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Director Jennifer Reeder’s horror film Perpetrator will be reaching select theatres on September 1st, the same day it will be available to watch through the Shudder streaming service – and today, a full trailer for the film has arrived online! You can watch it in the embed above.

Perpetrator is Reeder’s third collaboration with Shudder, as she previously contributed a segment to the horror anthology V/H/S/94 and directed the horror film Night’s End, both of which were released through Shudder.

Perpetrator has the following synopsis: Jonny Baptiste is a reckless teen sent to live with her estranged Aunt Hildie. On her 18th birthday, she experiences a radical metamorphosis: a family spell that redefines her called Forevering. When several teen girls go missing at her new school, a mythically feral Jonny goes after the Perpetrator.

Jonny is played by Kiah McKirnan (Mare of Easttown). Christopher Lowell (My Best Friend’s Exorcism...

Up next from Jennifer Reeder (V/H/S/94, Night’s End, Knives and Skin) is the horror movie Perpetrator, which first premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, followed by Tribeca. It will next stream on Shudder and open in select theaters on September 1, 2023. While you wait, you can watch the official trailer for Shudder’s Perpetrator down below.

Perpetrator is being described as a “coming-of-age, feminist horror-noir feature.”

In the film, “Jonny Baptiste (Kiah McKirnan) is a reckless teen sent to live with her estranged Aunt Hildie (Alicia Silverstone). On her 18th birthday, she experiences a radical metamorphosis: a family spell that redefines her called Forevering. When several teen girls go missing at her new school, a mythically feral Jonny goes after the Perpetrator.”

The Shudder Original Film, written and directed by Reeder, also stars Christopher Lowell (My Best Friend’s Exorcism, Promising Young Woman), Melanie Liburd (The Idol), Ireon Roach...

ESPN Films is working on a docuseries about the legendary Gracie family, Variety has learned exclusively.

Titled “Gracie,” the series will delve deep into the family’s history and dissect how they became the founders of Brazilian jiu jitsu, which serves as a major cornerstone of modern mixed martial arts (Mma).

The official description of the series states: “Featuring larger-than-life personalities, triumphs and tragedies, deep loyalties, passionate loves and deadly feuds, ‘Gracie’ will explore the essence of family, honor, legacy, and humanity’s innate desire to fight. Told through the eyes of key Gracie family members, the series will dive deep into an epic family saga that takes audiences from Scotland and Japan, to Brazil and America.”

The series is directed by Chris Fuller (“Loren Cass”) and is executive produced by ESPN Films. The project is being produced by Solaris Entertainment. Gregory O’Connor, Nanette Burstein, Guy Ritchie and Ivan Atkinson...

Up next from Jennifer Reeder (V/H/S/94, Night’s End, Knives and Skin) is the horror movie Perpetrator, which follows Jonny (Kiah McKirnan), an impulsive teenage girl living in a town where young women continue to go missing and revolves around the power she’s forced to unlock to survive.

Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streaming service for horror, thrillers, and the supernatural, has released the new festival poster by Creepy Duck Designs and first-look clip ahead of its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival on Friday, February 17.

In the intense first look clip below, actor Alicia Silverstone (The Lodge, The Killing of a Sacred Deer) shows off her ruthless streak when forcing Jonny to make a choice.

Perpetrator follows “Jonny (McKirnan), a reckless teen sent to live with her estranged Aunt Hildie (Silverstone). On her 18th birthday, she experiences a radical metamorphosis: a family spell that redefines her called Forevering.

Last weekend, Alicia Silverstone reprised her role from the 1995 film Clueless in one of the most talked-about Super Bowl commercials. Silverstone will next be seen in director Jennifer Reeder’s horror film Perpetrator, which is set to have its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival this Friday, February 17th… and will eventually be heading over to the Shudder streaming service. In anticipation of the film’s world premiere, an odd, disturbing clip has arrived online to give us an early look at the character Silverstone plays, and you can check it out in the embed above.

Perpetrator is Reeder’s third collaboration with Shudder, as she previously contributed a segment to the horror anthology V/H/S/94 and directed the horror film Night’s End, both of which were released through Shudder.

Perpetrator centers on Jonny, an impulsive teenage girl living in a town where young women continue to go missing,...

Shudder has released the new festival poster and first-look clip from Jennifer Reeder’s upcoming horror-noir Perpetrator, set to world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival Friday, February 17. The Shudder Original Film stars Kiah McKirnan (Mare of Easttown), Christopher Lowell, Melanie Liburd (The Idol), Ireon Roach (Candyman [2021]), and Alicia Silverstone and is produced by Gregory Chambet for WTFilms and Derek Bishé for Divide/Conquer.

Written and directed by Reeder, Perpetrator follows Jonny (McKirnan), a reckless teen sent to live with her estranged Aunt Hildie (Silverstone). On her 18th birthday, she experiences a radical metamorphosis: a family spell that redefines her called Forevering. When several teen girls go missing at her new school, a mythically feral Jonny goes after the Perpetrator.

