Fremantle has appointed new heads for its Italian labels The Apartment and Wildside and has agreed a co-production deal with their former CEOs Lorenzo Mieli and Mario Gianani.
Film and TV producer Annamaria Morelli becomes CEO of The Apartment while former Sky Italia exec Sonia Rovai has been named CEO of Wildside.
Their appointments follow the recent departures of The Apartment’s Lorenzo Mieli and Wildside’s Mario Gianani from the Fremantle-owned companies.
Mieli and Gianani are launching a new company together, full details of which will be announced in the near future. Fremantle has signed a co-production agreement with...
Film and TV producer Annamaria Morelli becomes CEO of The Apartment while former Sky Italia exec Sonia Rovai has been named CEO of Wildside.
Their appointments follow the recent departures of The Apartment’s Lorenzo Mieli and Wildside’s Mario Gianani from the Fremantle-owned companies.
Mieli and Gianani are launching a new company together, full details of which will be announced in the near future. Fremantle has signed a co-production agreement with...
- 2/29/2024
- ScreenDaily
Fremantle has sold out most major territories worldwide on the Martin Freeman-led BBC One smash hit “The Responder,” consolidating the acclaimed crime drama’s contention, even at this early stage, to become one of Europe’s top series of 2022.
Banner deals take in France (Canal Plus), Italy (Disney Plus), Germany’s (Magenta TV). Spain (Movistar Plus) and Russia & Cis (Viasat), all leading pay/SVOD operators.
The sales come as Fremantle, thanks to “The Responder,” “Cross Fire,” “Suspect” and “This Sceptred Isle” looks set to see an unprecedented four U.K. premium dramas finishing production in 2022. Led by “Fellow Travelers,” its English-language sales lineup for 2023 looks equally bullish.
In all, in 2022 Fremantle’s U.K. drama output will more than double compared to the previous year, said Jens Richter, at Fremantle’s global sales arm, Fremantle International, which he oversees as CEO.
That, however, is part of larger global surge.
Banner deals take in France (Canal Plus), Italy (Disney Plus), Germany’s (Magenta TV). Spain (Movistar Plus) and Russia & Cis (Viasat), all leading pay/SVOD operators.
The sales come as Fremantle, thanks to “The Responder,” “Cross Fire,” “Suspect” and “This Sceptred Isle” looks set to see an unprecedented four U.K. premium dramas finishing production in 2022. Led by “Fellow Travelers,” its English-language sales lineup for 2023 looks equally bullish.
In all, in 2022 Fremantle’s U.K. drama output will more than double compared to the previous year, said Jens Richter, at Fremantle’s global sales arm, Fremantle International, which he oversees as CEO.
That, however, is part of larger global surge.
- 2/10/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Italian writer-director Niccolò Ammaniti’s dystopian drama “Anna,” centered on a 13-year-old girl who must contend with a viral contagion that kills off all adults on the island of Sicily, has been sold by Fremantle to over 30 territories, including a multi-territory deal with Disney Plus for key European markets.
The Sky Original production, produced by Fremantle’s Wildside and co-produced by Arte France, the New Life Company and Kwaï, is now set to launch on Disney Plus in the U.K. and Ireland as well as Spain, Portugal, France, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
Fremantle had previously announced that the six-part series will launch in the U.S. on AMC Plus on Nov. 18.
Several other global broadcast partners have also boarded “Anna” including TV3 Group, Cosmote TV and Hellenic (Greece), Go Plc and Melita (Malta), Manoto TV (Middle East and North Africa), Canal Plus...
The Sky Original production, produced by Fremantle’s Wildside and co-produced by Arte France, the New Life Company and Kwaï, is now set to launch on Disney Plus in the U.K. and Ireland as well as Spain, Portugal, France, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
Fremantle had previously announced that the six-part series will launch in the U.S. on AMC Plus on Nov. 18.
Several other global broadcast partners have also boarded “Anna” including TV3 Group, Cosmote TV and Hellenic (Greece), Go Plc and Melita (Malta), Manoto TV (Middle East and North Africa), Canal Plus...
- 11/12/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Disney+ has snatched up new Italian drama series Anna for much of Europe, inking a deal with Fremantle to launch the show from award-winning writer-director Niccolò Ammaniti (The Miracle, I’m Not Scared) on its streaming service in various countries, including the U.K. and Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany and across the Nordic territories.
Fremantle, whose Italian company Wildside (The Young Pope) produced Anna as a Sky original together with Arte France, has closed deals for more than 30 territories for the series, from Poland (Canal+) to Russia and Cis (Amedia TV), from Korea (Watcha) to French-speaking Canada (Videotron).
Anna, which Ammaniti adapted from ...
Fremantle, whose Italian company Wildside (The Young Pope) produced Anna as a Sky original together with Arte France, has closed deals for more than 30 territories for the series, from Poland (Canal+) to Russia and Cis (Amedia TV), from Korea (Watcha) to French-speaking Canada (Videotron).
Anna, which Ammaniti adapted from ...
- 11/12/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Disney+ has snatched up new Italian drama series Anna for much of Europe, inking a deal with Fremantle to launch the show from award-winning writer-director Niccolò Ammaniti (The Miracle, I’m Not Scared) on its streaming service in various countries, including the U.K. and Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany and across the Nordic territories.
