News

Frank & Louis, the upcoming drama from director Petra Volpe, secured multiple key European pre-sales as production kicks off.

Constantin Film picked up the film for Germany and Austria, Filmcoopi has acquired rights for Switzerland, and September Film will handle release in the Benelux region.

Kingsley Ben-Adir (Bob Marley: One Love, Barbie) and Rob Morgan (Mudbound, Don’t Look Up) star in the English-language debut from Swiss-Italian director Petra Volpe, whose recent feature Late Shift drew acclaim at this year’s Berlinale and became a local box office success in German-speaking Europe. TrustNordisk is handling international sales.

Set within the walls of a U.S. prison, Frank & Louis follows Frank (Ben-Adir), a man serving a life sentence who takes on a caretaking role for aging inmates suffering from memory loss. The BAFTA-nominated British actor has drawn attention from recent turns as Bob Marley in Reinaldo Marcus Green’s Bob Marley: One Love...

Exclusive: TrustNordisk has recorded first sales on Petra Volpe’s prison drama Frank & Louis(working title), currently shooting in the UK before heading to Switzerland.

The film has sold to Germany and Austria (Constantin Film), Switzerland (Filmcoopi) and Benelux (September Film).

Kingsley Ben-Adir and Rob Morgan star in the story of a man serving a life sentence, who takes an in-prison job caring for ageing and infirm prisoners suffering from memory loss diseases.

René Pérez Joglar, Indira Varma and Rosalind Eleazar are also on the cast. The film is made in co-production with Swiss Radio and Television and Srg Ssr...

Kingsley Ben-Adir (Bob Marley: One Love, Barbie) and Rob Morgan (Mudbound, Don’t Look Up) have signed on to star in Frank & Louis (working title), the upcoming English-language debut from Swiss-Italian director Petra Volpe, whose recent feature Late Shift drew acclaim at this year’s Berlinale and became a local box office success in German-speaking Europe.

Volpe first drew international attention with her 2017 feature The Divine Order, which was Switzerland’s official Oscar entry.

TrustNordisk has acquired world sales rights to Frank & Louis, which began principal photography on April 30, and will pitch it to buyers at the Cannes film market next week.

Set within the walls of a U.S. prison, Frank & Louis follows Frank (Ben-Adir), a man serving a life sentence who takes on a caretaking role for aging inmates suffering from memory loss. The BAFTA-nominated British actor has drawn attention from recent turns as Bob Marley...

Exclusive: Kingsley Ben-Adir and Rob Morgan are leading the cast of Frank & Louis (working title), the English-language feature debut of Late Shift director Petra Volpe.

Production on the film began on April 30 in the UK; TrustNordisk has boarded international sales rights.

Written by Volpe and Esther Bernstorff, Frank & Louis centres on a man serving a life sentence, who takes an in-prison job caring for ageing and infirm prisoners suffering from memory loss diseases. What starts as a self-serving parole mission turns into an emotional and transformative relationship with a fellow inmate that offers a chance at redemption.

Indira Varma,...

My Driver & I is Saudi writer-director-actress Ahd Kamel’s (Wadjda) very personal film set in 1980s and 1990s Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, telling the story of the relationship of a rebellious girl and her Sudanese chauffeur who form an unlikely friendship that is tested when she starts to take the wheel.

The coming-of-age movie from producers Georgie Paget and Thembisa Cochrane, inspired by Kamel’s childhood, had its world premiere on Friday as part of the Arab Spectacular Program of the fourth edition of the Red Sea International Film Festival (Rsiff).

Saudi actress Roula Dakheelallah, portraying Salma, and Sudan’s Mustafa Shehata, playing driver Gamar, lead the cast, which also includes Mishaal Tamer, Rana Alamuddine, and Qusai Kheder.

In a conversation with THR, the two stars lauded Kamel’s vision and talent. “I’ve worked with other film directors from all over the world, but working with a director who...

My Driver And I by Saudi director Ahd Kamel is set to screen not once but thrice as part of the Arab Spectacular Program of the fourth Red Sea International Film Festival, which will run from December 5th to the 14th.

The film is scheduled to hold its world premiere screening at 7 pm on December 6th in the Cultural Square’s Auditorium. From there, the film will screen twice more, once on the following day at 4:15 pm and again at 9:30 pm on December 14th at Cinema 4 of the Cultural Square.

My Driver And I follows Salma, a young, affluent, and rebellious Saudi girl whose family hires a Sudanese man named Gamar to drive her to and from her day-to-day activities.

Initially adhering to a simple employer/employee dynamic, Salma and Gamar’s relationship quickly evolves into a friendship that bonds them through her teenage years and beyond, but...

Renowned French filmmaker Mia Hansen-Løve (One Fine Morning) has revealed her next film to be If Love Should Die, a biopic of 18th century English writer, philosopher, and women’s rights advocate, Mary Wollstonecraft.

