European powerhouse Studiocanal, part of Vivendi’s Canal+ Group, has rolled out robust sales on Xavier Dolan’s Sundance-selected psychological thriller “The Night Logan Woke Up,” Spanish period drama “The Vow” and a bevy of first documentaries.
The deals underscore the continuing upside for Studiocanal of illustrious cinema talent exploring premium TV direction, as well as the company’s beneficial diversification into documentary sales and daily series.
A Sundance world premiere and Canal+ original based on Michel Marc Bouchard’s play “La Nuit où Laurier Gaudreault s’est réveille,” “The Night Logan Woke Up” has sold to Netflix for the U.S., Star Channel Japan, Sbs Australia, Filmin for Spain and Portugal and Wdr Germany, among major territories.
Among a slew of deals, “Logan,” which marks the first TV series from Cannes Jury Prize-winning Quebecois actor-director Dolan, has also been licensed by Studiocanal to BeTV Belgium, Lumiere Benelux, Ltv Latvia,...
The deals underscore the continuing upside for Studiocanal of illustrious cinema talent exploring premium TV direction, as well as the company’s beneficial diversification into documentary sales and daily series.
A Sundance world premiere and Canal+ original based on Michel Marc Bouchard’s play “La Nuit où Laurier Gaudreault s’est réveille,” “The Night Logan Woke Up” has sold to Netflix for the U.S., Star Channel Japan, Sbs Australia, Filmin for Spain and Portugal and Wdr Germany, among major territories.
Among a slew of deals, “Logan,” which marks the first TV series from Cannes Jury Prize-winning Quebecois actor-director Dolan, has also been licensed by Studiocanal to BeTV Belgium, Lumiere Benelux, Ltv Latvia,...
- 10/16/2023
- by John Hopewell and Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
The American French Film Festival, which had been due to take place in L.A. from October 18 to 22, has been shelved due to the writers and actors strikes.
The Franco-American Cultural Fund (Facf) which oversees the event (formerly known as Colcoa) said it had made the difficult to decision to cancel the 2023 edition after a board meeting.
“The Facf Board of Directors determined this week that it was not possible to continue with business as usual,” the fund said in a statement.
The festival said it would still announce the full 2023 festival slate as originally planned on September 27 to honor the projects that were selected.
Previously announced elements of the program included the U.S. premiere of TV bio-drama Bardot, about the life of Brigitte Bardot, in the presence of co-creator Danièle Thompson.
“The Facf is keenly aware of the impact of this decision on the filmmakers, actors, producers, and...
The Franco-American Cultural Fund (Facf) which oversees the event (formerly known as Colcoa) said it had made the difficult to decision to cancel the 2023 edition after a board meeting.
“The Facf Board of Directors determined this week that it was not possible to continue with business as usual,” the fund said in a statement.
The festival said it would still announce the full 2023 festival slate as originally planned on September 27 to honor the projects that were selected.
Previously announced elements of the program included the U.S. premiere of TV bio-drama Bardot, about the life of Brigitte Bardot, in the presence of co-creator Danièle Thompson.
“The Facf is keenly aware of the impact of this decision on the filmmakers, actors, producers, and...
- 9/21/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
After starring in Mona Achache’s “Little Girl Blue” which played at Cannes, Marion Cotillard will work with another daring French female auteur, Lucile Hadzihalilovic, on her next film “La tour de glace.”
The long-gestated film marks the first collaboration between Hadzihalilovic and Muriel Merlin, producer at 3B Productions. Hadzihalilovic’s follow up to “Earwig,” which won the jury prize at San Sebastian, “La Tour de glace” is expected to be the director’s most accessible and ambitious film to date. The movie will reteam Hadzihalilovic with Cotillard who had starred in her 2004 film “Innocence.”
Co-written by Geoff Cox, “La tour de glace” is set in the 1970s and follows Jeanne, a teenage girl who runs away from her orphanage located in a mountain village. She flees to Paris with big dreams to fulfill and finds shelter in a warehouse which turns out to be used as a studio where...
The long-gestated film marks the first collaboration between Hadzihalilovic and Muriel Merlin, producer at 3B Productions. Hadzihalilovic’s follow up to “Earwig,” which won the jury prize at San Sebastian, “La Tour de glace” is expected to be the director’s most accessible and ambitious film to date. The movie will reteam Hadzihalilovic with Cotillard who had starred in her 2004 film “Innocence.”
Co-written by Geoff Cox, “La tour de glace” is set in the 1970s and follows Jeanne, a teenage girl who runs away from her orphanage located in a mountain village. She flees to Paris with big dreams to fulfill and finds shelter in a warehouse which turns out to be used as a studio where...
- 7/5/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
The French pay-TV giant also announced a surprise film festival-focused channel.
French pay-tv powerhouse Canal Plus unveiled its autumn line-up in Paris this week and announced a new channel devoted to films from well-known directors selected at global festivals called Canal+ Cinema(s) that will launch on September 1 alongside Canal+ Box Office.
The latter will feature primarily blockbusters from the US majors in addition to crowd-pleasing local fare, capitalising on themedia chronology that allows Canal+ to air films six months after their theatrical release, a major leg up compared to fellow streamers inlcuding Netflix and Prime Video that have to wait 15-17 months.
French pay-tv powerhouse Canal Plus unveiled its autumn line-up in Paris this week and announced a new channel devoted to films from well-known directors selected at global festivals called Canal+ Cinema(s) that will launch on September 1 alongside Canal+ Box Office.
The latter will feature primarily blockbusters from the US majors in addition to crowd-pleasing local fare, capitalising on themedia chronology that allows Canal+ to air films six months after their theatrical release, a major leg up compared to fellow streamers inlcuding Netflix and Prime Video that have to wait 15-17 months.
- 6/29/2023
- by Rebecca Leffler
- ScreenDaily
While unveiling its slate of new French originals and acquisitions on Monday, Prime Video announced that it would skip a French theatrical release for “Challengers,” Luca Guadagnino’s anticipated tennis drama. The film, which stars Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and “West Side Story” star Mike Faist, will still be released in theaters in all other territories.
During a posh press event hosted at the Pavillon Royal on the outskirts of Paris, Brigitte Ricou-Bellan, Prime Video’s country managing director for France, said the strategic move by the Amazon streamer resulted from France’s notoriously strict windowing rules, which demands streamers to wait 15 to 17 months after a theatrical roll out before making a new film available on their services. The rule has led other studios to opt to skip French cinemas for new releases before, such as Disney’s decision to debut “Strange World” on streaming.
“We’re a strong partner for French cinema and well-established talent.
During a posh press event hosted at the Pavillon Royal on the outskirts of Paris, Brigitte Ricou-Bellan, Prime Video’s country managing director for France, said the strategic move by the Amazon streamer resulted from France’s notoriously strict windowing rules, which demands streamers to wait 15 to 17 months after a theatrical roll out before making a new film available on their services. The rule has led other studios to opt to skip French cinemas for new releases before, such as Disney’s decision to debut “Strange World” on streaming.
“We’re a strong partner for French cinema and well-established talent.
- 6/19/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Once pitted against each other as rivals, streamers and broadcasters have become unlikely allies in the face of increased competition and economic pressure following the pandemic and the launch of more content viewing platforms.
Even in France, where Netflix was referred to as the “devil” by France Televisions president Delphine Ernotte Cunci in a 2019 interview, the tide has turned and a number of ambitious series have been jointly financed by both local broadcasters and streamers.
Examples of collaborations vary from period drama series such as “The Bonfire of Destiny” and “Women at War,” from TF1 and Netflix, to action series like Ziad Doueiri’s “Dark Hearts,” from France Televisions and Amazon Prime Video. What do these shows have in common? They shot in French with local casts, and have the high budgets and production values that are typically allocated to international co-productions like “Marie Antoinette,” which shot in English and...
