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Manhunter, the serial killer thriller by Michael Mann, is streaming for free on both Pluto TV here and on Prime Video here, and it will be moving to Tubi on March 31. Fans of the thriller genre know that this is not only one of the best thrillers of the '80s, but of all time, and introduced many people to the iconic character, Hannibal 'The Cannibal' Lecter. Other titles arriving on Tubi at the end of the month include the Michael Shannon masterpiece Take Shelter, Sarah Polley's recent acclaimed drama Women Talking, and the Best Picture winner The Hurt Locker, among others.

Manhunter follows Will Graham, a retired FBI agent who used to work as a criminal profiler before having a mental breakdown during his pursuit and arrest of Dr. Hannibal Lecktor. Graham's former boss, Jack Crawford, seeks the profiler's help when the Tooth Fairy, a new serial killer on the rise,...

Everyone loves a good villain. Without scenery-chewing, dastardly antagonists for our heroes to fight, things just aren't much fun. Sometimes villains become cultural icons in their own right, like Michael Meyers from the "Halloween" movies or even Jeremy Irons as Scar in "The Lion King." Of course, one of the greatest villains of them all is Hannibal Lecter. Created by author Thomas Harris, "Hannibal the Cannibal" was the baddie in the novels "Red Dragon" in 1981, "The Silence of the Lambs" in 1988, "Hannibal" in 1999, and "Hannibal Rising" in 2006, and his well-mannered eccentricity and fierce bloodlust makes him as alluring as he is terrifying. These books have since been adapted into several Hannibal Lecter movies and an NBC television series, with four different actors having portrayed the aristocratic Lithuanian serial killer, each with their own unique spin. 

But who did it best? No one person cast as the clever cannibal was ever truly bad in the role,...

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) will announce its nominations on Wednesday, Jan. 15, casting a spotlight on an unpredictable awards season. This year’s nods come amid a somber backdrop as the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles have left communities grappling with loss. I’m sure the BAFTA’s announcement will mention the City of Angels and the first responders, the true heroes battling the blazes.

For the approximately 13,500 international members of BAFTA — representing a diverse range of disciplines across film and television — this year’s nominations serve as a cultural barometer, often influencing the Oscar race. With ballots for the Academy Awards due on Friday, Jan. 17, following its announced voting extension, BAFTA (who voted before the wildfires broke out) may provide a clearer picture of where AMPAS’ influential international voting bloc will likely land.

BAFTA’s acting categories have been somewhat unpredictable in recent years due...

Indian actor Konkona Sen Sharma has been cast as the lead female protagonist opposite Carlos Bardem (“El Cid”) in the comedy feature “Mis(s)chief,” it was revealed at the Film Bazaar in Goa.

The project hails from U.K. and India-based production outfit Avani Films and is currently in development. It has advanced to the second round at the 2025 Sundance Development Labs as a curated entry.

“Mis(s)chief” will follow a mother of two trying to succeed as a filmmaker while navigating a failing marriage, the odd bullet from a gangster she has unwittingly managed to annoy and the never-ending schedule of her children’s homework. British filmmaker Peter Webber (“Girl With a Pearl Earring”) is on board as executive producer and Emmy-nominated casting director Nancy Bishop is assembling an international cast.

“I am delighted by the comic premise, the representation of women and the writing itself,” Sen Sharma said.

Exclusive: Filming has wrapped on Dragn, an under-the-radar horror-sci-fi film, starring James Paxton (Twisters), Carlos Bardem (Assassin’s Creed), Lilly Krug (Plane) and Alice Pagani (Loro).

Peter Webber (The Girl With The Pearl Earing) is directing the movie, which Myriad Pictures will be launching world sales on at next month’s American Film Market in Las Vegas.

The film centers on a group of co-workers on a routine corporate team-building trip which transforms into a nightmare when they unwittingly become the prey of a rogue AI-driven drone. Above is a first-look image.

Pic is being produced by Alex Lane and Oleg Shardin for Puma In A Tank, in unison with Georgia Witkin for GM4U Productions.

Webber, also known for Hannibal Rising and Emperor, also co-produces the film which is written by Barry Hutchison (SuperMansion) and Alexander Gordon Smith (The Box), who are also executive-producing via Thunder Mouse Productions. Producer Lane also contributed to the script.

Bloody Disgusting has teamed up with Lionsgate to release seven modern horror favorites on Blu-ray + Digital in limited edition SteelBook packaging, available exclusively at Walmart today.

The line includes Wolf Creek, Hannibal Rising, I Spit on Your Grave, You’re Next, Sinister, Texas Chainsaw, and Leatherface.

Priced at $22.96, each title features brand new artwork by Bond.

Wolf Creek is written and directed by Greg McLean. John Jarratt, Nathan Phillips, Cassandra Magrath, and Kestie Morassi star.

In the 2005 film, a trio of stranded backpackers in remote Australia fall prey to a psychopathic local, who takes them captive and tortures them.

Wolf Creek special features:

Unrated Cut of the Film Audio Commentary by Director Greg McLean, Executive Producer Matt Hearn, and Actors Cassandra Magrath and Kestie Morassi The Making Of Wolf Creek Deleted Scene Theatrical Trailer

Hannibal Rising is directed by Peter Webber and written by Thomas Harris, based on his own novel.

Peter Webber, who helmed the Oscar-nominated “Girl With the Pearl Earring,” is to direct a film about the family behind the Leica camera brand, who helped many Jewish people escape Germany during World War II.

Webber has teamed up with Red Panda Films’ Martin Serene and Franziska Morai, also the film’s screenwriter, Christine Guenther of Fireglory Pictures and Birgit Gernboeck to produce the film, with Versa Studios attached as a partner.

Leica was founded by Ernst Leitz in 1869 as a manufacturer of microscopic lenses, but in the 1930s Ernst Leitz II took the risk of mass producing the first 35mm compact camera, an invention that optical engineer Oskar Barnack had worked on for over two decades. The camera was revered by photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson.

“However, the revolution of the Leica camera is only half of the story,” Webber said. “Hardly anyone is aware that Ernst Leitz II,...

McCracken will still be involved with his long-gestating Alexander McQueen project.

After 23 years producing films in the UK, French mini-major Pathe will close its UK theatrical film distribution business by the end of 2023 to focus on the development and production of scripted TV series under managing director Faith Penhale.

Cameron McCracken, head of film at Pathe UK, is retiring but will remain involved with several ongoing projects at Pathe including a film about Alexander McQueen to be directed by Oliver Hermanus.

The roles of three key people are being made redundant: Lee Bye, long-time head of theatrical distribution and technical,...

Tarak Ben Ammar has big plans for Italy. The Franco-Tunisian film and TV mogul is already a major player in the Italian industry thanks to Eagle Pictures, the production and distribution group he acquired in 2007 that is now Italy’s largest independent distributor due to exclusive distribution deals with Paramount and Sony Pictures for the territory. Ben Ammar joined Tom Cruise on the Rome red carpet for the June 19 world premiere of Paramount’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One and later introduced Cruise to new Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni. “The meeting [between Cruise and Meloni] was very interesting. The prime minister knows a lot about cinema,” says Ben Ammar about the far-right leader.

Alongside Eagle’s distribution deals, the company has also partnered with Sony to co-produce six films together, including The Equalizer 3, the latest in Antoine Fuqua’s action franchise starring Denzel Washington that was shot entirely in Italy.

Peter Webber has signed on to direct the wartime thriller “Irena Sendler.” It tells the true story of Irena Sendler, a Polish social worker who defied the Nazis and organized a team of young women to smuggle 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust. Casting is currently underway and production is expected to start in Poland later this year or early in 2024.

The script was penned by Agatha Dominik, Brian Pittman & Rachel Long, Stuart Hazeldine, and Jeff Most. The film will be produced by Most (“The Crow”), BAFTA Award winning and Academy Award winning producer Ewa Puszczyńska, Jeff Rice, Armory Films’ Christopher Lemole and Tim Zajaros, and Golden Globe winning producer Gareth Wiley of Phoenix Wiley.

“Irene Sendler was an icon, an inspiration, an incredibly brave young woman who risked her own life to save hundreds of young children in the Warsaw Ghetto from certain death at...

Exclusive: French wildlife director Guillaume Maidatchevsky has revealed fresh details about his upcoming live-action Arctic fox adventure Kina & Yuk, on which Newen Connect is launching sales at the EFM.

Driven by the impact of climate change and the melting of the Polar ice packs, the drama follows an arctic fox couple who are separated when the male gets trapped on a piece of breakaway ice, leaving his heavily pregnant mate to survive on her own, as hunger and predators close in.

The drama brings the protagonists into contact with a host of other Arctic animals including lemmings, polar bears, red foxes, arctic wolves and minks.

Like Maidatchevsky’s breakthrough first feature Alio’s Journey (aka A Reindeer’s Journey), the new film will be created out of live-action footage of real animals in their natural habitats.

Maidatchevsky and his compact crew have been shooting in the Yukon in Northwestern Canada,...

Click here to read the full article.

The Oscar-nominated screenwriter Alessandro Camon (The Messenger) has signed on to adapt the Italian psychological thriller You Will Find the Words (Le parole lo sanno) for the screen.

British director Peter Webber (Girl With a Pearl Earring, Hannibal Rising) is attached to direct the film, which Rome-based Fenix Entertainment are producing.

Franzoso’s novel centers around a man with a terminal illness who has a chance encounter with a woman on a park bench, an encounter that leads to an extreme act of violence.

Camon told The Hollywood Reporter Fenix approached him about the adaptation and introduced him to Webber.

“We immediately hit it off,” he notes, calling Webber a “Renaissance man. He’s a cosmopolitan, he loves many genres and languages, and he’s truly into what he does.”

