A fun exciting way for locals and visitors to Cannes to take part in the festival and see some films, without a badge, is at the plage Macé.  Showing a film every night, the cinema on the beach is open to everyone and is free of charge.  Most relax in the comfortable beach chairs that are set up, and snuggle up with a blanket that is provided to ward off the chilly night. Others bring snacks and make themselves comfortable in the sand adjacent of the chairs. At 9:30pm its lights, camera, ac...

A thrilling tale of the femme fatale, "ART ET DECES aka Glamrock City," written and directed by Christophe Kourdouly and Stéphane Jauny, screened at the Marche on May 19th. Produced by Antetime Production, the film is of two girls who in search of inspiration kill men to capture their last breath of life and create Art from Death for their next painting exhibition.  The film showed great emotion and an intriguing plot line that keeps your attention.  In a twist, the directors list...

As the Marche du Film at the 63rd International Cannes Film Festival comes to a close, here are some of the final deals: Protagonist Pictures continues to make deals for Garreth Edwards "Monsters" for distribution in different countries. Cinecitta Luce bought the Italian rights to Romainian directer Andrei Ujica's "The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu" from Mandragora International. Wide sold "Gigola" to K-Films Amerique for an early 2011 release in C...

According to an article in "The Hollywood Reporter: The Cannes Daily," this years Cannes Marche du Film was a quiet one, with limited headline grabbing deals. Between buyers being more selective and sellers working to create profits in a difficult economy, deals are taking longer to be worked out. Typical big North American buyers such as IFC Films, Phase 4 Films and Sony Pictures Classics went through Tuesday without making any deals. Newcomers Red Flag Releasing and Oscilloscope La...

The new CEO for the Association of Film Commissioners International (AFCI), Larry Brownell, is in Cannes stressing the "importance of well-trained commissions," and to further the AFCI's presence at the Festival. The Association is a non-profit organization, which serves as the official organization for film commissioners that help the production of film, TV and video in their respective city, state, region, or country around the world. According to "Cannes Market News," th...

Situated along the Croisette, the Tunisia pavilion is back in Cannes, for the fifth year. Back in 2006, the pavilion was created by the country's producers' union, La Chambre Syndicate nationale des producteurs du films, whose vice-president, Lotfi Layounie, is this year's pavilion coordinator. The original goal of the pavilion was to attract foreign production to Tunisia. Layounie explained to "Cannes Market News" that there are "good postproduction services [in Tunisia] and gr...

Sunday morning, Morgan Creek met with press and international buyers over brunch at Moulin des Mougins. Here, Morgan Creek founder, James Robinson, shared the company's new initiatives to "focus on bigger-budget projects that have global appeal" reported "The Hollywood Reporter: The Cannes Daily." Robinson explained, "We are like a small studio and there are few people doing films in this sort of budget range outside of the studios." Included in these big-budget p...

Threading your way through the many booths and stands in the Marche, one looks around at all the eager companies looking to sell, distribute or promote their films.  Many booths have fliers, brochures, colorful posters and business cards to promote their business.  However, we were surprised today when chatting with receptionist Desiree Montalvo, at Worldwide Film Entertainment, when we were handed a simple white box with a neat black ribbon containing a coffee cookbook, based on one of the ...

According to "The Hollywood Reporter: The Cannes Daily," U.S. and international theatrical distribution rights for Derek Magyar's "Flying Lesson" and Connie Stevens' "Saving Grace B. Jones," were obtained by New Films International. Ron Gell and Straw Weisman, New Films Cinema executives, negotiated both deals. In response to the acquisition, Connies Stevens says, "I am very happy to be associated with New Films International. They are an aggressive and talen...

Yesterday in Cannes, independent movie production studio, EuropaCorp, announced that they would be partnering with HP to make an animated film based on Mathias Malzieu's, 2007 best-selling novel, "The Boy with the Cuckoo-Clock Heart." EuropaCorp won the film adaption rights back in January 2008 and wants HP to provide collaboration in terms of technology and marketing. HP will use new technology to create the film including HPZ8oo workstations and HP Dream Color displays. The ...

U.S. Distribution rights to Paul W.S. Anderson's "The Three Musketeers" in 3D, was scooped up by Summit Entertainment, who will also be selling the project worldwide in Cannes. According to "The Hollywood Reporter: The Cannes Daily," the Musketeers: Porthos, Aramis and Athos are set to be played by Ray Stevenson ("The Book of Eli"), Luke Evans ("Clash of the Titans"), and Matthew Macfadyen ("Robin Hood"). Other casted stars include Christoph Wa...

Last year's Cannes Film Festival marked the first time a 3D film, Disney's "Up," had premiered as the Ouverture. Since then, 3D has become all the rage at the festival, with many booths advertising 3D films for production, distribution and sale. As stated in "Cannes Market News," there are sixty-five 3D films being presented in the Marche du Film this year by companies such as Nu Image, CJ Entertainment, Illusion Studios and Celsius Entertainment, to name only a few. In add...

Abu Dhabi Pavilion           Returning to the International Pavilion this year is capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Abu Dhabi. The pavilion is being co-hosted by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH), the Abu Dhabi Film Commission (ADFC), the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, Imagenation Abu Dhabi and industry services company twofour54. The main goal of this pavilion is to present to filmmakers the idea of Abu Dhabi as...

According to "Cannes Market News," Arclight films will be in charge of international sales for director Michael Radford's adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear, while North American distribution will be handled by ICM. Barry Navidi will produce the film, which is prepared to start preproduction in October and filmed on location in the UK. The film is being funded with private finances along with UK tax rebate and Belgium/E-Motion fund. At this time the budget has not been disclosed. ...

There is excitement in the International Village this year for eight countries who have teamed up and launched a new pavilion. Two years ago, at the Sarajevo Film Festival, talks began in order to create a collaboration of countries from South East Europe. The origional intention, which remains the same today, is to create visability for the countries in this region pertaining mainly to their films, filmakers, and distributors. Early talks included other countries in the surrounding region, bu...

This afternoon, 14 May, Olivier-Rene Veillon, executive director for Île-de-France Film Commission, and Adrian Wootton, CEO of Film London, will be meeting to sign a partnership agreement between both regions. This agreement between the IDF and London commission will be the first of its kind and intends to jointly utilize each of their production and post-production resources for industry events. There are also plans in the works to combine each regions' eco-initiatives, IDF's Ecoprod and Lon...

Marche du Film      When walking into the Marche du Film, business appears to be booming.  It's day two into the festival and deals are already in the works and bidding wars over distribution rights to films have begun.  Though despite the Marche's surface appearance, many cannot ignore the current uncertainty of the European Independent film industry.  This uncertainty stems from the recent signs of the sector taking a hit similar to that of the American Independent...

Festival newcomer, Locomative Distribution, is already seeing signs of success at this year's Cannes Film Festival. This early in the festival, the new company has already managed to acquire "Temple of Venus," starring Kathy Bates, from Barn Door Pictures and Ignition Film Productions' "A Kiss for Jed Wood," starring Jayne Weisner. These films, along with other selections, such as "Hot Potato," starring Ray Winstone, will be for sale in the Marche du Film....

Looking at the main competition films set for the 2010 Film Festival in Cannes, one will not see any Australian films, though the Aussie presence is still evident in the Palais from the opening film to the closing film, with Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett premiering "Robin Hood" on the red carpet, to the French-Australian co-production of "The Tree." Lack of a strong Austrailian presence at the festival this year is due to the attempts by Australian filmmakers to cre...