Nanni Moretti’s ‘A Brighter Tomorrow’ Opens Strong in Italy Ahead of Cannes, as Director Takes Shot at Netflix

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Kaouther Ben Hania, the Oscar-nominated director of “The Man Who Sold His Skin” whose latest film “Four Daughters” is competing at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, will next direct “Mimesis,” an epic love story set in Tunisia. While the plot is under wraps, the story is set in two different periods, the 1990s and the 1940s, paying tribute to cinema and Arab-Muslim cultural heritage. It’s being produced by Nadim Cheikhrouha at Tanit Films, who produced Ben Hania’s “Four Daughters” and her previous film “The Man Who Sold His Skin” which world premiered at Venice where it won best actor for Yahya Mahayni and was nominated for best international film at the Oscars in 2021.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italy will be the “Country of Focus” at the European Film Market In Berlin in 2024, reflecting the current flourish of the Italian film and TV industry and its growing international relevance and ambition. The spotlight on Italy during the EFM will highlight the work of Italian filmmakers and offer an opportunity to network with local producers, distributors, investors and experts. The official agreement was signed at Cannes in the Italian Pavillion by Berlinale managing director Mariëtte Rissenbeek and Roberto Stabile, head of special projects of Italy’s general directorate for cinema. Also on hand were EFM director Dennis Ruh, Nicola Borrelli, head of the film department of Italy’s culture ministry, and Venice fest chief Alberto Barbera.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italy’s Intramovies has acquired global rights outside of Israel and France on Israeli director Dani Rosenberg’s Gaza-Strip conflict drama “The Vanishing Soldier.”  “Vanishing Soldier” is Rosenberg’s second feature after “The Death of Cinema and My Father Too,” which was in the official selection in Cannes 202O and won the Jerusalem Film Festival’s top prize. The film is about an 18-year-old Israeli soldier who flees the Gaza battlefield and heads back to his girlfriend in Tel Aviv only to discover that the military elite is convinced he was kidnapped in the fog of war. What ensues is a tragicomic journey and takes place over a period of 24 hours on the streets of Tel Aviv.

As well as bagging four Oscars and nine BAFTAs, Edward Berger’s WW1 drama All Quiet on the Western Front cemented its place in pop-culture history by becoming an internet meme. Under ‘how it started’, the meme shows the film’s protagonist, Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer), as a laughing, idealistic new recruit. But then, under ‘how it’s going’, we see the same young soldier, now hollowed out, filthy, and traumatized by the carnage he’s seen.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Nanni Moretti’s “Il sol dell’avvenire” (“A Brighter Tomorrow”), a multi-layered love letter to filmmaking in the age of streaming giants, has scored a slew of sales ahead of it’s Cannes bow. French sales company Kinology has sealed deals to Moretti’s latest work with a slew of territories including Germany (Prokino); Spain (Caramel Films); Benelux (Cineart) and Switzerland (Xenix Filmdistribution).  Additional countries that have taken a shine to “Brighter Tomorrow” are Portugal (Midas Filmes); Austria (Filmladen); Ex-Yugoslavia (MCF Megacom Film) Greece (Feelgood Entertainment); Hungary (Circo Film); Israel (Lev Films and Cinemas); Latin America (Providences Films); Romania (Independent Film);  and Turkey (Filmarti).

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Cinema Italiano is on a roll, as reflected by the fact that this year Italy has scored three Cannes competition slots. Despite the persisting sore spot that sees the country still lagging behind other European territories in terms of post-pandemic box office returns, Italy “continues to produce and invest heavily in film and is overcoming the crisis,” noted Cannes artistic director Thierry Fremaux after announcing the lineup. The robust Croisette contingent marks the second time in 20 years that Italy lands three Cannes competition berths. Though the trio of selected directors — Marco Bellocchio, Nanni Moretti and Alice Rohrwacher — are all Cannes regulars “they represent three different generations of auteurs,” said Paolo Del Brocco, chief of state broadcaster RAI’s RAI Cinema arm that co-produced all three titles. And each of these films, he went on to point out, displays “very different ideas and cinematic visions.”

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Shares of Netflix jumped more than 10% Thursday on news that the streamer had signed up almost 5 million customers for its ad-supported plan within six months of launch. At Netflix’s first-ever upfronts event Wednesday — held virtually — the company touted that it had signed up nearly 5 million global monthly active users following its initial introduction in early November 2022. About 80% of viewing by subscribers on the ad plan is on a TV, and the median viewer age of 34, according to the company. In addition, Netflix said more than 25% of new customer signups are now choosing the ad plan in the 12 countries where it has been rolled out, including the U.S.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent More that forty years after his bitter battle with Bob Guccione over cult classic “Caligula,” Italian director Tinto Brass is still fighting. Just as Penthouse Films International has unveiled a new cut of the raunchy 1980 epic about the fall of the Roman ruler titled “Caligula: The Ultimate Cut” – that screened on Wed. in the Cannes Classics section with Helen Mirren on hand – Brass has issued a statement distancing himself from this new version of the film and announced that he is taking unspecified legal action. “After numerous and fruitless negotiations that have followed over the years, first with the Penthouse and then with other unclear individuals, to edit the material that I shot and which had been found in the Penthouse archives, a version has been created on which I did not take part and which I am convinced will not reflect my artistic vision,” Brass, who is 90, said in the statement.

Six months after the landmark debut of its ad-supported subscription tier, Netflix said the plan has hit 5 million monthly active users globally.

