International iconic awards 2022

EXCLUSIVE : Sweden’s Arvet Agency is producing horror film The Deacon from Venice Award-winning filmmaker Tequoia Urbina . The Stockholm-based company has acquired script and media rights to the project following a deal with Magnolia Tree Productions. Pic is described as a horror story set in the present day about a family who are given shelter by a church community, but all is not what it seems. Atlanta-based filmmaker Urbina directed, wrote and produced Venice Short Film Award winning pic Gehenna and has packaged The Deacon as a “high concept indie horror,” according to Arvet CEO Grace Maharaj. She added: “We are looking for IP to enter the North American market with and when we read Tequoia’s script, we loved the themes she has touched on with family secrets and the vulnerable in society who have nowhere to turn for help when there is an economic downturn.” Maharaj said the project speaks to Arvet’s dual strategy of seeking IP with a “unique Nordic … [Read more...] about ‘The Deacon’: Sweden’s Arvet Agency Behind Horror From Venice Award-Winning Filmmaker Tequoia Urbina

Israeli network Yes TV has greenlit a second season of Series Mania Award-winning comedy Bloody Murray, we can reveal. Production will begin next year on Stav Idisis’ romcom, which is headlined by Naomi Levov ( On the Spectrum ) and Rotem Sela ( Beauty and the Baker ), who play two 35-year-old roommates looking for love. The Gynaecologist and University Lecturer’s lives change when Murray (Levov) ditches the scene of a hit-and-run and the man she crashed into, Lior, shows up at her apartment – where he meets Dana (Sela) – and the two fall madly in love. Murray realizes her own feelings for Lior and chaos ensues as she convinces herself Lior is the one for her. The show, which won the Best Comedy Award at Series Mania 2022, will launch in 2024. Director is Yogev Yefet, Kastina Communications and Yes TV are producers and Yes Studios handles distribution. Last week , Deadline revealed Amazon Prime Video had struck a deal with Tel Aviv-based Yes Studios for … [Read more...] about ‘Bloody Murray’ Renewed For Season Two By Israel’s Yes TV

Swedish video game company Embracer Group has acquired Middle-earth Enterprises, a division of The Saul Zaentz Company, which owns the intellectual property catalogue and worldwide rights to The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. But the deal means Embracer Group will pick up the motion picture, video game, board game, merchandising, theme parks and stage production rights relating to The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit franchises as well as matching rights in other Middle-earth-related literary works authorized by the Tolkien Estate and HarperCollins, which have yet to be explored. “I am truly excited to have The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit , one of the world’s most epic fantasy franchises join the Embracer family, opening up more transmedia opportunities including synergies across our global group,” said Lars Wingefors, Founder and Group CEO Embracer Group. “I am … [Read more...] about Embracer Group Acquires IP Rights To ‘Lord Of The Rings’ And ‘The Hobbit’

Married couple Devorah Baum and Josh Appignanesi co-direct and produce the confessional documentary Husband , world premiering at the Edinburgh International Film Festival . Baum is a successful author, academic and speaker; Appignanesi won rave reviews for his last film, Female Human Animal , after his debut, Song of Songs , won awards at London and Edinburgh. And yet, both these Brits are beset by neuroses, as this frank film shows — or possibly exaggerates: the press notes describe it as being “on the cusp between auto-fiction and documentary.” Framed as a follow-up to their 2016 documentary The New Man , Husband is an uneasy and uncertain watch that provokes thought about relationships and feelings while occasionally amusing, in an uncomfortable sort of way. The key story takes place in the U.S., where Baum is promoting a book she has written about dealing with feelings such as guilt, paranoia, envy and self-hatred. With two small children in tow, … [Read more...] about Edinburgh Film Festival Review: Devorah Baum & Josh Appignanesi’s ‘Husband’

An Oscar statue goes missing in Hassan Nazer ’s amiable feature Winners , which had its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival . After the Oscar is inadvertently left in a taxi in Iran, the prize is sent to the post office, where it’s once again lost by a well-meaning postal worker. While he insists that it must have fallen out of his car in a rural location, the authorities insist that the man is detained, assuming theft, until the statue is located. And so there’s a ripple of urgency running through this otherwise gently paced comedy-drama. It’s no spoiler to reveal that the Oscar ends up in the hands of two children: nine-year-old Yahya and his friend Leyla. We’re let in on their secret as they hide the “doll” from their friends and, amusingly, put it in a dress to preserve its modesty (“It’s so Leyla won’t see him naked,” explains the boy). Their efforts to sell the find are thwarted: such items are of no use to the locals. As the … [Read more...] about Edinburgh Film Festival Review: Hassan Nazer’s ‘Winners’

