Latest news with #SylvainChomet
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
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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
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sylvain Chomet Won't Be Using AI Anytime Soon
For French animation auteur Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville, The Illusionist), storytelling has always lived in the space between silence and song. 'Most of my work so far has been silent movies, I didn't really do much with dialogue,' he says. But for his latest project — A Magnificent Life, a fully animated biopic of pioneering French screenwriter and filmmaker Marcel Pagnol, which Sony Pictures Classics will release stateside — Chomet brings one of cinema's great voices back to life. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Wild Foxes' Review: Budding French Star Samuel Kircher Jabs His Way Through a Tough Yet Tender Debut Boxing Drama Cannes: 'Militantropos' Directors on Identity and the Limits of Art: "The War Has Become Part of Us" Cannes: Salty Pictures Sets Martial Arts Drama '8 Limbed Dragon,' Starring UFC Fighter Jingliang Li (Exclusive) Pagnol revolutionized film dialogue, bringing literary sophistication and realism to the screen at a time, in the early sound era, when producers feared the spoken word. He also brought regional realism, having his actors speak in the broad Marseilles dialect of his hometown, unheard of at the time. Pagnol transformed the style of European cinema by taking the camera outdoors, inspiring Italian neorealism and the Nouvelle Vague. His proposal to tax the profits on American films and use the money to fund local productions led to the creation of France's film board, the CNC, and was the foundation of the country's still vital and still competitive national industry. Chomet spoke to The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the Cannes Film Festival special screening premiere of A Magnificent Life on Saturday, about Pagnol's legacy, the challenge of dialogue and translation, and what the late master would think of Trump's tariffs proposals. When did you first discover Marcel Pagnol's work? When I was at school. I don't remember the year, but I was quite young, 10 or 11 years old. At that time, we had La Gloire de mon père [My Father's Glory] and Le Château de ma mère [My Mother's Castle] as part of the regular school curriculum. That's not the case anymore, which I think is a shame. I didn't really like reading much, because my medium was drawing. I preferred watching films or reading comics. But I read a small book from Pagnol and I really, really loved it. He's writing is magical. The style is strong but really clear. He's a bit like Mozart—it feels easy, simple, but it's so clear. I really fell in love with this book, and it made me want to read more… Later on I discovered he was the guy who wrote and directed [1931 French comedy classic] Marius, and so I felt his presence. Did his work directly inspire you as a filmmaker? I'm not sure about that. I don't think so, because most of my work was silent movies… I didn't have many opportunities to make any talking movies. The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist were really silent. I liked his work, I liked his films, but it's difficult to tell if they made me want to make films or inspired me. I think it became part of my DNA. It's only when you go back to it later on, that you realize how great his style was, how amazing his stories were and how much it has shaped you. How did the idea for a biopic come about? It was basically when I met Nicolas Pagnol, the grandson of Marcel Pagnol. He was with a producer, Charlène Poirier, and his wife, Valérie. They wanted me to do a documentary on Marcel Pagnol, and I was interested because I'd never done a documentary. So I wrote a documentary based on the archive material. But these people, I think, had a secret plan to make me do an animated film. They started asking me to do little bits of animation, to substitute for parts of the story that we didn't have archive material for. I'd show them the little animated sequences and they said: 'That's what everyone wants.' S So I threw everything away and made a biopic all in animation, using the archive material. Nicola had access to everything from his grandfather, and he had some texts, some poems, things never been published and not even seen by anybody, which I could use. The script is very much in Pagnol's voice. And we used clips from his films together with the animation, which is something I've done before in my films. We have a clip of an unfinished film that was supposed to have been destroyed, but they found the fragment recently and we put it in. It's never been seen