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Home-grown movies set to shine at Tallinn Black Nights
18 November 2016 9:00 PM, PST
An increased cash rebate and co-production boom has resulted in a strong Estonian line-up for this year’s Tallinn Black Nights.
The Estonian film industry is picking up momentum, seeing an increase in domestic film admissions as well as a selection of awards around the festival circuit.
In Berlin earlier this year, the Estonian Film Institute (Efi) announced a cash rebate for foreign productions including full length features, documentaries and television series, which has in turn prompted a spike in the number of co-productions.
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival is reaping the benefits with a strong line-up of Estonian films across several of their programme sections
Estonian Film Competition
Seven films are in contention for the Estonian Film Award, which grants a winning feature €3,200 in prize money to be shared between the director and the producer:
Triin Ruumet’s The Days That Confused (above), a coming-of-age story set in late 1990s Estonia, is already »
Tallinn: New Europe closes 'Zoology' deals in Baltics
18 November 2016 9:00 PM, PST
Exclusive: Sales outfit also inks deal with HBO Europe for TV rights.
Warsaw-based sales outfit New Europe Film Sales has closed further deals on Ivan Tverdovsky’s supernatural drama Zoology.
The film has sold to Estonia (Estinfilm) and Latvia (Kino Bize), while HBO Europe has picked up TV rights for the Central Europe region.
Zoology played at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in July this year, where it won the Special Jury Prize. It has gone on to have festival berths in Toronto, Zurich and London, and also scooped the top prize at the recent Cottbus industry forum in Germany.
New Europe previously struck a deal with Arrow Films for North American and UK rights.
The film follows a middle-aged zoo worker whose quiet life in a small coastal town seems to be going nowhere until one day she undergoes a supernatural transformation.
Read: Q&A: Ivan Tverdovsky, ‘Zoology’
It was produced by New People Film Company »
- tom.grater@screendaily.com (Tom Grater)
Korean delegation cancels Black Nights visit due to political unrest
18 November 2016 9:00 PM, PST
Exclusive: A sizeable group from the country had planned to attend the festival this year to celebrate signing a film co-operation agreement.
A South Korean delegation led by Seoul mayor Won-soon Park [pictured] has cancelled a planned visit to this week’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival due to ongoing political unrest in Korea.
A letter sent to the festival by the Seoul Metropolitan Government describes a “political scandal that has plagued the nation” and explains that the “country and its people are at a loss and deeply troubled” by recent political events.
The decision to cancel the trip was taken by the mayor “to calm our citizens, to keep himself closely informed of the ongoing situation and to ensure business continuity as usual in a turbulent time”, the letter explains.
South Korea has faced a turbulent year with incumbent president Geun-hye Park embroiled in a scandal involving allegations of corruption which have prompted protests and widespread calls for »
- tom.grater@screendaily.com (Tom Grater)
Storytek development forum launches at Tallinn Black Nights
18 November 2016 9:00 PM, PST
The 20th edition of the Tallinn Black Nights festival rolls out its digital red carpet with the inaugaral edition of Storytek, a one-day financing and business development forum for alternative storytellers.
Co-hosted by Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, the all-day event takes place on Saturday November 19 and will host panels on topics ranging from intellectual property (IP) and product development to crowdfunding and marketing and distribution for new multi-platform businesses.
Informal brainstorming discussions will also be on the agenda, with international film and technology experts revealing their trade tips across the gaming, merchandising, mobile content, publishing and Vr and Ar industries
A raft of film and technology speakers will be in attendance, including: Pam Rodi, PR & Marketing executive of Sony Pictures Entertainment; Keith Arem, Call of Duty talent director & Vr visionary; Tero Kaukomaa, crowdfunding pioneer of the Iron Sky franchise; Laura-Anne Edwards, digital brand & startup strategist, Ted resident and open data expert; Mitch Mallon, digital content »
Paramount Pictures broadens marketing team with key hires
18 November 2016 7:49 AM, PST
The studio’s worldwide president of marketing and distribution Megan Colligan announced on Friday new appointments to its digital, creative, partnership and licensing teams.
