Francois Ozon’s Berlin Opener ‘Peter von Kant’ Acquired by Strand Releasing for U.S. Distribution (EXCLUSIVE)

Today show wearing a matching slime green , , and by Marcell von Berlin. In any other color, her suit might not make waves—but the retina-burning hue is impossible to ignore.

Lise Pedersen Berlin Silver Bear winner Manuel Abramovich (“Blue Boy,” 2019) is presenting his new project “The Monsters” at Swiss doc festival Visions du Réel’s Industry event, VdR-Pitching.The project, he tells Variety, “is about one of the first characters that we play in our lives which is gender, as a performative fiction with our bodies. From the moment we are born we have two scripts already written for us: either you are a man or a woman.

Manori Ravindran International EditorGlobal streaming service MUBI has snapped up Carla Simón’s Berlin Golden Bear winner “Alcarràs” for the U.S., U.K. and a raft of other markets.Spanish director Simón’s “Alcarràs” premiered in Competition at the 2022 Berlinale, where it won the Golden Bear for best film.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefCharlotte Gainsbourg-starring “The Passengers of the Night” and Ralph Fiennes- and Jessica Chastain-starring “The Forgiven” are among the first batch of movies revealed by the Sydney Film Festival. The festival is planning an in-person event running 8-19 June, 2022.Australian-produced titles include dance film “Keep Stepping”; “Sissy,” which mixes social media and horror; music title “Six Festivals”; and intimate portrait “The Plains,” which had its premiere in Rotterdam earlier this year.The 22-film advanced lineup also leans heavily on other festival favorites.

Elon Musk had quite the weekend!

EXCLUSIVE: Alcon Entertainment has acquired screenwriter Steven Karczynski’s psychological thriller Vent, bringing BAFTA Award winner Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (The Lives of Others) aboard to direct.

Naman Ramachandran Arrow Films have acquired U.S., Canada, U.K. and Ireland rights to Berlinale title “Incredible But True,” by French writer-director Quentin Dupieux (“Mandibles”).The quirky comedy, which had its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in February, sees a husband and wife move into a suburban house of their dreams only to discover that a mysterious secret is hidden in the basement, which may change their lives forever.

Holly Jones Following the international acclaim of “Babylon Berlin,” XFilme Creative Pool, in partnership with Beta Film, debuted excerpts from its newest drama series, “House of Promises,” scoring on Sunday MipDrama’s  prestigious Buyers’ Coup de Couer Award.The 12-part drama, directed by the reputed Sherry Hormann (“Desert Flower”) and Umut Dag (“Vienna Blood”) for bullishly growing SVOD service RTL Plus, centers on its female protagonists, giving breath to their histories and the tide-shift taking place in the ‘20s that allowed them to chase their passions and ambitions fiercely.“House of Promises” is the female perspective of the Golden 20s. The center of our series isn’t only a love story, it’s about love on all levels.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentStrand Releasing has acquired all North American rights to Alain Guiraudie’s “Nobody’s Hero” which is handled by Films du Losange and world premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. The movie, which opened the Berlinale Panorama section, is set in Clermont-Ferrand revolves around Frederic, a 35 year-old man who falls in love with with a middle-aged sex worker who is married.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentIn one of the biggest swings in Europe’s market, Erik Barmack, the former Netflix VP of international originals, is teaming with Benjamin Munz, producer of “Blood Red Sky,” Netflix’s most-watched non-English movie of all time, on a tentpole high-speed German action film, “The Chase.”Billed by Barmack as “‘The Fast and the Furious’ meets ‘Money Heist’” – which he helped bring to Netflix – “The Chase” marks the first movie out of the gate at Munz’s Berlin-based new label, Fright Zone, the first production company in Germany that will focus exclusively on developing and producing fantasy, action, horror and science fiction films as well as TV shows in and from Germany. Overseen by founder and CEO Munz, Fright Zone will produce with Barmack, who is now working out of his own L.A.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter“Navalny,” a fly-on-the-wall documentary about Russian dissident and one-time presidential candidate Alexei Navalny, was intended to debut directly on HBO Max. But since the harrowing story has renewed timeliness amid Russia’s recent unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Warner Bros.

