Flula Borg Returning as Piëter Krämer in ‘Pitch Perfect’ Series at Peacock

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentItalian multi-hyphenate Nicolò Bassetti is an urban planner and director, whose doc “Into My Name,” screening in Berlin’s Panorama Documentary section, provides an eye-opening look at the universal challenges of gender transition.The doc features Nico, Leo, Andrea, and Raff, whose ages span from their mid-20s to mid-30s, and come from different parts of Italy. They start their gender transition at different times in their lives within a tight-knit group of friends in the central Italian city of Bologna.“Into My Name,” which is being supported by Elliot Page, stems from Bassetti’s personal experience with the gender transition of his child, Matteo.

EXCLUSIVE: Shooting upcoming Netflix pic Against The Ice was no straightforward task, as its stars and director reveal to Deadline in a first interview as a trio.

Outré horror maestro Peter Strickland is back. The filmmaker behind such Eurotica, vintage, throwback classics such as “Berberian Sound Studio” (2012), “The Duke of Burgundy” (2014), and “In Fabric” (2018), returns to the Berlin Film Festival this week (today, in fact), with his latest deliciously bizarro offering, “Flux Gourmet.” The premise? Something like beef within the culinary/sonic art collective world and a whole set of egos and intestinal issues.

The adage “write what you know” works well for writer-director Peter Strickland with his Berlin Film Festival Encounters feature Flux Gourmet. The former member of The Sonic Catering Band makes rich work of a fictional culinary performance collective, while also tackling taboos in the depiction of stomach problems on screen.

Just as the Tiktok-ers and Instagrammites of the world had completed the mainstreaming of ASMR, master of the tactile Peter Strickland has returned to restore the unsettling, alien quality to sensation. In “Flux Gourmet,” his latest and most bizarre film — a hotly contested title he earns with this feverish stew of murdered turtles, torrid orgies, and heartrending fart-tending — texture is everything.

Outré horror maestro Peter Strickland is back. The filmmaker behind such Eurotica, vintage, throwback classics such as “Berberian Sound Studio” (2012), “The Duke of Burgundy” (2014), and “In Fabric” (2018), returns to the Berlin Film Festival this week (today, in fact), with his latest deliciously bizarro offering, “Flux Gourmet.” The premise? Something like beef within the culinary/sonic art collective world and a whole set of egos and intestinal issues.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentTel-Aviv-based Cinephil, the sales company behind triple-Oscar nominated “Flee,” has snapped up world rights, excluding U.S., to Italian director Nicolò Bassetti’s transgender-themed doc “Into My Name,” which is executive-produced by Elliot Page.UTA Independent Film Group will be handling North American rights. The buzzy doc, which world-premieres at the Berlin Film Festival in the Panorama Documentary section, stems from Bassetti’s personal experience with the gender transition of his child, Matteo.“Into My Name” provides an intimate look at the universal challenges of gender transition by observing a tight-knit group of trans friends in the central Italian city of Bologna. Cinephil managing director Olivier Tournaud in a statement said that he was “immediately taken” by Bassetti’s “sensitive and relatable exploration of the many facets of gender and even more so the love letter from a father to his son.”“Into My Name is timely and spotlights voices that need to be heard; this is exactly the kind of film Cinephil is proud to represent,” Tournaud noted.Bassetti underlined that for him the doc “is a deeply personal project, both as a parent of a transgender son and as a director who has always explored individual paths that show our shared humanity.” “I trust that together with a strong partner such as Cinephil, we can add to the awareness and understanding of trans issues with international audiences,” the director said.The doc’s characters, Nico, Leo, Andrea and Raff — whose ages span from their mid-20s to mid-30s — come from different parts of Italy, and started their gender transition from a female to a male identity at different times in their lives.

Naman Ramachandran British auteur Peter Strickland is back with his fifth feature, “Flux Gourmet,” and it is as striking and uncompromising as his previous body of work, which includes “In Fabric” (2018), “The Duke of Burgundy” (2014), “Berberian Sound Studio” (2012) and “Katalin Varga” (2009). “Flux Gourmet” world premieres at the Berlin Film Festival’s Encounters strand on Feb. 11.The film follows a sonic collective trio with rocky interpersonal dynamics, who take up residency at an institute devoted to culinary and alimentary performance and have to answer to the institute’s head, who has her own opinions about their work.

