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Nobody really makes AIDS dramas anymore, which seems as good a reason as any to make one now. The disease that, forty-odd years ago, decimated a generation of queer people and prompted a prejudice-driven global panic hasn’t gone away — least of all in various developing countries, where it isn’t popularly defined by gender or sexuality, and death rates are still high. But its narrative has changed. For many, advances in antiretroviral and preventative drugs have stripped HIV of its aura of terror, making it something to be lived with, not a ticking clock to the end. With little posturing or overtly groundbreaking intent, French writer-director Gaël Morel unusually and sensitively bridges these eras of HIV/AIDS in his gentle romantic melodrama “To Live, To Die, To Live Again” — beginning in a distinctly Nineties register of mainstream queer cinema, before looking ahead to the 21st century.

Premiering in the...

Exclusive: Goodfellas has acquired international rights for French director Gaël Morel’s drama To Live, To Die, To Live Again set against the AIDS epidemic in the early 1990s, ahead of its world premiere in Cannes.

Rising French actors Victor Belmondo, Lou Lampros and Théo Christine co-star as a romantically entwined trio whose youthful dalliance takes them into life-changing territory with the arrival of AIDS. While they expect the worse, the destiny of each character will take an unexpected turn.

Morel has taken inspiration from his own teenage fears around AIDS in the 1990s as well as research he did for a planned documentary on people who caught the virus and were saved at the last minute by the development of effective antiretroviral therapies.

Michèle Halberstadt and Laurent Pétin produced the film under the banner of their Paris-based film company Arp Sélection, which will also distribute the feature in France.

French director Olivier Marchal has begun filming new police thriller Bastion 36 for Netflix, which is billed as a contemporary cop drama adapted from Michel Tourscher’s novel Flic Requiem.

Set in Paris, the movie revolves around Antoine Cerda, a senior police officer with the prestigious Investigation and Intervention Brigade, who is transferred to the Anti-Crime Brigade after being sanctioned by the General Inspectorate of the French National Police. The move sees him turn his back on his former comrades and unit, led by the charismatic Sami Belkaïm.

When two officers from his old squad are killed in less than 24 hours and a third goes missing in mysterious circumstances, Cerda embarks on his own investigation. His inquiries will reveal an intense police rivalry and take him on a terrible downward spiral.

The movie is not a sequel but takes the director back to the world of Marchal’s 2004 police thriller Precinct...

Streaming in Europe on Netflix, “Bardot" is a 6-episode, France-produced drama TV series, created, directed by Danièle Thompson and Christopher Thompson, starring Julia de Nunez as the iconic film actress:

"...the series follows the career of French cinema actress Brigitte Bardot, from her first casting as a teenager...

"...to the filming of Henri-Georges Clouzot's feature "La Vérité"..."

Cast also includes Victor Belmondo as 'Roger Vadim', Jules Benchetrit as 'Sami Frey'...

...Géraldine Pailhas as 'Anne-Marie Mucel'...

...Hippolyte Girardot as 'Louis Bardot', Yvan Attal as 'Raoul Lévy'......

...... Anne Le Ny as 'Olga Horstig', Louis-Do de Lencquesaing as 'Henri-Georges Clouzot'...

...Laurent Stocker as 'Pierre Lazareff'...

...Oscar Lesage as 'Jacques Charrier', Noham Edje as 'Jean-Louis Trintignant'...

...Fabian Wolfrom as 'Sacha Distel' and Mikaël Mittelstadt as 'Gilbert Bécaud'.

Click the images to enlarge...

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,...

To celebrate the release of Olivier Peyon’s Lie With Me on Blu-Ray, DVD and Demand via PeccadilloPOD, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, BFI Player in UK and Ireland, we’re giving away 3 Blu-Rays!

In Olivier Peyon’s powerfully emotional drama Lie With Me, the successful novelist Stéphane Belcourt (Guillaume de Tonquédec) has returned to his hometown for the first time in decades. As a local celebrity, Stéphane has been invited to be the brand ambassador for its famous cognac distillery.

