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In this instalment of Screen’s Cannes Close-Up interview series, Louis Balsan – EVP for distribution and acquisitions at production, financing, and sales outfit Anton – shares his insider tips for festival novices, and reveals his most memorable Cannes deal that was closed in the tiny cabin of a yacht.

Balsan is in Cannes with stop-motion animation Savages, from My Life As A Zucchini director Claude Barras, which has its world premiere at the festival.

Attendees should “prioritise films and build the rest of your schedule around that and not the other way around,” says Balsan. “The drinks and all – that’s nice.

As part of Screen’s Cannes Close-Up interview series, experienced line producer John Bernard explains the benefits of shooting in France for UK and US filmmakers, and shares his tips for Cannes newcomers.

Bernard is a France-based producer and CEO at Peninsula Film. He most recently wrapped production on action-comedy Heads Of State for Amazon Studios, and earlier this year finished work on John Woo’s remake of The Killer for Universal and Peacock, which shot in Paris.

“I’m basically the go-to line producer who welcomes the Anglo-Saxons into France,” says Bernard. “I also often am very involved...

Neon has taken North American rights to Arthur Harari’s upcoming French feature The Unknown (L’Inconnue) starring Léa Seydoux and will release the film in the US and Canada in 2026.

The film, whose plot is also unknown and being kept under wraps, is produced by France’s bathysphere and co-produced by Pathé which is kicking off international sales in Cannes.

It is the third feature for Harari who is fresh off an Oscar win for co-writing Anatomy Of A Fall with Justine Triet and whose second feature Onoda: 10,000 Nights In The Jungle opened Un Certain Regard at Cannes...

Neon has taken North American rights to Arthur Harari’s upcoming French feature The Unknown (L’Inconnue) starring Léa Seydoux and will release the film in the US and Canada in 2026.

The film, whose plot is also unknown and being kept under wraps, is produced by France’s bathysphere and co-produced by Pathé who is kicking off international sales in Cannes.

It is the third feature for Harari who is fresh off an Oscar win for co-writing Anatomy Of A Fall with Justine Triet and whose second feature Onoda: 10,000 Nights In The Jungle opened Un Certain Regard at Cannes...

Exclusive: On the heels of its fall world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, the indie drama Widow Clicquot starring Haley Bennett (Cyrano) has been acquired by Vertical for 2024 theatrical distribution in North America.

Based on Tilar J Mazzeo’s New York Times bestseller The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It, the film tells the true story behind the Veuve Clicquot champagne family and business that began in the late 18th century. After her husband’s untimely death, Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot (Bennett) flouts convention by assuming the reins of the fledgling wine business they had nurtured together. Steering the company through dizzying political and financial reversals, she defies her critics and revolutionizes the champagne industry to become one of the world’s first great entrepreneurs.

Also starring Tom Sturridge (The Sandman), Sam Riley (Maleficent), Anson Boon (1917), Leo Suter (Vikings: Valhalla), Ben Miles...

Fun fact: “Emily in Paris,” which films all across the city of Paris and throughout France, was originally slated to film in New York. The idea was to shoot the majority of the Netflix series in the U.S. and head to France for a few weeks to film exteriors of iconic locations. Upon discovering showrunner Darren Starr’s plans, director and executive producer Andy Fleming exclaimed, “This is crazy, you have to shoot [in Paris].”

Referencing the charmingly worn doors in Parisian apartments that would be difficult to recreate in the States, Fleming talked about how he pushed for production to cross the ocean. “I thought, if the writers go over there, they will get in a taxicab going the wrong way around the Louvre, and they will be embarrassed in a restaurant and they will do all of the things that Emily would do, and [that] will inform the writing,” said Fleming.

International production spending in France hit record highs in 2022, resulting in 2,220 shooting days that crested above $1 billion in promised investment — and public initiatives had a major role to play. In early 2020, for example, France updated its Tax Rebate for International Production scheme, supplementing a 30% across-the-board rebate with an additional 10% — applicable on all eligible expenses — for productions that spent $2.2 million with local VFX and post houses.

Clearly, such initiatives have already borne fruit, with (wholly) locally shot films like “The Nun II” in theaters before big-budget series such as Apple’s “The New Look,” Starz’s “The Serpent Queen” Season 2 and AMC’s “Monsieur Spade” hit airwaves. Local authorities are well into a campaign of internal improvement met with international outreach, all meant to shore up Gaul’s standing as a preeminent, full-service production destination.

Domestically, progress is well underway. At last May’s Cannes Film Festival, France’s minister of...

