International Youth Media Summit Partners With Zanzibar Film Festival For Its Next Edition, The First To Be Held In Africa

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Paris-based international sales and production company Totem Films has revealed its production slate, with projects by Nastia Korkia, Vytautas Katkus, Ernst de Geer and Anna Roller. Totem brought together the directors and writers of the projects they are developing to take part in a Script Circle in Berlin, led by consultants Françoise von Roy and Franz Rodenkirchen. Totem partners Bérénice Vincent and Laure Parleani said that the production companies they are working with, Garagefilm, TamTam and Kalekone, were “enthusiastic about this collaborative idea, so were the directors and scriptwriters.” They added: “It is very nurturing to have a mix of different personalities, countries and backgrounds.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Memento International has boarded “The Ugly Stepsister,” the ambitious feature debut of Norwegian director Emilie Blichfeldt. The company will kick off sales at this year’s Cannes. Combining comedy and horror, the film is a daring and unexpected take on the world-famous tale, seen through the eyes of the Cinderella’s stepsister, Elvira.

Refresh for latest…: Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 4 has topped the half-century mark globally, now with $503.5M worldwide. Of that, $318.5M is from the international box office. Passing $500M makes KFP4, directed by Mike Mitchell (and co-directed by Stephanie Ma Stine), only the fourth animated title to the benchmark since 2020, joining Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($1.4B) and Minions: The Rise of Gru ($943M), and Sony/Marvel’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ($691M).

Thania Garcia Música Mexicana artist Carin León has announced his international “Boca Chueca Tour,” slated for this fall. León will kickoff the trek later this year after making debut appearances at both Coachella and Stagecoach. The “Boca Chueca Tour” will hit major cities across North America and Europe, including a night at Madison Square Garden in New York City, two nights at the United Center in Chicago, Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto, and BMO Stadium in Los Angeles.

Jack Dunn GKIDS and European animation distributor Anime Ltd. have acquired global rights to Naoko Yamada’s new film “The Colors Within.” GKIDS has acquired the film for North America, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand, while Anime Ltd. has acquired the film for the United Kingdom, Ireland, and all of Europe.

Alex Ritman Multi award-winning Filipina actress Ruby Ruiz has landed her first major screen role following her appearance in Amazon’s “Expats.” She will lead “First Light,” the feature directorial debut of James. J.

Annika Pham South Australian Anthony Frith’s close encounter with “Sharknado” prodco The Asylum in “Mockbuster” is among five handpicked titles to be showcased at the Adelaide Film Festival Goes to Cannes showcase, held at Cannes Marché du Film on May 17. The five works in progress range from queer adult anime, comedic doc, and traditional non-fiction to family dramas, helmed mostly by newcomers, and reflect the dynamic filmmaking community of Southern Australia, set to tempt potential co-financiers in Cannes.

EXCLUSIVE: June Zero, the latest from writer-director Jake Paltrow (Young Ones, The Good Night, De Palma) and producers Oren Moverman (The Messenger, Bad Education), Miranda Bailey (Swiss Army Man, The Diary of a Teenage Girl) and David Silber (Incitement, Junction 48), is set for theatrical release in New York on June 28, Los Angeles July 5 and nationwide July 12 by Cohen Media Group.

The Tribeca Festival on Tuesday announced its lineup of short narrative, documentary, and animated films, as well as music videos for 2024.

Refresh for latest…: For the fourth weekend in a row, Warner Bros/Legendary Entertainment’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire was the top studio movie at the global and international box office. While it’s true there have not been a whole lot of wide releases on a worldwide level since the start of the year, it’s heartening to see continued play for the big titles. 

EXCLUSIVE: Noah Media, producer of Netflix’s 14 Peaks and Sky’s Villeneuve Pironi, has restructured to focus on international docs and laid off a small number of staff.

Lise Pedersen “The Landscape and the Fury” by Switzerland’s Nicole Vögele took the Grand Jury Prize in the International Feature Film Competition at Swiss doc festival Visions du Réel on Friday. Shot on the Bosnian-Croatian border, which is also the European Union border, the film unveils the struggle of refugees being chased away by police and navigating a terrain still contaminated with mines from the Bosnian War.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Escapade Media has come on board to take international sales rights to ‘Follow the Rain,’ a feature-length documentary about unknown species of mushroom that has enjoyed theatrical release in its native Australia. The film is directed and produced by Catherine Marciniak and follows Marciniak and Stephen Axford, her partner in production company Planet Fungi, as they explore forests and wetlands charting some of the millions of undocumented forms of mushroom, fungus and mycelium.

Refresh for latest…: As it crossed the $1B international box office milestone this past weekend, Warner Bros again owned the frame with Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and its third session haul of $33.7M from 71 markets. That was good for a 47% drop from the previous weekend and lifts the overseas cume to $278.6M and global to $436.6M. Meanwhile, WB and Legendary’s other major title in the marketplace, Dune: Part Two, now has a shot at getting to $700M worldwide.

K.J. Yossman International writers guilds representing 67,000 professional screen writers across the globe are collaborating on developing an “ethical framework” for the use of AI in screenwriting.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Leading European distributor Global Screen, part of Telepool, has secured further international sales of high-end drama “Davos 1917” at MipTV. New acquisitions of the six-part thriller include SBS Australia, TVP in Poland and Big Tree Entertainment in India and the subcontinent. “Davos 1917,” which launched at the end of last year on SRF in Switzerland and ARD in Germany, has already been bought by a strong lineup of premium international broadcasters and streamers across North America, Europe and Asia.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Vikings” star Travis Fimmel reprises his role as Detective Cormack in a second season of Australian mystery drama series “Black Snow.” The six-part series is now shooting in Queensland, Australia, and has unveiled first-look images. “Australian film and television have never been stronger. Now, with the addition of streaming networks and their reach, I’m so proud that our local productions and their hard work can be recognized not only here, but around the world,” said Fimmel in a prepared statement. The first season of “Black Snow” was nominated as ‘most outstanding drama series’ at the 2023 Logie Awards and received two nominations at the 2024 AACTA Awards – for best drama series and best lead actor in a drama, for Fimmel.

Malaysia-Singapore-Taiwan co-production Snow in Midsummer and Swedish title Sons took top prizes in the Young Cinema Competition at the 48th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF).

EXCLUSIVE: Embankment Films is making Garbo: Leave Me Alone, a feature documentary about the enigmatic movie star who died in 1990. The doc will have previously unseen archive material including personal photographs of Garbo and letters written by the iconic actress, who is regarded as one of the all-time greats.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent France tv distribution has boarded international sales for “Deep Blue Horizons – Exploring the Seas,” a documentary series hosted by journalist and explorer Diego Buñuel. A reboot of France Televisions‘ iconic wildlife format “Thalassa,” the factual title is being unveiled to buyers at Mipdoc in Cannes.