News

Exclusive: Fresh off the back of her jury prize win in Monte Carlo, we can bring you first look images of Unorthodox star Shira Haas in yes TV’s Night Therapy.

Night Therapy will launch on the Israeli Network on June 30 and yes Studios is selling around the world. It won Haas the special jury prize as last night’s TV fest drew to a close, while the show was nominated for best drama but lost out to Channel 4’s The Gathering. Another image can be viewed below.

Created by Raanan Caspi, Night Therapy is a psychological drama starring Yousef Sweid and Haas (Captain America), plus Lucy Ayoub, Yaakov Zada Daniel and Firas Nassar, all of whom have starred in Fauda.

The show tells the story of Louie (Sweid), an Arab-Israeli psychologist struggling to raise his two children after the suicide of his Jewish-Israeli wife.

Exclusive: Whitney Peak has been cast in Aisling Walsh’s Ethel, alongside the previously announced cast of Shira Haas and Sarah Paulson. Bankside Films first launched the title, which is currently in pre-production, earlier this year and has completed a number of international pre-sales in Cannes.

The project, which is a true story based on a screenplay by Celeste Parr, has sold to Benelux (Imagine), Canada (Sphere Films), Eastern Europe (HBO), Middle East (Front Row) and Spain (Divisa Red).

The film is based on the untold true story of Ethel Stark and her Montreal Women’s Symphony Orchestra, who together demolished class and racial barriers and shattered the glass ceiling for women in orchestra music under an international spotlight.

Haas, who is currently making her London West End stage debut with Opening Night, will play the title role of Ethel.

The votes are in: Atmospheric (and claustrophobic) Finnish mystery thriller “Icebreaker,” already one of the most buzzed of projects hitting the competition, has been crowned the winner of the 8th edition of MipDrama, receiving its Coup de Coeur award.

Sold by About Premium Content, created by Mia Ylönen, who exec produces with Aleksi Bardy, the Elisa Viihde-commissioned show “Icebreaker” is set on a stranded boat.

As its crew members start to disappear, one by one, coastguard Sanna Tanner (Jessica Grabowsky) is trying to find answers – but what she is dealing with goes way beyond rational explanations.

“We wanted to build up slowly, like a classic whodunnit, but you get a sense there is something else going on. Something is lurking on this ship, but we don’t know whether it’s human or not,” creator Mia Ylönen previously told Variety. The show is produced by Helsinki-filmi, an independent subsidiary of Aurora Studios.

BAFTA-nominated Irish actor Robert Sheehan (The Umbrella Academy) has signed on to lead a stage adaptation of Bruce Robinson’s 1987 cult tragi-comedy Withnail and I at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre alongside actors Adonis Siddique and Malcolm Sinclair.

Directed by the double Olivier Award-winning Sean Foley, Artistic Director of Birmingham Rep, and designed by Alice Power, the show will premiere at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, with performances from 3 May until 25 May 2024.

The adaption was written by Robinson. The original film was based on an unpublished novel by Robinson and was produced by Handmade Films, with Richard E Grant, Paul McGann, and Richard Griffiths leading. On stage, Sheehan will star as Withnail while Siddique is Marwood, and Malcolm Sinclair is Uncle Monty.

Sheehan made his acting debut in Aisling Walsh’s acclaimed feature Song For A Raggy Boy. Since then, his screen credits include Season of the Witch, Cherrybomb, Killing Bono, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones,...

Exclusive: Bankside Films has picked up international sales rights to Aisling Walsh’s Ethel, starring Shira Haas in the title role of pioneering conductor Ethel Stark who led the Montreal Women’s Symphony Orchestra.

Emmy and Golden Globe winner Sarah Paulson (12 Years A Slave) has joined the cast as Madge Bowen. Currently in pre-production, the film is a true story based on a screenplay by Celeste Parr.

Haas, who is about to make her West End stage debut with Opening Night, will play Stark, the first conductor of an all women’s symphony who helped lower gender, class and racial barriers to music.

The synopsis reads: “Ethel is a fierce talent; a musical prodigy determined to realise her talent and fulfil her dream. As with many trailblazers, she’s ahead of her time, and must break through the social boundaries of the 1940s – a world which doesn’t recognise her talent,...

After a bumper 40th anniversary edition of IFFR Pro last year, there’s a sense that Rotterdam’s industry strand has fined tuned things rather than introduced major changes for 2024.

IFFR Pro centres around key initiatives including co-production market CineMart, talent development programme Rotterdam Lab, works in progress section Dark Room and financial support for filmmakers through the festival’s Hubert Bals Fund.

