Ann Marie Corvin Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Ann-Marie Corvin Nesrine El-Zayat, whose debut feature “On the Fence” is world premiering at the Cairo Film Festival this week, is typical of the new generation of young Egyptian filmmakers.Lacking access to funds, equipment and formal training but bursting with stories and ideas, El-Zayat borrowed a friend’s camera shortly after the death of her father in 2006 and started shooting.“I didn’t study cinema but watched many films with my father from the age of six and read a lot.

Ann-Marie Corvin Show Me the Fund, a new resource aimed at helping Latin American producers navigate a myriad of little known funding opportunities, was the focus of Wednesday’s Ventana Sur session on international funding.The initiative – a partnership between film export bodies Brazilian Content and Cinema do Brasil and the AV support organization Projeto Paradiso – wants to support an industry dealing with the corrosive effects of politics and the coronavirus pandemic on cultural funds by

Ann-Marie Corvin From princesses addicted to smart magic to wolf dogs wary of fake legends, putting a new spin on old tales was the prevailing theme at Ventana Sur’s New Spanish Animation showcase on Monday.A collaboration between Spanish animation festival Weird Market, Ventana Sur’s Animation! and Spanish film agency ICAA, the best-of-Spain online showcase included two series, three feature projects and a work-in-progress.Standout projects included “Masked Cinderella” a 26-part series in the

Ann-Marie Corvin Music from the past, online abuse, girl and boy racers – plus the inner lives of primary school children were among the subjects tackled by films featured in the IDFA’s Upcoming Catalan Documentaries strand.Designed to showcase projects nearing completion, the online event kicked off with “I Am” – a heartwarming film that traces four children over eight years through their primary school journey.The documentary’s director Patricia M.

Ann-Marie Corvin International buyers were shown another preview of director Marta Lallana’s sophomore feature, “Muyeres,” at the Malaga Spanish Screenings this week.Set to go into production next year, the black and white documentary that explores song preservation in the northern Asturian region of Spain, the work-in-progress received its first festival outing this spring, taking part in Malaga’s virtual WIP showcase.Last year’s winners included Spanish horror movie “The Platform,” which went

Ann-Marie Corvin Making its bow at the Malaga Festival’s Spanish Screenings is “Trains Bound for the Sea,” the feature debut from directorial duo Hugo Obregón and Manuel Álvarez-Diestro.The film tells the story of Lee Fan Bao – firstly through his grandfather’s quest to find him a suitable bride and later through the grandson’s experiences of finding love in London.

Ann-Marie Corvin Masked talent formats and survival shows for a pandemic-hit world are among the buzz-worthy projects identified by The Wit’s Fresh TV online session at Mipcom Monday.Virginia Mouseler, the format tracker’s CEO, framed her online session on Mipcom Online+ like a TikTok feed, complete with dance moves – all while listing her pick of fresh new TV formats.According to Wit’s data, “The Masked Singer” was this year’s most adapted format, and the masked star concept has been adopted

Ann-Marie Corvin High-end international co-production, a growth area over the last few years, has seen a significant downturn during the pandemic, but how soon will it return?Recent data from Ampere Analysis shows that two years ago, in the last quarter of 2018, a boom time for international drama, 8% of scripted commissions were co-productions, with 64 recorded during this period.By the second quarter of 2020, as the pandemic took hold, this number plunged to 26 – with co-pros falling to

Ann-Marie Corvin While the pandemic may have brought a temporary halt to programming pipelines, children’s broadcasters are using the opportunity to scope out the acquisitions market as well as applying strategies to entice tweens and teens back to their streaming platforms.During Tuesday morning’s Mipcom Warm Up briefing on kids programming, BBC Children’s head of independent animation and acquisitions, Sarah Muller, admitted she was in the “unusual position” of being able to go on an

Ann-Marie Corvin A payment system claiming to automate the collection, tracking and allocation of film company revenues, as well as predicting future box-office success, was the second tech firm to pitch at the Zinemaldia Start Up Challenge, which broadcast live from San Sebastian Film Festival online Friday.A regular on the international film festival circuit, the U.K.-based Filmchain was launched two years ago by Maria Tanjala (pictured), a former film producer, and Irina Albita, an IT

