Venice Competition Title ‘Captain Volkonogov Escaped’ Acquired by Memento (EXCLUSIVE)

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentReincarnation, artificial consciousness and augmented reality intersect in U.S. director Jake Wachtel’s Cambodia-set “Karmalink,” for which Variety can reveal the first trailer.The sci-fi mystery will have its world premiere as the opening film of the Venice Film Festival’s Critics’ Week on Sept.

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s your first trailer for Iranian drama-horror Zalava, which is playing in the Venice Critics’ Week, the independent and parallel section of the Venice Film Festival.

now streaming on Hulu.) By the end of the third episode, one of the titular strangers has come to that very realization, demanding to know, "«It's a twist straight out of Liane Moriarty's best-selling novel of the same name. Both focus on nine guests (played onscreen by the likes of Melissa McCarthy, Regina Hall, Bobby Cannavale and Michael Shannon) at a wellness retreat run by an increasingly unorthodox Russian guru named Masha (Nicole Kidman).

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorGabin Rivoire’s documentary “Laurent Garnier: Off the Record,” which explores the origins and rise of techno music through the eyes of one of its pioneers, has sold to multiple territories.

was like putting together a puzzle. Adapted from the Liane Moriarty novel of the same name, the Hulu series centers on the guests attending a high-end wellness retreat and the Russian woman who acts as their mind, body and spirit guru.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Koch Media has acquired German and Italian VOD rights to Russian filmmaker Anna Zaytseva’s feature debut “#Blue_Whale” ahead of its Aug. 17 world premiere at the 25th Fantasia Int’l Film Festival.“Searching” and “Profile” creator and Screenlife format pioneer TimurBekmambetov is a co-producer of “#Blue_Whale.”The cautionary tale is inspired by a news story Zaytseva came upon years ago which was later presented to her as a treatment.

Naman Ramachandran Indian film director Sanjay Leela Bhansali has seen it all – from being physically attacked on the sets of “Padmaavat” to walking the red carpet at a triumphant Cannes screening of “Devdas” – in his 25 years of filmmaking.A graduate of the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India, in Pune, Bhansali equally consumed the oeuvre of Tarkovsky, Uday Shankar’s “Kalpana” and Francis Ford Coppola’s “One From the Heart.” While he could not fathom the Russian auteur’s work in

Jamie Lang The Venice International Film Festival and Campari will honor production designer Marcus Rowland with this year’s Campari Passion for Film Award at this year’s 75th edition, where “Last Night in Soho,” his latest collaboration with director Edgar Wright, will screen out of competition. Rowland will receive the honor during a ceremony on Sept.

Naman Ramachandran Toronto-based outfit Syndicado Film Sales has picked up Romanian duo Monica Stan and George Chiper-Lillemark’s Venice Days selection “Immaculate” (Imaculat).The film follows Daria, whose junkie boyfriend ends up in prison, and she is taken by her parents to rehab to quit heroin and become a good daughter again. Inside the clinic, Daria’s unwavering loyalty to her boyfriend makes her exceptional in the eyes of the male junkies and saves her from their sexual pressures.

Escape From Tarkov has started the new wipe with a series of broad changes, but one of the most interesting is the new set of limited-time events.After last week’s in-game heatwave made water prices skyrocket and dehydration a risk for characters in the game, this week’s event seems to cryptically suggest that there could be a problem with keys and traders.A tweet posted by Battlestate Games in Russian seems to suggest that traders in Escape From Tarkov are no longer buying keys for good

Christopher Vourlias German sales outfit Patra Spanou Film has acquired the international sales rights to “Blue Moon,” the feature debut of Romanian director Alina Grigore, which will world premiere in main competition at September’s San Sebastian Film Festival.“Blue Moon” follows the psychological journey of a young woman, played by Ioana Chitu, who struggles to receive a higher education and escape her dysfunctional family.

Christopher Vourlias Philipp Yuryev’s “The Whaler Boy,” which took home the Venice Days award at last year’s Venice Film Festival, won the top prize at the Transilvania Film Festival on Saturday.The jury praised the Russian director’s feature debut, an offbeat story of a teenage whale hunter on the Bering Strait who sets out to meet a webcam model, for being “beautiful and meticulous in its sense of time and place” while also being “really resonant and contemporary at the same time as being

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentCoccinelle Film Sales has taken international rights on Italian director Ciro De Caro’s female empowerment drama “Giulia” ahead of its upcoming world premiere in the Venice Film Festival’s independently run Venice Days section.Pic stars emerging actor Rosa Palasciano (“Tales for Heart and Mind”) in the title role as a young woman who winds up on the street in Rome during a torrid summer seeking refuge and a place in the world.“Giulia” is the third

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentItalian sales company True Colours has secured a seven-title slate of pics premiering in Venice across various sections, including Mario Martone’s competition entry “The King of Laughter” and high-profile doc “Django and Django: Sergio Corbucci Unchained,” in which Quentin Tarantino talks about the influential Spaghetti Westerns director.Martone (“Capri Revolution”), who is a Lido aficionado, will once again vye for the Golden Lion with “King of

BattleState Games has released a teaser on Twitter suggesting that an in-game heatwave is coming to Escape From Tarkov.The tweet shared shows a news article with a weather prediction across the bottom. While the text itself is in Russian, one Twitter user, @BakeeZy, has provided a translation.“Norvinsk Meteo Station has published a weather forecast for the next few days.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorBerlin-based sales agency Films Boutique has boarded Ukraine war documentary “Trenches,” which will world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in the Out of Competition section.French war journalist Loup Bureau, directing his first documentary, depicts the reality of the war that has been raging in Eastern Europe between Ukraine and Russian-backed forces over several years, a conflict that is no longer reported extensively by mainstream international

Naman Ramachandran Erik Matti’s new original six-part Philippines series “On The Job” will premiere on HBO GO in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Taiwan in September and will also air later on the region’s HBO channel.Select episodes from the series will screen in competition at the Venice Film Festival in September, the only Asian title in contention out of the 21 in the lineup. HBO GO has also released a trailer.

Simone Biles' shocking withdrawal from the team gymnastics competition at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, her fellow athletes and famous fans are sending messages of support.The defending gold medalist in vault, floor exercise, all-around and the team competition, Biles left the competition floor with the Team USA medical trainer after her first rotation on the vault.