‘Turbo Kid”s Canadian Filmmaking Trio to Direct ‘We Are Zombies;’ Kinology Boards Sales (EXCLUSIVE)

EXCLUSIVE: Screen icon Sean Young (Blade Runner, Dune) has signed on for a role in the horror film Ouija Witch, which is currently in production. She’s set to star alongside Miley Rose, Jeremy Dean, Cheyenne Phillips, Ryan M. Shaw, LeJon Woods, Rivera Reese, Maggie Wagner and Sean Michael Conway.

EXCLUSIVE: Australian sales firm Odin’s Eye Entertainment has acquired Jonathan aux der Heide (Van Diemens Land) film Devil Inside and will launch the Ryan Kwanten-starring picture at the Cannes Market.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterOne year into its original programming push, Roku is debuting its first major international title.This week, the company will launch “Children Ruin Everything,” an already popular Canadian series, on its free streaming service. Created by “Schitt’s Creek” and “Kim’s Convenience” alum Kurt Smeaton and produced by New Metric Media, the half-hour comedy revolves around young parents Astrid (Meaghan Rath) and James (Aaron Abrams) as they struggle to define their lives outside their roles as mom and dad.Roku snapped up the U.S.

Jennie Punter Mila Aung-Thwin, a producer on 2022 Sundance Special Jury Award winner “Midwives,” will direct a feature documentary about Tiberiu Uşeriu (a.k.a. Romania’s Ice Man), an extreme ultramarathon champion who turned his life around after serving time in a German high-security prison for armed robbery, the filmmaker told Variety during Toronto’s Hot Docs festival.Aung-Thwin, a cofounder of the acclaimed documentary production company EyeSteelFilm, is this year’s recipient of Hot Docs’ Don Haig Award, which is given to an outstanding independent Canadian producer with a film in the festival in recognition of their creative vision and entrepreneurship.“Ultra” (working title) producers include Cristian Nicolescu (“Donbass,” “Quo vadis, Aida?”), EyeSteelFilm’s Bob Moore, and Lithium Studios’ Mike MacMillan.

Wilson Chapman editorKenneth Welsh, a prolific Canadian character actor with more than 200 screen credits, died Thursday evening. He was 80 years old.ACTRA, the Canadian film and television union, confirmed the news on Friday. “Ken was one of Canada’s all-time great performers, with hundreds of memorable roles spanning decades,” ACTRA wrote in a statement.

Jennie Punter In 2014, at age 53, Tom Wilson, a singer-songwriter from Hamilton, Ontario, with a stack of gold records and stories aplenty, found out quite accidentally that he had been adopted. Soon afterward he learned that his biological parents were Mohawk from the Kahnawake community, just outside of Montreal.For legions of fans familiar with Wilson’s story thus far—a precocious local teenage rocker grows up to found ’90s major-label alt-rock unit Junkhouse, battles various demons, gets sober, starts to paint, evolves into a troubadour of note in the acclaimed trio Blackie and the Rodeo Kings and the edgier collaborative Lee Harvey Osmond—this revelation marked a substantial shift in his personal narrative and in the subject matter of his creative work.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentSND has boarded “The Braid,” an adaptation of Laetitia Colombani’s bestseller which is currently shooting in Italy, Canada and India with Kim Raver (“Grey’s Anatomy”), Fotini Peluso (“Romanzo famigliare”) and Mia Maelzer (“Beyond the Clouds”). Colombani is directing the film based on her book which sold more than two million copies worldwide and was translated in 40 languages.

Halifax’s Mattea Roach won her 21st “Jeopardy!” game Tuesday night, taking home another $29,599 USD, thanks in part to a Final Jeopardy! clue about “O Canada”.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs have signed a new record deal with Secretly Canadian ahead of the release of new music later this year. This follows the announcement of live shows in the US, the UK and elsewhere.“It’s with true life affirming pleasure to announce our two headline shows in our two hometowns NYC and LA, supported by two wildly gifted bands, Japanese Breakfast and The Linda Lindas at the Hollywood Bowl, with The Linda Lindas supporting in Forest Hills and our other support TBA soon”, says frontwoman Karen O.

Avril Lavigne has alerted fans that three of her upcoming gigs in Canada won’t go ahead as scheduled, after a member of her touring crew tested positive for COVID-19.The affected dates include one at Place Bell in Laval – initially slated for tonight (May 2), but now set to go down on Saturday (May 7) – one at the Avenir Centre in Moncton, and one at the Scotiabank Centre in Halifax. Those last two gigs – which were booked in for tomorrow (May 3) and on Wednesday May 4, respectively – are yet to receive new dates, but in a statement posted on social media, Lavigne assured ticketholders that new details “will be announced shortly”.At the time of writing, Lavigne’s show at the Centre Vidéotron in Quebec City is still scheduled to ahead on Friday (May 6).

