Europe Rallies Around Ukrainian Entertainment Industry Professionals

A few minutes before the North American premiere of “Freedom on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom,” director Evgeny Afineesvky summed up his state of mind in a single word: “exhausted.”That makes sense, because “Freedom on Fire” screened at the Toronto International Film Festival about six months after Afineevsky and his team began working on it, barely more than a month after its final footage was filmed and only a few weeks after Helen Mirren recorded narration for a scene that comes early in the documentary.For Afineevsky, who landed Oscar and Emmy nominations for 2015’s “Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom,” this sequel of sorts was made in a six-month rush, including just three months of editing after Russian forces invaded Ukraine in February of this year. “The urgency of the movie,” the Russian-born director told the audience before the Tuesday morning TIFF screening, “is to not neglect the situation right now.”Certainly, urgency is a hallmark of “Freedom on Fire,” a harrowing document shot by dozens of people inside Ukrainian cities as the Russian army conducted a bombing campaign and an invasion that seemingly targeted civilians, despite Vladimir Putin’s claims that Russia was there to “demilitarize” and “denazify” the country, and to somehow “free” it – though as more than one person in the film points out, the Russian offensive has resulted in ordinary citizens being freed from their lives, their homes, their families.The director’s first film about Ukraine, “Winter on Fire,” was an on-the-ground look at the 2013-2014 Maidan uprising, in which student protests against the Russian-backed president drew a brutal response but resulted in the removal of the president.

Manori Ravindran International Editor Corus Entertainment has struck an overall deal with U.K.-Canadian production company Dominion of Drama, and appointed its founder Jeff Norton as the head of its new imprint, Waterside Studios. Waterside Studios is positioned as a new IP and production venture focused on premium scripted Canadian content for youth and primetime audiences. The outfit will cater to the Canadian as well as international marketplace. Norton most recently served as a consultant for Corus, and previously as executive producer of “Trucktown” for production company Nelvana. He also co-wrote the novel “Keeping the Beat,” which was one of the launch titles for Kids Can Press’ young adult KCP Loft imprint.

Tiger Pictures Entertainment has acquired worldwide distribution rights outside of mainland China for hit sci-fi comedy film “Moon Man.“ The film, which has collected some $430 million at the Chinese box office to date, tells the story of “the last human in the universe” as an astronaut finds himself stranded on the moon after an asteroid wipes out life on earth. It is directed by Zhang Chiyu, who previously directed 2017 sports comedy hit “Never Say Die.” It was produced by Mahua FunAge, a consistently successful comedy production firm. FunAge’s “Goodbye Mr. Loser” and “Never Say Die” starred Shen Teng and Ma Li and “Moon Man” brings together the comedy duo once again.

EXCLUSIVE: House Of The Dragon star Emma D’Arcy, Industry actor Harry Lawtey and Willow star Ellie Bamber have joined Maxine Peake (The Village), Oscar nominee Ciaran Hinds (Belfast) and Jason Isaacs (The Death Of Stalin) in feature thriller Anna (formerly known as Mother Russia).

Christopher Vourlias Warsaw-based New Europe Film Sales has closed a raft of deals on the animated feature film “Yuku and the Himalayan Flower,” from directors Rémi Durin and Arnaud Demuynck. The children’s animated feature, with graphics by Paul Jadoul, tells the story of Yuku, a little mouse who lives with her family in the basement of a castle and decides to embark on a quest to find the legendary Himalayan flower. The film, which premiered at the Annecy fest and played in the Locarno Kids strand of the Locarno Film Festival, is produced by Artémis Prods. (“Mandibules”) and co-produced by Vivement Lundi! (“Flee”), La Boîte Prods. (“March of the Penguins”), Les Films du Nord and Nadasdy Film. 

Paradigm Entertainment, the owner of Paradigm Talent Agency, has acquired BEST, an affiliate of Blue Equity, under which BEST’s Napoli Management Group, Two Twelve Management & Marketing, and 3 Kings Entertainment business lines will become part of newly formed Paradigm Media Entertainment, the company announced on Wednesday.The new company will service the news broadcast and culinary talent representation business.  Paradigm Media Entertainment is majority owned by Paradigm Entertainment.Paradigm Talent Agency and Paradigm Media Entertainment will provide their clients access to the entertainment, publishing, brand partnership, and news media services of each business.The “Paradigm Media Entertainment” entertainment, broadcasting, and marketing businesses will be headed by Napoli Management Group’s Mendes J.

