Ed Meza Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Ed Meza @edmezavarCelebrating its 10th anniversary this year, Terra Mater Factual Studios looks back on an eventful decade that made its name synonymous with high-end nature and wildlife productions, while also embracing the ever-expanding opportunities offered by the growth of streaming platforms.The Austrian company’s productions include Kief Davidson and Richard Ladkani’s acclaimed “The Ivory Game,” which exposes the dark world of ivory trafficking; Ladkani’s “Sea of Shadows,” about the

Ed Meza @edmezavarDanish director Phie Ambo, who opens this year’s Copenhagen Documentary Film Festival (CPH:DOX) with “70/30,” an up-close look at the creation of Denmark’s landmark climate law, is already at work on her next project, “Organized Wilderness,” a film about the rewilding of a forest in northern Jutland.The project is in line with some of Ambo’s recent documentary works that also deal with people and nature, including 2019’s “Rediscovery,” about a group of children discovering the

Ed Meza @edmezavarReflecting the big issues examined in this year’s film lineup, the Copenhagen Documentary Film Festival’s (CPH:DOX) industry section likewise grapples with such major topics as climate change, biodiversity and the tectonic shifts being felt far and wide in the global political and economic order.The industry sidebar comprises the Forum financing and co-production event; the Conference series; the on-demand Market screening platform; the Lab talent development program; the Hub

Ed Meza @edmezavarClimate protection, the growing threats to ocean life, the FBI’s smear campaign against Martin Luther King Jr.

Ed Meza @edmezavarBerlin-based Flare Film is ramping up series production with two new high-concept projects in development while currently producing the eight-part “Paradiso” for Sky Deutschland, the first project from the company’s recently launched Flare Entertainment division.Flare Entertainment is partnering with Beta Film and Deutsche Telekom streaming platform MagentaTV on “The Daughter,” created by Pola Beck (“Breaking Horizons,” “The Last Word”) and co-developed with Daniel Hendler.

Ed Meza @edmezavarItaly’s Iervolino Entertainment, the film and television production company founded by producer Andrea Iervolino and co-owned with Monika Bacardi, is planning to invest €100 million ($118.6 million) in the production of animated content along with an additional €8.5 million ($10.1 million) in its new production subsidiary in Serbia.The new Iervolino Studios, which comprises two facilities located in Belgrade and Novi Sad, will produce animated projects for the global market,

Ed Meza @edmezavarDavid Hasselhoff is heading to Germany to star in a comedy spy series produced by Christian Alvart’s Berlin-based Syrreal Entertainment in what will be the first project from the company’s new international first-look deal with CBS Studios.A straight-to-series order for Mediengruppe RTL’s SVOD platform TVNow, “Ze Network” sees Hasselhoff playing himself as he travels to Germany to headline a stage production in what he believes is a major theater in East Berlin, only to

Ed Meza @edmezavarPalestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir’s Gaza-set drama “The Oblivion Theory” has won the top prize at the Berlinale Co-Production Market.Presented by Paris-based Incognito Films and Berlin’s One Two Films, the film is based on José Eduardo Agualusa’s novel “A General Theory of Oblivion,” although the book’s story has been moved from Angola to Palestine during the First Intifada, the sustained protests by Palestinians against Israel occupation that lasted from 1987 to 1993.The

Ed Meza @edmezavarBerlin-based Rise Pictures and Simonsays Pictures in Stuttgart are partnering on a new dark supernatural comedy series about a secretive, multinational corporation established by the Grim Reaper in an effort to more efficiently collect the souls of the dearly departed.“Grim Inc.” revolves around the mysterious enterprise founded by Death some 70 years ago.

Ed Meza @edmezavarBerlin-based Salzgeber has picked up international rights to Gitta Gsell’s award-winning Swiss drama “Beyto,” about a young man who is forced into an arranged marriage after coming out to his Turkish family.Produced by Bern’s Lomotion in co-production with Peter Zwierko’s Sulaco Film in Basel, “Beyto” premiered last year at the Zurich Film Festival and went on to win the audience award at Switzerland’s Solothurn Film Festival in January.Burak Ates plays Beyto, a talented young

Ed Meza @edmezavarDeutsche Telekom’s first major original, “Wild Republic,” is set to bow April 15 on the telco giant’s OTT service MagentaTV after production was postponed last year due to the ongoing pandemic.The eight-part adventure series follows a group of young offenders who end up fending for themselves high in the Alps after a mysterious death disrupts the experiential educational program in which they are taking part.Created by Jan Martin Scharf, Arne Nolting and Klaus Wolfertstetter,

Ed Meza @edmezavarWith a strong showing at this year’s Berlin Film Festival that includes the directorial debut of Daniel Brühl and new works by Maria Schrader and Dominik Graf in competition, German films are set to garner much of the spotlight at the accompanying European Film Market.Brühl, who is set to reprise his role as the vengeful Helmut Zemo in the upcoming Marvel series “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” explores the contradictions of present-day Berlin in “Next Door.” The seemingly

Ed Meza @edmezavarGerman cinema looks set for a major boost this year from some of the country’s most commercially successful and critically acclaimed directors tackling such eclectic subject matter as U.S.