Even in France, where Netflix was referred to as the “devil” by France Televisions president Delphine Ernotte Cunci in a 2019 interview, the tide has turned and a number of ambitious series have been jointly financed by both local broadcasters and streamers.
Examples of collaborations vary from period drama series such as “The Bonfire of Destiny” and “Women at War,” from TF1 and Netflix, to action series like Ziad Doueiri’s “Dark Hearts,” from France Televisions and Amazon Prime Video. What do these shows have in common? They shot in French with local casts, and have the high budgets and production values that are typically allocated to international co-productions like “Marie Antoinette,” which shot in English and...
- 4/14/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: The Killing and Suicide Squad alum Joel Kinnaman is set to star in Ar Content’s adaptation of John Nixon’s Debriefing the President. Kinnaman will star as former CIA analyst Nixon who wrote the non-fiction book about his experience of being the first American to identify and interrogate Saddam Hussein following his 2003 capture.
The project, which is produced by Alexander Rodnyansky, had previously attached Ziad Doueiri to direct as a feature film but due to scheduling reasons he’s dropped out and the project will go forward as a limited series.
Nixon was a senior leadership analyst with the CIA from 1998-2011 who regularly wrote for and briefed those at the most senior levels of the U.S. government and later taught leadership analysis to the new generation of analysts coming at the Sherman Kent School, the agency’s in-house analytic training center.
After confirming the prisoner was indeed Hussein,...
The project, which is produced by Alexander Rodnyansky, had previously attached Ziad Doueiri to direct as a feature film but due to scheduling reasons he’s dropped out and the project will go forward as a limited series.
Nixon was a senior leadership analyst with the CIA from 1998-2011 who regularly wrote for and briefed those at the most senior levels of the U.S. government and later taught leadership analysis to the new generation of analysts coming at the Sherman Kent School, the agency’s in-house analytic training center.
After confirming the prisoner was indeed Hussein,...
- 2/15/2023
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
After exploring the tumults of French politics in “Baron Noir,” Oscar-nominated French-Lebanese filmmaker Ziad Doueiri immerses audiences into the rough world of French Special Forces in Iraq in “Dark Hearts.”
Ordered by Amazon Prime Video in France, “Dark Hearts” is set on the eve of the battle for Mosul in October 2016 and follows the lives of men and women who are part of a commando group deployed in Iraq to fight Isis. They are tasked with exfiltrating the daughter and grandson of an important Isis leader who will only cooperate with them on this condition.
Doueiri, who started his career in Hollywood working as a first assistant camera on movies like Quentin Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs,” was always curious about war movies but thought of them as a genre pre-empted by American filmmakers. So when French producer Gilles de Verdière at Mandarin Télévision approached him with the pitch for “Dark Hearts,...
Ordered by Amazon Prime Video in France, “Dark Hearts” is set on the eve of the battle for Mosul in October 2016 and follows the lives of men and women who are part of a commando group deployed in Iraq to fight Isis. They are tasked with exfiltrating the daughter and grandson of an important Isis leader who will only cooperate with them on this condition.
Doueiri, who started his career in Hollywood working as a first assistant camera on movies like Quentin Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs,” was always curious about war movies but thought of them as a genre pre-empted by American filmmakers. So when French producer Gilles de Verdière at Mandarin Télévision approached him with the pitch for “Dark Hearts,...
- 2/3/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Amazon Prime Video has come a long way since launching in France in 2016. The streamer, whose first French film original, “The Mad Women’s Ball,” recently picked up an International Emmy Award, unveiled a landmark deal with French guilds during a posh dinner with industry players and talent in Paris on Wednesday evening (Nov. 30).
On the guest list at the chic Lutetia Hotel was a laundry list of talent that’s in business with Prime Video, including Philippe Lacheau (“Lol”), Franck Gastambide (“Medellin”), Eloise Lang (“La Graine”), Melha Bedia (“Miskina”), Ziad Doueiri (“Coeurs Noirs”), as well as producers Alain Goldman, Pathé Films’ Ardavan Safaee, Mandarin’s Eric Altmayer, CG Cinema’s Charles Gillibert, Metropolitan FilmExport’s Victor Hadida, Newen’s Romain Bessi, and Asasha Group’s Gaspard de Chavagnac, among many others.
Announced by Brigitte Ricou-Bellan, Prime Video’s country manager in France, the four-year deal was signed with the guilds AnimFrance,...
On the guest list at the chic Lutetia Hotel was a laundry list of talent that’s in business with Prime Video, including Philippe Lacheau (“Lol”), Franck Gastambide (“Medellin”), Eloise Lang (“La Graine”), Melha Bedia (“Miskina”), Ziad Doueiri (“Coeurs Noirs”), as well as producers Alain Goldman, Pathé Films’ Ardavan Safaee, Mandarin’s Eric Altmayer, CG Cinema’s Charles Gillibert, Metropolitan FilmExport’s Victor Hadida, Newen’s Romain Bessi, and Asasha Group’s Gaspard de Chavagnac, among many others.
Announced by Brigitte Ricou-Bellan, Prime Video’s country manager in France, the four-year deal was signed with the guilds AnimFrance,...
- 12/1/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Ziad Doueiri, the French-Lebanese filmmaker of the Oscar-nominated movie “The Insult” who made his TV debut with the hit series “Baron Noir,” will next direct “Fièvre” (“Fever”).
“Fièvre” was penned by “Baron Noir” screenwriter Eric Benzekri and has been co-developed by French pay TV group Canal+’s Creation Originale label.
The show is being produced by Quad, the Paris-based company behind Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache’s “Intouchables” and the series “The Bonfire of Destiny.”
“Fievre” is headlined by two female characters played by Nina Meurisse, who notably starred in Celine Sciamma’s Berlinale competition film “Petite Maman,” and Julia Piaton, from Emmanuel Mouret’s “Love Affair(s)” which was part of Cannes 2020’s official selection.
Doueiri told Variety that the series will follow a woman who leads a crisis management firm and comes across a massive scandal involving a Black soccer player who beat the team’s coach, who is white.
“Fièvre” was penned by “Baron Noir” screenwriter Eric Benzekri and has been co-developed by French pay TV group Canal+’s Creation Originale label.
The show is being produced by Quad, the Paris-based company behind Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache’s “Intouchables” and the series “The Bonfire of Destiny.”
“Fievre” is headlined by two female characters played by Nina Meurisse, who notably starred in Celine Sciamma’s Berlinale competition film “Petite Maman,” and Julia Piaton, from Emmanuel Mouret’s “Love Affair(s)” which was part of Cannes 2020’s official selection.
Doueiri told Variety that the series will follow a woman who leads a crisis management firm and comes across a massive scandal involving a Black soccer player who beat the team’s coach, who is white.
- 10/17/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
After two years of Covid-enforced virtual events, leading international television confab MIPCOM is looking to reestablish its claim to the title as “the mother of all entertainment content markets” with its 2022 event, running Oct. 17-20 in Cannes. Organizer Rx France is expecting more than 10,000 attendees from some 96 countries and a who’s who of small-screen power players, including all the studios (Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBCUniversal, Paramount, MGM and Fox Entertainment) plus Netflix, indie production giants Fremantle, Banijay, ITV Studios, BBC Studios, Red Arrow and All3Media, and such national champions as France’s StudioCanal and Gaumont, Italy’s Rai Com, Scandinavian platform Viaplay and Japan’s Fuji Television. All will be looking to feed an ever-growing global appetite for content. Among the hundreds of new shows and formats debuting at MIPCOM this year, The Hollywood Reporter has picked a dozen scripted dramas — from...
