Berlin Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The Doha Film Institute’s unique Qumra incubator kicks off Friday with six days of master classes, labs and mentoring sessions and some 200 industry professionals – including programmers from Cannes, Venice, Toronto, Berlin and many other major festivals – expected to make the trek to the Qatari capital. Qumra, which is an Arab word believed to be the origin of the word “camera,” is dedicated to supporting and shepherding first and second works by Arab directors but also supports some projects from other parts of the world.

You Me At Six have announced their final European shows as part of their upcoming farewell world tour – find all the details below.The band revealed last month that they would be breaking up in 2025 after two decades together. At the time, they teased a run of gigs this year and next where they’d “say goodbye to fans”.Now, Josh Franceschi and co.

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon MGM’s Eddie Murphy heist comedy The Pickup has four new additions: Eva Longoria (Land of Women), Ismael Cruz Cordova (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power), Jack Kesy (Hellboy: The Crooked Man), and Marshawn Lynch (Bottoms).

EXCLUSIVE: Buoyed by the overperformance of music-driven films Bob Marley: One Love and Mean Girls, Paramount Pictures has slotted Better Man for an exclusive qualifying release on December 25, followed by a wide theatrical release on January 17 in the heat of awards season. The film is an original musical by The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey, based on the life and music of singer Robbie Williams.

Israeli filmmaker Yuval Abraham, who last week picked up the best documentary award at the Berlin Film Festival, has said he has received death threats and had to cancel his flight home after German officials and Israeli media described his acceptance speech as “anti-Semitic”.

Nick Cave has shared a cover of Édith Piaf’s ‘La Vie En Rose’ from Jack Antonoff‘s soundtrack to The New Look – listen below.The Bad Seeds frontman’s heartfelt rendition of the song was produced by Antonoff for the new Todd A. Kessler-created historical drama, which premiered on Apple TV+ on February 14.Released as a single in 1947, the original version of ‘La Vie En Rose’ is the signature track of French singer Piaf.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief New Zealand-set detective Series “A Remarkable Place to Die” is being launched by Banijay Rights at the London Screenings. The 4 x 90’ murder mystery was created by Screentime New Zealand and is co-produced with Real Film Berlin (Berlin, Berlin,” Netflix’s “Unorthodox”) in association with Banijay Rights. Smart and savvy detective Anais Mallory (portrayed by Chelsie Preston-Crayford) returns to her hometown, Queenstown, in South Island, New Zealand and is met with a series of startlingly different homicides.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The Playmaker has closed a raft of pre-sales deals on “Ploey 2 – The Legend of the Winds,” which was presented to international buyers for the first time at the European Film Market this month. The Playmaker screened an exclusive first-look teaser at its booth in Berlin as well as a promo for attending buyers.

Steven Gaydos Executive VP of Content The Hamas terrorist attack against Israel on Oct. 7 inflamed the Middle East region, igniting yet another war with thousands of victims, both Jewish and Palestinian. The repercussions of the conflict are now felt all over the world, signified by massive demonstrations from Paris to Caracas, for and against both sides of the conflagration.

ANOHNI has announced her first shows with The Johnsons in 14 years – find all the details below.Following the release of 2023 album ‘My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross’ – her first in seven years – the artist will be reuniting with The Johnsons for a concert series in the UK and Europe which will include two nights in London.The first show will take place on June 13 at Epidaurus Festival Herodion in Athens, followed by dates in Madrid, Paris, Berlin and more.On July 1 and 2, she’ll stop at the Barbican for consecutive shows and finish up with another two at DR Koncerthaus in Copenhagen on July 12 and 13.General sale tickets will be available from 10am GMT on Friday (March 1). Alternatively, fans can sign up to pre-sale via ANOHNI’s website to purchase tickets from 9am GMT Wednesday (February 28).ANOHNI will be joined by a nine-piece band including Julia Kent (cello), Maxim Moston (violin), Doug Wieselman (multi-instrumentalist) and Jimmy Hogarth (guitarist/producer).The shows will see her draw from new material as well as songs from across her back catalogue.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent European giant Beta Film, known for ambitious titles such as “Babylon Berlin” and “The Swarm,” has shared with Variety in exclusivity a first-look picture of 1o-part series “Rise of the Raven,” which it hails as “one of the most epic European TV productions of all time.” “Rise of the Raven” weighs in as a passion project of Hungarian-born and Canada-based producer Robert Lantos, behind “Sunshine,” “The Sweet Hereafter,” “Barney’s Version,” “Eastern Promises” and “Crimes of the Future.” A highlight at Beta Film’s showcase this Tuesday at the London TV Screenings, “Rise of the Raven” turns on the extraordinary feat of Hungarian army commander Janos Hunyadi, played by discovery Gellért L. Kádár, who in 1456 won a bloody, brutal Battle of Belgrade against a vast Ottoman force twice the size of his troops who were often farm labourers armed with just slings and patriotic fervor. Hunyadi largely halted a full Ottoman expansion in Europe for the next 70 years, allowing its Renaissance to lift off in Italy.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Berlin Film Festival said Monday that it has filed criminal charges following the hacking of its Panorama section’s Instagram social media site, which was used to post anti-Semitic messages. After a politically charged edition, festival organizers also attempted to distance the Berlinale management from the stances taken by some of the awards winners at Saturday’s closing ceremony. The organizers said that on Sunday, the day after the festival concluded, “The Instagram channel of the Berlinale Panorama section was briefly hacked and anti-Semitic image-text posts about the Middle East war with the Berlinale logo were posted on the channel.

