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Lion And Cubs

Indian superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who was recently in Locarno for a celebration, has teamed up with his sons Aryan Khan and AbRam as the voice cast of the Hindi-language version of Disney’s upcoming feature film “Mufasa: The Lion.”

The film is directed by Barry Jenkins and tells the story of the unlikely rise of the beloved king of the Pride Lands, while also introducing an orphaned cub called Mufasa, a sympathetic lion named Taka—the heir to a royal bloodline—and their expansive journey alongside an extraordinary group of misfits. The film has original songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda and an English voice cast of Aaron Pierre as Mufasa, Donald Glover as Simba and Braelyn Rankins as Young Mufasa.

The film will reach Indian theatres on Dec.20 in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu versions.

Watch the trailer here:

Format Duo

Nippon TV has finalized a deal...

European Film Promotion has announced the 10 up-and-coming European acting talents for its 2024 European Shooting Stars list.

The actors, which include performers from this year’s award-season contenders Poor Things, Ferrari, and The Peasants, among others, will be lauded at the Berlin International Film Festival in February, next year.

The Shooting Stars class of 2024 includes:

Suzy Bemba (France) Suzy Bemba in ‘Homecoming’

French actress Suzy Bemba, who plays a Parisian sex worker who befriends Emma Stone’s character in Poor Things, and whose credits include standout roles in Anthony Chen’s Sundance film Drift and Catherine Corsini’s Homecoming.

Valentina Bellè (Italy) Valentina Bellè in ‘The Good Mothers’

Valentina Bellè from Italy, who plays Cecilia Manzini in Michael Mann’s Ferarri, won Italy’s Nastro D’Argento award for best supporting actress for her turn in Disney+ mafia drama The Good Mothers and has appeared in Disney+ series Genius: Picasso with...

“Tony, Shelly and the Magic Light” continues to ward off the darkness.

LevelK’s Czech stop-motion animation has sold to over 40 territories, including Germany (Eksystent Distribution), France (Eurozoom /Panoranime), Spain (MODIband Projectes Culturals), Italy (Just Wanted), Portugal (Film4you), Israel (New Cinema), Slovenia (Demiurg), Mena (Empire Networks), Switzerland (Out-side the Box), Estonia (Estin Film) Sweden (Njutafilms) and Denmark (Angel Distribution).

“From the first moment we watched it, we saw its uniqueness and quality. It’s a thrill we have so many distributors onboard, believing in its core values and trusting that it can resonate across borders,” said sales executive Alexandra Cruz.

“We hope that all who watch the film will leave the cinemas with [feelings of] warmth and hope.”

Directed by Filip Pošivač, “Tony, Shelly and the Magic Light” world-premiered at Annecy, where it was awarded the Contrechamp Jury Award.

Produced by Pavla Janoušková Kubečková for nutprodukce and Jakub Viktorín for nutprodukcia,...

“The number of talents and good films is amazing,” says Renata Santoro, head of programming at Giornate Degli Autori.

Connext, Flanders Image’s annual film and TV showcase, taking place from October 9-10 in Antwerp, is fast growing its reputation on the international stage.

Paolo Bertolin, a member of the selection committee of the Venice Film Festival, visited the Antwerp-based showcase for the first time in 2022 with a simple ambition to meet Belgian talent and discover the best up -and- coming projects from the region.

Among the projects he saw was Fien Troch’s Holly, a then work-in-progress about a...

The film is being presented this week in the works-in-progress selections at Haugesund’s New Nordic Films.

LevelK has boarded international sales for Norwegian family action comedy Viktoria Must Go.

The film, currently in post-production, is being presented this week in the works-in-progress selections at Haugesund’s New Nordic Films.

Gunnbjörg Gunnarsdottir (Forever And Never) directs and Ole Marius Elvestad produces for På Film. Einar Loftesnes (The Tunnel) serves as executive producer, and the film is supported by Mediefondet Zefyr, Scandinavian Film Distribution, LevelK and Vestnorsk filmsenter.

Scandinavian Film Distribution has scheduled the local release for February 2024.

The film follows...

There is a particular focus on comedies.

TorinoFilmLab (Tfl) has selected 20 projects for its ScriptLab 2023, plus five story editors, in what it describes as the first ‘fully international’ iteration of the annual development scheme.

The 20 projects come from 20 writer-directors and eight co-writers, and have been selected from 550 submissions.

Scroll down for the full list of participants

Those selected will take part in three week-long residential modules in April, June and November; with two online modules in September and October. The participants will be divided into five groups, and tutored by script consultants Philippe Barriere, Severine Cornamusaz, Aleksandra Swierk, Marietta von Hausswolff and Gino Ventriglia.

Executive most recently served at Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Archewell companies.

Ben Browning is set to return to FilmNation at the end of the month and will serve as president of production after departing the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s Archewell Productions and Archewell Audio.

