Picture Tree Boards Bengtsson Bros’ Debut Feature ‘A Quiet Resilience’ With Newcomer Fabian Staaf & ‘Koko-Di Koko-Da’ Star Leif Edlund

EXCLUSIVE: Venezuelan Filmmaker Jonathan Jakubowicz, best known for Resistance and Hands of Stone, has signed on to direct the feature Cottonwood for Eric Paquette’s Meridian Pictures. 

Succession’s Kieran Culkin in the Storyteller Series segment.The festival will also feature anniversary celebrations of some of the most iconic films and TV shows, including two long-time collaborators teaming up with an iconic hip hop artist.Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro will join rapper Nas in conversation about Mean Streets, as the crime drama film celebrates its 50th anniversary. Nas is also set to introduce a screening of the hip hop drama Beat Street in its 40th anniversary.Tribeca will also feature a reunion to celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Sopranos, seeing members of its cast and crew reunite for the conversation.A new documentary about the acclaimed crime drama series, titled Wise Guy: David Chase And The Sopranos, will premiere at the festival.In other news, Nas recently announced details of a new UK and European tour to celebrate the 30th anniversary of his iconic album ‘Illmatic’.The rapper will kick off the European leg of the tour in Helsinki on October 22, wrapping up at the Stadthalle Offenbach in Germany on November 8.He will then tour the UK, starting with a slot at O2 Victoria Warehouse in Manchester on November 10, before stopping at Edinburgh and Wolverhampton.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor David Wnendt, the German director behind controversial coming-of-age movie “Wetlands,” Hitler satire “Look Who’s Back” and teen crime drama “Sun and Concrete,” is once again pushing boundaries with his next feature film project. Backed by distributor-producer Constantin Film and with Seven Elephants lead producing, Wnendt has embarked on the feature film adaptation of the award-winning novel “Athos 2643” by Nils Westerboer. Wnendt, who will both write the screenplay and direct the theatrical film, promises an “emotional and spectacular experience that will take the audience into the vastness of outer space,” according to a press statement.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Paris-based international sales and production company Totem Films has revealed its production slate, with projects by Nastia Korkia, Vytautas Katkus, Ernst de Geer and Anna Roller. Totem brought together the directors and writers of the projects they are developing to take part in a Script Circle in Berlin, led by consultants Françoise von Roy and Franz Rodenkirchen. Totem partners Bérénice Vincent and Laure Parleani said that the production companies they are working with, Garagefilm, TamTam and Kalekone, were “enthusiastic about this collaborative idea, so were the directors and scriptwriters.” They added: “It is very nurturing to have a mix of different personalities, countries and backgrounds.

Ghost have shared details of a debut feature film, titled RITE HERE RITE NOW.Set to arrive in cinemas worldwide next month, the film is the first of its kind from the metal group, and will combine footage of their September 2023 shows at The Forum in Los Angeles with a narrative that picks up plot threads from the band’s long-running webisode series.It has been directed by the masked Swedish collective’s frontman Tobias Forge, alongside American filmmaker and actor Alex Ross Perry, and is set to arrive in cinemas globally on June 20 and 22 only.A full trailer is set to launch next Thursday (May 9), and tickets for screenings will be available then too.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt, two essential ingredients in the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon, will leave Barbieland and Los Alamos behind them as they team up for “The Fall Guy.” But will audiences turn up in force to see the “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” stars when their new action comedy debuts this weekend? Well, “The Fall Guy” isn’t going to hit those films’ box office heights, but it should have no trouble topping charts as it kicks off the summer movie season. The film is expected to earn north of $30 million, with some rival studio executives pegging the opening at between $35 million to $40 million. The catch is that movie wasn’t cheap to produce, boasting a healthy budget of $130 million, so “The Fall Guy” will need strong word-of-mouth if it’s going to leg it out on the long path to profitability.

The Sheffield DocFest will open with Academy Award-winning director Kevin Macdonald’s latest doc Klitschko: More Than a Fight, while Roger Ross Williams, the first African American director to win an Academy Award, is Guest of Honor.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Memento International has boarded “The Ugly Stepsister,” the ambitious feature debut of Norwegian director Emilie Blichfeldt. The company will kick off sales at this year’s Cannes. Combining comedy and horror, the film is a daring and unexpected take on the world-famous tale, seen through the eyes of the Cinderella’s stepsister, Elvira.

EXCLUSIVE: Charades and New Europe Films are joining forces to co-sell Oscar-winning Hungarian director Laszlo Nemes’ long-awaited new feature Orphan, as the production gears up to commence shooting in and around Budapest this June.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Picture Tree Intl. has boarded international sales for Constantin Film’s comedy fantasy blockbuster “Chantal and the Magic Kingdom,” which will receive its market premiere in Cannes. The film has been No.

EXCLUSIVE: German-based TV event Seriencamp will return to Cologne in June and has a raft of key industry players signed up for its upcoming tenth edition.

Netflix has boarded BBC Three’s upcoming YA adaptation of A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder starring Wednesday’s Emma Myers.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Berlin-based Picture Tree Intl. has acquired the international sales rights, excluding the Nordic countries, for the Finnish daughter-father comedy “Butterflies” (Perhoset). “Butterflies” is directed by Jenni Toivoniemi, based on a screenplay by Anna Brotkin.

Manchester Airport has announced a new direct route to one of Europe’s smallest countries. Luxair has now launched flights between Manchester and Luxembourg.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Variety has been granted exclusive access to the trailer (below) for Portuguese director Miguel Gomes‘ “Grand Tour,” which will have its world premiere in Cannes Film Festival’s Competition section. Variety can also exclusively reveal that that distribution on “Grand Tour” will be handled in France by Tandem, and in Italy by Lucky Red, and that Gomes’ next film will be “Savagery.” “Grand Tour” kicks off in 1917 in Burma. It centers on Edward, a civil servant for the British Empire, who runs away from his fiancée Molly the day she arrives to get married.

Coronation Street star Jude Riordan has shared a sweet message to his former co-star after her exit scenes aired. Savannah Kunyo first arrived in the soap back in 2022 as Eliza, the granddaughter of Stu Carpenter.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Leading distribution company Beta Film has come on board four-part Norwegian drama “A Better Man,” created by Thomas Seeberg Torjussen. The show, which was commissioned by Norwegian broadcaster NRK and German broadcaster ZDF‘s platform ZDFneo, is produced by Synnøve Hørsdal and Christian Fredrik Martin at Norway’s Maipo Film. “A Better Man” centers on Tom, Norway’s number one internet troll.

Anna Marie de la Fuente In an exclusive interview with Variety, German maestro filmmaker Werner Herzog discussed his plans to lead the 3rd Film Accelerator program organized by Barcelona-based La Selva. Herzog and his long-time cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger will be on hand to guide the 25 directing and 25 cinematography aspirants who will pair up to create short films no longer than 10 mins in length. On day one, he will give them a framework on which to base their project.

Ariana Madix is hitting up the 2024 Coachella Music Festival!

The 19th edition of the International Youth Media Summit (IYMS) will be held in Zanzibar in July.