Cannes Film Fest Expecting 90% Of Industry Delegates To Attend In Person; Asia Set To Return Despite Travel Challenges

Ed Meza @edmezavarIn his more than three decades at Constantin Film, Martin Moszkowicz has overseen the production of hundreds of films, including such box office successes as “Downfall,” “The Baader Meinhof Complex,” the hugely popular “Fack Ju Go­ehte” films and the hit “Resident Evil” franchise.This year’s CinemaCon is honoring Constantin’s longtime CEO for his work and continuing success at the global box office.Speaking to Variety, Moszkowicz looks back at his career and discusses Constantin’s current challenges, its diverse lineup, new productions and expanding film and television activities.Moszkowicz has headed Germany’s most successful production and distribution group since 2014. While Germany remains its main market, Constantin has had a global outlook since its beginnings, and it was due in part to Moszkowicz’s international experience that he landed his first job at the company.

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

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentThe Cannes Film Festival has added a string of new titles to its Official Selection, including three movies in competition: Léonor Serraille’s “Un Petit Frere,” Albert Serra’s “Tourment sur les iles” and “The Eight Mountains” by Charlotte Vandermeersch and Felix Van Groeningen (“The Broken Circle Breakdown”).“The Eight Mountains” is an Italian film based on Paolo Cognetti’s 2016 novel. It revolves around a young man who returns to a young man who finds refuge in the Italian village where he spent a summer as a child with his parents.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentOrange Studio has unveiled a first still of Nicolas Pariser’s adventure thriller “The Green Perfume” which will close Directors’ Fortnight, the strand running alongside the Cannes Film Festival. Starring Sandrine Kiberlain (“Nine-Month Stretch”) and Vincent Lacoste (“Lost Illusions”), “The Green Perfume” takes place following the death of a poisoned actor in the middle of a performance at la Comédie Française.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe Midem conference, which ran for 55 years before its owner canceled the 2022 edition, will return in 2023, according to a report in Music Business Worldwide.While the 2022 event was officially canceled by Reed Midem in December, it was reported at the time that the city of Cannes, which has hosted the event since its inception, would take it over, and that appears to be the case: according to the report, the Midem brand was recently sold to the City of Cannes Municipality by RX France, Reed Midem’s parent company.“In order to rediscover this emblematic event on the Cannes calendar, the City of Cannes is taking over the Midem so that it once again becomes the essential meeting place for music professionals from all over the world,” said the city’s mayor, David Lisnard, in a statement cited by MBW. “Maintaining this show in Cannes represents an economic challenge for local employment and attractiveness for the destination.” Lisnard said the city consulted with “several professionals” representing the French and global musical businesses, including major and independent record labels, concert promoters, streaming platforms and others “in order to offer a qualitative program [for Midem] that is as close as possible to the realities and developments in the [music] sector.”The city’s statement added that “the health crisis, as well as the reorganization of the activity of the RX company led [the firm] to give up the organization of Midem.”The conference launched in Cannes in 1967 and for decades was a showcase for the world’s biggest artists and executives.

Pietro Marcello’s Scarlet will be the opening film at the 54th Directors’ Fortnight at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentMemento International has acquired “Sick of Myself,” a movie by L.A.-based Norwegian filmmaker Kristoffer Borgli which will world premiere at Cannes in Un Certain Regard. Borgli previously directed the short films including “Former Cult Member Hears Music For The First Time” and “Eer” which played at Sundance.

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.

The Cannes Film Festival will announce the lineup for the 75th edition this morning at 11 a.m. Paris time (2 a.m. PT/5 a.m. ET). The press conference will stream live from the UGC Normandie cinema on the Champs-Elysées.

