Latest news with #AMagnificentLife
New Indian Express
24-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Sylvain Chomet: I don't believe that AI is going to replace the craft
English English Sylvain Chomet: I don't believe that AI is going to replace the craft The French filmmaker, comic writer, and animator Sylvain Chomet discusses the process of creating A Magnificent Life (Marcel et Monsieur Pagnol), an animated biopic of French icon Marcel Pagnol, the advantages of animation over live-action, and how artificial intelligence can never surpass the artist's creativity
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Despite Big Wins at Festivals, Female Crew Members Are Still Underrepresented in French Film Industry, Study Says
Despite significant wins at major film festivals and policies enforced by the National Film Board (CNC) aimed at boosting female representation behind the camera, male crew members still dominate the French film industry. A study conducted by the org Collectif 50/50 teams on 220 titles released in 2024 shows that the proportion of women in key below-the-line positions has remained mostly stagnant compared with 2023, and only rarely rose. More from Variety 'Brand New Landscape' Review: An Architect Has No Design for Family Life in a Quietly Affecting Japanese Drama 'A Magnificent Life' Review: A Treat for Marcel Pagnol Fans, Sylvain Chomet's Animated Biopic Seems Unlikely to Win Over the Uninitiated 1-2 Special Acquires North American Rights for Simón Mesa Soto's Cannes Award-Winner 'A Poet' (EXCLUSIVE) The only two fields where women lead in terms of representation are costume designers and casting directors with 90% and 80%, respectively. The org 50/50 says these 'jobs are historically perceived as feminine' and are therefore 'still overwhelmingly occupied by women. These are followed by editors with 50% of women, set designers with 47% (compared with 41% in 2023), music composers with 12% (compared with 8% in 2023), cinematographers with 13% (compared with 18% in 2023), music composers with 12% and sound engineers with 11%. While modest, the biggest year-on spike was seen in special effects where the number of female heads of department rose from 11% to 17% between 2023 and 2024. In above-the-line roles, women made up 26% of filmmakers (down two percent on 2023), 27% of producers and 34% of screenwriters (on par with 2023). The study also reveals that larger budgets are systematically allocated to men, even in fields that are mainly occupied by women. For instance, projects on which men are tapped as costume designers have 27% more budget, and projects on which women work as cinematographers and music composers have budgets 38% and 27% lower, respectively. The National Film Board has put in place, since 2019, a scheme to incite producers to hire female filmmakers, cinematographers and/or heads of production by giving them a bonus, on top of the regular subsidy that they receive from the CNC. But while the scheme sparked an uptick in female jobs in the first years after it launched, the proportion has since stagnated. Another recent study, presented by Annenberg's Dr. Stacy L. Smith and Katherine Pieper, for the 10-year anniversary of Kering's Women in Motion program showed that the number of women behind the camera had in fact skyrocketed from 8.3% in 2015 to 32.3% in 2024. In the U.S. it went from 8% to 16.2%, and in France it grew from 14.4% to 25.9%. Aside from these numbers, French female directors have highly visible at prominent film festivals in the last few years, with Julia Ducournau and Justine Triet winning the Palme d'Or, Coralie Fargeat winning best screenplay 'The Substance.' This year's Cannes festival was another strong showcase of female talent. The 78th edition kicked off with Amelie Bonnin's 'Leave One Day,' while Ducournau was back in competition this year with 'Alpha,' alongside with Hafsia Herzi's 'La Petite dernière' which saw rising actor Nadia Melliti receive the best actress award from Juliette Binoche's jury at Cannes. The festival also played films by Rebecca Zlotowski, 'Vie Privée,' playing out of competition, and Josephine Japy's 'The Wonderers' playing in Special Screening. The Collectif 50/50 has had a crucial role in getting international film festivals to sign a gender parity and diversity pledge starting with Cannes in 2018. As many as 156 festivals have now signed the of Variety All the Godzilla Movies Ranked Final Oscar Predictions: International Feature – United Kingdom to Win Its First Statuette With 'The Zone of Interest' 'Game of Thrones' Filming Locations in Northern Ireland to Open as Tourist Attractions
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘A Magnificent Life' Review: Sylvain Chomet's Beautifully Animated but Clumsily Scripted Love Letter to Marcel Pagnol
A Magnificent Life (Marcel et Monsieur Pagnol), a biopic of French playwright-filmmaker Marcel Pagnol, clearly represents a labor of love for writer-director Sylvain Chomet. His first animated feature since 2010's The Illusionist, it features the gorgeous style first showcased in 2003's award-winning The Triplets of Belleville. If its storytelling proves more rudimentary, hewing closely to the stylistic formula endemic to the genre, the ample visual pleasures prove their own reward. Premiering at Cannes, the film should find appreciative audiences in its native France, where its subject is best known. The story, told in flashback, begins in 1956 Paris, where the 61-year-old Pagnol (voiced by Matthew Gravelle in the English-language version) is despairing that his work has gone out of fashion. Although he intends to give up writing to pursue his hobby of inventing (he's working on a perpetual-motion machine), he's asked by a magazine editor to pen a memoir. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Peak Everything' Review: Piper Perabo Headlines a Cute Canadian Rom-Com Imbued With Very Timely Anxieties Rebel Wilson Responds to Latest 'The Deb' Controversy as Legal Dispute Leaves Film in Limbo 'My Father's Shadow' Review: First-Ever Nigerian Film at Cannes Is an Elegant and Stirring Ode to Lagos 'Memoir? You'd need a memory for that,' a dubious Pagnol responds. Nonetheless, aided by his younger self, who magically appears to jog his recollections, Pagnol begins to recount his life, starting with his early years in Marseille and the death of his mother when he was still a teenager. He moves to Paris as a young man to pursue a career as a playwright, the decision amusingly signaled by a promotional travel video for the City of Lights ('a mere 15 hours from Marseille' by train, it promises). Although his early efforts are flops, he eventually finds success with such plays as Jazz and Topaze, the latter resulting in his disapproving father finally accepting his career choice. He hearkens back to his native city with another hit, Marius, which becomes the first of his works to be adapted for the screen. Pagnol initially resists the idea of making movies, which Chomet cleverly dramatizes in the form of a mock silent film. But the advent of talkies, and a trip to London where he's enthralled by a screening of The Broadway Melody, convince him otherwise. Soon he's rhapsodizing about the stylistic freedom afforded by cinema, in another superbly designed sequence that illustrates those visual devices. More pictures follow, including such hits as 1932's Fanny, with clips from several of them woven into the animated proceedings. A Magnificent Life also delves deeply into Pagnol's patriotism and love of French cinema, illustrating such episodes as his refusal to work for the Nazis during the German occupation and his later advocacy for taxing American films to prevent them from dominating local culture. Pagnol's personal life is explored as well, including his marriage to actress Jacqueline Bouvier, for whom he wrote Manon of the Spring, and the tragic death of their young daughter. He's also shown mourning the death of his close friend Raimu, who starred in several of his works. Chomet's screenplay doesn't fully succeed in its blend of surreal whimsy, such as talking animals, and detailed depiction of its subject's life and career. There are times when A Magnificent Life gets too heavily into the weeds, attempting to cover so many biographical bases that it loses narrative momentum. But the stylistic imagination and beautiful, hand-drawn animation on display more than make up for its awkward storytelling, and it ultimately emerges as a loving tribute to an important figure in French culture. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now "A Nutless Monkey Could Do Your Job": From Abusive to Angst-Ridden, 16 Memorable Studio Exec Portrayals in Film and TV The 10 Best Baseball Movies of All Time, Ranked
