Theater Veteran Annie Baker Turns to Film With Berlin Festival Title ’Janet Planet’ Starring Julianne Nicholson

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Following its world premiere in the competition section of the Berlin Film Festival, Beta Cinema has revealed first sales across Europe and to Australia and New Zealand for Andreas Dresen’s “From Hilde, With Love.” The drama about anti-Nazi activists in Berlin, which is led by “Babylon Berlin’s” Liv Lisa Fries and introduces Johannes Hegemann in his first big screen appearance, will be released in France by Haut et Court, in Italy by Teodora and throughout Scandinavia by Angel Films. Beta Cinema also closed deals for Benelux (September Film), Portugal (Outsider), former Yugoslavia (Discovery), Hungary (Cirko) and Czech Republic (Film Europe). Palace Film picked up the film for Australia and New Zealand.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The Doha Film Institute’s unique Qumra incubator kicks off Friday with six days of master classes, labs and mentoring sessions and some 200 industry professionals – including programmers from Cannes, Venice, Toronto, Berlin and many other major festivals – expected to make the trek to the Qatari capital. Qumra, which is an Arab word believed to be the origin of the word “camera,” is dedicated to supporting and shepherding first and second works by Arab directors but also supports some projects from other parts of the world.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The Playmaker has closed a raft of pre-sales deals on “Ploey 2 – The Legend of the Winds,” which was presented to international buyers for the first time at the European Film Market this month. The Playmaker screened an exclusive first-look teaser at its booth in Berlin as well as a promo for attending buyers.

Christopher Vourlias Following on the heels of a successful post-pandemic reboot one year ago, the Joburg Film Festival kicks off its sixth edition on Feb. 27, with the glitzy capital of South Africa’s media and entertainment industry showcasing a selection of top talents from the host country and across the African continent.

Alex Ritman “La Cocina,” the Rooney Mara-starring drama that recently bowed in competition at the Berlinale, has been acquired for most international territories. HanWay Films has closed sales for France (Originals Factory), Australia and New Zealand (Vendetta), Spain (Avalon), Italy (Teodora Film), Benelux (Cherry Pickers), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Scandinavia (Mis.

Winners have been announced at the 74th Berlin Film Festival, with Dahomey by French-Senegalese filmmaker Mati Diop scooping the coveted Golden Bear prize as the best film of the festival’s International Competition. Scroll down for the full list of winners, which were revealed Saturday evening at the Berlinale Palast.

Anatomy of a Fall French producer Marie-Ange Luciani put in a flying appearance at the Berlinale this week with Claire Burger’s coming-of-age drama Langue Étrangère which received a warm reception in competition.

Naman Ramachandran Nepali filmmaker Min Bahadur Bham‘s journey to make Berlin competition title “Shambhala” was arduous but an ultimately rewarding one. Bham’s 2012 short “Bhansulli” debuted at Venice. His debut feature “Kalo Pothi” (aka “The Black Hen,” 2015) won the Fedeora best film award at Venice Critics’ Week and became Nepal’s official Oscar entry.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor German filmmaker Nele Wohlatz‘s “Sleep With Your Eyes Open,” which had its world premiere on Saturday in the Encounters section of the Berlin Film Festival, tells a story about the search for a sense of belonging in a foreign country. It starts with Kai, a young Taiwanese woman with a broken heart, arriving at a Brazilian beach resort for a holiday. Here, her life crosses paths with a group of Chinese migrants living in a luxury tower block, and in particular a young woman called Xiaoxin, who accepts her fate, and Fu Ang, who is working in an umbrella store when we meet him but harbors ambitions to become wealthy.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Two Taiwan-based production companies with features in this week’s Berlin Film Festival have joined forces to launch new venture, Long Hu Bao × An Attitude. Taiwan’s Yi Tiao Long Hu Bao International Entertainment, is one of eight co-producers on main competition film “Shambhala,” from Nepal’s Min Bahadur Bham.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The route from idol group member to TV and film acting is a well-trodden one for multiple Japanese performers as they mature and attempt to broaden and extend their career. Few, however, can have received the plaudits of SixTONES member Matsumura Hokuto, who flies in to the Berlin Film Festival for the international premiere of two handed drama feature “All the Long Nights.” Derived from a novel by Seo Maiko and directed by Miyake Sho, the narrative features a woman (portrayed by Kamishiraishi Mone) whose pre-menstrual tension is so intense that it changes her character and disrupts her career. She is befriended by a younger, somewhat solitary man who, in turn, suffers from panic attacks.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The Berlin Film Festival hosted the 10 young European actors selected for the Shooting Stars program, run by European Film Promotion, at a gala event Monday. The presentation of the Shooting Stars took place prior to the screening of Claire Burger’s “Langue Étrangère,” which plays in competition.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority (GEA) has launched a new film fund called Big Time Investment to boost production of quality Arabic movies and announced a slate of Egyptian feature films toplined by a biopic of Egyptian icon Umm Kulthum who is considered the Arab world’s greatest singer. Prominent Egyptian director Marwan Hamed, whose epic “Kira and El Gen” about local resistance to British occupation, is recent hit, will direct the film titled “El Set.” Egyptian star Mona Zaki will play Kulthum who from the late 1920s onwards became the first prominent Arab singer to disseminate her work to the masses via the new technologies of the times: radio, the phonograph, cinema and television.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent As the European Film Market starts to unwind, the verdict is already in: Even if global economics are rocky, buyers are back and on the lookout. This week, dealmaking has been happening on both star-driven packages as well as arthouse and foreign-language movies.

Christopher Vourlias Following on the heels of his Oscar-shortlisted “Refugee,” veteran U.S. producer Brandt Andersen (“Everest,” “Lone Survivor”) makes his feature directorial debut with “The Strangers’ Case,” a kaleidoscopic and deeply felt portrait of the refugee crisis that world premieres Feb. 23 as a Berlinale Special Gala.

“The first shape I had in mind for this film was fiction,” filmmaker Mati Diop told a Berlin Film Festival presser this morning when quizzed on the structure of her inventive documentary Dahomey. 

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Jean Labadie’s Le Pacte and sales agency Film Factory have joined Spanish pay giant Movistar Plus on the next film from Alberto Rodríguez (“Marshland”), which is shaping up fast with as one of the biggest packages from Spain this year at the Berlinale’s European Film Market. Le Pacte will co-produce the thriller out of France and handle French distribution rights. Film Factory is launching international sales at Berlin.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italy — which is the Country of Focus at this year’s European Film Market in Berlin — is flourishing in terms of production activity just as its box office grosses start to pick up. Yet there’s room for improvement in terms of the number of titles that are able to break out internationally. The Cinema Italiano output currently stands at over 350 movies a year, including co-productions, which is up compared with pre-pandemic levels.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Variety is premiering the trailer (below) for feature documentary “Transition,” which follows Australian filmmaker Jordan Bryon, a trans man, as he embeds with a Taliban unit as they retake control of Afghanistan. The film, directed by Monica Villamizar and Bryon, will be released in the U.S. on March 26 by Gravitas Ventures.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Upscale crossover sales agent Latido Films has acquired international sales rights to “Re-creation,” directed by legendary Irish filmmaker Jim Sheridan, whose “In the Name of the Father” won a Berlin Golden Bear in 1994. Starring Vicky Krieps, a Cannes’ Un Certain Regard winner for “Corsage,” the docu-drama is co-written and co-directed by Irish artist and filmmaker David Merriman (“Rock Against Homelessness”). It will be unveiled to buyers at the European Film Market.