Coming-of-Age Drama ‘Delegation,’ About Israeli School Trip to Holocaust Sites, Debuts Trailer as Film Premieres at Berlinale (EXCLUSIVE)

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Filmmaker Billy Luther makes his narrative feature debut at SXSW on Saturday with “Frybead Face and Me,” executive produced by Taika Waititi. Inspired by his childhood, the film follows a young boy, Benny (Keir Tallman), who has to spend the summer with his grandma on the reservation. Luther, whose past work includes the documentary “Miss Navajo” and AMC’s “Dark Winds,” feels Benny’s story of learning about rez life and bonding with his cousin Frybread (Charley Hogan) has universal appeal in that it’s ultimately about being somewhere new and feeling alone. “You don’t have to be Native to connect to the story because everyone remembers being dropped off somewhere, and the story brings that familiarity,” Luther says.

While Andrea Riseborough’s shock Oscar nomination for the SXSW 2022 sleeper To Leslie is still being processed, it’s too early to see whether it will have any effect on anything other than awards-season process. It would be nice, however, to think that it could also make it just that little bit harder for the success of smaller, more personal movies to be measured by box office returns alone (how many news stories made a point of deriding To Leslie’s $32,000 take?). Late Bloomers doesn’t have that film’s dramatic intensity, and is way more schematic in its plotting, but Lisa Steen’s debut feature is still an intimate, defiantly female-fronted indie, showcasing an engaging and refreshingly vanity-free performance from Karen Gillan, a talented Scottish actress whose career to date is still something of a work in progress.

My Best Friend’s Wedding, Scream VI), Shane Paul McGhie (“American Skin,” “Deputy”), Sufe Bradshaw (“Veep”), and Kim Coates (“Sons of Anarchy,” Goon,” “White House Plumbers”) round out the cast.“The Getback” is directed by Jared Cohn and written by Chad Law and Garry Charles. Demetrius Stear, Jubal Ace Kohn, Carolina Brasil, and Chadwick Struck are all producing the film.

BreAnna Bell “Act Your Age” earns another win for Alyson Fouse and Bounce TV. The sitcom starring Kym Whitley, Tisha Campbell, and Yvette Nicole Brown opened to an audience of 2.14 million total viewers with its two-episode back-to-back premiere on March 4 on Bounce TV, according to figures from Nielsen. Thus, making it the most-watched half-hour series launch in Bounce history. The initial airing was also pushed with a special presentation on Bounce’s sister network, ION. “It’s the storytelling. It’s wonderful and I think there needs to be something said about how it really well represents black women in America today. That’s a real breath of fresh air,” said executive producer and David Hudson. “It’s fun, it’s funny, it’s engaging, it’s reflective. I think it has real broad appeal for a lot of women, men as well.”

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Autlook Filmsales has sold “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood,” which won the directing award for Anna Hints in the World Cinema Documentary section at Sundance, to more than 20 territories in North America, Europe and Australia. Deals are confirmed with Neue Visionen in Germany, Trigon in Switzerland, Against Gravity in Poland, Fidalgo in Norway, Ost For Paradise in Denmark, Vedetta in Benelux, Filmtrade in Greece and Cyprus, FilmIn in Spain, Alambique in Portugal, Filmladen in Austria, Pasaka Films in Lithuania, Artcam in Czech Rep. and Slovak Rep., Best Film in Latvia, Mozinet in Hungary, and Madman in Australia and New Zealand. The rights in U.S. have been picked up by Greenwich Entertainment and in Canada by Sherry Media Group. The theatrical release in Estonia is by ACME Film.

Kate Aurthur editor In spring 2020, during the earliest phase of the pandemic, production on Season 3 of “Barry” was shut down before it could even begin. But co-creators Bill Hader and Alec Berg — along with the writing staff of the dark HBO comedy — would soon put that time to good use. They wrote the fourth season of “Barry,” and then went back and rewrote the show’s third, which still hadn’t started filming. As Hader and Berg wrote Season 4, they started to realize that “a very clear ending presented itself,” Hader told Variety in an interview last week. On April 16, the eight-episode final season of “Barry” will premiere — and Variety can exclusively reveal that date, as well as unveil its first teaser and first look.

There’s no denying Boots Riley is one of the most interesting up-and-coming filmmakers working today. It almost sounds odd to call him up-and-coming considering he has already established himself quite prominently in the music business.

EXCLUSIVE: Altered Innocence has picked up all North American rights to the Locarno competition title Astrakan, the debut feature from filmmaker David Depesseville.

Virgin Media O2 has significantly expanded its support for households hit hardest by the ongoing cost of living crisis by enabling more people to sign up to its social broadband tariffs which start at just £12.50 per month.

EXCLUSIVE: Christine Horn (The Fallout, Snowfall) and Sule Rimi (Andor, The English) have been tapped to star in Kagiso Lediga’s newly titled Amazon Freevee series Classified (fka Untitled Kagiso Lediga), a coming-of-age drama from Skybound Galactic, a joint venture between Robert Kirkman’s Skybound Entertainment and Sony Pictures Television, and Johannesburg-based producer Diprente. Horn and Rimi join previously announced lead Imani Pullum. The series will premiere in the U.S. on Amazon Freevee. 

is coming to Disney later this month and ET is exclusively debuting the series' trailer to give fans a first look at what's to come. follows 14-year-old Paris Johnson (Danielle Jalade), a teen who considers roller skating to be part of her soul. She lives for the weekends when she gets to go to her sanctuary, the neon-lit Saturdays, a seemingly magical wood floor roller rink where the impossible often manifests.

