U.K.-French film company Alief has boarded Cinélatino winner Victoria Linares Villegas’ upcoming horror debut “No salgas” (“Stay Quiet”) as its world sales agent and co-producer, teaming up with El Perro de Argento, the Dominican Republic-based production company founded by Linares Villegas and Carlos Marranzini.
Alief partners Brett Walker and Miguel Angel Govea are heading to Cannes with a sizzle reel to meet with potential buyers and post-production partners at the Marché du Film. Pic is slated for completion by winter 2024, in time for the festival circuit.
Currently filming in the Dominican Republic, the queer coming-of-age horror pic stars Camila Issa (Nickelodeon’s “Are You Afraid of the Dark”) Cecile van Welie (San Sebastian’s New Directors Award winner “Carajita”) and Camila Santana (Berlinale Generation’s “Ramona”) as well as newcomer Gabriela Cortés.
In “No salgas,” van Welie portrays Liz, a college student grappling with her sexual identity. While...
Alief partners Brett Walker and Miguel Angel Govea are heading to Cannes with a sizzle reel to meet with potential buyers and post-production partners at the Marché du Film. Pic is slated for completion by winter 2024, in time for the festival circuit.
Currently filming in the Dominican Republic, the queer coming-of-age horror pic stars Camila Issa (Nickelodeon’s “Are You Afraid of the Dark”) Cecile van Welie (San Sebastian’s New Directors Award winner “Carajita”) and Camila Santana (Berlinale Generation’s “Ramona”) as well as newcomer Gabriela Cortés.
In “No salgas,” van Welie portrays Liz, a college student grappling with her sexual identity. While...
- 5/9/2024
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: UK-French sales company Alief has acquired world sales rights to Megan Seely’s dark comedy Puddysticks in which she co-stars alongside Mamoudou Athie and Dan Bakkedahl.
Seely plays Liz, a burned-out videogame designer who discovers a mysterious society of adults who heal their darkest secrets through childlike play.
Led by the alluring figure of Sylvester Cromwell (Bakkedahl), the group compels each member to reveal their most shameful memory as part of the process but when Liz finally musters the courage to share her darkest trauma, her world turns upside down.
Puddysticks is actress, writer and filmmaker Seely’s first feature length film after well-travelled short film My Loyal Audience, TV show Every Year On My Half Birthday and taking co-writing credits on 2017 feature The Mad Whale.
Her acting credits include the Filipino and American musical The Girl Who Left Home and Twist.
Seely plays Liz, a burned-out videogame designer who discovers a mysterious society of adults who heal their darkest secrets through childlike play.
Led by the alluring figure of Sylvester Cromwell (Bakkedahl), the group compels each member to reveal their most shameful memory as part of the process but when Liz finally musters the courage to share her darkest trauma, her world turns upside down.
Puddysticks is actress, writer and filmmaker Seely’s first feature length film after well-travelled short film My Loyal Audience, TV show Every Year On My Half Birthday and taking co-writing credits on 2017 feature The Mad Whale.
Her acting credits include the Filipino and American musical The Girl Who Left Home and Twist.
- 2/6/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
West Hollywood-based indie distribution outfit Indican Pictures (“Gossamer Folds”) has secured North American rights for Santiago Fillol’s political thriller “Matadero” (“Slaughterhouse”).
The debut fiction feature from the Argentine director saw its world premiere in competition at Locarno in 2022, with further festival bows at Mar Del Plata and Seville before December theatrical runs in Argentina and Spain via Cinetren and Begin Again Films, respectively.
Negotiations were handled by Randolph Kret of Indican Pictures alongside Brett Walker and partner Miguel Angel Govea at Alief (“Driving Mum”), who handle world sales on behalf of the filmmakers outside of Argentina, France, Spain and Switzerland.
“Indican Pictures is pleased to acquire the Argentinian film “Matadero”– it’s a compelling story that will have viewers on the edge of their seat,” Indican co-founder Randolph Kret told Variety.
Set up in the Argentine pampas, 1970, the narrative nods to the shocking, hyper-realistic cinema of the era and follows U.
The debut fiction feature from the Argentine director saw its world premiere in competition at Locarno in 2022, with further festival bows at Mar Del Plata and Seville before December theatrical runs in Argentina and Spain via Cinetren and Begin Again Films, respectively.