After two years of Covid-enforced virtual events, leading international television confab MIPCOM is looking to reestablish its claim to the title as “the mother of all entertainment content markets” with its 2022 event, running Oct. 17-20 in Cannes. Organizer Rx France is expecting more than 10,000 attendees from some 96 countries and a who’s who of small-screen power players, including all the studios (Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBCUniversal, Paramount, MGM and Fox Entertainment) plus Netflix, indie production giants Fremantle, Banijay, ITV Studios, BBC Studios, Red Arrow and All3Media, and such national champions as France’s StudioCanal and Gaumont, Italy’s Rai Com, Scandinavian platform Viaplay and Japan’s Fuji Television. All will be looking to feed an ever-growing global appetite for content. Among the hundreds of new shows and formats debuting at MIPCOM this year, The Hollywood Reporter has picked a dozen scripted dramas — from...
- 10/11/2022
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.
Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.
A shortlist of 15 finalists is...
Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.
A shortlist of 15 finalists is...
- 10/5/2022
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.
Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.
A shortlist of 15 finalists is...
Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.
A shortlist of 15 finalists is...
- 10/4/2022
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Saudi Arabia’s rapidly expanding Telfaz11 Studios is teaming up with France’s Easy Riders Films to develop and produce a slate of four features directed by emerging Saudi talents with international ambitions.
The first title expected to go into production is “Night Courier,” a comedy about a young man named Fahad who winds up in possession of six crates of illicit booze in an Arab city known for its hidden delights and dangers. This project was first presented last year at the inaugural Red Sea Film Festival’s Red Sea Souk projects market.
The four-picture pact between Telfaz11 and Easy Riders was forged at the Cannes Film Festival.
Founded by Alaa Yousef Fadan, Ali Al Kalthami, and Ibrahim Al Khairallah, Telfaz11 is an innovative content company that started out in the YouTube space and has since seen rapid growth in both production and distribution. They recently closed a funding pact with strategic investors.
The first title expected to go into production is “Night Courier,” a comedy about a young man named Fahad who winds up in possession of six crates of illicit booze in an Arab city known for its hidden delights and dangers. This project was first presented last year at the inaugural Red Sea Film Festival’s Red Sea Souk projects market.
The four-picture pact between Telfaz11 and Easy Riders was forged at the Cannes Film Festival.
Founded by Alaa Yousef Fadan, Ali Al Kalthami, and Ibrahim Al Khairallah, Telfaz11 is an innovative content company that started out in the YouTube space and has since seen rapid growth in both production and distribution. They recently closed a funding pact with strategic investors.
- 5/27/2022
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Two-time Academy Award-nominated producer Alexander Rodnyansky is developing a new series that charts the rise of Vladimir Putin in what the producer describes as “the actual, horrifying story of how the man who changed the world got the power to do so.”
Produced by Rodnyansky’s L.A.-based production shingle Ar Content, “All the Kremlin’s Men” is based on the bestseller by acclaimed reporter Mikhail Zygar, the former editor-in-chief of Russian independent station TV Rain, which was banned and disbanded in the first week of the war in Ukraine. The book is based on an extraordinary series of interviews with Putin’s inner circle.
The series will tell the story of how an unassuming ex-Kgb officer became one of the most feared politicians in the world, drawing back the curtain on what goes on behind the Kremlin’s walls and revealing how Putin and his inner circle operate.
Produced by Rodnyansky’s L.A.-based production shingle Ar Content, “All the Kremlin’s Men” is based on the bestseller by acclaimed reporter Mikhail Zygar, the former editor-in-chief of Russian independent station TV Rain, which was banned and disbanded in the first week of the war in Ukraine. The book is based on an extraordinary series of interviews with Putin’s inner circle.
The series will tell the story of how an unassuming ex-Kgb officer became one of the most feared politicians in the world, drawing back the curtain on what goes on behind the Kremlin’s walls and revealing how Putin and his inner circle operate.
- 5/18/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Alexander Rodnyansky’s Ar Content is developing a slate of new series as the two-time Oscar-nominated producer continues his push into high-end episodic content.
Rodnyansky revealed details of two new projects to Variety during the Berlinale Series Market, just days after Fox Entertainment acquired U.S. rights to Ar Content’s upcoming epic action show “Khan: The Series,” as Variety previously reported.
“The Doghead” is a series loosely based on the book of the same name by best-selling author Alexey Ivanov, whose previous works adapted for the big screen include Cannes Un Certain Regard prize winner “Tsar.”
The series follows Kirill, a homebody historian who prefers stability to change or adventure, but who travels to a remote village to look for his lost girlfriend. Her disappearance is just the first in a chain of mysterious events that started in the 17th century around an enigmatic fresco of an ancient spirit known as the Doghead.
Rodnyansky revealed details of two new projects to Variety during the Berlinale Series Market, just days after Fox Entertainment acquired U.S. rights to Ar Content’s upcoming epic action show “Khan: The Series,” as Variety previously reported.
“The Doghead” is a series loosely based on the book of the same name by best-selling author Alexey Ivanov, whose previous works adapted for the big screen include Cannes Un Certain Regard prize winner “Tsar.”
The series follows Kirill, a homebody historian who prefers stability to change or adventure, but who travels to a remote village to look for his lost girlfriend. Her disappearance is just the first in a chain of mysterious events that started in the 17th century around an enigmatic fresco of an ancient spirit known as the Doghead.
- 2/16/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Fox Entertainment has acquired U.S. rights to “Khan: The Series,” from Oscar-nominated producer Alexander Rodnyansky’s Ar Content, Variety can reveal.
Currently in development, the epic action series is based on the best-selling book “Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World” by Jack Weatherford, and will focus on the largest contiguous empire in human history and its iconic creator.
Writer and executive producer Chris Collins will serve as showrunner, with Sergei Bodrov tapped to direct and executive produce. The series is executive produced by Rodnyansky, Leslie Greif (Big Dreams Entertainment), Stuart Manashil (Novo Entertainment), and Michael Kupisk (Ar Content).
“We are happy and honored to have Fox Entertainment as a partner for this title in development,” said Rodnyansky. “I am very excited to bring the extraordinary story of Genghis Khan to life together with my partners: producer Leslie Greif, known for ‘Hatfields & McCoys,’ ‘The Offer,’ and other high-end projects,...
Currently in development, the epic action series is based on the best-selling book “Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World” by Jack Weatherford, and will focus on the largest contiguous empire in human history and its iconic creator.
Writer and executive producer Chris Collins will serve as showrunner, with Sergei Bodrov tapped to direct and executive produce. The series is executive produced by Rodnyansky, Leslie Greif (Big Dreams Entertainment), Stuart Manashil (Novo Entertainment), and Michael Kupisk (Ar Content).
“We are happy and honored to have Fox Entertainment as a partner for this title in development,” said Rodnyansky. “I am very excited to bring the extraordinary story of Genghis Khan to life together with my partners: producer Leslie Greif, known for ‘Hatfields & McCoys,’ ‘The Offer,’ and other high-end projects,...
- 2/11/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Amid ongoing disruption in the Arab world’s unstable fest landscape, Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival is staying the course and increasingly proving its mettle in promoting the cream of the region’s cinematic crop while also providing key support in nurturing new works.
El Gouna chief Intishal Al Timimi proudly points out that the fifth edition of the Oct. 14-22 event has secured eight high-profile features from Arab directors, most of which will be having their Middle Eastern premieres in the Egyptian Red Sea resort after bowing in Cannes and Venice.
They comprise French-Moroccan veteran Nabil Ayouch’s high-energy hip-hop drama “Casablanca Beats”; and two works from Lebanon: Mounia Akl’s dramedy “Costa Brava, Lebanon,” which targets Lebanon’s political malaise; and Ely Dagher’s “The Sea Ahead,” about a young woman who returns from Paris to Beirut and reconnects with the life she had left behind. There...