Slated to film in the United Kingdom, France, Scandinavia and Portugal in 2025, the project’s logline is as follows: On the eve of the French Revolution, an impoverished young Englishwoman makes the bold decision to leave her life according to the ideals of the enlightenment.

Wollstonecraft is best known for her work A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, published in 1792, where she argued that women are not naturally inferior to men, even if they appeared so in her time because they lacked equal access to education. Wollstonecraft believed that both men and women should be treated as rational beings and imagined a social order founded on reason. Her ideas and writings laid the groundwork for the feminist movement,...

Mia Hansen-Løve, one of France’s leading filmmakers whose movies have played at Cannes, Berlin and Toronto, will next direct “If Love Should Die,” an ambitious feature film about the life of visionary English writer and philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft.

Mubi, the auteur-driven global distribution and streaming powerhouse, is producing “If Love Should Die” with Georgina Paget and Thembisa Cochrane at U.K. banner Caspian Films (“The Colour Room”); “Anatomy of a Fall” producer David Thion and Philippe Martin at Paris-set Les Films Pelléas; Norway’s Mer Film, Lorenzo Mieli for Our Films and Arte France Cinema. Mubi and Arte France Cinema are financing the production. The Match Factory is handling worldwide sales.

Written and directed by Hansen-Løve, the film will for the first time tell the journey of Wollstonecraft, a 18th-century feminist pioneer whose ideas resonate with our times.

“On the eve of the French Revolution, an impoverished young Englishwoman...

Speakers and mentors taking part include BFI Filmmaking Fund director Mia Bays and Bafta chair Sara Putt.

Reclaim The Frame, the UK’s gender equality in cinema charity, has set the filmmakers from across the UK who will take part in the eighth edition of professional development programme, Filmonomics, with BFI Filmmaking Fund director Mia Bays and Bafta chair Sara Putt among the mentors and speakers offering their support.

Among the 18 filmmakers taking part for this edition are director Jessica Bishopp, who has had documentary shorts premiere in BFI London Film Festival and SXSW; Bafta Scotland-nominated producer and founder of Lothian Films,...

Saudi Arabian actress Ahd Kamel’s long gestated feature directorial debut My Driver And I is a step closer to coming to fruition, following the arrival of fresh partners on the project.

Dubai-based pay-tv and streaming giant Osn has boarded the project to make an Osn Original.

It announced its commitment to the project and partnership with the Red Sea Fund, Mad Solutions and the U.K.’s Caspian Films at dinner at the Red Sea International Film Festival on Tuesday evening.

Jeddah-based production companies Yellow Camel and Millimeter are also on board as co-producers.

The partners have also unveiled the key cast including Jordanian star Saba Mubarak as well as Saudi Hip-Hop Artist Qusai Kheder, Sudanese You Will Die At 20 breakout Mostafa Shehata, and Baraa Alem, who co-starred in Saudi road movie-thriller Route 10 and will soon be seen in fantasy series Hwjn.

The feature is being produced as an...

UK scheme aimed at first time filmmakers.

UK-based female-focused film organisation Birds’ Eye View has revealed the 18 first-time filmmakers selected for this year’s Filmonomics business training programme.

The cohort have been chosen for the sixth iteration of the scheme, which is aimed at feature writers, directors and producers of marginalised genders who are either on the verge of making their first feature, or have just made or released their debut.

The 18 participants are Afia Nkrumah, Bircan Birol, Cherish Oteka, Emily Everdee, Fozia Khaliq, Isla Badenoch, Jo Tracy, Katie Dolan, Lesley-Anne Macfarlane, Libby Potter, Lidz-Ama Appiah, Liv Little, Lizzie Mackenzie,...

The scheme is for feature writers, directors, producers of marginalised genders who are either on the verge of making their first feature, or have just made or released their debut.

UK-based female-focused film organisation Birds’ Eye View has launched the sixth iteration of its Filmonomics business training programme.

The scheme is for feature writers, directors, producers of marginalised genders who are either on the verge of making their first feature, or have just made or released their debut.

The scheme is funded by ScreenSkills, as part of the BFI Future Film Skills programme using funds from the National Lottery, and...

Phoebe Dynevor has swapped the corsets of Bridgerton for a trench coat for her latest role as Clarice Cliff, a pioneering ceramic artist who roared to prominence in the 1920s while working in Britain’s pottery industry.

Dynevor stars as Cliff in Sky’s original movie The Colour Room, and the Comcast-owned European broadcaster has released a first-look image of the actress in the drama, in which she features opposite Matthew Goode.

The Colour Room is produced by Caspian Films, Sky, and Creative England, while the feature is based on a BAFTA Rocliffe-winning script from Claire Peate. Ophelia helmer Claire McCarthy directs. Additional cast includes David Morrissey (The Walking Dead), Darci Shaw (Judy), Kerry Fox (Rare Beasts), and Luke Norris (Poldark).