Negotiations were handled by Randolph Kret of Indican Pictures alongside Brett Walker and partner Miguel Angel Govea at Alief (“Driving Mum”), who handle world sales on behalf of the filmmakers outside of Argentina, France, Spain and Switzerland.
“Indican Pictures is pleased to acquire the Argentinian film “Matadero”– it’s a compelling story that will have viewers on the edge of their seat,” Indican co-founder Randolph Kret told Variety.
Set up in the Argentine pampas, 1970, the narrative nods to the shocking, hyper-realistic cinema of the era and follows U.
- 11/5/2023
- by Holly Jones
- Variety Film + TV
UK-French sales agent, distribution and production company Alief has announced that the Ted Raimi led psychological thriller, Failure!, will have its World Premiere at FrightFest on August 28th 2023. Alief picked up worldwide rights at the Cannes Film Festival in May after Failure! made its debut at the Fantastic Pavillion. To mark the occasion, a teaser trailer and poster has been released. Failure! follows James who has a big debt with the bank and is given one hour to choose between financial ruin or murder in order to protect his family. As the hour progresses he finds his home and phone invaded by multiple characters pulling him in different directions, gradually adding to his distress and his unravelling. But who is real and who isn’t? As well as Raimi, the film also stars Merrick McCartha (Senior Year), Melissa Diaz (Ruthless), John Paul Medrano (Seven Days) and Daniel Kuhlman (Voodoo MacBeth) and Noel Douglas Orput.
- 8/1/2023
- by Peter 'Witchfinder' Hopkins
- Horror Asylum
The sales, distribution, and production company Alief picked up the worldwide rights to the psychological thriller Failure!, starring Ted Raimi, at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, and now they have announced that the film is going to have its world premiere at the FrightFest film festival in London on August 28th! In anticipation of the premiere, a teaser trailer for Failure! has been unveiled and can be seen in the embed above.
Directed by Alex Kahuam (Forgiveness), Failure! was shot in a single 87 minute take. Within that single take we follow James (Raimi), who has a big debt with the bank and is given one hour to choose between financial ruin or murder in order to protect his family. As the hour progresses he finds his home and phone invaded by multiple characters pulling him in different directions, gradually adding to his distress and his unravelling. But who...
Directed by Alex Kahuam (Forgiveness), Failure! was shot in a single 87 minute take. Within that single take we follow James (Raimi), who has a big debt with the bank and is given one hour to choose between financial ruin or murder in order to protect his family. As the hour progresses he finds his home and phone invaded by multiple characters pulling him in different directions, gradually adding to his distress and his unravelling. But who...
- 7/19/2023
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Alief has acquired world sales rights to Alex Kahuam’s single-take thriller “Failure!” starring Ted Raimi.
Shot in a single, 87-minute take, the Mexican-u.S. co-production follows James (Raimi), a man who has just one hour to choose between financial ruin or murder to protect his family.
The film gained a boost after bowing at the inaugural Fantastic Pavilion Galas, the Cannes Film Market’s new genre showcase.
“I’m very excited to work with Alief because they understand what true cinema is,” said Kahuam. “The Fantastic Pavilion was the bridge and Alief was the catalyst to move the film where we thought it should go.”
Raimi added: “With Alief, I’m looking forward to fans seeing me in a different light; still a black and morbid one, but now dramatic as well.”
“We are chuffed to represent Alex Kahuam’s brilliant genre-bending thriller featuring a tour-de-force performance from the one and only Ted Raimi,...
Shot in a single, 87-minute take, the Mexican-u.S. co-production follows James (Raimi), a man who has just one hour to choose between financial ruin or murder to protect his family.
The film gained a boost after bowing at the inaugural Fantastic Pavilion Galas, the Cannes Film Market’s new genre showcase.
“I’m very excited to work with Alief because they understand what true cinema is,” said Kahuam. “The Fantastic Pavilion was the bridge and Alief was the catalyst to move the film where we thought it should go.”
Raimi added: “With Alief, I’m looking forward to fans seeing me in a different light; still a black and morbid one, but now dramatic as well.”
“We are chuffed to represent Alex Kahuam’s brilliant genre-bending thriller featuring a tour-de-force performance from the one and only Ted Raimi,...
- 5/23/2023
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Norwegian distributor Fjong Film has picked up Hilmar Oddson’s award-winning Icelandic dark comedy “Driving Mum.”
While French-u.K. sales and production company Alief has already sold the film widely in Europe, the Norwegian deal marks its first sale in Scandinavia.