Head of IFFR Pro a.i. Alessia Acone, who is overseeing the industry strand while IFFR Pro head Inke Van Loocke is on maternity leave, says one of the main differences about CineMart this year is that...

Ahead of its 41st edition, International Film Festival Rotterdam’s industry event CineMart isn’t interested in uniformity.

“The trend is diversity,” says head of IFFR Pro Alessia Acone.

“We feature different themes, different production structures and different filmmakers. We want to make sure we can represent many things at the same time. This year, more than ever.”

The “eclectic” lineup of projects includes Aisling Walsh’s “Lucia,” about the only daughter of James Joyce, two-time Tiger Short Competition-winner Beatrice Gibson’s debut feature “La nuit,” Barbara Rupik’s animation “Cherub,” produced by Madants, previously behind “The Silent Twins,” and another animated film “Cloud of the Unknown.”

“We go from a bigger-budgeted film to a collectively written story and animations coming from two different sides of the world. From biographic stories to arctic expeditions, from dreamy landscapes to car chases,” observes Acone.

“A new set of awards, courtesy of Eurimages,...

International Film Festival Rotterdam has revealed its selection of 16 feature film projects for the 41st edition of CineMart, running Jan. 28-31.

In Another Journey Without Women six chain-smoking know-it-alls embark on a tragi-comedic polar expedition in Greenland in 1918. The film is directed by Illum Jacobi, whose The Trouble With Nature appeared at IFFR in 2020. The film features Greenlandic actor Hans-Henrik Suersaq Poulsen in the lead role, alongside David Dencik and Claes Bang as the famed explorer Knud Rasmussen.

“Lucia,” directed by Irish filmmaker Aisling Walsh, concerns the talented but troubled daughter of author James Joyce. The director’s “Maudie” (2016), starring Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke, world premiered in Telluride.

In “Les Diplomates,” two diplomatic counterparts from Austria and Switzerland secretly negotiate the contours of history as the Eastern Bloc disintegrates – fueled by a petty personal grudge. The project is directed by Swiss filmmaker Andreas Fontana, whose eerie thriller “Azor” (2021) picked...

Selection includes new projects by Aisling Walsh, Ena Sendijarević, Andreas Fontana and Beatrice Gibson

Projects by directors including Aisling Walsh, Ena Sendijarević, Andreas Fontana and Beatrice Gibson are among the 2024 line-up for CineMart, the co-production market of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).

CineMart has revealed 16 feature film projects and four immersive projects for its upcoming 41st edition, which runs from January 28-31. Cinemart is also presenting six works-in-progress, of which four are features and two immersive, as part of its Darkroom strand.

The project selection includes Lucia from Irish filmmaker Aisling Walsh whose Maudie (2016), starring Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke,...

Miss Austen is the latest literary adaptation heading our way and Keeley Hawes leads an ensemble cast of British favourites.

Gill Hornby’s novel Miss Austen is getting the big screen treatment. Well, big-ish screen. The novel is being adapted into a four-part drama for Masterpiece in the US, while BBC has picked up the series in the UK.

Production on Miss Austen is already underway in the UK as of last month. Keeley Hawes stars in the series as Cassandra Austen and will be joined by Rose Leslie, Patsy Ferran, Jessica Hynes, Max Irons and Alfred Enoch.

Credit: Masterpiece / BBC

Here’s the synopsis: “Miss Austen takes a literary mystery – Cassandra Austen notoriously burning her famous sister Jane’s letters – and reimagines it as a fascinating, witty and heart-breaking story of sisterly love, while creating in Cassandra a character as captivating as any Austen heroine.

The drama begins in...

One of classic literature’s greatest mysteries is about to come to life.

Keeley Hawes (Bodyguard) and Rose Leslie (Game of Thrones) will star in Miss Austen, a new drama coming soon to Masterpiece on PBS. Hawes plays Cassandra, the sister of literary great Jane Austen, who infamously burned Jane’s letters after her death. But Miss Austen reimagines that tale as “a fascinating, witty and heartbreaking story of sisterly love,” per the official description.

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Just days after the death of legendary TV producer Norman Lear at age 101, the new entertainment special “Norman Lear: A Life on Television” will air on CBS this Friday at 8 p.m., in addition to streaming on Paramount .

The hourlong special, presented by “Entertainment Tonight,” will feature new interviews with Jimmie Walker of “Good Times” and Mackenzie Phillips of “One Day at a Time,” along with other stars of the comedies Lear created. An interview with Lear and “Entertainment Tonight” host Kevin Frazier to celebrate Lear’s 100th birthday a few years ago will also be featured. In the interview, Lear discussed his lengthy career in depth.

As a screenwriter and producer, Lear produced, wrote, created and developed over 100 shows, including “Sanford and Son,” “All in the Family” and “One Day at a Time” for CBS.

