IDFA Luminous Player ‘Travesti Odyssey’ Debuts Trailer (EXCLUSIVE)

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaAgents, studio executives and movie lovers will resume their annual pilgrimage to Park City as the Sundance Film Festival, the preeminent showcase for indie film, returns to in-person premieres this January.

last year’s diversity breakdown when there was a smaller lineup of films, though 51% of 2021’s slate were directed by people of color. This comes from a submission class of 3,762 films, in which only 28% were directed by women.

As we approach the end of 2021, it’s time to look ahead at what’s to come in 2022. More specifically, we can begin to look ahead at the film festivals of the new year.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorRené Rechtman, CEO and co-founder of Moonbug Entertainment, was gearing up to launch an IPO for his 3-year-old digital kids’ content company.But earlier this year, two of his former Disney colleagues — Tom Staggs and Kevin Mayer — came calling with an offer he couldn’t refuse.

Jamie Lang Buenos Aires-based Meikincine, sales agents for Paula Hernández’s 2020 Argentine Oscar submission “The Sleepwalkers,” has closed an exclusive agreement with Barcelona’s Harpo Entertainment for distribution in Spain of the filmmaker’s follow-up feature “Las Siamesas,” recently nominated for the best Ibero-American film of the year at the upcoming Spanish Academy Goya Awards.The news comes hot off the heels of a high-profile deal struck by Meikincine, which just scooped the rights to

Lucy Hale is fighting to survive assassins, drug mules and the dangers of the desert in her new action-packed crime thriller .Hale stars as Elly, a young botanist researching invasive plant species in the Borrego dessert, in California, who inadvertently witnesses a drug mule's ultralight plane crash in the hills.When she goes to help possible survivors of the crash, the injured drug smuggler takes her hostage at gun point, with the intention of using her help — as well as her car — to drive the

Emilio Mayorga Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streaming service for horror, thriller and the supernatural, has taken international distribution rights to Demian Rugna’s “When Evil Lurks,” the fifth feature of from the Argentine genre director behind 2018 Austin Fantastic Fest winning “Terrified.”Fernando Díaz’s Machaco Films and Roxana Ramos’s Aramos Cine in Argentina and Agustina Chiarino and Fernando Epstein at Uruguay’s Mutante will co-produce the film.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentIn a broad sweep of platform pick-ups, Netflix, Warner Media’s HBO Max and Movistar Plus, Telefonica’s pay TV/SVOD service in Spain, have all acquired drama thriller “High Tide” (“Marea Alta”).From Argentine writer-director Veronica Chen, the feature premiered in World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.Pay TV service SomosTV has taken U.S. rights.

Meikincine has acquired the international rights to “Sublime,” the first feature film from Argentine director Mariano Biasin,A coming-of-age drama, the title screened at Buenos Aires’ Cinemark Puerto Madero cinema to sales agents, fest heads and buyers on Tuesday.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Maradona documentary “The Death of God” (“La Muerte de Dios”) is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video in Latin America, making it the perfect companion piece to the BTF Media series “Maradona: Blessed Dream,” which bowed Oct. 29 across 240 countries on the streaming giant.“The Death of God” turns on the Argentine soccer icon Diego A.

Jamie Lang M-Appeal has closed deals for two of its Ventana Sur titles: Marcela Lordy’s “The Book of Delights” to Pigeon Co. in Taiwan and “The Night of the Beast” from Mauricio Leiva Cock to HBO in Eastern Europe.“The Book of Delights” is an Argentina-Brazil co-production between Cinematográfica Marcela and bigBonsai which had already sold in the U.S.

Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player as an honorary starter at Augusta National Elder, who made his Masters debut in 1975 and recorded a best finish of joint 17th in 1979, was not well enough to hit a ceremonial drive but was warmly applauded after being introduced to the spectators by Masters chairman Fred Ridley. It was a fitting start to a historic day.

Manori Ravindran International EditorAlmost anyone over 30 has owned a Nokia phone at some point in their lives, but not many people know that the iconic brand was created at a Finnish company formerly specializing in rubber boots.Once the world’s biggest mobile manufacturer at the turn of the 21st century, the company was nearly wiped out of the smartphone market by Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android well before 2010, and ultimately sold its handset division to Microsoft in 2013.When news

Jamie Lang U.K.-French sales, distribution and production company Alief has dealt Gonzalo Calzada’s award-winning Argentine thriller double bill “Nocturna” in France and Belgium to horror-centric streaming platform Freaks On.Freaks On plans to release the film early next year, day-and-date on its platform, in select theaters and in physical media.As envisioned by Argentine writer-director Gonzalo Calzada, “Nocturna: Side A…” turns on a nearly 100-year-old man who struggles to atone for the

Jamie Lang Rome-based 102 Distribution is placing two of its key upcoming catalog titles on the open market at this year’s Ventana Sur market and festival: Argentine Soccer doc “Xeneizes – Boca: the Origins” and Mexican coming-of-age drama “Oliver and the Pool.”L.A.’s 1844 Entertainment will handle U.S.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentItalian producer Domenico Procacci, after shepherding more than 100 movies and several TV series, including Netflix’s upcoming Elena Ferrante adaptation “The Lying Life of Adults,” via his Fandango shingle, is debuting as a director with six-part documentary series “The Team.” Variety speaks to Procacci exclusively about what prompted him to go behind the camera for what he says is just a one-off experience as a director, and debuts the English-language

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentIn the run-up to its roll-out in cinema theaters around the world, Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas starrer “Official Competition” has a official trailer.Variety has had exclusive access to its international subtitled version. Buena Vista International will release “Official Competition” in Spanish cinemas on Feb.

EXCLUSIVE: Professional basketball player Jarnell Stokes has signed on to exec produce three indie features: Friedrich Moser’s doc How to Build a Truth Engine, writer-director Chadd Harbold’s thriller Private Property, and writer-director Matthew Greene-DeLange’s family film, Skelly.

Marta Balaga After addressing his family’s decades-long trauma in IDFA opener “Four Journeys,” Louis Hothothot (Louis Yi Liu) is already developing another intimate story. In “A Big Dream,” he will follow an American girl who weighs nearly 250 kg and dreams of becoming an actor in Beijing.