The Tallinn Black Nights Grand Prix winner, a theatrical hit in Iceland and Estonia, follows aimless protagonist Jon (Þröstur Leó Gunnarsson), who, grappling with immeasurable grief, finally comes of ripe age while fulfilling his mother’s (Kristbjörg Kjeld) final wish.
Fjong Film CEO Nina Tryggvadottir, who was born in Iceland, connected with the unconventional road movie, acquiring all rights for the title.
“I’m super excited to be working on a film from my native country and looking forward to releasing it for Norwegian audiences in October or November.”
Alief partner Miguel Angel Govea added: “We are thrilled to start ‘Driving Mum’s’ Scandinavian rollout with Fjong — a perfect...
While French-u.K. sales and production company Alief has already sold the film widely in Europe, the Norwegian deal marks its first sale in Scandinavia.
The Tallinn Black Nights Grand Prix winner, a theatrical hit in Iceland and Estonia, follows aimless protagonist Jon (Þröstur Leó Gunnarsson), who, grappling with immeasurable grief, finally comes of ripe age while fulfilling his mother’s (Kristbjörg Kjeld) final wish.
Fjong Film CEO Nina Tryggvadottir, who was born in Iceland, connected with the unconventional road movie, acquiring all rights for the title.
“I’m super excited to be working on a film from my native country and looking forward to releasing it for Norwegian audiences in October or November.”
Alief partner Miguel Angel Govea added: “We are thrilled to start ‘Driving Mum’s’ Scandinavian rollout with Fjong — a perfect...
- 5/22/2023
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Good Deed Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Carol Ray Hartsell’s Hamptons-set indie romantic comedy Love … Reconsidered for a Valentine’s Day 2024 release.
Sophie von Haselberg stars as a down-on-her-luck New Yorker whose life is suddenly transferred to the Hamptons after a chance meeting with a wealthy consignment store owner.
“Love… Reconsidered is refreshing and I know audiences will fall in love with this unique cast,” said Gde’s EVP Acquisitions Erik Donley. “This is going to be a perfect film for rom-com fans everywhere.”
The deal was finalized ahead of the Cannes Market and negotiated by Gde’s Donley and Brett Walker, president at Alief with partner Miguel Angel Govea on behalf of the filmmakers.
Other cast members include Colton Haynes, Luke Gulbranson and Elaine Bromka (Uncle Buck).
The film marks Hartsell’s feature debut as a director, after...
Sophie von Haselberg stars as a down-on-her-luck New Yorker whose life is suddenly transferred to the Hamptons after a chance meeting with a wealthy consignment store owner.
“Love… Reconsidered is refreshing and I know audiences will fall in love with this unique cast,” said Gde’s EVP Acquisitions Erik Donley. “This is going to be a perfect film for rom-com fans everywhere.”
The deal was finalized ahead of the Cannes Market and negotiated by Gde’s Donley and Brett Walker, president at Alief with partner Miguel Angel Govea on behalf of the filmmakers.
Other cast members include Colton Haynes, Luke Gulbranson and Elaine Bromka (Uncle Buck).
The film marks Hartsell’s feature debut as a director, after...
- 5/19/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
It is the debut from Haitian-American filmmaker Monica Sorelle.
UK-France sales outfit Alief has acquired international sales for Haitian-American filmmaker Monica Sorelle’s debut feature Mountains, ahead of its world premiere at Tribeca next month.
The drama, which will play in the US narrative competition, follows a family of Haitian migrants living in Miami, grappling with ambitions for a better life and a college dropout son, who is secretly harbouring a dream to be a stand-up comedian.
It is produced by Cuban-American Robert Colom and stars Atibon Nazaire, Sheila Anozier and Chris Renois, with a script from Sorelle and Colom.
UK-France sales outfit Alief has acquired international sales for Haitian-American filmmaker Monica Sorelle’s debut feature Mountains, ahead of its world premiere at Tribeca next month.
The drama, which will play in the US narrative competition, follows a family of Haitian migrants living in Miami, grappling with ambitions for a better life and a college dropout son, who is secretly harbouring a dream to be a stand-up comedian.
It is produced by Cuban-American Robert Colom and stars Atibon Nazaire, Sheila Anozier and Chris Renois, with a script from Sorelle and Colom.
- 5/12/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
France-u.K. sales-production-distribution house Alief (“Matadero”) has closed U.K. and Irish theatrical sales for on Tallinn Black Nights Grand Prix winner “Driving Mum, with Newcastle upon Tyne-based exhibition and distribution outfit Tull Stories (“A Clever Woman”) ahead of its bow in at the Glasgow Festival on Monday.
