Fatih Akin’s WWII coming-of-age tale Amrum has begun shooting in Hamburg with newcomer Jasper Billerbeck joining German stars Laura Tonke and Diane Kruger in the cast.
The feature, which was first announced in 2022, is set on Germany’s North Sea island of Amrum in the spring of 1945, in the final days of World War Two.
It revolves around a 12-year-old boy called Nanning who goes seal hunting, fishing at night and toils in the fields to help his mother feed the family. When peace is declared, completely new conflicts arise, and Nanning must learn to find his own way.
The screenplay is based on the childhood memories of German director and screenwriter Hark Bohm, a long-standing friend of Akin.
The pair previously collaborated on the screenplay of Turkish-German director Akin’s award-winning 2017 feature In The Fade.
“What began as a Hark Bohm film now becomes my twelfth feature film...
The feature, which was first announced in 2022, is set on Germany’s North Sea island of Amrum in the spring of 1945, in the final days of World War Two.
It revolves around a 12-year-old boy called Nanning who goes seal hunting, fishing at night and toils in the fields to help his mother feed the family. When peace is declared, completely new conflicts arise, and Nanning must learn to find his own way.
The screenplay is based on the childhood memories of German director and screenwriter Hark Bohm, a long-standing friend of Akin.
The pair previously collaborated on the screenplay of Turkish-German director Akin’s award-winning 2017 feature In The Fade.
“What began as a Hark Bohm film now becomes my twelfth feature film...
- 4/22/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Beta Cinema is launching international sales in Cannes for director Fatih Akin’s upcoming film “Amrum,” which starts shooting in Hamburg Monday. The film stars Jasper Billerbeck, Laura Tonke and Diane Kruger.
“Amrum” will be released in German theaters in September 2025, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
It is set on the island of Amrum in spring 1945. Seal hunting, fishing at night, toiling in the fields – nothing is too dangerous or too arduous for 12-year-old Nanning to help his mother feed the family in the final days of World War II. With the longed-for peace, however, completely new conflicts arise, and Nanning must learn to find his own way.
The story is based on the childhood memories of German director and screenwriter Hark Bohm. Akin said: “What began as a Hark Bohm film now becomes my 12th feature film and an extraordinary mission: ‘Amrum’ is the journey of young Nanning, who...
“Amrum” will be released in German theaters in September 2025, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.
It is set on the island of Amrum in spring 1945. Seal hunting, fishing at night, toiling in the fields – nothing is too dangerous or too arduous for 12-year-old Nanning to help his mother feed the family in the final days of World War II. With the longed-for peace, however, completely new conflicts arise, and Nanning must learn to find his own way.
The story is based on the childhood memories of German director and screenwriter Hark Bohm. Akin said: “What began as a Hark Bohm film now becomes my 12th feature film and an extraordinary mission: ‘Amrum’ is the journey of young Nanning, who...
- 4/22/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Filming begins next week on a big-budget family drama, which producers hope will herald a new era in non-English language shows within the British Isles.
The Guardian reports that four-part thriller An t-Eilean (The Island) is the most expensive drama ever made in Scots Gaelic, coming in at £1million ($1.25m) an episode.
Cast and crew will descend on Amhuinnsuidhe Castle on the island of Harris – a location near Taransay, previously used for reality TV show Castaway in the early 2000s.
Backers include the BBC, which has enjoyed ratings triumphs with previous Welsh-language series Keeping Faith (Un Bore Mercher) and Hinterland (Y Gwyll). The show is co-production between Black Camel Pictures, Mg Alba, the Gaelic broadcasting agency, Screen Scotland and US-owned distributor All3Media.
The Guardian reports that, due to the work of All3Media, the show has already received offers from Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Belgium.
It quotes Black Camel’s...
The Guardian reports that four-part thriller An t-Eilean (The Island) is the most expensive drama ever made in Scots Gaelic, coming in at £1million ($1.25m) an episode.
Cast and crew will descend on Amhuinnsuidhe Castle on the island of Harris – a location near Taransay, previously used for reality TV show Castaway in the early 2000s.
Backers include the BBC, which has enjoyed ratings triumphs with previous Welsh-language series Keeping Faith (Un Bore Mercher) and Hinterland (Y Gwyll). The show is co-production between Black Camel Pictures, Mg Alba, the Gaelic broadcasting agency, Screen Scotland and US-owned distributor All3Media.
The Guardian reports that, due to the work of All3Media, the show has already received offers from Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Belgium.
It quotes Black Camel’s...
- 4/14/2024
- by Caroline Frost
- Deadline Film + TV
British actors Julia Ormond (“Ladies in Black”) and Lydia Page (“Blue Jean”) are set to soon appear in psychological horror movie “Home Education” directed by Italy’s Andrea Niada.
Set in the scenic Sila plateau in Italy’s Southern Calabria region, “Home Education” revolves around a family that are followers of an esoteric cult and live in a secluded house deep in the woods.
Warner Bros Entertainment Italia, Italy’s Indiana Production and BlackBox Multimedia are producing with support from the Calabria Film Commission. Germany’s SquareOne Productions is co-producing and handling international sales. Warner Bros. Pictures will release the film in Italian theaters.
Page plays Rachel, a teenager raised according to the cult’s beliefs. When her father Philip dies, Rachel’s domineering mother, Carol, played by Ormond (see first look image), driven by the belief that Philip’s lifeless body will revive itself, forces her daughter to live with the corpse.
Set in the scenic Sila plateau in Italy’s Southern Calabria region, “Home Education” revolves around a family that are followers of an esoteric cult and live in a secluded house deep in the woods.
Warner Bros Entertainment Italia, Italy’s Indiana Production and BlackBox Multimedia are producing with support from the Calabria Film Commission. Germany’s SquareOne Productions is co-producing and handling international sales. Warner Bros. Pictures will release the film in Italian theaters.
Page plays Rachel, a teenager raised according to the cult’s beliefs. When her father Philip dies, Rachel’s domineering mother, Carol, played by Ormond (see first look image), driven by the belief that Philip’s lifeless body will revive itself, forces her daughter to live with the corpse.
- 6/13/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
In 1973, the killer of Welsh teenagers Sandra Newton, Pauline Flynn and Gwendoline Hughes was not caught, despite a high-profile and widespread investigation by South Wales Police. The girls’ families spent the next three decades not knowing who was responsible for brutally taking the lives of their loved ones, or whether he still lived alongside them in the local Neath and Port Talbot communities.
In 2002, a development in forensics changed everything. The cold case was reopened with much pared-down resources, and crime scene DNA was successfully used to identify Wales’ first recorded serial killer. Steeltown Murders is the story of the loss, guilt and suspicion that followed the 1970s murders, and of the perseverance of the officers who were eventually able to provide the victims’ families with the answers they’d been denied years before.
Here are the actors making up the cast behind Steeltown Murders‘ dramatisation of real-life figures and events.
In 2002, a development in forensics changed everything. The cold case was reopened with much pared-down resources, and crime scene DNA was successfully used to identify Wales’ first recorded serial killer. Steeltown Murders is the story of the loss, guilt and suspicion that followed the 1970s murders, and of the perseverance of the officers who were eventually able to provide the victims’ families with the answers they’d been denied years before.
Here are the actors making up the cast behind Steeltown Murders‘ dramatisation of real-life figures and events.
- 5/15/2023
- by Louisa Mellor
- Den of Geek
Luke Evans and Callum Scott Howells are among the stars of upcoming BBC drama The Way from Michael Sheen, James Graham and Adam Curtis.
Sheen, who is also directing, will star in The Way with Steffan Rhodri and Mali Harries. The drama, announced in February, comes from Welsh indie Red Seam.
The Way is billed “an emotional and darkly humorous story about what it means to be faced with impossible choices” and follows the Driscoll family, who are forced to escape their small home town, which becomes ground zero of a spiraling civil uprising.
Rhodri (Steeltown Murders, Gavin and Stacey), Harries (Keeping Faith, Hinterland), Sophie Melville (The Pact, Iphigenia In Splott), Scott Howells (It’s A Sin, Cabaret) and Sheen (Staged, Good Omens) lead the cast as the Driscoll family with Maja Laskowska (Trigonometry, Baptise) as a young woman caught up in the family’s escape.
Evans (Nine Perfect Strangers, The Pembrokeshire Murders...
Sheen, who is also directing, will star in The Way with Steffan Rhodri and Mali Harries. The drama, announced in February, comes from Welsh indie Red Seam.
The Way is billed “an emotional and darkly humorous story about what it means to be faced with impossible choices” and follows the Driscoll family, who are forced to escape their small home town, which becomes ground zero of a spiraling civil uprising.