Vince Staples has announced a trio of UK shows for his ‘Black In Europa’ summer 2024 tour – check out the details below.The North Long Beach rapper will perform at London’s Roundhouse on June 11, followed by Manchester’s O2 Ritz (12) and Birmingham’s O2 (13).The gigs will follow Germany shows at Live Music Hall in Cologne on June 4 and Huxley’s Neue Welt in Berlin on June 5.Tickets for the UK shows go on general sale Friday (March 1) at 10am GMT. Alternatively, fans can access pre-sales on Wednesday (February 28) and Thursday (February 29).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief France’s Canal+ Group said that it has increased its stake in multi-territory Asian streaming platform Viu to 30%. “This additional investment underlines the confidence that Canal+ has in Viu and its teams. It also highlights the determination of Canal+ to make Asia its next growth vector, through its strategic partnership with PCCW, and through an acceleration of growth at Viu, a premium streaming service present in Asia, the Middle East and South Asfrica,” the French group said in a statement.

EXCLUSIVE: Cineverse has acquired the horror-comedy comic book adaptation We Are Zombies. 

The Match Factory has locked multi-territory deals on Berlinale titles Architecton by Victor Kossakovsky and Dying by Matthias Glasner, which picked up the festival’s Silver Bear for Best Screenplay.

A high-politicized edition of the Berlin Film Festival ended Saturday, but divisions surrounding political messaging during the festival appear to be ongoing. 

Christopher Vourlias Following on the heels of a successful post-pandemic reboot one year ago, the Joburg Film Festival kicks off its sixth edition on Feb. 27, with the glitzy capital of South Africa’s media and entertainment industry showcasing a selection of top talents from the host country and across the African continent.

Alex Ritman “La Cocina,” the Rooney Mara-starring drama that recently bowed in competition at the Berlinale, has been acquired for most international territories. HanWay Films has closed sales for France (Originals Factory), Australia and New Zealand (Vendetta), Spain (Avalon), Italy (Teodora Film), Benelux (Cherry Pickers), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Scandinavia (Mis.

Usher has announced additional dates on his 2025 UK and European tour due to “incredible fan demand”.The R&B star recently announced the US dates for the 2024 ‘Past Present Future’ tour, which will be followed by the UK and European leg in 2025. Ahead of general sale for the latter, the ‘Yeah!’ star revealed extra London dates as part of the stint.Three new shows have been added to the run this week: a seventh show at London’s O2 on April 11, a second in Paris at the Accor Arena on April 16 and a fourth night at Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome on April 26.The trek will kick off on April 1 in London and close out at the Uber Arena in Berlin on May 2.Pre-sales for the new dates will begin Wednesday (February 28) at 10am local time, before general sale goes live Monday (March 4) at 10am local time.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Occult drama-thriller “Exhuma,” dominated the South Korea box office in its opening weekend with a scarily good debut approaching $17 million. The film, about two shaman, a feng shui master and a mortician who attempt to undo the mysterious events happening to a U.S.-based Korean family, grabbed $14.5 million between Friday and Sunday, representing a 77% share of the overall box office market. Including the earnings since its Wednesday debut, the film earned $16.8 million in its full opening session, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic).

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor “Paradises of Diane,” which premiered in the Panorama section of the Berlin Film Festival, came out of an exploration of the “dark side of maternity” and the role of the mother in society, director Carmen Jaquier tells Variety. The film, which was directed with Jan Gassmann, starts with Diane abandoning her new-born baby at a maternity clinic in Zurich, and heading to the seedy Spanish seaside resort Benidorm, without telling anyone.

