My Donkey: Last News

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Best-known for her role as Noemie in the hit French series “Call My Agent!,” Laure Calamy has emerged in recent years as one of France’s biggest stars and most versatile actors. After a busy career in theater and many notable supporting roles, she finally got a shot at leading roles, and kudos have followed, for Caroline Vignal’s romantic comedy “My Donkey, My Lover and I,” which was part of Cannes’ Official Selection and earned her a Cesar award, and Eric Gravel’s social drama “A Plein Temps,” for which she won best actress at Venice in the Horizons section. Calamy is now on a roll and she’s shown that she can play anything. Case in point: Over this summer, she was at Locarno to present Blandine Lenoir’s period drama “Angry Annie,” in which she plays a working mother who joins the Movement for the Liberation of Abortion and Contraception (the film won Variety‘s Piazza Grande Award), and she’s now at Venice with Sebastien Marnier’s psychological thriller “The Origin of Evil,” in which she flirts with genre. In-between Locarno and Venice, she also made a stop at Angouleme Film Festival, where she presented “Angry Annie” and Marc Fitoussi’s “Two Tickets to Greece.”

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Laure Calamy, the Cesar prizewinning star of “My Lover, My Donkey & I,” and “The Count of Monte Cristo” actor Laurent Lafitte lead the ensemble cast of “The Party’s Over,” a satirical comedy which has been boarded by France TV Distribution ahead of the EFM. Directed by Antony Cordier (“Gaspard at the Wedding”) the movie also stars Ramzy Bedia (“Asterix & Obelix : The Middle Kingdom”), Élodie Bouchez (“Beating Hearts”), Sami Outalbali (“A Tale of Love and Desire”) and Noée Abita (“Sink or Swim”).

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor French romantic comedy “This Charming Girl” and French comedy “Vanishing Goats” have joined the slate of Paris-based sales company MPM Premium, which will introduce the films to buyers at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris. “This Charming Girl,” directed by Jean-Luc Gaget and co-written with Raphaële Moussafir, will be released in France by Nour Films. The cast is led by Pauline Clément (“C’est la vie,” “Intouchables,” “Maria Rêve”), Arthur Dupont (“Normandie Nue,” “Fanon,” “The Outsider”), Emilie Caen (“Ducobu”) and Karin Viard (“Polisse,” “La Famille Bélier”).

EXCLUSIVE: French film industry veteran Nicolas Royer, who was line and executive producer on Coralie Fargeat’s Cannes buzz title The Substance, has boarded Catherine Hardwicke’s upcoming feature A French Pursuit, starring Toni Collette.

EXCLUSIVE: Greenwich Entertainment has picked up U.S. distribution rights to the French comedy Two Tickets to Greece (aka Les Cyclades), starring César Award winner Laure Calamy (Call My Agent!), Olivia Côte (My Donkey, My Lover & I) and Academy Award nominee Kristin Scott Thomas (The English Patient). It’ll be released in theaters on July 14.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Don’t expect Warner Bros. Discovery’s French original programming team to follow Netflix and Amazon Prime Video’s trail and chase teen audiences. Vera Peltekian, VP and head of streaming original production for the banner, says the standalone service’s bow in France “is on the roadmap” with a raft of “bold and director-driven Max originals targeting adult audiences in line with what the HBO brand is known for.” Peltekian, who previously worked 15 years at Canal + and played a major role in the pay TV group’s critically acclaimed series such as “The Returned,” “Spiral” and “Savages,” revealed that Warner Bros. Discovery’s first French original will be “The Mythomaniac of the Bataclan,” a four-part series inspired by the true story of a woman who conned her way into a victims’ association and quickly became one of its pillars.

Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris grossed $1.35 million in week two with a mix of arthouse and commercial theaters among top ten locations and a nice hold from opening weekend (-31%). Cume to date is $4.65 million for the film starring Leslie Manville as a British housekeeper who dreams of owning a Christian Dior gown. It was no. 10 in North America in 1,001 theaters.

Laure Calamy, who plays Noémie, the wacky assistant to Mathias Barneville in Call My Agent!, won the César (French equivalent of the Oscars) for Best Actress for My Donkey, My Lover & I, the film by Caroline Vignal that opens this weekend Stateside from Greenwich Entertainment. It’s the distributor’s second narrative film in a year and its widest release since The Rescue.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentGreenwich Entertainment has acquired U.S. and Canadian distribution rights to Christophe Cognet’s “From Where They Stood,” a searing WW2-set documentary which premiered at the Berlinale. Represented in international markets by MK2 Films, “From Where They Stood” went on the win the Spirit of Freedom Award for best documentary at last year’s Jerusalem Film Festival.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentNew York-based distributor Greenwich Entertainment and Rialto Distribution have teamed up to picked up U.S. rights to Caroline Vignal’s “My Donkey, My Lover & I,” a heartwarming French romantic comedy headlined by “Call My Agent” breakout star Laure Calamy.The company was co-created by Ed Arentz, co-founder and former managing director of Music Box Films, and Edmondo Schwartz, co-founder of Cohen Media Group, in September 2017 with the goal of handling high-end theatrical movies.Sold by Playtime, “My Donkey, My Lover & I” was part of Cannes 2020’s official selection and went on to be nominated for eight César Awards, earning best actress for Calamy.