Here’s the logline: “The Colour Room follows the journey of a determined, working class woman, Clarice Cliff, as she breaks the glass ceiling and revolutionizes the workplace in the 20th century.

As production ramps up for kick-off on the Sky Original movie ‘The Colour Room’ it’s announced that both ‘Bridgerton’ star Phoebe Dynevor and the always wonderful Matthew Goode have joined the cast.

The film is based on the rise to fame of legendary Stoke-on-Trent ceramic artist Clarice Cliff, played by Dynevor. Goode takes on the role of Colley Shorter.

The film follows the journey of a determined, working-class woman, Clarice Cliff, as she breaks the glass ceiling and revolutionises the workplace in the 20th century. Clarice Cliff (Dynevor) is a vivacious young factory worker in the industrial British midlands of the 1920s. Her creativity and ambition drives her to move from factory to factory, despite the financial impact on the household she shares with her widowed mother Ann (Kerry Fox) and youngest sister Dot (Darci Shaw). Bursting at the seams with ideas for colours and shapes, Clarice takes more...

The film depicts acclaimed ceramic artist Clarice Cliff.

Phoebe Dynevor, star of hit Netflix series Bridgerton, will make her feature film debut in Claire McCarthy’s The Colour Room opposite Matthew Goode, with filming getting underway at the end of March in England.

The title is a Sky Original film co-produced by Sky, the UK’s Caspian Films and Creative England. It is written by Claire Peate, who won the Bafta Rocliffe film award for her script in 2016.

Dynevor will play the real-life figure of Clarice Cliff, a factory worker in the industrial British midlands of the 1920s who revolutionized the 20th century workplace,...

Phoebe Dynevor, star of Netflix’s global smash “Bridgerton,” plays the lead in Sky original “The Colour Room.”

The film charts the rise to fame of Stoke-on-Trent ceramic artist Clarice Cliff, played by Dynevor. Cliff, a determined, working class woman in the 1920s, broke the glass ceiling and revolutionized the workplace in the 20th century, while becoming one of the greatest Art Deco designers.

The cast also includes Matthew Goode (“The Imitation Game”), David Morrissey (“The Walking Dead”), Darci Shaw (“Judy”), Kerry Fox (“Rare Beasts”) and Luke Norris (“Poldark”).

The film will be directed by Claire McCarthy (“The Luminaries”) and is written by Claire Peate, winner of the BAFTA Rocliffe new writing showcase in 2016.

“The Colour Room” will start production later this month in Stoke-on-Trent and Birmingham and will be released in cinemas and on Sky Cinema later this year.

“I am so excited to be joining the cast of ‘The Colour Room,...

Phoebe Dynevor is to lead Sky original movie The Colour Room alongside Matthew Goode, marking her first major role since headlining Netflix’s record-breaking Regency-era drama Bridgerton.

Dynevor will play Clarice Cliff, a pioneering ceramic artist who roared to prominence in the 1920s while working in Britain’s Stoke-on-Trent pottery industry. The Colour Room is produced by Caspian Films, Sky, and Creative England, while the feature is based on a BAFTA Rocliffe-winning script from Claire Peate. Ophelia helmer Claire McCarthy directs.

Additional cast includes David Morrissey (The Walking Dead), Darci Shaw (Judy), Kerry Fox (Rare Beasts), and Luke Norris (Poldark). The Colour Room will start production later this month in Stoke-on-Trent and Birmingham, while the film will be released in cinemas and on Sky Cinema later this year.

Here’s the logline: “The Colour Room follows the journey of a determined, working class woman, Clarice Cliff, as she breaks the...

Exclusive: Production underway in Africa on drama from Searching For Sugar Man executive.

Production is underway on commercials director Juergen Bollmeyer’s debut feature 3 Way Junction, starring Tom Sturridge (The Hollow Crown, Far From The Madding Crowd), Stacy Martin (Nymphomaniac Vol. 1 & 2) and Tommy Flanagan (Sons Of Anarchy).

The five-week shoot will include South Africa and Namibia.

Bollmeyer, who has directed adverts for Toyota, BMW and Coca-Cola, won a Cannes Silver Lion in 2014.

Inspired by real events, 3 Way Junction follows a London architect who travels to the grand dunes of the Namibian Desert to escape. But when he finds himself stranded alone, desperately waiting for a ride that never comes, he must embark on a bitter rite of passage.

Writers are Don Bohlinger (The Experiment, Elles) and arts and travel writer Jessica Hundley.

Maggie Monteith (Searching For Sugar Man) produces for Dignity Films alongside Michael Auret for Spier Films (The Salvation) and Oliver Stoltz. Chris Reed, Thembisa Cochrane...