‘Babylon Berlin’s’ XFilme, Beta Film Reunite for ‘House of Promises,’ an Amorous Peek Into 1920s Berlin

Anna Franklin “Utama,” the debut feature from Bolivian filmmaker Alejandro Loayza Grisi, won best film in the Glocal Images International Competition section of Cyprus Film Days Intl. Film Festival, according to online news service Film New Europe.

Let’s catch up a little bit with French filmmaker Claire Denis since we’re slightly behind on the most recent updates. For one, her latest film is no longer titled “Fire” in the U.S.

Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have shared a performance from their upcoming film This Much I Know To Be True – watch it below.The Andrew Dominik-directed movie serves as a companion piece to the 2016 music documentary One More Time With Feeling, and premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in March.It’ll be released in cinemas globally on May 11, with the first full trailer arriving last month.Per an official description, the project captures Cave and Ellis’ “exceptional creative relationship as they bring to life songs from albums ‘Ghosteen’ [Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds] and ‘Carnage’ [Nick Cave And Warren Ellis].Today (April 14) the pair have released a special This Much I Know… performance of ‘Ghosteen Speaks’, which appears on the aforementioned 2019 Bad Seeds album. Tune in here:The first clip from This Much I Know To Be True arrived in February, and saw Cave discuss his own definition of his artistry.In the full trailer, Cave said, “We all live our lives dangerously, in a state of jeopardy, at the edge of calamity” while music from ‘Ghosteen’ played in the background.The film features also features a special appearance by Cave and Ellis’ close friend and long-term collaborator, Marianne Faithfull.

EXCLUSIVE: Keke Palmer will be in charge of the Password podium as the star of Jordan Peele’s upcoming movie Nope has signed on to host the reboot of the classic gameshow for NBC.

Today show wearing a matching slime green , , and by Marcell von Berlin. In any other color, her suit might not make waves—but the retina-burning hue is impossible to ignore.

EXCLUSIVE: Scott Free Productions has optioned the rights to the acclaimed thriller Outside from bestselling Icelandic author Ragnar Jónasson for feature adaptation. Acclaimed commercial director Henrik Hansen from Scott’s RSA Films is in talks to direct the project. The novel will be released in the UK on April 28, 2022 and in the US in June 2022.

Lise Pedersen Berlin Silver Bear winner Manuel Abramovich (“Blue Boy,” 2019) is presenting his new project “The Monsters” at Swiss doc festival Visions du Réel’s Industry event, VdR-Pitching.The project, he tells Variety, “is about one of the first characters that we play in our lives which is gender, as a performative fiction with our bodies. From the moment we are born we have two scripts already written for us: either you are a man or a woman.

Manori Ravindran International EditorGlobal streaming service MUBI has snapped up Carla Simón’s Berlin Golden Bear winner “Alcarràs” for the U.S., U.K. and a raft of other markets.Spanish director Simón’s “Alcarràs” premiered in Competition at the 2022 Berlinale, where it won the Golden Bear for best film.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefCharlotte Gainsbourg-starring “The Passengers of the Night” and Ralph Fiennes- and Jessica Chastain-starring “The Forgiven” are among the first batch of movies revealed by the Sydney Film Festival. The festival is planning an in-person event running 8-19 June, 2022.Australian-produced titles include dance film “Keep Stepping”; “Sissy,” which mixes social media and horror; music title “Six Festivals”; and intimate portrait “The Plains,” which had its premiere in Rotterdam earlier this year.The 22-film advanced lineup also leans heavily on other festival favorites.

Elon Musk had quite the weekend!

EXCLUSIVE: Alcon Entertainment has acquired screenwriter Steven Karczynski’s psychological thriller Vent, bringing BAFTA Award winner Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (The Lives of Others) aboard to direct.

EXCLUSIVE: Red Notice actor Chris Diamantopoulos has joined MGM-Spyglass Media Group-Smoke House Pictures’ George Clooney-directed movie The Boys in the Boat. 

Marta Balaga The 7th MipDrama – an industry centrepiece at Cannes MipTV trade fair – wrapped with Germany’s “House of Promises” scooping the prestigious Buyers’ Coup de Cœur award.The romantic drama proved the clear favorite among the MipDrama audience gathered in the Debussy Theatre at Cannes’ Palais des Festivals, receiving the most rapturous applause of the day following its presentation. The 12-episode series stars Naemi Feitisch, Ludwig Simon – also seen in Amazon’s Prime Video series “Beat” – Alexander Scheer and Nina Kunzendorf, fresh off hit Viaplay Original “Furia.”Set in Berlin, “House of Promises” explores the eventful story behind the legendary credit department store Jonass, founded in the 1920s in a building which has now become Berlin’s Soho House. While the times are hard, marked by poverty and hardship, the  protagonists of “House of Promises” still dream of a better future.

The Ukrainian Defence Ministry is reporting that Lithuanian film director Mantas Kvedaravicius was killed Saturday in Mariupol, the under seige Ukrainian city and subject of his documentary films.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentIn one of the biggest swings in Europe’s market, Erik Barmack, the former Netflix VP of international originals, is teaming with Benjamin Munz, producer of “Blood Red Sky,” Netflix’s most-watched non-English movie of all time, on a tentpole high-speed German action film, “The Chase.”Billed by Barmack as “‘The Fast and the Furious’ meets ‘Money Heist’” – which he helped bring to Netflix – “The Chase” marks the first movie out of the gate at Munz’s Berlin-based new label, Fright Zone, the first production company in Germany that will focus exclusively on developing and producing fantasy, action, horror and science fiction films as well as TV shows in and from Germany. Overseen by founder and CEO Munz, Fright Zone will produce with Barmack, who is now working out of his own L.A.

Sir Rod Stewart has rescued 16 Ukrainian refugees after he was left heartbroken by their plight amid the Russian onslaught.

Nick Cave and Warren Ellis have shared a first full trailer for their upcoming film This Much I Know To Be True – check it out below.The film will be released in cinemas globally on May 11, with tickets going on sale for the screenings today (March 23). Grab yours here.The first clip from This Much I Know To Be True was revealed last month, and saw Cave discuss his own definition of his artistry.In the full trailer, released today, a voiceover from Cave says: “We all live our lives dangerously, in a state of jeopardy, at the edge of calamity,” as music from ‘Ghosteen’ plays in the background.Check out the full trailer below.The film, directed by Andrew Dominik, serves as a companion piece to the 2016 music documentary One More Time With Feeling, and premiered at the Berlin Film Festival this month.This Much I Know To Be True will explore Cave and Ellis’ creative relationship and feature songs from their last two studio albums, 2019’s ‘Ghosteen’ (by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds) and last year’s ‘Carnage’ (by Cave and Ellis).It will feature the first ever performances of the albums, filmed in Spring 2021 ahead of their UK tour.