Claire Denis: Last News

Guy Lodge Film CriticEarly in “Stars at Noon,” Yank journalist Trish gazes wistfully at a yellowed black-and-white photo of Nicaraguan resistance fighters, framed and tacked to the wall of the grim Managua hotel room where she’s having businesslike intercourse. “Young rebels used to be so sexy,” she sighs.

The first time Joe Alwyn came to the Cannes Film Festival in 2018, he walked away with the Trophée Chopard. Now he is back to help director Claire Denis compete for the Palme d’Or with Stars at Noon, based on the novel by Denis Johnson. Alwyn stars in the romantic thriller as a mysterious businessman in Nicaragua who falls in love with an American journalist, played by Margaret Qualley. In addition to Stars at Noon, Alwyn also stars in the BBC Three/Hulu series Conversations with Friends directed by Lenny Abrahamson and based on the Sally Rooney novel, which premiered May 15.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Panama’s award-winning Hypatia Films and Guatemala’s Jayro Bustamante, whose most recent film, “La Llorona,” made the Oscar international film shortlist, is partnering with Jonathan Keasey of Mind Riot Entertainment to make WWII drama “Down Wind.”The film marks a rare collaboration between two major Central American filmmakers and an American writer-producer. Bustamante will direct based on a screenplay by Keasey, who has also boarded as a producer.The drama’s lead production company, Hypatia Films, run by Pituka Ortega Heilbron and Marcela Heilbron, is an associate producer on Claire Denis’ Cannes competition contender “The Stars at Noon,” which was filmed in Panama and on which Hypatia provided production services.

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.

The arthouse never died.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentMK2 Films is shooting “Curiosity Room,” a remake of Wim Wenders’s cult 1982 documentary “Room 666,” during the Cannes Film Festival. Produced by MK Prods.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentOne of the hottest European projects on sale at Cannes, “The Pot Au Feu,” Tran Anh Hung’s period romance starring Juliette Binoche and Benoit Magimel has already been nabbed by major international distributors. Gaumont is handling sales on the movie.The movie, which is currently shooting in a French castle, is set in the world of French gastronomy in 1885 and charts the relationship between Eugenie, an esteemed cook, and Dodin, the gourmet she has been working for over the last 20 years.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentThe face of an upscale U.S. independent cinema which climaxed with “The English Patient” and a go-to actress for many of the world’s greatest directors from Krzysztof Kieślowski to Claire Denis, France’s Juliette Binoche will receive one of this year’s San Sebastian Donostia Awards, the Spanish festival’s prestigious plaudit for career achievement.The Award will be presented to Binoche before a screening of Denis’ “Both Sides of the Blade,” a Silver Bear winner for best director at February’s Berlin Festival.An actor with a prolific career reaching back to her first breakout in Philip Kaufman’s “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” – one of her many movies which have been literary adaptations – Binoche will also feature on the poster of this year’s 70th San Sebastian Film Festival, snapped by French photographer Brigitte Lacombe.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentSND has boarded “The Braid,” an adaptation of Laetitia Colombani’s bestseller which is currently shooting in Italy, Canada and India with Kim Raver (“Grey’s Anatomy”), Fotini Peluso (“Romanzo famigliare”) and Mia Maelzer (“Beyond the Clouds”). Colombani is directing the film based on her book which sold more than two million copies worldwide and was translated in 40 languages.

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.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentGerman actor Oliver Masucci and French star Fanny Ardant have joined the cast of Roman Polanski’s new movie “The Palace,” which will surely be a subject of controversy at the Cannes Film Festival where distribution rights are being sold.The ensemble drama, which had already cast Mickey Rourke, will be headlined by Masucci, the German actor who appeared in “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore” and the Netflix series “Dark,” and Ardant, the esteemed French star of “La Belle Epoque” and “8 Women.” Budgeted at €13 million ($13.9 million), the movie is currently shooting on location in Gstaad, Switzerland, and is being sold by Wild Bunch International, the powerhouse behind several movies competing at Cannes, notably Arnaud Desplechin’s “Brother and Sister,” Claire Denis’s “Stars at Noon” and the opening night film “Final Cut” from Michel Hazanavicius. The key crew includes Oscar-winning music composer Alexandre Desplat, along with Polanski’s regular cinematographer Pawel Edelman, who previously worked with Polanski on “An Officer and a Spy,” “The Pianist,” “Oliver Twist” and “The Ghost Writer,” as well as set designer Monica Sironi (“Volare”).“The Palace” is produced by Luca Barbareschi at Eliseo Entertainment company, and co-produced by CAB Productions in Switzerland and Lucky Bob in Poland.Penned by Polanski and Jerzy Skolimowski, the movie takes place at a palace in Gstaad on New Year’s Eve in 1999.

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.

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.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentIn the run up to Cannes, Gaumont is launching sales on “The Pot of Feu,” Tran Anh Hung’s period romance starring Juliette Binoche and Benoit Magimel. The movie is currently shooting in a French castle.Set in the world of French gastronomy in 1885, “The Pot of Feu” charts the relationship between Eugenie, an esteemed cook, and Dodin, the fine gourmet she has been working for over the last 20 years.

Wilson Chapman editorThe official poster for the 75th Annual Cannes Film Festival has been released, paying tribute to Peter Weir’s beloved film “The Truman Show.”First released in 1998, “The Truman Show” stars Jim Carrey as a man who has spent his entire life unknowingly raised as the subject of a 24/7 reality show. The Cannes poster captures a moment from the climax of the film where Truman escapes from the set of the show, discovering that the sky is a painted wall with a staircase leading to the exit.

When we sit down with Thierry Frémaux he is in pensive mood. As is his wont.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentThis year’s crop of filmmakers at the Cannes Film Festival don’t represent a new benchmark in terms of gender diversity. Since becoming the first international festival to sign a gender parity pledge in 2018, Cannes has failed to make substantial progress in ramping up the representation of female directors in competition which remains dominated by male directors.Cannes director Thierry Fremaux told Variety last week that he was aiming to “hopefully” have a “stronger presence of female directors” in 2022.

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.

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.

EXCLUSIVE: Lionsgate is finalizing a deal to acquire a minority stake in London and LA-based management and production company 42, we can reveal.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentAfter winning the Berlinale Silver Bear Award with “Both Sides of the Blade” (“Fire”), Claire Denis and her longtime pal Jim Jarmusch shared filmmaking tips and anecdotes from their decades-spanning careers on stage at the New York Rendez-Vous with French Cinema.Within minutes of watching Denis and Jarmusch laugh and gush over each other, it was clear that these two have been friends for a very long time and have admired each other’s work. Denis, who has a soft yet determined voice, has known Jarmusch since working as an assistant director on his 1986 film “Down by Law.”“I was counting and we’ve known each other for 37 years or something like that, and what that means is we’re old, but it also means to you, young people, that shit goes by fast.