The film version of Franzoso’s novel will, like the book, be set...

Prodded on by Jean Seberg’s Patricia, halfway through Breathless, a director played by Jean-Pierre Melville says his greatest ambition is “to become immortal, and then die.” It’s a line that might as well sum up the extraordinary career of Breathless’s own helmer and French New Wave doyen, Jean-Luc Godard, who died of assisted suicide at his home in Rolle, Switzerland, on September 13. He was 91. His longtime lawyer told The New York Times the director suffered from “multiple disabling pathologies,” while a relative told the press he “was not sick—he was simply exhausted.” The tributes that have since poured in from all corners of the world are as gargantuan and scholarly as his output. But though “the practice of honoring our artistic giants is one that thrives on analysis,” Justin Chang notes at the L.A. Times, “what feels more fitting to offer at this still-early moment...

Exclusive: Mark Strong (TÁR), Jahleel Kamara (Nanny), Marvin “Krondon” Jones III (Black Lightning), Natalia Reyes (Terminator: Dark Fate), Yoson An (The Plane) and Ed Quinn (The Oval) have signed on for roles in Lionsgate’s action-thriller Shadow Force, from director Joe Carnahan, which has entered production in Colombia. The actors join an ensemble led by Kerry Washington and Omar Sy, which also includes Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Cliff “Method Man” Smith, as previously announced.

The film penned by Leon Chills and Carnahan follows Kyrah (Washington) and Isaac (Sy), who were once the leaders of a multinational special forces group called Shadow Force. They broke the rules by falling in love, and in order to protect their son, they go underground. With a large bounty on their heads, and the vengeful Shadow Force hot on their trail, one family’s fight becomes all-out war.

Details as to the roles the film...

Jesse Eisenberg won’t be using a social network for his next role.

The “Social Network” alum revealed that he will be playing Sasquatch in an upcoming project helmed by directing duo David and Nathan Zellner. Eisenberg previously starred opposite David Zellner in Riley Stearns’ “The Art of Self-Defense,” which was produced by Nathan Zellner.

“The next movie I’m doing is the Zellner Brothers’,” Eisenberg confirmed to Variety. “They’re just these brilliant directors that I’ve wanted to work with for a long time, and I’m playing a Sasquatch.”

He added, “In full makeup. In full body hair. No lines — I grunt, but no lines — and I’m so looking forward to this.”

The Zellner Brothers have long been fascinated with Bigfoot, releasing Sundance award-winning short film “Sasquatch Birth Journal 2” in 2010. Eisenberg also recently made his feature directorial debut with the drama “When You Finish Saving the World...

In this edition of The Silver Lining, we’ll be covering Peter Webber’s 2007 entry in the Hannibal franchise, Hannibal Rising. No character exemplifies our fascination with charismatic madmen like Thomas Harris’ most infamous creation, Dr. Hannibal Lecter. While the overall quality of the media he’s been featured in may vary, I’d argue that every single […]

The post Finding an Underrated Performance in ‘Hannibal Rising’ [The Silver Lining] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Exclusive: Peter Webber (Girl With A Pearl Earring) is set to direct The Pianist, Valkyrie and Indiana Jones 5 star Thomas Kretschmann in WWII movie The Prominents.

Set in the chaotic final days of World War II, the story follows a group of Nazi Germany’s most prominent prisoners as they are transported across Europe, out of Allied reach, to be used as bargaining chips in the German surrender. On their journey, they endure aerial attacks, collapsing bridges, partisan raids, and the escalating threat of liquidation by their Nazi captors.

Kretschmann will star as Bogislaw von Bonin, a German prisoner battling his own demons: complicity in the war’s atrocities and the drug abuse he uses to cope with it.

Hippolyte Girardot (The French Dispatch) and Irène Jacob (The Double Life of Veronique) will play French prime minister Leon Blum and his wife Janot, respectively. Valentina Cervi (Jane Eyre) is playing...

British director Peter Webber is attached to direct an adaptation of Italian psychological thriller “Le Parole Lo Sanno” (“You Will Find the Words”), which is being produced by Rome-based shingle Fenix Entertainment.

Webber, who more recently directed ITV miniseries “Tutankhamun” and high-end Arabic historical skein “Kingdoms of Fire,” said an Oscar-nominated English-language screenwriter is on board to adapt the book by Marco Franzoso. The novel centers around a man with a terminal illness whose chance encounters on a park bench with a woman, who is being abused by her husband, leads to an extreme act.

“It’s going to be a very loose adaptation,” said Webber, adding that he’s “not even sure the gender [of the two main characters] will remain the same” as those in Franzoso’s book. The director noted that “there are also some other elements [not in the book] that we are developing at the moment.” He is hoping to have a first draft...

