Utopia Buys Participant Documentary ‘Unseen Skies’ on Evolution of Corporate Surveillance (EXCLUSIVE)

Diane Weyermann’s impact continues to be felt throughout the documentary field, with her presence evident on some of the fall’s most talked about nonfiction films, including Laura Poitras’s All the Beauty and the Bloodshed and Steve James’s A Compassionate Spy.

Paris Hilton isn’t interested in revisiting the story of her infamous multi-million dollar robbery!

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Is there a bidding war brewing over Hulu? Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts called Hulu a “phenomenal business” — and said that if Disney were willing to sell it, the cable and media company would be interested in buying it out. “Hulu’s a phenomenal business. Its scale is fantastic. It has wonderful content,” Roberts said, speaking Wednesday at Goldman Sachs’ Communacopia + Technology Conference 2022 in San Francisco. “If it was up for sale, Comcast would be interested” in buying 100% of Hulu, and “others would I think as well.” Disney currently owns 66% of Hulu and Comcast holds the remaining 33% stake. As of July 2, 2022, Disney recorded Comcast’s interest in Hulu as being worth $8.6 billion, implying a valuation of $25.8 billion. In an auction-style sale of Hulu in its entirety, Roberts suggested, Hulu may fetch more than that.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Sony Pictures Classics has landed worldwide rights to “It Ain’t Over,” a documentary about baseball Hall of Famer Yogi Berra. Sean Mullin directed the doc, which premiered at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. The specialty studio has yet to detail any release plans for the movie. Described as “an intimate portrait of a misunderstood American icon, “It Ain’t Over” illustrates the life and career of Berra, a sports legend whose accomplishments on the baseball diamond were often overshadowed by his off-the-field persona. Berra, considered one of the best catchers in baseball history, won 10 World Series championships during his 19 seasons in Major League Baseball, 18 of which were with the New York Yankees. He also became known for Yogi-isms, like “It ain’t over ’til it’s over” and “It’s déjà vu all over again.”

Brent Lang Executive Editor RLJE Films has acquired “Nocebo,” a thriller starring Eva Green and Mark Strong. The film will open in theaters on Nov. 4 and on-demand and digitally on Nov. 22. Shudder will release the film in 2023. Both RLJE and Shudder are business units of AMC Networks Shudder focuses on streaming movies in the horror, thriller and supernatural genres. “Nocebo” centers on a fashion designer (Green), who suffers from a mysterious illness that confounds her doctors and frustrates her husband (Strong). Help arrives in the form of a Filipino nanny (Chai Fonacier) who uses traditional folk healing to reveal a horrifying truth. 

Manori Ravindran International Editor Robert Schwartzman is part of one of Hollywood’s great filmmaking dynasties, but when he ventured into directing himself, he discovered that the world of distribution for up-and-coming filmmakers was broken. The multihyphenate, who is Francis Ford Coppola’s nephew, has acted in movies like “The Princess Diaries” — where he played Anne Hathaway’s love interest Michael Moscovitz in what became her breakout movie — and has fronted the rock band Rooney since 1999. In recent years, however, Schwartzman has become more ensconced in the family business, directing indie features such as “The Unicorn,” “Dreamland” and “The Argument.”

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Cohen Media Group has acquired U.S. distribution rights to “Driving Madeleine,” a stirring new drama directed Oscar-nominated filmmaker Christian Carion (“Joyeux Noel”), and starring Dany Boon (“Bienvenue chez les ch’tis”). The film is playing in the Official Selection at the Toronto Film Festival. Besides “Joyeux Noel,” Carion’s wide-ranging films include the Cold War spy thriller “Farewell,” the World War II tale “Come What May,” the mystery “My Son,” and the rural drama “The Girl from Paris.”  “Driving Madeleine” stars Boon as Charles, a taxi driver in Paris who is struggling under mounting stress. His debts are coming due, his driver’s license is in danger of being suspended because of numerous fines, and his marriage is falling apart. He has no way of knowing his life is about to be transformed when he picks up Madeleine, a 92-year-old woman who is soon to move into a care facility. She asks Charles to make certain stops during what may be her last ride through the city. Charles grumbles but is slowly charmed by Madeleine’s warmth and fascinated by her tales as she slowly reveals the dramatic and shocking story of her life.

HBO Documentary Films has acquired U.S. television and streaming rights to Oscar winner Laura Poitras’s film All the Beauty and the Bloodshed, fresh from its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival and sneak preview at Telluride.

