Annemarie Jacir's Gaza Drama Wins Top Berlinale Co-Production Market Award
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Palestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir’s Gaza-set drama “The Oblivion Theory” has won the top prize at the Berlinale Co-Production Market.
Presented by Paris-based Incognito Films and Berlin’s One Two Films, the film is based on José Eduardo Agualusa’s novel “A General Theory of Oblivion,” although the book’s story has been moved from Angola to Palestine during the First Intifada, the sustained protests by Palestinians against Israel occupation that lasted from 1987 to 1993.
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The film centers on an American woman who accidentally gets stuck in an apartment in Gaza at the outbreak of the protests, becoming an unlikely witness and survivor in a country in the midst of massive upheaval.
Berlin: Firebrand Topper Brandon Burrows Uses Chess Skills in Navigating Biz
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March 4, 2021
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A chess champion in his youth, Brandon Burrows, principal and founder of shingle Firebrand, approaches producing like a chess game. His love for film sparked at an early age when his father owned a video store. His producing credits include “Gallowwalkers” with Wesley Snipes, “The Perfect Weapon” starring Steven Seagal and “Altitude” with Dolph Lundgren. He created, wrote and produced “Pups Alone” starring Jennifer Love Hewitt and Rob Schneider, and executive-produced Western “The Last Son” with a cast led by Sam Worthington, Machine Gun Kelly, Thomas Jane and Heather Graham. He’s written the next two action thrillers he’ll be producing.
'Little Girl' Review: A Trans Girl Grows Into Herself in a Lovely, Light-Filled Documentary
'Little Girl' Review: A Trans Girl Grows Into Herself in a Lovely, Light-Filled Documentary
Veteran French docmaker Sébastien Lifshitz is in top form in a transgender character study that pitches familial strength against community resistance.
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MK2 Films
Near the beginning of “Little Girl,” the camera sits quietly in on a ballet class for second-grade girls. Among them is seven-year-old Sasha Kovac, in a dark T-shirt and tights that contrast starkly with the other girls’ papery white dresses. She moves gracefully but warily, her eyes more on her fellow dancers’ movements than her own, her arms threatening to break expressively free but not quite achieving liftoff. An instructor brusquely tells Sasha to stop watching the others, but it’s easy to see why she can’t: She seems to be palpably outside this class, looking for a way in.
Rise Pictures, Simonsays Team Up on Dark Supernatural Comedy 'Grim Inc.' (EXCLUSIVE)
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Berlin-based Rise Pictures and Simonsays Pictures in Stuttgart are partnering on a new dark supernatural comedy series about a secretive, multinational corporation established by the Grim Reaper in an effort to more efficiently collect the souls of the dearly departed.
“Grim Inc.” revolves around the mysterious enterprise founded by Death some 70 years ago. At his limits following two world wars and facing the exponential population growth that reached unimaginable proportions in the 1950s, the industrious Grim Reaper decides to start the company and outsource his work.
Emily Atef Readies Shoot of 'More Than Ever' With Vicky Krieps, Gaspard Ulliel (EXCLUSIVE)
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Emily Atef, whose latest film “3 Days in Quiberon” competed at the Berlinale in 2018, is getting ready to shoot “More Than Ever,” a melodrama headlined by Vicky Krieps (“Phantom Thread”) and Gaspard Ulliel (“It’s Only the End of the World”). Jesper Christensen (“Before the Frost”) and Liv Ullmann will also star.
The Match Factory is representing the project in international markets.
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“More Than Ever” (formerly known as “Mister”) was penned by Atef and German scribe Lars Hubrich, whose screenwriting credits include Fatih Akin’s 2016 film “Goodbye Berlin.” The movie is produced by Xénia Maingot at Eaux Vives Productions, and co-produced by Nicole Gerhards at Niko Film, Jani Thiltges at Samsa Film and Maria Ekerhovd at Mer Film.