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Filmmaker Catherine Hardwicke is underway in Los Angeles on Street Smart, an indie drama said to mark a return to the gritty, immersive storytelling of her films Lords of Dogtown and Thirteen. Cast for the ensemble piece includes Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan), Yara Shahidi (Sitting in Bars with Cake), Michael Cimino (Never Have I Ever), Daniel Zovatto (Woman of the Hour), Sylvester Powell (All American: Homecoming), Kaitlyn Kemp (The Razor’s Edge), Miles McKenna (Goosebumps), and pro skateboarder Isiah Hilt.

Co-written by Hardwicke and 13 Reasons Why‘s Nic Sheff, Street Smart offers a look into the lives of a lively group of unhoused young adults in the iconic beach town, who come together with humor and a bit of Robin Hood-style larceny, forging unbreakable bonds and redefining what it means to be a family.

Poster Child Pictures’ Natalie Marciano is producing alongside...

The main Friends cast has always been the regular focus of the show, so it's no surprise that many viewers may not have noticed June Gable playing two roles. Joey's acting agent, Estelle Leonard originally had a scene in "The One With the Butt," which was cut from the TV version. In it, she signed Joey to her agency after seeing his performance in Freud! She officially became part of Friends in Season 2's episode, "The One with Russ." In it, Joey talks to Estelle about an audition he had, explaining that it went well, but he got the impression he'd need to sleep with the casting director to get the part. Estelle made a call to Lori (the casting director), which confirmed Joey's suspicions.

The scene set Estelle up for audiences to understand what she was about. Her husky voice, likely symptomatic of her chain-smoking, coupled with her lack of professionalism,...

RankFilm (distributor)Three-day gross (June 14-16)Total gross to dateWeek 1. Inside Out 2 (Disney) £11.3m £11.3m 1 2. Bad Boys: Ride Or Die (Sony) £1.9m £7.1m 2 3. If (Paramount) £414,673 £11.4m 5 4. Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes (Disney) £389,000 £15m 6 5. The Garfield Movie (Sony) £354,829 £7.9m 4

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.27.

Disney’s Inside Out 2 stirred up plenty of emotions at the UK and Ireland box office this weekend after its £11.3m debut made it the biggest opening of the year so far and the third-highest of all time for an animated feature.

The Pixar sequel opened in 684 sites, for an impressive £16,520 location average.

June Gable played both Estelle and a nurse on Friends, showcasing her versatility as an actress. Estelle played a crucial role in Joey's career development. Gable's adept performance as Estelle added depth to the show, showcasing that supporting roles can be impactful.

The main Friends cast has always been the regular focus of the show, so it's no surprise that many viewers may not have noticed this one actress playing two different roles. It's no secret that June Gable played Joey's acting agent, Estelle Leonard. The character originally had a first scene in "The One With the Butt," which was cut from the TV version. In it, she signed Joey to her agency after seeing his performance in Freud! However, after the cut, it was only revealed that an agent had left their business card for Joey, and she wasn't seen in the episode. Estelle officially became part of Friends in Season 2's episode,...

Exclusive: Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins (Freud’s Last Session) has signed on to star in Bruno Penguin and the Staten Island Princess, the latest film from director Nick Cassavetes. Billed as the first-ever major Hollywood production to shoot in Antarctica, the film also has Shia Labeouf (Padre Pio) in talks to star and will enter production in November.

Scripted by Daniel Barnz and Ned Zeman, Bruno Penguin is based on a Vanity Fair article from the latter which tells the true story of adventurous Swiss photographer Bruno Zehnder, a superb artist who spent the last 20 years of his life in Antarctica photographing Emperor penguins. He was obsessed by them – their kindness, the way they lived, their deep levels of affection for one another. Bruno spent his life trying to learn how to communicate with them and over time, the colonies grew to know him and return his fondness.

The Far Side often took aim at real people, including Madonna, Stephen King, Donald Trump, and Albert Einstein. The comics ranged from silly visual gags to political satire, showcasing Larson's ability to parody and mock various celebrities, historical figures, and icons. Larson even turned the humor on himself, admitting that one comic mocking a fitness buff's mistake was inspired by his own personal experience.

