The 2024 Cannes Film Festival was officially closed yesterday, on May 25, 2024, as the prizes for the movies and the actors were awarded at the closing ceremony. It was a very exciting and content-filled event, and we have also reported on numerous movies that had their premiere at Cannes, some of which were received well, while others… not so much. But, naturally, everyone wants to know who won and who lost at Cannes, and that is what we are going to report about in this article.
The article will be divided into two main sections. The first one will list all the juries at Cannes, since they are the ones who chose the winners at the film festival, so we think that it is only fair that you know who picked the winners. After that, we are going to list all the winners in each of the categories.
As we have said,...
The article will be divided into two main sections. The first one will list all the juries at Cannes, since they are the ones who chose the winners at the film festival, so we think that it is only fair that you know who picked the winners. After that, we are going to list all the winners in each of the categories.
As we have said,...
- 5/26/2024
- by Arthur S. Poe
- Fiction Horizon
HBO has shared a first look at Industry Season 3, which will debut on Sunday, August 11 (9:00-10:00 p.m. Et/Pt) on HBO and Max.
The eight-episode third season comes from creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay. The directors include Down, Kay, Isabella Eklöf, and Zoé Wittock.
Industry gives an insider’s view of the black box of high finance following a group of young bankers as they forge their identities within the pressure cooker environment and sex and drug-fueled blitz of international bank Pierpoint & Co’s London office.
In Industry Season 3, as Pierpoint looks to the future and takes a big bet on ethical investing, Yasmin (Marisa Abela), Robert (Harry Lawtey), and Eric (Ken Leung) find themselves front and center in the splashy IPO of Lumi, a green tech energy company led by Henry Muck (Kit Harington), in a story that runs all the way to the very top of finance,...
The eight-episode third season comes from creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay. The directors include Down, Kay, Isabella Eklöf, and Zoé Wittock.
Industry gives an insider’s view of the black box of high finance following a group of young bankers as they forge their identities within the pressure cooker environment and sex and drug-fueled blitz of international bank Pierpoint & Co’s London office.
In Industry Season 3, as Pierpoint looks to the future and takes a big bet on ethical investing, Yasmin (Marisa Abela), Robert (Harry Lawtey), and Eric (Ken Leung) find themselves front and center in the splashy IPO of Lumi, a green tech energy company led by Henry Muck (Kit Harington), in a story that runs all the way to the very top of finance,...
- 5/21/2024
- by Mirko Parlevliet
- Vital Thrills
French actress Emmanuelle Béart and Belgian-Congolese director/songwriter Baloji will co-preside over the Caméra d’Or jury of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
The Caméra d’Or is awarded to the best first feature film in Cannes’ Official Selection, or in the parallel Critics Week or Directors’ Fortnight sections.
Béart’s long list of credits include 8 Women (2002), Mission: Impossible (1996), Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud (1995), Heart In Winter (1992), La Belle Noiseuse (1991) and Manon Des Sources (1986).
Baloji won the New Voice Prize in Un Certain Regard last year for his debut feature Omen.
This year’s Caméra d’Or jury includes director of photography Gilles Porte,...
The Caméra d’Or is awarded to the best first feature film in Cannes’ Official Selection, or in the parallel Critics Week or Directors’ Fortnight sections.
Béart’s long list of credits include 8 Women (2002), Mission: Impossible (1996), Nelly & Monsieur Arnaud (1995), Heart In Winter (1992), La Belle Noiseuse (1991) and Manon Des Sources (1986).
Baloji won the New Voice Prize in Un Certain Regard last year for his debut feature Omen.
This year’s Caméra d’Or jury includes director of photography Gilles Porte,...
- 4/16/2024
- ScreenDaily
The Malian filmmaker will be honoured with the award at the opening ceremony on May 17
Malian filmmaker Souleymane Cissé will receive the Carrosse d’Or award of the French directors guild La Société des Réalisateurs (Srf) at the 55th edition of the Cannes’ Directors Fortnight strand which runs May 16-27.
The director will be honoured with the award, which recognises filmmakers for their “innovative qualities”, at the opening ceremony on May 17.
Cisse’s career has spanned over 50 years with his work having screened at Cannes six times. His 1987 drama Yelen picked up the jury prize at the festival when it played in competition.
Malian filmmaker Souleymane Cissé will receive the Carrosse d’Or award of the French directors guild La Société des Réalisateurs (Srf) at the 55th edition of the Cannes’ Directors Fortnight strand which runs May 16-27.
The director will be honoured with the award, which recognises filmmakers for their “innovative qualities”, at the opening ceremony on May 17.
Cisse’s career has spanned over 50 years with his work having screened at Cannes six times. His 1987 drama Yelen picked up the jury prize at the festival when it played in competition.
- 4/4/2023
- by Ellie Calnan
- ScreenDaily
Following up her breakthrough in The Worst Person in the World, Renate Reinsve has steadily been adding new projects to her roster. The latest is Piero Messina’s sci-fi film Another End, in which she co-stars with Gael García Bernal and Bérénice Bejo. Variety reports the film is “set in a near-future when a new technology exists that can put the consciousness of a dead person back into a living body, in an attempt to ease the grief of separation, providing a little extra time to say goodbye.” Bernal takes the role of the widower Sal and Reinsve is Zoe, whose body is where the memory and consciousness of Sal’s former wife have been temporarily implanted. With production already wrapped, see the first images above and below.
Next up, David Mackenzie has set his next film with the thriller Relay, starring Riz Ahmed and Lily James. Scripted by Justin Piasecki and Mackenzie,...
Next up, David Mackenzie has set his next film with the thriller Relay, starring Riz Ahmed and Lily James. Scripted by Justin Piasecki and Mackenzie,...
- 2/21/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Hello, everyone! Hard to believe it, but September is nearly upon us, which means we have a brand new month of Digital and VOD premieres to look forward to as we gear up for this year’s Halloween season. For all you James Wan fans out there, the wait to see Malignant is almost over, as his latest horror film will arrive on HBO Max on September 10th, and for the fans who have been anxiously awaiting more horror from Mike Flanagan, Midnight Mass will be making its way to Netflix on September 24th. Arrow is set to debut Jumbo exclusively on their platform tomorrow, and Shudder has a trio of exclusive films headed to their service throughout September as well: Simon Barrett’s Seance, Martyrs Lane, and Superhost from Brandon Christensen.
Check out the full rundown of all the digital debuts happening over the next few weeks, as there...
Check out the full rundown of all the digital debuts happening over the next few weeks, as there...
- 8/31/2021
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Scream Factory Presents Elvira’S Haunted Hills Collector’S Edition On Blu-ray October 5, 2021: "Los Angeles, CA – Elvira’s back and she’s fabulous! On October 5, 2021, Scream Factory proudly presents the camp classic Elvira’s Haunted Hills from the iconic horror host in a Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release. The Blu-ray features a brand-new 4K scan of the original camera negative and comes loaded with bonus features including a new introduction by Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, all housed within limited-edition collectible slipcase packaging, while supplies last. Fans who order their copies from shoutfactory.com will also receive an exclusive poster featuring brand-new artwork, while supplies last. With her voluptuous figure, voluminous black hair and hilarious one-liners, the essence of camp oozes from her pores. Elvira’s Haunted Hills culls its outrageousness from the classic Vincent Price/Edgar Allan Poe/Roger Corman films of the early 60s, along with a...
- 8/30/2021
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
After breaking out in Céline Sciamma’s dazzling Portrait of a Lady on Fire, Noémie Merlant has gone on to collaborate with Zoé Wittock, Jacques Audiard, and André Téchiné––and even direct her own feature, Mi iubita, mon amour, which just premiered at Cannes Film Festival. Now, Curiosa––a period romance that premiered in France just before her breakthrough role––will finally be coming to U.S. shores beginning August 13 via Film Movement and we’re pleased to debut the exclusive trailer.
Lou Jeunet’s romantic drama is set in 1895 Paris, following Pierre Louÿs, a Parisian dandy and poet on the verge of fame. Pierre and his friend Henri De Régnier are both madly in love with Marie de Heredia (Merlant), the cheeky daughter of their mentor. Despite her feelings for Pierre, Marie eventually marries Henri who has a better situation. Badly hurt, Pierre leaves for Algeria where he meets Zohra,...
Lou Jeunet’s romantic drama is set in 1895 Paris, following Pierre Louÿs, a Parisian dandy and poet on the verge of fame. Pierre and his friend Henri De Régnier are both madly in love with Marie de Heredia (Merlant), the cheeky daughter of their mentor. Despite her feelings for Pierre, Marie eventually marries Henri who has a better situation. Badly hurt, Pierre leaves for Algeria where he meets Zohra,...
- 7/29/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The image of French cinema as mainly consisting of artily shot black-and-white movies about straight men smoking and having sex with their mistress(es) is dealt a final stake through the heart by Julia Ducournau’s brash and ballsy experiment, Titane.
Looking at it alongside similarly adventurous out-there films — such as Ducournau’s own cannibal-coming-of-age horror film, Raw, Zoé Wittock’s Jumbo and Yann Gonzalez’ You and the Night and Knife + Heart — one could almost speak of an exciting new current in Francophone cinema that plugs queer concerns into genre filmmaking in punky and transgressive ways. Call it the French Punk Queer Wave. Here, quite ...
Looking at it alongside similarly adventurous out-there films — such as Ducournau’s own cannibal-coming-of-age horror film, Raw, Zoé Wittock’s Jumbo and Yann Gonzalez’ You and the Night and Knife + Heart — one could almost speak of an exciting new current in Francophone cinema that plugs queer concerns into genre filmmaking in punky and transgressive ways. Call it the French Punk Queer Wave. Here, quite ...
- 7/13/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The image of French cinema as mainly consisting of artily shot black-and-white movies about straight men smoking and having sex with their mistress(es) is dealt a final stake through the heart by Julia Ducournau’s brash and ballsy experiment, Titane.
Looking at it alongside similarly adventurous out-there films — such as Ducournau’s own cannibal-coming-of-age horror film, Raw, Zoé Wittock’s Jumbo and Yann Gonzalez’ You and the Night and Knife + Heart — one could almost speak of an exciting new current in Francophone cinema that plugs queer concerns into genre filmmaking in punky and transgressive ways. Call it the French Punk Queer Wave. Here, quite ...
Looking at it alongside similarly adventurous out-there films — such as Ducournau’s own cannibal-coming-of-age horror film, Raw, Zoé Wittock’s Jumbo and Yann Gonzalez’ You and the Night and Knife + Heart — one could almost speak of an exciting new current in Francophone cinema that plugs queer concerns into genre filmmaking in punky and transgressive ways. Call it the French Punk Queer Wave. Here, quite ...
- 7/13/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Inspired by Erika Eiffel, who married the Eiffel Tower, this surreal debut tells the story of a woman who falls in love with a big, swirling fairground ride. Its director explains all
Just imagine the pitch. “I want to make my debut film about a girl who falls in love with a funfair ride. Um, that’s it.” But, however improbable it may seem, Zoé Wittock didn’t just get Jumbo bankrolled, the film was also screened at Sundance. And it’s every bit as strange, and quite a bit richer than you might expect.
Jumbo tells the story of Jeanne, played by Noémie Merlant, who lives with her sexed-up single mother near an amusement park, and also has a job there as an after-hours cleaner. One night, while spit-cleaning the knobs on a new fairground machine, Jeanne realises she has fallen in love with “him”. And so begins a giddy rites-of-passage story,...
Just imagine the pitch. “I want to make my debut film about a girl who falls in love with a funfair ride. Um, that’s it.” But, however improbable it may seem, Zoé Wittock didn’t just get Jumbo bankrolled, the film was also screened at Sundance. And it’s every bit as strange, and quite a bit richer than you might expect.
Jumbo tells the story of Jeanne, played by Noémie Merlant, who lives with her sexed-up single mother near an amusement park, and also has a job there as an after-hours cleaner. One night, while spit-cleaning the knobs on a new fairground machine, Jeanne realises she has fallen in love with “him”. And so begins a giddy rites-of-passage story,...
- 7/9/2021
- by Claire Armitstead
- The Guardian - Film News
Noémie Merlant tempts fate with a leftfield crush in a drama that turns its bizarre premise into an emotional rollercoaster
Here’s a charming French film in which Noémie Merlant is overwhelmed with feelings of forbidden love and … no, it is not Portrait of a Lady on Fire. The kooky premise of Jumbo – a young woman falling madly in love with a fairground ride – might invite bafflement but Zoé Wittock’s idiosyncratic comedy-drama is an entertaining blend of sensory overload and sincere empathy.
Related: Europe in 25 films: the critics’ choice...
Here’s a charming French film in which Noémie Merlant is overwhelmed with feelings of forbidden love and … no, it is not Portrait of a Lady on Fire. The kooky premise of Jumbo – a young woman falling madly in love with a fairground ride – might invite bafflement but Zoé Wittock’s idiosyncratic comedy-drama is an entertaining blend of sensory overload and sincere empathy.
Related: Europe in 25 films: the critics’ choice...
- 7/7/2021
- by Phuong Le
- The Guardian - Film News
The producers of this year’s International Feature Film Oscar winner “Another Round” and Berlin Silver Bear winner “Natural Light” have been selected for European Film Promotion’s Producers on the Move program, which promotes promising producers and fosters international co-productions. The 20 participants for the program, which runs online from May 17-21, will be presenting their latest projects in speed meetings and during roundtable sessions. More than half of the selection are women.
The participants, who were selected for the program from all of the nominations submitted by the Efp member organizations, are Annabella Nezri (Belgium), Nikolay Mutafchiev (Bulgaria), Bojan Kanjera (Croatia), Marek Novák (Czech Republic), Kasper Dissing (Denmark), Jean-Christophe Reymond (France), Maite Woköck (Germany), Sára László (Hungary), Ruth Treacy (Ireland), Marica Stocchi (Italy), Iris Otten (The Netherlands), Gary Cranner (Norway), Beata Rzeźniczek (Poland), Tathiani Sacilotto (Portugal), Bianca Oana (Romania), Katarína Tomková (Slovak Republic), Andraž Jerič (Slovenia), Clara Nieto (Spain...
The participants, who were selected for the program from all of the nominations submitted by the Efp member organizations, are Annabella Nezri (Belgium), Nikolay Mutafchiev (Bulgaria), Bojan Kanjera (Croatia), Marek Novák (Czech Republic), Kasper Dissing (Denmark), Jean-Christophe Reymond (France), Maite Woköck (Germany), Sára László (Hungary), Ruth Treacy (Ireland), Marica Stocchi (Italy), Iris Otten (The Netherlands), Gary Cranner (Norway), Beata Rzeźniczek (Poland), Tathiani Sacilotto (Portugal), Bianca Oana (Romania), Katarína Tomková (Slovak Republic), Andraž Jerič (Slovenia), Clara Nieto (Spain...
- 5/6/2021
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Zoé Wittock's contemporary fairy tale Jumbo is coming to VOD and DVD on March 16 from Dark Star Pictures. We have an exclusive clip to share with you today. You will find it and a selection of stills below. Jeanne, a shy young woman, lives at home with her uninhibited bartender mother and works the graveyard shift as a cleaner at an amusement park. Her mother wants her to meet a man, but Jeanne prefers tinkering in her bedroom with wires, light bulbs, and spare parts, creating miniature versions of theme park rides. During her late-night shifts she begins spending intimate time with the alluring new Tilt-a-Whirl ride that she decides to call Jumbo. Finding herself seduced by “his” red lights, smooth chrome, and oily...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 3/12/2021
- Screen Anarchy
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Crestone (Marnie Ellen Hertzler)
Exploring the bohemian lives of SoundCloud rappers who find their own oasis (or perhaps are living in a mirage of one) in the middle of the Colorado desert, Crestone is a brief, but complicated look at such a way of life. With a breezy Animal Collective score guiding the rather beautiful imagery, director Marnie Ellen Hertzler is also keen on showing the failures that come with such a life off the grid. Cuisines featuring terrible-looking bologna sandwiches and ketchup-infused ramen along with donation pleas for an $80K GoFundMe with $0 pledged show this escape from society may not be the luxurious, meditative experience as promoted on...
Crestone (Marnie Ellen Hertzler)
Exploring the bohemian lives of SoundCloud rappers who find their own oasis (or perhaps are living in a mirage of one) in the middle of the Colorado desert, Crestone is a brief, but complicated look at such a way of life. With a breezy Animal Collective score guiding the rather beautiful imagery, director Marnie Ellen Hertzler is also keen on showing the failures that come with such a life off the grid. Cuisines featuring terrible-looking bologna sandwiches and ketchup-infused ramen along with donation pleas for an $80K GoFundMe with $0 pledged show this escape from society may not be the luxurious, meditative experience as promoted on...
- 2/19/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Do Introverts Dream of Electric Carousels?: Wittock Waxes Fatuous in Debut
A finely wrought tradition of European cinema includes a bounty of infamous depictions of humans engaged in sexual or romantic congress with non-human counterparts. Always courting or breaking taboo, they’re often also girded by an eventually recuperative shower of cultish devotion, and a sterling range of examples would be the slimy alien in Andrzej Zulawski’s Possession (1981), the chimpanzee in Nagisa Oshima’s Max, Mon Amour (1986), or the bestial frolicking in the perverse fairytale La Bete from (1975) from Walerian Borowczyk. In her directorial debut, Belgium’s Zoé Wittock conveys the romantic and sexual odyssey of an introverted woman suffering/enlightened by her mechanophilia, a sexual attraction to machines.…...
A finely wrought tradition of European cinema includes a bounty of infamous depictions of humans engaged in sexual or romantic congress with non-human counterparts. Always courting or breaking taboo, they’re often also girded by an eventually recuperative shower of cultish devotion, and a sterling range of examples would be the slimy alien in Andrzej Zulawski’s Possession (1981), the chimpanzee in Nagisa Oshima’s Max, Mon Amour (1986), or the bestial frolicking in the perverse fairytale La Bete from (1975) from Walerian Borowczyk. In her directorial debut, Belgium’s Zoé Wittock conveys the romantic and sexual odyssey of an introverted woman suffering/enlightened by her mechanophilia, a sexual attraction to machines.…...
- 2/15/2021
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Romantic indies are a dime a dozen and have generally shifted to streaming channels, but Sundance indies tend to be much more fantastical, strange, and alluring. That description really hits the bill for “Jumbo,” the new romantic indie from filmmaker Zoé Wittock that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020 to substantial acclaim (our review). The film French actress Noémie Merlant, who many know as one of the breakout stars of the acclaimed film, “Portrait Of A Lady On Fire.
Continue reading ‘Jumbo’ Trailer: Noémie Merlant Falls In Love With An Amusement Park Ride In Dreamy Sundance Indie at The Playlist.
Continue reading ‘Jumbo’ Trailer: Noémie Merlant Falls In Love With An Amusement Park Ride In Dreamy Sundance Indie at The Playlist.
- 2/9/2021
- by Rodrigo Perez
- The Playlist
Jumbo Trailer: Noémie Merlant Forms an Attachment to a Amusement Park Ride in Zoe Wittoc’s 2020 Film
Jumbo Trailer — Zoe Wittock’s Jumbo (2020) movie trailer has been released by Dark Star Picture. The Jumbo trailer stars Noemie Merlant, Emmanuelle Bercot, Bastien Bouillon, Sam Louwyck, Barbara Hellemans, Jimmy Raphaël, Chris Caligo, Stephen Rohde, Idao Daccrissio, Noah Daccrissio, Eduard Nemcsenko, Jonathan Bartholmé, and Tracy Dossou. Crew Zoé Wittock wrote the screenplay for Jumbo. Thomas [...]
Continue reading: Jumbo Trailer: Noémie Merlant Forms an Attachment to a Amusement Park Ride in Zoe Wittoc’s 2020 Film...
Continue reading: Jumbo Trailer: Noémie Merlant Forms an Attachment to a Amusement Park Ride in Zoe Wittoc’s 2020 Film...
- 1/29/2021
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
Jumbo is a unique love story. A love story between a woman and a machine. A love story that, on its surface, may seem impossible. Ridiculous, even. But it is a love story that is engaging, powerful, and above all, true.
Jeanne (Noémie Merlant) is a shy girl. One who prefers her own company to that of others. She is fascinated by mechanical things. She works at a local amusement park and spends her free time designing models of the rides. Her mother is constantly pushing for her to date and go out, which is really the farthest thing from what Jeanne is interested in.
She is comfortable with the people she knows: her mother and the one or two friends that she has working at the park. Aside from that, she can really take or leave people in general. As she walks through the crowded park before it closes,...
Jeanne (Noémie Merlant) is a shy girl. One who prefers her own company to that of others. She is fascinated by mechanical things. She works at a local amusement park and spends her free time designing models of the rides. Her mother is constantly pushing for her to date and go out, which is really the farthest thing from what Jeanne is interested in.
She is comfortable with the people she knows: her mother and the one or two friends that she has working at the park. Aside from that, she can really take or leave people in general. As she walks through the crowded park before it closes,...
