Rotterdam Selection ‘Naangal,’ a Personal Portrayal of Childhood Trauma, Unveils Clip, Director’s Next Film (EXCLUSIVE)

EXCLUSIVE: WTFilms has snapped up international sales rights for Dutch directorial duo Steffan Haars and Flip Van Der Kuil’s English-language debut Krazy House following its world premiere at Sundance.

Kyle Richards is in her single girl era — but her co-stars AREN’T loving it!

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor The 53rd edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, taking place between Jan. 25 – Feb.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Six projects have been announced as participating in the inaugural edition of the HKIFF Industry – CAA China Genre Initiative, a project incubator in Hong Kong for Chinese-language genre films. The HCG platform will run March 11-13, 2024, alongside the 22nd Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) and the Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (FilMart), Asia’s largest film and TV rights market. From the six, two winning projects will each receive a cash prize of $20,000 for development funding.

EXCLUSIVE: The Night Manager star David Avery has joined the indie run by the director of buzzy BBC hit Dreaming Whilst Black to aid with a film and TV push.

Naman Ramachandran Revered Indian actor and filmmaker Aparna Sen is the subject of Suman Ghosh‘s documentary “Parama: A Journey with Aparna Sen,” which has its world premiere at International Film Festival Rotterdam‘s Cinema Regained strand. Sen came to notice as an actor with the “Samapti” segment in Oscar winner Satyajit Ray’s “Three Daughters” (1961). She acted in several more films by Ray and also worked with Indian cinema greats Mrinal Sen, Tapan Sinha and Rituparno Ghosh.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Totem Films, the Paris-based sales and production company known for arthouse breakouts such as “Compartment No. 6” and “Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry,” has boarded sales on “My Favourite Cake” by Maryam Moghaddam and Behtash Sanaeeha. The Iranian writing-directing duo’s latest feature was just announced in competition at the upcoming Berlinale.

Naman Ramachandran Indian star Shruti Haasan will headline India-U.K. film co-production “Chennai Story.” Haasan, who is also a renowned musician, has acting credits across India’s various language film industries and in the U.S. and U.K.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Here we are, three weeks into January, and the Sundance Film Festival has delivered what promises to be the year’s most uncomfortable date movie: a grubby New York-set fable about a facially distinctive actor (modeled on Adam Pearson) who undergoes an experimental procedure that leaves him looking like Sebastian Stan — presumably an improvement, until he realizes that under the skin, he’s still the same miserable loser. The kind of oddball satire only indie studio A24 would dare to produce, Aaron Schimberg’s “A Different Man” asks what it means to be “normal,” and whether, if we could wave a magic wand and “correct” those qualities that set us apart, that’s really something we’d want.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Dan Ojari and Mikey Please, the co-writers and co-directors of Aardman Animations’ musical film “Robin Robin,” which premiered on Netflix in November 2021, and was nominated for an Oscar the following year, say that a spinoff is in the cards. “We are currently working on more stories in the world of ‘Robin, Robin,’” Please tells Variety. “I think that’s all we’re allowed to say.

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor Norwegian director Thea Hvistendahl’s zombie movie “Handling the Undead,” premiering at Sundance and to be released in the U.S. by Neon, sees the reunion of Renate Reinsve and Anders Danielsen Lie, the stars of Oscar-nominated “The Worst Person in the World,” in a poetic, visually-charged chronicling of a hot summer’s day in Oslo when the dead mysteriously come back to life.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor A celebration of “The Daily Show” took place earlier this week — but not on the network that airs it. The program won an Emmy award for “Outstanding Variety Series” and its former host, Trevor Noah, and one of its former top contributors, Roy Wood, Jr., were on hand to take part. Veteran behind-the-scenes executives like Jen Flanz, who runs the program, and Daniel Radosh, a writer who has been with the series since the days of Jon Stewart, were easily viewed.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Be For Films, an independent film sales company based in Brussels, has acquired international rights to German filmmaker Michael Fetter Nathansky‘s “Every You Every Me,” which has been selected in the Panorama section of the Berlinale. “Every You Every Me” won two Work-in-Progress Awards, under its previous title “Mannequins,” at the San Sebastian Film Festival.

Naman Ramachandran Netflix has revealed a lineup of nine titles as part of its licensed Tamil-language film slate for 2024. Ajith Kumar headlines Lyca Productions’ “VidaaMuyarchi,” directed by Magizh Thirumeni. Lyca is also the company behind S.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles and The India Center Foundation, two non-profit organizations working with South Asian film in the U.S., have agreed to merge. Already long-time collaborators, IFFLA and ICF will, among other things, work closely to incubate and launch an industry development program to showcase the next generation of South Asian talent to studios, funders and media executives. “We saw an opportunity to scale our work nationally as one of the leading supporters of emerging creative talent in the diaspora.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Bille August, the two-time Palme d’Or-winning director, found his creative match with the former Queen of Denmark, Margrethe II, who reinvented herself as a detail-oriented costume designer on his hit Netflix film “Ehrengard: The Art of Seduction.” The film, which took a decade to bring to life, is nominated for three Robert Awards, the Danish equivalent to the Oscars. A playful royal scandal set in the early 19th century, “Ehrengard: The Art of Seduction” was penned by Anders August and based on a 1963 novella by Karen Blixen, the Danish baroness who was played by Meryl Streep in “Out of Africa.” The film revolves around Cazotte, a young portrait painter who considers himself an expert on love matters and is challenged by the Grand Duchess to seduce a young woman, as well as help her secure an heir.

Naman Ramachandran “Baahubali” star Prabhas has set horror film “The Raja Saab” as his next project. The film is directed by Maruthi Dasari, mostly known as just Maruthi, whose credits include horror-comedy “Prema Katha Chitram” (2013), romantic comedy “Mahanubhavudu” (2017) and comedy-drama “Prati Roju Pandage” (2019). It is being produced under the People Media Factory banner with T.G.

In October, news broke that Cate Blanchett would team up with Canadian avant-garde auteur Guy Maddin for his next feature, “Rumors.” That was already a super-intriguing combo, but Deadline reports another premier actress has joined the film’s cast: Alicia Vikander. What was once intriguing now becomes what will likely be one of 2024’s must-see movies.

EXCLUSIVE: Following the success of The Family Planlast month, Apple Original Films and Skydance are reteaming on another tentpole as Deadline is hearing John Krasinski and Natalie Portman are set to star in Fountain of Youth with Guy Ritchie directing. Skydance Media will serve as the studio, and the film will be produced for Apple by Skydance, Vinson Films and Project X Entertainment.

Naman Ramachandran U.K. sales and distribution outfit Blue Finch Films has boarded worldwide rights, excluding Australia and New Zealand, to thriller “Birdeater.” The debut feature from filmmaking duo Jack Clark and Jim Weir follows a bride-to-be who is invited to join her own fiancé’s bachelor party on a remote property in the Australian outback. But as the festivities spiral into beer-soaked chaos, uncomfortable details about their relationship are exposed, and the celebration soon becomes a feral nightmare.