In a Banner Year for Female French Filmmakers, Why Did the César Awards Only Nominate Male Directors?

A sports presenter has shared an empowering post on her Instagram against sexism in the workplace. Amy Christophers has shared a shocking video to highlight the disrespectful behaviour of sports fans and sexual assaults and harassment that female broadcasters are subjected to.

Nominations for the 2023 CMT Music Awards are in!

Country music singer-songwriter Lainey Wilson leads this year’s roster of CMT Music Awards nominations with a total of four nominations, including Video of the Year, Female Video of the Year, Collaborative Video of the Year and CMT Performance of the Year.

EXCLUSIVE: UTA has signed director, producer and writer Joshua Zeman — a leading voice in the true-crime storytelling space — with plans to find him new opportunities in documentary filmmaking, narrative directing, digital content and more.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent While the market for foreign-language cinema has shrank, the packed opening of the Rendez-Vous with French cinema in New York hosted by Film at Lincoln Center and Unifrance on March 1 underscored American audiences’ enduring love for Gallic fare. At least when it comes to New Yorkers. Some of France’s brightest writers/filmmakers, including Alice Winocour (“Paris Memories”), Rebecca Zlotowski (“Other People’s Children”), Sebastien Marnier (“The Origin of Evil”) and Cesar-winning star Virginie Efira and famous actor Melvil Poupaud traveled to New York with Unifrance, the French film promotion org. On top of presenting their movies, some talents on the ground took part in masterclasses at Film at Lincoln Center, Columbia University and Brooklyn College, as well as a creative workshop with emerging filmmakers participating in the Gotham Marcie Bloom Fellowship in Film.

Film Independent Spirit Awards were handed out live Saturday night. Continuing a long-standing tradition, the 38th annual ceremony, which honors and celebrates independent filmmakers, took place at the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, California. This year’s most-nominated films were , which garnered eight total nods and competed in the Best Feature category against , which had seven nods. Other top movies included , and .,, and, meanwhile, led the TV nominations with three each, while the latter three faced off in the Best New Scripted Series category.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Music Box is unveiling the trailer for “Revoir Paris,” a French drama boasting a Cesar-winning performance by Virginie Efira. The movie, which bowed at Cannes’ Directors Fortnight and played at Toronto, will have its New York premiere on June 23 at Film at Lincoln Center and IFC Film Center. A meditation on healing, the film tells the story of Mia (Efira), a married translator who survived a mass shooting in a Paris restaurant, and feels haunted by the trauma, yet unable to recollect memories of the tragic attack. Determined to reconstruct the sequence of events and reestablish a sense of normalcy, Mia finds herself repeatedly returning to the bistro where the shooting happened. In the process she forms bonds with fellow survivors, including banker Thomas (Benoît Magimel) and teenager Félicia (Nastya Golubeva). Efira, who just won a Cesar Award for her role in the film, stars opposite Magimel, the Cesar-winning actor of “Pacifiction,” as well as Grégoire Colin (“Both Sides of the Blade”) and Golubeva (“Annette”).

Brad Pitt and girlfriend Ines de Ramon enjoyed some time in the city of love over the weekend! In a new video captured of the pair, Pitt and de Ramon were seen at France's annual César Awards on Friday evening, where Pitt surprised director David Fincher with an honor.Per Paris Match, following the show, the new couple attended the ceremony's after-dinner at Fouquet's on the Champs-Élysées.The quick clip shows Pitt seated next to de Ramon as they each carried on conversations at the star-studded dinner party.The latest sighting of the couple comes after a source told ET that Paul Wesley's ex-wife «is so excited about her relationship» with the 59-year-old actor.«Ines is very giddy, and her friends have never seen her like this before. She has that new crush feeling and it's very cute,» the source said.

