Beta Film Picks Up ‘Soviet Jeans’ Ahead of Series Mania, Reveals Stills of an ‘Unconventional’ Take on Soviet Latvia – With a Touch of ‘Finding Nemo’ (EXCLUSIVE)

If Nicole Kidman, a massive movie star who pivoted to TV and became known as the “Queen of Peak TV,” perhaps someone like Ewan McGregor is quickly becoming her counterpart. McGregor, like Kidman, enjoyed much success on screen as a leading man, but as the mid-sized drama seemingly vanished in cinemas and shifted towards television, actors like the two of them, with an inclination for human stories, have pivoted right alongside the trend.

EXCLUSIVE: Beta Film has picked up distribution rights to French thriller Homejacking, which is co-created by Lupin writer Tigran Rosine, and will launch sales at Series Mania.

EXCLUSIVE: Beta Film‘s Crown-esque high-end drama series Maxima has sold to networks in Lat Am, Israel and across Europe.

Emiliano De Pablos “Professor T,” the crime series produced by Eagle Eye Drama, and starring Ben Miller (“Bridgerton”), has been greenlit for a fourth season by ITV and PBS Distribution. Attracting audiences of over four million viewers on ITV and making a successful debut on France 3, the highly acclaimed drama has been sold to almost 120 territories worldwide. Most recently, Telekom acquired rights in Germany, TV3 bought the series for Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova 1 for Moldova, and BBC and TVP for Poland.

Netflix is about to make its Broadway producing debut, joining the team of Peter Morgan‘s upcoming play Patriots.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The Match Factory has revealed multiple distribution deals for two Berlinale competition titles: German director Matthias Glasner‘s “Dying,” which won the festival’s Silver Bear for best screenplay, and Russian director Victor Kossakovsky‘s documentary “Architecton.” “Dying,” which stars Lars Eidinger, Lilith Stangenberg and Corinna Harfouch, also picked up the Guild of German Arthouse Cinemas and the Berliner Morgenpost Readers’ Jury Award. Variety‘s review describes the film as “a profoundly affecting exploration of life and loss.” The Match Factory closed deals for the film in France (Bodega Film), Italy (Satine Film), Benelux (September Film Distribution), Norway (Selmer Media), Poland (Aurora), CIS (Provzglyad), Ex-Yugoslavia (MCF MegaCom Film), Hungary (Cirko Films), Greece (Cinobo), Romania (Freealize), Taiwan (Andrews Film) and South Korea (Pancinema).

With no new bust-out limited releases, repertory continues to do its part for the specialty box office, the latest a 4k restoration of Nostalghia. Kino Lorber said the Andrei Tarkovsky’s 1983 film, which opened Wednesday, will gross an estimated $22.87k at Film Forum in NYC for the five days.

With the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Saturday, Fox News‘ Bret Baier sat down with Volodymyr Zelensky for an interview on the front lines.

President Joe Biden met today with Yulia and Dasha Navalnaya, the wife and daughter of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who Russian authorities said died in prison last week.

Tom Cruise is reportedly a single man again. The 61-year-old actor was dating 36-year-old Russian socialiteElsina Khayrova since December.

Robert Pattinson is spending the day on set!

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Black Tea,” Abderrahmane Sissako‘s lushly lensed romance drama set in China, has been bought by major distributors in key territories ahead of its world premiere in competition at the Berlin Film Festival. Gaumont, which co-produced the film, has sold it to Caramel (Spain), Academy two (Italy), Pandora Films (Germany, Austria), Cineart (Benelux), Films4you (Portugal), Provzglyad (CIS), Mozinet (Hungary), Another World Entertainment (Norway), Film Bazar (Denmark), MCF Megacom (Former Yugoslavia, Albania), Filmstop (Latvia, Estonia), MB Taip Toliau (Lithuania), Imovision (Brazil), AV Jet (Taiwan), Falcon (Indonesia), Pathé BC (Sub-Saharan Africa, Maghreb) and New Cinema (Israel).

When Nikki Haley‘s campaign announced on Monday that she would be giving a “state of the race” speech at noon ET today, there was immediate speculation that she was about to drop out of the race.

EXCLUSIVE: Buenos Aires-based Filmsharks has sold a series of its EFM titles, including Spanish horror pic The Boogeyman: The Origin of the Myth (El Hombre Del Saco) and a new 4K remastered version of the cult Argentinian thriller Nine Queens, to multiple international territories. 

Guy Lodge Film Critic “We need a new idea of beauty,” says Michele De Lucchi, the Italian architect who talks us through certain stretches of “Architecton,” a singularly imposing and sonorous new documentary from Russian non-fiction auteur Victor Kossakovsky. His argument is that the earth can no longer sustain the kind of hefty architectural grandeur, built from the fabric of the Earth itself, that we’ve asthetically prized for centuries, and nor can the cycle of more disposable concrete construction continue without devastating environmental impact.

Marta Balaga As the Berlinale Series Market celebrates its 10th anniversary, series continue to stand “side by side” with films at the German fest, observes EFM director Dennis Ruh. “BSM continues to be a beacon for all aspects of serialized content, even in years where space feels tighter with less films and series, giving selected titles more exposure,” he says, mentioning a “vibrant influx” of international professionals eager to showcase their shows.

Paradigm Shift with Stephen Bassett, a veteran UAP/ET Disclosure advocate, has debuted on the UNIFYD TV Streaming Network.

EXCLUSIVE: Urban Sales has unveiled key deals for Mascha Halberstad’s CGI animation Fox And Hare Save The Forest ahead of its world premiere in the Berlin Film Festival’s young audience-focused Generation Kplus sidebar this weekend.

Sir Keir Starmer said his party would deal with Donald Trump if the United States chooses him as the next president.

Holly Jones Buenos Aires-based sales outfit FilmSharks has closed major territories on dark comedy “Lobo Feroz,” from director Gustavo Hernández (“La Casa Muda”), and on “The Forgotten Killings,” the latest from Ines Paris (“Miguel and William”). Produced by Uruguay’s Mother Superior and Spains’ Bowfinger Intl. Pictures, “Lobo Feroz” is a remake of Israeli film “Big Bad Wolves” from Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado.