Anupam Kher to Headline YRF Entertainment’s Streaming Film ‘Vijay 69’ (EXCLUSIVE)

EXCLUSIVE: V Channels And Blairwood Entertainment have formed a partnership to present a slate of genres films collected under the title ‘V Channels Originals’ for world sales at the Cannes market, which ends this week.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent While the lineup of Cannes Film Market’s newly launched initiative Cannes Investors Circle has remained under wraps, Variety has learned about four of the nine projects which were pitched during the invitation-only event. The initiative was created by the film market’s new executive director Guillaume Esmiol to connect VIP private investors with select filmmakers and producers boasting a stellar track records. Curated by experts such as Medici’s Tamara Tatishvili, Arte Cinema’s Rémi Burah and financier Serge Hayat, the nine projects are budgeted between €2 million and €12 million. Among these are “Dracula. The Second Coming” directed by Radu Jude, the Romanian helmer of Berlinale prizewinning “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn,” directed by Ada Solomon at microFILM; “Rivo Alto,” directed by Clément Cogitore (“The Wakhan Front”) and produced by Jean-Christophe Reymond at Kazak Productions (“Titane”); “The Girl” directed by Marina Ziolkowski (“But You Look So Good”) and produced by Philippe Gompel (“Cherry”) at Manny Films, and “The Birthday Party” directed by Miguel Angel Jimenez (“Chaika”) and produced by Giorgos Karnavas (“Triangle of Sadness”) at Heretic.

Kino Lorber and First Look Media have formed a joint venture to operate their respective streaming services, MHz Choice and Topic.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent France’s mk2 films is set to distribute internationally a collection of Martin Scorsese’s prestigious restored films from the World Cinema Project, which is part of his banner The Film Foundation. The World Cinema Project has so far restored 51 films from 29 different countries, representing the breadth and diversity of global cinema. Scorsese, one of the greatest living film legends whose latest movie “Killers of the Flower Moon” world premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 20, created The Film Foundation to raise awareness and funds for the preservation of our cinematic history. Since its formation, The Film Foundation has helped to preserve and restore over 1,000 films from every era and genre, ranging from features to documentaries, newsreels, shorts, home movies, experimental and silent films.

“Eureka” seems somewhat deceitfully simple: a man called Murphy (Viggo Mortensen) searches for his abducted daughter with the help of the mysterious El Coronel (Chiara Mastroianni), even if he has to shoot everyone who stands in his way.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Kaouther Ben Hania, the Oscar-nominated director of “The Man Who Sold His Skin” whose latest film “Four Daughters” is competing at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, will next direct “Mimesis,” an epic love story set in Tunisia. While the plot is under wraps, the story is set in two different periods, the 1990s and the 1940s, paying tribute to cinema and Arab-Muslim cultural heritage. It’s being produced by Nadim Cheikhrouha at Tanit Films, who produced Ben Hania’s “Four Daughters” and her previous film “The Man Who Sold His Skin” which world premiered at Venice where it won best actor for Yahya Mahayni and was nominated for best international film at the Oscars in 2021.

Emiliano De Pablos Anonymous Content has partnered with Spain’s Morena Films, one of the country’s top production companies, to launch a joint venture aimed at developing and producing Spanish-language content for the global market. The alliance marks the fifth international joint venture for Anonymous Content as they continue to build partnerships with local producers and companies in key territories around the world. Anonymous Content’s president of international, David Davoli, and Morena Films CEO Pilar Benito will oversee the joint venture, whose managing director will be named in the coming weeks, the companies announced Friday in a statement.

The Hollywood Reporter.The film will be Slade’s directorial debut.According to Deadline, the film will follow the events that transpired that day and will ask the question of why these massacres continue to happen.“The Kent State shooting was a dark and pivotal moment in our nation’s history. This is a story that needs to be told and surprisingly never has,” producer Tom Ortenberg told the outlet in Sept.

The ongoing Writers Guild strike is continuing to take a staggering toll on films and TV shows that normally would be shooting on location in Los Angeles.

EXCLUSIVE: New Europe Film Sales has unveiled fresh deals for Danish director Ulaa Salim’s sci-fi drama Eternal.

Naman Ramachandran “Padatik,” a birth centenary homage to Indian auteur Mrinal Sen, is in post-production and is aiming to launch at a major film festival this fall. Sen is probably India’s most revered filmmaker after Satyajit Ray. Sen was born on May 14, 1923 in Faridpur, British India, now in Bangladesh and died in 2018, leaving behind a glittering array of work, most of which are considered landmarks of Indian cinema, including “Neel Akasher Neechey” (1959), “Baishey Shravana” (1960), “Akash Kusum” (1965), “Bhuvan Shome”(1969), “Interview,” (1971), “Calcutta 71” (1972), “Padatik” (1973), “Mrigayaa” (1976), “Ek Din Pratidin” (1979), “Akaler Sandhane” (1980), “Kharij” (1982) and “Khandhar” (1983).

