Filmmakers Anna Fitch and Banker White spent 16 years working on their documentary Yo (Love Is a Rebellious Bird), a portrait of Fitch’s unforgettable friend Yolando Shea – the “Yo” of the title. The directors’ patience, not to mention their skill and creativity, has been rewarded with a Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution at the […]

EXCLUSIVE: Saban Films has acquired North American rights from Highland Film Group to Atlas King, written and directed by Nika Agiashvili (Tbilisi, I Love You) and starring UFC Hall of Fame fighter Michael Bisping. In addition to Bisping (xXx: Return of Xander Cage), Cuba Gooding Jr. (Jerry Maguire) stars along with George Finn (LOL, Tbilisi, […]

Former film sales and acquisitions exec Sata Cissokho made her debut as the new head of the Berlinale’s World Cinema Fund (WCF) this year, replacing Vincenzo Bugno who stepped down at the end of 2025 after 21 years in the job. Launched in 2004 as a joint initiative between the festival and the German Federal […]

Welcome Insiders to another weekly mailer with all the industry news that needs digesting. I’m Max Goldbart. Scroll down for your weekly dose, and sign up here for more. Berlin Gets Political What’s the fix?: First up, Zac had this dispatch from Berlin … The great debate at the heart of this year’s Berlinale has […]

About 235 people live on Tristan da Cunha, a volcanic island in the South Atlantic that is considered the remotest inhabited place on Earth. The question in the new film Tristan Forever is whether the population should be allowed to rise by one. The feature, directed by Tobias Nölle and co-directed by Dr. Loran Bonnardot, […]

The Iranian Independent Filmmakers Association (IIFMA) was back at the Berlinale this year with a stand, flashmob and a panel discussion on why it believes the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences should stop accepting Oscar submissions from Iran’s state Farabi cinema body. It was the third year running that the association – which […]

EXCLUSIVE: Salaud Morisset has locked a series of international distribution deals on Teodora Ana Mihai’s latest feature, Heysel 85, which debuted last week at the Berlinale. The completed deals include Plaion, which has acquired rights for Italy. Smile Entertainment picked up the Nordics (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland). Five Stars has secured former Yugoslavian […]

In 2010 the United Nations passed a resolution calling access to clean water a fundamental human right. It wasn’t an idle declaration. “More than 2 billion people don’t have access to clean, safe drinking water,” notes filmmaker Michael Zelniker. “Almost 4 billion don’t have access to reliable, consistent sanitation.” Zelniker explores this dire reality in […]

European Film Market Head Tanja Meissner has hailed this year’s edition as the busiest since the Covid pandemic with accreditations expected to come in at least three percent higher than last year although final figures have yet to confirmed. “Everything’s running super smoothly, and everything’s packed, really, really packed,” Meissner told Deadline in a quick […]

Neon has acquired North American rights to Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s All Of A Sudden, the new film from the director of the Oscar winner Drive My Car. It is the studio’s first major deal out of EFM in Berlin. The film stars Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto and is currently in post-production following its shoot in Paris and […]

EXCLUSIVE: Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård fantasy film Wicker is the latest Sundance 2026 movie to secure a domestic theatrical release after Black Bear clinched a deal out of the European Film Market following a competitive situation. Elizabeth Debicki, Peter Dinklage Marli Siu, and Nabhaan Rizwan also star in married filmmakers Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson’s […]

EXCLUSIVE: Beetz Brothers and Mediawan Rights have unveiled details of deals to date for Andreas Pichler’s documentary Elon Musk Unveiled – The Tesla-Experiment. Taking its cue from investigations into the alleged failure of Elon Musk’s Tesla company to address concerns over deadly faults with the autopilot function of its self-driving cars, the work also traces […]

Isabel Allende was both topical and prophetic with her view of a world dominated by patriarchy and patriarchal thinking, a world that now feels familiar, according to the showrunners behind Prime Video’s adaptation of her most popular novel. Fernanda Urrejola, one of a trio behind The House of the Spirits TV show, which world premieres […]

WME Independent co-head Alex Walton went behind the scenes of the company’s involvement in Sundance breakout Josephine in a talk on the nuts and bolts of his business and current trends in an EFM talk on Saturday. WME Independent is co-repping domestic rights with CAA Media Finance on the Sundance Jury Prize and Audience Award […]

Sumerian Pictures has clinched U.S. rights for Sundance U.S. Dramatic Competition and Audience Award winner Josephine, in a competitive seven-figure deal, committing to a major theatrical release and awards campaign. Starring Channing Tatum, Gemma Chan, Mason Reeves, Philip Ettinger, Syra McCarthy, the drama was one of the buzziest titles to debut at Park City this year and speculation has […]

