French Director Catherine Corsini’s Film Was Removed From Cannes Competition After Complaints

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Anonymous Content has come on board California surf-themed animated feature adapted from illustrator AJ Dungo’s celebrated graphic memoir, “In Waves.” Produced by Paris-based Silex Films, “In Waves” marks the feature debut of Phuong Mai Nguyen (“Brazen”), and is being penned by Fanny Burdino and Samuel Doux, whose screenwriting credits include “After Love” and “The Origin of Evil.” The feature is produced by Priscilla Bertin and Judith Nora, co-Founders of Silex Films, alongside Charades and Nick Shumaker, Garrett Kemble, and David Levine who will executive produce on behalf of Anonymous Content.

The 76th Festival de Cannes already had a jury president in two-time Palme d’Or winner Ruben Ostlünd. It now has eight more members to fill out its jury.

Playtime has unveiled a strong Cannes film market sales slate, which includes competition titles “About Dry Grasses” and “Homecoming.” “About Dry Grasses” is by Turkish auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who won the Palme d’Or in 2014 for “Winter Sleep.” The film follows Samet, a young art teacher, who is finishing his fourth year of compulsory service in a remote village in Anatolia. After a turn of events he can hardly make sense of, he loses his hopes of escaping the grim life he seems to be stuck in, and hopes that his encounter with fellow teacher Nuray will help him overcome his angst. Deniz Celiloğlu, Merve Dizdar and Musab Ekici are among the cast.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Netflix has set Xavier Gens’ (“Gangs of London”) untitled Paris-set genre movie starring Bérénice Bejo (“The Artist“) and Nassim Lyes (“Overdose”) as its next French film original. Set in the Summer of 2024, the film unfolds in Paris which is hosting the World Triathlon Championships on the Seine for the first time. Sophia, a brilliant scientist, learns from Mika, a young environmental activist, that a large shark is swimming deep in the river. To avoid a bloodbath at the heart of the city, they have no choice but to join forces with Adil, the Seine river police commander. Bejo and Lyes star in the film opposite Léa Léviant. The film is produced by Let Me Be and is slated for a launch on Netflix in 2024.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Pulsar Content has acquired “Niki,” a film about the famous French-American artist Niki de Saint-Phalle, for international sales. The Paris-based banner will introduce the period project to buyers at the Cannes market with exclusive first stills. “Niki” marks the feature debut of popular French actor Céline Sallette and stars Charlotte Le Bon (“The Walk” “Saint-Laurent”) as de Saint-Phalle. Le Bon recently made her feature debut with “Falcon Lake” — which bowed at Cannes last year — and previously starred in Robert Zemeckis’s “The Walk,” as well as Terry George’s “The Promise” and Jalil Lespert’s “Saint-Laurent.” Le Bon stars in “Niki” opposite Damien Bonnard (“Les Misérables“).

French director Catherine Corsini and her producer Elisabeth Perez have published an open letter denying wrongdoing on the set of upcoming Cannes Palme d’Or contender Le Retour.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Catherine Corsini, the French director of “Le Retour,” which was added to the competition lineup for the 76th edition of Cannes on Monday, has addressed the reports in French media of alleged inappropriate incidents during production of the film. Corsini’s competition slot was on hold for nearly 10 days after Cannes’s administration board heard that a scene of a sexual nature involving the 15-year old female protagonist of the film was added to the script and allegedly filmed without the consent of the Commission des Enfants du Spectacle, a government-backed organization. French reports also said Corsini was allegedly being accused of harassment by crew members, while other members of the crew had been allegedly been accused of inappropriate acts against two female actors.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire’s “Black Flies” starring Sean Penn, and Catherine Corsini’s “Le retour” have been added to the competition lineup of the upcoming 76th Cannes Film Festival. As many as 13 movies have been peppered across several sections, including the competition, special screening, Un Certain Regard and out of competition. Robert Rodriguez’s “Hypnotic” and Kim Tae-gon’s “Project Silence” are joining the Midnight Screening roster, while Amat Escalante’s Mexican drama “Perdidos en la Noche” and Argentinian helmer Lisandro Alonso’s thriller “Eureka” starring Viggo Mortensen and José María Yazpik, will bow at Cannes Premiere, a non-competitive section launched in 2021. Alonso previously won Cannes’ Un Certain Regard with his 2014 movie “Jauja.” Also slated for Cannes Premiere is Valerie Donzelli’s drama “L’Amour et les forets.”

