News

Exclusive: The women and gender-expansive-focused training initiative Circle has unveiled the line-up for the second edition of its Circle Fiction Orbit in Montenegro, with mentors including award-winning directors Jasmila Žbanić and Pia Marais this year.

The event – unfolding in the Montenegrin resort coastal resort town of Herceg Novi from November 24 to December 1 – is supporting a diverse line-up of six fiction projects with strong international potential.

They include historic drama Tethys Ocean by Polish director Anna Jadowska, who made waves with 2022 bank robbery drama Woman On The Roof, and award-winning Slovenian director Barbara Zemljič’s It Will Fade Away, following a woman who discovers her daughter is being sexually harassed by a child at her kindergarten. (scroll down for full list of projects).

Oscar nominated Romanian producer Bianca Oana, whose credits include Berlinale Golden Bear winner Touch Me Not and Oscar-nominated doc Collective, has returned as head of studies for a second year.

Globetrotting festival, markets, film development and training veteran Marten Rabarts is joining the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) team to lead its industry activities as Head Of IFFR Pro.

The New Zealand-born film professional already has strong connections with the Netherlands. He was artistic director of development hub the Binger Filmlab in Amsterdam for 12 years, followed by a four-year stint as Head of Eye International (now SeeNL), promoting Dutch film and film culture worldwide.

Rabarts left the latter position in 2019 to take on the role of festival director at the Whanau Marama – New Zealand International Film Festival for two years. Most recently he worked as a script mentor on the inaugural edition of Jane Campion’s A Wave In The Ocean Lab, among other activities on the international film circuit.

In his new role, Rabarts will work closely with IFFR’s Festival Director, Vanja Kaludjercic, and report into Chief of Content,...

Vienna-based sales outlet Autlook Filmsales has picked up global rights to documentary “Tata,” directed by Lina Vdovîi and Radu Ciorniciuc, set for its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.

In the film, a journalist estranged from her violent father discovers that he has become a victim of work exploitation. When she agrees to help him expose the injustice, it reopens the wounds of their past.

After years of estrangement, Lina, a Moldovan journalist, receives a video message from her father, a migrant worker in Italy, showing bruises on his arms. Equipping him with a hidden camera so that he may find justice, Lina finds herself on a parallel journey — uncovering a pattern of domestic violence that has plagued her family for generations.

Filmed across Italy, Moldova and Romania, “Tata” is a raw portrait of a family locked in a relentless struggle against toxic masculinity. It tells the story of...

Titles from “Lupin” co-creator François Uzan, former Netflix top exec Erik Barmack, indie multinational Boat Rocker and Brendan Foley, writer of “Cold Courage,” will be pitched on Wednesday and Thursday at Spain’s Conecta Fiction & Entertainment. The pitch sessions form the industry centerpiece of the meet. Following, profiles of entries in four of the six categories: Copro, High-End, Docudramas and Feel Good:

CoPro Pitch

“Destape,” (Satisfaction Iberia, Spain)

The latest from Pablo Barrera, a co-creator of admired crime drama “Punta Escarlata,” a mystery drama turning on (the fictional) Rosa Burnett, a face of Spain’s ‘70s destape cinema, movies with tantalizing nudity. Now, thought dead, Burnett returns from gthe shadows to wreak her vengeance.

“Fin del Año,” (Têm Dênde Productions, Brazil)

A supernatural suspense drama from Vânia Lima at Salvador’s Têm Demdê Productions, behind Ruy Guerra’s “Time, Knifed,” presented at Ventana Sur. A bus transporting five people who...

Upcoming projects from Iranian filmmaker Behrooz Karamizade and Golden Bear-winning producer Bianca Oana are among 10 titles selected for the Full Circle Lab Nouvelle-Aquitaine Hessen workshop.

The first edition of the lab, which has been announced in Cannes and is organised by France’s Tatino Films, will host six projects in development and four in the editing stage. The Development Lab will support writing, co-production consultations and industry guidance while the First Cut Lab will supply expert feedback, guided by an experienced editing tutor.

From the selection, six are connected to the region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine in France and four with the Hessen region in Germany.

Exclusive: Female and non-binary filmmaker-focused international training initiative Circle has kicked off its inaugural Circle Fiction Orbit initiative at a meeting in Montenegro and unveiled the participants.

The new program extends Circle’s activities beyond its founding Woman Doc Accelerator program, which has supported some 50 non-fiction projects since its launch five years ago.

Employing the same methodology as the Doc Accelerator, the inaugural fiction initiative is supporting five fiction projects in development.