before. Pagnol was an inventor and always on the cutting edge of technology. If he were alive today, would he be embracing AI? He really loved technology. He was a bit of an engineer—very good with his hands, making little machines. But I'm not sure he would have liked working with a tool supposed to be more intelligent than he is. I think he would have been horrified by the idea of using AI to do voices. Dialogue and dialects were so important to him. And I think we should be horrified. I'm doing animation, and the tools are different. I don't use paper anymore, I work with a computer screen. But everything is still drawn, still painted, with these digital tools. The work I'm doing hasn't changed much from what Walt Disney was doing in the 1950s. We use our hands to draw. I've been trying to use some AI for development, and I'm not really satisfied with it. I'd prefer to take out a pencil and paper and work my ideas out that way. I don't feel frightened by AI. I mean, if people believe to be creative, you need a superior being to help you, fine. But I don't see what kind of joy you have in creation when you need to have a superior being to help you. I don't see what kind of joy you have in creating that way. And that's what creation should be: Joy. You directed both French and English versions of the film. How did you handle the differences? There were a few little tweaks. In the original, Pagnol is an English teacher. In English, he's a Latin teacher, which he also was, because it works better than having an English teacher in an English-speaking film. The main challenge was the accents. For the Parisians, we used Cockney, but were really scratching our heads to find the equivalent of the Marseille accent in English. We tried speaking English with a Marseille accent, but it sounded Italian. It was really bizarre. We needed a language that had the same sing-song sound to it as the Marseille accent does. The first thing I thought of was Welsh, because they have a real singing accent as well. And it works really well. What impact do you think Pagnol had on cinema? For dialogues, he really gave birth to a style. His use of realism inspired Italian neorealism and the Nouvelle Vague. He was one of the first to take the camera outside the studio. The opening of Fanny (1932), with Orane Demazis walking through the streets of Marseille, was shot from the trunk of a car with a hidden camera. That inspired the Nouvelle Vague to take their cameras outside. Pagnol also helped shape film policy in France by introducing essentially a tariff on American films. What do you think he'd say to Trump's idea of a ? Yes, it's interesting. Pagnol did suggest this idea, to put a tariff on American cinema. He wasn't any sort of nationalist, quite the opposite, but he knew how important, how powerful, cinema was, and he was scared of what it could do. Remember, he had seen how the Nazis used cinema. The Nazis even tried to get him to join them to make a European cinema, which would have been a Nazi cinema. After the war, he realized France was in chaos and Hollywood was producing really strong, really life-changing films: Color movies, panoramic films. He knew that unless there was a way to ensure the French industry could carry on making French movies, American movies would invade and take over the cinema. He didn't want to censor American films, because we aren't Russia. Instead, he decided to tax American movies, not when they come in, but on the profit they make, and use that money to subsidize French movies. He essentially created the CNC. We're the only country that did that, and that's probably the reason why there is still a very strong French cinema today. What's next for you, another dialogue-packed feature? No! My next film will be completely silent again. I'm doing a sort of spin-off of The Triplets of Belleville, but this time without the bicycles. There's a cat now. It's more about the triplets—the big, tall ladies. There'll be lots of music but no dialogue. I'm going to start storyboarding very soon, within a month or so, and we're going to use the same team as we did with Pagnol. I wrote the story at the same time as Triplets, 25 years ago now, so it's fresh from my early mind. It's completely bonkers. Back to the roots. 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
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Annecy 2025 Lineup Unveiled: A Celebration of Innovation, Independence and International Animation
The Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the world's most important week in global animatioon, returns to the French Alps this June 9-15, hosting visionary directors, groundbreaking films and a burgeoning number of established and emerging studios and voices from around the world. This year's edition is one of the most ambitious yet, marked by a rich blend of themes, powerful political storytelling and a notable emphasis on independent animation. As fest art director Marcel Jean notes, 'The quality of independent animation has increased in a most spectacular way,' which is evident across this year's programming, particularly in the Official Competition and Contrechamp Feature categories. More from Variety 'Four Souls of Coyote' Review: From Hungary Comes a Soulful Rendering of Native American Origin Stories 'The Imaginary' Review: What's a Pretend Friend to Do When His Human Creator Outgrows Him? 'Ghost Cat Anzu' Review: Made With Rotoscope Techniques, Unusual Anime Plays Like a Sardonic Relative to 'Spirited Away' Below, the 10 features selected in both the Official and Contrechamp sections and a quote from Jean explaining why they were picked, followed by several highlights from today's announcements. The festival's popular Work in Progress lineup was unveiled earlier this month. Official Competition: 'Allah Is Not Obliged,' Zaven Najjar (France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada) 'For his first feature film, Zaven Najjar rose to the challenge of adapting Ahmadou Kourouma's novel 'Allah is Not Obliged.' It's a tall order given the book's raw, unusual language, which the director manages to preserve in this first-person narrative of a child soldier.' 'A Magnificent Life,' Sylvain Chomet (France, Luxembourg, Belgium) 'Sylvain Chomet makes his comeback with this feature film dedicated to Marcel Pagnol. It is such a delight to see the filmmaker's sophisticated graphics again, and for the first time he uses dialogue to capture the musical Marseille accent.' 'Arco,' Ugo Bienvenu (France) 'True to his graphic style, Ugo Bienvenu offers us an astonishing first science-fiction feature film for all the family, in which a 10-year-old girl takes in a boy of the same age from the future.' 'ChaO,' Yasuhiro Aoki (Japan) 'This whimsical tale comes to us from Japan, with its assertive graphic style and bold colours, somewhat reminiscent of Masaaki Yuasa and Taiyō Matsumoto.' 'Dandelion's Odyssey,' Momoko Seto (France, Belgium) 'It is an understatement to say that Momoko Seto's debut feature was eagerly awaited! We are delighted to discover that, from the very first seconds of the film, we were fascinated by this original imagery, a skilful blend of scientific shooting techniques and digital animation. Like dandelion seeds, we are hurtling along a strange and perilous journey….' 'Death Does Not Exist,' Felix Dufour-Laperrière (Canada, France) 'Félix Dufour-Laperrière, who won an award in the Contrechamp selection in 2021 with 'Archipel,' returns to Annecy with his third feature. Visually stunning, the film plunges us into the torments of a young woman haunted by guilt following an attack that went wrong.' 'Into the Mortal World,' Zhong Ding (China) 'This is yet another demonstration of the exceptional expertise of Chinese studios. 'Into the Mortal World' is intended for all audiences, a spectacular, funny film, full of action and emotion.' 'Little Amélie or the Character of Rain,' Maïlys Vallade & Liane-Cho Han (France) 'For their first feature film, Maïlys Vallade and Liane-Cho Han adapted Amélie Nothomb's novel with finesse and sensitivity. A dazzling offering, brought to life by both the magical script and Mari Fukuhara's music, the film will appeal to audiences of all ages.' 'Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake,' Irene Iborra (Spain, France, Belgium, Chile) 'One of the great surprises of the selection! This is the only stop-motion feature film in the official competition. 'Olivia and the Invisible Earthquake' intelligently and skilfully addresses children tackling an essential social reality without pettiness or sentimentality.' 'The Last Blossom,' Baku Kinoshita (Japan) ''The Last Blossom' is set in the yakuza underworld and evokes the atmosphere of some of Takeshi Kitano's films ('Hana-bi,' 'Sonatine'). An opportunity to discover a truly unique director, Baku Kinoshita.' 2025 Contrechamp Feature Competition: 'Balentes,' Giovanni Columbu (Italy) 'A delightful discovery, this unique film follows two children in the 1940s Sardinian countryside. A moving and gripping experience due to its interesting subject matter and experimental form.' 'Endless Cookie,' Seth and Peter Scriver (Canada) 'Seth Scriver brought us 'Asphalt Watches' in competition in 2014, now he's back this year with 'Endless Cookie,' co-directed with his half-brother Pete Scriver. In a bursting, humorous style, it parallels the differences between the experiences of the two brothers, one white and the other Native.' 