‘Gunda’ Director Victor Kossakovsky Follows Up With Ocean Focused Documentary, Sales Handled by AC Independent, Cinephil (EXCLUSIVE)

newcomer Debbie has quickly become a standout cast member this season due to her unconventional relationship with Oussama, who's 43 years younger than her. ET's Melicia Johnson recently sat down with 67-year-old Debbie, who got candid about the criticism she's received for dating 24-year-old Oussama from Morocco, and why she's sure she's not being taken advantage of.Nobody is more concerned than Debbie's kids about her relationship with Oussama, most vocally her son Julian, who hasn't been shy about not supporting her decision to move to Morocco from Georgia.

Naman Ramachandran International sales agency The Open Reel has boarded Indian film “Ek Jagah Apni” (“A Place of Our Own”). The film follows trans women Laila and Roshni who are looking for a house after they are evicted from their rental place. It soon becomes evident that their search for a home is also their ongoing search for a place in a society that wants to keep them away in a section away from the center. “A Place of Our Own” premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival in 2022 and will have its North American premiere at SXSW on March 11. It will then head to the BFI Flare LGBTQIA festival in London later this month.

K.J. Yossman Mercury Studios, the production company behind recent Abbey Road Studios doc “If These Walls Could Sing,” have unveiled their new feature, about composer Felix Mendelssohn’s genius sister Fanny. Although Felix, who is best known for writing “The Wedding March,” is still world-renowned 175 years after his death, his sister Fanny was also a prolific musician, composing 450 works – including her own wedding music – before she died in her early 40s. “Fanny: The Other Mendelssohn” tells her story. Sheila Hayman (“Mendelssohn, The Nazis and Me”) directs the doc, which also stars classical artist Isata Kanneh-Mason bringing Mendelssohn’s works to life. Filming has taken place in Berlin, New York, London, Oxford and Buckingham Palace, where Kanneh-Mason played Queen Victoria’s piano.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Autlook Filmsales has sold “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood,” which won the directing award for Anna Hints in the World Cinema Documentary section at Sundance, to more than 20 territories in North America, Europe and Australia. Deals are confirmed with Neue Visionen in Germany, Trigon in Switzerland, Against Gravity in Poland, Fidalgo in Norway, Ost For Paradise in Denmark, Vedetta in Benelux, Filmtrade in Greece and Cyprus, FilmIn in Spain, Alambique in Portugal, Filmladen in Austria, Pasaka Films in Lithuania, Artcam in Czech Rep. and Slovak Rep., Best Film in Latvia, Mozinet in Hungary, and Madman in Australia and New Zealand. The rights in U.S. have been picked up by Greenwich Entertainment and in Canada by Sherry Media Group. The theatrical release in Estonia is by ACME Film.

David Beckham was snapped exiting his hotel in France with his daughter, Harper, as the rest of the iconic family followed behind for a sweet family outing. The former professional footballer, who recently celebrated his son Cruz’s birthday in a boozy celebration in Dublin, attended Paris Fashion Week where he was pictured attending various shows with his family.

Watch Below: Victoria's Secret farewells Adriana LimaThe Victoria's Secret Fashion Show was a high-profile annual event following its debut in 1995.

The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is set to make a return later this year, following a four year hiatus.

Naman Ramachandran Smriti Mundhra, director of hit Netflix documentary series “The Romantics,” has said that the success of her show and of Shah Rukh Khan’s “Pathaan” proves that audiences continue loving Bollywood. The star-studded, four-part series features 35 leading voices of the Hindi-language film industry and dives into the history of Bollywood through the lens of the studio Yash Raj Films’ impact over the past 50 years in making the industry globally known. It bowed on Netflix on Feb. 14 and quickly entered the top 10 charts in nine countries. A few days earlier, Yash Raj Films’ “Pathaan,” Khan’s comeback film, had a roaring debut and has grossed $125 million so far. The film and series reversed a two-year trend on social media where the Hindi film industry was trolled with the BoycottBollywood hashtag.

EXCLUSIVE: Greenwich Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Jennifer Peedom’s visually stunning documentary River, “a profound cinematic and musical reflection on how rivers have shaped both the planet’s elaborate landscapes and all human existence.”

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor U.S. film financier Grandave Capital will invest in the documentary “Romano Artioli – The Last Great Dreamer,” about the one-time owner of the Bugatti and Lotus automobile brands, Romano Artioli. In 1952, Artioli, a 20-year-old technician in Italy watched in astonishment as Bugatti ceased production in Molsheim, France. Artioli studied mechanical engineering and went on to repair cars, before eventually setting up an automotive retail and import business. By the mid-1980s, this business became so successful that Artioli was able to begin discussions with the French government about buying the Bugatti brand. In 1987, his dream became a reality.