Gary Larson's The Far Side is known for its surreal sense of humor and often morbid subject matter. However, over its decades of success, the strip has sometimes deigned to comment on the real world, targeting celebrities, politicians, and historical figures for its unique form of mockery.

Here are the ten funniest comics where The Far Side took aim at real people, including one of the most controversial strips Larson ever published, and one with an incredibly embarrassing inspiration.

Sigmund Freud Plays Baseball Fans...

Anthony Hopkins, despite being 86 years old, has no plans to retire and loves working as an actor. Hopkins feels lucky to still be receiving scripts and working in the industry at his age. Hopkins is currently writing a biography and his wife is working on a documentary about his life and career.

Academy Award winner and acting icon Anthony Hopkins has no plans to retire anytime soon, with the Silence of the Lambs and Nixon star saying he is in “good health,” and simply loves working. In a recent interview with People, Hopkins, now 86 years old, revealed that he will continue to act for as long as he possibly can, and says he is “aware” of his own mortality.

“I’ve just had a medical checkup. I’m in good shape. I’m aware of my mortality. To be realistic, I know that if I have a few more years of work in me,...

(L-r) Matthew Goode as C.S. Lewis and Anthony Hopkins as Sigmund Freud, in ‘Freud’s Last Session.’ Photo credit: Sabrina Lantos. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

Sigmund Freud (Anthony Hopkins) and C.S. Lewis (Matthew Goode) debate their opposing views on religion verses reason on the verge of World War II, in Freud’S Last Session.

Freud’S Last Session is based on the stage play of the same name, in which the now-elderly famous Dr. Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, invites the much younger professor C. S. Lewis, a rising Oxford don who will write the Narnia book series, into his home in London, to which the Jewish doctor fled ahead of Hitler’s invading troops from his native Vienna. On the brink of Britain’s entry into WW II, these two intellectual giants meet for the first time and discuss a range of philosophical topics, including the existence...

The Hollywood biographical drama — or biopic, to use the word that always makes it sound like a dental instrument — is enjoying its mega-moment. “Oppenheimer,” Christopher Nolan’s three-hour epic about the father of the atomic bomb, proved that a story-of-a-life movie could be as big and coruscating as the cosmos; not so incidentally, it’s garnered Nolan the most ecstatic reviews of his career. Sofia Coppola’s “Priscilla” has also won audiences and acclaim. In telling the story of Priscilla Presley, who met Elvis when she was 14 and spent six years married to a slowly dissolving mirage, the film takes us through the looking glass of pop-music fame. In Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro,” the lives of Leonard Bernstein and his wife, Felicia Montealegre, become a rapturous study in love, sexuality, bigotry, creativity and the mysteries of marriage. And “Ferrari,” Michael Mann’s upcoming drama about the Italian automaker, is a...

Updated, 11:34 a.m.: Sony Pictures Classics has firmed up release plans for its drama Freud’s Last Session, starring Anthony Hopkins and Matthew Goode, which charts the relationship between psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and author C.S. Lewis. Based on the stage play by Mark St. Germain, who wrote the script, the film opens in theaters in New York and L.A. December 22, with an expansion to follow in January.

The move positions the pic to open opposite A24’s wrestling drama The Iron Claw, Searchlight’s romantic drama All of Us Strangers, MGM’s buzzy festival title American Fiction, and Uni and Illumination’s original animated pic Migration.

Matt Brown (The Man Who Knew Infinity) served as the film’s director. In addition to North America, SPC is distributing in the Middle East, India, Eastern Europe (excluding Russia) and Turkey, and on airlines worldwide. Read more about the project below.

Next month’s AFI Fest is coming into focus.

The Los Angeles event — headquartered at Hollywood’s Tcl Chinese Theatre and set to take place from Oct. 25-29 — has revealed its full lineup including critical favorites that have emerged from the festival circuit so far and a world premiere from director Rob Reiner, Albert Brooks: Defending My Life.

The festival favorites to screen at AFI Fest include Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers starring Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Jamie Bell and Claire Foy; Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction starring Jeffrey Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross, John Ortiz, Erika Alexander, Adam Brody, Issa Rae and Sterling K. Brown; Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders starring Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy and Michael Shannon; Mahalia Belo’s The End We Start From starring Comer, Benedict Cumberbatch, Joel Fry and Katherine Waterston; Christos Nikou’s Fingernails starring Jessie Buckley, Riz Ahmed and Jeremy...

