Film Factory Nabs Guillermo Arriaga’s ‘A Cielo Abierto’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Angelique Jackson Amblin Partners has secured the film rights to “Confessions in B-Flat,” with Academy Award-winning actor and producer Octavia Spencer, four-time Oscar-nominated producer Kristie Macosko Krieger and Aimee Carpenter set to produce. The 2020 novel, from Essence bestselling author Donna Hill, tells an emotional love story set amid the Civil Rights Movement, following two young people, Anita and Jason, who meet and fall in love despite their clashing political beliefs. Maya Dunbar (“Ordinary Joe,” ‘Bluff City Law”) is adapting the book for the screen. Spencer is producing the adaptation via her Orit Entertainment production company, with Carpenter producing under her Marcy Place Productions banner. Executive producers are Brian Clisham and Tara Taylor, with Liz Pelletier serving as co-producer. Jeb Brody, Amblin Partners’ president of production, and Mia Maniscalco, SVP of creative affairs, will oversee the project for the studio.

Charna Flam Outfest has announced the lineup for its 2023 Outfest Fusion QTBIPOC (Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous and People of Color) Film Festival, which will run from March 24 through April 2. Outfest Fusion will be celebrating its 20th anniversary by showcasing LGBTQIA+ filmmakers and their various films depicting queer and transgender stories. There will be nine features, including two 2023 Sundance documentaries, “Little Richard: I Am Everything” from Lisa Cortés and “The Stroll” from Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker. Cortés documentary explores how Richard “Little Richard” Penniman worked through his struggles with his sexuality, all while he made his mark on rock n’ roll. While Lovell and Drucker follow transgender women of color as they detail the community’s history of sex work in New York City.

The new comedy series reuniting The Good Place creator Mike Schur and star Ted Danson has landed at Netflix with an eight-episode straight-to-series order. As Deadline reported exclusively last month, the project, based on the 2020 Chilean feature documentary The Mole Agent, sparked heated bidding when it hit the premium/streaming marketplace, with Netflix one of the four lead contenders. The untitled comedy, written/executive produced by Schur and starring/executive produced by Denson, hails from Schur’s longtime studio home, Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.

The 2023 Film Independent Spirit Awards kick off Saturday at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT on the beach at the Santa Monica Pier. The ceremony, hosted by Hasan Minhaj, will be livestreamed on Film Independent’s YouTube channel and Twitter feed as well as on IMDb’s YouTube channel.

BTS’ J-Hope is about to release his dream collaboration with his childhood idol.

BreAnna Bell Polaris, the television network and digital platform owned by radio personality Sway Calloway and Rahman J. Dukes, is partnering with Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group (AMG) free-streaming digital platform, HBCU GO in an exclusive deal to create content for the video on demand service as well as AMG’s other properties including The Grio. The programming will be focused on culture, music and news with special coverage around cultural moments including a special celebrating the 50th year anniversary of Hip Hop, and an investigative series around Jam Master Jay. “It’s important for us to showcase not only the amazing sports and news programming, but also the heartbeat of the HBCU and Black Experience – our culture,” said Byron Allen, founder, chairman and CEO of Allen Media Group. “This new partnership with Polaris will provide amazing programming for our HBCU GO and TheGrio audiences highlighting music, Black culture and more.”

EXCLUSIVE: The Match Factory has unveiled a slew of deals for German director Christian Petzold’s Berlin Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize winner Afire.

that spot-on! Listen to Fallon in the clip at the top and decide for yourself.DeBose had the internet in a craze days after her performance of the girl-power rap at the BAFTAs on Feb. 19 that was a combination of a tweaked “Sister Are Doing It for Themselves” and “We Are Family.”A sampling: ” Dame Emma, I’m so fond.

Waco: The Aftermath, a sequel series to Paramount Network’s 2018 miniseries, has rounded out its cast, finding its Timothy McVeigh and adding the likes of Gary Cole.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter The “Waco: The Aftermath” series at Showtime has added 10 new cast members, Variety has learned. The new cast members for the followup to Paramount Networks’ “Waco” include: Shea Whigham, who will reprise the role of Mitch Decker, the FBI agent who managed the situation leading up the siege; Annika Marks, who will reprise the role of Kathy Schroeder, one of the surviving Branch Davidians who was also called upon to testify; Alex Breaux, who will play Timothy McVeigh; Michael Cassidy, who will play Bill Johnston, the lead prosecutor in the trial of the Branch Davidians; Gary Cole, who will play Gordon Novel, described as an “intense private investigator;” Nicholas Kolev, who will play Paul Fatta, another one of the Davidians on trial after the Waco siege; Michael Luwoye, who will play Livingstone Fagan, described as “an extremely bright biblical scholar and one of the surviving Branch Davidians on trial;” Kali Rocha, who will play Ruth Riddle, one of the Branch Davidian survivors facing trial and the possibility of life in jail; Michael Vincent Barry, who will play George Roden, one of the early leaders of the Davidian sect; and Sasheer Zamata, who will play Angie Graham, described as “a smart, experienced ATF agent.”

Aamu Film Company will invest in Jenni Jauri’s new production company Silmu Films, Variety has found out exclusively. Aamu, founded in 2001 and co-owned by Jussi Rantamäki and Emilia Haukka, has become a local arthouse powerhouse thanks to its festival-friendly slate, especially Juho Kuosmanen’s “The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki” and Golden Globe-nominated “Compartment No. 6,” awarded the Grand Prix in Cannes. “We had a good film with decent sales and we started to think about what we should do next,” Rantamäki said. “Aamu’s brand is simple and clear: we only work with a select few directors. We don’t want to change that; we don’t want to turn into a factory where you don’t know what is happening and with whom. So first we decided not to grow, and then realized we could invest in a new company instead.”

