Epsilon Reveals Cannes Sales Slate, Headed by Ulysses’ ‘Mimi&Harold – Out of Frame’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Ed Meza @edmezavar Writer, director and actress Toni Kalem (“The Sopranos“) is adapting Lore Segal’s internationally acclaimed 1964 semi-autobiographical novel “Other People’s Houses,” about a Jewish child refugee who finds asylum in Britain via the Kindertransport rescue effort. The story follows a 10-year-old Jewish girl from Vienna who is sent to England as part of the 1938 children’s transport that followed Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria. She spends the next several years living in wildly disparate households, from wealthy families to modest working-class folks, an experience that presents her with stark impressions of England’s class system.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Reflecting the breadth of Mediawan CEO Pierre-Antoine Capton‘s vast network and friendships, an impressive roster of film industry players flocked to celebrate him as he received Variety‘s International Visionary Award at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday. Attendees included CAA’s co-chairman and CEO Bryan Lourd, who said a few words about Capton on stage, as well as AGC Studios’ Stuart Ford, SPC’s Tom Bernard, Netflix’s Larry Tanz and Pauline Dauvin, and Mediawan executives including Elisabeth d’Arvieu and Justine Planchon.

Jamie Lang Spanish sales, distribution, and production company Filmax has picked up international rights to the upcoming kids and family animated feature “The Light of Aisha” and is sharing the project with buyers at this year’s Marché du Film. The CG-animated film tells the story of Aisha, a young girl living in XI-century Al-Andalus in the south of modern-day Spain.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent German actors Elisa Schlott (“Das Boot” TV series), Max Riemelt (“Sleeping Dog”) and Alma Hasun (“Corsage”) are set to star in Italian director Silvio Soldini‘s drama “The Tasters,” which reconstructs the untold true story of the women conscripted to be Adolf Hitler’s food tasters. Shooting is set to start on Friday in Italy’s northern Alto Adige region on the Nazi-era drama, which is being pre-sold at the Cannes Marché du Film by Rome-based Vision Distribution, headed by sales agent Catia Rossi.

EXCLUSIVE: Mike Goodridge has been on a rare journey. Not many in the industry can boast a CV that includes running a trade publication, an international sales company, a film festival and being the producer of multiple Cannes Film Festival movies.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Chile’s Quijote Films, behind Cannes 2023 Un Certain Regard Fipresci Prize winner “The Settlers,” has tied down a powerful alliance of international partners on “The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo,” the first feature of 2018 Cannes Cinéfondation top winner Diego Céspedes. An LGBTQ-themed drama, “The Mysterious Gaze” is set in a mining town where a strange illness is said to be transmitted between men who fall in love with each other.

Gerhard Zeiler, president of Warner Bros. Discovery international, said an HBO output deal with Sky overseas will likely not look the same if it’s renewed. Sky has licensed content through the end of 2025 but it comes as no surprise that WBD will look to tweak that as Max expands globally. The streaming service wants a beachhead in the UK, Germany, Italy (and other markets) and needs HBO and Warner Bros. programming.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor After four Oscar wins for “All Quiet on the Western Front” last year and the Oscar nomination for “The Teachers’ Lounge” this year, Germany’s film sector seemed to be on the up, but while a government plan to revamp the country’s film funding system is broadly welcomed, its painfully slow progress is also causing some anxiety. The fact that Cannes’ various sections contain not one feature by a German filmmaker may be seen as a cause for concern, but 13 German productions and co-productions have been selected.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Berlin-based sales agency Films Boutique has closed first sales and released the first-look image from Oscar-nominated Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland‘s biopic of the Czech novelist Franz Kafka, “Franz.” The project has sold to September Film in Benelux, Filmin in Spain, Vertigo in Hungary, MCF Megacom for the former Yugoslavia and Movies Inspired in Italy. The film was previously acquired for theatrical distribution by Bac Films Distribution in France, X Verleih in Germany and Austria, Bioscop in Czech Republic and TVP in Poland.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “The Substance,” Coralie Fargeat’s buzzy horror movie starring Margaret Qualley and Demi Moore, has sold to one of France’s biggest distributors, Metropolitan FilmExport, ahead of its world premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The Match Factory is handling international sales on the female-powered movie, and MUBI just acquired the rights in North America, U.K., Ireland, Germany, Austria, Latin America and Benelux, where they will release the film theatrically this year. MUBI has also acquired the movie for Turkey and India.

EXCLUSIVE: Francis Ford Coppola‘s Megalopolis has sold to key independent buyers in Europe’s top five territories, we can reveal.

EXCLUSIVE: Ahead of the Cannes market, Lionsgate has taken North American rights off the table on one of the bigger-budget new packages that’ll be on sale next week: that’s action-thriller Mutiny, which will star action evergreen Jason Statham (Fast & Furious) and be directed by Jean-François Richet (Plane).

EXCLUSIVE: Big Brother seller Banijay Rights has signed a former BBC Worldwide Director as the head of its sales and co-pros in German-speaking territories.

Studiocanal has appointed former Netflix France exec Isabelle Pain as Head of Global Acquisitions & Analytics in a new position created in response to the company’s international expansion.

MadRiver Pictures has closed a multi-year equity financing and distribution deal with several major international distribution partners which gives it the ability to fully finance films at a budget of $25M-$75M for the global theatrical marketplace.

EXCLUSIVE: The English-language adaptation of Momo, one of the best-loved fantasy books by The Neverending Story writer Michael Ende, has set a buzzy cast, with Alexa Goodall (A Gentleman In Moscow) taking the lead role of the young orphan girl Momo. 

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Paris-based international sales and production company Totem Films has revealed its production slate, with projects by Nastia Korkia, Vytautas Katkus, Ernst de Geer and Anna Roller. Totem brought together the directors and writers of the projects they are developing to take part in a Script Circle in Berlin, led by consultants Françoise von Roy and Franz Rodenkirchen. Totem partners Bérénice Vincent and Laure Parleani said that the production companies they are working with, Garagefilm, TamTam and Kalekone, were “enthusiastic about this collaborative idea, so were the directors and scriptwriters.” They added: “It is very nurturing to have a mix of different personalities, countries and backgrounds.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Beta Cinema has added Andres Veiel‘s upcoming documentary film “Riefenstahl,” about controversial filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, to its Cannes lineup. The film is an exploration of Riefenstahl’s legacy, delving deep into her complex relationship with the Nazi regime. With unprecedented access to Riefenstahl’s 700-box personal archive, the documentary navigates between her sanitized narrative and incriminating evidence regarding her knowledge of the regime’s atrocities.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Starring “3o Coins’” Miguel Angel Silvestre and “The Palace’s” Katia Fellin, “Weiss & Morales” has gone into production in the Canary Islands, boasting the credentials of a textbook procedural appealing to current market appetites. As co-production ramps up between free-to-air players in Europe, led very often by its state-backed networks, “Weiss & Morales” links two of the continents’ most powerful public broadcasters, Germany’s ZDF and Spain’s RTVE, which produce with ZDF Studios.

Almost a year after Kevin Spacey was found not guilty of sex crimes, Channel 4 and Max in the U.S. are set to air testimony from more men detailing their experiences with the double-Oscar winner.