They include Greenlandic birthday party-set drama Kaffemi, from director Pipaluk Jørgensen, whose short film Ivalu was Oscar nominated this year, and screenwriter-actress Nukâka Coster Waldau.

Italian director Irene Dionisio participates with Idda about two childhood friends who reconnect as they scale the perilous slopes of Mount Etna. Dionisio previously made waves with Pawn Streets which played in Venice Critics’ Week.

Finnish director Laura Hyppönen and producer Merja Ritola (Greenlit Productions) are attending with Lex Julia, exploring the dynamics...

It’s a welcome sight for any longtime visitors returning to Sarajevo, the white-jacketed waiters circling the terrace of the majestic, Austro-Hungarian-built Hotel Europe as film and TV industry professionals parse scripts and close deals amid the espresso-fueled chatter. Around them a haze of cigarette smoke hovers like the mist that settles each morning over the green hills that ring this scenic Bosnian city.

Each summer hundreds of industry guests from around the globe descend on the historic, 140-year-old Hotel Europe, which survived two World Wars and the shelling that razed Sarajevo in the 1990s and serves as the de facto hub of industry events during the Sarajevo Film Festival. Twenty years after its launch in a city still emerging from the rubble of a brutal, four-year siege, CineLink Industry Days has grown into the leading film and TV industry event in the Balkan region — a success story as improbable...

Vienna-based sales agent Square Eyes has acquired international rights to Theo Montoya’s debut feature “Anhell69,” ahead of its world premiere in Venice Film Festival’s International Critics’ Week. The producers include Bianca Oana, who also produced Alexander Nanau’s Oscar-nominated doc “Collective,” and Berlinale winner “Touch Me Not” by Adina Pintilie.

A haunting, cinematic portrait of the young queer scene in Medellín, “Anhell69” follows Montoya’s short film on the same subject, “Son on Sodom,” which premiered in Cannes 2020.

In “Anhell69,” a funeral car cruises the streets of Medellín, while a young director tells the story of his past in this violent and conservative city. He remembers the pre-production of his first film, a B-movie with ghosts. The young queer scene of Medellín forms the cast for the film, but the main protagonist dies of a heroin overdose at the age of 21, like many friends of the director. “Anhell69” explores the dreams,...

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When the Sarajevo Film Festival was launched, back in 1995, it was in defiance. Founded during the siege of the city during the Bosnian War, the festival stood as a symbol of the power and resilience of cinema even in the face of violence and war.

In 2002, when the fest launched its CineLink program, it was amidst a mood of hope, a hope for a better future for the film industry in the former Yugoslavia and or the entire region of Southeastern Europe.

What started as a modest co-production market to encourage production with and between filmmakers in the region has now, two decades on, expanded to include a rich and diverse program of conferences, panels, talks and masterclasses. The heart of the Sarajevo Film Festival’s industry program, CineLink now plays an essential role in scouting for new talents from the region, mentoring...

New films from Tribeca prize winner Elina Psykou, Sarajevo winner Nikola Ležaić and the producers behind the upcoming Venice Horizons premiere “The Happiest Man in the World” are among the projects selected for the Sarajevo Film Festival’s CineLink Co-Production Market, the leading financing forum in Southeast Europe.

This year marks the 20th edition of the influential co-production market, which has launched films such as László Nemes’ Academy Award winner “Son of Saul,” Adina Pintilie’s Golden Bear winner “Touch Me Not” and Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov’s Oscar nominee “Honeyland.” Nine new feature film projects from the region currently in development will be presented to industry guests, along with seven new dramatic series in the event’s Drama strand.

The carefully curated selection is among the smallest for a major regional market. That allows the organizers to begin working with the chosen filmmakers months in advance, employing script...

Also opening: Disney’s ‘Encanto’, ‘Bad Luck Banging’.

Ridley Scott’s House Of Gucci and Reggie Yates’ Pirates head the openers at the UK-Ireland box office, in another bumper week of 17 theatrical debuts.

House Of Gucci is Scott’s second film to arrive in cinemas in six weeks, after medieval epic The Last Duel in mid-October.

Like that title, House Of Gucci tells a true story and boasts a stellar cast, led by Lady Gaga as Patrizia Reggiani, an ambitious woman who marries fashion heir Maurizio Gucci, played by Adam Driver. She pushes him to take over the family business,...

For an industry struggling to regain its footing after the disruptions of the pandemic year, amid ongoing fears surrounding the lethal Delta variant and uncertainty about the months ahead, few sights this summer will be as welcome to festival regulars as the buzzy terrace of Sarajevo’s Hotel Europe, the de facto hub of industry events during the Sarajevo Film Festival.