On arrival he is stunned to discover that one of the company’s executives is Lucas (Victor Belmondo), the son of his teenage first love Thomas. This triggers for Stéphane vivid memories of their passionate but secret adolescent affair – at a time when homosexuality was kept in the shadows. As he processes the pain of the lost years and what might have been, Stéphane begins to repair the deep wounds of his youth,...

Bye-bye, Peak TV. After more than a decade of unprecedented production growth, the international television industry is bracing for an era of tighter budgets and more bean counting.

“Instead of subscriber growth at all costs, now the focus is on production and investment and getting the balance sheet right,” says Cathy Payne, CEO of Banijay Rights, the sales arm of the production giant behind reality TV hits Big Brother and high-end dramas Peaky Blinders and Black Mirror. “I hate using the phrase because everyone says it, but the focus now is on ‘fewer, better, bigger shows.’ ”

The variety of shows on offer at this year’s global TV market in Cannes, MIPCOM, suggests every buyer, at every budget, should find something to fill their slots. And while THR’s annual hot list of the market’s best new drama series ranges from a by-the-book NBC procedural to an erotic comedy...

Jean-Paul Belmondo’s grandson Victor is uncanny in a supporting role to Guillaume de Tonquédec’s uptight novelist, whose return to his provincial home town stirs up memories of his first love

There are a couple of scenes in this French drama where you might almost think that the film-makers have deepfaked the young Jean-Paul Belmondo back on to the screen, and that AI replicas in film – one of the flashpoints of the Hollywood actors’ strike – has already come to pass. Not so fast. The actor we’re watching is his grandson, Victor Belmondo, and in closeup, at certain angles, the resemblance really is uncanny: that nose (though a little less lopsided) and the pillowy lips arranged to smouldering leading-man effect.

Belmondo appears in a supporting role in a tasteful literary adaptation that has impeccable manners, based on a bestselling autobiographical novel by Philippe Besson (dubbed the “French Brokeback Mountain...

At his grandfather’s funeral in 2021, Victor Belmondo described the legendary nouvelle vague star as an ‘eternal sun’. Now beginning to light up the screen himself, he talks about trying to capture his predecessor’s famous insouciance

It can be both a head start and a burden to bear the name of an illustrious predecessor – but what if you look like him, too? Victor Belmondo’s pillowy lips purse in amusement when the inevitable question comes up. “It’s not annoying. I get it,” he says. Although a touch less pugnacious-looking, he is unmistakably of the same lineage as his grandfather, Jean-Paul. “I know the name I have and who my grandfather was. From the moment I do the same job, it’s normal people have questions. As long as we talk about my films as well, it’s Ok.”

So we park the trifling matter of Jean-Paul, who died two years ago,...

"Bardot" is the new 6-episode, live-action, France-produced drama TV series, created, directed by Danièle Thompson and Christopher Thompson, starring Julia de Nunez, airing in 2023 on France 2:

"...the series follows the career of French cinema actress Brigitte Bardot, from her first casting as a teenager...

"...to the filming of Henri-Georges Clouzot's feature "La Vérité"..."

Cast also includes Victor Belmondo as 'Roger Vadim', Jules Benchetrit as 'Sami Frey'...

...Géraldine Pailhas as 'Anne-Marie Mucel'...

...Hippolyte Girardot as 'Louis Bardot', Yvan Attal as 'Raoul Lévy'...... 

...... Anne Le Ny as 'Olga Horstig', Louis-Do de Lencquesaing as 'Henri-Georges Clouzot'...

...Laurent Stocker as 'Pierre Lazareff'...

...Oscar Lesage as 'Jacques Charrier', Noham Edje as 'Jean-Louis Trintignant'...

...Fabian Wolfrom as 'Sacha Distel' and Mikaël Mittelstadt as 'Gilbert Bécaud'.

Click the images to enlarge...