Fremantle, whose Italian company Wildside (The Young Pope) produced Anna as a Sky original together with Arte France, has closed deals for more than 30 territories for the series, from Poland (Canal+) to Russia and Cis (Amedia TV), from Korea (Watcha) to French-speaking Canada (Videotron).
Anna, which Ammaniti adapted from ...
Fremantle, whose Italian company Wildside (The Young Pope) produced Anna as a Sky original together with Arte France, has closed deals for more than 30 territories for the series, from Poland (Canal+) to Russia and Cis (Amedia TV), from Korea (Watcha) to French-speaking Canada (Videotron).
Anna, which Ammaniti adapted from ...
- 11/12/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
AMC+ is solidifying itself as one of the best providers of original content.
Thursday, November 18, marks the series premiere of the new drama series, Anna.
The streaming services describes Anna as "a dystopian story of a ravaged world destroyed by a virus which kills adults but spares children."
"Set amongst parched fields and mysterious forests, the crumbling hulks of shopping malls and abandoned cities pierce deserted wide-open spaces on an island reclaimed by nature and run by savage communities of survivors, most of whom are children," the logline continues.
"Anna only has one guide: a book left by her mother with instructions on how to survive."
"But, with each passing day she discovers that the old rules no longer apply, and instead must make up new ones as she goes along."
It is an impressive hook for the series, and we have an exclusive clip from Anna Season 1 Episode 1, created by Niccolò Ammaniti.
Thursday, November 18, marks the series premiere of the new drama series, Anna.
The streaming services describes Anna as "a dystopian story of a ravaged world destroyed by a virus which kills adults but spares children."
"Set amongst parched fields and mysterious forests, the crumbling hulks of shopping malls and abandoned cities pierce deserted wide-open spaces on an island reclaimed by nature and run by savage communities of survivors, most of whom are children," the logline continues.
"Anna only has one guide: a book left by her mother with instructions on how to survive."
"But, with each passing day she discovers that the old rules no longer apply, and instead must make up new ones as she goes along."
It is an impressive hook for the series, and we have an exclusive clip from Anna Season 1 Episode 1, created by Niccolò Ammaniti.
- 11/11/2021
- by Paul Dailly
- TVfanatic
The festival will showcase 60 drama series while some 2,000 professionals have signed up for industry events.
French TV festival and industry event Series Mania opens today, Thursday August 26, with UK crime thriller Vigil, the latest series from the producers of Line Of Duty and The Bodyguard which starts airing on BBC One this weekend.
Running August 26 to September 2 in the northern French city of Lille, it marks Series Mania’s first physical edition in two-and-a-half years after its 2020 edition, scheduled for March of that year, was forced online by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Co-founder and general director Laurence Herszberg and her selection...
French TV festival and industry event Series Mania opens today, Thursday August 26, with UK crime thriller Vigil, the latest series from the producers of Line Of Duty and The Bodyguard which starts airing on BBC One this weekend.
Running August 26 to September 2 in the northern French city of Lille, it marks Series Mania’s first physical edition in two-and-a-half years after its 2020 edition, scheduled for March of that year, was forced online by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Co-founder and general director Laurence Herszberg and her selection...
- 8/26/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Awards
Siân Heder’s “Coda,” an Apple original film, has won the 2021 Sundance Film Festival: London Award presented by BIFA.
The award was voted for by 40 leading professionals from the British film industry assembled by the British Independent Film Awards.
The film follows Ruby, a Coda or Child of Deaf Adults, who is torn between pursuing her love of music and her fear of abandoning her parents. The film stars Emilia Jones, Eugenio Derbez, Troy Kotsur, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Daniel Durant, and Marlee Matlin, and is produced by Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi and Patrick Wachsberger.
It had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival in the U.S., where it won best director U.S. dramatic, U.S. grand jury prize: dramatic and the audience award: U.S. dramatic. Walsh-Peelo attended the London event with Heder joining virtually for a Q & A.
The film will debut in cinemas and on Apple TV Plus on Aug.
Siân Heder’s “Coda,” an Apple original film, has won the 2021 Sundance Film Festival: London Award presented by BIFA.
The award was voted for by 40 leading professionals from the British film industry assembled by the British Independent Film Awards.
The film follows Ruby, a Coda or Child of Deaf Adults, who is torn between pursuing her love of music and her fear of abandoning her parents. The film stars Emilia Jones, Eugenio Derbez, Troy Kotsur, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Daniel Durant, and Marlee Matlin, and is produced by Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi and Patrick Wachsberger.
It had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival in the U.S., where it won best director U.S. dramatic, U.S. grand jury prize: dramatic and the audience award: U.S. dramatic. Walsh-Peelo attended the London event with Heder joining virtually for a Q & A.
The film will debut in cinemas and on Apple TV Plus on Aug.
- 8/4/2021
- by Naman Ramachandran and Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
As Italy’s film and TV industries start to bounce back from the pandemic with a verve reminiscent of the country’s postwar economic boom, the fourth edition of the Filming Italy Sardegna Festival is pulling out all the stops to support this effort.