Rhodri (Steeltown Murders, Gavin and Stacey), Harries (Keeping Faith, Hinterland), Sophie Melville (The Pact, Iphigenia In Splott), Scott Howells (It’s A Sin, Cabaret) and Sheen (Staged, Good Omens) lead the cast as the Driscoll family with Maja Laskowska (Trigonometry, Baptise) as a young woman caught up in the family’s escape.
Evans (Nine Perfect Strangers, The Pembrokeshire Murders...
- 5/15/2023
- by Max Goldbart and Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Hinterland (Homefront) Film Movement Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net, linked from Rotten Tomatoes by Harvey Karten Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky Screenwriter: Hanno Pinter, Robert Buchschuwenter, Stefan Ruzowitzky Cast: Murathan Muslu, Liv Lisa Fries, Max von der Groeben, Marc Limpach, Aaron Friesz, Stipe Erceg Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 9/20/22 Opens: October 7, 2022 Critics often review […]
The post Hinterland (Homefront) Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Hinterland (Homefront) Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 10/2/2022
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Sydney Film Festival Returns to Regular Dates, Picks ‘The Forgiven,’ ‘Passengers’ for Initial Lineup
Charlotte Gainsbourg-starring “The Passengers of the Night” and Ralph Fiennes- and Jessica Chastain-starring “The Forgiven” are among the first batch of movies revealed by the Sydney Film Festival. The festival is planning an in-person event running 8-19 June, 2022.
Australian-produced titles include dance film “Keep Stepping”; “Sissy,” which mixes social media and horror; music title “Six Festivals”; and intimate portrait “The Plains,” which had its premiere in Rotterdam earlier this year.
The 22-film advanced lineup also leans heavily on other festival favorites. “Gentle” which premiered in Sundance; “Hinterland,” which won the audience award in Locarno last year; Peter Strickland’s “Flux Gourmet,” from the Berlinale; Kamila Andini’s “Yuni” winner of Toronto’s Platform award; “Private Desert,” audience award winner at Venice; documentary “Calendar Girls” from the recent Sundance and Cph:dox festivals; “Please Baby Please,” which opened the Rotterdam festival; “The Territory,” the documentary award-winner at Sundance; “Blue Moon,...
Australian-produced titles include dance film “Keep Stepping”; “Sissy,” which mixes social media and horror; music title “Six Festivals”; and intimate portrait “The Plains,” which had its premiere in Rotterdam earlier this year.
The 22-film advanced lineup also leans heavily on other festival favorites. “Gentle” which premiered in Sundance; “Hinterland,” which won the audience award in Locarno last year; Peter Strickland’s “Flux Gourmet,” from the Berlinale; Kamila Andini’s “Yuni” winner of Toronto’s Platform award; “Private Desert,” audience award winner at Venice; documentary “Calendar Girls” from the recent Sundance and Cph:dox festivals; “Please Baby Please,” which opened the Rotterdam festival; “The Territory,” the documentary award-winner at Sundance; “Blue Moon,...
- 4/6/2022
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune,” with cinematography by Greig Fraser, Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch,” with cinematography by Robert D. Yeoman, and Ridley Scott’s “The Last Duel,” with cinematography by Dariusz Wolski, are among the movies selected in the main competition section of EnergaCamerimage. The 29th edition of the festival, which focuses on the art of cinematography, runs Nov. 13-20 in Toruń, Poland.
Villeneuve will be the recipient of this year’s Special Camerimage Award for Outstanding Director, with the Oscar-nominated French-Canadian filmmaker attending in person to receive the award and present his film to the audience.
Joel Coen’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth” will also play in competition and will open the festival, with Coen and cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel introducing the film in Toruń in person. Coen and Delbonnel previously worked together on “Tuileries”, “Inside Llewyn Davis” and “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.”
Other titles competing for the festival’s top prize,...
Villeneuve will be the recipient of this year’s Special Camerimage Award for Outstanding Director, with the Oscar-nominated French-Canadian filmmaker attending in person to receive the award and present his film to the audience.
Joel Coen’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth” will also play in competition and will open the festival, with Coen and cinematographer Bruno Delbonnel introducing the film in Toruń in person. Coen and Delbonnel previously worked together on “Tuileries”, “Inside Llewyn Davis” and “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.”
Other titles competing for the festival’s top prize,...
- 10/26/2021
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
As the 2021 Locarno Film Festival rounds its final bend, sales deals were still coming through.
In one such pact, San Sebastian New Directors title “That Weekend” has been snapped up by leading Italian sales-production shingle The Open Reel. A debut feature from director Mara Pescio, the film tells the story of Julia who returns to the neighborhood she left years ago to recover money she hid in her home. The reunion prompts a life-changing confrontation with her daughter.
The film is an Argentina-Brazil co-production hailing from Maravillacine, Murillo Cine, Santiago Carabante and Persona Non Grata Pictures. Variety previously spoke with Pescio about her making her directorial bow.
In other late Locarno dealing, Compañia de Cine, a Buenos Aires-based boutique sales operation, announced it had taken world rights to “Mostro,” which world premiered Aug. 11 in Locarno Cineasti del Presente.
Also, Mad Solutions signed all sales and distribution rights for Arab-speaking countries...
In one such pact, San Sebastian New Directors title “That Weekend” has been snapped up by leading Italian sales-production shingle The Open Reel. A debut feature from director Mara Pescio, the film tells the story of Julia who returns to the neighborhood she left years ago to recover money she hid in her home. The reunion prompts a life-changing confrontation with her daughter.
The film is an Argentina-Brazil co-production hailing from Maravillacine, Murillo Cine, Santiago Carabante and Persona Non Grata Pictures. Variety previously spoke with Pescio about her making her directorial bow.
In other late Locarno dealing, Compañia de Cine, a Buenos Aires-based boutique sales operation, announced it had taken world rights to “Mostro,” which world premiered Aug. 11 in Locarno Cineasti del Presente.
Also, Mad Solutions signed all sales and distribution rights for Arab-speaking countries...
- 8/12/2021
- by Will Thorne
- Variety Film + TV
Ahead of the film’s world premiere at Locarno Film Festival, Variety has been given exclusive access to the debut trailer for “Hinterland,” the crime thriller from Austrian filmmaker Stefan Ruzowitzky, who won the Foreign Language Film Oscar with “The Counterfeiters.”
The film is a center-piece of the festival with a prestigious first weekend primetime premiere on Friday, Aug. 6 in the event’s iconic open-air venue, Piazza Grande. Beta Cinema, the film’s sales agent, is looking to close further deals out of Locarno to follow up on Cannes Pre-Screenings deals soon to be announced.
“Hinterland,” starring Murathan Muslu (“Pelican Blood”) and Liv Lisa Fries (“Babylon Berlin”), is set in Vienna in 1920, following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Peter Perg (Muslu) returns home from the Great War, after years of captivity, but the Vienna he comes home to is nothing like the place he once knew.
The new Austrian...
The film is a center-piece of the festival with a prestigious first weekend primetime premiere on Friday, Aug. 6 in the event’s iconic open-air venue, Piazza Grande. Beta Cinema, the film’s sales agent, is looking to close further deals out of Locarno to follow up on Cannes Pre-Screenings deals soon to be announced.
“Hinterland,” starring Murathan Muslu (“Pelican Blood”) and Liv Lisa Fries (“Babylon Berlin”), is set in Vienna in 1920, following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Peter Perg (Muslu) returns home from the Great War, after years of captivity, but the Vienna he comes home to is nothing like the place he once knew.
The new Austrian...
- 7/26/2021
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
German-language productions on offer at the Cannes Film Market present an eclectic mix of adult drama, biting social commentary, history, comedy, kids’ pics and animation from such high-profile helmers as Stefan Ruzowitzky, Marcus H. Rosenmüller, Maria Schrader and Matti Geschonneck.
In Ruzowitzky’s atmospheric “Hinterland,” part of Beta Cinema’s lineup, a Great War veteran tracks down a killer in 1920s Vienna.
Rosenmüller and Santiago López Jover’s 1960s-set animated comedy “Snotty Boy” follows a kid whose unstoppable talent for drawing gives him an outlet for his discontent while growing up in a small conservative Austrian town where Nazi sympathy is still very prevalent. Sold by Picture Tree Intl., the pic was inspired by the life and work of late Austrian cartoonist and satirist Manfred Deix.
Rosenmüller’s other new comedy, “Lifeguard Off Duty,” centers on grumpy lifeguard Karl and his efforts to save the local swimming pool from closure.
