WIDE ROLLS OUT “NOJOOM”
Paris based Wide, headed by Loic Magneron, has clinched 1st sales on ‘I Am Nojoom Age 10 & Divorced’, the 2014 Dubai Fest best fiction film winner. Deals for US distribution with Film Movement & for Canada on the Wide – sold ‘2 Nights Till Morning’ have just closed in the run – up to Toronto, rolling off its Montreal Fest best director win; Wide has also clinched a French all – rights deal on ‘Wonderland’, one of Locarno’s big new Swiss films. France (Synergy Films), Spain (Splendor Films), Sweden (ACIS, for TV & VOD), Turkey (Sinema TV), Brazil (Esfera Filmes), Taiwan (Movie Cloud) & Thailand (Yodmala Co Ltd) have closed on “Nojoom”, a social issue meller centering on a 10 year old Yemeni child bride who rebels against her fate helmed by documentarian / writer Khadija Al – Salami, a child bride at 11, in her 1st fiction feature. “A lot of distributors felt very passionate about it and really wanted the subject to be better known,” said Georgia Poivre, a Wide sales exec. K Films has picked up all rights to Quebec on the English language debut of Helsinki based Mikko Kuparinen, ‘2 Nights Till Morning’. “We had just started showing “2 Nights” to Quebecois buyers in Montreal and have already closed a deal, which shows how universal & emotional the film is,” Wide’s Magneron told.
KINO ACQUIRES US RIGHTS TO ‘TIKKUN’
Kino Lorber has snatched up all US rights to Avishai Sivan’s ‘Tikkun’, the daring black & white Israeli drama that just played Telluride & won prizes at this year’s Jerusalem & Locarno fests. Sold by Bleiberg Entertainment, ‘Tikkun’ stars Aharon Traitel as Haim -Aaron, a bright, ultra – Orthodox religious scholar living in Jerusalem who loses consciousness after collapsing and is brought back to life by his father (Khalifa Natour). After the accident, Haim – Aaron starts grappling with faith while his father is tormented by the fear of having crossed God’s will on the night he resuscitated his son. ‘Tikkun’ has had a stellar run in the festivals circuit. It won best film, screenplay, cinematography & actor for Khalifa Natour at the Jerusalem fest. It also scooped up the Silver Leopard (special jury prize), a special mention for its cinematography and the independently conferred Don Quijote Prize at the Locarno festival. This deal was negotiated between Kino Lorber CEO Richard Lorber & Bleiberg Entertainment’s head Ehud Bleiberg. “Brilliantly penetrating the rarely glimpsed inner sanctum of Hasidic life, director Avishai Sivan reveals the carnal consequences of spiritual constraint in the riveting performance of his tormented protagonist,” said Lorber.
HIGH – END DRAMA POWERS FRANCE
The US is getting the French TV touch. Pre – sales on 4 flagship French fiction series ‘Transporter: The Series’, ‘Panthers’, ‘Versailles’ & ‘Taxi Brooklyn’ to US or beyond helped power up Gallic TV exports to an all time record last year of €210.3 million ($231.3 million). A muscular 17.1% up on 2013, figure reps the 5th year of consecutive growth for French TV programs and is near 30% up on international French TV levels in pre – crisis years of 2005 – 2008, TV France International & French agency CNC announced recently at TVFI’s annual Biarritz Rendez – Vous. Drama pre – sales soared an extraordinary 449% year – on – year in 2014. If any figures were needed to demonstrate that it is not only US that is benefitting from a fiction feeding frenzy, Recent Gallic stats announcement was conclusive. “There’s been a crisis but exports have really picked up,” said Mathieu Bejot, TVFI head. Beyond US & UK galvanised by sales of ‘Panthers’, a Warp Films / Haut et Court production, ‘Versailles’, produced by Capa Drama and an iconic Canal Plus Original Series & Germany where Profilages played well on ProSiebenSat were key export markets for drama in Western Europe.
BBC CHIEF TONY SETS OUT VISION
Tony Hall, director general of UK broadcaster BBC, set out recently on how it will respond to challenges & opportunities posed by the internet era. Speaking at the Science Museum in London, Hall said that as the network negotiated with the Government to formulate a new Charter, the agreement that defines its purpose and the scope of its operations, it had the chance to refine itself to fit the demands of the new media environment. Hall said that the watchwords of BBC were “creative freedom”, “universal reach” & “trust & consent” and that it should stand for “excellence without arrogance.” He stated that one of its central challenges was to adapt to technological change, as it had done throughout its history. “The challenge we face up to in what we’re publishing today is how to continue to achieve excellence in a time of change,” he said. He said the BBC, since its formation in 1922, had never faced such significant technological challenges as it does now. “I wonder whether there has ever been a technological challenge as bracing & exciting as this one. As bracing as the challenges & opportunities posed by the internet,” he said.
