Canal+ Group’s SPI International and Thema America Launching 10 New Thematic Channels in Latin America (EXCLUSIVE)

It’s a weekend of well-reviewed indie openings with Bleecker Street’s Out Of Darkness, The Monk And The Gun (from the directors of Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom) and limited openings for The Taste Of Things, Perfect Days (Best International Feature nominated), Anthony Chen’s Drift, Bas Devos’ Here and Ennio by Giuseppe Tornatore, which premiered in Venice in 2021 and is finally getting a U.S. release.

Naman Ramachandran Montreal-based distributor and sales agent Filmoption International has acquired world rights to Nick Butler’s feature directorial debut, “The Legacy of Cloudy Falls.” Filmoption will launch the film at the upcoming Berlin European Film Market. Set in the Cloudy Falls residence, a run-down apartment complex in Niagara Falls that seems destined to be torn down, the film tells the story of a handful of its tenants, chosen at random by the narrator, Rita (Susan Berger), the building’s glib superintendent.

EXCLUSIVE: Picture Tree International (PTI) has acquired international sales rights for Icelandic box office hit Grand Finale (Fullt hús) for an EFM launch.

Marta Balaga Please don’t stop the music: Anne Fontaine isn’t done with it just yet. Following “Boléro” — world premiering at International Film Festival Rotterdam — the noted director is developing another melodic project. “It’s about a character who was a star at 10 years old.

Valerie Wu Intern Gru and the Minions are back, as Universal and Illumination’s “Despicable Me 4” has released its first trailer. The film, which hits theaters on July 3, 2024, continues the popular animated franchise, which follows the reformed supervillain Gru (Steve Carrell) trying to do good and finding family while he’s at it. Kristen Wiig, Miranda Cosgrove, Steve Coogan, Chris Renaud, Dana Gaier, Pierre Coffin also return for the fourth installment.

Marcus Rashford missed Manchester United's 4-2 FA Cup win over Newport County at Rodney Parade on Sunday.

Marta Balaga Finnish director Tiina Lymi decided to “go big” for “Stormskerry Maja,” set in the 19th century. Based on a series of books by Anni Blomqvist, it has been selected for International Film Festival Rotterdam and Goteborg. “It had to be done this way.

Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here bringing you all the news and analysis from another busy week, during which we have been to Spain through Argentina via Berlin. Oh, and there was the small matter of the Oscar noms. Read on, and sign up here.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Concrete Utopia,” the highly regarded drama-thriller that was South Korea’s Oscars contender and one of the biggest box office hits of 2023, has scored a streaming release in North America. Rakuten Viki, which specializes in Asian content, has licensed exclusive rights to the film in the U.S. and Canada and will begin streaming it to North American audiences from Friday.

Award-winning actor Colin Firth is set to star in the upcoming Sky and Peacock Original limited event series 'Lockerbie' which is based on the 1988 disaster.

In an Oscar stunner, two films considered a lock for nominations failed to be recognized Tuesday morning in the Best Documentary Feature category: American Symphony and Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief First-time mainland Chinese director Lin Jianjie (aka JJ Lin) makes a splash this weekend with the premiere of his “Brief History of a Family.” Asking questions about family in the era since the end of China’s ‘One Child Policy,’ while also borrowing genre tropes such as the idea of the intruder and blood, it is a polished and ultra-modern fable that sees a teenage schoolboy ingratiate himself into another boy’s family.Variety spoke to biologist-turned-filmmaker Lin on the eve of his Sundance debut.How did you get from zero to making your first feature?[After graduating in biology] I did two short films at film school. I went to Tisch Asia, which had a campus in Singapore. We also had an exchange program with Tisch in New York.

Annika Pham Red Arrow Studios International has inked a deal with Portuguese pubcaster RTP on the Icelandic family drama series “Descendants,“ from “Quake“ helmer Tinna Hrafnsdóttir. The show is vying for the €20,000 ($21,600) Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize for best Nordic screenplay at the Göteborg Film Festival‘s forthcoming TV Drama Vision confab.

Caroline Brew editor CAA has upped six employees to agent and executive roles, including Sebastian Brogan, Olivia Brooks, Kaitlin Gascoyne, Ross Lee, Jeff Lynds and Jenna Powell. Based in New York, Brogan was promoted to agent in the basketball department. He began his CAA career in 2016 as a mailroom clerk, then serving as an assistant to Lloyd Frischer and Tyeke Sullivan in basketball prior to his acceptance into Elevate, CAA’s agency training program, in 2021.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Salaud Morisset, the Paris- and Berlin-based sales and production outfit, has closed deals on “Excursion,” Una Gunjak’s feature debut which won the Jury Special Mention at the Locarno Film Festival. Salaud Morisset, which also co-produced “Excursion,” has closed sales deals with Angel Films (Denmark), Filmin (Spain), Zero em Comportamento (Portugal), Access Cinema (Ireland), JUNO11 Distribution (Hungary), Hakka Distribution (Tunisia), Fivia (Slovenia), MCF MegaCom (Montenegro & North Macedonia), No Blink Film (Bulgaria) and Silver Screen (Romania).

Callum McLennan Continuing their alliance into 2024, EO Media, led by Ezequiel Olzanski and SPI International, a Canal+ company, have secured all rights for Latin America, including Brazil, to a star-stacked slate of movies from topline talent such as Keanu Reeves, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman, Michael Shannon and fanbase stalwart Jean Claude Van Damme. As star talent continues to mark apart titles in a crowded marketplace, the new nine-pic distribution lineup also features Alec Baldwin, Diane Keaton.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor September Film has acquired all rights for Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg for “In the Land of Brothers,” which has its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section. The film is written and directed by Iranian filmmakers Raha Amirfazli and Alireza Ghasemi. Alpha Violet is handling world sales.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Debbie Harry, lead singer of Blondie, will be among those taking part in on-stage talks at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, which runs Jan. 25 to Feb.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Ben Aldridge (“Knock at the Cabin”) and Martina Garcia (“The Hidden Face”) have joined the cast of “Dear Paris,” Marjane Satrapi‘s (“Persepolis”) ensemble drama which is one Studiocanal‘s highlights at this week’s Unifrance Rendez-Vous showcase, along with Gilles Lellouche‘s sprawling romance thriller “Beating Hearts.” “Dear Paris” (“Paris Paradis”), produced by Vito Films, is a dark comedy set in the French capital where a flurry of charming characters confront death only to embrace life once again. The film also stars Monica Bellucci as a narcissistic Italian opera singer and Rossy De Palma as an eccentric elderly Colombian woman, as well as Eduardo Noriega, André Dussollier, Alex Lutz, Roschdy Zem and singer-turned-actor Gwendal Marimoutou (“Sam”).

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Newen Connect has closed a raft of sales on “Kina & Yuk,” a live action family adventure from the team behind “Ailo’s Journey,” ahead of the Unifrance Rendez-Vous showcase. Directed by Guillaume Maidatchevsky (“Ailo’s Journey”), the feature is a wild arctic tale following two foxes who are separated by the melting polar ice and must overcome a number of dangers in the hope of being reunited and raise a family together. The movie was released in French theaters by UGC on Dec.