In other TV roundup news:

First Looks

Apple TV has released first look images from “Constellation,...

“Maudie” director Aisling Walsh describes her upcoming feature, “Ethel,” in recognizable terms. “We all understand what it is to struggle to be the best at what we can,” Walsh tells Variety. “We’re all looking for that chance to make something happen.”

Written by Celeste Parr, produced by Marie-Claude Poulin (“Brooklyn”) of Sphere Media, and presented at this year’s Venice Production Bridge gap-financing market, “Ethel” tells the true story of Ethel Stark – a trailblazing Canadian musician who broke barriers when she founded a mixed-race, all-female orchestra in the 1940s. A violinist and conductor, Stark eventually brought her Montreal-based ensemble all the way to Carnegie Hall, becoming the first to woman to conduct there.

“Shtisel” and “Unorthodox” lead Shira Haas is attached to star – as revealed exclusively in Variety – with the Canadian-Irish co-production aiming to shoot next year.

“The film is about women finding their voice,” says Walsh. “The orchestra changed their lives.

The Venice Gap-Financing Market (September 1-3), part of the Venice Production Bridge, will present 34 fiction and documentary projects.

The Venice Gap-Financing Market (September 1-3), part of the Venice Production Bridge, will present 34 fiction and documentary projects at the 80th Venice International Film Festival (August 30-Septmber 9), including a new project from Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir, All Before You.

All Before You offers a retelling of the 1963 farner-led revolt against British colonial rule in Palestine. Jacir’s previous director credits include The Oblivion Theory, which won the top prize at the Berlinale co-production market in 2021, Salt Of This Sea, Wajib and When I Saw You,...

The 10th edition of the Venice Gap-Financing Market, organized as part of the Venice Film Festival’s industry program Venice Production Bridge, has selected 62 projects in the final stages of development and funding.

Filmmakers taking projects to Venice include Jim Sheridan, an Oscar nominee with “In America,” “In the Name of the Father” and “My Left Foot”; Annemarie Jacir, whose credits include Cannes’ “Salt of This Sea,” Berlin’s “When I Saw You” and Locarno’s “Wajib”; Aisling Walsh, who directed “Maudie” with Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke, and “Elizabeth Is Missing” with Glenda Jackson; and Kim Mordaunt, who won best debut at Berlin with “The Rocket.”

Also selected are Roberto Minervini, who directed Cannes’ “The Other Side” and Venice’s “What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire?”; Laurynas Bareisa, who won the Venice Horizons Award for “Pilgrims”; Måns Månsson, who was in Berlin competition with “The Real Estate”; György Pálfi,...

New Feature projects by Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir, Ireland’s Aisling Walsh and Jim Sheridan as well as Romanian filmmaker Anca Damian have been selected for the upcoming edition of the Venice Gap-Financing Market.

The 10th edition of the co-financing meeting will run from Sept. 1 to 3 as part as of the Venice Production Bridge, which is the industry component of the Venice Film Festival (Aug 30 to Sept. 9)

The market will present 62 projects in the final stages of development and funding, selected from 280 submissions.

The selection spans 34 feature-length fiction Film and documentary projects, 14 Immersive projects, 11 Biennale College Cinema – Virtual Reality projects and three Biennale College Cinema projects.

To be eligible for inclusion, the fiction films must have at least 70% of funding in place and be looking for minority partners only.

Full List of Feature Film Projects:

After The Evil (doc) by Tamara Erde, Gloria Films Production All Before You (fiction), by Annemarie Jacir,...

After retiring from politics, Glenda Jackson made three films: one for TV, Elizabeth is Missing, and two for the big screen, Mothering Sunday and the upcoming The Great Escaper. The people behind those projects remember a fierce, funny and formidable titan

Aisling Walsh, director, Elizabeth is Missing (2019): As a girl, I’d seen Glenda on screen as Elizabeth in Mary, Queen of Scots and I never thought for a moment I’d get to work with her. It was the greatest privilege of my career.

They include an apaptation of Irish play ‘Conversations After Sex’ to be directed by Aisling Walsh.

Dublin-based distribution company Break Out Pictures, which released the Oscar-nominated The Quiet Girl in Ireland, has added a slew of buzzy local films to its slate.

From Dogwoof, it has acquired Sinead O’Shea’s feature documentary Pray For Our Sinners, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last year. It explores Ireland’s difficult history of religious abuses and screened at this month’s Dublin International Film Festival.

Additionally, Break Out has picked up Lisa Mulcahy’s Irish drama Lies We Tell from Embankment Films.

Scheme is a week-long immersive directors’ residency for female and non-binary directors.

