The Cannes Film Festival has named the eight members of its main Competition jury who will join previously announced president Greta Gerwig in deciding the Palme d’Or and other key prizes at 77th edition running from May 14 to 25. They are Turkish screenwriter and photographer Ebru Ceylan, U.S. actress …

Newly-launched Carrousel Studios has appointed French film industry veteran Cécile Gaget as its CEO, with effect from May 1. Billed as an artists-first European independent studio and media company, Carrousel Studios was launched in March by actor-producer Omar Sy, producer-director Louis Leterrier and entrepreneur/producer Thomas Benski. Their aim is to develop and …

Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania’s Oscar-nominated documentary Four Daughters and Sudanese director Mohamed Kordofani’s Lupita Nyong’o-EPed drama Goodbye Julia lead the nominations in the eighth edition of the Critics Awards for Arab Films. Hybrid work Four Daughters, exploring the story of a real-life Tunisian mother who lost two of her …

Actor Mohammed Elshehri belongs to a generation of emerging Saudi talents who first cut their teeth on YouTube and are now making their names in film and TV. The rising star will be master of ceremonies at the upcoming Saudi Film Festival in the Eastern Province city of Dhahran, which …

Cannes parallel section Directors’ Fortnight has unveiled the line-up for its 56th edition running from May 15 to 23, at a press conference in Paris’s Forum des Images cultural center. The section, launched in 1969 and overseen by the French Directors Guild, will present 21 feature films and 10 short …

Cannes Critics’ Week championing work by emerging filmmakers has unveiled the line-up for its 63rd edition running from May 15 to 23.  The traditionally compact parallel selection will showcase 11 features, seven in competition, as well as 13 short films, selected from 1,050 features and 2,150 short films. (scroll down for …

EXCLUSIVE: Paris-based Superprod Group has acquired top Luxembourgish animation companies Studio 352 and Mélusine Productions in a move that consolidates its position as one of Europe’s leading animation production groups. Based in Contern in Southern Luxembourg, the sister companies were founded by Belgian producer Stéphan Roelants in the late 1990s. …

Italian film and TV orgs will hold an emergency press conference in Rome next week to discuss the damage being done to their sectors by uncertainty over the future of direct funding and tax credits.  The meeting on April 5 in Rome’s Cinema Adriano will gather the members of 14 …

Former French Culture Minister Frédéric Mitterrand, who was a high-profile and sometimes controversial figure on France’s cultural scene, died on Thursday at the age of 76, his family announced. Born in Paris in 1947 to a well-to-do family, Mitterrand was the nephew of President François Mitterrand. His many activities across …

Roll up, roll up for part two of our Cannes preview, this time with a focus on international, mainly non-English language fare. If you didn’t catch Andreas’ English-language focused part one, check it out here. As the fest basks in the warm glow of the Oscar gongs for 2023 Palme …

The Independent Iranian Filmmakers Association (IIFMA) has written to AMPAS to protest the omission of murdered director Dariush Mehrjui from the In Memoriam segment of the Academy Award on Sunday night. As per Oscar tradition, the Academy paid tribute to a select group of 51 film and entertainment figures who …

French filmmaker Leos Carax discussed the sacred nature of the image and the challenge of retaining its power on the big screen in the digital age in an on-stage conversation at the Doha Film Institute’s Qumra event on Monday. The filmmaker said he had transitioned to shooting in digital in …