Rotterdam

Xavier Henry-Rashid’s London-based sales agency Film Republic has closed deals for multiple territories on “F*cking Bornholm,” a tart comedy of social discomfort. The film had its international premiere in the main competition section of Karlovy Vary Film Festival, where it won the Europa Cinemas Label award. In his review, Variety’s…

Saurav Rai’s 2019 film ”Invitation” featured a child protagonist and once again the filmmaker centers a film on a young person. Rai’s “Guras,” a Nepali and Hindi-language film, is a work-in-progress selection at the Hong Kong — Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF). It follows 9-year-old Guras, who lives in a…

Childhood friends Matt Zingler and Tariq Cherif passed the time in South Florida by throwing parties. Soon, those parties turned into scrappy live music events, which then became well-oiled monthly showcases featuring now A-list artists like Kendrick Lamar. In 2015, the duo organized the inaugural Rolling Loud festival, which filled…

As the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival reaches the quarter-century mark this year, the festival’s industry arm, Agora, will host a range of events and initiatives looking to bolster documentary production and distribution in both the host country and the wider region. Headlining the industry program is the Agora’s co-production and co-financing…

Paris-based Italian director Giacomo Abbruzzese says making the Berlin Film Festival competition cut with his first feature, “Disco Boy,” which toplines German star Franz Rogowski (“Passages,” ”Undine”), is “certainly a dream come true.” But he also points out that his remarkable debut was a long time coming.  A graduate of…

Breaking out of traditional, male, Rio de Janeiro/São Paulo strongholds to finally embrace regional, Black and Indigenous writer-directors, Brazil’s next generation of cinematic talent tackles a huge gamut of themes, styles and concern about social issues. Variety profiles 10 figures who look set to help shape the future of Brazilian…

Singapore-based film production outfit Potocol, whose “Tomorrow is a Long Time,” by Jow Zhi Wei bowed at the Berlin Film Festival’s Generation 14plus competition, has revealed a diverse Asian slate. Potocol’s recent triumphs include Bangladeshi filmmaker Abdullah Mohammad Saad’s Cannes selection “Rehana Maryam Noor” and Indonesian director Makbul Mubarak’s Venice…

Spain boasts a bullish presence at the Berlinale. Following, short profiles of its features that have made the festival cut and a selection of top titles being moved at the European Film Market: 20,000 SPECIES OF BEES Director: Estíbaliz Urresola Spain’s Berlin competition player is from Urresola, director of Cannes…

Heretic has closed a raft of deals on Sundance prize-winning documentary “And the King Said, What a Fantastic Machine,” with Picturehouse Entertainment acquiring U.K. rights ahead of the film’s European premiere in the Generation 14plus strand at the Berlin Film Festival. The Athens-based outfit also closed deals for Italy (Teodora…

Taipei-based sales agent and local distributor Swallow Wings Films has picked up Chen Hung-i’s drama thriller “A New Day.” It joins a bulging slate that the company will pitch to buyers at the European Film Market in Berlin. Chen, whose last films “As We Like It” and “The Last Painting”…

Fifteen additional work-in-progress films are set to join the Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) that takes place next month alongside the FilMart rights market. They join 28 previously announced in-development projects. The 21st edition of HAF runs March 13-15 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre…

Fast building as one of Spain’s leading hotbeds for emerging producer and creative talent, the Madrid Film School’s ECAM Incubator, now on its sixth edition, has picked five promising titles for its 2023 program. Aimed at Spanish directors, screenwriters and producers, the Incubator program is open to directors’ debuts as…