Netflix Cements Position In France With Cinémathèque Française Sponsorship Deal; Sets Agnès Varda Tie-In

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.

Patrick Mahomes may have gone to Disneyland after his Super Bowl win but his next stop on his tour is Netflix.

The language used in the work of writer Roald Dahl has been changed to remove anything that my be deemed offensive. The publisher of Dahl’s work, Puffin books has removed words like “fat” to describe characters and gender neutral terms are also now being used.

The White Lotus is almost certainly checking into an Asian hotel for its third season — and it’s been revealed Netflix’s Dahmer star Evan Peters nearly starred in the second run.

Mindhunter will not be returning for a third season at Netflix.

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.”

Editor’s note: Tom Luddy, co-founder of the Telluride Film Festival, died last week at age 79. Here, filmmaker Alan Elliott, who directed the Aretha Franklin documentary Amazing Grace, remembers his kind spirit and moral compass. He also pays tribute to one of Luddy’s signature projects: a collaboration with Agnès Varda on an influential 1968 film about the Black Panthers.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Leonis Productions, the Newen Studios-owned French banner created by Jean-Benoit Gillig, is developing a raft of international shows on the heels of “Liaison,” Apple TV+’s first French original. The company reached a milestone with “Liaison,” a thriller series created and entirely penned by Virginie Brac (“Spiral”) and directed by Stephen Hopkins. Vincent Cassel and Eva Green lead a cast that includes Peter Mullan, Gérard Lanvin, Daniel Francis, Stanislas Merhar, Irène Jacob, Laëtitia Eïdo, Eriq Ebouaney, Tchéky Karyo, Bukky Bakray and Thierry Fremont. “It’s a sprawling French-British thriller set against the backdrop of Brexit, and there’s a metaphor between the love tragedy playing as the primary plot and the political tragedy embodied by Brexit unfolding in the background,” said Gillig.

the trailer. France grew up in England and now lives in Utah with his Mormon cowboy husband in between filming seasons of the Netflix hit “Queer Eye,” where he helps people spruce up their wardrobes. He’s also hosted other shows such as “Next in Fashion.” France’s work on “Queer Eye” shows a positive side of the beauty industry, but now he’s turning to a more negative side.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Submarine Entertainment is launching sales at Berlin’s European Film Market on high-profile doc “Milano — The Inside Story of Italian Fashion,”  directed by John Maggio (“The Perfect Weapon”). Billed as the definitive story of the explosion of Italian fashion in the 1970s and 80s, as told by the insiders, the star-studded doc extensively features Giorgio Armani and delves into his life story, but also reveals unknown details about the Gucci and Versace fashion houses. “Milano” also features appearances and commentary by former Gucci creative director Tom Ford, Gianni Versace’s brother Santo Versace and Hollywood stars including Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson and Frances McDormand, all of whom have close ties to the Italian fashion milieu. Watch clip.

EXCLUSIVE: France tv distribution has boarded international sales on French philosopher and writer Bernard-Henri Lévy and director-photographer Marc Roussel’s documentary Slava Ukraini and will launch the title at the EFM.

Naman Ramachandran Chris O’Dowd (“Puffin Rock”), Amy Huberman (“Derry Girls”), Beth McCafferty and Eva Whittaker (“Wolfwalkers”) lead the voice cast of “Puffin Rock and the New Friends,” the film based on the TV series “Puffin Rock.” Following their collaboration on Oscar nominees “Song of the Sea” and “The Breadwinner,” WestEnd Films is teaming again with Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon and Northern Ireland’s Dog Ears on the film and is launching sales at Berlin’s European Film Market (EFM), where first footage will be shown to buyers. “Puffin Rock and the New Friends” sees Oona, Baba, May and Mossy joined by a new characters Isabelle, Phoenix and Marvin. When the last Little Egg of the season disappears under mysterious circumstances, Oona and her new friends race against time to bring the Little Egg home before a big storm hits Puffin Rock and puts the entire island in danger.

Brits heading to France this week have been warned that they could experience some “disruption to services” due to industrial action. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has issued an update for the country.

EXCLUSIVE: WME Independent has unveiled the first image of Haley Bennett in the upcoming 19th Century champagne drama Clicquot ahead of launching sales on the title at the European Film Market.

Refresh for latest…: James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water has overtaken the filmmaker’s own Titanic at the international box office with an estimated $1.538B through Sunday. That makes it the No. 3 movie of all time abroad, behind the original Avatar and Avengers: Endgame.

EXCLUSIVE: Ron Ninio, executive producer of Showtime drama Your Honor, is lining up an espionage drama as his next series.

At the same time it is courting subscribers with its cheapest plan yet, the $7-a-month Basic with Ads, Netflix is adding upgrades to its top-end Premium tier.

Steven Spielberg’s autobiographical feature The Fabelmans earned a number of Oscar nominations this morning, including one for Spielberg’s longtime collaborator, composer John Williams, and one for veteran actor Judd Hirsch, who plays Boris, a fictionalized version of Spielberg’s great uncle in the movie.

Netflix has topped this year’s list of distributors nominated for BAFTA film awards for the fourth year running with 21 nominations overall.

Netflix, after pulling itself out of a grueling series of setbacks in the first part of 2022, will face another test Thursday afternoon when it reports fourth quarter financial results.