Charlotte Vandermeersch: Last News

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The Locarno Film Festival has set Alpine elegy movie “Fiore Mio” (“A Flower of Mine”) as its pre-opening event. It marks the first film written and directed by bestselling Italian novelist Paolo Cognetti (“The Eight Mountains”), who also stars. Besides writing “Eight Mountains,” Cognetti was also “on set” when Belgian directors Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch shot the film adaptation of his book, which won the Cannes Jury Prize in 2022.

Peter Debruge A relatable, realistic fable about the unbreakable friendship between an Italian city boy and the small-town kid he meets one summer in the Alps, this quietly profound portrait spans almost four decades in the lives of its two protagonists, who stay in touch, even as their paths veer in very different directions. One feels a wanderlust that calls him to the far corners of the world — including the heights of Tibet at one point — while the other stays close to home, finding solace in the familiar.

Belgian directors Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s Italian-language drama The Eight Mountains and veteran Marco Bellocchio’s Exterior Night topped the 68th edition of Italy’s David di Donatello Awards on Wednesday evening.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent “The Eight Mountains,” Belgian directors Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s Italian-language drama about friendship, mountains and growing up, scored the top prize at Italy’s 68th David di Donatello Awards. Besides winning best picture, the film also scooped statuettes for best non-original screenplay, photography and sound. Given that the directors are not Italian, it was a particularly significant victory for “Mountains,” which was praised as “quietly magnificent” by Variety critic Jessica Kiang. The film, which is currently playing well on the U.S. arthouse circuit, tracks the decades-long friendship between two Italian boys named Pietro and Bruno — one from the city, the other a shepherd boy from the Alps.

“I didn’t expect to find a friend like Bruno in my life. Nor that friendship was a place where you put down roots, that remains waiting for you.” It’s with these words, delivered in wistful voiceover, that Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch open “The Eight Mountains,” their sublime and gently aching adaptation of the Italian bestseller by Paolo Cognetti.

The Cannes Film Festival revealed the lineup for its 76th edition Thursday morning, and the Official Selection featured a record number of films directed by women filmmakers set to play in Competition.

Manori Ravindran International Editor It may officially be the year of the tiger in the Chinese Zodiac calendar, but in the world of film, it’s definitely the year of the wee donkey. The humble equine features in films such as Searchlight’s “The Banshees of Inisherin” and even Neon’s “Triangle of Sadness,” but nowhere is this loyal beast of burden in the spotlight more than Janus Films and Sideshow’s “EO,” from legendary Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski. The film — which shared the Cannes Jury Prize with Félix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s “The Eight Mountains” — shares a vision of modern Europe through the prism of a gray donkey, EO, who is torn away by animal activists from his beloved circus performer owner, and passed from hand to hand in the service of humans. On his life’s path, EO meets all sorts of people and experiences joy and pain, as well as disasters and unexpected bliss.

Flanders Image, the promotional arm of the VAF film fund of Belgium’s Flemish-speaking community, has unveiled the 80 projects selected for its annual CONNEXT showcase, running as a hybrid event from October 10-24.

Mario Gianani, CEO of Fremantle’s Rome-based The Young Pope and My Brilliant Friend production powerhouse Wildside, is enjoying a high-profile time on the international film festival circuit this year.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorThe 39th edition of the Munich Film Festival, which runs June 23-July 2, will screen 120 films from 52 countries, including 35 world premieres, such as “Paloma” by Marcelo Gomes, one of several films in the festival that tackles the subject of trans identities.The three international competition sections will feature numerous highlights from the Cannes Film Festival, including “Corsage,” which opens the event. Vicky Krieps was honored in Cannes with the best actress award in the Un Certain Regard section for her performance as Empress Elisabeth of Austria, also known as “Sissi.” Four films come to Munich fresh from Cannes’ main competition: “Leila’s Brothers” by Iranian director Saeed Roustayi, about a family’s struggle for survival in an Iran economically weakened by Western sanctions and consumed by corruption; “Pacifiction” by Albert Serra, in which Benoît Magimel excels as a conflicted police commissioner; “The Eight Mountains,” directed by Charlotte Vandermeersch and Felix van Groeningen, a touching adaptation of Paolo Cognetti’s novel about a friendship forged in the spectacular natural environment of the Western Alps; and Hirokazu Kore-eda returns with “Broker,” which received the award for best acting performance in Cannes for Song Kang-ho.

Manori Ravindran International EditorCannes sensation “EO,” which tells the story of a donkey’s life, has been acquired for North America by Sideshow and Janus Films. The film is the latest collaboration for the U.S.

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.

Cannes Film Festival is making efforts to diversify beyond the cavalcade of many of the same male auteurs. Instead, there will be a record number of women directors in competition.Now the bad news.

Jessica Kiang Mountains are not formed in an instant. Tectonic plates may buckle like the crumpling hoods of crashing cars, but it’s a collision that takes thousands of millennia to play out, and on a human timescale, seems infinitesimally slow.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentFriendship, mountains, growing up, and our changed rapport with the planet in the wake of the pandemic are the main elements in Cannes competition title “The Eight Mountains” by Belgian directors Felix van Groeningen (“Beautiful Boy”) and Charlotte Vandermeersch. (Watch the trailer above.)The film is based on an Italian novel of the same title by Paolo Cognetti.

The 2022 edition of the Cannes Film Festival will include a record number of films directed or co-directed by female filmmakers, one year after Julia Ducouranu’s “Titane” took home the festival’s top award.

The 2022 edition of the Cannes Film Festival will include a record number of films directed or co-directed by female filmmakers, one year after Julia Ducouranu’s “Titane” took home the festival’s top award.

Cannes has added a raft of movies to its lineup ahead of the festival next month.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentThe Cannes Film Festival has added a string of new titles to its Official Selection, including three movies in competition: Léonor Serraille’s “Un Petit Frere,” Albert Serra’s “Tourment sur les iles” and “The Eight Mountains” by Charlotte Vandermeersch and Felix Van Groeningen (“The Broken Circle Breakdown”).“The Eight Mountains” is an Italian film based on Paolo Cognetti’s 2016 novel. It revolves around a young man who returns to a young man who finds refuge in the Italian village where he spent a summer as a child with his parents.