DISTRIBUTION
Anthony LaPaglia‘s upcoming factual series “The Black Hand” is set to be distributed internationally by eOne.
The three-part series will explore Australia’s Italian community, looking at the difficulties they face, their politics, the threat of war and the mafia. According to the series synopsis, The Black Hand is the name for a gang of Italian criminals in Australia.
Alan Erson, LaPaglia, Michael Tear exec produce. Adam Grossetti and Kate Pappas produce. “The Black Hand” is directed by Kriv Stenders and written by Grossetti, Stenders and Anya Beyersdorf.
The series was produced by Wildbear Entertainment for ABC in Australia. The deal with eOne excludes Australia and Scandinavia.
“The Black Hand is truly the definition of premium factual,” said Kate Cundall, eOne’s VP for acquisitions. “We’re very excited about the opportunity to take to market a hugely popular genre like true crime with some amazing auspicious.”
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Meanwhile, Shout! Kids, in collaboration with Ukraine’s Animagrad Animation Studio andFilm.UAGroup, will release “Mavka: The Forest Song”in North America on home entertainment and digital on Aug. 15.
Produced by Animagrad Animation Studio amid the ongoing attack from Russia, the filmmaking process was hindered by bombardment, gunfire, unrest and property destruction. based on the Ukrainian drama “The Forest Song” by poet and author Lesya Ukrainka, the English-language film unfolds in a universe that blends ancient Slavic traditions and folklore with a modern narrative that showcases Ukrainian culture, values, designs and music. Oleg Malamuzh and Sasha Ruban direct and the voice cast includes Laurie Hymes, Eddy Lee and Sarah Natochenny.
AWARDS
BAFTA has revealed the timeline for the 2024 BAFTA Film Awards. Voting takes place over three rounds: longlisting, nominations and winners, by the academy’s global voting film membership – comprising over 7,500 industry creatives. The awards rulebook will be published during the week commencing July 10; round one voting will open on Dec. 8; the longlists will be published and round two voting will open Jan. 5, 2024; the BAFTA tea party in Los Angeles will take place on Jan 6, 2024; nominations will be announced and round three voting will open Jan. 18, 2024; and the BAFTA Film Awards will take place on Feb. 18, 2024.
ACQUISITION
Gravitas Ventures have acquired British sci-fi film “Coyote” for North America. The film, by Dustin Curtis Murphy, is set to be released on June 20. It stars “The Witcher’s” Therica Wilson-Read and “Absentia’s” Borislava Stratieva. According to the logline, it is “a story of forbidden love in a dystopian future where teleportation technology enables two refugees to escape genocide.”
Addy Raja and Chris Kyriacou co-produced the pic.
FESTIVALS
The 16th edition of the Bali International Film Festival (aka Balinale) will run June 1-4. The four day event will present forty-five films from thirteen countries at Park23 Creative Hub Cinema XXI, Tuban Kuta, Bali. The opening film is hit Hong Kong courtroom drama “A Guilty Conscience,” directed by Jack Ng. Other notable films include “Sisu” from Finland, directed by Jalmari Helander; “Klondike” from Ukraine, directed by Maryna Er Gorbach; “Where the Wind Blows,” from Hong Kong, directed by Philip Yung; and “Women Talking” from the U.S., directed by Sarah Polley. Another highlight will be the Asian premiere of Oliver Stone’s “Nuclear Now” documentary.
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The Shanghai International Film Festival has set “Love Never Ends,” directed by Han Yan (“Go Away Mr. Tumor” and “A Little Red Flower”) as its opening night title. The Chinese-made film is pitched as a “realistic romance” adapted from a webtoon by Korea’s Kang Full.
It tells the story of two elderly couples who bravely put their hearts into enjoying the fullest and purest love towards the end of their lives and stars Ni Dahong, Hui Yinghong, Liang Jiahui and Ye Tong. It will receive a commercial theatrical release in China from June 21.
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Helen Mirren will be a guest of honor at Italy’s Ora! Fest, a new film event being launched by Los Angeles-based Italian journalist Silvia Bizio in the country’s southern Apulia region. The event – which runs June 3-7 – has also recruited Oscar-nominated actress and producer Alfre Woodard, who will soon be seen in Jeymes Samuel’s Biblical film “The Book of Clarence,” to preside over the jury. Other guests include Terry Gilliam, Marisa Tomei, Matthew Modine, and author and screenwriter André Aciman (“Call Me by Your Name”).
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The BFI Film on Film Festival (June 8-11), the first major film festival in the U.K. dedicated to screening works solely on celluloid, will open with Michael Curtiz’s “Mildred Pierce” (1945) and close with Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws” (1975). Drawn almost exclusively from films preserved in the BFI National Archive, the festival will highlight rarely seen titles and popular classics across a wide range of formats, including 16mm, 35mm, 70mm and Super 8, as well as rare nitrate prints and screenings of vintage dual-strip 3D productions, for which separate 35mm left and right-eye reels are projected simultaneously onto a special silver screen.
THAI THRILLER
Netflix has confirmed an upload date of June 28 for “Delete,” a previously announced fantasy thriller series from Thailand directed by Parkpoom Wongpoom (“Shutter”). The story explores the darker sides of human nature and challenges the notion of secrecy with a mysterious device capable of erasing people from existence. The show stars ‘Aokbab’ Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying and ‘Peter’ Nopachai Jayanama, who recently headed the cast of feature length “Hunger,” which reached the top of Netflix’s Global Top 10 chart. A new trailer is available here: https://www.youtube/watch?v=bMlq2JBpV3Q
TITLE REVEAL
The title of popular Telugu-language cinema star Mahesh Babu‘s 28th film has been revealed as “Guntur Kaaram” and a first teaser has been unveiled. The title as teaser were revealed on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Mahesh Babu’s father Krishna, who was a major star in the Telugu-language film industry.
Directed by Trivikram Srinivas, the film is produced by S. Radhakrishna and Naga Vamsi for Haarika & Hassine Creations. The film also stars Pooja Hegde, Sreeleela and Jagapathi Babu. The plot is under wraps at the moment.
Watch the teaser here:
