Alana Hadid’s Watermelon Pictures Takes North America For Gaza Director Mohamed Jabaly’s Doc ‘Life Is Beautiful’

EXCLUSIVE: Growing specialty distributor 3388 Films has acquired rights to Vietnamese smash Face Off 7: One Wish, and has set the weekend of June 14 to launch in numerous markets, including the U.S., Canada and the UK.

Epik High have announced their upcoming 2024 ‘The Pump’ North America tour, featuring concerts in Canada and the US.Epik High will return to North America later this year for a massive 23-date tour of the region, which will feature two Canadian concerts and 21 performances in the US across August and September 2024.The K-hip-hop trio will kick things off at the Orpheum in Vancouver on August 22. The same month, the group will also play shows in the US states of Washington, Oregon and Neveda, as well as three concerts across California.In September, Epik High will bring their tour to Central US states and the East Coast.

Paramore have made a call for donations to support aid to Gaza today (May 29) via their Instagram Stories.It comes as Israel has intensified its military operations in Rafah over the last few days. A report from The Associated Press explained that Israel’s recent shelling and airstrike attacks killed at least 37 people between Monday and Tuesday this week (May 27-28).

Justice have announced new dates for their forthcoming North American tour – check out the full list of dates and ticket info below.The French electronic duo – who will hit the road in support of their fourth album ‘Hyperdrama’, released in April – have added new dates in October for their sojourn through the US and Canada.This follows initial dates previously announced for New York, Washington DC and Boston, all of which have since sold out. Their North American tour will now begin in New York City on July 25 and end in Chicago on October 23.

EXCLUSIVE: Out of the Cannes market, Sony Pictures Classics has bought North American rights and a raft of international territories on Walter Salles‘ anticipated first narrative feature in more than a decade: I’m Still Here.

Mubi has doubled down on Andrea Arnold‘s “Bird” — starring Barry Keoghan and Franz Rogoswki — swooping on North American and Turkish rights to the Cannes competition entry less than two weeks after it announced it had bought the film for the U.K. and Ireland. The acquisition — which Variety understands came after a fierce bidding war — marks another buzzy U.S.

The Black Keys appear to have cancelled their upcoming North American arena tour which was due to take place from September to November.The band announced the ‘International Players Tour’ tour last month, which was due to total a run of 31 dates across the US and Canada this autumn, in support of their 12th album ‘Ohio Players’, which came out on April 5.The duo – comprising Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney – were due to kick off in Tulsa on September 17, with Seattle band The Head And The Heart set to support them at select shows. The full list of shows on the tour can be found here.Tickets, which had been available here, now show that all of the shows on the tour are cancelled, although the one-off show at Chicago’s Grant Park on July 6 is still listed as going ahead.

Grindstone Entertainment Group has bought North American rights to Uppercut, a boxing thriller starring Ving Rhames, for Hello Moment Productions.

Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired the North American rights for Gints Zilbalodis’s animated feature Flow, following an enthusiastic standing ovation at its world premiere in the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard on Wednesday.

EXCLUSIVE: Neon has prebought North American rights to Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, the latest project from the Norwegian director that stars Renate Reinsve. 

EXCLUSIVE: Altered Innocence has picked up all North American rights to Iranian filmmaker Kaveh Daneshmand’s first feature film Endless Summer Syndrome which debuted last year at Tallinn Black Nights before playing Raindance, Goa IFF, and Fantaspoa. 

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Metrograph Pictures has acquired North American rights to Sandhya Suri’s Cannes standout “Santosh” following its world premiere in Un Certain Regard. Metrograph Pictures will distribute the film theatrically, with additional release details to be announced at a later date. MK2 Films represents the movie in international markets.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Sideshow and Janus films (“Drive My Car”) have acquired all North American rights to Payal Kapadia‘s “All We Imagine as Light,” the first Indian film to screen in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 30 years. The movie will world premiere on Thursday, May 23. It’s also one of only four films in the Competition directed by a woman.

Neon has grabbed North American rights to The Seed of the Sacred Fig, the latest film from Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof (There Is No Evil, Manuscripts Don’t Burn). 

Neon has picked up North American rights to The Unknown, the next feature from Anatomy of a Fall writer Arthur Harari. 

EXCLUSIVE: Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Chris Jenkins‘ animated family comedy 10 Lives, in partnership with GFM Animation. World premiering at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, the film featuring the voices of singer-songwriter Zayn Malik, Bill Nighy (Living) and more will be released wide in theaters on October 11.

EXCLUSIVE: Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired Northern American rights for Joachim A. Lang’s historical drama Goebbels and The Führer (aka Führer and Seducer) for a fall 2024 theatrical and digital release.  

Inhaler have announced an autumn 2024 North American tour set to kick off later this year.The Dublin band – comprised of Eli Hewson, Rob Keating, Josh Jenkinson and Ryan McMahon – took to their official social media accounts to reveal that they will be hitting the road across North America beginning in October.Kicking off at Marathon Music Works in Nashville on October 11, the quartet will make their way through the US with stops in major cities such as Atlanta, New York, Boston, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, San Diego, Portland and Seattle before wrapping up at the Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver on November 10.Speaking about their North American tour in a press release, the band said, “Coming back for a run of shows in the US this October and November. We can’t wait to see you all once again.” General ticket sales will commence on Friday, May 17, at 10am local time.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Neon, the Oscar-winning distributor of “Parasite,” is getting back in business with “Titane” director Julia Ducournau. In one of the first big rights deals of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the studio announced it has acquired North American territories for Ducournau’s “Alpha.” Plot details were not immediately disclosed, except that the film will be “genre-defying.” Neon previously released Ducournau’s acclaimed “Titane,” which won Cannes’ highest honor, the Palme d’Or, in 2021. She is only the second woman director to do so, following Jane Campion for “The Piano.” “Alpha” will star Golshifteh Farahani (“The Patience Stone,” “Paterson”) and Tahar Rahim (“The Mauritanian,” “A Prophet”).

Annika Pham Scandinavia’s top sales agent TrustNordisk has scored major deals on the English-language epic “Stockholm Bloodbath” by Oscar-nominated Mikael Håfström (‘Evil”), which has sold to Brainstorm Media and Sunrise Films for the US and Canada, The Jokers for France and Divisa Red for Spain. The Claes Bang-vehicle, produced by Helena Danielsson for Viaplay Studios Sweden, is due to screen at the Cannes Market May 18, in a new international version.