Tallinn Black Nights Festival Unveils Selection for Cannes Market’s Pix-in-Post Showcase (EXCLUSIVE)

Ewan McGregor, Outlander‘s Sam Heughan and Mark Strong have been set to star in Everest, an adventure thriller to be directed by Doug Liman from a script from Oscar-nominated Up in the Air scribe Sheldon Turner. The just announced pic is set to start shooting in the UK and Italy in January 22. HanWay Films will rep international sales and distribution beginning at the upcoming Cannes Virtual Market. UTA Independent Film Group will handle the U.S. sale.

Kunal Nayyar, Lucy Hale and Christina Hendricks are set to star in The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, an adaptation of the New York Times best-selling novel by Gabrielle Zevin. Hans Canosa will direct from Zevin’s adaptation of her own novel and David Garrett’s Mister Smith Entertainment will be shopping the project to buyers at the upcoming Cannes Virtual Market next week. 

EXCLUSIVE: In an interesting international tie-up, UK sales firm Protagonist Pictures and Germany’s 7500 and Stowaway producer Augenschein are teaming up to co-represent worldwide rights on select English-language movies.

Christopher Vourlias The CIRCLE Women Doc Accelerator, a training program for women documentary filmmakers conceived with a focus on Southern and Eastern Europe, has selected the four projects that will take part in its showcase as part of the Cannes Docs program of the Cannes Film Market, Variety can reveal.Hailing from the program’s backyard in the Balkans to as far afield as Brazil and Taiwan, the selection reflects the growing ambition of a program now in its third year.“Although CIRCLE

EXCLUSIVE: Ahead of the virtual Cannes market, Metro International is launching sales on WWII drama Late In Summer, which will star BAFTA winner Emily Watson (Chernobyl) and Farming and Suicide Squad actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje.

EXCLUSIVE: UK sales company Parkland Pictures has picked up worldwide sales rights to feature documentary Never Forget Tibet about the Dalai Lama.

Cobra Kai and Diary Of A Wimpy Kid star Peyton List is set to lead sci-fi-horror film The Friendship Game from producers Daniel Bekerman (Falling) and Zak Kilberg (The Mauritanian).

government’s announcement yesterday to delay the easing of coronavirus restrictions until July 19.The three-day, multi-stage festival celebrating Americana and country music, held at Eridge Park in Kent, was due to take place on the weekend of June 25-27.Van Morrison, Frank Turner and Saving Grace featuring Robert Plant and Suzi Dian were due to headline this year’s event along with Foy Vance, Band Of Skulls, John Smith, Wildwood Kin, Declan O’Rourke, William The Conqueror, Bess Atwell and

IFC Midnight has boarded U.S. rights to UK genre pic Burial.

Naman Ramachandran Cornerstone has unveiled the first look of Oscar and BAFTA winner Emma Thompson and emerging star Daryl McCormack in Sophie Hyde’s “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande” ahead of the Cannes virtual market, where the company will also showcase footage from the film.The film is directed by Sophie Hyde (“Animals”) from an original screenplay by comedian and writer Katy Brand (“Katy Brand’s Big Ass Show”).Thompson (“Late Night,” “Nanny McPhee”) stars as Nancy Stokes, a 55-year-old widow

After starring in Yorgos Lanthimos’s dark comedy The Lobster, Oscar winner Rachel Weisz (The Favourite) and Colin Farrell (The Batman) are set to reunite in Todd Solondz’s new comedy-drama, Love Child.

EXCLUSIVE: Aisling Franciosi (The Nightingale) is set to take the lead role in elevated horror film Stopmotion, which Wild Bunch International is launching ahead of the Cannes market.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentBelgian director Felix van Groeningen (“Beautiful Boy”) and Charlotte Vandermeersch have started shooting in the Alps on “The Eight Mountains,” an Italian drama based on a bestseller about male bonding set against a mountainous backdrop.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefFree Stone Productions, one of Japan’s leading indie film sales firms, is poised to bring a big slate to Cannes. It has added three new titles and a catalog.

EXCLUSIVE: Production has wrapped on Murder At Emigrant Gulch, the Western-thriller starring Gabriel Byrne, Thomas Jane and Isaiah Mustafa, directed by Richard Gray (Robert The Bruce).

Gerard Butler is returning to Greenland. The Scottish actor is set to reprise his role as John Garrity in Greenland: Migration, a sequel to action thriller Greenland. The core filmmaking team will return with director Ric Roman Waugh headlining from a script by Greenland writer Chris Sparling. Butler’s co-star Morena Baccarin will also reprise her role as Allison Garrity. 

Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore are set to star in Rocket Science’s May December for Carol director Todd Haynes. The screenplay was written by Samy Burch with the story by Burch and Alex Mechanik. Rocket Science is handling international sales beginning at the Virtual Cannes Market, where UTA Independent Film Group and CAA Media Finance are representing U.S rights.

EXCLUSIVE: Saoirse Ronan, Paul Mescal and LaKeith Stanfield will star in Foe, an adaptation of the Iain Reid bestselling science fiction novel. Lion helmer Garth Davis will direct a script he wrote with the author and filming will get underway in January in Australia. Pic takes shape as a hot title in the upcoming Cannes Virtual Market, with FilmNation brokering international rights and CAA Media Finance and UTA’s Independent Film Group co-repping domestic rights.

EXCLUSIVE: Emile Hirsch (Into The Wild) and Liana Liberato (If I Stay) have joined Thomas Jane (The Expanse) and his daughter Harlow (Texas Rising) in thriller Dig, which is now in post-production.

EXCLUSIVE: In an unusual move, but one that speaks to fluidity in the distribution landscape and increasing demand for foreign-language series, LA-based film firm The Exchange is launching world sales (excluding Iran) at the upcoming Cannes virtual market on hit Iranian TV series The Frog.