In Ruzowitzky’s atmospheric “Hinterland,” part of Beta Cinema’s lineup, a Great War veteran tracks down a killer in 1920s Vienna.
Rosenmüller and Santiago López Jover’s 1960s-set animated comedy “Snotty Boy” follows a kid whose unstoppable talent for drawing gives him an outlet for his discontent while growing up in a small conservative Austrian town where Nazi sympathy is still very prevalent. Sold by Picture Tree Intl., the pic was inspired by the life and work of late Austrian cartoonist and satirist Manfred Deix.
Rosenmüller’s other new comedy, “Lifeguard Off Duty,” centers on grumpy lifeguard Karl and his efforts to save the local swimming pool from closure.
- 7/9/2021
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Year after year a site par excellence for the most innovative premieres—in that respect an antithesis to the ensuing fall circuit—the Locarno Film Festival returns triumphant next month. Their 2021 lineup, per usual, mixes iconic names with complete unknowns and, admittedly, a head-scratcher or two. Abel Ferrara’s much-anticipated Zeros and Ones, sure. Gaspar Noé’s Vortex—makes sense. A new film from The Wild Boys director Bertrand Mandico? Great! But Shawn Levy and a Jennifer Hudson Aretha Franklin biopic?
However, new festival head Giona A. Nazzaro sees it as part of a steady influx, telling Variety “A festival can be quite highbrow and also entertaining at the same time. That is why for this year’s lineup we have selected several comedies and also some genre movies, as well as straightforward auteur films.” By that metric it’s more inclusive than almost any other major competition on the European circuit.
However, new festival head Giona A. Nazzaro sees it as part of a steady influx, telling Variety “A festival can be quite highbrow and also entertaining at the same time. That is why for this year’s lineup we have selected several comedies and also some genre movies, as well as straightforward auteur films.” By that metric it’s more inclusive than almost any other major competition on the European circuit.
- 7/1/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
After Blue (Paradis sale)The lineup for the 2021 festival has been revealed, including new films by Bertrand Mandico, Axelle Ropert, Abel Ferrara and others, alongside retrospectives and tributes, and much more.Piazza GRANDEBeckett (Ferdinando Cito Filomarino)Free Guy (Shawn Levy)Heat (Michael Mann)Hinterland (Stefan Ruzowitzky)Ida Red (John Swab)Monte Verità (Stefan Jäger)National Lampoon's Animal House (John Landis)Respect (Liesl Tommy)Rose (Aurélie Saada)Sinkhole (Kim Ji-hoon)The Alleys (Bassel Ghandour)The Terminator (James Cameron)Vortex (Gaspar Noé)Yaya e Lennie — The Walking Liberty (Alessandro Rak)Tomorrow My Love (Gitanjali Rao)Lynx (Laurent Geslin)Zeros and OnesCONCORSO INTERNAZIONALEAfter Blue (Paradis sale) (Bertrand Mandico)Al Naher (The River) (Ghassan Salhab)Espíritu sagrado (The Sacred Spirit) (Chema García Ibarra)Gerda (Natalya Kudryashova)I giganti (The Giants) (Bonifacio Angius)Jiao ma teng hui (A New Old Play) (Jiongjiong Qiu)Juju StoriesLa Place d'une autre (Secret Name) (Aurélia Georges)Leynilögga (Cop Secret...
- 7/1/2021
- MUBI
With Cannes right around the corner, two more prominent European film festivals announced their official lineups for 2021 this week. The 2021 Locarno Film Festival (the 74th edition of the event) is taking place August 4-14 and will feature the world premiere of Abel Ferrara’s “Zeroes and Ones,” plus the Melissa Leo-Frank Grillo starring thriller “Ida Red” from director John Swab. Perhaps the most prominent U.S. title in the Locarno lineup is “Respect,” the Jennifer Hudson-starring Aretha Franklin biopic that has already caught the eye of Oscar pundits here in the states. The film will screen out of competition, as will Ryan Reynolds’ long-delayed Disney-Fox tentpole “Free Guy.”
“A festival can be quite highbrow and also entertaining at the same time,” Nazzaro told Variety in a statement. “That is why for this year’s lineup we have selected several comedies and also some genre movies, as well as straightforward auteur films.
“A festival can be quite highbrow and also entertaining at the same time,” Nazzaro told Variety in a statement. “That is why for this year’s lineup we have selected several comedies and also some genre movies, as well as straightforward auteur films.
- 7/1/2021
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
Abel Ferrara’s contemporary thriller ’Zeros And Ones’ stars Ethan Hawke.
Abel Ferrara’s contemporary thriller Zeros And Ones and Srdjan Dragojević’s dark comedy Heavens Above are among 17 films from 12 countries having their world premiere in the international competition at the 74th Locarno Film Festival (August 4-14) under the new artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro.
Scroll down for full line-up
In his first collaboration with Ferrara, Zeros And Ones sees Ethan Hawke plays an American soldier stationed in Rome who pursues an unknown enemy threatening the entire world after the Vatican gets blown up.
Ahead of shooting in Italy...
Abel Ferrara’s contemporary thriller Zeros And Ones and Srdjan Dragojević’s dark comedy Heavens Above are among 17 films from 12 countries having their world premiere in the international competition at the 74th Locarno Film Festival (August 4-14) under the new artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro.
Scroll down for full line-up
In his first collaboration with Ferrara, Zeros And Ones sees Ethan Hawke plays an American soldier stationed in Rome who pursues an unknown enemy threatening the entire world after the Vatican gets blown up.
Ahead of shooting in Italy...
- 7/1/2021
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
The franchise title has topped the £1m mark from its opening day.
Universal’s Fast & Furious 9 leads the new titles at the UK-Ireland box office this weekend, having recorded the highest takings for a weekday since before the Covid-19 pandemic on its Thursday 24 opening.
The film has brought in £1.2m already, and is playing in 597 locations from today.
As of last weekend, the highest-grossing title since cinemas were allowed to reopen in the UK on May 17 was Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway with £15.3m. While an opening weekend of that amount would be an extraordinary result with 50% audience caps still in place,...
Universal’s Fast & Furious 9 leads the new titles at the UK-Ireland box office this weekend, having recorded the highest takings for a weekday since before the Covid-19 pandemic on its Thursday 24 opening.
The film has brought in £1.2m already, and is playing in 597 locations from today.
As of last weekend, the highest-grossing title since cinemas were allowed to reopen in the UK on May 17 was Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway with £15.3m. While an opening weekend of that amount would be an extraordinary result with 50% audience caps still in place,...
- 6/25/2021
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The leading sales, finance and production outfit Beta Cinema will present first footage from the upcoming Australian comedy drama “How to Please a Woman” at next week’s Pre-Cannes Screenings. Variety has been given the first still from the film, starring Sally Phillips, whose credits include the “Bridget Jones’s Diary” movies, and a recurring guest role as the Finnish Prime Minister in “Veep.” The Munich-based firm will show five completed films during the virtual event.
In “How to Please a Woman” Phillips plays a woman in middle age who feels she has become “invisible to everyone.” The film follows her as she learns how to ask for what she wants and encourages other women to do the same. She sets up a house cleaning service, staffed by good-looking male cleaners, with benefits.
Other cast include Erik Thomson, Alexander England (“Alien: Covenant”), and Caroline Brazier. The director and writer is Renée Webster.
In “How to Please a Woman” Phillips plays a woman in middle age who feels she has become “invisible to everyone.” The film follows her as she learns how to ask for what she wants and encourages other women to do the same. She sets up a house cleaning service, staffed by good-looking male cleaners, with benefits.
Other cast include Erik Thomson, Alexander England (“Alien: Covenant”), and Caroline Brazier. The director and writer is Renée Webster.
- 6/18/2021
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
In today’s Global Bulletin, BBC Four snags “The Hunt for a Killer”; Curious Films and Picture Zero team on U.K. Climate Assembly doc; Nada Arnot joins Britbox North America; Rainmaker Content boards “Amy Winter” and Global Agency sells Turkish drama “The Phoenix” in several territories.
Acquisition
BBC Four has picked up Swedish crime thriller “The Hunt for a Killer” from Banijay Rights. The series is produced by Yellow Bird and will head to BBC iPlayer later this summer. Set in the south of Sweden in the late ’80s, “The Hunt for a Killer” dramatizes the real-life disappearance and murder of a 10-year-old girl and its subsequent 16-year long investigation. Banijay has also sold the series to Sbs in Australia, Rtl in Germany and NBCUniversal in France. The series is co-produced by Banijay’s Yellow Bird and Swedish broadcaster Svt and Film I Skåne.
Documentary
Curious Films and Picture Zero in the U.
