Amy Adams has been cast in 'At the Sea'.The 49-year-old actress will appear in director Kornel Mundruczo's upcoming drama flick, which is due to enter production in Boston in June.The picture will follow the life of Laura (Adams) as she returns to her family at their beach holiday home after a long rehabilitation. While she adjusts to leaving her complicated life behind, the young woman is forced to face coming challenges without relying on a career that gave her fortune, fame and identity. Mondruczo will once again collaborate with writer Kata Weber after the pair worked together on the acclaimed films 'Pieces of a Woman' and 'White God'.The Hungarian filmmaker is producing the flick with Alexander Rodnyansky for Ar Content, Ryder Picture Company's Aaron Ryder and Andrew Swett as well as Alex Lebovici and Jon Oakes for Hammerstone Studios.Amy portrayed the character...
- 4/25/2024
- by Alex Getting
- Bang Showbiz
In our second piece of news concerning a Hungarian filmmaker (and producer Alexander Rodnyansky), we’ve learned via the Deadline that Kornel Mundruczó has still got the Bostonian vibes and will boat out to At the Sea – a drama with Amy Adams in the top role. Set to enter production in Boston in June, this is produced by Ryder Picture Company’s Aaron Ryder and Andrew Swett, Stuart Manashil, Hammerstone Studios’ Alex Lebovici, Jon Oakes, Viktória Petrányi, Mundruczó and Ar Content’s Rodnyansky. Exec producers are include Paul J. Diaz, Maria Breese, Lee Broda, Jeff Rice and Michael Kupisk. Zsofi Oblath and Rachel Rubin are co-producing.…...
- 4/24/2024
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Amy Adams will star in At the Sea, the latest drama from Kornél Mundruczó, the Hungarian filmmaker behind acclaimed films Pieces of a Woman and White God.
Sea reteams Mundruczó with Kata Wéber, his frequent collaborator who wrote Pieces of a Woman and White God and penned the script for the latest feature.
Producing the drama are Ar Content’s Alexander Rodnyansky (Loveless), Ryder Picture Company’s Aaron Ryder and Andrew Swett (Dumb Money, Arrival), Hammerstone Studios’ Alex Lebovici (Barbarian) and Jon Oakes (Drive). Stuart Manashil and Viktória Petrányi, who produced Pieces of a Woman, are also producing along with Mundruczó.
Per the producers, the story follows the life of a woman who, after a long rehabilitation, returns to her family at their beach holiday home where she has to readjust to the complicated life she left behind. Now she is forced to face the following next chapter of her...
Sea reteams Mundruczó with Kata Wéber, his frequent collaborator who wrote Pieces of a Woman and White God and penned the script for the latest feature.
Producing the drama are Ar Content’s Alexander Rodnyansky (Loveless), Ryder Picture Company’s Aaron Ryder and Andrew Swett (Dumb Money, Arrival), Hammerstone Studios’ Alex Lebovici (Barbarian) and Jon Oakes (Drive). Stuart Manashil and Viktória Petrányi, who produced Pieces of a Woman, are also producing along with Mundruczó.
Per the producers, the story follows the life of a woman who, after a long rehabilitation, returns to her family at their beach holiday home where she has to readjust to the complicated life she left behind. Now she is forced to face the following next chapter of her...
- 4/24/2024
- by Borys Kit
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Amy Adams has been tapped to star in At the Sea, a new drama from Kornel Mundruczó and Kata Wéber — the director and writer of such acclaimed films as Pieces of a Woman and White God — as well as Hammerstone Studios, Ryder Picture Company and Ar Content.
Set to enter production in Boston in June, the film follows the life of Laura (Adams) after a long rehabilitation, as she returns to her family at their beach holiday home where she has to readjust to the complicated life she left behind. Now she is forced to face the following next chapter of her life without the career that gave her fame, fortune and, most importantly, identity.
Pic will be produced by Alexander Rodnyansky of Ar Content, Stuart Manashil, Aaron Ryder and Andrew Swett for Ryder Picture Company, Hammerstone Studios’ Alex Lebovici and Jon Oakes, and Viktória Petrányi and Mundruczó. Exec producers are Paul J. Diaz, Maria Breese of 3:33 Creative, Lee Broda of Lb Entertainment, Jeff Rice of Jeff Rice Films, and Michael Kupisk. Zsofi Oblath and Rachel Rubin will co-produce.
Ar Content, Paul J. Diaz, and Hammerstone Studios will finance the film, with WME Independent to rep domestic rights, Capstone Pictures handling international, and Sacker Law to oversee production legal.
A six-time Academy Award nominee, Adams most recently wrapped production on 3000 Pictures’ Klara and the Sun, the next film from Oscar winner Taika Waititi, which adapts the dystopian sci-fi story from Kazuo Ishiguro. Up next, she’ll be seen starring in Searchlight Pictures’ Nightbitch from filmmaker Marielle Heller, a dark comedy she also produced through her production company Bond Group Entertainment that hits theaters December 6.
A married director-writer pair out of Hungary, Mundruczó and Wéber are perhaps best known for their 2020 pregnancy drama Pieces of a Woman, which premiered in Venice and brought star Vanessa Kirby her first Oscar nomination following its release on Netflix. Prior to that, the duo collaborated on White God, which won the Un Certain Regard Prize at Cannes in 2014; Jupiter’s Moon, which was nominated for the Palme d’Or; and Evolution, which also played the French festival. Separately, Mundruczó directed the pilot of the Apple TV+ limited series, The Crowded Room, starring Tom Holland and Amanda Seyfried.
Most recently, Hammerstone produced the action thriller Boy Kills World starring Bill Skarsgård, which will release wide on April 26, and the horror-thriller Don’t Move, starring Kelsey Asbille and Finn Wittrock, for Netflix.
Ryder Picture Company has produced acclaimed titles like Dumb Money and Bruiser.
Ar Content is known for Cannes prize winners like 2019’s Beanpole, from filmmaker Kantemir Balagov, and 2021’s Unclenching the Fists from Kira Kovalenko.
Adams is represented by WME, Linden Entertainment, and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern. Mundruczó and Wéber are repped by United Agents and Novo.
Set to enter production in Boston in June, the film follows the life of Laura (Adams) after a long rehabilitation, as she returns to her family at their beach holiday home where she has to readjust to the complicated life she left behind. Now she is forced to face the following next chapter of her life without the career that gave her fame, fortune and, most importantly, identity.
Pic will be produced by Alexander Rodnyansky of Ar Content, Stuart Manashil, Aaron Ryder and Andrew Swett for Ryder Picture Company, Hammerstone Studios’ Alex Lebovici and Jon Oakes, and Viktória Petrányi and Mundruczó. Exec producers are Paul J. Diaz, Maria Breese of 3:33 Creative, Lee Broda of Lb Entertainment, Jeff Rice of Jeff Rice Films, and Michael Kupisk. Zsofi Oblath and Rachel Rubin will co-produce.
Ar Content, Paul J. Diaz, and Hammerstone Studios will finance the film, with WME Independent to rep domestic rights, Capstone Pictures handling international, and Sacker Law to oversee production legal.
