Banijay Branded Entertainment Strikes Strategic Deals with Launchmetrics, IMA (EXCLUSIVE)

Anna Marie de la Fuente The Mediapro Studio’s “El 47,” the rousing true story of “a man, a bus and a neighborhood’s fate,” bows its official international teaser in Variety. Helmed by multi-Goya award-winner Marcel Barrena (“Mediterraneo”), it follows bus driver Manolo Vital who is frustrated with the Barcelona City Council’s claim that public transport cannot reach the Torre Baró district due to narrow and unsafe roads. He seizes control of the route 47 bus to prove them wrong.

EXCLUSIVE: The works of James Baldwin, author and civil rights activist, could be headed to the small and big screen after Fremantle North America struck a deal with The Baldwin Family.

Naman Ramachandran The 32nd Raindance Film Festival (June 19-28) has revealed its jury award winners, reflecting a renewed focus on emerging filmmakers. Korean thriller “Sleep,” directed by Jason Yu and starring Lee Sun-kyun and Jung Yu-mi, took home the Discovery Award for best debut feature. The film marks Lee’s final role before his passing.

Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out 2 keeps on soaring, reaching $799.7M globally through Tuesday. Within that, its international box office crossed the four-century mark at a running cume of $411.9M from 44 overseas markets through Tuesday. In North America, Inside Out 2 rose to $387.8M, moving well up the domestic animated chart.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Peruvian director Paolo Tizón‘s documentary “Night Has Come,” which has its world premiere Sunday in the Proxima competition section at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, has debuted its trailer (below). The film centers on a group of young men, many of them teenagers, who sign up for one of the most challenging military training courses in Latin America. The objective is to turn them into fearsome fighters operating in the dangerous VRAEM region, an area plagued by various armed groups, guarding their coca plants and engaged in narcotics trafficking.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Bridgerton” star Florence Hunt, Jim Sturgess and Australia’s Teresa Palmer (“The Clearing,” “The Fall Guy”) have joined the cast of “Mix Tape,” a music-themed drama series. The Australian-Irish co-production shot in Sydney in May and is now underway in Dublin. The series is adapted by Irish writer Jo Spain (“Taken Down,” “Sanditon”) from the popular and critically-acclaimed novel of the same title by Jane Sanderson.

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor In the last decade, the Maltese film industry has undergone radical development, with a strong focus on seeing the island country evolve from a service provider to Hollywood productions to telling their own stories on screen. Speaking with Variety ahead of the second edition of the Mediterrane Film Festival, Maltese filmmakers have highlighted the importance of fostering local talent, rerouting foreign investment into native productions and strengthening bonds with neighboring countries in the Middle East and North Africa. “Things have changed drastically in recent years,” said veteran filmmaker Mario Philip Azzopardi, whose 1971 “Il-Gaġġa” is widely presumed to be the first full-length feature filmed entirely in Maltese.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Making further inroads into markets in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond, Studiocanal, one of Europe’s top production-distribution-international sales powerhouses, has clinched further sales on premium daily drama “The Vow” (“La Promesa”), closing Poland and two Baltic States, as well as France. Produced by Spain’s Bambú Producciones (“Velvet,” “Cable Girls”), a Studiocanal company, Studiocanal and national Spanish public broadcaster RTVE, “The Vow” has been acquired by Polish pubcaster TVP Poland, state-backed network ERR Estonia and state-owned LTV Latvia. In additional new sales, Dubai TV has closed rights to MENA territories.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent TOLEDO, Spain — Brazil’s Ventre Studio is readying a powerful slate of scripted series mining the rapidly growing Portugal-Brazil co-production axis, which Ventre itself has helped forge with “Godless John,” produced by Ventre Studio and Canal Brasil as well as Coral Europa and TVI in Portugal. First up in titles is dramedic mini-series “Coligay,” directed by Oscar-nominated Paulo Machline (“A Soccer Story”) and Rafael Gomes, helmer of LGBTQ romantic drama “45 Days Away From You.” Canal Brasil has boarded “Coligay” licensing Brazilian first window TV rights.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Flow,” a director-driven animated feature which world premiered at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and just swept three awards at Annecy Film Festival, has been embraced by a raft of major distributors in key territories, including the U.K., Japan, South Korea, Germany, Spain and Italy. The movie is represented internationally by Charades.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Wanda Film, China’s largest cinema operator, has expanded its business relationship with Imax Corp. in a huge deal that straddles technology and content. With 381 Imax installations, Wanda alone operates more Imax venues than most countries.

