Olivier Assayas

[wilder]

IFC Films Snaps Ups Olivier Assayas' 'Sils Maria' with Juliette Binoche & Mia Wasikowska
via The Playlist

In a confident gesture, IFC has picked up the distribution rights to the as-yet-unproduced "Sils Maria" (aka "Since Maria") the Switzerland-set project from French auteur Olivier Assayas set to star Juliette Binoche and Mia Wasikowska. IFC acted as a distributor on Assayas' "Summer Hours," and will bring his latest "Something in the Air" to theaters this year. It appears that they have as much hope for this forthcoming contemplative tale as we do, particularly given the pedigree of his cast.

"Sils Maria" will come from a script written by Assayas, which he based on a Binoche-like character -- a middle-aged actress obsessed with examining her past choices and questioning what she has accomplished. Wasikowska will play Binoche's assistant.

No shoot date yet -- presumably Binoche will have to finish stomping around the set of "Godzilla" --  but this looks like another promising, unique, character driven piece from Assayas. We'll be looking for this at Cannes in 2014.

[wilder]

Olivier Assayas To Make U.S. Debut WIth One-Time Todd Field Project 'Hubris'
via The Playlist

French filmmaker Olivier Assayas is no stranger to English-language films; "Irma Vep," among others of his films, had substantial English-language segments. But he's never made something entirely in English, and he's never come to the U.S. to make something. Until now, that is.

After the back-to-back success of "Summer Hours," his mini-series/movie "Carlos" and his semi-autobiographical Bildungsroman "Something In The Air," Assayas is currently prepping a film that looks to be English-language heavy: "Sils Maria," in which Juliette Binoche will play a version of herself, and in which Mia Wasikowska will also feature. The director told us that "it will be in English and part of the cast will be American," but it looks like he's heading Stateside in a big way after that, as Indiewire reveal that the director will make his first U.S.-set film soon, with "Hubris."

The film is a based-in-fact crime story penned by "Crash" co-writer Bobby Moresco (at least back in the day), based on a 2007 Playboy article called "Boosting The Big Tuna" by Hillel Levin, and was once set up at Universal with Todd Field ("In The Bedroom") attached to direct. It follows a group of small-time thieves who rob a man who turns out to be Chicago mafia boss Tony Accardo (who was also due to be the basis for a Michael Mann movie called "Big Tuna" that's yet to come to pass).

We dug up a bunch of details on the project back in the day, and you can read it over here (beware of spoilers). While we were definitely looking forward to seeing what Field did with the film, Assayas is about as strong a replacement as we can imagine, and we're looking forward to seeing how it turns out. Shooting will get underway in the second quarter of 2014, once Assayas is done with "Sils Maria" (which suggests that that film might be a possibility for Cannes next year...)

[wilder]

Olivier Assayas' Cold Water Receives 4K Restoration and First-Ever US Theatrical Release in April
via blu-ray.com

Janus Films issued an official press release today announcing the upcoming theatrical release of award-winning French director Olivier Assayas' Cold Water (1994). The film received a stunning 4K restoration and will roll-out in theaters throughout the US beginning April 2018, following the March 9 premiere with the Austin Film Society (AFS). The film, which focuses on star-crossed adolescents in 1970s France, launched Olivier Assayas into the international spotlight-- as well as its star Virginie Ledoyen-- and has been considered one of the great undistributed films of the 1990s.

A Blu-ray release is expected to be announced later his year.

Janus Films President Peter Becker said, "Cold Water is one of the great missing films, a nearly unknown tour de force by Olivier Assayas. If it had ever been properly released, it would certainly be considered one of Olivier's masterpieces. With an uncanny fluidity, this deeply honest coming of age tale fuses wrenching emotional realism and a lush, expressionistic visual style driven by one of the most amazing soundtracks in any film. The uncleared music that is so central to the film's success is also what kept the film from being seen for so long. We've been hoping for years to be able to bring this unseen stunner to theatrical audiences who never got a chance to see it when it was first made. We're incredibly proud to be presenting it now in a gorgeous new 4K restoration. It has certainly been worth the wait!"

Director Olivier Assayas said about the restoration, "The premiere of the restored COLD WATER is a huge satisfaction, and the result of years of concern, struggle, anger, resilience... Ever since I shot this film in 24 days in December '93--and it opened at the Cannes Film Festival in May 94--it has had a great life of its own, traveling the world and screening at most major festivals. Unluckily, its access to general release has been plagued by misfortune after misfortune."

"So, here it is, we cleared the French rights, we cleared the international rights, we cleared the music rights, the film will have its long overdue US release," continued Assayas. "Let's go back to square one. This is a movie about kids in the 70's. They look very much like myself and my friends at the time. This was a small film by any standard, we made it with no money at all, during a freezing cold winter, most of the cast were kids with no experience in film at all. It was my first shot at some sort of cinematic auto-biography and I saw it as an experiment. It taught me that it is by taking chances, by trying side roads that you open up new spaces for yourself. In many ways COLD WATER changed my filmmaking life, and for that reason it always has had a special place in my heart."

