LevelK Boards Finnish Horror Film ‘The Knocking’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Warner Bros. Discovery is moving fast with its reorganization.

The Cherokee Nation Film Office recently partnered with Green Pastures Studio and SeriesFest to present the Season 8 Storytellers Initiative, specifically aimed at increasing Native representation within the television industry.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentPresiding over the 75th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, director Thierry Frémaux has assembled some serious Hollywood star power, world cinema auteurs amid indications that despite COVID, the film world is buzzing with anticipation for the films, the deals and most of all the glamour the fest brings.While Frémaux has been credited with expanding the horizons of the Cannes Film Festival since taking over the reins of its Official Selection in 2001, he’s also been praised for building relationships with American studios and filmmakers.This year, he’s lured them back in spite of the ongoing pandemic, with a lineup including James Gray’s “Armageddon Time,” David Cronenberg’s “Crimes of the Future,” Joseph Kosinski’s “Top Gun: Maverick,” Kelly Reichardt’s “Showing Up,” George Miller’s “Three Thousand Years of Longing” and Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis.” “My first red carpet was for ‘Moulin Rouge!’ with Baz Luhrmann and Nicole Kidman in 2001 and it will be engraved in my memory forever,” says Fremaux. “I’m happy to reunite with Baz this year.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentVersatile British actor Ben Whishaw, best known globally for playing Q in five James Bond films, has been cast in what’s bound to be the one of the most complex roles of his career.The actor will play the titular character in “Limonov, The Ballad of Eddie,” a new English-language film by revered Russian auteur Kirill Serebrennikov (“Petrov’s Flu,” “Leto”), about radical Russian poet and political dissident Eduard Limonov.The film, which will be presented as a promo reel to buyers in Cannes on May 17, is inspired by the best-selling novel “Limonov” by French writer and director Emmanuelle Carrère, which was translated in 35 countries.“Limonov” delves into the story of Eduard Limonov, who lived many lives. He was an underground writer in the Soviet Union who escaped to the U.S.

Luis Fonsi and the Alzheimer’s Association are joining forces to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s and its significant impact on the Latino community. For the multi-platinum-selling global artist, the disease is close to home; therefore, using his platform to help Music Moments expand its reach to a bilingual audience was a no-brainer.The Puerto Rican star is now the first Latin artist featured in the digital storytelling series, recording a powerful rendition of his song “Girasoles” in Spanish and English.“I’m excited to be the first Latin artist to join the Alzheimer’s Association Music Moments campaign.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorCannes Critics’ Week film “The Woodcutter Story” has debuted its trailer. It’s the feature film directorial debut from Mikko Myllylahti, the writer of Cannes Un Certain Regard winner “The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Makki.” The film is being sold by French sales outfit Totem Films.“The Woodcutter Story” centers on Pepe, a woodcutter in an idyllic small town in Finland.

EXCLUSIVE: Viaplay has lightened the tone of its originals slate with the greenlight of R.S.V.P., a Swedish romcom featuring The Emigrants star Lisa Carlehed as lead.

Manori Ravindran International EditorA new documentary about “The Power of the Dog” director Jane Campion has been picked up for sales by WestEnd Films and Cinephil.Directed by César Award-winning “Since Otar Left…” helmer Julie Bertuccelli, “Jane Campion, The Cinema Woman” is screening as part of the Cannes Classics line-up.The New Zealand director was the first woman to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes, for “The Piano,” and this year won the best director Oscar for her Netflix western “The Power of the Dog.”  Bertuccelli’s documentary on the 68-year-old filmmaker, which spans 40 years, is described as “the portrait [Campion] deserves, in a film that is unapologetically subjective and offbeat, very much mirroring [Campion’s] own trailblazing journey in cinema and life.” The film is produced by Academy Award nominee Estelle Fialon (“The Gatekeepers,” “Flickering Ghosts of Loves Gone By”), and crew members include editors Laure Gardette (“Capernaum,” “Polisse”) and Svetlana Vaynblat (“Flickering Ghosts of Loves Gone By”), as well as César Award-winning sound editor and mixer Olivier Goinard (“Adolescentes,” “Le Chant du Loup”).“Jane Campion, The Cinema Woman” is produced by Les Films du Poisson, which had three films in Cannes in 2021. The outfit recently produced the French remake of Hagai Levi’s “In Treatment,” with showrunners Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, which became French broadcaster ARTE’s most watched broadcast with more than 60 million viewers.Bertuccelli said of her documentary: “Jane is the director for whom I have the most admiration and with whom I feel a genuine connection.

