Deckert Boards ‘Pure Unknown,’ ‘My Father’s Prison’ Ahead of Premieres at Visions du Reel (EXCLUSIVE)

EXCLUSIVE: On the eve of his acting return at the Cannes Film Festival, Johnny Depp has set a buzzy cast for Modi, his first directorial effort in 25 years.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Sales agency The Match Factory is launching the trailer (below) of Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki’s “Fallen Leaves,” which will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in Competition. This gentle tragicomedy is the fourth part of Kaurismäki’s working-class quartet, following “Shadows in Paradise,” “Ariel” and “The Match Factory Girl,” which The Match Factory, the company, is named after. The film tells the story of two lonely people (played by Alma Pöysti and Jussi Vatanen) who meet each other by chance in the Helsinki night. They then try to re-find each other: the first, only, and ultimate love of their lives. Their path toward this goal is clouded by the man’s alcoholism, lost phone numbers, not knowing each other’s names or addresses, and life’s tendency to place obstacles in the way of those seeking their happiness.

The 67th Eurovision Song Contest kicked off with a bang on Tuesday night in the UK with the first of two semi-finals. 

ET Canada reporter asked about the actor’s six children on Monday, he replied, “Seven, actually. I just had a baby.” De Niro did not offer any more details on the baby or its mother.

Kim Cattrall says the cast of “About My Father” were like a real family.

Ethan Shanfeld Hulu will serve up Season 2 of “The Bear” on June 22, FX announced on social media. It was previously revealed that the second season of the Chicago-based restaurant dramedy would premiere sometime in June. Starring Jeremy Allen White as Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto, “The Bear” follows a young, classically trained chef who returns home to Chicago to run his family’s Italian beef shop after his brother dies by suicide. The series also stars Ayo Edebiri, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Lionel Boyce, Liza Colón-Zayas, Edwin Lee Gibson, Abby Elliott, Corey Hendrix, Matty Matheson, Richard Esteras and Jose M. Cervantes.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Memento International has closed major deals on Martin Provost’s “Bonnard, Pierre And Marthe” ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival. Slated for Cannes Premiere, the period film revolves around the colorful relationship and epic love between renowned French painters Pierre and Marthe Bonnard who are played by Vincent Macaigne (“Irma Vep”) and Cecile de France (“Lost Illusions”). The film has been pre-sold by Memento International to key distributors in Italy (I Wonder), Canada (Sphère Films), Latin America (California Filmes), South Korea (AUD), Taiwan (Flash Forward), Airlines (Skeye), Poland (Hagi), Hungary (Vertigo), Portugal (Nos Lusomundo), Czech Republic (Cinemart), Bulgaria (Beta Film), Ex-Yugoslavia (Demiurg).

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italian director Nanni Moretti’s new film “Il sol dell’avvenire” (“A Brighter Tomorrow”), a multi-layered love letter to filmmaking in the age of streaming giants, is doing brisk biz at the home box office ahead of its Cannes Film Festival international premiere. The latest by Moretti — who customarily gets special permission from Cannes to release his works locally before launching them from the Croisette — has already scored close to €3 million ($3.3 million) from 500 screens in Italy via 01 Distribution since its April 20 release. “Brighter Tomorrow” came in second only to “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” last weekend, which was a long frame due to the International Workers’ Day holiday on May 1.

BreAnna Bell Onyx Collective’s “Searching for Soul Food” will arrive on June 2 exclusively on Hulu, Variety has learned. “Searching for Soul Food” follows rock star celebrity chef Alisa Reynolds as she discovers what soul food looks like around the world. As she seeks out the food, she’ll also explore the stories, the people, and the traditions of each place she visits, bringing her own flavor right along with her. The international journey finds Chef Reynolds exploring the culinary worlds of Mississippi, Oklahoma, Appalachia, South Africa, Italy, Jamaica, Peru and Los Angeles.” Additionally, Onyx Collective also released a teaser for the unscripted series. The 38-second clip offers a brief montage through some of host Reynolds’ travels across the globe, eating various versions of tacos, corn bread and collard greens, and pizza in celebration of the traditions that unite the diverse cultures throughout the world.

The prestigious Visions du Réel film festival in Nyon, Switzerland wraps up this weekend, after hosting the world premiere of dozens of documentaries.

Lise Pedersen As Switzerland’s international documentary film festival Visions du Réel is about to wrap up, its artistic director Emilie Bujès, who’s been running the show since 2017 and was part of the selection committee for several years before that, told Variety that packed theaters throughout the 10-day event are proof that the public is back. She was very pleased to note that many of the 163 screenings were packed – “even the retrospectives!” – and she was delighted to have two women filmmakers among her guests. “They were fantastic. Symbolically, to have two strong women who were so generous with the audience – it was paradise,” she said of Alice Rohrwacher, who will be in Cannes’ main competition with “La Chimera”, and acclaimed Argentinian filmmaker Lucrecia Martel, whose upcoming project, “Chocobar,” will be her first foray into feature-length non-fiction.

