News

Oscar-winning animation film producer Nicolas Schmerkin has revealed his Paris-based outfit Autour de Minuit has signed a pre-development agreement with Franco-German TV channel Arte for its latest project, “Fucking Cat”, which is being pitched at this week’s Cartoon Forum in Toulouse.

An adaptation of Belgian author Stéphane Lapuss’ “Putain de Chat” comic book series, “Fucking Cat” tells the story of Moustique, the talking cat, who, like all cats, hates humans and would like to get rid of his master but faces the dilemna of how to become master of the world without giving up his cat food. Both Lapuss and co-author Lionel Bonnal will assist in penning the adaptation.

“The concept is that the cat talks but the human doesn’t, he just hears the ‘miaow’: it’s both situation comedy and dialogue comedy – the audience hears what the cat says to his master, and it’s not very nice,...

The makers of director Siddharth Ramaswamy’s upcoming web series, ‘Fall’, featuring actress Anjali in the lead, have now released the first look of the series.

The series, which is part of the Hotstar Specials, will release on the Ott platform Disney+ Hotstar.

Apart from Anjali, the upcoming web series will also feature S.P.B. Charan, Sonia Agarwal, Santhosh Pratap, Namita Krishnamoorthy, Thalaivasal Vijay, and Poornima Bagyaraj among other stars.

‘Fall’ follows the story of a young women who has no memory of the 24 hours prior to her alleged suicide attempt. The show is about how she tries to piece together what really happened only to realise she can trust no one, not even her closest friends and family as she discovers secrets, lies and the unspeakable truths locked deep in her memory.

Siddarth Ramaswamy, apart from directing the series, has also handled the cinematography for this series. Kishan C. Chezhiyan...

Mumbai-based Banijay Asia has struck a deal with ITV Studios’ Armoza Formats to bring an official adaptation of the award-winning Canadian mini-series, “Vertige,” to screen.

The high-profile French-language show deconstructs the alleged suicide of a young girl, Daphne Roussel. Banijay Asia will reimagine the psychological thriller for the Indian audience.

With a remit focused on India and, increasingly Southeast Asia, Banijay Asia is a joint venture between Banijay, Stéphane Courbit’s TV production and distribution powerhouse behind “Survivor” and “Peaky Blinders,” and veteran producer Deepak Dhar.

The Banijay parent company this week announced that it is set to go public and launch on the Amsterdam stock exchange through a newly-created special purpose acquisition company or Spac.

Banijay Asia got off to a flying start four years ago with “Hostages” and “Survivor” and has quickly built a business that combines reformatted content from other parts of the Banijay empire and Indian originals.

At the end of last year we reported that the Fantasia Film Festival is gearing up to become the next hot spot to acquire unproduced projects being sold as part of its film market - the Frontières International Co-Production Market. And now we have additional details.

From the Press Release

Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival, widely acclaimed as one of the largest and most influential genre film festivals in the world, is embarking on its 16th edition with a major new industry-driven venture: the Frontières International Co-Production Market. Frontières is the first international co-production market to connect North American with Europe and Australasia in an environment focused specifically on genre film production.

The projects to be presented in the market have now been chosen and feature an exciting array of filmmakers, from gifted newcomers to world-renowned maestros, as well as numerous established international producers.

Blood Borne (Australia) Director / Writer:...

Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival, (also known as Sound On Sight’s favourite film festival world wide), as well as widely acclaimed as one of the largest and most influential genre film festivals in the world, is embarking on its 16th edition with a major new industry-driven venture: the Frontières International Co-Production Market. Frontières is the first international co-production market to connect North-American with Europe and Australasia, in an environment focused specifically on genre film production.

The projects to be presented in the market have now been chosen and feature an exciting array of filmmakers, from gifted newcomers to world-renowned maestros, as well as numerous established international producers. Fantasia just announced the selection of the first fourteen projects and there is plenty of reason to be excited.

Here is the press release:

Four of the 14 projects hail from Canada and Quebec: Adored maverick trail-blazer Bruce McDonald (Hard Core Logo 1 & 2, This Movie Is Broken,...