Clayton Davis An exciting and welcomed twist to the Emmy race for outstanding television movie has arrived, as Mimi Cave’s horror-comedy “Fresh,” starring Sebastian Stan and Daisy Edgar-Jones, is being submitted for Primetime Emmy consideration.This offers an interesting possibility in a category that hasn’t drummed up much excitement over the last couple of years. While buzzy titles like “Bad Education” and three consecutive “Black Mirror” episodes dominated, the soulful purpose of the category has seemed to be missing.

Father John Misty delivered a live rendition of ‘Kiss Me (I Loved You)’ on US TV last night (May 3). Check out the video below.The singer-songwriter – aka Joshua Tillman – appeared as the musical guest on the latest episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in support of his fifth album ‘Chloë And The Next 20th Century’, which came out last month.Having recently shared its David Raboy-directed video, FJM played ‘Kiss Me…’ in Fallon’s New York City studio with the help of a small orchestra.

EXCLUSIVE: XYZ Films has boarded worldwide sales rights to Hounds Of War starring Frank Grillo, Robert Patrick, and Rhona Mitra, and directed by Isaac Florentine.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentNetflix has unveiled the young cast of its first Finnish series, “Dance Brothers,” which is currently filming in Helsinki with Samuel Kujala (“Lakeside Murders”) and Roderick Kabanga (“Gravedigger and the Random People”) playing the lead roles.The young adult drama series is a co-production between Netflix and Yle, and is created and produced by Max Malka at Banijay’s Endemol Shine Finland. The Finnish language series will launch globally on Netflix in 2023 and will later also be available on Yle.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefFilm adaptation rights to hit Indian novelist Chetan Bhagat’s 2016 acclaimed book “One Indian Girl” have been acquired up by Sony Pictures International Productions. The studio plans a Hindi-language adaptation that will go into development later this year. Bhagat’s book, which broke pre-sale records on Amazon India when it was launched, revolves around a high-flying woman financier who is intelligent and successful, but finds it difficult to find love.

Emiliano De Pablos After a two-and-a half year hiatus, renowned Spanish producer Manuel Cristobal has returned to toon production, joining the team behind animated feature project “The Glassworker,” directed by Usman Riaz, and created by Pakistan-based Mano Animation Studios. “The Glassworker” marks the first hand-drawn animated feature from Pakistan. Scheduled for a 2023 release, the project is said to be in the running for a berth at this year’s Annecy Work in Progress showcase, a prestige selection which would earn the title considerable international profile. Targeting family audiences, the film is set in a location loosely inspired by Pakistan, telling the story of young Vincent and his father Tomas, who run the finest glass workshop in the country and find their lives upended by an approaching war in which they want no part.  The arrival in their town of an army colonel and his young talented, violinist daughter, Alliz, shakes their reality and tests the relationship between father and son.The love that develops between Vincent and Alliz is challenged constantly by the differing views of their fathers.

very uncanny. It has talons, a beak, and a sparse smattering of gooey black feathers, but it also sports enormous blue irises and human teeth. Tinja is appropriately horrified at first, but she eventually learns to live with it and takes it upon herself to care for it, including by feeding it her own vomit.

EXCLUSIVE: Park Chan-wook’s anticipated Cannes Competition title Decision To Leave has sold to arthouse streamer, theatrical distributor and producer Mubi in what we understand to be the company’s biggest film deal to date.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentOrange Studio has unveiled a first still of Nicolas Pariser’s adventure thriller “The Green Perfume” which will close Directors’ Fortnight, the strand running alongside the Cannes Film Festival. Starring Sandrine Kiberlain (“Nine-Month Stretch”) and Vincent Lacoste (“Lost Illusions”), “The Green Perfume” takes place following the death of a poisoned actor in the middle of a performance at la Comédie Française.