News

Euro Gang Entertainment, the company launched last year by Hollywood veterans Gianni Nunnari and Simon Horsman (“Legacy: The True Story of the L.A. Lakers”) is ramping up operations in Italy through a partnership with Rome-based Alfred Film, the young shingle co-founded by experienced producers Roberto Amoroso and Maria Theresia Braun.

The Euro Gang deal with Alfred currently comprises three feature films and an English-language TV series that will shoot in Italy and elsewhere, according to a statement.

Founded in 2020, Alfred Film – which is named in homage to Alfred Hitchcock – is focused on commercially-driven quality projects such as their mainstream comedy “Tre di Troppo,” directed by and starring Italian comedy draw Fabio De Luigi, which grossed €4.7 million ($5 million) at the local box office and is the third highest-grossing Italian film of 2023.

Amoroso is a former creative director at Sky Italia, where during a long stint at the pay-tv platform he was...

Paris and Los Angeles-based sales agency has boarded films by Nicolas Benamou, Artus and Christophe Duthuron

Paris and Los Angeles-based Other Angle Pictures has boarded three French comedy dramas: Nicolas Benamou’s We Should Have Gone to Greece, Artus’ A Little Something Extra and Christophe Duthuron’s Happiness Therapy.

The company will launch sales for all three films at this week’s Unifrance’s Rendez-Vous in Paris in the French capital.

We Should Have Gone to Greece is the latest feature from Benamou, known for co-directing local and international hit comedies Babysitting and Babysitting 2 with Philippe Lacheau, 2020’s Mystery in St. Tropez,...

“Peaceful,” Emmanuelle Bercot’s Cesar-winning melodrama which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, has landed domestic distribution with New York-based banner Distrib US.

Sold by Studiocanal, the movie is headlined by Benoit Magimel and Catherine Deneuve (pictured). Magimel, who won the Cesar Award for best actor — beating fellow nominee Adam Driver — stars as a man dying of cancer. “Peaceful” world premiered out of competition at Cannes where it earn warm reviews.

Distrib US has also acquired “A Tale of Love and Desire” and “Les Inde Galantes,” which are both screening this week at the Film at Lincoln Center as part of the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema in New York. The event is being co-organized by Unifrance, the French film and TV advocacy org.

“Les Inde Galantes,” directed by Philippe Béziat, is a documentary following 30 dancers reprising Jean-Philippe Rameau’s baroque masterpiece on the stage of Paris’s legendary Opéra Bastille.

Exclusive: David Hasselhoff (Baywatch) is set to star in English-language comedy C’est Magique (It’s Magic!), which is being launched as the debut film for new production company South Pointe Pictures during the Cannes film festival and market.

Hasselhoff will star in the movie with South Pointe’s Larry Cech. French filmmaker Nicolas Benamou, director of French box office hits Babysitting and Babysitting II, is set to direct. Benamou’s latest film, Do You, Do You Saint Tropez, with Benoit Poelvoorde and Christian Clavier, is due to release this month.

C’est Magique will tell the story of two French magicians who accidentally qualify to compete in the world’s largest magic competition in Las Vegas. The film is based on actual events about Cech’s time in Las Vegas working on large magic shows. The story was written by Benamou – making his English-language debut – and Cech.

According to Benamou,...

English-language remake of French comedy set to begin production in New York this year.

eOne, Angry Films and Moonriver Content, have announced Babysitting, which eOne will finance and produce.

Iain Morris will direct the film that takes place over one night and centres on a young artist who has a series of disastrous events befall him while being forced to babysit the child of his arrogant boss. In France, Babysitting was the most successful French film of 2014.

Angry Films’ Don Murphy and Susan Montford, and Moonriver’s Xavier Marchand will produce.

Christophe Cervoni and Marc Fiszman produced the original and will receive producer credits on the remake. Nicolas Benamou and Phillippe Lacheau directed that film and are also credited on the remake.

Peter Hoare, whose film Killing Hasselhoff will debut this autumn, will write the script. He is also a writer on CBS’ Kevin Can Wait.

Murphy and Montford said: “We are thrilled to be producing this side-splitting...

Exclusive: Other Angle also closed deals on

Paris-based Other Angle Pictures has secured fresh sales on Nicolas Benamou’s action comedy Full Speed, about a vacation-bound family stuck in a car jammed on top cruise control.