Acquisition
BBC Four has picked up Swedish crime thriller “The Hunt for a Killer” from Banijay Rights. The series is produced by Yellow Bird and will head to BBC iPlayer later this summer. Set in the south of Sweden in the late ’80s, “The Hunt for a Killer” dramatizes the real-life disappearance and murder of a 10-year-old girl and its subsequent 16-year long investigation. Banijay has also sold the series to Sbs in Australia, Rtl in Germany and NBCUniversal in France. The series is co-produced by Banijay’s Yellow Bird and Swedish broadcaster Svt and Film I Skåne.
Documentary
Curious Films and Picture Zero in the U.
- 5/12/2021
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Harry Macqueen, writer-director of the critically acclaimed film Supernova starring Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth, has signed with Anonymous Content.
Released in January 2021 by Bleecker Street Films and Studio Canal, Macqueen’s second film Supernova recently was longlisted for the 2021 BAFTAs for Outstanding British Film and Best Supporting Actor. It was selected as one of only 12 films to physically screen at the BFI London Film Festival in 2020 and debuted to tremendous critical praise when it first premiered at the San Sebastian Film Festival that same year.
Hinterland Macqueen’s debut film as a writer-director was made for £10,000 was release in 2015 to critical acclaim. The film received ‘Best British Debut’ at Raindance Film Festival and ‘Best Debut Film’ at the Beijing International Film Festival.
Macqueen, also an actor, started his career in entertainment as an actor, playing John Willard in Richard Linklater’s Me And Orson Welles and Jed Quinn in the hit show EastEnders.
Released in January 2021 by Bleecker Street Films and Studio Canal, Macqueen’s second film Supernova recently was longlisted for the 2021 BAFTAs for Outstanding British Film and Best Supporting Actor. It was selected as one of only 12 films to physically screen at the BFI London Film Festival in 2020 and debuted to tremendous critical praise when it first premiered at the San Sebastian Film Festival that same year.
Hinterland Macqueen’s debut film as a writer-director was made for £10,000 was release in 2015 to critical acclaim. The film received ‘Best British Debut’ at Raindance Film Festival and ‘Best Debut Film’ at the Beijing International Film Festival.
Macqueen, also an actor, started his career in entertainment as an actor, playing John Willard in Richard Linklater’s Me And Orson Welles and Jed Quinn in the hit show EastEnders.
- 4/26/2021
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
Year by year, the Berlin Film Festival’s drama series strand and market movers closer to center-stage. As in so many ways, Covid-19 may merely accelerate that process. The Zoo Palast Berlinale Series showcase no longer screen a time-consuming 20-minute taxi ride from the festival center, but online, its titles as accessible as festival movies.
For industry attendees movies — first arthouse and documentaries, later studio-style indie tentpoles — were the name of the game at Berlin. Now many producers who go to Berlin to talk movies are looking for a future with TV. After canvassing marketgoers, five takeaways about Berlin’s drama series lineup and Berlinale Series Market, which celebrates March 2 its Co-Pro Series pitching sessions, emerge:
The Biz So Far
In early industry news, Keshet Intl. has swooped in on sales rights to Norway’s “Suck It Up,” a drama produced by Monster Scripted for Viaplay and a reported standout...
For industry attendees movies — first arthouse and documentaries, later studio-style indie tentpoles — were the name of the game at Berlin. Now many producers who go to Berlin to talk movies are looking for a future with TV. After canvassing marketgoers, five takeaways about Berlin’s drama series lineup and Berlinale Series Market, which celebrates March 2 its Co-Pro Series pitching sessions, emerge:
The Biz So Far
In early industry news, Keshet Intl. has swooped in on sales rights to Norway’s “Suck It Up,” a drama produced by Monster Scripted for Viaplay and a reported standout...
- 3/2/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Producer Gian-Piero Ringel, Oscar nominated for Wim Wenders’ “Pina,” and writer-director Sven Bohse, who directed true crime miniseries “Dark Woods,” a ratings hit last year in Germany, will be presenting their political thriller “Hinterland” this week as part of the European Film Market’s Co-Pro Series program. They spoke to Variety about the eight-part series, which has been acquired for international sales by Global Screen.
In “Hinterland,” former Neo-Nazi Andreas has started a new life in Berlin with his girlfriend and their daughter. He is “a man with a good heart who needs to feel needed in order to stay strong. When he feels weak, his dark side emerges,” says Bohse, whose directing credits also include Annette Hess’ 1950s-set miniseries “Ku’damm 56” and “Ku’damm 59.”
After an assault on a liberal politician takes place, the German intelligence service recruits Andreas, and sends him to infiltrate the far-right scene, and identify Nero,...
In “Hinterland,” former Neo-Nazi Andreas has started a new life in Berlin with his girlfriend and their daughter. He is “a man with a good heart who needs to feel needed in order to stay strong. When he feels weak, his dark side emerges,” says Bohse, whose directing credits also include Annette Hess’ 1950s-set miniseries “Ku’damm 56” and “Ku’damm 59.”
After an assault on a liberal politician takes place, the German intelligence service recruits Andreas, and sends him to infiltrate the far-right scene, and identify Nero,...
- 3/1/2021
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Nevision, the British producer behind shows including BBC drama Keeping Faith, has signed an exclusive development deal with writer Jeff Murphy to create high-end scripted projects for the global market.
Murphy has written on Welsh series including Hinterland and Hidden, while his feature Denmark, starring Rafe Spall, was released in 2019. He will create his own ideas for Nevision, as well as helping develop the firm’s slate of feature films and series.
Nevision detailed a number of projects already in the pipeline: The Furies, a supernatural police procedural with elements of horror, which is in the works with Hidden creator and showrunner Mark Andrew. Moifaa, a family movie about New Zealand’s first sporting hero, is also on the way. Both are being developed in association with Kiwi producer Pukeko Pictures.
Also in development with Murphy is Saul (working title), a profound and emotional series that throws together a...
Murphy has written on Welsh series including Hinterland and Hidden, while his feature Denmark, starring Rafe Spall, was released in 2019. He will create his own ideas for Nevision, as well as helping develop the firm’s slate of feature films and series.
Nevision detailed a number of projects already in the pipeline: The Furies, a supernatural police procedural with elements of horror, which is in the works with Hidden creator and showrunner Mark Andrew. Moifaa, a family movie about New Zealand’s first sporting hero, is also on the way. Both are being developed in association with Kiwi producer Pukeko Pictures.
Also in development with Murphy is Saul (working title), a profound and emotional series that throws together a...
- 2/24/2021
- by Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
‘Next Door’ is directed by Daniel Brühl and Dan Stevens stars in ‘In Your Man’.
World sales agent Beta Cinema has swooped on international rights to Daniel Brühl’s directorial debut Next Door and Maria Schrader’s I’m Your Man, which will both premiere in Competition at the Berlin International Film Festival (March 1-5).
The Munich-based outfit will introduce the features to buyers at the European Film Market (EFM), which will run alongside this year’s industry-focused, online-only event.
Next Door marks the directing debut of Brühl, who also stars in the black comedy alongside Peter Kurth and Phantom Thread’s Vicky Krieps.
World sales agent Beta Cinema has swooped on international rights to Daniel Brühl’s directorial debut Next Door and Maria Schrader’s I’m Your Man, which will both premiere in Competition at the Berlin International Film Festival (March 1-5).
The Munich-based outfit will introduce the features to buyers at the European Film Market (EFM), which will run alongside this year’s industry-focused, online-only event.
Next Door marks the directing debut of Brühl, who also stars in the black comedy alongside Peter Kurth and Phantom Thread’s Vicky Krieps.
- 2/15/2021
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
In “Supernova,” Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth play Tusker and Sam, an intellectual couple who are facing down the deteriorating oblivion of memory loss: Tusker, a novelist, has hit his 60s, and is suffering early-onset dementia, while Sam, a concert pianist, can’t do anything but watch his partner fade away. It was the actors’ 20-year-long friendship, coupled with the erudite direction of filmmaker Harry Macqueen, that made grappling with such difficult subject matter easy.
“We love each other. We’ve been friends for 20 years. We’ve experienced each other’s pain, and we’ve watched our kids grow up together,” Tucci said. “There’s a lot of water under that bridge, and that bridge has only become stronger still. It’s the kind of working experience that could make or break a friendship. But in our case, it strengthens it.”
The actors met on the set of Frank Pierson...
“We love each other. We’ve been friends for 20 years. We’ve experienced each other’s pain, and we’ve watched our kids grow up together,” Tucci said. “There’s a lot of water under that bridge, and that bridge has only become stronger still. It’s the kind of working experience that could make or break a friendship. But in our case, it strengthens it.”