The actor was also known for his roles in ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’ and ‘The Great Escape.’

David McCallum has died. The actor, best known for his role as Ducky on NCIS, died on Monday of natural causes while surrounded by family at New York Presbyterian Hospital. He was 90.

“He was the kindest, coolest, most patient and loving father,” McCallum’s son, Peter McCallum, said in a statement. “He always put family before self. He looked forward to any chance to connect with his grandchildren, and had a unique bond with each of them. He and his youngest grandson, Whit, 9, could often be found in the corner of a room at family parties having deep philosophical conversations.”

“He was a true renaissance man — he was fascinated by science and culture and would turn those passions into knowledge,” he continued. “For example, he was capable of conducting a symphony orchestra and...

David McCallum, who played Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard on CBS procedural “NCIS” and Illya Kuryakin on ’60s series “The Man From U.N.C.L.E,” has died at 90. The actor passed away peacefully Monday morning of natural causes surrounded by family at New York Presbyterian Hospital, CBS said in a statement.

Son Peter McCallum remembered him as “the kindest, coolest, most patient and loving father” and as a true renaissance man.” Added Peter, “He was fascinated by science and culture and would turn those passions into knowledge. For example, he was capable of conducting a symphony orchestra and (if needed) could actually perform an autopsy, based on his decades-long studies for his role on ‘NCIS.'”

He ended his statement with, “Somehow, even at 90, Daddy never grew old.”

David McCallum in 1966 (Photo by Earl Leaf/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

“For over 20 years, David McCallum endeared himself to audiences around the world playing the wise,...

NCIS veteran David McCallum, also known for his Emmy-nominated role in The Man From U.N.C.L.E., died peacefully this morning of natural causes at New York Presbyterian Hospital, surrounded by family. He was 90, having celebrated his birthday less than a week ago.

A fan favorite, McCallum was the last remaining original cast member on CBS’ NCIS, in which he played Chief Medical Examiner Donald “Ducky” Mallard, an eccentric but highly efficient investigator with a knack for psychological profiling, for two decades.

David McCallum as Medical Examiner Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard. (Photo by Sonja Flemming/CBS via Getty Images)

“For over 20 years, David McCallum endeared himself to audiences around the world playing the wise, quirky, and sometimes enigmatic, Dr. Donald ‘Ducky’ Mallard,” said NCIS executive producers Steven D. Binder and David North. “But as much as his fans may have loved him, those who worked side by side with David loved him that much more.

Netflix has established itself as a powerhouse of biographical series that spotlight the lives of prominent figures for a worldwide audience. Notable examples include The Crown, a detailed exploration of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign that takes the viewers to the historical era to help us get insight into British royalty’s history, power dynamics, and human drama.

Narcos takes us on a gripping journey through the rise and fall of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, uncovering his connection with the drug trade and law enforcement. The People vs. O.J. Simpson revisits the iconic trial, offering gripping insights into American legal history. Selena: The Series beautifully tells stories of Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla’s evolution from a budding musician to a global icon while paying homage to her musical journey and legacy. Furthermore, in recent times as well, we have relished a few intriguing biographical dramas, such as Freud,...

Exclusive: Netflix Emea has shed two executives working in its licensing and co-production team amid a shakeup in its German-language unit.

Amsterdam-based vet Kai Finke quietly left in recent months after joining Netflix back in 2015 and serving as Director Content, Licensing & Co-Productions, focusing on European and German productions.

During his tenure he worked on series including Freud and Undercover and movies such as Rising High and Black Island.

Within Finke’s team, Netflix Germany’s Marc van den Bosch Mprah, Head of Acquisitions & Co-Production, has also left the streamer after joining two years ago. Among movies he worked on was Early Birds, the team’s first Swiss co-production with HugoFilm and Ch Media.

Netflix’s director of non-fiction shows for German-speaking Europe, Inga Leschek, left the streamer for Rtl earlier this year.

Katja Hofem continues to lead the German content team across series, films, non-fiction, and acquisitions. Hofem and...