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"Bardot" is the new 6-episode, live-action, France-produced drama TV series, created, directed by Danièle Thompson and Christopher Thompson, starring Julia de Nunez, airing in 2023 on France 2:

"...the series follows the career of French cinema actress Brigitte Bardot, from her first casting as a teenager...

"...to the filming of Henri-Georges Clouzot's feature "La Vérité"..."

Cast also includes Victor Belmondo as 'Roger Vadim', Jules Benchetrit as 'Sami Frey'...

...Géraldine Pailhas as 'Anne-Marie Mucel'...

...Hippolyte Girardot as 'Louis Bardot', Yvan Attal as 'Raoul Lévy'...... 

...... Anne Le Ny as 'Olga Horstig', Louis-Do de Lencquesaing as 'Henri-Georges Clouzot'...

...Laurent Stocker as 'Pierre Lazareff'...

...Oscar Lesage as 'Jacques Charrier', Noham Edje as 'Jean-Louis Trintignant'...

...Fabian Wolfrom as 'Sacha Distel' and Mikaël Mittelstadt as 'Gilbert Bécaud'.

Click the images to enlarge...

While she retired prematurely at the age of 39, Brigitte Bardot has left an indelible mark on France’s popular culture in the 1960s and 1970s. With her wild blonde mane, smoky eyes and pouty lips, Bardot became a symbol of a modern, effortlessly sexy French woman and a style emblem that continues to inspire current trends.

The event series “Bardot,” which is penned and directed by Daniele Thompson (“The Queen Margot”) and Christopher Thompson (“La bûche”), world premiered at Series Mania Festival to unanimous praise and has been pre-sold by Federation nearly worldwide.

“‘Bardot’ is like the French ‘The Crown’ because Bardot embodied France, and through her journey we reminisce about many parts of France’s history and popular culture in the 1950s and 1960s,” Federation’s boss and “Bardot” producer Pascal Breton told Variety. “That era is a historical moment where everything changes, where we go from black and white to color,...

“Lie With Me,” a romance drama headlined by French stars Guillaume de Tonquebec and Victor Belmondo, has lured a raft of theatrical distributors at the Berlinale’s EFM.

Represented in international markets by Be For Films and directed by Olivier Peyon, the movie is based on Philippe Besson’s book “Arrête avec tes mensonges.” The autobiographical novel was originally published in France by Editions Julliard in 2017 and won pair of awards including the Maison de la Presse prize in 2017.

After selling several key territories earlier this year, Be For Films has now closed deals for the U.S. (Cinephobia Realising), Germany/Austria (24 Bilder), Brazil (Imovision), Poland (Tongariro), Greece (Cinobo) and Turkey (Bir Films).

“Lie With Me” stars de Tonquebec as a prominent novelist Stéphane Belcourt who becomes the brand ambassador for a famous cognac celebrating their bicentennial. The gig leads him to return to his hometown for the first time in many years.

Brussels-based sales company Be For Films has closed a raft of pre-sales on Julien Carpentier’s feature debut “La vie de ma mère,” a mother-and-son dramedy, starring Agnès Jaoui and William Lebghil.

Now in post, the heartwarming film follows Julien, a successful 33-year-old florist whose life is turned upside down when his mother Judith, whom he hasn’t seen for two years, reappears. Mercurial and extravagant, she suffers from bipolar disorder and has recently escaped from a clinic. Pierre has only one idea in mind: Send her back as quickly as possible so his life can get back on track. But nothing happens as he hoped for. Their unexpected reunion, as funny and explosive as it is heart-wrenching, will transform Pierre and Judith forever. Alison Wheeler and Salif Cissé complete the cast. Kmbo will distribute the film in France.

“La vie de ma mere” is produced by Silex Films, the banner behind “Rose,...

Brussels-based Be For Films has closed a raft of deals on “Lie With Me,” Olivier Peyon’s romance drama starring well-known French actors including Guillaume de Tonquebec and Victor Belmondo.

The movie is based on Philippe Besson’s book “Arrête avec tes mensonges.” The autobiographical novel was originally published in France by Editions Julliard in 2017 and won pair of awards including the Maison de la Presse prize in 2017.

