Leo Barraclough International: Last News

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Reservoir Docs has acquired documentary “The Other Fellow,” which is about several men named James Bond, like the movie’s hero. It has debuted the trailer (below). The comedy-thriller premiered and won an award at Doc Edge New Zealand, and gets its European premiere in Dinard at the British Film Festival in France. In Jamaica in 1952, author Ian Fleming needs a name for his suave, sophisticated secret agent, so he steals one from an unaware birdwatcher and creates a pop-culture phenomenon about the ultimate fictional alpha-male. In 2022, the year of 007’s 60th anniversary onscreen, Australian filmmaker Matthew Bauer is on a global mission to discover the lasting, contrasting and very personal impacts of sharing such an identity with James Bond.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Berlin-based Picture Tree Intl. has added “This Place,” by Canadian debut director V.T. Nayani, to its lineup. The film is to have its world premiere at Toronto Film Festival on Sept. 9 as part of the Discovery and Next Wave Selects sections. The film stars Devery Jacobs, who was the lead actor in “Reservation Dogs” and the upcoming Marvel Studio production “Echo,” and newcomer Priya Guns. The screenplay was co-written by V.T. Nayani, Devery Jacobs and Golshan Abdmoulaie. It tells the story of two young women falling in love for the first time and being jointly challenged by their own family histories, which bear the legacies of loss, migration and displacement.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Venice Film Festival title “Music for Black Pigeons,” directed by Danish filmmakers Jørgen Leth, best known for “The Five Obstructions,” and “The Lost Leonardo” helmer Andreas Koefoed, has debuted its trailer with Variety. The documentary, which premieres on Tuesday in Venice’s Out of Competition section, explores the lives and processes of some of the world’s most renowned and prolific jazz musicians, including Jakob Bro, Bill Frisell, Lee Konitz, Paul Motian and Midori Takada. Leth, who has directed more than 40 films including landmark works such as “A Sunday in Hell” (1977) and the surrealist short “The Perfect Human” (1968), returns to Venice after his feature documentary “The Five Obstructions,” which he co-directed with Lars von Trier, screened on the Lido in 2003.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Variety has been given exclusive access to a first-look clip for “Amanda,” Carolina Cavalli’s quirky Italian-cool film in Venice Horizons, starring Benedetta Porcaroli (star of Netflix series “Baby”), and featuring Italian heavyweight Giovanna Mezzogiorno, and Italian “X-Factor” winner Michele Bravi. The film, which is reminiscent of early Wes Anderson, premieres at Venice on Monday, then goes to Toronto – it’s the only Italian film to play both fests this year. Charades is handling international sales. I Wonder is distributing in Italy. The film centers on Amanda, 24, who lives mostly isolated and has never had any friends, even if it’s the thing she wants the most. When she discovers that as toddlers her and Rebecca used to spend a lot of time together, Amanda chooses her new mission: to convince her that they are still best friends.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Berlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal has debuted the trailer (below) for the Israeli-Ukrainian drama “Valeria Is Getting Married,” which will have its world premiere in Venice’s Horizons Extra Friday. The film will have its North American premiere at Toronto Film Festival on Sept. 14, where it is part of the Contemporary World Cinema lineup. The film, directed by Israeli female filmmaker Michal Vinik, is shot from the perspective of two Ukrainian sisters, and follows the tense emotional journey that unfolds over the course of one day. Valeria (Dasha Tvoronovich) arrives in Israel to meet the man she is supposed to marry, thanks to a deal made online. She is following in the footsteps of her older sister Christina (Lena Fraifeld), who is happy with her new life in Israel, but Valeria struggles with the decision.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The Zurich Film Festival will honor Italian director and screenwriter Luca Guadagnino at its 18th edition, which runs Sept. 22-Oct. 2. He will receive its “A Tribute To…” award on Sept. 30 before the screening of his latest film “Bones and All,” which plays in the Gala Premiere section, and will hold a public masterclass on Oct. 1. The film world premieres in Venice tomorrow. Guadagnino, born in Palermo in 1971, has been one of the most internationally sought-after directors since the success of “Call Me By Your Name” in 2017, which Guadagnino presented in person at the Zurich fest.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Carolina Markowicz’s dark satire “Charcoal,” which world premieres on Sept. 11 at Toronto Film Festival, has debuted its teaser trailer with Variety (below). World sales are being handled by Urban Sales. The film, which plays in the festival’s Platform section, centers on a poor family living in a remote area in Brazil, who earn a pittance from their charcoal business. When a shady nurse asks them to host a mysterious foreigner they accept. The home soon becomes a hideout as the so-called guest happens to be a highly wanted drug lord. The mother, her husband and child will have to learn how to share the same roof with this stranger, while keeping up appearances of an unchanged peasant routine.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The Zurich Film Festival has selected some of the year’s most anticipated auteur films and high-brow Hollywood movies in its Gala Premieres section. Among other films, the fest screens the European premieres of “The Woman King,” with Viola Davis, and “Bros” by Nicholas Stoller. It also plays “The Son” by Florian Zeller. “Of the 145 films in this year’s festival program, we are able to show more than a quarter of them as world or European premieres – more than ever before in the festival’s history,” Christian Jungen, artistic director, says. “We are particularly proud to be holding the European premieres of Gina Prince-Bythewood’s historical epic ‘The Woman King,’ in which Academy Award-winner Viola Davis leads an international Black cast, as well as the gay romantic comedy ‘Bros’ by Nicholas Stoller, who cast all LGBTQ+ actors for the film. These two movies are a testament to the diverse talent working in Hollywood cinema, and we are very excited to be bringing them to a European audience.”

