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The American French Film Festival has long been considered the premiere U.S. event for launching French film and television content to American audiences and while last year’s edition was forced to cancel due to Hollywood’s dual strikes, this year the L.A.-based event is back and gearing up for what it expects to be one of its best editions yet.

The six-day festival, which kicks off its 28th edition on October 29 at the DGA Theater Complex, is bookended by two of the year’s buzziest French titles with Jacques Audiard’s Spanish-language musical-crime film Emilia Pérez set for opening night while Pathé’s French box office hit The Count of Monte Cristo set to close the event on November 3.

Both films, say festival organizers, are reflective of the kinds of projects that Tafff wants to unveil to Hollywood audiences: Audiard’s Cannes-winning title Emilia Pérez is...

Monica Bellucci will star alongside “Call My Agent!” scene-stealer Nicolas Maury and Cesar-winner Alex Lutz (“Guy”) in “Ça C’est Paris”(This Is Paris), a workplace comedy set in the bawdy world of Parisian cabaret. Commissioned by France Television, the crowd-pleasing series comes courtesy of Mon Voisin Productions and director Marc Fitoussi, two of the key drivers behind international breakout “Call My Agent!.”

Federation Studios will field international offers out of Lille’s Series Mania, where the six-episode series was presented as part of the Coming Next From France showcase on Tuesday. Federation execs tell Variety the series has already sparked ample buyer attention.

The series follows the middle-aged scion to the Tout-Paris, a Cancan hotspot akin to the Moulin Rouge. While the wavering heir decides whether or not to make a clean break by selling his historic theater to a supermarket chain, “Ça C’est Paris” will also track...

In a close-up shot at the start of the mini-series “Voltaire in Love,” a baby François Marie Arouet (also known as French philosopher Voltaire) is pushed out of his mother’s birth canal in a scene of intense labor.

A graphic reference to Gustave Courbet’s famous painting The Origin of the World that continues to stir debate, this shot foretells both the revolutionary calling of the boy who’s just been born, and the radical style of this period drama that takes inspiration from Sofia Coppola’s “Marie-Antoinette.”

“Voltaire in Love” is a Franco-Belgian mini-series of four episodes directed by Alain Tasma and produced and co-written by César nominee Georges-Marc Benamou, who is no stranger to adapting the lives of historical French figures to the screen, after previous projects on François Mitterrand and Albert Camus.

Produced by Siècle Productions, with France Télévisions, Umédia, Wallimage, Rtbf and Pictanovo co-producing, the...

The winners from Series Mania Lille/Hauts-de-France were presented tonight during the closing ceremony at Nouveau Siegle in Lille, France. The international competition ran from April 27 through this evening, honoring the cream of contemporary drama series.

Leading the way was The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which won the Audience Award as the crowd favorite among new titles screening their first series, with votes collected after each screening. The series was created and directed by Amy Sherman-Palladino (USA), with production by Picrow and Amazon Studios. Its France broadcaster is Amazon Prime Video

The international jury, presided by Chris Brancato and composed of Maria Feldman, Maria Schrader, Clovis Cornillac and Pierre Lemaitre, gave four awards among the 10 series presented in world premiere.

The Grand Prize went to On The Spectrum, created by Dana Idisis and Yuval Shafferman (Israel), with direction by Yuval Shafferman and production from Sumayoko Mtd. The jury called it “a superb,...

Kinology is heading to Cannes with a single title in Copacabana – the Isabelle Huppert starring with her daughter comedy is a focal point in the Critic's Week section this year. It's the projects that they've got on the sales slate that have got my ears perked up in an upright position – beginning with Juan Solanas' next - he is currently shooting Upside Down in Montreal, while Andrew Niccol is still in pre-production mod with The Cross. - Kinology is heading to Cannes with a single title in Copacabana – the Isabelle Huppert starring with her daughter comedy is a focal point in the Critic's Week section this year. It's the projects that they've got on the sales slate that have got my ears perked up in an upright position – beginning with Juan Solanas' next - he is currently shooting Upside Down in Montreal, while Andrew Niccol is...

Kinology is heading to Cannes with a single title in Copacabana – the Isabelle Huppert starring with her daughter comedy is a focal point in the Critic's Week section this year. It's the projects that they've got on the sales slate that have got my ears perked up in an upright position – beginning with Juan Solanas' next - he is currently shooting Upside Down in Montreal, while Andrew Niccol is still in pre-production mod with The Cross – if I remember correctly it was first announced at last year's Cannes and they are trying to bring down the price tag on the 50 million dollar-ish production. French items worth keeping an eye out for are Benoît Philippon's Lullaby for Pi – which was shot in Canada and would logically find a spot at Tiff. Mathieu Kassovitz also has a project in development . Buried by Rodrigo Cortes - Post-Production Heartbreaker (L'arnacoeur) by Pascal Chaumeil...