Berlin-based sales agent

Berlin-based Salzgeber is to handle international sales for actor Fabian Stumm’s feature directorial debut Bones And Names, which premieres in the Berlinale’s Perspektive Deutsches Kino section.

A sensitive and humorous reflection on relationships, the film has been nominated for the Teddy Award, Compass-Perspektibe Award and Heiner Carow Prize.

Stumm, whose acting credits include Cate Shortland’s Lore and Sebastian Meise’s Great Freedom, directed the short Bruxelles in 2020 and the award-winning medium-length film Daniel a year later before developing Bones and Names as his feature debut.

“Everything happened in a very short period: I wrote...

Archface Films producer Allsop will oversee WestEnd’s film and TV slate.

Producer Daisy Allsop has joined UK-based production, financing and sales company WestEnd Films as head of acquisitions and development.

Allsop is already in place in her new role, through which she will oversee projects across WestEnd’s film and TV slate. She will attend this month’s Berlinale and European Film Market (February 16-22) on behalf of the company.

Allsop will continue to operate her own producing slate through her company Archface Films; her credits include Annabel Jankel’s 2018 romance Tell It To The Bees with Anna Paquin and Holliday Grainger.

This review originally ran January 22, 2022, in conjunction with the film’s world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival.

“Whoever wishes to foresee the future must consult the past,” Machiavelli noted, and while “Framing Agnes” digs into the archives for a look at the lives of transgender people in post-wwii America, director Chase Joynt uses these case histories from the past to prompt fascinating and provocative insights into the way trans people live today.

As with “No Ordinary Man,” the portrait of trans jazz musician Billy Tipton that Joynt co-directed, this is a documentary that’s constantly breaking the fourth wall, with camera angles that show the boom mics and marks on the floor, where black-and-white footage of actors performing interview transcripts will cut to color footage of the performers and the director conferring with each other about syntax and motivation.

Rather than serving to distract or distance, however, Joynt’s...

Featuring in this year’s eight iteration of the Berlinale Co-Production Market’s Co-Pro Series, Italian drama “Belcanto” will hope to follow a trail blazed by former participating European standouts such as “Babylon Berlin,” “Freud,” “Furia,” and last year’s Series Mania winner “Blackport.”

Co-created by the trio of Mariano Di Nardo, Antonio Manca and Federico Fava and produced by leading Italian distribution-production house Lucky Red, the series project is set in 1798, as 14-year-old Carolina, her 17-year-old sister Antonia and their mother Maria seek refuge in the city of Milan after stabbing their violent father to death.

The elder sister dreams of becoming a renowned singer, much as her mother once hoped for when she was the girl’s age. However, an unhappy and often violent marriage waylaid young Maria, who is now willing to go the extreme lengths to ensure that her daughter is afforded every opportunity withheld from herself.

Now in its eighth year, the Berlinale Series Market’s pitching event, Co-Pro Series, wrapped today after two hours of pitches from 10 of Europe’s most exciting independent TV projects. Match Factory Production’s “The Report” was the day’s big winner, scooping the Series Mania Award, meaning the production’s team will be invited to pitch again at next month’s Lille-based get-together.

“The Report” will look to emulate the successes of former participating Co-Pro Series standouts such as “Babylon Berlin,” “Freud,” “Furia,” and perhaps most especially Icelandic period drama “Blackport,” a former Series Mania Award-winner that last year took the French festival’s top prize when it returned as a finished series.

A major move from Germany’s Match Factory Productions, “The Report” marks one of the legendary film company’s first forays into series production.

Based on true events, the series will follow a U.N. commission...

One of the highlights of the Berlinale Series Market is the pitch event Co-Pro Series, which looks to match projects with suitable co-producers and financiers.

Ten international series projects from Europe, Canada and Latin America have been selected to pitch at this year’s Co-Pro Series, where they will also have the opportunity of meeting one-on-one with potential partners.

Taking place over two days (Feb. 15-16), and held online once again due to the pandemic, Co-Pro Series has a track record of showcasing drama projects that have not only gone on to be produced, but that have also achieved success.

International hit “Babylon Berlin,” Austrian-German crime series “Freud,” Norwegian-German domestic terrorism drama “Furia,” Icelandic thriller “Blackport” and 1920s-set German drama “Eldorado KaDeWe” have all participated in previous Co-Pro Series pitches. In total, 19 projects have been made since the event launched in 2015.

