Miramax Expands Executive Team With VP Hires In TV Development, Film Production Finance & BA

Naman Ramachandran The Indian government has approved an audiovisual co-production treaty with Australia, designed to promote joint production of films between the two countries.While details are currently scarce, producer contributions from the two countries can vary from 20% to 80% of the final total cost of the jointly produced work.“Australia has emerged as a preferred destination for shooting of Indian films. India is fast emerging as a major content hub for filmmakers looking for new projects.

Tom Hiddleston is getting back into character!

India has always been a popular destination for international productions, hosting everything from European independent films and British series, most recently ITV’s Beecham House and Netflix/BBC’s A Suitable Boy, to studio movies like Christopher Nolan’s Tenet and Netflix’s Chris Hemsworth-starrer Extraction.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentOne year after she dazzled at the Cannes Festival, winning its Golden Eye for best documentary for “A Night of Knowing Nothing,” Payal Kapadia’s fiction debut “All We Imagine as Light,” has attracted the most potent production partner support of any project introduced at this year’s Locarno Match Me!“Night’s” producers. Petit Chaos’ Thomas Hakim, Julien Graff  in France and Ranabir Das (also DP and editor on “Night”) at India’s Another Birth will produce “Light.”Also on board, confirmed early July, is Oliver Pere at Arte France Cinéma.  Further co-producers take in Zico Maitra and Aastha Singh (Chalk & Cheese, India), Frank Hoeve (Baldr, Netherlands), Gilles Chanial (Les Films Fauves, Luxembourg and, in the latest addition to partners, Denise Lee and Roberto Minervini (Pulpa Films, Italy).

A New Zealand-based platform where fans track, review and share lists of movies old and new is an increasingly influential marketing tool for specialty film with budgets tight and audiences harder to reach.

EXCLUSIVE: Filipina acting and singing star Lovi Poe has launched her own production company called C’est Lovi Productions.

Thinus Ferreira Guest ContributorNetflix’s top executive team in Africa plans to continue spending on scripted and unscripted content across genres until it unearths the big “Squid Game”-like show that captures global buzz.During Tuesday’s “See What’s Next Africa” showcase in Johannesburg, South Africa, the streamer unveiled several African original renewals, some co-production developments, more details around existing projects, and another multi-project output deal with the South Africa filmmaker Mandlakayise Walter Dube for films and series.Under the partnership, Dube — who directed Netflix’s first commissioned African film “Silverton Siege,” released earlier this year — will direct a variety of Netflix-owned projects. He joins Nigeria’s Junle Afolayan of Kunle Afolayan Productions and Mo Abudu of EbonyLife Studios who have similar output deals with the streamer already.

Following its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival Film, Noah Baumbach’s feature take of Don DeLillo’s 1985 novel White Noise will also open the 60th New York Film Festival, making its North American premiere at Alice Tully Hall on September 30.

Production on Netflix’s “Old Guard 2” was disrupted on Monday after a fire broke out at Cinecittà Studios in Italy. The flames erupted Monday afternoon, in an area of the studio with a renaissance-era Florence set.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentGiuseppe Tornatore’s Oscar-winning film “Cinema Paradiso,” about a marvellous Sicilian cinema where a boy nicknamed Toto embarks on a lifelong love affair with the movies, is being spun off into a high-profile TV series that Tornatore will write and direct.The six-episode “Paradiso” show is being developed by prominent Rome-based producer Marco Belardi (“Perfect Strangers”) through his new shingle Bamboo Production, which he launched in February. Belardi said he’s in advanced talks with an unspecified U.S. streamer to come on board.

Steven Knight is giving fans an update about the forthcoming Peaky Blinders movie.

EXCLUSIVE: U.S. execs headed to the inaugural Scripted Israel event in LA in September can expect to meet 17 prominent Israeli producers and a host of talent and writers.

EXCLUSIVE: Faraway Road Productions, the production label founded by Fauda creators Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff and which was acquired this year by Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs’ Candle Media, has hired Salome Peillon and Adi Ezroni, as Chief Operating Officer and EVP of Content, respectively.  

Naman Ramachandran India’s Yoodlee Films is expanding its Malayalam-language slate with “Kaapa,” starring Prithviraj Sukumaran (“Driving License”), one of the top stars of the industry.Directed by veteran Shaji Kailas (“August 15”), the film, billed as an action thriller, also stars Asif Ali (“Kuttavum Shikshayum”), Aparna Balamurali, who recently won India’s national film award for best actress for “Soorarai Pottru,” and Anna Ben (“Helen”).“Kaapa,” which has started principal photography, is co-produced by Jinu V. Abraham and Dolwin Kuriakose for Theatre of Dreams and the Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA) Writers Union, the first ever film backed by FEFKA.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterRodney Barnes has renewed his overall deal with HBO for a further three years, Variety has learned.Barnes most recently worked as a writer and executive producer on the premium cabler’s hit series “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty.” Barnes was credited with co-writing nine episodes of the show’s 10-episode first season. The show was renewed for a second season in April, with Barnes continuing on with the show as writer and executive producer.Under the terms of the deal, Barnes will continue to develop, write, and produce shows in a variety of formats under his Rodney Barnes Productions banner.Barnes’ past TV credits include shows like “Everybody Hates Chris,” “Wu-Tang: An American Saga,” “The Boondocks,” and “My Wife and Kids.” His current development slate include: the feature adaptation “Ride Around Shining” at Netflix; a miniseries on Tiger Woods; a feature for New Regency with Jordan Vogt-Roberts attached to direct.

EXCLUSIVE: Monsterland and I Came By outfit Two & Two Pictures has appointed Mila Cottray to the role of EVP Production and Finance based out of LA.

acquisition of Australian-based animation studio Animal Logic to help support Netflix’s original film slate. Netflix has promoted Karen Toliver, currently VP of Animated Film, to lead the new film animation team on the content side and reporting to Global Film head Scott Stuber.

Naman Ramachandran Olivia Colman (“Landscapers”), Jessie Buckley (“Men”) and Luke Evans (“Crossing Swords”) will voice parts in Netflix’s CG animated feature “Scrooge: A Christmas Carol.” The film is a supernatural, time-travelling, musical adaptation of the Charles Dickens’ beloved Christmas story. With his very soul on the line, Scrooge has but one Christmas Eve left to face his past and build a better future.