Poland Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Marta Balaga Following “The Zone of Interest,” Jesse Eisenberg’s “A Real Pain” and Berlinale offering “Treasure,” about a Holocaust survivor, the latter starring Stephen Fry and Lena Dunham, Poland might be welcoming more foreign shoots in the future. “I would always be willing to return and shoot in Poland,” says “Treasure” director Julia von Heinz. “Our co-producer Mariusz Włodarski from Lava Films realized that during the tenure of the Law and Justice [PiS] government, there was no chance of obtaining public funding for a story where Polish people are portrayed not just as victims and heroes, but as complex human beings.

EXCLUSIVE: Paolo Sorrentino‘s anticipated new movie Parthenope has sold around the world for Pathé here in Cannes where the film is playing in Competition.

Jon Burlingame Polish composer Jan A.P. Kaczmarek, who won a 2004 Oscar for “Finding Neverland,” died Tuesday in Krakow, the Polish Music Foundation announced. He was 71 and had suffered from Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) in recent years.

Baldur’s Gate 3 developer Larian Studios is opening a new studio in Poland, and it is hiring people to work on two “very ambitious” new RPGs.The new office is called Larian Studios Warsaw, and Larian CEO Swen Vincke said he’s hoping to attract a lot of the talent he saw in Poland during 2023’s Game Industry Conference to join the team.“Many of them want to work on RPGs so it’s a match made in heaven”, Vincke said. “Our plan for the Polish studio is very simple.

Jamie Lang As part of this year’s Variety Global Conversations at the Cannes Film Festival, representatives from the Czech Republic engaged in a lively discussion about the industry’s state of affairs and celebrated 20 years of involvement at the Marché du Film. Markéta Šantrochová, head of the Czech Film Center at the Czech Film Fund; Pavlína Žipková, head of the Czech Film Commission at the Czech Film Fund; and Petr Tichý, CEO of Barrandov Studio, participated in the talk, moderated by Variety’s Leo Barraclough. According to Zipkova, the Czech delegation wanted to make one key point clear to everyone in attendance: “If there is only one thing you need to remember from this session, it is that the Czech Film Fund production incentives scheme is open.

, Megan Thee Stallion has got you more than covered.After kicking off her Hot Girl Summer tour with a sold-out arena concert in Detroit (NBD), the 2021 kindly fed her followers' inner FOMO, sharing a handful of behind-the-scenes snapshots and videos to Instagram.But while scrolling through and wishing I had tickets to her next show, something else caught my eye: the glitz and glamour reflecting off the rapper's show-stopping sparkling , which sparked my FOMO in a whole new way. Now I guess I need tickets to her New York show and some new nail polish while I'm at it.Long, gorgeous, and glimmering, Stallion's Hot Girl mani, which is essentially a new-and-improved take on , is the perfect blend of several summer trends—and mark my words, is so about to start a whole new one.Combining the aquatic and iridescent accents of , shimmering finish of fairy aura nails, of stone nails, and futuristic vibe of galactic and celestial Y2K glam, Stallion's silver sparkling chrome mani embodies the best of all beauty worlds.

, no one can deny that a is always in style. Selena Gomez seems to agree.In fact, the nail polish pioneer and her beloved nail artist Tom Bachik embraced the look’s timeless elegance for this year’s , where she’s glitz and glamour while simultaneously throughout the weekend.“Nothing says Cannes like a Parisian red,” Bachik captioned of the Only Murders in the Building star, in which she’s sporting a beautiful, off-the-shoulder, black-and-white Saint Laurent gown and Bulgari necklace; yet another red-carpet slay after a French Riviera–inspired collection of .Gomez’s enduring red nails come as no surprise, seeing as she’s literally somehow always on (nail polish) trend: Remember when she from the dead, then single-handedly kickstarted mania? Exactly.In this case, several other beauty and fashion experts have noted that of sorts.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Sideshow and Janus films (“Drive My Car”) have acquired all North American rights to Payal Kapadia‘s “All We Imagine as Light,” the first Indian film to screen in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 30 years. The movie will world premiere on Thursday, May 23. It’s also one of only four films in the Competition directed by a woman.

A ‘boxer’ killed a man acting as a 'peacemaker' after a fight broke out during a night out, a jury has heard. Brook Marshall-Byrne, 20, is accused of manslaughter following the death of 35-year-old Piotr Ludwiczak. He denies the charge.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Rolling off its buzzy world premiere at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, Oscar-nominated Icelandic filmmaker Rúnar Rúnarsson’s poignant drama “When The Light Breaks” has sold to a raft of territories. Represented in international markets by The Party Film Sales, the movie has been picked up for Italy (Movies Inspired), Switzerland (Xenix), Norway (Arthaus), Denmark (Ost for Paradis), Finland (Cinemanse), Hungary (Vertigo), Greece (Cinobo), Israel (New Cinema), Poland (Aurora), Turkey (Bir Film) and Baltics (Estofilm).

EXCLUSIVE: Loaded Films founder Eiko Mizuno-Gray and Kinoshita-Kansei Group CEO Masahide Kinoshita have teamed up to launch Tokyo-based production company, Kinofaction, which aims to focus on minority Japanese co-productions.

EXCLUSIVE: One of the market’s biggest-budget projects, the Will Smith action-crime thriller Sugar Bandits, has sealed multi-million dollar deals across the world for AGC ahead of a planned September start date.

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.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Michel Hazanavicius, the Oscar-winning director of “The Artist,” makes a first foray into animation with “The Most Precious of Cargoes” which world premieres at the Cannes Film Festival on May 24. Adapted from Jean-Claude Grumberg’s bestselling novel, “The Most Precious of Cargoes” is the first animated feature to vie for a Palme d’Or since Ari Folman’s “Waltz With Bashir” in 2008; and it will be the last movie watched by the competition jury, presided over by Greta Gerwig, before the closing ceremony. Hazanavicius developed the project for years and wrote the script with Grumberg, as well as created the drawings.