- 1/27/2021
- by Emily von Seele
- DailyDead
Noémie Merlant’s transcendent performance as a love-struck artist infatuated with her subject in Portrait of a Lady on Fire wowed critics and audiences alike, catapulting her to international acclaim. Merlant has shown her fortitude for taking on ambitious projects and her next film is certainly no exception. An official selection at last year’s Sundance Film Festival, Dark Star Pictures has released the first trailer for the bizarre romance Jumbo, the directorial debut for Zoé Wittock set to premiere in theaters February 19th, 2021, subsequently followed by a VOD release on March 16th, 2021.
Merlant stars as Jeanne, a shy young woman still living with her bartender mother Margarette (Emmanuelle Bercot), and working the graveyard shift as a cleaner at a theme park. During her shifts, she begins spending intimate time with an alluring tilt-a-world that she names Jumbo. Finding desirable qualities in the ride she decides to pursue a relationship with the inanimate contraption.
Merlant stars as Jeanne, a shy young woman still living with her bartender mother Margarette (Emmanuelle Bercot), and working the graveyard shift as a cleaner at a theme park. During her shifts, she begins spending intimate time with an alluring tilt-a-world that she names Jumbo. Finding desirable qualities in the ride she decides to pursue a relationship with the inanimate contraption.
- 1/23/2021
- by Margaret Rasberry
- The Film Stage
"Have you ever felt something for an object?" Dark Star Pictures has released an official US trailer for the French indie Jumbo, which originally premiered at last year's Sundance & Berlin Film Festivals. Finally! I've been waiting for this to get released, because it's an underrated, kinky, quirky gem that deserves to be seen. Jeanne, a shy young woman, works in an amusement park. Fascinated with carousels, she still lives at home with her mother. That's when Jeanne meets Jumbo, the park's new flagship attraction. The two start an unexpected romance that cannot be defined. Noémie Merlant (from Portrait of a Lady on Fire) stars, with Emmanuelle Bercot, Bastien Bouillon, Sam Louwyck, and Tracy Dossou. I reviewed this from Berlinale last year, saying it's "uniquely original, surprisingly serious, and impressive." A worthy discovery. Here's the official US trailer (+ intl. poster) for Zoé Wittock's Jumbo, direct from Dark Star's YouTube...
- 1/23/2021
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
You’ve heard of unlikely romances, but the star of “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” and an amusement park ride? That takes “unlikely” to a whole new level, but that’s also precisely the plot of Zoé Wittock’s festival favorite “Jumbo,” in which Noémie Merlant romances a tilt-a-whirl in a tender, erotically charged love story.
For the sake of contextualizing the weirdness of this romance a bit more, here’s the official synopsis, straight from distributor Dark Star Pictures: “Director Zoé Wittock’s first feature film ‘Jumbo’ stars Noémie Merlant (‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’) as Jeanne, a shy young woman, lives at home with her uninhibited bartender mother and works the graveyard shift as a cleaner at an amusement park. Her mother wants her to meet a man, but Jeanne prefers tinkering in her bedroom with wires, light bulbs, and spare parts, creating miniature versions of theme park rides.
For the sake of contextualizing the weirdness of this romance a bit more, here’s the official synopsis, straight from distributor Dark Star Pictures: “Director Zoé Wittock’s first feature film ‘Jumbo’ stars Noémie Merlant (‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’) as Jeanne, a shy young woman, lives at home with her uninhibited bartender mother and works the graveyard shift as a cleaner at an amusement park. Her mother wants her to meet a man, but Jeanne prefers tinkering in her bedroom with wires, light bulbs, and spare parts, creating miniature versions of theme park rides.
- 1/22/2021
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
UK festival recently moved online-only due to virus crisis.
The Glasgow Film Festival (Gff) has revealed the programme for its 2021 edition (Feb 24-March 7), which includes several award-winning festival favourites and a focus on South Korea.
The 17th edition of Gff, which recently announced it would shift online-only due to the ongoing virus crisis, includes six world premieres, two European premieres and 49 UK premieres – around a third of the event’s usual programme of 180 titles.
However, Gff co-directors Allison Gardner and Allan Hunter said the reduced number of slots had forced them to raise the bar for selection and produce a stronger programme as a result.
The Glasgow Film Festival (Gff) has revealed the programme for its 2021 edition (Feb 24-March 7), which includes several award-winning festival favourites and a focus on South Korea.
The 17th edition of Gff, which recently announced it would shift online-only due to the ongoing virus crisis, includes six world premieres, two European premieres and 49 UK premieres – around a third of the event’s usual programme of 180 titles.
However, Gff co-directors Allison Gardner and Allan Hunter said the reduced number of slots had forced them to raise the bar for selection and produce a stronger programme as a result.
- 1/14/2021
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Nominations for feature film and documentary up from five to six.
The nominations for the 2020 European Film Awards have been unveiled, with the size of two key categories extended as a result of the virus crisis.
The categories for best feature and best documentary have each been increased from five to six to offer more exposure to titles and artists impacted by cinema closures and release delays during the pandemic.
Scroll down for full list of nominees
The films nominated in the best European Film category are Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round, Berhan Qurbani’s Berlin Alexanderplatz, Jan Komasa’s Corpus Christi,...
The nominations for the 2020 European Film Awards have been unveiled, with the size of two key categories extended as a result of the virus crisis.
The categories for best feature and best documentary have each been increased from five to six to offer more exposure to titles and artists impacted by cinema closures and release delays during the pandemic.
Scroll down for full list of nominees
The films nominated in the best European Film category are Thomas Vinterberg’s Another Round, Berhan Qurbani’s Berlin Alexanderplatz, Jan Komasa’s Corpus Christi,...
- 11/10/2020
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Just when you thought that film festivals in North America would be mostly relegated to online screenings, in comes the annual Saskatoon Fantastic Film Festival.
In its 11th year, the annual festival will run a theatrical-only experience at their long-time home the Broadway Theatre, from November 23 to 28.
During those six days, fans will have the opportunity to take in some of the best genre titles of the year including screenings of Uncle Peckerhead (review), Zoé Wittock's Jumbo, Noah Hutton's outstanding Lapsis (...
In its 11th year, the annual festival will run a theatrical-only experience at their long-time home the Broadway Theatre, from November 23 to 28.
During those six days, fans will have the opportunity to take in some of the best genre titles of the year including screenings of Uncle Peckerhead (review), Zoé Wittock's Jumbo, Noah Hutton's outstanding Lapsis (...
- 11/9/2020
- QuietEarth.us
How do we know when we love? How do we know what we love? How do we make the decision (and it is a decision) that we will love what we love, for as long as we are allowed? And what do we do if that love is rejected by the society in which we live? While many countries and societies are finally more accepting of loves outside the heteronormative, anything that doesn't fit into 'one man-one woman-monogamy-for-life' is still viewed as strange, and even those who consider themselves open-minded might discover that they have limits to what they consider love. Zoé Wittock's feature debut tells the tale of a shy and awkward young woman, who finds herself drawn into something beyond what we might...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 10/30/2020
- Screen Anarchy
Ivan Ostrochovský’s film took home the Grand Prize at this year’s hybrid edition of the Central and Eastern European Film Festival in Luxembourg. The physical side of this year’s hybrid edition of CinÉast concluded on Sunday 25 October with a screening of Servants by Slovakian director Ivan Ostrochovský, which had just won the festival’s Grand Prix the day before, during the awards ceremony held at the Kinepolis Kirchberg in Luxembourg. Belgian director Zoé Wittock, of the International Jury, explained that she and her colleagues, Polish director and scriptwriter Tomasz Wasilewski (president of the jury), director of the GoEast film festival Heleen Gerritsen, Luxembourgish producer Jani Thiltges (CEO of Samsa Film), and film critic and head of the selection committee of the Film Fund Luxembourg Boyd van Hoeij, had decided to give the film this distinction “for its suspenseful and nightmarish vision of a system that tries to control and regulate.
