Alexis Manenti: Last News

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent After the edgy crime comedy “The World Is Yours,” Romain Gavras is back with thriller “Athena.” Produced by Paris-based Iconoclast for Netflix, the ambitious, €15 million film ($15 million) unfolds in the aftermath of the tragic killing of a young boy. A leaked video showing the boy as a victim of police brutality goes viral and ignites an all-out war in an imaginary community called Athena. It’s the first French movie that Netflix is presenting in competition at the Venice Film Festival. “Athena” tells the story of the boy’s three siblings, who are responding to the tragedy in different ways. French star Dali Benssalah (“Les Sauvages,” “No Time to Die”) plays the older brother, Abdel, a French soldier. Faced with an impossible moral dilemma, Abdel is called back from the frontline to help diffuse the all-out war that has been sparked by his younger brother Karim (Sami Slimane), who wants revenge. Athena becomes the backdrop of a tragedy for both the family and its entire community. The film’s stellar cast also includes Ouassini Embarek, Anthony Bajon and Alexis Manenti.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Over the past two decades, the Academy Awards have been in a constant state of flux: There are now 10 best picture nominees instead of five, the membership has grown (and diversified) by more than 50% in that time, streaming releases now routinely vie for the top prize. Amid all that change, one constant remains: For 20 years, ShortsTV has been working with the short film nominees to get their work seen around the country.

French-language action thriller Ad Vitam, starring Guillaume Canet, has entered Netflix’s all-time top ten for most popular non-English movies on its platform.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Brussels-based sales agency Be For Films has closed distribution deals on Frédéric Farrucci‘s “The Mohican,” which world premiered in the Horizons Extra section of the Venice Film Festival. Territories deals closed include Frenetic Films for Switzerland, Splendid Film for Germany and Austria, Edge Entertainment for Scandinavia, One From the Heart for Greece, and Imovision for Brazil. The company is in discussion for deals for Benelux, Australia, U.S.

Netflix has announced the start of principal photography on action thriller Ad Vitam led by French star Guillaume Canet.

Netflix has unveiled an untitled French-language thriller starring Vincent Cassel as a jaded DJ alongside a cast also featuring YouTube star and rapper Mister V and music producer Kavinsky, best known for the Drive track Nightcall.

Max has unveiled a trio of French shows ahead of launch, with commissioning head Vera Peltekian saying “we don’t want to do a French Succession or White Lotus.“

Jessica Kiang Arriving at a moment when interest in all things atomic has been piqued by the global success of “Oppenheimer,” Dragan Bjelogrlić’s “Guardians of the Formula” offers a far more classical, but no less gripping take on a little-known episode marking a historical intersection between the medical and nuclear sciences. Based on Goran Milašinović’s book “Vinča Case,” there are further echoes of Christopher Nolan’s epic in how this elegantly constructed movie centers the ethical and ideological dilemmas of brilliant men of science thrust, somewhat reluctantly, onto the international political stage.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Ladj Ly, the French filmmaker behind “Les Misérables,” will return to the Toronto International Film Festival with his latest drama, “Les Indésirables.” The film will have its world premiere at the fall festival, where it is selling distribution rights. Buyers, particularly those looking to land the rare foreign language film that could appeal to U.S. audiences, will certainly be keen to see what Ly has brought to Toronto. “Les Misérables,” with its searing depiction of police violence and roiling tensions in an immigrant community on the outskirts of Paris electrified critics when it debuted in Cannes in 2019. It won Cannes’ Jury Prize and went on to pick up Oscar and BAFTA nominations after it sold to Amazon.

The fall fest season is revving up.