NETFIX TAKES ‘GRINGOLANDIA’

Netflix will stream popular Chilean web series ‘Gringolandia’ not just in Chile but also in US and all Latin America. A seven minute web – skein, ‘Gringolandia’ has cumed 4.4 million views for the whole series on YouTube and 84,466 followers. The Netflix version will include unseen material and 1st & 2nd seasons. Series creators have announced a 3rd season. “It’s the 1st Latin American web series that migrates from Youtube to Netflix. And only the 2nd one worldwide after ‘Video Game High School’, Cristobal Ross averred proudly. “I feel very happy & optimistic about the future of online independent content.” ‘Gringolandia’ (A Spanish Latin American slang for the US) is a web series created & directed by Ross and produced by him via shingle produced Contento. It turns on Peter, a Chilean entrepreneur who falls in love with Stacey, a U.S. woman and follows her to the Big Apple.

FOX TELEVISI0N CEO’S ON COMPETITIVENESS

“Risk has been the thing that we have embraced most in our company,” said Dana Walden, who is chairman & CEO of Fox Television Group alongside Gary Newman. The partners, who were honored as Personalities of the Year at TV market Mipcom in Cannes recently, oversee hit shows like ‘Empire’, ‘Homeland’ & ‘Modern Family’. “We learned a long time ago that playing it safe is not a winning strategy,” Walden said. “It’s not going to deliver us with a library of content that stands out.” She added that a Fox show “has to be loud, it has to be bold, it has to be distinctive.” Talking about the show creators that they often work with, such as Seth MacFarlane, Howard Gordon, Ryan Murphy or Chris Carter, Walden said: “Typically when they come in to pitch us they’ll pitch something that makes you feel mildly stressed out. Where you think this could be a disastrous idea or it could be a big hit and you have to embrace that feeling. You have to just put aside any anxieties & any desires to stay in the middle and push content as far as possible.”

SOPHIA LOREN TO BE FETED

Sophia Loren will be honored with a lifetime achievement award by the Americans for Arts nonprofit organisation and is expected to make the trek from her home in Switzerland to New York for the ceremony. Lady Gaga, Herbie Hancock, TV writer & producer Maria Bell, arts patron Alice Walton & philanthropists Joan & Irwin Jacobs will also be feted during the gala on 19th Oct, at Cipriani 42nd Street. Awards presenters will include Rob Marshall & Jeff Koons. Loren, 81, was honored by the American Film Institute during the AFI fest last year. She also held the 2014 Cannes masterclass during which she reminisced about her glorious 60 year career which comprises a best actress Oscar for a foreign language performance in ‘Two Women’ in 1960 and countless other prizes. She has received an honorary Academy Award in 1991, a best actress award at Cannes & a Career Golden Lion from the Venice Film Festival. Her most recent role is in her son Edoardo Ponti’s 2014 short ‘Human Voice’, inspired by Jean Cocteau’s one woman monologue. Loren made a splash last month when she attended the Giorgio Armani show during the Milan fashion week.

DANNY COHEN TO STEP DOWN

Danny Cohen, the BBC’s director of television, is to leave the UK broadcaster. He will leave the network at the end of Nov, 2015. Mark Linsey, controller of entertainment commissioning, will take on Cohen’s responsibilities until an appointment is made. For the past 8 years, Cohen has overseen the running of all BBC TV channels, as well as the production & commissioning of all of the BBC’s drama, entertainment, comedy & factual programs. He also oversaw the creative decision making concerning BBC iPlayer, the broadcaster’s streaming service and the BBC’s movie production arm, BBC Films. From 2007 to 2010, he was controller of youth channel BBC Three, which grew its share of young audiences by 59% in this period.

LIBERTY GLOBAL INVESTS $10.8M

John Malone’s International Cable Company Liberty Global has paid £7 million ($10.8 million) for a 14% stake in London based
Bigballs Media, the parent of YouTube soccer channel Copa90. The deal values Bigballs, which was founded in 2006, at £50 million ($76.8 million) and gives Liberty Global the option to up its stake in 6 months’ time. Rather than focusing on the game of soccer itself, Copa90 focuses on the sport’s fans. The channel has been operating for 3 years and has a strong following in the 16 – 24 demo, among its 2.3 million subscribers, who watch an average of 37 minutes of the channel’s content a week, according to Bigballs. Earlier this year, Copa90 bought KICKTV, the largest soccer fan channel in North America from Major League Soccer to create YouTube’s largest soccer network.