In Cannes, the company has sealed deals to Spain (Vertigo), Portugal (Films4U), Japan (Gaga), Korea (Smile) and a Chinese deal is in the works. Previously announced deals include to Italy (Lucky Red), Russia (Volga), Benelux (Belga), Wild Bunch (Germany), Czech (Bohemia), Hungary (Cinetel), Turkey (Fabula).

Wild Bunch Distribution (Wbd) will release the film in France in December.

First production

The company has also secured fresh sales on Don’t Tell Her, about three friends who decide not to tell a fourth friend that her future husband had an affair with a man, to Switzerland (Jmh), Austria (Thym), Latam (California), Turkey (Fabula). It will be released by Sony in France.

It is a first production for Other Angle, which has focused...

The Franco-American Cultural Fund, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, has announced the program for the 20th Colcoa French Film Festival that will run April 18-26 at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles. The festival will showcase a record 70 films and television series - among them 64 in competition for Colcoa Awards - including four World Premieres, seven International Premieres, 19 North American or U.S. Premieres, 17 West Coast Premieres - and 21 new shorts. Colcoa, is now the world's largest event dedicated to French films and television.

"This 20th anniversary deserves a spectacular, strong program that reflects the diversity of French production, as well as the creativity and dynamism of French filmmakers and producers," stated François Truffart, Colcoa Executive Producer and Artistic Director. "More than ever, we are about to involve audiences in a journey that will stir them, make them laugh, cry, tickle their curiosity, and help them remain optimistic, while recognizing the urgent world zeitgeist."

 "20 years is an achievement for any film festival in Hollywood. This would not have been possible without the commitment of the Franco-American Cultural Fund - a unique partnership of the DGA, the Mpa, la Sacem and the WGA West - creator of the festival in 1996 and supporter of its subsequent development. We also salute French sales companies, official supporters, sponsors, and U.S. distributors, whose loyalty and trust have given the festival its continuing excellence," he added.

Colcoa will open Monday, April 18th with the North American Premiere of "Monsieur Chocolat," a biopic about the first French black clown, co-written by Cyril Gely, Olivier Gorce, Gérard Noiriel, Roschdy Zem, directed by Roschdy Zem, and starring Omar Sy and James Thiérrée. The film will be presented in association with Gaumont, which celebrates its 120th anniversary.

The festival will close its competition on Monday, April 25th with the World Premiere of "Up For Love," the new romantic comedy written and directed by Laurent Tirard, starring Academy Award winner Jean Dujardin and Virginie Efira. "Call My Agent" (Season 1), the most popular French TV series of the year, about a talent agency with actors playing their own roles, will close the Colcoa TV Competition.

Two other TV series, shown for the first time in North America, will be part of the program, presented in association with TV France International and Titrafilm: "The Disappearance," a drama co-written by Marie Deshaires and Catherine Touzet and directed by Charlotte Brändström; and "The Secret of Elise," a supernatural drama written by lsa Marpeau, Marie Vinoy, Marie Deshaires, and Catherine Touzet and directed by Alexandre Laurent, Samir Boitard, Mathieu Simonet, and Mehdi Meskar. The first two episodes of each series will be shown to the Colcoa audience.

To complete the competition, five TV movies will premiere at Colcoa: the North American Premiere of "Borderline," a thriller co-written and directed by Olivier Marchal, the International Premiere of "Carpets and Chaos," a comedy co-written and directed by Nader Takmil Homayoun, the International Premiere of "Stolen Babies," a drama written by Julie Jézéquel and directed by Golden Globe winner Alain Berliner; the International Premiere of "The Wall-Crosser," a fantasy written and directed by Dante Desarthes, based on Marcel Aymé's book; and the North American Premiere of "Woman Under the Influence," a drama written and directed by Claude-Michel Rome. 

The feature film selection (40 features and documentaries and 21 shorts), will feature exclusive presentations. "Fanny's Journey," an epic drama written and directed by Lola Doillon, starring Cecile de France, is also a World Premiere. The U.S. Premiere of the thriller "Made in France," written and directed by Nicolas Boukhrief, is a film which did not have theatrical release in France because of sensitivity following the recent terrorist attacks in Paris.  Colcoa also will present the U.S. Premiere of Robert Guédiguian's provocative film about the Armenian genocide, "Don't Tell Me the Boy Was Mad." The U.S. Premiere of Oscar ® winner Claude Lelouch's new film "Un plus Une," starring Jean Dujardin and Elsa Zylberstein, will screen, in addition to another U.S. Premiere of "All Gone South," the comedy sequel co-written and co-directed by Nicolas Benamou and Philippe Lacheau, two years after the success of Babysitting at Colcoa in 2014.