Film at Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art has set Audrey Diwan’s Happening and The African Desperate by Martine Syms will bookend the 51st edition of their collaboration, New Directors/New Films running April 20–May 1 in NYC.

Emilio Mayorga “Son,” “Cosas de chicos,” “Votamos” and “36” are among eight shorts at this year’s Madrid en Corto, an increasingly key Spanish platform for new talent now in huge demand in a platform age.Recent past editions have included Carlota Pereda’s original “Cerdita,” whose feature version dazzled at January’s Sundance, and shorts from Alauda Ruiz de Azúa, director of Berlin Panorama player “Lullaby,” which swept the Málaga Film Festival on Saturday night, and Javier Marco whose “Josephine” proved a prominent feature debut at September’s San Sebastián. In all, over its 18 editions, titles in Madrid en Corto’s distribution catalog have earned 32 nominations for Spanish Academy Goya Awards. This year, the Goya fiction short winner (Verónica Echegui’s “Totem Loba”) doc short laureate (“Mama”) and “The Monkey,” which snagged best animated short, all feature in Madrid en Corto’s catalog.  Women look likely to make much of the running at this year’s edition, organised by ECAM Distribución, the distribution arm of the enterprising Madrid Film School (ECAM), whose Screen-Incubator has fast become one of the key industry development labs in Spain.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorGreenwich Entertainment has taken North American rights to dark comedy-drama “Concerned Citizen,” which had its world premiere in the Panorama section of the Berlinale. Salzgeber has taken the rights for Germany and Austria.

Ukraine — and Russia — due to the war have found a new temporary home in Berlin's top ballet company, which helps with practice space, housing, and even shoes.About 200 dancers in all, including many who are considering fleeing to Germany, have turned for assistance to the capital's famous State Ballet.Christiane Theobald, the company's acting artistic director, said Wednesday that it is crucial for those refugees to keep up their regular practice, even if they don't have any public performances right now.“The important thing is that the daily training can be completed, because training is like brushing your teeth," she told The Associated Press. “And the tragedy is that if you have phases where you can’t do that at all, then you can never make up for it.”At the same time, Theobald said she's been contacting other company directors across Europe to see if she can help find the uprooted dancers new jobs.“What we need now, of course, are positions in ensembles, and those who are coming ...

when the Oscar nominations were announced this year. Spanish cinema, long lagging behind other European rivals like Italy and France, has finally begun to catch up. Carla Simón’s win in Berlin for ‘Alcarràs’ is proof of that. According to Variety, Cruz is currently in the mix to be the president of the Cannes festival jury, a distinction already granted in 2017 to Pedro Almodóvar, by far the most appreciated Iberian director abroad.

EXCLUSIVE: Arthouse streamer and theatrical distributor Mubi has acquired all rights to Alice Diop’s We (Nous) in the United States and SVOD rights for the film in multiple territories across Europe, Latin America and Asia.

Rammstein vocalist Till Lindemann has helped a Ukrainian refugee who was stranded after fleeing the ongoing war in her country.Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the country’s military to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24. At the time of writing, the UN reports that at least 816 civilians had died, with a further 1333 injured.The story of refugee Alisa Komm’s meeting with Lindemann was posted on Instagram by the rapper Potap, and has since been confirmed by Rammstein’s reps to Loudwire.Komm arrived at Berlin train station shortly after Russia declared war on Ukraine, but was unable to find an available hotel. She then described how Lindemann helped her to find a hotel via a volunteer at the station.The post reads (as translated via Metal Addicts): “I feel bad, I want to cry [and] approach another volunteer.

Placebo have announced details of a series of intimate album release shows to celebrate their new LP ‘Never Let Me Go’ – you can find tickets here.The duo’s first studio album since 2013’s ‘Loud Like Love’ is set to arrive on March 25, and will include the previously released singles ‘Beautiful James’, ‘Surrounded By Spies’, ‘Try Better Next Time’ and ‘Happy Birthday In The Sky’.Placebo have now announced that they will play five shows in Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Brussels and London later this month in support of ‘Never Let Me Go’.The London date will take place at the end of the run at Islington Assembly Hall on March 31.PARIS – BERLIN – AMSTERDAM – BRUSSELS – LONDON – tickets now on sale for our intimate shows.