The actors met on the set of Frank Pierson...
- 2/4/2021
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Stanley Tucci has been a professional actor for nearly 40 years. He’s earned three Emmy Awards, been nominated for an Oscar and a Tony, held his own with Meryl Streep twice and stolen scenes in everything from tiny indies to giant blockbusters. And then, in his words, “I made a cocktail on the internet.”
It wasn’t meant to go viral; it wasn’t even intended for public consumption. It was about a month into lockdown, and Tucci’s wife, Felicity Blunt (sister of Tucci’s “The Devil Wears Prada” co-star Emily Blunt) suggested he make a video for her to share with her co-workers at the U.K. agency Curtis Brown. “It was just meant to be something in-house, to sort of cheer some people up,” Tucci says. So the actor called on the skills he developed bartending before he achieved fame and fortune, and mixed up the perfect Negroni.
It wasn’t meant to go viral; it wasn’t even intended for public consumption. It was about a month into lockdown, and Tucci’s wife, Felicity Blunt (sister of Tucci’s “The Devil Wears Prada” co-star Emily Blunt) suggested he make a video for her to share with her co-workers at the U.K. agency Curtis Brown. “It was just meant to be something in-house, to sort of cheer some people up,” Tucci says. So the actor called on the skills he developed bartending before he achieved fame and fortune, and mixed up the perfect Negroni.
- 1/28/2021
- by Jenelle Riley
- Variety Film + TV
“This is Music,” an anthology TV series to be directed by Wim Wenders, David Byrne, and Norwegian talents Joachim Trier and Julie Andem, is among projects set to be pitched at the upcoming Berlinale Series Market. These Co-Pro Series pitching sessions and meetings run March 2-5.
This TV section of the Berlin Film Festival’s market has been a launchpad for high-profile shows such as “Babylon Berlin,” Norway’s “Valkyries” and Netflix’s “Freud.”
“This is Music” is being produced by Norway’s Oslo Pictures and was created and written by Bjørn Olaf Johannessen who penned the Wenders’ film “Every Thing Will be Fine.” Julie Andem is the creator of hit Norwegian series “Skam.” Trier directed “Louder Than Bombs.” Further details are being kept under wraps.
The 10 selected Berlinale Co-Pro Series projects also comprise promising British series project “58 Seconds” from Jeremy Brock who won screenplay adaptation BAFTA for “The Last King of Scotland...
This TV section of the Berlin Film Festival’s market has been a launchpad for high-profile shows such as “Babylon Berlin,” Norway’s “Valkyries” and Netflix’s “Freud.”
“This is Music” is being produced by Norway’s Oslo Pictures and was created and written by Bjørn Olaf Johannessen who penned the Wenders’ film “Every Thing Will be Fine.” Julie Andem is the creator of hit Norwegian series “Skam.” Trier directed “Louder Than Bombs.” Further details are being kept under wraps.
The 10 selected Berlinale Co-Pro Series projects also comprise promising British series project “58 Seconds” from Jeremy Brock who won screenplay adaptation BAFTA for “The Last King of Scotland...
- 1/26/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Pity this year’s Oscar voters. The Academy screening portal is already overwhelmed by hundreds of indie wannabes, international submissions, and documentaries. And just when film festivals, critics groups, and online screenings started to solidify frontrunners like “One Night in Miami,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” and “Nomadland,” this crazy year brings a second wave of brand-new movies.
More titles will screen in the weeks before the February 28 Oscar eligibility deadline. Some were caught in the uncertainty of releasing during a pandemic, as distributors kept pushing back for a proper theatrical release that never came. Others were pressing toward completion.
Since fresh entries often surge to the front of voters’ minds, last-second bids can be successful (see: Clint Eastwood with Oscar-winners like “American Sniper” and “Million Dollar Baby”). This year, these titles could see another advantage: When people can’t gather, there’s no word of mouth and that makes 2021 the least-predictable award season.
More titles will screen in the weeks before the February 28 Oscar eligibility deadline. Some were caught in the uncertainty of releasing during a pandemic, as distributors kept pushing back for a proper theatrical release that never came. Others were pressing toward completion.
Since fresh entries often surge to the front of voters’ minds, last-second bids can be successful (see: Clint Eastwood with Oscar-winners like “American Sniper” and “Million Dollar Baby”). This year, these titles could see another advantage: When people can’t gather, there’s no word of mouth and that makes 2021 the least-predictable award season.
- 1/11/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Pity this year’s Oscar voters. The Academy screening portal is already overwhelmed by hundreds of indie wannabes, international submissions, and documentaries. And just when film festivals, critics groups, and online screenings started to solidify frontrunners like “One Night in Miami,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” and “Nomadland,” this crazy year brings a second wave of brand-new movies.
More titles will screen in the weeks before the February 28 Oscar eligibility deadline. Some were caught in the uncertainty of releasing during a pandemic, as distributors kept pushing back for a proper theatrical release that never came. Others were pressing toward completion.
Since fresh entries often surge to the front of voters’ minds, last-second bids can be successful (see: Clint Eastwood with Oscar-winners like “American Sniper” and “Million Dollar Baby”). This year, these titles could see another advantage: When people can’t gather, there’s no word of mouth and that makes 2021 the least-predictable award season.
More titles will screen in the weeks before the February 28 Oscar eligibility deadline. Some were caught in the uncertainty of releasing during a pandemic, as distributors kept pushing back for a proper theatrical release that never came. Others were pressing toward completion.
Since fresh entries often surge to the front of voters’ minds, last-second bids can be successful (see: Clint Eastwood with Oscar-winners like “American Sniper” and “Million Dollar Baby”). This year, these titles could see another advantage: When people can’t gather, there’s no word of mouth and that makes 2021 the least-predictable award season.
- 1/11/2021
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
This giveaway is sponsored by
Tales From the Hinterland, the latest from The Hazel Wood author Melissa Albert, isn’t just a stunning collection of dark fairy tale stories; the book itself is art. The 12 stories inside are accompanied by full-page illustrations from Jim Tierney, foil stamping, two-color interior printing, and printed endpapers. In a time when it is so damn easy to buy or borrow the ebook, Tales From the Hinterland is a book you want on your bookshelf or coffee table, adding a little bit more beauty to your everyday routine. Lucky for you, we just happen to be giving away five copies…
Like Tales of Beetle the Bard or The Silmarillion before it, Tales From the Hinterland is a series of stories set inside an already-existing fictional universe: the world of The Hazel Wood, Albert’s bestselling young adult fantasy book about a girl on the search for her missing mother,...
Tales From the Hinterland, the latest from The Hazel Wood author Melissa Albert, isn’t just a stunning collection of dark fairy tale stories; the book itself is art. The 12 stories inside are accompanied by full-page illustrations from Jim Tierney, foil stamping, two-color interior printing, and printed endpapers. In a time when it is so damn easy to buy or borrow the ebook, Tales From the Hinterland is a book you want on your bookshelf or coffee table, adding a little bit more beauty to your everyday routine. Lucky for you, we just happen to be giving away five copies…
Like Tales of Beetle the Bard or The Silmarillion before it, Tales From the Hinterland is a series of stories set inside an already-existing fictional universe: the world of The Hazel Wood, Albert’s bestselling young adult fantasy book about a girl on the search for her missing mother,...
- 1/5/2021
- by Kayti Burt
- Den of Geek
Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci have both long been friends of the LGBTQ community, as evidenced by their choices in acting roles over their wide-ranging careers. Firth came by his ally-ship very early on, starring opposite Rupert Everett in early queer classic “Another Country” in 1984, when it was still considered risky for actors to take on gay roles. He would later star in Tom Ford’s debut film “A Single Man,” for which he nabbed his first Oscar nomination. Tucci is very well known for his queer role as Nigel, indefatigable right hand man to Meryl Streep’s character in “The Devil Wears Prada.” Now, both actors will play gay yet again in “Supernova,” a tearjerker relationship drama centered around one man’s early onset dementia.
Here’s the official synopsis: “It is deep Autumn and Sam and Tusker, partners of 20 years, are on holiday. They are traveling across England...
Here’s the official synopsis: “It is deep Autumn and Sam and Tusker, partners of 20 years, are on holiday. They are traveling across England...
- 1/5/2021
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
“The Bike Thief,” “Hello Again – a Wedding a Day” and “Karnawal” are among the hottest titles on Beta Cinema’s sales slate for the virtual version of the American Film Market, which starts Monday.
The Munich-based sales company will give Matt Chambers’ “The Bike Thief” its market premiere at AFM, following its world premiere this week in competition at the Tokyo Film Festival. Beta recently showed the film to select British buyers in a private screening in London and is now negotiating the U.K./Ireland deal.