Former head of industry, media and entertainment at for Google’s DoubleClick Mo Rhim is named senior vice-president of international digital marketing, while Kath Skerry becomes vice-president of digital marketing.
Skerry is a former executive at Omd Entertainment and iProspect/Icuc. Brandon Nichols is named director of digital marketing and before the appointment was director of digital marketing at Broad Green Media.
Vivianne Waisman becomes vice-president of licensing and most recently served as Sony Pictures executive director of Us retail strategy and development, while former 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment director of creative advertising Natalie Bowman is named director of creative advertising.
Finally Nav Kaur is named director of marketing partnerships and recently served at Warner Bros as director of marketing partnerships.
“We are excited to welcome aboard this diverse group of marketing »
- jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
Exclusive first-look: Alex Pettyfer in Katyn thriller 'The Last Witness'
18 November 2016 3:07 AM, PST
Exclusive: Talulah Riley joins cast of political thriller now underway in UK.
Shoot is underway in the West Midlands, England, on political thriller The Last Witness, starring Alex Pettyfer (I Am Number Four).
Talulah Riley (Westworld) has joined the production alongside Robert Wieckiewicz (In Darkness), Piotr Stramowski (Pitbull), Henry Lloyd Hughes (Now You See Me 2) and Michael Gambon (Harry Potter). Director is Piotr Szkopiak (The Coroner).
Pettyfer plays Stephen Underwood, a journalist who uncovers the horrific murder of 22,000 Poles under Stalin’s instructions, though for many years the blame for the killing was placed on the Nazis.
At the time, information about the Katyn Massacre, as it came to be known, was covered up by both the British and Us governments in view of the delicate relationship with Russia during and after the war.
Riley plays Jeanette Mitchell, a Junior Commander in the Auxiliary Territorial Service who is also Underwood’s lover.
The film is »
- andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
Emilia Clarke joins untitled Han Solo 'Star Wars' film
18 November 2016 2:30 AM, PST
The star of Game Of Thrones and this year’s summer breakout Me Before You is the latest name to board the stand-alone sci-fi adventure.
Clarke joins Rules Don’t Apply star Alden Ehrenreich as the young Solo and Donald Glover as the young Lando Calrissian.
The action will take place in a galaxy far, far away before events in the original Star Wars trilogy. The news broke on Friday on StarWars.com.
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who broke out with The Lego Movie, are on board to direct the project and Disney has earmarked a 2018 release.
Clarke portrays Daenerys Targaryen in Game Of Thrones and her credits include Terminator Genisys and Dom Hemingway.
Expected in 2017 are Phillip Noyce crime thriller Above Suspicion, which Sierra/Affinity introduced to international buyers in Cannes and Gersh represents in the Us, and supernatural thriller Voice From The Stone, which 13 Films represents for international sales. »
- jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
China’s Leeding Media scoops up Im Global, Lakeshore titles
18 November 2016 2:19 AM, PST
Producer and aggregator has acquired Chinese digital rights to 95 films and also secured investment from WinDigital Investment Fund.
Us and China-based producer and aggregator Leeding Media has acquired exclusive digital rights to 95 films in library deals with both Im Global and Lakeshore Entertainment.
Im Global titles covered by the deals (47 in total) include The Wedding Planner, Malcolm X and G.I. Jane, while the deal with Lakeshore covers 48 titles. Leeding Media, which now has Chinese digital rights to around 500 titles, will exploit the films across Chinese Tvod and Svod streaming platforms.
Leeding Media has also received investment from China’s WinDigital Investment Fund, whose backing will enable the company to increase its footprint in licensing, co-financing and producing films for the Chinese and global market.
“Our company has been growing steadily and the response has been enthusiastic, as evidenced by our recent acquisition of 95 titles and our attracting WinDigital as an investor,” said [link=co »
- lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
'Fantastic Beasts' dominates UK social media buzz
18 November 2016 1:00 AM, PST
Eddie Redmayne-starring Harry Potter spin-off beat competition from Amy Adams-starring Arrival.
