Marta Balaga Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Marta Balaga Swiss director Maxime Rappaz isn’t sure if there is more space for stories about more mature women these days. But he is certainly willing to give it a try. “I am fascinated by that phase in someone’s life,” he tells Variety, opening up about his fiftysomething protagonist played byJeanne Balibar. “I want as many people as possible to see it, that’s for sure. But also women who think it’s already too late for them to change things. If this film can trigger something in them, it would make me so happy.”  In his feature debut “Let Me Go,” the opening film of Cannes’ ACID sidebar, Claudine keeps dedicating herself to her differently abled, Princess Diana-obsessed son. 

Marta Balaga New York-based conglomerate Big Media has signed with RCTV International Corp. to become the exclusive distribution partner to parent company RCTV’s catalog for FAST and AVOD platforms worldwide.   Under the terms of the agreement, Big Media will distribute over 7,000 hours of telenovelas to streaming platforms around the world. It will also serve as the exclusive distributor of RCTV’s catalogue for all forms of broadcast in Europe and Asia.  “Our partnership with RCTV International is one of the most significant in our company’s 14-year history. RCTV’s catalog of telenovelas is unparalleled, both in terms of quality and quantity,” said Juan Fernández, Big Media’s head of Latin America and Spanish-speaking U.S. distribution. 

Marta Balaga “Succession” star Brian Cox gushed about wife Nicole Ansari-Cox at Series Mania, after she expressed solidarity with women of Iran at the fest’s opening, demonstrating the slogan “Woman, Life, Freedom” to the photographers.   “My wife is half Iranian and she was one of the first people to cut her hair as part of the protest. We are living in such a difficult, dangerous time, particularly for women. In Afghanistan, in Iran. It’s unacceptable. I am very proud of my wife: She is a very strong woman with very strong opinions, and she taught me so much,” Cox told Variety during a roundtable interview.  

Marta Balaga Finnish director Juho Kuosmanen, behind “Compartment No. 6” and “The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki”– both awarded in Cannes – will now turn his attention to new series “Yours, Margot,.”  The upcoming series is one of the 10 projects chosen for Series Mania and Beta Group’s Seriesmakers. Based on Meri Valkama’s novel, “Compartment” will be produced, just like his previous films, by Helsinki-based Aamu Film Company, with “Compartment” scribes Andri Feldmanis and Livia Ulman also on board. This time Kuosmanen dissects the experiences of Vilja, who spent her childhood in East Berlin, following her foreign correspondent father. After his death, she finds old letters to “Erich,” all from mysterious “Margot.” Now, as an adult, she decides to return to Berlin and track her down. 

Marta Balaga The producers of Hollywood blockbusters and arthouse films alike are on the lookout for the most cost-efficient locations. Recent examples include several of the year’s Oscar nominees, from “Aftersun,” which shot in Turkey; “Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris,” which went to Budapest; to “Elvis,” in Australia. “Budapest offered an affordable alternative to both London and Paris,” says Jonathan Halperyn, managing director at Budapest-based Hero Squared and a co-producer on the film. “Hungary often comes up as a shooting destination when there is a budget crunch.” He adds: “We applied for co-production status and support from the National Film Institute of Hungary during the COVID hiatus, and by the end of 2020, we were up and running. This is the kind of flexibility we have become known for.”

Marta Balaga DR Sales has closed a deal with Walter Presents on the popular drama series “Carmen Curlers.” The company has picked up the show for the U.K. and Ireland, as well as taking North American rights for PBS Masterpiece. Based on true events and kick-starting in the 1960s, the show chronicles the invention of the electric curler in Denmark. It also focuses on its female workers, making their own money for the first time in their lives, and societal changes, already lurking around the corner. “I am absolutely delighted to welcome ‘Carmen Curlers’ in the Walter Presents collection of the very best international drama,” says executive director Walter Luzzolino, calling it “a warm, incisive, emotionally absorbing piece with a gorgeous vintage aesthetic and a truly remarkable script.” 