Brad Pitt made an unannounced appearance at the Cesar Awards in Paris, France on February Friday 24, but it was rumored girlfriend Ines de Ramon joining him that really had eyebrows raising.Brad's attendance was kept secret and he walked out on stage to surprise director David Fincher who was receiving an honorary Cesar award, and although Ines - the former wife of Vampire Diaries star Paul Wesley - was not at the ceremony, the two were pictured with friends enjoying dinner at Fouquet's on the Champs-Élysées.WATCH: Brad Pitt reveals depth of his friendship with Sandra Bullock at the Bullet Train premiereIn a video shared by French publication Paris Match, the 56-year-old award-winning actor was sitting next to Ines, 32, talking animatedly with their seat neighbors.Ines, who was married to Paul for three years, is the vice president of luxury jewellery brand Anita Ko, a brand adored by the likes of Rosie Huntington-Whitely, Kendall Jenner, Hailey Bieber and Kourtney Kardashian to name a few. Taylor Swift wore some Anita Ko earrings at the American Music Awards 2022, whilst Brooklyn Peltz Beckham wore an AK chain at his wedding to Nicola earlier this year, according to Vogue.Brad and Ines were first rumoured to be dating in 2022 after being introduced by mutual friends.

Brad Pitt made a surprise appearance at the 2023 Cesar Awards to pay tribute to his frequent collaborator, David Fincher!

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The race is wide open at this year’s Cesar Awards, much like its American cousin, the Oscars, with no obvious best picture winner. Although Louis Garrel’s “The Innocent” and Dominik Moll’s thriller “The Night of the 12th” are leading nominations at 48th Cesar Awards, it’s uncertain that they will also walk away with the biggest prizes. Like the Oscars, the Cesars were also embroiled in controversy due to its failure to nominate female directors. The omission came as a surprise especially because 2022 was banner year for French female filmmakers, including Alice Diop (“Saint Omer”) and Claire Denis (“Stars at Noon”) who the festival circuit and scoring prizes.

Refresh for latest… The 48th edition of France’s César Awards, the country’s equivalent to the Oscars or the UK’s BAFTA, is unfolding at Paris’s historic Olympia concert hall this evening.

Thania Garcia Harry Styles took home the major tour of the year award for the second year in a row at the 2023 Pollstar Awards, a peer-voted annual ceremony celebrating the achievements of the touring and live events industry. The evening honored executives, artists, festivals, venues and more, and included speeches that touched on hot topics from ticket scalpers to venue relief programs. Styles’ “Love on Tour” also took home the residency of the year award, with one of his team members joking that he couldn’t be there because he was on his seventh year of the lengthy “Love on Tour.” He and Everytown for Gun Safety were also honored with the brand partnership/live campaign of the year award.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Less Is More (LIM), a European development scheme for limited-budget feature films has unveiled its selection of 16 projects, four of which are from Ukrainian writers and filmmakers. The initiative is backed by the MEDIA Programme of the European Union. The French national board (CNC) has come on board to support this year’s special spotlight on Ukrainian projects, alongside the banner Terrarium. The programs, which develops first, second and third feature projects, is organized by the Groupe Ouest, a film org created in 2006 in Brittany, in Northwest France, and headed by Antoine Le Bos and Charlotte Le Vallégant.

Ali Wong and Justin Hakuta were spotted spending time together over the weekend, nearly one year after announcing their divorce. In new photos snapped of the comedian and her ex, the former couple, who announced they were going their separate ways in April 2022, was seen going for a morning walk together in San Francisco. Wong kept things casual in a blue puffy jacket, a two-toned blue sweater, a blue scarf and joggers and topped the outfit with a large sunhat and shades.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Lie With Me,” a romance drama headlined by French stars Guillaume de Tonquebec and Victor Belmondo, has lured a raft of theatrical distributors at the Berlinale’s EFM. Represented in international markets by Be For Films and directed by Olivier Peyon, the movie is based on Philippe Besson’s book “Arrête avec tes mensonges.” The autobiographical novel was originally published in France by Editions Julliard in 2017 and won pair of awards including the Maison de la Presse prize in 2017. After selling several key territories earlier this year, Be For Films has now closed deals for the U.S. (Cinephobia Realising), Germany/Austria (24 Bilder), Brazil (Imovision), Poland (Tongariro), Greece (Cinobo) and Turkey (Bir Films).