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorInternational sales company Andana Films has acquired Islamic State documentary “Rojek,” which has its North American premiere in Hot Docs’ Canadian Spectrum section on Saturday.The film, which had its world premiere in the International Competition section at Visions du Réel, will have a theatrical release in Canada through Maison 4:3.In the film, director Zaynê Akyol talks to imprisoned members of the Islamic State, alternating their words with aerial views of the countryside. It is “an unexpected look at a far-reaching current political issue, and a film whose subject matter and rhythm create an impressive cinematic object,” Andana stated.Mariam Zaidi at Hot Docs said: “The Syrian Democratic Forces, mostly Kurdish, as well as the international coalition, have succeeded in dislodging the Islamic State from their last stronghold and ending their project of establishing a caliphate in Syria.

Addie Morfoot ContributorTwo years ago, Kate Mara watched a rough cut of “The Smell of Money” – a documentary about Elsie Herring’s decades-long fight to stop a multibillion-dollar corporate hog farm from spraying animal waste on her family’s land in North Carolina – and signed on to become an executive producer alongside David Lowery. Directed by Shawn Bannon, “The Smell of Money” examines not only how and why hog waste is killing innocent people, but also environmental racism, corporate malfeasance and global warming.

The Directors Guild of Canada BC’s strike deadline has now passed. Asked if the guild is on strike, a spokesperson told Deadline that “the answer isn’t as simple” in British Columbia, where in 2008 the BC Labor Board imposed safe harbor agreements upon the industry to provide for labor stability during collective bargaining. In any case, film and TV production continues unabated in the province.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaProducer Uri Singer’s Passage Pictures is developing a series called “Enjoy Your Stay,” which the producer says will be based on true events surrounding AirBnB’s crisis response team and its attempts to deal with the aftermath of a crime. A former AirBnB security team member has joined the production as an anonymous source and consultant for the series, Passage Pictures says.

Prince Charles and his wife Camilla will come to Canada as part of a three-day royal tour from May 17 to May 19, 2022.

It’s Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday — especially when it’s New Music Friday! We’re breaking down this week’s best new tracks to keep on your radar.

Mike Bossy, one of hockey’s most prolific goal-scorers and a star for the New York Islanders during their 1980s dynasty, has died after a battle with lung cancer. He was 65.

It’s not known as well as it was in Canada, but during the 80s and 90s, “The Kids In The Hall” was one of the most beloved sketch comedies up North, the heir apparent of SCTV. Consisting of comedians Dave Foley, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, Mark McKinney, and Scott Thompson, “The Kids In The Hall” aired for five seasons from 1988 to 1995, then there was the 1996 movie, “Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy,” but besides reunion tours, one-offs, and the 2010 “Death Comes to Town,” mini-series, that was basically the extent of the ‘Kids,’ members found success in Hollywood and scattered around in different projects (Dave Foley was notably the first breakout star who had a long run on the American sitcom “NewsRadio”).

Martha Wainwright knows you want to ask about her famous family – everybody does. And after a lifetime of fielding curious questions about her mom and aunt, Canadian folk icons Kate and Anna McGarrigle, her dad, American singer-songwriter Loudon Wainwright III, 75, and her brother, baroque pop star Rufus Wainwright, 48, she's finally ready to dish with new memoir Stories I Might Regret Telling You. RELATED: Avril Lavigne opens up about her new album, incredible career and what she misses most about Canada"I thought if I cold really delve into it super fully in this book, you know, write about it in detail," says Martha, 45, "maybe I could exorcise that story, release it and make room for something else." If these walls could talk! Martha is raising her family in the Montreal home where, as a teen, she lived with her mom, late folk legend Kate McGarrigle, and her brother, Rufus Wainwright.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterAmazon has commissioned a new Canadian original comedy series titled “The Sticky,” Variety has learned.The series is inspired by the true story of “The Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist.” The English language half-hour series will be set in Quebec.It revolves around Ruth Clarke, a tough, supremely competent middle-aged Canadian maple syrup farmer who’s had it with being hemmed in by the polite, bureaucratic conventions native to her country’s identity. Especially now that that very bureaucracy is threatening to take away everything she loves: Her farm, her comatose husband, and her right to manifest destiny.