Compañía de Cine Boards Locarno Title ‘Mostro’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorMunich-based sales agency The Playmaker has picked up international distribution rights to “And Tomorrow We Will Be Dead,” which is based on the true story of the abduction of a Swiss couple by the Taliban in Pakistan. Variety has been given access to the international trailer for the film, which opens the Zurich Film Festival.

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Ethan Shanfeld Brandon Scott and Warren Burke have joined the cast of the upcoming Western “Dead for a Dollar,” Variety has learned exclusively.The film follows a famed bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) as he encounters his sworn enemy, a professional gambler he had sent to prison years before (Willem Dafoe), while on a mission to find and return the wife of a successful businessman who is being held hostage in Mexico (Rachel Brosnahan).Directed by Walter Hill, “Dead for a Dollar” has begun

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Leo Barraclough International Features EditorBerlin-based sales agency Picture Tree Intl. has kicked off sales for action biopic “Chasing the Line,” about the Austrian skiing champion Franz Klammer, which will make its world premiere at the Zurich Film Festival.PTI has closed its first deal on the film with Praesens Film taking rights for Switzerland, and will launch its international campaign with an exclusive work-in-progress buyer screening at the Toronto Film Festival.

Travis Barker, 45, showed off tremendous courage on Aug. 14 when he boarded a private plane 13 years after surviving a deadly plane crash. The Blink-182 drummer reportedly embraced his girlfriend Kourtney Kardashian, 42, before they held hands and got on the jet together in Los Angeles, CA. He was also photographed getting off the plane on his own once they arrived in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, where they are apparently vacationing. Check out the pics HERE.

Alaina Castillo is on another level. The 21-year-old singer-songwriter is the epitome of coolness.

's first season without Chris Harrison is just days away from airing.

Emiliano Granada Directed by Elene Naveriani and written alongside brother Sandro Naveriani, “Wet Sand” world premieres today in the Cineasti del Presente competition at Switzerland’s Locarno Festival.Very much in line with the section’s mission statement, the Swiss-Georgian co-production is a vibrant example of emerging talent that has quickly grown into versatile auteurs with a striking control of their craft.“Wet Sand” is Naveriani’s second feature and, beyond its craft and structure,

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentA force on Europe’s film archive scene, the Cinémathèque Suisse is near to finishing a restoration of “The Written Face,” regarded as one of the best films by one of Switzerland’s most prominent filmmakers, Daniel Schmid.News of the reissue comes as heritage becomes an ever more familiar part of the major festival landscape – as a promotion agency, the Cinémathèque Suisse is at Locarno with six titles, far more than any sales agent.Switzerland,

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentNetflix has acquired Tatiana Huezo’s “Prayers for the Stolen” (Noche de la Fuego), a critically acclaimed Mexican drama which world premiered at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section and won a special mention. The streamer has picked up the film for most European territories outside of France, Italy and the U.K.

Anna Marie de la Fuente In an unprecedented move, multi-Oscar nominated American composer and pianist Philip Glass (“The Hours”) has contributed key music to Mexican documentary “Cartas a Distancia” (“Letters from a Distance”) by Juan Carlos Rulfo.Credit goes to Glass’s decades-long friendship and collaboration with the documentary’s lead composer and music producer Leonardo Heiblum, whose notable list of film credits include some highly acclaimed Latin American films, including “Frida,” “Maria

Jamie Lang Leading Latin American animation studio Ánima has launched a dedicated adult-young adult division and announced that later this year it will begin production on “El Santos,” a serialized version of the company’s 2012 comic book-inspired feature “El Santos vs la Tetona Mendoza.”The star-studded, landmark film established Ánima as not only a regional powerhouse of Mexican animation, but a leading creator of cartoon content internationally, and was the company’s first production to

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentValentin Merz’s “De Noche los Gatos Son Pardos” scooped the biggest prize, the Cinegrell First Look Award, at this year’s Locarno Festival First Look pix-in-post competition, one of its industry centerpieces.Now in its tenth edition, First Look’s focus this year was Switzerland with a jury and industry audience given the chance to preview six upcoming Swiss feature films at various stages of rough or final cut.The Cinegrell First Look Award

Will Thorne Staff WriterIt’s been a challenging year-and-a-half for co-productions between Switzerland the U.K., but there appears to be cause for optimism.Directors of media funds from both countries, as well as a pair of producers, gathered at a Locarno Film Festival panel to discuss co-financing and co-production opportunities between the two countries, and to try and entice the room to share in that positive outlook.Neil Peplow, BFI director of industry and international affairs, was at the

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John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentFast emerging as a go-to company for high-profile Chilean and women director titles, Buenos Aires boutique agency Meikincine has swooped on “My Brothers Dream Awake,” ahead of its world premiere at Switzerland’s Locarno Festival on Saturday.Competing in Cineasti del Presente, a section reserved for emerging filmmakers from around the world, “My Brothers Dream Awake” marks the second feature outing for young Chilean Mapuche cineaste Claudia

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentNew Locarno Film Festival artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro, who is the former head of the Venice Film Festival’s Critics’ Week, is starting to put his stamp on the Swiss fest dedicated to indie cinema with a lineup comprising comedies and genre films alongside more straightforward auteur cinema, driven by a desire to make the selection “more audience friendly,” as he puts it.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentHigh-flying Spanish outfit Filmika Galaika has boarded Gabriel Azorín’s poetic, time-blending “Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes”(“Anoche conquisté Tebas”), a buzz title at the Locarno Festival Match Me forum.A networking platform for up-and-coming producers, and a few who have pretty much arrived, Match Me runs on-site at Switzerland’s Locarno Festival over Aug.

Will Thorne Staff WriterAt this year’s edition of Locarno’s Alliance 4 Development, both the future of the selected nine projects, and the co-production market as a whole, will be on the table.The Locarno Film Festival program, which facilitates international co-production for projects from France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, skipped a year due to COVID-19, but is back stronger than ever.“We received more than 70 submissions from the four countries,” says program manager Francesca