Sony Pictures Classics Acquires Davy Chou’s ‘All The People I’ll Never Be’ Out of Cannes

Two days after news broke that Isabela Merced joins the cast of Sony Pictures’ next ‘Spider-Man’ spin-off, “Madame Web,” the film adds another actor to its ranks. This time, it’s the first male actor in the female-heavy ensemble and quite the intriguing addition: French star and actor of Algerian descent, Tahar Rahim.

Stephanie Davies-Arai, founder of Transgender Trend, who claims she is being wrongly called “transphobic”, was awarded the British Empire Medal in the Queen’s birthday honours on June 1 – the first day of Pride month. UK-based LGBTQI advocacy group Stonewall has in the past accused Transgender Trend, founded by Davies-Arai of “deeply damaging” and “inaccurate” content about trans children. Trasgender Trend had in 2018 warned schools to be “aware of the risk of ‘social contagion’ from celebrity trans internet vloggers who glamorise medical transition”. It has disputed “gender identity” According to Stonewall, the ‘schools resource pack’ produced by Transgender Trend was “dangerous”.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentSideshow and Janus Films have acquired North American rights for “Tori and Lokita,” the latest film by two-time Palme d’Or winners Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, which world premiered in competition at Cannes. The movie was one of the best reviewed films of the competition and earned the Dardenne brothers the festival’s special 75th Anniversary Prize.A story of human perseverance, the film is set in contemporary Belgium and follows a young boy Tori (Pablo Schils) and an adolescent girl Lokita (Joely Mbundu) who have traveled alone from Africa and pit their invincible friendship against the difficult conditions of their exile.“Tori and Lokita” stars Pablo Schils, Joely Mbundu, Alban Ukaj, Tijman Govaerts, Charlotte De Bruyne, Nadège Ouedraogo, and Marc Zinga.

EXCLUSIVE: Sony is in development on sci-fi movie Omega, which Mortal Kombat filmmaker Simon McQuoid is attached to direct.

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all rights in North America, Latin America, Scandinavia, the Middle East, Israel, India and Italy, and aboard airlines and ships worldwide, to the animated film The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol, from writer-director Sylvain Chomet. The deal for Chomet’s English-language feature follows SPC’s distribution of his past films The Triplets of Belleville and The Illusionist.

Viola Davis brought guests at Kering’s annual Women in Motion dinner in Cannes to their feet on Sunday with a rousing speech acknowledging her roots and personal journey to Hollywood.“As much as I love Alexander McQueen — and I love Alexander McQueen — and the fabulous makeup,” said Davis, “I am always, always so moved when people tell me my work or my life meant something to them. But just know who I am at the end of the day is: I don’t want to leave something for people — I want to leave something in people.”Davis was speaking on stage at Kering’s annual dinner at the Cannes Film Festival, where she was the night’s honoree.

EXCLUSIVE: Oscar winner Diablo Cody (Juno) has boarded Jenny Mollen’s City of Likes as executive producer of the series adaptation, which is in development with Sony Pictures TV and The Nacelle Company. Announced in 2021, the project falls under Nacelle’s first look comedy deal with Sony TV. The book will be released by NacelleBooks on June 14.

review out of the festival praised Hansen-Løve’s attention to detail in depicting the challenges of ushering a loved one through an illness of someone near the end of his life. “With ‘One Fine Morning,’ Hansen-Løve turns her attention, and ours, toward the challenges, both tiny and immense, of loving someone through a decline such as this — one that’s not a death, just yet, but rather a disabling event, an experience that is as perplexing for Georg as it is for his family and former students,” Katie Walsh wrote for TheWrap.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentSony Pictures Classics has nabbed “One Fine Morning,” Mia Hansen-Love’s critically acclaimed drama starring Lea Seydoux at Cannes on the heels of its world premiere at Directors’ Fortnight. Les Films du Losange, the indie film powerhouse, has now sold the film in 50 territories.The deal is for North American, Latin American and Middle East rights to the film.