El Gouna chief Intishal Al Timimi proudly points out that the fifth edition of the Oct. 14-22 event has secured eight high-profile features from Arab directors, most of which will be having their Middle Eastern premieres in the Egyptian Red Sea resort after bowing in Cannes and Venice.
They comprise French-Moroccan veteran Nabil Ayouch’s high-energy hip-hop drama “Casablanca Beats”; and two works from Lebanon: Mounia Akl’s dramedy “Costa Brava, Lebanon,” which targets Lebanon’s political malaise; and Ely Dagher’s “The Sea Ahead,” about a young woman who returns from Paris to Beirut and reconnects with the life she had left behind. There...
- 10/13/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Bookmark this page for all the latest international feature submissions.
Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2021 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.
Scroll down for the full list
The 93rd Academy Awards is set to take place on April 25, 2021. It was originally set to be held on February 28, before both the ceremony and eligibility period were postponed for two months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Submitted films must have been released in their respective countries between the expanded dates of October 1, 2019, and December 31, 2020. (Last year it was October-September.
Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2021 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.
Scroll down for the full list
The 93rd Academy Awards is set to take place on April 25, 2021. It was originally set to be held on February 28, before both the ceremony and eligibility period were postponed for two months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Submitted films must have been released in their respective countries between the expanded dates of October 1, 2019, and December 31, 2020. (Last year it was October-September.
- 11/26/2020
- by Ben Dalton¬Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Netflix, as it ramps up Middle East operations, has announced two initiatives to reach out to Lebanon’s film and TV community: an emergency fund providing grants to below-the-line crew facing economic hardship, and a “Made in Lebanon” package of films playing on the giant streamer.
The $500,000 relief fund set up by Netflix in collaboration with the Arab Fund for Arts & Culture (Afac) will be open for applications starting next week. It will provide financial support in the form of individual grants worth $2,000 per grant, a sum that, especially given Lebanon’s current economic constraints, is worth plenty more locally than it would be in the U.S.
From Oct. 26 until Nov. 9, below-the-line crew, craftspeople, and freelancers in the Lebanese film and television industry can apply for the fund by filling out an online application form. They must provide supporting documentation including a list of the five most recent projects they worked on,...
The $500,000 relief fund set up by Netflix in collaboration with the Arab Fund for Arts & Culture (Afac) will be open for applications starting next week. It will provide financial support in the form of individual grants worth $2,000 per grant, a sum that, especially given Lebanon’s current economic constraints, is worth plenty more locally than it would be in the U.S.
From Oct. 26 until Nov. 9, below-the-line crew, craftspeople, and freelancers in the Lebanese film and television industry can apply for the fund by filling out an online application form. They must provide supporting documentation including a list of the five most recent projects they worked on,...
- 10/23/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Middle East distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment and the Kuwait National Cinema Company are partnering with Gulf arthouse venue Cinema Akil for the Beirut Disaster Relief Screenings.
Ziad Doueiri’s West Beirut and Nadine Labaki’s Where Do We Go Now? will screen today at Cinema Akil with repeat screenings this coming weekend, Friday August 14 and Saturday August 15. All proceeds from the ticket sales go to the Lebanese Red Cross relief efforts.
The move comes after last week’s catastrophic explosion in Beirut which left more than 200 dead and thousands wounded. The damage leveled several acres of the capital city, leaving thousands of inhabitants homeless and without access to basic needs and resources. All this in a year where Lebanon’s currency devalued more than 80%, triggering huge protests and unrest.
“Both West Beirut and Where Do We Go Now are reflections of a Lebanese society that through unity, work to...
Ziad Doueiri’s West Beirut and Nadine Labaki’s Where Do We Go Now? will screen today at Cinema Akil with repeat screenings this coming weekend, Friday August 14 and Saturday August 15. All proceeds from the ticket sales go to the Lebanese Red Cross relief efforts.
The move comes after last week’s catastrophic explosion in Beirut which left more than 200 dead and thousands wounded. The damage leveled several acres of the capital city, leaving thousands of inhabitants homeless and without access to basic needs and resources. All this in a year where Lebanon’s currency devalued more than 80%, triggering huge protests and unrest.
“Both West Beirut and Where Do We Go Now are reflections of a Lebanese society that through unity, work to...
- 8/10/2020
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Films by Ziad Doueiri and Nadine Labaki front charitable screenings.
Front Row Filmed Entertainment and partner Kuwait National Cinema Company (Kncc) are joining forces with leading Emirati arthouse venue Cinema Akil on a series of screenings aimed at raising funds for the victims of the explosion in Beirut last week.
Under the initiative, dubbed the Beirut Disaster Relief Screenings, the partners will screen Ziad Doueiri’s West Beirut and Nadine Labaki’s Where Do We Go Now? at the cinema on August 14 and 15.
All proceeds from the ticket sales will go to the Lebanese Red Cross relief efforts.
At least...
Front Row Filmed Entertainment and partner Kuwait National Cinema Company (Kncc) are joining forces with leading Emirati arthouse venue Cinema Akil on a series of screenings aimed at raising funds for the victims of the explosion in Beirut last week.
Under the initiative, dubbed the Beirut Disaster Relief Screenings, the partners will screen Ziad Doueiri’s West Beirut and Nadine Labaki’s Where Do We Go Now? at the cinema on August 14 and 15.
All proceeds from the ticket sales will go to the Lebanese Red Cross relief efforts.
At least...
- 8/10/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦69¦
- ScreenDaily
Films by Oscar-nominated Lebanese directors Nadine Labaki and Ziad Doueiri are to be screened in the Middle East to raise money for the Red Cross following the devastating explosion in Beirut on Aug. 4.
The Beirut Relief Screenings is an initiative by Middle East distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment and its partner the Kuwait National Cinema Company together with the UAE arthouse cinema Cinema Akil, where the screenings will take place.
West Beirut, Doueiri's 1998 feature debut set in 1975 during Lebanon's devastating civil war, will be shown alongside Where Do We Go Now?, Labaki's 2011 ...
The Beirut Relief Screenings is an initiative by Middle East distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment and its partner the Kuwait National Cinema Company together with the UAE arthouse cinema Cinema Akil, where the screenings will take place.
West Beirut, Doueiri's 1998 feature debut set in 1975 during Lebanon's devastating civil war, will be shown alongside Where Do We Go Now?, Labaki's 2011 ...
- 8/10/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Films by Oscar-nominated Lebanese directors Nadine Labaki and Ziad Doueiri are to be screened in the Middle East to raise money for the Red Cross following the devastating explosion in Beirut on Aug. 4.
The Beirut Relief Screenings is an initiative by Middle East distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment and its partner the Kuwait National Cinema Company together with the UAE arthouse cinema Cinema Akil, where the screenings will take place.
West Beirut, Doueiri's 1998 feature debut set in 1975 during Lebanon's devastating civil war, will be shown alongside Where Do We Go Now?, Labaki's 2011 ...
The Beirut Relief Screenings is an initiative by Middle East distributor Front Row Filmed Entertainment and its partner the Kuwait National Cinema Company together with the UAE arthouse cinema Cinema Akil, where the screenings will take place.
West Beirut, Doueiri's 1998 feature debut set in 1975 during Lebanon's devastating civil war, will be shown alongside Where Do We Go Now?, Labaki's 2011 ...
- 8/10/2020
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Bron Studios, whose film credits include “Joker,” “Bombshell,” “The Way Back” and “Greyhound,” has partnered with director Kornel Mundruczo, and Alexander Rodnyansky, producer of Oscar-nominated films “Leviathan” and “Loveless,” to produce the television drama series about a woman who becomes a pioneer in the changing porn industry of the 2000s, while struggling to raise a teenage daughter.
