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Several major distributors return to UK cinemas this weekend.

France, opening Wednesday, October 21

A dozen new films opened in France this week into a complex reality for the country’s distributors and exhibitors following the introduction of a night-time curfew for Paris and eight other major cities on October 17. It was announced yesterday (Oct 22) that the measure will be extended to more than half the country this Saturday (Oct 24) following a further surge in cases over the past week.

Prior to the announcement, a dozen distributors had taken the plunge to release films on Wednesday against already difficult odds. In the backdrop,...

Les Arcs Film Festival launched its inaugural Green Lab this year looking at what the cinema world can do to help tackle climate change.

The high-altitude, snow-covered setting of the Les Arcs Film Festival in the French Alps does not immediately conjure up a sense of being in a “climate emergency”.

But its backdrop, one of the last wildernesses of Europe, is facing the same ecological challenges as the rest of the planet, with temperatures rising faster than the global average in the Alps.

Worried about the festival’s environmental impact, its founding chiefs Guillaume Calop and Pierre-Emmanuel Fleurentin, have...

Romanian director Alexander Nana’s Collective won the international documentary film prize.

Darius Marder’s Sound Of Metal won the Golden Eye for best international feature film as this year’s Zurich Film Festival, which concluded on Sunday (October 6).

The film stars Riz Ahmed as a drummer whose life is thrown into turmoil when he begins to lose his hearing and co-stars Olivia Cooke and Mathieu Amalric. The drama premiered in Tiff’s Platform section, with Amazon acquiring Us rights. Protagonist Pictures handles international sales.

Romanian director Alexander Nanau’s Collective won the international documentary film prize. The film follows...

The 15th Zurich Film Festival (Sept. 26-Oct. 6) is marking a major changing of the guard while again presenting an impressive selection of high-profile international works and showcasing the

latest in Swiss cinema.

Todd Phillips’ “Joker,” Rupert Goold’s “Judy” and James Mangold’s “Le Mans ’66” (aka “Ford v Ferrari”) are among the films screening in the fest’s Gala Premieres section, which offers some of the year’s most highly anticipated films.

Zurich will again welcome a slew of major stars and filmmakers. This year the fest is honoring Roland Emmerich, Cate Blanchett and Kristen Stewart.

Likewise on hand will be Oliver Stone, who heads the fest’s international feature film competition jury, as well as Donald Sutherland, Javier Bardem and Julie Delpy, all of whom will be taking part in the

Zff Masters series.

2019 marks the final outing for fest founders and co-directors Nadja Schildknecht and Karl Spoerri. They...

For its 15th edition, the festival running 26 September to 6 October will place focus on ecology and on women, with the latter directing or playing lead roles in many of this year’s works. This year will see 170 films hailing from 58 countries presented during the Zurich Film Festival (26 September – 6 October), 12 in world premieres and 5 in European premieres. Opening this 15th edition of the event will be the weighty Swiss production Paradise War – The Story of Bruno Manser by Niklaus Hilber. The main actor, who plays the titular, militant Basel ecologist is the young and upcoming star of Swiss cinema Sven Schelker. It’s no coincidence that the opening film of the...

The Zurich Film Festival has unveiled a raft of gala screenings, with “Joker” among the lineup after its rousing premiere at Venice.

“Judy” about a late-career Judy Garland will also have its premiere in German-speaking countries at Zurich, and Ron Howard’s feature doc “Pavarotti” will have its local premiere at a gala screening attended by the late opera singer’s wife Nicoletta Mantovani.

Other gala screenings at the festival include Jonas Alexander Arnby’s “Suicide Tourist,” with “Game of Thrones” star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. Christian Schwochow’s “Deutschstunde,” Roger Michell’s “Blackbird,” Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano’s “Hors Normes,” and Karim Aïnouz’s “The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao, and Marjane Satrapi’s film about Marie Curie, “Radioactive,” will also all have gala showings.

The above-mentioned filmmakers will be in town for their films’ screenings.

Zurich had already announced Niklaus Hilber’s “Bruno Manser – Die Stimme Des Regenwaldes,” billed as Switzerland’s “Apocalypse Now,...

Wendt has been overseeing all of TrustNordisk’s film and TV sales operations since 2017.

TrustNordisk has promoted Susan Wendt to Managing Director as of May 1, as CEO Rikke Ennis departs to launch her new company REinvent Studios.

Wendt had already been overseeing all of TrustNordisk’s film and TV sales operations since 2017, when she was promoted to director of international sales and marketing, when Ennis started concentrating more on content development and packaging of film and TV drama.

Going forward, Wendt told Screen that TrustNordisk won’t be financing and packaging new projects “but will enter into projects in early stages as a sales company.

Film is based on true story of Manser’s 1984 Borneo expedition.

Denmark-based sales company TrustNordisk has added Paradise War, the based-on-a-true-story tale of environmentalist Bruno Manser’s 1984 expedition in Borneo, to its slate.

Directed by Niklaus Hilber (Amateur Teens) and starring Sven Schelker (Homeland) as Manser, the film was shot in 76 days in Switzerland, New York, Budapest and Borneo, including in the last areas of primary jungle on the island.

