Leo Barraclough International: Last News

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Tim Davie, BBC director-general, underscored the importance of creative risk-taking to the British broadcaster, when interviewed onstage at TV market Mipcom on Monday, which coincided with the BBC’s 100th anniversary. Davie’s appearance onstage followed a presentation by Tom Fussell, CEO of BBC Studios, the broadcaster’s commercial arm. He announced that BBC Studios is set to wholly acquire Sid Gentle Films, the production company behind hits such as “Killing Eve.” He showed a clip from the company’s new show “Rain Dogs,” starring Daisy May Cooper. Cash Carraway is writer and executive producer. Fussell also announced that BBC Studios’ managing director of scripted, Mark Linsey, is set to relocate to Los Angeles in order to help build its co-production, investment and commissioning opportunities internationally.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Limonero Films, an independent boutique distributor of factual programming and documentaries, is launching a selection of documentaries and factual entertainment series at the Mipcom TV market. The titles are “Women Behind the Wheel,” produced by Dartmouth Films in the U.K., the wildlife titles “Wild Icons of Iberia” and “Heroines of the Savannah,” both by Azor Productions in Spain, “The Baby Makers,” from Mediacorp in Singapore, and “Shepherds of the Earth,” by Guerrilla Films in Finland. In “Women Behind the Wheel,” two 22 year-olds drive 3,500 miles along the Pamir highway to meet the women of Central Asia coping with the changes in their society since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Eric Welbers, who served as managing director of the production company NDF until the end of March, has set up the internationally focused content company Bravado Media, with headquarters in Munich. Bravado has acquired all of NDF’s shares in Italy’s Viola Film (an 80% stake), headed by Alessandro Passadore, and Belgium-based Bravado Fiction (also an 80% stake), headed by Jan Theys, and Welbers is increasing his stake in NDF Intl. Production, which he will continue to run together with Matthias Walter. The new company will make its first market appearance at next week’s trade fair for audiovisual content Mipcom in Cannes.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Variety has been given access to the international trailer (below) for “A Thousand Lines,” by one of Germany’s most successful directors, Michael Bully Herbig (“Manitou’s Shoe”), and starring two of its leading actors, Elyas M’Barek (“Fuck You Göhte”) and Jonas Nay (“Deutschland 83”). The film opened via Warner Bros. across German-speaking Europe two weeks ago. Beta Cinema is presenting it to buyers at AFM. “A Thousand Lines” – a blend of satire, drama and comedy – is written by Hermann Florin, inspired by Juan Moreno’s “Tausend Zeilen Lüge.” It is the fictional adaptation of one of Germany’s biggest media scandals. The story centers on freelance journalist Juan Romero, played by M’Barek, who encounters inconsistencies in a cover story by award-winning reporter Lars Bogenius, played by Nay.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Leading producer Sabina Arnold (“Irish Crime”) and award-winning filmmaker Züli Aladag (“NSU – German History X”) are setting up High Fidelity Pictures, a new production company under the Beta Group umbrella. Felix Zackor, managing director of the production service provider and Beta subsidiary FFP, will support the new company as a partner in production services. The filmmakers will produce high-quality fiction series and feature films with a national and international focus. High Fidelity will pay particular attention to the promotion of young talent.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Munich-based sales agency Beta Cinema has launched the international trailer (below) for “In a Land That No Longer Exists,” which has its international premiere on Oct. 21 in the competition section of the Rome Film Festival. Aelrun Goette’s feature debut, which was released in Germany on Thursday by Tobis, is inspired by the director’s own experiences in East Germany during the late 80s, when she worked as a model for fashion magazine Sibylle, the so-called “Vogue of the East.” The action takes place in East Berlin in the early summer of 1989, a few months before the fall of the Wall. Eighteen-year-old Suzie is thrown headfirst into the vibrant fashion scene in socialist East Germany when a photograph of her ends up on the cover of Sibylle.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor In contemporary British drama “Pretty Red Dress,” which has its world premiere on Oct. 9 at the BFI London Film Festival, Dionne Edwards delivers a portrait of London life that embraces both its “grit and glamour.” It was a look and feel that was inspired by “Saturday Night Fever,” says the writer-director. The film kicks off with Travis, a tough, black guy from South London with a gangland past, being released from prison, to be met by his partner Candice. We learn that their daughter, Kenisha, is in trouble at school for fighting, and that Candice, who works in a grocery store, has a thwarted ambition: she wants to be a professional singer. We discover too that both Travis and Kenisha have aspects of their personalities that they keep hidden.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Documentary festival IDFA will host the international premieres of Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi’s music film “Personality Crisis: One Night Only” and Barbara Kopple’s “Gumbo Coalition” as part of its Masters program, as well as the world premiere of Coco Schrijber’s “Look What You Made Me Do.” The selection includes the work of several renowned directors who have reinvented their cinematic language. Patricio Guzmán breaks from his poetic approach to adopt a more direct, political form of filmmaking with “My Imaginary Country,” centering on the October 2019 protests in Santiago. Gianfranco Rosi directs his first archive-based film “In viaggio,” which sees Pope Francis’ journeys as a map of the human condition. Jørgen Leth and Andreas Koefoed co-direct a film together for the first time with “Music for Black Pigeons,” a reflection on aging through jazz music, and Ruth Beckermann’s “Mutzenbacher” takes a look at a controversial erotic novel through an elaborate casting call.