‘Elite’ Producer Zeta’s ‘Favor’ to Filmax (EXCLUSIVE)

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Yes Studios, the Tel Aviv-based producer and distributor behind “Fauda,” has scored major deals on “44 Hours,” a documentary feature about Gil Avni, a healthy 33-year-old father of two who was diagnosed with cerebral edema and miraculously recovered. The feature-length documentary has been acquired by Amazon Prime Video in the U.S. and by NRK in Norway for its linear channels and VOD platform.

Will Tizard Contributor Indie and art film producer Jon Kilik, unlike many, remains hopeful for the personal, mid-budget movie for grown-ups. “Those are the films directors love to make and audiences still love,” says Kilik, being feted this week at Poland’s Camerimage cinematography festival for work of special visual sensitivity.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes brought us back to the world of Panem, and fans of the franchise are likely wondering if there is more content on the way.

Michael B. Jordan made his directorial debut with the release of Creed III earlier this year. Ever since, there have been questions about if the franchise would return for a fourth movie.

Michaela Zee A fourth “Creed” film is in development with Michael B. Jordan set to direct the upcoming installment, franchise producer Irwin Winkler has revealed. Jordan made his directorial debut with “Creed 3,” in which he also starred as heavyweight champ Adonis Creed from the “Rocky” spinoff film series.

The biggest story of the 1936 summer Olympics in Berlin was Black track and field star Jesse Owens winning four gold medals and putting the lie to Adolf Hitler’s theories of race supremacy. A less-heralded U.S. gold medal triumph over host country Nazi Germany glides onto screens this Christmas with The Boys in the Boat from MGM Amazon Studios, directed by George Clooney.

Naman Ramachandran “The Railway Men,” the first production from YRF Entertainment, the streaming production arm of India’s Yash Raj Films, was a carefully considered choice from studio head Aditya Chopra, director Shiv Rawail has revealed. The four-part series is a tribute to the unsung heroes of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy and marks the first venture in a multi-year creative partnership between Netflix and Yash Raj Films. In 1984, a cloud of toxic gas escaped from an American pesticide plant in the central Indian city of Bhopal.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Tessa Ía, who broke out heading “After Lucía,” Michel Franco’s Cannes winning first feature, is set to star in “Hyperballad,” which offers what is proving one of the most potent mixtures in cutting-edge Latin American film: Genre, ambition, and a first-feature young woman director. Directed by Alejandra Villalba García, “Hyperballad” (“Hiperbalada”) is lead produced by Hiperbalada, a production house lead by Villalba Garcñia and pic producer Carlos Paz.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Belgium’s Stenola Productions, behind Joachim Lafosse’s 2022 Cannes Competition player “The Restless” and this year’s San Sebastian’s Golden Shell contender “A Silence,” has boarded “Elena,” written by Cannes Camera d’Or winner César Díaz (“Our Mothers”) and a potential highlight at this month’s Ventana Sur Proyecta forum. Stenola, which looks set to handle part of post-production, joins Norwegian lead producer Staer, founded by Elisa Fernanda Pirir, and Lithuania’s Just a Moment on a film which marks the anticipated feature debut of Dalia Huerta Cano, whose “Flesh That Remembers” won best doc short at Mexico’s Morelia Film Festival and DF Docs.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Tish Melton, the 17-year-old singer who recently made a splash with her official debut single, “Michelle,” can’t wait to graduate high school next year and devote herself fully to her nascent music career. But in the meantime she’s got a hell of an early graduation present: a forthcoming debut EP helmed by one of the music world’s most notable artist-producers, Brandi Carlile.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Jason Biggs, Edie Falco and Hank Azaria have joined the producing team of “The White Chip,” a comedy that will premiere Off-Broadway in 2024. Described as a “wry and wild” journey, the story follows an alcoholic’s unusual path to sobriety. They will work with the previously announced lineup of Annaleigh Ashford, John Larroquette (“Night Court”) and writer-activist Ryan Hampton.

Emiliano De Pablos Disney+ has picked up Latin American rights to Diego Yaker’s Argentine-Spanish revenge thriller “Una jirafa en el balcón” and is planning a theatrical release in Argentina and Uruguay. Barcelona-based indie studio Filmax is handling Spanish distribution and international sales rights on the film. Hitting the final straits of its shoot, “Una jirafa en el balcón” is filming in Barcelona over Nov.

Naman Ramachandran Mira Nair has boarded Indian filmmaker Sarvnik Kaur’s Sundance-winning documentary “Against the Tide” as an executive producer. The film follows Mumbai-based fishermen Rakesh and Ganesh who are inheritors of the great Koli fishing knowledge system — a way to harvest the sea by following the moon and the tides. Rakesh has kept faith in the traditional fishing methods while Ganesh has strayed away from them, embracing technology.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Buoyed with Paco Plaza’s “Sister Death” riding high in Netflix non-English film global rankings for a second week running, Miami, Mexico City and Madrid-based El Estudio has named seasoned Spanish showrunner Tirso Calero, creator and script co-ordinator on “Servir y Proteger,” “Bandolera” and “L’Alqueria Blanca,” as TV contents director in Spain. He is based out of Madrid.

Guneet Monga Kapoor (“The Elephant Whisperers”) and Michelin-starred chef and filmmaker Vikas Khanna (“The Last Color”) have boarded Oscar-qualified animated short “American Sikh” as executive producers. The film tells the true story of an American-born, turban-wearing Sikh illustrator, writer, performance artist, diversity speaker and creator of Sikhtoons.com, Vishavjit Singh, who after a lifetime of facing prejudice, self-doubt and violence, finally finds acceptance in a superhero costume.

Selome Hailu Moonbug Entertainment has issued the global master toy licenses for two of its titles, “Blippi” and “Little Angel,” to Spin Master Entertainment, the company that produces the “PAW Patrol” franchise and its corresponding merchandise. Toys and games for both properties are expected to hit shelves in 2025.

EXCLUSIVE: Unscripted TV veteran James Lessell has launched the UK’s latest indie production outfit.

Ellise Shafer Cineflix Media, a leading independent producer and distributor, is expanding its operations by opening a Vancouver branch of Cineflix Studios run by industry veteran Mark Miller. The Vancouver office will “focus on producing and co-producing scripted series, movies, and factual content for North American and international streamers and broadcasters,” according to a press release.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Filmax has boarded “The Monster of Many Noses,” which marks yet another feature debut of a Barcelona-based female director, Abigail Schaaff, here in a movie which blends fantasy genre and local lore to large social point. Filmax, which also handles distribution in Spain, will show first images of the film at the American Film Market. Connecting 1960s Spain to its 1930s, the decade of Spain’s Civil War whose atrocities were silenced as the price of transition to democracy in 1970s Spain, “The Monster of Many Noses” (“L’home dels lassos”) is set in 1968 in a small village in the mountains.

Naman Ramachandran India’s Matchbox Shots is developing a project on slain Punjabi rapper Sidhu Moose Wala. Indian rapper, singer and songwriter Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, known as Sidhu Moose Wala, was a star of Punjabi-language music and cinema whose work charted on Billboard globally. His work was not without controversy – it delved into raw, unfiltered issues, making him a voice for many.