EXCLUSIVE: Abramorama has acquired North American rights to Resistance – They Fought Back, a documentary spotlighting Jewish resistance during WWII, from News & Documentary Emmy winners Paula S. Apsell and Kirk Wolfinger.
15.02.2024 - 06:09 / variety.com
Anna Marie de la Fuente Vincent Maraval’s Goodfellas has seized the worldwide sales rights to Galapagos adventure doc “Lions of the Sea,” which wrapped principal photography in mid-January. “Sea” is the latest from Ecuadorian explorer-filmmaker Luis Felipe Fernandez-Salvador, best known by his nom de cinéma, Jamaicanoproblem, and whose film “Son of Man” was Ecuador’s official selection for the 2019 Academy Awards.
Described by the filmmaker as “a fictional account grounded in science,” “Lions of the Sea” is set in the Galapagos Islands where a young sea lion struggles to fend for himself in the face of food scarcity and after his mother has been killed by illegal fishermen. Determined, he sets out to find a new sanctuary.
“I hope to call attention to the problems that beset the islands, not only from climate change but from over-fishing and other factors that have led to the decline of the sea lion population by roughly 60%,” says Fernandez-Salvador, who has visited the UNESCO World Heritage site all throughout his life, calling it his “personal paradise.” Along with lead producer Adam Leipzig, former president of National Geographic Documentary Films, and co-producer Mido De Santi, Fernandez-Salvador led a team of Academy Award-winning talent that includes executive producer Guillermo Navarro, the Oscar-winning DP of “Pan’s Labyrinth,” editor Hervé Schneid (“Amélie”) and sound designer Nicolas Becker (“Sound of Metal”), who will also compose the music soundtrack with Quentine Sirjacq (“Black Flies”). They also assembled some of the best underwater cinematographers in the biz, including Jeff B.
Hester, Dan Beecham, Jenny Baumert and Santiago Cabral. Digital imaging technician Jota Salazar and advance unit cameraman
.EXCLUSIVE: Abramorama has acquired North American rights to Resistance – They Fought Back, a documentary spotlighting Jewish resistance during WWII, from News & Documentary Emmy winners Paula S. Apsell and Kirk Wolfinger.
EXCLUSIVE: A young LL Cool J, a not so young Alfred Hitchcock. Photographer James Hamilton shot them all – Muhammad Ali, Jack Nicholson, Federico Fellini, Meryl Streep and more — capturing not only the famous but ordinary people in striking, candid moments.
Emiliano De Pablos Brand new sales agency Neo Art International has picked up worldwide sales rights outside Italy to Claudio Amendola’s black comedy film trilogy “Cassamortari” (“Funeral Family”). The film trilogy narrates the story of The Pasti Family, a Roman family who work in the funeral business. The three titles of the saga are set up at Rome-based company Paco Cinematografica, and co-produced with Antonia Nava’s Neo Art Producciones in Barcelona.
Selome Hailu The History Channel has expanded its partnership with the SpringHill Company, the production company founded by LeBron James and Maverick Carter, by ordering three new documentary projects. The first title is “Triumph: Jesse Owens and the Berlin Olympics” (working title), which will tell the story of the the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, which was shadowed by Hitler’s white supremacist agenda, when Black track and field athlete Jesse Owens made history by winning four gold medals.
Addie Morfoot Contributor Shannon Walsh’s documentary “Adrianne & The Castle,” which will make its world premiere at the South by Southwest Film & TV Festival on March 9, tells the love story of Alan St. George and his late wife, Adrianne, via fantastical musical re-enactments. Before her death, St.
Showtime announced director Daniel Peddle’s Beyond The Aggressives: 25 Years Later documentarywill debut on streaming and on-air for Paramount+ subscribers with the Paramount+ with Showtime plan on Saturday, March 30 and premiere that day at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Showtime.
Janee Bolden Hulu has unveiled the first official trailer and release date for “Freaknik: The Wildest Party Never Told,” its original documentary on Atlanta’s legendary annual HBCU Spring Break phenomenon of the ‘80’s and ‘90’s. Set to make its world premiere at SXSW’s film festival before arriving on Hulu March 21, the doc features interviews with politicians, event founders, former partygoers and prominent hip-hop artists, including Lil Jon, Killer Mike, 21 Savage, Jermaine Dupri and Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell — the latter three who are among the film’s producers.