The pilot was developed by Mundruczo and screenwriter Kata Weber, who previously collaborated on “White God,” “Jupiter’s Moon,” and the upcoming “Pieces of a Woman,” starring Shia Lebouf and Vanessa Kirby, also produced by Bron.
The first season follows a hyper-intelligent woman who, finding herself in dire straits, enters the porn industry in Budapest, Hungary as a performer, but soon sees an opportunity to evolve the way pornographic content is consumed. Research conducted for the series revealed that the advent of social media and digital content in the 2000s dramatically changed the porn industry,...
The pilot was developed by Mundruczo and screenwriter Kata Weber, who previously collaborated on “White God,” “Jupiter’s Moon,” and the upcoming “Pieces of a Woman,” starring Shia Lebouf and Vanessa Kirby, also produced by Bron.
The first season follows a hyper-intelligent woman who, finding herself in dire straits, enters the porn industry in Budapest, Hungary as a performer, but soon sees an opportunity to evolve the way pornographic content is consumed. Research conducted for the series revealed that the advent of social media and digital content in the 2000s dramatically changed the porn industry,...
- 6/25/2020
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Drama Adult Material and Basque conflict saga Patria among series set to market premiere online.
French TV festival and industry event Series Mania has kicked off its industry-focused online platform the Digital Forum, showcasing 40 completed series and 10 short format works as well as 30 pre-recorded pitches for shows in development.
The digital initiative replaces the physical event that was due to take place in the northern French city of Lille from March 20 to 28 but was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. France is now under a lockdown which is expected to run into April.
Channel 4’s drama Adult Material and...
French TV festival and industry event Series Mania has kicked off its industry-focused online platform the Digital Forum, showcasing 40 completed series and 10 short format works as well as 30 pre-recorded pitches for shows in development.
The digital initiative replaces the physical event that was due to take place in the northern French city of Lille from March 20 to 28 but was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. France is now under a lockdown which is expected to run into April.
Channel 4’s drama Adult Material and...
- 3/25/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Drama Adult Material and Basque conflict saga Patria among series set to market premiere online.
French TV festival and industry event Series Mania has kicked off its industry-focused online platform the Digital Forum, showcasing 40 completed series and 10 short format works as well as 30 pre-recorded pitches for shows in development.
The digital initiative replaces the physical event that was due to take place in the northern French city of Lille from March 20 to 28 but was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. France is now under a lockdown which is expected to run into April.
Channel 4’s drama Adult Material and...
French TV festival and industry event Series Mania has kicked off its industry-focused online platform the Digital Forum, showcasing 40 completed series and 10 short format works as well as 30 pre-recorded pitches for shows in development.
The digital initiative replaces the physical event that was due to take place in the northern French city of Lille from March 20 to 28 but was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. France is now under a lockdown which is expected to run into April.
Channel 4’s drama Adult Material and...
- 3/25/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Rithy Panh, Karim Ainouz, Annemarie Jacir, Tala Hadid, Ghassan Salhab join efforts to continue key project development activities.
The Doha Film Institute (Dfi) has set up an online mentorship programme to replace its Qumra talent and project development event which was cancelled earlier this month due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A total of 46 projects were to have received support and advice from some 100 industry professionals at the sixth edition of the meeting, originally scheduled to run March 20-25 in Doha.
French director Claire Denis, Greek cinematographer Phedon Papamichael, Us director James Gray, Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner and Oscar-winning sound editor...
The Doha Film Institute (Dfi) has set up an online mentorship programme to replace its Qumra talent and project development event which was cancelled earlier this month due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A total of 46 projects were to have received support and advice from some 100 industry professionals at the sixth edition of the meeting, originally scheduled to run March 20-25 in Doha.
French director Claire Denis, Greek cinematographer Phedon Papamichael, Us director James Gray, Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner and Oscar-winning sound editor...
- 3/19/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
This year, with some mighty titles from the Maghreb evaluated alongside the rest of continental Africa, the competitive potential of the Middle East lineup handicapped here may seem a tad diminished. Nevertheless, the territory boasts a possible short-list contender in Palestinian helmer Elia Suleiman’s wry travelog “It Must Be Heaven,” which nabbed the international critics award at 2019 Cannes.
Back in 2003, Suleiman’s second feature, “Divine Intervention,” marked the first of 12 submissions made by Palestine over the years. During that time, the entries resulted in two nominations, both for films helmed by Hany Abu-Assad: “Paradise Now” (2005) and “Omar” (2013). Now, Suleiman, like Abu-Assad, is recognized as an elder statesman of Palestinian filmmaking as well as an accomplished auteur whose films continue to bear witness to the surreal and the absurd in Palestinian life at home and abroad. Although his work is better-known in Europe than in the U.S., “It Must Be Heaven...
Back in 2003, Suleiman’s second feature, “Divine Intervention,” marked the first of 12 submissions made by Palestine over the years. During that time, the entries resulted in two nominations, both for films helmed by Hany Abu-Assad: “Paradise Now” (2005) and “Omar” (2013). Now, Suleiman, like Abu-Assad, is recognized as an elder statesman of Palestinian filmmaking as well as an accomplished auteur whose films continue to bear witness to the surreal and the absurd in Palestinian life at home and abroad. Although his work is better-known in Europe than in the U.S., “It Must Be Heaven...
- 12/5/2019
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
Alexander Rodnyansky’s Ar Content – in partnership with Kevin Macdonald, an Oscar winner with “One Day in September,” and Rosanne Korenberg – has tapped Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning director Rory Kennedy, best known for “Last Days in Vietnam,” to direct its untitled documentary centering on a little-known refugee crisis immediately preceding World War II.
The film will center on the voyage of the transatlantic liner St. Louis in 1939, which was carrying Jews fleeing Nazi but was turned away by Cuba and the U.S. and forced to return to Europe. Later, 254 of its passengers died in the Holocaust. The film will compare that episode with today’s global refugee crisis.
Alongside Rodnyansky – who was Oscar-nominated for “Leviathan” and “Loveless” – Macdonald and Korenberg, Kennedy and the documentary’s writer Mark Bailey, a WGA nominee for “Last Days in Vietnam” and a three-time Emmy nominee, will produce the film under their production banner Moxie Films.
The film will center on the voyage of the transatlantic liner St. Louis in 1939, which was carrying Jews fleeing Nazi but was turned away by Cuba and the U.S. and forced to return to Europe. Later, 254 of its passengers died in the Holocaust. The film will compare that episode with today’s global refugee crisis.
Alongside Rodnyansky – who was Oscar-nominated for “Leviathan” and “Loveless” – Macdonald and Korenberg, Kennedy and the documentary’s writer Mark Bailey, a WGA nominee for “Last Days in Vietnam” and a three-time Emmy nominee, will produce the film under their production banner Moxie Films.
- 10/22/2019
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Which film will follow on from ‘Roma’ in winning the prize?
Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2020 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.
This is the first year the award will be given under the new name of ‘best international feature film’, after a change in April from ‘foreign-language film’.
Scroll down for latest entries
The eligibility rules remain the same: an international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the Us with a predominantly non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2020 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.
This is the first year the award will be given under the new name of ‘best international feature film’, after a change in April from ‘foreign-language film’.
Scroll down for latest entries
The eligibility rules remain the same: an international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the Us with a predominantly non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
- 10/1/2019
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Which film will follow on from ‘Roma’ in winning the prize?
Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2020 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.
This is the first year the award will be given under the new name of ‘best international feature film’, after a change in April from ‘foreign-language film’.
Scroll down for latest entries
The eligibility rules remain the same: an international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the Us with a predominantly non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2020 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.
This is the first year the award will be given under the new name of ‘best international feature film’, after a change in April from ‘foreign-language film’.
