Bruno Dumont’s Collection of Films and TV Series, Including ‘Life of Jesus’ and ‘Slack Bay,’ Acquired by MK2 Films (EXCLUSIVE)

Scotland’s Film and TV industry as grown considerably in the last 10 years, and continues to do so creating new and exciting opportunities for crew roles behind the scenes.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent MK2 Films has boarded Bernhard Wenger’s feature debut, “Peacock,” a tragicomedy headlined by Albrecht Schuch, the German actor who starred in “All Quiet on the Western Front” and “System Crasher.” An up-and-coming Austrian director, Wenger developed the script at the Cannes Film Festival’s Cinefondation residency and was part of Berlinale Talents in 2020. His shorts, including “Keeping Balance,” “Guy Proposes to His Girlfriend on a Mountain” and “Excuse Me, I’m Looking for the Ping-Pong Room and My Girlfriend,” have played at festivals in Chicago, Palm Springs and Nashville, among others.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Paris-based company 2425 Films, recently acquired by Mediawan, is working with a pool of rising filmmakers on timely movies, including Charly Delwart’s “1,5 degré,” Ilan Duran Cohen’s “Le coup d’apres” and Thomas Kruithof’s “Les Braises.” 2425 Films, founded by Thibault Gast and Matthias Weber, has been thriving with smart, high-concept commercial movies, such as Yann Gozlan’s “La boite noire” and “An Ideal Man,” as well as the thriller “Burn Out.” The company also presented Gozlan’s latest film, “Visions,” a thriller starring Diane Kruger (co-produced by Eagle Team Entetainment) at this year’s Angouleme Film Festival. Duran Cohen’s “Le coup d’apres” is a film set in the world of French politics, with a duo of French stars, Marina Fois and Laurent Laffite, who previously co-starred in “Papa ou Maman,” a French hit comedy franchise.

kicked off the highly anticipated “Live’s Halloween: The Eras Show” as Cher, and her late husband, Sonny Bono, Tuesday. The longtime “Live” host, 52, showed off her figure in a yellow and white outfit with heavy eye makeup and black wig. Consuelos, who took over hosting duties from Ryan Seacrest, wore a yellow 70s-looking shirt, which he covered with a white jacket.

Marta Balaga Visions du Réel winner Tomasz Wolski will focus on “A Year in the Life of the Country” next, Variety can reveal exclusively. The Polish helmer – whose latest film “In Ukraine,” co-directed with Piotr Pawlus, premiered in Berlin – is set to explore the turbulent period of martial law, imposed on Dec. 13, 1981 by General Wojciech Jaruzelski in Communist Poland after a wave of strikes.

Is Tom Sandoval really a narcissist? We’re about to find out!

A group of high-profile actors have signed a public letter declaring that they would rather stay on strike rather than accept a bad deal.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Bhutan’s official Oscar entry “The Monk And The Gun,” Pawo Choyning Dorji‘s follow-up to “Lunana: A Yak in The Classroom,” has been bought by a raft of well-established international theatrical distributors. Following its festival premieres at Telluride, Toronto, Rome and Busan, “The Monk and the Gun” has been sold by Films Boutique to Pyramide Distribution (France), September Films (Benelux), Rialto Distribution (Australia), Future Films (Scandinavia), A Contracorriente (Spain), Lev Films (Israel), Aurora Films (Poland), Trigon (Switzerland), Alambique Films (Portugal) and Impact Films (India and Indian Subcontinent). Earlier this week, the crowdpleaser was also acquired by Roadside Attraction for the U.S.

EXCLUSIVE: The Exchange is launching international sales rights on sci-fi action film World Breaker.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent France’s Musée Grévin took Dwayne Johnson‘s comments and social media outcry over the star’s botched wax figure to heart. Within 24 hours, his figure was updated by artists who gave it a slightly darker skin tone with meticulous strokes of oil painting.

South by Southwest Conference and Festivals announced its initial Keynote and the second round of Featured Speakers for the 38th edition of its annual Conference of technology, film, television, and music. SXSW takes place March 8-16, 2024 in Austin, Texas. 

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Paramount+ in France has acquired “French Roulette – A Mother’s Ordeal,” Vincent Garenq’s (“Guilty”) limited series set in the 1970s. Under the deal, Paramount+ will have exclusive first-window rights in France to the series, which is represented internationally by France TV Distribution, and will premiere it on Dec.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Shawn Levy, whose limited series “All The Light We Cannot See” is premiering on Netflix on Nov. 2, was supposed to have a packed year, between the filming “Deadpool 3” and Season 5 of “Stranger Things” of which he’s an executive producer and director. With both productions paused due to the SAG-AFTRA strikes, Levy has instead been busy promoting “All the Light We Cannot See,” an adaptation of Anthony Doerr’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent While at the Lumiere Film Festival in Lyon, German film master Wim Wenders said he shares Martin Scorsese’s deep concern over Hollywood’s obsession with sequels, and worries about AI in line with U.S. actors who are still on strike.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief VVS Films, a leading Canada-based film distributor, will expand its operations to Australia and New Zealand. A24’s Nicolas Cage-starring comedy “Dream Scenario” is set as its first title for the new markets and will release on Jan. 1, 2024.

Marta Balaga Pole-vaulting champion Armand “Mondo” Duplantis might be on his way to another record, as Red Bull Studios continues selling “Born to Fly,” a documentary feature about his life. So far, the film has been picked up by Germany (Sky), France (Canal+), Switzerland (3+ and RTS), Norway (NRK), Finland (MTV3), Spain (Movistar Plus+), Belgium (VRT) and Estonia (ERR). “We are delighted to partner with broadcast partners throughout the world to showcase this incredible athlete and his sport to global audiences,” said Sebastian Burkhardt, head of partnerships and commercial strategy at Red Bull Studios.

Millions of households all across the country will receive £150 off their electricity bill this winter through the Warm Home Discount.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Mipcom Cannes, the international TV conference, opened on a solemn note with market director Lucy Smith paying tribute to the “innocent victims in Israel and Gaza.” Smith addressed the reverberations of the Israel-Hamas conflict at the market and within the industry. Out of the 70 Israeli industry executives who had registered for Mipcom, only a few were able to attend due to the devastation brought by Hamas’ attack on Oct.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Warner Bros. Discovery will be launching its streaming service Max in France, one of its top European markets, next summer, Variety has learned. The launch in France will follow a rollout in Northern and Eastern Europe, which is expected to be unveiled by Gerhard Zeiler, president of international at Warner Bros.

Movie Week is done and dusted and what a spectacle it was, but this weekend on Strictly Come Dancing, the 13 remaining couples will once again be vying to impress the judges with their routines and you - the voting public.