'Jinsei,' Ryuya Suzuki (Japan) 'Ryuya Suzuki's first feature film reminds us of the minimalist visual aesthetics of 'On-Gaku: Our Sound' by Kenji Iwaisawa. Jinsei is an uncompromising social satire that examines identity and the meaning of life. Through a videotape, the viewer becomes witness to a man's life who has nohistory and is in search of an identity.' 'Lesbian Space Princess,' Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese (Australia) 'This wacky comedy comes to us from Australia, where the title already says it all. Directed by Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese, 'Lesbian Space Princess' is both delightful and surprising.' 'Memory Hotel,' Heinrich Sabl (Germany) 'In his highly stylized debut feature, German director Heinrich Sabl transports us to 1945, to a strange hotel where little Sophie encounters horrors, loses her memory and finds it again, while history's tragedy is played out all around her.' 'Nimuendaj,' Tania Cristina Anaya (Brazil, Peru) 'Out of Brazil comes this astonishing Curt Unckel biopic, the famous German ethnologist and writer christened Nimuendajú by the Guarani people in 1906. Director Tanya Anaya succeeds in capturing this man's deep commitment as he witnessed first-hand the persecution suffered by the indigenous people.' 'Olivia & The Clouds,' Tomás Pichardo Espaillat (Dominican Republic) 'Tomás Pichardo Espaillat's fourth selection for Annecy is the first animated feature to come out of the Dominican Republic, an amazing journey between four characters and even more animation techniques.' 'Space Cadet,' Kid Koala (U.S.) 'For his first feature film, musician Eric San (Kid Koala) adapts his own graphic novel, published in 2011. It features Celeste, the orphaned daughter of a famous astronaut, raised by a robot guardian and herself destined for space exploration. A film for all the family that tackles the subject of memory. 'Tales from the Magic Garden,' David Sukup, Patrik Pašš, Leon Vidmar, Jean-Claude Rozec (Czech Republic, France, Slovakia, Slovenia) 'Four directors from four countries join forces to create a bundle of tales spotlighting the imagination. We're almost surprised to find so much cohesion in this children's film, whose very genesis proves that across different origins and cultures, collaboration and understanding are possible.' 'The Great History of Western Philosophy,' Aria Covamonas (Mexico) 'Aria Covamonas, an unclassifiable filmmaker, openly uses several great historical figures to deliver a delirious satire using collage with surrealist overtones.' 'The Square,' Bo-Sol Kim (South Korea) 'This is perhaps the most unexpected film of the selection. The forbidden love story between a Swedish diplomat and a young North Korean woman, under the watchful eye of his interpreter and, no doubt, the secret services.' Three Honorary Cristals will be awarded in 2025 to legendary artists who have redefined the landscape of animation through their work: Michel Gondry, renowned for his surreal music videos and inventive filmmaking, will also debut his new film 'Maya, Give Me Another Title.' Joanna Quinn, an iconic British animator and advocate for women in the industry, will be honored as part of the 10th anniversary of Annecy's Women in Animation initiative. Matt Groening, creator of 'The Simpsons,' will attend a special screening and discuss the series' legacy as it enters its 36th season. Annecy will also feature screenings and presentations from major players like Pixar, Sony, Disney, Netflix and Warner Bros. 2025 marks the 40th anniversary of the International Animation Film Market (MIFA), a cornerstone of the festival and a key player in building Europe's animation ecosystem. Now boasting over 200 events and participants from nearly 100 countries, MIFA is a launchpad for emerging voices and a place where new projects, like those from Bangladesh, Vietnam and Costa Rica, can find global partners. Mickaël Marin, Annecy's managing director, reflected on the significance of the milestone and how the platform has evolved over the past four decades: '40 years ago, MIFA was born out of the need to create a television animation industry in Europe. Today, we're joined by game developers, publishers and new countries every year.' Annecy's 2025 country of honor is Hungary, whose animation industry has experienced a dynamic revival. As Jean explained, 'There is something great in Hungary… a very strong heritage in animation.' Four Hungarian feature films, including 'Bubble Bath' and 'Heroic Times,' will be showcased alongside student films from the esteemed MOME University. A Hungary pavilion at MIFA will spotlight the country's ecosystem through industry panels, exhibitions and a masterclass by acclaimed director Áron Gauder. Veronique Dumont, from the festival's organizing team, emphasized the significance of Hungary's growing presence: 'They will have a lot of professionals and artists on site. They're really dynamic now, and it was a real pleasure to work with them.' A prevailing theme this year is the dominance of independent cinema in the feature film and Contrechamp selections. Notably absent are the usual major studio entries in competition, making space for personal, stylistically bold and politically engaged works. Jean attributes this to a mix of factors, but primarily due to the abundance of high-quality independent submissions. He also shares some of the credit for this year's multifarious lineup. 