Perpetrator is Reeder’s second feature to screen at Berlinale following the 2019 break-out hit Knives And Skin, which IFC Midnight released theatrically, and marks her third collaboration with Shudder,...

After contributing a segment to the horror anthology V/H/S/94, which was released through the Shudder streaming service, director Jennifer Reeder made the horror film Night’s End, which was already released through Shudder. Now Reeder and Shudder are locked in for their third collaboration, as Variety reports the streaming service has acquired the distribution rights to Reeder’s latest genre film, Perpetrator. Starring Alicia Silverstone (Clueless) and Kiah McKirnan (Mare of Easttown), Perpetrator centers on

Jonny (McKirnan), an impulsive teenage girl living in a town where young women continue to go missing, and revolves around the power she’s forced to unlock to survive. The filmmakers say that the film is “inspired by the shared experience of generations of women,” as well as an “exploration of youthful chaos.”

Christopher Lowell (My Best Friend’s Exorcism), Melanie Liburd (The Idol), and Ireon Roach (Candyman) are also in the cast.

Perpetrator...

Shudder, AMC Networks’ streaming service for horror, thrillers and content about the supernatural, has acquired Jennifer Reeder’s “Perpetrator.” The sale comes as the film is set to world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival this February in the Panorama section.

“Perpetrator” stars Kiah McKirnan (“Mare of Easttown”), Christopher Lowell (“My Best Friend’s Exorcism”), Melanie Liburd (“The Idol”), Ireon Roach (“Candyman”), and Alicia Silverstone (“Clueless”). It is produced by Gregory Chambet for WTFilms and Derek Bishé for Divide/Conquer.

Written and directed by Reeder, “Perpetrator” follows Jonny (McKirnan), an impulsive teenage girl living in a town where young women continue to go missing, and revolves around the power she’s forced to unlock to survive. The filmmakers say that the film is “inspired by the shared experience of generations of women,” as well as an “exploration of youthful chaos.”

“Perpetrator” is Reeder’s second feature to screen at Berlinale following 2019’s “Knives and Skin,...

The 70th San Sebastian rounded its final bend with new deals announced for Spain by A Contracorriente, Bteam and Avalon, joy among industry players at a first full on site festival, blessed by early autumn sunshine, a sense of an even slower international sales business.

Equally, Spain’s market and production sector remain on ebullient, buoyed by art-house breakouts and a vibrant drama series production. Five takeaways from this year’s San Sebastian Festival, which wraps tomorrow, Sept. 24:

San Sebastian Grows (Again)

“There are markets that have improved during Covid-19, and others that haven’t and San Sebastian is a festival that’s improved thanks to its industry activities,” says Film Factory’s Vicente Canales. That build comes from afar, with a Films in Progress strand in 2002, an Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum from 2012, the Ikusmira Berriak development residency from 2017 and now a Creative Investors Conference.

There’s a form of cross collaterization here.

Speaking on the issue of navigating finance in 2022 and beyond at San Sebastian’s two-day Creative Investors Conference, Wild Bunch exec Cecile Gaget and 30West’s Trevor Groth took stock of the challenges ahead in a post-pandemic world.

Groth observed that film production budgets have been rising as streaming platforms have been paying relatively good wages, making it harder for independents to stay competitive. Gaget agreed: “It’s getting more expensive to hire writers and crew, and the pandemic certainly didn’t help.”

Groth acknowledged that selling to streamers can be a challenge. When 30West was negotiating on the sale of their phenomenal hit “Tiger King” to Netflix, they fought hard to hang on to its IP, but to no avail. “We leveraged this to get a higher sale price but we didn’t realize it was going to be such a big hit, so we lost out from not having a backend,...

They came, they saw 10 higher-end Spanish movie pitches and maybe they were conquered. Just turning up, however, was maybe the most important factor.

Never in the history of the San Sebastian Festival have so many high-powered U.S. execs descended on the Spanish resort as for the two days of the first Creative Investors Conference, taking place over Sept. 19-20 and co-organized by CAA Media Finance.

At the Conference, investors debated with a level of candour above run-of-the-mill seminars, the state and future of the movie business across a total eight panels, moderated with verve by consultant Wendy Mitchell.

Since these are many of the guys running or making the running in the international part of that business, it was well worth noting some of their takeaways:

Europe’s Big Hope: Platforms Really Embracing Cinema

In the U.S., the platforms already buy big when it comes to movies. Think Sundance.

Events include the inaugural Creative Investors’ Conference, a panel on crisis in streaming and a focus on Serbia.

The 70th San Sebastian International Film Festival (September 16-24) will mark a return to full form for its industry programme, with a higher industry attendance expected than ever before and the inaugural edition of the much-anticipated Creative Investors’ conference.

Some 2,009 industry delegates will attend in-person, with 1,956 on site, and just 53 participating online as the festival continues to offer an online-only industry accreditation.

Last year, 1,625 delegates from industry attended, with 140 participating online – a time when strict Covid restrictions were in-place, including mandatory mask wearing,...