DISNEY INKS NEW DEAL

UK pay TV operator Sky has inked a new multi – year movie & TV agreement with Disney, continuing a relationship that has lasted almost 25 years. Sky Movies & NOW TV Sky Movies pass customers will be able to watch new movies like ‘Inside Out’, ‘The Good Dinosaur’ & ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ in the 1st pay TV window from around 9 months after their release in movie theaters. Sky Movies subscribers can access the Disney channel and watch all the latest Disney, Pixar, Marvel Studios & Lucasfilm films in HD and in some cases, 3D. In addition they will have access to TV channels Disney Channel, Disney XD & Disney Junior through Sky’s subscription packages in both standard & high definition. The new agreement will offer customers more Disney Channels series through Catch Up TV & On Demand than now available, at no extra cost.

LIONSGATE UK TEAMS UP WITH AMAZON

British distribution & financing company Lionsgate UK is partnering with Amazon & theatrical exhibition circuit Odeon Cinemas to provide preview screenings of ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2’ in 3D to customers who purchase their tickets through Amazon Local’s website. Tickets for the pre – screenings are exclusively available through the Amazon Local website, making this the only opportunity for UK fans of “The Hunger Games” to see the 4th & final instalment before it goes on general release. The screenings, shown exclusively in Odeon theaters across UK, will be held on 18th Nov, 2015 a day before the film’s official release date. Amazon customers will receive a souvenir ticket, exclusive posters & 3D glasses from £14 ($21.40) a ticket, inclusive of all fees, as well as the opportunity to save 20% off a selection of DVDs & Blu – rays at Amazon.co.uk. The franchise has grossed more than $2.3 billion at the global box office.

WEINTROP – KAPLAN – GEORGES SIGN ON FOR JURY SERVICE

Cannes Directors’ Fortnight artistic director Edouard Weintrop, Dennis Lim, Lincoln Center Film Society head of programming & Emilie Georges, Memento Films International general director, will serve on the jury of Cabos in Progress, at the 4th Los Cabos International Film Festival, which will run from 11th Nov, 2015 to 14th Nov, 2015 at the Mexican resort. A pix – in – post competition, Cabos in Progress will feature 6 Mexican titles. The winner will receive a $10,000 cash prize. 4 titles will be chosen to feature in the Cannes Marché Du Film’s inaugural 2016 Los Cabos Goes To Cannes, running during the Cannes Festival. Fox Plus, a premium pay TV package, will also offer $30,000 to air one participating productions in Latin America.

DOHA FEST SCORES ‘THE IDOL’ AS OPENER

The Doha Film Institute has secured the Middle East premiere of Oscar nommed Palestinian director Hany Abu – Assad’s buzz title ‘The Idol’ as the opener of the 3rd edition of its Ajyal Youth Film Festival. ‘The Idol’, the potent tale of how Palestinian pop singer Mohammed Assaf went from being a kid in a refugee camp in Gaza to winning the 2nd season of ‘Arab Idol’ in 2013 and thereafter was named a goodwill ambassador for peace by the United Nations, had its European preem at the London Film Festival recently, after bowing in Toronto in Sept, 2015 to strong reviews. “It’s a story everyone in this region knows,” said DFI topper Fatma Al Remain. “‘Idol’ is also a very good story about inspiration & hope and pursuing your dreams. So it’s a great message on which to open the festival,” she added. Scoring “Idol” for Ajyal marks a nice coup for the DFI which co – financed the pic, boarding it when it was already in production. Produced by Ali Jafaar & Amira Diab, “Idol” could have launched in the region from the Middle East fest of its choice. The 3rd edition of Ajyal, which is conceptually similar to Italy’s Giffoni youth fest and has hundred kids & adolescents as jurors, will run 29th Nov, 2015 to 5th Dec, 2015 in Doha.