- 10/26/2020
- Cineuropa - The Best of European Cinema
October is horror movie season, but there’s no reason to watch “Hocus Pocus” for the umpteenth time when there are newer offerings available. This year, several of the major horror film festivals across the U.S. were forced to cancel their physical gatherings, but they’ve joined forces to create a single virtual festival event loaded with promising new work from around the world. Running October 8 – 11, Nightstream represents the collaborative programming efforts of Boston Underground, Brooklyn Horror, Overlook, the North Bend Film Festival, and Popcorn Frights Festival. The supersized curatorial undertaking has yielded an international lineup of genre efforts that include some favorites from earlier the festival season as well as many discoveries.
Launching as New York Film Festival’s virtual edition winds down, Nightstream is another example of ongoing efforts to replicate the festival experience in these stay-at-home times. The program opens Thursday with the world premiere of the Hulu Original production “Run,...
Launching as New York Film Festival’s virtual edition winds down, Nightstream is another example of ongoing efforts to replicate the festival experience in these stay-at-home times. The program opens Thursday with the world premiere of the Hulu Original production “Run,...
- 10/8/2020
- by Eric Kohn, Kate Erbland and David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Films by Nermin Hamzagic, Fanny Liatard & Jérémy Trouilh, Halina Reijn, Jurgis Matulevičius, Zoé Wittock and Carlo Sironi vie for the European Discovery - Prix Fipresci award. The European Film Awards have announced the nominees for the European Discovery 2020 – Prix Fipresci, an award presented to a director for a first full-length feature film. This year’s nominations were determined by a committee comprised of Efa Board Members Valérie Delpierre (Spain) and Anita Juka (Croatia), curator Giona A Nazzaro (Italy) as well as film critics Marta Bałaga (Finland/Poland), Andrei Plakhov (Russia) and Frédéric Ponsard (France), all three as representatives of the Fipresci (International Federation of Film Critics). The nominees are: Full Moon - Nermin Hamzagic (Bosnia & Herzegovina)Gagarin - Fanny Liatard & Jérémy Trouilh (France)Instinct - Halina Reijn (Netherlands)Isaac - Jurgis Matulevičius (Lithuania)Jumbo - Zoé Wittock (France/Belgium/Luxembourg)Sole - Carlo Sironi (Italy/Poland) The nominated films will soon be made available on.
Titles from Bosnia & Herzegovina, Lithuania, and Italy also selected.
Cannes 2020 official selection title Gagarine, and Halina Reijn’s Dutch thriller Instinct are two of the six titles nominated for the European Discovery 2020 Prix Fipresci.
The prize is presented annually as part of the European Film Awards (Efa) to a director for a first full-length feature film.
Written and directed by Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh, and co-written by Benjamin Charbit, Gagarine is about a teenager who fights to save his home town – named after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin – from demolition. France’s Totem Films sold US rights to Cohen Media Group...
Cannes 2020 official selection title Gagarine, and Halina Reijn’s Dutch thriller Instinct are two of the six titles nominated for the European Discovery 2020 Prix Fipresci.
The prize is presented annually as part of the European Film Awards (Efa) to a director for a first full-length feature film.
Written and directed by Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh, and co-written by Benjamin Charbit, Gagarine is about a teenager who fights to save his home town – named after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin – from demolition. France’s Totem Films sold US rights to Cohen Media Group...
- 10/8/2020
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The European Film Academy (Efa) has unveiled the five nominees for this year’s European Discovery award, the best first-film prize presented as part of the Academy’s European Film Awards.
The nominees are some of the best-reviewed films to come out of Europe recently, including Instinct, from Dutch actress-turned-director Halina Reijin, which features Game of Thrones star Carice van Houten, and Aladdin’s Marwan Kenzari; Zoé Wittock’s Belgium feature Jumbo, about a shy woman who falls in love with an amusement park ride; and Gagarine, a French drama from first-timers Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh, which was one of the stand-out hits ...
The nominees are some of the best-reviewed films to come out of Europe recently, including Instinct, from Dutch actress-turned-director Halina Reijin, which features Game of Thrones star Carice van Houten, and Aladdin’s Marwan Kenzari; Zoé Wittock’s Belgium feature Jumbo, about a shy woman who falls in love with an amusement park ride; and Gagarine, a French drama from first-timers Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh, which was one of the stand-out hits ...
- 10/8/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
The European Film Academy (Efa) has unveiled the five nominees for this year’s European Discovery award, the best first-film prize presented as part of the Academy’s European Film Awards.
The nominees are some of the best-reviewed films to come out of Europe recently, including Instinct, from Dutch actress-turned-director Halina Reijin, which features Game of Thrones star Carice van Houten, and Aladdin’s Marwan Kenzari; Zoé Wittock’s Belgium feature Jumbo, about a shy woman who falls in love with an amusement park ride; and Gagarine, a French drama from first-timers Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh, which was one of the stand-out hits ...
The nominees are some of the best-reviewed films to come out of Europe recently, including Instinct, from Dutch actress-turned-director Halina Reijin, which features Game of Thrones star Carice van Houten, and Aladdin’s Marwan Kenzari; Zoé Wittock’s Belgium feature Jumbo, about a shy woman who falls in love with an amusement park ride; and Gagarine, a French drama from first-timers Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh, which was one of the stand-out hits ...
- 10/8/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Amazon teases “El Cid” series; ViacomCBS develops TV drama “Jamila”; BFI London Film Festival adds “One Night in Miami”; Studiocanal ups executives; Anti-Worlds acquires “Jumbo” and “Murder Me, Monster”; Kix action channel launches in Africa; and Viu sets Malaysian pitching forum.
Amazon Studios has released the first set of images from Spanish blockbuster series “El Cid.” The series tells the story of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, A.K.A. El Cid, a Castilian nobleman and war hero in medieval Spain and traces his journey as he tries to find his place within a complex monarchy that tries to control him. Jaime Lorente (“Money Heist”) plays the titular character, and the cast also includes José Luis García-Pérez, Elia Galera, Carlos Bardem, Alicia Sanz and Jaime Olías.
The series is created by José Velasco and is produced by Zebra Producciones. Gustavo Santaolalla, Oscar-winner for “Brokeback Mountain” and “Babel,” composes. Jamie Lang
Development...
Amazon Studios has released the first set of images from Spanish blockbuster series “El Cid.” The series tells the story of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, A.K.A. El Cid, a Castilian nobleman and war hero in medieval Spain and traces his journey as he tries to find his place within a complex monarchy that tries to control him. Jaime Lorente (“Money Heist”) plays the titular character, and the cast also includes José Luis García-Pérez, Elia Galera, Carlos Bardem, Alicia Sanz and Jaime Olías.
