Antonia Nava, Liliana Bravo Launch Neo Art International, Bow First Slate (EXCLUSIVE)

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Oscar contenders and Berlin prize-winners will be among the European films being represented by visiting companies to FilMart that are making use of the European Film Promotion umbrella stand within the annual Hong Kong market. In total 29 European film sales companies are making the trip, including more than a dozen from France under the Unifrance banner. Prominent rights brokers include Charades, Goodfellas, Fandango and Filmax.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italy, where debate over violence against women is currently raging, is celebrating International Women’s Day by becoming the first country to theatrically release “Tatami,” a female empowerment thriller about an Iranian judo fighter that made a splash in Venice and marks the first collaboration by Iranian and Israeli filmmakers. Italy’s BIM Distribuzione is bowing “Tatami” – which is co-helmed by Iranian actress Zar Amir Ebrahimi (“Holy Spider) and Israeli director Guy Nattiv – on 90 local movie screens on Friday as an International Women’s Day special preview at a discounted €3.50 ($3.80) ticket price.

This year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF, March 28-April 8) will open with the Asian premiere of All Shall Be Well, directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Ray Yeung, which recently won the Teddy Award at Berlin film festival.

After a successful return as a physical event last year, Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (Filmart, March 11-14) is taking place again this year against a complicated backdrop, both in terms of market realities and the shifting geopolitics of the region. 

Emiliano De Pablos Brand new sales agency Neo Art International has picked up worldwide sales rights outside Italy to Claudio Amendola’s black comedy film trilogy “Cassamortari” (“Funeral Family”). The film trilogy narrates the story of The Pasti Family, a Roman family who work in the funeral business. The three titles of the saga are set up at Rome-based company Paco Cinematografica, and co-produced with Antonia Nava’s Neo Art Producciones in Barcelona.

FRIDAY UPDATE: Dune: Part Two added 42 international box office markets on Thursday, taking the offshore cume on the Denis Villeneuve-directed sequel to $20.8M in a total 55. This includes two full-days of play and previews in those markets.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent European giant Beta Film, known for ambitious titles such as “Babylon Berlin” and “The Swarm,” has shared with Variety in exclusivity a first-look picture of 1o-part series “Rise of the Raven,” which it hails as “one of the most epic European TV productions of all time.” “Rise of the Raven” weighs in as a passion project of Hungarian-born and Canada-based producer Robert Lantos, behind “Sunshine,” “The Sweet Hereafter,” “Barney’s Version,” “Eastern Promises” and “Crimes of the Future.” A highlight at Beta Film’s showcase this Tuesday at the London TV Screenings, “Rise of the Raven” turns on the extraordinary feat of Hungarian army commander Janos Hunyadi, played by discovery Gellért L. Kádár, who in 1456 won a bloody, brutal Battle of Belgrade against a vast Ottoman force twice the size of his troops who were often farm labourers armed with just slings and patriotic fervor. Hunyadi largely halted a full Ottoman expansion in Europe for the next 70 years, allowing its Renaissance to lift off in Italy.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Underscoring the enduring popularity of crime drama, Abacus Media Rights (AMR), an Amcomri Entertainment company, has announced a slew of sales on two titles, led by Showmax Original “Catch Me a Killer,” a true crime drama with “Game of Thrones’” Charlotte Hope playing South Africa’s first and most famous serial killer profiler. Hope also headed “The Spanish Princess,” as Catherine of Aragon. AMR has moreover closed further deals on fiction drama “Scrublands,” a scripted drama about the real reasons for a country town massacre.

Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here steering you away from Berlin and towards London for the Screenings. Please do read on, and sign up here.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent In a milestone move, Sony Pictures Television has unveiled “La Academia,” its first Spanish-language scripted series filmed in Spain for Prime Video and 3Cat. “La Academia” is produced for Sony by Brutal Media, commissioned out of Sony Pictures Television’s international production group.

