International Insider: Mipcom Back With A Bang; ‘The Crown’ “On Edge”; MIA Kicks Off; Amazon’s Handmaid’s Deal

Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here following another busy week in our world. Read on for our dissection of the biggest headlines.

Welcome back to Insider, Jesse Whittock guiding you through this time around. It’s been a week of excitement from the international TV industry in Cannes and another one of utter chaos at Downing Street in the UK. All the latest news and views follow, so let’s go.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor International TV market Mipcom came back with gusto this year, but it’s not back to the level reached at its pre-pandemic peak. A total of 10,896 delegates attended this year, which is down from the peak year of 2019, when more than 13,500 delegates came to the Cannes event. MipJunior, which ran over the weekend, had 1,311 delegates this year. In 2019, there were 1,500. There were 3,100 buyers this year, compared with more than 4,700 in 2019. The largest numbers of buyers this year came from the U.S. (442), followed by the U.K. (301), France (251), Germany (242) and Spain (140). In 2019, it was U.S. (461), U.K. (450), France (423), Germany (359) and Russia (207).

“I’m used to being a chameleon but this was absurd,” Cara Delevingne told a Mipcom Cannes panel this afternoon as she discussed the many experiments she embarked on while making upcoming Hulu and BBC Three doc Planet Sex with Cara Delevingne, which has sold to 90 territories.

Steven Spielberg’s semi-autobiographical, coming-of-age drama The Fabelmans has been announced as the opening film of 44th Cairo International Film Festival, running from November 13 to 22.

Manori Ravindran International Editor British model and actor Cara Delevingne got to be herself on screen for the first time in her forthcoming docuseries “Planet Sex” and says she realized she was more of a prude than she thought. Speaking in Cannes at international TV market Mipcom on Tuesday, the 30-year-old said the Fremantle-produced show for Hulu and the BBC took her in directions she never imagined when offering to tell her personal journey with sexuality in a series. “I went into the masturbation seminar thinking it was going to be a classroom and I’d have a notepad, and instead it was a pink, leather gym mat on the floor, with six people going, ‘Well, take your underwear off. This is the lube,’” explained Delevingne. “I didn’t realize I was a prude. I think I’m a pretty hip, young, cool, down-with-anything kind of girl but I was like, ‘Sorry what? Sorry, no, absolutely not, I will not do that.’ But I kind of did everything I felt comfortable doing.”

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Tim Davie, BBC director-general, underscored the importance of creative risk-taking to the British broadcaster, when interviewed onstage at TV market Mipcom on Monday, which coincided with the BBC’s 100th anniversary. Davie’s appearance onstage followed a presentation by Tom Fussell, CEO of BBC Studios, the broadcaster’s commercial arm. He announced that BBC Studios is set to wholly acquire Sid Gentle Films, the production company behind hits such as “Killing Eve.” He showed a clip from the company’s new show “Rain Dogs,” starring Daisy May Cooper. Cash Carraway is writer and executive producer. Fussell also announced that BBC Studios’ managing director of scripted, Mark Linsey, is set to relocate to Los Angeles in order to help build its co-production, investment and commissioning opportunities internationally.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Limonero Films, an independent boutique distributor of factual programming and documentaries, is launching a selection of documentaries and factual entertainment series at the Mipcom TV market. The titles are “Women Behind the Wheel,” produced by Dartmouth Films in the U.K., the wildlife titles “Wild Icons of Iberia” and “Heroines of the Savannah,” both by Azor Productions in Spain, “The Baby Makers,” from Mediacorp in Singapore, and “Shepherds of the Earth,” by Guerrilla Films in Finland. In “Women Behind the Wheel,” two 22 year-olds drive 3,500 miles along the Pamir highway to meet the women of Central Asia coping with the changes in their society since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent On a cobblestone-paved square in the ancient town of Tivoli, north-east of Rome, in late September, a large crew is prepping to shoot a key scene in Italian period drama “La Storia,” which will be pubcaster RAI’s biggest event show next year. Based on a bestselling novel by the late great Elsa Morante – whom “My Brilliant Friend” author Elena Ferrante often cites as her primary literary reference – “La Storia” is set during the final years of World War II and its immediate aftermath in Italy. The eight-episode series, being unveiled by Beta Film to buyers at Rome’s MIA content market, stars Italian A-list actor Jasmine Trinca – who earlier this year was a member of the Cannes jury – as Ida, a single mother of two sons, who hides her Jewish heritage and fights against poverty and persecution.