Ann-Marie Corvin A trend for horror anthologies is emerging from the competing titles in this year’s Sitges Pitchbox event, as organizers Filmmarket Hub and the Sitges Film Festival announce this year’s line up.And, as the movie project showcase opens up its doors to series for the first time, it’s buzzy titles such as “R.I.P “ and “Mr Ray” which appear to be embracing the anthology format.Developed during a 2019 Manhattan Institute Film Workshop “Mr Ray” is created by Antoine Bours – a series

Ann-Marie Corvin João Paulo Miranda Maria’s debut feature “Memory House”  – a nuanced look at systemic racism in modern Brazil – is about to make its third appearance on this year’s festival circuit.The only Latin American film to be selected for the Cannes Label this year, “Memory House” has also premiered at Toronto and will run in San Sebastian’s New Director’s Line Up later this week.Miranda Maria uses richly composed scenes and minimal dialogue to tell the story of Cristovam, an indigenous

Ann-Marie Corvin A quarter of this year’s Cartoon Forum pitches are derived from existing IP and “The Upside Down River” – a high concept mini-series – is a fine example.Based on the book “La rivière à l’envers” by award-winning French children’s author Jean-Claude Mourlevat, the 10-part fantasy adventure comes from the 10-year-old Paris-based producer-distributor Dandelooo, whose animation credits include the International Emmy-winning “The Treehouse Stories” and France 3 special

Ann-Marie Corvin Tuesday morning’s online pitches at Cartoon Forum may have come without their usual helping of Toulouse croissants, but they did offer a taste of the scripted series currently seeking co-production partnerships.Standout projects included “Belzebubs” – one of the eleven teen/ adult pitches at Cartoon Forum this year –  a thirteen-part family sitcom with a satanic twist and a black metal soundtrack.Comprising 22-minute episodes, the black-and-white, 2D series frames itself as a

Ann-Marie Corvin While the pandemic has reduced film festivals’ capacity to showcase new work, an all-singing all-dancing Spanish-Italian number has been selected for two.“Explota Explota” (“My Heart Goes Boom!”), the assured debut feature of music promo and commercials director Nacho Álvarez, will receive an RTVE Gala Screening at the San Sebastian Festival next week and has also made the selection for the Toronto Festival’s market screenings.Set in dictator Francisco Franco’s Spain during the

Ann-Marie Corvin Filming is underway on new police thriller “Parot” – a series based on the chaos that followed a controversial move seven years ago to reverse a piece of legislation in Spain that ensured prisoners served their full jail terms.The ten-part drama, made up of one-hour episodes, focuses on a series of retribution attacks on prisoners who were subsequently released early, and a police officer determined to track down the person or people responsible for a series of revenge

Ann-Marie Corvin Barcelona-based Filmax has acquired the world sales rights to “The Art of Return” – a Spanish production by first-time director Pedro Collantes nurtured through Venice’s renowned Biennale College film workshop initiative.The boutique distributor will also handle the Spanish distribution for this coming-of-age drama, which focuses on a young actress (“Holy Camp’s” Macarena García) returning home to Madrid after six years in New York.The action takes place over a 24-hour period

Ann-Marie Corvin Top Productions, the Paris-based outfit behind international hit TV series “The Bureau” and “The Oligarchs,” is looking to expand into the Spanish-language scene, according to its executive producer and co-founder Alex Berger.As befitting the executive producer of an intelligence show, the media entrepreneur gave his online keynote at Spain’s Conecta Fiction event from a top-secret location.Berger was more forthcoming, however, on the subject of expanding into Spanish-language

Ann-Marie Corvin “Homeland” creator Ran Tellem, whose hit thriller “The Head” was released across Asia this June, stressed the importance of nurturing local talent and placing faith in writers during his Conecta Fiction keynote.During an online conversation with “Vendetta” executive producer Raffaella Bonivento, the head of The Mediapro Studio’s international content development arm said that finding talent outside Spain was an integral part of his role.“That could be a great chef, or a writer

Ann-Marie Corvin This year’s crop of Conecta Fiction short form series presentations offer up young, mostly female ensemble casts and a healthy dash of dark humor.The five finalists – which include three Spanish entries, one Portuguese script and another from Argentina – will pitch their half-hour episode projects on site at Pamplona’s Baluarte Palace of Congress on Sept. 2 and Sept.