Having survived two World Wars and the shelling that devastated much of the city in the 1990s, the historic hotel is a fitting symbol of the grit and resilience that have propelled the Bosnian fest forward for more than 25 years. From its humble and improbable beginnings, the Sarajevo Film Festival has steadily grown into the leading film and TV industry event in the region.

The return of physical screenings and in-person events to the Bosnian capital is a hopeful augur of whatever new normal post-pandemic life might bring, just...

The 10 hour-long CineLink Talks will run from August 14-19.

Screen International and Documentary Campus have once again teamed up with the Sarajevo Film Festival to host CineLink Talks, an online programme of panels for the festival’s 2021 industry strand.

The 10 hour-long CineLink Talks will run from August 14-19. Topics include filmmaking during the pandemic, working with streamers, female filmmaker quotas, mental health in the film industry and new models for distribution. The line-up also includes masterclasses with filmmakers Mads Brugger and Alexander Nanau.

All of the webinars will run via Zoom and feature a live Q&a in which audience...

Toronto-based outfit Syndicado Film Sales has picked up Romanian duo Monica Stan and George Chiper-Lillemark’s Venice Days selection “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. Being desired yet protected by everyone makes Daria feel special for the first time in her teenage life. She relishes her position until a new mysterious patient is committed. His arrival confronts Daria with her own desires, triggering wild competition among the men. Suddenly trapped between everyone’s clashing expectations, Daria must find her own path.

The cast includes Ana Dumitrașcu, Vasile Pavel and Cezar Grumăzescu.

The film is written by Stan and stems from her own experiences.

Producers of ‘Another Round’ and Silver Bear winner ‘Natural Light’ selected for networking platform.

The producer of Oscar winner Another Round is among those selected for European Film Promotion’s (Efp) networking platform Producers on the Move, which will again take place online.

The 20 producers selected for this year’s programme would usually gather at the Cannes Film Festival and take part in meetings, roundtable sessions and case studies. But although Cannes has committed to host a physical festival in July, Efp will run the programme online from May 17-21 to avoid possible pandemic restrictions.

Among this year’s line-up is Kasper Dissing,...

The producers of this year’s International Feature Film Oscar winner “Another Round” and Berlin Silver Bear winner “Natural Light” have been selected for European Film Promotion’s Producers on the Move program, which promotes promising producers and fosters international co-productions. The 20 participants for the program, which runs online from May 17-21, will be presenting their latest projects in speed meetings and during roundtable sessions. More than half of the selection are women.

The participants, who were selected for the program from all of the nominations submitted by the Efp member organizations, are Annabella Nezri (Belgium), Nikolay Mutafchiev (Bulgaria), Bojan Kanjera (Croatia), Marek Novák (Czech Republic), Kasper Dissing (Denmark), Jean-Christophe Reymond (France), Maite Woköck (Germany), Sára László (Hungary), Ruth Treacy (Ireland), Marica Stocchi (Italy), Iris Otten (The Netherlands), Gary Cranner (Norway), Beata Rzeźniczek (Poland), Tathiani Sacilotto (Portugal), Bianca Oana (Romania), Katarína Tomková (Slovak Republic), Andraž Jerič (Slovenia), Clara Nieto (Spain...

Syndicado Film Sales has acquired world rights to “Blix,” director Greta Stocklassa’s documentary about former U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix, which is being pitched during Hot Docs Forum, the Toronto fest’s co-production and financing event. The Toronto-based sales agent is also boarding the project as executive producers.

“Blix” follows the former head of the U.N. Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, who was sent to Iraq in 2003 to determine whether U.S. suspicions that the country was manufacturing weapons of mass destruction were founded. Though the final report found no evidence of an Iraqi weapons program under Saddam Hussein, the U.S. and a coalition of allies nevertheless decided to invade the country.

Now in the final stretch of his life, living in relative obscurity as a Swedish pensioner, Blix questions whether he did enough to prevent a war whose impact is felt to this day.

“To me,...

Aferim! Photo: Silviu Ghetie This week we've taken our inspiration from the Berlin Film Festival, which ran its online edition earlier this month. Although the festival was virtual, it retained its juried competition and Romanian director Radu Jude took home the prize for his pandemic sex-tape satire Bad Luck Banging Or Loony Porn, which we will be bringing you a review of soon. Jude's success makes his film the third from Romania to take the Golden Bear in the last decade, following on from Child's Pose in 2013 and Touch Me Not in 2018. Unlike some other nations, much of Romania's film recent film output is available to stream internationally - so we've selected some of the the Romanian New Wave and beyond.

