Keshet International Boards True Crime Docuseries ‘My Name Is Reeva’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Magnolia Pictures has acquired U.S. rights to “Kompromat,” an action thriller film directed by Jerome Salle (“The Largo Winch” ), starring Gilles Lellouche (“The Stronghold”) and Joanna Kulig (“Cold War”). SND, the commercial arm of M6, is representing the film in international markets. Loosely based on a true story, “Kompromat” stars Lellouche as a French diplomat working in Siberia who is arrested overnight by the Russian authorities. Accused of sexually abusing his own daughter and imprisoned, he realizes he is a victim of a Kompromat. Someone is working with the FSB (Federal Security Service) to frame him. His only way out is to escape.

Narcos: Mexico has picked up two nominations at the International Emmy Awards 2022 and will battle with Lupin, Vigil and South Africa’s Reyka for the coveted Drama Series prize.

When September rolls around, it means one thing for many of the top filmmakers in the world – time to hit the road. Venice, Telluride and Toronto come in rapid succession, to the point of overlapping. But for documentary filmmakers eager to showcase their work, there’s another important stop to make in September: the Camden International Film Festival in mid-coast Maine.

, Ryan Murphy is back with another true-crime scripted drama called. On Saturday, during Tudum: A Netflix Global Fan Event, the streaming platform debuted the first, chilling trailer for the stalker series starring Naomi Watts, Bobby Cannavale, Jennifer Coolidge and Mia Farrow. Not long after moving into a beautiful house in Westfield, New Jersey, Dean (Cannavale) and Nora Brannock (Watts) receive a letter reading, “I’ve been put in charge of watching you.” An ominous voice then takes over, saying, “This message will not be the last.

Zentropa Entertainments today announced that production has begun on Nikolaj Arcel’s new epic historical drama The Bastard, starring Mads Mikkelsen.

Naman Ramachandran Blue Finch Films has boarded international sales on European genre titles, Scandinavian thriller “Good Boy” and found footage film “Stéphane,” ahead of their world premieres at Beyond Fest. “Good Boy,” which delves into the perils of the modern dating world, follows Sigrid who thinks she’s met the perfect match in Christian until she comes to find out that he lives with a man who acts like his pet dog. French thriller “Stéphane,” a new take on the found footage genre, follows Timothée, as he documents his time with the larger-than-life, and almost unbelievable character that he meets whilst shooting a short film. As time goes on their jovial and eccentric talks become something far more sinister.

Anna Marie de la Fuente In a new deal secured at this week’s San Sebastian Festival, Birgit Kemner’s Manny Films has partnered with Chile’s Storyboard Media to co-produce “Un Buen Día Para Morir” (“A Good Day to Die”), the third feature by Marcelo Ferrari (“Subterra,” “Bombal”). Inspired by the real story of pianist María Paz Santibáñez whose life took a dramatic turn during a protest against General Pinochet’s dictatorship in 1987, the drama turns on 24-year-old piano student Pachi who is shot in the head during a protest against the military regime. Seriously injured and pregnant, she manages to survive and give birth to her daughter. Escaping Chile, she settles in Paris where – against all odds – she fulfills her dream to become a concert pianist.

EXCLUSIVE: Keshet International has secured rights to Cuba Libre, a buzzy drama about a follower of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara that’s being billed as one of Portugal’s most ambitious television series ever. The six-part biopic, based on the life of Ana Maria Silva Pais, will form part of KI’s slate at Mipcom Cannes next month.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italian producer Andrea Iervolino (“Waiting for the Barbarians”) has acquired a controlling stake in central London’s Mercato Metropolitano food market and teamed with British music producer David Tickle’s Tickle Entertainment on a doc series set there about global food culture. Iervolino, whose Iervolino and Lady Bacardi Entertainment (ILBE) company produces feature films including Bobby Moresco’s upcoming “Lamborghini,” is also the founder of innovative digital entertainment platform TaTaTu, a social media platform that uses a form of rewards points called TTU Coins. TaTaTu recently acquired a controlling stake in London’s Mercato Metropolitano from its founder Andrea Rasca who in 2016 established this pioneering community market as a space for social exchange and environmental sustainability. The Mercato is now being used as the location for an upcoming docu-series chronicling the journey of four chefs who sought refuge in the United Kingdom respectively from Syria, Namibia, Nepal, and Uzbekistan.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent DR Sales, the commercial arm of the Danish broadcaster, has teamed with the up-and-coming Danish-Swedish banner Nevis Productions on “Nordland 99,” a sinister crime series set in a fictional town in rural Denmark. Directed by rising talent Kasper Møller Rask (“Lemon World”), the show is being produced by Iben Søtang (“Lemon World”) and Anni Faurbye Fernandez, whose credits include Scandinavia’s biggest TV hits, from “The Millennium Trilogy,” to “Wallander,” “Wisting,” and “Atlantic Crossing.” The pair are producing “Nordland 99” at Nevis Productions. Set at the turn of the 21st century, the stylized series unfolds in the aftermath of the disappearance of 18-year-old Alex. His friends, Lukas and Kris, team up with Alex’s sister Emma to find their missing friend. Both Alex’s ex-girlfriend, the town’s pusher, and Emma’s family have information that they suspect may be connected to Alex’s disappearance. Their journey will lead them to uncover terrible crimes and secrets. Meanwhile, Alex’s father, an apathetic police officer, starts his own investigation which slowly become intertwined with the teenagers’ quest. The lush backdrop filled with forests surrounding the town, give “Nordland 99” an enigmatic and eerie atmosphere.

