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Italy’s Open Reel has taken on international sales for Julio Donato’s debut feature Labyrinths and has also unveiled a string of US deals for titles on its slate.

Written and directed by Donato, Labyrinths tells the story of two friends who take opposite paths in life from the repressed, difficult society they were born into in the rugged mountains of Italy’s southern region of Calabria.

Donato has previously worked as an assistant director to directors such as Abel Ferrara and Mimmo Calopresti. The film is produced by Life Cinema and with the support of Italy’s Ministry of Culture.

Italy’s Open Reel has taken on international sales for Julio Donato’s debut feature Labyrinths and has also unveiled a string of US deals for titles on its slate.

Written and directed by Donato, Labyrinths tells the story of two friends who take opposite paths in life from the repressed, difficult society they were born into in the rugged mountains of Italy’s southern region of Calabria.

Donato has previously worked as an assistant director to directors such as Abel Ferrara and Mimmo Calopresti. The film is produced by Life Cinema and with the support of Italy’s Ministry of Culture.

It has been three full years since Zack Snyder’s mammoth 4-hour version of Justice League came out. The film was initially plagued by controversy when the director stepped back midway to allow Joss Whedon to take over the reins. This move did not work well on many levels with regard to Whedon’s association with the narrative and the cast, which then prompted Snyder to complete the film in his original vision.

Zack Snyder on the sets of Justice League

To commemorate the 3rd anniversary of his labor of love, the Watchmen director uploaded a dark and edgy image of Jared Leto who played Joker in the film. But judging from the reactions of fans on social media, this version of the DC villain wasn’t appreciated then, and is continuing to garner some negative responses.

Fans Troll Zack Snyder For Plugging Jared Leto’s Photo As Joker

In many ways,...

Italian sales agent The Open Reel has boarded Mexican director Julián Hernández Demons At Dawn, adding the title to its EFM slate.

A prominent queer director, Hernández has twice won the Teddy Award at Berlin with his movies A Thousand Clouds oO Peace (2003), and Raging Sun, Raging Sky (2009). His previous film, 2023’s The Trace Of Your Lips, sold to Tla Releasing for North America and UK rights.

Demons At Dawn centres on two young men who live in Mexico City, who meet by chance and fall in love while fighting to achieve their dreams. It is produced through Mil Nubes Cine and Indomable Cine.

Italian sales outfit The Open Reel has struck key deals on its slate.

Breaking Glass Pictures has acquired North American rights to Brazilian director Daniel Gonçalves’ feature documentary Acsexybility, an exploration of the sexual lives of people with disabilities, and to Angel Filgueira’s romantic drama Stroking An Animal, about a gay couple whose relationship is altered when a male friend enters their lives, from Rome-based The Open Reel.

Imago Company has Italian rights to both features.

Acsexybility premiered at LA Outfest in July.

The Open Reel has also secured a brace of deals for The Trace Of Your Lips by Mexican director Julián Hernández,...

Italian sales agent racks up deals during busy Cannes market.

Italian sales agent The Open Reel has scored North American deals for three titles on its slate: Swsx-prize winner A Place Of Our Own, Julián Hernández’s The Trace Of Your Lips and Dennis Shinners’s Barrio Boy.

Indian drama A Place Of Our Own by grassroots group Ektara Collective has been acquired by Dark Star Pictures for North America. Set in Bhopal, the drama follows two trans women as they seek to find alternative accommodation when their landlord evicts them without notice. It won the global audience award at Swsx in March.

Retta Alexander and her grandson Julian Hernandez impressed Wheel of Fortune fans on Tuesday (May 23) evening as they solved a tricky puzzle in the bonus round to claim a huge $40,000 prize. The grandma and grandson competed on the show as part of Grand Getaways week, which sees grandparents paired with their grandchildren to take on the Wheel. Retty and Julian worked together brilliantly throughout the show, making it all the way to the bonus round. Under the “Place” category, Retta and Julia were faced with a letter board that read “_ A N C _ _ _ _ T _ _ _ E.” As the clock counted down, the relatives could be seen whispering to one another, with Retta mouthing her suggestion to Julian, which he nodded in agreement with. “Fancy boutique,” Retta answered correctly, adding $40,000 to the $16,950 they had already amassed during the game, giving them an overall total of $56,950.  “Nice going, guys, congratulations. That was a good solve,...