The San Sebastian International Film Festival has long been one of the Spanish-speaking world’s most prominent film festivals and as the 70th edition of the festival is nearly underway, the much-loved European event has looked to beef up its industry components in a bid to attract a wider pool of delegates, notably from North America.

This year will see the launch of the new San Sebastian Festival Creative Investors’ Conference, which is co-organized with CAA Media Finance. The two-day conference, which runs September 19-20, will see a host of top global industry execs from companies such as 30West, A24, Anonymous Content, Focus Features, Mubi, Neon, Netflix and Wild Bunch International among others, touch down in the Basque Country.

“Something we’ve had in mind for some years now is to improve and enlarge our industry activities,” festival director José Luis Rebordinos tells Deadline, who says the initiative was organised...

Co-organized with CAA Media Finance, a new San Sebastian Festival Creative Investors’ Conference will see many of the good and great of the international film business descend on September’s fest edition to be pitched 10 higher-budget Spanish movies by their producers.

The Conference will run Sept.19-20. In a cosmopolitan lineup, titles pitched include international co-productions such as “Whalemen (At the Ends of the Earth)” from “Everest” director Baltasar Kormákur as well as the latest from “Amama” helmer Asier Altuna and “Raqa,” from Gerardo Herrero, an Academy Award wining producer for “The Secret in Their Eyes.”

The conference’s high-profile international investors, producers, agents and executives take in Mubi’s Bobby Allen, Piers Wenger at A24 Europe, Focus Features’s Kiska Higgs, 30West’s Trevor Groth, Vincent Maraval at Wild Bunch International and Netflix’s Teresa Moneo.

Also confirmed are the Elysian Film Group’s Danny Perkins, Neon CEO Tom Quinn,...

With layoffs at Netflix and leadership shakeups at Warner Bros. Discovery, the needs of film festival programmers might sound like a low priority. At least, that’s the kind of thinking that’s created a huge predicament for this profession, and one that’s become acute as festivals slim their budgets to attempt post-covid comebacks.

A few weeks ago, this column addressed the way the job of the programmer has been marginalized by the industry, and at Cannes last month, many people told me they were clamoring for a follow-up.

For the sliver of the film community that doesn’t work with multimillion marketing budgets, festivals are a critical launchpad. The international festival calendar is roaring back to action, as Cannes made clear. The cocktail events teased everything from upcoming editions of Locarno in August to TIFF in the fall, with the latter bringing the majority of its robust new...

Top CAA media finance agent Maren Olson has joined 30West as executive vice president of film, it was announced Wednesday.

Olson will work alongside 30West’s Trevor Groth to manage the label’s slate. This includes the upcoming “The Trashers” starring David Harbour and directed by Sundance breakout Cooper Raiff, as well as the thriller “Day Drinker” from director Marc Webb.

Olson spent 7 years at CAA working alongside media finance chiefs Roeg Sutherland and Ben Kramer. Projects she recently helped assemble include Channing Tatum’s “Dog”; “The 355” directed by Simon Kinberg and starring Jessica Chastain and Penelope Cruz; the forthcoming “The Pale Blue Eye” from director Scott Cooper and star Christian Bale; and “Pussy Island,” directed by Zoë Kravitz and starring Tatum.

30West heads to Cannes with the Imperative Entertainment premiere “Triangle of Sadness” playing in competition, as well as “The Silent Twins,” which will premiere in Un Certain Regard.

Film finance and sales vet Maren Olson is joining 30West as their EVP Film.

She begins this month and will work alongside fellow EVP Trevor Groth to manage the fast-growing company’s slate of projects, which include the forthcoming Cooper Raiff directed title The Trashers starring David Harbour and the genre-bending thriller Day Drinker, from Amazing Spider-Man director Marc Webb.

Olson joins from CAA, where she spent the last seven years as an agent in the Media Finance department. Recent projects she helped to finance and sell while at CAA include: Channing Tatum’s Dog, Simon Kinberg’s The 355, and Scott Cooper’s The Pale Blue Eye, which stars Christian Bale; and Zoë Kravitz’s feature directorial debut, Pussy Island, starring Tatum.

Prior to joining CAA in 2015, Olson served as president of Traction Media, an independent film production and domestic sales company, where she oversaw the creative development, packaging,...

Executive will work alongside fellow EVP Trevor Groth to manage slate of projects.

30West has hired film investment and sales executive Maren Olson from CAA Media Finance as EVP, film on the eve of Cannes.

Olson will join the company this month and will work alongside fellow EVP Trevor Groth to manage the slate of projects which includes the upcoming The Trashers starring David Harbour from Cooper Raiff, director of Sundance hit Cha Cha Real Smooth, and the genre-bending thriller Day Drinker, to be directed by Marc Webb (The Amazing Spider-Man).

30West will be attending Cannes with Imperative Entertainment’s...

On the heels of a successful in-person event that welcomed such stars as Woody Harrelson, Amy Poehler, Liev Schreiber and “Dopesick” creator Danny Strong, the 2022 Sun Valley Film Festival, which ran from March 30 to April 3, announced its juried film award winners.

