Sony Pictures Classics Picks Up Sundance Winner ‘The Persian Version’

Pictures From Home (★★☆☆☆), Broadway’s lethargic family drama based on a book of photos.Between 1982 and 1992 photographer and college professor Larry Sultan took a bounty of photographs of his parents, Irving and Jean. He captured them in both candid, unrehearsed moments and in staged poses.The process was painstaking, both for him and his subjects, but it ultimately launched them all to a sort of stardom within the photography world. Sultan released the book to numerous accolades and, according to the New York Times, it has “become a definitive guide to narrative photography.”Playwright Sharr White was apparently so moved by the project, he decided to adapt the photos into a play.

EXCLUSIVE: Virginia Madsen (Sideways), Vondie Curtis-Hall (Harriet), Lilli Cooper (Broadway’s Tootsie), Dominic Fumusa (13 Hours) and Matt Dallas (Kyle XY) have signed on to star alongside Steven Grayhm in the indie drama Sheepdog, which Grayhm is directing from his own script.

EXCLUSIVE: Sony Pictures Television (SPT) is kicking off its 2023 Diverse Writers Program giving 10 participants the opportunity to link up with industry professionals in a four-week course.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Kino Lorber has acquired all rights in the U.S. to “Diabolik,” “Diabolik – Ginko Attacks!” and “Diabolik — Who Are You?” from Beta Cinema at the European Film Market in Berlin. The movies are based on the smash-hit Italian comic-book series about a ruthless master thief, which has sold more than 150 million copies worldwide. The stylish crime-comic adaptations are written and directed by Marco and Antonio Manetti. “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Marvel’s Avengers” actor Giacomo Gianniotti stars in “Diabolik — Ginko Attacks!” and “Diabolik — Who Are You?,” and Luca Marinelli (“The Old Guard”) in the first installment, “Diabolik.” Monica Bellucci (“Matrix,” “The Apartment”) stars in the role of Altea, Miriam Leone (“The Invisible Witness,” “Medici”) as Eva Kant, and Valerio Mastandrea (“Perfect Strangers,” “Nine”) as Inspector Ginko.

Zack Sharf HBO’s “The Last of Us” is one of the biggest shows of 2023 so far, so big that Sony Pictures Entertainment film chairman Tom Rothman is wishing the studio had gone ahead and turned the video game into a feature film. “The Last of Us” is based on the Sony Playstation game of the same name. “Yes,” Rothman answered when asked by Business Insider if he wishes “The Last of Us” was a Sony movie. “But I’m very happy for them and I think it’s better suited episodically. I’m jealous in the best way.” “The Last of Us,” starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, centers on survivors of a pandemic in a world where brain-eating fungus has decimated the human population. The show has been a ratings powerhouse for HBO, garnering over 7 million viewers in one night as of its fourth episode airing.

Sony Pictures Classics said it’s planning to release Sean Mullin’s documentary on baseball superstar Yogi Berra, It Ain’t Over, in theaters in New York and Los Angeles on May 12, expanding over following weeks.

A Compassionate Spy” and will release it later this year. Directed by two-time Oscar nominee Steve James (“Hoop Dreams”), “A Compassionate Spy” tells the story of Ted Hall, who at the age of 18 was the youngest physicist to work on the Manhattan Project with Robert Oppenheimer.

EXCLUSIVE: A comedy series adaptation of Laura Vorreyer’s popular book The Pet Sitter’s Tale is in the works for the small screen with Tara Reid (American Pie, Ghosts) set to star and produce.

and tend to take up most space, whereas shoes end up being more of an afterthought…until the foot aches and back pain set in.)Foot pain typically arises in the second or third trimester. “The feet take a huge impact and absorb a lot of stress during pregnancy, which could lead to a multitude of changes such as increasing in size, swelling, arch pain, heel pain and over-pronation, or flatter feet,” says , a podiatrist in Silver Springs, MD who’s currently pregnant with her third child.There’s no one thing to blame here—rather, it’s a combination of hormones, weight gain, and swelling that create a fun little domino effect.

EXCLUSIVE: Giant Pictures today announced it has acquired U.S. theatrical and VOD rights to the Oscar-nominated documentary feature A House Made of Splinters, a film that until very recently lacked any American distribution. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italy’s Coccinelle Film Sales has acquired world rights to Nigerian director Babatunde Apalowo’s gay-themed drama “All the Colours of the World Are Between Black and White,” ahead of the film’s Berlin Film Festival launch.  “All the Colours” is the feature film debut of Apalowo, who was born in Ogbagi-Akoko, Nigeria, and is U.K.-based. Pic is world premiering in Berlin’s Panorama section. Apalowo also wrote and produced the restrained and tender drama about two men named Bambino and Bawa who meet in Lagos during a photography competition and immediately hit it off. During long trips exploring the city they develop a deep affection for each other. But in a society which considers homosexuality taboo, they feel the pressure of social norms.

EXCLUSIVE: Radar Pictures has secured the feature film rights for Geronimo Stilton, the best-selling children’s book series about the crime-solving adventures of a mouse journalist and his eccentric gang of family and friends.

EXCLUSIVE: Uncoupled, has been saved. I hear Showtime is picking up Season 2 (and potentially beyond) of the comedy series, from Emily in Paris creator Darren Star and Modern Family veteran Jeffrey Richman, a couple weeks after the MTV Entertainment Studios-produced show was canceled by Netflix. At the premium network, soon to be renamed Paramount+ with Showtime, Uncoupled is designed to fit into one the three main content lanes recently outlined by new Showtime boss Chris McCarthy, “Metro Cultures”, which spans “culturally diverse takes” like The L Word and The Chi.

Yellow Veil Pictures has boarded international sales on Where The Devil Roams, the latest feature from The Adams Family filmmaking trio who made waves with 2021 horror road trip picture Hellbender.

EXCLUSIVE: Johannes Roberts — the filmmaker behind the shark thrillers 47 Meters Down (2017) and 47 Meters Down: Uncaged (2019) — is reteaming with Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group Motion Pictures on a new film in the genre titled The Red Triangle.

EXCLUSIVE: In a competitive situation, Sony Pictures has acquired feature rights to Gnomes, based on Dutch filmmakers Richard Raaphorst and Ruwan Heggelman’s breakout horror short film.

One of the most delightfully warming and comically offbeat films at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Babak Jalali’s “Fremont” tells the story of Donya, a former Afghan translator for the U.S. government who’s felt adrift in the titular California city since resettling there to evade the Taliban.  READ MORE: ‘Fremont’ Review: An Afghan Insomniac Tries To Find Purpose In A Refreshingly Unique & Jarmuschian-Esque Indie Dramedy [Sundance] Living in an apartment complex alongside other Afghan immigrants, working at a Chinese-American fortune cookie factory in San Francisco, and spending evenings alone at a local restaurant that plays Afghan soap operas, Donya — portrayed, in a captivating debut performance, by real-life Afghan refugee Anaita Wali Zada —longs for companionship.

The Sundance Film Festival returned to Park City after a two-year virtual hiatus and that means the in-person awards ceremony returned as well. Well, sorta.

The London-based Genesius Pictures, the producers of the Emma Thompson starrer Good Luck to You Leo Grande, and Cornerstone Films have partnered to form GenStone, a new content management company. 

EXCLUSIVE: The Sundance Film Festival deals keep dropping. Sony Pictures Classics has landed worldwide rights to A Little Prayer, which premiered at the Ray yesterday in the US Dramatic Competition category. The film is directed and scripted by Angus MacLachlan, who scripted Junebug.