TRAILERS
Global family entertainment streamer Da Vinci and Bear Grylls‘ production company BecomingX have debuted the first trailer for docuseries “Becoming Xtraordinary.”
The series features interview-driven stories of success from Julia Roberts, Roger Federer, Courteney Cox, Channing Tatum, Olympic gold medallists, Nobel laureates and more. Co-produced by Chrome Productions, “Becoming Xtraordinary” comprises three seasons of 10 episodes each, all presented by Grylls and guided by in-studio hosts Mwaksy Mudenda (“Blue Peter”) and YouTuber Evan Edinger.
The first season will premiere on May 28 and will be available across Da Vinci’s linear and video-on-demand platforms, including various FAST channels on Local Now, Sling Freestream, TCL Channel, Free TV, Rakuten TV, LG Channels, Netgem and VIDAA.
Grylls said: “There are no shortcuts to success, but there are some secrets. We wanted to create a series where families around the globe can hear first-hand from some of the world’s greatest achievers and realize that they too can attain extraordinary things.”
Estelle Lloyd, Da Vinci co-founder, COO, and series executive producer, added: “We fill a gap in the market by offering real-life, inspirational content that families can enjoy together. We strongly believe that what it takes to achieve your ambitions is often influenced by entertainment.”
Watch the trailer here:
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Meanwhile, the trailer for T-Series Films and Retrophiles‘ “Adipurush,” directed by Om Raut (“Tanhaji”), produced by Bhushan Kumar and starring Prabhas (the Baahubali franchise), Kriti Sanon (“Bhediya”) and Saif Ali Khan (“Vikram Vedha”), has gone viral wth 52 million views within 24 hours of launch.
“Adipurush” is Raut’s take on Indian mythological epic “Ramayana,” by Valmiki, where Rama, the king of Ayodhya, travels to Lanka to rescue his wife Sita, who has been abducted by the king Ravana. The film is selected for the Tribeca Film Festival. It will release worldwide on June 16 in the Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam-language versions and also in 3D.
Watch the trailer here:
STREAMING
Neo Studios‘ “One For All,” a four-part documentary series on Belgian soccer stars Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid CF), Romelu Lukaku (FC Internazionale Milano) and Axel Witsel (Club Atlético de Madrid), will be available exclusively on Prime Video in Benelux, Spain, Italy, the U.K. and Ireland from May 25. The series tracks the players across multiple continents as they prepare for the finals of the world’s largest sports event, the 2022 FIFA World Cup, together with an honest reflection on an unexpected group stage exit with a squad nonetheless comprising most of their golden generation.
FESTIVAL MANAGEMENT
The Busan International Film Festival has appointed Cho Jongkook, as its managing director. He will lead the event this year alongside festival director Huh Moonyung. The appointment was made on Tuesday at a general assembly and board meeting of the festival.
Huh will continue to oversee the official selection of films and festival events and discovery of prominent directors and films in Korea and Asia, while in the new MD position Cho will oversee the operation of the organization, such as corporate operation, general affairs, administration and budgeting. “The appointment of the MD will not only secure global competitiveness for BIFF as a worldwide film festival, but also focus its efforts on accomplishing its mid-to-long term vision and strategic task of becoming an ‘Asian film hub festival’, as announced last year,” the festival explained in its announcement.
“We are highly anticipating the changes that this new appointment will bring,” a festival source told PvNew of the new position. This year’s festival will run Oct 4-13, 2023.
SAVAGE SALES
Female-led Australian crime series“Savage River,” has been sold to a wide slew of international broadcasters. The six-part drama series follows a young woman, portrayed by Katherine Langford (“13 Reasons Why,” “Knives Out,” “Spontaneous”) as she returns to her rural hometown after eight years in prison. But the close-knit community is not about to let her forget her past that easily and when a shocking murder takes place the woman is the prime suspect. With the police closing in, she sets out to prove her innocence and uncovers secrets that cast doubt on everything she thought she knew.
With rights handled by Dynamic Television, the show was licensed to Paramount+ for the U.K. and Germany, MTV3 for Finland, TV4 for Sweden, NENT for The Netherlands and Poland, OTE for Greece, CBC Gem for Canada,Streamz for Belgiumand Radio Canada for French-speaking Canada. The series began airing on ABC Australia in 2022 and was nominated for the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards.“Savage River”was produced by Aquarius Films, in partnership with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
The series was created and written by Giula Sandler, Belinda Bradley, and Franz Docherty, with additional writing credits for Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford. It is directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse and produced by Fielder and Staniford.
