Wagatha Christie Channel 4 Drama Sells To BritBox North America & Buyers In Australia/New Zealand

EXCLUSIVE: Cleopatra Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Argentinian director and producer Nicolas Onetti’s slasher picture What The Waters Left Behind: Scars.

Harry Styles will legally have to take part in New Zealand’s census because he is playing in Auckland on the day it is happening.Unlike in the UK, foreign visitors who are in New Zealand on the day of the census have to take part. The census, which is taken every five years, falls on March 7, the day Styles plays his only New Zealand show of his ‘Love On Tour’ world tour.A spokesperson for the New Zealand government’s census team told The Guardian that Styles would have to take part.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Jan Naszewski’s Warsaw-based sales outlet New Europe Film Sales has sold North American distribution rights for its Berlinale-selected drama “Delegation” to Greenwich Entertainment. “Delegation” is a story of three Israeli high school friends who take part in a class trip visiting Holocaust sites in Poland – their last time together before going to the army. During the trip, shy boy Frisch, aspiring artist Nitzan and class heartthrob Ido deal with issues of love, friendship and politics against the backdrop of concentration camps and memorial sites. The journey will change them forever. The deal for the film, which had its premiere in the Generation 14Plus competition, was negotiated by Naszewski and Greenwich co-president Edward Arentz.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Arbelos, a Los Angeles-based boutique film distribution company, has acquired North American rights to the new 4K restoration of Béla Tarr collaborator György Fehér’s landmark but long unseen Hungarian masterpiece “Twilight” (“Szürkület”). The restored version of the film world premiered in the Berlinale’s Classics strand on Monday. Hungary’s National Film Institute handled the sale. Fehér, who made only two theatrical features, shot the black-and-white film at the end of the 1980s. Based on the crime novella “The Pledge” by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, it is the story of a retired detective who uses a girl as bait to try to catch a serial killer.

Motion Content Group, an industrious producer and co-financier of Love Island, Wynonna Earp and some 1,800 other series globally, is rebranding as GroupM Motion Entertainment in North America.

Hong Sang-soo’s latest film, “In Water,” has been bought by Cinema Guild for North American distribution on the heels of its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. The film played in the Encounters section and is expected to have its North American premiere at a festival later this year. Cinema Guild will be releasing “In Water” theatrically. Described by Cinema Guild as Hong’s “most overtly experimental work to date,” “In Water” follows Seongmo (Shin Seokho), a young man who recently gave up acting and has decided to make a film with his own money. He and his two friends venture to the rocky shores of a large island to shoot the movie together. His former classmate, Sangguk (Ha Seongguk), will operate the camera and Namhee (Kim Seungyun) will act in it. The only problem is that Seongmo hasn’t decided what to make. As he wanders in the rocks and wind, Seongmo searches inspiration but what he finds is a young woman picking up trash. And that’s all he needs.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Lie With Me,” a romance drama headlined by French stars Guillaume de Tonquebec and Victor Belmondo, has lured a raft of theatrical distributors at the Berlinale’s EFM. Represented in international markets by Be For Films and directed by Olivier Peyon, the movie is based on Philippe Besson’s book “Arrête avec tes mensonges.” The autobiographical novel was originally published in France by Editions Julliard in 2017 and won pair of awards including the Maison de la Presse prize in 2017. After selling several key territories earlier this year, Be For Films has now closed deals for the U.S. (Cinephobia Realising), Germany/Austria (24 Bilder), Brazil (Imovision), Poland (Tongariro), Greece (Cinobo) and Turkey (Bir Films).

Harry Styles tried out an Australian tradition as he took to the stage in Perth on Monday.

Lorde and Sting have postponed and cancelled their respective upcoming shows in New Zealand following the destruction caused by Cyclone Gabrielle.The Category 3 cyclone hit the northern region of New Zealand’s North Island on February 12, before gradually tracking down the east coast and leaving widespread devastation in its wake. Two days later, New Zealand declared a state of emergency – only the third in its history – as Prime Minister Chris Hipkin described Cyclone Gabrielle as the country’s “most significant weather event” to occur this century.At the time of writing, the death toll of Cyclone Gabrielle stands at 11, with more than 5,000 people remaining uncontactable across New Zealand.

King Charles has met with Ukrainian military recruits at a Wiltshire training camp to mark one year since the outbreak of war with Russia. At an undisclosed location in Wiltshire, the King looked on intently as the men – many civilians who have no experience of the military – stormed a trench a few hundred metres away as the mock gun battle raged.The royal was all smiles as he greeted the men, who will return to fight in Ukraine once their training complete.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Uncork’d Entertainment has acquired the North American rights for suspense sci-fi thriller “I’ll Be Watching” from Iuvit Media Sales at the European Film Market in Berlin. The film has also been picked up by Falcon Films in the Middle East and North Africa, while Dolphin Medien has taken German-speaking territory rights. The film is directed by Erik Bernard (“Free Dead or Alive”), and stars “The 100” stars Eliza Taylor and Bob Morley, along with Bryan Batt (“12 Years a Slave”), David Keith (“An Officer and a Gentleman”), Hannah Fierman (“VHS”), and Seth Michaels (“Red Notice”).

