International Insider: Lionsgate Buys eOne; On Location, Location, Locarno; Anger In Israel; Barbie Keeps Soaring

Why did it take decades for a biopic to be made about Israel’s first and only female prime minister, Golda Meir?

EXCLUSIVE: Israeli sales house Go2Films has changed its international management team, as 13-year company veteran Hadar Taylor Schechter exits ahead of the Toronto and San Sebastián film festivals.

Afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart bringing you another dose of this here weekly roundup. We’ll be taking a break next week for the August bank holiday but will be back in your inboxes in a fortnight for the new term. In the meantime, sign up here.

Naman Ramachandran The U.K. edition of iconic game show “Password” will bow imminently on broadcaster ITV, and new countries are being added. Variety can reveal that the Fremantle-owned format is getting versions in Greece (Alpha TV), Hungary (TV2), Israel (Channel 13), Mexico (TV Azteca) and Slovakia (TV JOJ).

EXCLUSIVE: As Barbie approaches the end of a spectacularly successful first month in theaters, the Israel Film Festival has set one of the film’s great champions, Mattel Chairman and CEO Ynon Kreiz, to receive its 2023 IFF Industry Leadership Award.

William Earl Variety has promoted Elsa Keslassy to Executive Editor of International, according to an announcement from Variety‘s co-editors-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh and Cynthia Littleton. In her new role, Keslassy will lead the magazine’s global team of award-winning correspondents, while helping guide its reporting at the leading international film and television festivals and markets.

Dennis Harvey Film Critic Though raised in Brooklyn, actor turned producer/director Danny A. Abeckaser was born in Israel. Unfortunately, that birthright isn’t enough to lend authenticity to “The Engineer,” which feels very much like an American B-movie stab at turning Israeli anti-terrorist operations of 30 years ago into formulaic action fodder — without much action, even.

Israeli networks have taken the unprecedented step of banding together to form an emergency group forum opposing the government’s new media bill.

Brent Lang Executive Editor “The Last Voyage of the Demeter” sank without a trace over its opening weekend, going to a watery grave with just $6.5 million. The period horror film, which centers on one chapter of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula,” namely the bit where his coffin gets transported from Transylvania to England, was distributed by Universal. It’s the studio’s second stab at reviving the world’s most famous vampire, with last spring’s “Renfield,” a campy take on the bloodsucker, also collapsing at the box office.

star shares.«I started getting very insecure about it and would constantly hide my hair under hats, bandanas, low-buns, and braids. I never wore my hair down and was very self-conscious.

Good afternoon Insiders, it’s been another sleepy yet somehow simultaneously eventful August week here at Deadline International Towers. Read on for investigations, headlines, scoops and anaylsis, as Max Goldbart steers you through the past few days.

EXCLUSIVE: An announcement today from the Points North Institute will provide a major career boost to a diverse group of documentary filmmakers. 

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor “The Vanishing Soldier” is a coming of age story, as breathless as its protagonist: the kind of film that will make cinephiles of seventeen-year-olds. Which is one of the reasons that Dani Rosenberg, the film’s 43-year-old director, is delighted to be in Locarno, where the film, sold by Intramovies, is screening in main competition, and has just got a trailer, and poster, shared in exclusivity with Variety. “We had options for other festivals,” Rosenberg told Variety at the Swiss fest.

HistoryIsrael’s child adoption law passed in 1960 and uses a narrow definition of a couple.The adoption law (Clause 3) states that “adoption shall not take place except for by a man and his wife together.”There are exceptions. “The courts are permitted to grant an adoption order for a single parent whose partner adopted a child or if the child’s parents died and the single parent in question is a relative of the child,” The Jerusalem Post reported.In 2017 two couples, backed by The Israeli Association for the LGBTQ Community, The Israel Religious Action Center, the Gay Dads movement, the Agudah – The Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel, Open House for Pride, and Tolerance in Jerusalem, petitioned the government and the High Court to allow same-sex couples to adopt.As a response, the state argued that same-sex families were “exceptional” and could “overburden the child.” This resulted in a significant public outcry, and the state backtracked, acknowledging that the law discriminated against same-sex couples and promising to amend it.In 2019, then-Justice Minister Amir Ohana proposed a new bill to address this discrimination, but it failed to advance.The petitioners then moved to the High Court.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent “What’s the Deal With Independent Cinema?” was the theme of the Locarno Film Festival’s StepIn think tank where a select group of European and international industry players exchanged views and took part in working sessions to discuss the state of the indie film industry. The unique event, now at it 11th edition, kicked off Thursday with an “out-of-the-box” introduction by feisty U.S.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent “Barbie” is running into censorship headaches in the Middle East. Leading regional exhibitor Vox Cinemas – which is Warner Bros.’ local distribution partner – has pushed back the release of the hit Greta Gerwig film to Aug. 31 after initially setting a July 19 rollout out date for “Barbie” in the Middle East that would have allowed local audiences to see the film two days before its U.S.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Franco-Tunisian film and TV entrepreneur Tarak Ben Ammar is expanding the scope of his Italian operations by buying local unscripted production outfit Blu Yazmine, while also entering talks to build a large studio complex in Rome. Though Ben Ammar’s ambition to build sprawling new filming facilities in the Italian capital are in advanced talks but not fully concrete, the purchase of a majority stake in Blu Yazmine via his Rome-based Eagle Pictures has been closed.

Anti-government protests in Israel are raging after controversial legislation to weaken the Supreme Court was passed, and now the very future of the nation’s thriving TV sector feels under threat.

movie in theaters, odds are you walked away with feelings of empowerment, some existential dread and, of course, some major fashion inspiration.We're still drooling over Margot Robbie's archival Chanel outfits, President Barbie's pink power suits and Doctor Barbie's sparkling mini dress, but one particular piece from the film really caught our eye: the «I Am Kenough» hoodie worn by Ryan Gosling's Ken.We won't spoil anything for you, but the internet is absolutely obsessed with Ken's rainbow tie-dye hoodie — so obsessed that the official Mattel version is already sold out (but still available for pre-order). Thankfully, plenty of Etsy and Amazon vendors have hopped on the trend and created their own versions of the viral sweatshirt.Whether you're looking for a comfy but still on-theme Barbiecore outfit for upcoming screenings, an early Halloween costume or an inspirational hoodie for lounging around, we've found the best merch for bringing out your Ken-ergy.

Welcome back, Insider. It’s been another breakneck week in entertainment. Jesse Whittock here guiding you through the most important TV and film stories.