Co-Pro Series is curated and organized by the Berlinale Co-Production Market,...

Danish director Susanne Bier, an Oscar and Golden Globe winner for In a Better World (2010), and Emmy winner for 2016 miniseries The Night Manager, will receive the 2021 European Achievement in World Cinema Award, the European Film Academy’s lifetime honor.

Bier is the first female director to win an Oscar, a Golden Globe, an Emmy and a European Film Award (In a Better World won the best European Film honor in 2010, Love Is All You Need was named the best European Comedy in 2013).

The Danish helmer has been a major figure on the European cinema scene since her feature debut, Freud ...

Danish director Susanne Bier, an Oscar and Golden Globe winner for In a Better World (2010), and Emmy winner for 2016 miniseries The Night Manager, will receive the 2021 European Achievement in World Cinema Award, the European Film Academy’s lifetime honor.

Bier is the first female director to win an Oscar, a Golden Globe, an Emmy and a European Film Award (In a Better World won the best European Film honor in 2010, Love Is All You Need was named the best European Comedy in 2013).

The Danish helmer has been a major figure on the European cinema scene since her feature debut, Freud ...

Marten Persiel’s dystopian road movie from the year 2054, “Everything Will Change,” has debuted its trailer ahead of its world premiere Friday at the 24th edition of the Zurich Film Festival, where it plays as part of the Focus Competition. TF1 Studio is handling global sales on the film.

The film is set in a dystopian 2054, following the extinction of all wildlife. Three young mavericks go on a journey to find traces of the lost beauty of nature, hoping to discover what happened to their planet. The answer they discover lies in a decade – the 2020s – when a bright future was still possible, but everything changed. “In this unusual road movie, fiction meets scientific fact to explore the most urgent issue of our time: the extinction of wildlife. The future is ours to choose,” according to a statement.

The cast includes Noah Saavedra, Jessamine-Bliss Bell, Paul G. Raymond, Wim Wenders and Markus Imhoof.

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

The Hottest August (Brett Story)

Where better than New York City to make a structuralist film? Cities are iterative, their street grids diagrams of theme and variation, and New York most of all—with its streets and avenues named for numbers and letters and states and cities and presidents and Revolutionary War generals spanning an archipelago, intersecting at a million little data points at which to measure class, race, culture, history, architecture and infrastructure. And time, too—from this human density emerge daily and seasonal rituals, a set of biorhythms, reliable as the earth’s, against which to mark gradual shifts and momentary fashions. Summer is for lounging on fire escapes, always, and, today, for Mister Softee. Yesterday it was shaved ice.

“Succession” has added another intriguing piece to the Season 3 puzzle.

Swiss actor Ella Rumpf, best known for her leading role in Julia Ducournau’s fleshy horror pic “Raw,” is set to play a guest starring role in the HBO drama’s upcoming third outing, Variety has learned exclusively.

Although the exact nature of her role is being kept under wraps, sources say Rumpf already finished shooting the part in Italy, where Season 3 production has been ongoing since June.

A role in the series marks the second major WarnerMedia project for Rumpf, who is also will appear in HBO Max’s highly anticipated “Tokyo Vice.” Starring opposite Ansel Elgort, Rumpf will play Polina, an Eastern European expat to Tokyo and a new hostess at a night club with Samantha (Rachel Keller). Sources tell Variety that Rumpf recently wrapped production on the part.

Following her murderous turn in “Raw,” Rumpf played the...

Appointments

The German scripted label set up by executive producer Moritz Polter and ITV Studios in April has been named Windlight Pictures, and has revealed three key hires.

Simone Ruff and Cosima Degler have joined as producers and development executives, while Georg Höss is head of legal and business affairs.

Polter is based in Germany with an international scope and reports into Lisa Perrin, managing director of international production at ITV Studios in London. He was previously executive producer of international television series at Bavaria Fiction.

Ruff is also from Bavaria Fiction, where she has been working with Polter for the last two years, and produced

the acclaimed series “Freud” (Netflix/Orf).

Degler (“Millennials”) has been part of the Hager Moss Film team, an affiliated company of Constantin Television, since 2018.