Irish professional development and networking initiative X-Pollinator has unveiled the participants for its latest programme, Creator.

A week-long immersive directors’ residency for female and non-binary directors, Creator commenced this week in Adare, Co Limerick.

Featuring workshops with actors and mentorship and guidance from industry experts, the residency is led by Maudie director Aisling Walsh.

The twelve directors selected for Creator are:

Aisling Byrne (Headspace - Cork International Film Festival Grand Prix Irish Short Winner) Andie McCaffrey (Sparkle - from The Actor as Creator scheme) Ayla Amano (4X4 -...

Mongrel Media has promoted company veteran Andrew Frank to co-president, Variety has learned. The executive joins current president and founder, Hussain Amarshi, who began the Toronto-based company in 1994.

In the new role, Frank will handle all sales — including those for Mongrel International — and acquisitions. He will also executive produce all Canadian films distributed by Mongrel. Frank has been with the company for 16 years and most recently held the title of VP sales and acquisitions. Previously, he spent six years as the director of home entertainment.

Prior to joining the company in 2006, Frank served as a creative consultant for Robert Redford’s Sundance Cinemas. Before joining the world of film, the exec was the director of marketing and sales at The Coffee Connection in Boston, where he invented and trademarked the Frappuccino.

“I am privileged to join Hussain in leading Mongrel’s highly experienced and cinephilic team as we continue to evolve as distributors,...

Bankside handles international sales.

Irish-language drama The Quiet Girl (An Cailín Ciúin) has been selected as Ireland’s entry for best international feature film at next year’s Academy Awards.

Writer-director Colm Bairéad’s debut feature has enjoyed a lengthy run in Irish and UK cinemas and grossed €870,000 at the box office. It premiered at the Berlinale and since then has since secured further releases in international territories including New Zealand and Australia. Bankside handles international sales.

Told almost entirely in the Irish language, the film recounts the story of a neglected young girl named Cáit (Catherine Clinch) who spends...

The Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) has selected Colm Bairéad’s debut feature The Quiet Girl (An Cailín Ciúin) as its entry for the best international film category for the 2023 Oscars, in the first announced submission of the upcoming awards season.

The Irish-language work swept the IFTA Awards last March to become the first debut feature to win best film, as well as clinch best director, actress, cinematography, editing, production design, and original score.

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Set in rural Ireland in 1981, the coming-of-age drama stars Catherine Clinch as a quiet, neglected girl who is sent from her overcrowded, dysfunctional household to live with distant relatives for the summer.

Shira Haas, the star of “Unorthodox” and “Shtisel,” is set to headline “Ethel,” a period musical drama about the true story of Ethel Stark, the groundbreaking conductor who founded the first all-female orchestra in Montreal.

Besides breaking barriers in the music world, Stark has also been credited for championing social change across gender, race, language and class starting in the 1940’s.

Aisling Walsh, the Irish-born helmer of “Maudie” and BAFTA-winning “Elizabeth Is Missing” will direct the film, based on an original screenplay by Celeste Parr (“Gurov and Anna”).

The female-powered project is part of growing slate of Sphere Films, the Montreal-based banner (formerly known as MK2/Mile End) which is now presided over by Charles Tremblay. Marie-Claude Poulin (“Brooklyn”) will be producing “Ethel” for Sphere Media. It will be distributed in Canada by Sphere Films.

Sphere Films will also be distributing “Out Standing,” based on the memoir of Sandra Perron,...

Glenda Jackson, Charlotte Moore & Michaela Coel Among Wftv Winners

Glenda Jackson, Wunmi Mosaku, Stacey Dooley, Emily Maitlis, Michaela Coel and Charlotte Moore were among winners at the 30th Women in Film and TV (UK) Awards, which took place in London on Friday. Brit veteran Jackson was honored with The Eon Productions Lifetime Achievement Award, accepted on her behalf by Aisling Walsh, who directed Jackson in BBC One’s Elizabeth is Missing. Mosaku, star of drama Our Loved Boy, won The Argonon Best Performance Award presented to her by Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who she starred with in Marvel Studios’ Loki. Stacey Dooley was awarded with The Eikon Presenter Award by Ria Hebden, and I May Destroy You writer and actor Michaela Coel won The ScreenSkills Writing Award, which was picked up on her behalf by Gugu Mbatha-Raw. Journalist and broadcaster Emily Maitlis and producer Sam McAllister were jointly awarded with The BBC...

The film has £52.6m, ahead of ‘Spectre’ at the same stage but behind ‘Skyfall’.