Best narrative feature film went to “Linoleum,” directed by Colin West. “Holy Emy,” helmed by Araceli Lemos, received a special mention. Ron Howard’s “We Feed People” netted the fest’s audience award.

The winners were announced during the Idaho fest’s annual awards bash, which took place at Whiskey Jacques on Ketchum’s main drag of town, and was hosted by filmmaker Bobby Farrelly and comedian Hayes MacArthur, with a musical performance by the Nude Party.

Voting jury members at the fest included Jo Addy (global film and entertainment director of Soho House), Eric Bress, Trevor Groth (film financier at 30West) and producer Heather Rae.

Other awards went to “Mama Bears,...

On the eve of the 11th annual Sun Valley Film Festival, Vision Award honorees Woody Harrelson and Amy Poehler are both experiencing a bit of déjà vu.

For three-time Oscar nominee Harrelson, it’s because he has just learned that his role in the reboot of his 1992 big-screen breakthrough, “White Men Can’t Jump,” will be played by rapper Jack Harlow.

“I don’t know him, but it’s fine with me,” Harrelson says. “I’ll look him up now. I don’t see [myself] being in it, but I feel great about them doing a remake. I just hope he’s a better ball player!”

For Poehler, talking about the fest, which takes place March 20-April 3 in Sun Valley and Ketchum, Idaho, makes her feel a bit like history is repeating. The Emmy-winning “SNL” co-host and “Parks and Recreation” alumna was set to receive the Vision Award in March 2020, but Covid...

The Sun Valley Film Festival, which will be returning in-person for its 11th annual event from March 30 to April 3, has announced additional awards and films that will be screened this year.

Variety will present this year’s Pioneer Award to Danny Strong on April 1. As a writer, director, actor and producer, Strong has earned two Emmys, a Golden Globe, two WGA awards, a PGA Award and a Peabody Award — with credits ranging from both parts of “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay” to “Dopesick.” Previous Pioneer Award winners include Shaka King, Aaron Paul, Eliza Hittman and Mark Duplass.

Also on April 1, the Rising Star Award will be given to Netflix’s “Outer Banks” cast members Chase Stokes, Madelyn Cline, Madison Bailey, Jonathan Daviss, Rudy Pankow, Austin North, Drew Starkey and Carlacia Grant. Recipients of the Rising Star Award in the past include Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Winston Duke, Eliza Hittman, Alex Ross Perry and Allison Williams.

Sony Pictures Classics is releasing the fantastical drama Nine Days in New York and Los Angeles theaters on July 30, with plans to roll the film out nationwide August 6.

The debut feature of writer-director Edson Oda centers on Will (Winston Duke), a reclusive man who conducts a series of interviews with fledgling human souls, thereby offering them a chance to be born. The pic, which debuted at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, also stars Zazie Beetz, Benedict Wong, Tony Hale, Bill Skarsgård, David Rysdahl and Arianna Ortiz.

The film earned two Film Independent Spirit Award nominations, for Best First Feature and Best Supporting Male (for Wong).

Nine Days is a co-production between Juniper Productions, Mandalay Pictures, Nowhere, Macro Media and The Space Program, in association with Mansa Productions, Oak Street Pictures, 30West, Baked Studios and Datari Turner Productions. It was produced by Jason Michael Berman of Mandalay Pictures, Mette-Marie Kongsved and Laura Tunstall of Nowhere,...

Focus Features has landed rights to “Silent Twins,” a thriller starring Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance.

Based on the book by Marjorie Wallace, the film marks the English language debut of director Agnieszka Smoczynska (“The Lure”). Andrea Seigel wrote the screenplay.

Set in the 1970s and ’80s, the story follows June and Jennifer Gibbons (portrayed by Wright and Lawrance), twins from the only Black family in a small town in Wales. Feeling isolated from that unwelcoming community, the pair turn inward and reject communication with everyone but each other, retreating into their own fantasy world of artistic inspiration and adolescent desires. After a spree of vandalism inspired by an American boy they both idolize, the girls, now teenagers, are summarily sentenced to Broadmoor, an infamous psychiatric hospital, where they face the choice to separate and survive or die together.

Focus Features will distribute the film in the U.S., with Universal Pictures handling international distribution.

Focus Features has acquired worldwide rights to feature Silent Twins, which marks the English language debut of director Agnieszka Smoczynska (The Lure).

Starring Letitia Wright (Black Panther) and Tamara Lawrance (The Long Song) as the title twin sisters, the film is based on the haunting true story of June and Jennifer Gibbons, twins from the only Black family in a small town in Wales in the 1970s and ’80s. Feeling isolated from that unwelcoming community, the pair turn inward and reject communication with everyone but each other, retreating into their own fantasy world of artistic inspiration and adolescent desires. After a spree of vandalism inspired by an American boy they both idolize, the girls, now teenagers, are summarily sentenced to Broadmoor, the infamous UK psychiatric hospital, where they face the choice to separate and survive or die together.

Pic is written by Andrea Seigel and is based on book The Silent Twins by Marjorie Wallace.

