Beetz Brothers, Storyscope Partner on ‘Free at Last’ About South Africa’s Apartheid, Boarded by ZDF, Arte (EXCLUSIVE)

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Cinephil has sold Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó’s feature documentary “Agent of Happiness” to a wide range of key international territories ahead of the film’s Hot Docs debut this weekend. Deals are confirmed in the U.K.

EXCLUSIVE: German-based TV event Seriencamp will return to Cologne in June and has a raft of key industry players signed up for its upcoming tenth edition.

EXCLUSIVE: London-based Dogwoof has locked a series of international deals on Eternal You, a documentary about AI startups set to screen at this month’s Hot Docs Fest following a debut bow at Sundance.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Leading distribution company Beta Film has come on board four-part Norwegian drama “A Better Man,” created by Thomas Seeberg Torjussen. The show, which was commissioned by Norwegian broadcaster NRK and German broadcaster ZDF‘s platform ZDFneo, is produced by Synnøve Hørsdal and Christian Fredrik Martin at Norway’s Maipo Film. “A Better Man” centers on Tom, Norway’s number one internet troll.

Holly Jones German sales outfit Patra Spanou Film (“Blue Moon”) has acquired international rights to “The Pleasure Is Mine” (“El Placer Es Mío”), the debut feature from Brazilian-born screenwriter and director Sacha Amaral, whose prior efforts on short “Billy Boy” earned him a slot at the Cannes Cinéfondation program in 2021. The boutique sales agency has also shared an exclusive first-look teaser with Variety ahead of the drama’s premiere in international competition at this year’s Bafici in Buenos Aires, running April 17-28.

Alex Ritman “Shazam” star Zachary Levi is set to headline rock-climbing action thriller “Free Fall” for XYZ Films, with acclaimed New Zealand stuntwoman and stunt coordinator Zöe Bell tapped to direct. The film — written by Sean Finegan and Gregg Maxwell Parker — tells the story of a father’s attempt to reconcile with his estranged daughter on a rock-climbing trip that turns deadly as an accident leaves them stranded hundreds of feet in the air.

Naman Ramachandran Circle Women Doc Accelerator, an international training program dedicated to women and non-binary filmmakers, has unveiled the four projects that will take part in its showcase as part of the Cannes Docs program of the upcoming Cannes Film Market. For the fifth consecutive year, four alumnae of the program will present their works-in-progress during the market. “Dreamers” by Imam Hasanov, produced by Maria Ibrahimova for Cinex production (Azerbaijan), is set in rural Azerbaijan, where former football player Mamed coaches an all-girls football team.

Lise Pedersen Berlinale Forum entry “Shahid,” the debut feature of Iranian-German filmmaker Narges Kalhor, has been picked up by Prague-based doc specialist Filmotor ahead of its premiere at Swiss documentary festival Visions du Réel, where it is competing in the more experimental Burning Lights section. Described by Kalhor as a collective work between herself and other artists, including a costume artist and a painter from Iran, a German music composer and a choreographer from Berlin, “Shahid” shifts playfully between genres, challenging conventional filmmaking rules.

K.J. Yossman International writers guilds representing 67,000 professional screen writers across the globe are collaborating on developing an “ethical framework” for the use of AI in screenwriting.

Annika Pham Copenhagen-based REinvent International Sales has closed Spain and Portugal with AMC Networks International Southern Europe, on the Finnish suspense disaster drama “Seconds”, Variety has learned exclusively. One of REinvent’s MipTV highlights, “Seconds,” made a strong debut on Finnish pubcaster Yle this week, according to head of drama, Jarmo Lampela. “It will easily go over the average viewing target,” he said.

Well Go USA has landed North American rights for Dutch action thriller Invasion about a daring military operation in the wake of a hostile attack on the Caribbean islands of Aruba and Curacao.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Leading European distributor Global Screen, part of Telepool, has secured further international sales of high-end drama “Davos 1917” at MipTV. New acquisitions of the six-part thriller include SBS Australia, TVP in Poland and Big Tree Entertainment in India and the subcontinent. “Davos 1917,” which launched at the end of last year on SRF in Switzerland and ARD in Germany, has already been bought by a strong lineup of premium international broadcasters and streamers across North America, Europe and Asia.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Federation Studios has acquired distribution rights to “The Morning After,” an eight-part comedy series headlined by up-and-coming British actor Amara Okereke (“In the Lost Lands”). It filmed on location in Cape Town in South Africa. The show is produced by Paris-based company Paradoxal and Cape Town-based outfit Both Worlds, which previously partnered on “Recipes for Love and Murder.” The series is co-produced by SWR, ARD FabFiction and Prime Video Africa.

Avatar actress CCH Pounder and Academy Award-nominated producer Paul Garnes will attend the inaugural Cross Continental International Co-production Forum (CCF) in Barbados.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Qatar-based powerhouse BeIN Media Group, a co-owner of U.S. indie studio Miramax, has taken distribution rights across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to live-action pre-school series “Saïd & Anna,” which has been nominated for this year’s Banff World Media Festival‘s Rockie Awards.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Pure Fiction Television, the independent production company helmed by Tom Winchester (“Shogun,” “Clickbait,” “The Capture”), has secured the rights to bestselling author Dolores Redondo’s Baztan Trilogy and the prequel, “La Cara Norte Del Corazón” (The North Face of the Heart), and is developing them into a returning, premium international TV series. The trilogy and prequel novel, which feature homicide detective Amaia Salazar, are gripping psychological thrillers infused with mystery, mythology and superstition, set in the beautiful Basque region of Northern Spain, as well as in New Orleans.

Selome Hailu Netflix is at or near the top of both Nielsen and Luminate‘s streaming rankings every week, but achieved that with some titles that differ from its usual fare during the March 29-April 3 viewing window. As expected, “3 Body Problem” remained the most-watched streaming original series of the week per Luminate with 964.1 million minutes watched (an estimated 3.6 million views) — unsurprising, as the title is the follow-up from “Game of Thrones” helmers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, who created the show alongside Alexander Woo.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor U.S.-based global distributor PBS Intl. is bringing a squad of sports-themed documentaries to MipTV to tie in with the Olympic Games that’ll run this summer in Paris. “Olympic Dreams” travels to Sierra Leone, one of the world’s poorest nations, as it struggles to recover from its 11-year civil war.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor ZDF Studios is set to launch sales on documentary “Tepui – Into the House of Gods” at MipTV. The 50-minute film will “take viewers on a journey to a forgotten world isolated for millions of years – the tabletop mountains in southern Venezuela,” the distributor said.

BBC Studios Launches First Kids Streamer In Korea