Harry Potter spin-off Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them topped this week’s social media buzz chart, according to marketing firm Way To Blue.
Starring Eddie Redmayne, Katherine Waterston and Colin Farrell, the film, which opens tomorrow (November 18) in the UK, amassed more than 21,000 comments across social media, news, forums and blogs over the past week.
Of those commenters, 12% expressed an intent to view.
Read: ‘Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them’: Review
The week’s second buzziest title was sci-fi drama Arrival, which rose to the top of the UK box office this week. The film amassed almost 6,000 comments, with 674 registering an intent to view.
No other titled this week recorded a significant number of comments, but social media buzz is steadily growing for Bad Santa 2 and A United Kingdom, both set to be released in the UK next week »
'Gotham' director T J Scott, Dennys Ilic launch Cinematic Pictures Group
17 November 2016 3:48 PM, PST
Updated Exclusive: The leading prime time director has partnered with renowned stills photographer on a film, TV, music and publishing venture.
Hollywood-based Cinematic Pictures Group kicks off with the TV pilot Purgatory, which Scott will direct from a story he conceived with Victoria Pratt.
Purgatory takes place in the fabled netherworld between heaven and hell and centres on Cyn, a ‘switch’ who can jump between our world and purgatory and inherited the ability from her mother, a split soul.
Scott (main picture), currently in Vancouver shooting Ice for Antoine Fuqua, is developing the project with Ilic, creature and concept designer Neville Page and artist Rob Prior. Pratt will play Cyn’s mother, Gemini / Jezebel.
Cinematic Pictures Group’s slate includes Vivaldi, which Scott wrote and is in development with producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, as well as The Secret Lives Of Road Crews, which is in development at Paramount with Christopher Columbus attached to produce but not »
- jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
Us Briefs: Women In Film unveils film finishing grantees
17 November 2016 3:01 PM, PST
Plus: Land Of Mine triumphs at AFI Fest; Warner Bros confirms Machinima acquisition; Tooley Productions, Square One sign German deal; and more.
Women In Film has announced the recipients of its 31st annual Film Finishing Fund grant programme in support of films by, for or about women.
The narrative winners are: Solace by Tchaiko Omawale; Band Aid by Zoe Lister-Jones; Miracle by Egle Vertelyte; and The Darkest Days Of Us by Astrid Rondero.
Documentary recipients are: Amor Puro Y Duro by Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi; Canary In A Coal Mine by Jennifer Brea; Farida And Gulnaz by Clementine Malpas; Mudflow by Cynthia Wade and Sasha Friedlander; Tribe by Jordan Bryon; and When A Girl Is Born by Sarita Khurana and Smriti Mundhra.
Martin Zandvliet’s Danish Oscar submission Land Of Mine won AFI Fest 2016’s World Cinema Audience Award, while Divines took the Breathrough Audience Award. The Future Perfect took New Auteurs Grand Jury Award. For the »
- jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
Us Briefs: Women In Film unveils film finishing grant winners
17 November 2016 3:01 PM, PST
Women In Film has announced the recipients of its 31st annual Film Finishing Fund grant programme in support of films by, for or about women.
The narrative winners are: Solace by Tchaiko Omawale; Band Aid by Zoe Lister-Jones; Miracle by Egle Vertelyte; and The Darkest Days Of Us by Astrid Rondero.
Documentary recipients are: Amor Puro Y Duro by Catherine Gund and Daresha Kyi; Canary In A Coal Mine by Jennifer Brea; Farida And Gulnaz
by Clementine Malpas; Mudflow by Cynthia Wade and Sasha Friedlander; Tribe by Jordan Bryon; and When A Girl Is Born by Sarita Khurana and Smriti Mundhra.
Sundance Institute has announced its fifth class of Women at Sundance Fellows to receive mid-career support. Each fellow is paired with a mentor and will receive a stipend to attend the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. The fellows are: Elyse Steinberg (Weiner producer) and Elizabeth Wood (White Girl writer-director), Cecilia Aldarondo (Memories Of A Penitent Heart director), [link »
- jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
eOne, Sun among Afm 'Klown' buyers for Annapurna International
17 November 2016 8:25 AM, PST
Annapurna International said on Thursday it had sold out all territories outside the Us on the Four By Two Films comedy remake to star Sacha Baron Cohen.
eOne has acquired the UK, Australia, Canada and Benelux, while Sun will distribute in Latin America, Constantin in Germany, and Metropolitan in France.