EXCLUSIVE: Todd Strauss-Schulson and Adam Devine are reuniting for a third time as the former has signed on to direct and exec produce the pilot episode of Peacock’s Pitch Perfect (w/t) spinoff series

When you think of the Mount Rushmore directors of horror, names like Wes Craven, John Carpenter, and George A. Romero all come to mind immediately.

It’s a neat conceit, making the directing colossus of 1970s German cinema into the star of his own show. Peter Von Kant, the opening film of the Berlin Film Festival, is “freely adapted” by French director François Ozon from The Bitter Tears Of Petra Von Kant, Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s highly stylized 1972 story of three women locked in a toxic triangle of love, jealousy, domination and submission. The storyline and much of the dialogue, is the same; where Ozon shakes it up is by making the trio all men. 

Jessica Kiang How do you make something real out of something that was artificial to begin with? Should you even try? François Ozon has, with “Peter von Kant”: a deconstructed, gender-swapped and then fastidiously reconstructed overhaul of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s “The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant.” 50 years on, Fassbinder’s film remains as close to un-remake-able as any ever made, mainly because it remakes itself every second as it goes along. If this makes Ozon’s version, which opens this year’s Berlin Film Festival, an oddly self-invalidating proposition from the get-go, that impression only deepens as the minutes tick amusingly but inconsequentially by.For the uninitiated (who are very obviously not the audience for this inside-baseball bauble), Fassbinder’s film is the story of a sadomasochistic lesbian love triangle between a successful fashion designer, her model protégée and her mute assistant.

Christopher Vourlias Austrian director Ulrich Seidl, whose latest feature “Rimini” plays in the main competition at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, is winding down production on his next film, Variety can reveal.“Sparta” is a companion piece to Seidl’s competition entry and revolves around the brother of that film’s protagonist, the washed-up singer Richie Bravo. “[‘Rimini’] actually originated as a much larger story,” the director told Variety.

Tom Hanks, Gerard Butler, Evan Rachel Wood and Rosamund Pike headline projects being brought onto Berlin’s virtual European Film Market.Just how large its top-tier offers may be is, and the volume of deals, are still open for debate.“Very compact,” Constantin’s Martin Moszkowicz said mid-last week of the EFM, which swelled somewhat thanks to a flurry of title announcements on Feb. 4, followed by a steady trickle of big unveils.“The EFM does not look like it will have the comparable volume of the AFM,” Mister Smith’s David Garrett said.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentFrançois Ozon, the prolific and provocative French director who won the Berlinale’s 2018 Golden Bear Award with “By the Grace of God,” is returning to the festival with “Peter von Kant” which will world premiere on opening night. A twist on Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s cult film “The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant,” Ozon’s movie has Denis Menochet playing the tormented filmmaker, opposite Isabelle Adjani, who stars as his muse. Like the original film, “Peter von Kant” is about a film about love, jealousy and domination.

EXCLUSIVE: Cinedigm has acquired North American rights to Coast, a coming-of-age drama starring Fatima Ptacek (Dora the Explorer), stand-up comedian Cristela Alonzo (Cristela), Academy Award winner Melissa Leo (The Fighter) and Ciara Bravo (Cherry), with plans to release it day-and-date in theaters and on VOD on April 8. VMI Worldwide, which is handling international sales and distribution, will rep the film at the Berlin Film Festival when it kicks off on February 10.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorBerlin-based sales agency Picture Tree Intl. has added to its European Film Market slate “Love Thing,” starring top German actor Elyas M’Barek, whose credits include “The Collini Case.” Also on the slate is “Soul of a Beast,” which debuts its trailer below.Despite the virtual nature of the EFM, the company has taken additional office space at the Marriott Hotel in Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz.“Love Thing,” which also stars Lucie Heinze, Peri Baumeister and Alexandra Maria Lara, is directed and written by Anika Decker, whose last feature “High Society” sold widely.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterFlula Borg is returning to the world of “Pitch Perfect,” with the German actor and comedian signing on for a role in the Peacock series continuation of the film franchise.Variety exclusively reported that the series had been ordered by Peacock in September 2021. Borg will star alongside previously announced series lead Adam Devine.