Deckert Confirms First Deals on Visions du Réel Titles ‘The Bubble,’ ‘Bellum,’ ‘Les Enfants Terribles’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Naman Ramachandran ViacomCBS-backed U.K. broadcaster Channel 5 has revealed a trailer for its much anticipated series “Anne Boleyn,” starring “Queen & Slim” actor Jodie Turner-Smith.The trailer begins with Turner-Smith, as Tudor queen Anne Boleyn, pleading not guilty to charges of treason.

Jenelle Riley Deputy Awards, Features EditorDuring an interview with Variety earlier this week celebrating the 20 year anniversary of “A Knight’s Tale,” filmmaker Brian Helgeland also reminisced about casting late actor Chadwick Boseman in his first lead film role in 2013’s “42.” Helgeland has long had an eye for casting — Heath Ledger was on the rise when he gave him the lead in “A Knight’s Tale,” which also featured Paul Bettany in his first Hollywood film (a role Helgeland had to fight for

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Tatiana Huezo has quickly emerged in the world of documentary as one of its most talented and thought-provoking directors of her generation.As she finally jumps from documentary to fiction with the upcoming “Noche de Fuego,” a strong big fest candidate, the director delivered a three-hour masterclass at this week’s Swiss doc fest Visions de Réel.Drilling down on her award-winning features and short films, the director expounded on her own understanding of filmmaking as a personal journey in a

Ed Meza @edmezavarNatalia Almada, who won best director at Sundance this year for her mesmerizing film “Users,” is eager to continue the cinematic journey she began in that work with plans to next explore the boundaries of human endurance and the desire to discover the unknown.“Users,” which is screening at the Copenhagen Documentary Film Festival (CPH:DOX) and Visions du Réel in Switzerland, is a visual essay about technology and progress, their often disastrous impact on the world, the

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentJessica Beshir’s mesmeric Sundance hit “Faya Dayi” won big at Visions du Réel on Saturday, scooping both its top Grand Jury Prize as well as a Fipresci International Critics Award.Tomasz Wolski’s “1970” and Ahmet Necdet Cupur’s “Les Enfants terribles” shared the prestige Swiss doc fest’s Special Jury Prize, an effective runner’s up plaudit.All three films expand on traditional doc formats.Described by Variety as a “stylish documentary” which

JD Linville Set on a forgotten Russian island in the Caspian Sea and playing out like a window to another world, doc feature “Ostrov – Lost Island” has been acquired for world sales by London-based Taskovski Films.Premiering at Swiss doc fest Visions du Reél in its main International Feature Film Competition, the documentary chronicles a community forced to fish illegally to feed their families, and the traditions which endure.In “Ostrov” directors Svetlana Rodina and Laurent Stoop are expertly

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are expecting a second child offered some welcome relief for fans of the couple. The pair released a statement in mid-February announcing that their first child, Archie, was “going to be a big brother”, accompanied by a black-and-white photograph of them underneath a tree.

Alexander Durie “Loving Highsmith,” a new documentary based on the American crime novelist’s personal writings about her lovers and family, has been acquired by Filmcoopi and Salzgeber & Co for distribution in Switzerland and Germany.

Lise Pedersen Multi-award winning Swedish director Anna Eborn has presented her fifth feature-length project at the Visions du Réel’s Pitching forum, one of the key industry sections at the documentary film fest in Nyon, Switzerland.The two-time Dragon Award-winner for Best Nordic Documentary at Sweden’s Göteborg Fest (for “Transnistria” in 2019 and “Pine Ridge” in 2014) was brought onboard by Stockholm-based production company Film and Tell.A coming-of-age doc about the effects of childhood

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentDuring lockdown multi-prized film director and historian Mark Cousins found out he had a problem with his eyesight. He decided to turn it into a film in which he imagines “the momentous role that looking has played in his own life and the history of humanity,” as the logline reads.Cousins’ latest film, which is based on his book “The Story of Looking,” is being presented as a work-in-progress at Switzerland’s Visions du Réel festival.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentAt Swiss doc fest Visions du Réel with Cannes ACID premiere “Coalesce,” Torino-based The Open Reel has closed a raft of deals on its current sales titles, led by Chilean Alberto Fuguet’s “Everything at Once: Paco and Manolo’s Gaze.”“Being specific titles, and referring to a specific audience, even if in constant expansion, LGBT titles – not only feature films but also documentaries and short films – respond to the constant demand of a slice of the

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent“The Vanishing,” “Yoga Village,” “Science Fiction” and “Transfariana” took top Visions du Réel industry awards at an online ceremony webcast from Switzerland on Tuesday night.Seventeen awards went in all to a total 16 recipients with major winners addressing some of the most relevant issues of the current times — gender abuse and plurality, lockdown, China — filtered through often highly personal prisms.Such is the case of “The Vanishing,” from

Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival is launching a new industry event focusing on Africa. The Southern Africa-Locarno Industry Academy, hosted in collaboration with the Realness Institute of Africa, will take place online from 26 September to 2 October 2021 and will welcome 10-12 participants from all over the African continent.