Studios and Labor Leaders Hope More Time for IATSE Talks Cuts Risk of Another Strike

EXCLUSIVE: London-based Dogwoof has locked a series of international deals on Eternal You, a documentary about AI startups set to screen at this month’s Hot Docs Fest following a debut bow at Sundance.

Lise Pedersen Documentary “Fixing the War,” about news fixers in Ukraine, was one of 15 projects selected in this week’s edition of VdR-Pitching, Visions du Réel’s international co-production and financing platform. Variety accompanied the team as they pitched to potential partners. The film’s producers Gary Lennon of Plainsong Films and Olga Kravchenko of Moon Man were in Nyon to pitch the film, which is directed by Clare Stronge and Vadym Ikov.

Peers in the House of Lords were urged to "calm down" and allow the UK Government's Rwanda deportation legislation to progress, as MPs voted to overturn amendments.

Stormy Daniels Doc Finds Global Distribution

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival has announced that the 40th annual festival will take place in Santa Barbara, California, from February 4 through February 15.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent CANNES — Powering up another growth axis, as anticipated by CEO Laura Fernández Espeso, international scripted powerhouse The Mediapro Studio is doubling down on formats in the non-fiction space, Underscoring this growth TMS Head of International Development Ran Tellem (“Homeland,” “The Head”) and Head Of Format Strategy, Non-Scripted, Salva Romero (“Sing On,” “The Language of Love”) unleashed at Cannes’ final MipTV trade fair The Mediaapro Studio’s first full slate of titles, framed at MipFormats in a spirited session, Meet the Creative Minds Behind The Mediapro Studio Formats. Tellem and Romero talked about TMS’ formats in the last two years, but also on the creative strategy, thinking and sentiments behind them.

Well Go USA has landed North American rights for Dutch action thriller Invasion about a daring military operation in the wake of a hostile attack on the Caribbean islands of Aruba and Curacao.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Qatar-based powerhouse BeIN Media Group, a co-owner of U.S. indie studio Miramax, has taken distribution rights across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to live-action pre-school series “Saïd & Anna,” which has been nominated for this year’s Banff World Media Festival‘s Rockie Awards.

Holly Jones It’s a star-studded Marbella of the 1980s, and the glam Andalusian backdrop frames an opulent narrative that fuses suspense, betrayal and slow-simmering vengeance in the Atresmedia original series “Eva & Nicole,” teased by its producers – Spain’s Atresmedia TV (“Veneno”) alongside Good Mood (“Cristo y Rey”) – at the MipDrama showcase on April 7, a precursor to the broader MipTV international series market in Cannes, running April 8-10. Handling global distribution, Atresmedia TV International Sales will attend MipTV.

Outlander fans will be relieved following the news that the time-travelling drama has found a new home in the UK.

Ben Croll Questions about the free ad-supported streaming TV services (FAST) model and concerns about AI will take the foreground at the many conference panel sessions and keynotes organized for this year’s MipTV. If both are familiar subjects at the audiovisual market – as last year’s MipTV held a standing-room only FAST summit while the Mipcom “Unlocking AI” summit drew similar attention this past October – the interest they provoke reflects their topicality.

Annika Pham On the eve of the global content market MipTV in Cannes, Viaplay Group’s Vanda Rapti, EVP Viaplay Select and Content Distribution, has offered a confident outlook on the Scandi streamer’s international activities and content sales. The sales executive, who joined the group in 2003, was able to announce exclusively to Variety a string of new deals on Viaplay’s premium Nordic scripted content.

Scotland’s Sands International Film Festival Of St Andrews will open on April 19 with a double-bill screening of British writer-director Naqqash Khalid’s debut feature In Camera and Harry Holland’s short film Last Call, starring Tom Holland. 

BBC Studios Launches First Kids Streamer In Korea

EXCLUSIVE: This year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) will unspool in close collaboration with Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Scottish capital’s historic performing arts event, under a new expansive partnership confirmed today by the two organizations. 

The Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival is coming off a successful — and at times turbulent — 26th edition, wrapping “amidst an explosive ambiance with episodes of violence and intolerance.”

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival is set to celebrate the centennial of Columbia Pictures with a retrospective featuring classic titles spawned by the Hollywood studio between the dawn of sound and the late 1950s. The Locarno retro, titled “The Lady With the Torch –– The Centenary of Columbia Pictures,” is being curated by Ehsan Khoshbakht, co-director of Italy’s Il Cinema Ritrovato festival, which is dedicated to cinematic treasures of the past and organized in partnership with Switzerland’s Cinémathèque Suisse.

Steve Clarke won’t throw the baby out with the bathwater after a Dutch drubbing as he looks to earn a first win in seven games when Northern Ireland visit Hampden for a friendly.

The Sudanese drama Goodbye Julia is continuing its impressive awards run, earning the Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature over the weekend at the Sonoma International Film Festival in California.

Guy Lodge Film Critic As a general movie rule, when a group of happy weekenders head to a woodland cottage for a bit of rest and relaxation, the great outdoors has some grisly surprises in store for them. In “Who By Fire,” however, the horrors all come from inside the house — or more specifically from the people themselves, many of whose worst impulses and insecurities are unleashed by their tranquil surroundings.