FESTIVAL
The European premiere of Kristoffer Borgli‘s satire “Dream Scenario,” starring Nicolas Cage, will open the 19th Zurich Film Festival (Sept. 28-Oct. 8).
The film follows a hapless family man Paul Matthews (Cage) as he finds his life turned upside down when millions of strangers suddenly start seeing him in their dreams. But when his nighttime appearances take a nightmarish turn, Paul is forced to navigate his newfound stardom. It is produced by Ari Aster and Lars Knudsen of Square Peg, and Jacob Jaffke, Tyler Campellone and A24. The distributor in Switzerland is Frenetic Films AG.
Borgli, who had his breakthrough last year with “Sick of Myself,” will attend the premiere alongside president of the Swiss Federal Council Alain Berset and Zurich city Mayor Corine Mauch.
“We are absolutely delighted to be opening ZFF with this bang-up-to-date comedy about the everyday madness of celebrity culture, which, after all, is often followed by cancel culture,” said festival artistic director Christian Jungen. “The film is really on the pulse of the times and extremely funny. And Nicolas Cage delivers one of the best performances of his career in his role as the professor. It’s a real pleasure to watch and root for him.”
MUSIC AWARDS
The Association of Independent Music has crowned Björk with the best live performer award and Charisse Beaumont, CEO of Black Lives in Music, has been named diversity champion in recognition of her work at the forefront of creating an inclusive music industry.
The awards’ final nominees have also been revealed. The shortlist for the PPL Award for Most Played New Independent Artist includes AntsLive, DJJohn Summit,Surya Sen, Vibe Chemistry andWet Leg. In the Best Independent Label category nods are given to Defected Records,Forever Living Originals, Hospital Records, One Little IndependentandTransgressive.
Best Boutique Label nominees areChess Club Records, Glasgow Underground,Houndstooth, Rough Bones and So Young Records. Music Entrepreneur of the Year nominees include founder of music marketing app Un:hurdAlex Brees,Young founder and label headCaius Pawson,director at Good Energy PRJess Kangalee,founder and CEO of creative solutions company Forward SlashKetura Cummingsand founder of HQ Familia record label and studioYasin El-Ashrafi.
Best Creative Campaign nominees are Because Music(Shygirl – “Nymph”),Dirty Hit(Rina Sawayama – “Hold The Girl”),Human Re Sources(RAYE – “My 21st Century Blues”),Ninja Tune(Young Fathers – “Heavy Heavy”)Partisan Records(Ezra Collective – “Where I’m Meant To Be”) andXL Recordings(Yaeji – “With A Hammer”).
The awards take place at London’s Roundhouse on Sept. 26.
DISTRIBUTION
oneGate Media has secured worldwide distribution rights for parts 3 and 4 of the crime series “Lost in Fuseta,” based on Holger Karsten Schmidt’s bestselling crime novel collection. Parts 1 and 2 premiered on ARD last year, with a market share of 18.5% and secured over four million viewers. Parts 3 and 4 will be broadcast in early 2024 on ARD as 2 x 90-minute films or 4 x 45′ episodes.
Parts 3 and 4, which will be presented at Mipcom later this year, return to the sunny town of Fuseta, Portugal, where Inspector Leander Lost (Jan Krauter), a high functioning autistic police detective, discovers his colleague Teresa (Carlota Crespo) is missing. Lost begins the search for his colleague, with inspectors Graciana Rosado (Eva Meckbach) and Carlos Esteves (Daniel Christensen). When Teresa is found murdered, Lost is confronted with the question why a simple policewoman had to die – only to find out that her death was a collateral damage and that there is something much bigger behind the cas.
The series is directed by Felix Herzogenrath (“Tatort,” “Nord bei Nordwest”). It is produced by 307 production GmbH.
APPOINTMENT
Kaleidoscope Film Distribution has appointed independent film industry specialist Brian Fitzmaurice as their new legal counsel. Fitzmaurice will oversee all legal elements of Kaleidoscope’s international sales, multi-territory and corporate facing activity. He rejoins Kaleidoscope after a short career break having previously worked with them for 10 years. He has had previous stints at the WildBrain Copyright Promotions Licensing Group, Alliance Atlantis and Kew Media (formerly ContentFilm) before a decade with the KFilm Group of companies incorporating Icon Film Distribution, Kaleidoscope Film Distribution, Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment and Platform Entertainment.