With a wide field of potential contenders, the Producers Guild of America made some surprise picks and snubs for its seven nominees for Best Feature Documentary on Monday. The films nominated for the Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Motion Pictures are listed below in alphabetical order:

“Chasing Coral” (Jeff Orlowski, Netflix)

“City of Ghosts” (Mattew Heineman, Amazon)

“Cries from Syria” (Evgeny Afineevsky, HBO)

“Earth: One Amazing Day” (Peter Webber, Lixin Fan, Richard Dale, BBC Earth)

“Jane” (Brett Morgen, NatGeo)

“Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower” (Joe Piscatella, Netflix)

“The Newspaperman: The Life and Times of Ben Bradlee” (John Maggio, HBO)

Among the lauded documentaries left off the 2017 PGA nominations were Cannes documentary winner “Faces Places,” directed by Agnes Varda and Jr, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s portrait of Brooklyn Hassidim, “One of Us,” and popular Turkish cat documentary “Kedi.”

While the PGA’s feature nominees often align with Oscar contenders,...

With a wide field of potential contenders, the Producers Guild of America made some surprise picks and snubs for its seven nominees for Best Feature Documentary on Monday. The films nominated for the Award for Outstanding Producer of Documentary Motion Pictures are listed below in alphabetical order:

“Chasing Coral” (Jeff Orlowski, Netflix)

“City of Ghosts” (Mattew Heineman, Amazon)

“Cries from Syria” (Evgeny Afineevsky, HBO)

“Earth: One Amazing Day” (Peter Webber, Lixin Fan, Richard Dale, BBC Earth)

“Jane” (Brett Morgen, NatGeo)

“Joshua: Teenager vs. Superpower” (Joe Piscatella, Netflix)

“The Newspaperman: The Life and Times of Ben Bradlee” (John Maggio, HBO)

Among the lauded documentaries left off the 2017 PGA nominations were Cannes documentary winner “Faces Places,” directed by Agnes Varda and Jr, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady’s portrait of Brooklyn Hassidim, “One of Us,” and popular Turkish cat documentary “Kedi.”

While the PGA’s feature nominees often align with Oscar contenders,...

Contrary to popular belief, the Japanese are not totally averse to watching war movies, with Clint Eastwood’s Letters from Iwo Jima and Peter Webber’s Emperor being fairly well-received in recent years. However, those films undoubtedly owed their success to the presence of revered Japanese actors Ken Watanabe and Toshiyuki Nishida, boy-band idol Kazunari Ninomiya and the calmly authoritative Tommy Lee Jones (who is so big over here that he fronts a major coffee brand). Given that Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk offers none of the above, one wondered how the Tokyo media conference, held at the plush Roppongi Hills complex on Thursday […]...

Earth: One Amazing Day, the sequel to Earth, which looks at the best the natural world has to offer in a single day, will be released in theaters nationwide on October 6, 2017 from BBC Earth Films. The family-friendly G-rated film is narrated by environmental activist and Hollywood legend Robert Redford. The film was directed by Richard Dale (The Human Body) and Peter Webber (The Girl with the Pearl Earring). Breakthroughs in filmmaking technology bring the audience up…...

Oscar-winner signs on to Second World War escape drama that Fortitude International will introduce to Cannes buyers.

Colin Firth will star in Benjamin’s Crossing as Walter Benjamin, the Jewish philosopher who escaped from the Nazis by fleeing across the Pyrenees in 1940.

Pat O’Connor, who worked with Firth on the Un Certain Regard entry A Month In The County, will direct and production is expected to start this autumn.

Benjamin’s Crossing is based on Jay Parini and Devon Jersild’s adaptation of Parini’s novel of the same name.

Benjamin fled his home in Paris and met Lisa Fittko who agreed to help the ailing man escape over the mountains to Spain.

Carl Effenson of Artimage Entertainment produces with Sally Jo Effenson of Joule Films, and Lucas Jarach, along with Fortitude’s Robert Ogden Barnum and Nadine de Barros.

Fortitude International, co-founded by de Barros and Barnum, is financing the project and will begin pre-sales...

Diving into the backstory of one of the world’s most famous paintings, The Medusa follows artist Théodore Géricault and his relationship to the tragic events that inspired his harrowing and politically significant masterpiece, “The Raft Of The Medusa.” Jesse Eisenberg is playing Géricault with Pierce Brosnan as his uncle and nemesis, Caruel. Vanessa Redgrave is the painter’s anti-royalist innkeeper. Girl With A Pearl Earring helmer Peter Webber is directing from a script…...

Exclusive: Fortitude International to launch sales in Cannes.

Fortitude International will introduce international buyers in Cannes to The Medusa starring Jesse Eisenberg, Pierce Brosnan and Vanessa Redgrave.

Peter Webber will direct his second film based on a renowned work of art after 2003’s Girl With A Pearl Earring, named after the painting by 17th century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer.

The Medusa stars Eisenberg as Theodore Gericault, the early 19th century pioneer of the French Romantic movement whose masterpiece The Raft Of The Medusa was inspired by the sinking of a French frigate.

