Venice Title ‘Explanation for Everything’ Sells in Italy and Romania, Debuts Trailer Exploring ‘Tensions of a Polarized Society’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Memento Distribution has picked up French distribution rights to Gabor Reisz’s ‘Explanation for Everything’ following its world premiere in Horizons competition at the Venice Film Festival. The deal was closed by Films Boutique.

EXCLUSIVE: Radu Jude’s Do Not Expect Too Much From The End Of The World, which has just been submitted as Romania’s official entry into the International Oscar race, has been picked up by Mubi for multiple key territories. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Kim Jee-woon’s black comedy “Cobweb,” which debuted this year at Cannes, is set for a U.S. theatrical release in early 2024.

Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired U.S. rights to Korean filmmaker Kim Jee-woon’s Cobweb, starring Song Kang-ho, which had its world premiere Out Of Competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Abacus Media Rights has pre-sold the feature documentary “The Life and Deaths of Christopher Lee,” to Sky Arts, SBS Television Australia; to NonStop Entertainment for Scandinavia, Iceland and the Baltics and to Movistar for Spain. Lee is known as the Dracula character and for transitioning from 1960s Hammer horror films to a distinguished acting career that encompassed James Bond films, the “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings” franchises. Less well-known are his aristocratic Italian roots, a close family connection to James Bond novelist Ian Fleming, Lee’s wartime experiences in the British and Finnish military, post-war Nazi-hunting adventures and a side career as a heavy metal rock singer. As an actor, Lee achieved a Guinness world record for the highest number of screen appearances. Produced in association with the British Film Institute and Trigger Films by Canal Cat Films, “Life and Deaths” is an innovative documentary which uses fresh interviews, archive material and multiple forms of traditional and cutting-edge animation, including marionation, to bring one of the world’s leading actors back to life on screen.

Guy Lodge Film Critic If we’ve learned anything from the last few years of polarized political discourse surrounding everything from gun control to gender identity, it’s that when somebody pulls out the “won’t somebody please think of the children” card, the children are rarely the first thing on their mind. Even as it plays out on a specifically Hungarian social landscape, the satire of Gábor Reisz’s astute, drily funny third feature “Explanation for Everything” — in which an underachieving high-schooler becomes a right-wing cause célèbre on the strength of some dicey tabloid reporting — resonates more widely.

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s your first trailer for Liam Neeson crime-thriller In The Land Of Saints And Sinners, which debuts tomorrow at the Venice Film Festival.

William Friedkin’s last film The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial will make its U.S. premiere on October 6 on Paramount+ with Showtime.

Marta Balaga Zoe Roellin’s VR animation “Perennials” – presented at Venice Immersive and produced by Meta – will hit the VR Animation Player next. “It makes me very happy, because it will be available to practically everyone with a VR headset,” says the Swiss artist, based in Italy, opening up about her collaboration with Ryan Genji Thomas and Goro Fujita. “They approached me because they liked my work with [painting and animation software] Quill and asked if I wanted to pitch a project to Meta.

Kanye West and Bianca Censori won’t be taking any future water taxis around Venice, Italy. At least not with one company!

Paramount+ has announced it will premiere William Friedkin’s last film The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial in all international markets where the service is currently live.

The cast, producers and collaborators of Roman Polanski’s The Palace showed their support for the filmmaker here in Venice today during a press conference for the movie that world premieres out of competition this evening. 

Marta Balaga Mika Gustafson’s “Paradise Is Burning” – sold by Italy’s Intramovies and previously known as “Sisters” – has debuted a trailer and exclusive first clip ahead of its premiere in Venice Film Festival’s Horizons section. Set in Sweden, it sees young sisters Laura, Mira and Steffi trying to get by on their own after their mother leaves. When social services call, Laura comes up with a plan: in order to avoid foster care, she needs to find someone to impersonate their mom.

Naman Ramachandran The bipolar nature of Hungary’s politics and the country’s education system are the targets of Gábor Reisz’s “Explanation for Everything,” which world premieres in the Venice Film Festival’s Horizons strand. The film is Reisz’s third feature after the acclaimed “Some Inexplicable Reason” (2014) and “Bad Poems” (2018). Set in summer in Budapest, “Explanation for Everything” follows high school student Abel, who is struggling to focus on his final exams while coming to the realization that he is hopelessly in love with his best friend Janka.

George Clooney and his wife Amal looked loved-up as they arrived in Venice ahead of the 80th International Film Festival on Tuesday.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The 80th Venice Film Festival kicks off tomorrow with a robust roster of awards season hopefuls making their bows, such as Michael Mann’s “Ferrari,” Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro,” Sophia Coppola’s “Priscilla” and David Fincher’s “The Killer,” accompanied by a smattering of stars. As previously reported by Variety, the festival has confirmed that Adam Driver will be in Venice to promote “Ferrari” while Cailee Spaeny and Jacob Elordi, who play Priscilla and Elvis Presley in “Priscilla,” as well as Priscilla Presley herself, are also expected to be on the Lido.

Naman Ramachandran The 67th BFI London Film Festival has unveiled the titles that will compete in its official, first feature, documentary and short film competitions. Festival director Kristy Matheson said: “The films represented in each of these competitive strands offer audiences an exciting array of U.K. and global filmmaking voices and cinematic forms.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Triple Oscar nominee Agnieszka Holland’s “Green Border,” which will premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival, before going onto Toronto Film Festival and New York Film Festival, has sold to multiple territories. Variety has been granted access to an exclusive clip from the film, and Holland’s notes on the production, which we quote from below, again exclusively.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italy’s Fandango Sales will launch international distribution at the Venice Film Festival on Tommaso Santambrogio’s “Oceans Are the Real Continents,” set and shot in a run-down contemporary Cuba. The film opens the festival’s independently run Venice Days section.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor “Evil Does Not Exist,” the new film by the Oscar-winning auteur Ryūsuke Hamaguchi, has sold to several additional territories. The film will world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival, will have its North America premiere as a special presentation at Toronto, and will go on to screen at New York and San Sebastian. Hamaguchi received Oscar nominations last year for directing and adapted screenplay, shared with Takamasa Ôe, for “Drive My Car.” The film was also nominated in the best picture category and won the international feature film Oscar.