Ed Meza @edmezavarIn his latest work, “Fabian — Going to the Dogs,” Dominik Graf adapts a work that defines the tragic, hedonistic and dysfunctional era of the Weimar Republic from a writer widely known for his children’s books.Set in 1931 Berlin, the story, based on Erich Kästner’s novel of the same name, is seen through the eyes of Jakob Fabian (Tom Schilling), a fatalistic writer who finds solace in his love for Cornelia, played by Saskia Rosendahl (“Never Look Away”) and his best friend

Ed Meza @edmezavarBerlin has been wrought a shadow of its former bustling self by the ongoing pandemic, and while locals can still be seen on the streets, its once thriving nightlife, packed restaurants, crowded bars and 24-hour dance parties seem like a distant memory.The Berlinale was one of the few major industry events that managed to take place last year before the COVID-19 crisis hit Europe in March. This year, it has followed other major A-list festivals online.

Ed Meza @edmezavarUncharted Territory and Rise Pictures have joined forces to produce “Igraine the Brave,” a 3D-animated fantasy adventure based on the novel by bestselling author Cornelia Funke.The story follows young Igraine, who comes from a family of magicians but unlike her parents and brother, she’d much rather be a knight than a wielder of magic.

Ed Meza @edmezavarPost-apocalyptic adventure series “Tribes of Europa,” which bows Friday on Netflix, is the latest sci-fi/fantasy show out of Germany, where the genre is heating up.Created by Philip Koch and produced by Wiedemann & Berg Television, the company behind Netflix hit “Dark,” “Tribes of Europa” follows three siblings as they struggle to survive in a new Europe emerging from cataclysm.

Ed Meza @edmezavarIndian drama “Pebbles,” by Vinothraj P.S., won the main competition Tiger Award at this year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) on Sunday.

Ed Meza @edmezavarMads Mikkelsen took time from shooting “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them 3” in London to call into the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) on Wednesday to chat about his eclectic career, including his latest work, Anders Thomas Jensen’s “Riders of Justice,” which opened this year’s fest.The Danish thesp, who in November replaced Johnny Depp in the role of dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald in David Yates’ latest instalment of Warner Bros.’ J.K.

Ed Meza @edmezavarThe Rotterdam Film Festival’s IFFR Pro Days and CineMart came to a close on Friday with awards for projects from Greece, China and Afghanistan, including the latest work from Kabul-based filmmaker Shahrbanoo Sadat.

Ed Meza @edmezavarThe impact of the ongoing pandemic on the film and television industry will change production practices, re-shape the exhibitor sector, transform distribution and expand global opportunities for European producers over the next five years, according to the latest Nostradamus Report, which forecasts trends in film and TV.Presented by author Johanna Koljonen at the Göteborg Film Festival’s annual Nostradamus seminar, the 8th Nostradamus Report, entitled “Transforming

Ed Meza @edmezavar“Game of Thrones” star Iwan Rheon, Jack Wolfe (“The Witcher”), Asha Banks and Amir Wilson (“His Dark Materials”) have joined Roland Emmerich’s production of “The Magic Flute,” a modern retelling of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s popular opera.The pic is set to begin principal photography on Feb.

Ed Meza @edmezavarVirtual cinema platforms that sprung up in response to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 lockdowns are set to remain a part of the landscape after theaters and film festivals reopen.That was the consensus of participants taking part at an IFFR Pro conference on the growing possibilities for film distribution at the Rotterdam Film Festival on Tuesday.Wendy Lidell, senior VP at Kino Lorber, joined Eve Gabereau, founder of London-based distrib Modern Films, producer Mynette

Ed Meza @edmezavarProgrammers from leading international film festivals gathered for an online roundtable on the opening day of the International Film Festival Rotterdam’s IFFR Pro Days industry section to discuss the challenges posed by the ongoing pandemic.

Ed Meza @edmezavarNew York-based non-profit distributor Cinema Tropical has acquired North American rights to Brazilian documentary “My Darling Supermarket,” the debut feature by Tali Yankelevich.Cinema Tropical plans to release the film in virtual cinemas starting on Feb.

Ed Meza @edmezavarThe Intl.

Ed Meza @edmezavar“Lovecraft Country” and “His House” lead Wunmi Mosaku, a BAFTA award winner, has been cast in Gabe Klinger’s fact-based drama “Dreyana Grooms.”The film focuses on 16-year-old Dreyana Grooms, who as a young teenager was implicated in a fatal shooting in Chicago during her summer break from school.

Ed Meza @edmezavarThe Intl.

Ed Meza @edmezavarMandy Patinkin and Lena Dunham have joined German filmmaker Julia von Heinz’s next film, “Iron Box,” about a New York businesswoman who decides to take her aging father back to his native Poland, where she hopes to explore her Jewish roots.In an interview with Variety during last year’s Venice Film Festival following the premiere of her latest pic, “And Tomorrow the Entire World,” von Heinz said she planned to send Patinkin and Dunham the script and expressed hope that they

Ed Meza @edmezavarDanish-German company Adomeit Film is set to explore uncharted territory with what could be the world’s first romantic comedy set in Afghanistan.Shahrbanoo Sadat’s “Kabul Jan,” the third part in a planned pentalogy based on co-writer Anwar Hashimi’s autobiographical work, follows a young camera operator who falls in love with a married TV reporter twice her age.Set in the biggest private TV station in Kabul, the story explores the forbidden romance while also examining the