Thania Garcia Latin Grammy winner Lasso has signed an exclusive management deal with WK Entertainment. This includes a comprehensive 360 contract under the leadership of Andres Gomez, who will support Lasso in touring, brand partnership strategies, A&R, marketing and more on a global scale. Lasso has also announced his first 15-date U.S tour, “Quedarse Solo Para Siempre,” promoted by Live Nation.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Now on its 8th edition, the international TV forum Conecta Fiction & Entertainment (CF&E), held in the ancient Spanish city of Toledo from June 18 to 21, is turning its focus to Brazil and Portugal. The South American country is haltingly reactivating its audiovisual industry under President Lula de Silva’s new government, which earmarked nearly $1 billion for the sector last year.

Marta Balaga Spanish Animation is ready for more international collaborations in the near future, but there is one stipulation: “Passion is mandatory,” said Hampa Studio’s Álvaro García González. Behind “The Treasure of Barracuda,” the company is currently eyeing Latin America. “Anybody who makes animation needs passion.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Berlin-based sales agency Films Boutique has closed further deals for Ray Yeung’s “All Shall Be Well,”following the North American deal with Strand Releasing and the first international sales previously announced by Variety.The film has been acquired by Nour Films in France, One From the Heart in Greece, Mezipatra in Czech Republic and Slovakia, HBO Europe in Eastern Europe, Beta Film in Bulgaria and Falcon in Indonesia, in addition to the already announced deals with Vedette in the Benelux, Karma in Spain, Trigon in Switzerland and Lev in Israel.Films Boutique is in negotiations with potential buyers in the U.K., Latin America, Germany and Japan.Additionally, New Voice Film Productions Ltd. secured distribution deals with Golden Scene for Hong Kong and Macau and Flash Forward Entertainment in Taiwan.“All Shall Be Well” is written and directed by Yeung and was produced by Yeung’s frequent collaborator Michael J.

Ben Croll In a sign of Folivari’s widening ambitions, the French animation powerhouse will handle world sales of the Sherlock Holmes spinoff “The Baker Street Four” through its newly launched distribution branch Folivari International. Adapted from a local comic book series that pairs Arthur Conan Doyle’s great detective with four streetwise urchins, the title was developed in-house, with Folivari and Blue Spirit (“Blue Eye Samurai”) tackling creative duties and Canal+ set as commissioning broadcaster.

Annika Pham Over June 10-14, Madrid is welcoming 300-plus industry delegates for the inaugural ECAM Forum, which is shaping up as the next go-to market for Spanish projects and co-productions, considering the stellar list of projects and attendees lined up. Hosting the event is not a private company nor the industry arm of an A-list festival, but a film and audiovisual school-Madrid’s prestigious ECAM.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Eurozoom, a leading French distributor for Japanese animation, has forged a strategic partnership with major French animation producer Special Touch Studios, led by founder and CEO Sebastien Onomo. “We both share the same passion for animation and want to tell bold stories with a particular attention to professional diversity,” said Eurozoom’s CEO-Founder Amel Lacombe, who added that they were jointly working on a six-animation feature lineup. Leading the pack is “Melvile,” directed by Romain Renard and Fursy Teyssier.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent ANNECY, France — Banijay Kids & Family, behind hit “Totally Spies!” and “Mr Bean: The Animated Series,” has unveiled first deals on “Froggie,” crowned best TV pilot at early June’s Cartoons on the Bay Pulcinella Awards. In deals which suggest one way much Annecy-announced business will go, Spanish pubcaster RTVE and top French kids channel Gulli, have acquired rights to Spain and France respectively. Both are among the biggest and most established players in Western Europe’s children’s entertainment.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Will Arnett is expanding his relationship with Fox Entertainment. The actor and comedian, who hosts Fox’s “Lego Masters,” has sealed an overall producing deal for his Electric Avenue Prods. to produce fare for the network’s in-house production company.