French cinema's B.O. returns in 2012 have set a record with over $1BN in ticket sales, an increase of 88% compared to the previous year, according to a statement released Friday by Unifrance, the Paris-based lobby and trade representation group. This new record beats the previous one established in 2008, by a lot. According to Unifrance, which is also responsible for the promotion of French cinema abroad, record performance in 2012

Who better than Michel Gondry (The Green Hornet, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) to convey the visual soarings of Boris Vian? Stills from Mood Indigo, an upcoming film adapted by Gondry from a Vian novel were recently released in France. Shooting began this past April and is still ongoing. Mood Indigo stars Audrey Tautou as well as French humorist Gad Elmaleh and the star of Intouchables Omar Sy. The French essayist

The Directors’ Fortnight, a parallel program borne out of the […]

I looked in my crystal ball and saw that Michel Gondry is making a French movie. That’s a first. What’s the most American of our filmmakers (he’s always claimed he’s French but I know that Parisian accent is fake) doing making a movie across the pond? For one thing, he’s been able to cast France’s leading man Romain Duris (no, it’s not Guillaume Canet as you might have presumed), along with the Gauls’ answer to Natalie Portman, Audrey Tautou (Amelie). More to the point, however, is that the film is a book adaptation from a Boris Vian novel, called “L’écume des jours,” which in English roughly translates as “The seafoam of the days” (the official English title is “Froth on the daydream”).

(BY ALI NADERZAD) More than a year ago I was […]