'The audience is ready,' he says. 'They're watching animation on platforms and TV where there's greater stylistic diversity.' This year's selection includes an impressive number of 2D films and experimental techniques. As Jean observed, 'We're seeing more drawn-on-paper films, diverse aesthetics and genre storytelling like science fiction used as metaphor; films like 'Arco' or 'Death Does Not Exist' are good examples.' Jean is especially excited about the growing presence of television and streaming series in recent years. 'There's been an incredible increase in quality,' he said. 'Think of 'Bojack Horseman,' 'Arcane' or 'Common Side Effects.' These shows are offering mythical solutions to real societal problems.' The festival will host a full episode screening of Marvel's 'Eyes of Wakanda,' discussions with 'The Simpsons' team and events highlighting studios like Riot Games, Lucasfilm and Netflix. Dumont pointed to the Mifa Campus' increasing appeal to companies like Disney, Netflix and Illumination, as well as video game studios producing narrative content, such as Ubisoft's 'Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Deathwatch,' and now merchandise companies with strong IPs like Mattel, which will make its first appearance at MIFA this year. Annecy will celebrate 10 years of its partnership with Women in Animation this year. From its groundbreaking 2015 edition, when all juries were led by women, to the increasing percentage of female directors in graduation films, the festival has played a pivotal role in promoting gender equity. The festival will commemorate this anniversary with events throughout the week, including a special focus on women in feature animation, where progress still lags. As Marin noted, 'This year isn't just about looking back, but about asking what more we can do. We want to celebrate the journey while planning for more inclusive futures.' Dumont also highlighted the increasing participation from African studios. Nigeria, in particular, will host another pitch session this year, and a Nigerian feature is included in the MIFA Pitches selection, an impressive achievement given the volume of submissions received each year. 'Madagascar, Tanzania, Morocco and others are coming back,' Dumont said. 'These countries are putting serious investment into creative industries, and they see Annecy and MIFA as one of the best places to grow.' Several highly anticipated titles will receive non-competition screenings at this year's event: 'Fixed,' Genndy Tartakovsky 'Animal Farm,' Andy Serkis 'Maya, Give Me Another Title,' Michel Gondry 'Falcon Express,' TAT Productions 'The Songbird's Secret,' Antoine Lanciaux Annecy 2025 looks to be a testament to the power of animation to tell the world's most urgent stories, to bridge mediums and markets and to uplift creators from all walks of life. From the legacy of Hungarian cinema to the vitality of experimental and boundary-pushing storytelling, Annecy continues to be the year's most impactful event in global animation. Last year, Annecy launched a new non-competitive section allowing the general public to get an early look at several upcoming films. This year's lineup includes: 'Captain Sabertooth and the Countess of Grel,' Yaprak Morali, Are Austnes, Rasmus A. Sivertsen (Norway) 'Fleak,' Jens Møller, Mikko Pitkänen and Luca Bruno (Finland, France, Malaisia, Poland) 'The Girl Who Stole Time,' Ao Yu and Tienan Zhou (China) 'Chickenhare and the Secret of the Groundhog,' Benjamin Mousquet (Belgium, France) 'I am Frankelda,' Rodolfo Ambriz and Arturo Ambriz (Mexico) 'Mary Anning,' Marcel Barelli (Belgium, Switzerland) 'My Grandfather is a Nihonjin,' Célia Catunda (Brazil) 'Little Caribou,' Barry O'Donoghue (Ireland) 'Csongor és Tünde,' Máli Csaba, Pálfi Zsolt (Hungary) 'Spiked,' Caroline Origer (Belgium, France, Luxembourg, United Kingdom) 'Stitch Head,' Steve Hudson (Germany, Luxembourg) 'Thelma's Perfect Birthday,' Reinis Kalnaellis (Latvia, Luxembourg) 'Hyakuemu,' Kenji Iwaisawa (Japan, USA) Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week What's Coming to Disney+ in April 2025 The Best Celebrity Memoirs to Read This Year: From Chelsea Handler to Anthony Hopkins