The event is being held mostly in person July 21-25 on the emerald island that is becoming a prime destination for international shoots, such as the George Clooney-directed TV series “Catch-22,” and more recently Disney’s live-action adaptation of “The Little Mermaid.” It aims to serve as a catalyst for the local industry’s restart, while also fostering the formation of new talents and professionals. The fest will also serve as a campus of sorts for 2,000 ltalian film students.
As for well-established talents Tiziana Rocca, the former Taormina Film Festival chief who three years ago launched this international shindig combining film and TV with a...
The event is being held mostly in person July 21-25 on the emerald island that is becoming a prime destination for international shoots, such as the George Clooney-directed TV series “Catch-22,” and more recently Disney’s live-action adaptation of “The Little Mermaid.” It aims to serve as a catalyst for the local industry’s restart, while also fostering the formation of new talents and professionals. The fest will also serve as a campus of sorts for 2,000 ltalian film students.
As for well-established talents Tiziana Rocca, the former Taormina Film Festival chief who three years ago launched this international shindig combining film and TV with a...
- 7/20/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Hotly anticipated TV series “Anna,” the Sky Studios Original centered on a 13-year-old girl who must contend with a viral contagion that kills off all adults on the island of Sicily, is set to launch on Sky in Italy on April 23.
Directed by novelist-turned-director Niccolò Ammaniti (“The Miracle”), who co-wrote with Francesca Manieri (“Daughter of Mine”), the show was forced to halt production in March 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak. Ammaniti subsequently completed principle photography, returning to Sicily in July after a decision was made to reduce the number of episodes from eight to six. Variety has been given exclusive access to its final international trailer.
“Anna” is a Sky Original series commissioned by Sky Studios for Sky Italia produced by Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Mieli with Lorenzo Gangarossa for Wildside, a Fremantle company, in co-production with Arte France, The New Life Company, and Kwaï.
Following its Italian launch the skein,...
Directed by novelist-turned-director Niccolò Ammaniti (“The Miracle”), who co-wrote with Francesca Manieri (“Daughter of Mine”), the show was forced to halt production in March 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak. Ammaniti subsequently completed principle photography, returning to Sicily in July after a decision was made to reduce the number of episodes from eight to six. Variety has been given exclusive access to its final international trailer.
“Anna” is a Sky Original series commissioned by Sky Studios for Sky Italia produced by Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Mieli with Lorenzo Gangarossa for Wildside, a Fremantle company, in co-production with Arte France, The New Life Company, and Kwaï.
Following its Italian launch the skein,...
- 4/12/2021
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
In just a few years, the London Screenings have coalesced into a significant event for the international TV business.
Taking place virtually over the next two weeks, London Screenings is organized by a group of leading London-based international distributors — All3Media International, Banijay Rights, Entertainment One, Fremantle and ITV Studios — to showcase their latest scripted and unscripted fare.
The distributors have been working together since 2018 to coordinate their spring screening events, which sprang up to take advantage of the many international buyers who travel to the U.K. for the long-established BBC Studios Showcase in late February.
In recent years, the quality and importance of these screening events has grown, says Greg Johnson, ITV Studios executive VP of sales and distribution, Emea & Americas. Johnson says ITV has made a “significant investment to provide an unforgettable experience for our buyers,” including immersing them in the distributor’s content at London’s iconic...
Taking place virtually over the next two weeks, London Screenings is organized by a group of leading London-based international distributors — All3Media International, Banijay Rights, Entertainment One, Fremantle and ITV Studios — to showcase their latest scripted and unscripted fare.
The distributors have been working together since 2018 to coordinate their spring screening events, which sprang up to take advantage of the many international buyers who travel to the U.K. for the long-established BBC Studios Showcase in late February.
In recent years, the quality and importance of these screening events has grown, says Greg Johnson, ITV Studios executive VP of sales and distribution, Emea & Americas. Johnson says ITV has made a “significant investment to provide an unforgettable experience for our buyers,” including immersing them in the distributor’s content at London’s iconic...
- 3/1/2021
- by Tim Dams
- Variety Film + TV
Italian author and director Niccolò Ammaniti is currently in post on “Anna,” the hotly anticipated TV series centered on a 13-year-old girl who must contend with a viral contagion that kills off all adults on the island of Sicily.
Ammaniti’s second television project after “The Miracle,” “Anna” is a Sky Original series commissioned by Sky Studios for Sky Italia produced by Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Mieli with Lorenzo Gangarossa for Wildside, a Fremantle company, in co-production with Arte France, The New Life Company, and Kwaï. Fremantle is selling internationally.
In a case of life imitating art Ammaniti in March was forced to halt the “Anna” shoot due to the coronavirus outbreak. He subsequently completed principle photography, returning to Sicily. Variety is able to exclusively present the trailer for “Anna,” which will air on Sky in Italy in early 2021. In his first interview, Ammaniti spoke about the show from his Rome editing suite.
Ammaniti’s second television project after “The Miracle,” “Anna” is a Sky Original series commissioned by Sky Studios for Sky Italia produced by Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Mieli with Lorenzo Gangarossa for Wildside, a Fremantle company, in co-production with Arte France, The New Life Company, and Kwaï. Fremantle is selling internationally.