Eagle has acquired Klown for Italy, ProRom for Eastern Europe, Nordisk for Scandinavia, and Tri Pictures for Spain, among other territory deals.
Screen broke the story during the market that Annapurna International introduced the new project and hosted British comic Baron Cohen at a buyers’ presentation. The company claimed that so far Klown is the only new title introduced at the recent Afm to completely sell out.
It is understood the English-language remake will be a semi-improvisational take on Mikkel Norgaard’s record-breaking 2010 Danish comedy about a man desperate to prove his worth to his girlfriend.
Norgaard followed that up with Klown Forever in 2015, in which the characters »
- jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
Animation UK merges with UK Screen Association
17 November 2016 5:00 AM, PST
Animation and facilities organisations to join as umbrella membership association called UK Screen Alliance.
After nearly a decade as a voluntary group, Animation UK has announced it will become a membership organisation in partnership with the UK Screen Association, the trade body for visual FX houses, post-production facilities and film studios.
The organisations will join under one umbrella organisation to be called the UK Screen Alliance.
The announcement came at the Manimation 2016 conference in Manchester.
By joining into one larger association, the two lobbying organisations will facilitate further interaction between the government and parts of the screen industries and the alliance will develop joint working groups between the facilities and animations sectors to advance key policies.
Neil Hatton, current chief executive of the UK Screen Association, will become CEO of the overall UK Screen Alliance and will continue to lead the existing facilities remit.
Chair and founder of Animation UK, Oli Hyatt MBE, will »
Ally Derks' final Idfa underway, Michael Moore cancels visit following Us election
17 November 2016 4:41 AM, PST
Doc festival opens in Amsterdam; Dogwoof, Autlook ready new titles.
Europe’s biggest and longest established doc festival, Idfa (International Documentary Festival Amsterdam) launched its 29th edition last night (November 16) with a screening of Guido Hendrikx’s refugee-themed Stranger in Paradise, in the Carré Theatre, one of Amsterdam’s biggest venues, in the presence of the Dutch culture minister, Jet Bussemaker.
This will be the final festival under the creative control of co-founder Ally Derks, who will be stepping down officially at the 30th anniversary edition of Idfa next year. Derks will shortly be starting a fellowship at ‘Robert Bosch Stiftung’ in Berlin. Barbara Visser will take over her duties as interim artistic director.
“I’m very proud to be standing here in this beautiful Carré Theater. It’s the 29th Idfa, my last, and how amazing to have the opening in such a huge place. Who could have even imagined this 29 years ago? I remember »
- geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk (Geoffrey Macnab)
Ally Derks' final Idfa underway, Michael Moore cancels visit following election
17 November 2016 4:41 AM, PST
Doc festival opens in Amsterdam; Dogwoof, Autlook ready new titles.
Europe’s biggest and longest established doc festival, Idfa (International Documentary Festival Amsterdam) launched its 29th edition last night (November 16) with a screening of Guido Hendrikx’s refugee-themed Stranger in Paradise, in the Carré Theatre, one of Amsterdam’s biggest venues, in the presence of the Dutch culture minister, Jet Bussemaker.
This will be the final festival under the creative control of co-founder Ally Derks, who will be stepping down officially at the 30th anniversary edition of Idfa next year. Derks will shortly be starting a fellowship at ‘Robert Bosch Stiftung’ in Berlin. Barbara Visser will take over her duties as interim artistic director.
“I’m very proud to be standing here in this beautiful Carré Theater. It’s the 29th Idfa, my last, and how amazing to have the opening in such a huge place. Who could have even imagined this 29 years ago? I remember »
- geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk (Geoffrey Macnab)
Baby Cow, Christine Langan swoop for Zadie Smith novel
17 November 2016 4:29 AM, PST
Former BBC Films boss Christine Langan picks up Zadie Smith novel for TV adaptation.
