TF1 Studio, UGC Images Sign International Distribution Deal (EXCLUSIVE)

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentTV France International, the French TV promotion organisation, is launching the first edition of Rendez-Vous DOCS, a series of online pitching dedicated to documentaries. Aimed at 124 buyers across 38 countries, the sessions will highlight 18 projects and each program will be pitched by producers/and or sales agents and filmmakers at a Paris venue called Le Shack.

“Women Street Photographers,” edited by Gulnara Samoilova (Prestel)When Parisian authorities issued a decree in 1800 requiring women to obtain a permit to wear pants in public, the French writer George Sand defied the order.

Little Mix, Christine And The Queens, Rita Ora, The Staves and others have used their platforms to celebrate women today (March 8) for the annual campaign.Christine And The Queens wrote on Twitter (as translated from French to English) to “listen to female performers every day of the year” to support female-identifying people making art.Meanwhile, Rita Ora wrote: “There is no force greater than a group of unified women.

Petite Maman, Céline Sciamma's follow-up to her 2019 international breakthrough Portrait of a Lady on Fire is a more intimate affair. The acclaimed French filmmaker has switched the erotic charge and sexual politics of her 18th century period drama for a more personal story of love and loss in a tale of an eight-year-old girl trying to connect with her mother.

EXCLUSIVE: LA-based sales firm Film Bridge International has sold shark survival pic The Requin to Reset Collective (Australia/New Zealand), YouPlanet (Spain), Mediawan (France), Monolith (Poland), Purple Plan (SE Asia), Blitz Film Group (Ex-Yugo), and Blue Lantern (Vietnam).

IFC Films has acquired U.S. rights to Jacques Audiard’s upcoming film “Paris, 13th District” (Les Olympiades) during the virtual European Film Market.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentFrance TV Distribution has closed a raft of sales on “Hear Me Out,” a romantic comedy directed by French actor-turned-helmer Pascal Elbé (“Thank You for Calling,” “Turk’s Head”).The film stars Elbé as Antoine, a fifty-year old history professor who discovers that he’s losing his hearing and starts having a recluse life because of his handicap. His encounter with Claire, a widow whose daughter is mute, will help him open up again to the world.

Neon has scooped up North American rights to Céline Sciamma’s sixth feature directorial Petite Maman, bringing the Oscar-winning film studio back in business with the French filmmaker behind 2019’s award-winning pic Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Already there is great word of mouth brewing from critics on Sciamma’s new title out of its world premiere at the Berlinale.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterNeon has acquired North American rights to Céline Sciamma’s latest feature, “Petite Maman,” following its premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.The sale reunites Sciamma with Neon, the New York-based independent studio that released her acclaimed drama “Portrait of a Lady on Fire.”Written and directed by Sciamma, “Petite Maman” follows 8-year-old Nelly, who loses her beloved grandmother and goes to help her parents clean out her mother’s childhood home.

straight to your inbox every day for freeManchester United could look to sign Real Madrid defender Raphael Varane this summer - 10 years on from Sir Alex Ferguson’s near-miss. Ferguson came close to signing an 18-year-old Varane from French club Lens in 2011 only to be thwarted by Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentVoltage Pictures is launching international sales at the EFM on Italian romantic comedy “Per Tutta La Vita” (“For All Life”), from the writer-director team behind global hit “Perfect Strangers.”“Strangers,” a dramedy involving cellphones and personal secrets, grossed over $31 million domestically and spawned remakes in a dozen territories including France, Germany, Spain, Greece and South Korea.

EXCLUSIVE: Eros STX and Amazon Prime Video have closed a multi-year first window output deal in the Nordics effective immediately.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentPopular French theater director Jean-Christophe Meurisse is making his sophomore film outing with “Bloody Oranges,” a black comedy headlined by Denis Podalydès (“La Belle Epoque”), Blanche Gardin (“Delete History”) and Christophe Paou (“Synonyms”).Brussels-based outfit Best Friend Forever has acquired international sales rights to the film, which is produced by Rectangle Prods.

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Lady Gaga’s French bulldogs have been returned to her safe and unharmed after they were stolen by an armed robber.The 34 year old singer’s dogs, Koji and Gustavo, were taken after her dog walker, Ryan Fischer, was shot in Hollywood, California on Wednesday 24 February. After offering $500,000 reward for the pups’ safe return an unnamed woman, said to be “uninvolved and unassociated” with the shooting, handed the dogs in at LAPD’s Olympic Community Police Station on Friday 26 February.

Jamie Lang International sales agent Be For Films has given Variety exclusive access to the international trailer for Andreas Fontana’s first feature “Azor,” selected for this year’s Encounters section at the Berlin International Film Festival.

(Reuters) - French Open champion Iga Swiatek says the COVID-19 pandemic has been beneficial for her as the restrictions allowed the 19-year-old from Poland to settle into her life as a first-time Grand Slam winner. Swiatek went from being a largely unknown teenager to acquiring celebrity status when she became the youngest woman to win the French Open since Monica Seles in 1992 and the first to do so without dropping a set since Justine Henin in 2007.

EntertainmentOne, the Hasbro-owned studio behind Peppa Pig, has greenlit a new pre-school series superhero series. Kiya will launch in 2023 across linear and streaming platforms including Disney Jr., Disney + globally, and France Télévisions.

Guy Lodge Film CriticPhilippe Lacôte’s career in film began at the end, rather than the beginning, of the cinematic life cycle: as a projectionist in a small regional theater in Toulouse, France, where the Ivory Coast-born director had moved to study linguistics.