Survivors of the wreck spoke of incompetence and cannibalism and the painting stirred anti-royalist sentiment at the time of King Louis Xviii’s rule.

Brosnan will portray Gericault’s uncle Caruel, the artist’s nemesis who is hell-bent on ruining him, while Redgrave plays the painter’s anti-royalist innkeeper.

Sophia Al-Maria adapted the screenplay from Jonathan Miles’s book The Wreck Of The Medusa.

Production...

Exclusive: Goldcrest has secured pre-sales on BBC nature documentary.

Goldcrest Film has revealed a string of deals in key markets for large scale nature documentary Earth: One Amazing Day.

Screen revealed Robert Redford and Jackie Chan’s involvement with the feature yesterday.

Goldcrest has pre-sold the documentary to France (TF1 Studio), Italy (Koch Media), Benelux (The Searchers), South Korea (Mediaday), Switzerland (Impuls Pictures), Turkey (Tanweer Films), Phillippines (Captive Entertainment), (Malaysia/Brunei (Suraya Film) and Middle East (Selim Ramia & Co).

Deals for China with Smg Pictures and Germany with Universum Film were already annnounced.

Currently in post-production, the sequle to box office hit Earth is directed by Peter Webber (The Girl With The Pearl Earring) and Richard Dale (The Human Body).

Script comes from Frank Cottrell-Boyce (The Railway Man) while score is overseen by Alex Heffes (The Last King Of Scotland).

The film is a co-production between BBC Earth Films (as Earth Film Productions Limited) and Chinese outfit...

Robert Redford will narrate Earth: One Amazing Day, the sequel to BBC Earth Films' hit 2007 film Earth, while Jackie Chan will narrate the Mandarin-language release.

Directed by Peter Webber (The Girl with the Pearl Earring) and Richard Dale (The Human Body), Earth: One Amazing Day will explore Earth's creatures on the big screen, up close and personal in an immersive voyage across the continents.

The film is currently in postproduction at the BBC Earth Films’ studio under a production team including leading screenwriter Frank Cottrell-Boyce and composer Alex Heffes.

A BBC Earth Films and Smg Pictures co-production, Earth: One...

Exclusive: Redford, Chan to narrate English and Mandarin versions of BBC documentary sequel; Goldcrest handles sales.

Robert Redford and Jackie Chan have been set to narrate the English and Mandarin versions of documentary Earth: One Amazing Day, the sequel to 2007 box office hit Earth.

Directed by Peter Webber (The Girl With The Pearl Earring) and Richard Dale (The Human Body) the film is currently in post-production at the BBC Earth Films’ studio.

Script comes from Frank Cottrell-Boyce (The Railway Man) while score is overseen by Alex Heffes (The Last King Of Scotland).

The Mandarin-language version will be co-directed by Lixin Fan (Last Train); screenwriter Geling Yan (Flowers of War) and music producer Roc Chen (Chinese music consultant on Kung Fu Panda 3) are also on board.

The film will tell the story of one day in the life of the planet, “celebrating the billions of real-life dramas that occur in the natural world every day”.

A co-production between...

Exclusive: Industry figures in Colombia have moved to reassure international partners that the shock referendum vote rejecting peace talks with Farc guerrillas will not affect the country’s growing reputation as a safe production base.

Their comments follow Sunday’s plebiscite in which approximately 38% of the electorate confounded expectations and voted 50.2% to 49.8% in favour of a “no” result.

“I don’t think it’s going to have any impact,” said Andres Calderon, the CEO at the country’s largest producer-financier that has four projects in production or about to start filming. “In the last four years our industry has worked and will probably work better.

“We don’t know how strong the dollar will be against the peso, but in terms of security, it’s not going to affect anything. We’ve shot everywhere in the last four years.

“I know the perception of people outside is [an issue], but the mindset has to be that there’s been...

Directors Chanya Button, Adrian Sitaru, Xavier Seron scoop prizes; festival reveals works in progress winners.

UK filmmaker Chanya Button’s debut feature as director and producer, Burn Burn Burn, was voted by the audience at the Odessa International Film Festival (Oiff) as the winner of this year’s Grand Prix.

Producer Daniel-Konrad Cooper accepted the Golden Duke statuette on behalf of the production team from Oiff’s festival president Victoria Tigipko during the gala closing ceremony in the Black Sea city’s historic National Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet.

Button’s melancholic comedy had premiered at last year’s London Film Festival and is being handled internationally by Urban Distribution International.

International Competition

Meanwhile, the International Competition jury - headed by the UK writer Christopher Hampton and also including Oiff 2015 winner Eva Neymann, Us writer-director-actor Alex Ross Perry, producer Rebecca O’Brien and producer-director Uberto Pasolini - gave the Golden Duke statuette for Best Film to...

Exclusive: Goldcrest boards sequel to doc which took more than $110m worldwide; film is first under UK-China co-pro treaty.

