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South Korean action comedy “Veteran”, written and directed by Ryoo Seung-wan, came out in 2015. It was a huge success which grossed over US$92M and became the all-time 5th highest-grossing film in the local cinema history. A sequel with Ryoo directing, Hwang Jung-min and Oh Dal-su reprising their roles was soon in the works, but it only hit the screens titled “I, The Executioner” nine years later.

This time around, detective Seo Do-cheol (Hwang Jung-min) and his Violent Crimes Investigation Unit members have to deal with Haechi, a serial killer and a vigilante rolled into one. Haechi only kills criminals who deserved to die, according to him anyway. Furthermore, when the judicial system fails to discipline the guilty, his punishment of these criminals has gained him a following on social media. Detective Seo is just the opposite, he believes in doing good police work and therefore he is willing to protect these kinds of criminals.

Ryoo Seung-wan, the South Korean film director who was last month in Cannes with “I, The Executioner,” says that his next picture will be an espionage action movie.

It is pitched as “depicting North and South Korean secret agents clashing while [also] uncovering crimes occurring at the border with Vladivostok, Russia.”

Currently titled, “Humint,” a reference to espionage industry’s shorthand for collection of intelligence through humans, rather than signals or data, the new film is to be produced by his Filmmaker R&k company and distributed by New.

Ryoo also says that throughout his career he has sought to change genres and that “Humint” will represent a “more mature espionage action” picture than some of his previous efforts.

Ryoo will release “I, The Executioner” at an unspecified date in the second half of this year. He has already settled the casting of “Humint” and has scheduled full-scale production of the...

Disney+ Announces Korean Espionage Series ‘Tempest’: Cast, Plot, & Release Date Explored ( Photo Credit – IMDb )

Disney+ is adding an exciting title to its slate of Korean dramas. The streaming giant has announced a new espionage thriller series titled Tempest. The show is about a diplomat and a special agent who team up for a dangerous mission.

The series’ lead cast has been confirmed, including two famous A-listers. Disney+ has also unveiled the release window for the spy series. Here are all the updates we have so far about Tempest.

Disney+’s Tempest Plot: A Diplomat and an International Agent Collaborate to Stop a Deadly Attack

Tempest, earlier titled North Star, revolves around an accomplished diplomat who served as an ambassador to the US. The other protagonist is a former mercenary and an international special agent whose identity and nationality remain mysterious. The two take up a mission to uncover the...

Pandastorm Pictures has taken German rights on Roman Shumunov’s Second World War doc-fiction.

Jerusalem-based sales agent Go2Films has closed a slew of EFM deals for Israeli director Roman Shumunov’s Second World War doc-fiction Berenshtein.

Pandastorm Pictures has taken German rights on the title while Fidelity Entertainment has swooped to nab the film for Poland.

Berenshtein is based on the true story of Leonid Berenshtein, the last surviving member of the great partisans who located Hitler’s secret weapon, the V2 missile development facility, as he revisits his past as a soldier in World War II. The film was produced for Kan 11,...

Exclusive: Gersh has promoted three women and hired a fourth, all within its Television Literary Department, while tapping Alternative TV vet Collin Reno for the agency’s division in the nonfiction TV space.

The move aims to continue Gersh’s mission to provide opportunities for traditionally underrepresented demographics while bettering the department by bringing in different perspectives and experiences that will translate to developing unique stories.

The female agents are building a diverse roster of clients, with particular interests in writers and directors who are female, Bipoc and/or part of the Lgbtqia+ community.

Katy McCaffrey has been promoted to co-head of the department alongside Ian Greenstein, who has overseen the department since 2018. She joined Gersh in 2014 as an agent in the TV Literary Department. Among McCaffrey’s clients are Anya Adams, two-time winner of the NAACP Image Award for outstanding director in episodic comedy, and Emmy winner Ashley Bradley,...

“The Berlin File” was a big box office success during its screening in S. Korea, reaching million admissions after 14 days of release,[42][43] and eventually a total of 7.17 million admissions. Back in 2015, Ryoo Seung-wan stated that he was planning a sequel to screen in 2017, but the project has yet to materialize.

Pyo Jong-seong is a North Korean spy who lives in Berlin with his wife, Ryun Jung-hee, a translator for the local embassy. During an arms deal involving Pyo, Russians, Middle Eastern terrorists, South Koreans and the Mosad that goes horribly wrong, he discovers evidence that he may be set up by his own country. Moreover, CIA, a ruthless North Korean agent named Dong Myun-soo, and a South Korean agent named Jung Jin-soo come into the picture, complicating the case even more. Pyo has to decide who betrayed him and choose sides.

