Julia Ducournau Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Brown, who has served as SVP of Digital Strategy, Marketing and Distribution for Neon since 2017, has overseen the launch of the home digital portal Neon Cinema and manages the studio’s film library, which includes the last three Palme D’Or winners at the Cannes Film Festival: Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite,” Julia Ducournau’s “Titane,” and Ruben Ostlund’s “Triangle of Sadness.” Brown also founded the home entertainment distribution company DECAL in 2021 and will continue to serve as its co-president. “Andrew’s knowledge of the players, the platforms and the history of cinema all converge to make him a one-of-a-kind executive,” said Neon CEO and Founder, Tom Quinn.  “He’s been here from the beginning, and we look forward to continuing to grow NEON together.” Neon’s upcoming slate includes the Venice Film Festival Golden Lion winner “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” a documentary from Laura Poitras on photographer Nan Goldin and her activism to expose the Sackler family’s complicity in the opioid overdose crisis.

Mélita Toscan du Plantier has spent the best part of two decades running Morocco’s Marrakech International Film Festival.

French director Julia Ducournau is at the Marrakech International Film Festival this week where she will talk about her career and work to date in an In Conversation event on Tuesday.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Award-winning filmmakers Alice Diop (“Saint Omer”), Audrey Diwan (“Happening”), Julia Ducournau (“Titane”), Michel Hazanavicius (“The Artist”), Jacques Audiard (“Dheepan”), and actors Juliette Binoche, Marion Cotillard, Isabelle Huppert, Lea Seydoux are among nearly 1,000 prominent French film figures who have signed an open letter to support Iranian women and civil rights activists in their revolt over the death of 22 year-old Mahsa Amini, as well as denounce the “murderous violence” of the Iranian regime. Amini, a Kurdish woman, died in custody on Sept. 16, three days after being arrested in Tehran because she allegedly breached the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women. Her death has sparked protests across Iran, including in Tehran, Isfahan and Yazd, and in cities around the world, including in Paris, Istanbul and Los Angeles. Amnesty International said Iranian authorities have been “intentionally using lethal force against the protesters,” causing more than more 52 deaths (as of Sept. 30). The organization has urged international action “beyond statements of condemnation” to prevent more people from being killed.

Neon, the independent film distributor founded by Tom Quinn and Tim League and which broke through at the 2020 Oscars with Parasite, the first foreign-language title to win Best Picture, is looking to be sold, Deadline has confirmed from sources.

Naman Ramachandran Philippe Rousselet, Oscar-winning producer of “Coda,” “Paris, 13th District” director Jacques Audiard, sales agent Hengameh Panahi and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” filmmaker Michel Gondry are part of France’s newly revamped Oscar submission committee.The committee also includes sales agent Grégoire Melin, “11 Flowers” producer Didar Domehri and Gaumont executive Ariane Toscan du Plantier.The new group will decide which French film to submit for an international feature film Oscar. They will meet Sept. 15 to pre-select three to five films.

France has overhauled the composition of its Oscar selection committee for the second time in three years.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentFrance has rejigged its Oscar submission committee to change the group that decides which French film to submit for an international feature film Oscar.As part of the overhaul, permanent members such as Cannes Film Festival’s general deleguate Thierry Fremaux, Cesar Académie president Veronique Cayla and Unifrance boss Serge Toubiana will no longer be part of the committee.The decree was issued by the newly elected culture minister and was published in the Journal Officiel on July 27. The decision to reform France’s Oscar commission stems from criticism over the submission of films which had premiered at Cannes but did not have the best chances of earning an Oscar nomination and going far in the race.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentOne year after merging with the promotion org TV France International, Unifrance is preparing a series of strategic events in key markets across Europe, the U.S., China and Japan to fast-track the global distribution of local series and movies. The French film and TV advocacy banner will host trade shows bringing together French sales outfits and international distributors in Paris in January, Biarritz (Southwestern France) in September, as well as in Roma in April, Madrid in June, Berlin in November, New York in March and Yokohama in December.

EXCLUSIVE: Anna Baryshnikov (Dickinson) will join Oscar nominee Kristen Stewart in A24’s romantic thriller Love Lies Bleeding from double BAFTA Award-nominated director Rose Glass (Saint Maud).

