Annecy Festival to Expand Scope With Sprawling $27 Million International Animation Hub (EXCLUSIVE)

Anna Marie de la Fuente Chile’s pioneering fantasy/horror filmmaker Jorge Olguin, whose latest feature “Análogos” recently won the jury prize at the 51st Curtas Festival do Imaxinario in Galicia, Spain, is venturing into series-making for the first time. Backed by CNTV, Chile’s National Television Council, the series “Kalkutún: Trial of the Witches” will be participating in Ventana Sur’s SoloSerieS and Blood Window sections, thanks to a pact between CNTV and Ventana Sur, Latin America’s most prominent film and TV event.

BreAnna Bell United Talent Agency has partnered with longtime TV executive Nick Emmerson, investing in his newly launched unscripted studio, Headers and Volleys Entertainment, Variety has learned exclusively. UTA continues to rep Emmerson in the US. Based in Brighton and London, UK, HAVE will focus on creating and producing unscripted content for the UK, the international SVODs and the US market, with several projects currently in development.

IMAX is continuing its expansion drive, this time in Australia and Germany via an agreement with Oz-based exhibitor EVT for five new state-of-the-art IMAX with Laser systems in the two markets. Under the deal, EVT will integrate a new IMAX screen in an Event Cinemas location in Sydney, as well as at four CineStar locations in Germany.

A warning has been issued to homeowners across the UK as millions of mortgage deals are nearing their end. With approximately 1.6 million fixed-rate agreements on the brink of ending, experts say anyone with this type of mortgage will be forced to 'make some difficult decisions' soon.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Funny Birds,” an heartwarming comedy-drama starring Andrea Riseborough, Catherine Deneuve and Morgan Saylor, has sold in key territories in the run up to the AFM. Executive produced by Martin Scorsese, the movie is directed by Marco La Via and Hanna Ladoul.

Ben Croll International production spending in France hit record highs in 2022, resulting in 2,220 shooting days that crested above $1 billion in promised investment — and public initiatives had a major role to play. In early 2020, for example, France updated its Tax Rebate for International Production scheme, supplementing a 30% across-the-board rebate with an additional 10% — applicable on all eligible expenses — for productions that spent $2.2 million with local VFX and post houses.

Blumhouse Productions‘ horror film spring-trapped$39.4 million in ticket sales from 3,675 locations on its opening day, a number that includes $10.3 million in preview screenings. That’s an impressive figure for a release that is already available on streaming. Universal elected to drop “Freddy’s” on its platform Peacock on the same day as its theatrical debut.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief No Maori Allowed, directed by Corinna Hunziger was named the winner of the Pasifika Award and recipient of a $5,000 cash prize at the Hawaii International Film Festival. It recounts the story of a teacher who unearths a secret past in the town of Pukekohe. Thet causes M?ori community figures to come forward to share personal stories that shaped their lives.

Christopher Vourlias Annecy Cristal Prize winner Áron Gauder, who won the festival’s top prize in 2005 for his time-traveling love story “The District!”, returned to the prestigious French animation event this year with “Four Souls of Coyote,” an epic adventure inspired by a Native American myth about the creation of the universe that scooped the festival’s Jury Award. Produced by Budapest-based animation studio Cinemon Entertainment and written and created by Gauder, the 2D-animated project is Hungary’s selection for the best international feature film race at the 96th Academy Awards and plays next at the Hungarian Film Festival of Los Angeles, which runs Oct. 27 – Nov.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent While at the Lumiere Film Festival in Lyon, German film master Wim Wenders said he shares Martin Scorsese’s deep concern over Hollywood’s obsession with sequels, and worries about AI in line with U.S. actors who are still on strike.

Phil Foden might have finally found his best position in the England set-up - and it's remarkably similar to his favourite position with Manchester City.

