Shoppers 'ditch' travel plugs for £16 Amazon gadget that charges everything abroad

Good afternoon Insiders, Jesse Whittock coming to you from Seriencamp in Germany this week. Strap in for the top TV and film news from the international sector this week. And sign up here.

EXCLUSIVE: Bryan Brown and Greta Scacchi are back for more adventures in the Australian outback after Darby and Joan was renewed for a second season by Acorn TV.

EXCLUSIVE: Heyday Television has acquired adaptation rights to Gillian McAllister’s novel Just Another Missing Person.

Jack Dunn Vertical and Bren Foster will launch their new martial arts thriller “Life After Fighting” on June 7 in select theaters and on demand. This marks Foster’s feature debut as writer-director and is his first collaboration with producer Navid Bahadori under their newly formed production and distribution company, Spinning Plates.

Cornerstone has closed worldwide distribution deals for Andrea Arnold’s latest feature film Bird, which debuted at last month’s Cannes Film Festival. 

EXCLUSIVE: BritBox International has named Diana Pessin as its Chief Marketing Officer, while striking U.S. and Canada deals for UK drama The Inheritance.

EXCLUSIVE: Non-fiction agency Indox, launched by former Dogwoof exec Luke Brawley, has boarded Visions du Reel competition title Mother Vera and will use the pic to launch a new boutique service focused on representing non-fiction and progressive media works in the UK and Ireland. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The imminently upcoming Sydney Film Festival has added eight titles that premiered at Cannes to its lineup. They are: Guan Hu’s “Black Dog”; Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”; Francis Ford Coppola’s passion project “Megalopolis”; Guy Maddin, Evan and Galen Johnson’s “Rumours,” starring Australia’s Cate Blanchett; documentary “Ernest Cole: Lost and Found,” Jia Zhangke’s “Caught by the Tides”; “The Girl with the Needle”; and revenge thriller “Ghost Trail.” Due to demand, the SFF organizers have also added additional screenings of “The Substance,” the Demi Moore-starring film already set as the festival’s closing night title. The festival runs June 5-16.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Rolling off the Cannes Film Festival where it won several awards, Mohammad Rasoulof‘s “The Seed of The Sacred Fig” has been acquired by a flurry of high profile distributors in major international territories. Films Boutique, which represents the critically acclaimed political drama globally, has sold it to Lionsgate for the U.K.

A man, known for his particular eating habits, spends an additional £300 to bring his own food on holiday, despite his wife shelling out £1,400 for all-inclusive vacations. John Phillips fills a suitcase with Pot Noodles, crisps, biscuits and sausages to ensure he can savour 'good old-fashioned English' meals while overseas.

The Match Factory has finalized a raft of international deals for Coralie Fargeat’s Cannes Palme d’Or contender The Substance, following its buzzy premiere over the weekend in the presence of co-stars Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid.

A digital runway show was beamed onto giant screens in Manchester as a glimpse into the ‘fashion future’.

EXCLUSIVE: After a 12-year run, Rory Aitken, co-founder of London- and Los Angeles-based management and production company 42, is exiting the firm, which will undergo a restructure.

Prime Video’s German series Maxton Hall – The World Between Us has been handed a swift recommission after becoming the streamer’s most-watched international show of all time in its first week.

EXCLUSIVE: Focus Features has acquired U.S. rights and select international territories on upcoming thriller Last Breath, starring Woody Harrelson, Finn Cole and Simu Liu. Focus will distribute the Alex Parkinson-directed title in the U.S. with Universal Pictures International handling select territories including France, Scandinavia, Australia and New Zealand, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Vietnam. 

It's safe to say Mancunians are spoilt for choice when it comes to shopping.

A number of celebs descended on the Trafford Centre last night for a sneak peek of beauty giant, Sephora's new store.

Beauty fans across Manchester have been marking the days off their calendars for this moment - Sephora has arrived at The Trafford Centre. The megastore is the third to open in the UK following the success of its two London branches.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Berlin-based sales agency Films Boutique has closed first sales and released the first-look image from Oscar-nominated Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland‘s biopic of the Czech novelist Franz Kafka, “Franz.” The project has sold to September Film in Benelux, Filmin in Spain, Vertigo in Hungary, MCF Megacom for the former Yugoslavia and Movies Inspired in Italy. The film was previously acquired for theatrical distribution by Bac Films Distribution in France, X Verleih in Germany and Austria, Bioscop in Czech Republic and TVP in Poland.

Sephora has announced it will be handing out a limited number of exclusive treats to shoppers who visit its brand new Trafford Centre store on its opening day. The giant beauty retailer will open to the public next Thursday (May 16) making it its third UK store.