French distributors Gaumont have announced that on June 1 they will release on Blu-ray Abel Ferry's Vertige (aka High Lane), starring Fanny Valette, Johan Libéreau, Raphaël Lenglet, and Nicolas Giraud.

This taut tale follows a groups of friends on a climbing vacation in Eastern Europe. One mountain they want to climb is closed for repairs, but urged on by group leader Fred (Giraud), they ignore the warning signs and start their ascent anyway. There’s underlying tension among the friends to begin with, as Luke (Libéreau) is still in love with his ex-girlfriend, Chloe (Valette), and has joined the journey just to be near her. But the usual perils of mountain climbing (and broken hearts) start to pale next to the prospect of collapsing rope bridges, bear traps, torture and other deadly dangers supplied by a deranged and mysterious killer hiding in the adventurers’ midst.

Blu-ray special features include:

Audio...

The Film:

From the opening scene I knew I was going to enjoy High Lane (Vertige). The cinematography in the picture is gorgeous, and elevate this horror-thriller a notch on the kick ass movie ladder. Director Abel Ferry creates a tense atmosphere that is both engaging and disorienting.

The flick follows climbers Loïc (Johan Libéreau), Guillaume (Raphaël Lenglet), Fred (Nicolas Giraud), Karine (Maud Wyler), and the very beautiful Chloé (Fanny Valette) as they decide to brave a trail up high in the mountains that is closed because it is in disrepair. Of course this doesn’t stop these young hotshots from ignoring the warnings. It doesn’t take long for things to go wrong. After avoiding a near fatal accident, and realizing they could be trapped on the mountain until they can find another route down, they start falling into various booby traps, and soon realize that they are not alone.

IFC Films to bringing the French thriller High Lane (Vertige) to DVD February 8th, 2011. Our own Donny Broussard reviewed the film here from Fantastic Fest.

Here’s the press release: The gorgeous rising French star Fanny Valette (Moliere, Little Jerusalem) leads a cast of sexy young actors in High Lane, a taut tale following a groups of friends on a climbing vacation in Eastern Europe. One mountain they want to climb is closed for repairs, but urged on by group leader Fred (Nicola Giraud, Taken), they ignore the warning signs and start their ascent anyway. There’s underlying tension among the friends to begin with, as Luke (Johan Libereau, You Will Be Mine) is still in love with his ex-girlfriend, Chloe (Cesar nominee Valette), and has joined the journey just to be near her. But the usual perils of mountain climbing (and broken hearts) start to pale next to the prospect of collapsing rope bridges,...

The French horror flick High Lane, or Vertige for you purists out there, is coming home to DVD soon, and we've got all the details you need to hang on tight!

From the Press Release

The gorgeous rising French star Fanny Valette (Moliere, Little Jerusalem) leads a cast of sexy young actors in High Lane, a taut tale following a groups of friends on a climbing vacation in Eastern Europe. One mountain they want to climb is closed for repairs, but urged on by group leader Fred (Nicola Giraud, Taken), they ignore the warning signs and start their ascent anyway. There’s underlying tension among the friends to begin with, as Luke (Johan Libereau, You Will Be Mine) is still in love with his ex-girlfriend, Chloe (Cesar nominee Valette), and has joined the journey just to be near her. But the usual perils of mountain climbing (and broken hearts) start...

A group of pretty young things foolishly insist on following a climbing route closed down for repair and you know things are not going to end well. Throw in a simmering love triangle, a cockily over-confident self appointed leader, a serious case of vertigo and the fact that a crazed killer dwells atop the mountain they are climbing and, well, I told you so. Things are not going to end well at all. Vertige - previously known as Ferrata or High Lane in English - director Abel Ferry has been marked as a man to watch for a few years now, ever since his shorts films began to make waves in international genre circles and with his first feature film now under his belt Ferry has served up a potent reminder that you don't necessarily need to rewrite the rules to create an effective horror-thriller, all you need to do...

As mentioned earlier, a bit of Fantastic Fest is coming home thanks to IFC Midnight, and to celebrate, the trailer debut for High Lane (or Vertige for you purists out there) has come online.