Marta Balaga Director: Vita Maria Drygas Producer: Vita Żelakeviciute Production companies: Drygas Film Production Sales: Dogwoof Documentary is a journey to places devastated by military conflicts, seen through the eyes of thrill-seeking tourists. (Generation 14plus) Director: Asaf Saban

Marta Balaga “We need to be cheerleaders, not gatekeepers,” said UKTV’s commissioning editor Sarah Asante, during a discussion at Mipcom on diversity and inclusion in the TV industry. “I have always heard that phrase: ‘gatekeepers.’ Barriers to access is a massive issue in this industry. Everyone trying to get in has a story about ‘having to know someone, having to be the son of a CEO or the daughter of a manager.’ That’s true, but there is a good number of commissioners of my cohort, who have my focus on how to tell the best stories from the biggest range of people.” “This industry is always saying we need more content, but then they ask: ‘Oh, where are your credits?’ You don’t live up to what you say.”

Marta Balaga Fremantle bosses Jennifer Mullin and Andrea Scrosati opened up about the company’s three-year deal with Angelina Jolie at Cannes’ Mipcom. “She had plenty of other opportunities,” said Mullin, Group CEO for the super-indie, which produces everything from “Got Talent” and “Idol” to “My Brilliant Friend” and Luca Guadagnino film “Bones and All.” “First of all, [Jolie] is global. We are global. She has impeccable taste, she wants to tell ambitious, impactful stories. All of these notes really align with what we want to do.” “She can tell any story she wants and we can put it anywhere in the world,” continued Mullin. “She felt that Fremantle would offer her the most flexibility and home where she can do her best work.”

Marta Balaga “Phoenix Rise,” fresh off its world premiere at Cannes’ MipJunior, is a “show about second chances,” say creators Matt Evans and Perrie Balthazar. Produced by Canada’s Sinking Ship Entertainment and BBC Kids & Family Productions, it sees six marginalized students forming a bond at their new school in the U.K.’s West Midlands. With 20 episodes clocking in at 30 minutes, it’s targeting an audience of 10 years and older. Alex Draper, Luca Alves, Lauren Corah, Tara Webb, Krish Bassi, Imogen Baker and Orla McDonagh star.  “Kids lead frantic lives. We wanted to capture that energy while also giving emotional moments some room to breathe,” Evans and Balthazar tell Variety in a joint statement.  

Marta Balaga Scottish actor Alastair Mackenzie, recently spotted in “The Crown” and “Andor,” Jessica Frances Dukes and Debi Mazar have been added to the cast of Filip Jan Rymsza’s feature film “Object Permanence.” They join previously announced star Millie Brady, who plays Brooke Brooks: a former supermodel who becomes a successful lifestyle mogul and is the first person to IPO herself. Production is currently underway in Poland and will continue in Thailand and Germany. “Apples” DoP Bartosz Świniarski is lensing the film. Set in the near future, “Object Permanence” is produced by Friends with Benefits Studio, with co-financing by the Polish Film Institute. Marta Lewandowska and Rymsza – the latter also behind “Mosquito State” – are producing, while CAA is handling North American sales.

Marta Balaga “Dalíland” star Ben Kingsley felt the presence of the famous painter when making his latest film, directed by Mary Harron. “Some days [Salvador Dalí] would come, saying: ‘I will just sit here for a while. Put your brush on the canvas and good luck.’ Later on, I really felt he allowed me to make an attempt at portraying him,” he told Variety during an online press conference at Zurich Film Festival. “He was mercurial, deliberately tried to wrong-foot people and quite difficult to pin down apart from the voice, the moustache, the eyes. We actually looked at several versions of his famous moustache. One could think: ‘It’s just a moustache!’ But it was his vigor, his eccentricity. His signature.”

Marta Balaga The Sámi, the indigenous people in the far north of Europe and Russia, are ready to share their stories with the world. But only under certain conditions, says film commissioner Liisa Holmberg from the International Sámi Film Institute (ISFI). “The most important thing is respect,” she notes, mentioning the Pathfinder Film Protocol – a set of guidelines and questions for non-Sámi filmmakers named after Nils Gaup’s 1987 Oscar-nominated drama. “When the Sámi people may not have the same opportunity/resources to tell their stories, why am I the right person to [do it]? How will my film production benefit the Sámi community and what am I giving back? Is it right for me to take up this space?,” it states.