Ryoo Seung Wan wanted a film...

International and indie film distributor Well Go USA Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Korean film Escape From Mogadishu. It will open in theaters in the U.S. and Canada August 6 following a July 28 release in Korea.

The film is based on true events and chronicles the harrowing experience of bitterly opposed North and South Korean diplomats trapped in the city of Mogadishu at the advent of the Somalian civil war in 1991. The dramatic years-long conflict, which exploded following the rebel-led ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, was introduced to American audiences through blockbuster film Black Hawk Down, which picks up the narrative in war-torn Mogadishu in 1993.

“The film portrays this almost unfathomable event that throws the horrors of war into sharp relief,” said Well Go CEO Doris Pfardrescher. She noted the production team’s careful study of surviving embassy records and historical accounts to create the most realistic possible depiction.

IFC Films has released the first official trailer for “Undine,” a new romantic drama from German auteur Christian Petzold.

“Undine” premiered in competition at last year’s Berlin International Film Festival, where it took home the Firesci Prize as well as the Silver Bear for best actress for star Paula Beer. She stars alongside Franz Rogowski, reuniting the duo from Petzold’s lauded 2018 thriller “Transit.” Petzold takes a different approach in “Undine,” with the romantic drama marking a new direction for the filmmaker following a string of emotional dramas with historical themes related to German identity.

Here’s the official synopsis: “Set in Berlin, Undine (Beer) works as a historian lecturing on Berlin’s urban development. She knows all about the Humboldt Forum, and has a knack for dressing. She is nonchalantly beautiful, and the way she imparts her knowledge about the city that was built on a swamp is...

Exclusive: Here’s a hot one: ITV is turning Len Deighton’s spy novel The Ipcress File, which inspired the 1965 Michael Caine film of the same name, into a television series — and the UK broadcaster has assembled a stellar on- and off-screen team to make the drama a reality.

The adaptation will be penned by BAFTA-winning Trainspotting writer John Hodge, while the cast will be led by Gangs Of London and Peaky Blinders star Joe Cole, alongside Bohemian Rhapsody actress Lucy Boynton, and The Night Manager’s Tom Hollander. The Crown and Rush producer Andrew Eaton will serve as an executive producer, while the six-part Berlin-set series will be helmed by McMafia and Black Mirror director James Watkins.

The Ipcress File is the first major project housed at Will Clarke and Andy Mayson’s Altitude Television, a production arm of the British film and TV company Altitude Media Group,...

The Guadalajara Film Festival’s industry centerpiece, its Encuentro de Co-produccion, a springboard for Latin American feature film projects, unspools this week online, as directors and producers look to catch the eye of the international marketplace and secure key sales, distribution and production partners.

Guadalajara has long rejected the idea that gender-based quotas are needed when programming a festival while demonstrating an organic level of inclusion in its industry sections that should make some European festivals blush. The 2020 Meeting is no exception. More than half of the projects set to pitch this week are directed by women, with just as many featuring female producers or co-producers.

As important as any statistics though, the kinds of films that women are pitching at Guadalajara break moulds as well. Gone are the days when the industry expected women directors to tell women’s stories. Now, the women pitching at Guadalajara can present horror,...

Exclusive: Showtime has put in development a half-hour comedy drama revolving around an Arab mother and her gay son, from writer-producer-actor Lewaa Nasserdeen and Skydance Television, where Nasserdeen is under a deal.

Written by Nasserdeen, the project, loosely inspired by his life, follows Omar and Reema, a 30-something gay Arab son and his extravagant and ‘complicated’ mother, as they face divorce at the same time … and under one roof. While Omar is looking for ways to reconnect with his roots after his breakup, Reema is stepping outside of her cultural comfort zone for the first time in her life. Together this modern-day Arab Odd Couple are forced to confront a post-divorce reality while navigating adult ass whoopings, generational trauma, and their own co-dependent relationship.

The project is being developed as a potential starring vehicle for Nasserdeen, who executive produces with David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Bill Bost for Skydance Television,...

It’s finally back on Blu in Region 1, the ‘sixties spy movie beloved by enthusiasts that yearned for something a bit more substantial & nutritious than James Bond. This first Harry Palmer adventure seems even more perfect than when it was thanks to a great espionage recipe and quality ingredients. Michael Caine is sensational as the anti-007, the feel of London streets is intoxicating, and John Barry’s music score is beyond praise. Are Sidney Furie’s directorial mannerisms too show-offy, too fussy? I only raise the question to defend him.