Scroll down for latest entries
The eligibility rules remain the same: an international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the Us with a predominantly non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
- 9/30/2019
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
San Sebastian — Rouge International co-founder Nadia Turincev, whose credits included the Oscar-nominated “The Insult,” “Raw” and “Mimosas,” has teamed with Omar El Kadi, head of acquisitions and sales, Emea, at Lebanon’s Mc Distribution, to launch Easy Riders Films, a new Paris-based production company.
If Easy Riders Films first titles are anything to go by – Latin American co-production “Perros,” 1941 Lebanon-set comedy “The Fifteen,” political romantic drama series “L’Âge d’Or,” Easy Riders looks set to pursue the adventurous, unconventional production line which has come to distinguish Turincev.
At the same time she and El Kadi have linked from the get-go with prestigious production partners around the globe and are backing projects put through the most illustrious of development programs.
“Perros,” for example, is directed by Cannes Cinéfondation Résidence 2019 winner Vinko Tomičić, is also produced by Chile’s Jirafa Films, behind Christopher Murray’s “The Blind Christ” and Alicia Scherson’s “Il Futuro,...
If Easy Riders Films first titles are anything to go by – Latin American co-production “Perros,” 1941 Lebanon-set comedy “The Fifteen,” political romantic drama series “L’Âge d’Or,” Easy Riders looks set to pursue the adventurous, unconventional production line which has come to distinguish Turincev.
At the same time she and El Kadi have linked from the get-go with prestigious production partners around the globe and are backing projects put through the most illustrious of development programs.
“Perros,” for example, is directed by Cannes Cinéfondation Résidence 2019 winner Vinko Tomičić, is also produced by Chile’s Jirafa Films, behind Christopher Murray’s “The Blind Christ” and Alicia Scherson’s “Il Futuro,...
- 9/26/2019
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Eric Névé, a prominent French producer whose credits include Ziad Doueiri’s Oscar-nominated “The Insult,” has died. Névé, 57, was the founder of the Paris-based production banner La Chauve-Souris and co-founder of the international sales company Indie Sales and its sister outfit Indie Prod. He died Sunday.
Through La Chauve-Souris, which he launched in 1995, Névé produced several popular and daring films from a mix of established and emerging directors, notably Jan Kounen’s “Doberman,” Jean-Paul Salomé’s “Les femmes de l’ombre,” Romain Gavras’ “Notre jour viendra,” Moussa Touré’s “La Pirogue” and Daouda Coulibaly’s “Wùlu.”
Névé was well-known for his contribution to the flourishing of new talents in West Africa, in particular Senegal, through his other production company, Astou Films.
In 2013, Névé launched the banner Indie Sales with former TF1 International executive Nicolas Eschbach. The sales and co-production company boasts a library of about 60 movies, among which are Jean-Pierre Améris’s “Marie Heurtin,...
Through La Chauve-Souris, which he launched in 1995, Névé produced several popular and daring films from a mix of established and emerging directors, notably Jan Kounen’s “Doberman,” Jean-Paul Salomé’s “Les femmes de l’ombre,” Romain Gavras’ “Notre jour viendra,” Moussa Touré’s “La Pirogue” and Daouda Coulibaly’s “Wùlu.”
Névé was well-known for his contribution to the flourishing of new talents in West Africa, in particular Senegal, through his other production company, Astou Films.
In 2013, Névé launched the banner Indie Sales with former TF1 International executive Nicolas Eschbach. The sales and co-production company boasts a library of about 60 movies, among which are Jean-Pierre Améris’s “Marie Heurtin,...
- 7/24/2019
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
China’s Huanxi Media has acquired a slate of recent film titles that played prominently on the international festival circuit and collected multiple prizes.
They include Julian Schnabel’s “At Eternity’s Gate”; Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s “Never Look Away”; Marcus H. Rosenmueller’s “The Keeper”; Ziad Doueiri’s “The Insult”; Andrzej Zulawski’s “Cosmo”; Frederic Tellier’s “Serial Killer 1” from 2017; Dom Lenoir’s 2018 title “Winter Ridge”; and Mina Shum’s “Meditation Park,” starring Sandra Oh.
Huanxi, which is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, is best-known as a producer backed by some of China’s leading talent. Its principal shareholders include directors Ning Hao and Xu Zheng, whose films “Crazy Alien” and “Dying to Survive” it has released in the past year.
However, the company sees its future as a specialist subscription-only video streaming platform. The platform’s lineup is a mix of tiles produced by Huanxi’s own directors and producers,...
They include Julian Schnabel’s “At Eternity’s Gate”; Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s “Never Look Away”; Marcus H. Rosenmueller’s “The Keeper”; Ziad Doueiri’s “The Insult”; Andrzej Zulawski’s “Cosmo”; Frederic Tellier’s “Serial Killer 1” from 2017; Dom Lenoir’s 2018 title “Winter Ridge”; and Mina Shum’s “Meditation Park,” starring Sandra Oh.
Huanxi, which is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, is best-known as a producer backed by some of China’s leading talent. Its principal shareholders include directors Ning Hao and Xu Zheng, whose films “Crazy Alien” and “Dying to Survive” it has released in the past year.
However, the company sees its future as a specialist subscription-only video streaming platform. The platform’s lineup is a mix of tiles produced by Huanxi’s own directors and producers,...
- 5/17/2019
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Dumont writes and directs the drama, his seventh feature-length fiction after Joan Of Arc which premieres in Un Certain Regard this year.
Paris-based Indie Sales has boarded international sales on Bruno Dumont’s upcoming drama On A Half Clear Morning, starring Léa Seydoux as a celebrity journalist juggling her busy career and personal life whose life is over-turned by a freak car accident.
Dumont writes and directs the drama, his seventh feature-length fiction after Joan Of Arc which premieres in Un Certain Regard this year.
Seydoux – who is also in Cannes this year in Arnaud Desplechin’s Palme d’Or contender Oh Mercy!
Paris-based Indie Sales has boarded international sales on Bruno Dumont’s upcoming drama On A Half Clear Morning, starring Léa Seydoux as a celebrity journalist juggling her busy career and personal life whose life is over-turned by a freak car accident.
Dumont writes and directs the drama, his seventh feature-length fiction after Joan Of Arc which premieres in Un Certain Regard this year.
Seydoux – who is also in Cannes this year in Arnaud Desplechin’s Palme d’Or contender Oh Mercy!
- 5/14/2019
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Best Friend Forever (Bff) was launched by Martin Gondre and Charlie Bin.
New Brussels-based sales and production services company Best Friend Forever (Bff) has boarded sales on Ukrainian producer and director Valentyn Vasyanovych’s dystopian drama Atlantis ahead of Cannes.
Set in near future, war-torn eastern Ukraine, the drama revolves around a former soldier suffering from Ptsd, working at a local smelter and struggling to adapt to the reality of a life in pieces and a land in ruins.
When the smelter shuts down and he loses his job he finds salvation by volunteer Black Tulip mission dedicated to exhuming war corpses.
New Brussels-based sales and production services company Best Friend Forever (Bff) has boarded sales on Ukrainian producer and director Valentyn Vasyanovych’s dystopian drama Atlantis ahead of Cannes.
Set in near future, war-torn eastern Ukraine, the drama revolves around a former soldier suffering from Ptsd, working at a local smelter and struggling to adapt to the reality of a life in pieces and a land in ruins.
When the smelter shuts down and he loses his job he finds salvation by volunteer Black Tulip mission dedicated to exhuming war corpses.
- 5/10/2019
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Indie Sales, the French international sales boutique behind the Oscar-nominated “My Life as a Zucchini” and Ziad Doueiri’s “The Insult,” is set to branch out with the launch of Best Friend Forever, a new Brussels-based outfit dedicated to festival-driven world cinema.
