Endemol Shine Boomdog Snags Rights to Carlos Fuentes’ ‘Vlad’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Manchester City U21s boss Brian Barry-Murphy hailed Portuguese sensation Carlos Borges as his brace helped seal a brilliant victory for the Blues away at Derby County.

Anna Marie de la Fuente The upcoming animated TV series “Lil’ Heroes” from Exile Content Studio is one step closer to being made. The studio has tapped Emmy Award-winning writer, author Kevin Shinick, best known for his stints as writer, producer and voice-actor on Adult Swim’s irreverent “Robot Chicken” and his best-selling YA novel, “Star Wars: Force Collector.” Shinick joins NBA star Carmelo Anthony who serves as an executive producer and voice actor on the upcoming series. Asani Swann, Anthony’s producing partner and co-founder of Creative 7, also executive produces. Launched in January this year, the “Lil’ Heroes” franchise started off as an NFT collection created by Spanish contemporary artist Edgar Plans, in partnership with Exile Content Studio, the film, television, audio, and digital production house founded by Isaac Lee and now a part of Candle Media.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent ITV in the U.K. has acquired “Bali 2002,” a new four-part drama exploring the everyday heroes directly impacted by the terrorist bombings on the Indonesian island’s tourist hotspots 20 years ago. Represented by Banijay Rights, the drama stars Rachel Griffiths (“Total Control”), Richard Roxburgh (“Rake”) and Claudia Jesse (“Bridgerton”). It will air on the new streaming service ITVX next year. “Bali 2002” was co-produced by Banijay labels, Endemol Shine Australia and Screentime, and marked the first original drama co-commissioned by the Australian streamer Stan and commercial TV group 9Network. The series premiered last month on Stan.

Carlos Alcaraz and Rafael Nadal are both Grand Slam champions, with their only Major triumphs coming at the French Open, but are yet to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. The ballot for the International Tennis Hall of Fame has been released, with all but one of the former pros on the list appearing in the lineup in the past but failing to get voted into the prestigious group. Daniel Nestor is the only player making his debut on the ballot, while the likes of Moya and Ferrero have another shot of getting into the Hall of Fame.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks Int’l has snapped up worldwide rights to Portugal’s first stop motion animated feature “My Grandfather’s Demons,” the debut animated pic by Nuno Beato. According to FilmSharks CEO Guido Rud, it was able to outbid other contenders for the toon, which had its world premiere at Annecy. “One of the hardest tasks for my acquisition team, run by Santiago Migdal, is to find a true animation gem, not only aesthetically but narratively where the use of different animation techniques makes the story fly even higher,” said Rud. 

Anna Marie de la Fuente Location shooting is underway for “Finding Love in Sisters,” which features a cast with about one million followers apiece on social media: Puerto Rican-born Laura Carmine, Miami-based Marielena Dávila and U.K. model-actor Nick Hounslow. “Finding Love in Sisters” follows drama “Finding Love in San Antonio,” co-produced by leading indie production shingle BTF Media and  L.A.-based American Cinema Inspires (ACI), which teamed up last year to develop and produce films with predominantly U.S. Latino talent. Written by D.F.W. Buckingham (“Finding Love in San Antonio”) and helmed by Jeff Day (“Midway Love”), the romantic drama centers on Esperanza (Carmine), a successful lawyer whose dream life is showing some cracks. Her mother suggests she visit their hometown of Sisters, Oregon to get recharged but she chooses to stay at her job. When Esperanza’s mother dies, she returns home, although she is wary of reuniting with her two sisters, Caridad (Dávila) and Faith (Valentina Izarra), after so many years apart.

Holly Jones Brazilian film editor, screenwriter and director Bruno Carboni tells a merged tale of human disconnection in “The Accident” (“O Acidente”), sharing an exclusive first-look trailer with Variety as the film begins to advance on the festival circuit.  Completed within the framework of the 2018 Torino Film Script Lab, Carboni’s reflective first feature has debuted in competition alongside seven other projects, including Eduardo Cassanova’s “La Piedad” and Carlos Lechuga’s “Vicenta B” at the 32nd Annual Cine Ceará in Fortaleza, Brazil, which wraps today. It is also screening at the Festival do Rio and has just been selected for the Tallinn Black Nights First Feature Competition. 