ARAB TELEMEDIA RAMPS UP

Emmy Award winning production company Arab Telemedia Group is ramping up production with the Arab world’s 1st Sci – Fi series, titled ‘Medinah’, and a slate of historical skeins on timely topics including ‘The Assassins’, about Hassan – i Sabbah, the charismatic 11th century leader whose cult is considered the forerunner of Al Qaeda & ISIS. “It’s connected to radicalism, be it ISIS or Al Queida,” Talal Awamleh, the group’s CEO, said about ‘The Assassins’. “It’s about the roots of extremism that developed in the Arab world in those days,” he added. As for ‘Medinah’, the groundbreaking sci – fi series will be partly set in a futuristic Qatar and depict different nationalities living in Doha. “It’s very unique in the sense that that it’s half in English & half in Arabic,” The episodes ‘Medinah’ is an accident caused by a failed experiment which prompts teleportation of 12 random people into a different dimension.

MAD SOLUTIONS BEEF UP DISTRIBUTION SLATE

Mad Solutions, the innovative Arab marketing & distribution company based in Cairo & Abu Dhabi, is beefing up its distribution slate with ‘Sawah’, a pic with cross – border potential about an Egyptian student torn between living in Egypt or Europe during the Arab Spring. Dramedy being touted as the 1st co -prod between Egypt & Luxembourg is to be directed by Luxembourg based Egyptian director Adolf El Assal. It revolves around a 29 year old grad student Samir who lands in Luxembourg thinking he is in Brussels, gets stuck living in what for him is a totally alien continent and must decide if he wants to return home.

TERENCE DAVIES TO BE CELEBRATED

Terence Davies will be celebrated with a career nod by Italy’s Turin Film Festival where a selection of the British auteur’s works, spanning from his pluriprized 1988 feature debut ‘Distant Voices, Still Lives’ to his most recent drama, ‘Sunset Song’, will unspool. Turin, which is Italy’s preeminent event dedicated to indie cinema, praised Davies as a “master at combining melancholy, cruelty, irony & desperation.” Davies is expected to make the trek to receive the fest’s Gran Premio Torino and introduce “Distant Voices.” He will receive the award before the Italian premiere of ‘Sunset Song’ which recently bowed as a special presentation in Toronto. ‘Sunset Song’, which is Davies 7th and most epically scaled feature, chronicles the struggle of a young woman, played by Agyness Deyn, to hold on to her farm in Northeast Scotland during World War I.

RAI COM DOES BRISK BIZ

Reflecting the growing importance of live events content Italo pubcaster Rai’s sales arm Rai Com has inked a slew of deals on its All’Opera series which brings top live Italian opera productions to theatrical audiences around the world. At Mipcom Rai Com has inked theatrical distribution deals for France (CGR), Spain (Filmax), Australia (Palace) & South Korea (SDC). They are in advanced talks to close Italy, US & UK. All’Opera brings worldwide audiences Italian opera performances from famous theaters including La Scala in Milan, the Teatro Di San Carlo in Naples, the Teatro Regio in Turin, La Fenice in Venice and the Arena in Verona. The 2015 / 2016 season offers works including Rossini’s ‘The Barber Of Seville’ & ‘La Cenerentola’, Puccini’s ‘The Girl Of the West’, Verdi’s ‘La Traviata’ & ‘Joan Of Arc’ & Donizetti’s ‘La Favorita’.

HBO N0RDIC ACQUIRES CRIME DRAMA

Crime series ‘The Last Panthers’, which world premiered at TV market Mipcom in Cannes last week, has been acquired by pay TV service HBO Nordic. The deal will make the show available in Sweden, Norway, Denmark & Finland. Studiocanal & Sky Vision, which are managing worldwide distribution, have also pre – sold the series to 365 Iceland & Hot in Israel. The show, which was commissioned by pay TV operators Sky, which covers UK, Germany & Italy & France’s Canal Plus, was previously acquired in US by SundanceTV. The 6 part series, which was produced by Haut et Court TV & Warp Films, stars Samantha Morton, Tahar Rahim, Goran Bogdan & John Hurt. It is based on an idea by French journalist Jerome Pierrat, and was co – created & written by Jack Thorne.
The series is directed by Johan Renck.

DISCOVERY KIDS – MORENA – MUNDOLOCO FORGE AN ALLIANCE

In a top – of – their – class animation alliance, Discovery Kids, Argentina’s Cris Morena Group and MundoLoco CGI, co – founded by Juan Jose Campanella, are partnering to co – develop 3 English language kids toon series: ‘Floribella’, ‘Underdogs’ & ‘Baby Rockers’. Oscar winner Campanella & Gaston Gorali, director & exec producer of ‘Foosball’, will serve as series’ show – runners. Discovery Kids will air the series exclusively in Latin America. “This unique partnership with Cris Morena Group & MundoLoco CGI reiterates Discovery Kids commitment to expand its pipeline of original content, both with well -established hit franchises such as ‘Floribella’ & ‘Underdogs’, as well as new content, such as ‘Baby Rockers,’” commented Carolina Lightcap, EVP & CCO of Discovery Latin America / US Hispanic & Global Lead for Discovery Kids & Family.

