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Bankside Films and Heretic are co-repping worldwide sales on Miguel Ángel Jimenéz’s “The Birthday Party,” featuring a star-studded cast led by four-time Academy Award nominee Willem Dafoe. The companies will be introducing the film to buyers and showing a promo during the European Film Market.

Written and directed by Jimenéz, with additional writing credits going to Giorgos Karnavas and Nikos Panayotopoulos, “The Birthday Party” is based on the novel of the same name by Panos Karnezis. Variety has been given exclusive access to a first look image from the film, which is currently in post-production.

Set in the late 1970s somewhere in the Mediterranean, “The Birthday Party” stars Dafoe as Marcos Timoleon, an Onassis-like tycoon who’s throwing a lavish, extravagant birthday celebration for Sofia, his daughter and sole heiress, on his exclusive private island.

Used to ruthlessly controlling everything and everyone around him whatever the cost, Marcos is...

Exclusive: Acclaimed actor Willem Dafoe, who recently starred in Oscar-nominated pic Poor Things and can next be seen in Tim Burton’s upcoming Venice opener Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, has just wrapped filming tycoon family drama The Birthday Party from Greek production house Heretic.

The project, which has been kept under wraps until now, is directed by Miguel Angel Jimenéz based on the novel of the same name by Panos Karnezis. Dafoe stars along side Emma Suarez, Joe Cole and Vic Carmen Sonne. Additional cast includes Christos Stergioglou, Carlos Cuevas, Antonis Tsiotsiopoulos, Fransesc Garrido, Maria Pau Pigem, Pelle Heikkilä and Elsa Lekkakou.

The story is set in the late 1970s somewhere in the Mediterranean where Marcos Timoleon, an Aristotle Onassis-like tycoon, is throwing a lavish, extravagant birthday party for Sofia, his daughter and sole heiress, on his exclusive private island. The party is a perfect excuse for various people in his...

Greek Oscar contender “Magnetic Fields” has closed a raft of deals as it ramps up its campaign in the best international feature race, with HBO Max acquiring distribution rights in Europe and Chinese arthouse distributor Hugoeast planning a theatrical release in the world’s second-largest market.

The HBO Max deal includes Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Moldova, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Bulgaria. Spanish streamer Filmin, meanwhile, has acquired all rights for Spain and Portugal.

Ioanna Stais, head of sales and acquisitions at Athens-based Heretic, which brokered the deals, said: “We couldn’t be more proud to see a film so close to our hearts reaching a wider audience. The film’s success in the Greek box office proved that viewers feel the warmth and the beauty of the film. It’s so exciting to see that ‘Magnetic Fields’ crosses borders and touches the heart of audiences worldwide.

Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is...

Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is...

Athens-based boutique production and sales outfit Heretic has boarded “Magnetic Fields,” the feature directorial debut of Yorgos Goussis, as executive producers. The film has its world premiere in the Film Forward section of the Thessaloniki Film Festival.

“Magnetic Fields” follows solo traveler Elena, who after deciding to change course on a whim finds herself on a ferry. There she meets Antonis, who is traveling to an island cemetery to bury a box containing his aunt’s bones.

When his car breaks down Elena offers him a ride, setting them off on a series of misadventures. Having enjoyed each other’s company and formed an effortless connection, they decide to keep wandering around the island in search of a good place to bury the box.

Goussis said that the film’s journey began in December 2020, when two actors and six crew members set off on a road trip from Athens to the island of Kefalonia,...