Oliver Jackson-Cohen Unveiled As Lead In Anton-Produced Action Thriller ‘Jackdaw’ Set In England’s Northern Rust Belt Ahead Of EFM Launch

The trailer for Guy Ritchie‘s new action-comedy has been released!

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema has unveiled its 85-title lineup for the edition that starts later this month (February 28 to March 7, 2023). Elements include a 10-film competition section, a 10-film documentary film section, a tribute to the Turkish director Semih Kaplanoglu; a thematic section “Asian Diaspora Cinema” offering a panorama of works by directors from Asian countries living in exile; and a Philippines cinema sidebar. Fiction films in competition include: Azerbaijan’s “Cold as Marble,” by Asif Rustamov; China’s “In Our Prime,” by Liu Yulin; Korea’s “A Letter from Kyoto,” by Kim Min-ju; India’s: “Behind Veils,” by Praveen Morshhale; Iran’s “No End,” by Nader Saievar; Mongolia’s “The Sales Girl,” by Sengedorj Janchivdorj; The Philippines’s “Feast,” by Brillante Mendoza; Singapore’s “#LookAtMe,” by Ken Kwek; and Vietnam’s “Memento Mori: Earth,” by Marcus Vu Manh Cuong. The president of the jury is Lee Yong-kwan, president of the Busan film festival.

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.

Naman Ramachandran Singapore and India-based Mumba Devi Motion Pictures is screening two films at Berlin’s European Film Market (EFM) and has unveiled a slate of future titles. The company, headed by producer Sweta Chhabria and producer-director Aditya Kripalani, makes issue-based films focusing on stories that are mostly to do with gender and burning topics like suicide prevention and mental health. The outfit makes it a point to minimize the male gaze by bringing on board heads of department who are all women. Kripalani and Chhabria’s just-completed Singapore-set film “Grand Sugar Daddy,” which has its market premiere at EFM on Feb. 18, follows a 70-year-old widower who is introduced to the world of Sugar Daddies and Sugar Babies. The film traces his conversations with a Singaporean Chinese woman, an Indian woman and a transgender Malay.

EXCLUSIVE: Saban Films has taken worldwide rights to action-thriller Hellfire, starring Stephen Lang, Harvey Keitel and Dolph Lundgren here at the European Film Market. 

EXCLUSIVE: Peter Morgan — the Academy Award-nominated producer of American Sniper formerly serving as a production exec at Katalyst Films and Gilbert Films — has announced the launch of TantrumPM, a development and production company that will look to produce uniquely accessible and important, A-list driven content.

EXCLUSIVE: Golden Globe nominee Aaron Eckhart is leading Bee Holder and Concourse’s Midair, an action thriller set in the skies, which starts production this July.

Like Gerard Butler actioners? Well, a few months after “Plane,” here comes “Kandahar,” which sees Butler as an undercover CIA operative stuck deep in hostile territory in Afghanistan. READ MORE: ‘Plane’ Review: A Serviceable, No-Frills Action Movie That Gets The Audience To Their Destination This thriller looks more grounded and serious than some of Butler’s other recent outings like “Copshop.” And it also sees Butler work again with “Greenland” and “Angel Has Fallen” director Ric Roman Waugh.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Ted Field’s Radar Pictures, best known for the “Jumanji” and “The Chronicles of Riddick” franchises, has teamed with James Leon’s 8th Gear Entertainment to produce action-thriller “Breakneck,” centering on a female driver who moves between the worlds of getaway driving and Formula E racing. The project is eyed as a franchise-starter in the vein of “Fast & Furious,” and is being made in partnership with FIA ABB Formula E, electric racing’s championship organizer. Jim Byrkit (“Coherence”) will direct from a script by Nick Kocher (“Saturday Night Live”). “Breakneck” chronicles the story of a racer, who — despite growing up as a poor orphan — climbs the Formula E ranks only to have her first ePrix race end terribly, and in her removal from the sport. To make ends meet, she becomes a getaway driver for a gang in Miami, still reminiscing of her days as a Formula E driver.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Submarine Entertainment is launching sales at Berlin’s European Film Market on high-profile doc “Milano — The Inside Story of Italian Fashion,”  directed by John Maggio (“The Perfect Weapon”). Billed as the definitive story of the explosion of Italian fashion in the 1970s and 80s, as told by the insiders, the star-studded doc extensively features Giorgio Armani and delves into his life story, but also reveals unknown details about the Gucci and Versace fashion houses. “Milano” also features appearances and commentary by former Gucci creative director Tom Ford, Gianni Versace’s brother Santo Versace and Hollywood stars including Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson and Frances McDormand, all of whom have close ties to the Italian fashion milieu. Watch clip.

“I don’t want to owe people money,” are the words defeatedly uttered by Lynn (Yao Honggui), the protagonist of “Stonewalling,” the forthcoming film from the Beijing-based husband-and-wife team, Huang Ji and Ryuji Otsuka. The film, focusing on Lynn’s life for a year, finds her at a crossroads: in the midst of her college education and has been training for a career as a flight attendant, everything is overtaken by doubt and disarray when Lynn discovers that she’s pregnant.

In a turnabout, China is handing out release dates for Hollywood movies at a clip these days — and with a fair bit of notice. Yesterday, we learned that Paramount/eOne’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves will go day-and-date on March 31, and today comes news that Universal/Blumhouse/Atomic Monster’s hit M3GAN has been granted a March 17 start. That’s about two months since the pic began overseas rollout and will see it face off with Warner Bros/New Line/DC’s Shazam: Fury of the Gods on March 17, that film timed to the domestic release.

EXCLUSIVE: Kiefer Sutherland (24) is set to star in action-thriller The Winter Kills from director John Stalberg, Jr. (Crypto).  

Actor Alec Baldwin is being sued by the family of the late Halyna Hutchins.

EXCLUSIVE: Two-time Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins will team with Top Gun: Maverick’s Glen Powell in Locked, a remake of the Argentinian action thriller 4X4, for ZQ Entertainment and Raimi Productions. David Yarovesky is set to direct. He and Sam Raimi collaborated recently on Nightbooks. Michael Arlen Ross (Oracle) wrote the script. The original was written and directed by Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat (Official Competition).

EXCLUSIVE: Lauren Oliver — the bestselling YA author, screenwriter and producer known for titles like Panic and Before I Fall — has today announced the launch of her new media company, StoryGiants, also naming projects currently on its slate.

Taipei-based international sales company Distribution Workshop will be selling Lunar New Year hit Hidden Blade, starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai, and Wong Ching-po’s highly-anticipated new film, The Pig, The Snake And The Pigeon, at the upcoming European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin. 

The Real Housewives of Potomac is set to have a three-part reunion, including a special with Robyn Dixon in a one-on-one interview with Andy Cohen.

EXCLUSIVE: Wild Bunch International (WBI) has boarded sales on buzzy Portuguese director, artist and producer Gabriel Abrantes’ upcoming English-language feature Amelia’s Children. 

The Bob Odenkirk and Mireille Enos-led series Lucky Hank is rounding out its cast with Shannon DeVido (Best Summer Ever, Difficult People) and Jackson Kelly (Witch Mountain, Lessons in Chemistry). Lucky Hank premieres on March 19 on AMC and AMC+.