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Camerimage, a film festival focused on cinematography, will honor the documentary director Alex Gibney during its 30th edition. The investigative filmmaker will be present at the event in Toruń, Poland, which runs Nov. 12-19, to accept the award for outstanding achievements in documentary filmmaking. Gibney’s films include “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,” exposing the greed and corruption of one of the most influential U.S. corporations; Oscar-winning “Taxi to the Dark Side,” with a harrowing tale of inhumane practices during the early years of the war in Afghanistan; and “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God,” providing a horrifying account of the decades of sexual abuse and pedophilia in the Catholic Church.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Filming for the fourth season of the Sky Original series “Das Boot” wrapped in Malta last week, and the first look images have been released. NBCUniversal Global Distribution is handling international sales of the series, which is produced by Bavaria Fiction, on behalf of Sky Studios. In Season 4, which is coming to Sky’s premium channel Sky Atlantic and streaming service NOW next year, the brutal submarine war in the Mediterranean Sea comes to a head, while intrigues and secrets spread through Berlin. Resistance to the Nazis grows within the Kriegsmarine’s own ranks. After a shared tragedy, the siblings Klaus (Rick Okon) and Hannie Hoffmann (Rosalie Thomass) find their way back to each other. Both fight for their cause. Klaus has returned to the German Reich from Portugal. As a submarine commander he travels to Naples on a secret mission to change the course of the war. Hannie wants to help the many orphans who have become victims of the war and uncovers infamous machinations of the Nazi Reich.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Prague-based sales agent Filmotor has boarded Adela Komrzy’s and Tomas Bojar’s feature documentary “Art Talent Show,” which won two awards at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in July.  After its premiere at Karlovy Vary, where it won the Grand Prix in the Proxima competition section and the FIPRESCI international critics’ award, the film’s North American rights were acquired by Film Movement.  Aero Films will release the film theatrically in the Czech Republic in October, and Film Expanded will release the film theatrically in Slovakia in the spring.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor German broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 Group is to acquire the outstanding 50% of the shares in German streaming service Joyn from Warner Bros. Discovery.  The joint venture was established with Discovery in 2017, and has been operating under the name Joyn since 2019. Joyn has a free basic service, financed by advertising, as well as a premium subscription service.  With more than 30 million app downloads and 4 million unique users per month, the platform has firmly established itself on the market after three years.  In addition to content from ProSiebenSat.1 and other content partners, Joyn users will continue to have on-demand access to free, advertising-financed content from Warner Bros. Discovery. Users of the Joyn PLUS+ subscription option can also access streaming service Discovery+ for 12 months. 

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Following the world premiere of “My Neighbor Adolf” on the Piazza Grande in Locarno, Beta Cinema has sold the dark comedy to Vendetta Films, which will bring the Udo Kier and David Hayman starrer to cinemas across Australia and New Zealand in the first quarter of next year.  Prior to Locarno, Beta Cinema sold the film to Hungary (Cinetel) and Switzerland (Praesens Film), while deals for North America (Cohen Media Group), U.K. and Ireland (Signature Entertainment), Italy (I Wonder), South Korea (Lumix Media) and Japan (Tohokushinsha Film) had been revealed before. The film is set in Colombia in 1960, just a few days after the Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann was caught by Mossad agents in Argentina. Polsky, played by Hayman, is a lonely and grumpy old man, living in the remote Colombian countryside. He is a survivor of the Holocaust. He spends his days playing chess and tending his beloved rosebushes. One day, a mysterious old German man – played by Kier – moves in next door, and Polsky suspects that his new neighbor is… Adolf Hitler. Since nobody believes him, he embarks on a mission to uncover the evidence. In order to gather it, however, he will need to come closer to his neighbor than he would like – so close that the two could almost become friends.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The Exchange has acquired the sales rights for North America, Europe, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand and other remaining territories for superhero movie “Shin Ultraman,” a blockbuster hit in Japan when it was released on May 13. The Exchange is introducing the movie to buyers at the Toronto Film Festival. The release of the movie, produced by Tsuburaya Productions, Toho and Khara, marked the 55th anniversary of the original “Ultraman” TV series. It grossed $31.2 million in Japan. The movie was directed by Shinji Higuchi (“The Floating Castle,” “Attack on Titan”) and was written by director and screenwriter Hideaki Anno (“Shin Godzilla,” “Neon Genesis Evangelion”), who also acted as producer alongside Takayuki Tsukagoshi and Minami Ichikawa.