Utopia and Showtime Buy Early Millennium Rock Documentary ‘Meet Me in the Bathroom’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italian director Emanuele Crialese broke out with 2002 Cannes Critics Week winner “Respiro,” followed by “Nuovomondo” and “Terraferma,” which both scooped prizes in Venice. He’s back on the Lido with his ambitious, boldly personal drama “L’immensità.” Set in 1970s Rome, the film features Penélope Cruz as the mother of two children, one of whom is a 12-year-old named Adriana who wants to change her name and gender identity and convince everyone that she is male. In his director’s note, Crialese calls “L’immensità” a memory-based film for which he needed the necessary time, distance and self-awareness to make. Though not strictly autobiographical, it is based on the director’s personal experience transitioning. As Crialese tells Variety, Adriana’s character is a representation of himself.

Addie Morfoot Contributor Abramorama and Roco Films have co-acquired U.S. distribution rights to Cynthia Lowen’s abortion documentary “Battleground.” The film premiered in the documentary competition category at the Tribeca Festival in June. The doc follows three women in charge of anti-abortion organizations devoted to overturning Roe v. Wade.Abramorama and Roco Films will co-release “Battleground” in hundreds of theaters across the country beginning Oct. 7 for an official Academy Award qualifying run. The film will also be simultaneously released in schools, non-profit spaces and corporate board rooms, both in-person and virtually. In addition, impact agencies Together Films and Red Owl will deliver a comprehensive national impact campaign alongside the release.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media IFC Films has acquired North American rights to “Four Samosas,” a romantic comedy set in the Little India neighborhood of Los Angeles. The film premiered at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. IFC will release “Four Samosas” in theaters and on demand on Dec. 2, 2022.  Ravi Kapoor directs and Venk Potula (“Veep”) leads an ensemble cast that includes Sonal Shah, Sharmita Bhattacharya, Nirvan Patnaik, Karan Soni, Summer Bishil, and Meera Simhan. The film centers on wanna-be South Asian American rapper, Vinny (Potula), who along with three friends — all of them first-time thieves — plans to rob a grocery store owned by his ex-girlfriend’s father, in order to steal her wedding diamonds and disrupt her pending engagement. 

said in July that app downloads and usage have increased as rival creator-driven social platform TikTok has come under increased scrutiny both in the United States and internationally. Triller counts celebrities such as Snoop Dogg, Kevin Hart, Billie Eilish and Justin Bieber among its users.

it will close out with two “Avengers” films: “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” on May 2, 2025, and “Avengers: Secret Wars” on Nov. 7, 2025.

Michaela Zee editor Showtime Sports Documentary Films is set to release a documentary feature based on the life of basketball star Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, entitled “Stand.” The documentary will premiere in early 2023. Directed by Joslyn Rose Lyons, “Stand” explores the personal and professional struggles of Abdul-Rauf, from being bullied as a child due to his Tourette’s syndrome to becoming a target of hate speech and Islamophobia during his basketball career. The documentary film features exclusive interviews with several basketball and entertainment stars including Stephen Curry, Steve Kerr, Shaquille O’Neal, Jalen Rose, Mahershala Ali and Ice Cube. “It is an honor to be collaborating with Showtime and the production team and working with our director, Joslyn Rose Lyons,” Abdul-Rauf said in a statement. “Joslyn has brought a stellar, brilliant vision to this film. My hope is that my story will help heal and bring new perspective to the world.”

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media Sister has enlisted “Pitch Perfect” writer and “Blockers” director Kay Cannon to work with best-selling author Taylor Jenkins Reid on a new original comedy film. Cannon will direct the film with Reid co-writing the script. The film centers around four childhood pals who get a drunken voicemail from their former best friend on the eve of her wedding day — confessing that she thinks she’s making a mistake — and set out to stop her wedding and rekindle the bond they once shared.  Ashley Rodger will co-write the film and produce the picture alongside Reid, Sister’s Co-Founder and Global CEO Stacey Snider, Ilda Diffley, Joanna Korshak, Brad Mendlsohn, Cannon and Laverne McKinnon. Shooting will start in the second quarter of 2023.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media Utopia has purchased global rights to “American Rapstar,” a look at the rise of SoundCloud rappers. The film, which screened at such major festivals as SXSW, DOC NYC, and the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, pulls back the curtain on a group lo-fi young artists, who boast a rebellious punk energy along with their colorful facial tattoos and penchant for prescription drug use. It’s a rising generation of talent such as Smokepurpp, Lil Xan, XXXTentacion, Lil Peep and Bhad Bhabie, all of whom have disrupted the music industry and used new technologies to grow their audience. “American Rapstar” will begin streaming on Sept. 1, 2022 on Hulu. Utopia will present a global virtual screening via Altavod.com on Oct. 4, 2022 with exclusive bonus content available only on that day, before releasing the film on-demand on all platforms Oct. 11, 2022.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media Projected Picture Works, the production company founded by Sean Penn last year, has signed on to produce “Killers & Diplomats.” The political thriller tells the true story of four American missionary women who raped and murdered in El Salvador in 1980. It follows a young U.S. diplomat who cracked the case by cultivating an improbable source — risking everything to gather the key evidence. The film is based on an article by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Raymond Bonner. “Killers & Diplomats” is from writers Michael Nourse and John Tyler McClain, whose screenplay was featured on the 2021 Annual Black List. It was developed by producers Jordan Foley and Jonathan Rosenthal of Mill House Motion Pictures. Projected Picture Works partners John Ira Palmer and John Wildermuth are producing with Penn, Foley and Rosenthal. Ray Bonner will executive produce with Yeardley Smith and Ben Cornwell of Paperclip Ltd.  