Clayton Davis The 2022 Cannes Film Festival is nearing its conclusion, and soon the jury will be selecting awards for this year’s impressive, albeit quieter, slate of films. After last year’s “Titane” from Julia Ducournau made history as the first female-directed film to fully win the Palme d’Or (Jane Campion’s “The Piano” tied with “Farewell My Concubine” in 1993), at this point in the festival, it doesn’t seem likely that a woman-directed project will walk away with it this year.“Forever Young” by French-Italian director Valeria Bruni Tedeschi seems to be the only film directed by a woman that has so far invoked any passion for bringing it to the finish line.

In 2021, the Cannes film festival programmed movies from an unprecedented number of women and people of color, more than in any other year. Director Julia Ducournau won the Palme d’Or for her film Titane, becoming only the second woman to do so. This win gave people hope that maybe change was coming from the white, male-dominated festival.

Audrey Diwan’s planned English language directing debut, the erotic tale Emmanuelle starring Lea Seydoux, has buyers buzzing as much as any Cannes Market package being shopped this week on the Croisette. But her last film Happening (which didn’t make the cut as France’s choice for Best Foreign Language Film, though many felt it would have won) might have the most lasting impact. The film is just released in the U.S. smack in the middle of revelations that the Supreme Court plans to overturn Roe V Wade.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterNeon has promoted Jeff Deutchman to president of acquisitions and production.Deutchman previously served as Neon’s executive VP of acquisitions and production. Under his leadership, the studio has grown its recent production slate with director Tilman Singer’s “Cuckoo,” starring Hunter Schafer; Joshua Oppenheimer’s “The End,” a golden-age musical with Tilda Swinton; Brandon Cronenberg’s “Infinity Pool” featuring Alexander Skarsgård.

Final Cut,” directed by Michel Hazanavicius on opening night. This year’s Cannes is also the biggest film event to be hosted since the start of the pandemic, bringing together the festival and market crowds.

In the wake of the Cannes Palme d’Or and Oscar winning success of Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite, NEON is re-teaming with CJ ENM to pick up the North American distribution rights to Broker, from writer-director Kore-eda Hirokazu ahead of the pic’s global premiere at Cannes.

Carson Burton The Women in Motion program from Kering will return to Cannes for its seventh year to once again celebrate the lives and accomplishments of powerful women in cinema. The program aims to further the cause of recognizing women in the film industry at a time that seems to be a turning point for female representation in the sector.Women in Motion launched in 2015, aims to shine a light on women’s contribution to the motion picture arts both in front of and behind the camera.

A year after starring in the Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or winner “Titane,” the French actor Vincent Lindon will preside over the jury deciding the top prize at this year's festival.The Cannes Film Festival announced Tuesday that Lindon will be jury president at next month's festival in the south of France.

Claudia Eller Co-Editor-in-ChiefIt’s beyond distressing how women directors continue to get short shrift at Cannes.How could it be that this year only three movies helmed by females will be contenders in the main competition of the world’s most prestigious film festival?It’s horribly disappointing, but far from shocking, given that last year only four out of 21 competition titles were directed by females and considering Cannes’ poor track record when it comes to recognizing women filmmakers competing throughout its 75-year history. After all, just two movies by women directors, Jane Campion’s “The Piano” and Julia Ducournau’s “Titane,” have ever won the coveted Palme d’Or.Of course, I’m thrilled for director Kelly Reichardt (“Showing Up”), Valeria Bruni Tedeschi (“Forever Young”) and Claire Denis (“Stars at Noon”), but nonetheless their movies represent a meager portion of the 18 titles in competition at Cannes.

Crimes Of The Future, starring Lea Seydoux, Kristen Stewart and Viggo Mortensen. It takes place in the not-so-distant future where humankind has evolved and is “learning to adapt to its synthetic surroundings”.Other films in the running for the festival’s top prize include new outings from filmmakers Claire Denis, Kelly Reichardt, Arnaud Desplechin, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, James Gray and Hirokazu Kore-eda.Top Gun: Maverick and Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic were previously announced for the festival, although they’ll be played out of competition.