Anna Marie de la Fuente Mexico’s Yalitza Aparicio, Oscar nominated for her career-launching turn in Alfonso Cuaron’s “Roma,” and Infinity Hill, producers of the Oscar-nominated Argentine drama “Argentina 1985,” have boarded sweatshop thriller “Bonded” as executive producers. The drama features a stellar cast that includes Golden Globe nominee Diego Calva (“Babylon”), Chile’s Alfredo Castro (“From Afar”), Mexico’s Paulina Gaitán (“Narcos”) and Jason Patric (“The Lost Boys”). The directorial feature debut of helmer-scribe Mohit Ramchandani, “Bonded” is produced by Mexican filmmaker Luis Mandoki (“Innocent Voices), Jon Graham (“The Vault”) and Kyle Stroud (“In Full Bloom”).

Anna Marie de la Fuente Chile’s Quijote Films, run by Giancarlo Nasi, has reteamed with former partners El Viaje Films of Spain and Argentina’s Gema Films on two separate projects. Attending the Berlin Film Festival’s European Film Market, Nasi said: “This market has been very good for us because as one of the outfits selected in the company matching program of the Co-Production Market, we have met with a lot of new firms from different countries. At the same time, we’ve been able to advance and confirm our collaboration with past partners.” Quijote Films and El Viaje Films, partners on Theo Court’s “White on White,” which garnered the Venice Horizons Best Director and Fipresci awards and was Chile’s entry to the best international feature film Oscar race last year, are reteaming on Court’s latest film, “Tres noches negras” (“Three Dark Nights”).

Doctor Zhivago, Casablanca, Amour. Over the decades, cinema has produced some fictional love stories of enduring beauty and resonance. But for sheer emotional force, even those classics may not rival the true love story told in The Eternal Memory.

Hong Sang-soo’s latest film, “In Water,” has been bought by Cinema Guild for North American distribution on the heels of its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. The film played in the Encounters section and is expected to have its North American premiere at a festival later this year. Cinema Guild will be releasing “In Water” theatrically. Described by Cinema Guild as Hong’s “most overtly experimental work to date,” “In Water” follows Seongmo (Shin Seokho), a young man who recently gave up acting and has decided to make a film with his own money. He and his two friends venture to the rocky shores of a large island to shoot the movie together. His former classmate, Sangguk (Ha Seongguk), will operate the camera and Namhee (Kim Seungyun) will act in it. The only problem is that Seongmo hasn’t decided what to make. As he wanders in the rocks and wind, Seongmo searches inspiration but what he finds is a young woman picking up trash. And that’s all he needs.

Colin Farrell are among the nominated stars doubling as presenters at this year’s Screen Actors Guild Awards. Other principal actors taking the stage to introduce clips of cast performances from their respective films include Jovan Adepo, Diego Calva and Li Jun Li (“Babylon”); Farrell and Brendan Gleeson (“The Banshees of Inisherin”); Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu and Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All At Once”); Paul Dano, Gabriel LaBelle and Michelle Williams (“The Fabelmans”); and Jessie Buckley, Claire Foy and Rooney Mara (“Women Talking”). Additions to the presenter lineup were revealed Feb. 21 by Jon Brockett, executive producer of the awards show.

Anna Marie de la Fuente In what marks a first for Chile’s Storyboard Media, Baremo Films of Mexico has boarded its psychological thriller “Quizas es cierto lo que dicen de nosotras” (“Maybe It’s True What They’re Saying About Us”), which has been shooting in Santiago since Feb. 1 and will wrap later this month.  Written and directed by Sofía Gomez (“Trastornos del sueño”) and Camilo Becerra (“Perro muerto”), the co-production also involves Chile’s La Jauria Cine as well as Argentina’s Murillo Cine and HDArgentina. “We’re delighted to have our first co-production with Mexico, which is such an important market, given its relevance in terms of promotion and visibility in our region,” said Storyboard Media’s Gabriela Sandoval and Carlos Núñez.

Liza Foreman German production outfit MMC Studios (“Amelie”) is backing romanic drama “Dear Eszter,” from writer/director Alex Balassa. Bastian Griese and Lucas Hamacher will produce the film for MMC Studios in Cologne, alongside Balassa. The film’s co-producers include Peter Seres (“World War Z”) at Hungary’s Punk Films, as well as Ondrej Beranek (“The Chronicles of Narnia”) from the Czech Republic’s Blindspot Capital.  Two of Chile’s foremost TV producers, Maria Elena Wood (“Locas Mujeres”) and Patricio Pereira from Maria Wood Producciones (MEW), serve as executive producers. 

First Look, the works-in-progress strand of the Locarno film festival’s industry section, is set to highlight independent UK films for its 2023 edition.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Filmax has boarded “The Sleeping Woman,” the new film from Spain’s Laura Alvea, who helmed episodes of Netflix hit series “The Snow Girl,” which has run up over 100 million global views in three weeks. Filmax will present first images of the film, along with a promo, at Berlin’s European Film Market. A horror thriller with supernatural elements, “The Sleeping Woman” turns on Ana (Almudena Amor), a nursing assistant who starts to feel an attraction towards Agustin (Javier Rey), the husband of the woman in a coma whom she’s caring for.  It won’t be long before Ana begins to get harassed by strange, paranormal phenomena that seem to be trying to kick her out of the house and separate her from Agustin.