In a case of life imitating art Ammaniti in March was forced to halt the “Anna” shoot due to the coronavirus outbreak. He subsequently completed principle photography, returning to Sicily. Variety is able to exclusively present the trailer for “Anna,” which will air on Sky in Italy in early 2021. In his first interview, Ammaniti spoke about the show from his Rome editing suite.
- 10/14/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Despite the coronavirus production hiatus, there’s a wealth of international dramas launching at 2020 Mipcom. From Australia to the U.K., Variety rounds up 15 of the most anticipated international series debuting at the market.
Alice (U.K.)
“The Durrells” writer Simon Nye and star Keeley Hawes reteam for this black comedy about a woman coming to terms with the death of her husband. Nigel Havers and Joanna Lumley co-star.
Broadcaster: ITV; Distributor: StudioCanal
Alive and Kicking (Spain)
A coming-of-age tale about four teens escaping a psychiatric institution, “Alive and Kicking” is a YA drama that’s billed as a cross between “Stand by Me” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” – aiming to break down prejudices about teen mental health.
Broadcaster: Movistar Plus; Distributor: BetaFilm
Anna (Italy)
Adapted and directed by Niccolò Ammaniti from his acclaimed novel, this post-apocalyptic tale depicts a ravaged Sicily after an epidemic has wiped out adults,...
Alice (U.K.)
“The Durrells” writer Simon Nye and star Keeley Hawes reteam for this black comedy about a woman coming to terms with the death of her husband. Nigel Havers and Joanna Lumley co-star.
Broadcaster: ITV; Distributor: StudioCanal
Alive and Kicking (Spain)
A coming-of-age tale about four teens escaping a psychiatric institution, “Alive and Kicking” is a YA drama that’s billed as a cross between “Stand by Me” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” – aiming to break down prejudices about teen mental health.
Broadcaster: Movistar Plus; Distributor: BetaFilm
Anna (Italy)
Adapted and directed by Niccolò Ammaniti from his acclaimed novel, this post-apocalyptic tale depicts a ravaged Sicily after an epidemic has wiped out adults,...
- 10/12/2020
- by Tim Dams
- Variety Film + TV
Before the coronavirus outbreak put Italy on lockdown in early March, writer-director Niccolò Ammaniti was in Palermo, shooting “Anna,” a series for Comcast-owned pay-tv operator Sky centered on a 13-year-old Sicilian girl who must contend with a viral contagion that kills off all adults on the island of Sicily.
“We were shooting scenes in which we had adults saying, ‘We have to stick together. We have to go to the countryside, because cities are [virus] hotbeds.’ There were all these elements that resonated,” recounts Ammaniti, speaking from his Rome residence.
But the director, along with producers Mario Gianani, Lorenzo Mieli and Lorenzo Gangarossa — who are making “Anna” with Fremantle’s Italian production company Wildside — were still impervious to the urgency of the impending health crisis, since there had not been any reported cases of coronavirus infections in Sicily at that point.
“We even shot some really complicated scenes that involved...
“We were shooting scenes in which we had adults saying, ‘We have to stick together. We have to go to the countryside, because cities are [virus] hotbeds.’ There were all these elements that resonated,” recounts Ammaniti, speaking from his Rome residence.
But the director, along with producers Mario Gianani, Lorenzo Mieli and Lorenzo Gangarossa — who are making “Anna” with Fremantle’s Italian production company Wildside — were still impervious to the urgency of the impending health crisis, since there had not been any reported cases of coronavirus infections in Sicily at that point.
“We even shot some really complicated scenes that involved...
- 4/17/2020
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Fremantle is expanding its footprint in Italy by setting up a new development and production company focused on high-end scripted content and headed by Lorenzo Mieli, the producer of such shows as “The New Pope” and “My Brilliant Friend.” The new company, called The Apartment, will sit alongside two other Fremantle units in a reconfiguration of its Italian operations.
Mieli (pictured) a co-founder of Wildside, will become CEO of The Apartment in January. The company aims to “position itself on the market as an incubator of major projects” for the international market, Fremantle said.
The Apartment is being set up to develop projects of the same caliber as the four Wildside shows that Mieli is currently producing for HBO: Paolo Sorrentino’s “The New Pope,” Saverio Costanzo’s “My Brilliant Friend – The Story of a New Name,” Luca Guadagnino’s “We Are Who We Are,” and another HBO series...
Mieli (pictured) a co-founder of Wildside, will become CEO of The Apartment in January. The company aims to “position itself on the market as an incubator of major projects” for the international market, Fremantle said.
The Apartment is being set up to develop projects of the same caliber as the four Wildside shows that Mieli is currently producing for HBO: Paolo Sorrentino’s “The New Pope,” Saverio Costanzo’s “My Brilliant Friend – The Story of a New Name,” Luca Guadagnino’s “We Are Who We Are,” and another HBO series...
- 12/16/2019
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Topic, the soon-to-launch streaming service from First Look Media, has acquired 10 international titles from Fremantle, including The Miracle made by The Young Pope producer Wildside.