Japanese director Naomi Kawase will preside over the international jury of the 44th edition of the Cairo International Film Festival, running November 13 to 22.

Manori Ravindran International Editor New York’s South Asian International Film Festival has appointed Chayan Sarkar as its new president. A filmmaker, entrepreneur and festival director, Sarkar is also the founder of the Indian International Film Festival of Queensland in Australia. He takes over from SAIFF founder Shilen Amin, who will step down as president, but will remain a member of the festival’s board of directors. Sarkar joins SAIFF as the festival enters its 19th year as a leading film festival in the U.S. for new cinema from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, and within the Indian diaspora. In recent years, SAIFF has become increasingly influential as a platform for South Asian cinema, both in the U.S. and internationally. Fourteen of India’s submissions for the international feature film Oscar have had their North American premieres at the festival.

An ex-soldier whose life 'spiralled out of control' after being kicked by a horse was caught with a knife and fake gun outside Tesco.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Rome’s innovative MIA market dedicated to international TV series, feature films, and documentaries kicks off its eighth edition Tuesday, headed by new chief Gaia Tridente, who has added an animation section and been busy raising the curated mart’s international profile. The Oct. 11-15 MIA mart – its acronym stands for the Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo or International Audiovisual Market – this year is positioned prior to the Mipcom content market and conference that runs Oct. 17-20 in Cannes, since Mipcom has shifted its dates back.  But this non-voluntary repositioning has not impacted the number of registered MIA attendees, which is up more than 12% compared with past editions. More than 900 international industry execs are registered for the boutique event being held in central Rome’s Palazzo Barberini, which is Italy’s National Ancient Art gallery that during MIA doubles as the market’s hub where company stands are set up amid Renaissance and Baroque masterpieces. Screenings are held in a nearby state-of-the-art multiplex.

WFMZ. CNN’s article about the visit, on which Coren shares a byline, was still online.Both CNN reporters were in the country on tourist visas and were not authorized to work in Thailand, according to the Bangkok Post.

Cara Delevingne is to appear at Mipcom Cannes discussing her upcoming BBC Three and Hulu show Planet Sex with Cara Delevingne.

It’s Friday, you’re starting to think of the weekend, so it must be Insider time. Join me once again as the Deadline International team cast a critical eye over the big news stories this week. Read on.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Grappling with free-falling theatrical admissions and misplaced blame by exhibitors on so-called “auteur” movies, the leading lights of the French film industry sounded the alarm about the state of the country’s cinema sector during a dramatic and emotional conference. The jam-packed event on Thursday, called Appel aux Etats Generaux (Call for General Assemblies), was organized by some of France’s most established producers including Saïd Ben Saïd, Judith Lou Levy and Philippe Carcassone, who work frequently with directors Paul Verhoven, Mati Diop and Florian Zeller, respectively. The conference was held at the Institut du Monde Arabe, a cultural venue headed by Jack Lang, who served as minister of culture throughout the 1980s. More than 400 people attended the event, including members of the independent distributors guild (DIRE) and the directors guild SRF, the governing body of Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Newen, the Paris-based international production and distribution group owned by France’s leading commercial network TF1, has acquired a majority stake in the Scandinavian outfit Anagram. Anagram, which was founded in 2002 by comedians Anders Jansson and Johan Wester, has offices in Sweden and Norway that mainly produce TV drama, comedy and live entertainment through subsidiary Anagram Live. Some of the banner’s best-known content include “Thin Blue Line” and “My Life as a Comedian,” which premiered at Toronto. The acquisition was unveiled by Newen Studios CEO Romain Bessi, Anagram executives Mats Alders and Miira Paasilinna. During the lengthy presentation, Newen highlighted the latest work from its major labels around the world, including Ringside Studios (U.K.), Pupkin (Netherlands), Capa Drama (France), De Mensen (Belgium) and Kubik Films (Spain).