Bruno Dumont Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Jessica Kiang It is increasingly weird to recall that for a while, French director Bruno Dumont was the kind of filmmaker who reminded you, often forcibly and somewhat against your will, that the word “auteur” contains most of the letters of “austere.” “The Empire,” another of the director’s proudly off-kilter comedies that pitches the bumbling denizens of a small French village into a vast, sinister conspiracy extending far beyond their foreshortened horizons, hovers several light years — and two janky light sabers — away from austerity. Unfortunately, though, the air out there is also a little thin on hilarity, with the film’s one-gag setup becoming stretched to the point that it doesn’t even matter that it’s a pretty good gag.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Oscar contenders and Berlin prize-winners will be among the European films being represented by visiting companies to FilMart that are making use of the European Film Promotion umbrella stand within the annual Hong Kong market. In total 29 European film sales companies are making the trip, including more than a dozen from France under the Unifrance banner. Prominent rights brokers include Charades, Goodfellas, Fandango and Filmax.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Kino Lorber has acquired North American distribution rights to Bruno Dumont’s “The Empire,” a sci-fi satire starring Anamaria Vartolomei (“Happening”), Camille Cottin (“Call My Agent!”), Lyna Khoudri (“The Three Musketeers”) and Fabrice Luchini. “The Empire” just world premiered in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, where it won the Silver Bear Jury Prize.

Dahomey. The Golden Bear, the first to be awarded to a black filmmaker in the festival’s history, is about the return of 26 royal treasures of the Kingdom of Dahomey from Paris to their country of origin, the present-day Republic of Benin.MUBI has acquired the rights to the film for both the UK and the United States, among other territories.On the night Diop had the following to say when she collected her award:Kenyan-Mexican actor Lupita Nyong’o was president of this year’s jury.Elsewhere, the runner-up prize, the Silver Bear Grand Jury went to Korean filmmaker Hong Sansoo’s Yeohaengjaui pilyo (A Traveler’s Needs), while the Silver Bear Jury Prize was awarded to Bruno Dumont’s L’Empire.Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias scooped the Best Director award for Pepe, while the two main acting awards went to two performances in the English language.

The Berlin Film Festival kicks off its 74th edition Thursday with the opening-night world premiere screening of Small Things Like These, the Irish drama starring Oscar-nominated Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy. It kicks of 10 days of movie debuts including for ones starring Rooney Mara, Isabelle Huppert, Gael García Bernal, Kristen Stewart and more.

Ground-breaking French-Iranian sales agent and producer Hengameh Panahi, who represented a myriad of renowned Cannes and Venice prize-winning auteur directors, has died at the age of 67.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent MK2 Films has acquired a collection of films and TV series directed by Bruno Dumont, the award-winning French director behind “Life of Jesus,” “Slack Bay” and “Humanity.” The acquisition, unveiled during Mipcom Cannes, covers the bulk of the director’s work, spanning eight films and TV series including “Li’l Quinquin,” which premiered at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight. MK2 Films will represent rights to these titles in France and international markets.

Bertrand Bonello is a director, like Bruno Dumont, whose ascent to date has been quite closely associated with the Cannes Film Festival, so it is a surprise to see his latest — a two-hander starring French movie queen Léa Seydoux — make its debut on the Lido. It is sure to be just as divisive here as it would on home turf, but, for those willing to accept its longueurs and absurdities, The Beast is a provocative piece of sci-fi that follows Twin Peaks: The Return down the rabbit hole of dream logic, spanning three time zones in a surreal but compelling examination of human relationships.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Adèle Haenel, the French star of Cannes prize-winning film “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” vanished from the film world in the aftermath of the 2020 Cesar Awards ceremony. That year, Roman Polanski won best director and Haenel, who was on the ground for her nomination with “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” walked out of the ceremony in a burst of anger upon hearing Polanski’s name, shouting “Bravo pedophilia!” Several months prior, Haenel had accused French director Christophe Ruggia of having sexually harassed her for years starting when she was just 12 years old, prompting the birth of France’s #MeToo movement. Since then, Haenel exited the movie biz to dedicate herself to political activism, as well as theater and dance with the artist Gisèle Vienne. She recently appeared on French TV to support the strike and protest against the country’s unpopular pension reform.

