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Lights On, the Turin-based world sales company, has made a double swoop on Locarno titles, taking international sales rights to Lucy Kerr’s “Family Portrait” and “Dreaming & Dying” (“Hao Jiu Bu Jian”), written and directed by Singapore’s Nelson Yeo.

Both play in Locarno’s Cineasti del Presenti Sierra, focused on new talent. Locarno’s 2023 lineup was announced July 5.

‘Family Portrait’

The first feature from Kerr, a Texas-born filmmaker and video and installation artist, “Family Portrait” turns on a sprawling Texas family that gets together on a morning to take a group picture.

The mother disappears; the rest of the family seem reluctant to take the photos; one of the daughters, Katy, sets off to find her. Doing so, the synopsis says, she loses herself and her family.

Written by Kerr, “Family Portrait’s” key cast includes Deragh Campbell, Chris Galust “Give Me Liberty”), Rachel Alig (“Girl Next”) and Katie Folger (“Day 5”). Insufficient Funds,...

Seven European film festivals have joined forces to launch an alliance called ’Smart7’.

Debut features by Austėja Urbaitė, Telmo Churro and Sebastian Mihailescu are among seven films selected by the ‘Smart7’ network of seven European film festivals for the first edition of its competitive section of films by emerging filmmakers.

The seven titles will be first shown together at the forthcoming Vilnius Iff (March 16-26), before being screened at IndieLisboa (April 27-May 7), Filmmadrid (June 6-11), Transilvania (June 9-18), New Horizons (July 21-31), Reykjavik (September 28 - October 8) and Thessaloniki (November).

A jury of university students from each country will decide on the winner of the €5,000 prize.

The Polish film industry is embracing variety and high-profile international collaborations, with a slew of new co-productions already generating buzz among buyers and festival programmers. “More and more established filmmakers, who used to look for collaborators in Romania or Hungary, are now coming to Poland — mostly because we are backed by concrete institutions and because there is money,” says producer Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska of Madants, heading to Berlinale’s European Film Market with “Ultima Thule” and Goran Stolevski’s “Housekeeping for Beginners.”

“Our crews speak English and work abroad. We are visible internationally,” she adds.

Madants is also behind James Napier Robertson’s upcoming Polish-Kiwi title “Joika,” one of six international co-productions backed by the Polish Film Institute in 2022. The shingle’s slate includes Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert’s “Let Me Out” and Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s follow-up to “The Silent Twins,” “Hot Spot.”

“Foreign producers and buyers are actively looking...