The Ipcress File

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1965 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 109 min. / Street Date October 27, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 24.95

Starring: Michael Caine, Nigel Green, Guy Doleman, Sue Lloyd, Gordon Jackson, Aubrey Richards, Frank Gatliff, Thomas Baptiste, Oliver MacGreevy, Freda Bamford, David Glover, Mike Murray, Anthony Baird.

Cinematography: Otto Heller

Film Editor: Peter Hunt

Production Designer: Ken Adam

Original Music: John Barry

Written by W.H. Canaway,...

Exclusive: Egypt’s El Gouna Film Festival (October 23-30), the Middle East’s first sizeable Covid-era physical film event, has set Peter Webber (Girl With A Pearl Earring) as jury president.

Gérard Depardieu will receive the festival’s Career Achievement Award and actor Said Taghmaoui (La Haine) will received the Omar Sharif Award.

Hannibal Rising and Emperor director Webber told us: “It has been a difficult year for many and especially those of us in the film industry, yet it is important to remember that it is our work that has been keeping so many people entertained, inspired and engaged as they were trapped in their homes or struggling during the biggest pandemic in living memory.

“Therefore it’s a great delight and a privilege to be invited to be president of the jury at El Gouna Film Festival, a festival that will celebrate the importance of film at this crucial time.

Translation by Grace Han

Though “Beasts Clawing at Straws” is his debut feature, Kim Yong-hoon is no stranger to the film industry. After working for about a decade with Cj E&m, where he actively progressed investment in hit projects like “The Berlin File”, “Miss Granny” and “C’est Si Bon”. Filmmaking, however, had always been the end-goal for the salaryman and, after producing his first short film “Do You Wish to Delete?” and several failed attempts at getting a feature-length script off the ground, the 38-year-old was finally able to take the leap to directing with “Beasts Clawing at Straws”.

On the occasion of “Beasts Clawing at Straws” screening at New York Asian Film Festival, we spoke to him about the film, the source novel, the crime thriller genre, the casting of Jeon Do-yeon and Jung Woo-sung and more.

How did you come across the original book by Keisuke Sone...

I keep hitting reading roadblocks, no matter what I do. I used to have a life with a lot of dedicated time for reading and eyes that could stare at pages of text for hours on end, but the past decade has repeatedly broken all of my reading mechanisms, culminating in the minor apocalypse of the past two years. I went from reading 433 books in the Book-a-Day year of 2018 to, um, 43 the year afterward. And 2020 could possibly be even worse.

On top of that, I keep finding new things to stymie me. For example, who would predict that a graphic novel about Berlin sliding into fascism, intolerance, and sectarian violence in the early ’30s would be so resonant, and unpleasant, in 2020?

I’m sure Jason Lutes, planning out this giant project back in 1996, would have expected and wanted modern history to go differently, but, as it is, Berlin Book Three:...

For screenplay Oscars, auteurs have the advantage. Academy voters give creators extra points for controlling their visions. That’s why “The French Dispatch” (Searchlight) — written by three-time screenplay nominee Wes Anderson and collaborators Roman Coppola, Hugo Guinness, and Jason Schwartzman — is a strong contender in this race.

Anderson’s latest European ensemble threads three storylines about the French outpost of a Kansas newspaper. The comedy stars Anderson regulars Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, and Adrien Brody, plus newcomers Benicio del Toro, Jeffrey Wright, Elisabeth Moss, Léa Seydoux, and Timothée Chalamet. In 2015, Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel” scored nine Oscar nominations and won four tech Oscars after playing Berlin, a likely February launch pad for this movie with global appeal.

After winning Adapted Screenplay for “BlacKkKlansman,” Spike Lee was supposed to head the jury at Cannes 2020 and premiere his intense Vietnam drama “Da 5 Bloods” out of competition. Instead the movie,...

Israeli filmmaker won Berlin’s Golden Bear in 2019 with ’Synonyms’.

Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid has been named jury president of this year’s Giornate degli Autori (GdA), that runs parallel to the Venice Film Festival (Sept 2-12).

The writer-director will lead 27 young European film-goers to select the best film in the independently-run section, which is modelled on Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

The jury of the Giornate degli Autori will consist of 27 young cinephiles from every country in the European Union, under the aegis of the European Parliament’s 27 Times Cinema initiative, coordinated in Venice by the director of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival,...

Top Italian film outfit Rai Cinema on Wednesday sounded an upbeat post-pandemic note as it unveiled a slate of 20 upcoming titles to exhibitors and press, comprising new works by prominent Italian directors such as Nanni Moretti, Gianfranco Rosi, and Susanna Nicchiarelli alongside their U.S. acquisitions — most notably Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.”