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Protagonist Pictures has sold out international on Rebecca Miller’s Berlinale opener “She Came to Me.” The Peter Dinklage-led film has sold into Sky for the U.K. and Ireland, Belga for Benelux, Originals Factory for France, Lusomundo for Portugal, Trip Pictures for Spain, M2 Eastern for Europe, Cinesky for Airlines, Aud for South Korea and Shochiku for Japan. In addition, Universal Pictures Content Group has made a multi-territory deal that spans Germany, Austria, Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Scandinavia, Iceland, Switzerland, Israel, Middle East, South Africa, Turkey, Australia and New Zealand, Latin America, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Asia pay-TV rights.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Cornerstone has struck several deals on Australian-made horror thriller “Sting,” about a huge and insatiable spider, which wrapped production this week. The film was licensed to Lucky Red (Italy), Diamond Films (Latin America, Spain, Portugal), Nordisk (Scandinavia), Kinoswiat (Poland), Pasatiempo Pictures (Baltics, CIS), Karantanija (Ex-Yogoslavia), Italia (Middle East), Filmfinity (South Africa) and Terry Steiner International (airlines). That is in addition to pre-existing deals with Studiocanal to release the film in will release in the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Benelux. The film is directed by Kiah Roache-Turner (“Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead”) and stars Ryan Corr (“House of the Dragon,” “The Water Diviner”), Alyla Browne (“Three Thousand Years of Longing,” “Nine Perfect Strangers”), Penelope Mitchell (“Hellboy”), Robyn Nevin (“Top of the Lake”), Noni Hazlehurst (“The End”) and Jermaine Fowler.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Saban Films has acquired the U.S., U.K. and other international rights to Jean-Claude Van Damme action-spy thriller “Darkness of Man.” Directed by James Cullen Bressack, the film sees Van Damme playing Interpol operative Russell Hatch, who witnesses the death of his last informant in a routine raid gone wrong. Years later, he takes on a father figure role to the son of the informant, and finds himself protecting the boy from a group of merciless gangs in an all-out turf war. Alongside the U.S. and U.K., Saban Films has picked up Australian/New Zealand, African, Spanish and Scandinavian territory rights to the film, which also stars Kristanna Loken (“Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines”), Peter Jae (“Blackhat”), Spencer Breslin (“The Kid”), Emerson Min (“Black-ish”) and rapper Sticky Fingaz.

Bleecker Street has picked up North American distribution rights to Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche historical epic The Return on the eve of the European Film Market. The project, which is directed by Uberto Pasolini, is based on Homer’s ancient classic The Odyssey. 

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Films Boutique has closed a flurry of deals on “Subtraction,” Mani Haghighi’s Iranian noir thriller which world premiered at Toronto in the competition Platform section. The Berlin-based company has closed deals in France (Diaphana in association with Kinovista), Russia and CIS (A One), Canada (Films We Like), Ex-Yugoslavia (MCF Megacom), Middle East (Fron Row), Poland (Mayfly), Taiwan (Proview Ent.), Australia and New Zealand (Vendetta), Switzerland (Trigon) and Benelux (September Films). The movie is headlined by Taraneh Alidoosti, the Iranian star of “The Salesman” and “Leila’s Brothers” and Navid Mohammadzadeh (“Leila’s Brothers”). Both Haghighi and Alidoosti have recently been targeted by Iranian authorities. Alidoosti was temporarily arrested, while Haghighi had his passport confiscated as he was about to board a flight to attend the BFI London Film Festival. 

Blippi comes in.Blippi, the popular children’s entertainer, is traveling far and wide to as part of his “Blippi: The Wonderful World Tour” to deliver a one-of-a-kind experience that’s fun for the whole family.And this year’s tour itinerary for the man in the orange hat, glasses and suspenders includes quite a few Northeastern stops. First, Blippi and his pal Meekah will drop into Englewood’s Bergen Performing Arts Center on March 18 at at 1 p.m.

Naman Ramachandran Indian festival favorite and box office success “Dostojee” (“Two Friends”), directed by Prasun Chatterjee will release across the U.S., U.A.E. and Australia and New Zealand on March 17. California-based film distribution company Bioskope Films LLC has acquired U.S. theatrical rights and will release the film across 75 cities in 26 states. The theatrical release is an Oscar-qualifying run making the Bengali-language “Dostojee” eligible for consideration at the 96th Academy Awards, 2024. The film will have a premiere in New York City. “Dostojee” will also release theatrically across 15 cities in Canada, 10 cities in Australia and New Zealand, and Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Ajman in the U.A.E. Phars Film Co Motion Pictures will handle the U.A.E. distribution and Bongoz Films Australia and New Zealand.

Rihanna’s Super Bowl performance has a hold on ALL of us!

EXCLUSIVE: MetFilm Sales has acquired world rights, excluding Australia and New Zealand, to Gloriavale: New Zealand’s Secret Cult, Fergus Grady and Noel Smyth’s feature doc about a notorious kiwi religious cult.