Paris XIII (Xiii) Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

I’ve been following the career of French actress Noemie Merlant since I saw her in Celine’s Sciamma queer romance film Portrait of a Lady on Fire at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019.  Since her performance as Marian in Sciamma’s film, Merlant has worked non-stop as an actress appearing films including: 

As a writer and director, Jacques Audiard is known for muscular crime dramas, including “The Beat That My Heart Skipped,” “A Prophet,” “Rust and Bone,” and 2015’s Palme d’Or winner “Dheepan.” His work has largely had an air of seriousness to it that doesn’t leave much room for comedy or frivolity of any sort. His films are dark looks into the souls of characters struggling to exist in a world that isn’t often built for the majority to thrive — magnificent achievements, no doubt, but also tough to crack a smile while watching.

French filmmaker Jacques Audiard, known for fantastic underrated outings such as “A Prophet” and “Rust & Bone,” returns this spring with his latest film “Paris, 13th District.” A new film focusing on a group of Millennials in Paris, ‘13th District’ follows a group of 20-30 somethings as they navigate the romantic entanglements in a modern world of dating apps and technology.

Few films have accurately captured the definitive Millennial experience—lovelorn, cash-strapped, self-absorbed, and tech-addicted—though a few have tried, and some even succeeded. Modern love is no joke, as films and shows like “Frances Ha” and “Girls” know, and neither is modern friendship, or any part of early adulthood these days.

Having been a mainstay of the Croisette for years and a Palme d’Or winner in 2015 for “Dheepan,” French filmmaker Jacques Audiard (“The Beat That My Heart Skipped,” “A Prophet,” both Cannes prize winners), is no stranger to the Cannes Film Festival. Since 2005, all of his films have debuted at Cannes save one (2018’s “The Sisters Brothers” that went to Venice).

It’s that time of year again, though a little delayed. Following the cancellation of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival last year, thanks to the global pandemic, Cannes is triumphantly back this year with a whopper of a line-up, And it’s one that’s perhaps overflowing with things that were due to appear at the festival last year (Wes Anderson‘s “The French Dispatch,” Paul Verhoeven’s “Benedetta”) and instead were held for an entire year by the filmmakers and producers.