Topic Acquires North American Streaming Rights to Oscar Entry ‘Once Upon a Time in Venezuela’ (EXCLUSIVE)

A is for Acquisition! Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment’s company Screen Media has acquired the North American rights to HBO’s Street Gang: How We Got To Sesame Street ahead of its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. Screen Media is set to release the docu in theaters and into the home entertainment market in Spring 2021. The HBO Documentary Film will debut on HBO and HBO Max later in the year.

Naman Ramachandran Mini-studio, Level Forward has acquired North American virtual theatrical rights and impact distribution privileges for “I’ll Meet You There,” a portrait of three generations of a Muslim-American family. The company will roll out the film from Feb.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentNew York-based outfit Grasshopper Film has acquired North American rights to Ephraim Asili’s debut feature, “The Inheritance,” following its premiere at Toronto and screening at the New York Film Festival.Grasshopper Film is planning to have “The Inheritance” open on March 12 in New York at Film at Lincoln Center, as well as in other cities.The ensemble film takes place almost entirely in a West Philadelphia house, where a community of young people have

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentAnnounced on Tuesday as one of 10 films playing the 2021 Sundance World Cinema Dramatic Competition, “El Perro Que No Calla” (“The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be Quiet”), from distinguished Argentine auteur Ana Katz, has been acquired by Paris-based Luxbox.A doyen of French sales agents of Latin American films, handling high-profile, multi-prized art titles such as Benjamín Naishtat’s “Rojo” and Marcelo Martinessi’s “The Heiresses,” Luxbox will handle

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film CriticIn 1970, Gil Scott-Heron recorded his famous poem-song “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” But that anthemic line, as forceful as it was, has been proved wrong time and again. Two years earlier, starting on Sept.

Fox has acquired CTV’s Holmes Family Effect, an unscripted series starring home renovation contractor and TV personality Mike Holmes, from Bell Media for a midseason 2020-21 premiere. The four-part series, which has completed production, is slated to premiere in Canada on CTV in early 2021.

EXCLUSIVE: Greenwich Entertainment has picked up North American distribution rights to comedy feature Days of The Bagnold Summer, the directorial debut of The Inbetweeners star Simon Bird.

EXCLUSIVE: XYZ Films has acquired North American rights to India’s Best International Oscar entry Jallikattu.

Gravitas Ventures has acquired North American distribution rights to Goodbye, Butterfly, the directorial and screenwriting debut of Tyler Wayne. The neo-noir psychological thriller will get a theatrical day-and-date release January 15, 2021.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorThe North American live events industry lost more than $30 billion in 2020 due to the global pandemic, including $9.7 at the box office, according to the year-end report by Pollstar, the leading live-entertainment industry trade publication.At the top of the year, the industry was projected to hit a record-setting $12.2 billion at the box office in 2020, but instead incurred $9.7 billion in Boxoffice losses after the industry effectively shut down completely in

EXCLUSIVE: Utopia has acquired the North American rights to The Emoji Story, a feature documentary from Emmy-nominated and Peabody Award-winning documentary filmmaker Ian Cheney (King Corn, The Most Unknown) and Emmy-winning filmmaker Martha Shane (After Tiller, From This Day Forward). The docu dives deep into the creation and ever-evolving world of emoji. The Emoji Story is set to hit VOD on December 22.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentStrand Releasing has acquired all North American rights to Agnieszka Holland’s critically acclaimed “Charlatan” from Berlin-based company Films Boutique.“Charlatan” competed at the Berlin Film Festival this year in the Special Gala section, and was most recently selected at Telluride.

EXCLUSIVE: Gravitas Ventures has secured the distribution rights to the Kerem Sanga-helmed thriller, The Violent Heart, which has its premiere at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. Starring Jovan Adepo, Grace Van Patten, Lukas Haas, Mary J. Bilge, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Jahi Di’Allo Winston, and Cress Williams, the film is slated for a day-and-date release on February 19.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentVertical Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Nate Parker’s police brutality drama “American Skin,” which world premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2019 and won the Sconfini section’s best film award.Vertical is planning a theatrical and digital release for January 2021, which would make the movie eligible for the Oscars.

Samuel Goldwyn Films has nabbed the North American rights to Savage State, David Perrault's period western drama. An early 2021 release is planned for the film about a family of French settlers who flee Missouri to return to Paris as the American Civil War breaks out.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered at least two people executed, banned fishing at sea and locked down the capital, Pyongyang, as part of frantic efforts to guard against the coronavirus and its economic damage, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers Friday.

The North American rights to The Diaries of Alan Rickman have been sold to Sarah Crichton at Henry Holt and Company, an imprint of Macmillan, it was announced Sunday. The book, which was bought in auction from Natalie Galustian at DHH Literary, will consist of 27 volumes worth of diary entries written by the late actor.The diaries will be edited by Alan Taylor into a single volume.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentBrooklyn-based distributor KimStim has acquired North American rights to Brazilian director Maya Da-Rin’s feature debut “The Fever” (“A Febre”), which world premiered in competition at Locarno and played at Toronto in 2019.The film is represented in international markets by Pierre Menahem’s French sales banner Still Moving, who negotiated the deal on behalf of the producers with KimStim’s Mika Kimoto.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentFirst Look Media’s niche streaming service Topic has acquired U.S. and Canadian rights to the second season of the Nordic thriller “Arctic Circle,” which just started shooting in the icy wilderness of Lapland.Lagardère Studios Distribution, which was recently acquired by Mediawan Group, is handling international sales on the series and participated in its financing.