Lala Kent feels like she's watching back «a person I don't really know» as season 10 of  plays out on Bravo. «I mean, the Lala that was onscreen was still trying to process what had happened, you know? We were so fresh and in it,» she reflects with ET, sitting down at a pop-up shopping experience for her brand, Give Them Lala, at Shopify LA in Downtown Los Angeles. Season 10 picked up just as Lala's personal world began to fall apart. She ended her engagement to movie producer Randall Emmett, moving out of their Bel-Air mansion with their then-infant daughter, Ocean, as cheating allegations spread on gossip blogs.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Berlinale competition film “Music” opens with gray clouds racing across the face of a Greek mountain as a storm prepares to break. It is a suitably dramatic prelude to the tumultuous events that will unfold, albeit rendered in an understated manner by German director Angela Schanelec, who won the Berlinale best director award in 2019 for “I Was at Home, But.” As the storm lifts, an abandoned baby boy is rescued a paramedic, who names him Jon. Years later, Jon, now a young man, kills another man, accidentally, and ends up in prison. Here, he is tended to by a female guard, Iro, as his eyesight begins to deteriorate. When he is released, the two get married and have a child. But several years later, his wife discovers a terrible secret.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Despite representing Germany at this year’s Academy Awards for best international feature, “All Quiet on the Western Front” writer-director Edward Berger doesn’t feel national pride for the country. “I don’t feel that because of the history,” Berger tells Variety. “I could never say I’m proud to be German. Those words don’t fit into our mouths, and rightly so. I would have a hard time thinking I would represent the country because I can’t speak for the entire country.” On this episode of Variety‘s Awards Circuit Podcast, Berger discusses “All Quiet on the Western Front’s” nine Oscar noms — the second most of the year — and employing the most artisans of any non-English movie in history. Finally, he shares why he feels a responsibility to accurately portray Germany’s role in some of humanity’s most devastating wars. Listen to the full podcast below.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Sales agency Memento Intl. has unveiled the first clip and poster from Liu Jian’s Berlin competition title “Art College 1994,” which world premieres on Feb. 24. The film is a portrait of youth set on the campus of the Chinese Southern Academy of Arts in the early 1990s. Against the backdrop of reforms opening China to the Western world, a group of college students live in full swing as they take their first steps into adulthood, where love and friendships are intertwined with artistic pursuits, ideals and ambitions. Caught between tradition and modernity, they now have to choose who they want to become. It is the director’s third animation feature after 2010’s “Piercing I” and “Have a Nice Day,” which premiered in competition at the Berlinale in 2017, and quickly built a cult following. “Have a Nice Day” was also honored with the best animated feature award at the Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan.

Guild award season got serious Saturday night as the Directors Guild of America handed out its annual honors for directorial achievement. With a potential work stoppage in the months ahead, the 2023 DGA Awards were a moment of requisite celebration for the nominees, winners, and guild overall.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Uncork’d Entertainment has acquired the North American rights for suspense sci-fi thriller “I’ll Be Watching” from Iuvit Media Sales at the European Film Market in Berlin. The film has also been picked up by Falcon Films in the Middle East and North Africa, while Dolphin Medien has taken German-speaking territory rights. The film is directed by Erik Bernard (“Free Dead or Alive”), and stars “The 100” stars Eliza Taylor and Bob Morley, along with Bryan Batt (“12 Years a Slave”), David Keith (“An Officer and a Gentleman”), Hannah Fierman (“VHS”), and Seth Michaels (“Red Notice”).

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor 101 Films Intl. has secured worldwide distribution rights for World War II adventure film “War Blade,” starring Joseph Millson (“Casino Royale,” “The Last Kingdom”), Paul Marlon (“Trigger Point”), Michael McKell (“Murder Investigation Team,” “Doctors”) and Rebecca Scott (“The Capture,” “Transhuman”). The sales company is presenting the film to buyers at the European Film Market in Berlin. The film was written and directed by Nicholas Winter (“Robin Hood: The Rebellion,” “Breathe,” “Bone Breaker”). “War Blade” follows Robert Banks, an agent of the British Special Operations Executive, who is tasked with rescuing a French resistance fighter from a hidden Nazi bunker. With the help of a German nurse and a ragtag group of allies, Banks must journey to the belly of the beast.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Kino Lorber has acquired all rights in the U.S. to “Diabolik,” “Diabolik – Ginko Attacks!” and “Diabolik — Who Are You?” from Beta Cinema at the European Film Market in Berlin. The movies are based on the smash-hit Italian comic-book series about a ruthless master thief, which has sold more than 150 million copies worldwide. The stylish crime-comic adaptations are written and directed by Marco and Antonio Manetti. “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Marvel’s Avengers” actor Giacomo Gianniotti stars in “Diabolik — Ginko Attacks!” and “Diabolik — Who Are You?,” and Luca Marinelli (“The Old Guard”) in the first installment, “Diabolik.” Monica Bellucci (“Matrix,” “The Apartment”) stars in the role of Altea, Miriam Leone (“The Invisible Witness,” “Medici”) as Eva Kant, and Valerio Mastandrea (“Perfect Strangers,” “Nine”) as Inspector Ginko.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor AnnaSophia Robb has joined Kathy Bates, John Malkovich, Tim Blake Nelson, Stephen Root and Lewis Pullman in the cast of “Thelma.” The Exchange is selling the film at Berlin’s European Film Market. Robb starred in Hulu’s Emmy-winning series “The Act,” Hulu’s “Little Fires Everywhere” and HBO Max’s “The Carrie Diaries,” and is toplining Netflix’s upcoming “Rebel Ridge.” “Thelma” tells the true story of the 11-year battle by the mother of John Kennedy Toole, the Pulitzer Prize winning author of “A Confederacy of Dunces,” to get his novel published after his suicide.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Writer-director Dustin Guy Defa has shared a first-look clip (below) of his feature comedy drama “The Adults,” which will have its world premiere Saturday at the Berlin Film Festival, with stars Michael Cera, Hannah Gross and Sophia Lillis, and Defa in attendance. The film, which is distributed worldwide by Universal Pictures Content Group, will be releasing internationally on July 3 and in the U.S. on July 4. In Berlin, it plays in the Encounters section. “The Adults” follows Eric (Cera) as he returns home for a short visit and finds himself caught between reuniting with his sisters and chasing a victory with his old poker group.