Latest in Festivals

Netflix has taken worldwide rights to Participant's feature documentary Descendant, which just won the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award: Creative Vision at the Sundance Film Festival. Higher Ground, President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's production company, will present the film alongside…

The Sundance Film Festival revealed award winners for its 2022 edition Friday. Like the rest of this year’s festival, which was forced to go all-virtual because of the recent Omicron surge, the awards ceremony played out on Twitter, with honors spread around across the diverse lineup unlike last year, when CODA swept…

IFC Films and Shudder have taken North American rights to Andrew Semans’ psychological thriller Resurrection starring Rebecca Hall, Tim Roth, Grace Kaufman and Michael Esper. The movie made its debut in the Premieres section of this year’s Sundance Film Festival and currently is 87% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. IFC Films…

NewFest, New York's LGBTQ+ film and media organization, on Friday unveiled the spring lineup for "NewFest Presents," its monthly screening series taking place in-person at The LGBT Community Center in NYC, and streaming virtually through NewFest's Virtual Screening Room nationwide. The announcement was made today by…

Utama (Our Home) is precisely the sort of discovery that justifies film festivals and makes them useful: a small, hitherto unheard-of work from an out-of-the-way country that grabs you from the opening minutes and afterwards makes you want to tell your friends they've got a real treat to look forward to. A rare…

Apple has closed the biggest deal of the virtual 2022 Sundance Film Festival, securing worldwide rights to the Cooper Raiff-directed Cha Cha Real Smooth for about $15 million. The streamer has been the front-runner for the picture since it premiered January 23 in the US Dramatic Competition category. Starring Raiff…

Berlin Film Festival organizers on Wednesday said they have further updated their Covid regulations ahead of the fest, which kicks off February 10. The new rules include mandatory press testing for access to press screenings, press conferences, the Press Centre, press lines and interview spaces. A negative PoC antigen…

EXCLUSIVE: Searchlight Pictures has closed a deal around $7.5 million for U.S. rights to Good Luck to You, Leo Grande. the Sophie Hyde-directed film that stars Emma Thompson and Daryl McCormack (The Wheel of Time & Peaky Blinders). Deadline reported yesterday  that Searchlight was poised to win the film that was bid…

UPDATE: SPC has confirmed Deadline’s scoop on the Living deal. Find the release below our original break. EXCLUSIVE: Living, one of the Sundance buzz titles since its January 21 premiere, has been acquired by Sony Pictures Classics for around $5 million for North American and some international territories, Deadline…

EXCLUSIVE: Searchlight Pictures has emerged as the favorite to acquire Good Luck To You, Leo Grande, the Sophie Hyde-directed drama that stars Emma Thompson as a widow who decides to seek out something that has eluded her over a 31-year marriage: a proper, mind-blowing, toe-curling orgasm. Negotiations are underway…

RLJE Films last night acquired U.S. rights to Riley Stearns’ thriller Dual in a competitive bidding situation, striking a low-mid seven figure deal for the film, which recently premiered in U.S. Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival. XYZ Films, CAA Media Finance and UTA Independent Film Group closed the…

As you know, the in-person Sundance Film Festival was canceled due to rising concerns of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, and it moved to an online screening format for press and attendees. John Boyega is the star of the festival’s U.S. Dramatic Competition entry 892, directed by Abi Damaris Corbin and written by…