Silent D Sets Buffalo 8 Deal for Survival Thriller ‘Dig Me No Grave,’ Bows Acha Septriasa-Starring ‘Daemon Mind’ at EFM (EXCLUSIVE)

EXCLUSIVE: Piper Curda (May December), Noel Fisher (Shameless) and Josh Zuckerman (Oppenheimer) will topline COGN-AI-TIVE, an AI thriller from first-time feature filmmaker Tommy Savas. It has wrapped production.

EXCLUSIVE: Buoyed by the overperformance of music-driven films Bob Marley: One Love and Mean Girls, Paramount Pictures has slotted Better Man for an exclusive qualifying release on December 25, followed by a wide theatrical release on January 17 in the heat of awards season. The film is an original musical by The Greatest Showman director Michael Gracey, based on the life and music of singer Robbie Williams.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent A rare flagship indie producer left on the French market, Bruno Nahon‘s Paris-based company Unité is preparing to conquer international audiences with “Rematch,” a period psychological thriller chronicling the historical battle between world chess champion Garry Kasparov (Christian Cooke, “That Dirty Black Bag”), and IBM’s supercomputer Deep Blue in 1997. The sprawling show, directed by Yan England (“The Red Band Society”) and co-created with Nahon and André Gulluni (“Sam”), was commissioned by Arte in France and has already been sold by Federation Studios to major outlets around the world, including HBO Europe for Spain, Portugal, the Nordics, Iceland, Baltics, Central Europe, Greece and the Netherlands.

Netflix announced on Monday that A Simple Man, the newest comedy special from Steve Treviño, will debut on the platform on March 12th.

Alex Ritman “La Cocina,” the Rooney Mara-starring drama that recently bowed in competition at the Berlinale, has been acquired for most international territories. HanWay Films has closed sales for France (Originals Factory), Australia and New Zealand (Vendetta), Spain (Avalon), Italy (Teodora Film), Benelux (Cherry Pickers), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Scandinavia (Mis.

Addie Morfoot Contributor HBO Documentary Films’ “A Revolution on Canvas,” about Iranian revolutionary artist and activist Nickzad “Nicky” Nodjoumi, is set to debut on HBO and Max on March 5. The 95-minute docu directed by his daughter, Sara Nodjoumi, and her husband, Till Schauder (“When God Sleeps”), is an art-heist-thriller-meets-portrait doc that recounts how Nickzad was forced to flee Iran in 1980 due to the controversial nature of his paintings on display at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The Berlin Film Festival hosted the 10 young European actors selected for the Shooting Stars program, run by European Film Promotion, at a gala event Monday. The presentation of the Shooting Stars took place prior to the screening of Claire Burger’s “Langue Étrangère,” which plays in competition.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent As the European Film Market starts to unwind, the verdict is already in: Even if global economics are rocky, buyers are back and on the lookout. This week, dealmaking has been happening on both star-driven packages as well as arthouse and foreign-language movies.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Playtime has had a busy EFM, where it’s locked a raft of major deals on “The Devil’s Bath,” a period psychological thriller in competition at the Berlin Film Festival. “The Devil’s Bath” is directed by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, the Austrian filmmaking duo behind “Goodnight Mommy.” Set in rural Austria in 1750, “The Devil’s Bath” stars Anja Plaschg, the up-and-coming singer and composer known as Soap & Skin. Plaschg plays Agnes, a young married woman who feels oppressed in her husband’s world, which is devoid of emotions and limited to chores and expectations.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Antonia Nava, producer and sales chief on Brad Anderson’s “The Machinist” and “Transsiberian” when she headed up Filmax Intl. for over 10 years, is returning to the sales arena, joining forces with Spain-based sales agent Liliana Bravo to launch Neo Art Intl., a new division of Nava’s Barcelona-based Neo Arte Producciones.

EXCLUSIVE: After we broke news of the studio acquiring Margot Robbie starrer Big Bold Beautiful Journey, we can reveal that Sony Pictures has boarded another of the European Film Market’s most in-demand projects: Past Lives director Celine Song‘s next movie, Materialists, which A24 is selling.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Highland Film Group has locked key territory deals for sci-fi thriller “The Astronaut” from “A Quiet Place” producer Brad Fuller Pic stars Kate Mara (“A Teacher”), Laurence Fishburne (“John Wick” films) and Gabriel Luna (“Terminator: Dark Fate”). The film wrapped shooting late last year in Ireland. “The Astronaut” has sold to Signature Entertainment for the U.K., Capelight Pictures for Germany, Blue Swan Entertainment for Italy, Nos Lusomundo Audiovisuais for Portugal, DeAPlaneta for Spain, Spentzos Film for Greece, Cinemania Group for former Yugoslavia, Shoval Film Production for Israel, Falcon Films for the Middle East, Filmfinity for South Africa and Roadshow Films for Australia and New Zealand.

EXCLUSIVE: Ahead of its world premiere at SXSW, the Nicolas Cage thriller Arcadian has been acquired by RLJE Films, in a deal for North America, UK, Australia and Ireland rights. Also starring Jaeden Martell (It), Maxwell Jenkins (Lost in Space), and Sadie Soverall (Saltburn), the film will be released in theaters on April 12, with a debut on Shudder and AMC+ to follow later in the year.

Shayeza Walid MacArthur Fellow Annie Baker is an acclaimed playwright and theater director, winning the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for drama for “The Flick,” among other accolades. Now, with the release of the delicate mother-daughter drama “Janet Planet,” both written and directed by Baker, the esteemed theater veteran makes her directorial film debut. Baker began writing “Janet Planet” in the early days of the pandemic, completing it in December 2020.

EXCLUSIVE: France TV Distribution has posted new deals for French director Delphine Deloget’s custody battle drama All To Play For (Rien à perdre) starring Virgine Efira.

Naman Ramachandran Top Indian star Allu Arjun has revealed franchise expansion plans for his 2021 blockbuster film “Pushpa: The Rise — Part 1.” Directed by Sukumar and produced by Mythri Movie Makers, the film traced the rise of Pushpa Raj (Arjun), a laborer who rises through the ranks of a red sandalwood smuggling syndicate and faces off against an egotistical police officer. The Telugu-language film was also dubbed into other Indian languages and went on to become India’s biggest box office hit of 2021. Arjun won best actor at India’s National Film Awards for the film.

Amazon announced on Thursday that Hello Again, the newest special from comedian Tig Notaro, will premiere on Prime Video on March 26. Check out a clip above.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Alex Cox is getting back behind the wheel. The “Repo Man” director is revisiting the off-kilter world of extraterrestrials and car repossession that he mined so memorably in the 1984 cult classic in a new sequel that is being introduced to buyers at the Berlin Film Festival and European Film Market. Entitled “Repo Man 2: The Wages of Beer,” the film is being backed by Buffalo 8 Productions, a film and media company best known for the critically acclaimed work on Netflix series “The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes.” Cox wrote the script along with directing the film.

Michelle Yeoh is getting back in the action business. The “Everything Everywhere All At Once” star is lead “The Mother,” the latest turn behind the camera from French actor-director Melanie Laurent. The movie is based on the screenplay by P.G.

Focus Features will open its Sundance Film Festival acquisition Didi on July 26.