Cinedigm Takes North America For Austrian Horror Film ‘Family Dinner’

EXCLUSIVE: Samuel Goldwyn Films has taken North American rights on Tarik Saleh’s Cairo Conspiracy, which formerly was known as Boy from Heaven. Sweden’s submission for the Best International Feature Oscar made its debut at the Cannes Film Festival, where Saleh won the Best Screenplay prize. Samuel Goldwyn is planning an early-2023 release.

EXCLUSIVE: LA-Based production, financing, and sales company Premiere Entertainment today announced that Shout! Studios has picked up North American rights to the action western Gunfight at Rio Bravo, starring Alexander Nevsky (Showdown in Manila).

EXCLUSIVE: Vertical Entertainment has pre-bought North American rights to under-the-radar Pretty Boy Floyd biopic Good Side Of A Bad Man, which begins principal photography today in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

EXCLUSIVE: Shout! Studios has acquired all North American rights to the feature documentary Refuge from levelFILM, Katie Couric Media and Artemis Rising Foundation. The multi-platform entertainment distribution and production arm of Shout! Factory plans to release the film in theaters and across all major digital platforms early next year.

EXCLUSIVE: Dark Sky Films has acquired North American distribution rights to Mother, May I?, the psychological thriller starring Kyle Gallner (Smile) and Holland Roden (Teen Wolf). 

EXCLUSIVE: In a deal with True Colours, Breaking Glass Pictures has acquired North American rights to Mario Martone’s Nostalgia, Italy’s entry for the Best International Feature Oscar. The drama debuted in the Cannes competition last May, and Breaking Glass will continue its festival run in the U.S. through the end of the year with theatrical rollout set for early 2023.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The North American rights to Firas Khoury’s coming-of-age drama “Alam” (The Flag) have been sold to Film Movement. The film premiered at Toronto Film Festival, and will be playing in competition at Rome Film Festival on Tuesday. The first trailer debuts here (below). MPM Premium is handling international sales. Michael Rosenberg of Film Movement said: “Set among a group of Palestinian teens living in Israel, Firas Khoury’s debut feature marries universal themes of growing up with the complex political awakening young Palestinians are forced to undergo living under occupation. Film Movement is excited to bring this tender coming of age drama to North American audiences next year.”

Those who run the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences might want to keep an eye—just one eye, not two, but a sharp one nonetheless—on the Supreme Court of the United States, as the court deliberates the future of affirmative action in college admissions.

A North Carolina judge sent a prospective juror to jail after he refused an order to wear a mask, despite there being no mandate on the books. "I never thought I would show up to jury duty and end up behind bars. So it happened," Gregory Hahn told Tucker Carlson on "Tucker Carlson Tonight." Judge Charles Gilchrist, who was first nominated to the bench by former Democratic Gov.

It’s no great secret that Prince Harry and the royal family haven’t always seen eye to eye. Like most families, they have experienced their fair share of disagreements over the years, particularly since the young royal decided to emigrate to the United States alongside his wife Meghan Markle.

Peter Caranicas Deputy Editor Moving in parallel with the recent upsurge of film production in Greece, the Los Angeles Greek Film Festival (LAGFF), an annual showcase for new works from Greek filmmakers worldwide, plans to expand its activities on an international scale. The fest, now in its 17th year, is launching the Global Greek Film Initiative (GGFI), an umbrella program to advance cultural exchange between Greece, the U.S. and the Greek diaspora, provide opportunities for employment and economic growth within Greece, and serve as the North American hub for Greek film programs and initiatives.  Lia Bozonelis, a Greek-American writer-producer and LAGFF Board Member who conceived the idea of the year-round multifaceted program, said that “Greece is experiencing a hard-won opportunity with the amount of international production pouring in.”

EXCLUSIVE: Paris-based Urban Sales has sold Japanese director Chie Hayakawa’s dystopian drama Plan 75 to KimStim for North America, in addition to several other territories. The film won a Camera d’Or Special Mention when it premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes this year, and is also Japan’s submission to the Best International Feature category of the Oscars. 

Katie Reul editor The annual Reykjavík International Film Festival (RIFF) came to a close Saturday evening, concluding an 11-day event by screening the year’s top honorees at Háskólabíó alongside the award-winning Austrian drama “Vera.” Victors in the New Visions category, which exclusively features debut and sophomore films from filmmakers, are among the works which earned an on-screen reprisal. Winners include Golden Puffin recipient “Rodeo,” continuing the film’s early success in the awards circuit at festivals like Cannes and Champs-Élysées. “I spent five years writing what became ‘Rodeo,'” director Lola Quivoron previously told Varietyin regard to her feature debut. “I wanted to create a true fiction tale and weave in elements of genre, gangsterism and a bit of western. The idea was to make a film that had an aesthetic and a cinematic dimension.”

North Korea has fired two short range missiles toward its eastern coast hours after the U.S. military concluded military training exercises with South Korea. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement they detected the two missiles launched between 1:48 a.m.

Rebecca Souw Along with “Return to Seoul” and Kore-eda Hirokazu’s “Broker,” Singaporean comedy film “Ajoomma” joins a growing list of recent foreign movies set in Korea or probing contemporary Korean culture.  “Ajoomma,” which premieres at the upcoming Busan International Film Festival on Friday in the New Currents competition section, tells the story of stereotypical Singaporean middle–aged woman (or “auntie”). Her obsession with Korean TV dramas leads her to visit Korea for the first time and as a result, embarks on a journey of self-discovery. 

North Korea fired an unspecified ballistic missile toward the East Sea on Thursday morning local time, just two days after Pyongyang sent an intermediate-range ballistic missile flying over Japan, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said.  About 40 missiles have been launched by North Korea this year, including six in the past two weeks, but Tuesday's test marked the first time in five years that the country has sent a missile over Japan.  The U.S. and South Korea staged joint drills on Wednesday in response, with the USS Ronald Reagan moving into waters east of South Korea.