Goldcrest Films has boarded world sales rights (excluding China, Germany, Hk, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and UK) to BBC Earth Films and Smg Pictures’ nature documentary Earth: One Amazing Day, the sequel to Earth, the 2007 box-office hit that grossed more than $110m worldwide.

Goldcrest cut the all-rights deal with BBC Worldwide and while some key territories are off the table Goldcrest will crucially handle sales in Us, where the original made more than $30m, and France, where it scored more than $11m.

BBC Worldwide will retain rights in all excluded territories to the standalone feature.

The film is directed by Oscar-nominated Peter Webber (The Girl With The Pearl Earing) and BAFTA nominee Richard Dale (The Human Body). The film will tell the story of one day in the life of the planet, “celebrating the billions...

Sherlock: The Movie is finally happening. Well, sort of.

The next episode of the BBC hit - a special set in Victorian London - will be screened in cinemas in China later this year.

The 'global cinema event' is part of a deal between BBC Worldwide and China's Shanghai Media Group, planned to capitalise on the show's large international audience.

The first three series of Sherlock have already been licensed to 224 territories - more than any other BBC programme.

BBC Earth Films and Smg Pictures - the film and television production arm of Shanghai Media Group - will also collaborate on an unrelated feature film, Earth: One Amazing Day.

The movie will be directed by Girl with a Pearl Earring filmmaker Peter Webber and will tell the story of one day in the life of the planet.

It's slated for release in 2017 - which is likely when we'll get...

With China/UK media day underway in London, BBC Earth Films and Shanghai Media Group Pictures have set the first feature to be produced under the countries’ nascent co-production treaty. With the working title Earth: One Amazing Day, it’s set to be directed by Girl With A Pearl Earring and Hannibal Rising helmer Peter Webber. An as-yet unnamed Chinese helmer will collaborate. Earth: One Amazing Day is the sequel to the 2007 nature documentary, Earth, which went on to…...

With China/UK media day underway in London, BBC Earth Films and Shanghai Media Group Pictures have set the first feature to be produced under the countries’ nascent co-production treaty. With the working title Earth: One Amazing Day, it’s set to be directed by Girl With A Pearl Earring and Hannibal Rising helmer Peter Webber. An as-yet unnamed Chinese helmer will collaborate. Earth: One Amazing Day is the sequel to the 2007 nature documentary, Earth, which went on to…...

Documentary Earth: One Amazing Day to be the first feature produced under the UK-China film co-production treaty; new Sherlock special to screen in Chinese cinemas.

BBC Earth Films and Smg Pictures have announced a partnership to create new feature film Earth: One Amazing Day (working title), with release set for 2017.

The documentary is the sequel to the BBC’s 2007 documentary, Earth, and is the first feature film to be produced under the UK and China film co-production treaty, signed last year.

It will be directed by British filmmaker Peter Webber (Girl with a Pearl Earring, Emperor, Hannibal Rising), working with the BBC’s nature filmmakers, together with an as-yet-unnamed Chinese director.

The deal will be signed at a ceremony in London today (Sep 21) with Wang Jianjun, director-general and president, representing Smg and Paul Dempsey, president, global markets, representing BBC Worldwide.

The signing ceremony will take place at the creative showcase being held at Lancaster House in London...

Jurassic Park's Sam Neill and The White Queen's Max Irons will mine the treasures of ancient Egypt in ITV's Tutankhamun.

Hannibal Rising director Peter Webber doesn't actually focus on King Tut's life, rather setting the drama in the historic discovery of his tomb.

Inspired by a real-life dig, Tutankhamun will chronicle the rise, fall and redemption of archaeologist Howard Carter (Irons).

The disgraced Carter's career is saved when he's hired by an eccentric aristocrat Lord Carnarvon (Neill) to search for the famous tomb in the 1920s.

ITV is set to begin filming on writer Guy Burt's scripts later this year in South Africa.

Meanwhile, the channel also announced today that ex- Doctor Who star Jenna Coleman will front a new drama based on the life of Queen Victoria.

Max Irons and Sam Neill have joined the cast of ITV's event series "Tutankhamun".

Peter Webber ("Emperor") will direct and Guy Burt ("Jekyll and Hyde," "The Borgias") is writing all the episodes of this epic story of Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb.

Starting from 1905, Carter (Irons) was an eminent British archaeologist in his twenties whose license is revoked by Cairo's Antiquities Service.

After years spent broke and ostracised, a chance meeting with the dashing British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon (Neill) begins an unlikely friendship. The pair ultimately discover the last resting place of the boy-king in 1921 against all odds and at great personal expense.

Francis Hopkinson and Catherine Oldfield will executive produce and Simon Lewis will produce. Filming will take place in South Africa during the winter and early 2016.

Source: Deadline...

