Cannes Un Certain Regard To Open With Omar Sy-Starring World War One Pic ‘Father & Soldier’

EXCLUSIVE: On the eve of the Cannes Film Festival, Competition title Close has sold to Lucky Red for Italy, Vertigo Films for Spain and Lev Cinemas for Israel.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorLeading arthouse sales company The Match Factory has acquired distribution rights to murdered Lithuanian filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravičius’ documentary “Mariupolis 2,” ahead of the film’s premiere next week at the Cannes Film Festival as a Special Screening.Kvedaravičius was captured and murdered by the Russian army in Mariupol, Ukraine in early April. The film was co-directed by Kvedaravičius’ fiancée Hanna Bilobrova, who was with him at the time of his death, and was able to bring back the footage filmed there, and edited it with his editor Dounia Sichov.The Match Factory worked with Kvedaravičius on his debut feature “Barzakh,” which played in the Berlinale in 2011.

Manori Ravindran International EditorU.S. director Lotfy Nathan, best known for his acclaimed debut documentary “12 O’Clock Boys,” is making his feature directorial debut with “Harka.”Screening as part of the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section, the film is set in Tunisia, in North Africa, and follows Ali (Adam Bessa), a young man in his twenties who makes a precarious living selling contraband gas on the streets.Ali dreams of a better life for himself, but his domestic responsibilities step up when his father’s sudden death leaves him in charge of his two young sisters. With the family facing impending eviction, Ali seeks steadier work and a stable life.

EXCLUSIVE: Ian McKellen is among the stars of Ken McMullen’s Hamlet Within, a part-documentary feature investigating the mythology around the Shakespeare play, which is headed to the Cannes Market.

Cannes Film Festival almost 35 years ago, I was still green and naïve enough to ask long-time Cannes attendees why the famed French fest held such a powerful place in the pecking order of international film gatherings. The late Richard Corliss, Time magazine’s peerless and beloved film critic, answered warmly and succinctly, with his own more worldly query: “Would you rather be in Germany in the winter or the South of France in the spring?”Corliss had a point, but in the decades since I’ve tucked my own couple of dozen Cannes fests under my belt, I’ve compiled my own list of reasons why Cannes remains the one film festival that people who’ve never been to a film festival have heard about and wish they could go to, and know that if a film has scored there, it must be worth their time.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorCondor has picked up French rights to Saim Sadiq’s drama “Joyland” ahead of its world premiere in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard. The title, the first Pakistani film to be selected in Cannes, will vie for the Caméra d’Or.Film Constellation is representing international sales rights.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentLes Films du Losange has unveiled the trailer for Lola Quivoron’s daring feature debut “Rodeo” ahead of its world premiere in Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival. Produced by Charles Gillibert (“Annette”) at CG Cinema, “Rodeo” follows a hot tempered and fiercely independent young woman who infiltrates an underground dirt bike community in France.

Holly Jones World premiering in Cannes’ Premiere section, Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s thriller “The Beasts”(“As Bestas”) has shared with Variety its poster, crafted by James Verdesoto at New York’s Indika Entertainment Advertising, who as creative director at Miramax was responsible for the original award-winning film poster of “Pulp Fiction,” as well as those for “The Piano” and “The Crying Game,” among 200 posters.In advance of its Cannes bow, “The Beasts’” sales agent Latido Films has granted Variety an exclusive first look at its key art campaign, which may well drive to the heart of the film.The poster depicts three men entangled, close up. Two men grasp a third whose mouth opens in agony, consumed by a raw, animalistic rage, in a vertical tangle.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorCannes Critics’ Week film “The Woodcutter Story” has debuted its trailer. It’s the feature film directorial debut from Mikko Myllylahti, the writer of Cannes Un Certain Regard winner “The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Makki.” The film is being sold by French sales outfit Totem Films.“The Woodcutter Story” centers on Pepe, a woodcutter in an idyllic small town in Finland.

Jason Oppenheim has some feelings about Chrishell Stause’s new romance!

five months after her split from Jason Oppenheim, Chrishell Stause is in the midst of a new romanceDuring the reunion, which debuted Friday on Netflix, Stause revealed she's dating G Flip, an Australian singer. Stause explained to her  co-stars and host Tan France that G Flip, 27, is non-binary and goes by they/them pronouns. «You guys just saw that I had this serious relationship and obviously I am hoping to have a family, but I've also taken some of the pressure off myself as far as what that looks like,» she said, referencing her recent relationship with Oppenheim that was chronicled on season five of the show.

Chrishell Stause is seeing someone special following her split from Jason Oppenheim in December.

If you can count on death and taxes, you can also count on French filmmaker Arnaud Desplechin having a new film at the Cannes Film Festival. Desplechin has had ten films play at Cannes either in competition or in other sections, his most recent being 2021’s “Deception” and 2019’s “Oh Mercy.” His latest, “Brother And Sister” (“Frère et Sœur”) stars Marion Cotillard and Melvil Poupaud as estranged siblings who are forced to reunite after 20 years following the death of their parents.

Johnny Depp’s new movie Jeanne Du Barry will be launched for pre-sales at this month’s Cannes market, marking a first narrative feature for the actor in more than three years.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorNew Europe Film Sales has announced the first sales for Cannes Un Certain Regard-selected “Godland,” directed by Iceland’s Hlynur Pálmason.The film was picked up in France by Jour2Fete, and the movie was also acquired by three distributors that worked on Pálmason’s Cannes Critics’ Week title “A White, White Day” – Benelux rights were sold to Imagine, Poland was picked up by New Horizons Association and Australia/New Zealand was picked up by Palace.The film is set in the late 19th century, when a young Danish priest travels to a remote part of Iceland to build a church and photograph its people. But the deeper he goes into the unforgiving landscape, the more he strays from his purpose, the mission and morality.

Italian actor and director Valeria Golino has been set as jury president for the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival this year.

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.

The 2022 edition of the Cannes Film Festival will include a record number of films directed or co-directed by female filmmakers, one year after Julia Ducouranu’s “Titane” took home the festival’s top award.

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.