Rank Film (Distributor) Three-day gross (Oct 8-10) Total gross to date Week 1 No Time To Die (Universal) £15.2m £52.6m 2 2 The Addams Family (Universal) £2m £2m 1 3 Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings (Disney) £556,579 £20.5m 6 4 The Paw Patrol Movie (Paramount) £126,000 £8.3m 9 5 The Many Saints Of Newark (Warner Bros) £125,000 £1.9m 3

Gbp to Usd conversion rate: 1.36

Universal’s No Time To Die has surged to £52.6m from just 11 days in cinemas, comfortably retaining the UK-Ireland box office lead on its second weekend.

The film took £15.2m from Friday to Sunday,...

The Irish Film & Television Academy (IFTA) has picked Irish-Language feature Foscadh (Shelter) as this year’s entry for the International Oscar race.

Written and directed by Seán Breathnach, the pic stars Dónall Ó Héalai (Arracht), Fionnuala Flaherty (An Klondike), and Cillian O’Gairbhí (Blood) in a story based on characters in Donal Ryan’s novel The Thing About December. The plot follows naïve recluse John Cunliffe who is suddenly propelled into manhood at the age of 28. When his overprotective parents pass away, friendless John inherits mountain land that is in the way of a lucrative wind-farm development, and he is forced to navigate the choppy waters of romance, trust and vengeance for the first time.

Producer is Paddy Hayes (Cumar: A Galway Rhapsody), whose father Tom Hayes was nominated for an Oscar 50 years ago for the documentary Cradle Of Genius. The film is produced by Hayes’ Magamedia and premiered at...

The Munich-based independent has picked eight titles.

New films by Renny Harlin and Aisling Walsh are among eight titles acquired in all rights deals by German distributor SquareOne Entertainment.

The Munich-based independent picked up three titles from the Highland Film Group; action movie veteran Renny Harlin’s heist thriller Misfits, now in postproduction and starring Pierce Brosnan, Nick Cannon and Tim Roth, and two projects in pre-production The Lair and Not Without Hope.

Horror The Lair, directed by Neil Marshall, is about a fighter pilot shot down in Afghanistan who ends up in a disused bunker full of mutated monsters.

Ireland has long been known as a nation of storytellers, home to giants of literature and theater such as Oscar Wilde, Samuel Beckett, W.B. Yeats and James Joyce.

In recent years, Ireland’s storytelling tradition has started to thrive in the screen industries too. Indigenous and co-production successes include John Crowley’s “Brooklyn,” Lenny Abrahamson’s “Room,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Lobster” and “The Favourite,” Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart’s Oscar-nominated animated feature “Wolfwalkers,” and the hit TV series “Normal People.”

The country has also become a magnet for international production, lured by fiscal incentives, stunning Irish locations and highly regarded crews. Apple TV series “Foundation” – the largest production to film in Ireland to date – wrapped last year. So too did Ridley Scott’s upcoming historical epic “The Last Duel.” Netflix’s “Vikings: Valhalla” is due to wrap in June.

The screen industry’s contribution to the Irish economy...

Rotterdam Winners

This year’s virtual International Film Festival Rotterdam has crowned the winners from its film program. Southern India-set Pebbles by Vinothraj P.S won the Tiger Award, while I Comete – A Corsican Summer by French filmmaker Pascal Tagnati and Looking for Venera by Norika Sefa from Kosovo both won Special Jury Awards. The Vpro Big Screen Award went to El perro que no calla by Ana Katz from Argentina and Quo Vadis, Aida? by Bosnian filmmaker Jasmila Žbanić won the BankGiro Loterij Audience Award. The festival named its industry winners last week. “In these most challenging of times, we are incredibly proud to have brought an outstanding selection of titles in our reimagined festival format,” said festival director Vanja Kaludjercic.

Goteborg Fest Awards

Tigers, directed by Ronnie Sandahl, won the 2021 Dragon Award Best Nordic Film as this year’s Goteborg Film Festival came to a close over the weekend.

Maud (Glenda Jackson) can’t trust her own mind to be honest with her, and its rapid deterioration isn’t just frustrating; it’s downright infuriating.

At first, she’s able to keep her head in one piece by stuffing her pockets with scribbled notes. Soon enough, though, they become reminders of the fact that she can’t remember much of anything at all. As her dementia worsens, Maud gets lost in the wilds of her memories. Her perspective shifts with such alarming elasticity that it becomes more and more difficult — for her and the viewer both — to understand what’s happening to her and what’s already happened.

“Elizabeth Is Missing,” a bracing movie that aired Jan. 3 in the U.S. on PBS Masterpiece, initially frames itself as a pair of parallel whodunits. In the present day, Maud is trying to track down her friend Elizabeth (Maggie Steed), who seems to have disappeared.

