From Journalist To Sales Agent, Festival Head To Producer: Mike Goodridge On His Rare Journey & Ramping Up His Good Chaos Slate — Cannes

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Cannes Film Festival president Iris Knobloch said she learned about the “power of cinema to carry messages, liberate speech and accomplish a duty of remembrance” from her parents, who are Holocaust survivors. Speaking at the Kering Women in Motion Talks at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday, the Munich-born Knobloch said her parents took her to the movie theater several times a week.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have responded to allegations that they accepted complimentary flights within Nigeria from an airline company led by a man reportedly under indictment in the United States.

A British man who tragically died following a suspected heart attack on board a plane has been named as Geoffrey Ralph Kitchen.

A person has died while several others have been injured after a plane from London experienced severe turbulence.

Christopher Vourlias Urban Sales has closed a raft of deals on the upcoming animated feature “Into the Wonderwoods” ahead of its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in the Special Screenings section. The film, which bows with a special screening May 22 at the prestigious French fest, has sold to 45 territories, the Paris-based sales outfit announced during the Cannes Market. Pic has sold to Volga for the CIS territories and the Baltics; Selim Ramia & Co.

Imax has committed screens around the world to show Francis Ford Coppola‘s magnum opus “Megalopolis,” the company’s CEO Richard Gelfond confirmed at a Cannes Film Festival event on Thursday. The film’s trailer, which debuted on Tuesday, said that “Megalopolis” would be coming to Imax theaters this year — but it was not specified that the release would be global. The run-up to the premiere of Francis Ford Coppola’s self-financed epic at Cannes on Friday has been filled with anticipation and controversy, partly because “Megalopolis” has yet to secure a U.S.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent German actors Elisa Schlott (“Das Boot” TV series), Max Riemelt (“Sleeping Dog”) and Alma Hasun (“Corsage”) are set to star in Italian director Silvio Soldini‘s drama “The Tasters,” which reconstructs the untold true story of the women conscripted to be Adolf Hitler’s food tasters. Shooting is set to start on Friday in Italy’s northern Alto Adige region on the Nazi-era drama, which is being pre-sold at the Cannes Marché du Film by Rome-based Vision Distribution, headed by sales agent Catia Rossi.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The Bureau Sales has teamed with French production banner Paprika and filmmaker Vincent Munier on “Whispering in the Woods,” a documentary that will be teased to buyers at the Cannes Film Market. “Whispering in the Woods” marks Munier’s follow-up to “The Velvet Queen” (co-directed by Marie Amiguet), a critically acclaimed documentary that competed for a Golden Eye Award at the Cannes Film Festival and won a Cesar prize in 2022. The doc is currently filming across different locations, from the Vosges mountains to Tibet, and is expected to be delivered by next spring.

Jamie Lang Uruguay’s José Ignacio International Film Festival (JIIFF) has launched the Pfeffer del Sur Fund, a $50,000 fund dedicated to supporting Ibero-American film projects. The Pfeffer Del Sur Fund, established by JIIFF’s primary benefactors, María and John Pfeffer, will be launched in January 2025 as part of the festival’s 15th anniversary edition. It will be awarded to one of the projects selected from the JIIFF Lab, part of the Working JIIFF industry program.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Berlin-based sales agency Films Boutique has closed first sales and released the first-look image from Oscar-nominated Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland‘s biopic of the Czech novelist Franz Kafka, “Franz.” The project has sold to September Film in Benelux, Filmin in Spain, Vertigo in Hungary, MCF Megacom for the former Yugoslavia and Movies Inspired in Italy. The film was previously acquired for theatrical distribution by Bac Films Distribution in France, X Verleih in Germany and Austria, Bioscop in Czech Republic and TVP in Poland.

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Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The trailer (below) has debuted for Leonardo Van Dijl‘s “Julie Keeps Quiet” ahead of its world premiere in Critics’ Week in Cannes. The film’s world sales agency New Europe Film Sales has revealed the first territory deals. New Europe has sold the film to New Horizons for Poland, Kino Pavasaris for the Baltic states, and I Wonder Pictures for Italy.

German-French international sales veteran Tanja Meissner has been appointed as the new director of the Berlinale Pro, the department overseeing all of the Berlin Film Festival’s professional activities, in a role that encompasses director of the European Film Market (EFM).

Top Middle East and North African independent distributor and talent agency MAD Solutions is adding a new string to its bow with the launch of Arab cinema-focused international sales company MAD World.

EXCLUSIVE: Big Brother seller Banijay Rights has signed a former BBC Worldwide Director as the head of its sales and co-pros in German-speaking territories.

European production and sales studio Vuelta Group has bought German producer Telepool from Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook.

SquareOne Entertainment, part of rising European film studio Vuelta Group, has acquired German film and TV production, distribution and licensing company Telepool, which was owned by Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook. The news was announced Wednesday by Vuelta Group chairman Jerome Levy and CEO of SquareOne and Vuelta Group Germany Al Munteanu.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Indie Sales is re-teaming with rising Belgian filmmaker Laura Wandel on her sophomore feature “In Adam’s Interest,” having previously sold around the world her critically acclaimed feature debut “Playground” which premiered at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard. “In Adam’s Interest” also reunites Wandel with producer Stéphane Lhoest at Belgium’s Dragons Films, and is produced by Delphine Tomson at Les Films du Fleuve, the Dardenne’ brothers banner. Co-producers are Jan de Clercq at Lunanime, who will release the film in Benelux under his distribution company Lumière; and Marie-Ange Luciani‘s Les Films de Pierre, the Oscar-nominated outfit behind “Anatomy of a Fall.” Memento will release “In Adam’s Interest” in French theaters.

Olivia Colman and John Lithgow are leading Jimpa, a movie about a trans non-binary teenager visiting their gay grandfather from Sophie Hyde (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande), with Protagonist Pictures launching international sales at Cannes.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent One day after the “Sous les écrans la dèche” collective, made up of freelance festival workers, issued a call for a strike during the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, organizers have issued a joint statement where they encouraged all parties to “come together around the bargaining table.” The statement, signed by the Cannes Film Festival as well as parallel sections Directors’ Fortnight, Critics’ Week and ACID, said they acknowledge the “difficulties faced by some of their staff” due to a reform of the “French unemployment insurance scheme,” and that they “hope that solutions will be found.” The organization is protesting against a looming labor reform that will see their unemployment indemnities slashed by more than half. The org brings together hundreds of workers at festivals, from projectionists to drivers and caterers, who are threatening to strike during Cannes which could potentially cause major disruptions.