“Italy will be the only country in the world where this film will not be distributed by a major company,” boasted Rai’s head of distribution Luigi Lo Nigro, referring to Scorsese’s murder mystery drama set to star Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. Apple is reportedly in the process of partnering on “Flower Moon” with Paramount. The Italy deal between Paramount Rai and Leone Film Group had been previously announced.

Rai Cinema chief Paolo De Brocco said he expects shooting to start soon on Scorsese’s next pic, which is based on...

The festival will run from September 17-27.

Finland’s Helsinki International Film Festival (Hiff) has confirmed September 17-27 as dates for its 2020 edition, which it confirmed will take place as a physical event for both the festival and industry section.

The event is sticking with its original dates, with cinemas in Finland having been able to reopen since June 1. New safety guidelines will be introduced in the 11 cinemas used by the festival, which has a full title of Hiff – Love & Anarchy.Finnish Film Affair (Ffa), the industry strand, will run from September 23-25, with all of its content also available...

Saga based on book This Is Chance!: The Shaking Of An All-American City, A Voice That Held It Together.

Ol Parker, whose credits include The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, is set to direct a feature for Concordia Studio about a catastrophic 1964 earthquake in Anchorage, Alaska.

Parker will adapt the screenplay from Jon Mooallem’s book This Is Chance!: The Shaking Of An All-American City, A Voice That Held It Together following a deal between

Concordia acquired rights to develop and produce the feature from UTA on Mooallem’s behalf. Co-founder Jonathan King will produce the project,...

Remember going out at night? Those were different times. But late-night brooding can be the perfect time to lose yourself in music. And these songs are a perfect soundtrack to get lost in, for those long, moody evenings on your own. As part of Rolling Stone’s new weekly playlist series, “Music at Home,” here are 14 songs designed to buoy your spirits and keep you company after midnight, whether you’re battling insomnia, avoiding the news, or just sitting in the kitchen with a cup of tea and your memories.

The more emotion-driven a TV series or movie, the more important the soundtrack. And boy is Normal People, the Hulu adaptation of Sally Rooney’s wildly popular novel of the same name, driven by the emotion of its characters and world.

Normal People follows Marianne and Connell’s complicated relationship as they move from being teenagers at a small town in western Ireland into young adulthood at Dublin’s Trinity College, and showrunner Ed Guiney, directors Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie Macdonald, music supervisors Juliet Martin and Maggie Phillips, and editor Nathan Nugent have done an impressive job crafting the music landscape for this world.

“We were trying all sorts of tracks ourselves,” said Abrahamson, who mentioned Martin, Phillips, Nugent, and himself as the chief collaborators in the process. “So, as well as the work that Stephen Rennicks, the composer, was doing, it was just, again, a very organic kind of collaboration.

Eliza Hittman’s Berlin and Sundance prize-winner was due to receive a theatrical release in the UK.

Eliza Hittman’s Berlin and Sundance award-winner Never Rarely Sometimes Always is to bypass a UK theatrical release and go straight to digital, due to cinema closures as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Universal Pictures and Focus Features were planning to release the acclaimed drama in UK theatres on the back of winning a special jury award at Sundance and the Berlinale’s Silver Bear grand jury prize.

But nationwide cinema closures, imposed in a bid to stem the spread of coronavirus,...

Kino Lorber has acquired the U.S. rights to “There Is No Evil,” an Iranian film that won the Berlinale Golden Bear earlier this year, the art house distributor announced Friday.

The critically-acclaimed film from director Mohammad Rasoulof won the top prize at the Berlin Film Festival from a jury that included actor Jeremy Irons, filmmaker Kenneth Lonergan and actress Bérénice Bejo. Kino Lorber is planning a rollout in theaters and on VOD this fall.

“There Is No Evil” is about executioners who enforce the death penalty in the Islamic Republic. His story was banned from the Iranian government and prevented the director Rasoulof from attending the festival. Like his peer from Iran, Jafar Panahi, Rasoulof has been sentenced to jail in the past and Iranian authorities have tried to enforce a 20-year ban to keep him from making movies. This is his sixth feature film, none of which have screened in Iran.

Editors’ Note: With full acknowledgment of the big-picture implications of a pandemic that has already claimed thousands of lives, cratered global economies and closed international borders, Deadline’s Coping With Covid-19 Crisis series is a forum for those in the entertainment space grappling with myriad consequences of seeing a great industry screech to a halt. The hope is for an exchange of ideas and experiences, and suggestions on how businesses and individuals can best ride out a crisis that doesn’t look like it will abate any time soon. If you have a story, email mike@deadline.com.

