Umbrella Launches Brollie, AVOD Streamer of Australian Film, TV Classics

Mark Shelmerdine, the veteran producer who revived London Films as an indie powerhouse and played a pivotal role in the development of the international TV distribution market, died October 26 in Santa Barbara surrounded by his family. He was 78.

EXCLUSIVE: Meera Syal, Alison Hammond and the BBC’s Black Ops creator Gbemisola Ikumelo scooped awards at this afternoon’s Women in Film & TV Awards 2023.

Ridley Scott, director of sci-fi classics like “Alien” and “Blade Runner,” is terrified about AI technology running away with society.In an interview with Rolling Stone promoting his film “Napoleon,” Scott was asked if artificial intelligence worried him, and the answer was an emphatic yes.“We have to lock down AI. And I don’t know how you’re gonna lock it down,” he told the outlet. “They have these discussions in the government, ‘How are we gonna lock down AI?’ Are you f—ing kidding? You’re never gonna lock it down.

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival launched its third edition on Thursday with a characteristically starry red carpet featuring the likes of Michelle Williams, Johnny Depp, Sharon Stone and Will Smith.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Though the Red Sea Film Festival will feature a slew of films from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region – including 11 feature films from Saudi Arabia – there is a rich roster of international fare set to launch locally from Jeddah. Kaleem Aftab, the festival’s director of international programming, says they received lots more submissions for this year’s third edition.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor AGC Intl., the international sales and distribution arm of Stuart Ford’s fast-growing independent content studio AGC Studios, has picked up world rights from Image Nation Abu Dhabi, MBC Studios and VOX Studios on Yasir Al Yasiri‘s “HWJN,” and from O3 Medya and Dhafer L’Abidine’s Double A Productions on L’Abidine’s “To My Son.” Saudi fantasy romance ‘HWJN’ will open the Red Sea Film Festival on Nov. 30, while the emotional family drama “To My Son” will premiere in Red Sea’s Arab Spectacular section.

Stuart Ford’s AGC International has picked up world rights to two Arab-produced titles, HWJN by Yasir Al-Yasiri and To My Son byDhafer L’abidine, ahead of their debuts at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival. 

EXCLUSIVE: Boutique distributor Juno Films has picked up North American and UK rights to This World is Not My Own, a documentary portrait of the folk artist Nellie Mae Rowe from filmmakers Petter Ringbom and Marquise Stillwell, which premiered earlier this year at SXSW. The award-winner will be released in theaters in the summer of 2024.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chinese films “Trending Topic” and “The Invisible Guest” will be given theatrical releases in Malaysia and Singapore in the coming month. This step follows agreements between Chinese streamer iQiyi and Malaysian cinema chain GSC and Singaporean distributor Clover Films.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Producer and screenwriter, Darren Dale has been named as the new board chair of the Sydney Film Festival, following the retirement of Dianne Weir. He is a leading advocate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content and has been director of Blackfella Films since 2000.

During this year’s Star Wars Celebration, Lucasfilm finally gave some definitive news about what to expect on the big screen with the galaxy far, far away. We have a movie from Dave Filoni, which is expected to be an “Avengers”-style convergence of all the live-action TV shows.

Following the “Star Wars: Ahsoka” series created by writer/director/producer Dave Filoni, who wrote all eight episodes himself and directed two, Lucasfilm has named the filmmaker the Chief Creative Officer at the company. “Now I’m what’s called chief creative officer of Lucasfilm,” Filoni told Vanity Fair this week, and noting the role will place him in the early development process of all “Star Wars” projects and in a much more expansive capacity than his previous advisory duties.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Veteran actor Ciaran Hinds and Odessa Young have joined Euphoria star Jacob Elordi in the cast of premium Australian miniseries “The Narrow Road to the Deep North.” Production is now under way. An adaptation of the Booker Prize-winning novel by Richard Flanaghan, the five-part series is love story set against the backdrop of World War II. Production is by Curio Pictures with Prime Video releasing the title in Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Nicole Kidman is providing $50,000 of her own money for a TV industry award named in honor of an Australian executive who died earlier this year. The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) is to present the newly-created Brian Walsh Award for Emerging Talent at its annual award ceremony in February. The award aims to discover and nurture the next generation of Australian actors.

The 2023 edition of Deadline’s live-music event Sound & Screen: Film hit the stage November 9 showcasing the songs and scores from 12 of the ramping-up awards season’s buzziest movies. Panelists and performances came from the likes of Diane Warren and Mark Ronson and from movies as varied as Barbie and Creed III to Killers of the Flower Moon and Napoleon. The packed crowd of industry voters saw a 60-piece orchestra perform the music live.

be any more faithful?Matthew Perry was afraid the audience would no longer be his friends if he cheated on his on screen wife Monica Geller, played by Courteney Cox.After his death in October 2023, Lisa Cash, the actress cast as his would be fling, revealed that Perry nixed a storyline that would have landed them together in bed.“We had rehearsed it and everything, and then the day before we were shooting in front of a live audience, I was told that [Matthew] went to the writers and said the audience would never forgive him for cheating on Monica,” Cash told TMZ. “He was probably right.”According to Cash, 54, the Season 5 episode titled “The One in Vegas: Part 1″ probably “would’ve changed possibly the course of the show and his character.”Although the 1999 episode might have changed the trajectory of her career if the scene would have happened, Cash wholeheartedly believes Perry made the right decision.

The FADER’s transgender charity covers compilation FADER & Friends Volume 1 is out now, available exclusively on Bandcamp until December 1, 2023. 100% of the proceeds go towards the Transgender Law Center, Mermaids, and Rainbow Railroad.

New Riyadh-based acquisition and distribution company TwentyOne Entertainment has announced its launch at upcoming the Red Sea International Film Festival, which is due to unfold in the port city of in Jeddah from November 30 to December 9.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Two films from Japan, Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days” and Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” won the top prizes at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards on Friday. Multiple other honors went to films from Korea and Kazakhstan. The 16th edition of the APSA Awards was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia and recognized films from eight countries. “Perfect Days,” a gentle comedy drama about a toilet cleaner in Tokyo finding happiness in the everyday, premiered in Cannes and more recently was selected as Japan’s Oscar contender and as the opening title of the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Kino Lorber has launched a new subscription streaming outlet, Kino Film Collection.