Annecy-Prizewinning ‘Calamity’ Lures International Buyers For Indie Sales (EXCLUSIVE)

child led to her discovery under the bed of a 33-year-old paedophile who had lured her to his home to have sex with her. Martin Reeves was jailed for 74 weeks today after he admitted sexually assaulting and injuring the 15-year-old girl by repeatedly having sex with her.

Will Thorne Staff WriterMark Duplass and Natalie Morales are taking their “Language Lessons” around the world.Blue Fox Entertainment has acquired the international rights to the pair’s secret pandemic film. News of the acquisition comes only a few months after “Language Lessons” made an eye-catching debut at the Berlin Festival and won an Audience Award at the SXSW Film Festival.The global distributor plans to introduce it to buyers at the upcoming Cannes virtual market.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterDermot Mulroney is set to star in the upcoming indie thriller “Breakwater.”The veteran actor, of “My Best Friend’s Wedding” and “August: Osage County” fame, will team with James Rowe, who makes his feature writing and directing debut.“Breakwater” will see Mulroney star as a prison inmate Ray Childress ,who charges a just-released fellow prisoner with finding his daughter.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentMemento International (“Call Me By Your Name”) has closed a raft of sales on Leah Purcell’s Australian revenge tale “The Drover’s Wife,” and Alex Camilleri’s “Luzzu” which world premiered at SXSW and Sundance, respectively. After selling North American rights to “The Drover’s Wife” to Samuel Goldwyn, Memento has sold “The Drover’s Wife” to the U.K.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentParis-based company Indie Sales has boarded Blandine Lenoir’s “Angry Annie,” a female-driven movie headlined by “Call My Agent!” star Laure Calamy, Zita Hanrot (Netflix’s “The Hook Up Plan”) and India Hair (“Mandibules”). Inspired by true events, the film takes place in France in 1974 and tells the story of Annie, a working mother of two teenagers who accidentally becomes pregnant at a time when abortion was illegal in the country.

Emilio Mayorga Stuttgart-based sales company Sola Media has taken international rights to animated feature “Gus, the Guide Dog,” currently in pre-production and to be directed by Portugal’s Bruno Simões, an animation director and previs artist who has worked on films such as “Skyfall,” “Epic” and “Rio 2.”Family-oriented “Gus” is produced by Roger Torras at Barcelona’s WKND,  Humberto Santana at Animanostra (Portugal), and Xosé Zapata at Sygnatia (Spain).

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent“Game of Thrones” co-executive producer Vince Gerardis is developing “Provvidenza,” a prequel to Italy’s national literary classic “I Promessi Sposi” (The Betrothed) to be set in a 16th-century plague-stricken Milan that is dirty, dark, lethal and corrupt.After setting up a Rome-based company called CIAO, Gerardis — who specializes in packaging big world-building film and TV projects based on literary properties, such as “Game of Thrones” — has now

When Elise Henderson joined MRC as President of Television in April 2019, the company had one series on the air, Netflix’s Ozark, was about to start production on HBO limited series The Outsider and had just finished a pilot for Hulu’s The Great.

Manori Ravindran International Editor“The Hardy Boys” are back for a second season of mystery solving.Corus Entertainment-backed producer-distributor Nelvana and Lambur Productions, who produce the show, have greenlit a second season (10 x 60′), which has again been picked up by Hulu for the U.S. and Canadian kids’ broadcaster YTV.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent“Evolver-Prologue,” a music-filled immersive film produced by Edward R. Pressman (“The Crow”) and Oscar-nominated Terrence Malick (“The Tree of Life”), is set to be partly unveiled at Cannes by France’s Orange.

Kunal Nayyar, Lucy Hale and Christina Hendricks are set to star in The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, an adaptation of the New York Times best-selling novel by Gabrielle Zevin. Hans Canosa will direct from Zevin’s adaptation of her own novel and David Garrett’s Mister Smith Entertainment will be shopping the project to buyers at the upcoming Cannes Virtual Market next week. 

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentLondon-based financier Anton (“Greenland,” “His Dark Materials”) has boarded “No Place Like Kill,” an action-packed crime thriller from Mat Newman with Sam Riley (“Control,” “Maleficient”) and Charles Dance (“The Crown,” “Mank”) attached to star.

Manori Ravindran International Editor“Julia’s Eyes” helmer Guillem Morales is readying 1980s-set psychological thriller “Brother,” with WestEnd Films set to launch sales at the Cannes virtual market later this month.Morales, one of Spain’s top genre auteurs, is best known for 2010 Spanish horror “Julia’s Eyes” (pictured), which was produced by Guillermo del Toro. The director recently won a BAFTA for his work on the hit BBC dark comedy anthology series “Inside No.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentBelgian director Felix van Groeningen (“Beautiful Boy”) and Charlotte Vandermeersch have started shooting in the Alps on “The Eight Mountains,” an Italian drama based on a bestseller about male bonding set against a mountainous backdrop.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentMemento International (“Call Me By Your Name”) has boarded “Legend of Destruction,” a thought-provoking animated feature by Israeli filmmaker Gidi Dar (“Ushpizin”), produced by Lama Films (“Tel Aviv on Fire,” “Paradise Now”). The film’s unique visual style is being created from 1,500 original paintings which are edited and animated together.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorFrance’s Dandelooo, best known for International Emmy winner “The Treehouse Stories,” and Belgium’s Vivi Film, whose credits include Oscar nominated films “The Triplets of Belleville” and “The Secret of Kells,” have partnered to co-produce and co-finance the animated series “The Upside Down River.”Dandelooo’s animation studio Ooolala will produce the 2D animation in co-operation with Canal Plus Family, written by Jean Regnaud (“Ernest & Celestine”)

EXCLUSIVE: Endeavor Content is gearing up to go to market later this summer to raise capital and take WME parent Endeavor’s ownership stake in the affiliated studio down to 20% to comply with the conditions of WME’s February deal with the WGA.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentThe first global film event to be staged in 2021, the 73rd edition of the Cannes Film Festival, will take place under strict security and health guidelines.Variety spoke exclusively with Cannes general secretary François Desrousseaux, who has been hammering out protocols with the festival’s organizers, producers and Cannes regional authorities, while conducting discussions with the government aimed at softening some measures for international

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentParis-based company Indie Sales has boarded Vincent Le Port’s debut feature “Bruno Reidal — Confession of a Murder,” which is set to world premiere in competition at Cannes’ Critics’ Week, the festival’s parallel strand dedicated to first and second films.The film will also vie for a Caméra d’Or award.