Chloe Okuno’s feature debut Watcher recorded the biggest opening weekend grosses ever for IFC Films and its IFC Midnight/Shudder label on 764 U.S. screens — also one of the distributor’s widest ever releases.
18.05.2022 - 03:57 / variety.com
Manori Ravindran International EditorIFC Films has acquired U.S. distribution rights from HanWay Films on Rebecca Lenkiewicz’s “Hot Milk,” starring Academy Award nominee Jessie Buckley, Fiona Shaw and Vicky Krieps.Streaming service MUBI has also agreed a multi-territory deal for the film in the U.K., Ireland, Italy, Latin America and Turkey.
Meanwhile, HanWay has also sold the pic into Metropolitan Films (France), The Searchers (Benelux), Scanbox (Scandinavia), M2 (Eastern Europe), A-One (Baltics), Front Row (Middle East) and Shaw (Singapore).The film marks the directorial debut for acclaimed screenwriter Lenkiewicz, whose writing credits include Pawel Pawlikowski’s Oscar-winning “Ida,” Keira Knightley-led biopic “Colette” and the forthcoming Harvey Weinstein drama “She Said.” “Hot Milk” is based on the bestselling novel by Deborah Levy and centers on the relationship between single mother Rose (Shaw) and her daughter Sofia (Buckley), who travel to southern Spain in order to see a medical consultant that might yield answers to Rose’s mystery illness that’s put her in a wheelchair.But in the sultry atmosphere of a sun-bleached town, Sofia, who has been trapped by her mother’s illness all her life, finally starts to shed her inhibitions, enticed by the persuasive charms of enigmatic traveller Ingrid (Krieps). Sofia’s increased freedom becomes too much for her controlling mother, and their relationship simmers with pent-up resentments and bitterness, threatening to tear the fragile threads that hold them together, and leading them to a dramatic conclusion.Buckley was nominated for a best supporting actress Oscar earlier this year for her performance in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Lost Daughter,” based on the Elena Ferrante
.Chloe Okuno’s feature debut Watcher recorded the biggest opening weekend grosses ever for IFC Films and its IFC Midnight/Shudder label on 764 U.S. screens — also one of the distributor’s widest ever releases.
RELEASESJessie Buckley and Bernard Butler have released ‘Footnotes On The Map’, the latest single from their upcoming debut album together, ‘For All Our Days That Tear The Heart’, which is out on 17 Jun.Deep Throat Choir will release new EP, ‘3am’, on 10 Jun. Here’s the title track.Will Haven have released new single ‘Wings Of Mariposa’. The track is taken from the band’s upcoming new album and is “a nice little glimpse of what this new record is about’, says guitarist Jeff Irwin.
Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent“The Three Musketeers,” Pathé Films’s $75-million two-part adventure epic saga based on Alexandre Dumas’s masterpiece, has been bought in major international territories rolling off a busy Cannes market. Pathé unveiled a sprawling 15-minute promoreel for both “The Three Musketeers” – D’Artagnan” and “The Three Musketeers – Milady” at Cannes Marché du Film. Both movies are directed by Martin Bourboulon and boast a star-studded cast, including Vincent Cassel, Eva Green, Vicky Krieps, Romain Duris, Pio Marmaï, François Civil, Lyna Khoudri and Louis Garrel.
Cannes Film Festival that the pace of deals was almost as glacial as the amount of time it takes to get your check at a restaurant in the south of France.But then, sacré bleu, Netflix struck, shelling out more than $50 million for the rights to “Pain Hustlers,” a conspiracy thriller that unites Emily Blunt with Harry Potter director David Yates, and the move has started to accelerate deal-making up and down the Croisette.This year’s market has been a litmus test for film sales as the U.S. and key international markets emerge from the worst of the pandemic.
IFC Films has nabbed North American rights to “Corsage,” Marie Kreutzer’s bold costume drama starring Vicky Krieps as the Empress Elisabeth of Austria known as Sissi. Represented in international markets by MK2 Films, the movie world premiered at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and earned unanimous praises.
EXCLUSIVE: In a worldwide rights deal, Apple Original Films has landed Fingernails, the sci-fi love story to star Jessie Buckley (The Lost Daughter) and Riz Ahmed (The Sound of Metal). It marks the English language debut of Apples director Christos Nikou. Deal went down late Saturday night.
If one actor plays multiple roles in a film, that film is usually a comedy, as the technique is often viewed as an excuse for someone to show off their “wacky” versatility. That technique, however, and the presumption of how it’s applied is radically turned on its head in writer/director Alex Garland’s new surreal and discomfiting horror film, “Men,” from A24.