Wildside, an Italian outfit owned by Fremantle, produced The Miracle (Il Miracolo) for Sky Italia and it aired in the UK on Sky Atlantic. Written by Italian novelist Niccolò Ammaniti, the eight-part series tells a story about the discovery of a Virgin Mary statue weeping tears of blood during a police raid.
The Miracle will be available once Topic launches in North America on November 21. It will be joined by Sunshine Kings, an Australian drama about a South Sudanese-Australian basketball player who is on the cusp of being picked up by Us scouts when he is embroiled in a police investigation. Sunshine Kings was produced by Easy Tiger, in association with Carver Films. It broadcast on Sbs in Australia.
The other eight titles will launch...
Wildside, an Italian outfit owned by Fremantle, produced The Miracle (Il Miracolo) for Sky Italia and it aired in the UK on Sky Atlantic. Written by Italian novelist Niccolò Ammaniti, the eight-part series tells a story about the discovery of a Virgin Mary statue weeping tears of blood during a police raid.
The Miracle will be available once Topic launches in North America on November 21. It will be joined by Sunshine Kings, an Australian drama about a South Sudanese-Australian basketball player who is on the cusp of being picked up by Us scouts when he is embroiled in a police investigation. Sunshine Kings was produced by Easy Tiger, in association with Carver Films. It broadcast on Sbs in Australia.
The other eight titles will launch...
- 11/7/2019
- by Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
Comcast-backed Sky is making a new Italian original titled “Anna,” centered on a 13-year-old Sicilian girl who must contend with a viral contagion that has killed off all adults on the island.
The series, which has echoes of “The Walking Dead” and “Hunger Games,” is based on a book by the same title by author-turned-director Niccolò Ammaniti, who previously helmed Sky series “The Miracle.”
Shooting will start in mid-October with Ammaniti as showrunner and principal director. He also penned the screenplay in tandem with prominent Italian scribe Francesca Manieri (“Luna Nera”). Ace Sicilian cinematographer Daniele Ciprì will handle lensing duties and direct some insert segments.
“Anna” is being produced by Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Mieli for Fremantle’s Wildside in co-production with Arte France and Fremantle-owned Kwai. It will air as a Sky exclusive in Italy and possibly on the paybox in other territories. Fremantle is handling global rights.
The series, which has echoes of “The Walking Dead” and “Hunger Games,” is based on a book by the same title by author-turned-director Niccolò Ammaniti, who previously helmed Sky series “The Miracle.”
Shooting will start in mid-October with Ammaniti as showrunner and principal director. He also penned the screenplay in tandem with prominent Italian scribe Francesca Manieri (“Luna Nera”). Ace Sicilian cinematographer Daniele Ciprì will handle lensing duties and direct some insert segments.
“Anna” is being produced by Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Mieli for Fremantle’s Wildside in co-production with Arte France and Fremantle-owned Kwai. It will air as a Sky exclusive in Italy and possibly on the paybox in other territories. Fremantle is handling global rights.
- 10/17/2019
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
After scoring a coup with the TV adaptation of “My Brilliant Friend,” and with projects such as Paolo Sorrentino’s “The New Pope” and Oscar-nominated director Pawel Pawlikowski’s next film in the pipeline, Italy’s Wildside is in a pretty brilliant spot.
Ten years after being co-founded by producers Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Mieli, the shingle is expanding its international footprint and is on its way toward becoming, as Mieli puts it, “a home for big auteurs, both directors and writers…who can generate stories that can travel.” This can also mean mainstream-minded talents, he said.
That game plan includes Wildside’s first English-language series, about the life of film and fashion icon Audrey Hepburn, and other high-end projects in various stages. Among these is an “ambitious” new film by U.S.-trained Italian director Emanuele Crialese, who broke out with “Respiro” and helmed an episode of the recent Getty kidnap series “Trust.
Ten years after being co-founded by producers Mario Gianani and Lorenzo Mieli, the shingle is expanding its international footprint and is on its way toward becoming, as Mieli puts it, “a home for big auteurs, both directors and writers…who can generate stories that can travel.” This can also mean mainstream-minded talents, he said.
That game plan includes Wildside’s first English-language series, about the life of film and fashion icon Audrey Hepburn, and other high-end projects in various stages. Among these is an “ambitious” new film by U.S.-trained Italian director Emanuele Crialese, who broke out with “Respiro” and helmed an episode of the recent Getty kidnap series “Trust.
- 2/4/2019
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Bernardo Bertolucci, a towering figure of world cinema, has died aged 77.
The influential Italian auteur, perhaps best known for epic The Last Emperor, which won nine Oscars, and groundbreaking works such as Last Tango In Paris and The Conformist, has passed away in Rome following a battle with cancer his publicist has confirmed.
Bertolucci was a key figure in the extraordinary Italian cinema of the 1960s and early 1970s but also made a successful transition to big canvas Hollywood filmmaking with 1987’s The Last Emperor, whose Oscars included Best Picture and Best Director for Bertolucci.
Bertolucci was born in the Italian city of Parma in 1941, the son of a poet and teacher. His father was friends with future avant-garde filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini, then a novelist and poet, and Pasolino hired the 20-year-old Bertolucci as his assistant on his 1961 debut, Accattone. Bertolucci made his own directorial debut on 1962 feature La...