IFC Midnight and Fantastic Fest will be making the following four films available nationwide on major national cable systems that include Cablevision, Comcast, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable and Bright House in conjunction with their screenings at Fantastic Fest 2010: Philip Ridley’s demonic thriller Heartless (review) (making its Us debut); Abel Ferry’s mountain climbing nightmare High Lane (making its Us debut); Josh Reed’s Ozploitation horror flick Primal (review) (making its Us debut); and Simon Rumley’s hard-core Red White & Blue (review here).

The following are in-depth summaries of all four films:

Red White & Blue (directed by Simon Rumley)

Erica (Amanda Fuller) is a tough, troubled nymphomaniac with wounds across her soul. For Erica,...

As is the case with many a generic horror flick, you quickly realise at the start of High Lane (or Vertige, its original French title) that there's fun to be had guessing which of the universally aggravating youths will survive the inevitable ordeal. It's an old habit but not without value - a personal insurance policy against losing interest half way through, if things get a little too generic.

 And High Lane is indeed generic; a familiar slasher/redneck horror that pitches a group of friends into a nightmare vacation scenario in the Croatian hills. All set for some rock-climbing action, they venture onto a trail that's been closed for repairs and soon find themselves in trouble (it turns out the trail was closed for a reason...). As well as the immediate fear of death by falling a very long distance onto something hard, there's an unresolved love triangle which...

Forget that Cliffhanger remake, just watch this instead! Here's the pitch for Vertige: A group of friends on vacation decide to venture onto a trail high up in the mountains that has been closed for repairs. The climb proves more perilous than planned, especially as they soon realize that they are not alone. The adventure turns into a nightmare. It's a modernized, French version of Cliffhanger, with some impressive camera work, but unimpressive characters. The trailer was discovered by ShockTillYouDrop and it looks like it could be fun. But are they being sabotaged or does their climbing gear just suck? Check out the trailer below. Watch the trailer for Abel Ferry's Vertige: [flv:http://media2.firstshowing.net/firstshowing/Vertige-Spanish-trailer.flv http://media2.firstshowing.net/firstshowing/Vertige-Spanish-trailer.jpg 596 326] For more info on the film, visit the distributor's official website at: gaumont.fr Vertige, aka Dizziness in English, is directed by first-time French filmmaker Abel Ferry, of the 2004 short film The Good, the Bad,...

A group of pretty young things foolishly insist on following a climbing route closed down for repair and you know things are not going to end well. Throw in a simmering love triangle, a cockily over-confident self appointed leader, a serious case of vertigo and the fact that a crazed killer dwells atop the mountain they are climbing and, well, I told you so. Things are not going to end well at all. Vertige - previously known as Ferrata or High Lane in English – director Abel Ferry has been marked as a man to watch for a few years now, ever since his shorts films began to make waves in international genre circles and with his first feature film now under his belt Ferry has served up a potent reminder that you don’t necessarily need to rewrite the rules to create an effective horror-thriller, all you need to do...

The trailer for Abel Ferry’s Vertige has appeared at online. You can also see it below the break. Judging from the first two thirds of the trailer, this is a picture very much in the mould of Renny Harlin’s Cliffhanger. There’s some suspenseful business up in the mountains and things don’t appear to be going too well. And then… the last part of the trailer really is a surprise. The film seems to shift genre entirely - don’t click over the break if you don’t want to be spoiled. Here’s the trailer. What dialogue there is comes in unsubtitled French, but there’s not much of it and you’ll still enjoy the trailer without understanding a word. [See post to watch Flash video] So, I take it that you saw the whole trailer and we can talk spoilers? Good. The last third seemed to sprint off suddenly into slasher territory.

The folks at Cinemafantastique scored an exclusive first look at a new French actioner that descends into nightmare territory called Vertige (or, Dizziness ). The trailer they're hosting ( right here ) has a Cliffhanger-esque vibe , but it works to its advantage. This is writer-director Abel Ferry's feature debut. He previously helmed a 2004 short film entitled The Good, the Bad, and the Zombies . Synopsis: A group of friends on vacation decide to venture onto a trail high up in the mountains that has been closed for repairs. The climb proves more perilous than planned, especially as they soon realize that they are not alone. The adventure turns into a nightmare. Vertige was formerly called High Lane , it may still be called that when it hits the States. We'll see....