TV, Film & Media Industry News Roundup, Tuesday 25 June 2024

Saoirse Ronan wins top honour; ‘Girls Will Be Girls’ triumphs; ‘Inside Out 2’ leads box office; Mediterrane fest unites; Paramount+ raises prices; Indie film challenges; #MeToo horror at Cannes.

Today’s Highlights:

• Saoirse Ronan Wins Biarritz Nouvelles Vagues Acting Honour - Ronan received the top acting honour for her role in "The Outrun."

• 'Girls Will Be Girls' Wins Transylvania Film Festival - Shuchi Talati's debut feature won the Grand Prize.

• 'Inside Out 2' Surpasses 'Dune 2' in Global Earnings - The Disney and Pixar sequel has grossed $724 million worldwide.

• Mediterrane Film Festival Opens with 'The Count of Monte Cristo' - The festival focuses on uniting Mediterranean nations.

• Paramount+ Joins Max, Peacock in Raising Prices - The streaming service has increased its subscription costs.

• Neon Exec Discusses Challenges in Independent Movie Production - Jeff Deutchman explains the shift towards fewer acquisitions and more robust production arms.

• Coralie Fargeat's 'The Substance' Mirrors the #MeToo Movement—The director discusses her feminist body horror film.

• Meryam Joobeur Explores Maternal Heartache in 'Who Do I Belong To' - The director's feature debut builds on themes from her Oscar-nominated short film.

• Challenges Facing UK Independent TV Production Companies - Many companies struggle due to financial uncertainty and reduced advertising revenue.

• Truong Minh Quy's 'Viet and Nam' at Cannes - The Vietnamese director's film was highlighted in the Un Certain Regard section

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NEWS

Saoirse Ronan Wins Biarritz Nouvelles Vagues Acting Honours for ‘The Outrun,’ ‘Girls Will Be Girls’ Wins Grand Prize

Building on solid notices out of Sundance and Berlin, Saoirse Ronan has now won the Biarritz Nouvelles Vagues Festival‘s top acting honour for her role in “The Outrun.”

From: Variety

Indian Drama ‘Girls Will Be Girls’ Wins Transylvania Film Festival

In Shuchi Talati’s debut feature, a mother's intervention in her teenage daughter's budding romance creates an unexpected emotional love triangle.

From: The Hollywood Reporter

UK sellers to showcase key titles to international buyers at London Screenings

The 24th edition of Film London’s London Screenings is from June 24-26.

From: Screen Daily

‘Inside Out 2’ Surpasses ‘Dune 2’ as Highest-Grossing Movie of Year With $724 Million Globally

Disney and Pixar’s sequel has generated $355 million in North America and $724 million globally, overtaking the previous record holder, “Dune: Part Two” ($282 million domestically and $711 million worldwide). At this rate, it’ll soon be the first movie of 2024 to cross $1 billion worldwide.

From: Variety

Mediterrane Film Festival Opens Second Edition With ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’ and a Focus on Uniting Mediterranean Nations

The Mediterrane Film Festival kickstarted its second edition with the international premiere of Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte’s “The Count of Monte Cristo.”

From: Variety

INSIGHTS

Oleh Sentsov on Documenting “the Truth” From the Ukraine War Trenches in One-Shot Film ‘Real’

The Ukrainian director recorded a failed counteroffensive in real time in the documentary, which was shot on a GoPro camera attached to his helmet and will have its world premiere at Karlovy Vary.

From: The Hollywood Reporter

Paramount+ Joins Max, Peacock in Raising Prices

Paramount+ with Showtime increases to $12.99 monthly, while its Essential plan jumps to $7.99 monthly for new subscribers.

From: The Wrap

Neon Exec Says Independent Movies Need to Be Events, Claims Producing Arm Means Taking ‘Fewer Chances’ With Acquisitions 

As distributors develop a more robust production arm, it means taking “fewer chances” with acquisitions, says Jeff Deutchman, president of acquisitions and production at Neon.

From: Variety

‘The Substance’ Director Coralie Fargeat on How Her Feminist Body Horror Film With Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley Mirrors #MeToo: ‘We Need a Bigger Revolution’

With only her second film, Coralie Fargeat has gone from admiring body horror king David Cronenberg to competing with him at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

From: Variety

‘Who Do I Belong To’ Director Meryam Joobeur Explores Maternal Heartache With A Surrealist Touch

Montreal-based filmmaker Meryam Joobeur made an international splash with her Oscar-nominated “Brotherhood,” winning considerable acclaim for a 2018 short about a rural Tunisian family wracked with heartache once the eldest son returns home after fighting for ISIS. Premiering in competition in Berlin, Joobeur’s feature debut “Who Do I Belong To” builds on the same premise and keeps the same cast, but the filmmaker does not see her latest film as an extension or reimagining.

From: Variety

The Secrets of UK TV Production Revealed

Many UK independent TV production companies have gone bust or are in serious trouble since the commissioning downturn hit in 2023 due to financial uncertainty, falling viewing figures and the drop in advertising revenue for commercial broadcasters. Tellycast speaks to some of the UK’s leading indies under the cloak of anonymity, changing their names and voices to protect their identities as they speak frankly from the frontlines of TV production to tell their stories of frustration and business survival.

From: Tellycast

Truong Minh Quy on Moving Past Vietnam’s Ban of His Un Certain Regard Film ‘Viet and Nam’: ‘Like Being at Home, but Homeless at the Same Time’

Young Vietnamese director Truong Minh Quy made a splash at the Cannes Film Festival with his Un Certain Regard film “Viet and Nam,” which debuted on Wednesday.

From: Variety

Basque Conflict Escape Movie ‘Negu Hurbilak’: ‘People Expect Shootouts in Getaway Movies. It’s Not Always Like That’

With ruminating obscurity, the ambitious Negu Film Collective—which includes filmmakers Ekain Albite, Mikel Ibarguren, Nicolau Mallofré, and Adrià Roca—works to explore the contradictions of a Basque conflict that weighs heavy on all who lived through it. Stakes, set in slow succession, portray reverberations of the era’s traumas.

From: Variety

‘Longlegs’ Director Oz Perkins Says the Wild Marketing Campaign Is All Neon: ‘I Would Be a Jackass to Take Too Much Credit’

Perkins' satanic serial killer movie has been revved up with one of the most compelling marketing pushes for a horror picture in recent memory. He tells IndieWire it wasn't his idea.

From: IndieWire

Supa styling

Producer Sheila Nortley discusses building the young cast of Netflix fantasy drama Supacell and how the series sought to improve diversity and representation on and off screen.

From: Drama Quarterly

Nest Productions’ Derek Drennan On Supporting The Indie Sector

Founded less than five years ago, Nest Productions has already become a trusted production partner in the U.K. Derek Drennan, managing director, set up the company in response to the growing need for high-quality production support in an ever-changing landscape. Drennan shares his views on the state of production for unscripted entertainment and some of the issues around delivering this programming under new commissioning quotas. He also talks about an alternative co-production model that Nest employs.

From: TV Formats

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