EXCLUSIVE: Sky has acquired UK rights to true-crime documentary series Inheritance: The Jersey Murders, which has been six years in the making.
Here’s a first look at Hagen (working title), the German-Czech fantasy drama epic, which now counts Fremantle as its worldwide distributor.
Addie Morfoot Contributor Audiences will get a chance to see MTV Documentary Films‘ Oscar nominated short documentary “The ABCs of Book Banning” for free on YouTube beginning on Feb. 23 until the end of the month. The 27-minute film, about the rising tide of book banning efforts around the United States, marks docu titan Sheila Nevins‘ directorial debut.
In the opening moments of 20 Days in Mariupol, Mstyslav Chernov’s chilling account of the siege of the Ukrainian port city, a Russian tank marked with the ominous ‘Z’ swivels its turret toward a hospital. On an upper floor of the building, Chernov and his small team record as the cannon slowly rotates towards them, preparing to fire.
Naman Ramachandran A key audience participation segment of the London West End adaptation of Henrik Ibsen‘s 1882 play “An Enemy of the People” left people in tears, star Matt Smith told the BBC. In “An Enemy of the People,” when Dr. Stockmann (Smith) makes an unbelievable discovery about the healing waters in his local baths, he holds the future of the town in his hands, but those with everything to lose refuse to accept his word.
Amber Dowling Netflix has picked up an untitled documentary about the Montreal Expos and the events surrounding the Major League Baseball team’s departure in 2004. The doc, which the streamer has confirmed exclusively to Variety, reps Netflix’s next original project out of Canada. The doc is the first greenlit under Netflix’s new creative partnership with Montreal-based Attraction.
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.
Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Focus Features has bought international rights to Brady Corbet‘s “The Brutalist,” starring Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce and Joe Alwyn, Variety has learned. Corbet, who sits on the Berlinale jury, penned the film with Mona Fastvold (“The World to Come”), a Swedish filmmaker who is also his wife. The film charts 30 years in the lives of visionary architect László Toth and his wife, Erzsébet, who flee post-war Europe in 1947 and witness the birth of modern America.
Christopher Vourlias MetFilm Sales has secured international rights to “The Battle for Laikipia,” Daphne Matziaraki and Peter Murimi’s multi-layered portrait of the conflict between Indigenous pastoralists and white landowners in Kenya. The film had its world premiere as part of the World Cinema Documentary section at the Sundance Film Festival. Submarine Entertainment Sales negotiated the deal with MetFilm on behalf of the filmmakers and is handling North American sales.
Christopher Vourlias K5 Intl., the international sales arm of K5 Media Group, has acquired world sales rights excluding North America to “Stay Online,” a tense Ukraine war drama that was entirely shot in the Eastern European country after the Russian invasion, the company announced at the European Film Market. The film, which debuted last year at Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival, recently sold to Dark Star Pictures for North American distribution in a deal brokered by XYZ Films. A U.S.
Seann William Scott and his wife Olivia Korenberg are getting a divorce.
Ethan Shanfeld Following her Oscar-nominated role in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Lily Gladstone is narrating and executive producing a new documentary titled “Bring Them Home,” about a Blackfeet initiative to bring buffalo back to the wild and reclaim centuries of Indigenous tradition. Directed by Blackfeet brother-sister duo Ivan MacDonald and Ivy MacDonald, as well as Daniel Glick, the 85-minute feature will premiere at Big Sky Documentary Film Festival on Feb. 24.
Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Eminem, whose 2000 song “Stan” coined the term for fanatical and sometimes delusional superfans, is co-producing a documentary on the phenomenon via his Shady Films, in association with DIGA Studios and Hill District Media, with initial distribution from Paramount/MTV. The film, directed by Steven Leckart (“Challenger: The Final Flight,” writer of “What’s My Name: Muhammad Ali” and cowriter of the Hulu series “Legacy: True Story of the L.A.