Trinidad Barleycorn “While the Green Grass Grows” by Peter Mettler won the Grand Prix of the International Feature Film Competition at the 54th edition of Visions du Réel, in Nyon, Switzerland, on Friday. The Swiss-Canadian director was competing with an unusual project: made in the form of a diary filmed from 2019 to 2021, “While the Green Grass Grows” is in fact a series of seven episodes with a total duration of about 11 hours. It was the finished parts one and six of the series, totalling 166 minutes, that were unveiled in world premiere at Visions du Réel and running for the Grand Prix. The whole project was also presented in the Work-in-Progress section in order to find other financing and distribution platforms to finalize the remaining parts, which have already been widely edited. This is the second time that Mettler has won the Grand Prix at Visions du Réel, after his victory in 2002 with “Gambling, Gods and LSD.”

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International MUBI has acquired all rights for Molly Manning Walker’s directorial debut “How to Have Sex” for major territories. The deal covers North America, U.K., Ireland, Italy, Latin America, Turkey and Benelux ahead of the movie’s world premiere at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section. Theatrical releases are planned for key territories, including the U.S. and U.K. In Benelux, the film will be released theatrically in partnership with Imagine Film Distribution. Following theatrical releases, the film will premier exclusively on MUBI in all territories acquired.

Mubi has acquired British filmmaker Molly Manning Walker’s debut feature How to Have Sex, which is set to debut in Un Certain Regard at the forthcoming Cannes Film Festival.

Lise Pedersen A group of Ukrainian filmmakers have won the top industry award at Swiss international documentary film festival Visions du Réel with their project “The Days I Would Like to Forget,” divided into three chapters, each of which will explore a different phenomenon of war. Filmmakers Alina Gorlova (“No Obvious Signs,” “This Rain Will Never Stop”), Maksym Nakonechnyi (“Butterfly Vision,” “This Rain Will Never Stop”), Simon Mozgovyi (“Salt from Bonneville,” “The Winter Garden’s Tale”) and Yelizaveta Smith (“Solitude,” “Butterfly Vision”) of independent Ukrainian production company Tabor were awarded the Vision du Sud Est prize, handed out to the best project from the South (Africa, Latin America and Asia) or Eastern Europe.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Berlin sales agency M-Appeal has come on board to handle world sales for “Let Me Go” (“Laissez-Moi”), the debut feature by Swiss director Maxime Rappaz, which will world premiere as the opening film of the Cannes ACID sidebar. Set in a Swiss mountain village, “Let Me Go” follows Claudine, a dedicated mother whose life revolves around her son. Every Tuesday, according to her careful schedule, she goes to a nearby mountain hotel to meet men who are passing through. When she meets Michael and he decides to extend his stay for her, Claudine is confused and finds herself dreaming of another life.  French actress Jeanne Balibar stars in the lead role of Claudine, an elegant woman in her early 50s, who, although living a traditional life, pursues her desires in an unconventional way. She unexpectedly finds a romantic connection with Michael (Thomas Sarbacher).

Tottenham Hotspur have announced that they have sacked interim head coach Cristian Stellini ahead of Thursday night's Premier League clash with Manchester United at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Lise Pedersen Toronto-based outfit Syndicado has acquired world rights for Daniel Kötter’s “Landshaft,” which is competing in the Burning Lights sidebar of Swiss international documentary film festival Visions du Réel. In Germany, the film will be distributed by Arsenal Filmverleih. Shot in the form of a road movie as the director travels across Eastern Armenia in an old Lada, the film offers a striking contrast between the region’s peaceful-looking mountains and the voice of his passengers, its inhabitants, who live in the shadow of the threat of war. They speak about the six-week conflict waged in 2020 by neighbouring Azerbaijan over control of the Nagorno-Karabakh region. Although this disputed region is located further to the south, the conflict has now moved further up the border, and runs through the Sotk gold mine, whose concession has been granted to a Russian company by the Armenians.

Lise Pedersen “Knit’s Island,” the sophomore feature by French trio Ekiem Barbier, Guilhem Causse and Quentin L’helgoualc’h, competing in the Burning Lights sidebar at Swiss international doc fest Visions du Reél, has been picked up by Vienna-based film sales company Square Eyes. It is entirely shot in the online post-apocalyptic world of DayZ, a multiplayer survival video game set in the fictional post-Soviet Republic of Chernarus, where a mysterious plague has turned most of the population into violent zombies. Under the guise of avatars, the three-member film crew entered this world and made contact with its players. Their goal was to show how the gaming world can be a place where players become part of a strong community, they tell Variety.

Still looking for The One. Scott Disick has been thinking about his future as ex Sofia Richie gears up for her wedding and Kourtney Kardashian approaches her one-year anniversary with Travis Barker.