EXCLUSIVE: Sylvester Stallone, Bear Grylls and Endemol Shine North America have established a production partnership with plans to create high-adrenaline series.

Ed Meza @edmezavar U.S. streaming service Topic has inked an exclusive U.S. and Canadian rights deal with Germany’s Beta Film for four European crime series ahead of this year’s Mipcom TV programming mart in Cannes. Dedicated to crime and suspense, Topic, part of First Look Entertainment, picked up the third season of critically acclaimed Austrian-German series “Pagan Peak”; Finnish title “Helsinki Syndrome”; “Silent Road” from Greece; and Croatian-Ukrainian co-production “The Silence.” The agreement also includes renewals of Italian political thriller “1992” and follow-up seasons “1993” and “1994.” Described as Italy’s “House Of Cards,” the show  examines how Italian politics were shaken to the core by a major criminal investigation against widespread corruption in the 1990s.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Prime Video is debuting the Karla Souza drama “La Caida” (“Dive”) on Nov. 11 after its world premiere at the Morelia Int’l Film Festival.  “How to Get Away with Murder” star Souza produces and stars in the topical drama directed by high-flying Argentine helmer-scribe Lucía Puenzo, hot off “La Jauría” and “Señorita 89.”  Souza is known for her performances in Mexican hit family comedy “We are the Nobles,” action-comedy “Day Shift” opposite Jamie Foxx, as well as the Shondaland TV series “How to Get Away with Murder,” among others.

Fans were left 'outraged' when they discovered the latest elimination result on Strictly Come Dancing ahead of the results show airing on BBC One. The remaining 14 couples took to the ballroom on Saturday night (October 8) for the first themed episode of the series and it was all about the lights, camera and action.

Naman Ramachandran Singapore’s Momo Film Co has boarded a raft of projects, it was revealed on the opening day of the Busan Asian Contents & Film Market on Saturday. Momo, in which Blue Ant Media’s Beach House Pictures has a majority stake, was founded in 2018 by writer-director Kris Ong (“Sunday”) and Tan Si En, who is a co-producer on Busan and Locarno title “Arnold is a Model Student.” Tan has boarded “Andragogy” by Wregas Bhanuteja (Cannes winner “Prenjak,” Busan 2021 title “Photocopier”) as a co-producer. The film will follow Prani, a middle-aged schoolteacher, whose angry video goes viral and she gets trolled online. Adi Ekatama is producing for Indonesia’s Rekata Studio (“Photocopier”).

K.J. Yossman Ben Kingsley is set to star in a feature film adaptation of “Violent Cases,” the first ever graphic novel from Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean. The feature will be led by writer Mike Carey, director Colm McCarthy and producer Camille Gatin (collectively the creative team behind “The Girl With All the Gifts”) and produced by Scary Monster, Lakesville Productions and Foton.Pictures. Carey has also worked on “Lucifer” and other books in the Sandman universe, which Gaiman also created. “‘Violent Cases’ is a journey into the mind of Neil Gaiman, as a famous author recounts fragmented childhood memories and visits to an osteopath who once worked for Al Capone, weaving a dark and twisting tale about stories, our memory, violence and the ways we can’t escape our past,” reads the logline.

Anna Marie de la Fuente In a clear vote of confidence for Colombian director Juan Sebastián Mesa, Bordeaux-based Dublin Films has boarded his third film “Lovers Go Home!” The company also co-produced Mesa’s lauded sophomore pic, “The Rust.” “Lovers Go Home!” centers on a Colombian single mom who leads a double life as a webcammer. One day she meets a U.S. veteran online who becomes obsessed with her. He flies to Colombia to meet her in person. Their meeting makes them reflect on who they truly are. In development, the project participated in this year’s Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum, one of San Sebastian Film Festival’s key industry events, which ran over Sept. 19-21.