Goodfellas Boards Sales On Gaël Morel’s Cannes-Bound AIDS Drama ‘To Live, To Die, To Live Again’

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof has left Iran and traveled to Europe clandestinely after being sentenced to eight years in prison by the country’s authorities, who pressured him to pull his latest work “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” from the Cannes Film Festival and harassed the film’s producers and actors. “We are very happy and much relieved that Mohammad has safely arrived in Europe after a dangerous journey,” said Jean-Christophe Simon, CEO of Films Boutique and Parallel45, who are distributing the film.

EXCLUSIVE: Natalie Portman has joined the voice cast for French director Ugo Bienvenu’s upcoming animated feature Arco about a boy who uses rainbows to travel through time and his adventures as he gets stuck in the wrong era.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The trailer (below) has debuted for Leonardo Van Dijl‘s “Julie Keeps Quiet” ahead of its world premiere in Critics’ Week in Cannes. The film’s world sales agency New Europe Film Sales has revealed the first territory deals. New Europe has sold the film to New Horizons for Poland, Kino Pavasaris for the Baltic states, and I Wonder Pictures for Italy.

EXCLUSIVE: Francis Ford Coppola‘s Megalopolis has sold to key independent buyers in Europe’s top five territories, we can reveal.

Cannes Critics’ Week has appointed French producer Sylvie Pialat as president of the jury for its upcoming edition after Spanish director Rodrigo Sorogoyen, who was originally announced for the role, was forced to cancel for personal reasons.

EXCLUSIVE: Newly launched Dubai-based sales company MAD World has acquired worldwide rights to Egyptian director Morad Mostafa’s Aisha Can’t Fly Away, a tense African migrant drama shooting later this year in Egypt.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Kinology (“Dracula, a Love Story”) has boarded international sales to “The Big War,” an epic €30-million live action-CGI characters hybrid movie which will mark the directorial comeback of “La Haine” filmmaker Mathieu Kassovitz. The ambitious feature is adapted from “La Bête Est Morte,” an iconic two-part graphic novel illustrated by Edmond Calvo during War World 2 in Nazi-Occupied France and published after the country was liberated.

Cannes Film Festival sprinting from lunches to drinks to dinners, as she meets with potential distributors, financiers and filmmakers. Most nights, the Palisades Park CEO hosts a cocktail hour at the company’s temporary headquarters directly across from the Palais des Festivals, where Cannes’ biggest premieres are held. “We are looking to dazzle people,” she says, noting that her office boasts a commanding view of the red carpet.

Anna Marie de la Fuente U.K.-French film company Alief has boarded Cinélatino winner Victoria Linares Villegas’ upcoming horror debut “No salgas” (“Stay Quiet”) as its world sales agent and co-producer, teaming up with El Perro de Argento, the Dominican Republic-based production company founded by Linares Villegas and Carlos Marranzini. Alief partners Brett Walker and Miguel Angel Govea are heading to Cannes with a sizzle reel to meet with potential buyers and post-production partners at the Marché du Film.

Top Middle East and North African independent distributor and talent agency MAD Solutions is adding a new string to its bow with the launch of Arab cinema-focused international sales company MAD World.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Korean sales firm Finecut has inked multiple deals for horror thriller “Noise” and for “A Traveler’s Needs,” the recent Berlin prize-winner directed by Hong Sangsoo.“Noise” is a “multi-sensory and realistic horror” film that intertwines societal motifs of “floor noise” with suspenseful elements. Directed by Kim Soo-jin, the film centers around a woman with a hearing aid haunted by inexplicable sounds linked to her sister’s disappearance in her own apartment and attracting a malevolent presence.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent One day after the “Sous les écrans la dèche” collective, made up of freelance festival workers, issued a call for a strike during the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, organizers have issued a joint statement where they encouraged all parties to “come together around the bargaining table.” The statement, signed by the Cannes Film Festival as well as parallel sections Directors’ Fortnight, Critics’ Week and ACID, said they acknowledge the “difficulties faced by some of their staff” due to a reform of the “French unemployment insurance scheme,” and that they “hope that solutions will be found.” The organization is protesting against a looming labor reform that will see their unemployment indemnities slashed by more than half. The org brings together hundreds of workers at festivals, from projectionists to drivers and caterers, who are threatening to strike during Cannes which could potentially cause major disruptions.

One of cinema’s living legends, at 85 years old, filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola (“The Godfather,” “Apocalypse Now”) has finally made “Megalopolis,” an ambitious sci-fi epic he’s been dreaming of making since the 1980s. With the film set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival later this month, in a matter of days, French distributor Le Pacte has released the first look teaser of the movie.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Indie Sales has acquired Japanese director Momoko Seto’s “Dandelion’s Odyssey,” an ecological fable animated by Guionne Leroy (“Toy Story”) and scored by Nicolas Becker (“Sound of Metal”) and Quentin Sirjacq. Shot from Japan to Iceland, “Dandelion’s Odyssey” is an adventure set in a dystopian world and is reminiscent of “Microcosmos,” with plants and animals as the main characters. The feature boasts a mix of timelapse photography, as well as live-action shooting and 3D animation.

Princ Films boards ‘Isabel’s Garden’ For Cannes Marche Du Film 

So many stars travelled to Marseille, France to attend the Chanel Cruise 2024-2025 fashion show this week.

One of the year’s most anticipated films will be on sale for independent buyers at the upcoming Cannes market. We can bring you news that French sales company Goodfellas has boarded Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis ahead of the movie’s world premiere in Competition at the festival.

UPDATED with trial and date details: French actor Gérard Depardieu will stand trial in October on charges of sexual assault allegedly committed against two women on the set of the film The Green Shutters in 2021, the Paris Public Prosecutor said on Monday.

French actor Gérard Depardieu has been taken into police custody over allegations of sexual assault. The 75-year-old actor was summoned to a Paris police station for questioning on Monday morning, broadcaster BFMTV said.

Alex Ritman Gerard Depardieu has been taken into police custody in Paris to face questioning over sexual assault allegations. The lawyer for the French actor told CNN affiliate BFMTV that the 75-year-old presented himself at a Parisian police station on Monday, where he’s to be questioned over sexual assault allegations from two women.