French Doc Distributer Java Films Takes International Rights to Malaga Entry ‘Robin Bank’ (EXCLUSIVE)

A.D. Amorosi When is a timeless children’s tale not quite right for children’s theater? When it is Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s beloved and ever-so-slightly surreal 1942 novella, “The Little Prince.” Published following France’s liberation during World War II, the French aristocrat turned military aviator’s story was always something of an adult-oriented, nebulous dreamscape, one in which a tousled-haired young prince travels through space, lands on various planets (including Earth) and touches quietly on topics as nuanced as love and as rough as our loss of humanity and earth’s natural resources.“The Little Prince” is a lovely, delicate story.

Starzplay Acquires HBO’s Max’s Ken Watanabe Crime Thriller Series ‘Tokyo Vice’

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.

Ed Meza @edmezavarPicture Tree International (PTI) has acquired Constantin Film’s hit comedy film series “Bavarian Rhapsody,” about a laid-back cop in a small town in southern Germany.The eight-part movie series, which PTI is presenting at the MipTV mart in Cannes this week, includes the latest installment, “Guglhupf Squadron,” which Constantin is releasing in theaters in August. PTI will screen a trailer reel of the series and part seven in the franchise, last year’s “Kaiserschmarrn Drama.”Based on Rita Falk’s bestselling book series that also celebrates Bavarian cuisine, the movie franchise began in 2013 with “Sweet Buns Blues” and also comprises 2014’s “Winterpotato Dumplings”; “Porkhead Al Dente” (2016); “Wheatnoodles Affair” (2017); “Sauerkraut Coma” (2018); and the sixth installment, “Leberkäs Junkie” (2019).

Dawn French delighted fans with a new selfie on Sunday, almost a week after she revealed she tested positive for coronavirus. The Vicar of Dibley actress, 64, revealed that despite still testing positive for COVID-19, she is feeling "springy".MORE: Dawn French reveals the cheeky comment she made when she met Prince Charles"Still with the [COVID-19] but cheerfully Springy as hell here…" she remarked alongside a stunning new selfie which was taken against a beautiful backdrop of primroses and daffodils.WATCH: Dawn French clarifies flippant Strictly Come Dancing remarkFans flocked to the comments section with one writing: "Hopefully soon you will be negative.

Those lockdown months taught us plenty of things about our hair: scrunchies are an acceptable hair accessory at any age, yes we CAN survive without our six-weekly highlights top-ups – and seeing naturally grey hair on display is no longer as taboo as it once was. In fact, in a recent poll Wella Professionals discovered that 57% of women feel that “grey is back in fashion”, with one in five seeing going grey as an “exciting new chapter” in their lives.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentTrustNordisk, which is at the Canneseries Festival (Apr. 1-6) with “The Dreamer – Becoming Karen Blixen,” has scored a raft of deals on Christian Tafdrup’s psychological horror film “Speak No Evil.”The Sundance film follows a Danish family who befriends a Dutch family while vacationing in Tuscany.

EXCLUSIVE: Deadline has the first exclusive track from Jeff Danna’s score for Julia, which is set for release tomorrow via Watertower Music.

Lauren Sanchez knows how to take a good selfie. On Monday night, the girlfriend of Jeff Bezos shared a classic mirror selfie where you can see just how fit the Emmy award winning journalist is.The Black Ops Aviation founder looked cozy in an off-the-shoulder sweater and a wide leather belt that accentuated her tiny waist.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentFrench-American podcast network Paradiso Media has unveiled a trio of prestige podcast shows, “Wild Whispers,” “STYX” and “Conference Call” with high-profile talent, including Jeff Ward (“Hacks”), Gregory Stees (“Funny or Die”) and Elizabeth Henstridge (“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.).”All three shows were presented at Series Mania’s”IP Pitch: Podcast to Screen” session where Paradiso Media was out in force. “Conference Call” is a new scripted startup parody podcast adapted from Paradiso’s own hit French podcast “Conf Call” which was released in Europe on Deezer.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentTikTok, which as become the official partner of the Cannes Film Festival, has assembled the prestigious jury of its inaugural #TikTokShortFilm, a global in-app competition of vertical shorts.Rithy Panh, the BAFTA-nominated Cambodian filmmaker of “The Missing Picture,” will preside over the international jury, which comprises Basma Khalifa, the Sudanese multi-disciplinary creative, Camille Ducellier, the artist and filmmaker of “Bachi-Bouzouk,” Angele Diabang, the screenwriter and producer of “Un air de kora,” as well as Khaby Lame, the Senegalese-born TikToker and content creator. Eligible short films will be between 30 seconds and 3 minutes in length.