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Elsa Zylberstein, one of the most famous – and bankable — faces of French cinema, known for her Cesar-winning performance in “I’ve Loved You For So Long,” is preparing to emerge as a major film producer. Having recently set up banners in France and the U.S., Zylberstein is actively developing a raft of films and series, working with the likes of Oscar-winning Syrian filmmaker Feras Fayyad (“The Cave”), Ted Braun (Darfur Now”) and Oscar-winning screenwriter Christopher Hampton (“The Father”), among others. These include “Kingdom of Hope,” a movie about Elise Boghossian, a French acupuncturist and humanitarian worker in a war zone who has healed children victims of ISIS . The movie will be directed by Fayyad, who is based in Berlin, and is being penned by Braun, based on Boghossian’s autobiographical book “Au royaume de l’espoir, il n’y a pas d’hiver.”

Guy Lodge Film Critic Giacomo Abbruzzese’s debut feature is a hazily seductive, frequently dreamlike study of life in the French Foreign Legion, fixated on masculine bodies in synchronized and sometimes violently clashing motion. It is also called “Disco Boy.” You almost certainly wouldn’t choose that subject, tone and title for a film if you didn’t want viewers’ minds to immediately wander to “Beau Travail,” Claire Denis’ seminal Foreign Legion cine-ballet, with its climactic solo number set to a thumping Eurodance classic; even if you somehow made that error, you wouldn’t compound it with electro-scored terpsichorean interludes of your own. Choosing homage this direct for a first feature is a brazen move, but notwithstanding its openly derivative qualities, “Disco Boy” doesn’t want for boldness or surprise — Abbruzzese’s hot, fluxional command of sound and image keeps us curious.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Atlas V, the Emmy-award winning VR company, is expanding into the U.S. with the strategic appointment of Michael Masukawa. The banner has just been signed by CAA and is aiming to build a presence in the U.S. Atlas was just nominated for three Emmy awards and won one with its interactive animation “Madrid Noir.” Atlas V’s track record in the North American festival circuit also includes multiple selections at Sundance’s New Frontier, Tribeca and SXSW (where it won two awards). The company also previously won two Peabody prizes and two Webby awards. Masukawa is joining Atlas V from Secret Location, an immersive content studio owned by Hasbro and eOne. At Atlas V, he will be in charge of developing partnerships, raising project financing, producing projects and negotiating distribution deals for Atlas V’s content. He will also find opportunities for sister companies Astrea and Albyon, the first being focused on distribution and the second one on development of immersive experiences.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Action thriller, “Trigger” from writer-director Richard Somes (“We Will Not Die Tonight,” “Supremo”) has wrapped production and is beginning sales at the European Film Market. “Trigger” (aka “Tokakk”) tells the story of a lonely security guard (portrayed by Arjo Atayde) previously discharged from the military due to his post-traumatic stress disorder. He finds himself embroiled in a different kind of war when a young woman (Julia Montes) seeks his protection against a corrupt police death squad. While the pair fight for their lives, the man must confront his inner demons to earn his redemption. The film also stars Arjo Atayde (“Cattleya Killer”), Julia Montes (“Brothers”), Sid Lucero (“The End of History”) and Kokoy De Santos (“Game Boy”) and is produced by Wilfredo C. Manalang of Fusee (the company that co-produced Cannes Camera d’Or prize-winner “Plan 75”), Somes of Strawdog Studio Production, Ria Atayde and Sylvia Sanchez from Nathan Studios and Michaelangelo Masangkay, co-owner of Toronto-based post sound house Theo & Atlas Productions Inc. with Fernando Henna.