CBS Studios & Syrreal Entertainment German Mystery Drama ‘Oderbruch’ Rounds Out Cast; Begins Shooting In Europe

K.J. Yossman Streaming service BBC Player is set to launch in Poland next month thanks to a partnership between BBC Studios and Canal+.The VOD platform will launch June 1 for Canal+ streaming subscribers as well as satellite users whose set-top boxes are connected to the Internet (the latter will only have access between June 1 and Aug.

EXCLUSIVE: Leonine Studios has taken worldwide rights to German-Norwegian thriller series The Seed (working title), which is set around the explosive takeover of a seed company and comes from Chameleon writer Christian Jeltsch.

exercice de style as the French would put it, “EO” has plenty on its mind and nothing much to say, idling through a series of vignettes than more often not end with a punch-line of a forbidden kiss or a sudden act of violence, capturing them all with a flashy and urgent style of a music video or Super Bowl car commercial. One need not look far to see in this tale of a lonely beast of burden traipsing across the countryside a condemnation of modern Polish society, especially in sequences when the titular donkey first witnesses and then succumbs to a bout of skinhead hooligan violence, or when it clops across a forest bed we soon learn was once a Jewish burial site. At the same time, Skolimowski – who shot this project over a two-year period – seems more interested in simply making his camera swoop and soar and generally perform its series of stupid pet tricks. In many ways, this rather silly (if quite entertaining) trifle makes for a fitting entry for Cannes’ 75th edition. Skolimowski approaches the material with the hunger and zeal of a young film student, lifting a framework from Robert Bresson and filtering through references to recent festival provocateurs like Lars von Trier, Refn, and Michael Haneke.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeFormer NBC Entertainment chairman Paul Telegdy has launched a new shingle with his cousin, Berlin-based advertising exec Stefan Telegdy, and they are pitching their first TV project, a 10-episode series about the Falklands/Malvinas War of 1982.The Telegdys’ The Whole Spiel production company has partnered with Lone Wolf Pictures and Infinity Hill to produce “The Islands,” which tells the story of that 1982 war, from the perspective of the soldiers and civilians on both sides of the 74-day conflict.Argentine writer Sebastian Rotstein (“El Presidente” Season 2, “Morir de Amor”) is writing the screenplay for the show, which will employ writers and directors from both the U.K. and Argentina to tell the full story.

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Manchester United will have a tough time trying to convince Benfica striker Darwin Nunez to move to Old Trafford.

Manori Ravindran International EditorSpotify’s former head of studios for the U.K. and Ireland, James Cator, has joined Amazon-backed podcast outfit Wondery, Variety can reveal.The executive is believed to be taking on the newly created role of head of commercial for Europe. Based in Berlin, Cator will report into Wondery’s head of international, Declan Moore.The move will support Wondery’s European growth. The company, which was acquired by Amazon in December 2020, has been expanding its international footprint with more original local productions and increased territory localizations for its slate of podcasts.

EXCLUSIVE: Fledgling Federation Entertainment-backed German label Glisk has struck its first major talent deal, signing German author Ivar Leon Menger and setting its first three projects, Deadline can reveal.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorMunich-based Global Screen has acquired family entertainment film “School of Magical Animals 2” for worldwide distribution. A first teaser will be presented at the Cannes Market for the project, which has a budget of more than $13 million.

EXCLUSIVE: James McArdle (Mare Of Easttown) and Fionnula Flanagan (The Others) have been set to lead the ensemble cast of Four Mothers, an Irish-set adaptation of Gianni di Gregorio’s 2008 festival and box office hit Mid-August Lunch (Pranzo Di Ferragosto).

Katarzyna Grynienko Louise Archambault’s World War II drama “Irena’s Vow,” starring Canada’s Sophie Nélisse (“Yellowjackets,” “The Book Thief”), the U.K.’s Dougray Scott (“My Week with Marilyn,” “Mission: Impossible II”), and Poland’s Maciej Nawrocki and Andrzej Seweryn, is in production in Poland, and is set to premiere next year, according to Film New Europe. The film tells the story of Polish nurse Irene Gut Opdyke (born Irena Gut), who in 1982 was awarded the Righteous Among the Nations medal for showing remarkable courage in her attempt to save Polish Jews during World War II.

Anna Franklin Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby will start shooting next week in Malta on Ridley Scott’s film “Kitbag,” about Napoleon’s rise to power. Polish cinematographer Dariusz Adam Wolski is lensing, according to Film New Europe. Phoenix, who plays the French emperor, and Kirby, who plays his wife Josephine, arrive in Malta this week, according to Times of Malta, quoting sources in the local film industry.