The series is created by José Velasco and is produced by Zebra Producciones. Gustavo Santaolalla, Oscar-winner for “Brokeback Mountain” and “Babel,” composes. Jamie Lang
Development...
- 9/17/2020
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
UK distributor also sets release date for Tim Mielants’ ‘Patrick’.
Anti-Worlds Releasing has secured UK and Ireland rights to Zoé Wittock’s Jumbo from Paris-based WTFilms.
The surreal French drama received its world premiere in competition at Sundance earlier this year and was also selected for the Berlinale, playing in the Generation 14plus strand.
It marks the directorial debut of Belgian director Wittock and stars Noémie Merlant as a shy fairground worker who becomes attracted to one of the carousel rides. The cast also include Emmanuelle Bercot and Sam Louwyck.
Anti-Worlds was founded last year by producer Andy Starke of...
Anti-Worlds Releasing has secured UK and Ireland rights to Zoé Wittock’s Jumbo from Paris-based WTFilms.
The surreal French drama received its world premiere in competition at Sundance earlier this year and was also selected for the Berlinale, playing in the Generation 14plus strand.
It marks the directorial debut of Belgian director Wittock and stars Noémie Merlant as a shy fairground worker who becomes attracted to one of the carousel rides. The cast also include Emmanuelle Bercot and Sam Louwyck.
Anti-Worlds was founded last year by producer Andy Starke of...
- 9/17/2020
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
The Canadian virtual festival will include more than 100 features and 200 shorts.
Canada’s Fantasia Film Festival has announced a third and final wave of feature films, as well as details of its panels, talks, tributes and special events.
This year’s virtual edition of the Montreal-based festival, running from August 20 to September 2, will include more than 100 features and more than 200 shorts.
Among the latest titles added to the line-up are Vincent Paronnaud’s Hunted, getting its world premiere, Jorge Michel Grau’s Perdida, getting its international premiere, and Kiel McNaughton’s Indigenous action-comedy The Legend Of Baron To’A, which will be the closing night film.
Canada’s Fantasia Film Festival has announced a third and final wave of feature films, as well as details of its panels, talks, tributes and special events.
This year’s virtual edition of the Montreal-based festival, running from August 20 to September 2, will include more than 100 features and more than 200 shorts.
Among the latest titles added to the line-up are Vincent Paronnaud’s Hunted, getting its world premiere, Jorge Michel Grau’s Perdida, getting its international premiere, and Kiel McNaughton’s Indigenous action-comedy The Legend Of Baron To’A, which will be the closing night film.
- 8/6/2020
- by 31¦John Hazelton¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival, which runs August 20-September 2 and is being held digitally this year due to the pandemic, has unveiled its final lineup.
The fest has also announced that revered genre filmmaker John Carpenter will be the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award and will host an online masterclass as part of its virtual events.
New pics selected include Kiel McNaughton’s Indigenous action-comedy The Legend Of Baron To’a, which closes the fest, the world premiere of Persepolis co-director Vincent Paronnaud’s Hunted, Johnnie To’s Chasing Dream, and Finn Wolfhard’s directorial debut short Night Shifts.
Further events will include talks with Mike Flanagan and Mick Garris, Simon Barrett, and Dennison Ramalho with José Mojica Marins aka Coffin Joe.
As reported previously, this year’s fest will open with Neil Marshall’s horror The Reckoning. The online screenings, which will run via Festival Scope and Shift72’s virtual screening platform,...
The fest has also announced that revered genre filmmaker John Carpenter will be the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award and will host an online masterclass as part of its virtual events.
New pics selected include Kiel McNaughton’s Indigenous action-comedy The Legend Of Baron To’a, which closes the fest, the world premiere of Persepolis co-director Vincent Paronnaud’s Hunted, Johnnie To’s Chasing Dream, and Finn Wolfhard’s directorial debut short Night Shifts.
Further events will include talks with Mike Flanagan and Mick Garris, Simon Barrett, and Dennison Ramalho with José Mojica Marins aka Coffin Joe.
As reported previously, this year’s fest will open with Neil Marshall’s horror The Reckoning. The online screenings, which will run via Festival Scope and Shift72’s virtual screening platform,...
- 8/6/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Throughout the anxious weeks leading up to the opening night of the 19th Transilvania International Film Festival, as the coronavirus pandemic continued to spread across Romania, government officials began to impose a series of increasingly rigorous safety protocols that cast the festival’s viability in doubt. But the organizers insisted that the show would go one.
“When we realized that the [case] numbers were increasing…we immediately created a crisis committee” to determine how to create a safe movie-going environment, says TIFF founder Tudor Giurgiu. In the picturesque medieval city of Cluj, which plays host to the festival, a series of outdoor venues were marshaled into service—from open-air cinemas to public squares to a leafy courtyard at the local agricultural university. After ensuring the necessary health and hygiene measures were in place, the green light from the government finally came with just days to spare.
“I think we’ve been...
“When we realized that the [case] numbers were increasing…we immediately created a crisis committee” to determine how to create a safe movie-going environment, says TIFF founder Tudor Giurgiu. In the picturesque medieval city of Cluj, which plays host to the festival, a series of outdoor venues were marshaled into service—from open-air cinemas to public squares to a leafy courtyard at the local agricultural university. After ensuring the necessary health and hygiene measures were in place, the green light from the government finally came with just days to spare.
“I think we’ve been...
- 7/30/2020
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Film is now playing on some 1,000 screens across France.
Paris-based Memento Distribution’s high-risk decision to reboot the stalled theatrical release of comedy-drama How To Be A Good Wife in unison with the reopening of French cinemas on June 22, after a 14-week Covid-19 closure, appears to have paid off.
Company chief Alexandre Mallet-Guy confirmed to Screen on Wednesday (July 1) that the film had drawn 209,000 spectators over nine days from June 22-30, for a gross of around $1.6m
Total spectators for the feature, which was in cinemas for just four days before French cinemas closed on March 14, now stands at 380,000. The running total stands at $2.9m.
Paris-based Memento Distribution’s high-risk decision to reboot the stalled theatrical release of comedy-drama How To Be A Good Wife in unison with the reopening of French cinemas on June 22, after a 14-week Covid-19 closure, appears to have paid off.
Company chief Alexandre Mallet-Guy confirmed to Screen on Wednesday (July 1) that the film had drawn 209,000 spectators over nine days from June 22-30, for a gross of around $1.6m
Total spectators for the feature, which was in cinemas for just four days before French cinemas closed on March 14, now stands at 380,000. The running total stands at $2.9m.
- 7/1/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦69¦
- ScreenDaily
“Fortune favors the bold,” is a cornily-overused phrase that continues to be “overused” with purpose. Belgium’s Zoé Wittock could have scripted another lookalike coming-of-age teen romance. Instead, the daredevil filmmaker dares to explore a taboo-defying love story that wafts of concession stand popcorn and industrial lubrication oils in Jumbo. Intimacy posed as a malleable generality, still emotional, and attributed to internal pleasures versus external expectations. It’s cotton-candy sweet, visually poetic with a carnival’s neon-saturated exuberance, and without an ounce of “shame” to be felt by someone experiencing her brand of happiness. What’s so bad about being “weird,” anyway?