The influential Italian auteur, perhaps best known for epic The Last Emperor, which won nine Oscars, and groundbreaking works such as Last Tango In Paris and The Conformist, has passed away in Rome following a battle with cancer his publicist has confirmed.
Bertolucci was a key figure in the extraordinary Italian cinema of the 1960s and early 1970s but also made a successful transition to big canvas Hollywood filmmaking with 1987’s The Last Emperor, whose Oscars included Best Picture and Best Director for Bertolucci.
Bertolucci was born in the Italian city of Parma in 1941, the son of a poet and teacher. His father was friends with future avant-garde filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini, then a novelist and poet, and Pasolino hired the 20-year-old Bertolucci as his assistant on his 1961 debut, Accattone. Bertolucci made his own directorial debut on 1962 feature La...
- 11/26/2018
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
The winners from Series Mania Lille/Hauts-de-France were presented tonight during the closing ceremony at Nouveau Siegle in Lille, France. The international competition ran from April 27 through this evening, honoring the cream of contemporary drama series.
Leading the way was The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which won the Audience Award as the crowd favorite among new titles screening their first series, with votes collected after each screening. The series was created and directed by Amy Sherman-Palladino (USA), with production by Picrow and Amazon Studios. Its France broadcaster is Amazon Prime Video
The international jury, presided by Chris Brancato and composed of Maria Feldman, Maria Schrader, Clovis Cornillac and Pierre Lemaitre, gave four awards among the 10 series presented in world premiere.
The Grand Prize went to On The Spectrum, created by Dana Idisis and Yuval Shafferman (Israel), with direction by Yuval Shafferman and production from Sumayoko Mtd. The jury called it “a superb,...
Leading the way was The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which won the Audience Award as the crowd favorite among new titles screening their first series, with votes collected after each screening. The series was created and directed by Amy Sherman-Palladino (USA), with production by Picrow and Amazon Studios. Its France broadcaster is Amazon Prime Video
The international jury, presided by Chris Brancato and composed of Maria Feldman, Maria Schrader, Clovis Cornillac and Pierre Lemaitre, gave four awards among the 10 series presented in world premiere.
The Grand Prize went to On The Spectrum, created by Dana Idisis and Yuval Shafferman (Israel), with direction by Yuval Shafferman and production from Sumayoko Mtd. The jury called it “a superb,...
- 5/5/2018
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Winners were announced on Saturday night for the 9th edition of France’s Series Mania, the first held in the Northern France city of Lille, and Israel’s “On the Spectrum” took home the top Grand Jury Prize, making it the second Israeli series in as many years to claim the award.
Also announced at the Series Mania Forum, the festival’s industry event, France’s Federation Entertainment is teaming with Donna Wiffen and Paul Marquess to create Long Story TV, a European drama series production company. The new outfit will look to create commercial content that is cost-effective, popular, and maintains a British sensibility. It’s one more example of Pascal Breton’s Federation pushing further into English-language programming.
Everything about this year’s edition spoke to the growth of the festival, the most immediate difference being the shear geographic scale. Whereas previous editions were held at the Forum...
Also announced at the Series Mania Forum, the festival’s industry event, France’s Federation Entertainment is teaming with Donna Wiffen and Paul Marquess to create Long Story TV, a European drama series production company. The new outfit will look to create commercial content that is cost-effective, popular, and maintains a British sensibility. It’s one more example of Pascal Breton’s Federation pushing further into English-language programming.
Everything about this year’s edition spoke to the growth of the festival, the most immediate difference being the shear geographic scale. Whereas previous editions were held at the Forum...
- 5/5/2018
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
The global rise of Italian TV series is now in full swing, riding the wake of hits such as “Gomorrah,” “The Young Pope” and “Medici: Masters of Florence.”
A wave of new high-end shows that mine iconic aspects of Italy’s past and present, but also venture into the supernatural and tap into the vibrant reinvention of classic genres — such as spaghetti Westerns and horror that Italian cinema is historically known for — is about to roll out around the world.
But besides shows sparked by the rekindled love affair between long-form narratives and the country’s cinematic past, there is also “Winx Club,” the animated franchise featuring six trendy teenage fairies designed with a style mashing Japanese manga and classic Western animation that has bewitched millions of tween girls in more than 100 countries.
In March, Netflix announced it will adapt “Winx” into a live-action series for young adults in tandem with its creator,...
A wave of new high-end shows that mine iconic aspects of Italy’s past and present, but also venture into the supernatural and tap into the vibrant reinvention of classic genres — such as spaghetti Westerns and horror that Italian cinema is historically known for — is about to roll out around the world.
But besides shows sparked by the rekindled love affair between long-form narratives and the country’s cinematic past, there is also “Winx Club,” the animated franchise featuring six trendy teenage fairies designed with a style mashing Japanese manga and classic Western animation that has bewitched millions of tween girls in more than 100 countries.
In March, Netflix announced it will adapt “Winx” into a live-action series for young adults in tandem with its creator,...
- 4/8/2018
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Includes world premieres of Succession and The Split.