Marta Balaga Slovakia’s explosive political drama “Our People” will head to Series Mania’s Forum Co-Pro Pitching Sessions in March. Produced by Jakub Viktorín and Tomáš Hrubý for nutprodukcia and written by Miro Šifra, it will be directed by Tereza Nvotová. The miniseries, inspired by tragic real events, depicts the killing of investigative journalist Ján Kuciak and his fiancee Martina Kušnírová.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Sebastian Stan, whose “A Different Man” screens in the Berlin Film Festival, Christoph Waltz and Tom Wlaschiha, the “Faceless Man” in “Game of Thrones,” were among the guests at Studio Babelsberg Night, the historic Berlin film studios’ party at Soho House Berlin held to celebrate the 74th edition of the festival. The event was supported by Mexican tequila brand Don Julio, the Motion Picture Assn. and Little Moons.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italian singer-songwriter Margherita Vicario’s directorial debut “Gloria!” has scored a slew international sales ahead of its world premiere in the Berlin Film Festival competition. RAI Cinema International Distribution has sealed deals to nine territories on Vicario’s vibrant musical comedy set in a late 18th century Venetian female orphanage where a young rebel named Teresa leads a group of performers to challenge classical canons and invent a precursor to pop music.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority (GEA) has launched a new film fund called Big Time Investment to boost production of quality Arabic movies and announced a slate of Egyptian feature films toplined by a biopic of Egyptian icon Umm Kulthum who is considered the Arab world’s greatest singer. Prominent Egyptian director Marwan Hamed, whose epic “Kira and El Gen” about local resistance to British occupation, is recent hit, will direct the film titled “El Set.” Egyptian star Mona Zaki will play Kulthum who from the late 1920s onwards became the first prominent Arab singer to disseminate her work to the masses via the new technologies of the times: radio, the phonograph, cinema and television.

Refresh for latest…: Paramount’s Bob Marley: One Love brought folks together around the world in its opening frame, singing up a sweet estimated $80M global bow. After coming on strong in early overseas play this week, and as audiences turned a deaf ear to critics, the international box office portion of that is $29M, landing well ahead of expectations.

“The first shape I had in mind for this film was fiction,” filmmaker Mati Diop told a Berlin Film Festival presser this morning when quizzed on the structure of her inventive documentary Dahomey. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italy’s Teresa Cavina has been appointed artistic director of Malta’s Mediterrane Film Festival the second edition of which will run June 22-30 in Valletta, the island’s capital. Cavina, who has over twenty years of experience in programming and artistic director roles at festivals including Locarno, El-Gouna, Rome, Venice and Abu Dhabi, is structuring the Mediterrane fest’s selection in four programming strands: In Competition, featuring films from across the Mediterranean; Out of Competition, featuring films from the rest of the world; Mare Nostrum – ‘Our Sea’, showcasing narrative and documentary films dedicated to sustainability and the environment; and Future Visions – a selection of experimental VR projects.

Callum McLennan Filmax has taken global distribution rights for “My Friend Eva,” the latest from Spanish director Cesc Gay whose ‘Truman’ proved a notable hit overseas, scoring substantial theatrical returns in several territories. Set against the backdrops of Barcelona and Rome, this romantic comedy boasts Nora Navas (“Libertad”) Juan Diego Botto (“The Suicide Squad”) and Rodrigo de la Serna (“Money Heist”). The film marks the ninth collaboration between Gay and producer Marta Esteban of Imposible Films, dating back to Gay’s breakout “Nico and Dani” and taking in “Truman.” The new film turns on Eva, 50, a married woman on the quest for passion whose life takes a dramatic turn after a serendipitous encounter in Rome.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Variety is premiering the trailer (below) for feature documentary “Transition,” which follows Australian filmmaker Jordan Bryon, a trans man, as he embeds with a Taliban unit as they retake control of Afghanistan. The film, directed by Monica Villamizar and Bryon, will be released in the U.S. on March 26 by Gravitas Ventures.

Naman Ramachandran Top Indian star Allu Arjun has revealed franchise expansion plans for his 2021 blockbuster film “Pushpa: The Rise — Part 1.” Directed by Sukumar and produced by Mythri Movie Makers, the film traced the rise of Pushpa Raj (Arjun), a laborer who rises through the ranks of a red sandalwood smuggling syndicate and faces off against an egotistical police officer. The Telugu-language film was also dubbed into other Indian languages and went on to become India’s biggest box office hit of 2021. Arjun won best actor at India’s National Film Awards for the film.