Heading into 2020, German producer-distributor Constantin Film was coming off a banner year that included the market’s No. 1 local picture, Perfect Strangers (Das Perfekte Geheimnis), a remake of the original 2016 Italian hit. Grossing €46 million, the title in part helped turn Germany’s box office fortunes around after a rough 2018. The company was...

Acclaimed drama film originally opened theatrically on March 13 before cinema closures.

Focus Features is releasing Eliza Hittman’s Berlin and Sundance prize-winner Never Rarely Sometimes Always on demand on April 3.

The acclaimed drama originally opened theatrically on March 13 before Us cinemas closed in light of coronavirus pandemic terminated the run.

It becomes the second feature from Focus to rush to on-demand after Autumn De Wilde’s Emma, which debuted digitally on March 20 after a brief theatrical run.

The film did not complete a one-week theatrical Oscar-qualifying run, which raises the question of how the Academy will view the move and others in light of coronavirus.

Exclusive: STXfilms is closing a high seven-figure multi-territory pre-buy for the Scott Cooper-directed psychological horror A Head Full of Ghosts, which will star Margaret Qualley (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood).

Stx will distribute in the U.S. and UK and, like it did on Gunpowder Milkshake last month, teamed with its output partners in Latin America (Sun), Canada (Elevation) and Benelux (The Searchers) to acquire those markets as well. Partnering up gives the buyers a better chance of fending off the deep-pocketed streamers.

More from DeadlineSearchlight Pictures Closes Big World Rights Deal For Olivia Wilde's Olympic Gymnast Pic 'Perfect'Coronavirus: eOne & Stx Implement Work From Home ProtocolsSTX Moving 'My Spy' Back To April 17 From March Release Date

The film is backed by Cross Creek, Team Downey and The Allegiance Theater. CAA Media Finance repped U.S. rights while Mad River launched foreign sales at the European...

Samantha Strauss on the set of ‘The End.’

Two days ago Samantha Strauss spent much of the day under the doona, literally crying about the state of the world.

Yesterday Strauss, one of the country’s most successful screenwriters, was back at her computer, working on multiple projects in development for Made Up Stories and Nicole Kidman’s Blossom Films, Joanna Werner and See-Saw Films, including a second season of The End.

“I’m incredibly lucky but it is such a time of unparalleled shitness. I still have some scripts to deliver so that will tide me over for a while.” she tells If.

“It does feel like there’s a responsibility for us content makers to work our arses off right now and have a whole lot of local content ready to be made, just as soon as this hell is over.”

Meanwhile writer Shaun Grant is at home in Los Angeles,...

This Black Widow article contains Major spoilers for Avengers: Endgame. Seriously. Don’t read if you don’t want to be spoiled.

Those who saw Avengers: Endgame may have been a bit surprised to hear that there was a Black Widow solo movie in the works. After all, Natasha sacrifices herself for the Soul Stone leading into the movie’s climactic third act.

However, the fact remains: After years of mumbling and shuffling their feet every time the prospect of a Black Widow movie was raised, Marvel Studios finally saw the light. More likely, they saw the stellar box office numbers and critical acclaim that were heaped on Wonder Woman – the first female superhero to headline her own movie in this modern superhero-driven media era, and steered to success by a woman director – and their own Captain Marvel standalone film.

Here’s everything we know so far about the Black Widow movie…...

A prominent member of the French New Wave, often credited as the French Hitchcock, director Claude Chabrol’s first few features were internationally renowned, seminal works of the movement. Taking home the top prize out of Locarno for Le Beau Serge (1958) and then Berlin with The Cousins (1959), his 1960 Les Bonnes Femmes is a cornerstone alongside the likes of Truffaut’s The 400 Blows (1959) and Godard’s Breathless (1960). But much of Chabrol’s output until the late 1960s, when Les Biches (1968) became a notorious hit, has languished in obscurity.

Revisiting his 1962 title The Third Lover (L’Oeil Du Malin) finds Chabrol navigating similar territories and themes he would eventually be renowned for—jealous lovers, infidelity and murder.…...

Update, writethru: The 70th Berlin Film Festival, and the first under new leadership team Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian, drew to a close this evening with the Golden Bear awarded to Mohammad Rasoulof’s There Is No Evil. Rasoulof is currently banned from leaving Iran for participation in social and political activity. This is the second time in five years that Berlin’s top prize has gone to an Iranian filmmaker unable to travel outside their home country — the last time was in 2015 when Jafar Panahi scooped the honor for Taxi.