At Archewell Browning produced the Netflix docuseries Harry And Meghan and Spotify’s hit podcast Archetypes With Meghan.

Prior to that he led the production team for FilmNation and oversaw the likes of Promising Young Woman, The Big Sick, and Red Rocket. He will report to FilmNation CEO Glen Basner.

FilmNation recently...

The family drama has sold to France, Greece, Poland, Switzerland and Denmark.

Domien Huyghe’s family drama Sea Sparkle has sold to multiple European territories for LevelK. The film opened Berlinale’s Generation Kplus strand where it received a special mention.

It has sold to France (Les Alchimistes), Greece (Feelgood Entertainment), Poland (New Horizons Association), Sweden (Folkets Bio) and Denmark (Angel Distribution).

Sea Sparkle follows a teenage daughter who is determined to prove her father was killed by a magical sea creature while fishing.

It is produced by Belgium’s A Private View in co-production with The Netherland’s Viking Film.

The gender-neutral acting prize was won by Spain’s Sofía Otero for ’20,000 Species of Bees’.

Nicolas Philibert’s documentary On The Adamant, about a floating care centre in Paris, was awarded Golden Bear for best film at the Berlin International Film Festival tonight (February 25).

The film, which is being handled internationally by Les Films du Losange, is the fourth documentary to take top honours at the Berlinale.

German films found particular favour with the jury, presided over by Kristen Stewart, with no less than three of the Bear statuettes going to local productions: the Silver Bear Grand Jury award for Christian Petzold’s Afire,...

Saar Rogiers as Lena in Sea Sparkle. Domien Huyghe: 'She really understood what her character was going through and you see it' Photo: Aaron La Peirre Sea Sparkle is a Belgian family film that sees the world of teenager Lena (Saar Rogiers) rocked by the death of her fisherman father and his crew while they are out at sea. While trying to come to terms with the loss, she becomes convinced that there is a monster in the water near her town and is increasingly determined to convince everyone else. The film, directed by Domien Huyghe and co-written with Jean-Claude Van Rijckeghem and Hyghe’s sister Wendy embeds the story of grief within an adventure as Lena enlists the help of new friend Vincent (Sverre Rous) to try to find out the truth. We caught up with siblings Domien and Wendy Huyghe after Sea Sparkle’s premiere at Berlin...

Hummingbirds, the documentary feature debut of directors Silvia Del Carmen Castaños and Estefanía “Beba” Contreras, has won the Crystal Bear, the top prize for best film, at the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival’s Generation 14plus section.

In the doc, the two filmmakers examine issue of immigration along the Texas-Mexican border through the lens of their own friendship. The Generation international jury called the film “a touching and subtle glimpse into the intimate moments of memorable characters…their self-determination and playfulness, as both protagonists and authors, is inspiring. Their actions, jokes, songs, laughs, and bodies are political and necessary as a way of resistance.”

A special mention in the Generation 14plus section went to Vuk Lungulov-Klotz’s Mutt, a drama set over the course of a single hectic day in New York City, and centered on a trans man ( Lio Mehiel) who finds his life shaken up by the reemergence of...

Iván & Hadoum, a Spanish feature film project, to be directed by Ian de la Rosa, has won the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award, along with a $21, 000 (€20,000) endowment, beating out the more than 30 pitches at this year’s Berlinale Co-Production Market. Spanish producers Avalon PC took the top prize, presented by European film fund Eurimages to support the development of the project.

A Ukrainian pitch, The Blindsight, from 2Brave Productions, won a Eurimages Special Co-Production Development Award. Ruslan Batytskyi is set to direct the feature.

The Vff Talent Highlight Award, which comes with a $10,600 (€10,000) bursary, went to God and the Devil’s Cumbia by Mexican director Carlos Lenin, pitched by its producers Daniel Loustaunau of Colectivo Colmena, nd Paloma Petra of Huasteca Casa Cinematográfica. The project also won the inaugural World Cinema Fund Audience Strategies Award, an in-kind prize, presented to a Co-Production Market project from a Wcf-supported country. The producers and...

"Do you know anything about sea creatures?" An early festival promo trailer has debuted for a film titled Sea Sparkle, which is premiering soon at the 2023 Berlin Film Festival in a few more weeks, playing in the Generation section. It has a release date set in Belgium, but it is still seeking distribution internationally. When her father dies at sea, Lena starts desperately looking for the cause, convinced a massive sea monster is to blame. Her relentless push against the tide reveals a tale of anger and grief, yet also of the strength and comfort the ocean provides. The family drama follows a fisherman who dies at sea and his teenage daughter who's determined to prove that he was killed by a magical sea creature. Said to be inspired by the writer's personal experiences. This stars Saar Rogiers, Dunia Elwaleed, Sverre Rous, Valentijn Dhaenens, and Hilde De Baerdemaeker. This one...