‘The Curious Case of Natalia Grace’ Delivers Nearly 10.3 Million Total Viewers (EXCLUSIVE)

EXCLUSIVE: As the 57th edition of the Czech Republic’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) kicks off Friday, there will be renewed interest in the central European country’s local industry, particularly the curious case surrounding its incentive program for international productions.

President Vladimir Putin has made a public address to the Russian people, following moves by the mercenary Wagner group to seize and occupy a Russian military headquarters in the town of Rostov-on-Don, on the country’s southern border with Ukraine.

The Match Factory has posted fresh deals of for veteran Italian director Marco Bellocchio’s Cannes 2023 Palme d’Or contender Kidnapped about the true story of the kidnapping of a young Jewish boy.

with flat pumps. This is the throw-on summer outfit that Kate Moss lived in throughout the ’90s, and it still looks just as effortless all these years later.

In the Rearview, Maciek Hamela’s documentary about Ukrainians fleeing war in their homeland, won the Grand Jury Award for International Competition tonight at the 30th Sheffield DocFest.

“I love you Hans,” a voice echoed across the AO Arena before the room fell into total darkness.

In the Ukraine-themed documentary In the Rearview, a young girl and her family ride in a van over bumpy roads, on their way – if all goes well – to safety across the Polish border. In her hand the girl grips a piece of paper bearing essential information: her name, age, and a phone number to call in case she falls victim to Russian bombing and her body is discovered in a pile of rubble.

Marta Balaga Ukrainian animation keeps on fighting for its survival. “At the beginning of the invasion, it was crucial to keep working. We had to show our partners and the international market that despite the war, we can deliver. And we did it successfully,” Anastasiya Verlinska, director of Linoleum Animation Festival, tells Variety. “Our next step is to reorganize from in-house production to service companies. This is something that’s still in progress.” At Annecy, Verlinska is busy organizing the Animation in Ukraine Now! pitch.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Jan Naszewski’s Warsaw-based sales outlet New Europe Film Sales has sold its 3D family animation “A Mystery on the Cattle Hill Express,” directed by Will Ashurst, to Viva Kids for North America. The third part in the “Cattle Hill” series is a detective story about the little cow Clara and her friend Gavin who join forces with the world famous detective Agatha Chichester to unveil the thief of a revolutionary Nano-seed stolen from a high-tech laboratory train. New Europe has also sold the film to South Korea (First Run) and South Africa (Red Dot Digitals) and, as previously announced, France (Alba Films), Poland (New Horizons), JUST4KIDS in Benelux, Neo Films in Greece, Birfilm in Turkey, FILMS4YOU in Portugal and Arthousetraffic in Ukraine.

Christopher Vourlias In the fall of 1990, in the dying days of the Soviet Union, fighting broke out in the breakaway republic of Transnistria between Russian-backed separatists and forces loyal to the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, a territory on the cusp of its own successful campaign of independence from Moscow. The Transnistria War hardly registers as more than a footnote in most world history books, but it was nevertheless a formative moment in the making of Moldova, a small nation carved from the flank of Eastern Romania and nestled against the western border of Ukraine. When Moldovan filmmaker Ion Borş was growing up in Chisinau, the capital of the former Soviet republic, he heard stories about the conflict from his father, a veteran of Transnistria. The tales — no doubt embellished for his audience — were “tragic but also comical,” says Borş, driving home the absurdity of a war that likely looks even more confounding to its participants more than 30 years later.

Christopher Vourlias Celebrating its tenth anniversary as part of the industry program of the Transilvania Film Festival, the Transilvania Pitch Stop — one of the leading co-production and co-financing platforms for filmmakers from Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the wider Black Sea region — will showcase 10 projects by first- and second-time directors searching for potential European partners on June 15 in the historic medieval city of Cluj. The selection, which includes projects from eight countries, is a diverse crop that ranges from intimate personal dramas to stories casting a wider net, capturing their protagonists in the throes of historical forces.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “The Inseparables,” Jérémie Degruson’s ambitious animated feature competing this week at Annecy festival, has been sold to a raft of territories by Octopolis and nWave. Based on an original idea by Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow, the Oscar-nominated writers of “Toy Story,” “The Inseparables” follows the misadventures of Don, a runaway puppet with a boundless imagination and, DJ Doggy Dog, an abandoned stuffed animal toy in need of a friend. Don and DJ Doggy Dog cross paths in Central Park and pair up against all odds for an epic adventure of friendship in New York City. The film was penned by Bob Barlen and Cal Brunker. Budgeted at $25 million, “The Inseparables” was produced by nWave Studios in Belgium, Octopolis in France and A Contracorriente Films in Spain.

​A group of friends from Lincolnshire who met through a Boston dance school has raised more than £5,000 for children and families affected by the war in the Ukraine. The group from Boston Jive amassed the sum over the course of a year through a variety of fundraisers. After setting a target of £5,000, they moved beyond that sum last month with the help of a tandem skydive.

The FBI tried to… pic.twitter.com/1EOPB7DMyt“I said mom, all you ever do is read the New York Times,” Watters said. “Imagine reading the newspaper every day, and not knowing what the news is. … She didn’t know Biden had documents scattered all over Chinatown, or in the garage with the Corvette with the door open.

Marta Balaga Ukrainian phenomenon “Mavka” is expanding its universe. Following the premiere of feature film “Mavka. The Forest Song,” it is now set to become a 3D animated series as well. Directed by Oleh Malamuzh, it will be produced by Animagrad Studio – part of the Film.UA Group – with France’s TeamTO already on board as co-development partner. The project, which will be teased at Annecy’s Partners Pitch, will serve as a prequel to the film, explains Film.UA’s Kseniya Baranova. “It’s set immediately after the battle between humans and Lesh, the forest guardian, which happened while the rest of the forest dwellers were in their deep winter sleep,” she said.

Manchester City have qualified for the UEFA Super Cup after beating Inter Milan 1-0 in the final of the Champions League on Saturday night.

The stars of stage, screen, and sport will once again be ditching their day jobs to become footballers for one game - and one game only. That can only mean Soccer Aid is back for another year.

Film and television writers from around the world will be picketing and rallying Wednesday in support of the Writers Guild strike, which is now in its 39th day.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent “Forest,” an Italian eco-themed animation film about deforestation, has scored some strong pre-sales for Rome-based True Colours at the Cannes Marché du film. The still-in-production 3-D animation feature – the protagonist of which is a young mushroom named Fey – has been picked up for roughly 20 territories by Top Film Distribution which will distribute “Forest” in Ukraine, CIS, the Baltics, and Eastern European countries including former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Poland, Czech and Slovak Republics, Romania, and Hungary.  Helmed by Luca Della Grotta and Francesco Dafano, the film is produced by Italy’s AI One, the same team that previously spawned 2020 similarly themed animation feature “Trash” that sold in more than 30 countries. 

Marta Balaga Canada’s Fantasia International Film Festival has announced the opening film of its 27th edition: Pascal Plante’s “Red Rooms,” about a high-profile case of a serial killer and the woman (Juliette Gariépy) obsessed with him. “It’s a film of enormous emotional force, unbelievably controlled and smart, with a staggering performance from Gariépy. Pascal is one of the greatest talents of his generation in Quebec cinema and among the strongest filmmakers in the country right now,” says festival’s artistic director Mitch Davis.  “In a sense, it’s an unconventionally grim note to open a festival on. It’s a profoundly disturbing film. But I know the audience is going to be left completely breathless by it.”