Refresh for latest…:  After starting early offshore release on John Krasinski’s IF last weekend, Paramount expanded the imaginary friends film to another 56 international box office markets this session. The overseas frame was worth $20M, bringing the international running cume to $24M. With domestic’s $35M debut, the worldwide total is now $59M.

Neatly manicured nails always look good, but it's even more important when you've just got engaged, as people will be looking at your hand a whole lot more than usual. And so if you've recently been proposed to, or you have an inkling that it's imminent, get your fingertips ready for the spotlight with a fresh new manicure to mark the occasion.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Berlin-based sales agency Films Boutique has closed the first international sales for Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” ahead of its world premiere on Friday in the Competition section of the Cannes Film Festival. The film has been acquired in Italy by BiM Distribuzione and Lucky Red, Benelux by September Film Distribution, Spain by Bteam Pictures, Greece by Ama Films, Hungary by Cirko Film, Norway by Selmer Media, Portugal by Leopardo Filmes, Taiwan by Hooray Films and Turkey by Bir Film.

The first iteration of the Cannes Film Festival, planned for 1939, was scuppered when Germany invaded Poland to trigger the start of World War II. But when the festival finally got off the ground in 1946, Indian cinema came out swinging. Mounted shortly after the conclusion of the war, the first “real” Cannes Film Festival featured competition entries from Billy Wilder (The Lost Weekend), Roberto Rossellini (Open City), and David Lean (Brief Encounter). In the spirit of post-war peace and reconciliation, the competition jury, headed by French historian Georges Huisman, handed the top prize — then the Grand Prix — to films from 11 of the 18 countries represented that year.

EXCLUSIVE: Out at the Cannes market, LA-based production company Convergence Entertainment Group is launching There There, which is being written and directed by the Polish brothers in their first collaboration in more than a decade.

Alex Ritman Signature Entertainment has acquired the U.K. and Irish rights to Sylvester Stallone(“Tulsa King”)action thriller “Alarum”from Highland Film Group. The feature is produced and financed by Convergence Entertainment Group (“Cash Out”) and is directed by Michael Polish (“Force of Nature”) from a script written by Alexander Vesha (“Deadly Impact”).

Manchester United investor Sir Jim Ratcliffe is the richest person in North West, according to this year’s edition of The Sunday Times Rich List, published today (Friday) online. That's despite the newspaper reporting that he has lost more than £6 billion this year.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Microsoft‘s Activision has launched a new internal, standalone studio with one mission: creating a new narrative-based and genre-defining AAA franchise. Titled Elsewhere Entertainment, the studio will be headquartered in Warsaw, Poland, with additional staff in the United States.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Beta Cinema has closed a slew of international territory sales on its resistance epic “William Tell,” Nick Hamm’s adaptation of Friedrich Schiller’s play. WME Independent represents domestic rights.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz recounts Lali Sokolov’s harrowing memories of the concentration camp in Poland during the Second World War.Based on the book of the same name, the six-part series follows Lali Sokolov (Harvey Keitel) as he tells his story of his time at Auschwitz to novice writer Heather Morris (Melanie Lynskey) who is writing his memoirs.The show jumps between this timeline and his experience at the concentration camp, where a young Lali (Jonah Hauer-King) takes up the job of tattooing identification numbers on the arms of fellow Jewish prisoners.It’s during this job where he meets young Gita (Anna Prochniak), who he quickly falls in love with – putting themselves both at risk.At the end of the sixth episode, Lali returns to Auschwitz with Heather for the first time since he was held captive there. During the visit, Lali sees one final vision of Gita, who died in 2003, sitting on their bed and holding their baby son Gary.In the final sequence, Lali approaches Gita with a smile on his face and lays next to her on the bed.

Alex Ritman Paris-based sales house Charades has sold the Argentinian Western-inspired documentary “Gaucho Gaucho” across much of Europe. The film — which won a Sundance Jury Prize in January and recently played at CPH:DOX — has landed deals with Tandem (France), Filmin (Spain), Selmer Media (Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Finland, Denmark), M2 (Romania, Poland, Hungary. Ex-Yugoslavia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria), Praesens (Switzerland) and Bantam Films (Benelux).

In 2020, Magnus von Horn was excited to find that his film Sweat had been accepted into the Official Selection at Cannes, a big step up from his debut, The Here After, which made Directors’ Fortnight in 2015. The pandemic put an end to that, but his disappointment was short-lived; this year, his dark atmospheric follow-up, The Girl With the Needle, sees him joining the big league. “This is huge to me,” he beams. “The main competition!”

EXCLUSIVE: Highland Film Group is launching international sales on the action film Alarum starring Sylvester Stallone, Scott Eastwood, and Willa Fitzgerald, which has just wrapped principal photography. 

Christopher Vourlias In the past decade, Swedish-Polish filmmaker Magnus von Horn has become something of a fixture on the French Riviera, with his latest film, “The Girl With the Needle,” the director’s third feature to debut at the Cannes Film Festival and his first to compete for the Palme d’Or. But the dark historical drama, which is set in post-WWI Copenhagen, marks a departure for the 40-year-old.

Alex Ritman Bill Murray has joined the cast of “Riff Raff,” the upcoming crime comedy from director Dito Montiel set to feature Jennifer Coolidge (“The White Lotus”), Ed Harris (“Love Lies Bleeding”) Gabrielle Union (“The Inspection”), Lewis Pullman (“Top Gun: Maverick”), Emanuela Postacchini (“Robots”), Miles J. Harvey (“American Vandal”) and Pete Davidson (“The King of Staten Island”).

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.