The movie, starring Alec Secareanu (“God’s Own Country”) and Anamaria Marinca, explores the question of how far a father would go in present-day London to support his family when his only means to provide, his bike, is stolen.
“Hello Again – a Wedding a Day,” another completed title, is attracting strong interest too, Beta Cinema tells Variety. Hot on the heels of its appearance at Rome’s Mia market,...
The Munich-based sales company will give Matt Chambers’ “The Bike Thief” its market premiere at AFM, following its world premiere this week in competition at the Tokyo Film Festival. Beta recently showed the film to select British buyers in a private screening in London and is now negotiating the U.K./Ireland deal.
The movie, starring Alec Secareanu (“God’s Own Country”) and Anamaria Marinca, explores the question of how far a father would go in present-day London to support his family when his only means to provide, his bike, is stolen.
“Hello Again – a Wedding a Day,” another completed title, is attracting strong interest too, Beta Cinema tells Variety. Hot on the heels of its appearance at Rome’s Mia market,...
- 11/6/2020
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Bleecker Street has acquired the North American rights to “Supernova,” the romantic drama starring Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth as a married couple coping with one partner’s dementia.
Harry Macqueen’s directs the film that made its premiere at the San Sebastian Film Festival and will be released in the U.K. by Studiocanal. Bleecker has yet to set domestic release date plans for “Supernova.”
The film stars Firth and Tucci as partners of 20 years traveling across England to visit friends and family from their past on what will be their last trip after Tucci’s character has received a life-changing diagnosis of young-onset dementia. Secrets are uncovered, private plans unravel, and their love for each other is tested like never before. Ultimately, they must confront the question of what it means to love one another in the face of an irreparable illness.
“Supernova” was produced by Emily Morgan...
Harry Macqueen’s directs the film that made its premiere at the San Sebastian Film Festival and will be released in the U.K. by Studiocanal. Bleecker has yet to set domestic release date plans for “Supernova.”
The film stars Firth and Tucci as partners of 20 years traveling across England to visit friends and family from their past on what will be their last trip after Tucci’s character has received a life-changing diagnosis of young-onset dementia. Secrets are uncovered, private plans unravel, and their love for each other is tested like never before. Ultimately, they must confront the question of what it means to love one another in the face of an irreparable illness.
“Supernova” was produced by Emily Morgan...
- 10/9/2020
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Dementia is a syndrome that brings with it a unique grief: the only kind that can be shared, for a time at least, between the mourned and their mourners, until the latter are left to it themselves, awaiting a second, more sudden, farewell. Its liminal nature — blurring conceptions of life and death, self and other — is what makes it so endlessly fascinating to filmmakers and actors alike, calling on a rich range of transitory emotions, though things can easily tip into glib, sudsy melodrama if written and played with too heavy a hand. British writer-director Harry Macqueen pitches it just right in his delicately heart-crushing sophomore feature “Supernova,” thanks in no small part to the ideally matched star duo of Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci: As a longtime couple figuring out how to live — or not — under dementia’s ever-encroaching shadow, their joint thespian grace and reserve take on an undertow of raging,...
- 9/22/2020
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
In the first trailer for “Supernova,” Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth play a married couple of 20 years who are taking what might be their last vacation together before Tucci’s mind slowly begins to drift away due to young-onset dementia.
That story sets the basis for the romance and drama in “Supernova,” which is written and directed by Harry Macqueen (“Hinterland”) and comes from the producers of “45 Years” and “I Am Not a Witch.”
“I want to be remembered for who I was, and not for who I’m about to become,” Tucci’s character says in the trailer. “I want to see this through with you to the end,” Firth’s character adds.
“Supernova” shows how on this vacation as they put jobs and plans on hold and try to preserve the time they have left, their individual ideas for their future begin to collide. Secrets are uncovered,...
That story sets the basis for the romance and drama in “Supernova,” which is written and directed by Harry Macqueen (“Hinterland”) and comes from the producers of “45 Years” and “I Am Not a Witch.”
“I want to be remembered for who I was, and not for who I’m about to become,” Tucci’s character says in the trailer. “I want to see this through with you to the end,” Firth’s character adds.
“Supernova” shows how on this vacation as they put jobs and plans on hold and try to preserve the time they have left, their individual ideas for their future begin to collide. Secrets are uncovered,...
- 9/22/2020
- by Brian Welk
- The Wrap
Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci star as a couple traveling through England in an old Rv visiting friends and places from their past in “Supernova.” Check out the trailer for the film above, shared exclusively with Variety.
Written and directed by Harry Macqueen (“Hinterland”), “Supernova” is billed as a modern love story centered on Sam (Firth) and Tusker (Tucci), partners of 20 years who are traveling the country in a bid to reconnect with their past amid Tusker’s early-onset dementia diagnosis. As the trip progresses, their relationship is tested like never before. Ultimately, they must confront the question of what it means to love one another in the face of Tusker’s irreparable illness.
Firth won an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for his portrayal of King George VI in “The King’s Speech.” His performance in “A Single Man” also won him a BAFTA and an Oscar nomination.
Written and directed by Harry Macqueen (“Hinterland”), “Supernova” is billed as a modern love story centered on Sam (Firth) and Tusker (Tucci), partners of 20 years who are traveling the country in a bid to reconnect with their past amid Tusker’s early-onset dementia diagnosis. As the trip progresses, their relationship is tested like never before. Ultimately, they must confront the question of what it means to love one another in the face of Tusker’s irreparable illness.
Firth won an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for his portrayal of King George VI in “The King’s Speech.” His performance in “A Single Man” also won him a BAFTA and an Oscar nomination.
- 9/22/2020
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
The veteran pair are on magnificent form in a drama about love and mortality that is all the more powerful for its restraint
Lovely, heartfelt performances from Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth carry this intimate movie from actor-turned-film-maker Harry Macqueen, whose 2014 debut, Hinterland, was also a two-hander about love. Tucci and Firth play Tusker and Sam, a couple who have been together for decades: Tusker is a respected novelist and Sam a musician. The careers of both have been put on hold because Tusker has been diagnosed with early-onset dementia.
The couple have decided to take their camper van for a trip north, to drop in on Sam’s sister and her family, to have some alone time together and, perhaps, to come to terms with the fact that this holiday may be their last together while Tusker is still well. He is still working on a new book but is increasingly preoccupied with astronomy,...
Lovely, heartfelt performances from Stanley Tucci and Colin Firth carry this intimate movie from actor-turned-film-maker Harry Macqueen, whose 2014 debut, Hinterland, was also a two-hander about love. Tucci and Firth play Tusker and Sam, a couple who have been together for decades: Tusker is a respected novelist and Sam a musician. The careers of both have been put on hold because Tusker has been diagnosed with early-onset dementia.
The couple have decided to take their camper van for a trip north, to drop in on Sam’s sister and her family, to have some alone time together and, perhaps, to come to terms with the fact that this holiday may be their last together while Tusker is still well. He is still working on a new book but is increasingly preoccupied with astronomy,...
- 9/22/2020
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
(L-r) ‘The Pact’ leads Abbie Hern, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Laura Fraser, Eiry Thomas and Heledd Gwynn.
As Wentworth was coming to an end on Foxtel, its originating screenwriter Pete McTighe was keen to create another female-led ensemble series, but one with a point of difference.
Having lived in Wales for three years, crafting episodes of the BBC’s Doctor Who and the Sky/AMC/BBCAmerica supernatural drama A Discovery of Witches, he came up with the idea of a contemporary crime thriller set in Wales.
He wrote the first episode of The Pact, Cardiff-based Little Door Productions pitched it to BBC Wales and it was quickly commissioned.
Now shooting, the six-part drama directed by Eric Styles (Hidden) and Rebecca Johnson (The Flash) and produced by Catrin Lewis Defis follows five friends who get mixed up in a sudden death and a web of lies.
The leads are played by Laura Fraser (Breaking Bad), Julie Hesmondhalgh,...
As Wentworth was coming to an end on Foxtel, its originating screenwriter Pete McTighe was keen to create another female-led ensemble series, but one with a point of difference.
Having lived in Wales for three years, crafting episodes of the BBC’s Doctor Who and the Sky/AMC/BBCAmerica supernatural drama A Discovery of Witches, he came up with the idea of a contemporary crime thriller set in Wales.
He wrote the first episode of The Pact, Cardiff-based Little Door Productions pitched it to BBC Wales and it was quickly commissioned.
