French Film Industry Sees Increase in International Co-Productions, Spike in Investment From Streamers

Ben Croll Questions of distribution animated industry talk and private debate at this year’s NewImages Festival, as delegates considered new strategies to connect accomplished immersive works with the widest possible public. Of the new opportunities presented, the Full Dome model – which sees 360 works projected on the large spherical screens – proved particularly eye opening, as acquisitions execs from Paris’ Diversion Cinema and exhibitors from Montreal’s Society for Arts and Technology (SAT) keyed into the immersive, multi-user potential found – among other possible locations – on the domed ceilings of your friendly neighborhood planetarium.

Sara Foster, daughter of legendary musician David Foster, disavowed "liberal politicians" as details emerged about the death of tech entrepreneur Bob Lee. Lee, the 43-year-old founder of Cash App, was fatally stabbed at around 2:30 a.m.Tuesday in the Rincon Hill area of San Francisco. Authorities have not identified a suspect in the attack.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Woody Allen’s “Coup de Chance,” the controversial filmmaker’s 50th movie, has found a French distributor. Metropolitan FilmExport, one of country’s biggest independent distributors, has come on board to release the movie in France. The release date has not yet been set, but sources close to the film say it could world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Metropolitan FilmExport has never handled a movie directed by Allen before as it typically focuses on commercial U.S. movies such as the “Hunger Games” franchise and “Evil Dead Rises.” While Allen’s movies have also always been widely popular in France, his previous film “Rifkin’s Festival” sold under 100,000 tickets for Apollo Films after world premiering at the San Sebastian Festival. It was the director’s worst B.O. performance in France. Budgeted in the $20-million range, “Coup de Chance” was a pricey acquisition that not many French distributors could afford to gamble on.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent On the heels of her Oscar victory with “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” the inspiring Michelle Yeoh will be celebrated by Kering at this year’s Cannes Film Festival where she will receive the 2023 Women In Motion Award. The ceremony will be held in Cannes during the glamorous Women In Motion dinner which is dedicated to honoring women in cinema. Yeoh was chosen as this year’s honoree by François-Henri Pinault, chairman and CEO of Kering, and Iris Knobloch, the new president of the Cannes Film Festival, as well Thierry Frémaux, Cannes Festival’s director. The dinner is part of the pioneering Women in Motion program, launched in 2015 during the Festival to highlight the creativity and contribution made by women in the world of culture and the arts.

Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh is set to head to the Cannes Film Festival this year, where she will become the latest recipient of Kering’s Women In Motion Award.

The founder of the mobile payment service Cash App was fatally stabbed on a San Francisco street yesterday, his family confirmed today.

Jeanne Vaubernier, a young working-class woman hungry for culture and pleasure, uses her intelligence and allure to climb the rungs of the social ladder one by one. She becomes the favourite of King Louis XV who, unaware of her status as courtesan, regains through her his appetite for life.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Bob Lee, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, investor and executive who created Cash App, died Tuesday after he was fatally stabbed in San Francisco, according to reports. He was 43. Lee was formerly CTO of Jack Dorsey’s payments company Square (which is now called Block) and most recently was the chief product officer at cryptocurrency company MobileCoin, which he joined in late 2021. The San Francisco Police Department said in an announcement that it responded to a report of a stabbing near the 300 block of Main Street on April 4 at about 2:35 a.m. SFPD did not identify the victim. NBC Bay Area and other outlets subsequently reported that the victim of the stabbing was Lee.

A well-known tech executive was stabbed to death in San Francisco on Tuesday. Bob Lee, who was one

Cash App founder Bob Lee has been killed.

You may recall many moons ago, “Anomalisa” animator and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Duke Johnson—he co-directed the film with writer/director Charlie Kaufman—had a new live-action film in the works called “The Actor.” The film was to star Ryan Gosling, who was also producing; it was a big screen take on Donald E. Westlake’s novel “Memory.” READ MORE: ‘The Actor’: NEON To Distribute The New Film From Ryan Gosling & ‘Anomalisa’ Director Duke Johnson Gosling was to play the role of Paul Cole, a man who must deal with his damaged memory as he struggles to rebuild his life after being left for dead and hospitalized in 1950s Ohio.

