Michelle Yeoh to Play Immigrant Who Takes on Boston Crime Ring in Action-Thriller ‘The Mother’

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.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Michael Fassbender is in negotiations to star in “The Department,” an espionage thriller series directed by George Clooney. Set to start shooting in London this spring, “The Department” is based on “The Bureau,” the hit French spy show created by Eric Rochant. It has already been given a straight-to-series order by Showtime.

EXCLUSIVE: SkyShowtime‘s drama original Codename: Annika is taking its art crime sensibilities around the world.

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.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The Berlin Film Festival hosted the 10 young European actors selected for the Shooting Stars program, run by European Film Promotion, at a gala event Monday. The presentation of the Shooting Stars took place prior to the screening of Claire Burger’s “Langue Étrangère,” which plays in competition.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Spanish indie film studio Filmax has sold sleeper hit “The Teacher who Promised the Sea” to Italy’s Officine Ubu following sales to Nachshon Films in Israel, Angel Films Scandinavia, India’s BookMyShow and airline rights to Encore Inflight. “The Teacher…” is based on the real story of Antoni Benaiges, an instructor from Catalonia who, back in 1935, was assigned to teach at a little village school in the province of Burgos.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority (GEA) has launched a new film fund called Big Time Investment to boost production of quality Arabic movies and announced a slate of Egyptian feature films toplined by a biopic of Egyptian icon Umm Kulthum who is considered the Arab world’s greatest singer. Prominent Egyptian director Marwan Hamed, whose epic “Kira and El Gen” about local resistance to British occupation, is recent hit, will direct the film titled “El Set.” Egyptian star Mona Zaki will play Kulthum who from the late 1920s onwards became the first prominent Arab singer to disseminate her work to the masses via the new technologies of the times: radio, the phonograph, cinema and television.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Playtime has had a busy EFM, where it’s locked a raft of major deals on “The Devil’s Bath,” a period psychological thriller in competition at the Berlin Film Festival. “The Devil’s Bath” is directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, the Austrian filmmaking duo behind “Goodnight Mommy.” Set in rural Austria in 1750, “The Devil’s Bath” stars Anja Plaschg, the up-and-coming singer and composer known as Soap & Skin. Plaschg plays Agnes, a young married woman who feels oppressed in her husband’s world, which is devoid of emotions and limited to chores and expectations.

Christopher Vourlias Following on the heels of his Oscar-shortlisted “Refugee,” veteran U.S. producer Brandt Andersen (“Everest,” “Lone Survivor”) makes his feature directorial debut with “The Strangers’ Case,” a kaleidoscopic and deeply felt portrait of the refugee crisis that world premieres Feb. 23 as a Berlinale Special Gala.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Twin directors Damiano and Fabio D’Innocenzo, who are known to Berlin Film Festival audiences for stylishly gritty dramas “Boys Cry” and “Bad Tales,” are back with eclectic detective series “Dostoevskij,” premiering in the fest’s Berlinale Special section. Set in the stark Roman hinterland, the six-episode show — produced by Sky Studios with Rome’s Paco Cinematografica — stars Filippo Timi (“Vincere,” “The Eight Mountains”) as Enzo Vitello, a policeman whose mind is warped by an incident involving his daughter Ambra.

