Cannes Review: Emin Alper’s ‘Burning Days’

Obi-Wan Kenobi streamer Disney+ will soon be available in 60 territories across EMEA after a series of launches in the region this week.

Liam Llewellyn has shocked fans of Love Island, after he’s reportedly quit the show just four days into the brand new series that kicked off on Monday. Viewers of tonight’s show, which airs on ITV2 at 9pm, are said to see the 22 year old Welsh student announcing his departure to his devastated fellow Love Islanders, after gathering them around the iconic fire pit to tell them the news.

Anna Franklin Nine projects have been selected for the CineLink Co-Production Market and seven for the CineLink Drama at the upcoming edition of CineLink Industry Days within the Sarajevo Film Festival (Aug. 12-19), according to Film New Europe.The CineLink Co-Production Market includes projects from North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia and Bulgaria, while projects from Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Croatia, Hungary were selected for CineLink Drama.A new development award, Female Voices CineLink Award with a cash prize of Euros 10,000, presented by the Slovenian Film Center, will be handed to one project from the CineLink Co-Production Market or CineLink Drama.CineLink Industry Days will start with CineLink Workshop this month, one-on-one meetings during the festival (Aug.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentCharades has closed a raft of deals on “Little Nicholas: Happy as Can Be,” an animated feature which world premiered at Cannes in the Special Screenings section and will go on to compete at Annecy festival. Directed by Benjamin Massoubre and Amandine Fredon, “Little Nicholas: Happy as Can Be” is based on author René Goscinny and New Yorker cartoonist Jean-Jacques Sempé’s popular children books from the 1960’s which have been translated into than 30 languages.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentGlobal arthouse movie streamer, producer and distributor MUBI has acquired all Turkish rights to Iranian director Saeed Roustaee’s timely Cannes title “Leila’s Brothers.”A female empowerment drama set against the backdrop of a family crushed by debts linked to international economic sanctions, “Leila’s Brothers” won the International Federation of Film Critics (Fipresci) prize for best film in Cannes’ main competition.  The film, which is Roustaee’s third feature, follows from his tense actioner “Just 6.5,” about a cop trying to pin down a drug lord.

Manori Ravindran International EditorWarner Bros. Discovery has set out its EMEA leadership team under Priya Dogra, in her new role as president and managing director for the region.“My focus has been to build a senior team that harnesses and balances the experience, perspective and talent from across the Discovery and WarnerMedia businesses,” said Dogra.

Manori Ravindran International EditorCannes sensation “EO,” which tells the story of a donkey’s life, has been acquired for North America by Sideshow and Janus Films. The film is the latest collaboration for the U.S.

EXCLUSIVE: Coda producer Pathé has concluded a raft of sales on its Cannes slate including for starry French drama Masquerade, Directors’ Fortnight entry Paris Memories and Penelope Cruz title L’Immensita.

Strictly Come Dancing star James Jordan has shared a secret health condition - which he's doing his best to hide from his daughter. The professional dancer is currently on holiday in Turkey with his wife Ola Jordan and their daughter Ella.

CANNES – Lukas Dhont’s second feature, “Close,” starts off where most love stories end, and, in that respect, it begins with almost euphoric joy. Leo (Eden Dambrine) and Remi (Gustav De Waele) are the best of friends.

Manori Ravindran International EditorGlobal streamer and distributor MUBI has struck again, this time snapping up select markets for Lukas Dhont’s keenly anticipated “Close.”MUBI has acquired the U.K., Ireland, Latin America, Turkey and India.The film stars Lea Drucker, Émilie Dequenne, Kevin Janssens and newcomers Eden Dambrine and Gustav De Waele. “Close” will receive its world premiere on Thursday at the festival, where it’s playing in competition.The film will be released theatrically followed by an exclusive MUBI streaming release.“Girl,” Dhont’s debut feature film, won the Camera d’Or at Cannes in 2018.

EXCLUSIVE: Mubi has acquired Lukas Dhont’s Cannes Competion entry Close for the UK, Ireland, Latin America, Turkey and India.

BBC Studios Partners With ‘Repair Shop’ Star Jay Blades & Hungry Bear

“Either/Or,” by Elif Batuman (Penguin Press)Do you remember what it felt like to be a college sophomore? The Jell-O shots, cookie dough and moments of abject humiliation and terror as you tried, oh so self-importantly, to figure out how to live?Elif Batuman brings back the tedium and exhilaration of undergraduate life in “Either/Or,” a charming, mordantly funny follow-up to her first novel, “The Idiot,” which was a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize.Selin, the overachieving daughter of Turkish immigrants and Batuman’s alter ego, spent much of that book mooning over Ivan, an older, emotionally unavailable boy in her Russian class. Hence the title, “The Idiot,” a reference to Fyodor Dostoevsky and the generally clueless behavior of young people everywhere.In “Either/Or,” whose title nods to the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard’s treatise on the aesthetic versus the ethical life, Selin decides to opt for the former and become the writer she has longed to be since childhood.

Zack Sharf Welcome back, Park Chan-wook. The South Korean auteur returned to Cannes six years after “The Handmaiden” with his new detective thriller “Decision to Leave” and earned a five-minute standing ovation.Although the ovation matched the amount of time celebrating “The Handmaiden,” the reception was notably more muted. While the camera the festival uses that normally shows on the creative team’s gracious reaction after the movie, and helps to keep the applause rolling, wasn’t working, the response was quiet even before the technical snafu.“Decision to Leave” centers around a detective who falls in love with a mysterious widow who just happens to be the prime suspect in his latest murder investigation.

Detective Hae-joon investigating the death of a man who fell from a mountain top. When he meets the deceased man’s wife in Park Chan-wook’s latest film in competition at Cannes, Decision To Leave.  

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentTurkish screenwriter and director Emin Alper, whose dystopian drama (“Frenzy”) in 2015 made a splash in Venice and who more recently helmed hit TV series “Aleph” about two detectives on the trail of a dervish-turned-serial killer in Istanbul, is in Cannes for the first time with incendiary drama “Burning Days” screening in Un Certain Regard.It’s about a young and earnest prosecutor named Emre who gets pulled into corrupt populist politics while investigating a murder and forms a bond with the owner of the local newspaper.Alper spoke to Variety about how “Burning Days” reflects the rise of authoritarian populism and mounting homophobia, and not just in his country. ExcerptsOver the past years I’ve been surprised to see that similar things are happening around the world. We experienced Trump, for example.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent“1976,” the awaited first feature of Chile’s Manuela Martelli, has closed first new major territories for sales company Luxbox before its world premiere in Directors’ Fortnight later this upcoming week.The film is produced out of Chile by writer-directors Omar Zúñiga (“The Strong Ones”) and Dominga Sotomayor (“Too Late to Die Young”) at auteur-focused Chile-based Cinestación (“Too Late to Die Young”) as well as Alejandra Garcia and Andrés Wood, another celebrated Chilean director (“Violeta Went to Heaven”) at Wood Productions. Nathalia Videla Peña and Juan Pablo Gugliotta at Argentina’s Magma Cine co-produce.“1976” is set, as its title implies, in 1976, one of the bloodiest years of Augusto Pinochet’s hugely bloody dictatorship.

CANNES – It may seem obvious, but sometimes combining two compelling stories doesn’t lead to an overall more captivating film. That’s the primary takeaway from Gina Gammell and Riley Keough‘s somewhat messy “War Pony,” which debuted at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival this weekend.