Marta Balaga “The Woodcutter Story,” a Finnish drama with a surreal touch, has been sold to Australia (Palace Films), Baltics (Estinfilm), Sweden (Njuta), Germany (Eksystent) and France (Urban), Paris-based Totem Films shared exclusively with Variety. Directed by Mikko Myllylahti, it sees a good man who runs into bad luck: he loses his job and his wife leaves, but Pepe (Jarkko Lahti) is trying to keep his head high. Even when strange things start to happen in his sleepy village. The film, which premiered in Cannes’ Critics Week, screens Wednesday at the Helsinki Film Festival – Love & Anarchy. It will have its North American premiere at Chicago Film Festival and its U.K. premiere at the London Film Festival.

Marta Balaga Acclaimed cellist Lukas Stasevskij pursues his dream of cinema with documentary “My Ukraine,” currently in development and set to make a bow next week during film industry event Finnish Film Affair. The film is produced by Tero Tamminen (East Films) and Ilona Tolmunen (Made), also behind Aino Suni’s “Heartbeast,” recently snapped up by France’s Wayna Pitch. “When Lukas approached Tero Tamminen and then they called me, we were both immediately interested,” Tolmunen tells Variety, praising Stasevskij’s “universal” story about finding one’s identity and understanding the meaning of roots.

Marta Balaga Finnish director Klaus Härö makes his English-language debut with Toronto Film Festival premiere “My Sailor, My Love.” A gentle drama about a retired sea captain falling in love one last time will be spotlighted at the Helsinki-based event Finnish Film Affair next. Global Screen is handling the sales. Härö, an experienced filmmaker behind Golden Globe-nominated “The Fencer,” didn’t feel “desperate” to make a movie in English, he says.  “I hope it doesn’t feel forced. With English, there is always this thought that maybe this way, it will reach more people. But it just felt natural to set it in Ireland.”  

Marta Balaga Casting director Bonnie Timmermann, behind such films as “Heat” and “Dirty Dancing,” finds herself on the opposite side of the camera in Venice doc “Bonnie,” directed by Simon Wallon. Brian Cox, Mark Ruffalo, Benicio del Toro and Melissa Leo are featured, while Kinology is handling sales. “It’s almost as if she was the one being auditioned. I wanted to treat her almost like a character in a movie. She is looking straight into the eyes of the audience,” says Wallon. Adapting to the new role was hard, Timmermann tells Variety in Venice, but luckily it came with some perks.

Marta Balaga Amjad Al Rasheed’s feature debut “Inshallah a Boy” – co-produced by Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar – was awarded La Biennale di Venezia Prize at Final Cut, an industry program at the Venice Film Festival dedicated to films from African and Arab countries. Shot in February, with mostly Jordanian crew, it was lensed by Kanamé Onoyama. In the story, a mother and a housewife – played by Mouna Hawa, known for “In Between” – has to face the sudden death of her husband. According to the inheritance law, his family is entitled to most of her belongings, including the home she paid for herself – just because she doesn’t have a son. Desperate, she pretends to be pregnant.

Marta Balaga Norwegian director Erik Poppe takes on Vilhelm Moberg’s acclaimed series of novels in “The Emigrants,” his new historical drama about a struggling Swedish family which emigrates to the U.S. in 1849, searching for a better future.  “It’s probably the most classic work of literature in the whole Scandinavia,” he told Variety, taking about the 2022 Haugesund Festival winner ahead of its national premiere at the 50th Norwegian International Film Festival Haugesund.  Which is why, when approached to direct the film, he had only one reservation: He had to make it his own. 

