Golshifteh Farahani & Tahar Rahim To Star In Julia Ducournau’s ‘Alpha’; Filmnation & Charades Set To Launch In Cannes

The anarchic spirit of Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or winner Titane lives on in Emma Benestan’s Critics Week closer Animale, the genre-busting debut of a director who cites Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark, and the naturalist films of Chloé Zhao as influences. More surprisingly, she also credits Abdellatif Kechiche, since her first break was as assistant editor on his 2013 Palme d’Or winner Blue Is the Warmest Colour. 

Neon has picked up North American rights to The Unknown, the next feature from Anatomy of a Fall writer Arthur Harari. 

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Beta Cinema has closed a slew of international territory sales on its resistance epic “William Tell,” Nick Hamm’s adaptation of Friedrich Schiller’s play. WME Independent represents domestic rights.

EXCLUSIVE: Highland Film Group is launching international sales on the action film Alarum starring Sylvester Stallone, Scott Eastwood, and Willa Fitzgerald, which has just wrapped principal photography. 

Yellowjackets Season 3 has officially started filming in the wilderness. Showtime teased that the new season of the drama has started production.

The Cannes Film Festival always has incredible fashion on the red carpet and the opening ceremony just kicked off the next week of amazing looks!

Meryl Streep is back at the Cannes Film Festival after a 35-year absence!

The Cannes Film Festival opened on Tuesday evening with a joyously female vibe as Meryl Streep received the Honorary Palme d’Or from an emotional Juliette Binoche and Greta Gerwig became the first female U.S. director to serve as jury president across its 77 editions.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Neon, the Oscar-winning distributor of “Parasite,” is getting back in business with “Titane” director Julia Ducournau. In one of the first big rights deals of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the studio announced it has acquired North American territories for Ducournau’s “Alpha.” Plot details were not immediately disclosed, except that the film will be “genre-defying.” Neon previously released Ducournau’s acclaimed “Titane,” which won Cannes’ highest honor, the Palme d’Or, in 2021. She is only the second woman director to do so, following Jane Campion for “The Piano.” “Alpha” will star Golshifteh Farahani (“The Patience Stone,” “Paterson”) and Tahar Rahim (“The Mauritanian,” “A Prophet”).

After serving as the U.S. distributor for Julia Ducournau‘s Palme d’Or-winning 2021 body horror Titane, Neon is getting back into business with the filmmaker as the North American distributor for her next genre-bending feature, Alpha.

EXCLUSIVE: Thriving U.S. indie producer-distributor Neon is no stranger to the Cannes Film Festival with the Tom Quinn-founded banner having acquired a historic four consecutive Palme d’Or wins (last year’s Anatomy of a Fall, 2022’s Triangle of Sadness, 2021’s Titane and 2019’s Parasite), thus earning them the nickname “the Palme d’Or whisperers”. This year, while the company has Sean Baker’s new rom-com Anora playing in Competition, it’s also descending upon the Croisette in a new capacity with its recently-launched international sales strand, led by seasoned sales exec and Sierra/Affinity veteran Kristen Figeroid.

EXCLUSIVE: John Malkovich (The New Look) is poised to enter the MCU, as Deadline understands that the actor has come aboard for a role in The Fantastic Four.

Peacock has given a second-season pickup to Ted, the prequel TV series to Seth MacFarlane‘s Ted film franchise.

EXCLUSIVE: Lizzy Greene (A Million Little Things) is set to star in and executive-produce High Tide, a survival thriller that strands a group of friends on a swiftly submerging tidal island deep in the Pacific, where they are soon hunted by the ocean’s greatest predator.

Naman Ramachandran Raven Banner Entertainment will launch international sales at the Cannes Film Market for Steven Kostanski‘s latest feature “Frankie Freako.” Kostanski’s previous feature “Psycho Goreman” premiered at SXSW in 2020 and gathered a cult following worldwide. Reviewing the film for Variety, critic Owen Gleiberman described the film as “‘The Toxic Avenger’ remade by the Robert Rodriguez of ‘Spy Kids.'” “Frankie Freako” is described by Raven Banner as Kostanki’s homage to the practical-FX-driven monster horror-comedies of the 1980s like “Gremlins 2” and “Ghoulies 3: Ghoulies Go to College.” It tells the story of workaholic yuppie Conor Sweeney (“The Editor,” “Father’s Day”) whose perfect life is turned upside down when he accidentally unleashes a trio of tiny trouble-makers into his home, led by the maniacal rock-n-roll party monster Frankie Freako.

It’s already been a busy week for the upcoming Cannes film market, with new films from Julia Ducournau, Romain Gavras, and Panos Cosmatos entering the fray. But what about something lighter than those three, which, considering their directors, will all be audacious in their own ways? “Takes One To Know One” may fit the bill there, as Deadline reports that CAA Media Finance and Cornerstone have the upcoming romance ready for sales on the Croisette once the Cannes Film Festival gets underway in eleven days.

2021 Palme d’Or winner Julia Ducournau returns to the Cannes Film Festival this year, but not in competition. Instead, Variety reports that she’ll be on the Croisette shopping her next project, entitled “Alpha,” with FilmNation and Charades handling its sales.

Brent Lang Executive Editor FilmNation and Charades are teaming up to present “Alpha,” the new film from Julia Ducournau, to buyers at Cannes. It’s the same place where Ducournau caused a sensation with 2021’s “Titane,” her subversive and divisive body horror film, which won the Palme d’Or, the festival’s top award.

The BFI is once again heading to the Cannes Market with its so-called Great 8 — a selection of projects from first and second-time filmmakers that it will present to international buyers. 

2024 may end up a banner year in horror thanks to “Nosferatu,” “MaXXXine,” “Cuckoo,” “I Saw The TV Glow,” and “In A Violent Nature.”  But Paramount is banking one of its premier genre entries will find an audience on its streamer, Paramount+.  That’s right, the “Rosemary’s Baby” prequel “Apartment 7A” will premiere on the streamer instead of a theatrical release.   Continue reading ‘Apartment 7A’: ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ Prequel Starring Julia Garner To Premiere On Paramount+ This Fall at The Playlist.