Now shooting, the six-part drama directed by Eric Styles (Hidden) and Rebecca Johnson (The Flash) and produced by Catrin Lewis Defis follows five friends who get mixed up in a sudden death and a web of lies.
The leads are played by Laura Fraser (Breaking Bad), Julie Hesmondhalgh,...
- 9/20/2020
- by The IF Team
- IF.com.au
BritBox Acquires ‘Cold Courage’
BritBox UK has acquired Viaplay and Lionsgate’s John Simm-fronted political drama Cold Courage. The BBC and ITV-owned streamer will premiere the eight-part series on September 3, telling the story of how two Finnish women get drawn into a clandestine group dedicated to righting the wrongs of the powerful, influential and corrupt. Based on the award-winning and best-selling books by Pekka Hiltunen, Cold Courage was written by BAFTA-nominated David Joss Buckley (Hinterland) and Brendan Foley (The Riddle). The series is produced by Markku Flink and Pauli Pentti, and directed by Agenta Fagerstrom-Olsson and Kadir Ferati Balci. Fredrik Ljungberg, Jon Petersson, Kjartan Por Pordarson, Cormac Fox, Tom Hameeuw, Peter De Maegd and Marc B. Lorber are executive Pproducers.
Banijay Recruits Owain Walbyoff As Commercial Chief
Banijay has hired former Endemol Shine Group executive Owain Walbyoff to the newly-created role of chief commercial officer. Walbyoff will be...
BritBox UK has acquired Viaplay and Lionsgate’s John Simm-fronted political drama Cold Courage. The BBC and ITV-owned streamer will premiere the eight-part series on September 3, telling the story of how two Finnish women get drawn into a clandestine group dedicated to righting the wrongs of the powerful, influential and corrupt. Based on the award-winning and best-selling books by Pekka Hiltunen, Cold Courage was written by BAFTA-nominated David Joss Buckley (Hinterland) and Brendan Foley (The Riddle). The series is produced by Markku Flink and Pauli Pentti, and directed by Agenta Fagerstrom-Olsson and Kadir Ferati Balci. Fredrik Ljungberg, Jon Petersson, Kjartan Por Pordarson, Cormac Fox, Tom Hameeuw, Peter De Maegd and Marc B. Lorber are executive Pproducers.
Banijay Recruits Owain Walbyoff As Commercial Chief
Banijay has hired former Endemol Shine Group executive Owain Walbyoff to the newly-created role of chief commercial officer. Walbyoff will be...
- 8/25/2020
- by Jake Kanter and Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Matt Dillon’s “El Gran Fellove,” Julien Temple’s “Crock of Gold” and Harry Macqueen’s “Supernova” have been added to San Sebastian’s Official Selection, along with two other main competition players, from French-Lebanese director Danielle Arbid and Argentina’s Eduardo Crespo.
The five new features will all bow at San Sebastian as world premieres, the festival announced Thursday. Arbid’s “Passion simple” was confirmed in June as a Cannes Official Selection title.
U.S. actor Dillon’s second outing as a director after “City of Ghosts,” “El Gran Fellove” is a Dillon passion project, announced back in 2015. The doc feature centers on Cuban musician Francisco Fellove, a leading light of the jazz/Cuban bolero ‘Filin’ movement which expanded from Cuba to Mexico in the 1950s. It will play at San Sebastian as a special screening.
Produced by Johnny Depp and screening in main competition, Temple’s “Crock of...
The five new features will all bow at San Sebastian as world premieres, the festival announced Thursday. Arbid’s “Passion simple” was confirmed in June as a Cannes Official Selection title.
U.S. actor Dillon’s second outing as a director after “City of Ghosts,” “El Gran Fellove” is a Dillon passion project, announced back in 2015. The doc feature centers on Cuban musician Francisco Fellove, a leading light of the jazz/Cuban bolero ‘Filin’ movement which expanded from Cuba to Mexico in the 1950s. It will play at San Sebastian as a special screening.
Produced by Johnny Depp and screening in main competition, Temple’s “Crock of...
- 8/6/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Matt Dillon’s ‘El Gran Fellove’ has also been selected to play out of competition.
San Sebastian International Film Festival has added four new titles that will compete for the Golden Shell award at its 68th edition, set to run September 18-26.
They include Harry Macqueen’s Supernova, Eduardo Crespo’s We Will Never Die, Danielle Arbid’s Simple Passion and Julien Temple’s Crock Of Gold: A Few Rounds With Shane McGowan.
The festival has also added documentary El Gran Fellove as a special screening out of competition, which marks the second feature directed by actor Matt Dillon.
All...
San Sebastian International Film Festival has added four new titles that will compete for the Golden Shell award at its 68th edition, set to run September 18-26.
They include Harry Macqueen’s Supernova, Eduardo Crespo’s We Will Never Die, Danielle Arbid’s Simple Passion and Julien Temple’s Crock Of Gold: A Few Rounds With Shane McGowan.
The festival has also added documentary El Gran Fellove as a special screening out of competition, which marks the second feature directed by actor Matt Dillon.
All...
- 8/6/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
The San Sebastian Festival has added several new titles to its competition lineup, including new features from British helmers Harry Macqueen and Julien Temple.
Supernova, Macqueen's follow-up to his celebrated debut Hinterland, stars Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci as Sam and Tusker, a gay couple, together for 20 years, traveling across the English countryside on holiday. Tusker has been diagnosed with young-onset dementia, and they know they have very little time left together.
"It is a huge honor to be premiering the film at San Sebastian this year," Macqueen said in a statement. "Supernova is a film about how ...
Supernova, Macqueen's follow-up to his celebrated debut Hinterland, stars Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci as Sam and Tusker, a gay couple, together for 20 years, traveling across the English countryside on holiday. Tusker has been diagnosed with young-onset dementia, and they know they have very little time left together.
"It is a huge honor to be premiering the film at San Sebastian this year," Macqueen said in a statement. "Supernova is a film about how ...
The San Sebastian Festival has added several new titles to its competition lineup, including new features from British helmers Harry Macqueen and Julien Temple.
Supernova, Macqueen's follow-up to his celebrated debut Hinterland, stars Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci as Sam and Tusker, a gay couple, together for 20 years, traveling across the English countryside on holiday. Tusker has been diagnosed with young-onset dementia, and they know they have very little time left together.
"It is a huge honor to be premiering the film at San Sebastian this year," Macqueen said in a statement. "Supernova is a film about how ...
Supernova, Macqueen's follow-up to his celebrated debut Hinterland, stars Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci as Sam and Tusker, a gay couple, together for 20 years, traveling across the English countryside on holiday. Tusker has been diagnosed with young-onset dementia, and they know they have very little time left together.
"It is a huge honor to be premiering the film at San Sebastian this year," Macqueen said in a statement. "Supernova is a film about how ...
German cinema looks set for an exciting year with forthcoming works that include a high-profile Cannes selection celebrating one of Germany’s most iconic filmmakers, an expressionistic thriller set in 1920s Vienna, a tale of Nazi seduction and a new Thomas Mann adaptation.
The Covid-19 pandemic dashed the excitement of a splashy Cannes premiere for Oskar Roehler’s “Enfant Terrible,” part of the festival’s Official Selection, but the film is nevertheless certain to generate buzz with its portrayal of legendary filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and his turbulent film career that spanned 1969 to 1982.
In making the film, Roehler found inspiration in Fassbinder’s own work.
“We didn’t want to do your standard biopic,” says producer Markus Zimmer, managing director of Bavaria Filmproduktion. “I think we did come very close to what Fassbinder would have made out of his own life. We tried to be in line with the artistic...
The Covid-19 pandemic dashed the excitement of a splashy Cannes premiere for Oskar Roehler’s “Enfant Terrible,” part of the festival’s Official Selection, but the film is nevertheless certain to generate buzz with its portrayal of legendary filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and his turbulent film career that spanned 1969 to 1982.
In making the film, Roehler found inspiration in Fassbinder’s own work.
“We didn’t want to do your standard biopic,” says producer Markus Zimmer, managing director of Bavaria Filmproduktion. “I think we did come very close to what Fassbinder would have made out of his own life. We tried to be in line with the artistic...
- 6/24/2020
- by Shalini Dore
- Variety Film + TV
Sales agent Beta Cinema is launching its Cannes Market slate, which is headlined by psychological thriller “Corvidae,” with a playful and novel approach. The company has produced an entertainment show, in the style of a late-night chatshow, featuring its sales team pitching its films and presenting exclusive clips from them. Variety has been given an exclusive sneak peek at the show before it goes live on Friday.