The world premiere of the 60-minute pilot episode of HBO’s Succession, written by Jesse Armstrong, the UK creator of Peep Show and Fresh Meat, and directed by Adam McKay, whose credits include The Big Short and Anchorman, will open the ninth edition of Series Mania in Lille on April 27.
Brian Cox, Hiam Abbass and Matthew Macfadyen head the ensemble cast of Succession, which follows the travails of a dysfunctional media dynasty.
Additionally, the Official Competition is comprised of 10 world premieres of original global TV series. They include BBC and Sundance TV series The Split,...
The world premiere of the 60-minute pilot episode of HBO’s Succession, written by Jesse Armstrong, the UK creator of Peep Show and Fresh Meat, and directed by Adam McKay, whose credits include The Big Short and Anchorman, will open the ninth edition of Series Mania in Lille on April 27.
Brian Cox, Hiam Abbass and Matthew Macfadyen head the ensemble cast of Succession, which follows the travails of a dysfunctional media dynasty.
Additionally, the Official Competition is comprised of 10 world premieres of original global TV series. They include BBC and Sundance TV series The Split,...
- 3/28/2018
- by Louise Tutt
- ScreenDaily
Me and You doesn’t feel like a typical Bernardo Bertolucci film. While some of the themes of his non-epic character dramas is there, what isn’t there are the beautiful vistas, bright colours, and enchantingly foreign (for us North Americans) locales. Frankly, Me and You feels more like something from Wes Anderson. It’s a movie about an introspective loner type who tries to create his own oasis away from the insanity of everyday life in a grimy basement, surrounded by dust, dirt and discarded artefacts of his mother’s home. Thinking more about it, there may only be three things that separate this from an Anderson film: it’s in Italian, it’s got some darker tones, and it lacks the elaborate mise-en-scène that Anderson’s basement hideaway surely would have had.
Bertolucci, of course, is a little more grounded than Anderson. His “hero,” Lorenzo (Jacopo Olmo Antinori...
Bertolucci, of course, is a little more grounded than Anderson. His “hero,” Lorenzo (Jacopo Olmo Antinori...
- 6/27/2014
- by Adam A. Donaldson
- We Got This Covered
Hilary Mantel, Jonathan Franzen, Mohsin Hamid, Ruth Rendell, Tom Stoppard, Malcolm Gladwell, Eleanor Catton and many more recommend the books that impressed them this year
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw (Fourth Estate) is a brilliant, sprawling, layered and unsentimental portrayal of contemporary China. It made me think and laugh. I also love Dave Eggers' The Circle (Hamish Hamilton), which is a sharp-eyed and funny satire about the obsession with "sharing" our lives through technology. It's convincing and a little creepy.
William Boyd
By strange coincidence two of the most intriguing art books I read this year had the word "Breakfast" in their titles. They were Breakfast with Lucian by Geordie Greig (Jonathan Cape) and Breakfast at Sotheby's by Philip Hook (Particular). Greig's fascinating, intimate biography of Lucian Freud was a revelation. Every question I had about Freud – from the aesthetic to the intrusively gossipy – was...
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Five Star Billionaire by Tash Aw (Fourth Estate) is a brilliant, sprawling, layered and unsentimental portrayal of contemporary China. It made me think and laugh. I also love Dave Eggers' The Circle (Hamish Hamilton), which is a sharp-eyed and funny satire about the obsession with "sharing" our lives through technology. It's convincing and a little creepy.
William Boyd
By strange coincidence two of the most intriguing art books I read this year had the word "Breakfast" in their titles. They were Breakfast with Lucian by Geordie Greig (Jonathan Cape) and Breakfast at Sotheby's by Philip Hook (Particular). Greig's fascinating, intimate biography of Lucian Freud was a revelation. Every question I had about Freud – from the aesthetic to the intrusively gossipy – was...
- 11/23/2013
- by Hilary Mantel, Jonathan Franzen, Mohsin Hamid, Tom Stoppard, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, William Boyd, Bill Bryson, Shami Chakrabarti, Sarah Churchwell, Antonia Fraser, Mark Haddon, Robert Harris, Max Hastings, Philip Hensher, Simon Hoggart, AM Homes, John Lanchester, Mark Lawson, Robert Macfarlane, Andrew Motion, Ian Rankin, Lionel Shriver, Helen Simpson, Colm Tóibín, Richard Ford, John Gray, David Kynaston, Penelope Lively, Pankaj Mishra, Blake Morrison, Susie Orbach
- The Guardian - Film News
Based on a youth novel by Niccolò Ammaniti, Me and You has warmth and a tell-tale Bertolucci touch, but it's not among his greatest films
There's intimacy and immediacy in this movie from the 73-year-old Bernardo Bertolucci: it's an engaging, if slight, two-hander about a troubled teenage boy, Lorenzo (Jacopo Olmo Antinori) who tells his mother he's going on a school skiing trip but instead hides out in the unused, crummy basement flat under the family home – and finds he has to share it with his older half-sister, Olivia (Tea Falco), who is also using it as somewhere to come off heroin. A difficult relationship blooms.
Me and You was based on a young-adult novel by Niccolò Ammaniti, published in 2010, but it could have been made at any time in the last 40 years, especially when Lorenzo and Olivia start singing along to David Bowie's rewritten Italian version of Space Oddity.