Finnegan’s ’Nocebo’ received €750,000, the highest single award this quarter.

New projects from filmmakers Lee Cronin and Lorcan Finnegan are among several new productions being backed by Screen Ireland in its latest round of funding decisions.

Cronin (The Hole In The Ground) will direct the psychological thriller Box Of Bones from a screenplay he co-wrote with Stephen Shields, to be produced by Wild Atlantic Pictures (Black ’47).

Box Of Bones tells the story of Alice, a devoted young woman who battles to save her fiancé from his conviction that a supernatural entity is trying to possess his body. Wild Atlantic Pictures...

BAFTA Scotland has unveiled nominations for its 2020 British Academy Scotland Awards, which honor film, TV and games. Edith Bowman will host a socially distanced ceremony on December 8 to unveil the winners. Leading the way is mini-series Guilt, with 5 noms including for actor (Mark Bonhar and Jamie Sives), director (Rober McKillop), television scripted, writer (Neil Forsyth), as well as the Audience Award. Series Elizabeth Is Missing has four noms including actress TV (Glenda Jackson), director (Aisling Walsh), TV scripted, and writer (Andrea Gibb). Select further nominees include Deadwater Fell for TV scripted and director (Lynsey Miller) and Sex Eudcation star Ncuti Gatwa for TV actor. The further audience award nominees are Outlander, The Nest, Black And Scottish, River City, and Murder Trial: The Disappearance Of Margaret Fleming.

Entertainment One’s UK Manging Director Kezia Williams has been appointed to the newly created role of Vice Chair of the MediCinema Board, stepping...

Exclusive: FilmNation Entertainment and Cross City Films have pre-sold most international markets on Kindertransport drama One Life at the recent TIFF virtual market, including a deal with Warner Bros in the UK.

Aisling Walsh (Maudie) will direct Oscar-winner Anthony Hopkins and rising Brit actor Johnny Flynn (Emma) in the feature scripted by Lucinda Coxon (The Danish Girl) and Nick Drake.

Currently in pre-production, the project tells the story of Sir Nicholas Winton, whose unheralded endeavors on the eve of World War II saved the lives of more than 600 European refugee children who otherwise would have died in the Nazi death camps. His actions were relatively unknown for nearly fifty years until, aged 88, he found himself driven to publicly reveal the past with which he had never fully reconciled in order to remind the world of the need for tolerance and humanity.

Major territory deals have been struck with Snd for France,...

Drama based on life of Nicholas Winton, who saved hundreds of children from the Nazis.

Oscar-winner Anthony Hopkins and Johnny Flynn are to star in TIFF sales title One Life, a drama about British humanitarian Nicholas Winton, who saved hundreds of children from the Nazis.

The feature will be produced by See-Saw Films, whose credits include Lion and The King’s Speech, and will be introduced to buyers this week.

FilmNation Entertainment will manage international sales alongside See-Saw’s in-house sales arm, Cross City Films.

Directed by Irish filmmaker Aisling Walsh, One Life will tell the story of Winton, who championed...

Anthony Hopkins and Johnny Flynn are set to star in “One Life,” a true story drama and biopic about a man who rescued hundreds of children from Nazi death camps during the Holocaust. The film’s production company See-Saw Films and managing directors Iain Canning and Emile Sherming announced the news Wednesday.

Aisling Walsh will direct the film about the life Sir Nicholas George Winton that will be launched to buyers at TIFF. And she’ll be working from a screenplay co-written by Lucinda Coxon and Nick Drake about the humanitarian’s story.

“One Life” is the story of Sir Nicholas George Winton, who at age 29 championed the the rescue of refugee children out of Czechoslovakia, under threat from Hitler’s death camps, to the safety of British foster families. Battling public apathy, political hostility and bureaucratic obstruction he succeeded in rescuing 669 children before the war broke out, the borders...

Anthony Hopkins and Johnny Flynn are starring in the Holocaust drama “One Life,” centered on the life of humanitarian Nicholas George Winton.

Both actors will portray Winton, who championed the rescue of Czech children threatened with deportation to Hitler’s death camps to the safety of British foster families. He succeeded in rescuing 669 children before World War II broke out. Half a century later, he had a surprise reunion with the now grown children whose lives he saved in a moment captured on the BBC TV show “That’s Life.”

See-Saw Films’ managing directors Iain Canning and Emile Sherman and Joanna Laurie are producing the feature film with Aisling Walsh set to direct. The film will be executive produced by Rose Garnett for BBC Films, and See-Saw’s COO of film, Simon Gillis. BBC Films developed the film with See-Saw. Lucinda Coxon (“The Danish Girl”) and Nick Drake co-wrote the screenplay...