It is produced by Valentin Greutert for A Film Company GmbH (Switzerland) in coproduction with Philip Delaquis for Das Kollektiv GmbH (Switzerland). Ascot Elite are handling Swiss distribution for the film.

Genre market Frontières Platform (May 12-13), the co-presentation between the Fantasia International Film Festival and Cannes’ Marché du Film, will this year feature projects from Denis Côté, Ben Wheatley and Can Evrenol. The Frontières Buyers Showcase (Sunday May 13 at 4pm in Palais K) will feature 6 films, with producers screening footage for potential buyers, sales agents and festival programmers. The lineup includes Denis Côté’s (Vic + Flo Saw A Bear) Ghost Town Anthology, Jovanka Vuckovic’s (Xx) Riot Girls, which is handled by Xyz in the U.S., and Antonio Tublen’s (Lfo) Zoo, which is handled by Seville International. The proof of concept presentation on Saturday May 12 will include Girl Without A Mouth, the new film from Baskin director Can Evrenol, and Casey Walker’s UK-Canadian project Whitaker, produced by Andy Starke, Pete Tombs and Free Fire director Ben Wheatley for Rook Films alongside Jonathan Bronfman (The Witch).

Wild Bunch...

The Circle star to lead biopic of Swiss activist who lived in the Borneo rainforest.

Producers and cast and are rounding on a biopic of Swiss environmental activist Bruno Manser who disappeared years after living in the depths of the Borneo rainforest.

2015 Berlinale Shooting Star Sven Schelker, star of 2015 Swiss hit The Circle, is newly on board to play Manser.

Director Niklaus Hilber, whose drama Amateur Teens won the Best Film Award at the Zurich Film Festival last year, will direct. The English, German and native Penan-language script comes from Hilber and his Amatuer Teens collaborator Patrick Tonz.

Zurich-based production outfit A Film Company (Amateur Teens) will produce in collaboration with local distributor-producer Ascot Elite Entertainment Group, which in 2014 backed one of Switzerland’s biggest productions to date in the shape of Northmen: A Viking Saga.

Shoot is due to take place in Borneo and Switzerland in 2017 with the production expecting participation from the tribe with whom...

The Circle star to lead biopic of Swiss activist who lived in the Borneo rainforest.

Producers and cast and are rounding on a biopic of Swiss environmental activist Bruno Manser who disappeared years after living in the depths of the Borneo rainforest.

2015 Berlinale Shooting Star Sven Schelker, star of 2015 Swiss hit The Circle, is newly on board to play Manser.

Director Niklaus Hilber, whose drama Amateur Teens won the Best Film Award at the Zurich Film Festival last year, will direct.

Zurich-based production outfit A Film Company (Amateur Teens) will produce in collaboration with local distributor-producer Ascot Elite Entertainment Group, who in 2014 backed one of Switzerland’s biggest productions to date in the shape of Northmen: A Viking Saga.

Shoot is due to take place in Borneo and Switzerland in 2017 with the production expecting participation from the tribe with whom Manser lived. Ascot intends to open the movie in cinemas in 2018.

Activist Manser lived from 1984 to 1990 with...

Exclusive: San Sebastian and Zurich comedy-drama gets UK sales company.

Film Republic has picked up international sales rights to Edinburgh-based Ben Sharrock’s well-received debut feature Pikadero, which premiered in the New Directors competition in San Sebastian and won the Critics’ Award at the Zurich Film Festival.

The Spain-uk co-production is the company’s first UK acquisition.

Set against the backdrop of Spain’s economic crisis, Pikadero follows a penniless, young couple who have trouble consummating their fledgling relationship in their parents’ homes.

Since screening in San Sebastian and Zurich, the film has been screened at festivals in Sao Paulo, Mumbai, Braunschweig and Huelva, among others, winning the Fipresci Prize and Best Feature Film Award at Kiev’s Molodist, the Best Editor award and Special Achievement in Acting for Barbara Goenaga in Tirana, and a Special Mention for Best New Director at the Evolution Mallorca International Film Festival.

Most recently, Pikadero had been...

Mexico’s Kings of Nowhere wins doc prize; Thank You For Bombing wins Switzerland, Germany, Austria award.Scroll down for full list of winners

Grimur Hakonarson’s Rams (Hrútar) has won the Golden Eye for Best International Feature Film at the 11Sth Zurich Film Festival (Sept 24-Oct 4).

The film, about two estranged brothers who have to reunite to save their sheep during an outbreak of disease, is Iceland’s submission for the Oscars for Best Foreign-Language Film.

Zff’s international jury, headed by Carol producer Elizabeth Carlson, awarded the title as well as a cash prize of more than $25,000 (CHF25,000).

It continues a strong festival run for Rams, which won the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes in May before going on to screen at Karlovy Vary, Telluride and Toronto among others.

International sales are handled by New Europe Film Sales, which has sold the film to around 40 countries. Cohen Media Group handle Us distribution.

It also marks...