EXCLUSIVE : More major casting is emerging for the upcoming sixth season of Black Mirror , with Under the Banner of Heaven and Signs star Rory Culkin the latest to sign up. Details are scarce on Culkin’s role and Netflix isn’t commenting but Deadline understands the deal was struck recently for the actor to appear in an episode of Netflix’s critically-acclaimed Charlie Brooker -penned anthology. Having entered production recently, the latest Black Mirror is the first from Brooker’s new Netflix-backed outfit Broke & Bones , which he runs with Black Mirror exec Annabel Jones. Culkin was most recently seen in FX’s Under the Banner of Heaven as Samuel Lafferty, starring opposite Andrew Garfield in the Dustin Lance Black show. Past TV credits include Paramount’s Waco and Netflix’s Halston. On the film side, Culkin appeared in Jonas Akerlund’s 2018 heavy metal thriller Lords of Chaos. He broke through in Signs and the Academy … [Read more...] about ‘Black Mirror’: Rory Culkin To Star In Season Six Of Netflix Anthology

UK financier Goldfinch has shuttered three of its subsidiary companies. According to documents on Companies House, Bird Box Distribution Ltd entered a creditors liquidation and SEIS vehicle Bird Box Film Development is being dissolved this week. Streaming platform Birdbox.film, a short-lived VOD service, has also gone out of business. Phil McKenzie, COO Goldfinch, told us: “ Goldfinch continues to actively invest in the future of the UK and global independent film industry and operates across a number of lines of business. However, as with most businesses, some ventures are simply more successful than others. Birdbox Distribution Ltd and birdbox.film were only start-up ventures within the Goldfinch group and as with many such enterprises they unfortunately, and after a tough couple of years, became no longer viable and ceased to trade.” According to Companies House, Bird Box Distribution (BBD) amassed debts of £363,227. A large part of this debt was a loan owed … [Read more...] about UK Financier Goldfinch Closes Three Distribution & Development Entities

Hilary Linstead , the agent, casting director and film producer who launched Australia’s first talent agency, has died at 83. Talked of as a “force of nature” by industry friends, Linstead is considered to have nurtured many of Australia’s most successful stage, film and TV talents, and is known for discovering Rome and Juliet director Baz Luhrmann among others, representing him and the likes of Power of the Dog director Jane Campion , Gillian Armstrong ( Little Women ) and Adelaide festival joint artistic director Neil Armfield. Hollywood & Media Deaths 2022: A Photo Gallery Linstead was born in London in 1938 but moved to Australia to become an actress. However, she soon switched to become a casting director and worked at International Casting Services representing actresses. She then teamed with Liz Mullinar to form M&L Casting Consultants, which led casting on productions such as Rocky Horror Show and Jesus Christ Superstar and Australian … [Read more...] about Hilary Linstead Dies: Agent, Producer & Casting Director Who Discovered Baz Luhrmann & Repped Jane Campion Was 83

EXCLUSIVE: Pam Grier , the actress from such cult classics as Jackie Brown, Foxy Brown and Coffy, has inked with APA . Grier’s five decades-plus cinematic canon includes work with filmmakers such as Roger Corman, John Carpenter and Quentin Tarantino, among many others. Her film résumé fired up with 1971’s The Big Doll House, followed by iconic roles in such films as Foxy Brown, Coffy, The Big Bird Cage , Blacula , Scream Blacula Scream and Sheba, Baby. During the 1980s she became a regular on Miami Vice and played a supporting role as an evil witch in Ray Bradbury’s and Walt Disney Pictures’ 1983 title Something Wicked This Way Comes . She then returned to action in 1988’s Above the Law . Grier also starred in such notable features as Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks!, In Too Deep and a comedic turn in Jawbreaker . Grier also starred in the Showtime series Linc’s and worked for the network again as a main cast member of The L Word . Other … [Read more...] about Pam Grier Signs With APA

West Side Story Oscar winner Ariana DeBose will star in the Prime Video and Blumhouse Television psychological thriller House of Spoils , playing an ambitious chef who opens her first restaurant but has to contend with the powerful spirit of the estate’s previous owner who threatens to sabotage her at very turn. Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy are directing off their script based on their original idea. House of Spoils reteams Cole, Krudy, Secret Engine and Amazon Studios following the latter’s acquisition of Cole and Krudy’s Blow the Man Down , produced by Secret Engine, out of 2019 TIFF. Cameras will roll in the fall. The project reunites with Blumhouse with Amazon, which have made the collection of genre movies, Welcome to the Blumhouse, and the recently wrapped slasher horror-comedy film Totally Killer , directed by Nahnathcka Khan starring Kiernan Shipka, Olivia Holt, Julie Bowen, and Randall Park. Prime will stream Blumhouse’s Sundance … [Read more...] about Ariana DeBose Set For Prime Video Blumhouse Culinary Thriller ‘House Of Spoils’