FESTIVAL
The 37th edition of BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival (March 15-26) will open with Kristen Lovell and Zackary Drucker’s Sundance-winning documentary “The Stroll,” which tells the history of New York City’s Meatpacking District from the point of view of the trans women of color who lived and worked there.
Hannes Hirsch’s debut feature, coming-of-age film “Drifter,” fresh off its world premiere at the Berlinale, will close the festival. Tünde Skovrán’s documentary “Who I am Not,” a portrait of the lives of two intersex South Africans and the challenges they face navigating binary sex and gender systems, will be the centerpiece presentation. All filmmakers are expected to be in attendance.
Michael Blyth, BFI Flare’s senior programmer said: “The opening, closing and centerpiece presentations at this year’s BFI Flare offer a fascinating cross section of queer identities, each radically different in both style and content. But more than just three distinct entities, together these remarkable, urgent films explore what it takes to find your voice, to claim your space, and to choose your family.”
The full program will be revealed on Feb. 15.
STREAMING
HBO Max original “Love & Death” will get its exclusive U.K. debut on streaming platform ITVX this fall. The series focuses on two church going couples, enjoying small town family life in Texas, until somebody picks up an axe. The cast includes Elizabeth Olsen, Jesse Plemons, Lily Rabe, Patrick Fugit, Elizabeth Marvel, Tom Pelphrey, Krysten Ritter and Keir Gilchrist.
The series is co-produced by Lionsgate. Executive producers include David E. Kelley (who is writing the series) through David E. Kelley Productions; Nicole Kidman and Per Saari through Blossom Films; Lesli Linka Glatter (who directs the first four and final episodes); Scott Brown and Megan Creydt through Texas Monthly; Matthew Tinker; Michael Klick and Helen Verno. The series is inspired by the book “Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs” and a collection of articles from Texas Monthly (“Love & Death in Silicon Prairie,” Part I & II).
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Meanwhile, National Football League (NFL) and DAZN Group have signed a 10-year partnership to deliver NFL Game Pass International to audiences around the world beginning with the 2023 season. NFL Game Pass International enables audiences outside the U.S. to watch every NFL matchup throughout the regular season and postseason, including the Super Bowl.
APPOINTMENTS
Director of content strategy and planning at U.K. broadcaster Channel 4, Kiran Nataraja, will serve as 2023 advisory chair at the Edinburgh TV Festival (Aug. 22-25). Having started out at the BBC, Nataraja has worked for Channel 4 since 2011, a period that has seen the launch of some of the channel’s seminal programming including “Gogglebox,” “First Dates,” “Derry Girls,” “It’s a Sin,” “Stand Up to Cancer” and “The Paralympics.”
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Blue Ant Media‘s Asian indie Beach House Pictures has launched a new natural history and wildlife content unit and appointed Claire Clements, a former zoologist turned award-winning wildlife filmmaker, as head of wild, reporting to Donovan Chan, creative director and Jocelyn Little, managing director. Clements has directed several Beach House Pictures’ series including “Uptown Otters” (6 x 60,’ Love Nature) “Wild City River World” (1 x 60,’ Channel NewsAsia) and “Wild City Forest Life” (1 x 60,’ Netflix), narrated by David Attenborough.
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Development producer Daysun Perkins has joined specialist factual producer NHNZ Worldwide in the new role of senior VP, development, based in Los Angeles. Perkins has 25 years of experience across network and production company development and was most recently senior VP of programming and development at Remedy Television.
SALES
Entertainment One has licensed series “The Rookie: Feds,” starring this year’s Critics Choice Award winner Niecy Nash-Betts, to more than 110 territories worldwide including U.K. (Sky), Australia (Seven Network), Israel (yes DBS), New Zealand (TVNZ), Netherlands (Talpa), Africa (M-Net), Japan (WOWOW), Norway (TV2), Iceland (Siminn) and Belgium (SBS).
The series stars Nash-Betts as Simone Clark, the oldest rookie in the FBI. Clark is a force of nature, the living embodiment of a dream deferred – and she works together with her new colleagues at the Bureau to bring down the country’s toughest criminals. The cast also includes Frankie R. Faison, James Lesure, Britt Robertson, Felix Solis and Kevin Zegers.
Hawley and Terence Paul Winter are co-creators, co-showrunners and executive producers for the series. Mark Gordon, Niecy Nash-Betts, Nathan Fillion, Michelle Chapman, Bill Norcross, Corey Miller, Michael Goi and Bibby Dunn are executive producers. eOne is the lead studio and international distributor of the series, which is a co-production with ABC Signature, a part of Disney Television Studios.
TRAINING
“Normal People” and “The Favourite” producer Element Pictures, a Fremantle company, is welcoming applications from emerging Irish directors for shadow director positions on upcoming productions across film and television. The initiative will offer directors a paid opportunity to shadow an established director, on selected dates, through the various stages from development to post-production on a specific project, with a goal to equip them with first-hand industry insight and practical professional experience. Applications must be received by Feb. 10. More information here.