CANAL 13 PUTS TV DRAMAS IN COMAREX’S HANDS

Highlighting once again the significant interest of international market players in Chilean TV fiction, Comarex, the Mexico City based global distrib, has signed a strategic, exclusive distribution deal with Chilean network Canal 13 to handle the broadcaster’s finished TV series & formats worldwide. Inked with Canal 13’s international sales subsid, Canal 13 Sudmedia, the pact gives Comarex distribution rights to hit shows, including ‘Machos’, ‘Papi Ricky’, ‘Witches’, ‘Primera Dama’, ‘The Vega’s’, ‘The 80s’ & ‘Neighborhood Kings’, plus upcoming releases, such as teleseries ‘Veinteañero A Los 40’, which is scheduled to launch on Canal 13’s 2 pm TV primetime slot. “This is a highly important alliance for us because we are linking to one of the biggest distributors of Latin American TV content around the world,” Marina Del Canto, VP of International Sales at Canal 13 Sudmedia, told.

WOOD UNVEILS ‘COLONIA’

Andres Woodone of Chile’s most distinguished helmer & producers, has unveiled at Mipcom his new TV project ‘Colonia’, now in development. Awood Producciones will produce the skein, an 8 seg 1 hour drama. Wood & Julio Jorquera, director of ‘My Last Round’, and the Chilean version of ‘Red Band Society’, will direct. Budgeted at $2 million, the project was presented at Mipcom under the umbrella of promo org CinemaChile TV. Inspired by true events, series follows two men, Tobias Muller & Salo Luna, who escape from the clutches of Paul Schafer, a former Nazi hidden in Southern Chile. Pic criss – crosses 2 different time periods: the 1st beginning in 1976, when 5 year old Tobias suffered abuse from Schafer, and the 2nd, showing the escape from Colonia Dignidad, now Villa Baviera, a Chilean city founded by German immigrants in the early 60’s, located 200 miles South of Santiago De Chile.

IRAN PICKS RISE OF ISLAM EPIC ‘MUHAMMED: THE MESSENGER OF GOD’

Iran has selected ‘Muhammad: The Messenger Of God’, the controversial blockbuster about the birth & the rise of Islam directed by Majid Majidi, as its entry for the foreign language Academy Award. Considered the most expensive Iranian movie ever made, the $40 million epic was lensed by Vittorio Storaro and features a score by Indian composer Allah Rakha Rahman. The film recently prompted a fatwa from a Muslim group in India and has also sparked other forms of disapproval from Sunni religious authorities. Many Muslims consider any depiction of Muhammad to be taboo, even fleeting glimpses, such as those in the film. Iran is largely Islam, with the vast majority belonging to the Shiite sect. The partly Government financed ‘Muhammad: The Messenger Of God’ is playing on more than half of Iran’s roughly 320 screens after opening the Montreal Film Festival on 27 Aug, 2015. Box office receipts have hit over 70 billion Iranian Rials, roughly $2 million in 1 month, according to the Government controlled Tehran Times. If that figure is accurate, it’s a nice haul. The Muslim ban on images of Muhammad caused concern in Iran during the 7 year gestation of the religious blockbuster, which depicts the future prophet from birth through the age of 12. In her review, Variety critic Alissa Simon wrote, “Majidi respects Islamic convention by never showing Muhammad’s face and shooting him mostly from the back.” Majidi has said that through the biopic, he aimed to remove the “violent image” of Islam created by jihadist groups.

