Berlin: Domestic Deals for Alex Camilleri's 'Luzzu,' Tracey Deer's 'Beans'

BERLIN -- The manager of a prominent Berlin theater has stepped down in the wake of accusations by women of bullying and sexual harassment.Klaus Doerr announced his resignation from the German capital's Volksbuehne theater on Tuesday.

International buyers have jumped on Maria Schrader's I'm Your Man, and the Daniel Brühl-directed Next Door, both of which premiered in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival last week.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorBerlinale Competition entries from two actors turned directors, Maria Schrader and Daniel Brühl, were among titles on the Beta Cinema slate at the European Film Market to prove popular among international distributors.Schrader, an Emmy Award winner as the director of “Unorthodox,” premiered comic-tragic tale “I’m Your Man,” starring Dan Stevens (“Downton Abbey”), Maren Eggert (“I Was At Home, But…”) and Sandra Hueller (“Toni Erdmann”), at the virtual

Filmed in glossy black and white, and adopting a non-judgmental vérité approach, director Carlos Alfonso Corral’s debut is a humanizing look at a small section of the homeless population in El Paso, Texas. “Dirty Feathers,” is a short, but thematically rich, film about those on the margins of society.

Angelique Jackson Tracey Deer, an indigenous filmmaker who hails from the Mohawk Nation, has signed with CAA.Deer recently made her narrative feature debut co-writing and directing the coming-of-age film “Beans,” which captures a young Mohawk girl’s experiences during the 1990s Oka Crisis. The feature debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival and also screened at the Berlin Film Festival, after which FilmRise acquired the U.S.

Mubi, the arthouse streaming platform, and theatrical distributor has signed a deal for Céline Sciamma's Petite Maman, picking up all rights in the U.K., Ireland and Turkey for the new French-language drama from the director of Portrait of a Lady on Fire. Petite Maman premiered in competition at the 2021 Berlin International Film Festival last week.

Arthouse streamer and distributor Mubi has acquired all rights for Céline Sciamma’s well-received Berlin Film Festival title Petite Maman for the UK, Ireland and Turkey.

A litter of names have been added to the cast of upcoming Christmas canine crime caper Pups Alone, which VMI is selling at Berlin's EuropeanFilmMarket.

Refresh for latest…: The Berlin Film Festival is unveiling its Competition winners this afternoon following five days of virtual screenings. Given the ongoing pandemic, this year was a hybrid event that included the European Film Market and the competition films being made available only to industry delegates and the international jury from March 1-5.

There's sardonic self-deprecation in the part Daniel Brühl has chosen for himself in his first feature as director, that of a European movie star sweating over an audition for a Hollywood superhero film that stands to push his fame — and his bank account — to the next level. But celebrity entitlement is only one part of the package.

EXCLUSIVE: WME has signed first-generation Maltese-American filmmaker Alex Camilleri, whose directorial debut Luzzu premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, the first Maltese feature to compete in a major international festival.

EXCLUSIVE: Julie Taymor is attached to direct Gun Love, an adaptation of the Jennifer Clement novel. Babylon Berlin‘s Liv Lisa Fries is attached to play the role of Margot in the ensemble cast. Marissa Kate Goodhill (Come Away) wrote the script.

Alec Baldwin is set to star in Supercell, an epic disaster action movie and the first film greenlit under a first look deal between Highland Film Group and newly-launched Short Porch Pictures. Herbert James Winterstern will direct Supercell from a script he wrote with Anna Elizabeth James.

Jamie Lang It’s been eight years since twin brother directing duo Ramon and Silvan Zürcher’s “The Strange Little Cat” caught the eye of audiences around the world, playing at major festivals in Turkey, India, Argentina, Portugal and beyond.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentParis-based Le Pacte has closed a raft of sales on Olivier Peyon’s “Tokyo Shaking” and Nadine Loiseau’s “Three Times Nothing,” both of which are screening at the Berlin Festival’s virtual European Film Market.A hot title on Le Pacte’s slate, “Tokyo Shaking” sold to Germany and Austria (ZDF), Israel (New Cinema), Canada (Axia Films), Spain (Alfa Pictures) and the Czech Republic and Slovakia (Mediasquad).“Tokyo Shaking” is set on March 11, 2011, when Japan

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterLena Dunham just wrapped her first feature film as a writer-director in over a decade.“Sharp Stick,” an indie financed by FilmNation that will screen for potential buyers on Tuesday out of the Berlin International Film Festival, was shot successfully in secret and in compliance with COVID-19 protocols in Los Angeles over the past months.While plot details are under wraps, the film stars Kristine Froseth (“The Assistant,” “Looking for Alaska”), Taylour Paige

It’s always interesting to see what an actor will deliver as they make the step towards directing, and for “Next Door” director and star Daniel Brühl has not shied away from a premise that closely parallels, yet distorts, his own life. It’s a film that explores a space of conversation highlighted to great effect in Bong Joon-ho’s recent towering success, “Parasite,” toying with societal dichotomies and opening up discussions around wealth, class, gentrification, and spatial divides.

Opening with a very real-looking hardcore sex tape, and climaxing with a deranged orgy featuring super-sized dildos, Romanian writer-director Radu Jude's latest taboo-busting polemical comedy is refreshingly untroubled by tasteful restraint. Shot during COVID lockdown last summer, with cast and crew all wearing anti-viral masks, the snappily titled Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn is a scattershot attack on sexual hysteria and political hypocrisy in an era of online slut-shaming.

EXCLUSIVE: New York-based distributor FilmRise has struck a deal with sales firm WaZabi Films for U.S. rights to TIFF 2020 and Berlin 2021 drama Beans.