Cannes’ Critics Week Launches The French Touch Prize of The Jury (EXCLUSIVE)

Zack Sharf Italian director, actor and producer Valeria Golino will serve as the president of the jury for this year’s Un Certain Regard sidebar at the Cannes Film Festival. Golino follows in the footsteps of last year’s jury president Andrea Arnold.

After what was rumored to be a long search, Thierry Fremaux has found his president for the 2022 Cannes Film Festival Jury. Legendary French actor Vincent Lindon, who starred in last year’s Palme d’Or winner, “Titane,” will take the mantle following Spike Lee‘s reign last year.

Cannes has announced its jury for the 75th annual festival next month, naming French actor Vincent Lindon as president of this year’s competition jury that will hand out the Palme D’Or, as well as naming stars Rebecca Hall and Noomi Rapace to the jury. Of the eight members on this year’s Cannes main competition jury, Lindon, Hall and Rapace will also be joined by “A Hero” director Asghar Farhadi, “Midnight Special” director Jeff Nichols, Indian actress Deepika Padukone, Italian actress and director Jasmine Trinca, “Les Miserables” actor and director Ladj Ly and “The Worst Person in the World” director Joachim Trier.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentBrussels-based company Best Friend Forever has acquired pair of French movies, “The Strange Case of Jacky Caillou” and “Magdala,” which will world premiere in the Cannes sidebar, ACID. “The Strange Case of Jacky Caillou” is the feature debut of Lucas Delangle, who previously worked with Claire Simon on “The Competition,” among other films. Set in a small village in the French Alps, the film follows a young man, Jacky Caillou, who lives with his loving grandmother Gisele, a magnetic healer.Produced by Charles Philippe and Lucile Ric at Les films du Clan, the film stars newcomer Thomas Parigi and rising French talent Lou Lampros (“The French Dispatch,” “Peaceful”).

Cannes has added a raft of movies to its lineup ahead of the festival next month.

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.

Cannes Film Festival’s parallel sidebar Critics’ Week has unveiled the 11 features and 13 shorts that will comprise its 2022 edition. Scroll down to see the full lineup.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentDirectors’ Fortnight, the sidebar running alongside the Cannes Film Festival, has unveiled a strong lineup for its 54th edition, which will be the last one for outgoing artistic director Paolo Moretti. The sidebar has landed a pair of movies from A24, Alex Garland’s Men” which will play in the Special Screening section, and “God’s Creatures,” a psychological thriller directed by Saela Davis and Anna Rose Holmer, the filmmaking duo who made their feature debut with the Sundance film “The Fits.” Set in an Irish fishing village, “God’s Creatures” stars Aisling Franciosi, Emily Watson and Paul Mescal.

Holly Jones Simon Crowe’s SC Films International has boarded Filipino superhero adventure, “Zsazsa Zaturnnah vs. the Amazonistas of Planet X,” a buoyant animated feature produced by Franck Priot at Paris’ Ghosts City Films and director Avid Liongoren of Manila-based Rocketsheep Studio.The acquisition looks set to push Filipino animation into a more global spotlight, pairing this trailblazing project with a highly respected, long-standing animation sales company.SC Films has already been linked to high-profile French production companies on animated features such as Folivari’s “Pachamama” and TeamTO’s “Yellowbird.”“‘Zsazsa’ continues SC Films interest in the wonderful world of animation.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentCritics Week (or La Semaine de la Critique), the selection dedicated to first and second films running alongside the Cannes Film Festival, will boast a jury presided over by Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania (“The Man who Sold his Skin”). Ben Hania has directed four features, including “Beauty and the Dogs” which competed in Un Certain Regard in 2017, and “The Man who Sold his Skin” which played at Venice in 2020 and was the first Tunisian film nominated for the Oscars’ international feature film race.

The 75th Cannes Film Festival, which runs May 17-28, was already due to be a starry affair with the likes of Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick and Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis screening out of competition. Today it got even hotter with a strong Official Selection that should make for glamorous red carpets, but one that will likewise treat serious subject matter.

a competition lineup with only three films directed by women. While additional films could still be added to the slate for next month’s festival, the Cannes lineup falls short of the already dismal record of the last two editions of the festival.

Ukraine as a backdrop, the Cannes Film Festival plans a special honor for Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun” comeback and to host some 35,000 people as the movie industry looks to reclaim its pre-pandemic allure.On Thursday, organizers of this year's festival unveiled the 18 films that will compete for the coveted Palme d’Or prize at the May 17-28 event. They include “The Natural History of Destruction” by Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa, “All that Breathes” by Indian director Shaunak Sen, and Ethan Cohen’s “Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind.”Organizers will announce the jury at a later date.After a pandemic-related production delay, “Top Gun: Maverick,” in which Cruise reprises his 1986 role as a U.S.

Banijay Launches French Format Fund

Amazon Prime Video has unveiled seven new shows from the likes of Jean Dujardin, Nicolas Bedos, Franck Gastambide and Maïmouna Doucouré, while recommissioning Celebrity Hunted and LOL: Qui Rit, Sort!. in the region.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentAmazon Prime in France has unveiled its upcoming slate of director-driven Originals, including ‘Hawa,’ a new movie by “Cuties” director Maimouna Doucouré, Nicolas Bedos’ TV debut “Alphonse” and Franck Gastambide’s “”Medellín.” “Hawa” follows the coming-of-age tale of a teenage girl who lives with her grandmother and worries she will be removed by social services. She sets off to get adopted by someone she admires more than anything, one of the most powerful woman in the world.

A.D. Amorosi When is a timeless children’s tale not quite right for children’s theater? When it is Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s beloved and ever-so-slightly surreal 1942 novella, “The Little Prince.” Published following France’s liberation during World War II, the French aristocrat turned military aviator’s story was always something of an adult-oriented, nebulous dreamscape, one in which a tousled-haired young prince travels through space, lands on various planets (including Earth) and touches quietly on topics as nuanced as love and as rough as our loss of humanity and earth’s natural resources.“The Little Prince” is a lovely, delicate story.

Lily Collins wears a bold and bright blue look for the Emily in Paris panel during the 2022 PaleyFest LA held at Dolby Theatre on Sunday (April 10) in Hollywood.

Naman Ramachandran Arrow Films have acquired U.S., Canada, U.K. and Ireland rights to Berlinale title “Incredible But True,” by French writer-director Quentin Dupieux (“Mandibles”).The quirky comedy, which had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in February, sees a husband and wife move into a suburban house of their dreams only to discover that a mysterious secret is hidden in the basement, which may change their lives forever.