“PLAYMOBIL” PRODUCTION LAUNCHED

Backed by Wild Bunch & Pathe, Dimitri Rassam & Aton Soumache’s Paris based ON Animation Studios has launched the production of $75 million franchise based movie ‘Playmobil: Robbers, Thieves & Rebels’ on the heels of Toronto, where the project was snatched up by a flurry of international distributors. Cross Creek has acquired distribution rights to ‘Playmobil: Robbers, Thieves & Rebels’ for a wide release in US. The tiny – toy movie follows Lego’s big screen lead. ‘The Lego Movie’ opened to a whopping $69.1 million and grossed $468.8 million worldwide last year. Following a short story presentation at Toronto, ‘Playmobil: Robbers, Thieves & Rebels’, the ambitious 1st animated feature based on the iconic toy brand, locked pre -sales in other major territories, including Germany (Concorde), Latin America (Leda), Benelux (Belga), Switzerland (Impuls) & Middle East (Shooting Stars). Pathe will release the movie in France, while Vincent Maraval’s Wild Bunch handles international sales and will seal more deals at AFM in Nov, 2015.

LANTICA TO CO – PRODUCE ‘GRAN HOTEL’

Driving into higher end international drama under Chris Philip, tapped Jan, 2015 to head up production & distribution, Televisa USA is teaming with Lantica Media to adapt & co -produce TV series format ‘Gran Hotel’. From an original screenplay by Stephen Kornish, Televisa USA’s ‘Gran Hotel’ will be transposed from the original’s Spanish Belle Epoque milieu to the licentious 1950s pre -Castro Havana. Series will be shot at Lantica’s Pinewood Dominican Republic Studios. Lantica are now all set to co -develop & co – finance multiple projects with global producer & distributor Televisa USA. “We are thrilled to be in business with Televisa USA on this and future projects, said Antonio Gennari, CEO of Lantica Media. A romantic murder mystery melding danger & passion, Televisa USA’s ‘Gran Hotel’ 1950s Havana will forseebly amp up format’s crime gristle & licentiousness: Many Havana hotels were built by the mob, including Cuban kingpin Meyer Lansky, taking advantage of lax Cuban gambling laws. In plot, ‘Gran Hotel’ will turn on Julio who, following his sister’s disappearance, ends up searching for her at the opulent Gran Hotel in Havana, where he falls into the arms of the sexy daughter of its wealthy owner.

‘THE WALK’ HEADS TO ROME

Robert Zemeckis’ ‘The Walk’ which opens the New York Film Festival this Sat, will launch into Italy from the Rome Film Festival which has secured several other Italo bows of pics with Oscar buzz and will honor hot Chilean auteur Pablo Larrain with a complete retro. ‘The Walk’, which stars Joseph Gordon – Levitt as famous high wire artist Philippe Petit who performed on a tightrope connecting the Twin Towers of New York’s World Trade Center, will screen at the Rome fest in 3D, ahead of its 22nd Oct, 2015 Italian release via Warner Bros. Ben Kingsley, James Badge Dale, Ben Schwartz & Charlotte Le Bon also star. As previously announced, James Vanderbilt’s ‘Truth’, starring Robert Redford as Dan Rather & Cate Blanchett as his producer Mary Mapes, in a depiction of the “Memogate” controversy that ended Rather’s career as CBS News anchorman, will open the recently reconfigured Rome fest on 16th Oct, 2015. The 16th – 20th Oct, 2015 Eternal City event has a new artistic director, Antonio Monda, who is New York based Italian jouro, writer & academic and also boasts a beefed up market component called MIA – an acronym for Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo. Pablo Larrain, who is 39, will be on hand for the 1st complete retro of his works comprising of ‘Tony Manero’, ‘Post Mortem’ & ‘No’, which form a trilogy on the rise & fall of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. His ‘El Club’, which is about Catholic Church abuses in Chile, won the Silver Bear this year in Berlin and is Chile’s candidate in the foreign language category at the upcoming Academy Awards.

‘JUNUN’ TO DEBUT ON STREAMING PLATFORM MUBI

Paul Thomas Anderson’s new film ‘Junun’ will have its exclusive worldwide premiere on subscription streaming platform MUBI on 9th Oct, 2015 following its 8th Oct, 2015 opening at New York Film Festival. Earlier this year, Anderson, whose credits include ‘Inherent Vice’, ‘There Will Be Blood’ & ‘The Master’, joined his friend & collaborator Jonny Greenwood, guitarist with the band Radiohead & Israeli musician, composer & poet Shye Ben Tzur on a trip to Rajasthan in North – Western India, where they were hosted by the Maharaja of Jodhpur. Their destination was the 15th century Mehrangarh Fort, where Greenwood, with the help of Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich and a group of musicians drawn from across the Indian sub – continent, worked on Ben Tzur’s album, which will be released by Nonesuch in Nov, 2015. The band assembled a makeshift studio at the fort and over the following 3 weeks created the collaboration that became the music and film of ‘Junun’. (The word “junun” is an alternate spelling of “junoon” the Arabic, Persian, Urdu & Hindi word for “mania,” or “the madness of love”).