Along with Panahi and Asghar Farhadi, Rasoulof, whose credits also include Manuscripts Don’t Burn, is among the best-known Iranian filmmakers on the international stage. His last picture, A Man Of Integrity, won Cannes’ Un Certain Regard prize in 2017, but his passport was confiscated that same year. Yesterday, the director issued a statement of regret over his inability to...

Berlin — Giant Brazilian TV network Globo has seen its bet on shorter-format series vindicated by the selection of two of their new series at this year’s Berlinale Series Market.

Distancing itself from the tradition telenovela narrative, one of Globo’s Berlinale players is ‘Unsoul’ a supernatural drama, rare in its nature as it allows its director, Carlos Manga Jr, to explore the narrative beats of the horror genre without loosing a certain melodrama flare so rooted in Latin American tradition.

The series follows the arrival of Giovana (Maria Ribeiro) and her two daughters at Brigida, a town of descendants of a large wave of Ukrainian immigration. She has decided to settle there and rebuild her life after the sudden suicide of her husband, who had deep family connections to the town. As Ivana Kupala, a folkloric Slavic celebration approaches, she is confronted by mysteries surrounding a crime of the...

Berlin — Produced by Primo Filmes in co-production with Mpm Film, Tabuleiro Filmes and Sp Cine, “Shine Your Eyes,” warmly received at Berlin, tells the story of Amadi (Oc Ukeje), a Lagos musician who flies to Sao Paulo to track down his older brother Ikenna (Chukwudi Iwuji), who’s gone missing, and bring him back home.

As he immerses himself in a city of simmering life, following the scarce trail that his brother’s left behind, Amadi encounters a multitude of characters and, despite language barriers, starts seeing the possibility of a new life.

The debut fiction feature of Matias Mariani who had made the documentary ‘I Touched All Your Stuff,” “Shine Your Eyes” is a highlight of Brazil’s recent drive into diversity via its cinema. A movie that, by both celebrating the culture of its protagonists, the Igbo people, an ethnic group of South-Eastern Nigeria and the exuberant life of Sao Paulo,...

“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...

Brazilian distributor Fenix Films is moving into co-productions with three projects, including two international projects, one featuring Vincent Cassel and the other Berlin Silver Bear winner Paulina García.

Fenix Films’ first international co-production, “Baden Powell,” is a documentary about Baden Powell, considered by some to be the greatest Brazilian guitarist of all time.

Directed by Benjamin Passat and Philippe Baden Powell, the musician’s son, the film will be shot throughout this year and features Cassel as one of the interviewees, as well as musicians Gilberto Gil, Maria Bethânia and Yamandu Costa. The project is under negotiation for co-production with France.

The company is also developing “Los anillos de la serpiente,” a drama directed by Chilean helmer Edson Cajas and starring García, who won the Silver Bear for best actress at the 2013 Berlinale “Gloria.” Set in Chile, the film tells the story of an exemplary doctor who is discovered to...

The two-film deal was negotiated between Njutafilms CEO Nicolas Debot and Arrow Films head of international sales Cameron Waaler.

British outfit Arrow Films has sold two of its genre titles to Swedish distributor Njutafilms

The features comprise Us horror The Dead Center, directed by Billy Senese, and UK genre comedy A Serial Killer’s Guide To Life, directed by Staten Cousins Roe.

The two-film deal was negotiated between Njutafilms CEO Nicolas Debot and Arrow Films head of international sales Cameron Waaler. Arrow is at the Efm as part of a move to increase its activity in the international sales market.

Recent...

This year’s strong Italian presence at Berlin — a total of nine films in various sections, three of which are in competition — is one of several indicators pointing to an upbeat 2020 for cinema Italiano.

The other positives are that box office is picking up thanks to the Hollywood studios finally releasing more movies day-and-date with the rest of the world in the summer, just as the country’s production pipeline is percolating with a promising mix of new works by masters such as Nanni Moretti and promising up-and-comers like Susanna Nicchiarelli.

Government funding has been increased with more than €400 million ($436 million) allocated for various support schemes, including generous tax incentives for foreign shoots.

The batting average for Italian movies at the local box office, where 2019 admissions were up 14%, is still too low. There were 29 feature films last year that did not even gross much more than €1 million ($1.09 million). Still, the picture could be worse.

Four years after Gianfranco Rosi’s documentary Fire at Sea won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale, the hot-button subject of immigration is now set to take center stage in the fest’s growing TV arm, and with the headline-grabbing backing of a double Oscar winner.