Jeanne Tantois (Noémie Merlant), an amusement park employee, is more excited than most for the funfair’s latest attraction: Move It. Customers see a stomach-churning spinny machine, but Jeanne sees a companion. Margarette (Emmanuelle Bercot) wishes her daughter would find sexual awakenings with a man who won’t...
Jeanne Tantois (Noémie Merlant), an amusement park employee, is more excited than most for the funfair’s latest attraction: Move It. Customers see a stomach-churning spinny machine, but Jeanne sees a companion. Margarette (Emmanuelle Bercot) wishes her daughter would find sexual awakenings with a man who won’t...
- 5/27/2020
- by Matt Donato
- We Got This Covered
Unspooling online from 9–16 June, the 9th edition of the Parisian event will see ten films battling it out in competition and will feature Stephen Frears and Edgar Wright as its guests of honour. Registration opens today for free-of-charge, online participation in the different events put in place by the Champs-Élysées Film Festival, the 9th edition of which will unspool in virtual form from 9 – 16 June following the Coronavirus-based cancellation of its physical edition. The event founded and overseen by Sophie Dulac at the very heart of the French capital will open with a French preview of Zoé Wittock’s Jumbo (unveiled in competition in Sundance and later screened in the Berlinale’s Generation line-up). Standing out in particular on the agenda is a French competition composed of six feature films, which will be evaluated by a jury presided over by director Mounia Meddour (flanked by filmmakers Sébastien Lifshitz and...
Exclusive: Deadline has learned that CAA has inked writer-director Zoé Wittock.
Wittock’s feature directorial debut Jumbo made its world premiere in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
More from DeadlineUTA Makes "Immediate & Painful" Pay Cuts As Coronavirus Hobbles HollywoodFrankie Shaw To Direct T Kira Madden's 'Long Live' Memoir; Bow & Arrow Financing The FeatureMatthew McConaughey, Ali Larter, CAA, Steve Ballmer Foundation Among Lausd Backers
The pic follows Jeanne, a shy young woman, who lives at home with her uninhibited bartender mother and works the graveyard shift as a cleaner at an amusement park. Her mother wants her to meet a man, but Jeanne prefers tinkering in her bedroom with wires, light bulbs, and spare parts, creating miniature versions of theme park rides. During her late-night shifts she begins spending intimate time with the alluring new Tilt-a-Whirl ride that she decides to call Jumbo.
Wittock’s feature directorial debut Jumbo made its world premiere in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
More from DeadlineUTA Makes "Immediate & Painful" Pay Cuts As Coronavirus Hobbles HollywoodFrankie Shaw To Direct T Kira Madden's 'Long Live' Memoir; Bow & Arrow Financing The FeatureMatthew McConaughey, Ali Larter, CAA, Steve Ballmer Foundation Among Lausd Backers
The pic follows Jeanne, a shy young woman, who lives at home with her uninhibited bartender mother and works the graveyard shift as a cleaner at an amusement park. Her mother wants her to meet a man, but Jeanne prefers tinkering in her bedroom with wires, light bulbs, and spare parts, creating miniature versions of theme park rides. During her late-night shifts she begins spending intimate time with the alluring new Tilt-a-Whirl ride that she decides to call Jumbo.
- 3/24/2020
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Film buffs might be interested to know that the 2020 Boston Underground Film Festival (Buff) lineup has been announced! A number of interesting films will have screenings, including Saint Maud and Dinner in America. Also in today's Horror Highlights: release details for Infection and the Steve Wands' new novella Feareater.
Boston Underground Film Festival 2020 Lineup Revealed: "New England cinephiles, rejoice! Spring festival season kicks off in less than three weeks as the 22nd annual Boston Underground Film Festival returns to Harvard Square, bringing with it five days of sublime cinervana to the Brattle Theatre from March 25th through the 29th. This year’s program boasts a pair of world premieres, a whole lot of unholy obsession, objectophilia, Wtf thrillers, genre-spinning slashers, familial dysfunction, queer clairvoyance, and more!
Buff is proud to host the East Coast Premiere of Adam Rehmeier’s Sundance-smash must-see punk-rock rom-com, Dinner in America, which sets the raucous...
Boston Underground Film Festival 2020 Lineup Revealed: "New England cinephiles, rejoice! Spring festival season kicks off in less than three weeks as the 22nd annual Boston Underground Film Festival returns to Harvard Square, bringing with it five days of sublime cinervana to the Brattle Theatre from March 25th through the 29th. This year’s program boasts a pair of world premieres, a whole lot of unholy obsession, objectophilia, Wtf thrillers, genre-spinning slashers, familial dysfunction, queer clairvoyance, and more!
Buff is proud to host the East Coast Premiere of Adam Rehmeier’s Sundance-smash must-see punk-rock rom-com, Dinner in America, which sets the raucous...
- 3/11/2020
- by Tamika Jones
- DailyDead
Doesn't matter if it's man or machine, you can fall in love with anything. And that's okay. Jumbo has one of those crazy weird concepts that either shouldn't work at all, or seemingly fits right in with the rest of The Asylum's ridiculous filmography. But, somehow, it works. Which ultimately is a testament to writer/director Zoé Wittock and her skills as a filmmaker. Jumbo originally premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this year, and also played at the Berlin Film Festival. And it damn well deserves to be in both of the fests because it's a uniquely original, surprisingly serious, and impressive feature about a French woman who falls in love with a theme park ride she calls "Jumbo". It's yet another new fresh twist on the classic 80s coming-of-age romance, with a few cliche moments that end up being fun because it's not any human partner she's chasing.
- 3/3/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Tall, dark and handsome? The crush that Noémie Merlant’s character, Jeanne, explores in “Jumbo” is one out of three: a 25-foot-tall carnival ride who seduces the amusement park janitor as she spit-cleans his bulbs. During the night shift, Jumbo literally lights up Jeanne’s life, and while he’s not handsome in the traditional sense — especially to the girl’s aghast mother — when writer-director Zoé Wittock admires his whirling spirals, he’s an undeniable attraction (albeit one Jeanne must share with 32 other thrill-seekers at a time).
In Wittock’s slender fable, the feeling might even be mutual. At midnight, when the couple is alone, Jumbo appears to communicate in grumbles and blinks — green for yes, red for no — as his radiant center pulses like a schoolboy’s heartbeat. Merlant, fingers tickling crystalline notes on Jumbo’s glass knobs, gazes back in awe. Her wide eyes look as full of...
In Wittock’s slender fable, the feeling might even be mutual. At midnight, when the couple is alone, Jumbo appears to communicate in grumbles and blinks — green for yes, red for no — as his radiant center pulses like a schoolboy’s heartbeat. Merlant, fingers tickling crystalline notes on Jumbo’s glass knobs, gazes back in awe. Her wide eyes look as full of...
- 1/25/2020
- by Amy Nicholson
- Variety Film + TV
At heart, Zoé Wittock’s “Jumbo” is a rather conventional European dramedy about a single mother (the great Emmanuelle Bercot) struggling to accept the woman her daughter has become. On its surface, however, this pleasantly delirious feature debut tells the fable-like story of Jeanne, a young loner (“Portrait of a Lady on Fire” breakout Noémie Merlant) who develops a deep psychosexual attraction to the tilt-a-whirl ride at the rundown Belgian amusement park where she works. So much that she orgasms at the thought of jet-black oil jizzing out of its metal parts and enveloping her nude body like the symbiote from “Venom.” Splitting the difference between “Terms of Endearment” and David Cronenberg’s “Crash” in a way that’s often sweet and surreal (but never sinister), Wittock essentially takes an ultra-familiar premise and coats it with the candied shell of something you’ve never seen before.