Jennie Punter Stoked by raves and strong receptions to their world-premiering Toronto festival films, “Brother” producers Damon D’Oliveira and Clement Virgo, “Black Ice” producer Vinay Virmani, and “Alice, Darling” producer Noah Segal are warming up a new basketball-themed crime series, “The Count,” for this fall’s marketplace, Variety has learned. A modern spin on French author Alexandre Dumas’ classic 19th-century novel of wrongful imprisonment “The Count of Monte Cristo,” the TV drama will bounce between Toronto’s basketball milieu and Haiti’s cultural mélange as it follows the transformation of a Haitian basketball player facing a life sentence for murder into to justice-seeking saboteur.

K.J. Yossman Keshet International (KI) CEO Alon Shtruzman is stepping down from the company at the end of the year, he confirmed today. KI is the content production and distribution arm of Israel-based Keshet Media Group (KMG). The company first attracted international attention with its drama series “Prisoners of War,” which was adapted by Showtime to become the hit show “Homeland,” before cementing its presence in 2012 as KI. Shtruzman has been with the company since 2012 and it is under his watch that KI established a global distribution and production infrastructure that has seen its shows, including “Suspicion,” “A Small Light” and “LA Brea,” picked up by networks from HBO and BBC to Netflix and Disney+.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Loco Films has boarded international sales rights to actor-turned-helmer Dinara Droukarova’s feature debut “Woman at Sea” which will world premiere in the New Directors section at the San Sebastian Film Festival. Produced by Marianne Slot and Carine LeBlanc at Paris-based Slot Machine (“Melancholia”), “Woman at Sea” stars Droukarova as Lili, who has left everything behind to travel to the end of the earth to fulfil her dream of fishing in the northern seas, in Iceland. She convinces Ian, a fishing boat skipper, to give her a chance and embarks on the Rebel. She is the only woman in the crew but she will win everybody’s respect thanks to her determination and courage. “We are proud of this first film, shot on the harsh northern seas about a young woman seeking the fresh air of freedom. A beautiful and free film and the birth of a new director,” said Laurent Danielou, founder and president of Loco Films.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Prague-based sales agent Filmotor has boarded Adela Komrzy’s and Tomas Bojar’s feature documentary “Art Talent Show,” which won two awards at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in July.  After its premiere at Karlovy Vary, where it won the Grand Prix in the Proxima competition section and the FIPRESCI international critics’ award, the film’s North American rights were acquired by Film Movement.  Aero Films will release the film theatrically in the Czech Republic in October, and Film Expanded will release the film theatrically in Slovakia in the spring.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Production, finance and sales company Film Constellation has boarded sales on the upcoming romantic thriller “Haunted Heart” by Academy Award winning director Fernando Trueba (“La Belle Époque,” “The Queen of Spain”). The film stars Academy Award nominee Matt Dillon (“The House That Jack Built”), Goya-nominated Aida Folch (“The Artist and the Model”), and Juan Pablo Urrego (“Memoria”). The English-language film is set to start shooting in Greece in September. The film is set on a beautiful remote island in Greece, where young and spirited Alex joins the team of a boutique seaside restaurant as their new waitress. Despite her femme-fatale charm quickly winning the heart of the charismatic Enrico, she instead falls for the enigmatic restaurant manager Max, a reclusive American, who settled on the island decades ago.

Brent Lang Executive Editor New Slate Ventures has come on board as a production partner for Insignia Films’ “Free Money.” The announcement was made just ahead of the documentary feature’s world premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival. Jordan Fudge, Jeremy Allen and Tess Cohen will join producer Amanda Pollak, and executive producers Stephen Ives, Bradwel Iro (LBX Africa), Chris Buck (Retro Report) to back the film.  The film explores what happens when universal basic income (UBI) comes to the Kenyan village of Kogutu. GiveDirectly, a non-profit organization, is sending free money for 12 years as part of an experiment. Filmmakers Lauren DeFilippo and Sam Soko juxtapose the story of these young economists, bankrolled by Silicon Valley and convinced that they have found an infallible algorithm to improve lives, with those of the villagers.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Alexander Rodnyansky, the producer of Oscar nominated films “Leviathan” and “Loveless,” has boarded the next project from Kazakh director Adilkhan Yerzhanov (pictured), whose film “Goliath” has its world premiere at Venice Film Festival on Thursday in the Horizons Extra section. The new project, “Nosorog,” tells a contemporary story of Tamara, a distraught woman on a desperate search for her missing son in a small town consumed by violent riots. To help get her son back, she hires a shady detective, Brayuk, with unexpected consequences. Rodnyansky joins producers Aliya Mendygozhina and Olga Khlasheva on the project, which is a co-production between the State Center of Support of the National Cinema of Kazakhstan and Kazakh film company Golden Man Media.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent   Eight years after delivering his Oscar-nominated film “Timbuktu,” Abderrahmane Sissako is set to make his anticipated directorial comeback with “The Perfumed Hill.” Gaumont is representing in international markets and will introduce it to buyers at at Toronto. The French studio will also distribute the film in France, while Cohen Media Group will release it in the U.S. Re-teaming Sissako with his “Timbuktu” co-writer Kessen Tall, “The Perfumed Hill” is a romance drama set between China’s tea hills, the Ivory Coast and Cape Verde. It stars Nina Melo (“Girlhood”), Han Chang (“Little Big Women”) and Ke-Xi Wu (“Nina Wu”).

Manori Ravindran International Editor New Zealand rugby icon Jonah Lomu and former Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel will be the subjects of two new documentaries from U.K.-based sales agent and distributor Dogwoof and Sylver Entertainment. The companies previously collaborated on “McEnroe,” a documentary about the tennis great John McEnroe, which was released in U.K. cinemas in July and premiered on Showtime on Sept. 2. As development financiers and executive producers on both projects, Dogwoof will be presenting the projects to buyers at the Toronto International Film Festival this week.

Sweden’s SVT Orders ‘Whiskey On The Rocks’ From Skyverse Nordic