Naman Ramachandran Juno-winning and Grammy-nominated Canadian pop singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes’ original song “Something Big” will feature on the soundtrack of upcoming 3D animated family feature, “Butterfly Tale.” Montreal and Madrid-based international sales and distribution company Pink Parrot Media will represent the film at the upcoming Cannes film market. “Butterfly Tale” is set along the diverse, picturesque, and ever-changing backdrop of the great Monarch butterfly migration. It tells the tale of Patrick, a gutsy and loveable yet inept, one-winged butterfly who stows away in a milkweed trailer in order to be part of the journey of a lifetime. With his best friend, a goofy caterpillar named Marty, and Jennifer, a butterfly who is afraid of heights, Patrick becomes an unlikely hero. But first, he must face his fear, embrace his uniqueness and triumph over adversity while battling changing weather patterns, humans and three evil birds bent on revenge.

Requests by scripted TV production companies to film on location in Los Angeles plummeted 51% in the first week of the Writers Guild’s strike compared to the same week a year ago, according to FilmLA, the city and county film permit office.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The selection of two restored films by Ozu Yasujiro for the Cannes Classics section will kick-off a six-month long celebration of the iconic Japanese auteur around the world. Cannes revealed last week that it will showcase Ozu’s 1947 “Record of a Tenement Gentleman” and his 1950 picture “The Muneteka Sisters.” The screenings mark the 120th anniversary of Ozu’s birth and the 60th anniversary of his death. Ozu died in 1963 on the day of his 60th birthday, just a few months after the release of his last film “The Taste of Sake.” Major studio, Shochiku, where Ozu spent the majority of career and made his iconic movies, is planning a series of curated retrospectives, festival screenings, and special events around the world that pay homage to his enduring legacy as one of the most influential directors in cinema. These will last until the end of 2023.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International “Emily” star Emma Mackey has joined the cast of “Hot Milk,” the adaptation of the bestselling novel by Deborah Levy. The BAFTA nominee will lead the cast alongside Fiona Shaw (“Killing Eve”), Vicky Krieps (“Corsage”), Vincent Perez (“Shantaram”) and Patsy Ferran (“Living”). HanWay Films has worldwide sales rights and will shop the pic to buyers in Cannes next week. “Hot Milk” marks the directorial debut of award-winning writer Rebecca Lenkiewicz (“She Said,” “Ida,” “Colette”). It will start shooting in July in Greece in co-production with Heretic Films.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Emma Roberts is set to headline the comedy “Hot Mess.” The movie marks the feature directorial debut for film and TV helmer Katie Locke O’Brien (“Ghosts,” “A.P. Bio”). The project was written by Gabrielle D’Amico and is produced by Debbie Liebling (“South Park”), Maggie Malina (“Resort To Love”) and Laura Lewis (“Mr. Malcolm’s List”). Currently in pre-production and scheduled to start shooting in early 2024, Mister Smith Entertainment will launch international sales at this month’s Cannes market. Laura Lewis at Rebelle Media is representing North American rights.

When you look at the state of the “Star Wars” franchise, there are two different stories to be told. On the one hand, you have the TV side of things over on Disney+, which seems to be thriving.

Nicolas Cage (Renfield) and writer-director Andrew Niccol (Anon) will reteam with Vendôme Pictures, the Academy Award winning studio behind CODA, on Lords of War — a sequel to the 2005 crime thriller Lord of War, which starred Cage as Yuri Orlov, a composite character based on numerous arms dealers.

Ever since joining as GoJo CEO Lukas Matsson in season 3, Alexander Skarsgård has been an enigmatic presence on creator Jesse Armstrong's Emmy-winning HBO drama. And in the fourth and final season, the character has only become more maniacal as his dealings with Waystar Royco and the Roy family get more and more complicated. And after the recent revelation about Lukas' penchant for sending bricks of his frozen blood to his ex-girlfriend and head of communications for GoJo, Ebba (Eili Harboe), something that could lead to a sexual harassment scandal for everyone involved, episode seven doubled down on the CEO's unethical behavior and questionable business practices. As it turns out, «he's not even a real coder,» Ebba tells Kendall (Jeremy Strong) and Roman (Kieran Culkin) after Lukas made his harassment of her public when he threatened to have Greg (Nicholaus Braun) fire her during Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Tom's (Matthew Macfadyen) pre-election day party.

Do you folks remember, not that long ago, during Star Wars Celebration, when Kathleen Kennedy told the press that Kevin Feige was never really attached to a “Star Wars” film and it was just the fandom that made it all up? She actually said, “We never discussed an idea,” and basically, gaslit everyone into thinking it was all a rumor. Of course, we know that’s not true because Feige talked about it, Michael Waldron talked about being hired to write a script, and now, we have the Russo Brothers, who not only confirm that Feige was working on a “Star Wars” film with Lucasfilm but that they were discussing possibly signing on to direct.