“Lie With Me” stars de Tonquebec as a prominent novelist Stéphane Belcourt who becomes the brand ambassador for a famous cognac celebrating their bicentennial. The gig leads him to return to his hometown for the first time in many years. Once there, he meets Lucas, the son of a man he loved passionately when he was 17. Memories of this first love come rushing back to Stephane and he and Lucas embark on an impossible love affair.

Be For Films is hosting a...

Less than two years after joining France Televisions, former Canal Plus executive Manuel Alduy has contributed to bolstering the French public broadcaster’s roster of international series with shows such as “Bardot,” a mini-series biopic of Brigitte Bardot, and “L’Insoumise” about Alice Guy, the first female filmmaker ever.

Ahead of France Televisions’ press conference at Series Mania, Alduy said the broadcaster’s first-look initiative with the European Broadcasting Union (Ebu) has yielded several prestige projects, including “Bardot.” The Ebu represents 113 organizations across the 56 countries, including the BBC in the U.K., Ard in Germany, Dr in Denmark, Svt in Sweden, Rai in Italy and the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation.

“Bardot” charts the life of the French actor and model from 1949, when she first appeared on the cover of a magazine, to the birth of her son in 1960. It’s being produced by Federation Entertainment with France Televisions in France, and...

With Drift Away, director Xavier Beauvois––known internationally for his masterful monastery-set Of Gods and Men––juxtaposes the picturesque scenery of northern France with a policeman’s inner turmoil, and the community’s social unrest lying beneath the surface, in an intriguing if frustrating policier.

Jérémie Renier plays Laurent, a police officer in Normandy, and sturdy figurehead of the community, soon to be married to his long-term girlfriend Marie (co-writer Marie-Julie Maille). We ride along with the veteran member of the Gendarmerie’s tight-knit team, including Laurent’s partner Quentin and principled new recruit Carole (Iris Bry) as they patrol the area. Countryside disputes and drunk bar patrons (including director Beavois in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo) paint a documentary-like picture of small-town life.

But it’s not just a rustic slice of France’s profonde. The area’s picturesque white cliffs overlooking the Atlantic are a regular spot for suicides,...

Xavier Beauvois’s tenderly drawn film sees a French policeman abandon all his certainties after a tragic misjudgment

Xavier Beauvois is the actor-turned-director whose Of Gods and Men in 2010 is one of the great French movies of the 21st century; he also has the honour of a cameo, as himself, in the final series of the Netflix comedy Call My Agent. His new film is really intriguing, a film deeply rooted in a close-knit community, with excellent performances, a sophisticated control of narrative tempo and – at least initially – a tragic force that could almost be compared with Elia Kazan. Yet I have to say that this power is dissipated by a disappointing ending in which the film, as its English title warns us, drifts away.

Jérémie Renier plays Laurent, a small-town cop in Normandy in northern France, devoted to his partner, Marie, played by Marie-Julie Maille – Beauvois’s own partner...

This year’s Berlin International Film Festival will look a bit different this year, with a virtual edition taking place March 1-5 for industry and press, then a public, in-person edition kicking off in June.

The complete lineup has now been unveiled, including Céline Sciamma’s highly-anticipated Portrait of a Lady on Fire follow-up Petite Maman, a surprise new Hong Sang-soo feature, the latest work from Ryūsuke Hamaguchi, along with new projects by Radu Jude, Xavier Beauvois, Dominik Graf, Pietro Marcello, Ramon Zürcher & Silvan Zürcher, and more.

Check out each section below.

Competition Tiles

“Albatros” (Drift Away)

France

by Xavier Beauvois

with Jérémie Renier, Marie-Julie Maille, Victor Belmondo

“Babardeală cu buclucsau porno balamuc” (Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn)

Romania/Luxemburg/Croatia/Czech Republic

by Radu Jude

with Katia Pascariu, Claudia Ieremia, Olimpia Mălai

“Fabian oder Der Gang vor die Hunde” (Fabian – Going to the Dogs)

Germany

by Dominik Graf

with Tom Schilling,...