Best Friend Forever is kicking off with the acquisition of Juris Kursietis’ sophomore outing, “Oleg,” which will world premiere at Cannes’ Directors Fortnight. The movie follows Kursietis’ feature debut, “Modris,” which received San Sebastian’s special mention for the New Directors Award in 2014.
Produced by Tasse Film (“Dogs Don’t Wear Pants”) with Iota Productions (“Song of the Sea”) and In Script & Arizona Productions (“The Gentle Indifference of the World”), “Oleg” follows the story of a young Latvian butcher who immigrates to Brussels to work at a meat factory, hoping for a better life, but instead quickly falls under the yoke of Andzejs, a Polish criminal.
Best Friend...
Best Friend Forever is kicking off with the acquisition of Juris Kursietis’ sophomore outing, “Oleg,” which will world premiere at Cannes’ Directors Fortnight. The movie follows Kursietis’ feature debut, “Modris,” which received San Sebastian’s special mention for the New Directors Award in 2014.
Produced by Tasse Film (“Dogs Don’t Wear Pants”) with Iota Productions (“Song of the Sea”) and In Script & Arizona Productions (“The Gentle Indifference of the World”), “Oleg” follows the story of a young Latvian butcher who immigrates to Brussels to work at a meat factory, hoping for a better life, but instead quickly falls under the yoke of Andzejs, a Polish criminal.
Best Friend...
- 4/29/2019
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
The series is expected to start production in the first half of 2019.
Continuing a trend at this year’s Filmart for high-profile episodic series, China’s Huanxi Media has teased a few details of Wong Kar Wai’s upcoming web series, which has the working title Paradise Guesthouse.
Expected to start production in the first half of 2019, the series will revolve around the female proprietor of a guesthouse in a coastal town in mainland China. The story will follow her interactions with different guests, who will be introduced across the 12 x 45 minute episodes of the series.
“We think the project...
Continuing a trend at this year’s Filmart for high-profile episodic series, China’s Huanxi Media has teased a few details of Wong Kar Wai’s upcoming web series, which has the working title Paradise Guesthouse.
Expected to start production in the first half of 2019, the series will revolve around the female proprietor of a guesthouse in a coastal town in mainland China. The story will follow her interactions with different guests, who will be introduced across the 12 x 45 minute episodes of the series.
“We think the project...
- 3/19/2019
- by Liz Shackleton
- ScreenDaily
Directors of this year’s foreign-language Oscar nominees felt compelled to tell tales of universal themes.
Capernaum Lebanon
The Oscar race has fueled the ongoing protest against the industry’s sidelining of woman directors, serving up no female-helmed films in the best picture or director categories. That leaves Lebanon’s Nadine Labaki as the only distaff director nominated for a narrative feature film this year. “Capernaum,” a sprawling, dirt-on-the-lens labor of love about refugee children surviving on the mean streets of Beirut, is the most emotionally abrasive contender in the category. Centered on a destitute 12-year-old Syrian boy suing his parents for giving him life, it left many hardened critics weeping in the aisles at Cannes, where it duly won the Jury Prize. Variety’s Jay Weissberg was among them, deeming it “a splendid addition to the ranks of great guttersnipe dramas”; an Oscar nomination was widely predicted then and there.
Capernaum Lebanon
The Oscar race has fueled the ongoing protest against the industry’s sidelining of woman directors, serving up no female-helmed films in the best picture or director categories. That leaves Lebanon’s Nadine Labaki as the only distaff director nominated for a narrative feature film this year. “Capernaum,” a sprawling, dirt-on-the-lens labor of love about refugee children surviving on the mean streets of Beirut, is the most emotionally abrasive contender in the category. Centered on a destitute 12-year-old Syrian boy suing his parents for giving him life, it left many hardened critics weeping in the aisles at Cannes, where it duly won the Jury Prize. Variety’s Jay Weissberg was among them, deeming it “a splendid addition to the ranks of great guttersnipe dramas”; an Oscar nomination was widely predicted then and there.
- 2/6/2019
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
The nomination of Nadine Labaki's gut-wrenching drama Capernaum in the foreign-language Oscars category has lifted Lebanon into the league of countries to have made the final shortlist twice (alongside Chile, China, South Africa, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom).
However, the film – set in the world of Beirut's growing refugee crisis, which has forced many children onto the streets – has also given Lebanon the rare accolade of earning back-to-back nominations in the category, with Ziad Doueiri's The Insult having made the grade in 2018.
As such, Lebanon becomes the first Arab-speaking country to achieve this ...
However, the film – set in the world of Beirut's growing refugee crisis, which has forced many children onto the streets – has also given Lebanon the rare accolade of earning back-to-back nominations in the category, with Ziad Doueiri's The Insult having made the grade in 2018.
As such, Lebanon becomes the first Arab-speaking country to achieve this ...
- 1/22/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The nomination of Nadine Labaki's gut-wrenching drama Capernaum in the foreign-language Oscars category has lifted Lebanon into the league of countries to have made the final shortlist twice (alongside Chile, China, South Africa, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom).
However, the film – set in the world of Beirut's growing refugee crisis, which has forced many children onto the streets – has also given Lebanon the rare accolade of earning back-to-back nominations in the category, with Ziad Doueiri's The Insult having made the grade in 2018.
As such, Lebanon becomes the first Arab-speaking country to achieve this ...
However, the film – set in the world of Beirut's growing refugee crisis, which has forced many children onto the streets – has also given Lebanon the rare accolade of earning back-to-back nominations in the category, with Ziad Doueiri's The Insult having made the grade in 2018.
As such, Lebanon becomes the first Arab-speaking country to achieve this ...
- 1/22/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Alexander Rodnyansky, producer of the Oscar-nominated films “Leviathan” and “Loveless,” has set prize-winning Hungarian director Kornel Mundruczo to develop and direct “Everybody’s Woman,” a drama series centering on a woman working in the porn industry. Kata Weber will write and develop the series with Mundruczo.
Mundruczo and Weber have previously collaborated on several projects, including the winner of Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section in 2014, “White God,” which revolved around a revolt against mankind by stray dogs. Their followup, “Jupiter’s Moon,” premiered in competition at Cannes last year. The pair are also attached to Sony Pictures’ science-fiction movie “Inherit the Earth,” as Variety reported in August.
The first season of “Everybody’s Woman” will focus on a young woman who initially becomes a porn actress out of financial necessity. It will follow her “trials, disillusionment, and rise through the ranks as she leaves performing behind for power and longevity...
Mundruczo and Weber have previously collaborated on several projects, including the winner of Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section in 2014, “White God,” which revolved around a revolt against mankind by stray dogs. Their followup, “Jupiter’s Moon,” premiered in competition at Cannes last year. The pair are also attached to Sony Pictures’ science-fiction movie “Inherit the Earth,” as Variety reported in August.
The first season of “Everybody’s Woman” will focus on a young woman who initially becomes a porn actress out of financial necessity. It will follow her “trials, disillusionment, and rise through the ranks as she leaves performing behind for power and longevity...
- 12/19/2018
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Lumières are the Golden Globes of France.
A mixed bag of nominations for the 24th edition of France’s Lumière awards was unveiled in Paris on Monday (Dec 17).
Jacques Audiard’s Us-set, English-language The Sisters Brothers, period comedy-drama Mademoiselle de Jonquières, adoption drama Pupille and Venice-winning relationship drama Custody came out as the front-runners with four nominations each.
Following with three nominations each were Alex Lutz’s comedy-drama Guy, about a man who discovers he is the illegitimate son of a fading variety star and decides to follow him on tour; comedy The Trouble With You, sexual abuse drama Little Tickles,...