Warsaw-based Aurora Films (“I Love My Dad”) has simultaneously snapped up Polish theatrical rights.
“We could not be happier to have found the perfect match for ‘Driving Mum’ in the U.K and Ireland, key markets in our company’s DNA. What a joyful day, I’ll finally be able to take my mother to one of our movies in London,” Brett Walker, president of Alief, told Variety.
Directed by Reykjavík helmer Hilmar Oddsson (“December”), the film, which recently secured a German-language and Swiss rights deal with Prokino, is a resounding ode to isolation and discovery that embarks on a journey lending...
Warsaw-based Aurora Films (“I Love My Dad”) has simultaneously snapped up Polish theatrical rights.
“We could not be happier to have found the perfect match for ‘Driving Mum’ in the U.K and Ireland, key markets in our company’s DNA. What a joyful day, I’ll finally be able to take my mother to one of our movies in London,” Brett Walker, president of Alief, told Variety.
Directed by Reykjavík helmer Hilmar Oddsson (“December”), the film, which recently secured a German-language and Swiss rights deal with Prokino, is a resounding ode to isolation and discovery that embarks on a journey lending...
- 3/6/2023
- by Holly Jones
- Variety Film + TV
Hot on the tail of a recent slew of pickups and sales, Paris-based sales-producer-distributor Alief has snapped up international rights to the West African folktale “Mami Wata.”
North America rights to the film are represented by Marissa Frobes at CAA Media Finance. Alief is presenting the film to buyers and festival programmers at this week’s European Film Market in Berlin.
The first film from a Nigerian-based director to play (and win an award) at Sundance, this visually striking feature took home the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Cinematography for Brazilian Dp Lílis Soares.
Nigerian director C.J. ‘Fiery’ Obasi’s film tells the story of two sisters who fight to save their people and restore to the land a water deity. According to West African folklore, ‘Mami Wata’ is a terrifying mermaid goddess.
This black-and-white film is set in a beach town where a community must question previously...
North America rights to the film are represented by Marissa Frobes at CAA Media Finance. Alief is presenting the film to buyers and festival programmers at this week’s European Film Market in Berlin.
The first film from a Nigerian-based director to play (and win an award) at Sundance, this visually striking feature took home the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Cinematography for Brazilian Dp Lílis Soares.
Nigerian director C.J. ‘Fiery’ Obasi’s film tells the story of two sisters who fight to save their people and restore to the land a water deity. According to West African folklore, ‘Mami Wata’ is a terrifying mermaid goddess.
This black-and-white film is set in a beach town where a community must question previously...
- 2/19/2023
- by Liza Foreman
- Variety Film + TV
Ahead of its world premiere screening as part of Berlinale’s Generation 14plus strand, Alief has swooped on global sales to Dominican director Victoria Linares Villegas’s second non-fiction feature, “Ramona,” and has provided Variety exclusive access to its first look trailer.
After its Berlin run, “Ramona” is set for a North American bow at the True False Documentary Film Festival in Columbia, Missouri this March, where Linares will receive the Visionary Award.
A postmodern look into the class divide and lives of an already vulnerable population, the project has emerged as a documentary with glimpses of scripted narrative, which the director credits to the adolescents she interviewed; their predicaments became paramount.
“I started developing ‘Ramona’ in 2016 as a fiction film, about a pregnant teenager who escapes the outskirts of Santo Domingo in search of a casting call for her favorite telenovela,” Linares recounted in a statement.
“As I was writing the screenplay,...
After its Berlin run, “Ramona” is set for a North American bow at the True False Documentary Film Festival in Columbia, Missouri this March, where Linares will receive the Visionary Award.
A postmodern look into the class divide and lives of an already vulnerable population, the project has emerged as a documentary with glimpses of scripted narrative, which the director credits to the adolescents she interviewed; their predicaments became paramount.
“I started developing ‘Ramona’ in 2016 as a fiction film, about a pregnant teenager who escapes the outskirts of Santo Domingo in search of a casting call for her favorite telenovela,” Linares recounted in a statement.
“As I was writing the screenplay,...
- 2/15/2023
- by Holly Jones
- Variety Film + TV
Munich-based arthouse distribution company Prokino Filmverleih has locked German-language and Swiss rights for the unconventional Icelandic road trip film “Driving Mum” from production-distribution outfit Alief (“Matadero”).