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor MPM Premium has picked up Firas Khoury’s coming-of-age drama “Alam,” ahead of its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. The film centers on Tamer, a Palestinian teenager living in Israel. He and his friends lead a typical high-school student’s life until the arrival of the beautiful Maysaa’. To impress her, Tamer agrees to take part in a mysterious flag operation on the eve of Israel’s Independence Day, which is a day of mourning for Palestinians. Toronto’s Nataleah Hunter-Young said of the film: “A fluid and absorbing feature debut from Firas Khoury, ‘Alam’ is a coming-of-age drama full of contemporary urgency. Skilfully pointing out the unsubtle mechanisms of nationalism, Khoury draws us through the maze of control and contradiction that follows the forced forgetting of history.”

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor In “The March on Rome,” which world premieres in the Venice Days sidebar of Venice Film Festival Wednesday, Northern Irish-Scottish filmmaker Mark Cousins tracks the ascent of fascism in Italy in the 1920s, and its fall-out across 1930s Europe. He also draws a dotted line from those events to the storming of the Capitol in Washington, D.C., in January 2021. The documentary, illustrated with archive footage and Cousins’ characteristic cinematic analysis, starts with Donald Trump defending his decision to retweet a quote from Italian dictator Benito Mussolini: “It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep.” Later in the film, Cousins inserts footage of Trump supporters attacking the Capitol, hoping to overturn Joe Biden’s electoral victory.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Austrian director David Wagner’s feature debut “Eismayer,” which has its world premiere in Venice Critics’ Week on Sunday, has been picked up for international sales by Paris-based Loco Films. The trailer for the film debuts here (below). In a statement, Loco’s chiefs Laurent Danielou and Arnaud Godart said: “From this true and extraordinary story, [Wagner] managed to make a very subtle and cinematic film.” The film centers on Sergeant Major Eismayer, who is known and feared as the toughest training officer in the Austrian armed forces, ruthless with recruits and unwavering in his discipline, order and macho toughness. But when he starts to fall in love with Falak, a new recruit who unashamedly embraces his homosexuality, Eismayer’s closeted existence is shaken to the core. To a man like Eismayer, loving another man cannot be reconciled with the understanding of what a model soldier should be. Will he choose to protect his badass, tough guy image over all else, or can he follow his heart and his true desire? The film is inspired by a true story.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Munich-based sales agency The Playmaker has sold black comedy “Holy Shit!” to distributors in several major territories ahead of its U.K. premiere at Frightfest on Aug. 28. The Playmaker has closed deals for Japan (New Select), South Korea (Lumix Media), China (Beijing Blue Media Times), France (Family Films) and Baltics (Estin Film). Scriptwriter and director Lukas Rinker’s claustrophobic real-time genre movie made its market premiere in Cannes this year. “Holy Shit!” won the Audience Award at its world premiere at this year’s Hard:Line Film Festival and was shown at the Night Visions Film Festival in Helsinki. At Fantaspoa, it received an Honorable Mention for the “best blood (and shit) bath.”

