Cannes Directors’ Fortnight Title ‘Gazer’ Boarded by Memento International (EXCLUSIVE)

President Joe Biden condemned by the move by the International Criminal Court to seek arrest warrants against Israeli leaders, saying that there was “no equivalence” between that country’s actions and those of Hamas.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Metrograph Pictures has acquired North American rights to Sandhya Suri’s Cannes standout “Santosh” following its world premiere in Un Certain Regard. Metrograph Pictures will distribute the film theatrically, with additional release details to be announced at a later date. MK2 Films represents the movie in international markets.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Sideshow and Janus films (“Drive My Car”) have acquired all North American rights to Payal Kapadia‘s “All We Imagine as Light,” the first Indian film to screen in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 30 years. The movie will world premiere on Thursday, May 23. It’s also one of only four films in the Competition directed by a woman.

Jamie Lang French distribution company UFO has secured the rights to American filmmaker Ryan J. Sloan’s New psychological thriller “Gazer,” which will world premiere at this year’s Directors’ Fortnight on May 22. Set in New Jersey and starring Sloan’s partner Ariella Mastroianni, “Gazer” is the story of a young mother with a rare degenerative brain condition called dyschronometria.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Focus Features has bought international rights to “Hamlet,” Aneil Karia’s London-set modern adaptation of Shakespeare’s famed play starring Oscar winner Riz Ahmed. Morfydd Clark (“Saint Maud,” “Rings of Power”) and Joe Alwyn (“Kinds of Kindness”) also star in the film, which wrapped production at the end of last year and was acquired by Focus Features some time ago. CAA is repping North American rights, while WME Independent handled international sales.

EXCLUSIVE: Oscar nominee Bill Nighy (Living), Indie Spirit nominee Noah Jupe (A Quiet Place I & II), BAFTA nominee George MacKay (1917) and BAFTA nominee Matt Smith (The Crown) are set to star in acclaimed Argentinian filmmaker Pablo Trapero’s (El Clan) English-language movie debut & Sons, which is being scripted by Oscar winner Sarah Polley (Women Talking).

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The persistent vibrancy of Italian cinema, despite increasing financing difficulties, is undisputable if you look at the range of the country’s current output and what’s percolating in the pipeline. It spans from highly sophisticated new works by maestros such as Paolo Sorrentino and Luca Guadagnino to crassly commercial global megahits like Netflix Italy original “The Tearsmith” and promising fresh fare from Cinema Italiano’s next generation.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Arab cinema continues to break new ground with a fresh crop of social dramas, several of which depict female empowerment in different forms. These range from the tale of a young woman who fakes being dead so she can leave everything behind, to a rape-revenge thriller titled “Beretta,” just like the semi-automatic pistol used by Suad, its mute protagonist. Below is a compendium of promising upcoming Arabic-language films in various stages that will be surfacing either at festivals or on streamers.

The most awaited film this year at the Cannes Film Festival, Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, had its world premiere Thursday night, with the dystopian epic decades in the making landing a seven-minute standing ovation.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Untamed Talent, the recently launched Arab world management and production company led by former Mister Smith Entertainment executive Antone Saliba is rebranding as 75East and bringing on board Shams Mohajerani, a former acquisitions executive at Cairo-based MAD Solutions, as its chief manager and producer. The change in name to 75East of the company, which launched last December with backing from Front Row Productions – a joint venture between leading Middle East distribution companies Front Row Filmed Entertainment and Empire Entertainment – is a geographical reference to the wider Southwest Asian and North African (SWANA) region from Morocco to Pakistan, “reflecting the company’s commitment to representing talent beyond Arabic-speaking territories,” according to a statement.

K.J. Yossman This year’s Cannes is set to be the most activist-heavy yet.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor London- and Paris-based production, finance and international sales outfit Film Constellation has unveiled a first exclusive clip from Titus Kaphar’s well-received drama “Exhibiting Forgiveness.” Film Constellation will screen the film for buyers in Cannes on Tuesday. The film received glowing reviews after its January premiere at Sundance in the U.S.

Lexi Carson The American Pavilion has announced this year’s “Industry In Focus” series and “In Conversation” programming for the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. The programming will run from Wednesday, May 15, to Thursday, May 23, and will include a daily schedule of more than 25 panels, conversations and screenings.

EXCLUSIVE: Natalie Portman has joined the voice cast for French director Ugo Bienvenu’s upcoming animated feature Arco about a boy who uses rainbows to travel through time and his adventures as he gets stuck in the wrong era.

EXCLUSIVE: Ryan Phillippe (Shooter) and Kate Beckinsale (Underworld) are leading thriller The Patient, which is launching in the Cannes market with International Film Trust.

EXCLUSIVE: Ahead of the Cannes market, Lionsgate has taken North American rights off the table on one of the bigger-budget new packages that’ll be on sale next week: that’s action-thriller Mutiny, which will star action evergreen Jason Statham (Fast & Furious) and be directed by Jean-François Richet (Plane).

Sam Claflin and Rupert Friend will star in Thunder Road Pictures’ World War II action-thriller Perdition. Written and directed by Henry Dunham, principal photography is set for the fall.

Image Nation Abu Dhabi and Roy Lee and Steven Schneider’s genre label Spooky Pictures have set the third feature under their multi-picture slate deal with sci-fi horror Menace. Directed by Randall Okita (See For Me), the film stars Isabel May (1883) who also serves as an executive producer via her banner Una Vaca Productions.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italian-born Texas-based director Roberto Minervini is known for a distinguished career making documentaries including his so-called Texas trilogy comprising “The Passage,” “Low Tide” and “Stop the Pounding Heart.” His most recent doc “What You Gonna Do When the World’s On Fire?” about a community of Black people in New Orleans during the summer of 2017, when a string of brutal killings of Black men sent shockwaves throughout the country, launched from the Venice competition in 2018. “The Damned,” which is Minervini’s first feature film, is set during the American Civil War in the winter of 1862.

Alex Ritman Writer-director S. Craig Zahler (“Bone Tomahawk”) is set to reunite with his “Dragged Across Concrete” and “Brawl in Cell Block 99” star Vince Vaughn and Oscar winner Adrien Brody (“The Pianist”) for upcoming crime thriller “The Bookie & the Bruiser.” Anton will introduce the film to international distributors at the upcoming Marche du Film in Cannes. UTA Independent Film Group and Range Media Partners arranged the financing and will be representing the North American distribution rights.