Exclusive: Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins (The Two Popes) and rising Brit actor Johnny Flynn (Emma) are attached to star in One Life, a feature drama based on the true story of British humanitarian Nicholas Winton, who helped save hundreds of children from the Nazis on the eve of World War II.

Lucinda Coxon (The Danish Girl) and Nick Drake (Romulus) have co-written the screenplay based on the extraordinary story of Nicholas “Nicky” Winton who, when just 29 years old, championed the rescue of refugee children out of Czechoslovakia, under threat from Hitler’s death camps, to the safety of British foster families.

Battling public apathy, political hostility and bureaucratic obstruction, he succeeded in rescuing 669 children — many of them Jewish — before the war broke out, the borders closed and the mission was abruptly ended. Half a century later, Winton famously had a surprise reunion with the grown children whose lives he saved...

Oscar-winner Sir Anthony Hopkins and rising British name Johnny Flynn (Beast, Emma) are set to star in One Life, a drama based on the incredible true story of humanitarian Sir Nicholas George.

See-Saw Films and BBC Films are behind the project, with co-managing director Iain Canning (Lion, The King’s Speech) and Joanna Laurie producing and Aisling Walsh (Maudie, Elizabeth is Missing) set to direct. The film will be executive produced by Rose Garnett for BBC Films, and See-Saw’s COO of Film, Simon Gillis. BBC Films developed the film with See-Saw.

Co-written by Lucinda Coxon (The Danish Girl, The Little Stranger) and Nick Drake ...

Oscar-winner Sir Anthony Hopkins and rising British name Johnny Flynn (Beast, Emma) are set to star in One Life, a drama based on the incredible true story of humanitarian Sir Nicholas George.

See-Saw Films and BBC Films are behind the project, with co-managing director Iain Canning (Lion, The King’s Speech) and Joanna Laurie producing and Aisling Walsh (Maudie, Elizabeth is Missing) set to direct. The film will be executive produced by Rose Garnett for BBC Films, and See-Saw’s COO of Film, Simon Gillis. BBC Films developed the film with See-Saw.

Co-written by Lucinda Coxon (The Danish Girl, The Little Stranger) and Nick Drake ...

‘The Voice’ will enable directors to create a proof-of-concept.

New projects by Vivarium director Lorcan Finnegan and Maudie filmmaker Aisling Walsh are among 27 chosen for the inaugural edition of The Voice, Screen Ireland’s development scheme for emerging and established directors.

Each director is eligible for up to €30,000 in funding across a maximum of two projects.

Finnegan has received funding for his TV drama Strange Coast. His second feature Vivarium debuted at Cannes 2019 in Critics’ Week, winning a distribution prize.

Walsh is receiving support for her as-yet-untitled feature film project about US photojournalist Dorothea Lange. The director’s fourth feature Maudie,...

Richard Ayoade will host the Bafta TV Awards for the first time on July 31.

Chernobyl leads the nominations for this year’s Bafta Television and Bafta Craft awards, which were postponed from May to July due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Sky/HBO mini-series is up for 14 awards (11 craft and three television), including Jarred Harris for leading actor, Stellan Skarsgard for supporting actor and best mini-series.

The Crown has the next highest number of nominations with seven, including drama series, Josh O’Connor for supporting actor and Helena Bonham Carter for supporting actress.

Fleabag and Giri/Haji both have six nominations.

Screen Ireland has revealed a further round of stimulus measures to support the sector during the pandemic. The new measures are designed to aid production companies and creative talent in developing slates that are ready to move into production once lockdown measures lift. The measures include a slate development fund valued up to €3M; an additional €1M in development support; financial planning support up to €150k total; and a funding scheme for skills development. As part of the investment, Screen Skills Ireland has repurposed two of its funding schemes. The Festivals and Events Funding Scheme has been repurposed as a Skills Development Events Funding Scheme and The International Bursary Award Scheme has been repurposed as a Bursary Award Scheme to support industry professionals to take online skills development courses. Screen Skills Ireland will also introduce two new funding schemes. Additionally, 90% of funding is being provided upfront on all development loans...

Fantastic Films’ credits include Cannes titles Last Days On Mars and Vivarium.

Ireland’s Fantastic Films, whose credits include Cannes titles Last Days On Mars and Vivarium, is planning its first foray into TV with zombie apocalypse story Zom-b by Irish author Darren Shan.

Fantastic is developing the series with London-based Electric Shadow Company, with development support from Screen Ireland.

The Zom-b series of 12 books is told in the first person by a teenage girl who discovers the sinister truth behind the outbreak.

The move into episodic work was revealed at a Glasgow Film Festival industry talk this week by...