A six-time Academy Award nominee, Adams most recently wrapped production on 3000 Pictures’ Klara and the Sun, the next film from Oscar winner Taika Waititi, which adapts the dystopian sci-fi story from Kazuo Ishiguro. Up next, she’ll be seen starring in Searchlight Pictures’ Nightbitch from filmmaker Marielle Heller, a dark comedy she also produced through her production company Bond Group Entertainment that hits theaters December 6.
A married director-writer pair out of Hungary, Mundruczó and Wéber are perhaps best known for their 2020 pregnancy drama Pieces of a Woman, which premiered in Venice and brought star Vanessa Kirby her first Oscar nomination following its release on Netflix. Prior to that, the duo collaborated on White God, which won the Un Certain Regard Prize at Cannes in 2014; Jupiter’s Moon, which was nominated for the Palme d’Or; and Evolution, which also played the French festival. Separately, Mundruczó directed the pilot of the Apple TV+ limited series, The Crowded Room, starring Tom Holland and Amanda Seyfried.
Most recently, Hammerstone produced the action thriller Boy Kills World starring Bill Skarsgård, which will release wide on April 26, and the horror-thriller Don’t Move, starring Kelsey Asbille and Finn Wittrock, for Netflix.
Ryder Picture Company has produced acclaimed titles like Dumb Money and Bruiser.
Ar Content is known for Cannes prize winners like 2019’s Beanpole, from filmmaker Kantemir Balagov, and 2021’s Unclenching the Fists from Kira Kovalenko.
Adams is represented by WME, Linden Entertainment, and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern. Mundruczó and Wéber are repped by United Agents and Novo.
- 4/24/2024
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Charades and New Europe Films are joining forces to co-sell Oscar-winning Hungarian director Laszlo Nemes’ long-awaited new feature Orphan, as the production gears up to commence shooting in and around Budapest this June.
Orphan will be Nemes’ third film after Sunset, which world premiered in Venice in 2018, and his Oscar-winning breakthrough Son of Saul, which debuted in Cannes in 2015, winning the Grand Prize of the Jury before clinching Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards the following year.
The new film is set in Budapest in 1957, twelve years after the end of WWII and one year after the uprising against the Communist regime.
The story follows a young Jewish boy whose mother has raised him in the hope that his father will return from the camps. These hopes are shattered when a brutish stranger appears on the doorstep to take his family back.
Nemes co-wrote the screenplay with Clara Royer,...
Orphan will be Nemes’ third film after Sunset, which world premiered in Venice in 2018, and his Oscar-winning breakthrough Son of Saul, which debuted in Cannes in 2015, winning the Grand Prize of the Jury before clinching Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards the following year.
The new film is set in Budapest in 1957, twelve years after the end of WWII and one year after the uprising against the Communist regime.
The story follows a young Jewish boy whose mother has raised him in the hope that his father will return from the camps. These hopes are shattered when a brutish stranger appears on the doorstep to take his family back.
Nemes co-wrote the screenplay with Clara Royer,...
- 4/24/2024
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Updated with more signatories: Reaction continues to The Zone of Interest director Jonathan Glazer’s acceptance speech after his film won the Oscar for Best International Feature Film this month.
Some 1,215 Jewish show business professionals now have signed a letter denouncing the filmmaker’s speech, in which he decried the “dehumanization” of the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. See the updated full list below.
“We refute our Jewishness being hijacked for the purpose of drawing a moral equivalence between a Nazi regime that sought to exterminate a race of people, and an Israeli nation that seeks to avert its own extermination,” the letter states (read it in full in full below).
This list includes among its signatories Eli Roth and Amy Sherman-Palladino, Amy Pascal, Debra Messing, Gail Berman, Hawk Koch, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gary Barber, Lawrence Bender, Tovah Feldshuh and Rod Lurie.
You can watch Glazer’s speech here,...
Some 1,215 Jewish show business professionals now have signed a letter denouncing the filmmaker’s speech, in which he decried the “dehumanization” of the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. See the updated full list below.
“We refute our Jewishness being hijacked for the purpose of drawing a moral equivalence between a Nazi regime that sought to exterminate a race of people, and an Israeli nation that seeks to avert its own extermination,” the letter states (read it in full in full below).
This list includes among its signatories Eli Roth and Amy Sherman-Palladino, Amy Pascal, Debra Messing, Gail Berman, Hawk Koch, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gary Barber, Lawrence Bender, Tovah Feldshuh and Rod Lurie.
You can watch Glazer’s speech here,...
- 3/20/2024
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
There is a certain inevitability about a film inspired by Hermann Hesse’s novel “Steppenwolf,” first published in German in 1927, and two famous Westerns of the 1950s — John Ford’s “The Searchers,” and Howard Hawks’ “Red River.” The film, also called “Steppenwolf,” has its world premiere at International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Big Screen Competition section. Its teaser debuts on Variety exclusively (below).
In acclaimed Kazakh director Adilkhan Yerzhanov’s latest film, two characters who are essentially loners existing outside of the usual moral boundaries of the world come together united in a common task: to save a small boy who has gone missing.
Yerzhanov takes universal themes from Hesse’s novel and the later Hollywood Westerns, to plumb the depths of where man’s spirituality disappears into the depths of his animal origins. To explore what he calls a story of “two different heroes, two opposing characters, who...
In acclaimed Kazakh director Adilkhan Yerzhanov’s latest film, two characters who are essentially loners existing outside of the usual moral boundaries of the world come together united in a common task: to save a small boy who has gone missing.
Yerzhanov takes universal themes from Hesse’s novel and the later Hollywood Westerns, to plumb the depths of where man’s spirituality disappears into the depths of his animal origins. To explore what he calls a story of “two different heroes, two opposing characters, who...
- 1/26/2024
- by Nick Holdsworth
- Variety Film + TV
U.K. based sales and distribution outfit Blue Finch Films has boarded worldwide rights to thriller “Steppenwolf” from writer-director Adilkhan Yerzhanov, whose credits include the Cannes selected titles “The Owners” and “The Gentle Indifference of the World.” The film will have its world premiere at next month’s International Film Festival Rotterdam as part of the Big Screen Competition.
“Steppenwolf” is a brutal story of an unlikely duo who will stop at nothing to find what they are looking for. Tamara is searching for her missing son in a small town consumed by violence. In a desperate bid to get him back, she decides to offer a reward to an amoral former investigator whose methods prove to be sadistic. Determined, Tamara decides to complete the mission with the nihilistic detective, no matter what the cost.
Alexander Rodnyansky, who is best known for Oscar nominated “Leviathan” and “Loveless,” serves as producer...
“Steppenwolf” is a brutal story of an unlikely duo who will stop at nothing to find what they are looking for. Tamara is searching for her missing son in a small town consumed by violence. In a desperate bid to get him back, she decides to offer a reward to an amoral former investigator whose methods prove to be sadistic. Determined, Tamara decides to complete the mission with the nihilistic detective, no matter what the cost.
Alexander Rodnyansky, who is best known for Oscar nominated “Leviathan” and “Loveless,” serves as producer...
