EXCLUSIVE: Netflix debuts the first track of Nyad score ahead of the film’s theatrical release. The film is scored by two-time Oscar-winning composer Alexandre Desplat (The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Shape of Water).
30.09.2023 - 11:45 / variety.com
Ed Meza @edmezavar Zurich Avenue, headed by producers and former Zurich Film Festival execs Karl Spoerri and Viviana Vezzani, has quickly amassed an impressive slate of projects since launching last year, including Annette Bening starrer “Nyad.” Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi’s film, which chronicles the attempt by 64-year-old swimmer Diana Nyad to swim from Cuba to Florida, unspools at the Zurich Film Festival. Zurich Avenue co-developed the Netflix film, which was produced by Black Bear Pictures and Mad Chance.
Part of financing group SPG3 Entertainment, likewise co-founded by Spoerri along with Urs Wietlisbach and Alfred Gantner in 2020, Zurich Avenue has provided the producers with a more hands-on approach, allowing them to create their own slate. The company’s recent films include Bill Pohlad’s critically-acclaimed “Dreamin’ Wild,” starring Casey Affleck and Zooey Deschanel; Coky Giedroyc’s Take That musical “Greatest Days”; and the forthcoming Josh Margolin action-comedy “Thelma,” starring June Squibb (“Nebraska”) as a 90-year-old grandmother out for revenge after falling victim to a phone scam.
Spoerrie says he and Vezzani are especially interested in projects based on true stories, like “Nyad,” that have “emotional and inspirational angles and are filmmaker-driven. We really like working with great filmmakers.
That’s the main thing. When we develop something, that’s where we want to go.” While the company is focusing mostly on English-language projects aimed at global audiences, it is also developing high-profile German productions, including Robert Schwentke’s “Bad Company,” based on the tell-all expose charting the 2020 collapse of the German financial services firm Wirecard in the wake of
.EXCLUSIVE: Netflix debuts the first track of Nyad score ahead of the film’s theatrical release. The film is scored by two-time Oscar-winning composer Alexandre Desplat (The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Shape of Water).
Naman Ramachandran German media giant ProSiebenSat.1 is continuing its period of realignment with a host of changes in its management structure. In 2022, ProSiebenSat.1 acquired German streaming service Joyn from Warner Bros. Discovery.
A woman has avoided jail after her German Shepherd savagely clamped its jaws around a postman's arm before biting him to the buttocks. Adele Cassidy, 57, had been ordered to keep her dog, Ellie, in a securely locked cage and undergo animal training after a previous attack in 2020.
Killers of the Flower Moon & Ferrari executive producer Niels Juul has teamed with AD Legacy, the company set up by the grandchildren of adidas founder Adi Dassler, to develop a fictional limited series about the life of Dassler and the megabrand he created.
Nyad is not your average sports biopic. It centers around a lesbian in her 60s who accomplishes something incredible that no one has before. She faces age discrimination, homophobia, and even sharks as she proves what she can do in open water, and makes history in the process.
Former Manchester City winger Leroy Sane has been tipped for a surprise return to the Premier League.
Caroline Brew editor The Whole Spiel — the new company co-founded by former NBC Entertainment chairman Paul Telegdy — and Red Bull’s Terra Mater Studios have teamed up to develop a slate of drama series. The projects include a reimagined “Tarzan” series, wildlife crime investigation “Rogue,” geopolitical drama “A New King” and true history drama “The Executioner.” In collaboration with Shingle Media and Friendly Fire, the “Tarzan” series will reimagine Edgar Rice Burroughs’ iconic hero for a new generation.
Travel blog by Travels of Adam (Hipster Blog) – Travels of Adam (Hipster Blog) - Travel & Lifestyle Hipster Blog When I first moved to Germany, my knowledge of the German language didn’t go past kindergarten and gesundheit. While it has—thankfully!—dramatically improved, I still struggle with learning the language. The best part, though, is that I’m perpetually amazed at the new—and often funny—German words I learn every day.
Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The Berlin Film Festival has created a new scouting role to curate a rising generation of German filmmakers. The next edition, which is set to take place from Feb. 15-25, will see its section dedicated to newcomer German films merged into the main program.
Welcome to your Friday rundown, Insiders. Max Goldbart here to take you through the top international film and TV stories filling your inbox over the past seven days. And don’t forget to sign up to the newsletter here.
The Match Factory has announced a raft of world sales for Sofia Coppola’s biopic Priscilla ahead of its North American premiere as the Centrepiece selection of the New York Film Festival on Friday.
Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The Berlin Film Festival will be launching a new section, called Newcomer German Films, during its next edition taking place from Feb. 15-25. The section will highlight emerging German filmmakers, and will be part of the main program alongside the Competition, Encounters, Panorama, Generation and Forum sections.
The search for a missing German aircraft that lost contact over the North Sea has been stood down.
Ed Meza @edmezavar Fred Kogel, CEO of leading German film and TV group Leonine Studios, which distributes the “Expendables” and “John Wick” movies in Germany, made the case for a new generation of action stars during the Zurich Summit over the weekend, where he was presented with Zurich Film Festival’s Game Changer Award. He noted that many of today’s action stars are the same ones he watched on the big screen back in the 1980s, among them Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Harrison Ford and Tom Cruise.
Ed Meza @edmezavar The changing global strategies of streamers and their impact on the independent film sector were front and center for international industry reps at the Zurich Summit on Saturday. Sasha Bühler, Netflix’s director of film for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Patrick Wachsberger, Black Bear president John Friedberg, John Lesher, Neon CEO Tom Quinn, Focus Features’ Kiska Higgs and CAA’s Roeg Sutherland were among the participants taking deep dives into major issues facing the global entertainment market. Commenting on changing investment strategies at Netflix, Bühler stated, “We’re available in over 190 countries and we have 238 million subscribers, very diverse, around the world, and we actively produce in 50 countries, so it’s not a one-size-fits-all approach, and there are territories that are more saturated than others.” There are definite growth markets for Netflix and the company has not slowed down its investments at all, she added.
Leonine Studios founder and CEO Fred Kogel has said he does not expect his Germany-focused content group to expand much more in the near future, after four years of rapid and continuous growth.
The future of working with streamers was on the table at the Zurich Summit on Saturday amid talk that the content bubble has burst as key markets such as the U.S. reach saturation point.
“CBS Mornings,” saying he was close to death after his second stroke in 2019. “I couldn’t do anything to be honest… I couldn’t speak,” he said while seated alongside his wife of 16 years, Cynthia Kereluk Rodgers, 61.“That was a very strange thing.
Ed Meza @edmezavar The Zurich Film Festival boasts a strong lineup of international films, among them Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” and Emerald Fennell’s “Saltburn,” and high-profile guests that include Jessica Chastain, Diane Kruger, Ethan Hawke, Todd Haynes and Wim Wenders. The ZFF this year screens a record number of world and European premieres — 52 from a total of 148. Another 52 films are debut works.
Netherlands photographer and director Anton Corbijn has been named as president of the main feature film jury for the upcoming Zurich Film Festival.