The Cannes Film Festival has announced a raft of new additions to the Official Selection of its 76th edition running May 16 to 27.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent A flamboyant man who was once a sales clerk, singer, actor, sports impresario, business mogul and government minister, Bernard Tapie led a rollercoaster life wilder than most fictional characters depicted in pop culture, even those created by Martin Scorsese. No wonder that it took a decade for Tristan Seguela and Olivier Demangel to create and pen “Tapie,” a Netflix original series charting the swaggering man’s epic rise, from his blue-collar origins to his glorious days as a wealthy businessman and president of one of France’s biggest soccer clubs, Olympique de Marseille. The limited series tells intimate parts of his life, including his relationship with loved ones and business partners, as well as some of his setbacks and legal problems. Tapie died in 2021.

Pixar Animation Studio title Elemental has been announced as the closing film of the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, running from May 16 to 27.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Pixar will be back at the Cannes Film Festival on closing night (May 27) with the world premiere of their new feature “Elemental.”   Presented Out of Competition, the film will be released in theaters on June 16 in the U.S. and on June 21 in France.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Netflix has swooped on “Vortex,” the event drama-fantasy series which recently launched on France Televisions and garnered stellar ratings. The limited series will be available on Netflix in 190 countries starting June 2. The mini-series was produced by Quad Drama, the banner behind “Women at War” and “The Bonfire of Destiny” — a pair of highly successful shows which were jointly commissioned by Netflix and TF1. Set in 2025, the show stars Sisley as Ludovic, the police captain in the French city of Brest who lost the love of his life, Melanie, 27 years prior in a tragic accident. 

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Rolling off a successful edition that premiered Charlotte Wells’ celebrated film “Aftersun” with Paul Mescal, Cannes’ Critics Week is back with an international lineup spanning South Korea and Malaysia to France and Jordan, among others. The Critics Week sidebar runs parallel to the Cannes Film Festival, and focuses on first and second films. Under the leadership of artistic director Ava Cahen since last year, the lineup will boast 11 feature films chosen from 1,000 submitted movies. Out of these 11 movies, seven are feature debuts and six are directed by women. Among them is “Ama Gloria,” directed by French helmer Marie Amachoukeli, who previously won Cannes’ Golden Camera for “Party Girl” which she co-directed with Claire Burger and Samuel Theis.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Once pitted againsteach other as rivals, streamers and broadcasters have become unlikely allies in the face of increased competition and economic pressure following the pandemic and the launch of more content viewing platforms.  Even in France, where Netflix was referred to as the “devil” by France Televisions president Delphine Ernotte Cunci in a 2019 interview, the tide has turned and a number of ambitious series have been jointly financed by both local broadcasters and streamers.  Examples of collaborations vary from period drama series such as “The Bonfire of Destiny” and “Women at War,” from TF1 and Netflix, to action series like Ziad Doueiri’s “Dark Hearts,” from  France Televisions and Amazon Prime Video. What do these shows have in common? They shot in French with local casts, and have the high budgets and production values that are typically allocated to international co-productions like “Marie Antoinette,” which shot in English and was produced with French and foreign TV partners. 

Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here penning the weekly mailer a day after Cannes revealed its long-awaited lineup. Read on for all the details and plenty more, and sign up to the International Insider here.

Cannes chief Thierry Frémaux unveiled the bulk of the Official Selection for the 76th edition of the festival at a packed press conference in Paris on Thursday morning.

Mixmag reports, multiple DJs have spoken out about their alleged abusive experiences with Hall, who is the son of the late Terry Hall of The Specials.On Tuesday (April 11), New York-based artist Rainstick (real name Anthony Lowe) shared a statement on Instagram in which he accused Hall of sending “completely unprovoked, violent zionist messages, including vile death threats against my family”.“I learned that he also menaced at least two other people – female musicians of colour – with zionist messages, and that this may be a pattern of anti-Palestinian behaviour,” Lowe continued.In a statement obtained by Mixmag, Lowe said: “I have never before had a personal issue with Felix Hall. The issue is the bigotry, racism and violence he has displayed (and then tried to hide), and the greater dangers they represent.”Several other artists have since come forward to detail their experiences with Hall, including North African DJ Marwa Belhaj Youssef.

In total, Cannes Film Festival General Delegate Thierry Frémaux today announced 52 titles that will debut at the 76th edition which runs May 16-27 on the Riviera, and which he dedicated to the late producer and Telluride co-founder Tom Luddy. It’s set up to be yet another starry affair – though to outdo last year’s Top Gun: Maverick screening replete with French fighter jets buzzing the Palais would be a real feat.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Iconic French fashion house Saint Laurent is launching a film production banner spearheaded by its artistic director Anthony Vaccarello. Named Saint Laurent Productions, the subsidiary is kicking off with a trio of films from renowned filmmakers, including a pair of shorts world premiering at Cannes: “Strange Way of Life” by Pedro Almodóvar, starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal. Vaccarello, a cinephile who became the artistic director of Saint Laurent in 2016, said launching this new division gives him “the opportunity to expand the vision I have for Saint Laurent through a medium that has more permanence than clothes.”