Production kicked off in Seoul on Sept. 3 for “Hana Korea,” an ambitious Denmark-Korea co-production based on the real-life story of a North Korean defector. “Hana Korea” is co-written and directed by Danish documentary filmmaker Frederik Sølberg and co-written by Sharon Choi, a filmmaker and Bong Joon-ho’s interpreter, who accompanied the director in his 2019 […]

Nick Hamm’s “William Tell” is a throwback. It’s a big-budget — roughly $45 million — action pic based on popular folklore and loaded with rousing action sequences, inspiring speeches from the frontlines and a glossy blend of digital and practical effects. It screens Sept. 10 at the Toronto International Film Festival. Set in 1307, the […]

Paris-based Millimages, one of Europe’s oldest indie animation studios, is shaking up its sales team ahead of the fall market and festival season. Citing a “rapidly changing animation market,” Millimages’ reorg is being executed to increase operational efficiency, improve responsiveness to its commercial partners, standardize the company’s sales strategy and support further growth for its […]

TrustNordisk has closed several distribution deals for a 4K remastered version of Nicolas Winding Refn’s “Pusher” trilogy, including “Pusher,” “Pusher II – With Blood on My Hands” and “Pusher III – I Am the Angel of Death.” Distribution deals have been closed in Benelux with September Film Rights, Switzerland with Praesens Film, Germany with Plaion […]

Anjelica Huston, one of cinema’s most iconic witch portrayers, has been cast to star in the upcoming live-action/hybrid feature “The Christmas Witch Trial of La Befana,” the first animated film produced by Canada’s HighballTV. Based on a popular Italian folk tale, “The Christmas Witch Trial of La Befana” tells the story of a group of […]

This year’s San Sebastian International Film Festival will feature the most eye-catching list of international superstars it has ever hosted, including A-list actors such as Cate Blanchett and Javier Bardem – who will both receive Donostia career achievement awards, Andrew Garfield, Pamela Anderson, Tilda Swinton and Lupita Nyong’o and filmmakers like local legend Pedro Almodovar […]

Serial Maven Studios has given Variety exclusive access to the trailer for Neil Diamond and Joanne Robertson’s “So Surreal: Behind the Masks,” a Native American documentary world premiering at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. The film follows Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond (“Reel Injun,” “Red Fever”) as he studies the anthropological connection between Yup’ik and […]

France’s Miam! distribution has picked up distribution rights to Silex Animation’s adult animated series “Mare the Mermaid,” one of the continent’s big buzz titles in adult series animation, after impressing at Cartoon Forum in 2023. Commissioned by France Télévisions for their young adult platform Slash, the show is set for delivery in Q4 2026. The […]

The 30th edition of the Unifrance Rendez-vous in Le Havre is just around the corner. The French film market plays host to hundreds of buyers and a vast range of titles being sold across genres and mediums. Autour de Minuit, the Oscar-nominated production company that recently turned heads co-producing 2022’s “Unicorn Wars” (granted the Best […]

Canal+ has commissioned French animation house Dandelooo to produce a new 2D animated series for three- to five-year-olds titled “Max & Rabbit.” Based on the best-selling kids’ book series by French author Astrid Desbordes, illustrated by Pauline Martin, the show follows its titular protagonists through their daily routine. Told from Max’s perspective, the show features […]

Upstart Ivorian production company Aby Media, founded by Bernard and Kimberley Azria and Brazilian powerhouse Globo, have unveiled a new production-distribution agreement for a slate of popular Globo scripted titles. Under the new deal, Aby Media will produce local versions of several Globo shows and distribute their original versions in the territory. Both Aby Media […]

“My Fathers’ Daughter,” soon to be the first Sámi-language feature to world premiere at Toronto, has released a first-look image featuring “Game of Thrones” actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who will cameo as himself in the coming-of-age family dramedy. Directed by Egil Pedersen, “My Fathers’ Daughter” is the story of Elvira, a confident teenager who is convinced […]

TrustNordisk has picked up international sales on filmmaker Mari Storstein’s debut feature “My First Love.” Filming is underway on the Norwegian film produced by Thomas Robsahm (“The Worst Person in the World,” “Loveable”) and Tøri Gjenda for Nordisk Film Production Norway and Amarcord. Filling a crying need on the global market for stories with accurate representation of people with disabilities, highlighted by Hollywood […]

Naima Mohamud’s “Halima” has won the best project award at this year’s Haugesund Film Festival. Jurors Bartholomew Sammut, Magdalena Banasik and Petri Kemppinen appreciated the project’s “immense amount of warmth and empathy” and “touching and entertaining” pitch. “[It’s] a film that delves into a story we haven’t yet seen come from Finland,” they argued. “Halima” […]

Norway’s heavyweight producer Thomas Robsahm, credited for more than 50 films, including Joachim Trier’s double Oscar-nominated “The Worst Person in the World,” is gearing up for his busiest film slate ever. After the delivery of Lilja Ingolfsdotttir’s Karlovy Vary’s multiple-winner “Loveable” and Yenni Lee’s “Explosions in My Heart,” which both screened at the New Nordic […]

Santiago, 2018, and roiling student protests highlight ongoing state violence and the criminalization of dissent in Diego Ayala and Aníbal Jofre’s latest feature,” The Affections” (“Los Afectos”), bowing in competition alongside nine Chilean projects at the Santiago Int’l Film Festival (Sanfic). Having met in film school, this is the pair’s second feature following their 2013 […]

Griselda Gonzalez Gentile’s Luminosa Venture Films has boarded the animated series “Hollow Flowers,” created by multi-media artist and filmmaker Daniel Yepes. “Hollow Flowers” joins a Luminosa production slate that includes “Ernesto Che Guevara, un Canto Incluso,” a documentary revisiting the legacy of Che Guevara’s thoughts in the contemporary world, and “The Beauty of the Instant,” […]

An ailing mother and estranged sister (Paola Lattus) reluctantly coax prodigal daughter Silvia (Patricia Cuyul) home after her 30-year absence in “Death Brought you Back” (“La muerte te vio volver”), the debut film from emerging Chilean director Sebastián Cuevas, selected for Sanfic Industria’s Ibero-American Works In Progress lineup.   In 2023, the film received financing from the Regional […]