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Production, finance and sales company Film Constellation has boarded sales on the upcoming romantic thriller “Haunted Heart” by Academy Award winning director Fernando Trueba (“La Belle Époque,” “The Queen of Spain”). The film stars Academy Award nominee Matt Dillon (“The House That Jack Built”), Goya-nominated Aida Folch (“The Artist and the Model”), and Juan Pablo Urrego (“Memoria”). The English-language film is set to start shooting in Greece in September. The film is set on a beautiful remote island in Greece, where young and spirited Alex joins the team of a boutique seaside restaurant as their new waitress. Despite her femme-fatale charm quickly winning the heart of the charismatic Enrico, she instead falls for the enigmatic restaurant manager Max, a reclusive American, who settled on the island decades ago.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Beta Cinema has revealed that Menemsha Films has taken all rights to Ofir Raul Graizer’s critically acclaimed drama “America” for North America amidst strong interest for the territory. The sensual, visually impressive melodrama about a tragic incident turning upside down the life of a Tel Aviv-based couple and their childhood friend was rewarded with an enthusiastic standing ovation at its world premiere at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, where it played in the Crystal Globe Competition, and radiant reviews in the trade and consumer press. In “America,” Chicago-based swimming coach Eli returns to his homeland, Israel, after 10 years of absence. A visit to his childhood friend Yotam and his newly engaged fiancée Iris will set a series of events in motion that will affect everyone’s lives.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Movie theater operator Cineworld Group, which has 9,139 screens in 10 countries, has received approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas for “first day” relief related to its Chapter 11 proceedings filed on Sept. 7. The group’s companies include Regal in the U.S. The court granted the group immediate access to up to some $785 million of an approximate $1.94 billion debtor-in-possession financing facility that, together with its cash reserves and cash provided by operations, is expected to provide sufficient liquidity for Cineworld to “meet its ongoing obligations, including post-petition obligations to vendors and suppliers, as well as employee wages, salaries and benefits programs,” the company said Friday. The remainder of the DIP facility will become available following the court’s approval on a final basis.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Movie theater operator Cineworld Group, which has 9,139 screens in 10 countries, has received approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas for “first day” relief related to its Chapter 11 proceedings filed on Sept. 7. The group’s companies include Regal in the U.S. The court granted the group immediate access to up to some $785 million of an approximate $1.94 billion debtor-in-possession financing facility that, together with its cash reserves and cash provided by operations, is expected to provide sufficient liquidity for Cineworld to “meet its ongoing obligations, including post-petition obligations to vendors and suppliers, as well as employee wages, salaries and benefits programs,” the company said Friday. The remainder of the DIP facility will become available following the court’s approval on a final basis.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Alexander Rodnyansky, the producer of Oscar nominated films “Leviathan” and “Loveless,” has boarded the next project from Kazakh director Adilkhan Yerzhanov (pictured), whose film “Goliath” has its world premiere at Venice Film Festival on Thursday in the Horizons Extra section. The new project, “Nosorog,” tells a contemporary story of Tamara, a distraught woman on a desperate search for her missing son in a small town consumed by violent riots. To help get her son back, she hires a shady detective, Brayuk, with unexpected consequences. Rodnyansky joins producers Aliya Mendygozhina and Olga Khlasheva on the project, which is a co-production between the State Center of Support of the National Cinema of Kazakhstan and Kazakh film company Golden Man Media.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The 18th Zurich Film Festival (Sept. 22-Oct. 2) will present its Golden Icon Award to the British actor Ben Kingsley on Sept. 29. Kingsley will present the European premiere of his latest movie “Dalíland,” in which he portrays the Spanish painter Salvador Dalí. In addition, Kingsley will speak about his career in a ZFF Masters. Kingsley has played several iconographic roles in film history: He was the title character in “Gandhi,” Oskar Schindler’s bookkeeper, and has worked with such leading director as Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott and Isabel Coixet. “Sir Ben Kingsley is an outstanding and highly versatile character actor who is not only completely absorbed in his roles, but is also able to imbue his characters with a rare human depth,” Christian Jungen, ZFF artistic director, said.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Berlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal has closed distribution deals for Italy and Greece following the film’s world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. The Israeli-Ukrainian co-production plays in Venice’s Horizons Extra section, and will have its North American premiere on Sept. 14 at Toronto Film Festival in the Contemporary World Cinema section. Rome-based P.F.A Films Srl will distribute the film in Italy, with a theatrical release planned for April 2023. The company’s recent titles include “Fabian – Going to the Dogs” by Dominik Graf, “The Audition” by Ina Weisse, and “Border” by Abbasi Ali.