Month: June 2020

The death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police and the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests in the U.S. and around the world has reshaped the agenda at the first ever Women in Animation Virtual Summit, held in conjunction with Annecy 2020 Online, this year’s digital version of the Annecy International Animation Festival

DreamWorks Animation has dropped a first trailer to “To: Gerard,” from writer-director Taylor Meacham, a short feature parable about the sense of magic that a parent or parental figure can spark in an dazzled child, still enchanting them 60 years on – and prompting them to inspire others. Having been selected for this year’s Tribeca

Oscar-nominee John Hawkes and Oscar-winner Allison Janney have come on board for roles in the real-life-inspired feature “To Leslie.” The actors join previously announced lead Andrea Riseborough. Mister Smith Entertainment is handling international sales and will introduce the project this month at virtual Cannes. UTA Independent Film Group is representing U.S. sales. Michael Morris (“Bloodline,”

Already offering some of the most robust, and popular, cash rebates for foreign movie shoots, Colombia has just upped its game, expanding the incentives to take in series and music videos and introducing tax breaks for international shoots. Colombia’s government has also confirmed that its cash rebates, issued by the Colombian Film Fund (FFC), will

CNN Films has acquired broadcasting rights to “Jimmy Carter Rock & Roll President.” The look at the bond between the 39th president and pop and country musicians is slated to be the closing film for AFI DOCS film festival on June 21. The documentary was originally scheduled to open the 19th annual Tribeca Film Festival,

Tapping into sales agents and buyers’ increasing need for a 365-day-film marketplace, Archipel Market, a community tool, is launching in the run-up to the Cannes virtual Marché du Film and the agencies-led initiative. Archipel Market was created by Cascade8, which specializes in software solutions for the entertainment industry, in collaboration with Logical Pictures, a financing

Thomasin McKenzie, who starred in “Jojo Rabbit,” will play Joy “Joika” Womack, the American ballet dancer, in James Napier Robertson’s “Joika,” to shoot in New Zealand in early 2021. Embankment has launched worldwide sales and co-reps U.S. rights with UTA Independent Film Group. Kiwi writer-director Napier Robertson, producing partner Tom Hern, and McKenzie are already

Basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson will be the subject of a new feature film documentary from XTR, H.wood Media, NSV and Delirio Films. The filmmakers say they have been granted “unprecedented access” to the Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, whose dominance on the court helped drive the Los Angeles Lakers to five championships. The film

Hawaiian short “Kapaemahu” took home the 15th Animayo Gran Canaria International Grand Jury Award, which included a cash prize of €3,000 ($3,400) and the chance to vie for the Academy Award’s short list of qualifying animated shorts. Written, directed and produced by Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu, Dean Hamer and Joe Wilson, “Kapaemahu” means stones of life in native

“Life-changing” is the kind of hyperbolic descriptor thrown around all too easily in the world of publishing, but it could quite reasonably be applied to Naoki Higashida’s nonfiction bestseller “The Reason I Jump.” Written when Hagashida was just 13 years old, it’s a unique account of autistic spectrum disorder from the inside, giving voice to

Oscar-, BAFTA- and Grammy-winning composer A.R. Rahman (“Slumdog Millionaire”) has joined U.S.-India-Bangladesh film “No Land’s Man” as co-producer and composer. Directed by eminent Bangladeshi filmmaker Mostofa Sarwar Farooki (“Saturday Afternoon”), the film chronicles a South Asian man’s journey that becomes complicated when he meets an Australian woman in the U.S. “Time always gives birth to