DANIEL JOINS AMUSEMENT PARK
Daniel Bruhl, who stars in Marvel’s upcoming ‘Captain America: Civil War’, is to become a partner at Berlin & Hamburg based production company Amusement Park Film. He joins forces with Malte Grunert & Klaus Dohle as a producer with the aim of finding, developing & producing material across both film & television and with a focus on English language product. Bruhl & Grunert, who previously worked together on Anton Corbijn’s ‘A Most Wanted Man’, are both attending the Toronto Film Festival this week with their own projects. Bruhl will be in town to support ‘Colonia’, Florian Gallenberger’s thriller set in 1973 in Chile, in which he co – stars with Emma Watson. It receives its world premiere on 13th Sept, 2015. Grunert will be attending with director Martin Zandvliet for ‘Land Of Mine’, a Danish /German co – production set in the immediate aftermath of World War II. The film opened the new Platform section on 10th Sept, 2015.
PORTA & BRAGAS TEAM UP WITH CURTIS
UK director & screenwriter Richard Curtis, digital sensation Porta dos Fundos & multi – platform production pioneers Los Bragas are teaming in Brazil on a new approach to global change, as part of one of the most ambitious communication campaign in history. On 25th Sept, 2015, 193 world leaders will commit to 17 United Nations Global Goals. These aim to end extreme poverty, fight inequality & injustice and fix climate change for everyone by 2030. But if UN wants to change the world, strategies for implementing that change are changing too. And Brazil, where the strategy is both glocal & digital, is a very good case in point. The goals, if met, ensure the health, safety & future of the planet for everyone on it. And their best chance of being met is if everyone on the planet is aware of them. So, in an out – of – the – box move, Curtis has founded Project Everyonewhose “simple but mighty ambition,” as he puts it, is to share the global goals with 7 billion people in seven days this September.
‘THE JUDGEMENT’ SELECTED AS AWARD ENTRY
Stephan Komandarev’s ‘The Judgment’ has been selected as Bulgaria’s entry in the foreign language film category of the Academy Awards. The decision was made by the National Council for Cinema. It is the 2nd time that a film from Komandarev has been chosen to represent the country at the Oscars. In 2009 his film ‘The World Is Big And Salvation Lurks Around The Corner’ was one of the 9 films to be shortlisted for the foreign language Oscar. ‘The Judgment’ is about Mityo and his son Vasko, who live in a poor area, near the Bulgarian – Turkish – Greek border. Finding himself at a dead end, Mityo agrees to work for his former commander from his time in the military: His job is to smuggle illegal immigrants from Syria across the border and into European Union. Mityo has lost everything that has mattered to him: his wife, his work & his son’s trust. In order to gain Vasko’s trust again, Mityo has to seek forgiveness for a sin he committed 25 years earlier. The film was produced by Komandarev & Katia Trichkova at Argo Film.
VIDEA STUDIOS OPENS TO INTERNATIONAL PRODUCTIONS
Italy’s Videa Studios, the facilities near Rome founded in 1960’s by producer Franco Cristaldi where Italian cinema classics by Luchino Visconti, Francesco Rosi & also Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Cinema Paradiso” were shot, are looking to lure international productions by offering production services plus potential co – production partnerships to indie pictures that could be released in Italy via their Videa distribution side. Among other titles that Videa will be releasing in Italy are Stephen Frears’ Lance Armstrong biopic ‘The Program’. Videa is owned by Italian TV producer & film distributor Sandro Parenzo. “Besides owning these studios, we are a distribution company,” says Videa executive Angelica Canevari. “The idea of opening the market to international production stems more from us as film distributors than from our owning the studios,” she added. That is not to say that they are not open to other ways of doing business. The studios currently host several Italian TV shows. Videa Studios’ move to expand activities internationally is also prompted by Italy’s generous tax credits which offer a 25% cash back deduction with no per project cap to both film & TV productions.
LUCA TALKS OF MAKING “SPLASH”
6 years after launching ‘I Am Love’ from Venice, Luca Guadagnino is back on the Lido with the more ambitious ‘A Bigger Splash’, a psychological drama about a rock star & a photographer (Tilda Swinton and Matthias Schoenaerts, respectively) whose vacation on the sun drenched Sicilian island of Pantelleria takes an unexpected turn when a record producer (Ralph Fiennes) & his daughter (Dakota Johnson) burst on the scene. Guadagnino spoke about the process that led to making “Splash” which Fox Searchlight has set for a 13th May, 2016.