Golden Globe Award-winning director Assayas will be present at the AFS Cinema on March 9 and March 11 for post-screening discussions at several of his films, including COLD WATER, Something in the Air, Paris Awakens, and Irma Vep. Additional films in the series include Summer Hours, Clouds of Sils Maria, and Personal Shopper. The series is co-presented by UniFrance. Assayas can also been seen in Austin as a featured speaker along with AFS founder and Artistic Director Richard Linklater at this year's SXSW Conference on March 11. Tickets for all AFS programs must be purchased at www.austinfilm.org or at the AFS Cinema box office.

Janus Films will release the film theatrically starting April 2018, following the premiere in Austin. Additional dates and venues can be found on www.janusfilms.com .

Assayas on the continued support he received, "I have to thank those who step by step have been fighting - through the years - to give this film a new life. First and foremost Sylvie Barthet who was the original line producer and has been working with me ever since, as co-producer of most of my films. This has been her crusade. Nothing would have been possible if the rights to the films had not ended up in the catalogue of Orange, curated by Sergueï Obolensky who has been incredibly helpful, patient and generous. But then it's all thanks to everybody at Janus Films & Criterion Collection they have been involved in this process for years, even at a time when we thought there was no credible way to untangle this knot, and their faith, their unwavering support, has kept the project alive."

[Sleepless]

Mubi are doing a series of Assayas' films starting today:

• Summer Hours
• Demonlover
• Noise
• Carlos
• Something In The Air

[Alethia]

Fuck yes

[Alethia]

Patron Request: 'Personal Shopper'

by Esther Rosenfield

The other day, preeminent trans film critic Willow Maclay wrote a great piece regarding a definitional understanding of trans cinema. In it, she argues that what makes the growing trans cinema canon so exciting is that there is no hard and fast definition — what we call trans films resonate with trans people on an individual level, and for deeply personal reasons. It's something I've been thinking about a lot lately. I've written two pieces this year, on Alita: Battle Angel and Phoenix, which reckon with films that are not explicitly about trans people, yet still depict a close approximation of my experience of being a trans woman. These are trans films because I say they are, because I see myself in them even if I'm not meant to.

Personal Shopper, I was delighted to discover, joins the list of films that have done that to me. It's not quite about dysphoria in the way Alita and Phoenix are, but it tackles areas of trans living that those films don't. This is a film about the vague fixations and dissatisfactions that (at least for me) precede a gender revelation. It's about wanting to be someone else, but not knowing who that person is. It's about being drawn to things you're not supposed to be, for reasons you can't explain.

The always stellar Kristen Stewart brings her trademark mumbling monotone to the role of Maureen, a shiftless young woman who juggles a search for the ghost of her twin brother with her job as a personal shopper for a supermodel named Kyra. She begins to receive texts from a mysterious harasser who may or may not be a ghost. The anonymous texter challenges her with personal questions, drawing out of her admissions that she would not otherwise make, perhaps even to herself . At one point, they ask if she wants to be someone else, and she says yes, but she doesn't know who. The texter tells her that they can't figure it out for her. In my Phoenix piece, I talked a lot about the closeted desire for someone else to recognize transness in you, to tell you who you're supposed to be so you can stop agonizing over a decision that is only yours to make. I feel the same turmoil in Personal Shopper.

Later, the texter forces her to admit that she wants to try on Kyra's dresses. "Because it is forbidden?" they ask. She puts down her phone.

The scene where Maureen nervously strips down and, with tentative movement, puts on Kyra's complex dress just about ripped my heart out. I remembered the mornings I would spend in my room, when everyone else was out of the house, trying on old dresses that had been left in a crawl space. I remembered the rush I got from twirling in place and letting the hem wrap around my legs, and the terror I felt when I heard the garage door coming up. It was a forbidden act, and yet I felt compelled to do it by a voice I didn't recognize. It was only later that I heard the voice as that of the person I wanted to be, the person I could be.

Personal Shopper wraps up with a moment of such comforting closure that I wish I'd been able to see it back when I was in the darkest days of questioning. Maureen demands to know whether the spirit that's been haunting her is her late brother, by knocking once for yes and twice for no. The spirit doesn't answer her. "Is it just me?" she asks. One knock. Fade to white. To be a closeted trans person is to be haunted by yourself, possessed by something that grows steadily more familiar over time. The spirit draws you to things you think you're not supposed to do or be. Eventually, you realize that the ghost has been you all along.

[WorldForgot]

That iz beautiful ~
Thank you for sharing the piece