The project won the Grand Prix Prize for best film at the Tallinn Black Night Film Festival, earning additional accolades for its affecting score. It was also chosen as an Industry Select title at 2022’s Toronto Festival.
The deal, brokered between Miguel Angel Govea, a partner at Alief, and Ira Von Gienanth, managing director of production, acquisitions & sales at Prokino, comes ahead of the feature’s European Film Market screenings in Berlin.
“We’re thrilled to close German rights with Prokino. Ira and the team are a perfect match for Hilmar’s sentimental yet quirky tribute to motherhood,“ Govea remarked in a statement.
Directed by Reykjavík native Hilmar Oddsson (“December”), “Driving Mum” takes a wryly solemn look at isolation, despair and self-discovery as Jon...
The project won the Grand Prix Prize for best film at the Tallinn Black Night Film Festival, earning additional accolades for its affecting score. It was also chosen as an Industry Select title at 2022’s Toronto Festival.
The deal, brokered between Miguel Angel Govea, a partner at Alief, and Ira Von Gienanth, managing director of production, acquisitions & sales at Prokino, comes ahead of the feature’s European Film Market screenings in Berlin.
“We’re thrilled to close German rights with Prokino. Ira and the team are a perfect match for Hilmar’s sentimental yet quirky tribute to motherhood,“ Govea remarked in a statement.
Directed by Reykjavík native Hilmar Oddsson (“December”), “Driving Mum” takes a wryly solemn look at isolation, despair and self-discovery as Jon...
- 2/14/2023
- by Holly Jones
- Variety Film + TV
Winnie Cheung’s “Residency,” which has its world premiere in the Bright Future section of Intl. Film Festival Rotterdam, has debuted its trailer (below). Alief is selling the film, which is a “haunting metafictional tale about female artists pushed beyond their limits at a cursed artist residency.”
The film, set at New York artists’ studio The Locker Room, is described by Alief’s Miguel Angel Govea as “an adventurous take on the final girl horror trope.” It is a “hybrid feature dancing between fiction and non-fiction norms that plays like a punk rock cover of Gaspar Noé’s ‘Climax.'”
Cheung commented: “Rather than representing women as sexualized victims through the traditional lens of male fantasies, I’m exploring the real horror behind the anxiety of being a female artist, which is often mixed in with pleasure, delirium and joy.”
Cheung was the editor and one of the producers of “Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched,...
The film, set at New York artists’ studio The Locker Room, is described by Alief’s Miguel Angel Govea as “an adventurous take on the final girl horror trope.” It is a “hybrid feature dancing between fiction and non-fiction norms that plays like a punk rock cover of Gaspar Noé’s ‘Climax.'”
Cheung commented: “Rather than representing women as sexualized victims through the traditional lens of male fantasies, I’m exploring the real horror behind the anxiety of being a female artist, which is often mixed in with pleasure, delirium and joy.”
Cheung was the editor and one of the producers of “Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched,...
- 1/27/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
France-u.K. sales-production-distribution house Alief has closed sales on a broad slate of titles whose roll-out underscores the longevity of current sales cycles, even on high-profile breakout titles.
Alief has licensed Sundance sci-fi “Strawberry Mansion” to France’s Universcine for digital, SVOD and broadcast distribution in French-speaking territories.
From U.S. scribe-helmers Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney (“Sylvio”), the film is currently on a day-and-date release in the U.K. via Bulldog Distribution. It was opened by Music Box in the U.S. while Draka Distribution closed Italy during this year’s Berlin European Film Market.
Cop Secret
Set in a none-too-distant future where the state taxes citizens’ dreams, “Strawberry Mansion” has Alief currently fielding offers for South East Asia, Middle East and North Africa, Spain, Scandinavia and Latin America, and healthy interest from buyers and festivals, Alief partner Miguel Angel Govea told Variety.
Universcine has also acquired digital, SVOD...
Alief has licensed Sundance sci-fi “Strawberry Mansion” to France’s Universcine for digital, SVOD and broadcast distribution in French-speaking territories.
From U.S. scribe-helmers Kentucker Audley and Albert Birney (“Sylvio”), the film is currently on a day-and-date release in the U.K. via Bulldog Distribution. It was opened by Music Box in the U.S. while Draka Distribution closed Italy during this year’s Berlin European Film Market.