Beta Cinema CEO Dirk Schürhoff is the charismatic host of chatshow “The Beta Cinema Show,” filmed at the company’s offices in Oberhaching, near Munich, while Thorsten Ritter, exec VP acquisitions, sales and marketing, leads the house band on electric guitar. Its sales executives beam in their reports from around the world, while the kangaroo from the hit film “The Kangaroo Chronicles” assists. The tone is fun and tongue-in-cheek, but it’s a serious attempt to add a bit of showbiz pizzazz to the virtual market format.
Beta Cinema CEO Dirk Schürhoff is the charismatic host of chatshow “The Beta Cinema Show,” filmed at the company’s offices in Oberhaching, near Munich, while Thorsten Ritter, exec VP acquisitions, sales and marketing, leads the house band on electric guitar. Its sales executives beam in their reports from around the world, while the kangaroo from the hit film “The Kangaroo Chronicles” assists. The tone is fun and tongue-in-cheek, but it’s a serious attempt to add a bit of showbiz pizzazz to the virtual market format.
- 6/17/2020
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
French distributor Arp has acquired “Supernova,” a romantic drama starring Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci as a longtime couple on a road trip. The film, represented by The Bureau Sales, has now inked distribution deals in almost all territories worldwide.
The deal was signed by Bureau Sales’ Clémentine Hugot and Arp’s Michele Halberstadt.
Other European sales previously sealed include Studiocanal (U.K.), Weltkino (Germany), Filmladen (Austria), Lucky Red (Italy), Wanda (Spain), Scanbox (Scandinavia), Cineart (Benelux), Ascot Elite (Switzerland), Filmtrade & Tanweer (Greece), Lusomundo (Portugal), World Films (Russia and Cis), Bohemia (Czech Republic), Beta Cinema (Bulgaria), Cirko Film (Hungary), M2 films (Poland), Heafilms (Baltics), Discovery (Ex Yugoslavia), Iceland (Myndform), Slovakia (Continental) and Slovenia (Fivia).
Other sales include Bir Film (Turkey), Lev Film (Israel), Forefront (MiddleEast), Madman (Australia), CDC (All Latin America), Culture Entertainment (Japan), Challan (Korea), A Really Good Film Company (Hong Kong), Catchplay (Taiwan), Sahamogkolfilm, Alliance Media & Entertainment (India...
The deal was signed by Bureau Sales’ Clémentine Hugot and Arp’s Michele Halberstadt.
Other European sales previously sealed include Studiocanal (U.K.), Weltkino (Germany), Filmladen (Austria), Lucky Red (Italy), Wanda (Spain), Scanbox (Scandinavia), Cineart (Benelux), Ascot Elite (Switzerland), Filmtrade & Tanweer (Greece), Lusomundo (Portugal), World Films (Russia and Cis), Bohemia (Czech Republic), Beta Cinema (Bulgaria), Cirko Film (Hungary), M2 films (Poland), Heafilms (Baltics), Discovery (Ex Yugoslavia), Iceland (Myndform), Slovakia (Continental) and Slovenia (Fivia).
Other sales include Bir Film (Turkey), Lev Film (Israel), Forefront (MiddleEast), Madman (Australia), CDC (All Latin America), Culture Entertainment (Japan), Challan (Korea), A Really Good Film Company (Hong Kong), Catchplay (Taiwan), Sahamogkolfilm, Alliance Media & Entertainment (India...
- 6/16/2020
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
“Supernova,” a romantic drama starring Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci as a longtime couple on a road trip, has inked a raft of further distribution deals, closed by the Bureau Sales.
Latest buyers for the film, directed by Harry Macqueen, include Madman in Australia, Cdc for Latin America, Lev in Israel, A Really Good Film Company in Hong Kong and Bir in Turkey.
As reported exclusively by Variety, the film was previously sold to the U.K. (Studiocanal), Germany and Austria (Weltkino), Japan (Culture Entertainment), Benelux (Cineart), Taiwan (Catchplay), Penny Black (Airlines) and Scandinavia (Scanbox).
“Supernova” centers on Sam (Firth) and Tusker (Tucci), partners of 20 years, who are traveling across England in their old Rv visiting friends, family and places from their past. Since Tusker was diagnosed with early-onset dementia two years ago, their time together is the most important thing they have.
As the trip progresses, however, their ideas for the future clash,...
Latest buyers for the film, directed by Harry Macqueen, include Madman in Australia, Cdc for Latin America, Lev in Israel, A Really Good Film Company in Hong Kong and Bir in Turkey.
As reported exclusively by Variety, the film was previously sold to the U.K. (Studiocanal), Germany and Austria (Weltkino), Japan (Culture Entertainment), Benelux (Cineart), Taiwan (Catchplay), Penny Black (Airlines) and Scandinavia (Scanbox).
“Supernova” centers on Sam (Firth) and Tusker (Tucci), partners of 20 years, who are traveling across England in their old Rv visiting friends, family and places from their past. Since Tusker was diagnosed with early-onset dementia two years ago, their time together is the most important thing they have.
As the trip progresses, however, their ideas for the future clash,...
- 2/21/2020
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Supernova
Actor cum director Harry Macqueen scores a heavyweight cast and crew for his sophomore film Supernova, produced by Emily Morgan and Tristan Goligher. Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci headline the cast with Oscar nominated Dp Dick Pope serving as cinematographer. Macqueen, whose onscreen debut was as a supporting player in Richard Linklater’s Me and Orson Welles (2008) first directed the 2014 drama Hinterland.
Gist: In a conceit familiar to The Leisure Seeker (2017), long-term couple Tusker (Tucci) and Sam (Firth) take a Rv road trip across England to visit friends and family in the second year of Tusker’s dementia diagnosis.…...
Actor cum director Harry Macqueen scores a heavyweight cast and crew for his sophomore film Supernova, produced by Emily Morgan and Tristan Goligher. Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci headline the cast with Oscar nominated Dp Dick Pope serving as cinematographer. Macqueen, whose onscreen debut was as a supporting player in Richard Linklater’s Me and Orson Welles (2008) first directed the 2014 drama Hinterland.
Gist: In a conceit familiar to The Leisure Seeker (2017), long-term couple Tusker (Tucci) and Sam (Firth) take a Rv road trip across England to visit friends and family in the second year of Tusker’s dementia diagnosis.…...
- 12/30/2019
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
The Bureau Sales has already confirmed deals for Harry Macqueen’s romantic road movie starring Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci. Shooting has wrapped on actor-turned-director Harry Macqueen’s romantic tale Supernova, starring Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci, who play a couple on a road trip across England. It is Macqueen’s second feature as a director, following his tender 2014 debut, Hinterland. The story follows the continuing, long-term relationship between Tusker (Tucci) and Sam (Firth). Tusker has been living with dementia for two years, so he decides that they will travel in their Rv visiting friends, family and places from the past in rural England. Following the revelation of past secrets, the couple realises that their ideas for the future are different and incompatible. Their love is put to the test like never before. Director Macqueen describes the film, which questions whether their love can overcome this bumpy road, as “a deeply romantic,...
- 11/14/2019
- Cineuropa - The Best of European Cinema
“Supernova,” a romance starring Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci as a longtime couple on a road trip, has inked a raft of early distribution deals after having just wrapped a six-week shoot in England’s scenic Lake District.
The Bureau Sales has sold Harry Macqueen’s new feature to territories including the U.K. (Studiocanal), Germany and Austria (Weltkino), Japan (Culture Entertainment), Benelux (Cineart), Taiwan (Catchplay), Penny Black (Airlines) and Scandinavia (Scanbox). The Bureau Sales will shop the film further at Afm next month.
The movie marks actor Macqueen’s second feature as a director following his highly regarded debut, “Hinterland,” in 2014. “Supernova” centers on Sam (Firth) and Tusker (Tucci), partners of 20 years, who are traveling across England in their old Rv visiting friends, family and places from their past. Since Tusker was diagnosed with early-onset dementia two years ago, their time together is the most important thing they have.
The Bureau Sales has sold Harry Macqueen’s new feature to territories including the U.K. (Studiocanal), Germany and Austria (Weltkino), Japan (Culture Entertainment), Benelux (Cineart), Taiwan (Catchplay), Penny Black (Airlines) and Scandinavia (Scanbox). The Bureau Sales will shop the film further at Afm next month.
The movie marks actor Macqueen’s second feature as a director following his highly regarded debut, “Hinterland,” in 2014. “Supernova” centers on Sam (Firth) and Tusker (Tucci), partners of 20 years, who are traveling across England in their old Rv visiting friends, family and places from their past. Since Tusker was diagnosed with early-onset dementia two years ago, their time together is the most important thing they have.
- 10/24/2019
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
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