France Looks To Double Animation Workforce With Bulked Up Educational Programs

EastEnders actor Paul Nicholls, who played the popular Joe Wicks on the BBC soap, is barely recognisable 25 years after his dramatic exit from Walford. The 44 year old star has taken on a new role in a BBC children's drama series Phoenix Rise.

Monica Bellucci is happy in love.

Monica Bellucci confirmed her romance with Tim Burton after months speculation about their relationship — and it sounds like things are getting serious.

Kendall Jenner looked like a walking cloud as she strutted down the Jacquemus spring 2024 runway in Versailles, France, on Monday, June 26.

Kendall Jenner is making the streets of Paris, France her very own runway.

Maluma has his hair down in France as he has been enjoying Paris Fashion Week. The Colombian singer has been attending all the biggest shows in incredible outfits.

EastEnders' legend Michael French, who played the iconic character David Wicks, looked unrecognisable as he was spotted out for the first time in years, taking his dog for a walk. Michael's colourful character David Wicks first entered our screens in 1993, as the son of Pete Beale and Pat Butcher. Wicks made a bombshell appearance on the show when he turned up to Albert Square for his dad's funeral, after having lost touch with his family.

Two of the most successful specialty films of the year expand this weekend and a handful of others jump into an arthouse market that’s seen few new entrants in recent weeks as wide release piled on wide release.

Dexys Midnight Runners‘ Kevin Rowland has recalled calling David Bowie “full of shit” and “a bad copy of Bryan Ferry“.The notorious comment was made during a support slot in 1983. Rowland was asked about it when taking NME‘s Does Rock ‘N’ Roll Kill Braincells?! quiz this month.“Nobody’s ever asked me about this before. We had to be escorted out of the area!” Rowland laughed.

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Leigh Francis has announced that for the first time in decades he is ditching his Keith Lemon alter ego for his first ever UK tour. The 50-year-old Celebrity Juice star will embark on an 18-date tour entitled My First Time, which kicks off in Bath on March 6, 2024.

France’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival has unveiled the prize winners of its biggest edition to date, running from June 11 to 17.

Art with a message. Larry and Laurent Bourgeois — better known as Les Twins — are currently touring the globe with Beyoncé, but they’re also finding time to give back using the thing they love most: dance.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Josh Duhamel will join the ensemble of the survival thriller “Not Without Hope,” an adaptation of Nick Schuyler and Jere Longman’s best-selling book that will be written and directed by Joe Carnahan. Also joining the cast are JoBeth Williams, Quentin Plair, Terrence Terrell and Marshall Cook.  As previously announced, Zachary Levi (“Shazam!”) is starring in the film, which tells the real-life story of a tragic 2009 boating accident involving Schuyler, his friends Will Bleakley (Cook) and NFL players  Marquis Cooper (Plair) and Corey Smith (Terrell). Levi will play Schuyler. The search-and rescue-operation captivated national attention. Duhamel will portray U.S. Coast Guard Captain Timothy Close, who oversaw a crew that cut through the ocean to try to find the friends who went missing. Carnahan has some experience orchestrating survival tales, having previously directed “The Grey,” which found Liam Neeson battling very hungry wolves after a plane crash stranded his character in a snowy mountain range. This time the foes are a raging sea, dehydration, severe hypothermia and various marine predators. At one point, “Not Without Hope” was slated to be made as a film starring Miles Teller, but production delays due to COVID scrambled those plans.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Netflix, the world’s preeminent animation producer by production volume, outlay and awards, has set out a roadmap at Annecy for how it is looking to invest in the future of animation. Sketched by John Derderian and Karen Toliver, Netflix animation heads of series and film respectively, the gameplan takes in building on Netflix’s strengths, in adult animation, and genre and anime in series; maintaining a vast diversity of shows and movies; and looking in every project for a creator’s vision which Netflix will seek to connect with the right audience, at the right price. Derderian and Toliver talked to Variety at France’s Annecy Animation Festival whose Netflix’s panel this Wednesday June 14, From Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget to Blue Eye Samurai – See What’s Next @ Netflix, promises to be one of Annecy’s most talked-about highlights.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Jan Naszewski’s Warsaw-based sales outlet New Europe Film Sales has sold its 3D family animation “A Mystery on the Cattle Hill Express,” directed by Will Ashurst, to Viva Kids for North America. The third part in the “Cattle Hill” series is a detective story about the little cow Clara and her friend Gavin who join forces with the world famous detective Agatha Chichester to unveil the thief of a revolutionary Nano-seed stolen from a high-tech laboratory train. New Europe has also sold the film to South Korea (First Run) and South Africa (Red Dot Digitals) and, as previously announced, France (Alba Films), Poland (New Horizons), JUST4KIDS in Benelux, Neo Films in Greece, Birfilm in Turkey, FILMS4YOU in Portugal and Arthousetraffic in Ukraine.

Guillermo del Toro was given a rock star welcome at the Annecy International Animation Festival on Tuesday as he took to the stage to discuss his life long obsession with animation.

Ben Croll Fueled in no small part by an across-the-board 30% tax rebate for international productions, with an additional 10% bonus to projects that partner with local VFX houses, the French production industry has surged in recent years. As part of the wider France 2030 investment plan, the recently implemented Great Image Factory initiative should have an all the more galvanizing effect, bolstering the Gallic production infrastructure with $376 million in public support and an additional $2.15 billion in private funds.   And if that rising tide will lift very many boats, its overall effects should be uniquely pronounced within the country’s booming animation and VFX sectors, which altogether account for 25% of the projects supported by the improvement project.

EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group has signed a first-look deal with London and LA-based Locksmith Animation to develop and produce animated features for worldwide distribution.

Dior means the L. A. landmark is truly outdoing itself in the style stakes this summer.