Medyapim (“Mother”) and Ay Yapim (“Endless Love”), Madd is at Mipcom not only as Turkey’s top content exporter but also as an innovative industry driver thanks to a raft of deals that take the country’s booming TV business in new directions. The combined firepower of Medyapim that comprises several subsidiaries and partners including MF Yapim, Madd, and Mednova and has a library of more than 10,000 hours of TV content spanning from dramas and sitcoms to feature films and game shows, and Ay Yapım which produces a slew of Turkey’s most beloved dramas, accounts for over 400 hours of original programming per year.

Amber Dowling “Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent” announced the cast for its initial season at MIPCOM on Monday, confirming six full-time leads for the Canadian iteration of the longest-running scripted drama brand in TV history. The all-Canadian cast includes Aden Young (“Rectify”) as Det. Sgt.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Cineflix Rights has closed multiple international deals across its slate, including returning seasons of “Last King of The Cross” and “Reginald the Vampire,” as well as the movie “Sugar.” “Last King of The Cross” charts the rise of John Ibrahim from poverty-stricken immigrant to the most infamous nightclub mogul in Sydney’s Kings Cross. Season 2 of the show, which has been acquired by Sky (U.K.), Warner Bros.

Ellise Shafer Daniel Kaluuya world premiered his feature directorial debut, “The Kitchen,” at the BFI London Film Festival on Sunday night, calling it “one of the best days of my life.” Kaluuya was on hand alongside his co-director Kibwe Tavares, producer Daniel Emmerson and several of the film’s actors, including “Top Boy” star Kane Robinson and newcomer Jedaiah Bannerman. Set in a dystopian London where all social housing has been banned, the film follows the residents of a community called the Kitchen who must fight to save their home. Speaking before the premiere, Kaluuya and Tavares explained that it’s taken nearly a decade to bring the Netflix film to the screen.

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor Ji.hlava Intl. Documentary Film Festival has unveiled the program for its 27th edition, which will take place in the Czech city of Jihlava between Oct.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Ayelet Arnin, a 22-year news editor who worked at Israel’s main broadcaster Kan, was among the 200 civilians killed by Hamas terrorists while attending a rave party in the country’s southern region on Saturday. Arnin, who was reportedly an American citizen, was reported dead by her friend who was with her at the party and informed her parents. Kan News Division spokesman Elon Baruch said in a statement Wednesday, “The Israel Broadcasting Corporation is saddened by the murder of our friend, Ayelet Arnin, an employee of the corporation, a sub-editor in the news division, in an attack by Hamas terrorists in the south.

Cailee Spaeny dazzles while promoting her new film Priscilla at the 2023 BFI London Film Festival on Monday (October 9).

Brent Lang Executive Editor Madison Wells Livewill present a private industry reading of “Locker Room Talk,” a new play by Meghan Kennedy. Directed by Jessie Nelson, the reading will feature Sara Bareilles (“Into the Woods”), Sarita Choudhury (“And Just Like That”), Paige Gilbert (“Late Night”), Donna Murphy (“Passion”), Bonnie Milligan (“Kimberly Akimbo”), Gayle Rankin (“GLOW”), Havana Rose Liu (“Bottoms”), Cecily Strong (“SNL”) and Charlotte Surak (“Waitress”). The event will take place on Oct.

Dear Jassi arrives with echoes of Madonna’s 1989 hit “Dear Jessie” and its sugary promise of pink elephants and lemonade, but none of that turns out to be forthcoming in Tarsem Singh Dhandwar’s beautiful and brutal sixth feature. Instead, we have perhaps the most disturbing bait-and-switch since George Sluizer’s original iteration of The Vanishing, a Punjabi Juliet-meets-Romeo story that’s much harsher that any so-far-filmed version of West Side Story and a whole lot funnier. This dissonance takes a while to reveal itself, but when it does, the shock is visceral. The fact that almost everything is true is the killer blow, and the shockwave of that reverberates through the poignant final credits, a static shot that forces the audience, or maybe just simply dares them, to think about what they’ve just seen.