If the actors and writers’ strikes last beyond the autumn, major productions could be challenged by planning for the Paris Olympics.

The French industry is cautiously optimistic that the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes will not materially affect the amount of inward investment from US studio and streamer productions into the country. So far, only a handful of studio projects shooting in France have been delayed by the strikes.

However, if the strikes linger long into the autumn, there are concerns that they could upset plans for major US productions, particularly as Paris gears up to host the 2024 Olympics.

“It’s clearly not just a post-Covid catch-up trend.”

Fuelled by a competitive tax rebate and infrastructure investment, international production in France has tripled from a €305m spend in the country in pre-pandemic 2019 to a total spend of nearly €1bn ($1.09bn) in 2022, up from €398m in 2021.

“It’s clearly not just a post-Covid catch-up trend,” the Cnc’s director of digital Vincent Florant told Screen of the surge in international production in the territory.

In 2022, 101 projects benefitted from the Trip (Tax Rebate for International Production), a rebate of up to 30% of the eligible production spend to a cap of €30m...

Exclusive: WME Independent has unveiled the first image of Haley Bennett in the upcoming 19th Century champagne drama Clicquot ahead of launching sales on the title at the European Film Market.

Bennett stars in the titular role of Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot, who is popularly known in France as the “Grande Dame of Champagne”.

This real-life historic figure defied convention to take over her late husband’s fledgling wine business in Reims in 1805 after being widowed at the age of 27.

The production, announced on Deadline last year, is based on the 2008 novel The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It by Tilar J. Mazzeo.

Filming took place the French regions of Chablis and Reims last fall.

Thomas Napper () directs from a screenplay by Erin Dignam (Land, Submergence) and Christopher Monger (Temple Grandin).

Other previously announced cast members include Tom Sturridge (DC Comics and Netflix’s The Sandman,...

Exclusive: Haley Bennett is set to star as the titular role in Clicquot from writers Erin Dignam (Land, Submergence) and Christopher Monger (Temple Grandin).

Directed by Thomas Napper (Jawbone), the pic chronicles the gritty journey in the early years of the Veuve Clicquot vineyard in 19th century France and brings to life the fascinating young woman behind the iconic orange label. The feature is based on the novel The Widow Clicquot: The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It by Tilar J. Mazzeo. Production began in the French regions of Chablis and Reims on October 24.

As Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot, Bennett will be joined by cast members Tom Sturridge (DC Comics and Netflix’s The Sandman, Irma Vep), Sam Riley (upcoming Firebrand, Maleficent), Leo Suter (Netflix’s Vikings: Valhalla), and Anson Boon (Pistol, 1917).

Christina Weiss Lurie (Persuasion) will produce alongside Bennett, with Joe Wright and John Bernard as EPs.

Mia Wasikowska’s Madame Bovary Sells For Radiant Films

Radiant Films International has completed multiple sales deals in territories worldwide for Madame Bovary starring Mia Wasikowska including all French-speaking rights to Jour2Fête and Italy to Paco Pictures. Additional sales include Benelux to A-Film, Scandinavia to Svensk Filmindustri and Portugal to Nos Lusomundo Audiovisuais, Latin America to Swen, Australia to Transmission Films, South Korea to Noori Pictures, Turkey to Aqua Pinema, Middle East to Gulf Film, Greece to Odeon and Iceland to Myndform. Radiant is handling all foreign sales on the project which they are actively selling at Efm.

The Solution Boards Tokyo Vice Starring Daniel Radcliffe

The Solution Entertainment Group is handling international rights to Tokyo Vice, produced by John Lesher’s Le Grisbi Productions. The Solution’s Myles Nestel and Lisa Wilson will exec produce and present to buyers at the Efm. UTA is representing Us rights. Adam Kassan is also producing.

Efm: Aldamisa has acquired sales rights to Royal Ice, based upon the life story of Prince Albert II of Monaco.

The company will finance and produce and anticipates a fourth quarter start on the story about the prince’s battle to pull together the country’s Olympic bobsled team. Mark Thomas wrote the screenplay.

Aldamisa co-chairman Sergei Bespalov will serve as a producer alongside Alexey Petrukhin, Mark Thomas, John Bernard and Oleg Boyko.

Alexander Zanzer is executive producer and diplomatic consultant on Royal relations. Jason Van Eman and Ben McConley round out the executive producer roster.

“This is the first Royal fairy tale which is a true story of a sitting Monarch, where the human drive for achievement becomes a battle with one’s own limits, amplified by the constraints of Royal duties,” said Bespalov.