The hard-hitting, six-part drama Stateless from NBCU, having its world premiere Feb. 26 as part of Berlinale Series, was co-created by Cate Blanchett alongside her school friend Elise McCredie, who acted as showrunner, and director Tony Ayres, whose first feature, Walking on Water, won Berlin’s Teddy Award in 2002. The series centers on four strangers ...

Black Bear Pictures fully financing; production expected to start in August.

Liam Neeson is set to star in the crime thriller Memory, which Martin Campbell will direct and STXinternational has introduced to buyers in Berlin as the first title in its new output deal with Black Bear Pictures.

Teddy Schwarzman’s Black Bear is fully financing, and Cathy Schulman (Crash) produces through Welle Entertainment alongside Rupert Maconick and Arthur Sarkissian. Schwarzman, Michael Heimler and Ben Stillman are executive producers.

Production is scheduled to begin in the Us in August on Memory, in which Neeson will portray an assassin with failing...

Exclusive: Amid a flurry of buzz titles heading into Berlin’s European Film Market, this could be one of the most in-demand – I can reveal that Protagonist Pictures will launch sales on Official Competition, a comedy reuniting Spanish stars Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz.

The Spanish-language movie has Argentinian directing duo Mariano Cohn and Gastón Duprat at the helm; their credits include the 2016 Venice Competition title The Distinguished Citizen.

Prestige pair Banderas and Cruz are teaming again after appearing together recently in Pedro Almodóvar’s Pain And Glory, which was nominated for two Oscars this month including Best Actor for Banderas.

Cruz is a three-time Oscar nominee and a winner in 2009 for Vicky Cristina Barcelona. She was also on stage at the latest Academy Awards presenting Bong Joon Ho with his statue for Best International Feature Film.

In Official Competition, Cruz will play renowned filmmaker Lola Cuevas, who is recruited...

Exclusive: A24 is heading to the Efm in Berlin with Joaquin Phoenix’s first movie post-Joker.

As we revealed late last year, the untitled drama has been written and directed by 20th Century Women and Beginners filmmaker Mike Mills. A24 is producing and financing and will launch sales next week. The project is likely to be in-demand.

Oscar-winner Phoenix will play an artist left to take care of his precocious young nephew as they forge an unexpected bond over a cross country trip.

Also starring are Gaby Hoffman (Transparent), Woody Norman (Poldark) and Kenneth Kynt Bryan (Claws). The project, budgeted in the $10m range, recently wrapped in New Orleans.

Producers are Chelsea Barnard (Booksmart), Lila Yacoub (Eighth Grade) and Andrea Longacre-White (20th Century Women). Robbie Ryan (The Favourite) is DoP. We hear a script is due to be sent out to buyers this week.

Phoenix is coming off rave...

Kunjue Li is set to play the titular role in Betty Kaplan’s forthcoming film Simone. Written and directed by Kaplan, Li will star opposite Esai Morales in the mysterious, erotic and haunting love story between a writer/professor at Puerto Rico’s leading University and an aspiring artist from the immigrant Chinese community.

Li can be seen in Alan Yang’s forthcoming drama Tigertail. Inspired by Yang’s family, Tigertail touches on themes of regret, longing, passion, and repression while spanning continents and generations, from 1950’s Taiwan to present-day New York City. The protagonist Grover ventures to the states with a women he doesn’t connect with.

Li will play young Zhenzhen, a woman in Taiwan who was always quiet, polite, and out of the way. She finds moving to America with Grover a difficult experience until she meets her friend Peijing and begins to consider her own independence and self-worth.

The strand’s 50th anniversary to open with a previously unfinished film by late Chilean director Raúl Ruiz.

The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 20-March 1) has revealed the 35 films in this year’s Forum line-up, including 28 world premieres.

Scroll down for full list of titles

The strand aims to highlight challenging and thought-provoking filmmaking that brings together film with visual art, theatre and literature.

This year’s Forum will open with The Tango Of The Widower And Its Distorting Mirror from late Chilean director Raúl Ruiz and his widow Valeria Sarmiento.

Ruiz – a four-time Palme d’Or nominee who won...

Berlin's co-production market, where producers look for partners to finance their new projects, will feature more than 50 percent female-directed films for the first time in its 17-year history.

Overall, 11 of the 21 feature film projects on offer at this year's Berlinale Co-Production Market, which runs Feb. 22-26, are from women filmmakers. These include the new feature from Romania’s Adina Pintilie, who won Berlin’s Golden Bear and best first feature with Touch Me Not in 2018. Pintilie returns to Berlin with the relationship drama Death and the Maiden, which will be produced by her Bucharest-based Manekino Film....