Cop Secret
Set in a none-too-distant future where the state taxes citizens’ dreams, “Strawberry Mansion” has Alief currently fielding offers for South East Asia, Middle East and North Africa, Spain, Scandinavia and Latin America, and healthy interest from buyers and festivals, Alief partner Miguel Angel Govea told Variety.
Universcine has also acquired digital, SVOD...
- 11/5/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
On the heels of its world premiere at Locarno’s Cineasti del Presente and coinciding with upcoming festival bows at Seville and Mar del Plata, auteur-focused distribution house Alief has shared in exclusivity with Variety the trailer and key art for Santiago Fillol’s first solo feature, “Matadero.”
An ode to class struggle and unflinching ego, the film simultaneously enters international competition in Spain and Argentina this week alongside French director Alice Diop’s buzzy “Saint Omer” and “Tres Hermanos,” filmmaker Francisco J. Paparella’s absorbing follow-up to debut feature “Zanjas.”
Begin Again films handles Spanish distribution on “Matadero” with Alief handling international sales rights.
‘It’s a real joy to see the crossover of arthouse cinema, now also being recognised as an elevated horror genre. “Matadero” is able to voice a visual that’s both visceral and tender, that speaks to both arthouse and genre audiences,’ relayed Brett Walker,...
An ode to class struggle and unflinching ego, the film simultaneously enters international competition in Spain and Argentina this week alongside French director Alice Diop’s buzzy “Saint Omer” and “Tres Hermanos,” filmmaker Francisco J. Paparella’s absorbing follow-up to debut feature “Zanjas.”
Begin Again films handles Spanish distribution on “Matadero” with Alief handling international sales rights.
‘It’s a real joy to see the crossover of arthouse cinema, now also being recognised as an elevated horror genre. “Matadero” is able to voice a visual that’s both visceral and tender, that speaks to both arthouse and genre audiences,’ relayed Brett Walker,...
- 11/4/2022
- by Holly Jones
- Variety Film + TV
Icelandic production company Ursus Parvus has released a new trailer for upcoming black comedy road trip movie, “Driving Mum.”
The film is in official competition and will celebrate its world premiere at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival on Nov. 19. The film was also chosen as one of the 2022 Industry Selects at the Toronto International Film Festival.
“Driving Mum,” an Icelandic/Estonian co-production, is directed by Hilmar Oddsson and stars Þröstur Leó Gunnarsson (“Noi the Albino”), Kristbjörg Kjeld (“Alma”), Hera Hilmar (“Mortal Engines”) and Tómas Lemarquis (“Blade Runner 2049”).
In the film, when Jon’s mother, the single most dominant person in his life, dies, his anchor is gone. Compelled to honor her last wish, he takes on a journey to bring the body across Iceland to her home village for the final rest. As they travel on, Jon’s whole existence obtains a new meaning.
Ursus Parvus producer, Hlin Johannesdottir,...
The film is in official competition and will celebrate its world premiere at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival on Nov. 19. The film was also chosen as one of the 2022 Industry Selects at the Toronto International Film Festival.
“Driving Mum,” an Icelandic/Estonian co-production, is directed by Hilmar Oddsson and stars Þröstur Leó Gunnarsson (“Noi the Albino”), Kristbjörg Kjeld (“Alma”), Hera Hilmar (“Mortal Engines”) and Tómas Lemarquis (“Blade Runner 2049”).
In the film, when Jon’s mother, the single most dominant person in his life, dies, his anchor is gone. Compelled to honor her last wish, he takes on a journey to bring the body across Iceland to her home village for the final rest. As they travel on, Jon’s whole existence obtains a new meaning.
Ursus Parvus producer, Hlin Johannesdottir,...
- 11/1/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Paris-based Alief has secured international rights to Icelandic documentary “Band.”
Following its world premiere at HotDocs earlier this year, the film will now be shown in Haugesund’s New Nordic Films section, with an Icelandic premiere set for Nov. 4. Sena and Siminn handle Icelandic rights.
Directed by debuting helmer Álfrún Örnólfsdóttir, the melancholic yet humorous doc has already drawn comparisons to cult classic “Spinal Tap,” but it’s actually dedicated to her own band, The Post Performance Blues Band aka ThePPBB. Struggling to get some traction but bravely soldering on, all the while working on lyrics about “waffles and coffee” and playing in half-empty rooms in front of visibly stunned people.
