Festival In Focus: Thessaloniki’s Agora Industry Strand Adapts To Production Boom In Greece With New TV Section, Think Tank Initiative & More

EXCLUSIVE: Iain Reid and Jason Schwartzman are adapting Apples — a 2020 Greek film of the same name from Christos Nikou — for the small screen.

EXCLUSIVE: Sam Mendes, the Oscar and Tony award-winning director, has chosen three London theater stars – Michael Balogun (National Theatre Live: Death of England-Delroy), Hadley Fraser (Donmar Theatre’s Coriolanus), and Nigel Lindsay (Chichester Festival Theatre’s Woman In Mind) to bring his much-garlanded production of The Lehman Trilogy back into the West End. That’s following triumphant runs at the UK’s National Theatre, the Park Avenue Armory, and Broadway, and a phenomenal 16-week, sold-out run at London’s Piccadilly Theatre in 2019.

Rupert Friend To Star In New Podcast Series From QCODEContent studio QCODE today announced a new science fiction thriller podcast series titled The Mysterious Master M, starring Rupert Friend (Anatomy of a Scandal). Friend will also act as an executive producer on the six-episode podcast series, which will debut in Spring 2023. Mike Lesslie (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds) and his Storyteller Productions banner will produce with Laure Eve (Blackheart Knights) attached to write and executive produce. Tomer and Asaf Hanuka, Sammy Kattan, Automatik, and QCODE will also serve as Executive Producers on the series. “This is a gripping story that shows how messy yet beautiful it is to be human, and I truly can’t wait to share it with all of you,” Friend said of the show.

French agent Laurent Grégoire led a freewheeling masterclass at the Thessaloniki Film Festival in Greece Thursday, where he dug into the tricky negotiations he has overseen as the advisor to some of the industry’s biggest names, including the story behind Marion Cotillard’s 2008 Oscar win for La Vie en Rose.

Veteran studio executives Peter Kujawski and Jason Cassidy will receive an Industry Tribute at the 32nd annual Gotham Awards ceremony, taking place live and in person at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City on Monday, November 28.

Israel’s Sam Spiegel International Film Lab has appointed a new director and unveiled the projects selected for its 11th edition, running from now until the early summer.

EXCLUSIVE: Wild Bunch International (WBI) has released a fresh image of Johnny Depp as Louis XV in French director Maïwenn’s ambitious costume drama Jeanne du Barry, in which she also co-stars as the titular courtesan, and unveiled a raft of first theatrical deals.

Orestis Andreadakis, director of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, has a lot on his mind when he sits down with Deadline via Zoom from his office in Athens. Climate change, women’s rights, and the war in Ukraine are all topics he discussed, and he believes film festivals, including his own, must find a way to address and interrogate wider social issues. 

Attica and Tembi Locke are the creative duo, showrunner/writers, executive producers and sisters behind Netflix’s limited series From Scratch, which premiered on the streamer Friday. The film stars Zoe Saldana, Danielle Deadwyler, Keith David, Kellita Smith, Eugenio Mastrandrea and Judith Scott.

EXCLUSIVE: Production has begun on the psychological thriller The Eye, starring Shruti Haasan (Salaar) and Mark Rowley (The Last Kingdom) from Fingerprint Content. 

Bonobo has shared his latest single ‘Defender’ – you can listen to the new track below.The song follows on from the musician, producer and DJ’s surprise single ‘ATK’, which arrived last month and was, according to Simon Green, “aimed more at the dancefloor”.Released via the artist’s label OUTLIER (in partnership with Ninja Tune), both ‘Defender’ and ‘ATK’ are set to be physically released on hand-stamped and numbered white label vinyl (limited to 1500 units) later this month – you can pre-order your copy here.Listen to Bonobo’s song ‘Defender’ in the below visualiser.Bonobo will perform at Printworks in London on November 19, marking his final UK live date of 2022.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Dollhouse Pictures, production company founded by Krew Boylan, Rose Byrne, Jessica Carrera, Shannon Murphy and Gracie Otto, is to produce “Devotion,” a book-to-film adaptation of Hannah Kent’s bestselling novel of the same title. The production is in partnership with production and finance firm Storyd.

Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical, coming-of-age drama The Fabelmans has been announced as the opening film of 44th Cairo International Film Festival, running from November 13 to 22.

Andrea Iervolino’s Social Media App TaTaTu Lists On Euronext