Several established writers/directors return and other known artists have been selected: Academy Award nominee Christian Carion ("Come What May"- with Cohen Media Group), Anne Fontaine ("The Innocents" - with Music Box Films), Vincent Garencq ("Kalinka"), Academy Award nominee Jean-Paul Rappeneau ("Families"), Christian Vincent ("Courted"), Maïwenn ("My King" - with Film Movement)

Every year, the Colcoa program is dedicated to a new generation of talent, many of whose films are included in Colcoa's French NeWave 2.0 Series: Samuel Collardey ("Land Legs"), Clément Cogitor ("Neither Heaven Nor Earth" - with Film Movement), Philippe Faucon - the writer/director of the 2016 César Best film winner ("Fatima" - with Kino Lorber), Emmanuel Finkiel ("A Decent Man"), Eva Husson ("Bang Gang" - with Samuel Goldwyn), Laurent Larivière ("I am a Soldier"), and Orelsan and Christophe Offenstein ("Uncompleted Song").

The After 10 Series at Colcoa invites audiences to explore new frontiers with an exclusive program, including the French-Belgian co-production from writer/director Bouli Lanners ("The First, the Last"), the new dark comedy from Benoît Delépine, Gustave Kervern, starring Gérard Depardieu ("Saint Amour"), and Frédéric Schoendoerffer ("Past Convoy").

Two anticipated films about women in Muslim countries will be part of theWord Cinema Produced by France Series: the Franco-Moroccan co-production, "Much Loved," written and directed by Nabil Ayouch, premiered at the Director's Fortnight in 2015, and remains banned in Morocco; and, "As I Open My Eyes," a Franco-Tunisian film from female writer/director Leyla Bouzid (with Kino Lorber). The Argentine film, "Eva Doesn't Sleep," written and directed by Pablo Agüero will complete the series.

Two documentaries focusing on significant environmental issues will premiere at Colcoa: the closing film of the last Cannes Film Festival, "Ice and the Sky" (with Music Box Films) from Academy Award winner Luc Jacquet (March of the Penguins), and a special presentation following the United Nations screening of the 2016 Cesar winner for Best Documentary, "Tomorrow," written and directed by Cédric Dion and Mélanie Laurent. "The Frankenstein Complex," a tribute to the creators of big screen creatures, written and directed by Gilles Penso and Alexandre Poncet, will complete this high profile documentary series.

All other Colcoa series are back in 2016: the Colcoa Classics Series with an exclusive program of digitally restored premieres (see February 19th press release); the Happy Hour Talks PanelSeriesin association withVariety (April 19-25); the Short Film Competition (Sunday, April 24 -  March press release); the Focus on a Filmmaker, this year with writer/director Jean-Paul Rappeneau (Thursday, April 21); and the Focus on a Producer will be with Dominique Besnehard (Saturday, April 23).

Animation, an important part of the French film industry, will be shown at Colcoa with the premiere of Rémi Chayé's new film: "Long Way North" (with Shout Factory).

 As is Colcoa tradition, comedieswill join the program almost every day, including the romantic comedy "Love at First Child," co-written and directed by Anne Giaffieri, starring Patrick Bruel and Isabelle Carré, Benoît's Graffin's "Hopefully," with Sandrine Kiberlain and Edouard Baer, Jean-Francois Richet's "One Wild Moment," starring Francois Cluzet and Vincent Cassel, and the new French hit "One Man and His Cow," written and directed by Mohamed Hamidi.

This last film will also be shown to the 3,000 students and teachers who will attend the now five High School Screenings (April 19-25) as part of the Colcoa Educational Program presented in association with Elma (European Languages and Movies in America). Two master classes for college and university students will complete the program.

For the ninth year, Lafca will partner with Colcoa Cinema for the Critics' Awards. The complete recipients list of the 2015 Awards - including the U.S. distributor winner of the Colcoa Coming Soon Award, presented in association with Kpcc, will be announced on Wednesday, April 27. Colcoa Awards are presented in association with Titrafilm, TV5 Monde USA, and Air Tahiti Nui.

Exclusive: The French sales outfit has also inked deals on A Mighty Team and The Roommates Party.

Paris-based Other Angle Pictures is reporting strong sales on its comedy-driven slate, with Full Speed, A Mighty Team and The Roommates Party leading the pack.