Encanto will bring its magic to the 94th Academy Awards. The enchanting story about the Madrigals shows a side of Colombia that stays away from stereotypical shows and movies people are used to seeing.

brings us to the mystical world of the Madrigal family who were forced from their Colombian homeland, creating a community protected by magical powers. At the center of this multigenerational, fun-loving animated musical is the existential threat of displacement — of losing home and community and what it takes to protect it, as well the emotional scars from trauma of loss, which can pass on for generations.“Belfast”is a coming-of-age story set during the Troubles in Northern Ireland which displaced many Irish under the threat of violence.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentHot off the success of “No Man’s Land,” Israel’s Spiro Films and France’s Haut et Court TV are re-teaming on “Armageddon,” a sprawling thriller miniseries looking at Christian extremists operating in the Holy Land.The show is being created by David Ackerman, who previously worked in national security in Israel and went on to pen the film “Blank Bullet” inspired by the story of Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination, and “Jerusalem,” a gritty geopolitical thriller drama which competed at last year’s Series Mania.Ackerman is currently writing the script for “Armageddon,” which weaves several characters, including a Christian American priest who travels with a few disciples to the Kibbutz Megiddo. Appearing friendly and charitable, the group starts forging bonds within the small community, including a mother and a son, while pursuing their secret agenda: find the Antichrist who will provoke a war that will fulfil their biblical prophecy – the second coming of the Christ.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentUGC, the long-running French film studio whose biggest hits include “Amelie Poulain,” has successful branched into TV series by acquiring stakes in a flurry of talent-driven production companies such as Itineraire Productions (“HPI”) and Headline Pictures (“Call My Agent!’s” British remake) in the U.K.Opting for a different approach to Gaumont’s or large media groups like Mediawan, the company has been building its label UGC Series as a coalition of independently-ran production companies under the leadership of Laurence Lenica, a veteran UGC executive, and Franck Calderon, a well-known writer, producer and former boss of TF1 Productions.So far, UGC Series comprises six banners. Along with Headline Pictures and Itineraire Productions, these include Henri Debeurne’s Next Episode whose credits take in “Christmas Flow” for Netflix and “J’ai tué mon mari” for NBCU and TF1; UGC Fiction, which Calderon is leading with Karine Evrard and Sophie Exbrayat, and which has delivered the ratings hit ”Jacqueline Sauvage, It was Him or Me”, and most recently “La Traque” for TF1.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- A group of Dutch historians has published an in-depth criticism of the work and conclusion of a cold case team that said it had pieced together the “most likely scenario” of who betrayed Jewish teenage diarist Anne Frank and her family.The cold case team's research, which was published early this year in the book “The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation,” by Canadian academic and author Rosemary Sullivan, immediately drew criticism in the Netherlands.Now, in a 69-page written “refutation,” six historians and academics describe the cold case team’s findings as “a shaky house of cards.” The book's Dutch publisher repeated an earlier apology and announced Tuesday night it was pulling the book from stores.The book said that the person who revealed the location of the Frank family's secret annex hiding place in an Amsterdam canal-side building was likely a prominent Jewish notary, Arnold van den Bergh, who disclosed the location to German occupiers of the Netherlands to save his own family from deportation and death in Nazi concentration camps.The Dutch historians reviewed the team's work and concluded that the “accusation does not hold water.”The historians said the book “displays a distinct pattern in which assumptions are made by the CCT (Cold Case Team), held to be true a moment later, and then used as a building block for the next step in the train of logic.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent“Game of Thrones” producer Frank Doelger, after executive producing “The Swarm” through his Berlin-based Intaglio Films, now has two new high-end shows for the international pipeline in the pipeline: “Concordia” and “Doing Good.”During a panel at the Series Mania TV festival Doelger described “Concordia” as “a series about a 21st century community which uses cutting edge AI technology to see if it can create a fairer, safer, society.” Twenty years after this community has been a huge success, “countries around the world are approaching the founders of this social engineering experiment to found similar communities in their countries,” he added.And, “as they research the twenty-year history of this community, they discover that this instance of utopia has provided safe homes for immigrants and thousands of refugees seeking a better life. But they also discover the dark secret that led to its founding.” Doelger — whose Intaglio is a joint venture between German outfits Beta Cinema and ZDF Enterprises — said  “Concordia” will start shooting in September.

Frank Doelger, who was an executive producer on Game Of Thrones between 2011 and 2019, provided an update on his new company in Germany during a Series Mania panel today.

Marta Balaga Finland has responded to a spike in demand for its content with a slew of new series. As revealed by Laura Kuulasmaa, executive director at Audiovisual Producers Finland (APFI), over 30 will be released this year alone, a 20% uptick on 2018.“Compared to eight, ten years ago, when there were maybe only five scripted series per year, the increase has been huge,” she tells Variety ahead of French TV festival Series Mania’s “Focus on Finland” showcase. The Film in Finland cash rebate has facilitated international investments and growth of the budgets, she notes. Matti Paunio, head of production at the Finnish Film Foundation, adds:“I think the biggest trend overall is the diversification of subjects and points of view.

Jon Burlingame Film composers are always looking for novel ways to express ideas and convey character in music. Two of this year’s original-score nominees were especially innovative in finding musical solutions for storytelling challenges.“Dune” demanded a sonic landscape unlike anything composer Hans Zimmer had ever tackled (including such sci-fi projects as “Inception” and “Interstellar,” which brought him two of his previous 11 Oscar nominations).