week in his new role of president at French film and TV promotional body Unifrance as he attends his first edition of its annual Paris Rendez-vous.

Justine Triet’s Cannes Palme d’Or Anatomy Of A Fall continued its buzzy awards season career on Thursday as it clocked up seven BAFTA nominations, including best director and film.The drama was also nominated for best original screenplay, film not in the English language, actress for Sandra Hüller, casting and editing.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Mongrel,” a Taiwan-set drama film that has done the round of project markets, will appear at the International Film Festival Rotterdam as a work in progress. In addition to the screening of 15 minutes of footage, Taiwan-based Singaporean director Chiang Wei Liang has confirmed the film’s cast as being headed by Thai actor Wanlop Rungkumjad (“Eternity,” “Manta Ray”) alongside Taiwanese female actor Lu Yi-ching (“The River”, “Stray Dogs”) and rapper Hong Yu-hong (“Bad Education”, “Miss Shampoo”) from Taiwanese hip-hop group Nine One One. Other key cast include Atchara Suwan (“By the Time It Gets Dark”), and Guo Shu-wei in his debut role.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Leading Asian film directors including Josh Kim, Fukada Koji and Patiparn Boontarig line up to pitch their in-development projects at the March edition of the Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF). Leading directors Wang Xiaoshuai and Zhang Lu will also be on the ground at HAF, operating as producers. So too will established producers Yamamoto Teruhisa (“Drive My Car”) and Michael J.

The move in recent years to make the Oscars a truly global event in terms of the membership drive by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has paid off particularly well this year: Eligible voters from a record 93 countries submitting ballots in the Academy Awards’ nominating round, which ended Tuesday at 5 p.m. PT.

The British Film Institute has revealed the list of TV, film, and animation companies that have won funding from its latest £3.3M ($4.2M) Global Screen Fund payout.