CALL OF NATURE
Singapore based producer IFA Media Holdings (IFA) has taken a 50% stake in New Zealand producer Nature Film New Zealand, with an option for further investment in the future. IFA is an independently-owned production group with offices in Singapore, Beijing, Taiwan and Bangkok. It specializes in both scripted and unscripted production. Its credits include the breakout hit “The Teenage Psychic” for HBO, “World’s Biggest Drug Lord” for WBD, “Midnight Asia” for Netflix and multi-season favourite “Monster Fish” for Nat Geo.
Nature Film NZ was founded in 2021 by Kyle Murdoch, the former MD and chairman of NHNZ. Murdoch will remain MD of Nature Film, but will take on additional responsibility for commercial strategy at the IFA group level, working closely with IFA managing partner Frank Smith and fellow partners Alma Cai, Dean Johnson and Lu Bo.
DOING ALLRITE
Singapore-based startup company AllRites Technologies has been acquired by Aura FAT, a SPAC, or blank check company, that listed on NASDAQ last year. Founder by veteran TV executive Riaz Mehta, AllRites operated an online marketplace for film and TV rights that launched around 2018. The transaction is reported to give AllRites an enterprise value of $92 million, with a further $18 million of earnout payments over two years possible and subject to achieving revenue targets. Mehta is expected to continue to run the firm.
DISTRIBUTION
Fremantle has acquired global distribution rights for documentary feature “On the Line: The Richard Williams Story,” which paints a portrait of the life, career and impact of Richard Williams — the family patriarch and tennis coach to Venus and Serena Williams.
Richard Williams provides rare home video footage and candid interviews to detail the family’s unprecedented gate-crashing in the 1990s and beyond of a predominately white, upper-class sport. Newly discovered archival footage from the courts in Compton and a roster of interview subjects retraces the Williams sisters ascent through the tennis rankings in spite of racial oppression and unconscious bias.
The film, which premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival, will have its U.K. premiere at the 2023 Sheffield DocFest in June.
The film is directed by Stuart McClave and produced by ChaVam’s Chavoita LeSane, High Frequency Entertainment’s Duncan Montgomery and Jack Selby, Foundation 360’s Gary Ousdahl and McClave’s McClave Lumber Company. Executive producers include Brenda Robinson, Brit Marling, Ashley Coleman, Charlie McDowell, Alex Orlovsky, Mathilde Jourdan, Harry Gamsu and Bright West Entertainment’s Alex Lieberman and Gary Lieberman.
FESTIVALS
The Sarajevo Film Festival’s industry section Cinelink Industry Days has instituted the Cinelink Impact Award presented by Think-Film Impact Production. The purpose of the award is to provide support in developing a comprehensive impact campaign for a project in post-production phase participating in the Cinelink work-in-progress or Docu Rough Cut Boutique. The award will be decided by a jury and comprises in-kind consultation services worth €20,000 ($22,000) for the impact campaign.
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Meanwhile, the Global Tourism Film Festival, held this year in North Bay, Ontario, Canada, shone a spotlight on the country with Cinema Canada, a segment of Canadian produced film promoting the destination’s heritage. Festival highlights included presentations from domestic and international tourism boards, professional development workshops, film production by film boards, and event programming on indigenous culture.
The festival saw the world premiere of “Closer to Heaven” by director Zara Janjua, attending with cast members, that went on to receive a Women Filmmaker Award. 2023 notable film category award recipients were “Visit Cascais” – Best Tourism Commercial (Portugal), “When the Southwind Blows” – Best Short Film (Taiwan), “Blueback” – Best Feature (Australia) and “Kumari” (India) – Global Cine Award.
AGENCY
U.K. talent management agency Loop Talent is adding industry veterans Nikki Molloy and Zoe Martin as lead agents to its team, launching a new slate of line producers, production managers, first assistant directors, while adding to its list of intimacy coordinators.
The slate of talent repped by Loop includes: line producers Alexandra Breede (“I Came By”); intimacy coordinators Abigail ‘Abi’ Kessel (“Lady Chatterley’s Lover”), Haley Muraleedharan and Rufai ‘Roo’ Ajala; First AD Sam Roffey (“The Golden West”); and production managers, Joanna Osborn (“Bridgerton”) and Christian Rigg (“The Gold”).
