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24 companies, all but five launched last decade, descend on Locarno from Aug. 6, mostly in person, to present their production slates.

Every market in international is its own story. So the projects they bring run a huge gamut. Following, a quick drill down on the companies and their banner titles. A second article, published later at Locarno, will look at some of the young indie sector’s major concerns and growth areas.

Estonia

Kafka Films, Karolina Veetamm

Tallinn-based, focused on narrative and doc features, at Match Me with a slate led by a trio of socially-relevant titles: “Tell Me,” a “poetical documentary,” says producer Veetamm; women’s emancipation tale “Aurora,” from Andres Maimik and Rain Tolk; and “The Last Five,” a dark comedy about Tallinn homeless from Triin Ruumet director of 2016 dark comedy, “The Days That Confused,” a Karlovy Vary East of the West Special Jury Prize winner.

Alexandra Film, Marianne Ostrat...

Tele München Group’s world sales unit, Tm International, has sold its high-end television series “The Name of the Rose,” starring John Turturro, to multiple territories, including the BBC in the U.K., Sky in Germany and Ocs in France.

Additionally it has been acquired by Yle in Finland, Nrk in Norway, Dr in Denmark, Sbs in Australia, Vrt in Belgium, Rtp in Portugal, Ceska TV in Czech Republic, Sky in New Zealand, and Iti in Poland. As previously announced, AMC’s SundanceTV holds the rights for the U.S. and Canada, and Rai will air the show in Italy.

As well as Turturro, the cast of the eight-hour series includes Michael Emerson, Rupert Everett (“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children”), Damian Hardung (“Red Band Society”), Sebastian Koch (“Homeland”), James Cosmo (“Game of Thrones”), Richard Sammel (“Inglourious Basterds”), Fabrizio Bentivoglio (“Human Capital”) and Greta Scarano (“In Treatment”).

The series...

SundanceTV has boarded The Name of the Rose, a limited international drama series based on Umberto Eco’s acclaimed novel, that stars John Turturro (The Night Of), Michael Emerson and Rupert Everett (Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children).

AMC Networks’ cable network as well as Sundance Now have joined the series, which will also air on Rai in Italy in 2019 and is produced by 11 Marzo Film, Palomar and Tele München Group. Damian Hardung (Red Band Society), Sebastian Koch (Homeland), James Cosmo (Game of Thrones), Richard Sammel (Inglourious Basterds), Fabrizio Bentivoglio (Human Capital) and Greta Scarano (In Treatment) also star in the series, which is currently in production in Italy.

Set in Italy in 1327, The Name of the Rose follows the Franciscan monk William of Baskerville (Turturro) and his novice Adso von Melk (Hardung) as they arrive at a secluded monastery in the Alps. There...

Germany’s Tele München Group has secured a host of international deals for its television adaptation of Umberto Eco’s “The Name of the Rose.” Sky has taken the high-end English-language Italian production for German-speaking Europe, while Orange has acquired rights in France. Sales have also been secured across most of Scandinavia with DRtv taking it for Denmark; Yle for Finland; and Nrk in Norway.

Tele München boarded the project as co-producer and international sales agent in November last year. The 8-part series, which is budgeted at €26 million ($30 million), stars John Turturro (pictured) as 14th-century Franciscan monk William of Baskerville, who investigates a series of grisly murders. Rupert Everett co-stars as antagonist Inquisitor Bernard Gui, with German actor Damien Hardung as Baskerville’s apprentice Adso.

The novel, which has sold over 50 million copies worldwide since it was first publiched in 1980, was previously adapted as a 1986 movie by Jean-Jacques Annaud, which starred Sean Connery,...

The adaptation of Umberto Eco’s book has distribution in German-speaking Europe amongst others.

Tele München Group (Tmg) has announced a range of sales on its series The Name Of The Rose, the adaptation of Umberto Eco’s novel about monks investigating a slew of murders.

Deals include German-speaking Europe (Sky), France (Orange), Finland (Yle), Norway (Nrk) and Denmark (DRtv).

Produced by 11 Marzo Film, Palomar and Tele München Group in association with Rai Fiction, the series has a 19-week shoot currently underway in Italy and is set for a world premiere in spring 2019. Tmg’S world sales unit Tm International is handling worldwide distribution.

The adaptation of Umberto Eco’s book has distribution in German-speaking Europe amongst others.

Tele München Group (Tmg) has announced a range of sales on its series The Name Of The Rose, the adaptation of Umberto Eco’s novel about monks investigating a slew of murders.

Deals include German-speaking Europe (Sky), France (Orange), Finland (Yle), Norway (Nrk) and Denmark (DRtv).

Produced by 11 Marzo Film, Palomar and Tele München Group in association with Rai Fiction, the series has a 19-week shoot currently underway in Italy and is set for a world premiere in spring 2019. Tmg’S world sales unit Tm International is handling worldwide distribution.

Simon Brew Oct 17, 2017

The Name Of The Rose is set to become an eight-part TV show, led by John Turturro...

Many people have lots of time for director Jean-Jacques Annaud’s 1986 take on The Name Of The Rose. His movie starred Sean Connery, Christian Slater and F Murray Abraham, with Ron Perlman in there too. But as is the modern way, a new take on the 14th century tale is heading our way.

In this case, the new The Name Of The Rose is heading to television, with a $27m, eight-part series being put together by Wild Bunch TV. It’s again going to be based on the novel penned by Umberto Eco, and Eco was involved in putting the screenplays together before he died early in 2016.

The new series is going to be led by John Turturro, who has been case in the role of Monk William of Baskerville.

