As AFM attendees settle into their new Las Vegas home, Screen profiles a selection of key titles, at various stages of production, available across the market.
Altitude Film Sales is leading with Angel Gomez’s Dangerous Games To Play, a horror produced by Basil Iwanyk and Scott Strauss through their joint venture Badlands. A friendship group find playing occult games has unwanted consequences. CAA Media Finance reps the US. Altitude is also selling No Way Off, a thriller from Brian Kelly and produced by Matthew James Wilkinson of Stigma Films. Maria Bakalova (The Apprentice) stars as a mother who gets abducted on a bus.
Anton is introducing psychological thriller Victorian Psycho, a 19th-century-set gothic horror starring Margaret Qualley. Zachary Wigon directs and Dan Kagan (Longlegs) produces alongside Anton’s Sébastien Raybaud. Anton co-reps the US with UTA Independent Film Group and CAA Media Finance. Anton has a market debut screening of family animation Night Of The Zoopocalypse, co-directed by Ricardo Curtis and Rodrigo Perez-Castro and featuring David Harbour among its voice cast. Viva Pictures will release the film in the US.
Bankside Films is pushing Calum Macdiarmid’s prison thriller Wasteman, starring David Jonsson and Tom Blyth, about a parolee whose hopes of a fresh start are scuppered by a new cellmate. Agile Films produces and Lionsgate has UK and Ireland rights. Sales are also continuing on Ugla Hauksdottir’s Icelandic volcano thriller The Fires, starring Vigdis Hrefna Palsdottir.
Black Bear has an untitled sports biopic about US boxer Christy Martin, directed by David Michod and starring Sydney Sweeney, Ben Foster, Merritt Wever and Katy O’Brian. Producers are Anonymous Content, Yoki, Votiv, Fifty-Fifty Films and Black Bear. UTA Independent Film Group, AC Independent and Black Bear co-rep the US. Also on Black Bear’s slate is Jon Lucas and Scott Moore’s comedy Spa Weekend, starring Leslie Mann, Isla Fisher, Michelle Buteau and Anna Faris in the tale of a relaxing spa weekend that takes a chaotic turn. Black Bear co-reps the US with CAA Media Finance and UTA Independent Film Group.
Cornerstone Films is hoping to get buyers in a spin for ballroom dance comedy The Light Fantastic, from director Chris Cottam. Jeremy Irvine, Rupert Everett, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and Layton Williams star in a fresh take on the world of competitive dance. Debbie Gray of Genesius Pictures produces. Cornerstone also has Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly’s Wild World, about a young woman hellbent on tracking down her abducted sister. CAA Media Finance handles the US.
Film Constellation has Piotr Winiewicz’s AI-driven hybrid documentary About A Hero. Vicky Krieps stars in the fictional narrative, which also combines interviews with artists, philosophers and scientists about creativity in the age of AI. Producers are Tambo Film, Kaspar and Pressman Film in co-production with Cineteam. The UK-France sales outfit is also selling John Michael McDonagh’s Australia-set horror Fear Is The Rider starring Ben Mendelsohn and Abbey Lee, with Trevor Matthews and Nick Gordon of The Brutalist outfit Brookstreet Pictures among the producers.
HanWay Films is introducing buyers to Eye For An Eye, the feature debut of music video director Colin Tilley. The revenge horror starring Whitney Peak is set in the marshlands of Florida, where a young woman grieves her parents’ untimely death. WME Independent handles the US sale and Ley Line Entertainment produces. HanWay continues sales on Stephen Frears’ Wilder & Me, starring Christoph Waltz and Maya Hawke.
Protagonist Pictures is bringing Glenrothan to Las Vegas, the directing debut from Succession actor Brian Cox who also stars in the family drama alongside Alan Cumming. Lionsgate, which co-developed the project with London-based studio Nevision, has taken UK rights on the story of a man who returns to Scotland from Chicago to make amends with his estranged older brother. Protagonist is also selling Toronto thriller The Luckiest Man In America, based on the true story of a game-show winner harbouring a secret. IFC Films and Sapan Studio will distribute in the US.
Independent Entertainment is leading with Hill, a documentary about how Formula One driver Damon Hill overcame the tragic death of his father, racing legend Graham Hill, and embarked on his own journey to become world champion. Sylver Entertainment produces. Independent is also continuing sales on Marc Evans’ biopic drama Mr Burton, about the school days of Hollywood star Richard Burton, starring Toby Jones, Harry Lawtey and Lesley Manville.