EXCLUSIVE: Entering the second week of the Cannes Film Festival, Sony Pictures Television has snapped up multi-territory Latin American rights to FilmSharks’ Amor Bandido, with Raymond Murray’s CineNova Releasing taking U.S. rights.

An adoptee explores her Korean roots in Return To Seoul, Davy Chou’s engaging drama premiering at Cannes in Un Certain Regard. Newcomer Park Ji-Min plays the magnificently complex Freddie, who was raised in France and has impetuously decided to spend a couple of weeks in the country of her birth.

Britain's Got Talent judge Simon Cowell was left completely bowled over as he watched Love Island favourite Amber Davies' sister Jade perform in a Welsh musical choir group on Saturday's episode.The music mogul, 62, praised the incredible group for their sensational The Greatest Showman performance with the act receiving four yeses from the judging panel. Opting to belt out the incredibly emotional track From Now On, the singers put on an unbeatable display as they had the entire audience up on their feet.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film WriterLatin American jazz fusion icon Carlos Santana will be the subject of an expansive documentary directed by Emmy winner Rudy Valdez.Imagine Documentaries is collaborating with Sony Music Entertainment on the project, who is co-financing and handling distribution. It will follow Santana’s journey from 14-year-old street musician to a 10-time Grammy winning global sensation, and feature unseen archival footage and tracks.Valdez is the director of the Sundance documentary audience award winner “The Sentence,” about the corrosive effect of mandatory minimum sentencing on convicts and their families.

Sony Pictures International Productions (SPIP) is set to remake Ariel Winograd’s Argentinian comedy Mama Se Fue De Viaje (Ten Days Without Mom) in Turkey and South Korea.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefUn Certain Regard title “Return to Seoul” from French-Cambodian director Davy Chou caused an early stir by being one of the first Official Selection titles from this year’s Cannes to secure a U.S. release — through Sony Pictures Classics. That may be a reflection of Chou’s quest for authenticity in a bi-cultural tale about a European-raised woman and her biological family in Korea.

Early in Saela Davis and Anna Rose Holmer’s dark and stately God’s Creatures, screening in Directors’ Fortnight here at Cannes, one of the younger women at a wake in an old Irish fishing village declares that her new baby will definitely be learning to swim. The dead man drowned, a professional risk on the surging waters of the west of Ireland. Even now that the fishing industry has given way to oyster beds suspended in chest-deep water, the farmers wear heavy waders and the worst can happen. The other women are startled. Swimming lessons? That’s not how things are done around here.

Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, and Jennifer Connelly gather up for a giant group photo at the premiere of Top Gun: Maverick during the 2022 Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday (May 18) in Cannes, France.

Clayton Davis The 75th Cannes Film Festival returns with international auteurs, Palme d’Or winning filmmakers, potential summer blockbusters, and many films that will, if everything breaks their way,  be campaigning for Oscar come the fall.In short, the competition lineup is loaded with promise.The track record for Palme d’Or winners going onto Oscar success has varied over the years. Over the past two decades, Roman Polanski’s “The Pianist” (2002), Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” (2011), Michael Haneke’s “Amour” (2012) and Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” (2019) have received best picture nominations.

EXCLUSIVE: Laura Fitzpatrick has joined Sony Pictures Imageworks as Vice President, New Business. In her new role, she will be responsible for third party VFX business development and strategic planning for long-term growth. She will also oversee worldwide sales, marketing and client engagement, reporting to Executive Vice President Michelle Grady. Upcoming projects Fitzpatrick will have a hand in include the animated features The Sea Beast and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Manori Ravindran International EditorIn one of the first major deals of the Cannes market, Sony Pictures Classics has swooped on Un Certain Regard title “All The People I’ll Never Be.” The distributor has picked up rights in North America, Latin America, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand.The film, which is written and directed by Davy Chou (“Diamond Island”), will be re-titled as “Return to Seoul.” It premieres in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday.The pic centers on 25-year-old Freddie, who impulsively returns to South Korea for the first time, where she was born before being adopted and raised in France. The headstrong young woman starts looking for her biological parents in a country she knows so little about, taking her life in new and unexpected directions.