Aferim, Amazon, £2.49

If you're new to Radu Jude's work, then this historical road-movie-cum-western, shot in crisp black and white, is a great place to start. Despite being set in the 1830s,...

The winners for the virtual 2021 Berlin International Film Festival have been revealed, and Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude’s satire “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn” received the Golden Bear for best film. The competition jury celebrated the film as “a rare and essential quality of a lasting art work,” adding in a statement, “It captures on screen the very content and essence, the mind and body, the values and the raw flesh of our present moment in time. Of this very moment of human existence.”

This year’s Berlinale competition jury was made up of six former winners of the festival’s top prize, the Golden Bear: “There is No Evil” director Mohammad Rasoulof, “Synonyms” filmmaker Nadav Lapid, “Touch Me Not” helmer Adina Pintilie, “On Body and Soul” director Ildiko Enyedi, “Fire at Sea” filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi, and “Grbavica: The Land of My Dreams” director Jasmila Zbanic.

The Silver Bear...

“Natural Light,” a portrait of the attrition and atrocity of war set at a benighted village in occupied Western Soviet Union in 1943, has clinched its first sales as Paris-based Luxbox rolls out the Berlin Competition player at the European Film Market.

Nour Films, whose past pickups include Berlin Golden Bear winner “Touch Me Not,” has closed rights to France.

Nour will open “Natural Light” “with great conviction and pleasure” on at least 60 prints in second half 2021, said Nour Films Patrick Sibourd.

Luxbox has also licensed “Natural Light” to Benelux (“Cherry Pickers”) and Greece (“One From the Heart”). Vertigo Media will release the feature in Hungary. Further licensing deals are in negotiation, said Luxbox founders Fiorella Moretti and Hédi Zardi.

Lead produced by Hungary’s Campfilm, and co-produced by Latvia’s Mistrus Media, France’s Lilith Films, Germany’s Propellerfilm, Belgium’s Novak Prod. and Hungary’s Proton Cinema, “Natural Light” follows a corporal,...

Benny Drechsel’s slate includes India-born filmmaker Kanwal Sethi’s ’Between Us’.

Benny Drechsel’s Berlin- and Leipzig-based Rohfilm Productions revealed at this week’s Berlinale Industry Event that he is close to completing the financing for a mix of big-budget TV and film projects aimed at the international market.

Speaking to Screendaily, Drechsel, whose producting credits include Aida Begic’s Snow and Adina Pintilie’s 2018 Golden Bear winner Touch Me Not (the latter as co-producer), said Rohfilm will produce Indian-born director Kanwal Sethi’s third feature Between Us (working title) which he describes as “a daring drama set against...

The Party Films Sales, the sales outfit behind the Golden-Globe nominated drama “Two of Us,” has acquired a trio of feature debuts from promising filmmakers, “Too Close to the Sun,” “The Sea Ahead,” and the animated film “My Neighbor’s Neighbours.”

All three films are set to be delivered later this year and are expected to world premiere in the festival circuit. The Party Films Sales will introduce all three projects at the virtual European Film Market.

“Too Close to the Sun” is directed by Brieuc Carnaille, a screenwriter-turned-filmmaker who is also a rock singer for the band Duel.

The film follows Clément Roussier (“Churchmen”) as Basile, a 30-something man who has just come out of the hospital and moved in with this youngest sister and closest confidant, Sarah. Suffering from a psychiatric disorder, Basil tries his best to re-establish a sense of normality in both his work and his love life.

The Berlin International Film Festival has unveiled an unusual jury format for this year’s unusual edition, with six former Golden Bear winners (the festival’s top prize) set to convene during the March event to decide on its awards.

As previously announced, the fest is taking place in two stages, an ‘Industry Event’ March 1-5 which will include the European Film Market as well as the presentation of the event’s festival program to industry delegates. This will be followed by an audience-focused festival from June 9-20.

The jury will convene in Berlin during the first event in March and will watch the film’s in the Competition program on the big screen, with the awards announced that week. The plan is for a physical ceremony to follow in June where the winners can be honored.

The six members of the jury are below. No president has been appointed this year.

The Berlin Film Festival has unveiled the International Jury for its 71st edition. All the jury members are winners of Berlin’s Golden Bear for best film.

The jury will comprise Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, Israeli director Nadav Lapid, Romania director Adina Pintilie, Hungary director Ildikó Enyedi, Italian director Gianfranco Rosi and Bosnian director Jasmila Žbanić. There will be no jury president this year. The jury will view the competition films in a movie theater in Berlin.

Rasoulof won the Golden Bear for “There Is No Evil” in 2020; Lapid for “Synonyms” in 2019; Pintilie for “Touch Me Not” in 2018; Enyedi for “On Body and Soul” in 2017; Rosi for “Fire at Sea” in 2016; and Žbanić for “Grbavica” in 2006.