The film was acclaimed for its rich visual style of sensual cinematography that never feels vulgar or exploitative of the couple in question. It can be seen plainly in the trailer, which shows Hermes and Betta passionately kissing inside a pink bathroom filled with balloons, a parade of bodies in lingerie on a runway and one man even trying on a black g-string.

Bruno Dumont is one of the most exciting filmmakers working today. Sure, not everything he releases is perfect, but he’s a risk-taker, and his films, such as “Jeanette,” “Joan of Arc,” and “France,” all take big swings and are worth watching just to see how far he’s willing to go.

No Time to Die star Léa Seydoux is one busy actress, as the trailer for her third French film of the year has just released, which is already a lot before you count her much-delayed Bond film and Wes Anderson's latest. This latest film, starring one of France's most famous actresses and coming from Bruno Dumont, one of France's most famous directors, is called.

French auteur Bruno Dumont has busied himself in recent years with films about Joan of Arc. Now, he teams up with French star actress Léa Seydoux for his latest film, “France,” fresh off its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this July.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentIndie Sales has scored a flurry of deals Bruno Dumont’s “France” with Lea Seydoux which world premiered in competition at Cannes and played in Toronto. Dumont’s 11th feature film, “France” stars Seydoux as France, a glamorous TV star journalist juggling a primetime news show and a chaotic family life.

The Toronto International Film Festival announced today films included in the TIFF Docs presented by A&E IndieFilms, Wavelengths and Midnight Madness programs and exciting, recently confirmed additions to the Special Presentation and Contemporary World Cinema programs.

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticBy far the most biting and ironic satire to premiere in Cannes competition this year — a divisive comedy whose cynicism was met with boos at the press screening — Bruno Dumont’s “France” doesn’t want to be liked. That’s more than can be said of its eponymous protagonist, France de Meurs (Léa Seydoux), the country’s top news anchor and a damning representation of the journalist-as-star phenomenon.

Bruno Dumont’s peculiar blend of the transcendental with a clumsy kind of realism was a natural fit to “Jeannette” and “Joan of Arc,” both films dealing with the same presumed miracle — an ordinary little girl claiming to be guided by Saints.

th District,” past Palme winner Nanni Moretti’s “Three Floors” and Bruno Dumont’s “France” (one of the few films to receive those infamous Cannes boos) among them.

Bruno Dumont uses a French anchorwoman to explore his country’s media in France, a Cannes Film Festival competition entry that’s glossy and watchable but ultimately disappointing. Léa Seydoux plays France de Meurs, a TV anchorwoman and reporter so famous that she stopped for selfies everywhere she goes, from cafes to war zones. After she is involved in a traffic accident, she quits her job and ends up in a Swiss spa, but the respite she meets there isn’t quite what she’d hoped for.

Cannes Film Festival rolled out the red carpet for its tenth day with the premiere of Bruno Dumont's 'On a Half Clear Morning', a drama about a celebrity TV journalist whose life is overturned by a freak car accident.

As we’ve noted in the last two weeks of this ongoing Cannes Film Festival, Léa Seydoux is the belle of the ball, and she has four films playing at Cannes, three of them in competition.

Whoever “wins” the Cannes Film Festival this year, French actress Léa Seydoux will certainly be up there regardless if she takes home any awards or not.

The delegation of French stars and filmmaking talent set to attend this week's Rendez-Vous With French Cinema festival in New York have canceled their trip, citing concerns over the coronavirus. French film promotion body UniFrance announced Wednesday that the French delegation, which would have included such talents as Oscar-winner Juliette Binoche, Persepolis actress Chiara Mastroianni and director Bruno Dumont (Slack Bay), will not be coming.

By Tom Grater