Focus Features has acquired the worldwide rights to “Silent Twins,” a film starring “Black Panther” actress Letitia Wright.

“Silent Twins” is the English-language debut of “The Lure” director Agnieszka Smoczynska and stars Wright and Tamara Lawrance as twin sisters in Wales who are mute to everyone but themselves.

The film recently wrapped production in Poland. Focus plans to distribute the film in the U.S., while Universal Pictures International will distribute internationally.

“Silent Twins” is based on the book “The Silent Twins” by Marjorie Wallace. It tells the haunting story of June and Jennifer Gibbons, twins from the only Black family in a small town in Wales in the 1970s and ’80s.

Feeling isolated from that unwelcoming community, the pair turn inward and reject communication with everyone but each other, retreating into their own fantasy world of artistic inspiration and adolescent desires. After a spree of vandalism inspired by an American boy they both idolize,...

Production has wrapped in Poland.

Focus Features has taken worldwide rights to Polish director Agnieszka Smoczynska’s (The Lure) English-language debut Silent Twins starring Letitia Wright from Black Panther and Tamara Lawrance from Kindred.

Andrea Seigel adapted the screenplay from Marjorie Wallace’s novel The Silent Twins, about June and Jennifer Gibbons, identical twins from the only Black family in Wales in the 1970s who dealt with a hostile community by only communicating with each other.

The sisters retreated into a fantasy world of artistic inspiration and adolescent desires, writing fiction and embarking on a vandalism spree inspired by an American boy they idolised,...

We have the first trailer for Nine Days. This comes from Sony Pictures Classics and is currently intended as an early 2021 release. With the state of the movie business being what it is, plans can change in a hurry. That said, this is produced by Spike Jonze and stars Winstone Duke and Zazie Beetz in the leading roles. It is billed as "a heartfelt and meditative vision of human souls in limbo, aching to be born against unimaginable odds, yet hindered by forces beyond their will." Heady as that may sound, it appears to be accurate based on this footage.

The trailer sees a string of people visiting Winston Duke's character Will who is living in a small house out in the middle of nowhere. He appears to be observing people from afar, with various families and individuals populating TVs in his home. He is conducting interviews with candidates...

Her Oscar winner Spike Jonze has boarded Sony Pictures Classics upcoming early 2021 release as an Executive Producer. Additionally, SPC has also acquired the rights in Asia, Israel, Turkey and the rest of Europe, making it a worldwide release for the label. The film will next be seen in the Hamptons Film Festival and AFI, among others.

Nine Days, which stars Winston Duke, Zazie Beetz, Benedict Wong, Bill Skarsgård, Tony Hale, David Rysdahl, and Arianna Ortiz follows a reclusive man, Will (Duke), who is conducting a series of interviews with human souls for a chance to be born. Five contenders emerge, and during the course of nine days, Will tests each of them, but he can choose only one. The victor will be rewarded with a coveted opportunity to become a newborn in the real world, while the others will cease to exist. The movie is directed and written by Edson Oda.

Magnolia Pictures has acquired the worldwide rights, excluding Canada, to Lance Oppenheim’s documentary feature debut “Some Kind of Heaven.”

The film, which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, was produced by Darren Aronofsky’s Protozoa and Los Angeles Media Fund, which also financed the film.

“Some Kind of Heaven” profiles The Villages, the nation’s largest retirement community, located in Central Florida. The Villages is often called the “Disneyland for Retirees,” and the film follows a married couple, a widow and a bachelor who search for Eden.

Also Read: Frank Zappa Documentary From Alex Winter Acquired by Magnolia

Magnolia is planning an early 2021 release.

“‘Some Kind of Heaven’ is a remarkable achievement from a striking new voice in film,” Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles said. “Lance Oppenheim demonstrates an incredible command of his craft and more importantly, a clear-eyed vision of the world around him. It also makes me want to learn pickleball.

Exclusive: Magnolia Pictures have acquired worldwide rights excluding Canada to the Sundance breakout Some Kind of Heaven. The documentary marks the documentary feature debut of Lance Oppenheim and puts a Floridian sun-kissed spotlight on the surreal world of The Villages, the nation’s largest retirement community. Some Kind of Heaven is produced by Darren Aronofsky’s Protozoa, The New York Times and the Los Angeles Media Fund. Magnolia is planning an early 2021 release.

After bowing at Sundance in January, the docu received love from critics and audiences alike before hitting the festival circuit. The Villages is sometimes referred to as the “Disneyland for Retirees”. Some Kind of Heaven follows retirees newly arrived at the fountain of youth including a married couple, a widow, and a bachelor search for Eden and a second bite at the apple, only to discover each of the deadly sins out on full display. From synchronized swimming to pickleball,...

Exclusive: Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War star Letitia Wright is set to lead cast in Agnieszka Smoczynska’s (Fugue) English-language debut The Silent Twins.

Wright will star alongside rising Brit actress Tamara Lawrance (The Long Song) in the movie which is being produced by Kindred Spirit’s Anita Gou (The Farewell), 42’s (Ironbark) Ben Pugh and Joshua Horsfield, and Madant’s Klaudia Smieja-Rostworowska (High Life).