Christopher Vourlias Greek filmmaker Yorgos Zois, who’s set to bow his sophomore feature, “Arcadia,” in the competitive Encounters strand of the Berlin Film Festival Feb. 18, is developing his first TV series. “Play” follows a lone cinephile who joins a mysterious group of strangers that reenact scenes from movies in real life.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor In Christine Angot‘s documentary “A Family,” which premieres Sunday in the Encounters section of the Berlin Film Festival, the French novelist explores how various members of her family reacted to the revelation that she was repeatedly raped by her father from the age of 13. The film starts with a startling confrontation between Angot and her stepmother in Strasbourg, with Angot pushing her way into her stepmother’s apartment with a camera-person and proceeding to question the woman about Angot’s late father’s crimes and the wife’s view on that. Angot says that this incident was not planned at all.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Cohen Media Group, the U.S. distribution company behind Matteo Garrone’s Oscar-nominated “Io Capitano,” has acquired North American rights to “The President’s Wife,” a biting movie starring Catherine Deneuve as the former first lady Bernadette Chirac. The deal closed during the European Film Market currently taking place and running alongside the Berlin Film Festival.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Gael García Bernal and Renate Reinsve (“The Worst Person in the World”) star as lovers caught in an unusual bind in Italian director Piero Messina’s unconventional sci-fi film “Another End,” which is competing in Berlin. Set in a near-future when a new technology exists that can put the consciousness of a dead person back into a living body in an attempt to ease the grief of separation, the English-language film sees Bernal play Sal, a man who loses his wife. Reinsve plays Zoe, the woman who rents her body for the implantation of Bernal’s wife’s consciousness.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Highland Film Group has locked key territory deals for sci-fi thriller “The Astronaut” from “A Quiet Place” producer Brad Fuller Pic stars Kate Mara (“A Teacher”), Laurence Fishburne (“John Wick” films) and Gabriel Luna (“Terminator: Dark Fate”). The film wrapped shooting late last year in Ireland. “The Astronaut” has sold to Signature Entertainment for the U.K., Capelight Pictures for Germany, Blue Swan Entertainment for Italy, Nos Lusomundo Audiovisuais for Portugal, DeAPlaneta for Spain, Spentzos Film for Greece, Cinemania Group for former Yugoslavia, Shoval Film Production for Israel, Falcon Films for the Middle East, Filmfinity for South Africa and Roadshow Films for Australia and New Zealand.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Variety is premiering the trailer (below) for feature documentary “Transition,” which follows Australian filmmaker Jordan Bryon, a trans man, as he embeds with a Taliban unit as they retake control of Afghanistan. The film, directed by Monica Villamizar and Bryon, will be released in the U.S. on March 26 by Gravitas Ventures.

Alex Ritman “The Outrun,” the adaptation of Amy Liptrot’s deeply raw and lyrical 2016 memoir about addiction, recovery and nature, premiered in Sundance this year to stellar reviews, with many awards prophets already suggesting that the film could take Saoirse Ronan — who stars in and produces the film — back to the Oscars in 2025. For producer Sarah Brocklehurst, the Sundance premiere also marked something of an enjoyable full circle, landing almost five years to the day after the Sundance 2019 debut of “Animals.” The film, which screens at the Berlin Film Festival, also marks the first feature from her Brock Media banner.

EXCLUSIVE: France TV Distribution has posted new deals for French director Delphine Deloget’s custody battle drama All To Play For (Rien à perdre) starring Virgine Efira.

Paramount’s Bob Marley: One Love had offshore audiences getting together and feeling more than alright in Wednesday international box office play. Beginning overseas release yesterday, the Reinaldo Marcus Green-directed biopic grossed $4.9M across 10 markets, several of them giving the story of the reggae icon No. 1 status and the biggest or second-biggest launch day ever for a music biopic — in Jamaica, it scored the biggest opening day of all time. 

Fox and Hare Save the Forest, a new animated feature film from the Netherlands which is premiering at the Berlinale, the international film festival kicking off in the German capital today.Director Mascha Halberstad’s second feature film will celebrate its world premiere in Generation Kplus at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival 2024. She will present the film in Berlin later this week.The story is as follows.Strange things are happening in the forest! Owl has disappeared, mischievous Rats are terrorising the neighbourhood, and a lake is overflowing towards the home of our forest friends. Could this be the work of a megalomaniac beaver? Fox and Hare are determined to find out. They must find their best friend Owl and a way to save their homes. It will push their friendship to the limit!Fabie Hulsebos wrote the script.Check out the trailer for the film below which is delivered by trade paper Screen.When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.@ THN - The Hollywood News 2023 This website uses cookies to improve your experience.