International Insider: Cannes Looms Large; BAFTA TV Awards Build Up; Olympics & Eurovision Latest

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Rolling off the Cannes Film Festival where it won several awards, Mohammad Rasoulof‘s “The Seed of The Sacred Fig” has been acquired by a flurry of high profile distributors in major international territories. Films Boutique, which represents the critically acclaimed political drama globally, has sold it to Lionsgate for the U.K.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Emilia Pérez” breakout star Karla Sofía Gascón, who won the best actress prize at Cannes Film Festival alongside Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz, has filed a complaint against French far-right politician Marion Marechal alleging “sexist insult due to one’s gender identity.” The charges stem from a post on X in which Marechal, who is currently campaigning in European elections for the far-right Reconquête party, wrote upon Gascón’s win at Cannes that “it is therefore a man who receives in Cannes the prize for… best actress. The progress for the left wing is the erasing of women and mothers.” The vitriolic social post sparked outrage within the LGBTQ community and beyond.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor The Cannes Film Festival is nearing its conclusion, with plenty of films making a splash on the starry Croisette on the French Riviera. However, one studio executive tells Variety, “There aren’t many Oscar-buzzy titles to be excited about, not even in the international feature space.” This year’s main competition jury, led by president Greta Gerwig and including J.A. Bayona, Ebru Ceylan, Pierfrancesco Favino, Lily Gladstone, Eva Green, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Nadine Labaki and Omar Sy, will name its winners on Saturday.

French producer Dimitri Rassam is enjoying a high-profile Cannes Film Festival as producer of Competition title Limonov: The Ballad and The Count Of Monte Cristo, which scored a rousing 12-minute ovation at its Out of Competition debut.

Good afternoon Insiders, Jesse Whittock back again to take you through the week’s news in the entertainment industry, as the Cannes Film Festival nears its close.

The Match Factory has finalized a raft of international deals for Coralie Fargeat’s Cannes Palme d’Or contender The Substance, following its buzzy premiere over the weekend in the presence of co-stars Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid.

Anita Gou is no stranger to the festival circuit. Her L.A.-based Kindred Spirit banner saw a raft of its first projects debut at Sundance (think Lulu Wang’s Mandarin-language comedy The Farewell, which made $23M worldwide, Shia LaBeouf-starrer Honey Boy and Sam Levinson’s Assassination Nation) but, more recently, her co-production Silent Twins was selected in Un Certain Regard in 2022, while Dominic Savage’s Close To You premiered in Toronto last year. The company’s Mubi-acquired doc The Last Year of Darkness, which explores the lives of alternative Chinese youth, was awarded a Special Mention prize in the Next:Wave section at the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival last year.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Cannes Film Festival president Iris Knobloch said she learned about the “power of cinema to carry messages, liberate speech and accomplish a duty of remembrance” from her parents, who are Holocaust survivors. Speaking at the Kering Women in Motion Talks at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday, the Munich-born Knobloch said her parents took her to the movie theater several times a week.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Sideshow and Janus films (“Drive My Car”) have acquired all North American rights to Payal Kapadia‘s “All We Imagine as Light,” the first Indian film to screen in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 30 years. The movie will world premiere on Thursday, May 23. It’s also one of only four films in the Competition directed by a woman.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Rolling off its buzzy world premiere at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, Oscar-nominated Icelandic filmmaker Rúnar Rúnarsson’s poignant drama “When The Light Breaks” has sold to a raft of territories. Represented in international markets by The Party Film Sales, the movie has been picked up for Italy (Movies Inspired), Switzerland (Xenix), Norway (Arthaus), Denmark (Ost for Paradis), Finland (Cinemanse), Hungary (Vertigo), Greece (Cinobo), Israel (New Cinema), Poland (Aurora), Turkey (Bir Film) and Baltics (Estofilm).

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Reflecting the breadth of Mediawan CEO Pierre-Antoine Capton‘s vast network and friendships, an impressive roster of film industry players flocked to celebrate him as he received Variety‘s International Visionary Award at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday. Attendees included CAA’s co-chairman and CEO Bryan Lourd, who said a few words about Capton on stage, as well as AGC Studios’ Stuart Ford, SPC’s Tom Bernard, Netflix’s Larry Tanz and Pauline Dauvin, and Mediawan executives including Elisabeth d’Arvieu and Justine Planchon.

EXCLUSIVE: Thriving U.S. indie producer-distributor Neon is no stranger to the Cannes Film Festival with the Tom Quinn-founded banner having acquired a historic four consecutive Palme d’Or wins (last year’s Anatomy of a Fall, 2022’s Triangle of Sadness, 2021’s Titane and 2019’s Parasite), thus earning them the nickname “the Palme d’Or whisperers”. This year, while the company has Sean Baker’s new rom-com Anora playing in Competition, it’s also descending upon the Croisette in a new capacity with its recently-launched international sales strand, led by seasoned sales exec and Sierra/Affinity veteran Kristen Figeroid.

EXCLUSIVE: Francis Ford Coppola‘s Megalopolis has sold to key independent buyers in Europe’s top five territories, we can reveal.

Brittney Griner opened up about the thought of traveling internationally again after being detained in Russia for 10 months.

EXCLUSIVE: Ahead of the Cannes market, Lionsgate has taken North American rights off the table on one of the bigger-budget new packages that’ll be on sale next week: that’s action-thriller Mutiny, which will star action evergreen Jason Statham (Fast & Furious) and be directed by Jean-François Richet (Plane).

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Studiocanal has unveiled an exclusive first-look still of Matt Dillon and Anamaria Vartolomei (“Happening”) starring as Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider in Jessica Palud’s movie “Maria,” which is slated to bow at the Cannes Film Festival. Palud’s film sheds light on the tragic life of Maria Schneider, who starred opposite Marlon Brando in Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Last Tango in Paris” at the age of 19 and never recovered from the shoot. The film depicts how Schneider was imposed an un-simulated rape scene on the set of “The Last Tango in Paris” by Bertolucci and Brando.

Top Middle East and North African independent distributor and talent agency MAD Solutions is adding a new string to its bow with the launch of Arab cinema-focused international sales company MAD World.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent French director Jonathan Millet riffs on manhunt tropes in “Ghost Trail,” the psychological thriller that will be the Cannes Critics’ Week opener. Variety has been given an exclusive first-look clip from the film, which is inspired by real-life events. “Ghost Trail” is the story of a Syrian man named Hamid who is part of a secret group pursuing fugitive leaders that perpetrated horrors in the name of the Syrian regime during the country’s civil war.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent A week before its kick-off, the Cannes Film Festival has made a last-minute addition with “Moi Aussi,” a short film directed by Judith Godreche. The actor-turned-filmmaker made headlines in recent months for spearheading France’s new MeToo reckoning with her revelations that she had been preyed upon and groomed as a minor by directors Benoît Jacquot and Jacques Doillon. Both directors have denied her allegations of sexual assault.

Olivia Colman and John Lithgow are leading Jimpa, a movie about a trans non-binary teenager visiting their gay grandfather from Sophie Hyde (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande), with Protagonist Pictures launching international sales at Cannes.