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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16 2016
AT BERLIN FILM FESTIVAL www.ScreenDaily.com
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Digital power players pushed aside at EFM George Clooney in Berlin
Suburbicon sells out world BY JEREMY KAY
Bloom has sold out the world on Suburbicon, the Coen brothers’ dark comedy that George Clooney will direct and stars Matt Damon and Julianne Moore. eOne will distribute in the UK, Tele München/Concorde in Germany, Tri-Pictures in Spain, Leone Films in Italy and Sun Distribution in Latin America. Alex Walton and his team have licensed rights in Canada (Elevation), Greece (Odeon), Hong Kong (Bravos), Scandinavia (MisLabel), Romania (Odeon), Turkey (Bir), South Korea (Woosung), Japan (Tohokushinka Film Corporation), India (PVR), Taiwan (Filmware), Czech Republic (AQS), Poland (Monolith), Australia (Roadshow), former Yugoslavia (Blitz) and the Middle East (Salim Ramia). As Screen reported exclusively earlier in the market, Paramount will distribute in the US after paying $10m. Black Bear Pictures is financing Suburbicon, which Joel Silver will produce through Silver Pictures alongside Clooney and Grant Heslov’s Smokehouse Pictures label, and Black Bear chief Teddy Schwarzman. The film takes place in the titular quiet family town, where a home invasion exposes the best and worst of humanity.
BY JEREMY KAY
The influence on the industry of Netflix and Amazon has dominated conversations in the MartinGropius-Bau and the hotel corridors and restaurants of Berlin. The digital power players have been the talk of markets before, but this time there have been signs of a push-back. Several strong recent theatrical plays that out-manoeuvred Netflix and Amazon have heartened the independent community, whose international buyers remain terrified of the threat. Fox Searchlight prevailed over Netflix in a bidding war for Sundance hit The Birth Of A Nation after the producers favoured a proven theatrical and awards specialist, especially in light of the streaming giant’s ineffectual release and subsequent awards shut-out for Beasts Of No Nation. A one-two punch in Berlin con-
on small screens in the US. The issue is not going away and with companies like YouTube and Hulu, which has been on a hiring spree in Los Angeles, poised to enter the fray, it is up to the independents to take destiny into their own hands. According to one Dutch producer, who called Netflix “a cancer on the industry”, the streaming giant has little interest in local titles. That may be because it is cutting deals to make its own product with local producers. However, it cannot spend indefinitely and savvy distributors are forging ties with content creators to stay relevant. Besides all that, business was brisk and there was enough in the market to keep buyers ticking over until Cannes. Finecut’s Operation Chromite, Memento’s Farsi-language project from Asghar Farhadi, and Embankment’s Submergence all sparked wide interest.
Alone In Berlin, page 6
NEWS See-Saw’s TV push Crime drama The North Water being lined-up by The King’s Speech producer » Page 3
REVIEW Alone In Berlin A handsomely mounted but unexceptional war drama comes undone at the last » Page 6
FEATURE Building on Brooklyn Wildgaze Films on its Bafta-winning hit and future slate » Page 12
SCREENINGS What films to see at the festival and EFM today » Page 18
Final print daily This is Screen’s final print edition for Berlin 2016. Continue to follow all the news, reviews and jury grid updates at ScreenDaily.com
Wild Bunch steps up
Hubert Boesl
BERLIN BRIEFS Sundance grabs Things Sundance Selects has acquired US rights to Mia Hansen-Love’s Things To Come following the film’s world premiere here in Competition. It marks Sundance Selects’ second collaboration with Les Films du Losange on Hansen-Love’s films.
Sony adds Salt
Julianne Moore here for the European premiere of Maggie’s Plan
Benelux cherry-picks Les Ogres Pyramide International has secured sales on Léa Fehner’s Les Ogres, which won the VPRO Big Screen Award at International Film Festival Rotterdam earlier this month. The film has sold to Switzerland’s Cinework and fledgling Benelux
tinued the theme. Miramax came in to partner with Roadside Attractions on another Park City premiere, Southside With You, while Amazon was among buyers that lost out to the retooled Focus Features on Jeff Nichols’ upcoming Loving. Sales agents, uneasy about the threat to their long-time distribution partners, are nonetheless at the behest of their producer clients and will continue to cut deals with the new order. On the eve of the market, Beta Cinema licensed world rights excluding Germany and select markets to Netflix on Constantin’s Hitler satire Look Who’s Back. Buyers also face a challenge from VoD and day-and-date models in the US, where an early non-theatrical release will devalue their international rights when the holdback period expires and the film is already available
TODAY
distributor Cherry Pickers, a new outfit launched by former Imagine Film Distribution staffer Huub Roelvink and David van Marlen. Paris-based Pyramide’s distribution arm is to release the film, which follows the chaotic lives of
Sony Pictures Entertainment is developing a TV remake of Angelina Jolie-fronted spy film Salt. The studio is pitching the adaptation at EFM.
Grasshopper takes off travelling theatre company Chekhov Cabaret, in France on March 16. IFFR’s VPRO Big Screen Award is worth $34,000, covering publicity costs for a theatrical release in the Netherlands, the sale of TV rights to Dutch broadcaster NPO and an amount for the film-maker. Melanie Goodfellow
Ryan Krivoshey has launched distributor Grasshopper Film. The US firm will focus on domestic releases and aims for eight to 12 titles theatrically — the first being Asghar Farhadi’s Fireworks Wednesday — and more than 50 titles on VoD, home video and otherwise non-theatrically a year.
BY ANDREAS WISEMAN
Wild Bunch Germany has prebought rights to Broad Green Pictures comedy Ain’t No Half Steppin’ from Mister Smith Entertainment. The deal was negotiated by Wild Bunch Germany’s MD Marc Gabizon and David Garrett, CEO of Mister Smith Entertainment, which launched the film at EFM to considerable interest. Matt Alvarez (Straight Outta Compton), Lena Waithe (Dear White People) and Benjamin Cory Jones (Hand Of God) produce the story of an ambitious black sorority girl who, in order to be admitted to the law school of her dreams, agrees to cross cultural lines and teach the art of black Greek stepping to a band of Kardashianobsessed, white sorority girls. Due to begin shooting in April or May, the film will be directed by Charles Stone (Drumline) from a script by Chuck Hayward. Broad Green Pictures will distribute Ain’t No Half Steppin’ theatrically in the US. Casting is underway.