The Cannes Film Festival has confirmed that it will announce the Official Selection for its 76th edition on April 13 in Paris.

J. Kim Murphy Stefan Grygelko, a pillar of the San Francisco drag community who performed under the persona Heklina, was found dead Monday in London. Heklina was 54. Heklina was discovered by Peaches Christ (fellow drag performer Joshua Grannell) on Monday morning. The pair had been touring with their stage production “Mommie Queerest,” a parody of the 1981 cult feature “Mommie Dearest,” which was slated for a two-week run at the Soho Theatre. No official cause of death has been released. “I am shocked and horrified to bring this news to you. I am living in a real-life nightmare so forgive me if I don’t have all the answers just now. This morning, in London, England I went to collect my dear friend Heklina, who is costarring with me in a Mommie Queerest show here, and found her dead,” Peaches Christ wrote in a statement on social media. “Heklina is not just my best friend, but a beloved icon of our community. I am a mess.”

Sharon Acker, best known as Lee Marvin’s unfaithful wife in the 1967 film Point Blank, died March 16 in a Toronto residential home. She was 87 and her death was confirmed by daughter Kim Everest, a casting director. 

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The Cannes Film Festival has confirmed that Martin Scorsese’s highly anticipated “Killers of the Flower Moon” will world premiere on the Croisette. The event will mark Scorsese’s first time presenting a film at Cannes since winning best director for “After Hours” in 1986. The festival has not yet specified whether the film will play in or out of competition. The Apple original film brings together a starry cast, led by Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, Cara Jade Myers, JaNae Collins, Jillian Dion and Tantoo Cardinal. All of them are expected to hit the red carpet, along with additional cast and members of the filmmaking team, the festival said. The movie’s premiere is set for May 20, which falls on a Saturday, at the prestigious Grand Théâtre Lumière.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Wild Bunch International, the sales company behind “Titane” and “Happening” (pictured), has renamed itself as Goodfellas. In a brief press release, the company said “there are no other changes to the structure created in 2019.” Wild Bunch International was launched in 2019 as a standalone sales company by French film industry veterans Vincent Maraval and Brahim Chioua. The pair had previously co-founded Wild Bunch, which is now owned by German entrepreneur Lars Windhorst and ran by former NBCUniversal vice chairman Ron Meyer and former beIN Media Group executive Sophie Jordan. Wild Bunch International was created shortly after Wild Bunch completed its restructuring plan. Under their three-year deal, Wild Bunch had a minority stake in the new banner and allowed it to use the Wild Bunch brand. The three-year pact ended in November and the two companies no longer have corporate ties. But Goodfellas said it will continue working with Wild Bunch on select project through a new deal.

Paramount will give Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon a theatrical release in France from October 18, Deadline has confirmed, in a move that will make the film subject to the country’s strict windowing rules.

Twice-impeached former president Donald Trump hasn’t been arrested yet, but Jimmy Fallon is pretty sure he’s starting to feel the heat. During Monday night’s episode of “The Tonight Show,” Fallon joked that the location of Trump’s first official 2024 campaign rally was the clearest sign of that.On Saturday, Trump stopped in Waco, Texas to make his first official campaign bid to the people and, as always, his speech was full of lies and gripes about how he’s being treated unfairly.

More than 300 leading figures from the French film and TV world have got behind a petition decrying controversial pension reforms spearheaded by the government of President Emmanuel Macron.

statement on the SFPD’s Facebook page, Vandergrift was considered “at-risk” when he was first reported as missing. In a March 1 message to and for Vandergrift’s fans, his wife Natasha Yi thanked iHeart Radio and his listeners for staying with her through his disappearance.  “I can feel your love and energy for JV, and I am so grateful for it,” Yi’s statement reads.