Ann-Marie Corvin While the coronavirus pandemic has been good for independent film sales to content-hungry streamers, this year’s string of canceled festivals may lead to a “lost generation” of filmmakers, Pablo Larrain, director of Oscar-nominated films “No” and “Jackie,” has warned.

Ann-Marie Corvin Strong female coming-of-age stories, two LGBTQ submissions and a smattering of unique, autobiographical features from around the world were among this year’s pitches given by the 12 participants of the Cinéfondation Residence.And although the Cannes Festival’s international talent-finding initiative pitched to a virtual audience this year, the participants of the Residence’s 39th and 40th cohorts still packed a punch.Strong submissions included Raven Johnson’s “Ruby: Portrait

Ann-Marie Corvin Focusing on development, green-lighting smaller, more containable projects and urging governments to take on the role of insurers are just some of the measures co-producers are taking as they navigate their way through the fallout created by the coronavirus pandemic.Speaking at the virtual Cannes Marché du Film’s session on Co-Production in COVID-19 Times, produced by film industry body U.K.

Ann-Marie Corvin MIFA’s Work in Progress presentations offered online delegates a glimpse into some highly anticipated features, series and interactive projects in the second week of Annecy’s online festival.Leading the pack was upcoming America-Canadian animated TV series from Netflix “The Cuphead Show!” – based on the characters in the best-selling Canadian “gun and run” video game “Cuphead.”While the game has been highly praised for its authentic “rubber hose” style animation inspired by the

Ann-Marie Corvin Mifa’s TV series & specials pitches went live on Thursday with an epic eight-parter from the U.K.’s Mosaic Films, focusing on the life of a young family growing up in North Korea.Directed by award-winning director Andy Glynne, “38th Parallel: Hidden Voices from North Korea” takes the collected stories of defectors from the secretive regime and distills them into an ordinary family’s journey.With a narrative spanning over 70 years – from the birth of North Korea to the present

Ann-Marie Corvin A selection of short format pitches from around the world kicked off the last day in the first week of presentations at Annecy’s virtual animation market.It was led by “The Wasp and the Hummingbird” (“Avispa y Colibrí”) a Peruvian tale of subtle female emancipation from French-Peruvian director Aida del Solar and Lima-based Apus Studios.Inspired by historical facts, the project aims to celebrate the 200-year anniversary of the country’s independence from the Spanish, set to

Ann-Marie Corvin MIFA’s Short Film Pitch category went live yesterday with strong contenders including a post apocalyptic number from Argentina, “El After del Mundo” (“The World’s After”).The 2D project from 28-year-old animation director Florentina Gonzalez goes for a Millennial after party vibe, focusing on two ghosts floating around in a post human ether.There is Fluor, a chain smoking former delivery girl and Carlix, a landlocked melancholic obsessed with marine life.

Ann-Marie Corvin “If ever there was a time to reimagine the future then we are in it,” said Jamal Joseph, kicking off the 2020 Women in Animation World Virtual Summit by addressing this year’s overriding theme.The Columbia professor, activist and former Black Panther member moderated Wednesday’s first panel, Black Women in Animation: Looking to the Future.Taking place on the third day of Annecy’s online festival and running in the festival’s Carte Blanche section, the panel examined the

Ann-Marie Corvin Using immersive storytelling to tackle issues such as mental health, trans identity and end-of-life care featured heavily in the pitches in this year’s Digital Experience category at Annecy.Aimed at showcasing the best interactive animated film projects in development, the category’s strong contenders included U.K-Ghanaian branching narrative short “Unwanted Guest,” which tackles depression and anxiety.A blend of animation and live action  – which director Comfort Arthur says