"Taxi" director to talk at French screenwriter fest

Love 'em or hate 'em, the "Taxi" franchise is one of France's most successful over the past ten years, boasting over 24 million viewers. This year's guest of honour at the 11th International Screen Writer's festival in Bourges, France (27-30 March) is Gérard Krawczyk. His César-nominated short films will be showcased, as well as the features "Je hais les acteurs", "Fanfan la tulipe" and "La vie est à nous". They provide an opportunity to host meetings based on the unusual pairing of auteur and action.

The event also features premieres, round tables and other activities such as a pitching forum and special activities focused on animation. For details, visit Scenario au long court.

"La graine et le mulet" wins best script award at Cesars

Abdellatif Kechiche's script for "La graine et le mulet" picked up the best script award at France's prestigious Cesar ceremony, also picking up awards as Best French Film and Best Director. That's quite a hat trick.

Other notable awards went to "The Lives of Others" as Best Foreign Film, "Persepolis" as Best Adaptation and Marion Cotillard as Best Actress for her monumental role in "La vie en rose".

Check the full list of winners on the Cesar site.

Award-winning writers to speak at Screenwiters festival

Britain's Screenwriters Festival will be held this year July 1-3 in Cheltenham. The guest speaker line up so far includes Christopher Hampton, Oscar winning writer of 'Dangerous Liaisons' and the 2008 Oscar-nominated 'Atonement', and Kay Mellor producer and BAFTA award winning writer of such well known series' such as 'Band of Gold', 'Playing the Field', 'Fat Friends' and 'The Chase'.

The programme for the 2008 Festival will be up on the website on Friday 14th March 2008. The festival also has a pitch contest. See the details on their website.

"Atonement" and "La vie en rose" mark the Baftas

"Atonement" (Best Film and Best Production Design) and "La vie en rose" (Best Actress, Best Music, Best Costume Design and Best Hair and Make-Up) were the big winners at this year's Bafta awards.

Other notable winners were "This is England" as Best British Film, "Juno" by Diablo Cody (Best Original Screenplay) and "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" for Ronald Harwood (Best Adapted Screenplay).

For the full results, see the Bafta site.