Christophe Honoré: Last News

Grief is a wild animal: nobody knows what it will do next. In Christophe Honoré’s Winter Boy (Le Lycéen), high-school student Lucas (Paul Kircher) is asleep in his dorm when his older brother Quentin (Vincent Lacoste) and a family friend burst in. His father has had an accident. By the time they reach their small town in the foothills of the French Alps, Lucas has realized his father is dead.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Two of France’s fastest-rising young stars, Lyna Khoudri (“Papicha,” “The French Dispatch”) and Rio Vega ( “Deerskin,” “Sorry Angel”), will lead the French voice cast of animated feature “In Waves,” an unconditional first love story, and tale of loss and memories adapting American illustrator AJ Dungo’s same-titled multi-prized graphic novel. An anticipated banner prestige animation title from Paris-based Silex Films (“The Lost Boys,” “This is My Mother”), “In Waves” lead producer, the feature also marks the first animated co-production of both Anonymous Content (“The Revenant,” “Spotlight”) and Charades, behind sales of Jeremy Clapin’s “I Lost My Body” and Mamoru Hosoda’s “Mirai,” both Oscar nominated titles.

French President Emmanuel Macron made history on Tuesday as he appointed 34-year-old politician Gabriel Attal as France’s youngest ever prime minister.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Melvil Poupaud, an actor in Francois Ozon’s “By the Grace of God” and Maiwenn’s “Jeanne du Barry,” will receive the French Cinema Award from Unifrance, the French promotion organization. The ceremony will be held on Jan. 18 at the Culture Ministry during the Rendez-Vous With French Cinema market.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent A bold departure from France’s cinema tradition of social realism, Thomas Cailley’s widely ambitious sophomore outing “The Animal Kingdom” is equally a creature-filled dystopia, an emotionally charged father-and-son drama and a coming-of-age tale. The character-driven film world premiered to warm reviews at the Cannes Film Festival where it bowed the Un Certain Regard section. “The Animal Kingdom” is represented in international market by Studiocanal and was produced by Pierre Guyard at Nord Ouest Films, and co-produced by Artemis. “The Animal Kingdom” takes place in an undetermined future in France which has been swept by a genetic disease causing people to transform into creatures that are being hunted down and killed or institutionalized by authorities. Kircher, the breakout star of Christophe Honoré’s “Winter Boy,” plays 16-year-old Emile whose mother was institutionalized after showing first signs of a genetic mutation. He lives with his father Francois (Romain Duris) who is struggling to overcome grief.

A young boy comes of age after his father’s sudden death in Christophe Honoré’s “Winter Boy.” A bleak portrait of grief, the film may earn points for crafting an empathetic, subjective portrayal of one boy’s emotional spiral. Yet, the film also makes several odd formal and aesthetic choices that, ultimately, make Honoré’s film feel more hackneyed than resonant.

Colombian filmmaker Laura Mora has clinched the Golden Shell in the main competition of the 70th San Sebastian Film Festival with her latest feature The Kings of the World (Los reyes del mundo).

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Christophe Honoré’s “Winter Boy,” which is having its international world premiere in competition at the San Sebastian Film Festival on Sept. 19, has been sold to major territories by Pyramide. “Winter Boy” had its North American premiere at Toronto. Described as Honoré’s most autobiographical film to date, “Winter Boy” stars rising French actor Paul Kircher as a teenager struggling to cope with the death of his father. The movie also stars Juliette Binoche and Vincent Lacoste. Pyramide International, whose sales team is headed by Agathe Mauruc, has closed deals for the film with Palace (Australia, New Zealand), Axia (Canada), Brazil (Pandora), Vercine (Spain), Salzgeber (Germany, Austria), Adok (Switzerland), Athena (Benelux) and Taiwan (Hooray Films). Several other deals are in negotiations.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentSebastian Lelio’s “Wonder,” starring “Black Widow’s” Florence Pugh, “Winter Boy” with Juliette Binoche and directors Hong Sang-soo and Ulrich Seidl will compete in main competition at September’s San Sebastian Film Festival, the biggest film event in the Spanish-speaking world.In “Wonder,” the latest from Academy Award winning director Lelio (“A Fantastic Woman”),Pugh plays an English nurse brought in to the Irish Midlands in 1862 to observe the alleged miracle of girls going months without food.Binoche co-stars in “Winter Boy,” from resilient French auteur Christophe Honoré who won at Cannes Un Certain Regard with 2019’s “On a Magical Night.” Hong Sang-soo, the prolific South Korean director, will present “Walk Up,” a film which is billed as taking a gently delightful new perspective on themes dear to his poetics. Seidl’s “Sparta” forms part of a diptych with 2022 Berlin competition contender “Rimini,” both movies turning on men who cannot escape their past.The 12 competition titles announced on Tuesday by San Sebastian join its four Spanish contenders, unveiled last month.A brief breakdown on the new competition entries:San Sebastian Main Competition: Newly Announced Titles“Il Boemo,” (Petr Václav, Czech Republic, Italy, Slovakia)The passions and ambitions, breakthrough and tragic fall from grace of Czech opera composer, Josef Mysliveček,a mentor to Mozart.

The San Sebastián Film Festival has revealed the line-up for its latest edition, which is due to unfold from September 16-24.

Martin Dale ContributorHiventy-Monal, one of France’s leading post-production companies, is seeing rising demand across its range of services, including film processing, dubbing and subtitling, post-production, film restoration and BluRay mastering. It has operations in France, Poland, Singapore, Vietnam, Kenya and Nigeria.Hiventy has one of the few film lab services in Europe.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentAlthough the pandemic has pole-axed many independent distributors, some like Alexandre Mallet-Guy at Paris-based Memento Distribution have managed to weather the storm.The company has had prestige auteur films playing in the festival circuit this year; at Cannes with multiple films in competition, including Jacques Audiard’s “Paris, District 13th,” Oscar-winning Iranian director Asghar Farhadi’s “A Hero” and Norwegian director Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World;” in Deauville with Christophe Honoré’s “Guermantes;” and at San Sebastian with Laurent Cantet’s “Arthur Rambo” and Zhang Ji’s “Fire on the Plain.”Along with his distribution activities, Mallet-Guy is also involved in production