Leo Barraclough-Senior Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentU.K.-based documentary specialist Dogwoof has announced a string of deals for their slate, which includes a topical tale about the earliest days of the COVID-19 outbreak, three titles in the Best of Fest section at documentary festival IDFA, which runs Nov. 18-Dec.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentLili Horvát’s “Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time” has been selected as the official Hungarian entry for the international feature film category at the Academy Awards.The film had its world premiere as part of the Venice Days lineup, and premiered in North America at the Toronto Film Festival.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentTopic, the U.S. streaming service from First Look Media, and Non-Stop Production, the Russian film studio behind Oscar nominated “Leviathan” and “Loveless,” will jointly produce “Frozen Land,” an eight-part limited series exploring the story of real-life Russian serial killer Dmitry Lebed, who terrorized a provincial Russian town from 2012 to 2017.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentColombian documentary feature “Alis,” from directors Nicolas van Hemelryck and Clare Weiskopf, has won the Forum Award for best project at IDFA, one of the world’s leading documentary film festivals, which is running as a virtual event until Dec. 6.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentDirector Ruben Ostlund, who won the 2017 Palme d’Or and was Oscar-nominated for “The Square,” finished filming his followup, dark comedy “Triangle of Sadness,” on Saturday after a 73-day shoot. Shooting started on Feb.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentSebastien Raybaud’s production and financing company Anton, which co-financed shows like “His Dark Materials” and “McMafia,” and sales and production company WestEnd Films are to co-fund a development slate of television series.The first project will be a thriller series from television writers/producers Ron Leshem (“Euphoria,” “No Man’s Land,” “Beaufort,” “Allegiance”) and Amit Cohen (“False Flag,” “No Man’s Land,” “The Gordin Cell”), currently

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentSofia Carson (Netflix’s “Feel the Beat,” STX’s “Songbird”) and Charles Melton (“Bad Boys for Life,” “Riverdale”) have boarded director Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum’s YA romance “Purple Hearts,” about two star-crossed lovers.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentThomas Vinterberg’s “Another Round,” starring Mads Mikkelsen, leads the race for the 33rd European Film Awards, alongside Jan Komasa’s Oscar nominated “Corpus Christi” and Pietro Marcello’s “Martin Eden.” Each film has four nominations.“Another Round” took nominations for best film, director, actor for Mikkelsen, and screenwriter for Vinterberg and Tobias Lindholm.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentPicture Tree International has sold family drama “God You Are Such a P—k,” starring Til Schweiger and Heike Makatsch, to several additional territories. The Berlin-based sales agent revealed the latest deals as the American Film Market entered its second day of trading.Among the latest buyers are Koba Films in France, Notorious Pictures in Italy, and Eagle International in Taiwan.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentHanWay Films will screen the first footage from psychological horror film “A Banquet” on Monday to buyers attending the virtual AFM, where HanWay is representing worldwide rights.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentBritish distributor Vertigo Releasing has acquired David Bowie origin film “Stardust,” starring Johnny Flynn (“Emma,” “Beast”), who recently won the best actor award at London’s Raindance Film Festival for his performance as Bowie. Vertigo will release the film before the end of the year, on the back of the U.S.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentEugen Jebeleanu’s debut feature “Poppy Field” has been sold to Missing Films for distribution in German-speaking territories ahead of its world premiere at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.The film follows the struggles of a young Romanian policeman Cristi over 24 hours as he tries to find the balance between two parts of his identity: that of a policeman working in a macho environment and that of a closeted gay person.During a visit by

Leo Barraclough Senior International Correspondent“The Bike Thief,” “Hello Again – a Wedding a Day” and “Karnawal” are among the hottest titles on Beta Cinema’s sales slate for the virtual version of the American Film Market, which starts Monday.The Munich-based sales company will give Matt Chambers’ “The Bike Thief” its market premiere at AFM, following its world premiere this week in competition at the Tokyo Film Festival.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentPoland’s Camerimage, the world’s leading film festival dedicated to cinematography, has been forced to abandon plans to stage a hybrid event, and will pivot to a purely digital format.The festival, which takes place Nov.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentMedia Luna New Films has acquired worldwide rights to Rodrigo Fiallega’s gritty Mexican drama “Ricochet,” whose star Martijn Kuiper won best actor Sunday at the Morelia Film Festival. Media Luna will present the film to buyers at the American Film Market, which starts Monday.In “Ricochet,” quiet loner Martijn leads a hermit’s life on the outskirts of the city after his son was murdered at the local festival.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentPicture Tree International has picked up world sales rights on Sönke Wortmann’s latest feature “Contra.” PTI will launch the film onto the market with a first promo at AFM, which starts Monday.“Contra” had its world premiere at the 16th Zurich Film Festival, and is set for a Christmas release in German-speaking territories by Constantin Film, one of the world’s top independent distributors.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentJudge Andrew Nicol has ruled against Johnny Depp in the actor’s libel case against News Group Newspapers, publisher of The Sun, and the tabloid’s executive editor Dan Wootton over a 2018 article alleging he was a “wife beater.”In his conclusion, the judge wrote: “The claimant [Depp] has not succeeded in his action for libel.