Eight of the 10 directors in the Morelia Festival’s main Mexican competition are women, led by two of the biggest Mexican fest hits of the year,“Robe of Gems,” Natalia López Gallardo’s Berlin Special Jury laureate, and “Huesera,” from Michelle Garza Cervera, a double Tribeca winner.

Features with Indigenous or Black Mexican protagonists have shot up in Mexico, from 14 in 2019 to 31 in 2019, according to Imcine’s Mexican Cinema Yearbook.

In 2017, Mexico’s biggest homegrown hit was Nicolas López’s “Do It Like an Hombre,” a merciless taunt of a Mexican macho’s helpless homophobia, which grossed 11.0 million in the country.

For centuries an entrenched bastion of machismo, in film terms, the dial is finally moving on diversity.

“When I started out, like 20 years ago, I could count with my fingers the female directors I knew in Mexico; and today, there are almost 100,” says Natalia Beristáin, director of 2017’s Morelia...

International sales agency The Open Reel has taken world rights to “We Will Never Die” by Eduardo Crespo (“As Close as Possible”), and will represent it at the upcoming San Sebastian film festival where it is up for the Golden Seashell award.

The film follows Rodrigo and his mother who travel to the town where his elder brother has just died. While Rodrigo will gradually come to grips with the adults’ pain and will start to leave his childhood behind, his mother tries to uncover the mysteries of her son’s death.

The cast includes Romina Escobar (“Brief Story from the Green Planet”), Rodrigo Santana and Brian Alba. The film is produced by Santiago Loza and Rita Cine, with the support of Argentina’s National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts.

The Open Reel will also represent first feature “Arima,” directed and produced by Jaione Camborda at San Sebastian where...

You may want to keep your eye out for Tattoo of Revenge (Rencor tatuado) the stylistic, female empowerment thriller from Mexican director Julián Hernández. Breaking Glass Pictures is releasing this thriller, shot in both black-and-white and color, on DVD and VOD in the U.S. on September 17th.    Have a look at the trailer below.    Set in chaotic 1990s Mexico City where criminals go unpunished, a heroine becomes the avenger of raped young women. Wearing different disguises, she seduces the rapists, puts them to sleep, and then brands them with tattoos. As her enemies encroach, her only salvation is the emancipation of another woman.  ...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Academy Award-winner Damien Chazelle is coming to Morelia to kick off Mexico’s 16th Morelia International Film Festival (Ficm) on Oct. 20 with his latest film, “First Man.”

For the first time, the festival will be presenting a medal for artistic excellence to Alfonso Cuaron, whose recent Venice Golden Lion-winner “Roma,” Mexico’s submission to the Oscars and Spain’s Goyas, will screen at the festival.

Pawel Pawlikowski returns to Morelia to present his latest work, “Cold War.” Other notable guests presenting their films include Paul Weitz, who presents “Bel Canto”; Fran Healy with her documentary “Almost Fashionable: A Film About Travis”; Dan Millar, who brings his documentary “Botero”; and Almudena Carracedo, who presents her acclaimed documentary “The Silence of Others.”

Hailed by Variety critic Owen Gleiberman as a film “so revelatory in its realism, so gritty in its physicality, that it becomes a drama of thrillingly hellbent danger and obsession,...

The Morelia International Film Festival revealed today its official selection, showcasing a lineup exclusively composed of Mexican films. It's definitely exciting, as these are the national movies that will most likely hit theaters during 2015. There are some familiar names, such as Nicolas Pereda and Julián Hernández, and a handful of films that I have seen already, including Coffee, Death in Arizona, Bering. Equilibrio y Resistencia, and I Am Happiness on Earth. In that regard, I'm a little surprised, as Morelia was supposedly only selecting films that hadn't been part of another festival before. Morelia's official Mexican selection is divided in five sections: Michoacán, Mexican Short Film, Mexican Documentary, Mexican Feature Film, and Online Mexican Short Film. The definitive feature length film highlight might be Alonso Ruizpalacios'...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...