Andrea Seigel’s (Laggies) script is based on the well-received book The Silent Twins by investigative journalist Marjorie Wallace. The chilling true story follows twin sisters who were entirely silent, communicating only to each other in a private language. They became obsessed with writing fiction, boys, and crime in their teens but their intense bond ultimately turned into something more dangerous.

The drama, which is due to shoot in April, is being financed by Kindred Spirit and co-financed by the Polish Film Institute and Moderator Inwestycje.

Sony Pictures Classics has picked up distribution rights in North America and multiple international markets to the science-fiction drama “Nine Days,” starring Winston Duke.

The film, directed by Edson Oda from his own script, also stars Zazie Beetz, Bill Skarsgård, Benedict Wong, Tony Hale, David Rysdahl, and Arianna Ortiz. Oda received the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award for the film following its premiere at the Sundance film Festival in the U.S. Dramatic Competition.

Sony Classics also bought the rights to Latin America, Eastern Europe, Middle East, India, Australia, New Zealand, Scandinavia, South Africa, Benelux, Thailand, and on all airlines worldwide. The film is a co-production between Juniper Productions, Mandalay Pictures, Nowhere, MacRo Media, and The Space Program, in association with Mansa Productions, Oak Street Pictures, 30West, Baked Studios and Datari Turner Productions.

Duke portrays a recluse in a house distant from the reality we know. He interviews prospective candidates—personifications...

“Nine Days,” starring Winston Duke, Zazie Beetz and Bill Skarsgard, has been acquired by Sony Pictures Classics following its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival last month, the distributor announced Friday.

Directed by Edson Oda, “Nine Days” takes place in a house, distant from the reality we know, and centers on a reclusive man named Will (Duke) who interviews prospective candidates Emma (Beetz), Kane (Skarsgård), Kyo (Benedict Wong), and Mike (David Rysdahl), who are each personifications of human souls, for the privilege that he once had: to be born in the real world. The others however, will cease to exist.

Oda also wrote the screenplay. Arianna Ortiz also co-stars.

Also Read: Director Edson Oda on How His Uncle's Death Inspired 'Nine Days' (Video)

Spc took North American rights, along with Latin America, Eastern Europe, Middle East, India, Australia, New Zealand, Scandinavia, South Africa, Benelux, and Thailand and on all airlines worldwide.

Exclusive: Two-time Emmy-winning Veep actor Tony Hale has come aboard the indie drama, Nine Days, joining a cast that includes star Winston Duke (Black Panther) as well as Zazie Beetz, Benedict Wong (Doctor Strange), David Rysdahl (Netflix’s The Family), and Bill Skarsgard.

Edson Oda wrote and is directing the film. The plot follows a reclusive man (Duke) who, in a house, distant from the reality we know, interviews prospective candidates, a personification of human souls – for the privilege that he once had. To be born. Hale, who recently picked up his sixth Emmy nom for his role as Gary Walsh on the critically acclaimed HBO series, will play Alexander, a jovial soul, desperate to prove he should be given the opportunity of life.

Mandalay’s Jason Michael Berman, Nowhere’s Mette-Marie Kongsved and Laura Tunstall, Juniper’s Matthew Lindner...

In late June, the Sundance Film Festival announced that after running the festival for 11 years, the 2020 edition would be John Cooper’s last. Sundance declined to offer specific plans on the hiring process as the festival searches for a new director, but sources with knowledge of its plans say that the board hopes to fill Cooper’s role by the end of the fall. The festival has been known to promote from within, but Sundance is engaged in a broader search, and only a few candidates have stepped forward.

“We’re talking to candidates from a broad array of backgrounds — and those conversations are going to continue for at least several months,” said Sundance Institute CEO Keri Putnam. “The festival is dynamic and evolving, and we look forward to finding the right new director to lead us forward. In the meantime, we’re all excited to celebrate Cooper and his...

Production scheduled to commence this summer.

Us star Winston Duke, Zazie Beetz from Deadpool 2, Bill Skarsgård (It), Benedict Wong (Doctor Strange) and David Rysdahl (The Revival) will star in sci-fi drama Nine Days for Mandalay Pictures, Nowhere, Juniper Productions, and Macro.

30West and CAA Media Finance represent worldwide rights to the project that marks the feature directorial debut of Edson Oda and was developed through the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program Labs.

Production is scheduled to commence this summer on the story about a reclusive man in an unfamiliar place who interviews prospective candidates for the privilege of being born.

Winston Duke, Zazie Beetz, Benedict Wong, David Rysdahl and Bill Skarsgård will star in the supernatural film “Nine Days,” the feature debut from director Edson Oda.

Duke will play a recluse living in an otherworldly home who interviews human souls for the privilege of being born. Beetz, Wong, Rysdahl and Skarsgård will play the interviewees.

“Nine Days” will be produced by Mandalay Pictures, Nowhere, Juniper Productions and MacRo, in association with the Space Program, Mansa Productions, Oak Street Pictures, 30West, and Datari Turner Productions.