Artistic director Carlo Chatrian said: “I’m happy and honored that six filmmakers I admire a great deal have enthusiastically accepted our invitation to take part in this unique edition. They express not only...

Festival also reveals details of Summer Special event, which is set to include physical screenings and an awards ceremony.

The international jury of the 71st Berlinale will comprise six former Golden Bear winners: Mohammad Rasoulof, Nadav Lapid, Adina Pintilie, Ildikó Enyedi, Gianfranco Rosi and Jasmila Žbanić.

The long-awaiting selection of films that will make up this year’s online-only edition will be announced next week from February 8-11.

While the selection would usually be announced by the end of January, the unusual nature of this edition will see the Retrospective and Generation named on February 8; the Berlinale Shorts, Forum and...

Six former winners of the Berlin International Film Festival’s Golden Bear for best film will make up the jury for this year’s event.

Berlin on Monday unveiled the six jurors: Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, last year’s winner for There is No Evil; Nadav Lapid from Israel, whose Synonyms won top honors in 2019; Romanian filmmaker Adina Pintilie, director of controversial 2018 winner Touch Me Not; Hungary’s Ildiko Enyedi, Golden Bear winner for On Body and Soul (2017); Italian filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi, whose refugee documentary Fire at Sea took Berlin’s top prize in 2016; and Bosnia director Jasmila Zbanic, winner for ...

Six former winners of the Berlin International Film Festival’s Golden Bear for best film will make up the jury for this year’s event.

Berlin on Monday unveiled the six jurors: Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof, last year’s winner for There is No Evil; Nadav Lapid from Israel, whose Synonyms won top honors in 2019; Romanian filmmaker Adina Pintilie, director of controversial 2018 winner Touch Me Not; Hungary’s Ildiko Enyedi, Golden Bear winner for On Body and Soul (2017); Italian filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi, whose refugee documentary Fire at Sea took Berlin’s top prize in 2016; and Bosnia director Jasmila Zbanic, winner for ...

While international co-productions have for years been trending upwards across much of Europe, the coronavirus pandemic has forced many of the continent’s producers to rethink how they finance and shoot in an era of uncertainty. With government support schemes varying from one country to the next, and no clear sense of how cross-border travel will fare in the months ahead, many producers are thinking outside the box as they adapt to changing circumstances.

The challenge for producers moving forward was the subject of “The Current State of Co-production,” an online panel on Monday, which brought together eight leading women producers from across Europe. Presented during the Thessaloniki Film Festival, the discussion was hosted by the European Women’s Audiovisual Network (Ewa), with the support of Greece’s National Center of Audiovisual Media and Communication (Ekome).

The upside—for 2020 at least—is that most European producers appear determined to keep the production pipeline flowing.

Zeitgeist Films, in association with Kino Lorber, have swooped for all North American rights to Sundance award winner “Acasa, My Home.”

The film, which in January picked up the Special Jury Award for cinematography in the World Cinema Documentary category at Sundance, has been selected for more than 60 festivals around the world, and is a recent documentary contender in the European Film Awards.

The film tells the story of a Romanian family with nine children that lived fully off-grid in the wilderness of the Bucharest Delta, in harmony with nature. However, when the land becomes a public park, they are evicted and forced to adapt to the big city, where they must fight for acceptance.

“Acasa, My Home” is directed by Radu Ciorniciuc and produced by Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan for Manifest Film in collaboration with HBO Europe, Corso Film and Kino Company.

The film — which has been sold internationally by Autlook Filmsales...

While the coronavirus pandemic prompted the Sarajevo Film Festival to shift to an online edition just days before opening night, the organizers of CineLink Industry Days—Sarajevo’s buzzy industry confab—were prepared to go virtual from the moment that the virus began sweeping across Europe in March.

That means plans have long been in place for an online edition of the CineLink Co-Production Market, which has become one of the leading platforms for projects from Southeast Europe and the wider region, including countries from the Middle East, North Africa, and the former Soviet Union. Sixteen projects were selected for this year’s edition, with pitching sessions taking place from Aug. 15-18 on CineLink’s online platform.

CineLink industry coordinator Armin Hadzic says roughly 70% of the projects pitched in the market get produced within three years of appearing in Sarajevo, with most of those going on to get international distribution deals and festival premieres.

Attendance figures remained steady year-on-year despite virus crisis.

Australian comedy-drama Babyteeth was awarded the top prize at the 19th Transylvania International Film Festival, which went ahead as physical event with Covid-19 safety measures in place.