Marta Balaga Slovenian director Dominik Mencej will put the motorbikes aside after his 90s-set road movie “Riders,” focusing on a female protagonist next. Once again set in the past, his new project “Aberrant Bride” will revolve around an “imported” young wife from Croatia, coming into a new environment and a new family, led by her husband’s domineering mother.“It’s similar but different,” says Mencej.“There is no open road, just a forest next to the house, but it’s also about this sense of belonging. I guess I can’t figure out how to tell a story with cellphones and social media.

Marta Balaga Millie Brady, known for the BBC/Netflix series “The Last Kingdom” and recently seen in Apple TV + offering “Surface,” will play the lead in Filip Jan Rymsza’s “Object Permanence,” Variety has learned exclusively. The actor is cast as Brooke Brooks, a former supermodel who becomes a highly successful lifestyle mogul and the first person to ‘IPO’(Initial Public Offering) herself.“Having commodified herself, Brooke is forced to confront her sense of self and the identity she has created,” said Rymsza, whose last film “Mosquito State” with Beau Knapp was shown at the Venice Film Festival, where it was noticed for Eric Koretz’s cinematography.

Marta Balaga German director Lukas Nathrath has already lined up his next projects, Variety has found out. Following ensemble drama “One Last Evening,” which nabbed him Locarno Film Festival’s Cinegrell First Look Award consisting of post-production service worth €50,000, he will turn to “Bourgeois Paranoia” next.A mixture of dark comedy and psychological thriller, it will be set in the near future, when rents have become unaffordable and the roommate selection process goes off the rails.

Marta Balaga Tom Hardiman becomes a director to track with “Medusa Deluxe,” a deliciously dark murder mystery set in the competitive hairdressing competition which is about to bow at Locarno.MUBI holds the rights to U.K./Ireland, France,Latin America, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Turkey, India and Southeast Asia. The film was developed and financed by the BFI and BBC Film.“I really care about hairdressing, it’s something I am really passionate about,” admits Hardiman, who “picked up their language” over time.“When they talk about Russian weaves [in the film], that came from a hairdresser in Peckham.

Marta Balaga Director Andy Mitton takes on night terrors and social distancing in his new horror movie “The Harbinger,” fresh off its world premiere at Fantasia. Recently picked up by XYZ Films, it was produced by Jay Dunn and Richard W.

Marta Balaga Aleks Paunovic, known for his roles in Marvel’s “Hawkeye” and “Snowpiercer,” is now set to star in Canadian actor-turned-director Luvia Petersen’s psychological thriller “Human Nature.”The feature project, currently showcased at Frontieres’ Genre Film Lab, is in advanced development, with Amanda Konkin of Download Joy Productions also attached.“I was fortunate enough to see Luvia’s work as an actor, but seeing her drive and commitment to the craft and storytelling, I was just honored that she asked me to be a part of the project,” Paunovic told Variety. The two acted together in the fantasy series “Van Helsing.”Currently promoting “GenZeroes,” the first live-action NFT series, Paunovic will play Rigger, the owner of the cabin where two very different couples are spending their ill-fated weekend.

Marta Balaga “Hard Boiled” director John Woo is developing a historical drama about Chinese American Dean Lung — the valet of Oakland’s first mayor Horace Walpole Carpentier — whose donation helped found Columbia University’s Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures. The film has the working title “Dean Lung.”The university still refers to the letter Lung sent to Columbia president Seth Low in 1901. “I send you here with a deposit check for $12,000 as a contribution to the fund for Chinese learning in your university,” it said.

Marta Balaga “The Good Night” helmer Jake Paltrow returns to Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival with “June Zero,” his first foreign-language production.

Marta Balaga French filmmaker Léa Mysius follows her nose in “The Five Devils,” focusing on the sense of smell. That’s her protagonist’s special gift, one that scares her mother (“Blue Is the Warmest Color” actor Adèle Exarchopoulos) but allows her to venture beyond the constraints of time and space.Shown in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight – with Wild Bunch on board – it’s Mysius’ second feature film as a director following “Ava,” awarded at the French fest in 2017. She also co-wrote Claire Denis’ “The Stars at Noon,” presented in the main competition.“It all started when I was a kid – I was fascinated by smells,” Mysius tells Variety.“Together with my sister, we had fun making these little potions.