“We are excited to jump on board Álfrún’s side-splitting verité musical, a true gem that effectively uses mockumentary storytelling in a believe-it-or-not, make-it-or-break-it tale of Iceland’s electro punk trio ThePPBB,” said Alief’s Miguel Angel Govea.
“I...
Following its world premiere at HotDocs earlier this year, the film will now be shown in Haugesund’s New Nordic Films section, with an Icelandic premiere set for Nov. 4. Sena and Siminn handle Icelandic rights.
Directed by debuting helmer Álfrún Örnólfsdóttir, the melancholic yet humorous doc has already drawn comparisons to cult classic “Spinal Tap,” but it’s actually dedicated to her own band, The Post Performance Blues Band aka ThePPBB. Struggling to get some traction but bravely soldering on, all the while working on lyrics about “waffles and coffee” and playing in half-empty rooms in front of visibly stunned people.
“We are excited to jump on board Álfrún’s side-splitting verité musical, a true gem that effectively uses mockumentary storytelling in a believe-it-or-not, make-it-or-break-it tale of Iceland’s electro punk trio ThePPBB,” said Alief’s Miguel Angel Govea.
“I...
- 8/22/2022
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: UK-French film company Alief has secured international sales rights to Australian filmmaker Alena Lodkina’s second feature Petrol, following its buzzy world premiere in Locarno’s Filmmakers Of The Present competition.
The Melbourne-set drama, co-stars Nathalie Morris as an impressionable film student of Russian origin who falls under the thrall of an enigmatic performance artist, played by big screen newcomer Hannah Lynch.
The pair move in together and their lives become more and more entwined, with Morris’s character embarking on a voyage of self-discovery played out between reality and her imagination.
Morris is best known internationally for her starring role in Stan’s Australian teen pregnancy series Bump, which premieres in North America on CW Network this month and was acquired for the U.K. by the BBC.
Petrol was the first Australian feature film to play in competition at Locarno since Clara Law’s Floating Life in...
The Melbourne-set drama, co-stars Nathalie Morris as an impressionable film student of Russian origin who falls under the thrall of an enigmatic performance artist, played by big screen newcomer Hannah Lynch.
The pair move in together and their lives become more and more entwined, with Morris’s character embarking on a voyage of self-discovery played out between reality and her imagination.
Morris is best known internationally for her starring role in Stan’s Australian teen pregnancy series Bump, which premieres in North America on CW Network this month and was acquired for the U.K. by the BBC.
Petrol was the first Australian feature film to play in competition at Locarno since Clara Law’s Floating Life in...
- 8/11/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Paris-based sales company Alief has swooped on international sales rights to horror-political thriller “Matadero” (“Slaughterhouse”), the awaited fiction feature debut of Argentina’s Santiago Fillol, co-scribe on Oliver Laxe’s Cannes winners “Mimosa” and “Fire Will Come.”
Co-written by Fillol, “Matadero” world premieres this week in Locarno’s main International Competition.
The film takes a stark look at a historic tale through the maniacal lens of U.S. filmmaker Jared (Julio Perillán), as he shoots a big-screen version of a 19th-century text by Argentine writer Estaban Echeverría, exploiting the times and their trappings to create a piece of cinema meant to dig itself into the collective consciousness.
Taking on tensions that boil over between landowners and laborers, Jared’s lofty vision for his adaptation will push the cast and crew to the brink. As his plot advances, ego and deception reign.
Fillol’s rendition takes place in 1970s rural Argentina,...
Co-written by Fillol, “Matadero” world premieres this week in Locarno’s main International Competition.
The film takes a stark look at a historic tale through the maniacal lens of U.S. filmmaker Jared (Julio Perillán), as he shoots a big-screen version of a 19th-century text by Argentine writer Estaban Echeverría, exploiting the times and their trappings to create a piece of cinema meant to dig itself into the collective consciousness.
Taking on tensions that boil over between landowners and laborers, Jared’s lofty vision for his adaptation will push the cast and crew to the brink. As his plot advances, ego and deception reign.
Fillol’s rendition takes place in 1970s rural Argentina,...
- 8/10/2022
- by Holly Jones
- Variety Film + TV
Utopia has acquired the North American rights to Amanda Kramer’s “Give Me Pity!” ahead of the musical comedy’s North American premiere at Fantasia Film Festival.
“Give Me Pity!” follows a Saturday Night variety show host who slowly unravels on screen in what Kramer has called “an untamed and intimate portrayal of diva culture, female vanity, created persona, and the prisms of fame.”
