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U.S. actor Elena Kampouris (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3”) is set to star in the Sicily-set “Here Now,” a romantic thriller marking Italian director Gabriele Muccino’s return to English-language filmmaking. Muccino’s Hollywood credits include the Will Smith-starrer “The Pursuit of Happyness.”

Kampouris’ recent efforts comprise Netflix series “Jupiter’s Legacy” and the 2020 remake of “Children of the Corn.” In “Here Now” she plays Sophie, a young Californian who is traveling in Italy with her sister. During her last day of vacation in Palermo, Sicily, Sophie meets a boy named Giulio and his group of friends with whom she winds up spending “the most unpredictable, crazy, shocking, exciting, romantic and terrifying night of her life,” according to the film’s provided synopsis.

The movie’s other cast members include Saul Nanni, who starred in Netflix Italian original “Love & Gelato”; Lorenzo Richelmy, who toplined Netflix’s “Marco Polo...

Time After Time: Cavani Commits Time Crimes in Overwrought Farce

What does time mean when we’re all out of it? Thus is the quagmire at the heart of The Order of Time, the first theatrical narrative feature from provocative Italian auteur Liliana Cavani in over two decades. Inspired by (rather than adapted from) Italian physicist Carlo Rovelli’s 2017 publication of the same name, which explicates notions regarding the flow of time through various opposing theories, from Aristotle and Newton, to Einstein, suggesting there is no one singular ‘now,’ but rather a multitude, Cavani approaches these elements through situational drama.

Rovelli, who co-wrote the script with Cavani and Paolo Costella, now exists in the fumes of a hypothetical predicament, his explorations of space-time, the theory of relativity, and thermodynamics instead forming the basis for some leaden passages of dialogue between a group of friends uniting for an annual birthday celebration...

Italy’s True Colours has taken international sales on “Perfect Strangers” director Paolo Genovese’s new movie, a comedy drama titled “The First Day of My Life.”

The Rome-based sales company will be launching pre-sales at the upcoming online EFM market on Genovese’s latest concept pic, which has echoes of Frank Capra’s classic “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Based on Genovese’s novel of the same title, which was a bestseller in Italy, “The First Day of My Life” revolves around four characters on the brink of taking their lives who make a pact with a stranger with supernatural powers, played by “The Great Beauty” star Toni Servillo.

The mystery man gives them a chance to travel forward in time to see for a week how their friends and relatives would react to their deaths and what the world would be like without them. On the last day of the week,...

Italy’s Lotus Production, producer of 2016 megahit “Perfetti Sconosciuti” (“Perfect Strangers”), has finished its Rome shoot of “Vicini di casa,” the Italian adaptation of Cesc Gay’s Spanish hit comedy “Sentimental” (“The People Upstairs”).

“Vicini di casa” teams Lotus, part of Italy’s Leone Film Group company, with Manuel Tedescos’ Baires Produzioni in association with Mediaset Group’s Medusa Film.

Directed by Paolo Costella, who was also one of the writers behind “Perfect Strangers,” “Vicini di casa” marks the first big remake sale of “The People Upstairs” by Spanish film-tv studio Filmax.

Currently in post-production, the cast of “Vicini di casa” is headed by Claudio Bisio, a well-known comedian and star of some huge Italian blockbusters such as “Benvenuti al Sud” and “Welcome, Mr. President.”

Vittoria Puccini (“18 Presents”), Vinicio Marchioni (“Into the Labyrinth”) and Valentina Lodovini (“Say it Loud!”) finish out the film’s roster of onscreen talent.

Filmax,...

Voltage Pictures is launching international sales at the EFM on Italian romantic comedy “Per Tutta La Vita” (“For All Life”), from the writer-director team behind global hit “Perfect Strangers.”

“Strangers,” a dramedy involving cellphones and personal secrets, grossed over $31 million domestically and spawned remakes in a dozen territories including France, Germany, Spain, Greece and South Korea. In total, those remakes have grossed an estimated total $270 million worldwide. An Arabic adaptation is currently shooting.

“For All Life” turns on four couples who discover that their marriages are no longer valid because they were all performed by a fraudulent priest. “Are they going to say the big ‘yes’ once again, or will they use this excuse to run away from their marriage?,” reads the synopsis.

Paolo Costella, who co-wrote “Perfect Strangers,” directed this ensemble pic with “Strangers” director Paolo Genovese and Antonella Lattanzi. “For All Life” is co-produced by Marco Belardi via his Lotus Production,...