‘ANGELO RULES’ SEAON 3 LAUNCHED

UK kids / family entertainment distributors Cake Entertainment & France’s TeamTO, one of its leading CGI animation studios, will unveil Season 3 of ‘Angelo Rules’, one of TeamTO’s evergreen franchises, at this weekend’s Mip Junior. Launch comes as the partners confirmed recently that toon series’ 3rd season had sold to prestige partners: Super RTL for Germany & Cartoon Network EMEA for Europe, Middle East & Africa.

Cake will screen 1 episode of Season 3 in Mip Junior’s video library. Others will be available at its stand. Animated series will be ready for delivery by late 2015 and air in 2016 in France, Germany and around Europe. Going into production in 2008 and a TeamTO / Cake co – production for Gallic pubcaster France Televisions & Teletoon Plus, ‘Angelo Rules’, was an instant hit selling to over 100 countries. In 2010, over 1 million viewers in France watched its 1st episode, which punched a 30% 4 – 14s market share. Skein snagged a Pucinella Award for Best Kids TV Series at the 2010 Cartoons on the Bay Festival and a 2013 Emmy Kids Awards nomination. Season 3 once more turns on Angelo, aged 11, a sweet talking genius who, along with best friends Sherwood & Lola, uses planning, irreverence, a rebellious nature, optimism and above all charisma to extricate them from trouble.

SWIPE PICKS UK RIGHTS

Independent distributor Swipe Films has acquired UK rights to Maeve Murphy’s comic crime drama ‘Taking Stock’, which has its world premiere at Raindance Film Festival on 4th Oct, 2015. The 3rd feature by Belfast born director, the film stars Kelly Brook as a struggling actress who is inspired by the legend of gangsters Bonnie Parker & Clyde Barrow to rob the furniture store where she works part time. Star Brook, who recently landed a major role in NBC’s ‘One Big Happy’, produced by Ellen DeGeneres, is a UK actress & model whose diverse screen credits include ‘School for Seduction’, ‘Smallville’, ‘Piranha 3D’ & ‘Keith Lemon: The Film’, alongside West End stage appearances in ‘Calendar Girls’ and Neil La Bute’s ‘Fat Pig’. Murphy said: “I’m so pleased that ‘Taking Stock’ is premiering at Raindance Film Festival and will get released. The festival’s joyous indie spirit fits ‘Taking Stock’ very well. Kelly really shines and it’s a good platform for people to see it. Essentially it is a fun film which shows, in a light hearted way, some of the issues & dilemmas young people are currently facing in UK today.” Swipe, which handled TV sales for Murphy’s 2nd feature ‘Beyond The Fire’ in 2009, plans to release the film in Dec, 2015 subject to Brook’s availability. Known for its alternative marketing strategies, for its recent release of Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s ‘The President’.

GOVERNMENT CONSIDERS SALE OF CHANNEL 4

The UK Government is considering a sale of the publicly owned broadcaster Channel 4, it emerged recently, when a Government official was photographed holding a document identifying privatization as an option. Culture secretary John Whittingdale, who is in charge of UK broadcasting policy, has previously denied that a sale is being considered at present. Last month, he said at the Edinburgh Internal Television Festival: “The ownership of Channel 4 is not currently under debate. Do I say there are no circumstances in which I would ever consider it? No I don’t.” He added: “What I do say is the remit of Channel 4 is a priority and it’s not going to change.” Contradicting Whittingdale’s statement, the photographed document indicates that a sale is being considered. It states: “Work should proceed to examine the options for extracting greater public value from Channel 4 Corporation, focusing on privatization options in particular, while protecting its ability to deliver against its remit.” An insider with the governing Conservative Party commented: “John Whittingdale is interested and wants to do it,” the Guardian newspaper reported recently.