Ukraine as a backdrop, the Cannes Film Festival plans a special honor for Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun” comeback and to host some 35,000 people as the movie industry looks to reclaim its pre-pandemic allure.On Thursday, organizers of this year's festival unveiled the 18 films that will compete for the coveted Palme d’Or prize at the May 17-28 event. They include “The Natural History of Destruction” by Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa, “All that Breathes” by Indian director Shaunak Sen, and Ethan Cohen’s “Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind.”Organizers will announce the jury at a later date.After a pandemic-related production delay, “Top Gun: Maverick,” in which Cruise reprises his 1986 role as a U.S.

The number of female filmmakers selected for Cannes Film Festival’s Competition program dipped this year, with three of the 18 titles unveiled this morning helmed by women. However, because the selection is smaller this time, the percentage remained consistent.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentSND is teaming up with Easy Riders Films to develop a premium limited series loosely based on “The Family,” Suzanne Privat’s best-selling investigative book on a French cult which has existed for more than 200 years.“The Family” is penned by rising French screenwriter Clémence Madeleine-Perdrillat, whose recent credits include “Nona and Her Daughters,” as well as the Amazon Original show “Mixte.” She led the writing team for season 2 of “In Treatment.”Set in Paris’s underworld, the thriller series will shed right on the rites and customs of this enigmatic religious sect from diverse perspectives, focusing on the experiences of those inside and outside the community. The book, whose French title is “La Famille, itinéraires d’un secret,” was published by Les Avrils editions in 2021.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentCedric Jimenez’s action thriller “The Stronghold” won the Cesar Award which was voted on by nearly 2,000 students from French high schools in France, the U.K., Mayotte and Japan. The Studiocanal film, which was produced by Hugo Sélignac at Chi-Fou-Mi Productions, a Mediawan company, was nominated for seven Cesar Awards, including best film and two actor nods.

Cate Blanchett and Adam Driver step out on the red carpet while attending the 2022 Cesar Awards on Friday (February 25) at L’Olympia in Paris, France.

Refresh for latest…: The César Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscars, are just getting under way at an in-person ceremony at Paris’ Olympia concert hall with screenwriter/director Danièle Thompson presiding over the proceedings and Antoine de Caunes as host, the latter marking his tenth time as emcee.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentFrance’s equivalent to the Oscars, the Cesar Awards, are taking place this evening in Paris. Among the nominees, and in attendance, are “Annette” star Adam Driver and Cate Blanchett, who will receive the Honorary Cesar Award.The in-person ceremony is being hosted at the Olympia theater in Paris under tight COVID restrictions, as all guests have to wear a mask, be vaccinated and present a test dating from less than 24 hours.Driver is up for best actor for his performance as a tormented comedian opposite Marion Cotillard in Leos Carax’s drama musical “Annette.” Only two other American actors have been previously nominated at the Cesar Awards — Kristen Stewart for Olivier Assayas’ “Clouds of Sils Maria” and Adrien Brody for Roman Polanski’s Oscar-winning “The Pianist.” Both actors won, in 2015 and 2003, respectively.

Like the car crash with which it begins, “Titane” is at times horrifying to watch and impossible to look away from. Written and directed by Julia Ducournau, the French film follows Alexia (Agatha Rousselle), a young woman with murderous tendencies and an erotic fascination with automobiles.

Jamie Lang After a banner 2021 for high-end genre films, industry vets are hopeful that the fantastic can resurrect the corpse of pre-COVID theatrical distribution.As bolts of lightning reanimated the body of Frankenstein’s monster, Julia Ducournau’s “Titane,” which turned heads when it took the Palme d’Or at Cannes, and Sundance Grand Jury prize-winner “Nanny,” a supernatural tale from director Nikyatu Jusu, have revitalized the festival scene.While “Nanny” may have been the jewel in the genre crown at Sundance, the influence that genre cinema held over 2022’s first major festival was wide-ranging and undeniable. Chloe Okuno’s psychological thriller “Watcher” impressed — segueing into several sales deals — as did Hanna Bergholm’s psycho-horror feature “Hatching,” sold by Wild Bunch and Charades-sold Spanish standout “Piggy,” the follow-up to Carlota Pereda’s 2019 Spanish Academy Award-winner “Cerdita.” Among genre titles at Berlin this year are Dario Argento’s serial killer thriller “Dark Glasses” in the Berlinale Special section, while Bertrand Bonello’s subconscious voyage “Coma” and Peter Strickland’s gory “Flux Gourmet” (pictured above) feature in Encounters.