Marta Balaga When Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, director Maksym Nakonechnyi – whose debut feature “Butterfly Vision” world premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard – was developing his next film – a comedy about flat-Earth conspiracy under the working title “The Earth Is Flat – I Flew Around It and Saw It.” But he is putting it on the backburner now, he tells Variety, because “this war has already changed everything.”“I wanted to make something that wouldn’t be directly influenced by the war, but then I understood it would be anyway. When we studied Ukrainian literature back at school, we used to complain about all these depressing, tragic stories.

Marta Balaga “Alex Honnold: The Soloist” and “Glimpse” were awarded at Cannes XR x VeeR Future Awards on May 22, named best VR story and best VR interactive experience respectively. The winners were announced by jurors Zhang Ziyi and Bad Robot’s Hannah Minghella, who judged 18 shortlisted VR works alongside Michel Reilhac, Vicki Dobbs Beck, Kari Skogland and Doug Chiang.The event, marking the third year of the partnership, took place online on a shared metaverse called “Alexandria,” created by Cannes XR and NewImages Festival.Directed by Jonathan Griffith, two-part series “Alex Honnold: The Soloist” follows the famous rock climber and the star of “Free Solo,” using the latest VR panoramic shooting technology.

Marta Balaga “Bernard and Huey” helmer and co-founder of Slamdance Film Festival Dan Mirvish, now behind “18 ½,” knew that making a movie about Watergate would still be “resonant and relevant,” he says. Not just in the U.S., but all over the world.Focusing on the infamous “18½-minute gap” from a taped conversation between Nixon and his chief of staff H.R.

Marta Balaga Norwegian filmmaker Kristoffer Borgli, based in Los Angeles, brings dark humor – and body horror – to Cannes’ Un Certain Regard with “Sick of Myself.” The film was acquired by Memento International.Signe and Thomas (“Ninjababy” breakout Kristine Kujath Thorp and Eirik Sæther) are an attractive young couple in Oslo. They also happen to bring out the worst in each other. When his career starts to take off, Signe tries to get some attention as well – by making herself sick.“I definitely recognize the pettiness, the competitiveness, all of these things.

Marta Balaga “Face Off” helmer John Woo will receive a Career Achievement Award during Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival, about to celebrate its 26th edition. The Hong Kong filmmaker is currently working on “Silent Night,” starring Joel Kinnaman and Kid Cudi.“I defy anyone to watch ‘Bullet in the Head,’ ‘Hard Boiled’ or ‘The Killer’ and not walk away wanting to break down the shots and make a movie.

Marta Balaga “Vikings” creator Michael Hirst takes on his childhood hero in “Billy the Kid.” Starring Tom Blyth as the legendary gunslinger, born Henry McCarty, the eight-episode series – co-produced by Epix Studios and MGM International Television Productions, in association with Viaplay – is currently screening at French TV festival Series Mania ahead of its April 24 premiere.“It’s probably true that you shouldn’t meet your heroes; I have met a couple of mine and it didn’t go particularly well. But what I want more than anything else is for people to love this Billy,” Hirst tells Variety in Lille.“Michael [Wright, president of Epix] allowed me to tell a story I wanted to tell, which doesn’t happen very often.

Marta Balaga Thanks to fresh takes on established genres and highlighting local elements, Finnish drama is commanding attention from international buyers. A Series Mania Focus on Finland will teasing more series to come, from “Nordic blue” to horror for kids and a Christmas fairytale crime story.

Marta Balaga Ukrainian producer Julia Sinkevych, named main jury president at French TV festival Series Mania, is still hoping to come to Lille this week despite the ongoing war.“Last night, there was bombing not far from Lviv, so you never know. [Producer] Dariusz Jabłoński and the Polish Film Academy are helping out Ukrainian filmmakers and they will pick me up when I am in Poland,” she tells Variety during a conversation interrupted by a siren.“Usually, it means you have to hide.