SONY & DISCOVERY INK A PACT

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment & Discovery Communications have inked a multi – year physical home entertainment distribution pact for Discovery’s catalog and future release slate. Beginning this fall, SPHE will distribute Discovery content on physical formats for the home entertainment marketplace throughout Europe, Middle East & Africa. Discovery’s upcoming release slate includes ‘Racing Extinction’, a politically charged documentary from the Oscar winning director of ‘The Cove’, Louie Psihoyos, as well as ‘Bear Grylls: Breaking Point’, in which the survival expert takes ordinary people on a journey to face their fears & ‘Manhunt’, which pits former Navy SEAL Joel Lambert against some of the world’s most experienced hunting & tracking units. Additional releases will include returning franchises such as ‘Through The Wormhole’, ‘Deadliest Catch’ & ‘How the Universe Works’. “We look forward to leveraging our strong distribution channels throughout the EMEA for Discovery’s distinct slate of world class product,” said Man Jit Singh, president, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

BARRY ON SHOOTING ‘NEWCOMER’

Extraordinarily for an opening night film and extremely heartening for aspiring filmmakers everywhere, Kai Barry’s 1st feature ‘Newcomer’ came to Raindance Film Festival programmers’ attention though open submissions. But after his film’s debut at the festival, Barry won’t be under the radar for much longer. Filmed in Belgrade and starring ‘My Brother The Devil’s James Floyd, ‘Newcomer’ tells the story of Alex, an apparently bright young man who finds himself over his head when he applies for a job with a private firm protecting secret information. Barry says: “The original thing was, I read a stat that said, in US, 70% of the intelligent budget goes on independent contractors. Just reading that statistic, I thought, ‘There’s got to be a lot of confusion here, right?’ And I started to wonder: what is that world? Obviously there’s the James Bond world, but what about this world, where nobody knows who anybody really is? Misinformation can be as powerful as shooting people, or blowing things up, and that was the side of the spy world that I wanted to play with and I wanted to keep everything as real as possible from that point forward.”

‘AURORA BOREALIS’ RECEIVES $2 MILLION

The Hungarian National Film Fund, which backed Cannes’ Grand Prix winner ‘Son Of Saul’, has granted 580 million HUF ($2.07 million) in production funding to Marta Meszaros’ ‘Aurora Borealis’. The feature film project starts to shoot next month. Meszaros is the director of ‘Adoption’, which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 1975, ‘Nine Months’, which won the Prix Fipresci at Cannes in 1977 and ‘Diary For My Children’, winner of the Grand Prix Special Du Jury at Cannes in 1984. ‘Aurora Borealis’ stars Mari Torocsik, who toplined last year’s local box – office hit ‘Swing’ by Csaba Fazekas. Torocsik won best actress at Cannes with ‘A Locsei Feher Asszony’ in 1976. As in her previous films, Meszaros examines a social taboo in ‘Aurora Borealis’, this time the story of children fathered by occupying Russian soldiers. It centers on Olga, who lives in Vienna. She realizes that there are secrets in her family past and she will not be able to put her own life in order until she works out the truth of what happened. After returning to Hungary, her elderly mother did everything in her power to keep the past a secret from her daughter and lied to her for years, but when she falls into a coma, Olga finds a mysterious photograph and starts to search for the truth.

‘NO LONGER HEROINE’ OVERTAKES “ATTACK ON TITAN”

‘Heroine Shikkaku’ (“No Longer Heroine”), climbed atop the Japanese box office this weekend in its 2nd week of release. Based on a best – selling comic by Momoko Koda about the love troubles of its title teen heroine, the film earned $1.95 million on 196,496 admissions from 268 screens, with Warner Japan distributing. This was only 12% down from last weekend, with teenaged girls accounting for most of the audience. ‘No Longer Heroine’ is now expected to finish near $25 million mark. ‘No Longer Heroine’ bumped ‘Attack On Titan: End Of The World’, the 2nd of a 2 part action / fantasy epic, distributed by Toho, after only 1 week at No. 1. Playing on 427 screens, the film took in $1.3 million from 112,487 admissions, compared with $2.7 million from 237,016 tickets for its opening frame. Even this latter figure was down 45.7% from the opening weekend of the 1st film, which bowed on 1st Aug, 2015. Also in its 2nd week of release, Disney’s ‘Ant – Man’ recorded $1.1 million on 96,575 admissions to hold onto the number 3 slot. There were no new entries to the top 10, reflecting distributors’ decisions to open their strongest films prior to the Silver Week holiday, which ran from 19th Sept, 2015 to 23rd Sept, 2015.