If Jeanne’s cloistered...
If Jeanne’s cloistered...
- 1/25/2020
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
Just like people, contraptions can be a lot more beautiful and complicated than they seem on the surface. But have you heard of anyone who has literally fallen in love with a Tilt-a-Whirl attraction before? Starring one of world cinema’s newest breakout stars, Noémie Merlant, who gave one of the finest performances of 2019 in Céline Sciamma’s ephemeral romance, “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” Zoé Wittock’s debut film “Jumbo,” and its revolving rings of neon color, bringing new meaning to the term “toxic relationship.”
Read More: The 25 Most Anticipated Movies Of The 2020 Sundance Film Festival
Jeanne (a meek and timid Merlant) is barely comfortable in her own skin, overwhelmed by everyday anxieties, fearful that everyone around is always staring at her like a freakshow.
Continue reading ‘Jumbo’: Noémie Merlant Breathes Literal New Light Into The Term ‘Toxic Relationship’ [Sundance Review] at The Playlist.
Read More: The 25 Most Anticipated Movies Of The 2020 Sundance Film Festival
Jeanne (a meek and timid Merlant) is barely comfortable in her own skin, overwhelmed by everyday anxieties, fearful that everyone around is always staring at her like a freakshow.
Continue reading ‘Jumbo’: Noémie Merlant Breathes Literal New Light Into The Term ‘Toxic Relationship’ [Sundance Review] at The Playlist.
- 1/25/2020
- by Andrew Bundy
- The Playlist
Do you love your car? Or do you, um, love your car? And what if it loved you back?
“Jumbo,” a movie inspired by the real-life woman who married the Eiffel Tower, claiming she’d fallen passionately in love with it, is Belgian writer-director Zoé Wittock’s fractured fairy tale of a feature debut about a withdrawn young woman played by “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” star Noémie Merlant, who develops deep emotional feelings for her local park’s newest passenger-spinning, brightly illuminated ride.
While it’s easy to imagine filmmakers from all parts of the outcast-fantasy firmament responding with glee at the cinematic doorways waiting to be opened if “Jumbo” shows post-festival life — Spielberg, Cronenberg, start your human-loves-thing engines! — Wittock’s film is ultimately more of a well-intended melodramatic experiment than a fully realized love story about one of the more curious corners of humanity’s sexual-psychological tapestry.
“Jumbo,” a movie inspired by the real-life woman who married the Eiffel Tower, claiming she’d fallen passionately in love with it, is Belgian writer-director Zoé Wittock’s fractured fairy tale of a feature debut about a withdrawn young woman played by “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” star Noémie Merlant, who develops deep emotional feelings for her local park’s newest passenger-spinning, brightly illuminated ride.
While it’s easy to imagine filmmakers from all parts of the outcast-fantasy firmament responding with glee at the cinematic doorways waiting to be opened if “Jumbo” shows post-festival life — Spielberg, Cronenberg, start your human-loves-thing engines! — Wittock’s film is ultimately more of a well-intended melodramatic experiment than a fully realized love story about one of the more curious corners of humanity’s sexual-psychological tapestry.
- 1/25/2020
- by Robert Abele
- The Wrap
“Another day working as the nighttime janitor at the tiny French amusement park. Everyone keeps asking me if they can fuck the Tilt-a-Whirl ride. Buddy, they won’t even let me fuck it.”
This line isn’t precisely in the script, but as if adapted from the mind of dril, the new drama Jumbo follows Jeanne (Portrait of a Lady on Fire star Noémie Merlant) and her intense, erotic, and heartfelt relationship with the new attraction at the theme park she works at. A five-armed spectacle of excitement and thrills, the ride is given some loosely sketched-out psychology in the form of fantastical neon light responses and electronic, almost alien humming as the two converse, but the story’s perspective is tied solely with Jeanne. As intriguing a narrative set-up as this might be, Zoé Wittock’s feature debut sways too emotionally simplistic and cookie-cooker in structure to rouse up much passion.
This line isn’t precisely in the script, but as if adapted from the mind of dril, the new drama Jumbo follows Jeanne (Portrait of a Lady on Fire star Noémie Merlant) and her intense, erotic, and heartfelt relationship with the new attraction at the theme park she works at. A five-armed spectacle of excitement and thrills, the ride is given some loosely sketched-out psychology in the form of fantastical neon light responses and electronic, almost alien humming as the two converse, but the story’s perspective is tied solely with Jeanne. As intriguing a narrative set-up as this might be, Zoé Wittock’s feature debut sways too emotionally simplistic and cookie-cooker in structure to rouse up much passion.
- 1/24/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Final titles revealed for the Generation Kplus and Generation 14plus strands.
The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 20-Mar 1) has revealed the final raft of titles that will comprise its Generation strand and confirmed that 58% of the features and shorts in the youth section are directed by women.
Scroll down for full list of titles
It follows a recent announcement that more than 50% of the films in the official project selection of the Berlinale Co-Production Market are from female directors.
The 43rd edition of Berlin’s Generation sidebar will comprise 59 competition entries from 34 countries, including 29 world premieres.
After revealing 20 films in the strand last month,...
The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 20-Mar 1) has revealed the final raft of titles that will comprise its Generation strand and confirmed that 58% of the features and shorts in the youth section are directed by women.
Scroll down for full list of titles
It follows a recent announcement that more than 50% of the films in the official project selection of the Berlinale Co-Production Market are from female directors.
The 43rd edition of Berlin’s Generation sidebar will comprise 59 competition entries from 34 countries, including 29 world premieres.
After revealing 20 films in the strand last month,...
- 1/22/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
French actor Noémie Merlant plays a young woman who falls in love with a funfair ride in Zoé Wittock’s “Jumbo,” which is screening in Sundance’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition. Variety spoke to her about the film, and her debut feature as director “Mi Lubita.”
Merlant is viewed as one of the most promising actors of her generation. She was nominated for the Cesar’s Most Promising Actress award in 2017 for her role in “Le Ciel attendra,” and in 2019 was jointly nominated (with Adèle Haenel) as Best European Actress in the European Film Awards, for her role in Céline Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire.”
Merlant says that her role in “Jumbo” was a major challenge because she knew very little about the theme of objectum sexuality – the sexual attraction focused on inanimate objects – and had to research for the role, for example by watching Agnieszka Piotrowska...
Merlant is viewed as one of the most promising actors of her generation. She was nominated for the Cesar’s Most Promising Actress award in 2017 for her role in “Le Ciel attendra,” and in 2019 was jointly nominated (with Adèle Haenel) as Best European Actress in the European Film Awards, for her role in Céline Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire.”
Merlant says that her role in “Jumbo” was a major challenge because she knew very little about the theme of objectum sexuality – the sexual attraction focused on inanimate objects – and had to research for the role, for example by watching Agnieszka Piotrowska...
- 1/20/2020
- by Martin Dale
- Variety Film + TV
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