Emily Longeretta TLC is bringing back six popular series for more must-see storylines. After kicking off the year with three of the top five non-sports, ad-supported cable programs — “Sister Wives,” “90 Day Fiancé: Happily Ever After?” and “1000lb Sisters,” TLC has renewed “Dr. Pimple Popper,” “90 Day Fiancé: Love in Paradise,” “You, Me & My Ex,” “7 Little Johnstons” and “Doubling Down With the Derricos.” “Dr. Pimple Popper” will return this spring on Wednesday, April 5, at 9 p.m., once again following renowned dermatologist and cosmetic surgeon Dr. Sandra Lee. This season includes new house calls and patients with severe struggles. Per the press release, Season 9 “pulls back the curtain a little more on Dr. Lee’s personal and professional life as we get to know the woman behind the scalpel. Dr. Lee’s work is more than skin deep – she jumps at every challenge with a smile and a love for her patients and their skin.” The show is produced by Ping Pong Productions for TLC.

There’s a moment in “Bruiser,” a somber, lyrical coming-of-age tale set during a difficult Alabama summer, which speaks to the corrosive battle at the heart of the film. “You got a disease in your heart.

EXCLUSIVE: 2x Emmy nominee Matt Walsh (Veep) has signed on to star alongside Alejandro De Hoyos (The Man from Toronto), Chelsea Rendon (Vida), Francisco Ramos (Gentefied), John Kaler (The Wrong Guy) and Jason Konopisos-Alvarez (Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay) in the action-comedy The Unexpecteds from writer-director Alejandro Montoya Marín.

review called the coming-of-age drama “one of a kind,” praising the script’s “clever dialogue” and Shipka’s “superstar” performance.“Wildflower” premieres in theaters March 17 and on VOD March 21.Check out the trailer above.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Jan Naszewski’s Warsaw-based sales outlet New Europe Film Sales has sold North American distribution rights for its Berlinale-selected drama “Delegation” to Greenwich Entertainment. “Delegation” is a story of three Israeli high school friends who take part in a class trip visiting Holocaust sites in Poland – their last time together before going to the army. During the trip, shy boy Frisch, aspiring artist Nitzan and class heartthrob Ido deal with issues of love, friendship and politics against the backdrop of concentration camps and memorial sites. The journey will change them forever. The deal for the film, which had its premiere in the Generation 14Plus competition, was negotiated by Naszewski and Greenwich co-president Edward Arentz.

Shayeza Walid “Autobio Pamphlet” (“Aatmapamphlet”), debuting in the Berlin Film Festival’s youth-focused Generation 14plus strand competition, takes on the twin tasks of telling the coming of age story of both its young protagonist and of India. The Marathi-language film marks the directorial debut of Ashish Bende, who previously assisted on several films in India’s flourishing Marathi industry, including award-winning 1970s-set coming of age film “Shala” (2011). The film depicts momentous occasions in the life of Ashish, a so-called “lower caste” boy from the Dalit community in 1980s and 1990s Maharashtra, who falls in love with his classmate from the so-called “upper caste” Brahmin community. The narrative is largely based on Bende’s childhood and teenage years. It follows Ashish and his friends – who are from a variety of castes and religions – as they realize the divisive nature of the caste system, and overcome the challenging socio-political changes around them through kinship and a celebration of differences. 

Ed Meza @edmezavar “Snow,” an Austrian-German co-production and one of 16 titles presented in the Berlinale Series Market Selects showcase, weaves the timely issue of climate change and local folklore into a suspenseful mystery drama set in the picturesque Austrian Alps. Brigitte Hobmeier stars as Lucia, a physician who with her husband and children moves to the village, where she is replacing the local doctor, who is retiring. Things take a troubling turn when her daughter is visited by a strange woman at night. The series presentation at the EFM event brings the title back to Berlin, where it came together in 2020 at the Berlinale Co-Production Market’s Co-Pro Series event.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International The U.K.’s British Film Commission and Film in Austria, the national film commission for Austria, have struck a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) paving the way for more film and high-end TV production between the two territories. New film and TV production incentives were introduced in Austria last month, including Europe’s first “green” filming bonus. Meanwhile, in the U.K., statistics released in February revealed that investment into film and high-end television during 2022 reached a record height of £6.27 billion ($7.72 billion). Through the MoU, which will be signed in Berlin on Sunday, the BFC and Film in Austria say they seeks to “encourage greater cultural, commercial and creative exchange between the U.K. and Austria whilst actively working together to foster opportunities to support inward investment film and high-end TV production in both countries.”

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Writer-director Dustin Guy Defa has shared a first-look clip (below) of his feature comedy drama “The Adults,” which will have its world premiere Saturday at the Berlin Film Festival, with stars Michael Cera, Hannah Gross and Sophia Lillis, and Defa in attendance. The film, which is distributed worldwide by Universal Pictures Content Group, will be releasing internationally on July 3 and in the U.S. on July 4. In Berlin, it plays in the Encounters section. “The Adults” follows Eric (Cera) as he returns home for a short visit and finds himself caught between reuniting with his sisters and chasing a victory with his old poker group.