Out of the Blue (La Surprise) proves once again that the French do melodrama well. A heartfelt film about the complications and joys of finding love in unexpected places, the movie is a well-paced treat for fans of a good “kitchen sink” drama/romance.

Directed by Alain Tasma and written by Dominique Garnier, the film is currently making the rounds of the independent film festival circuit.

The drama begins in the very first scene, as we watch Marion (Mireille Perrier), an attractive middle-aged woman, leave her husband quite permanently instead of carry on with their evening plans.

Paul (Robin Renucci) is an unappreciative jerk from the get-go, though Marion's decision is complicated by the protests of their teenage daughter Justine (Chloé Coulloud), who doesn’t take the news well.

Marion herself is a high school drama teacher (Justine is even in her class), and she begins her single life with...

Blu-Ray Rating: 5.0/5.0 Chicago – The Criterion Collection continues its foray into the world of HD with one of the most beloved directors of all time, taking a film already in the collection and giving it the HD treatment while simultaneously releasing a new edition of one of his later films. The legend is Francois Truffaut and the films are “The 400 Blows” and “The Last Metro”.

The “continuing series of important classic and contemporary films” has long-included “The 400 Blows” but this marks the first time that the film has been available on Blu-Ray. Criterion just started doing Blu-Ray and they are wisely alternating bringing some of their most popular films to the format along with issuing new releases on it.

The 400 Blows was released on Blu-Ray on March 24th, 2009.

Photo credit: Courtesy of the Criterion Collection

“The 400 Blows” is actually Truffaut’s first film. Released in 1959, this classic...

Jean-Pierre Leaud in The 400 Blows

Photo: Criterion Collection Blu-ray via DVD Beaver I debated on writing individual reviews for Criterion's Blu-ray releases of The 400 Blows and The Last Metro, both hitting store shelves on March 24, but I couldn't help believe director Francois Truffaut is just as interesting as the films he made, if not more interesting. It was that angle I wanted to bring to my commentary and I didn't see how that would be possible or helpful to the reader if broken up into two parts. Before receiving my review copies of The 400 Blows and The Last Metro I already owned 400 Blows as well as Truffaut's Jules and#038; Jim on DVD as part of my Janus Collection, but I had not watched either. I was a Truffaut virgin and had actually held off watching 400 Blows since owning the collection because I knew the Blu-ray would be...

Every week, tMF gives you a rundown on who's making the biggest buzz among the current crop of young talents, based on the hottest news about upcoming movies, awards and nominations, magazine covers and interviews, and special appearances on festivals, talk shows and upcoming TV series or just from anything that makes fans more excited about movies! Here's our latest top 3: - - - Grabbing the third spot for the first time is French rising star Gaspard Ulliel. The Buzz: With the anticipation building on his upcoming movie, The Vintner's Luck (http://themovie-fanatic.com/film_focus/indies/vintners_luck/), the young French hearthrob is busy with two other feature movies- Le Premier cercle (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1130993/) (The First Circle), a thriller about a family in organized crime, and is directed and written by Laurent Tuel and stars Ulliel, Jean Reno, Vahina Giocante and Sami Bouajila, and...

tMF has been waiting with anticipation to hear news on Gaspard Ulliel's upcoming film The Vintner's Luck - of which we have featured our own spotlight articles (http://themovie-fanatic.com/film_focus/indies/vintners_luck/). Aside from the Niki Caro feature, we would like to mention two new upcoming films for Gaspard. We first reported (http://themovie-fanatic.com/the_buzz!/gaspard_ulliel/gaspard_ulliels_two_new_upcoming_film_projects/) news about these two new projects back in May and just recently discovered a bit more information about them: Here (http://www.allocine.fr/film/galerievignette_gen_cfilm=131771.html). Below is an excerpt from Cineuropa (http://cineuropa.org/newsdetail.aspx?lang=en documentID=84551), describing the films plot: The film focuses on Malakian (Reno), an Armenian gang leader who is as virtuoso as he is violent, and considered a “godfather” on the Côte d’Azur. As he prepares a big operation...

• I love this yearly piece from the folks @ IndieWIRE – it highlights the films that unfortunately find themselves by the waste side, that don’t get picked up, but that deservingly need to be seen. I’ve had the chance to catch a couple of these features - Three Times will most likely finds its way on my top 20 of the year (results published in February in 2006). Undiscovered Gems is a list from indieWIRE staffers and writers: Eugene Hernandez (editor-in-chief), Brian Brooks (associate editor), James Israel (administration and marketing), and contributors Erica Abeel, Howard Feinstein, Anthony Kaufman, Michael Koresky, Jonny Leahan, Lily Oei and Steven Rosen. Here is their Top 10 Films of 2005 Without U.S. Distribution: Chain - Jem Cohen C.R.A.Z.Y. -Jean-Marc Vallee Four Eyed Monsters - Susan Buice & Arin Crumley I Am a Sex Addict - Caveh Zahedi John and Jane - Ashim Ahluwalla

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