A mixed bag of nominations for the 24th edition of France’s Lumière awards was unveiled in Paris on Monday (Dec 17).
Jacques Audiard’s Us-set, English-language The Sisters Brothers, period comedy-drama Mademoiselle de Jonquières, adoption drama Pupille and Venice-winning relationship drama Custody came out as the front-runners with four nominations each.
Following with three nominations each were Alex Lutz’s comedy-drama Guy, about a man who discovers he is the illegitimate son of a fading variety star and decides to follow him on tour; comedy The Trouble With You, sexual abuse drama Little Tickles,...
- 12/17/2018
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Alexander Rodnyansky’s Ar Content has tapped Oscar Winning director Kevin Macdonald and Rosanne Korenberg to produce an untitled documentary film about the largely overlooked pre-wwii refugee crisis that set the stage for millions of deaths in the Holocaust. International indifference to the plight of persecuted Jews placed them in harm’s way for the atrocities to come. Macdonald won the Oscar for Documentary Feature in 2000 for One Day In September, the dissection of the terror attack that led to the slaughter of the Israeli Olympic team at the Olympics in Munich. He most recently directed the Whitney Houston documentary Whitney, on which Korenberg was executive producer.
The film will trace a dirty little secret that preceded the Holocaust, one that Rodnyansky believes has relevance to the current indifference and the labeling as pariahs that is happening to immigrants right now.
Long before Hitler implemented his ‘Final Solution,’ he...
The film will trace a dirty little secret that preceded the Holocaust, one that Rodnyansky believes has relevance to the current indifference and the labeling as pariahs that is happening to immigrants right now.
Long before Hitler implemented his ‘Final Solution,’ he...
- 12/13/2018
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
Ten leading European sales agents attended the first edition of Marrakech Film Festival’s Atlas Workshops. In interviews with Variety the executives emphasized the importance of this new industry event, which will help leverage the importance of Marrakech as a key industry hub for Arab and African filmmakers.
Films Boutique’s Gabor Greiner said that the workshops provided an excellent opportunity to meet filmmakers and producers from the region, some of whom don’t travel very often to festivals in Europe.
“African cinema has tremendous potential and we’re keen to learn more about cinema from the region. As sales agents we’re on the lookout for something that stands out, and it can be easier to find unusual new voices in a region where cinema production is less common.”
Greiner cited examples of recent films that have raised visibility for Africa-related issues – such as Aalam-Warqe Davidian’s tragic romance “Fig Tree,...
Films Boutique’s Gabor Greiner said that the workshops provided an excellent opportunity to meet filmmakers and producers from the region, some of whom don’t travel very often to festivals in Europe.
“African cinema has tremendous potential and we’re keen to learn more about cinema from the region. As sales agents we’re on the lookout for something that stands out, and it can be easier to find unusual new voices in a region where cinema production is less common.”
Greiner cited examples of recent films that have raised visibility for Africa-related issues – such as Aalam-Warqe Davidian’s tragic romance “Fig Tree,...
- 12/6/2018
- by Martin Dale
- Variety Film + TV
Among the Middle East’s 10 submissions, three of which are helmed by women, are several titles that are likely to be competitive in the foreign-language category. These include the Cannes jury prize-winner “Capernaum,” from Lebanon’s helmer-actress Nadine Labaki, and “The Cakemaker” from Israel’s Ofir Raul Grazier. While the lineup includes some films that premiered at major festivals such as Berlin, Venice and Cannes, nearly all of the regional entries, with the exception of the Yemeni title “10 Days Before the Wedding,” have screened in multiple smaller festivals and nabbed several awards.
Labaki’s third feature, “Capernaum,” is the story of an impoverished Beirut boy who launches a lawsuit against his parents for bringing him into the world. It has a lot going for it: It’s a heart-tugging social-issues drama with adorable non-pro child actors, and it plays like, er, a “Slumdog Beirut.” Moreover, the film, due out Stateside in December,...
Labaki’s third feature, “Capernaum,” is the story of an impoverished Beirut boy who launches a lawsuit against his parents for bringing him into the world. It has a lot going for it: It’s a heart-tugging social-issues drama with adorable non-pro child actors, and it plays like, er, a “Slumdog Beirut.” Moreover, the film, due out Stateside in December,...
- 11/8/2018
- by Alissa Simon
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Russian producer Alexander Rodnyansky has set Ziad Doueiri to direct an adaptation of Debriefing the President. Daniel Stiepleman, who scripted the upcoming Ruth Bader Ginsburg drama On the Basis of Sex, will adapt former CIA analyst John Nixon’s non-fiction book about his experience being the first American to identify and interrogate Saddam Hussein following his 2003 capture. The Lebanese-born Doueiri’s The Insult was last year nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar. His first film, West Beirut, won the Prix Francois Chalais at Cannes and he also directed The Attack.
Nixon was a senior leadership analyst with the CIA from 1998-2011 who regularly wrote for and briefed those at the most senior levels of the U.S. government and later taught leadership analysis to the new generation of analysts coming at the Sherman Kent School, the agency’s in-house analytic training center.
After confirming the prisoner was indeed the...
Nixon was a senior leadership analyst with the CIA from 1998-2011 who regularly wrote for and briefed those at the most senior levels of the U.S. government and later taught leadership analysis to the new generation of analysts coming at the Sherman Kent School, the agency’s in-house analytic training center.
After confirming the prisoner was indeed the...
- 9/28/2018
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
All three of the Arabic films in this article concern fathers and sons. The bonds of respect and the seeds of future relationships which men make are found in this primary relationship.Yomeddine, sweet, naive and satisfying, was written and directed by A.B. Shawky. Egypt’s official submission for the 2019 Oscars in the Foreign Language category, this film played very well to a huge and enthusiastic audience both here in El Gouna and in Cannes where it premiered.Bashay Rady Gamal) leaving the leper colony with his beloved donkey is followed by his young orphaned friend, The Nubian, Obama,.
You can — and should — bring children to see this film. The best was watching this film with children here in El Gouna where it screened in a sold-out open-air theater of 1,200 seats with a desert breeze moving the scenes of huge landscapes in waves as if they were planned visual effects.
You can — and should — bring children to see this film. The best was watching this film with children here in El Gouna where it screened in a sold-out open-air theater of 1,200 seats with a desert breeze moving the scenes of huge landscapes in waves as if they were planned visual effects.
- 9/27/2018
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Egyptian-Austrian director A.B. Shawky, whose unconventional road movie “Yomeddine” is Egypt’s candidate for the foreign-language Oscar, will be the recipient of Variety’s Mena Talent of the Year Award, to be bestowed during the upcoming El Gouna Film Festival.
“Yomeddine,” in which a middle-aged man raised in a leper colony embarks with a sidekick and a donkey on a journey across Egypt to try to reconnect with his family, world-premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, a rare case of a first feature making the official competition cut. The film won the non-official Francois Chalais Prize in Cannes, which is given to life-affirming works.
Shawky’s passion project, which stars non-professional actor Rady Gamal, who suffers from leprosy and is a resident of the leper colony, won the works-in-progress award last year at the El Gouna festival’s Cinegouna Platform. This year, the completed “Yomeddine” will have its...
“Yomeddine,” in which a middle-aged man raised in a leper colony embarks with a sidekick and a donkey on a journey across Egypt to try to reconnect with his family, world-premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival, a rare case of a first feature making the official competition cut. The film won the non-official Francois Chalais Prize in Cannes, which is given to life-affirming works.
Shawky’s passion project, which stars non-professional actor Rady Gamal, who suffers from leprosy and is a resident of the leper colony, won the works-in-progress award last year at the El Gouna festival’s Cinegouna Platform. This year, the completed “Yomeddine” will have its...
- 9/19/2018
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
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