Mathieu Kassovitz: Last News

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent SND has picked up the international distribution rights to “Visions,” Yann Gozlan’s (“Black Box”) psychological thriller starring Diane Kruger (“Inglorious Basterds”) and Mathieu Kassovitz (“The Bureau”).  The French Riviera-set movie, produced by Eagles Team Entertainment, 24 25 Films and SND, just finished shooting in the South of France and Japan. SND handles French distribution and worldwide sales rights. The theatrical release is planned for 2023.  Kruger stars as Estelle, a brilliant airline captain who leads a seemingly perfect life with her husband Guillaume, a renowned doctor. When she accidentally bumps into Ana, a former flame, Estelle falls in love all over again. As their affair gets more intense, Estelle has recurring visions, nightmares and hallucinations, and when Ana disappears mysteriously, she starts losing grip on reality.

La Haine has been announced with a live score to be performed by Asian Dub Foundation.The acclaimed French film will be celebrating its 30th anniversary next year and to mark the occasion, a one-off screening of the movie will be held at London’s Southbank Centre, with Asian Dub Foundation performing their reworked version of the film’s score.The event is presented by the Southbank Centre and BFI and will take place at the Royal Festival Hall on January 19 – you can find any remaining tickets here.Asian Dub Foundation – whose members Steve Chandra Savale, Jamil Jammaz Ahmed and Brian Fairbairn will play live at the screening – have performed La Haine live before, notably at the Barbican in 2001 as part of the Only Connect Festival, and were invited to Meltdown Festival the following year, as curated by David Bowie.La Haine stars Vincent Cassel (Black Swan) as a young Jewish man, Hubert Koundé as a Black boxer, and Saïd Taghmaoui as a young Arab man – three friends on the outskirts of Paris in an immigrant community who live one day in the aftermath of riots triggered by a police attack.Director Mathieu Kassovitz won the award for Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival in 1995 for the film, at the age of 27.The eclectic Hackney-based band Asian Dub Foundation have been blending musical genres from rock to hip-hop to ragga to South Asian music since they formed in 1993. They have released nine studio albums to date, most recently 2020’s ‘Access Denied’.The band also were at the centre of a campaign to get to Number One in the UK on the day that the country officially left the European Union.

Jamie Lang “The Big War,” one of Europe’s most ambitious feature projects brought to market at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, is heading the AFM with some incredible new graphics for its CG animal cast. Inspired by the iconic two-part graphic novel “La Bête Est Morte,” written by Edmond-François Calvo during the Nazi occupation of France during World War II and published just after the liberation of Paris, “The Big War” is helmed by “La Haine” director Mathieu Kassovitz and produced by leading French producer Aton Soumache, whose recent credits include Annecy winner “Little Nicholas – Happy as Can Be” and Netflix’s mega-hit “Miraculous: Ladybug & Cat Noir, the Movie.” Given that the original book has very little by way of narrative, longtime Tim Burton collaborator Caroline Thompson, the award-winning screenwriter of “Edward Scissorhands” and “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” was recruited to adapt the screenplay.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Kinology (“Dracula, a Love Story”) has boarded international sales to “The Big War,” an epic €30-million live action-CGI characters hybrid movie which will mark the directorial comeback of “La Haine” filmmaker Mathieu Kassovitz. The ambitious feature is adapted from “La Bête Est Morte,” an iconic two-part graphic novel illustrated by Edmond Calvo during War World 2 in Nazi-Occupied France and published after the country was liberated.

EXCLUSIVE: La Haine filmmaker Mathieu Kassovitz is returning to the director’s chair to make English-language passion project The Big War, which will mark the first movie he has helmed in 13 years.

EXCLUSIVE: MPI Media Group has acquired North American distribution rights for Saïd Belktibia’s French thriller Hood Witch starring Golshifteh Farahani and Denis Lavant.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent French director Yann Gozlan is set to reunite with Pierre Niney, the French star of his two most successful movies “Un homme idéal” and “Black Box,” for his next film, “Gourou.” “Gourou” is being co-produced by Wassim Beji at WY Productions, the Paris-based company behind “Black Box and “Un Homme Ideal,” and Niney’s banner Ninety Films. While the plot is currently under wraps, the project is being teased as a deep dive into the world of coaching and follows the rise of a personal development guru who turns out to be toxic. One of France’s most bankable and busiest French actors, Niney won a Cesar Award for his performance as French fashion legend Yves Saint Laurent in Jalil Lespert’s biopic in 2015, and went on to work with Anne Fontaine (“Frantz”) and Michel Gondry (“The Book of Solutions”), among others.

French director and actor Mathieu Kassovitz has been seriously injured in a motorbike accident.

French Media French actor and director Mathieu Kassovitz has been seriously injured in a motorbike accident on the Montlhéry circuit outside Paris, according to French media reports.

EXCLUSIVE: Paris-based WTFilms has acquired international sales rights for thriller Hood Witch, the debut film of rising French director Saïd Belktibia, starring Golshifteh Farahani and Denis Lavant.

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s a splashy European project to end the week: Gerard Butler’s Has Fallen film franchise is getting the television treatment, with filming set to get underway at the end of the month.

Manori Ravindran International EditorThe Cannes Film Festival invited eight male directors for an hours-long symposium on the future of cinema on Tuesday — a session that raised uneasy questions for those working with streaming services, and paid no attention to the lack of female filmmakers on the panel.Moderated by Cannes festival director Thierry Fremaux and Canal+ correspondent and festival associate Didier Allouch, guests included Guillermo del Toro, Claude Lelouch, Costa Gavras, Gaspard Noé, Paolo Sorrentino, Nadav Lapid, Mathieu Kassovitz and Robin Campillo. The directors were interviewed individually, with Del Toro present on stage throughout.The session — which ran for two and a half hours, with speakers remaining a mystery until the event was underway — is one of two forums about cinema organized by the festival.

EXCLUSIVE: French American actor Saïd Taghmaoui (Wonder Woman, The Forgiven) has signed with Buchwald for representation.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentOnly six months after its 2021 edition, Series Mania will be back with a sprawling selection, including the world premieres of Michael Hirst’s “Billy The Kid” (pictured), the Israeli series “Fire Dance” and rap music-themed French show “Le monde de demain.”Underscoring the large presence of streamers within the roster, Series Mania will kick off with Netflix’s “Standing Up,” a new comedy series from “Call My Agent” creator and showrunner Fanny Herrero; while Disney Plus’ “Oussekine,” about a tragic case of police brutality in France, will close the festival.The lineup boasts 58 series spanning 21 countries. These were chosen from 331 series.

Series Mania has unveiled the nine shows from six countries competing for the prestigious International Competition along with revealing the lineup and guests of honor for this year’s edition, the first to take place in person for three years.

Afternoon International Insiders, Max Goldbart here. It’s been another busy week but don’t worry, we’ve got you covered with all the latest news and analysis. To get this sent to your inbox every Friday, sign up here.