Baby Cow, the indie co-founded by Steve Coogan, is developing a television adaption of Zadie Smith’s latest novel Swing Time.
Smith will work with husband and novelist Nick Laird to adapt the book which was published earlier this week.
Baby Cow reached a deal with Katie Haines at The Agency in association with Georgia Garrett at Rogers, Coleridge and White.
Set in north west London and west Africa, Swing Time follows two girls who dream of being dancers. Their close but complicated childhood friendship ends abruptly in their early 20s never to be rekindled.
Swing Time is Baby Cow’s first acquisition since former head of BBC Films Christine Langan became chief executive this month.
Langan described Smith as “the voice of a generation”.
“Swing Time is a thrillingly ambitious story of friendship, rivalry and fame,” she added.
“We »
European Film Awards: first seven winners announced
17 November 2016 4:17 AM, PST
Land Of Mine, Suffragette win early awards.
The first seven winners for the 29th European Film Awards - which take place on 10 December in Wroclaw, Poland - have been announced.
Martin Zandvliet’s war drama Land Of Mine leads the way with three awards.
The jury picked the winners for the cinematography, editing, design, costumes, hair and make-up, music and sound categories.
The winners are:
Cinematography: Camilla Hjelm Knudsen for Land Of MineEditing: Anne Østerud and Janus Billeskov Jansen for The CommuneDesign: Alice Normington for SuffragetteCostumes: Stefanie Bieker for Land Of MineHair and Make-Up: Barbara Kreuzer for Land Of MineMusic: Ilya Demutsky for The StudentSound: Radosław Ochnio for 11 Minutes
The seven jury members were production designer Benoît Barouh, costume designer Paco Delgado, cinematographer Martin Gschlacht, sound designer Dean Humphreys, editor Era Lapid, make-up artist Waldemar Pokromski and composer Giuliano Taviani.
Pierce Brosnan will receive the European Achievement in World Cinema award at the ceremony, which this year »
European Shooting Stars jury revealed
17 November 2016 2:34 AM, PST
Efp chooses panel of industry experts to select Europe’s best acting talents for its annual Berlinale showcase.
European Film Promotion, the international association of organisations promoting European cinema worldwide, has announced its European Shooting Stars jury for 2017.
The panel will select the ten most promising young actors from across Europe in early December.
Members of the jury include Hungarian actress and former Shooting Star Dorka Gyllus (Demimonde), British casting director Lucinda Syson (Batman Begins), Portuguese producer Pandora da Cunha Telles (Bridges Of Saravejo), Swiss film director Xavier Koller (Journey Of Hope) [pictured] and Swedish film editor and critic Jan Lumhold (Svenska Dagbladet).
At the upcoming Berlinale, which runs from February 9 – 19, 2017, Efp will celebrate the 20th edition of its European Shooting Stars initiative.
The Shooting Stars programme aims to bring together European talent with agents, casting directors and international media. The three-day annual event ends with its awards ceremony on February 13, where each selected actor is honoured on the »
Les Arcs Coproduction Village unveils 2016 roster
17 November 2016 2:09 AM, PST
A total of 21 projects will be presented at the development and financing platform.
Caroline Deruas, Jonathan Nossiter and David Verbeek will be among the directors presenting their upcoming projects at the eighth edition of the Les Arcs Coproduction Village (Dec 10-13).
A total of 24 projects will presented at the three-day event unfolding within the Les Arcs European Film Festival (10-17) which announced the bulk of its programme last week.
Verbeek will present his long-gestating vampire project Dead & Beautiful.
Jonathan Nossiter will be at the market with The Last Words, his big screen adaptation of France-based Argentine writer Santiago Amigorena’s novel Mes derniers mots revolving around the last two members of the human race as they contemplate a world destroyed by mankind.
Deruas will present her second feature Sad Liza after Daydreams which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival over the summer.
Two animation projects have also made it into this year’s selection, Dutch experimental »
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