UK sales firm The Mise En Scene Company (MSC) is branding its EFM marketing with a “No AI Used” label and has called for a “global industry standard” to be implemented so audiences know whether films have used the tech. MSC says it was inspired by A24’s disclaimer at the end of horror movie Heretic, stating […]

Attending the Berlin Film Festival for new movie Rosebush Pruning, actor Callum Turner was asked by a journalist at the film’s press conference about online speculation linking him to the James Bond role. Turner declined to comment, and was helped out by co-star Tracy Letts who interjected jokingly: “I’m playing James Bond.” In a more […]

EXCLUSIVE: LA-based Northern Lights Studios is launching at the European Film Market with “a mission to globalize the next wave of Nordic cinema”. Founded by veteran producers Christian D. Bruun, an executive producer on Jesse Eisenberg’s The End, and former Lee Daniels Entertainment exec Asger Hussain, who worked with Daniels on Precious and The Paperboy, […]

EXCLUSIVE: Menemsha Films has acquired North American rights for Belgian drama The Soundman, following its well-received U.S. premiere at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in January. Set on the eve of the German invasion of Belgium and the Netherlands, the drama explores the situation for Belgian Jews, torn between staying in their homeland amid […]

Editor’s note: Martin Moskowicz is well known to many in the industry attending Berlin’s EFM. An ever-present at major festivals and markets for close to 50 years, he is best known for his decades steering German production and distribution giant Constantin, producer of the Resident Evil franchise. In 2024, Moskowicz moved on from his role as CEO and is […]

EXCLUSIVE: French actress and director Nicole Garcia has shared details of her upcoming film Milo reuniting her with Oscar-winning star Marion Cotillard, as Studiocanal kicks off sales on the title at the EFM. La Vie en Rose actress Cotillard stars as a woman who arrives alone in a quiet provincial town in France’s Drome region and takes a job […]

EXCLUSIVE: U.S. director Lance Hammer returns to the Berlin Film Festival with his first film in 18 years, Queen At Sea, playing in competition, and Deadline can reveal a first teaser. The drama co-stars Oscar-winning actress Juliette Binoche and Tom Courtenay, who won best actor at the Berlinale in 2015 for his performance in 45 […]

Prolific British screenwriter Jack Thorne is at this year’s Berlinale with his latest project, Lord of the Flies, which he told an audience of industry professionals during a Q&A session was shot and produced at the same time as his massive Netflix breakout, Adolescence. “We were working on them at the same time, and we […]

EXCLUSIVE: Big-budget action-comedy Jason Statham Stole My Bike has been dropped into the European Film Market in Berlin and becomes the big-ticket new project on sale for commercially-oriented buyers. Statham will star in the movie for Deadpool 2 and Bullet Train director Leach, reuniting them after Universal’s box office hit Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs […]

EXCLUSIVE: Nell Verlaque (Thanksgiving), Jason Isaacs (The White Lotus), Paulina Chávez (Landman), Kieron Moore (Boots), Eoin Macken (Resident Evil: The Final Chapter), Alicia Sanz (El Cid) and Cedrick Cooper (Boots) have been set to star in vampire horror movie Crave. Currently in production in Spain, the film is launching at this week’s European Film Market […]

EXCLUSIVE: Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan franchise) and Michael Rooker (Guardians Of The Galaxy) have been set to star in possession thriller Izzi. Fuhrman is to star in a dual role in the film, whose synopsis reads: “After years of separation, Jenny returns home to discover that her twin sister Izzi has been possessed by a malevolent […]

Timo Argillander, Executive Chairman of Marty Supreme financier IPR.VC, told an audience of industry professionals this afternoon at the Berlinale that his company will soon dedicate greater investment to new media forms distributed on short-form platforms like TikTok. “We can clearly see the emergence of lots of very short-form content. Content that is being distributed […]

EXCLUSIVE: Harriet Slater (Outlander: Blood of My Blood), Danila Kozlovsky (The Vampire Academy), and Sabrina Bartlett (Bridgerton) are starring in rom-com musical From London With Love, which has wrapped and is being presented at the European Film Market by new seller Universal Exports Media. Russian star Kozlovsky, known for series Vikings and movies including The […]

EXCLUSIVE: Ireland’s Tarf Media and Bruised Productions have entered into a three-picture development and production deal with genre thriller Fallen Angel – End Times set as the first title under the agreement. Tarf Media will launch world sales on the film at the EFM. Directed and produced by Steve Brazil, Fallen Angel – End Times […]

EXCLUSIVE: Whoopi Goldberg is exec producing Sean Claffey-directed More Than A Medal, a feature documentary about refugee athletes who competed at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. The project is in production with Limonero Films handling presales and taking the first footage out to buyers at the EFM in Berlin. More Than A Medal (working […]