Manori Ravindran International Editor IFC Films has acquired the U.S. rights to “Operation Avalanche” director Matt Johnson’s new movie, “BlackBerry,” about the ill-fated smartphone that took the world by storm in the early 2000s. The highly anticipated film, which was first revealed by Variety last month, tells the story of the meteoric rise and catastrophic demise of the BlackBerry, and stars an ensemble cast including Jay Baruchel (“This Is the End”), Glenn Howerton (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”) and Cary Elwes (“Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning”). The pic will detail the operations of BlackBerry’s Canadian parent company Research in Motion, which was one of the country’s most illustrious and well-known tech companies before it floundered in legal disputes and eventually lost its market advantage to competitors such as Apple and Samsung. At the heart of the story is the business relationship between co-founders Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie.

India’s Kajol To Star Disney+ Hotstar Remake Of ‘The Good Wife’

Banijay Kids & Family has bought UK drama specialist Kindle Entertainment and Italian animation firm Movimenti Production. The deals bring the total number of production within Banijay’s youth-focused arm across France, the UK and Italy to six, sitting alongside distribution, marketing and licencing arm, Zodiak Kids & Family Distribution.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Momentum Pictures has purchased the North American and U.K. rights to Michael Morris’ “To Leslie,” a drama with Andrea Riseborough that had its world premiere at this year’s SXSW Film Festival. The film will be released in theaters and on VOD on Oct. 7. Riseborough starts as a West Texas mother who wins the lottery and drinks it away just as fast, leaving behind a world of heartbreak. She comes home in the hopes of achieving redemption. Riseborough leads an ensemble that includes Oscar-winner Allison Janney (“I, Tonya”), Marc Maron (“Maron”), Owen Teague (‘The Stand”), James Landry Hebert (“Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood”), Andre Royo (“The Wire”) and Stephen Root (“Barry”).

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Participant Media has promoted three executives to senior vice president. Elizabeth Haggard has been elevated to senior VP of narrative film; Nicole Starr has been appointed to the newly created position of senior VP of content representation and impact; and Rob Williams has been named senior VP of global sales. Haggard will continue to report to executive VPs of narrative film Anikah McLaren and Robert Kessel. As senior VP of narrative film, she will have greater oversight of the day-to-day development and production of the company’s film slate. Starr will report to CEO David Linde. In her newly formed role, Starr will engage throughout the content development process for Participant’s narrative, documentary and episodic content.

Eddie Redmayne To Be Honored With Zurich’s Golden Eye

Manori Ravindran International Editor MTV Documentary Films has boarded new projects about an all-girl Afghan robotics team, a #MeToo crime story, an imprisoned mural artist and a community of disabled children in Pakistan. The documentaries join a slate that includes Ondi Timoner’s Sundance title “Last Flight Home,” which will be screening at Telluride this week in a rare double festival act. The fledgling division, which was Oscar-nominated for the film “Ascension” earlier this year, was set up in 2019 by legendary HBO Documentary Films boss Sheila Nevins, and ViacomCBS executives Liza Burnett Fefferman and Nina L. Diaz. Nevins was at HBO for 38 years and won 34 Emmys in that period. Her credits include “Citizenfour,” “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief” and “Paradise Lost.”

Manori Ravindran International Editor Don DeLillo’s debut novel, “Americana,” is set to be adapted 51 years after it was first published. “White Noise” producer Uri Singer (“Tesla,” “The King of Oil”) has bought the rights to the 1971 novel, continuing his streak of adapting a string of DeLillo works that have been deemed “unadaptable.” “Americana” tells the story of David Bell, an out-of-touch television executive who sets off on a road trip with his female colleague, Sullivan, to make an avant-garde film. The book explores the intricacies of corporate culture and examines how we create realities, whether they are true or not.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter A24 has landed global rights to “Earth Mama,” a coming-of-age story from Olympian-turned-director Savanah Leaf. Written and directed by Leaf, “Earth Mama” follows a pregnant single mother who embraces her Bay Area community as she determines the fate of her family. The cast includes Bay Area musician Tia Nomore, Erika Alexander (“Living Single,” “Run the World”), rapper Doechii, Sharon Duncan Brewster (“Sex Education,” “Dune”), Dominic Fike (“Euphoria”) and Bokeem Woodbine (“The Inspection,” “Halo”). A24 will handle the global rollout of the film, which does not have a release date. It wrapped production this summer. Film4 developed “Earth Mama” alongside the filmmakers and will co-finance with A24.

EXCLUSIVE: Anvil! The Story Of Anvil, the heartbreaking and heartwarming story of a veteran heavy metal band, is getting a wide theatrical release with its remaster.

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.