Aziz Zoromba, Filmmaker Of TIFF Winning & Sundance Short ‘Simo’, Signs With Rain; Feature Take In Works

EXCLUSIVE: Biotech entrepreneur Jonathan Lim’s recently launched production and financing entity City Hill Arts has unveiled the first still from The Penguin & The Fisherman — one of its first feature projects, starring 3x César Award nominee Jean Reno (Léon: The Professional), which has now wrapped production.

EXCLUSIVE: FilmNation Entertainment and ZQ Entertainment have finalized a multi-year feature film development fund deal.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Growth of premium video services in Southeast Asia accelerated in the second half of 2022, to reach 48.4 million paid subscriptions, according to a new report. But the same analysis sees growth slowing and costs accelerating. The latest report from Media Partners Asia, “SEA Online Video Consumer Insights & Analytics” shows 48.4 million paid online video subscriptions at the end of 2022 in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The full year saw 11.8 million net new customers, with 7.3 million of that total coming in the second half, including 4.6 million in the fourth quarter. Indonesia accounted for half of the increase.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Sundance standout film “Animalia,” by French-Moroccan filmmaker Sofia Alaoui, has been acquired for distribution across the Middle East and North Africa by Egypt’s Film Clinic, the shingle headed by producer Mohammed Hefzy. Film Clinic, a top film and TV production company that branched out into theatrical distribution in 2016, picked up “Animalia” from Paris-based sales company Totem Films. Alaoui’s genre-bending pic is the tale of a pregnant young woman in Morocco whose life is upended by an alien invasion. In her review, Variety review critic Jessica Kiang praised “Animalia” as “a compellingly different cultural and social perspective on a classic sci-fi premise.” “Alaoui, working from her own taut, confidently ambiguous script, also gets to comment on the position of women in Muslim societies and the limits of wealth and organized faith, as well as elegantly outlining the eerie experience that is suddenly finding yourself startlingly alone during a time of shared global panic,” Kiang noted.

Jeremy Renner is continuing to update his fans on his recovery after he sustained a snowplow injury on New Year's Day. The "Hawkeye" actor to his Instagram story on Valentine's Day to spread some love.  "Love is healing," he wrote over a picture of him with his dog cuddled up beside him.  "Happy Valentines," he added.

EXCLUSIVE: Warsaw-based New Europe Film Sales has boarded international sales on Goran Stolevski’s Housekeeping For Beginners starring top Romanian actress Anamaria Marinca as an unmaternal, gay woman who suddenly finds herself responsible for her partner’s two young daughters.  

Spartacus creator Steven S. DeKnight is expanding the franchise once again with a new series currently in development at Starz. DeKnight will serve as showrunner and executive producer of the as-yet-untitled project.

Hello and welcome back to the Scene 2 Seen Podcast, I am your host Valerie Complex. On today’s episode we’re chatting with director/producer Dina Amer.

EXCLUSIVE: Athens-based audiovisual group Tanweer is expanding its business into world sales of local language content, kicking off with an augural slate at the EFM.

EXCLUSIVE: Writer, director and producer Ariel Vromen has signed with APA for representation.

At least 1,300 people have died and 6,000 are injured after a devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit southern Turkey and northern Syria on Monday. Several buildings were destroyed during the 40-second tremor, with thousands of rescue teams working to free people still trapped under rubble.

EXCLUSIVE: M88 has signed Nigerian American filmmaker Walé Oyéjidé, on the heels of his first narrative feature, Bravo, Burkina!‘s world premiere in the NEXT section of the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.

Andrew Tate‘s hopes for getting out of jail have been rejected by a Romanian judge.

EXCLUSIVE: ColorCreative, the management and production company founded by Issa Rae and Deniese Davis, has signed first-generation Liberian-Nigerian filmmaker Tari Wariebi for representation.

EXCLUSIVE: Peacock is headed to Ancient Egypt with Cleo, a one-hour dramedy in development from writer Jessica Runck (Man With A Plan), Jane the Virgin developer/showrunner Jennie Snyder Urman, Aaron Kaplan’s Kapital Entertainment, TrillTV and CBS Studios, where Urman is under an overall deal.

EXCLUSIVE: How Long Gone, a culture and interview podcast founded by Chris Black and Jason Stewart, is going full Hollywood.

In 2021, filmgoing audiences were treated to “CODA,” an affectionate look at a music-loving high school senior and her complicated bond with a deaf mother, father, and sibling. A year earlier, “Sound of Metal” presented the devastating journey of a rock drummer’s hearing loss and subsequent attempts to cope with his unfortunate predicament.

EXCLUSIVE: Range Media Partners has signed Jarreau Carrillo, the actor-filmmaker whose new short The Vacation has generated substantial buzz on the ground at Sundance 2023.

The "Thoroughbreds" and "Bad Education" filmmaker's sci-fi/comedy finds him working on a larger canvas, but to lesser effect.

EXCLUSIVE: Aloke Devichand, Netflix’s Head of Asian Original Documentaries who commissioned docs on Blackpink and Naomi Osaka along with an Oscar-nominated short, has exited the streamer after nearly five years.