UniFrance, TVFI Merge Activities; Serge Toubiana, Hervé Michel to Lead New Org (EXCLUSIVE)

Two-time Oscar nominee Keira Knightley joins Oscar nominee Brenda Blethyn, Oscar winner Jim Broadbent, Sam Claflin, Henry Czerny, Eddie Marsan, the late Helen McCrory, Oscar nominee Sophie Okonedo, and Mark Strong as part of the voice cast for the Canada-France-Belgium animated drama feature Charlotte. 

Keira Knightley has joined the voice cast of an upcoming animated drama film called “Charlotte” that will make its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September. She joins a voice cast that includes Brenda Blethyn, Jim Broadbent, Sam Claflin, Henry Czerny, Eddie Marsan, Sophie Okonedo, Mark Strong and the late Helen McCrory.

The UK remake of buzzy French comedy Call My Agent! will air on Sundance Now after the AMC Networks streaming service acquired the U.S. rights.

Jennifer Yuma AMC Networks’ Sundance Now has garnered U.S. premiere rights to the British remake of original French comedy series “Call My Agent!”BAFTA award winner John Morton is head writer, and directs the first two episodes of the series.

French cinema’s favorite enfant terrible is back at the Cannes Film Festival. Gaspar Noé returns to the French Riviera with his latest film, “Vortex,” to premiere out of competition this week in the Cannes Premiere section.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentUniFrance, the French film promotion org headed by Serge Toubiana and Daniela Elstner, is launching the International French Cinema Fest on Bastille Day at the Cannes Film Festival.

EXCLUSIVE: International production veterans Shebnem Askin and Michael Rifkin have been appointed Co-Heads of Sony Pictures International Productions. Reporting to Sanford Panitch, President, Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group, the pair takes over from Laine Kline who stepped down earlier this year.

EXCLUSIVE: Principal photography has started in Tunisia on contemporary drama Contra, set in the aftermath of the powerful anti-government protests that provoked a wave of change in the region, known as the Arab spring.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentMadrid-based Latido Films has sold a slew of major territories on its banner titles, including Cannes Directors’ Fortnight player “The Employer and the Employee,” Berlin winner “The Fam,” village crime drama “The Replacement” and auteur genre movie “Baby.”Chalking up its first major sale, Uruguayan Manuel Nieto’s “The Employer and the Employee” has closed France with Eurozoom.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentIn a statement buy, Saban Films has acquired rights to North America – along with Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, France, South Africa and Scandinavia – on Bruce Willis starrer “Soul Assassin.”Directed by Jesse Atlas, the revenge thriller also stars Nomzamo Mbatha (“Coming 2 America”) and Barry Jay Minoff (“Exposure”).

‘Holy Motors,’ Holy S#*!”)But when Carax’s new film, “Annette,” premiered at Cannes on Tuesday, it faced a tougher road. The French filmmaker, after all, has the opening-night competition slot this year, which means his new film can’t come as a breath of fresh, weird air the way his last film did.

Charlotte Gainsbourg is not only a multifaceted renaissance woman, actor, model, singer; she’s also French royalty, the daughter of louche French pop singer Serge Gainsbourg and model/actress/singer Jane Birkin. She’s also now a filmmaker, having made her first documentary, “Charlotte By Jane,” which melds all of these ideas together.