Höss (“Brecht”) joins from Bavaria Film where he was head of legal and business affairs and a member of the management board for many years,...

Moritz Polter, the executive producer behind Sky’s German series Das Boot and Netflix’s Freud, is setting up a production label with ITV Studios in Germany.

Polter joins from Bavaria Fiction, where he was executive producer for international television series. He will unveil the name of his production outfit later this year and will report to London-based Lisa Perrin, ITV Studios’ managing director of international production.

Prior to Bavaria Fiction, Polter spent nine years at Tandem Productions, rising to vice president of production. He oversaw shows including Crossing Lines, starring Donald Sutherland and William Fichtner, and Spotless, a Canal+ Création Originale series.

Perrin said: “We have long been aware of the scope for high quality European drama to find international success, but currently the opportunity is at a record high. Increasingly, well-produced German drama series are proving themselves to have global resonance and several of the most successful have...

Moritz Polter, executive producer of Sky series “Das Boot” and “Freud” for Netflix/Orf, is joining ITV Studios and establishing a high-end German scripted label.

The label will be launched later in 2021. Moritz will be based in Germany with an international scope and will report into Lisa Perrin, managing director of international production at ITV Studios in London.

He was previously executive producer of international television series at Bavaria Fiction.

Moritz was named as one of the Variety Top 10 Global Creatives to Watch, and has won accolades like the Romy Award for best producer TV-Fiction for “Freud” and the Romy Award jury prize for “Das Boot.”

The name of the new label will be revealed in due course and ITV Studios will distribute its series internationally.

Perrin said: “We have long been aware of the scope for high quality European drama to find international success, but currently the opportunity is at a record high.

ITV Studios is boosting its investment in German TV, launching a new label for high-end scripted television with Moritz Polter, the producer of such hit German-language series as Sky’s Das Boot and the Netflix/Orf production Freud.

A former executive at Bavaria Fiction and StudioCanal-owned Tandem Productions, Polter will set up the new German fiction division under the auspices of ITV Studios. The label, which is still unnamed, will be launched later this year.

Polter will develop and produce high-end fiction series for the German-language market which ITV Studios will distribute internationally. He will report to Lisa Perrin, ITV Studios’ managing director ...

ITV Studios is boosting its investment in German TV, launching a new label for high-end scripted television with Moritz Polter, the producer of such hit German-language series as Sky’s Das Boot and the Netflix/Orf production Freud.

A former executive at Bavaria Fiction and StudioCanal-owned Tandem Productions, Polter will set up the new German fiction division under the auspices of ITV Studios. The label, which is still unnamed, will be launched later this year.

Polter will develop and produce high-end fiction series for the German-language market which ITV Studios will distribute internationally. He will report to Lisa Perrin, ITV Studios’ managing director ...

Following on from dark Mipdrama thriller “The Winemaker,” Germany’s Goodfriends Filmproduktion, producer of recent HBO Max release “Arthur’s Law,” is re-teaming with Austria’s Satel Film, the company behind Netflix smash hit “Freud,” to produce “Mozart,” a limited series that casts Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in a new and revolutionary light.

Andreas Prochaska, “The Winemaker” director and co-writer, is attached to direct from a screenplay penned by multi-prized Austrian screenwriter Martin Ambrosch.

Ambrosch’s credits include a longterm creative partnership with Prochaska on multiple multi-prized films, which take in the Sam Riley starrer “The Dark Valley,” which swept the Austrian Film Awards in 2015. Ambrosch also wrote “Cold Hell,” directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky, who won a 2008 Academy Award for “The Counterfeiters.”

Director of Sky One’s “Das Boot” and Amazon IMDb TV’s “Alex Rider,” Prochaska won an International Emmy for 2013’s “A Day for a Miracle.”

Film audiences’ image of...

For nearly two decades the European Film Market has had, at its core, the Berlinale Co-Production Market, where hundreds of producers, sales agents, distributors, broadcasters and, more recently, some streamer execs have been drawn to a bunch of curated projects.