The film enjoys its North American premiere at genre fest Fantasia in Montreal, Canada, on Friday. Utopia has set an early 2023 release for the pic, and has partnered with boutique agency Aspect Ratio for a special distribution roll-out. Prior to the movie’s commercial release, Aspect Ratio will handle non-theatrical and specialty art venue bookings.
“Give Me Pity!” world premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in January, closing the Dutch festival’s Filmmakers in Focus section. Indie sales, distribution and production company Alief picked up...
“Give Me Pity!” follows a Saturday Night variety show host who slowly unravels on screen in what Kramer has called “an untamed and intimate portrayal of diva culture, female vanity, created persona, and the prisms of fame.”
The film enjoys its North American premiere at genre fest Fantasia in Montreal, Canada, on Friday. Utopia has set an early 2023 release for the pic, and has partnered with boutique agency Aspect Ratio for a special distribution roll-out. Prior to the movie’s commercial release, Aspect Ratio will handle non-theatrical and specialty art venue bookings.
“Give Me Pity!” world premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in January, closing the Dutch festival’s Filmmakers in Focus section. Indie sales, distribution and production company Alief picked up...
- 7/22/2022
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
British-French film company Alief has closed North America and French-speaking territories on “Cop Secret,” effectively now selling the Icelandic buddy cop spoof to over half the world’s major markets.
In North America, “Cop Secret” has scored a platform release with Epic Pictures. Extralucid Films has acquired France, Monaco, Luxembourg and French-speaking Belgium and Switzerland.
The writer-director feature debut of Hannes Thor Haldorsson, Iceland’s national soccer team goalkeeper, “Cop Secret” will bow in select theaters in North America on July 8 then on VOD on July 12.
The deals were put through by Patrick Ewald, president & CEO of Epic Pictures Group and Extralucid Films CEO Carine Bach and President Patrice Very. Alief President Brett Walker and partner Miguel Angel Govea negotiated on behalf of the filmmakers.
Walker and Govea are at the Cannes Film Market to continue the international roll-out of “Cop Secret,” which is already impressive.
Territories closed take in...
In North America, “Cop Secret” has scored a platform release with Epic Pictures. Extralucid Films has acquired France, Monaco, Luxembourg and French-speaking Belgium and Switzerland.
The writer-director feature debut of Hannes Thor Haldorsson, Iceland’s national soccer team goalkeeper, “Cop Secret” will bow in select theaters in North America on July 8 then on VOD on July 12.
The deals were put through by Patrick Ewald, president & CEO of Epic Pictures Group and Extralucid Films CEO Carine Bach and President Patrice Very. Alief President Brett Walker and partner Miguel Angel Govea negotiated on behalf of the filmmakers.
Walker and Govea are at the Cannes Film Market to continue the international roll-out of “Cop Secret,” which is already impressive.
Territories closed take in...
- 5/18/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Writer-director Tinna Hrafnsdóttir’s critically acclaimed Icelandic psychological-mystery drama “Quake” has sold to Juno Films for North America and the U.K. as well as to Njuta Films for Sweden.
British-French production, distribution and sales company Alief is presenting the film at the upcoming Cannes Marché du Film.
Anita Briem stars as Saga, a single mother fighting to keep her young son while trying to piece together her life after losing her memory. Afraid of being considered unable to take care of her child, Saga attempts to hide her state from others as she searches for answers and recovers long repressed memories.
“‘Quake’ is a taut mystery-thriller that masterfully spirals toward a cathartic, emotionally satisfying resolution,” said Elizabeth Sheldon, Juno Films’ president and CEO. “The stunning cinematography reflects a barren cold landscape that in turn reflects the emotionally frigid familial relationships in a film that keeps you guessing — until the very end — what is true.
British-French production, distribution and sales company Alief is presenting the film at the upcoming Cannes Marché du Film.
Anita Briem stars as Saga, a single mother fighting to keep her young son while trying to piece together her life after losing her memory. Afraid of being considered unable to take care of her child, Saga attempts to hide her state from others as she searches for answers and recovers long repressed memories.
“‘Quake’ is a taut mystery-thriller that masterfully spirals toward a cathartic, emotionally satisfying resolution,” said Elizabeth Sheldon, Juno Films’ president and CEO. “The stunning cinematography reflects a barren cold landscape that in turn reflects the emotionally frigid familial relationships in a film that keeps you guessing — until the very end — what is true.
- 5/12/2022
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
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