EFM Studio Suffers Break-In, Shuts Down After Equipment Stolen Overnight (EXCLUSIVE)

A multi-story apartment building was hit by a rocket in Kyiv on Friday (25 February), injuring at least three people.

EXCLUSIVE: French American actor Saïd Taghmaoui (Wonder Woman, The Forgiven) has signed with Buchwald for representation.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentMemento International has closed major sales on Ursula Meier’s Berlin contender “The Line,” and “Boy from Heaven” by Tarik Saleh, the Swedish-Egyptian helmer of “The Nile Hilton Incident.” A religious and political thriller, “Boy From Heaven” is set in Cairo, in a Koranic school following the collapse of a grand imam which marks the start of a ruthless battle for influence.The movie is headlined by Tawfeek Barhom and Fares Fares, who previously starred in “The Nile Hilton Incident.” Saleh’s Stockholm-based outfit Atmo is producing the movie with Memento. Memento International has sold the film to Benelux (Cineart), Spain (La Aventura), Italy (Movies Inspired), Greece (Cinobo), Hungary (Vertigo) and Middle East (Falcon). Other territories in negotiation.

Christopher Vourlias Germany’s Sola Media has closed a wave of international sales for the animated feature “Finnick,” produced by Riki Group, which will be released by Sony Pictures Russia in Russia and CIS on March 24.The CGI-animated comedy follows the adventures of 13-year-old Christine, who befriends the young prankster Finnick – one of the furry and usually invisible beings known as Finns. The odd couple has to team up as detectives to solve the mysterious events happening in their city.The Stuttgart-based sales agency has inked deals with Eagle Pictures (Italy), Independent Films (Benelux), Koch Films (German/Austria/Switzerland), Vertigo Releasing (U.K.), Tanweer (Greece), Selmer Media (Scandinavia), Myndform (Iceland), Rialto (Australia and New Zealand), and Black Sheep Films (South Africa), and holds exclusive distribution rights in multiple additional territories.

Afternoon International Insiders. The team is in Berlin and EFM is hotting up. We’ve got the latest from Germany and more so read on.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorAltered Innocence has picked up all U.S. rights to Isabelle Stever’s sixth feature film “Grand Jeté” prior to its premiere on Friday in the Panorama section of Berlinale. The film stars Sarah Nevada Grether as Nadja, a woman who has estranged herself from her young son in order to be able to concentrate on her ballet career.

As the physical edition of the Berlin Film Festival kicks off today and with the virtual edition of the European Film Market well underway, a number of key talking points such as Covid, the uncertainty of the theatrical sector and satisfying the demand for streaming platforms are likely to be hot button topics amongst buyers and sellers alike.

EXCLUSIVE: Growing theatrical distributor and streamer MUBI has picked up all rights from The Match Factory to Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Oscar breakout Drive My Car for Latin America, India, Malaysia, Africa (excluding French language Pay-TV rights) and the Middle East (excluding Israel and Turkey).

K.J. Yossman Komplizen Film, the German studio behind Princess Diana biopic “Spencer,” have joined The Creatives, an alliance of independent production companies.The alliance was formed to increase the companies’ “collective power in the face of the changing landscape.”Film and TV production outfit Komplizen, which was founded in 1999 by Janine Jackowski and Maren Ade, joins eleven other companies from across the world including Razor and Haut Et Court, the latter of which initiated the collective.The companies work closely together in a number of ways, from sharing information, combining talent and networks and negotiating with common rules to co-production and partnerships.

Ed Meza @edmezavarThe Berlin Film Festival’s European Film Market is gearing up for its second virtual edition with an improved online infrastructure for exhibiting companies and a wide-ranging conference program that focuses on a transforming industry and the changes that are shaping its future.For Dennis Ruh, who took over as EFM director in 2020, it’s the second market that has been forced online due to the pandemic — a disappointing development after physical space at the Gropius Bau and Marriott Hotel, the event’s main venues, had been nearly completely booked.“The biggest challenge was to switch from a hybrid to an online event — to make this decision,” says Ruh.With Germany and much of Europe hit by the Omicron onslaught in December and January, a physical event was no longer feasible. “We had to make this decision by the beginning of January and that was not an easy one,” he says.

Manori Ravindran International EditorSky executive Jane Millichip, a distribution leader and a driving force behind the company’s sustainability drive, is leaving the company after almost 10 years.News of the executive’s departure was revealed to staff in a memo from Sky Studios CEO Cécile Frot-Coutaz on Tuesday morning. Millichip, who currently serves as chief content officer for Sky Studios, is leaving the company after nine years.

K.J. Yossman “Breaking Point,” a feature about breakdancing from the directors of hit film “StreetDance 3D” will get its sales launch at EFM.Directed by Dania Pasquini and Max Guia, who helmed both “StreetDance 3D” and “StreetDance 2,” “Breaking Point” is described as “an adrenaline fuelled, high energy deep dive into the world of breakdancing.” HanWay Films are handling worldwide sales for the film, which goes into production in April.“StreetDance 2” alum Niek Traa will reunite with Pasquini and Guia for the new feature, choreographing the dance scenes.

Manori Ravindran International EditorEvan Rachel Wood, Eliza Scanlen, Rufus Sewell and Vanessa Redgrave are set to lead an adaptation of World War II-era book “All That I Am,” Variety can reveal.AGC Studios is fully financing the film, which will be shot in Berlin and Sydney in late summer. The studio, led by Stuart Ford, introduced the project to buyers this week as part of the virtual European Film Market, which generally runs alongside the Berlin Film Festival.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorWorld sales company Global Screen has released the first-look image of “Recipes for Love and Murder,” which has been chosen for Berlinale Series Market Selects lineup at the European Film Market. Acorn has the rights to the series for the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.The 10-part South African and U.K.