“I’m thrilled to be working with such an incredible cast and amazing team. So grateful for all the support I have received. ‘Nine Days’ is a very personal story to me, and I can’t imagine a better team to help me tell it,” said Oda.

Writer-director Oda has been nominated for a Latin Grammy and has received a Gold Lion and three Bronze Lions at Cannes International Creativity Festival.

Winston Duke, Zazie Beetz, Bill Skarsgård, Benedict Wong and David Rysdahl are set to star in “Nine Days,” a drama with supernatural, spiritual elements, from director Edson Oda, it was announced on Friday.

Oda will make his directorial feature debut on the project, which is produced by Mandalay Pictures, Nowhere, Juniper Productions and MacRo, in association with The Space Program, Mansa Productions, Oak Street Pictures, 30West, and Datari Turner Productions.

Jason Michael Berman is producing for Mandalay Pictures and Mette-Marie Kongsved and Laura Tunstall are producing for Nowhere. Matthew Lindner is producing for Juniper Productions, and Datari Turner is producing on behalf of his Datari Turner Productions.

Also Read: 'Black Panther' Star Winston Duke Exclusive StudioWrap Portraits (Photos)

“I’m thrilled to be working with such an incredible cast and amazing team. So grateful for all the support I have received. ‘Nine Days’ is a very personal story to me,...

Exclusive: In a hot package to perk up a slumbering marketplace, Black Panther‘s Winston Duke is set to star in Nine Days with Deadpool 2‘s Zazie Beetz, It‘s Bill Skarsgård, Doctor Strange‘s Benedict Wong and David Rysdahl. The film is written and will be directed this summer by Edson Oda, the celebrated commercials director who is making his feature debut behind the camera.

Here’s the logline: In a house, distant from the reality we know, a reclusive man (Duke) interviews prospective candidates, a personification of human souls – for the privilege that he once had. To be born. The film is financed and 30West and CAA Media Finance are representing worldwide distribution rights and are taking it out to the town.

Oda is a 2017 Sundance Screenwriters Lab Fellow and Nine Days was developed through the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program Labs.

Pic is a co-production between Juniper Productions,...

Aaron Paul is an Idaho boy at heart. The three-time Emmy winning star of “Breaking Bad” and producer and actor on Nickelodeon’s bawdy, subversive animated series “Bojack Horseman” currently makes his home in Los Angeles, but Paul was born in Emmett, a sleepy city about 30 miles outside of Boise, and escapes to the spud state to unwind and visit with family every chance he gets.

“I’ve lived in California for most of my life,” Paul told a packed crowd gathered at the Argyros Performing Arts Center in Ketchum, Idaho on March 15. “I love California. But Hollywood can be crazy. Coming back to Idaho is like a sanctuary for me.”

Paul’s Coffee Talk was one several standout events at the eighth annual Sun Valley Film Festival, which ran March 13-17 in the snowy playground for skiers and snowboarding aficionados. Paul, whom Variety honored at the fest with the Svff 2019 Pioneer Award,...

Eight years in, the Sun Valley Film Festival, running March 13-17, has established itself as a laid-back, picturesque event, where you’re as likely to be struck by the beauty of the setting — in the shadow of Idaho’s Bald Mountain — as by the films on screen.

Per executive director Teddy Grennan, this Idaho resort town, a three-hour drive from Boise, already has a rich cinematic history.

“Averell Harriman, who owned Union Pacific, wanted to start a ski town in the mountains, and he didn’t know how to launch it. So he hired this wunderkind, one of the original Mad Men who launched Miami Beach in the early 1900s. And the guy said, ‘Look, you own a rail line. Invite up all the Marilyn Monroes, all the hangers-on, and put it on the house.’ And they did just that. The only thing they asked for was to own the pictures of them — Hemingway,...

Nora Fingscheidt’s “System Crasher” and Theo Court’s “White on White” won the top prizes at Les Arcs Film Festival’s Work-in-Progress session. Both titles were among the 18 films in post-production pitched during the 10th edition of the Work-in-Progress showcase which is spearheaded by Frederic Boyer, the artistic director of Les Arcs and Tribeca festivals.

“System Crasher,” which won the TitraFilm Award, follows the wild journey of a 9-year-old girl through all possible stations of Child Protective Services. “System Crasher” is produced by Weydemann Bros and Kineo Filmprodudktion, and co-produced by Oma Inge Film.

The jury, which included Gaia Furrer, the head of programming for Venice Days, Trevor Groth from 30West and Alex Traila, the head of Romanian international affairs Sarajevo Cinelink, praised “System Crasher” for its “electrifying portrait of an issue that affects cultures around the world.” “(It) isn’t of­ ten shown, and is done so through...

Festival crowns winners in its Work in Progress, Co-Production and Talent Village strands.

Les Arcs Film Festival, the event held on top of a mountain in the French Alps, has named the winning projects in its 2018 industry programme.

This year’s Les Arcs Industry Village showcased 20 projects in development at the Co-Production Village, screened 18 feature films in post­-production as part of the Work in Progress session, and presented its first selection of eight newcomers at the inaugural Talent Village.