Oscar-winner Glenda Jackson, who picked up Academy Awards for 1971’s Women In Love and 1974’s A Touch Of Class, returns to the screen for the first time in 25 years in BBC drama Elizabeth Is Missing.

The actor, who swapped film and TV for politics in 1992 when she became a Labour MP, was persuaded back to screen by Aisling Walsh after the Maudie director signed up to helm the 90-minute drama adaptation of Emma Healey’s dementia mystery.

Walsh told Deadline, “I thought of Glenda immediately when I read the script and knew she was no longer an MP and had seen her in King Lear and wondered if this was something she might fancy doing. We got in touch, I went to New York to meet her and we had a chance to talk about it. If you’re lucky you get the actor you first thought of.”

Jackson plays...

In its latest funding round, Vikings and Brooklyn backer Screen Ireland has funded new projects from six-time Oscar nominee Jim Sheridan, Ida scribe Rebecca Lenkiewicz and Maudie director Aisling Walsh.

The largest production awards of €700k went to Cowtown Pictures’ movie L.O.L.A by Andrew Legge and Rachel Carey’s comedy Cutters from O’Sullivan Productions. The former, set in 1940s England, tells the story of Thomasina, who invents a machine that can intercept broadcasts from the future.

Movies to get development funding include Jim Sheridan projects Murphy And The Indian and Sheriff Street, Aisling Walsh project The Ballroom for Parallel Film and Malgorzata Szumowska (The Other Lamb) project A Kind Of Longing. Murphy And The Indian will follow the true story of Standing Bear, a Native American and civil rights leader who won a landmark 1879 legal case. Sheridan’s Hell’s Kitchen is producing.

The Favourite producer...

The project recieved development finance from Screen Ireland in its latest funding round.

Six-time Oscar-nominated Irish director Jim Sheridan is writing and will direct Murphy And The Indian, the true story of Standing Bear, a Native American and civil rights leader who won a landmark 1879 legal case.

Standing Bear argued in the historic case that Native Americans are “persons within the meaning of the law”. The Ponca Chief was recently honoured with a statue in the Us Capitol.

The project has received development financing of €22,500 from Screen Ireland in its latest round of funding decisions.

Sheridan’s Hell’s Kitchen...

The Japanese company is looking for female-led prestige dramas.

Number 9 Films, the London-based producer behind Carol and Colette, has struck a first-look deal with Japanese studio Shochiku, which will have first option for distribution rights in Japan on its future titles.

The unusual pact follows Shochiku’s identification that prestige English-language, female-led titles perform well theatrically in Japan. Shochiku has had recent hits with Aisling Walsh’s Maudie, starring Sally Hawkins, and Bjorn Runge’s The Wife, with Glenn Close, both of which grossed around $1m in the territory.

It is the first deal of its kind for Shochiku outside Japan.

Also providing additional support to three projects on their slate.

Welsh development agency Ffilm Cymru Wales has invested National Lottery funding in the development of three new features.

£13,688 has been awarded to Gone, an adaptation of musical prodigy Min Kym’s memoir, about the mystery that started when her expensive Stradivarius violin was stolen. Working on the film are producer Elwen Rowlands, director Aisling Walsh and writer Olivia Hetreed (Girl With A Pearl Earring).

The Killing Of Butterfly Joe, another literary adaptation, has received £24,999. Welsh writer Rhidian Brook will adapt his own novel for screen; it is a thriller about...

It is also investing €750,000 in Lorcan Finnegan’s sci-fi thriller Vivarium.

New projects from award-winning Irish filmmakers Emer Reynolds and Aisling Walsh have secured backing from Screen Ireland, formerly the Irish Film Board, in its latest round of funding decisions.

They are among close to 60 productions being backed by Screen Ireland in its second quarter of funding.

Reynolds, whose Voyager documentary The Farthest won numerous awards, will direct the documentary Songs For While I’m Away for leading Irish production outfit Marcie Films. The feature documentary about an as-yet-unrevealed iconic 1970s rock star received €175,000 in documentary production funding from Screen Ireland.

It is also investing €750,000 in Lorcan Finnegan’s sci-fi thriller Vivarium.

New projects from award-winning Irish filmmakers Emer Reynolds and Aisling Walsh have secured backing from Screen Ireland, formerly the Irish Film Board, in its latest round of funding decisions.

They are among close to 60 productions being backed by Screen Ireland in its second quarter of funding.

Reynolds, whose Voyager documentary The Farthest won numerous awards, will direct the documentary Songs For While I’m Away for leading Irish production outfit Marcie Films. The feature documentary about an as-yet-unrevealed iconic 1970s rock star received €175,000 in documentary production funding from Screen Ireland.