New Horizons’ Polish Days Proves Place to Be for Buzzy Titles and Emerging Talents

Michaela Zee editor On Thursday night, Variety’s “Power of Women: The Changemakers” Presented by Lifetime spotlighted 11 women who inspire past Power of Women honorees Halle Berry (Jenesse Center), Priyanka Chopra Jonas (UNICEF), Misty Copeland (Misty Copeland Foundation), Laverne Cox (New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project), Idina Menzel (A BroaderWay), Julianne Moore (Everytown for Gun Safety) and Katy Perry (Firework Foundation). The changemakers featured in this year’s special include Karen Earl for Jenesse Center, Viktoriia Gnap and Yuliia Hudz for UNICEF, Bianca Johnson for the Misty Copeland Foundation, Shay Huffman for New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, Torya Beard and Ayodele Casel for A BroaderWay, Shannon Watts and Melody McFadden for Everytown for Gun Safety, and Angela Lerche and Brooklyn Molden for Firework Foundation.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Camerimage, a film festival focused on cinematography, will honor the documentary director Alex Gibney during its 30th edition. The investigative filmmaker will be present at the event in Toruń, Poland, which runs Nov. 12-19, to accept the award for outstanding achievements in documentary filmmaking. Gibney’s films include “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,” exposing the greed and corruption of one of the most influential U.S. corporations; Oscar-winning “Taxi to the Dark Side,” with a harrowing tale of inhumane practices during the early years of the war in Afghanistan; and “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God,” providing a horrifying account of the decades of sexual abuse and pedophilia in the Catholic Church.

EXCLUSIVE: French director Alice Diop’s breakout feature Saint Omer has secured distribution in a raft of territories for Paris-based Wild Bunch International (WBI) following its Venice Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize win.

It’s fair to say that whatever Hailey Bieber does, the world wants to copy. At no time has this been more obvious than when she debuted what she termed a “glazed donut” nail look at the Met Gala earlier this year – a pale, pearlescent polish combination that before long everybody was asking for at their local salon.

Logan Lerman will star alongside Joey King in Hulu’s developing limited series “We Were the Lucky Ones,” based on Georgia Hunter’s best-selling novel, TheWrap has learned.Lerman will portray Addy, a Polish and Jewish 25-year-old who lives in Paris as an engineer, but who also builds his musical composing career. Addy is the middle child in his family, and he is able to mediate conflict between people with differences.

Naman Ramachandran AGC International, the international sales and distribution arm of Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios, has revealed a raft of pre-sales on Richard Linklater’s “Hitman” and Anna Kendrick’s “The Dating Game.” “Hitman” will begin production in New Orleans in early October and “The Dating Game” in Vancouver later the same month. “The Dating Game,” which marks Kendrick’s directorial debut, tells the chilling true story of serial killer Rodney Alcala, who appeared on popular U.S. dating program “The Dating Game” — and was selected to go on a date with contestant Cheryl Bradshaw (to be played by Kendrick) — before his grisly crimes were ultimately exposed.

AGC International, the international sales and distribution arm of Stuart Ford’s independent content studio AGC Studios, has secured a raft of pre-sales on Richard Linklater’s Hitman and Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut The Dating Game, both of which will enter production in October.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winning film “Triangle of Sadness” has been sold by Coproduction Office to major distributors around the world. “Triangle of Sadness,” which was acquired by Neon for North America at the Cannes Film Festival, just had its North American premiere at Toronto and is playing at the San Sebastian Film Festival. Coproduction Office has now sold the movie worldwide to major distributors. Recent deals have been closed with Stay Golden (China), Edko (Hong Kong), Impact (India), Gaga (Japan), Green Narae (South Korea), Catchplay (Taiwan), TBA Studios (Philippines), Sun (Latin America), Frontrow (Middle East), Forefont (South Africa) and Les Films 26 (French-speaking Africa). 

You would drive past Bee Rogi every day of the week. I did, twice in fact, when I was trying to find it, ending up in a seemingly never ending loop around Denton - Haughton Green to be precise - until I spotted it, tucked in between the post office and the florist.

Christopher Vourlias It was as early as 2010, as he likes to tell it, when Polish animator and visual artist Tomasz Bagiński lobbied his friend Andrzej Sapkowski to make a movie. Sapkowski is the author of “The Witcher” series of fantasy novels, and Bagiński — already Oscar-nominated for his short film “The Cathedral” — had dreams of taking the series to the big screen. Among the project’s early boosters was Platige Image, the Polish animation, VFX and post-production studio that Bagiński joined in 2004. When Netflix swooped in to acquire the rights to “The Witcher” in 2017, the company was tapped to executive produce alongside L.A.-based Hivemind. The Polish studio also became one of several houses to handle special effects for the series, earning an Emmy nomination for its VFX work on what has gone on to become one of Netflix’s biggest international hits.

Christopher Vourlias Warsaw-based New Europe Film Sales has closed a raft of deals on the animated feature film “Yuku and the Himalayan Flower,” from directors Rémi Durin and Arnaud Demuynck. The children’s animated feature, with graphics by Paul Jadoul, tells the story of Yuku, a little mouse who lives with her family in the basement of a castle and decides to embark on a quest to find the legendary Himalayan flower. The film, which premiered at the Annecy fest and played in the Locarno Kids strand of the Locarno Film Festival, is produced by Artémis Prods. (“Mandibules”) and co-produced by Vivement Lundi! (“Flee”), La Boîte Prods. (“March of the Penguins”), Les Films du Nord and Nadasdy Film. 

by sustainable brand Another Tomorrow, Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, returned to her signature sleek neutrals to join Prince Harry at the Invictus Games in Dusseldorf, Germany. Markle’s penchant for discreet, stealth wealth labels like The Row, Khaite, and Loro Piana has been on full display since the Sussex family relocated to the US. Gone are the formal Givenchy dress coats, and in their place, relaxed tailoring, city shorts, and the occasional Gabriela Hearst (Hearst’s conscious approach makes her brand a natural fit for the royal). On the second day of the couple’s first trip back to Europe since the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, the Duchess tucked a knitted high-neck sleeveless top by Anine Bing into a pair of high-waisted beige trousers by Brandon Maxwell.

It's been two years since Special Interest released their sophomore project The Passion Of, the album that brought the dance-punk collective from the DIY scene of New Orleans and onto the world stage. On November 4, Special Interest will release their latest album Endure via Rought Trade.

Tom Segura will continue to bring humor to Netflix viewers as the streaming service has confirmed two new stand-up specials. The comedian who is a NY Times bestselling author, podcast host and actor will host his fifth and sixth comedy special for the streamer with the first slated to premiere in 2023.

Poland has selected Jerzy Skolimowski’s Cannes-winning title EO as its official submission to the International Oscar race this year.

ITV Studios has struck an exclusive formats deal with longstanding Polish production partner Jake Vision. The agreements sees the latter take exclusive production rights to all non-scripted ITV Studios formats commissioned in the Eastern European country going forwards.