The David di Donatello Awards, Italy's national film prizes, were handed out on Friday, with the mystery La ragazza del lago (The Girl by the Lake) winning a staggering ten awards, including Best Picture. The film from first-time director Andrea Molaioili beat two films by veteran directors and with bona fide Italian stars: Antonello Grimaldi's bereavement drama Caos Calmo (Quiet Chaos) with Nanni Moretti and Silvio Soldini's marital drama Giorni e nuvole (Days and Clouds) with Margherita Buy and Antonio Albanese. The latter film did win Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress honours for Buy and Alba Rohrwacher respectively, while Caos Calmo won in the categories Best Supporting Actor (Alessandro Gassman), Best Song and Best Score.

A favourite of francophone children everywhere and the first experience of French literature for many French students abroad, writer René Goscinny and illustrator Jean-Jacques Sempe's classic Le petit Nicolas (Nicholas) will finally get the big screen treatment. The film project will be directed by Laurent Tirard (Molière) and will star Kad Merad (Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis / Welcome to the Sticks) and Valérie Lemercier (Les fauteuils d'orchestre / Avenue Montagne) as Nicolas's parents. The title role of the mischievous little pupil -- who tells the story from his unique point of view -- still remains to be cast. (source: allocine)

Antichrist, the much-anticipated return to the horror genre of director Lars von Trier (Manderlay) will be filmed over 25 to 35 days at the tail end of the summer in Germany. It tells the story of a wedded couple who retreat to an isolated forest cabin after the woman starts suffering from an anxiety neurosis following the death of their 3-year-old son. Her husband, who is an experienced psychologist and seems to suffer less from the loss, hopes his isolation experiment will help his wife. The screenplay of Antichrist, a co-production involving Denmark, Germany, France and Italy, was co-written by the prolific Anders Thomas Jensen. (source: Filmstiftung NRW)