Scroll down for full list of winners

The film, which marks the debut feature of Australian theatre and TV director Shannon Murphy, won the Transilvania Trophy and €10,000. First seen in competition at Venice last year, the bittersweet comedy also picked up the audience award at the festival in the Romanian city of Cluj, which ran from July 31 to August 9.

TIFF marks the first major film...

For an event that was launched a quarter of a century ago, in the midst of a four-year siege that devastated the city during the Bosnian war, it was perhaps to be expected that this year’s Sarajevo Film Festival would try to forge ahead, even in light of a coronavirus pandemic that has turned the world of red carpets and gala premieres upside-down.

But plans for a slimmed-down version of the physical fest were finally scrapped on Aug. 5, with the organizers announcing that the entire festival would be moving online. “Due to greatly increased concern regarding the epidemiological situation in Sarajevo, and record cases of Covid-19 infection in the city in the past several days, we at the Sarajevo Film Festival have made the decision to conduct the 2020 edition of all festival events entirely online from 14 to 21 August,” the festival said in a statement. “This confirms the Sarajevo Film...

The Transilvania Pitch Stop, a workshop and co-production forum that marks one of the industry highlights of the Transilvania International Film Festival, will present a host of new projects from the Black Sea and beyond during this year’s edition of the festival, which runs July 31-Aug. 9. Among the standouts is Romanian director Adina Pintilie’s follow-up to her Golden Bear-winning “Touch Me Not.”

Launched in 2014 as a workshop for first- and second-time directors from Romania and Moldova, the Pitch Stop expanded in 2017 to include a co-production market presenting new feature film projects from across Southeastern Europe and neighboring countries. Most are presented publicly for the first time, with one taking home the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award, which comes with a €20,000 cash prize.

“Filmmakers from countries like Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Greece, Turkey or Georgia, all share the same struggles of getting their film projects financed, produced and appreciated by general audiences,...

Us distributor released Mohammad Rasoulof’s 2013 thriller Manuscripts Don’t Burn.

Kino Lorber, a frequent buyer of Berlin Golden Bear winners, has acquired the most recent one, taking Us rights to Iranian auteur’s Mohammad Rasoulof’s drama There is No Evil.

There is No Evil is an anthology feature comprising four stories of executioners who are each thrown into a moral dilemma when the Islamic Republic orders them to enforce the death penalty upon others. The film shot in secret in Iran.

Kino Lorber plans an autumn theatrical release followed by VOD and home video release.

Rasoulof was unable...

Kino Lorber has acquired the U.S. rights to “There Is No Evil,” an Iranian film that won the Berlinale Golden Bear earlier this year, the art house distributor announced Friday.

The critically-acclaimed film from director Mohammad Rasoulof won the top prize at the Berlin Film Festival from a jury that included actor Jeremy Irons, filmmaker Kenneth Lonergan and actress Bérénice Bejo. Kino Lorber is planning a rollout in theaters and on VOD this fall.

“There Is No Evil” is about executioners who enforce the death penalty in the Islamic Republic. His story was banned from the Iranian government and prevented the director Rasoulof from attending the festival. Like his peer from Iran, Jafar Panahi, Rasoulof has been sentenced to jail in the past and Iranian authorities have tried to enforce a 20-year ban to keep him from making movies. This is his sixth feature film, none of which have screened in Iran.

Exclusive: Kino Lorber has acquired U.S. rights to Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof’s Berlin Film Festival Golden Bear winner There is No Evil about men who carry out the death penalty.

The well-received Persian-language movie was feted by a Berlin jury including Jeremy Irons, Kenneth Lonergan and actress Bérénice Bejo.

Due to a ban from the Iranian government, acclaimed filmmaker Rasoulof wasn’t allowed to attend the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year and days after the director won the prize he was sentenced to one year in prison for “propaganda against the system.

The denizens of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences need to get their eyesight checked. 2019 was another watershed year for women on and off-screen, even if the accolades accrued at the Golden Globes and Oscars did not reflect it. Greta Gerwig released her highly anticipated Little Women, Olivia Wilde made her directorial debut with the sassy, Gen Z Booksmart, Big Little Lies Season 2 aired on HBO, and a slew of films ushered in a horror renaissance featuring astonishing female leads including Florence Pugh in Midsommar and Lupita Nyong’o in Us. But 2019 also marked a year of great loss: the prolific filmmaker Barbara Hammer passed away, as did luminary Agnès Varda and the performance artist and experimental filmmaker, Carolee Schneemann. Which is to say, women were in the news when it came to cinema; some of us just had to know where to look.

While feminist film theory from...