Nicolas Benamou’s action comedy Full Speed, about a vacation-bound family stuck in a car jammed on top cruise control, has sold to Germany (Wild Bunch), Benelux (Belga), Italy (Lucky Red), Russia (Volga), Hungary (Cinetel), Portugal (Films4U), Czech Republic (Bohemia) and Turkey (Fabula).

Wild Bunch Distribution (Wbd) will release the film in France in December.

The Roommates, revolving around a wealthy Parisian forced to share his apartment with less well-off citizens under a new law, has sold to Benelux (O’Brother), Germany (Square One), Italy (Italian International Film), Greece (Tanweer), Portugal (Films4U) and Turkey (Fabula).

Also handled by Wdb in France, the film has drawn more than 1 million spectators since its release in December...

Market sets scene for Berlin and Cannes but few deals sealed.

Sellers reported a slow start to the year at UniFrance’s annual Rendez-vous with French Cinema in Paris over the weekend (Dec 14-18) in terms of sealed deals but said the event had set the stage for sales at Berlin and even Cannes.

“Buyers are getting pickier. They want titles they’re 100% sure will work in their territories. You get the sense things are tougher for them and that they’re not prepared to take risks. They’re looking for the next La Famille Bélier or Serial (Bad) Weddings,” commented Olivier Albou of Other Angle Pictures, referring to two of France’s top comedy exports of the last 18 months.

Albou said there was strong interest for Other Angle titles The Roommates Party (Le Grand Partage), Full Speed (A Fond), by Babysitting director Nicolas Benamou, and A Mighty Team (La Dream Team), which opened the event on Thursday...

Exclusive: Sequel due to hit French screens in December.

TF1 International has been racking up sales on Babysitting 2, titled All Gone South, in which the original film’s gang of madcap, accident-prone friends wreak havoc on an upscale resort in Brazil, before heading off for a disastrous excursion into the Amazon jungle.

The sequel has sold to Germany and Austria (Square One), Benelux (Cineart), Switzerland (Pathé), Greece (Odeon), Turkey (Associated Euromedia), Portugal (Pris Audiovisuals), the Cis and Central Europe (All Media Company), Poland (Kino Swiat), Middle East (Falcon), Latin America (Antonio Fernandes Filmes) and Japan (Nikkatsu).

Philippe Lacheau, who co-directs alongside Nicolas Benamou, reprises his role as Franck opposite Alice David as girlfriend Sonia and Vincent Desagnat and Tarek Boudali as best pals Ernest and Sam.In the sequel, the quartet head off to a luxury hotel in Brazil owned by Sonia’s pompous father Alain, played by popular French actor Christian Clavier.

Franck is planning...

Exclusive: Deal signed following French premiere at Deauville.

Other Angle has acquired world rights to Zoe Cassavetes’ second feature Day Out of Days, following a 40-something, former movie star whose acting career has hit the buffers.

The Paris-based sales company signed the film following its French premiere at the Deauville American Film Festival last week.

French actress Alexia Landeau, who appeared alongside Julie Delpy in 2 Days In Paris and its sequel 2 Days In New York, stars with support from Eddie Izzard, Melanie Griffith and Alessandro Nivola.

Day Out of Days premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival in June.

“It’s got a great little cast,” said Other Angle co-chief Olivier Albou who will commence sales on the film in Toronto this week.

Full Speed

Another key addition to the Other Angle slate is Full Speed (A Fond), the latest film from Nicolas Benamou, director of the hit French found-footage comedy Babysitting, which drew more...

Exclusive: Benelux distributor Cineart has confirmed several Cannes acquisitions.

The company arrived at the festival earlier this month having already pre-bought several titles in official selection and in the market, among them Amy Winehouse documentary Amy, Gaspar Noe’s Love and Competition title Mon Roi.

It has since ramped up its acquisitIon slate further. “Overall, it was a very, very strong Cannes for us,” said Marc Smit, who runs Cineart alongside co-ceo Stephan De Potter.

New pick ups include Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s Turkish feature Mustang from Kinology, which won the Europa Cinemas Label for best European film in Directors’ Fortnight.

During Cannes, Screen revealed Cineart acquisitions of Grand Prix winner Son Of Saul, from Hungarian auteur Laszlo Nemes, bought from Films Distribution; and Bruno Dumont’s latest feature Slack Bay (Ma Loute), starring Juliette Binoche and Fabrice Luchini, acquired from Memento. Smit described the new Dumont script as “one of the strongest we have read in...