Leo Barraclough Senior International Correspondent“Buladó,” the second feature of director Eché Janga, who also penned the screenplay alongside Esther Duysker, has been selected to represent the Netherlands in the International Feature Film category of the Academy Awards. Picture Tree International will launch its international sales push at the virtual AFM.“Buladó” opened the Netherlands Film Festival in September and was awarded best film, the Golden Calf, at the National Film Awards.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentGerman film and TV company Leonine Group, which was formed through the merger of Tele München Gruppe, Universum Film, i&u TV, Wiedemann & Berg Film and W&B Television, has rearranged its long-term group financing.The financing includes long-term loans and revolving credit lines totaling Euros 189 million ($222 million), which also cover the company’s film production financing, with the exception of the publicly listed Odeon Film AG, which also

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentPay TV platform Sky and NBCUniversal Global Distribution have announced a long-term partnership that will bring Sky customers in the U.K. and Ireland hundreds of hours of animated series from DreamWorks Animation.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentIn a panel discussion, titled “The Black experience: Creating community and diversity in the scripted industry,” hosted by MIA market in Rome on Saturday, TV executives discussed the opportunities for Black talent in television and the challenges they face.Panellists Mo Abudu, CEO of Nigeria’s EbonyLife Media, and French-African artist Nicholle Kobi began by pointing to examples of Black shows that had inspired them, such as Issa Rae’s

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentRomania has chosen Alexander Nanau’s documentary “Collective” (pictured) to be its official entry in the International Feature Film category of the 93rd Academy Awards, while Ecuador has selected Paul Venegas’ “Emptiness” and Algeria has entered Djaâfar Gacem’s “Héliopolis.”Meanwhile, Bosnia and Herzegovina has confirmed that Jasmila Zbanic’s “Quo Vadis, Aida?” will represent the country in the contest, as reported last week by Variety.The

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentThe 24th Ji.hlava Intl. Documentary Film Festival, which had to pivot into a digital only event at the last minute, has unveiled a lineup (see link here) with more than 220 films, including 59 world and 26 international premieres.The festival, which runs from Oct.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentHerbert Kretzmer, best known as the lyricist on the English version of the musical “Les Miserables,” and writer of songs such as “Goodness Gracious Me” and Charles Aznavour’s hit “She,” has died at 95.Tributes came in Wednesday from some of the leading lights of the British stage world.

Leo Barraclough Senior International Correspondent“Falling” will be the opening film of the 28th edition of the EnergaCamerimage Intl. Film Festival, which focuses on the art of cinematography.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentBritish broadcaster Channel 4 and distributor All3Media Intl. picked up multiple prizes Tuesday at the Mipcom Diversify TV Excellence Awards, dedicated to championing and promoting diversity and inclusion across the international television industry.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentLeading documentary festival IDFA has selected a diverse lineup for IDFA Forum, the festival’s co-production and co-financing market, which will be entirely online this year, as will the rest of the industry program.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentZDF Enterprises has partnered with Story House Productions on a new series that delves deep into some of history’s most notorious deaths.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentThriller series “Red Light” world premieres Sunday as part of the competition section of Canneseries. Variety spoke to its stars and co-creators Halina Reijn and Carice van Houten, and writer Esther Gerritsen.In the show, Van Houten, who played Melisandre in “Game of Thrones,” plays Sylvia, a brothel madam in Antwerp’s red light district.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentScreening Monday as part of the competition pack at Canneseries, which runs Oct.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentKosovo has selected Visar Morina’s “Exil” as its official entry in the International Feature Film category of the 93rd Academy Awards. It follows submissions by Bhutan, Taiwan, Ukraine, Bosnia, Ivory Coast, Georgia, Luxembourg, Poland and Switzerland.“Exil” had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition and also screened at the Berlinale as part of the Panorama section.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentM-Appeal has struck several theatrical deals for Norwegian title “Sisters: The Summer We Found Our Superpowers,” including distribution in South Korea, Sweden, Belgium and The Netherlands. The film is described as “an inspiring and empowering story about sisterhood.”In South Korea, AK Entertainment will distribute the film and is planning a theatrical release in spring 2021.

Leo Barraclough Senior International Correspondent“Enfant Terrible,” which received the Cannes 2020 label, is set to start its international journey with its first distribution deals announced as it joins the international festival circuit. The film, directed by Oskar Roehler, is about the life of German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder.The German film, which received its local festival premiere at the Hamburg Film Festival, was released on home turf by Weltkino on Oct.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentSid Gentle Films, the BAFTA and Emmy award-winning producers behind “Killing Eve” and “The Durrells,” headed by Sally Woodward Gentle (pictured below), has acquired the rights to develop Cash Carraway’s “Skint Estate” for TV, and has lined up a lead writer for previously announced “Taking Up Space.” Both projects are in formal development with British broadcasters.“Skint Estate” is a darkly funny, searingly political, debut memoir from Carraway,

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentDavid Bowie origin story “Stardust,” starring Johnny Flynn as the musician, has secured distribution in Italy with a deal inked with I Wonder Pictures ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Rome Film Festival this month.Flynn and director Gabriel Range will be in Rome for the red carpet event on Oct.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentLeading documentary festival IDFA has added 47 films to its program, which run as part of its Masters, Paradocs and Best of Fests sections.In the Masters section, IDFA has selected 18 titles from today’s auteurs of documentary cinema.