Produced by Medusa Film and Lotus, the new film by the author of Perfect Strangers will be toplined by Valerio Mastandrea, Margherita Buy, Sara Serraiocco and Toni Servillo. A story about the strength required to start over when everything appears to be falling apart around you: this is what is promised by Paolo Genovese’s new film intitled Il primo giorno della mia vita, on which filming commenced this Monday in Rome. This latest feature film put forth by the director of the international hit Perfect Strangers, which inspired a record 18 remakes around the world, is produced by Marco Belardi on behalf of Lotus Production (Leone Film Group), and by Medusa Film who are also distributing the work. Written by Genovese himself, together with Paolo Costella, Rolando Ravello and Isabella Aguilar, and based upon the director’s novel of the same name published by Einaudi, the story tells the tale of.

Leone Film Group’s Lotus Production shingle is setting up Lotus Factory, a new unit for high-profile genre projects out of Italy made for the international market.

These currently include a live action TV series in development on the origins of Santa Clause, for which Lotus chief Marco Belardi has recruited top U.S. talent: Oscar-nominated writer Jim Capobianco (“Ratatouille”) and Robert Lence.

“We are planning to make films of different genres from those that are usually produced in Italy,” Belardi told Variety, noting that Italy’s scripted content output is largely made up of “dramas, comedies and an occasional noir.”

For example, Italian film and TV content targeting family audiences is quite scarce, a gap Belardi is looking to fill with Lotus Factory.

Belardi has recruited young Italian director Nicola Abbatangelo, who recently completed “The Land of Dreams,” an English-language movie musical set in 1920s New York, to serve...

Pierfrancesco Favino, who heads to Cannes in the starring role of Marco Bellocchio’s Palme d’Or contender The Traitor, co-stars.

Elle Driver has boarded world sales on Italian director Gabriele Muccino’s drama The Best Years, exploring the cycle of life through the forty-year relationship of four close friends, against the backdrop of contemporary Italian history.

The Paris-based sales company will kick-off pre-sales on the film in Cannes ahead of shooting, which commences in June.

Pierfrancesco Favino, who heads to Cannes in the starring role of Marco Bellocchio’s Palme d’Or contender The Traitor, co-stars opposite Claudio Santamaria,...

Keep up with the wild and wooly world of indie film acquisitions with our weekly Rundown of everything that’s been picked up around the globe. Check out last week’s Rundown here.

– HBO has acquired the U.S. TV rights to “David Bowie: The Last Five Years,” directed and produced by Francis Whately. The film spotlights two critically acclaimed albums and the stage musical “Lazarus,” offering new insights into Bowie’s extraordinary creativity during the final five years of his life.

Featuring a wealth of rarely seen Bowie interviews, archival footage, audio from the recording sessions for “The Next Day” and “Blackstar,” and unprecedented access to Bowie’s closest friends and artistic collaborators, the film is a tribute to one of the greatest rock icons of all time.

Read More: Film Acquisitions Rundown: Sony Picks Up Tom Hanks’ ‘Greyhound,’ Lionsgate Acquires ‘Rally Car’ and More

– The Weinstein Company will...

The Weinstein Company has acquired the remake rights to Italian comedy Perfetti Sconosciuti (Perfect Strangers)

The feature takes place over a dinner party with seven lifelong friends — three couples and one divorcée — all of whom decide to test how well they know each other by putting their phones on the table and revealing every text message or phone call received during the evening. Hilarity and disaster expectantly ensue.

Paolo Genovese directed the Italian-language original from a script he wrote with Rolando Ravello, Paolo Costella, Filippo Bologna and Paola Mammini. Medusa Film produced the project.

Perfetti Sconosciuti screened at the 2016 Tribeca...

The 15th annual Tribeca Film Festival juried awards ceremony on Thursday evening rewarded a wide roster of selections as organisers honoured separate Us and international narrative competition categories for the first time.

In the Us Narrative Feature Competition, the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature went to Dean (pictured) by Demteri Martin, who receives $20,000, sponsored by At&T, and the art award Waking Up In The Painted World by Stephen Hannock.

Best actress in a Us Narrative Feature Film went to Mackenzie Davis in Always Shine, while Dominic Rains of The Fixer earned the best actor award.

The best cinematography prize went to Michael Ragen for Kicks along with $50,000 in post-production services donated by Company 3. Screenplay honours and $2,500 sponsored by Freixenet Cava were awarded to Ingrid Jungermann for Women Who Kill.

In the International Narrative Feature Competition categories, Udi Aloni’s Junction 48 earned the best international narrative feature prize along with $20,000 sponsored by Netflix, and the...