Since it was set up 10 years ago, the Industry Village has become a hub for projects that go onto be high-profile,...

Grímur Hákonarson’s Rams follow-up The County to screen footage out of competition.

The 10th edition of the Les Arcs Film Festival has selected its crop of work in progress projects.

The festival unveiled its co-production project selection and inaugural Talent Village last week.

Completing this year’s Industry Village are 15 projects, all of which are in post-production and do not yet have sales agents attached.

They include new projects from director Babis Makridis, whose Pity premiered at Sundance this year, Damjan Kozole, whose Nightlife won best director at Karlovy Vary in 2016, and Levan Akin whose The Circle was a 2015 Berlinale selection.

Right after Thanksgiving, as awards season gains traction and top 10 lists start being posted everywhere, the Sundance lineup arrives to provide a sneak peak of what’s around the corner for next year. The 2019 program is one of the most ambitious yet: The slate of 112 features just announced from 152 countries contains a range of promising new work, much of which was surveyed in IndieWire’s Sundance wish list. While there are plenty of familiar names in the program, however, this year’s Sundance already looks markedly different from previous editions, in large part due to the way fewer big titles pop out as the obvious sources of hype. Instead, there’s a cohesiveness to a program bursting with potentially compelling new work that reflects a fresh sensibility overall.

That’s a testament to new programming director Kim Yutani, a Sundance veteran who replaced longtime programmer Trevor Groth earlier this year.

It’s not even December, and the Sundance Film Festival has announced more or less its entire feature film lineup, unveiling 112 films to be screened in Park City, Utah, over the course of the event, which runs from Jan. 23 – Feb. 2, 2019.

Last year, the Venice Film Festival invited just one woman director to screen her film in competition. Cannes carved out room for three. Sundance once again puts these male-dominated showcases to shame, unveiling a competition slate that is 53% female — nine of the 17 directors eligible for the festival’s top prize are women.

Examining the lineup as a whole, 45 of the 112 features accepted to Sundance were directed by one or more women, 40 were directed by a filmmaker of color, and 15 by people who identify as Lgbtqia. That’s just one of the many ways in which North America’s leading independent film festival continues to lead the charge when it comes...

As per our pre-Thanksgiving tradition, we are attempting to give fans of the Sundance Film Festival a preview of what’s to come via our Park City prognostications. Admittedly, we are clueless on some (e.g. Richard Linklater’s Moon Landing Film or Robinson Devor’s You Can’t Win), but we keep meticulous tabs on future American indie, world cinema and docu film offerings and this year’s 100 suggestions indicate a fest of renewal with several first time feature filmmakers possibly breaking into the fest. And speaking of firsts, we will have seen a changing of the guard with Kim Yutani replacing Trevor Groth as Director of Programming.…...

After hiring veteran festival programmer Kim Yutani to lead its programming team, the Sundance Film Festival has now announced a brand new batch of further programming hires. Yutani, who was previously a senior programmer for the festival and has worked at Sundance since 2006, was hired in May for the Director of Programming job left vacant by long-time programming head Trevor Groth earlier this year. The long-time programmer has now rounded out her team with a number of fresh faces, while also elevating some Sundance stalwarts.

Yutani commented in an official statement, “This year’s record-breaking number of submissions are phenomenally strong: we’re invigorated and inspired by the work we’ve been seeing. Our incredible — and growing! — programming team has refined our curation processes, ensuring that the conversations we have as we program continue to center, as always, on a Festival that represents a wide range of filmmakers and on-screen experiences.

The Sundance Film Festival has gone through many changes in its 35 years, evolving from Robert Redford’s experimental incubator for independent filmmaking to the most influential festival event in the country. The 2019 edition is no exception: With Kim Yutani taking over as director of programming following the departure of longtime programming head Trevor Groth, much of the independent film community expects a lineup that reflects the shift in vision. Of course, Yutani still reports to Sundance veteran John Cooper, the festival’s director, and some Sundance movies will always be safe bets.

IndieWire’s annual Sundance wish list reflects much of the intel making the rounds, as well as some educated guesswork, based on various projects that have been submitted or seem likely to submit ahead of the festival’s deadlines. Last year’s hefty wish list included many films that make the cut, so take this overview seriously — but...

Does Cannes have a woman problem?

Over the course of its 71 years, the most prestigious film gathering in the world has feted the likes of American filmmakers such as Francis Ford Coppola, Quentin Tarantino and Terrence Malick, as well as male auteurs from all over the world. Despite its rich legacy, some glass ceilings remain firmly in place. Only one female director, Jane Campion, has captured the festival’s top prize, the Palme d’Or, and few women have traditionally been invited to screen their films in competition.

It’s a bad look, particularly given the historical moment. Time’s Up and #MeToo are dominating the conversation around Hollywood, and top female talent are pushing for pay equity and more opportunities, but Cannes has remained stubbornly resistant to change. This year’s gathering has only three films in competition from female filmmakers, which shockingly represents Cannes’ best showing since 2011. Over the past 10 years,...