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Reda Kateb to star as legendary jazz guitarist while Pathé will also launch sales on Marion Cotillard-Guillaume Canet comedy Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Pathé International is set to launch sales on a quartet of new titles in Cannes, led by Guillaume Canet’s mid-life crisis comedy Rock ‘n’ Roll, in which he stars as himself opposite Marion Cotillard as his wife and Django Reinhardt drama Django

“It’s sort of Guillaume Canet and Marion Cotillard playing themselves but not quite. It’s a fantastic concept. It’s sort of based on their real life together but it’s not. It’s very sarcastic, very funny,” says Sauzay of Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Canet stars as Guillaume Canet, a 42-year-old actor who decides to overhaul his life when a beautiful young co-star on a film he is shooting tells him he is no longer ‘rock ‘n’ roll’ or high-up on her list of ‘bangable’ actors.

The actor-director...

Reda Kateb to star as legendary jazz guitarist while Pathe will also continue to sell Marion Cotillard-Guillaume Canet comedy Rock ‘n’ Roll.

Pathé International has boarded sales on Etienne Comar’s upcoming biopic Django Melodies starring French actor Reda Kateb [pictured] as the legendary French jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.

The feature focuses on Reinhardt’s adventures during World War Two when he tried to flee France to escape persecution by the Nazi because of his Roma ethnicity.

The jazz guitarist – who co-founded the iconic Quintette du Hot Club de France with violinist Stéphane Grappelli in the 1930s - was at the peak of his career when war broke out in 1939, performing regularly in the top clubs of Paris as well as collaborating with Us artists such as Louis Armstrong or Dizzy Gillespie.

It is a directorial debut for Colmar, who is best known as screenwriter on Of Gods And Men and producer on some 20 titles, including...

It’s time for a round-up of a trio of international filmmakers and their upcoming projects. Exciting, no?

Acclaimed Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami most recently grabbed our attention with his fascinating 2010 critical hit “Certified Copy,” and he’ll be hoping that his next project (after “Like Someone in Love,” which screened at Cannes earlier this week) will be met with a similar reception when it eventually makes its way to theaters. “Horizontal Process” will be shot in the Apulia region of Italy, about which Kiarostami told an audience at the Bari Film Festival earlier this year that he loves “the complex architecture of the various cities, which conveys the complexity of the people who live there.” There are no plot details available as of yet, and it sounds like this is inspired far more by the region than by any particular story or script. [Variety]

Next up is Paolo Sorrentino, the...

PARIS -- What do hit Gallic detective series like Maigret and Alice Nevers, miniseries like the biopic on the eponymous singer Dalida and such animated features as the Oscar-nominated Les Triplettes de Belleville and Kirikou and the Sorceress have in common? They are all produced by Carrere Group or one of its subsidiaries. The independent producer-distributor has bought controlling stakes in more than a dozen production banners since it floated on the Paris stock market in 2001 and now comprises a galaxy of some 40 companies. This spate of acquisitions has helped drive up the company's revenue for 2005 to €123.5 million ($147 million), up nearly 73% from the previous year when adjusted for new accounting norms. The acquisitions have made it a top performer on the Paris stock exchange, Carrere shares having gained 38% last year, outperforming all other listed French media companies.