Emmy-winning producer Dionne Harmon has been promoted to President at Jesse Collins Entertainment from her previous role as EVP Content and Strategy at JCE. In the newly created position, Harmon will oversee all aspects of the company’s creative strategy and financial growth. She will report to Collins.

Will Arnett and Amy Poehler's sons inherited their sense of humor, according to the 52-year-old actor. Arnett stopped by on Tuesday night and dished on how hilarious the former couple's 13-year-old, Archie, and 12-year-old, Abel, are.“I have really funny kids,” Arnett told Kimmel, who agreed, calling the boys “extraordinarily funny.”Reflecting on his kid’s humor, Arnett recalled a story from when Abel was only seven and he joked with one of the podcast host's friends, and told them, “You just got burned by a seven-year-old who is still learning how to tie his shoes!”“I was like, ‘Wow, that’s so layered, he used his own inability to tie his shoes as a burn on the other person.”Arnett went on to share a more recent story, where Abel had a hilarious response to his brother’s criticism. “Archie said, ‘God, Abel just spews all this nonsense and he just says all this stuff that’s a completely conversation killer,'” to which Abel replied, “You know who is a conversation killer? John Wayne Gacy.”Arnett and Poehler were married from 2003 to 2016, but announced their split in 2012.

In Dana Walden’s first personnel move since being upped to Chairman of Disney General Entertainment three months ago, Walden has promoted three executives: Eric Schrier, who is taking on a new, larger role, as well as Craig Erwich and Shannon Ryan who are expanding their current responsibilities.

The BFI London Film Festival unveiled its 2022 lineup today, featuring 164 features and 23 premieres across film and TV, with highlights including the world premiere of Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio and the international premiere of She Said, starring Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan. As always, the LFF program is an enticing mix of buzzy titles from around the fall festivals like Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths out of Venice, and daring works by first-time filmmakers.

Manori Ravindran International Editor Georgia Brown, head of Amazon Studios in Europe, is stepping down after five years in the role, Variety can reveal. The executive’s last day at the business is Wednesday (Aug. 31), though her departure is understood to have been in the works for some time. Brown is believed to be moving on to another opportunity, though it’s not yet clear what or where her new role will be. Brown has been a strong and prominent ambassador for Amazon Studios in Europe, and was the first executive hired to lead originals for the continent. In the 2016 to 2018 period, when a number of the global streaming services were first setting up shop internationally and kept their executives largely out of view, Brown was always front and center for Amazon, keen to discuss her local-first strategy.

Amazon Studios Europe’s content chief Georgia Brown is leaving the streamer after five years in the role.

More than 50 years after she made her Venice debut as the star of Luis Buñuel’s 1967 classic Belle du Jour, Catherine Deneuve is being feted by the festival with its Golden Lion for Career Achievement.

TWICE have opened up about how all nine members of the group came to renew their contracts with longtime label JYP Entertainment.It was first announced last month that all members of the K-pop girl group had renewed their exclusive contracts with JYP ahead of their expiration this fall. “TWICE, who played a crucial role in establishing JYP’s status, and JYP, which became a reliable source of support for TWICE growing to become a representative K-pop girl group, agreed based on this trust to renew the contracts with confidence in an even better future,” the label said in their statement at the time.In NME’s new cover story and ahead of their new mini-album ‘Between 1&2’, which dropped today, the girl group opened up on the conversations they had before unanimously renewing their contracts with the company.“It was actually decided only a few days before it was reported in the media,” revealed TWICE’s leader Jihyo.

Time will tell if Erich Schwer is The One for Gabby Windey, but they’ll always have his special hometown date.

The board of Madison Square Garden Entertainment said today that it is considering a spinoff of its live entertainment business that would include MSG Networks and NYC’s Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall and Beacon Theatre, among other assets.

Emily Longeretta When W. Kamau Bell got started, he just wanted to make people laugh. At 21, he began with a goal of being a stand-up comedian.