ROME -- Six new Italian films and one Italian classic will highlight the third annual Venezia Cinema Italiano initiative in Brazil.

The series of screenings get underway Thursday in Sao Paulo and conclude Dec. 12 in Brasilia, with stops in Rio de Janeiro and Recife also scheduled.

Among the films screening as part of the tour are Andrea Porporati's Mafia drama "Il Dolce e l'Amaro" (The Sweet and the Bitter), one of three competition films from Italy this year; "La Ragazza del Lago" (The Girl from the Lake) from Andrea Molaioli; Venice Days sidebar favorite "Non Pensarci" (Don't Think); and Bernardo Bertolucci's 1972 classic "Strategia del Ragno" (The Spider's Stratagem), which originally premiered in Venice and re-screened this year as part of an homage to the two-time Oscar winner.

Venice International Film Festival

VENICE, Italy -- Andrea Porporati's "The Sweet and the Bitter" is a curiously hybrid story about a young man caught up in the organized crime of Sicily that combines ugly murders with robberies out of "The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight."

It presents an amoral view of Saro Scordia Luigi Lo Cascio), who enters the world of mobsters even though his hoodlum father is killed while in prison. The lead character is also the narrator as the film sees Saro grow from teenaged petty criminal to all-out thug.

Lo Cascio is good in the role but the film leaves a nasty taste as it appears to sympathize with the character's unregenerate self-pity when events inevitably conspire against him. Screened in competition at the Venice International Film Festival, boxoffice prospects do not appear great outside of Italy.

Saro is the kind of gullible delinquent who mistakes fear for respect, so that when the local mafia don Gaetano Butera (Tony Gambino) offers him work, he goes for it. Butera's son Mimmo (Gaetano Bruno) is his best friend and together they graduate from strong-arm stuff to actually killing someone, although Saro is better at it than the don's son.

Meanwhile, Saro has fallen in love with a good woman named Ada (Donatella Finocchiaro) who knows she shouldn't go out with a hoodlum but cannot resist. When she finally dumps him for another man named Massirenti (Fabrizio Gifuni), Saro beats him to a pulp. He respects him, however, because while Massirenti doesn't fight back, he doesn't back down.

There are the expected mafia-movie scenes of grizzled men in collarless shirts stirring pasta sauce and muttering about honor. At the ceremony in which Saro and Mimmo enter into the underworld society, however, the senior dons deliberately cause insult to Don Gaetano, and to Saro.

It doesn't bode well, as it turns out these people aren't to be trusted. They may, in fact, have had something to do with the death of Saro's father. Disillusioned by his Cosa Nostra experience, the young man decides to head north in search of Ada and some witness protection. He even gets help from Massirenti, who is now a judge, but as we know these things rarely end well.

THE SWEET AND THE BITTER

Medusa, Sciarlo

Director: Andrea Porporati

Writers: Andrea Porporati, Annio Gioacchino Stasi

Producer: Francesco Tornatore

Director of photography: Alessandro Pesci

Music: Ezio Bosso

Costume designer: Mary Montalto

Editor: Simona Paggi

Cast:

Saro Scordia: Luigi Lo Cascio

Ada: Donatella Finocchiaro

Gaetano Butera: Tony Gambino

Mimmo Butera: Gaetano Bruno

Saro at 14: Gioacchino Cappelli

Antonia: Ornella Giusto

Lady in wig: Emanuela Muni

Saro's father: Vincenzo Amato

Vicari: Renato Carpentieri

Stefano Massirenti: Fabrizio Gifuni

No MPAA rating, running time 98 minutes...

ROME -- With more than a third of this year's features made in the U.S. or U.K., the 75th anniversary edition of the Venice Film Festival will have a stronger English-language flavor than it's had in years, organizers revealed as they took the wraps off the full lineup Thursday.

Fifteen U.S. films, including Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited and George Clooney starrer Michael Clayton, and seven Brit titles are among the 57 features screening at the festival. But artistic director Marco Mueller's well-known taste for Asian cinema remains in evidence and the festival boasts a strong presence of homegrown Italian fare.

"There are a lot of films in English, but that is because those countries continue to be willing to risk everything when that's needed," explained Mueller, who said more than 3,000 films were considered before selecting the final lineup. "The films we selected are very innovative works with casts of really big stars, and we continue to look for surprising and innovative films, wherever they come from."

Among the U.S. films joining Anderson's Darjeeling Limited and the Tony Gilroy-helmed Clayton in competition are Redacted from Brian De Palma, a story about the war in Iraq; Andrew Dominik's The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford starring Brad Pitt as Jesse James; In the Valley of Elah from Paul Haggis, about a soldier who returns from Iraq to a family crisis; Todd Haynes' I'm Not There, on the life of folk icon Bob Dylan; and the China-U.S. co-production Se, jie (Lust, Caution) from Golden Lion winner Ang Lee, a thriller set in World War II-era Shanghai.

Lee's film is just the tip of the iceberg for Asia-produced or co-produced films in competition, joining with China-Hong Kong co-production The Sun Also Rises from Jiang Wen; Japan's Sukiyaki Western Django from Takashi Miike; and Taiwan's Bangbang wo aishen (Help me Eros) from Lee Kang Sheg.

Other noteworthy competition titles include Kenneth Branagh's Sleuth -- marking the second consecutive year a Branagh film has screened in Venice, following last year's adaptation of The Magic Flute; Ken Loach's It's a Free World; and Andrea Porporati's Italian drama Il Dolce e l'amaro (The Sweet and the Bitter).

The festival's opening night film, Atonement, from Joe Wright and starring Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, and Vanessa Redgrave also will be in competition.