Berlin's co-production market, where producers look for partners to finance their new projects, will feature more than 50 percent female-directed films for the first time in its 17-year history.

Overall, 11 of the 21 feature film projects on offer at this year's Berlinale Co-Production Market, which runs Feb. 22-26, are from women filmmakers. These include the new feature from Romania’s Adina Pintilie, who won Berlin’s Golden Bear and best first feature with Touch Me Not in 2018. Pintilie returns to Berlin with the relationship drama Death and the Maiden, which will be produced by her Bucharest-based Manekino Film....

Includes new films from Ann Hui, Mohamed Diab and Kaouther Ben Hania.Asia

Love After Love (China)

Dir. Ann Hui

Hong Kong filmmaker Ann Hui revisits the work of Eileen Chang with this adaptation of 1943 novella Aloeswood Incense about a young woman from Shanghai who heads to Hong Kong to continue her studies, but ends up working for her aunt, seducing rich and powerful men. The cast features Eddie Peng, Ma Sichun and Faye Yu. Hui is regularly feted on the Asian festival circuit but has not been selected for an A-list European event since 2011 when A Simple Life played in competition in Venice.

After years of working in the trenches as the assistant director of blockbusters like The Unjust and The Berlin File, Park Noo-ri visited the New York Asian Film Festival with her directorial debut, Money.  Director Park chatted exclusively with Lmd about helming the cinematic ship for the first time, and her collaboration with rising star, Ryu Jun-yeol.     The Lady Miz Diva:  I just finished speaking with that delightful young man who followed you to New York City, Mr. Ryu Jun-yeol.  He told me how much he enjoyed your collaboration on Money.  Please tell us more about working with him to create the character of Il-hyun?   Park Noo-ri:  When Ryu first signed on the project, I really wanted to make it as if...

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

“Tazza: The High Rollers” set benchmarks for South Korean gambling films back when it was released. The 2nd highest-grossing movie of 2006 back when it was released, it still remains in the Top 50 highest grossing films of all time at the South Korean box office. The film was followed by a sequel “Tazza: The Hidden Card” which was met with mixed reactions upon release and the franchise expanded with a tv series as well. Now, 5 years after the sequel, the third film in the series, “Tazza: One-Eyed Jacks”, is ready for release.

Synopsis

Do Il-chool has a talent for playing poker and he is the son of Jjakgwi. His father was a gambler and had one ear cut off after he was caught cheating. Il-Chool meets mysterious one-eyed gambler Aekku and gets involved in the master gambling world.

The third film is once again based on the namesake comic, the third in the Tazza series.

Ryu Jun-yeol has had quite the upward career graph. Beginning his career as an important part of an ensemble of young actors in 2015’s “Socialphobia”, he begun making his mark on South Korean cinema in 2017 with important supporting roles in “A Taxi Driver”, “The King” and “Heart Blackened”, some of the year’s biggest films in which he shared screen space with South Korean bigwigs such as Song Kang-ho, Jung Woo-sung and Choi Min-sik respectively. He followed that up with more prominent roles in films such as “Little Forest” and “Believer” the following year. Now, 2019 brings with it his first leading roles in the financial thriller “Money” by director Park Noo-ri.

“Money” is screening at New York Asian Film Festival

Jo Il-hyun, the son of raspberry farmers, comes from humble upbringings but dreams of becoming a stock broker and getting rich. He joins one of the top firms on the Yeouido,...

This month’s FilMart rights market in Hong Kong was a busy one for South Korean indie sales house Finecut. It completed multiple license deals.

Berlinale Panorama title “Idol” was acquired by New Select for Japan and Apex Success Global for Taiwan. Directed by indie sensation Lee Su-jin the neo-noir thriller sees the story of a politician who faces the worst crisis of his career due to his son’s car accident. The film stars some of the best-known actors in the country: Han Seok-kyu (“The Berlin File”); Sul Kyung-gu (“The Merciless”) and Chun Woo-hee (“The Wailing”). Locally distributed by Cgv Arthouse, “Idol” opened in Korea on Mar. 20.

Action thriller “No Mercy” scored deals with Busch Media for German-speaking Europe, Borsalino for Latin America, Culture Entertainment for Japan and Av-Jet for Taiwan. Directed by Lim Kyung-tack and starring Lee Si-young, “No Mercy” revolves around a woman searching for her missing sister,...