Tuesday see’s the Berlin Film Festival play host to the sixth edition of its Co-Pro Series Pitch and Networking event, where 10 exciting TV projects from around the world will pitch to potential co-producers, investors, sales agents and broadcasters.

Under the umbrella of the Berlinale Co-Production Market – dedicated to connecting feature film producers and creators with international partners – the CoPro Series sessions have a similar aim but for TV projects.

Previous series to participate include Belgium’s “Tabula Rasa,” Norway and Belgium’s “State of Happiness” and Germany’s “Babylon Berlin.” Currently, Denmark’s “Cry Wolf” and Germany’s “Hausen” are in production, both having pitched at previous editions of CoPro Series.

This year’s selection demonstrates an impressive breadth of narrative themes, with many refusing to adhere to any specific genre profile, instead preferring to mix elements of humor, romance, drama, thrills and even a bit of science fiction.

Hubert Sauper’s latest film won the 2020 World Cinema grand jury prize in Park City last month.

Kino Lorber, a prolific distributor of Berlinale Golden Bear winners, has acquired Us rights at the Efm to Wild Bunch sales title and Sundance winner Epicentro.

Hubert Sauper’s (Darwin’s Nightmare) latest film won the 2020 World Cinema grand jury prize in Park City last month and paints of an immersive portrait of post-colonial Cuba.

Sauper explores the effect of a century of interventionism on the Caribbean island and the resilience of the people, in particular the children, whom he calls “young prophets...

Bobbi Salvör Menuez is in talks to join an international cast for “Lipstick on the Glass,” the English-language debut of acclaimed Polish director Kuba Czekaj (“Baby Bump”), Variety has learned exclusively.

Pic will star Agnieszka Podsiadlik (“Mug”), who previously collaborated with Czekaj on Berlin player “The Erlprince.” The international cast includes American actor Mari Malek (“The Nile Hilton Incident”), English-French thesp Laura Benson (“Touch Me Not”), and German actors Stipe Erceg (“The Baader Meinhof Complex”), Lena Lauzemis, and Mina Tander.

“Lipstick on the Glass” is a dystopian vision of reality in which a woman is induced to abandon her gangster husband to join a feminist sect. Producer Paweł Kosuń described it as a story about every person’s right to self-determination, regardless of their gender identity or imposed social and cultural norms.

“It poses a fundamental question: who am I?” he said. “This is a question which an ever-growing number...

New projects also selected from Oscar nominees and a Venice-winning duo.

Cph:dox has unveiled the 34 projects set to be presented at Cph:forum, its financing and co-production event from March 24-26.

Scroll down for full list of titles and descriptions

The selection includes new projects from Oscar-nominated Laura Nix (Walk Run Cha-Cha) and Talal Derki (Of Fathers And Sons), Berlinale winner Adina Pintilie (Touch Me Not), Sundance winners Jialing Zhang (Born In China) and Ra’anan Alexandrowicz (The Law in These Parts) and Venice winning team Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosolowski (The Prince and the Dybbuk).

Titles include Her, a documentary about...

Parent company Jour2Fête will retain existing name for French distribution activities.

Paris-based film company Jour2Fête is rebranding the merged sales operations of its recent acquisition Doc & Film International and in-house sales team under the banner of The Party Film Sales.

Jour2Fête’s French theatrical distribution business will continue to operate under its existing name.

Sarah Chazelle and Etienne Ollagnier’s Jour2Fête acquired Paris-based Doc & Film International last October, following the departure of its long-time CEO Daniela Elstner for French cinema agency Unifrance to take up the role of managing director.

Under the deal, the aim was to merge the existing staff,...

Distributors has acquired last two Golden Bear winners.

Kino Lorber has acquired all North American rights to Australian director Rodd Rathjen’s trafficking and slavery drama Buoyancy, which premiered at the Berlinale last year.

Buoyancy won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury as well as an Amnesty International nomination in Germany and was Australia’s official Oscar submission.

The feature directorial debut tells the story of a 14-year-old Cambodian rural worked who gets sold to a psychopathic Thai fishing captain. Sarm Heng and Thanawut Kasro star.

Screen described Buoyancy as a “brutal, powerful drama” that “draws upon true tales and...

The upcoming 70th Berlin International Film Festival has revealed the line-up of 36 features that will comprise its co-production market. Run as part of the festival’s European Film Market, its respected industry strand, the event looks to place international projects with co-producers, film funds, and sales reps. Filmmakers with projects in the line-up this year include Adina Pintilie, who won Berlin’s Golden Bear in 2018 with her feature Touch Me Not, Milko Lazarov, whose Aga premiered in Berlin in 2018, and Radu Jude, who screened his feature Aferim! In Berlin in 2015. Across the selection there are 15 projects with female directors, equating to 42%. More than 1,500 organized meetings will take place during the co-pro market this year between February 22 and 26.