This week of Berlin International Film Festival announcements comes to a close with the main course – the Competition and Special Screenings programs. Scroll down for the full lists.

The 15-strong Competition – all world premieres – includes titles from filmmakers including Celine Sciamma, Daniel Bruhl and Xavier Beauvois.

Celine Sciamma is following on from her Golden Globe-nominated Portrait Of A Lady On Fire with her next movie, Petite Maman, which only went into production in November; plot details are hush but it is understood to star two eight-year-olds.

Actor-turned-filmmaker Bruhl also plays the protagonist in his directorial debut, Next Door, which centers on a film star and his troublesome neighbor.

Xavier Beauvois, whose credits include the Cannes Grand Prix winner Of Gods And Men and the 2017 film The Guardians, presents his eighth work, Albatros, which follows a police captain whose life goes into a tailspin.

Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude will also present his latest work,...

Actor Daniel Bruhl’s directorial debut and new titles from Radu Jude, Celine Sciamma, Hong Sangsoo and Xavier Beauvois are among the 15 competition titles in the Berlin Film Festival, all of which were revealed Thursday.

Five of the titles are from female filmmakers (some of whom are co-directors on titles), on par with last year’s competition, when six of the 18 competition titles were helmed by women.

The festival also revealed the 11 titles in the Berlinale Special strand.

Festival executive director Mariette Rissenbeek introduced the format of this year’s festival, after which artistic director Carlo Chatrian presented the films selected.

As first revealed by Variety, the festival’s 71st edition will take place in two stages. Industry platforms European Film Market, Berlinale Co-Production Market, Berlinale Talents and the World Cinema Fund will be online March 1-5. Meanwhile, June 9-20 will see a physical summer public event, pandemic permitting.

Explaining the rationale,...

Albatros

Director Xavier Beauvois will be ready with his eighth feature, Albatros in 2021. Produced by Sylvie Pialat and Benoit Quainon via Les Films du Worso, this stars stars Jérémie Renier, Victor Belmondo, Olivier Pequery, Madeleine Beauvois, and a pair from his 2017 The Guardians cast, Marie Julie Maille and Iris Bry. Beauvois received a Cesar nomination for his 1993 debut Nord, he went straight to the Cannes competition in 1995 with Don’t Forget You’re Going to Die, which received the Jury Prize. He returned to Cannes competition in 2010 with Of Gods and Men, which took home the Grand Prize and won the Cesar for Best Film.…...

Un petit-fils

Director Xavier Beauvois will be ready with his eighth feature, Un petit-fils (A Grandson) in 2020. Sylvie Pialat (we featured the producer as part of our The Conversation series) and Benoit Quainon are producing through Les Films du Worso and the project is being shot by Julien Hirsch. Beauvois’ latest starts Jeremie Renier, Victor Belmondo, Olivier Pequery, Madeleine Beauvois, and a pair from his 2017 The Guardians cast, Marie Julie Maille and Iris Bry. Beauvois also scripted with his Guardians writers Maille and Frederique Moreau.…...

Jérémie Renier toplines the cast of this production being staged by Les Films du Worso and set to be sold by Pathé. On 14 October, Xavier Beauvois will be in Normandy to kick off the shoot for Un petit-fils, his eighth feature, following North (nominated for the César Award for Best First Feature Film in 1993), Don’t Forget You’re Going to Die (Jury Prize at Cannes in 1995), To Matthieu (in competition at Venice in 2000), The Young Lieutenant (Giornate degli Autori in 2005), Of Gods and Men (Grand Prize at Cannes in 2010 and César Award for Best Film in 2011), The Price of Fame (in competition at Venice in 2014) and The Guardians (unveiled at Toronto in 2017). Among the cast are Belgium’s Jérémie Renier (set to grace screens next year in Slalom and Justice), Marie Julie Maille (The Guardians), Victor Belmondo (Sweetheart,...