Note: This interview contains minor spoilers for “Men.”Jessie Buckley didn’t come away from starring in “Men” with any answers. To her, pinning down the film’s exact meaning would be beside the point.“I don’t really have a singular meaning to it,” the Irish actor and singer admitted in a recent interview with TheWrap.
IDLES, Holly Humberstone, Jessie Buckley and Bernard Butler, will be joining the festival’s 2022 line-up.The National and The Chemical Brothers were previously announced as headliners of the Scottish festival, which takes place at Edinburgh’s Royal Highland Centre from August 26 – 28. View the line-up poster below.Other names on the bill for the rebooted event, include Mogwai, Little Simz, Self Esteem, Black Country, New Road, Jon Hopkins, Black Coffee, Bonobo, Bombay Bicycle Club, John Grant, LOW, Idlewild and more.
Emiliano De Pablos Vértice 360, one of Spain’s top indie production-distribution companies, is expanding operations to Latin America, Italy and Portugal, as fruit of its ambitious plan to become a reference on the international film distribution scene.Part of the Squirrel Media group, the Madrid-based distributor is backing a first stage of its international expansion with the investment of more than $100 million in film content for distribution in the 35 territories where it already operates. At the current Cannes Film Market, Vértice is looking for movie deals to expand its international line up.The distributor mainly looks for blockbusters going out to independent industry and prestige projects which are liable to win international awards, but also local productions in both Spanish and English. Vértice has already established business relationships with top independent content providers such as Millennium Media, FilmNation, A24, Studiocanal and Pathé. “We have with them a title-by-title relationship, with a maximum degree of collaboration.
K.J. Yossman Keira Knightley-voiced animated biopic “Charlotte” has been picked up for distribution in U.K.
Manori Ravindran International EditorHBO Documentary Films has bought worldwide television rights for Cannes Special Screenings title “All That Breathes.”The film is the only Sundance movie to screen as part of Cannes’ Official Selection this year — a feat all the more impressive given Cannes is not known for its documentary programming. In Park City, the film picked up the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema Documentary Competition.Directed by Shaunak Sen (“Cities of Sleep”), “All That Breathes” follows two brothers who run a bird hospital dedicated to rescuing injured black kites, which are a staple in the skies of New Delhi, India.In one of the world’s most populated cities, where cows, rats, monkeys, frogs and hogs jostle cheek-by-jowl with people, the “kite brothers” care for thousands of these creatures, which fall daily from New Delhi’s smog-choked skies.
Manori Ravindran International EditorFilm financier Amcomri Entertainment and Ireland’s Studio Atlantic have struck a multi-picture production deal.The pact comes ahead of the release of Studio Atlantic’s latest production, “The Gates,” a Victorian period horror starring John Rhys Davies, Richard Brake, Elena Delia and Michael Yare, which is currently being sold in Cannes by Amcomri Entertainment’s sales arm 101 Films Intl.The deal will see Amcomri Prods. co-finance a slate of movies and become an official financing partner of Studio Atlantic, with 101 Films Intl.
Joe Otterson TV ReporterThe “Washington Black” series at Hulu has cast Billy Boyd, Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, and Julian Rhind-Tutt in recurring roles, Variety has learned exclusively.“Washington Black” is adapted from Esi Edugyan’s novel of the same name. The nine-episode series is set in the 19th century and follows Washington “Wash” Black (Ernest Kingsley Jr.) as he flees from a Barbados sugar plantation after a shocking death threatens to upend his life. He becomes the protégé of Medwin Harris (Sterling K.
Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley dazzled last year as Leda Caruso, the complicated, unlikeable woman at the heart of Maggie Gyllenhaal‘s adaptation of Elena Ferrante‘s “The Lost Daughter.” And it looks like fans of the in-demand actresses won’t have to wait too long for their onscreen reunion. Their next film together is on the market at the Cannes Film Festival, courtesy of Studiocanal.
Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaIFC Films has acquired North American rights to “R.M.N.,” the new film from acclaimed writer, director and producer Cristian Mungiu, ahead of its world premiere in Cannes this week.It’s a grand reunion for the indie studio and the director, marking their fifth distribution collaboration. IFC Films will release “R.M.N.” theatrically in 2022.
Leo Barraclough International Features EditorMarie Kreutzer’s “Corsage,” which premieres in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival, has debuted its first clip exclusively with Variety (below). MK2 Films is handling international sales.
Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley will be reuniting once again for a brand new movie.
EXCLUSIVE: Fresh off their Oscar nominations for drama The Lost Daughter, Oscar winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite) and Chernobyl star Jessie Buckley are set to reunite on comedy Wicked Little Letters, which will be a hot project at the Cannes market.