Guy Lodge Film Critic The Berlin Film Festival drew to a close with tonight’s awards ceremony, with French-Senegalese director Mati Diop taking the Golden Bear for her documentary “Dahomey.” Full report to come; full list of winners below.

Winners have been announced at the 74th Berlin Film Festival, with Dahomey by French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop scooping the coveted Golden Bear prize as the best film of the festival’s International Competition. Scroll down for the full list of winners, which were revealed Saturday evening at the Berlinale Palast.

Don’t get too hot and bothered over the title of the new Norwegian film Sex. The act itself in this first entry in a new trilogy from writer-director Dag Johan Haugerud is really only just talked about in this intriguing movie mostly dependent on leaning into its main characters’ words and descriptions, not a whole lot of visual information. Winner of the Europa Cinemas Label as Best European Film in the Panorama section of the current Berlin Film Festival, where it had its world premiere this week, Haugerud has announced this as this first of three films — Sex, Dreams, and then Love — featuring the same cast and dealing overall with themes of desire, identity and freedom, not to mention sexuality and the place of gender in our lives and society. This first stand-alone film also leans heavily into masculinity in ways it is not normally discussed by guys, but they do here in profound ways in this thought-provoking movie that also puts a spotlight on Norway’s signature city, Oslo.

It’s very easy to misread the title of Victor Kossakovsky’s latest documentary as “Architection,” since it is, in some ways, a detective story about the world we live in, albeit one in which it is very easy to figure out whodunit (spoiler: we did it to ourselves). The actual title, Architecton, is a Greek word that means “master builder,” and the film plays with the irony of what that may mean — pitting the “master builders” of yesteryear against the “master builders“ of today — from the very beginning, using a cryptic line from “L’aquilone,” a rumination on bygone times by Italian poet Giovanni Pascoli (1855-1912). “There is something new within the sun today, or rather ancient,” he writes. This fascinating, engrossing film interrogates the subtext of this seemingly paradoxical statement.

With his debut feature Last Swim, an ambitious and quietly radical portrait of young life in London, Sasha Nathwani has achieved one of the most difficult tasks for a new filmmaker: cutting through with a festival audience. 

Martin Scorsese was at the Berlinale this week for the first time in a decade. His presence to collect an honorary Golden Bear was a reminder of the festival’s glories of yesteryear.

Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here steering you away from Berlin and towards London for the Screenings. Please do read on, and sign up here.

Anatomy of a Fall French producer Marie-Ange Luciani put in a flying appearance at the Berlinale this week with Claire Burger’s coming-of-age drama Langue Étrangère which received a warm reception in competition.

Justin Timberlake just debuted his third new song, “Drown” on Friday (February 22)!

From his breakthrough work Family Viewing, which dates back to 1987, Atom Egoyan has been exploring the possibilities of different communication technologies by showing screens within screens, stories within other stories and the ways unconnected stories may merge with each other and with real life. Seven Veils is named for the Biblical character Salome, whose seductive dancing as she shed those veils earned her a grisly prize: the severed head of John the Baptist, the ascetic prophet who predicted the coming of Jesus Christ.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief In Berlin with “The Roundup: Punishment,” part four of the action movie series that he created and stars in, the larger-than-life Korean American Don Lee finds himself simultaneously in multiple timely and lucrative businesses. These include the Marvel superhero business, the Korea-to-Hollywood remake business, “The Roundup” franchise and its multiple spinoff possibilities. Lee may even be in the business of saving Korean cinema, which is currently having one of its periodic wobbles.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Hong Kong director Ray Yeung ‘s “All Shall Be Well” has sold in several key markets following its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. Represented in international markets by Films Boutique, “All Shall Be Well” is playing in the Panorama section at the Berlinale and is eligible for the Teddy Award.

Berlin’s European Film Market (EFM) has posted a record of number of visitors for its 2024 edition, with more than 12,000 professionals from 143 countries attending this year.

Imagine a movie akin to a sad David Bowie song about an astronaut drifting alone into the dark abyss of space, contemplating his life, his lost love, his past, and an uncertain, perhaps soon-to-be-shortly doomed future. Sing the wistfully estranged and reflective “Space Odyssey” tune and the lamenting iconic line, “Tell my wife I love her very much, she knows!” That’s Swedish filmmaker Johan Renck’s “Spaceman” in a nutshell, which makes for possibly the weirdest, most existentially lonely movie Adam Sandler has ever starred in.