DEPP & REDMAYNE FILMS ENERGIZE VENIC MARKET
Galvanised by star laden titles, which brought Jake Gyllenhaal (‘Everest’), Johnny Depp (‘Black Mass’), Eddy Redmayne (‘The Danish Girl’) & Kristen Stewart Nicholas Hoult (‘Equals’) to the Lido and a star studded glam jury including Elizabeth Banks & Diane Kruger its looks as if the 72nd Venice Film Festival will go down as one of the highest profile in recent years as the fest nears its midpoint. Oscar speculation ran rife. ‘The Danish Girl’ received a 10 minute standing ovation at its Venice gala world premiere with Redmayne earmarked as a clear Academy Awards contender. As was Depp, whose press conference was packed. A brace of early films charmed critics, led by “Spotlight” with Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo & Rachel Adams, with many reckoning it was director Tom McCarthy’s best work to date and ‘Marguerite’, which Variety critic Peter Debruge called “an exquisite satire.” “Venice is not so much of a film market as Toronto. But the press is very reactive in Venice,” said Films Boutique’s Jean – Christophe Simon, adding that the positive reaction to Alexander Sokurov’s ‘Francofonia’ will help him sell it in Toronto.
3 MOVIES DEBUTS AT PREMIERE BRASIL
Marcos Jorge’s ‘In Dog’s Words’, Ruy Guerra’s ‘Oblivious Memory’ & Roberto Berliner’s ‘Nise The Heart Of Madness’ will world preem in Premiere Brasil, the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival’s centerpiece section. Screening new works from both established & emerging directors representing a broad spectrum of Brazil’s cultural themes & regions, Premiere Brasil marks a standout annual global showcase of contemporary Brazilian cinema. “Words”, “Memory” & “Nise” all play in the feature film section of Premiere Brasil, which also hosts the world premieres of Alberto Graça’s Lisbon set erotic romancer ‘Beatriz’, co – produced by MPC & Associados with Portugal’s Filmes do Tejo & Marina Person’s coming – of – age drama ‘California’, a Ventana Sur 2014 Primer Corte player, produced by Sao Paulo’s Mira Filmes, & acquired by Brazilian distrib Vitrine Filmes.
A NEW FACE OF LATIN AMERICAN CINEMA
Playing in Venice Horizons, ‘Kill Me Please’, the feature debut of Brazil’s Anita Rocha Da Silveira, reveals one of the new faces of Latin American cinema. The pic is part of the growing trend of pan – regional co – production, as it was produced by 2 of Latin America’s most energetic co -production practitioners: Rio De Janeiro based Bananeira Films and Argentina’s REI Cinema, headed by Benjamin Domenech and Santiago. No favela poverty drama, “Kill Me” is set at an exclusive high school in Rio de Janeiro’s Barra De Tijuca, which will host much of 2016 Olympics, a zone of new high rises and seemingly endless real estate construction. Produced by a woman Bananeira’s Vania Catani ‘Kill Me, Please’ is also directed by a woman and a new member, that of Latin America’s growing breed of genre auteurs. Skewering the new Brazilian Dream and half serial killer suspenser, ‘Kill Me, Please’ is also a coming of age dramedy. Story follows 15 year old Bia and her gaggle of friends after a girl’s body is found near the school. They react with morbid curiosity as more corpses appear and Bia becomes obsessed by the crimes. When not worrying about crimes, they play volleyball, go shopping & dress in expensive clothes.
M – APPEAL TAKES GLOBAL SALES ON ‘BLANKA’
Maren Kroymann’s Berlin based sales company M – Appeal has picked up world sales on ‘Blanka’, an Italian production shepherded through the Venice fest Biennale College initiative and shot in the Philippines by 1st time Japanese director Kohki Hasei. Pic about a 11 year old girl who survives alone in Manila begging & stealing from tourists is produced by Italy’s Flaminio Zadra through Biennale College which finances & shepherds micro – budget works with potential to travel from development through distribution. Abandoned by her mother Blanka is on a quest to raise money to “buy” a new mom, only to find that a family is made up of those who love you. The world preem took place recently on Lido, while the final screening of ‘Blanka’ will take place at the fest. Besides Euros 150,000 ($167,000) from the Biennale College program ‘Blanka’ also received support from Asian Cinema Fund for postproduction. Flaminio Zadra & Alberto Fanni’s Rome based Dorje Film have co – produced several Fatih Akin titles, including ‘Soul Kitchen’ & ‘The Cut’.
‘THE CLAN’ KICKS INTERNATIONAL DEALS
Pablo Trapero’s crime thriller ‘The Clan’, which unspools in Venice competition, continues to pummel all – time box office records for Argentine movies, grossing an extraordinary $13 million in 3 weeks off an 13th Aug, 2015 bow in its native Argentina, where it is distributed by Twentieth Century Fox. In international, Twentieth Century Fox has acquired rights to all Latin America, while Warner Bros. Pictures Espana will distribute ‘The Clan’ in Spain. Sales agent Film Factory Entertainment has closed Germany (Prokino), France (Diaphana Distribution) & Australia (Vendetta). Inspired by real events in the 1980s, ‘The Clan’ stars Guillermo Francella, one of Argentina’s biggest marquee draws, as Arquimedes Puccio, the patriarch of Clan Puccio, a well -heeled Buenos Aires family. It made its money abducting people from its own neighborhood, securing boffo ransoms & then killing them.