The EFM has always been Europe’s quintessential co-production germinator. But the pandemic has made it much tougher to make movies across multiple territories, while the streamers, which tend to fully finance their projects, get bigger — accelerating a pre-existing market dynamic. What might these accelerated shifts mean for the current state of the co-production in Europe where it’s been such an integral part of the industry ecosystem?

Martina Bleis, who heads the Berlinale Co-Production Market, says they had approximately the same number of submissions, roughly 300, for their 35-title Official Selection this year. But while she noticed that producers took “more time and care” to fill out their applications, and...

“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...

Sony’s “The Nightingale,” starring Dakota and Elle Fanning, and an adaptation of Robert Jordan’s “The Wheel of Time” fantasy series, produced by Sony and Amazon Studios, and starring Rosamund Pike, are the latest projects to be hit by the growing spread of coronavirus, with both productions’ European shoots disrupted this week.

Pre-production on “The Nightingale,” from Sony label TriStar Pictures, has been suspended for two weeks in Budapest, while the Prague shoot of “Wheel of Time” was halted, as Central Europe’s biggest production hubs scramble to deal with the fallout of the global pandemic.

Amazon Studios film “Birds of Paradise” has also suspended production in Budapest.

“This is obviously a spanner in the works,” said Matthew Stillman of Stillking Films, who said both Hungary and the Czech Republic were “operating at capacity” before coronavirus began sweeping across Europe. “This is effectively a temporary interruption, but we don...

Netflix is looking to create more transparency and dispel some of the myths around working with the streaming giant as it ramps up its European operations, though the company’s fast-paced shooting schedules are “not for everyone,” director of international originals Rachel Eggebeen said Tuesday morning at the Berlinale Series Market.

“It’s a fast pace that we work at,” she said. “Once we commission a show, we commit to it. We’re all in, we need partners that are all in, and we go.”

Eggebeen appeared in conversation with a group of leading European TV creators to discuss the realities of producing for the Los Gatos-based streaming service. The panel, moderated by Variety‘s international editor Manori Ravindran, featured writer-producer Laura Buffoni, producer-writer Jantje Friese, producer Meta Soerensen, producer Fatima Varhos, and writer-producer Anna Winger.

As Netflix increases its production in Europe, Eggebeen said the company is committed to...

“Freud,” Netflix’s upcoming mystery thriller from director by Marvin Kren, places a young Sigmund, before his establishment as a worldwide medical icon, in the middle of a brutal 19th century murder case in Vienna.

A Vienna native himself, Kren won numerous awards for his work in TV (“Four Blocks”) and film. In addition to directing and producing the series, he also co-wrote with Stefan Brunner (“Tatort”) and previous collaborator Benjamin Hessler (“4 Blocks”).

Robert Finster plays the cocaine-addicted outsider responsible for founding psychoanalysis, 2020 Berlin Shooting Star Ella Rumpf mysterious medium Fleur Salomé, and 2017 Berlin Best Actor winner Georg Friedrich (“Bright Nights”) has the role of inspector Alfred Kiss.

“Freud” is produced by Netflix, Austrian public broadcaster Orf, Bavaria Fiction and Satel Film with the support of Vienna’s Filmfonds Wien and Media. Screening at Berlinale Series from Feb. 24, “Freud” releases on Netflix worldwide and Orf in Austria on March...

Pictured above: The ‘Das Boot’ crew – Colin Teevan (head writer of season 2), Tom Wlaschiha (actor), Clemens Schick (actor), Oliver Vogel (Bavaria Fiction chief creative officer and Ep on ‘Das Boot’), Vicky Krieps (actor), Rick Okon (actor).

Bavaria Fiction celebrated its latest TV productions at a glitzy soirée at Soho House in Berlin on Monday.

The powerhouse TV division of Bavaria Film has enjoyed huge success with “Das Boot” and its newest series, “Freud,” opened this year’s Berlinale Series sidebar. It’s also rolling out “Arctic Circle,” a Finnish-German coproduction, which recently premiered on Zdf.

Bavaria Fiction focuses largely on the German-speaking market but it’s looking to further expand its portfolio.

“We moved into international productions four years ago with ‘Das Boot,’ a hugely successful series, being sold to over 100 countries, including Hulu in the U.S.,” says Bavaria Fiction managing director Jan S. Kaiser.

“Das Boot” season two premieres on Sky in April.