Exclusive: Max Irons and Sam Neill have boarded the cast of the ITV’s event series Tutankhamun. Acclaimed directer Peter Webber (Emperor) will be at the helm for the whole series, which follows the epic story of Howard Carter’s discovery of the tomb of one of Ancient Egypt's forgotten pharaohs, the boy-king Tutankhamun. Irons (Woman In Gold) will play Carter. Sam Neill will play Lord Carnarvon, who sponsored Carter’s expeditions. Guy Burt (Jekyll And Hyde, The Borgias)…...

UK premieres include Palio, The Company You Keep and Infinitely Polar Bear.Scroll down for full programme

The 35th Cambridge Film Festival (Sept 3-13) has revealed its full line-up for this year, including titles from over 30 different countries.

Star*Men, a documentary from debut director Alison E. Rose will open the festival. The film follows four UK astronomers, Donald Lynden-Bell Frs and Roger Griffin of the University of Cambridge, and Wal Sargent Frs and Neville Woolf of Manchester University, on a road trip to the United States.

The festival’s closing night gala will be the UK premiere of Palio, Cosima Spender’s documentary about the world’s oldest horse race, which debuted at Tribeca in April before playing at Karlovy Vary in July.

The main programme will feature the UK premiere of Robert Redford’s political thriller The Company You Keep, which he directrs and stars in. The festival will also screen the Redford-starring A Walk In The Woods, from...

One of the many highlights of The Bagri Foundation London Indian Film Festival was the attendance of noted filmmaker Mani Ratnam. The esteemed director gave a rare Screen Talk masterclass at the BFI Southbank, with Peter Webber (Girl With a Pearl Earring). This year the festival announced it’s first selection of winners and the inaugural Icon Award © for outstanding contribution to Indian and world cinema was won by Mr. Ratnam.

Sponsoring the Icon Award ©, Sun Mark Ltd C.E.O Harmeet ‘Sunny’ Ahuja stated: “Sun Mark is delighted to further recognise the talent and achievements in film. Our Icon Award was chosen for the living legend, Mr Mani Ratnam. He is a most recognised and respected director and is known for tackling difficult subjects, which might otherwise be conveniently swept under the carpet. We congratulate him for his incredible contribution to international cinema, which has made him a true icon.

Mani Ratnam, known for his films like Roja, Bombay and Dil Se has over the years won many an accolade for his work. And now he has received yet another feather in his hat. In fact we hear that the director has been awarded the Icon Award at the London Indian Film Festival for his outstanding contribution to cinema. In a statement made on the closing night of the festival when he was awarded, Ratnam stated that he was honoured and humbled to receive this icon award. Further talking about Indian cinema and the festival itself he added that he felt Indian cinema is at the threshold of a new era, and the Bagri Foundation London Indian Film Festival is a showcase of this next generation. Apart from receiving the award, Ratnam was also part of a Screen Talk masterclass at the BFI Southbank, with Peter Webber director of Girl With a Pearl Earring.

When it comes to naming the great directors of Indian cinema, Mani Ratnam is someone who is always included. Working not only in Hindi films, but also in the major industries in the South, the filmmaker has created some of the best movies in the Indian film canon. He began his career with Pallavi Anu Pallavi and went on to bring audiences such outstanding cinema as Bombay, Roja, Dil Se, Nayakan, Saathiya, Guru, Ravaan and this year’s O Kadhal Kanmani to name just a few. Awarded the Padma Shree in 2002, his films have also won several prestigious National Film Awards. His work has been included on Best Film lists both in Time Magazine and The British Film Institute as well as winning awards at major film festivals around the world.

Naman Ramachandran, the film programmer for The Bagri Foundation London Indian Film Festival, was allowed by Mr. Ratnam, to...

More than 30 film projects in development set to be presented at the Bogota Audiovisual Market (Bam).Scroll down for full list of projects

Peter Webber’s $2m docu-drama One River (El Rio) and Miguel Urrutia’s English-language thriller Madness are among 33 film projects in development being presented this week at Bam (July 13-17).

Colombia’s biggest film market also features 18 screenings of films in an advanced state of development, alongside the regular Bam Projects category.

Webber (The Girl With The Pearl Earring) attended Bam last year to promote his pickpocket drama Fresh and returns this year with One River.

The project is based on an international best-selling book by Canadian Wade Davis, charting Professor Richard Schultes’ journey through the Amazon in the 1940s and the author’s own travels into the same jungle 30 years later, living among the Indian tribes and searching for the origins of coca, the notorious source of cocaine.

Currently in development...

The always amazing London Indian Film Festival, which begins this Thursday July 16th and runs through July 26th, is set to thrill, entertain and move audiences with it’s brilliant line up of films! Talking about the festival, Liff’s Executive & Programming Director Cary Rajinder Sawhney said, “This year’s Festival is bigger and better than ever and showcases World-class Indian films and talent. In all, this richly diverse festival will screen 20 features in a gamut of languages including Marathi, Tamil, Hindi, English, Bengali, Punjabi, Urdu and Konkani.”

