Americas Briefs: Gale Anne Hurd among SXSW keynotes

Gale Anne Hurd, Joe Swanberg, Don Cheadle, Joel Edgerton, Gaby Hoffmann, Joe Berlinger and Barbara Kopple are among the keynotes and on-stage conversation stars featuring at SXSW. The festival and conference runs in Austin, Texas, from March 11-19. For full details click here.

• Martial arts star Donnie Yen has been cast as the villain opposite Vin Diesel in xXx: The Return Of Xander Cage for Revolution Studios, Roth Kirschenbaum Films, One Race Films and Paramount Pictures. Production is set to begin this month in Toronto and the Dominican Republic.
• Kino Lorber has picked up North American rights to Andrzej Żuławski’s Locarno 2015 best director winner Cosmos ahead of its US premiere at the Film Comment Selects series in New York on Wednesday. The distributor brokered the deal with producer Paulo Branco of Alfama Films.
• Film Movement has acquired US rights from of Attraction Distribution to Robin Pront’s Belgian crime drama The Ardennes and will release theatrically later in the year.
• Production has begun in Santa Marta, Colombia, on Sundowners, a dramatic comedy from January Films and Carousel Pictures written and directed by Pavan Moondi. Tim Heidecker stars. Jorge Forero, Paula Perez, and Diana Bustamante of Colombia’s Burning Blue are the executive producers and Telefilm Canada provides financial support. Search Engine Films will release in Canada.