There's intimacy and immediacy in this movie from the 73-year-old Bernardo Bertolucci: it's an engaging, if slight, two-hander about a troubled teenage boy, Lorenzo (Jacopo Olmo Antinori) who tells his mother he's going on a school skiing trip but instead hides out in the unused, crummy basement flat under the family home – and finds he has to share it with his older half-sister, Olivia (Tea Falco), who is also using it as somewhere to come off heroin. A difficult relationship blooms.
Me and You was based on a young-adult novel by Niccolò Ammaniti, published in 2010, but it could have been made at any time in the last 40 years, especially when Lorenzo and Olivia start singing along to David Bowie's rewritten Italian version of Space Oddity.
- 4/18/2013
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
The Italian director opens up about Berlusconi, what really happened on the set of Last Tango in Paris and how he feared he would never work in cinema again
Bernardo Bertolucci's electric wheelchair barely scrapes through the door frame of the Rotterdam office where he is giving interviews. The 72-year-old director of Last Tango In Paris, The Last Emperor, The Conformist and new feature Me and You seems disconcerted when photographers ask him to steer across the room, but he covers the floor with grace and good humour.
He still cuts a dapper figure in felt hat, scarf and neat suit. It's only noon but he asks his Dutch distributor to fetch him some gin. The Rotterdam film festival staff aren't accustomed to hosting such celebrated film-makers, and dote on him. He's enjoying it.
His new feature, Me and You is lithely shot, with a youthful energy. Adapted from a novel by Niccolò Ammaniti,...
Bernardo Bertolucci's electric wheelchair barely scrapes through the door frame of the Rotterdam office where he is giving interviews. The 72-year-old director of Last Tango In Paris, The Last Emperor, The Conformist and new feature Me and You seems disconcerted when photographers ask him to steer across the room, but he covers the floor with grace and good humour.
He still cuts a dapper figure in felt hat, scarf and neat suit. It's only noon but he asks his Dutch distributor to fetch him some gin. The Rotterdam film festival staff aren't accustomed to hosting such celebrated film-makers, and dote on him. He's enjoying it.
His new feature, Me and You is lithely shot, with a youthful energy. Adapted from a novel by Niccolò Ammaniti,...
- 2/1/2013
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- The Guardian - Film News
With new offerings from Audiard, Haneke and Loach, this year's festival will be another feast of quality film-making. Could have done with a few more women directors, mind
Once again, the Cannes film festival has unveiled a gorgeous list. The only disappointments, for some, will be the fact that Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master and Terrence Malick's new project were not included, reportedly because they were not ready in time – although the idea of Malick actually having a new film completed just one year after the last head-spinning epic is fantastically improbable: as if he had moved up to a Roger Corman level of productivity. Some observers will be disappointed that Stoker, by the South Korean director Park Chan-wook has not been selected, likewise Wong Kar-wai's The Grand Master – although the festival could sneak in a late entry here and there.
The relative absence of women in the list of directors is,...
Once again, the Cannes film festival has unveiled a gorgeous list. The only disappointments, for some, will be the fact that Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master and Terrence Malick's new project were not included, reportedly because they were not ready in time – although the idea of Malick actually having a new film completed just one year after the last head-spinning epic is fantastically improbable: as if he had moved up to a Roger Corman level of productivity. Some observers will be disappointed that Stoker, by the South Korean director Park Chan-wook has not been selected, likewise Wong Kar-wai's The Grand Master – although the festival could sneak in a late entry here and there.
The relative absence of women in the list of directors is,...
- 4/19/2012
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
by Steve Dollar
Bernardo Bertolucci, absent from the moviemaking world since The Dreamers seven years ago, sounds unexpectedly chipper. Reached by Skype at home in Rome, the director has just returned from a late afternoon swim, where he met with novelist Niccolò Ammaniti. Though he's been crippled by back problems for several years, Bertolucci is optimistic about making Ammaniti's latest book, Io e te, into a movie. "I sublimated everything about the body so I have more room for the mind," he says, in deliberate, accented English, "and thinking about a new project."
But the occasion of our conversation is everything else Bertolucci has done, spotlighted in a career retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, which runs through January 12. With the 15 features, three documentaries, one short, and a few films made by others about him, it's a comprehensive tribute to the 69-year-old director of The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris and The Last Emperor,...
Bernardo Bertolucci, absent from the moviemaking world since The Dreamers seven years ago, sounds unexpectedly chipper. Reached by Skype at home in Rome, the director has just returned from a late afternoon swim, where he met with novelist Niccolò Ammaniti. Though he's been crippled by back problems for several years, Bertolucci is optimistic about making Ammaniti's latest book, Io e te, into a movie. "I sublimated everything about the body so I have more room for the mind," he says, in deliberate, accented English, "and thinking about a new project."
But the occasion of our conversation is everything else Bertolucci has done, spotlighted in a career retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, which runs through January 12. With the 15 features, three documentaries, one short, and a few films made by others about him, it's a comprehensive tribute to the 69-year-old director of The Conformist, Last Tango in Paris and The Last Emperor,...
- 1/2/2011
- GreenCine Daily
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