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Documentary “Bobi Wine: Ghetto President,” which world premieres Out of Competition at the Venice Film Festival on Sept. 1, centers on a man’s pursuit of freedom and justice for his country, but at the film’s heart is a love story. Variety speaks to the filmmakers, and unveils the trailer, the first time any footage has been released. The film, directed by Christopher Sharp and Moses Bwayo, and produced by Sharp and Oscar-winner John Battsek, follows the attempt by musician Bobi Wine to topple the repressive regime of Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni. Sharp has a personal connection to Uganda: both his father and he were born there, and he spent a large part of his childhood in the country. He met Wine, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, in 2017, just after the musician had become a Member of Parliament.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor MPM Premium has picked up Cláudia Varejão’s queer coming-of-age drama “Wolf and Dog” (Lobo e cão), which has its world premiere in Venice Days, a sidebar to the Venice Film Festival. Variety has been given exclusive access to the trailer. The film centers on Ana, who was born in São Miguel, an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, ruled by religion and traditions. She is the middle child of a family of three, growing up with her mother and grandmother. As she grew up, Ana realized that girls and boys were given different tasks. Through her friendship with Luis, her queer best friend who loves dresses as much as pants, Ana questions the world that is promised to her. When her friend Cloé arrives from Canada, Ana embarks on a journey that will take her beyond her limited horizons.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor“Bread and Salt,” which has been selected for Venice Film Festival’s Horizons section, has debuted its trailer. The film has been picked up by IKH Pictures Promotion for world sales.The film, the feature debut by director Damian Kocur, follows talented pianist Tymek, a student of the Warsaw Academy of Music, who returns to his home town for a vacation, a place where time has stood still. The central meeting point for local youth is the newly created kebab bar.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor“The Tourist,” starring Jamie Dornan, won best series Tuesday at the Golden Nymphs Awards, handed out at the conclusion of the 61st Monte-Carlo Television Festival.The show, created and written by Harry and Jack Williams, is a British thriller with comedy moments centering on the theme of identity. It was also given the best creation prize and the BetaSeries public prize.Germany’s “Martha Liebermann,” a drama about a German-Jewish woman in Nazi-era Berlin standing up for her values while risking her life, won best TV film, and Thekla Carola Wied, who plays the titular character, won best actress.Ulrich Thomsen, the lead from Nordic crime drama “Trom” won best actor.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor“L’îlot” (“Like an Island“), winner of the Grand Prix at Visions du Réel, has debuted its trailer ahead of its international premiere at the Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival in the Special Screenings section. Michaela Čajková at Filmotor is handling world sales.Swiss director Tizian Büchi’s feature debut is a documentary-fiction hybrid full of magic realism.It centers on two watchmen, who secure the river that runs through a neighborhood in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor101 Films Intl., the U.K.-based sales division of Amcomri Entertainment, has boarded worldwide sales for comedy sci-fi fantasy film “This Is the Night Mail.”Written by Joanne Reay (“MindGamers”), “This Is the Night Mail” stars a plethora of well-known talent including Stephen Fry (“Bright Young Things”), Jennifer Saunders (“Absolutely Fabulous”) and Matt Lucas (“Little Britain”).Andrew Goth (“MindGamers”) and Reay have directed the film, which is finishing post and will be available in the second quarter.The Night Mail is a delivery service with a difference. You’ll be working with the dead.Goth said: “Joanne’s script is truly original.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor“POV,” the Emmy-winning PBS documentary series, has announced the acquisition of environmental thriller “Delikado” as part of its upcoming 35th season.The film, which premiered April 29 at the Hot Docs Canadian Intl. Documentary Festival, is the directorial debut of award-winning journalist Karl Malakunas.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor“Images of a Nordic Drama,” the debut documentary by Oscar-nominated Norwegian director Nils Gaup, has debuted its teaser trailer, ahead of its international premiere at Hot Docs.The film follows art collector Haakon Mehren who faces unexpected resistance while championing the work of an unknown Norwegian artist after finding a cache of paintings in a barn.Despite success abroad, the undiscovered work of Aksel Waldemar Johannessen, a contemporary of Edvard Munch, takes nearly three decades to launch in Norway. The painter’s depictions of prostitutes and drunks living in miserable poverty offend the aesthetics of Norway’s art establishment and challenge the canon to the point of sabotaging his rediscovery.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor“The Quiet Epidemic,” a feature documentary about the tick-borne illness Lyme Disease, has released its trailer ahead of the film’s premiere in the Special Presentations category at the Hot Docs film festival in Toronto on May 2. The film is co-directed by Lindsay Keys and Winslow Crane-Murdoch, and the producers are Chris Hegedus, who was Oscar nominated with D.A. Pennebaker for “The War Room,” and Daria Lombroso, whose credits include “Most Likely to Succeed.” Keys and Crane-Murdoch met through their Lyme Disease doctor’s office in 2015.