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentBrussels-based company Best Friend Forever has acquired Laura Baumeister’s feature debut “Daughter of Rage” ahead of its world premiere at Toronto and San Sebastian film festivals. Baumeister previously directed the shorts “Isabel im Winter” which played at Cannes Critics’ Week in 2014 and “Ombligo De Agua” which screened in Rotterdam and Clermont-Ferrand in 2018.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaScreen Media has nabbed North American distribution rights to “Virtually Heroes,” an action comedy that was produced by Roger Corman nearly a decade ago but was left without a home.The release of the film has been a long time coming. “Virtually Heroes” was an official selection of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, but despite Corman’s legendary status as the Picasso of B movies, it never landed distribution.

Christopher Vourlias Beta Film has acquired international distribution rights for the Ukrainian documentaries “Mariupol. Unlost Hope” and “9 Lives” through its subsidiary Autentic Distribution, the sales arm of the documentary label Autentic, which is owned by the Munich-based production and distribution powerhouse.“Mariupol.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” Laura Poitras’s new documentary about artist and activist Nan Goldin, has sold to Neon. The indie studio acquired the film before it was scheduled to make its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. It has also landed prominent spots at the Toronto Film Festival and the New York Film Festival, where it will get the centerpiece slot.

BBC horror series Red Rose has been praised and compared to Black Mirror in early reactions.Created by Michael and Paul Clarkson, whose previous credits include shows The Haunting Of Bly Manor and Amazon’s The Wheel Of Time, Red Rose is a British horror drama about a group of teens in Bolton and a mysterious, controlling app with insidious intentions.The show’s cast features a wealth of newcomers, including Amelia Clarkson, Isis Hainsworth, Natalie Blair, Ellis Howard, Ali Khan, Ashna Rabheru, Adam Nagaitis, Natalie Gavin, Samuel Anderson and Harry Redding.All eight episodes of the show were released on BBC iPlayer on Monday (August 15), with early reactions comparing the technological nightmare to Black Mirror.One viewer wrote: “A few episodes into Red Rose and it’s VERY good. If you like early Black Mirror but wish it had more spooks, I very much recommend.”“I’m finding BBC’s Red Rose entirely too scary, but I can’t tear my eyes away,” another wrote.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and Media“Bullet Train,” a John Wick-ian romp with Brad Pitt in the aisle seat, arrived in theaters with a $30.1 million opening weekend. That’s enough to top the domestic box office chart, but it’s only a so-so result given “Bullet Train’s” $90 million price tag and Pitt’s star power.

Documentary Now! is back on IFC and it is set to premiere Season 53 on Wednesday, October 19 at 10 p.m. ET with two new episodes. The titles of the two-part season premiere are “Soldier of Illusion,” written by John Mulaney, and “Trouver Frisson,” which plays tribute to the Agnès Varda films.

On the morning they opened the writers room for the fifth and final season of the Netflix series Stranger Things, Emmy-nominated creators Matt & Ross Duffer teamed with prosthetics designer Barrie Gower to relive for Deadline Contenders the events of Season 4.

Carson Burton Alexander Skarsgård, Nicholas Braun, French actor Liliane Rovère and others have joined the cast for Season 53 of “Documentary Now!,” IFC announced Friday. The channel also released a first look teaser as well as final details for two new episodes to round out the season.Known for paying homage to the world of documentaries, “Documentary Now!” Season 53 will debut with on Wednesday, Oct.

Jonathan Cohen The red-hot music rights space has a major new entrant in Litmus Music, which is being launched by veteran music executives Hank Forsyth (pictured at left) and Dan McCarroll (right) with $500 million of funding in partnership with Carlyle Global Credit, Variety can reveal. Litmus will acquire and manage music rights in both recorded music and publishing, with an eye on diverse genres and vintages.