- 12/19/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
"Experience a film beyond words..." Stop and watch this!! Oscilloscope Labs has revealed an official trailer for Once Within a Time, a mesmerizing fantasy thriller from the incredible mind of filmmaker Godfrey Reggio. This is his first narrative feature after making iconic docs for years. Celebrated director Godfrey Reggio (of the Koyaanisqatsi trilogy) returns after ten years with a new experimental film unlike any other from his already daring career: a bardic fairy tale about the end of the world and the beginning of a new one, tinged with apocalyptic comedy, rapturous cinematography, unforgettable vistas, and the innocence and hopes of a new generation. With an electrifying score composed by Reggio's longtime collaborator Philip Glass with additional vocals from Sussan Deyhim, and co-directed by veteran editor and filmmaker Jon Kane, Once Within a Time is the indie revelation of the year. Let's go, Godfrey! It's also executive produced by Steven Soderbergh & Alexander Rodnyansky.
- 9/12/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Alexander Rodnyansky and theatre director Ivan Vyrypaev, both vocal critics of Putin and the invasion of Ukraine, have been accused of ‘spreading false information’ about the Russian army
A Moscow court has ordered the arrest of prominent film producer Alexander Rodnyansky and theatre director Ivan Vyrypaev for “spreading false information” about the Russian army.
The initial court hearings against Rodnyansky and Vyrypaev were held on 27 April, but not reported by the court until Wednesday.
A Moscow court has ordered the arrest of prominent film producer Alexander Rodnyansky and theatre director Ivan Vyrypaev for “spreading false information” about the Russian army.
The initial court hearings against Rodnyansky and Vyrypaev were held on 27 April, but not reported by the court until Wednesday.
- 5/18/2023
- by Staff and agencies
- The Guardian - Film News
A Moscow court has ordered the arrest of Oscar-nominated film producer Alexander Rodnyansky and theater director Ivan Vyrypaev, accusing the two of “spreading false information” about Russia’s war in Ukraine.
According to the Associated Press, both men — who each reside outside Russia — will be placed in custody once they are either detained by Russian authorities or extradited from abroad.
A source close to Rodnyansky said the producer is currently in Cannes, but he could not immediately be reached for comment.
Rodnyansky currently splits his time between Ukraine, Europe and L.A., where his production shingle Ar Content is based. The Kyiv-born producer, who spent nearly three decades living and working in Russia, fled the country just days after its invasion of Ukraine, after receiving a tip that his outspoken criticism of the war had landed him in the Kremlin’s crosshairs.
In Oct. 2022, Russia’s Ministry of Justice declared him a “foreign agent.
According to the Associated Press, both men — who each reside outside Russia — will be placed in custody once they are either detained by Russian authorities or extradited from abroad.
A source close to Rodnyansky said the producer is currently in Cannes, but he could not immediately be reached for comment.
Rodnyansky currently splits his time between Ukraine, Europe and L.A., where his production shingle Ar Content is based. The Kyiv-born producer, who spent nearly three decades living and working in Russia, fled the country just days after its invasion of Ukraine, after receiving a tip that his outspoken criticism of the war had landed him in the Kremlin’s crosshairs.
In Oct. 2022, Russia’s Ministry of Justice declared him a “foreign agent.
- 5/17/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
A Russian court has issued a warrant for the arrest of prominent international film producer Alexander Rodnyansky as well as theater director Ivan Vyrypaev for “spreading false information about the war” in Ukraine.
The court document states that it plans to arrest the two – both of whom live outside of Russia right now – once Russian authorities detain them or are able to get them extradited.
Rodnyansky, who has long been known for working with Russia’s grassroot filmmakers such as Leviathan and Loveless helmer Andrey Zvyaginstev and Kira Kovalenko, who won Un Certain Regard in Cannes in 2021, spoke with Deadline today when he first learned of the news and said he is probably “not the first and definitely not the last” of people who will be targeted for standing up to the Russian regime.
“This is crazy – I’m just laughing about it,” said the Kyiv-born media mogul. “They have arrested me in absentia,...
The court document states that it plans to arrest the two – both of whom live outside of Russia right now – once Russian authorities detain them or are able to get them extradited.
Rodnyansky, who has long been known for working with Russia’s grassroot filmmakers such as Leviathan and Loveless helmer Andrey Zvyaginstev and Kira Kovalenko, who won Un Certain Regard in Cannes in 2021, spoke with Deadline today when he first learned of the news and said he is probably “not the first and definitely not the last” of people who will be targeted for standing up to the Russian regime.
“This is crazy – I’m just laughing about it,” said the Kyiv-born media mogul. “They have arrested me in absentia,...
- 5/17/2023
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
When Deadline featured Alexander Rodnyansky for its International Disruptors column back in 2021, the media mogul said he’d “had five lives” when looking back at his prolific media career which spanned documentary filmmaking, founding Ukraine’s first indie TV network 1+1, managing Russian media company Ctc and producing indie films.
But now, one and a half years after that interview, the Kyiv-born super producer has embarked on yet another life, but this time far away from the country in which he built his career. Last year, one week after Russia invaded Ukraine, Rodnyansky fled his Moscow home of two decades with his wife and one suitcase. Having made no secret of his opposition to the war, the producer got wind that he was rousing suspicion within Russia’s top government heads and decided to sever ties with the country.
“We left the house and everything and since that moment I...
But now, one and a half years after that interview, the Kyiv-born super producer has embarked on yet another life, but this time far away from the country in which he built his career. Last year, one week after Russia invaded Ukraine, Rodnyansky fled his Moscow home of two decades with his wife and one suitcase. Having made no secret of his opposition to the war, the producer got wind that he was rousing suspicion within Russia’s top government heads and decided to sever ties with the country.
“We left the house and everything and since that moment I...
- 4/4/2023
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
Alexander Rodnyansky, the Oscar-nominated producer behind “Leviathan” and “Loveless,” has boarded “The Dissident,” a Cold War drama that follows a former Ukrainian resistance fighter trying to rebuild his life after his release from a Soviet prison camp.
The film marks the fiction feature debut of directors Andriy Alferov, a renowned Ukrainian film critic, and Stas Gurenko, a veteran commercial and music video director. Rodnyansky is producing alongside Oleksandr Omelyanov.
Set in 1960s Ukraine, at a time when many in the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc were re-evaluating the socialist system, pic follows Oleg, a former soldier in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army that fought against both Nazi Germany and the communist Soviet Union for Ukrainian independence during World War II. After an amnesty deal is reached, Oleg is released from prison camp and returns to Ukraine, where he tries but fails to find his place in peacetime society.
Though based on historical events,...
The film marks the fiction feature debut of directors Andriy Alferov, a renowned Ukrainian film critic, and Stas Gurenko, a veteran commercial and music video director. Rodnyansky is producing alongside Oleksandr Omelyanov.
Set in 1960s Ukraine, at a time when many in the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc were re-evaluating the socialist system, pic follows Oleg, a former soldier in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army that fought against both Nazi Germany and the communist Soviet Union for Ukrainian independence during World War II. After an amnesty deal is reached, Oleg is released from prison camp and returns to Ukraine, where he tries but fails to find his place in peacetime society.
Though based on historical events,...
- 2/16/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Autlook Filmsales handles international sales at EFM on story of nuclear physicist Ted Hall.
Magnolia Pictures has picked up North American rights from Participant to A Compassionate Spy, Steve James’s documentary about the controversial American nuclear physicist Ted Hall who passed secrets to the Soviet Union.
At age 18 Harvard graduate Hall became the youngest recruit to the Manhattan Project in the early 1940s. After the United States detonated its first nuclear bomb he became concerned his country had a potentially catastrophic monopoly on the technology and provided confidential information to the Soviets.
The film is told from the perspective of Joan,...
Magnolia Pictures has picked up North American rights from Participant to A Compassionate Spy, Steve James’s documentary about the controversial American nuclear physicist Ted Hall who passed secrets to the Soviet Union.
At age 18 Harvard graduate Hall became the youngest recruit to the Manhattan Project in the early 1940s. After the United States detonated its first nuclear bomb he became concerned his country had a potentially catastrophic monopoly on the technology and provided confidential information to the Soviets.
The film is told from the perspective of Joan,...
- 2/16/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Sam Trammell, Nicky Whelan, Pierson Fode, Jana Kramer round out key cast.
Grandave International has bolstered its EFM sales roster with worldwide rights to the action thriller 72 Hours starring Cam Gigandet and is kicking off talks here.
Sam Trammell, Nicky Whelan, Pierson Fode and Jana Kramer round out the key cast on the story about two brothers – a money laundering crypto criminal and an FBI agent – who set aside their differences to extract their family from deep inside a kingpin’s territory.
Christian Sesma directs from a screenplay he co-wrote with Sean Crayne based on a story by Roberto Sanchez.
Grandave International has bolstered its EFM sales roster with worldwide rights to the action thriller 72 Hours starring Cam Gigandet and is kicking off talks here.
Sam Trammell, Nicky Whelan, Pierson Fode and Jana Kramer round out the key cast on the story about two brothers – a money laundering crypto criminal and an FBI agent – who set aside their differences to extract their family from deep inside a kingpin’s territory.
Christian Sesma directs from a screenplay he co-wrote with Sean Crayne based on a story by Roberto Sanchez.
- 2/16/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: The Killing and Suicide Squad alum Joel Kinnaman is set to star in Ar Content’s adaptation of John Nixon’s Debriefing the President. Kinnaman will star as former CIA analyst Nixon who wrote the non-fiction book about his experience of being the first American to identify and interrogate Saddam Hussein following his 2003 capture.
The project, which is produced by Alexander Rodnyansky, had previously attached Ziad Doueiri to direct as a feature film but due to scheduling reasons he’s dropped out and the project will go forward as a limited series.
Nixon was a senior leadership analyst with the CIA from 1998-2011 who regularly wrote for and briefed those at the most senior levels of the U.S. government and later taught leadership analysis to the new generation of analysts coming at the Sherman Kent School, the agency’s in-house analytic training center.
After confirming the prisoner was indeed Hussein,...
The project, which is produced by Alexander Rodnyansky, had previously attached Ziad Doueiri to direct as a feature film but due to scheduling reasons he’s dropped out and the project will go forward as a limited series.
Nixon was a senior leadership analyst with the CIA from 1998-2011 who regularly wrote for and briefed those at the most senior levels of the U.S. government and later taught leadership analysis to the new generation of analysts coming at the Sherman Kent School, the agency’s in-house analytic training center.
After confirming the prisoner was indeed Hussein,...
- 2/15/2023
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
When life gives you lemons (or the president of your country begins a war with Ukraine) you make …. Butterfly Jam. THR are dropping the news rather late on Friday night, but we have a new working title and more producers are joining the fold in Square Peg’s producers Lars Knudsen and Ari Aster for Kantemir Balagov‘s third feature film. Formerly known as “Monica,” and originally set to shoot back home, the project also saw his producer Ar Content’s Alexander Rodnyansky having to make adjustments. He is also working with Andrey Zvyagintsev on his next feature — an English language debut that may film in Los Angeles.…...
- 10/29/2022
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Click here to read the full article.
Beanpole director Kantemir Balagov is set to make his English-language feature debut with Butterfly Jam, with Ari Aster’s Square Peg Partners and Alexander Rodnyansky’s Ar Content on board to produce.
Set in a tight-knit New Jersey community of Kabardian immigrants, Butterfly Jam, earlier titled Monica, portrays a complicated relationship between a father and son, in which the son imbues his father with qualities he doesn’t actually possess. Balagov broke out as a director with his two earlier feature films, Closeness and Beanpole, both of which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival.
Lars Knudsen and Ari Aster, director of Hereditary and Midsommar, will produce Butterfly Jam alongside Ukrainian producer Rodnyansky, who produced Beanpole and Leviathan, both of which landed Oscar nominations.
“I worked with Alexander on Beanpole, and it’s incredible how respectful he is towards directors. He knows that artistic freedom is essential for auteurs,...
Beanpole director Kantemir Balagov is set to make his English-language feature debut with Butterfly Jam, with Ari Aster’s Square Peg Partners and Alexander Rodnyansky’s Ar Content on board to produce.
Set in a tight-knit New Jersey community of Kabardian immigrants, Butterfly Jam, earlier titled Monica, portrays a complicated relationship between a father and son, in which the son imbues his father with qualities he doesn’t actually possess. Balagov broke out as a director with his two earlier feature films, Closeness and Beanpole, both of which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival.
Lars Knudsen and Ari Aster, director of Hereditary and Midsommar, will produce Butterfly Jam alongside Ukrainian producer Rodnyansky, who produced Beanpole and Leviathan, both of which landed Oscar nominations.
“I worked with Alexander on Beanpole, and it’s incredible how respectful he is towards directors. He knows that artistic freedom is essential for auteurs,...
- 10/28/2022
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Anonymous Content, Alexander Rodnyansky’s Ar Content and The Atlantic have secured rights to journalist Peter Pomerantsev’s article for The Atlantic ‘We Can Only Be Enemies’ and will adapt it for film.
Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi, the Ukrainian director of well-received Cannes festival drama The Tribe, is attached to pen and direct the war crime drama adaptation.
Published in May 2022, Peter Pomerantsev’s article for The Atlantic follows a Ukrainian family whose house is shelled at the onset of the war. Unable to reach Kyiv, they return to their village. Taking refuge in their bomb shelter, they have no choice but to cohabitate with the Russian soldiers responsible for the bombardment.
Nick Shumaker and Robert Walak will produce the film on behalf of Anonymous Content with Leviathan and Stalingrad producer Alexander Rodynansky producing for Ar Content. Anonymous Content CEO, Dawn Olmstead and Cco, David Levine will serve as executive producers...
Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi, the Ukrainian director of well-received Cannes festival drama The Tribe, is attached to pen and direct the war crime drama adaptation.
Published in May 2022, Peter Pomerantsev’s article for The Atlantic follows a Ukrainian family whose house is shelled at the onset of the war. Unable to reach Kyiv, they return to their village. Taking refuge in their bomb shelter, they have no choice but to cohabitate with the Russian soldiers responsible for the bombardment.
Nick Shumaker and Robert Walak will produce the film on behalf of Anonymous Content with Leviathan and Stalingrad producer Alexander Rodynansky producing for Ar Content. Anonymous Content CEO, Dawn Olmstead and Cco, David Levine will serve as executive producers...
- 10/28/2022
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Alexander Rodnyansky, the producer of Oscar nominated films “Leviathan” and “Loveless,” has boarded the next project from Kazakh director Adilkhan Yerzhanov (pictured), whose film “Goliath” has its world premiere at Venice Film Festival on Thursday in the Horizons Extra section.
The new project, “Nosorog,” tells a contemporary story of Tamara, a distraught woman on a desperate search for her missing son in a small town consumed by violent riots. To help get her son back, she hires a shady detective, Brayuk, with unexpected consequences.
Rodnyansky joins producers Aliya Mendygozhina and Olga Khlasheva on the project, which is a co-production between the State Center of Support of the National Cinema of Kazakhstan and Kazakh film company Golden Man Media.
Rodnyansky said: “My strategy has always been to work with the best directors from any country and I am very excited to be a part of a new film of Adilkhan Yerzhanov,...
The new project, “Nosorog,” tells a contemporary story of Tamara, a distraught woman on a desperate search for her missing son in a small town consumed by violent riots. To help get her son back, she hires a shady detective, Brayuk, with unexpected consequences.
Rodnyansky joins producers Aliya Mendygozhina and Olga Khlasheva on the project, which is a co-production between the State Center of Support of the National Cinema of Kazakhstan and Kazakh film company Golden Man Media.
Rodnyansky said: “My strategy has always been to work with the best directors from any country and I am very excited to be a part of a new film of Adilkhan Yerzhanov,...
- 9/8/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
On February 24, when Russia launched an unprompted military invasion of Ukraine, directors Kantemir Balagov and Kira Kovalenko hit the streets to protest.
“We really thought we could change something,” Balagov told IndieWire by phone this month from Los Angeles with Kovalenko on the line. “But later, when we found out real people in our homeland support this, we understood something terrible was happening. This Russian TV propaganda has brainwashed a lot of people. That moment was kind of a breaking point for us and we understood that we needed to get out of Russia.”
Over the past two years, the couple have been among the rising stars of the Russian film community: The 32-year-old Kovalenko’s 2021 drama “Unclenching the Fists” was the country’s official Oscar submission last year, while 30-year-old Balagov’s “Beanpole” was the submission the year prior. Once they realized that opposing the war would put them at risk,...
“We really thought we could change something,” Balagov told IndieWire by phone this month from Los Angeles with Kovalenko on the line. “But later, when we found out real people in our homeland support this, we understood something terrible was happening. This Russian TV propaganda has brainwashed a lot of people. That moment was kind of a breaking point for us and we understood that we needed to get out of Russia.”
Over the past two years, the couple have been among the rising stars of the Russian film community: The 32-year-old Kovalenko’s 2021 drama “Unclenching the Fists” was the country’s official Oscar submission last year, while 30-year-old Balagov’s “Beanpole” was the submission the year prior. Once they realized that opposing the war would put them at risk,...
- 6/14/2022
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Two-time Academy Award-nominated producer Alexander Rodnyansky is developing a new series that charts the rise of Vladimir Putin in what the producer describes as “the actual, horrifying story of how the man who changed the world got the power to do so.”
Produced by Rodnyansky’s L.A.-based production shingle Ar Content, “All the Kremlin’s Men” is based on the bestseller by acclaimed reporter Mikhail Zygar, the former editor-in-chief of Russian independent station TV Rain, which was banned and disbanded in the first week of the war in Ukraine. The book is based on an extraordinary series of interviews with Putin’s inner circle.
The series will tell the story of how an unassuming ex-Kgb officer became one of the most feared politicians in the world, drawing back the curtain on what goes on behind the Kremlin’s walls and revealing how Putin and his inner circle operate.
Produced by Rodnyansky’s L.A.-based production shingle Ar Content, “All the Kremlin’s Men” is based on the bestseller by acclaimed reporter Mikhail Zygar, the former editor-in-chief of Russian independent station TV Rain, which was banned and disbanded in the first week of the war in Ukraine. The book is based on an extraordinary series of interviews with Putin’s inner circle.
The series will tell the story of how an unassuming ex-Kgb officer became one of the most feared politicians in the world, drawing back the curtain on what goes on behind the Kremlin’s walls and revealing how Putin and his inner circle operate.
- 5/18/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Ticking multiple boxes, and a competition frontrunner, “Paradys” walked off on Tuesday night with the Series Mania Forum Best Project Award, the biggest industry plaudit at one of Europe’s largest TV festivals.
A novel crime drama “Paradys” is produced by South Africa’s Quizzical Pictures and Keshet International, which also handles international distribution. The project was pitched at Series Mania by Quizzical producer Nimrod Geva and creator-writer Darrel Bristow-Bovey.
Carrying a €50,000 cash prize, the award marks a triumph for Keshet International’s ever more expansive production reach, and for Johannesburg-based Quizzical Pictures, part of South Africa’s burgeoning premium series production scene and a Rose D’Or-winning production company for “Hopeville.”
The series is also the first from South Africa selected for the Forum’s Co-Pro Pitching Sessions, its industry centrepiece.
Also created by Anton Visser and executive produced by Avi Nir for Keshet International, “Paradys” turns on two...
A novel crime drama “Paradys” is produced by South Africa’s Quizzical Pictures and Keshet International, which also handles international distribution. The project was pitched at Series Mania by Quizzical producer Nimrod Geva and creator-writer Darrel Bristow-Bovey.
Carrying a €50,000 cash prize, the award marks a triumph for Keshet International’s ever more expansive production reach, and for Johannesburg-based Quizzical Pictures, part of South Africa’s burgeoning premium series production scene and a Rose D’Or-winning production company for “Hopeville.”
The series is also the first from South Africa selected for the Forum’s Co-Pro Pitching Sessions, its industry centrepiece.
Also created by Anton Visser and executive produced by Avi Nir for Keshet International, “Paradys” turns on two...
- 3/22/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
International Insider: Highway To The Palais; Ukraine Latest; BAFTA Time; Netflix UK Charm Offensive
Good afternoon Insiders and it’s Max Goldbart here with your weekly dose of the biggest headlines across the film and TV world.
Highway To The Palais
Need for speed: Tom Cruise will bring some star power to Cannes Film Festival this year when he heads to the Riviera to premiere his upcoming movie Top Gun: Maverick. Rumored for a while, Deadline’s Mike Fleming Junior had the exclusive on the details this week, revealing that the film will debut in Cannes on May 18, with Cruise taking part in an in-conversation event on the same day before receiving a special tribute ahead of the screening.
The King’s in town: Deadline also revealed this week another high-profile title that is set to bow at Cannes: Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic Elvis. The movie stars Austin Butler as the King of Rock and Roll, with Tom Hanks as his manager Colonel Tom Parker.
Highway To The Palais
Need for speed: Tom Cruise will bring some star power to Cannes Film Festival this year when he heads to the Riviera to premiere his upcoming movie Top Gun: Maverick. Rumored for a while, Deadline’s Mike Fleming Junior had the exclusive on the details this week, revealing that the film will debut in Cannes on May 18, with Cruise taking part in an in-conversation event on the same day before receiving a special tribute ahead of the screening.
The King’s in town: Deadline also revealed this week another high-profile title that is set to bow at Cannes: Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis Presley biopic Elvis. The movie stars Austin Butler as the King of Rock and Roll, with Tom Hanks as his manager Colonel Tom Parker.
- 3/18/2022
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
”I will continue to produce my films as I planned.”
Leading Ukrainian-Russian producer Alexander Rodnyansky, whose credits include Oscar-nominated films Leviathan and Loveless and Cannes Un Certain Regard winner Unclenching The Fists, has reacted with defiance to reports in the Russian press that Russian authorities are declaring him persona non grata.
Earlier this week Sergei Shoigu, the Russian minister of defence, wrote an official letter to the minister of culture demanding that Rodnyansky and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky should be “excluded from the cultural agenda” in Russia. His letter was leaked to the Russian press.
Rodnyansky has close links both...
Leading Ukrainian-Russian producer Alexander Rodnyansky, whose credits include Oscar-nominated films Leviathan and Loveless and Cannes Un Certain Regard winner Unclenching The Fists, has reacted with defiance to reports in the Russian press that Russian authorities are declaring him persona non grata.
Earlier this week Sergei Shoigu, the Russian minister of defence, wrote an official letter to the minister of culture demanding that Rodnyansky and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky should be “excluded from the cultural agenda” in Russia. His letter was leaked to the Russian press.
Rodnyansky has close links both...
- 3/18/2022
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Initiative includes 10-strong thriller slate.
Dominic Ianno’s new Hollywood content creator Roundtable Entertainment and Cinedigm have struck a multi-film financing, producing, distribution and streaming channel partnership.
Cinedigm takes a minority shareholder position in Roundtable and will distribute original content from the partnership on its Ott networks and third-party platforms.
Early activity includes a $15m slate of 10 thriller features led by All My Friends Are Dead. Kevin Greutert of the Saw franchise will direct the story about friends who start to die one by one during a weekend music festival in a series of killings linked to the Seven Deadly Sins.
Dominic Ianno’s new Hollywood content creator Roundtable Entertainment and Cinedigm have struck a multi-film financing, producing, distribution and streaming channel partnership.
Cinedigm takes a minority shareholder position in Roundtable and will distribute original content from the partnership on its Ott networks and third-party platforms.
Early activity includes a $15m slate of 10 thriller features led by All My Friends Are Dead. Kevin Greutert of the Saw franchise will direct the story about friends who start to die one by one during a weekend music festival in a series of killings linked to the Seven Deadly Sins.
- 3/17/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Initiative includes 10-strong thriller slate.
Dominic Ianno’s new Hollywood content creator Roundtable Entertainment and Cinedigm have struck a multi-film financing, producing, distribution and streaming channel partnership.
Cinedigm takes a minority shareholder position in Roundtable and will distribute original content from the partnership on its Ott networks and third-party platforms.
Early activity includes a $15m slate of 10 thriller features led by All My Friends Are Dead. Kevin Greutert of the Saw franchise will direct the story about friends who start to die one by one during a weekend music festival in a series of killings linked to the Seven Deadly Sins.
Dominic Ianno’s new Hollywood content creator Roundtable Entertainment and Cinedigm have struck a multi-film financing, producing, distribution and streaming channel partnership.
Cinedigm takes a minority shareholder position in Roundtable and will distribute original content from the partnership on its Ott networks and third-party platforms.
Early activity includes a $15m slate of 10 thriller features led by All My Friends Are Dead. Kevin Greutert of the Saw franchise will direct the story about friends who start to die one by one during a weekend music festival in a series of killings linked to the Seven Deadly Sins.
- 3/17/2022
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has called for the country to ban all the work of Ukraine-born super-producer Alexander Rodnyansky as well as any film and TV work of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to Russian news site The Insider.
In the report, Shoigu, who is part of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, is said to have sent an official letter (pictured below) to Russia’s minister of culture asking for both Rodnyansky and Zelensky’s work to be “excluded from the cultural agenda” in Russia. The move comes as various informal cultural sanctions have been issued upon Russia since the country began its invasion into Ukraine on February 24.
The letter, which was leaked to the press, has been translated to Deadline from a well-known source. It states the following:
“As part of a special operation, the Ministry of Defence is taking measures to shape a positive public opinion...
In the report, Shoigu, who is part of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, is said to have sent an official letter (pictured below) to Russia’s minister of culture asking for both Rodnyansky and Zelensky’s work to be “excluded from the cultural agenda” in Russia. The move comes as various informal cultural sanctions have been issued upon Russia since the country began its invasion into Ukraine on February 24.
The letter, which was leaked to the press, has been translated to Deadline from a well-known source. It states the following:
“As part of a special operation, the Ministry of Defence is taking measures to shape a positive public opinion...
- 3/17/2022
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
”I will continue to produce my films as I planned.”
Leading Ukrainian-Russian producer Alexander Rodnyansky, whose credits include Oscar-nominated films Leviathan and Loveless and Cannes Un Certain Regard winner Unclenching The Fists, has reacted with defiance to reports in the Russian press that Russian authorities are declaring him persona non grata.
Earlier this week Sergei Shoigu, the Russian minister of defence, wrote an official letter to the minister of culture demanding that Rodnyansky and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky should be “excluded from the cultural agenda” in Russia. His letter was leaked to the Russian press.
Rodnyansky has close links both...
Leading Ukrainian-Russian producer Alexander Rodnyansky, whose credits include Oscar-nominated films Leviathan and Loveless and Cannes Un Certain Regard winner Unclenching The Fists, has reacted with defiance to reports in the Russian press that Russian authorities are declaring him persona non grata.
Earlier this week Sergei Shoigu, the Russian minister of defence, wrote an official letter to the minister of culture demanding that Rodnyansky and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky should be “excluded from the cultural agenda” in Russia. His letter was leaked to the Russian press.
Rodnyansky has close links both...
- 3/17/2022
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Billionaire soccer club owner Roman Abramovich is reportedly assisting with peace efforts in Ukraine.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Abramovich has been contacted by Ukrainian authorities and in response he has flown to Belarus where peace talks are taking place.
“I can confirm that Roman Abramovich was contacted by the Ukrainian side for support in achieving a peaceful resolution, and that he has been trying to help ever since,” said the spokesperson.
The film producer Alexander Rodnyansky is understood to be involved in the move.
“I can confirm that the Ukrainian side have been trying to find someone in Russia willing to help them,” Rodnyansky told the BBC. “They are connected to Roman Abramovich through the Jewish community and reached out to him for help. Abramovich has been trying to mobilize support for a peaceful resolution ever since.
“Although Abramovich’s influence is limited, he is the only one who...
According to the Jerusalem Post, Abramovich has been contacted by Ukrainian authorities and in response he has flown to Belarus where peace talks are taking place.
“I can confirm that Roman Abramovich was contacted by the Ukrainian side for support in achieving a peaceful resolution, and that he has been trying to help ever since,” said the spokesperson.
The film producer Alexander Rodnyansky is understood to be involved in the move.
“I can confirm that the Ukrainian side have been trying to find someone in Russia willing to help them,” Rodnyansky told the BBC. “They are connected to Roman Abramovich through the Jewish community and reached out to him for help. Abramovich has been trying to mobilize support for a peaceful resolution ever since.
“Although Abramovich’s influence is limited, he is the only one who...
- 2/28/2022
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
An open letter against the war in Ukraine has been signed by prominent Russian cinematographers, spearheaded by Fedor Lyass (“Hardcore Henry”).
The signatories include Roman Vasyanov, Mikhail Krichman, Pavel Kapinos (“Hardcore Henry”), Vladislav Opelyants and Pavel Fomintsev (“Unclenching the Fists”).
Since Russia’s attack on Ukraine began on Feb. 24, Russian filmmakers and animators have bravely rallied and spoken out against their government’s actions and have called upon the international community for support. In doing so, the signatories have put themselves at risk on both personal and professional levels. Alexander Rodnyansky, the two-time Oscar-nominated producer of “Leviathan,” “Loveless” told Variety last week that he felt “unbearably ashamed” and “incredibly, deeply sad” when news of the Russian invasion of Ukraine broke.
The letter’s full translated text and list of the signatories are below:
We, Russian cinematographers, demand a stop to military aggression against Ukraine, an immediate ceasefire, and a withdrawal...
The signatories include Roman Vasyanov, Mikhail Krichman, Pavel Kapinos (“Hardcore Henry”), Vladislav Opelyants and Pavel Fomintsev (“Unclenching the Fists”).
Since Russia’s attack on Ukraine began on Feb. 24, Russian filmmakers and animators have bravely rallied and spoken out against their government’s actions and have called upon the international community for support. In doing so, the signatories have put themselves at risk on both personal and professional levels. Alexander Rodnyansky, the two-time Oscar-nominated producer of “Leviathan,” “Loveless” told Variety last week that he felt “unbearably ashamed” and “incredibly, deeply sad” when news of the Russian invasion of Ukraine broke.
The letter’s full translated text and list of the signatories are below:
We, Russian cinematographers, demand a stop to military aggression against Ukraine, an immediate ceasefire, and a withdrawal...
- 2/28/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Russian state agency was to have organised a showcase of upcoming drama out of Russia at the TV festival and industry event.
Roskino, Russia’s state body for the promotion of the country’s film and TV content, has been disinvited from French TV festival and industry meeting Series Mania (March 18-25).
A planned showcase of Russian drama fronted by the agency has also been dropped.
Series Mania managing director Laurence Herszberg told Screen International that Roskino’s attendance had been vetoed by the French Ministry of Culture as part of France’s measures responding to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
Roskino, Russia’s state body for the promotion of the country’s film and TV content, has been disinvited from French TV festival and industry meeting Series Mania (March 18-25).
A planned showcase of Russian drama fronted by the agency has also been dropped.
Series Mania managing director Laurence Herszberg told Screen International that Roskino’s attendance had been vetoed by the French Ministry of Culture as part of France’s measures responding to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
- 2/27/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Two-time Oscar-nominated producer Alexander Rodnyansky, who lives and works in Russia, has said he felt “unbearably ashamed” and “incredibly, deeply sad” when his son called from Kiev on Thursday with news that the Russian invasion of Ukraine had begun. Rodnyansky, who was born in Kiev, said in an email interview with ‘Variety’: “Of course, I […]...
- 2/26/2022
- by Glamsham Bureau
- GlamSham
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 23, filmmakers from both countries are speaking out against warfare.
Two-time Oscar-nominated producer Alexander Rodnyansky told Variety that he felt “unbearably ashamed” after learning of the attacks.
“I still couldn’t believe that missiles are exploding in Kyiv,” Rodnyansky said. “I couldn’t imagine that Kyiv, my native town, where my relatives, friends and colleagues live, where my parents and grandparents are buried, will be struck by missiles of the country where I have been living and working for the last 20 years, together with my family and friends.”
Rodnyansky additionally wrote in an Instagram post that he was mourning “all the people who woke up in war.”
Rodnyansky, who was born in Kyiv but currently lives in Moscow, captioned, “Today I know that the Ukrainians will come through this. Gentle and brave people will come through this war. Because they are fighting for their motherland.
Two-time Oscar-nominated producer Alexander Rodnyansky told Variety that he felt “unbearably ashamed” after learning of the attacks.
“I still couldn’t believe that missiles are exploding in Kyiv,” Rodnyansky said. “I couldn’t imagine that Kyiv, my native town, where my relatives, friends and colleagues live, where my parents and grandparents are buried, will be struck by missiles of the country where I have been living and working for the last 20 years, together with my family and friends.”
Rodnyansky additionally wrote in an Instagram post that he was mourning “all the people who woke up in war.”
Rodnyansky, who was born in Kyiv but currently lives in Moscow, captioned, “Today I know that the Ukrainians will come through this. Gentle and brave people will come through this war. Because they are fighting for their motherland.
- 2/25/2022
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Two-time Oscar-nominated producer Alexander Rodnyansky said he felt “unbearably ashamed” and “incredibly, deeply sad” when his son called from Kyiv on Thursday with news that the Russian invasion of Ukraine had begun.
“Of course, I realized before that the situation might go this way, but I still couldn’t believe that missiles are exploding in Kyiv,” Rodnyansky told Variety by email. “I couldn’t imagine that Kyiv, my native town, where my relatives, friends and colleagues live, where my parents and grandparents are buried, will be struck by missiles of the country where I have been living and working for the last 20 years, together with my family and friends.”
The Moscow-based producer was born in the Ukrainian capital, which was under siege by Russian troops on Friday. He said that “after the first shock” of Thursday’s invasion passed, he wrote an Instagram post in which he said he was...
“Of course, I realized before that the situation might go this way, but I still couldn’t believe that missiles are exploding in Kyiv,” Rodnyansky told Variety by email. “I couldn’t imagine that Kyiv, my native town, where my relatives, friends and colleagues live, where my parents and grandparents are buried, will be struck by missiles of the country where I have been living and working for the last 20 years, together with my family and friends.”
The Moscow-based producer was born in the Ukrainian capital, which was under siege by Russian troops on Friday. He said that “after the first shock” of Thursday’s invasion passed, he wrote an Instagram post in which he said he was...
- 2/25/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Spanish Academy Award-winning filmmaker David Pérez Sañudo (“Ane is Missing”) is shifting his gaze to the small screen, writing the upcoming eight-part drama series “Detective Touré,” which he will co-pen with novelist and TV writer Carlos Vila (“Los misterios de Laura”).
Based on the “Detective Touré Saga” books by Basque author John Arretxe, the series is produced by Oscar-winning studio Tornasol (“The Secret In Their Eyes”) and DeAPlaneta, a prolific sales-distribution outfit now focused on producing literary adaptations (“Ana. All In”).
Just this week, the project was picked as one of 15 finalists selected to pitch at next month’s Series Mania Co-Pro Pitching Sessions, with a €50,000 cash prize on the line.
