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Ackles and Chalamet could be the next Batman and Robin in The Brave and The Bold, as DC Universe recasts Batman for the upcoming franchise. A new fan trailer by Kh Studio shows what the two actors could look like in the DC Universe roles. The Brave and The Bold movie will reportedly focus on Batman's fatherhood journey with his son, Damian Wayne, based on Grant Morrison's Batman run.

A new The Brave and The Bold fan trailer imagines Jensen Ackles and Timothe Chalamet suiting up as the DC Universe live-action versions of Batman and Robin. As Ben Affleck is done playing the Caped Crusader, the DC Universe is recasting Batman as part of James Gunn's upcoming superhero franchise. The Brave and The Bold movie was one of the many projects to get announced in January 2023 for Chapter 1, "Gods and Monsters," but little to no updates have emerged...

Italy’s Coccinelle Film has scored multiple sales on German director Veit Helmer’s gay love story “Gondola,” which world premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

“Gondola” is the dialogue-free tale of two female cable car attendants who fall in love as they face each other going up and down the remote mountains of Georgia. It has been sold by the Rome-based distributor to France (Destiny Distribution); Australia and New Zealand (Bonsai Films); Japan (Moviola); Spain (Reverso Films); and South Korea (Entermode Corp.)

“Gondola” – which will have its domestic theatrical release in Germany through Jip Film & Verleih in March – is having its market premiere at the upcoming European Film Market.

Helmer is well known on the international festival circuit for funny, fable-like films with little or no dialogue such as “Tuvalu”; the Azerbaijan-set “Absurdistan,” which went to Sundance in 2008; and “The Bra,” which launched from Tokyo in 2018.

“There are...

Italy’s Coccinelle Film Sales has acquired world rights to German director Veit Helmer’s poetic love story “Gondola,” which will world premiere at the upcoming Tokyo International Film Festival.

Helmer is well known on the international festival circuit for funny, fable-like films with little or no dialogue such as “Tuvalu”; the Azerbaijan-set “Absurdistan,” which went to Sundance in 2008; and “The Bra,” that launched from Tokyo in 2018.

“Gondola,” the tale of two cable car attendants who fall in love as they face each other going up and down the remote mountains of Georgia, is also told without dialogue.

“There are a few places on earth where you don’t hop on the bus in the morning, but on the cable car [instead],” Helmer said in his director’s statement. He added that “such a place in Georgia inspired me to write a story about two cable car conductors who always meet...

Helmer’s previous film was 2018 silent comedy The Bra.

German director Veit Helmer has returned to the Caucasus for the third time to shoot his latest feature film Gondola (working title) in the Georgian mountains, following his 2008 Azerbaijan-set Absurdistan and 2018 silent comedy The Bra, set in Azerbaijan and Georgia.

Principal photography started last week on a 36-day shoot which is set to run until the end of September. The film tells the story of two female cable car operators who fall in love as pass each other in their gondolas travelling between a mountain village and the town in the valley below.

Indican Pictures has released an official US trailer for an indie, light-hearted comedy titled The Bra, from German filmmaker Veit Helmer. The film is already out to watch now, but we're just catching up with it at this point. Set in the country of Azerbaijan (nestled between Iran and Georgia) the film tells the story of an aging train driver named Nurlan. To escape from his lonely existence, he embarks on the most adventurous journey of his life: to find the owner of a perky piece of blue underwear that his train snagged off a washing line. He rents a small room in Baku and begins his quest. Starring Predrag 'Miki' Manojlovic as Nurlan, with Paz Vega, Denis Levant, Chulpan Khamatova, Maia Morgenstern, and Frankie Wallac. This has the look and feel of an old classic B&w film, something from a time long ago, a comedic quest for love.

Santiago Segura’s Father There Is Only One sequel is a major new opener in Spain.

South Korea, opening Wednesday July 29

In South Korea, where theatrical releases open on Wednesdays and Thursdays, the new films in cinemas this weekend with top ticket reservation rates, according to the Korean Film Council (Kofic), are led by Lotte Cultureworks’ Jung Woo-sung-starrer Steel Rain 2: Summit - director Yang Woo-suk’s sequel to his North-South Korea political action thriller.

The film opened Wednesday, July 29 and as of Thursday has clocked up $1.2m atop the box office chart.

Further new titles include Chinese shark...

India’s Alliance Media & Entertainment is in the process of acquiring a library of works by late Iranian auteur Abbas Kiarostami for distribution in the Indian subcontinent from France’s MK2 Films.

The deal covers 33 features, documentaries and shorts from Kiarostami’s oeuvre, including “Taste of Cherry,” “The Wind Will Carry Us” and “Where Is My Friend’s Home.” Negotiations took place at the European Film Market, and the Berlin Film Festival. They are at an “advanced state of closure” and the signing is expected to take place imminently, Alliance’s Sunil Doshi told Variety. Kiarostami died in 2016.

Alliance previously acquired the Pedro Almodovar catalogue from France’s TF1 and Pathe Films and Jafar Panahi’s films from France’s Celluloid Dreams. It struck a deal with Disney’s Indian Ott platform Hotstar, where the works of both masters are streaming now.

Alliance also acquired the Indian distribution and...

Sales include South Korea, India and Italy.

German sales agency Pluto Film has sealed a raft of deals on Veit Helmer’s comedy The Bra.

It has been sold to Brazil (Pandora Filmes), China (Turbo Film), South Korea (Alto Media), India (Alliance Media), Poland (Fundacja Filmowa Warszawa), Italy (Lab 80), and former Yugoslavia (Cinemania Group).

The film launched at the Tokyo International Film Festival last October and is about a lonely train driver who searches for the owner of a bra he found on his train.

Pluto has also signed deals on Berlinale best debut feature winner Oray for Turkey...

Another eight documentaries and 25 short films will screen in the competition sections, and the festival has scheduled master classes by Paul Schrader and Krzysztof Zanussi. The Batumi International Arthouse Film Festival (Biaff) is set to take place for the 14th time from 16-23 September. Biaff is again organising a carefully curated programme consisting of fiction-feature, documentary and short competitions, plus sidebar sections including Georgian Panorama, Masters and Special Screenings. In the Feature Competition, there are ten films: Mark Jenkin's Bait (UK), Veit Helmer's The Bra (Germany/Azerbaijan), Reza Mirkarimi's Castle of Dreams (Iran), Elmar Imanov's End of Season (Germany/Azerbaijan/Georgia), György Pálfi's His Master’s Voice (Canada/Hungary/France/Sweden/USA), Kıvanç Sezer's La Belle Indifference (Turkey), Marko Škop's Let There Be Light (Slovakia/Czech Republic), Jacek Borcuch's Dolce Fine Giornata (Poland), Emin Alper's A Tale of Three Sisters (Turkey/Germany/Netherlands...