Britain's Got Talent hosts Ant and Dec have admitted that the ITV show's return was "emotional" after a year away due to the coronavirus pandemic.The hit talent show is back for a new series, which premieres on Saturday 16 April at 8pm on ITV, with Amanda Holden, Simon Cowell, David Walliams, Alesha Dixon and Ant and Dec reunited once again.Talking about being reunited with their co-stars and the return of Britain's Got Talent after a year away, Ant McPartlin, 46, said: "We missed the wonderful people that we get through those theatre doors. "I missed the audience in the auditorium.That was big, because we'd done the auditions before we'd done Saturday Night Takeaway, so it was our first proper live audience for a while. It was quite emotional." Get exclusive celebrity stories and fabulous photoshoots straight to your inbox with OK!'s daily newsletter.Talking about not doing the show last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, Declan Donnelly, 46, added: "It was really bizarre because it has been an annual event for us.

Emilio Mayorga Spanish director Alauda Ruiz de Azúa, who swept the board at March’s Málaga Festival, has wrapped shooting on her sophomore feature, “Eres Tú” (It’s You), a Netflix’ romantic comedy produced by Antonio Asensio and Paloma Molina at Zeta Studios ­­– the Madrid-based company behind phenomenon “Elite.” Miriam Rodríguez executive produces.After distributing Almodovar, and signing up J.A. Bayona, this is another move into director driven fare by Netflix in Spain, Ruiz de Azúa’s attachment to “Eres tú marks another association with a prestige director by Netflix in Spain which already distributes Pedro Almodóvar and has signed up J.A.

Manchester United favourite Louis Saha reckons the jury will be out on Erik ten Hag until he brings silverware back to Old Trafford. United have not won a trophy for coming up five seasons as they prepare to appoint the Ajax coach as their next permanent manager.

An Albanian man agreed to move a vehicle from one car park to another on behalf of criminals for £55 - but he was caught by police with cocaine.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefVeteran Hong Kong director Herman Yau has assembled a top-notch cast for “War Customised,” a high-octane action thriller that is one of the highest-profile commercial productions to emerge from the territory in the past couple of years.The cast is headed by Jacky Cheung (“Private Eye Blues,” “Bullet in the Head”) and Nicholas Tse (“Raging Fire,” “Gen-X Cops”), along with Karena Lam (“Inner Senses,” “July Rhapsody”) and Francis Ng (“Infernal Affairs 2,” “Bullets over Summer”). The supporting cast includes Liu Yase (“Limbo”), Michelle Wai (“Caught in Time,” “Triad”), Angus Yeung (“Raging Fire”), Melvin Wong (“Above the Law”), Ben Yuen (“Tracey,” “Anita”), Amanda Strang (“Final Romance”), and Brahim Chab (“Monkey Man,” “Vanguard,” “Ganopath”) as the villain of the piece.

Squid Game actress Jung Ho-yeon is set to star in the upcoming A24 film The Governesses alongside Lily-Rose Depp and others.Jung will appear in the forthcoming film alongside Lily-Rose Depp (2018’s A Faithful Man), who is the daughter of actors Vanessa Paradis and Johnny Depp, and award-winning Norwegian actress Renate Reinsve (2021’s The Worst Person In The World). The specifics of the trio’s roles have yet to be announced.The Governesses will be the second film Joe Talbot will direct for A24, having made his directorial debut with the studio in 2019 with the critically acclaimed The Last Black Man In San Francisco.The Governesses is based on the 1992 novel of the same name by French writer Anne Seree, which was translated into English for the first time in 2018.

EXCLUSIVE: Screen Media has acquired North American rights to the psychological thriller Cordelia, starring Antonia Campbell-Hughes (It Is In Us All) and Johnny Flynn (Emma), from Great Point Media, which holds world distribution rights outside the UK. The Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment company plans to release the title from director Adrian Shergold (Pierrepoint: The Last Hangman) day-and-date in at least 10 cities in May.

Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi is joining the cast of “Silent Night,” the next film from action movie auteur John Woo — a film entirely free of dialogue. “Silent Night” stars Joel Kinnaman (“The Suicide Squad”) and is currently filming in Mexico City.