New Zealand Film Commission Execs Talk Jane Campion’s Pop-Up Film School, Incentives at Variety’s Global Conversations Summit

Lexi Carson Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival has unveiled its second wave of titles, which includes Ant Timpson’s “Bookworm” as the opening night film. This year’s edition, the 28th for the festival, will run from July 18 to August 4.

Selena Kuznikov In a pre-recorded video played at Variety‘s inaugural Indigenous Storytelling in Entertainment Breakfast, James Cameron said he tries to celebrate indigenous peoples through his films. “I try to celebrate Indigenous peoples as guardians of our fragile living world and show their fight against the destruction of land and culture due to everything: extractive industries, deforestation… and I celebrate their fight against the plundering of the ocean and its wildlife,” Cameron said.

EXCLUSIVE: The movie Donald Trump doesn’t want people to see is going global.

Georgie Campbell’s husband is remembering her with lots of love after her tragic death.

Naman Ramachandran Tarsem Singh Dhandwar’s “Dear Jassi” and Arati Kadav’s “Mrs” will open and close this year’s New York Indian Film Festival. Punjabi and English-language “Dear Jassi,” a tale of star-crossed lovers based on a true story, arrives in New York after a glittering festival run that began in 2023, at Toronto, where it won the Platform Prize.

EXCLUSIVE: Growing specialty distributor 3388 Films has acquired rights to Vietnamese smash Face Off 7: One Wish, and has set the weekend of June 14 to launch in numerous markets, including the U.S., Canada and the UK.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Rolling off the Cannes Film Festival where it won several awards, Mohammad Rasoulof‘s “The Seed of The Sacred Fig” has been acquired by a flurry of high profile distributors in major international territories. Films Boutique, which represents the critically acclaimed political drama globally, has sold it to Lionsgate for the U.K.

Jennifer Love Hewitt has a unique way of staying in the right headspace for filming emotional stuff!

British equestrian Georgie Campbell has passed away.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The Match Factory has finalized global sales for the Cannes competition title “The Substance,” directed by Coralie Fargeat and starring Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid. The Match Factory has sold to Italy (I Wonder Pictures), Spain (Elastica Films), Scandinavia (Nonstop Entertainment), South Korea (Challan), Hong Kong (Golden Scene Company), CIS (VLG.FILM LTD.), Ukraine and Baltics (Adastra Cinema), Taiwan (Catchplay), Australia and New Zealand (Madman Entertainment), Poland (Monolith), Greece (Feelgood Entertainment), the former Yugoslavia (MCF Megacom), Bulgaria (Beta Film) and Romania (Independenta Film 97).

The Match Factory has finalized a raft of international deals for Coralie Fargeat’s Cannes Palme d’Or contender The Substance, following its buzzy premiere over the weekend in the presence of co-stars Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid.

Prince Harry once left a group of reporters unimpressed with a 'rude' remark while on a Royal tour with wife Meghan Markle.The Sussexes headed out on an international tour in 2018 shortly after their wedding at Windsor Castle. Harry, 39, and Meghan, 42, visited Australia, Fiji, Tonga and New Zealand, with their trip coinciding with the Invictus Games, which took place in Sydney that year.The tour was deemed a huge success for the newlyweds, with Meghan even announcing her pregnancy as she and Harry landed in Sydney ahead of their 16-day tour. However, behind the scenes things weren't so great.

EXCLUSIVE: One of the market’s biggest-budget projects, the Will Smith action-crime thriller Sugar Bandits, has sealed multi-million dollar deals across the world for AGC ahead of a planned September start date.

Strictly Come Dancing star Giovanni Pernice has denied allegations that he was 'threatening or abusive' during training sessions with Amanda Abbington and vowed to 'clear his name'. Sherlock star Amanda took part in last year's series of the BBC show, but withdrew from the dance competition citing 'medical reasons'.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Brazilian social impact entertainment company Maria Farinha Films has taken a minority stake in Joanna Natasegara’s London-based production company Violet Films, which is known for high-profile docs such as “White Helmets,” “Virunga,” “The Edge of Democracy” and Prince Harry’s Netflix series “Invictus.” Leonardo DiCaprio and Barry Jenkins are involved as producer and writer, respectively, in Violet Films’ upcoming feature film adaptation of “Virugna” for Netflix. São Paulo-based Maria Farinha Films is a leading studio in Latin America, known for its hit Globoplay Original “Aruanas” — created by the company’s co-founders Estela Renner and Marcos Nisti — about four women in a São Paulo environmental NGO battling devastation wrought by a mining corporation.

EXCLUSIVE: Studiocanal has been rolling out sales on the first instalment of Germany-language film trilogy Woodwalkers in Cannes.

Fundamental Films chairman Mark Gao and his CEO Ivy Hua are in Cannes to reconnect with the international industry as part of the Shanghai-based company’s return to international acquisitions and production. 

Alex Ritman Signature Entertainment has acquired the U.K. and Irish rights to Sylvester Stallone(“Tulsa King”)action thriller “Alarum”from Highland Film Group. The feature is produced and financed by Convergence Entertainment Group (“Cash Out”) and is directed by Michael Polish (“Force of Nature”) from a script written by Alexander Vesha (“Deadly Impact”).

EXCLUSIVE: Focus Features has acquired U.S. rights and select international territories on upcoming thriller Last Breath, starring Woody Harrelson, Finn Cole and Simu Liu. Focus will distribute the Alex Parkinson-directed title in the U.S. with Universal Pictures International handling select territories including France, Scandinavia, Australia and New Zealand, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Vietnam. 

John Krasinski and Natalie Portman are hard at work on their new movie!