Activist Artists Management Signs Venice & Toronto Prize-Winner Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir

Holly Jones Munich-based arthouse distribution company Prokino Filmverleih has locked German-language and Swiss rights for the unconventional Icelandic road trip film “Driving Mum” from production-distribution outfit Alief (“Matadero”). The project won the Grand Prix Prize for best film at the Tallinn Black Night Film Festival, earning additional accolades for its affecting score. It was also chosen as an Industry Select title at 2022’s Toronto Festival. The deal, brokered between Miguel Angel Govea, a partner at Alief, and Ira Von Gienanth, managing director of production, acquisitions & sales at Prokino, comes ahead of the feature’s European Film Market screenings in Berlin.

Naman Ramachandran MetFilm Distribution has acquired U.K. and Ireland rights to Vinay Shukla’s documentary “While We Watched.” Produced by the U.K.’s Lono Studio and BritDoc Films, the documentary is a newsroom drama intimately chronicling the working days of Indian broadcast journalist Ravish Kumar as he navigates a spiralling world of truth and disinformation. Kumar, a Ramon Magsaysay Award winner, was a senior journalist at Indian news platform NDTV, who resigned after billionaire Gautam Adani took over the company. “While We Watched” debuted at Toronto in 2022 where it won the Amplify Voices award, followed by Busan, where it won the Cinephile award. Most recently, the film won the international competition at Helsinki’s DocPoint Festival.

Diverse festival notables from Hannah Ha Ha to The Blue Caftan join a spattering of specialty horror titles led by Consecration, and the U.S. theatrical debut of Gaspar Noé’s controversial Irréversible: Straight Cut.

EXCLUSIVE: Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired North American rights to Japanese director Kôji Fukada’s drama Love Life.

Unless you’re the lucky type of movie fan who can completely ignore awards season and just enjoy films without worrying about the behind-the-scenes drama that accompanies this time of year, you probably are well aware of the controversy surrounding the Best Actress nominees at this year’s Oscars. Andrea Riseborough earned a shocking nomination, while Viola Davis and Danielle Deadwyler were snubbed.

EXCLUSIVE: Oscar Isaac, Evangeline Lilly, Elliott Gould and Billy Zane will voice the Gidi Dar-directed animated movie Legend of Destruction.

EXCLUSIVE: CAA has signed actress Chloë Grace Moretz for representation.

Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who during their day job are the minds behind Nine Inch Nails, have announced they’ll be reteaming with director David Fincher for this fall’s “The Killer.” This is their fifth collaboration with Fincher after “The Social Network,” “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” “Gone Girl,” and “Mank.”“The Killer” is currently cloaked in secrecy (this is a David Fincher project, after all), but it is based on the French comic book series by Alexis Nolent (aka Matz). The project stars Michael Fassbender as the title character (his first role since 2019’s regrettable X-Men romp “Dark Phoenix”) along with Charles Parnell, Tilda Swinton, Arliss Howard and Sophie Charlotte in supporting roles.

David Fincher‘s “The Killer” is undoubtedly one of 2023’s most anticipated movies. It’s Fincher’s first film since 2020’s “Mank,” marks a reunion with “Se7en” scribe Andrew Kevin Walker, and sees him direct Michael Fassbender for the first time.

EXCLUSIVE: Zero Gravity Management has signed actor-producer Maurice Compte for representation.

Writ Large has upped TV and film literary manager Lauren Dineley to partner.

EXCLUSIVE: As Warner Bros Pictures continues to find its footing under new management, the studio on Thursday secured the services of a cornerstone filmmaker, signing a first-look deal with its Elvis director-writer-producer Baz Luhrmann. 

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio received an Oscar nomination today, marking the first Oscar nom for animation studio ShadowMachine. Producers Corey Campodonico and Alex Bulkley spoke to Deadline with their reactions.

A commenter named Brad replied to an Oscar predictions piece I put up over the weekend and said: “There used to be a time when I anticipated the Oscar Nominations. But I feel that time has not been good to the Academy Awards and with so many awards ceremonies these days, the Oscars do not seem special like they once did.”

Everything Everywhere All At Once announced itself this morning as a serious Oscar threat with 11 nominations, topping off with best picture. That includes performing noms for Michelle Yeoh, Jamie Lee Curtis, Stephanie Hsu and Ke Huy Quan. The film also drew noms for costume, original score, original screenplay, best original song, film editing, and directing for Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.

EXCLUSIVE: Three-time Emmy winner Bradley Whitford has signed with Gersh for representation.