Pedro Almodovar’s ‘The Room Next Door’ Acquired by Warner Bros. Pictures for Key International Territories, Including the U.K. and Spain

Sunny Side of the Doc, the world’s biggest documentary-focused marketplace in the world, wrapped its 35th edition Thursday, after gathering 2,100 participants over four days in La Rochelle, France.

Naman Ramachandran The 32nd Raindance Film Festival (June 19-28) has revealed its jury award winners, reflecting a renewed focus on emerging filmmakers. Korean thriller “Sleep,” directed by Jason Yu and starring Lee Sun-kyun and Jung Yu-mi, took home the Discovery Award for best debut feature. The film marks Lee’s final role before his passing.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The Playmaker has acquired international sales rights to the provocative satirical thriller “The Protected Men,” based on the novel “Les hommes protégés” (The Virility Factor) by Robert Merle. The film is set in Germany, where a mysterious disease afflicting only men strikes, leading to a women-led government takeover.

Fantastic Four film will be set in the 1960s and won’t be a part of the main Marvel Cinematic Universe.Speaking on the latest episode of the Official Marvel Podcast, the Marvel Studios president spoke about the upcoming slate of Marvel projects, revealing that he’s most excited for the new Fantastic Four film.Earlier this year, Marvel confirmed the core cast for the upcoming film, which through its artwork teased that it would be set in the 1960s. Now, Feige has confirmed the time period in which the film will take place.“It is a period film,” Feige confirmed.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Comic book movie fans have more or less assumed that Marvel’s upcoming “The Fantastic Four” will be a 1960s-set superhero story thanks to the illustrated posters the studio has put out on social media for the tentpole. Now that fact is being confirmed by Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. Speaking on “The Official Marvel Podcast” (via EW), Feige revealed “The Fantastic Four” will be a 1960s period piece set in New York City.

When Comcast-owned Sky Deutschland cancelled its usual drama event at the Munich Film Festival at short notice last summer, it came as a surprise. That surprise quickly turned to shock and bitter disappointment when the pay-TV giant revealed it wasn’t simply nixing a networking bash, it was exiting the original drama business full stop. 

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor The Palm Springs International ShortFest has announced the juried and audience award winners for its 2024 edition, which took place June 18-24. Over $25,000 in cash prizes and five Academy Award-qualifying honors were presented to the winning films, which included Esteban Pedraza’s “Bogotá Story” and Jadwiga Kowalska’s animated film “The Car That Came Back from the Sea.” See a full list of winners below.

EXCLUSIVE: Synchronicity Films is adapting Hanif Kureishi’s The Body as a series with the novelist and screenwriter on board as an exec producer and Emmy-nominated director Paul McGuigan attached. There are scripts from crime writer Robert Murphy and the producers will relocate the action from the UK to the U.S. for the series.

The Munich International Film Festival will screen 152 films from 53 countries during its 41st edition, which runs from June 28 to July 6. 

The Grand Jury Prize for International Competition at Sheffield DocFest has gone to At the Door of the House, Who Will Come Knocking, the feature directorial debut of Maja Novaković, a filmmaker from Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Annika Pham Invited by the new ECAM Forum co-production market in Madrid to inspire up-and-coming filmmakers and creators, veteran U.S. indie producer and former Amazon Studios film executive Ted Hope is delivering a masterclass, The Transformative Moment is Now. Double Down on the Glorious Disaster That Makes Us Human.

Crunchyroll Senior Vice President of Global Commerce Mitchel Berger was in ebullient mood as he gave a talk on the growing global reach of anime at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival this week.

Ben Croll In a sign of Folivari’s widening ambitions, the French animation powerhouse will handle world sales of the Sherlock Holmes spinoff “The Baker Street Four” through its newly launched distribution branch Folivari International. Adapted from a local comic book series that pairs Arthur Conan Doyle’s great detective with four streetwise urchins, the title was developed in-house, with Folivari and Blue Spirit (“Blue Eye Samurai”) tackling creative duties and Canal+ set as commissioning broadcaster.

Warner Bros Pictures has acquired Pedro Almodóvar’s English-language feature debut, The Room Next Door, for release in a host of key international markets including the filmmaker’s home turf of Spain.

Dakota Johnson and Chris Evans are wrapping up production on their new movie.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Turkish director Tolga Karaçelic, who made a splash in the U.S. with absurdist comedy “Butterflies,” is getting ready to premiere his first English-language film, “The Shallow Tale of a Writer Who Decided to Write About a Serial Killer,” in which the offbeat serial killer in question is played by Steve Buscemi. The New York-set film, which takes Karaçelic’s comic streak in a new direction, will launch on Saturday from the Tribeca Film Festival.

Good afternoon Insiders, Jesse Whittock coming to you from Seriencamp in Germany this week. Strap in for the top TV and film news from the international sector this week. And sign up here.

Chris Evans and Dakota Johnson are continuing to put in the work on their new movie Materialists in New York City.

Dakota Johnson and Chris Evans are getting ready to film a few scenes for Materialists.

Cornerstone has closed worldwide distribution deals for Andrea Arnold’s latest feature film Bird, which debuted at last month’s Cannes Film Festival.