Also today, Berlin has unveiled a compact program of eight films for its Perspektive Deutsches Kino strand, which highlights new works from Germany. Screening will be four features – including Michael Venus’s Sleep...

Berlin's co-production market, where producers look for partners to finance their new projects, will feature more than 50 percent female-directed films for the first time in its 17-year history.

Overall, 11 of the 21 feature film projects on offer at this year's Berlinale Co-Production Market, which runs Feb. 22-26, are from women filmmakers. These include the new feature from Romania’s Adina Pintilie, who won Berlin’s Golden Bear and best first feature with Touch Me Not in 2018. Pintilie returns to Berlin with the relationship drama Death and the Maiden, which will be produced by her Bucharest-based Manekino Film....

Berlin's co-production market, where producers look for partners to finance their new projects, will feature more than 50 percent female-directed films for the first time in its 17-year history.

Overall, 11 of the 21 feature film projects on offer at this year's Berlinale Co-Production Market, which runs Feb. 22-26, are from women filmmakers. These include the new feature from Romania’s Adina Pintilie, who won Berlin’s Golden Bear and best first feature with Touch Me Not in 2018. Pintilie returns to Berlin with the relationship drama Death and the Maiden, which will be produced by her Bucharest-based Manekino Film....

New films from Pepa San Martín and Golden Bear winner Adina Pintilie among the line up.

The films selected for the Berlinale Co-Production Market (February 22-26) have been revealed and top 50% by female directors in the official project selection for the first time.

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A total of 36 features from 34 countries will be showcased by producers seeking co-production partners through one-to-one meetings with distributors, financiers and sales agents.

For the official project selection, 21 projects with budgets ranging from €750,000 to €5m were selected from more than 300 submissions. With 11 projects by female directors, the proportion here has exceeded 50% for the first time.

Vienna-based Autlook Filmsales has acquired two titles ahead of their world premieres in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, taking place from Jan. 23 to Feb. 2.

In “The Painter and the Thief,” an artist befriends the thief who stole her paintings, and makes him her muse. She becomes his closest ally when he is severely hurt in a car crash, and needs full-time care, even if her paintings are not found. But then the tables turn. The film is helmed by Norwegian director Benjamin Ree, whose debut feature documentary “Magnus,” about a chess grandmaster, played at Tribeca Film Festival in 2016.

“The Painter and the Thief” is produced by Medieoperatørene in collaboration with Vgtv. Autlook holds worldwide rights. The European premiere has been confirmed for the Rotterdam Film Festival.

“Acasa – My Home” follows the Enache family – nine children and their parents – who have lived in...

Are Eastern European films under-represented at Western European film festivals?

Concern that this might be the case prompted Ji.hlava Intl. Documentary Film Festival to carry out research this year to find out how many documentary films from Eastern Europe made it into Western festivals, and vice versa.

Unveiling the study at Ji.hlava, festival director Marek Hovorka showed figures that appeared to confirm an underrepresentation of Eastern European films at Western European documentary festivals.

According to Ji.hlava, for example, 60% of Paris’ Cinéma du Réel festival program in 2019 comprised Western European films, with just 5% from Eastern Europe, and 18% from North America.

For Cph:Dox in Copenhagen, the figure was 52% from Western Europe, 7% from Eastern Europe, and 20% from the U.S. in 2019.

For Dutch documentary festival Idfa in 2018, the figure was 43%, 16% and 12% respectively, and for Switzerland’s Vision du Réel it was 60%, 9% and 7% in 2019.

Germany’s Dok Leipzig, meanwhile, recorded the highest proportion from Eastern Europe,...

The Emerging Producers section at the Ji.hlava Intl. Documentary Film Festival has a growing reputation for its ability to spot the producing talent of the future.

Producers to have passed through its ranks include Bianca Oana, the Romanian producer of 2018 Berlinale Golden Bear winner “Touch Me Not,” as well as its Czech co-producer Radovan Sibrt.

Danish producer Katja Adomeit, the co-producer of 2017 Cannes Palme d’Or winner “The Square,” is another of the 129 alumni to have passed through Ji.hlava’s Emerging Producers program.

Now in its eighth edition, the project selects 18 talented producers each year, providing them with educational, networking and promotional support during the festival. The producers also meet up again for four days during the Berlinale, and are promoted at other film events during the year.

A key part of the program is a public presentation by the producers, introducing themselves and their work to the Ji.