Not only does the festival showcase amazing independent films from India (more about that in a bit), this year, once again, the festival boasts an incredible master class! This epic event will feature a rare on-stage interview with one of India’s most acclaimed and best loved commercial directors, widely attributed for revolutionising Tamil cinema, and inspiring Bollywood. Mani Ratnam talks about...

The Girl With A Pearl Earring director’s $2m docu-drama One River (El Rio) and Miguel Urrutia’s English-language thriller Madness are among 32 projects in development being presented at the Bogota Audiovisual market (Bam).

Colombia’s biggest film market takes place all this week (July 13 -17), and also features 18 screenings of films in an advanced state of development, alongside the regular Bam Projects category.

Webber attended Bam last year to promote his pickpocket drama Fresh and returns this year with One River.

The project is based on an international best-selling book by Canadian Wade Davis, charting Professor Richard Schultes’ journey through the Amazon in the 1940s and the author’s own travels into the same jungle 30 years later, living among the Indian tribes and searching for the origins of coca, the notorious source of cocaine.

Currently in development, the project is being produced by Colombian outfit 4 Direcciones in partnership with Canada’s Pimiento Films. They have secured...

ITV is working on a new event series based around the discovery of Tutankhamun.

The four-part drama - from The Bletchley Circle writer Guy Burt - will tell the compelling true story of how Howard Carter came to discover the tomb of Ancient Egypt's boy-king.

Carter's incredible story will begin in 1905 as he leads an expedition to find lost treasures in Egypt's Valley of the Kings.

However, he finds himself living rough when his license to dig is revoked, and he is forced to sell his previous finds in order to survive.

An unlikely friendship with a British aristocrat named Lord Carnavon brings Carter back to archaeology, and helps him make one of the most significant discoveries of the modern age.

The drama will be executive produced by ITV Studios' Creative Director of Drama, Francis Hopkinson, who has previously worked on Home Fires, Jekyll & Hyde and Wallander.

She said:...

Exclusive– Peter Webber is on-board to direct Tutankhamun, a major new four part TV series for ITV. The event series will follow the epic story of Howard Carter's discovery of the tomb of one of Ancient Egypt's forgotten pharaohs, the boy-king Tutankhamun. Guy Burt (Jekyll and Hyde, The Borgias) is writing and the story will focus on the personal story of Carter, a solitary man on the edge of society who became an iconic figure and an unlikely hero. The story unfolds…...

Scarlett Johansson Oscar dress Scarlett Johansson at the Oscars Looking great in a long purple dress, Scarlett Johansson displays her tight-fitting costume and bare back at the 83rd Academy Awards held on Feb. 27 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. Oscar 2011 co-host and Best Actor nominee James Franco (for Danny Boyle's 127 Hours) thus introduced Johansson and fellow Oscar presenter Matthew McConaughey: "I am six degrees of Kevin Bacon away from our next two presenters. Figure it out on the Internet." Well, if you're lucky. Some have remarked that Franco was a more effective Oscar host online, where he tweeted some of the evening's to-dos, than on the stage of the Kodak Theatre. His fellow equally panned Oscarcast host was actress Anne Hathaway. Scarlett Johansson movies Scarlett Johansson has been featured in more than 40 films since her debut at age 10 in Rob Reiner's North, back in 1994. Johansson, in fact,...

Noomi Rapace to play seven sisters in What Happened to Monday?, co-starring Glenn Close.

Paris-based Snd has boarded Tommy Wirkola’s upcoming high-concept sci-fi action film What Happened to Monday?, starring Noomi Rapace and Glenn Close.

The previously announced project, which has been in development for some time, is produced by Vendome Pictures and Raffaella Production and fully financed by Snd, which will handle French distribution rights as well as international sales.

The partners announced on Wednesday (May 6) that the production is due to shoot in Bucharest late July.

“Working with Vendôme pictures and Raffaella productions to produce this project with us is a thrill. They have found and polished a gem of a story we are excited to bring to the screen. These producers have an amazing track record. We are thrilled to work with those two partners,” said Lionel Uzan, director of acquisitions and international sales at Snd.

It is a sixth...

Redmayne lauded for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything.

Belgian director Gust van den Berghe’s Lucifer was presented with the Grand Prix – including a €10,000 grant from the City of Tallinn - at the 18th edition of the Black Nights Film Festival (Nov 14-30) at the weekend.

This is the first year that Tallinn’s International Competition was held with Black Nights now operating as a Fiapf-designated non-specialised competitive festival.

Van den Berghe’s third feature had its world premiere in Rome’s Cinema d’Oggi competition at the Rome Film Festival in October and is being handled internationally by the Paris/Mexico-based sales company Ndm.

The International Jury including Finnish actress Kati Outinen and film-makers Andrei Proshkin (Russia) and Tomasz Wasilewski (Poland) awarded the prize for Best Cinematographer to Erik Põllumaa for his work on Estonian film-maker Martti Helde’s In The Crosswind and for Best Director to Kyrgyzstan’s Marat Sarulu for Move...