EXCLUSIVE: Shia LaBeouf has joined action thriller Mace, directed by Jon Amiel from a script by David Chisholm. Trevor Jackson (Grown-ish, Superfly) will co-star. Myriad Pictures is shopping the project to buyers here in Cannes this week. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Saudi Arabia is flying the flag at the Cannes Film Festival where the kingdom’s Cultural Development Fund officially unveiled two separate film sector funds worth a total of $180 million aimed at fostering the local film industry and attracting international industry players. At a breakfast event titled “A Billion Dollar Opportunity” Mohammed Bin Dayel, who is CEO of the Cultural Development Fund, and the fund’s chief strategy and business development officer Najla AlNomair announced an investment program with a budget of $80 million “that will target film and media production, distribution and infrastructure,” said Bin Dayel. He separately announced Saudi’s first film investment fund worth $100 million.

“Plead the Fifth,” host Andy Cohen asked the “Monster-in-Law” star who “tried to pick you up once that you turned down.”She recalled exactly who that was: “The French director René Clément.”Clément — who died in 1996 — helmed the 1964 thriller “Joy House,” starring Fonda.“Was it a sloppy pass?” Cohen, 54, wondered.“Well, he wanted to go to bed with me because he said that the character had to have an orgasm in the movie and he needed to see what my orgasms were like,” the Golden Globe winner explained. “But he said it in French and I pretended like I didn’t understand.” The Bravo celebrity rated her experience on the show as “amazing, perfect.”“I have stories for you kid, we don’t have time,” Fonda winked, concluding her coy confession.Elsewhere on the late-night talk show, Fonda admitted that she once went skinny dipping with the late Michael Jackson, noting how “skinny” the “Thriller” singer appeared.

“Elemental” and Martin Scorsese’s Apple-produced “Killers of the Flower Moon” an additional veneer of vindication. As to the box-office futures of the 20-odd films competing for this year’s Palme d’Or, certainly none will reach the international highs of James Mangold’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” but then, none were ever expected to.Instead — and at its best — Cannes works as a sophisticated shell game, channeling the glamour of the red carpet and the frenzy of 40,000 accredited guests to make glitzy international events out of existential Turkish dramas like Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s “About Dry Grasses,” existential Finnish dramedies like Aki Kaurismäki’s “Fallen Leaves”or intimate two-headers about 19th-century French gastronomy like Tran Anh Hung’s “The Pot au Feu.”Other Palme d’Or contenders will come with built-in SEO, as Wes Anderson’s more-star-packed-than-usual “Asteroid City”threatens to saddle red-carpet rubberneckers with a permanent case of whiplash once the Texan auteur’s full repertory company mounts the Palais steps alongside new additions Tom Hanks and Scarlett Johansson.That all the aforementioned filmmakers could walk those Palais steps in blindfolds is another notable element of an official competition marked by staggering high fidelity.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Disney’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3″ was victorious again at the domestic box office, adding $60.5 million in its second weekend of release. Ticket sales dropped by 49% from its debut, marking an impressive hold… at least for a superhero movie. Across more than 30 Marvel entries, only “Black Panther” (45%) and “Thor” (47%) have had stronger second weekend holds. By comparison, recent Marvel movies such as “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness” and “Thor: Love and Thunder” declined by nearly 70% in their sophomore outings. Those are brutal falls, even for movies that debuted to more than $100 million. Those entries were reminders that Marvel may remain critic-proof in terms of opening weekends, but they’re no longer immune to quickly falling back down to Earth.

William Earl Variety will present four conversations centered on global incentives and filming at Cannes Film Festival at the American Pavilion on Saturday, May 20 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Panelists from Spain, Hungary, Poland and Film Alula will participate in conversations moderated by Variety reporters John Hopewell, Leo Barraclough and Nick Vivarelli. The panels will highlight each of the region’s facilities, incentives, and filming community. Guests of the conversations will include producers, sales agents, distributors and creatives looking to learn about the different filming opportunities in these regions. Juan Manuel Guimeráns from the General Secretary Spain Film Commission will speak on the Spain Location panel. Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska, Madants producer; Kamila Morgisz, head of film production and film project development at the Polish Film Institute; and Martin Moszkowicz, chairman of the executive board at Constantin Film will discuss production in Poland. Csaba Káel, film commissioner and chairman of the National Film Institute and Ildiko Kemeny, CEO/producer of Pioneer Stillking Films will speak about filming in Hungary. Charlene Deleon-Jones, executive director, Alula, will speak on Saudi Arabia production opportunities.

EXCLUSIVE: On the eve of his acting return at the Cannes Film Festival, Johnny Depp has set a buzzy cast for Modi, his first directorial effort in 25 years.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer If Hollywood’s labor drama were a script, this would be the start of Act Two. On Wednesday, as writers walk picket lines outside the major studios, the Directors Guild of America will sit down for its negotiations on a new contract with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. A deal — if they are able to reach one — could help resolve the writers strike. That’s what happened 15 years ago, when the Writers Guild of America was on strike and the directors went in for their contract negotiations. Leveraging the pressure of an industry-wide work stoppage that was in its third month, the DGA secured milestone agreements for unfettered jurisdiction over the internet and a residual formula for what was then quaintly known as “new media” exploitation of movies and TV shows.

A 59-year-old man in Illinois was killed earlier this month after reportedly being confronted by a neighbor while using a leaf blower in his driveway.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International MUBI has acquired all rights for Molly Manning Walker’s directorial debut “How to Have Sex” for major territories. The deal covers North America, U.K., Ireland, Italy, Latin America, Turkey and Benelux ahead of the movie’s world premiere at Cannes in the Un Certain Regard section. Theatrical releases are planned for key territories, including the U.S. and U.K. In Benelux, the film will be released theatrically in partnership with Imagine Film Distribution. Following theatrical releases, the film will premier exclusively on MUBI in all territories acquired.

Mubi has acquired British filmmaker Molly Manning Walker’s debut feature How to Have Sex, which is set to debut in Un Certain Regard at the forthcoming Cannes Film Festival.