Bruce LaBruce’s Bold Film ‘The Visitor’ Acquired by Utopia Label Circle Collective for U.S., U.K. (EXCLUSIVE)

Lise Pedersen Berlinale Forum entry “Shahid,” the debut feature of Iranian-German filmmaker Narges Kalhor, has been picked up by Prague-based doc specialist Filmotor ahead of its premiere at Swiss documentary festival Visions du Réel, where it is competing in the more experimental Burning Lights section. Described by Kalhor as a collective work between herself and other artists, including a costume artist and a painter from Iran, a German music composer and a choreographer from Berlin, “Shahid” shifts playfully between genres, challenging conventional filmmaking rules.

Oscar-winning filmmaker Sebastián Lelio has wrapped production on musical film The Wave (La Ola) inspired by the wave of feminist civil disobedience that swept Chile in the spring of 2018.

The Bear star Jeremy Allen White will star as Bruce Springsteen in a new film that explores the making of his iconic album, ‘Nebraska’, according to reports.Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart, Hostiles) will write and direct the film, which is based on Warren Zane’s 2023 book, Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska, an album that began to take shape as Springsteen and the E Street Band were recording ‘Born In The USA’.Last month, Deadline reported that White was the favourite to play a young Springsteen in the film which was announced this January.Now, Deadline have confirmed that Disney and 20th Century Studios will make the film. The outlet also report that White will star as Springsteen although the studio have not yet confirmed the casting.

EXCLUSIVE: The Traitors continued on its path of global domination with 11 territory launches in 2023, unseating The Masked Singer as analysis firm K7‘s Format of the Year after four years of domination.

Emiliano De Pablos Spain’s film and TV industries are in their second wave as standout content providers for global streamers. Some of the country’s most intriguing titles will take the international stage this weekend at MipTV in Cannes. Built on a foundation of hits such as “The Red Band Society,” “Grand Hotel,” “Velvet” and “Locked Up,” a new era of internationally renowned content creation in Spain kicked off in 2018 with Alex Pina’s blockbuster series “Money Heist,” picked up by Netflix.

The film recently played the Berlin International Film Festival.The film already has a rating in the U.S. and will be released on 4th October.A new clip and poster have been released for an upcoming movie titled Sting which looks like it revolves around everyone’s...The new, reimagining of the cult classic Road House just got a debut poster and a release date courtesy of the...Universal PIctrues and Illumination – the folks behind the Minions movies – have delivered the new trailer and poster for their...Warner Bros.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor U.S.-based global distributor PBS Intl. is bringing a squad of sports-themed documentaries to MipTV to tie in with the Olympic Games that’ll run this summer in Paris. “Olympic Dreams” travels to Sierra Leone, one of the world’s poorest nations, as it struggles to recover from its 11-year civil war.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Josh O’Connor is in talks to star in Luca Guadagnino’s new drama “Separate Rooms,” an adaptation of the eponymous novel by the late Italian writer Pier Vittorio Tondelli. The story follows an Italian writer named Leo who is mourning the loss of his boyfriend. O’Connor, who stars in Guadagnino’s upcoming tennis love triangle film “Challengers” alongside Zendaya and Mike Faist, is in advanced talks to play Leo in “Separate Rooms,” whose passionate romance with a shy German musician named Thomas is marked by different forms of separation.

Princess Catherine’s uncle has some major beef with Meghan Markle.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Belgian filmmaker Sofie Benoot‘s “Apple Cider Vinegar,” which has its world premiere in the International Competition section of Visions du Réel, has been picked up for world sales by Filmotor. The trailer and poster are being released exclusively by Variety. The film is narrated by actor Sian Phillips, who appeared in “I, Claudius” and David Lynch’s “Dune,” and is a veteran nature documentary narrator.

Lise Pedersen Swiss documentary film festival Visions du Réel has unveiled the program for its 55th edition, which includes 10 first films out of 15 in the main international competition, cementing its reputation as a springboard for emerging talent. The official selection includes 165 films from 50 countries, with gender parity for the second-year running, and no fewer than 88 world premieres, making VdR the place to be in April on the international non-fiction film calendar.

The stars of The Bear are back at work!

Exhuma (Korean title: Pa-myo) has taken $67.8 million at the Korean box office, having notched more than 9.3 million admissions.

We’re back again, Insiders. Jesse Whittock with you this week, as Netflix showcased its latest wares, Hong Kong welcomed the entertainment world and Argentinian film was plunged into crisis. Here we go. Sign up to the newsletter here. 

Veteran producer and sales agent Rosa Bosch has joined the Madrid-based distributor and international sales agency Begin Again Films. Bosch will serve as part of the company’s international department. 

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Memento International has closed a raft of deals on “Fremont,” a critically acclaimed film starring Anaita Wali Zada, an Afghan refugee and first-time actor, and featuring “The Bear” actor Jeremy Allen White. Directed by BAFTA-nominated Iranian-born director Babak Jalali, the black-and-white movie tells the story of Donya, a young woman working at a Chinese fortune cookie factory in the San Francisco bay. Formerly a translator for the U.S.

This year’s Filmart was definitely bigger and busier than last year, which was the first physical edition following the reopening of Hong Kong and mainland China’s borders after the pandemic. According to Filmart organizers, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), more than 750 exhibitors and 7,500 visitors attended this year’s Filmart, compared to around 700 exhibitors and 7,300 visitors in 2023. But despite frenetic meeting activity, the market did little to dispel fears that international sales business in the region, already in decline before the pandemic, is not yet recovering. International sales agents under the IFTA and European Film Promotion (EFP) umbrellas had packed meeting schedules.

EXCLUSIVE: Apple TV+ is staying in business with one of the men behind its latest sports docuseries The Dynasty: New England Patriots.

EXCLUSIVE: Filmmaker Nathan Silver has inked with CAA, we have learned.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent German director Volker Schlöndorff, who won the Cannes’ Palme d’Or and an Oscar for his 1979 drama “The Tin Drum,” is set to direct a film about how Antonio Vivaldi — the 18th-century Italian composer of “The Four Seasons” — formed what is touted as the world’s first all-female orchestra. Schlöndorff’s still-untitled depiction of this lesser-known aspect of Vivaldi’s career is based on a book by German writer Peter Schneider, which has been adapted for the big screen by Italian scribe Francesco Piccolo (“My Brilliant Friend”) along with the director.