‘Party Girl’ Director Marie Amachoukeli, Miyu Productions Deny Death in Macabre Comedy ‘Happy End’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent France engaged in a record 144 international co-productions in 2022, while the number of majority French movies produced dropped by 10% to 208 titles, according to a study unveiled by the National Film Board (CNC). For the first time since 2003, half of the movies produced in France were international co-productions (with 33 countries) last year, compared with 42.1 % in 2021 and 39.6 % between 2017 and 2019. Investment in films dropped by 12.8% to €1.18 billion ($1.30 billion) compared with 2021, while foreign investment broke a 10-year record. In France, TV channels as well as streamers (since the start of 2022) are required to invest a percentage of annual revenue on French and European productions. As such, they invested a total of €280.78 million in 159 films in 2022, a 8.3 % drop compared with the average invested between 2017 and 2019.

Amber Dowling Netflix, APTN and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation have commissioned a new comedy series created and written by Inuit television writer-producer Stacey Aglok MacDonald and Inuit filmmaker Alethea Arnaquq-Baril. The untitled project will film in Nunavut and revolves around a young Inuk mother who wants to build a new future for herself. The problem? It won’t be easy in her small Arctic town where everyone knows everybody else’s business. MacDonald and Arnaquq-Baril also serve as executive producers on the series under their Red Marrow Media banner alongside Miranda de Pencier (“Anne With an E”) of Northwood Entertainment, Susan Coyne (“Daisy Jones & The Six”) and Garry Campbell (“The Kids in the Hall”).

Jennifer Aniston spoke recently about the state of comedy and what’s considered funny – and what’s not – on the occasion of the debut of her new Netflix comedy Murder Mystery 2 with Adam Sandler.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Eitan Mansuri, who attended Series Mania Festival to pitch season 2 of “No Man’s Land” (pictured), is re-teaming with award-winning Israeli director Samuel Maoz on his next film “It’s Good to Die For Your Country.” The project will mark Maoz’s follow up to “Foxtrot” and “Lebanon” which won Venice’s Silver and Golden Lion awards, respectively. Mansuri told Variety that “It’s Good to Die For Your Country” will be like the third opus of a trilogy on war, completing “Foxtrot” and “Lebanon.” “‘Lebanon’ was about being a soldier, ‘Foxtrot’ was about the implication of war on families and ‘It’s Good to Die For Your Country’ will be about trauma itself,” said Mansuri, whose produced Maoz’s last two movies.

Marta Balaga Netflix vowed to decarbonize its productions “across the globe” at Series Mania.   “That’s our main goal in the next couple of years,” said Claudia Augustinis, head of production at Netflix France. “We always say we want to entertain the world. But in order to do that, we need a world to entertain.”  While there is no standard formula that fits all productions, observed Netflix Spain’s Ester Velasco, hiring external vendors to help out producers is key. Be it on “Elite,” now in its sixth season, or rom-com “In Love All Over Again.” 

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor GlobeScreen Auditoriums has taken French rights to “Blix Not Bombs,” a documentary about former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix, who was given the task of looking for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, in the period running up to the U.S.-led invasion of the country 20 years ago. The deal was closed by Toronto-based sales agent Syndicado Film Sales, which is also an executive producer on the film. The film had its world premiere at Copenhagen documentary festival CPH:DOX on Monday, the anniversary of the invasion. In the film, Czech-Swedish filmmaker Greta Stocklassa interviews the Swedish diplomatic, now 94 years old, about what happened in the months leading up to war. He describes his meetings with George W. Bush and Tony Blair, his frustration when Colin Powell gave his pivotal speech in the UN Security Council, and his feeling of emptiness when the U.S. started the invasion, despite his reports that his team had found no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Ben Croll LILLE, France – Producers, commissioning editors and creative talents from across La Belle Province took the spotlight at a Series Mania showcase of the best of recent Quebecois scripted offerings. Below are the seven series that drew whoops and appreciative hollers from a room full of international buyers. Late summer doldrums, young adult love, and the generally placid rhythms of suburban life take on additional heft and resonance for a group of friends all suffering from cystic fibrosis – especially once one’s condition takes a turn for the worst. Far from jerking tears, the offbeat comedy “Thin Air” finds irreverent and life-affirming humor following young adult characters that feel the pangs of mortality more acutely than most. Produced by Urbania and created by acclaimed writer Jean-Christophe Réhel, the bittersweet series offers another plum role to “Mommy” star Antoine Olivier Pilon.

One of the world’s most popular international comedies is being remade in Spanish, courtesy of Eva Longoria.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italian director Susanna Nicchiarelli, whose trilogy of female biopics, “Nico, 1988,” “Miss Marx,” and “Chiara” all launched from the Venice Film Festival, is set to direct the TV series “Fireworks” depicting the struggle of Italy’s partisans against Nazis and Fascists through the point of view of a twelve-year-old girl named Marta. Shooting is set to start on May 8 in the Piedmontese Alps on “Fireworks,” which is being produced by Domenico Procacci’s Fandango and Rome shingle Matrioska. Fandango, who is the show’s lead producer, is in advanced talks with Italian state broadcaster RAI to come on board. Fandango is also talking up the six-episode limited series at the Series Mania confab in Lille, France, where they are seeking prospective international partners.

Peter Werner, Emmy-nominated TV director who won a Best Short Film Oscar in 1977, died suddenly this morning in Wilmington, NC from heart complications following a torn aorta.

A worker at a recycling centre in St Helens was crushed to death by a faulty cherry picker, an inquest into his death has heard.

Holly Jones Brazilian media titan Globo bowed its ambitious doc series “Extremists.br” to market audiences in Berlin last month alongside a slate of equally promising emerging concepts. With sights now set on France, the telenovela and docu-centered powerhouse readies for buyers at Series Mania. Directed by journalist and documentary filmmaker Caio Cavechini (“Marielle – The Crime That Shook Brazil”), the project examines Brazil’s far-right movement, from the sociology of its radical idolatry to the underpinnings of corrosive propaganda campaigns that urge it on, shining a torch on the country’s highly divisive political climate. With unnerving ease, the eight-part series captures how readily a captive audience takes to fastly-spread tall tales, with original and nuanced thought thrown out the window as devotees cling to their dogmas, waging war with cut and paste battle cries while the vivid green and yellow flag of their country hangs around their shoulders, representative of a certain painted-on patriotism.

Nancy Meyers is still searching for a new home for her film after parting ways with Netflix over budget concerns. But in the meantime, the director of rom-com classics like 2006’s The Holiday and Something’s Gotta Give has dropped some hints on Instagram, revealing details about her movie, confirming the title, and sharing its origin.

The Favourite”). Set in the eighteenth century, the drama follows the famous last Queen of France (Schüle) beginning with her teenage years, as she’s sent from her home in Austria to France, in order to marry the awkward Louis XVI (Louis Cunningham), who won’t talk to her and doesn’t appear to bathe. She’s a fish out of water in Versailles, struggling to understand their way of life and deal with court intrigue, while Louis XV (James Purefoy, “Rome”) rules.  “It changed my view on her entirely,” said Schüle, who is German and is based in Berlin. “I do think that there is a very wrong image out there about her.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent French pay TV group Canal+ has ordered a second season of its dazzling historical drama “Marie Antoinette.” BAFTA-nominated Ed Bazalgette (“The Last Kingdom,” “Doctor Who”) will direct the first four episodes. While Deborah Davis (“The Favourite”) still on board as creator, season 2’s writing team is led by Louise Ironside, joined by Charlotte Wolf, Francesca Forristal and Andrew Bampfield. The series, which is being backed by Banijay and Capa Drama (Newen Studios), is expected to start filming in the fall. The new season will continue telling the epic story of the avant-garde young queen, played by Emilia Schüle (“Ku’damm 56/ 63”), with Louis Cunningham (“Bridgerton”) as the king of France, Louis XVI.

On Monday, Khloe Kardashian debuted a brand new soft balayage hair colour as she celebrated the 40th birthday party of her best friends, twin sisters Khadijah Haqq McCray and Malika Haqq.The 38 year old reality star is known for changing up hair colour, length and style pretty often, and just last week was seen with waist-length honey blonde hair. However now, it seems Khloe has decided to make another change, and go for something a little lighter as she celebrated with her friends.

Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield – who co-presented at Sunday’s Oscars ceremony – are set to star in “We Live in Time” for StudioCanal and director John Crowley.Plot details are under wraps for now but the film is being described as a funny and emotional love story. Production is tentatively expected to start later this year.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Aardman Animations’ founder Peter Lord and “Waltz With Bashir” director Ari Folman are set to receive Pulcinella Career Awards at Italy’s Cartoons On The Bay TV animation festival which is broadening its scope. The event launched in 1996 by Italian state broadcaster RAI has now expanded beyond TV toons to comprise video game productions, the comic book world, transmedia storytelling and metaverse animation content. Reflecting its more high-tech horizons, the fest’s 27th edition – which will run May 31-June 4 in the Southern seaside city of Pescara – will also be celebrating “Cuphead,” the hit Canadian video game that’s become a Netflix series, and bestowing its creator Maja Moldenhauer with its new Transmedia Award.

We’ve lost a member of the Queer Eye family.

EXCLUSIVE: Wheel Of Time execs Ted Field and Rick Selvage are among producers of feature biopic Les Indépendants about American impressionist Mary Cassatt and her relationship with French painter Edgar Degas.