Visions du Réel Competition Title ‘Ostrov – Lost Island’ Acquired by Taskovski Films (EXCLUSIVE)

Queen Elizabeth II's cousin, Prince Michael of Kent, is the subject of a new investigative report that found he is essentially selling his royal status for personal profit to those seeking access to Russian President Vladimir Putin.  The undercover investigation was conducted by the Sunday Times and Channel 4. Reporters for the outlets posed as investors of a fake South Korean gold company seeking contacts in the Kremlin to further its business in Russia.

Jennie Punter Svetlana Rodina and Laurent Stoop’s “Ostrov — Lost Island” and Emanuel Licha’s “Zo Reken” took the top Hot Docs jury awards at a special online ceremony webcast from Toronto Friday night.Eleven awards and $67,000 CAD ($55,200) in cash and prizes were presented to emerging and established Canadian and international filmmakers.Best International Feature Documentary Award-winner “Ostrov — Lost Island” chronicles a fishing community in the Caspian Sea, where elders cling to tradition

Andrei Tarkovsky was the name on Barry Jenkins‘ lips as the main influence for his television adaptation of “The Underground Railroad.” Not the first name to think of when considering the enormity of Colson Whitehead’s 2016 novel. The story: a combination of the distressing tribulations of an escapee slave girl with a hefty volume of magical realism, doesn’t immediately describe the Russian auteur.

Ed Meza @edmezavarMarc Bauder, whose documentary “Who We Were,” a visually stunning cinematic search for solutions to the increasingly dire problems facing Planet Earth, unspools at Copenhagen’s CPH:DOX, is going in a very different direction on his next project — a narrative feature film about a cross-dressing flamenco dancer and Jewish resistance fighter who killed Nazis in occupied Poland.“Dolores” will tell the true story of Sylvin Rubinstein, whose Russian mother was forced to moved with

Samuel Goldwyn Films has picked up the worldwide rights, excluding Canada, to the family sci-fi film Let Us In, by director Craig Moss. The indie stars Makenzie Moss, O’Neill Monahan, Sadie Stanley, Eric Callero, Mackenzie Ziegler and Tobin Bell.

Tatiana Huezo has quickly emerged in the world of documentary as one of its most talented and thought-provoking directors of her generation.As she finally jumps from documentary to fiction with the upcoming “Noche de Fuego,” a strong big fest candidate, the director delivered a three-hour masterclass at this week’s Swiss doc fest Visions de Réel.Drilling down on her award-winning features and short films, the director expounded on her own understanding of filmmaking as a personal journey in a

Ed Meza @edmezavarNatalia Almada, who won best director at Sundance this year for her mesmerizing film “Users,” is eager to continue the cinematic journey she began in that work with plans to next explore the boundaries of human endurance and the desire to discover the unknown.“Users,” which is screening at the Copenhagen Documentary Film Festival (CPH:DOX) and Visions du Réel in Switzerland, is a visual essay about technology and progress, their often disastrous impact on the world, the

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentGermany’s Deckert Distribution, a world sales agent on two-time Oscar nominee “Honeyland,” has confirmed first deals on “The Bubble,” “Bellum – Daemon of War” and “Les Enfants terribles,” three world premiere standouts in International Competition at Nyon Switzerland’s Visions du Réel.“Les Enfants terribles” shared the prestige Swiss doc fest’s Special Jury Prize, announced at a prize ceremony on Saturday night.The deals, with more in negotiation,

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentJessica Beshir’s mesmeric Sundance hit “Faya Dayi” won big at Visions du Réel on Saturday, scooping both its top Grand Jury Prize as well as a Fipresci International Critics Award.Tomasz Wolski’s “1970” and Ahmet Necdet Cupur’s “Les Enfants terribles” shared the prestige Swiss doc fest’s Special Jury Prize, an effective runner’s up plaudit.All three films expand on traditional doc formats.Described by Variety as a “stylish documentary” which

Alexander Durie “Loving Highsmith,” a new documentary based on the American crime novelist’s personal writings about her lovers and family, has been acquired by Filmcoopi and Salzgeber & Co for distribution in Switzerland and Germany.

Lise Pedersen Multi-award winning Swedish director Anna Eborn has presented her fifth feature-length project at the Visions du Réel’s Pitching forum, one of the key industry sections at the documentary film fest in Nyon, Switzerland.The two-time Dragon Award-winner for Best Nordic Documentary at Sweden’s Göteborg Fest (for “Transnistria” in 2019 and “Pine Ridge” in 2014) was brought onboard by Stockholm-based production company Film and Tell.A coming-of-age doc about the effects of childhood

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentDuring lockdown multi-prized film director and historian Mark Cousins found out he had a problem with his eyesight. He decided to turn it into a film in which he imagines “the momentous role that looking has played in his own life and the history of humanity,” as the logline reads.Cousins’ latest film, which is based on his book “The Story of Looking,” is being presented as a work-in-progress at Switzerland’s Visions du Réel festival.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentAt Swiss doc fest Visions du Réel with Cannes ACID premiere “Coalesce,” Torino-based The Open Reel has closed a raft of deals on its current sales titles, led by Chilean Alberto Fuguet’s “Everything at Once: Paco and Manolo’s Gaze.”“Being specific titles, and referring to a specific audience, even if in constant expansion, LGBT titles – not only feature films but also documentaries and short films – respond to the constant demand of a slice of the

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent“The Vanishing,” “Yoga Village,” “Science Fiction” and “Transfariana” took top Visions du Réel industry awards at an online ceremony webcast from Switzerland on Tuesday night.Seventeen awards went in all to a total 16 recipients with major winners addressing some of the most relevant issues of the current times — gender abuse and plurality, lockdown, China — filtered through often highly personal prisms.Such is the case of “The Vanishing,” from

Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival is launching a new industry event focusing on Africa. The Southern Africa-Locarno Industry Academy, hosted in collaboration with the Realness Institute of Africa, will take place online from 26 September to 2 October 2021 and will welcome 10-12 participants from all over the African continent.