Embankment Films is leading with The Housekeeper, directed by Richard Eyre and starring Uma Thurman, Anthony Hopkins and Phoebe Dynevor, with Julia Taylor-Stanley and Kevin Loader producing. The romance fictionalises the inspiration behind Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. Embankment co-reps US rights with CAA Media Finance. Embankment has unveiled Molepeople, a Manhattan-set horror from UK filmmaker Rob Savage, produced by the teams behind Woman Of The Hour and Halloween. Anthony Ramos and Ben Mendelsohn star. CAA Media Finance, Range and WME co-rep the US.
Metro International will be showing new promo footage of boxing drama Salvable, starring Toby Kebbell, Shia LaBeouf and James Cosmo, and directed by Bjorn Franklin and Johnny Marchetta. Producers are Lowkey Films and Featuristic Films.
Mister Smith Entertainment is launching sales on Grant Gee’s biopic Everybody Digs Bill Evans, about the life of the New York jazz musician. Cast includes The Worst Person In The World actor Anders Danielsen Lie, Bill Pullman and Laurie Metcalf. Hot Property Films and Cowtown Pictures produce.
Signature Entertainment hopes buyers tuck into Hungry. Directed by James Nunn and produced by Ben Jacques, the survival thriller follows a group of holidaymakers fighting for their lives as a rampaging hippo stalks the Louisiana swamplands. Signature is also selling drama The Great Lillian Hall starring Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates and Pierce Brosnan.
WestEnd Films continues sales on Tina Gharavi’s Night & Day, starring Haley Bennett, Elyas M’Barek, Timothy Spall, Lily Allen, Jack Whitehall and Jennifer Saunders. The comedy is based on Virginia Woolf’s novel of the same name. WestEnd is also selling thriller The Zealot from Vadim Perelman, starring Kodi Smit-McPhee and Djimon Hounsou, and produced by Jib Polhemus and Norman Golightly on behalf of Dark Castle. A Somali-American airport shuttle driver, struggling to make ends meet, receives a tempting but risky offer.
AMP International has completed psychological drama Hunting Matthew Nichols from Markian Tarasiuk, about a documentary filmmaker investigating the case of her missing brother who she believes may still be alive. Miranda MacDougall and Tarasiuk star.
Brilliant Pictures is selling Brian Skiba’s The Gunslingers, a western about a reformed triggerman confronting his past, starring Stephen Dorff, Heather Graham and Nicolas Cage. Grindstone has US rights.
Blue Finch Films has Jean Luc Herbulot’s Sitges winner Zero. The thriller revolves around two Americans who wake up in Dakar, Senegal with bombs strapped to them. Hus Miller stars, with a voice cameo from Willem Dafoe.
Canoe Films has Bucha Unbroken, about a Kazakh national who undertakes a clandestine civilian rescue operation in Ukraine. Based on a true story and shot in Ukraine after Russia’s invasion, it is directed by Stanislav Tiunov and produced and written by Oleksandr Shchur.
Devilworks has Addison Heath and Jasmine Jakupi’s Australian action film An American Masquerade, in which two failed actors take a wild road trip transporting a large volume of drugs.
FilmSeekers is selling Cielo, a magical-realism drama about an eight-year-old girl from Bolivia who embarks on a surreal journey in the hope of helping her mother.
GFM Animation keeps sales kicking on Sneaks, Rob Edwards and Chris Jenkins’ animation about sibling sneakers racing across New York City. The voice cast includes Anthony Mackie and Chloe Bailey. Sky Cinema has UK rights.
Kaleidoscope is selling documentary Flipside, directed by Chris Wilcha, with Judd Apatow among the producers and contributors in the doc. Wilcha tries to save a beloved record store.
Rapt Films brings stoner comedy Extremely Unique Dynamic to market, the debut feature from Ivan Leung and Harrison Xu. Two Asian American best friends decide to make a movie together. Strand Releasing will release theatrically in the US.
Reason8 Films is selling New Zealand SXSW prize-winner We Were Dangerous, about three misfit teens trapped in an institution on a tiny island. Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu directs, with Taika Waititi and Carthew Neal’s Piki Films producing. The cast includes Rima Te Wiata (Hunt For The Wilderpeople) and Nathalie Morris (Bump).
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