Set in the northern Spanish city of Bilbao, the series, like the six books on which it is based, follows Touré, an undocumented sub-Saharan African immigrant living in the Basque Country. With no badge and no papers, Touré uses...
Based on the “Detective Touré Saga” books by Basque author John Arretxe, the series is produced by Oscar-winning studio Tornasol (“The Secret In Their Eyes”) and DeAPlaneta, a prolific sales-distribution outfit now focused on producing literary adaptations (“Ana. All In”).
Just this week, the project was picked as one of 15 finalists selected to pitch at next month’s Series Mania Co-Pro Pitching Sessions, with a €50,000 cash prize on the line.
Set in the northern Spanish city of Bilbao, the series, like the six books on which it is based, follows Touré, an undocumented sub-Saharan African immigrant living in the Basque Country. With no badge and no papers, Touré uses...
- 2/18/2022
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Keshet International has boarded Darrel Bristow-Bovey and Anton Visser’s South African series “Paradys,” selected as a finalist for next month’s Series Mania Co-Pro Pitching Sessions. Keshet international joins Quizzical Pictures as a production partner and will handle global distribution of the finished series.
Described as a “tense, character-driven murder mystery,” the series is based on Orania, a real city in South Africa where, 25 years after apartheid, segregation still holds strong. In the fictional series, the town of Paradys shirks the favored “Rainbow Nation” vision shared by the majority of South Africans, and instead embraces an outdated vision of white superiority which its leaders argue is simply an attempt at protecting Afrikaner heritage.
Tensions mount when a horrific murder is committed within the community’s white walls and two Black police officers are sent to investigate. Twisting on the good-cop-bad-cop archetype, one is a by-the-book cop focused on executing her sworn duty,...
Described as a “tense, character-driven murder mystery,” the series is based on Orania, a real city in South Africa where, 25 years after apartheid, segregation still holds strong. In the fictional series, the town of Paradys shirks the favored “Rainbow Nation” vision shared by the majority of South Africans, and instead embraces an outdated vision of white superiority which its leaders argue is simply an attempt at protecting Afrikaner heritage.
Tensions mount when a horrific murder is committed within the community’s white walls and two Black police officers are sent to investigate. Twisting on the good-cop-bad-cop archetype, one is a by-the-book cop focused on executing her sworn duty,...
- 2/17/2022
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Alexander Rodnyansky’s Ar Content is developing a slate of new series as the two-time Oscar-nominated producer continues his push into high-end episodic content.
Rodnyansky revealed details of two new projects to Variety during the Berlinale Series Market, just days after Fox Entertainment acquired U.S. rights to Ar Content’s upcoming epic action show “Khan: The Series,” as Variety previously reported.
“The Doghead” is a series loosely based on the book of the same name by best-selling author Alexey Ivanov, whose previous works adapted for the big screen include Cannes Un Certain Regard prize winner “Tsar.”
The series follows Kirill, a homebody historian who prefers stability to change or adventure, but who travels to a remote village to look for his lost girlfriend. Her disappearance is just the first in a chain of mysterious events that started in the 17th century around an enigmatic fresco of an ancient spirit known as the Doghead.
Rodnyansky revealed details of two new projects to Variety during the Berlinale Series Market, just days after Fox Entertainment acquired U.S. rights to Ar Content’s upcoming epic action show “Khan: The Series,” as Variety previously reported.
“The Doghead” is a series loosely based on the book of the same name by best-selling author Alexey Ivanov, whose previous works adapted for the big screen include Cannes Un Certain Regard prize winner “Tsar.”
The series follows Kirill, a homebody historian who prefers stability to change or adventure, but who travels to a remote village to look for his lost girlfriend. Her disappearance is just the first in a chain of mysterious events that started in the 17th century around an enigmatic fresco of an ancient spirit known as the Doghead.
- 2/16/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Fox Entertainment has acquired U.S. rights to “Khan: The Series,” from Oscar-nominated producer Alexander Rodnyansky’s Ar Content, Variety can reveal.
Currently in development, the epic action series is based on the best-selling book “Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World” by Jack Weatherford, and will focus on the largest contiguous empire in human history and its iconic creator.
Writer and executive producer Chris Collins will serve as showrunner, with Sergei Bodrov tapped to direct and executive produce. The series is executive produced by Rodnyansky, Leslie Greif (Big Dreams Entertainment), Stuart Manashil (Novo Entertainment), and Michael Kupisk (Ar Content).
“We are happy and honored to have Fox Entertainment as a partner for this title in development,” said Rodnyansky. “I am very excited to bring the extraordinary story of Genghis Khan to life together with my partners: producer Leslie Greif, known for ‘Hatfields & McCoys,’ ‘The Offer,’ and other high-end projects,...
Currently in development, the epic action series is based on the best-selling book “Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World” by Jack Weatherford, and will focus on the largest contiguous empire in human history and its iconic creator.
Writer and executive producer Chris Collins will serve as showrunner, with Sergei Bodrov tapped to direct and executive produce. The series is executive produced by Rodnyansky, Leslie Greif (Big Dreams Entertainment), Stuart Manashil (Novo Entertainment), and Michael Kupisk (Ar Content).
“We are happy and honored to have Fox Entertainment as a partner for this title in development,” said Rodnyansky. “I am very excited to bring the extraordinary story of Genghis Khan to life together with my partners: producer Leslie Greif, known for ‘Hatfields & McCoys,’ ‘The Offer,’ and other high-end projects,...
- 2/11/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: UTA has signed Academy Award-nominated and Primetime Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Rory Kennedy for worldwide representation in all areas.
Kennedy has directed and produced more than 30 features, and runs Moxie Films with her husband and partner, writer-producer Mark Bailey. She is currently directing a feature documentary for Alexander Rodnyansky’s Ar Content which examines the parallels between the refugee crisis of 1939—which saw the western world refusing to take German Jews fleeing Nazi Germany—and the international community’s treatment of refugees today. She is also producing the film, which is currently in production, alongside Rodnyansky, Bailey, Judy Korin and Rosanne Korenberg.
Kennedy most recently helmed and produced the upcoming feature documentary Downfall: The Case Against Boeing for Netflix. The film, which focuses on the two tragic Boeing 737-Max crashes of 2018 and 2019, premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and will...
Kennedy has directed and produced more than 30 features, and runs Moxie Films with her husband and partner, writer-producer Mark Bailey. She is currently directing a feature documentary for Alexander Rodnyansky’s Ar Content which examines the parallels between the refugee crisis of 1939—which saw the western world refusing to take German Jews fleeing Nazi Germany—and the international community’s treatment of refugees today. She is also producing the film, which is currently in production, alongside Rodnyansky, Bailey, Judy Korin and Rosanne Korenberg.
Kennedy most recently helmed and produced the upcoming feature documentary Downfall: The Case Against Boeing for Netflix. The film, which focuses on the two tragic Boeing 737-Max crashes of 2018 and 2019, premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and will...
- 2/10/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
The partnership will see co-production on a slate of high-end series and feature documentaries.
Sky Studios has agreed a development deal with Dorothy St Pictures, the UK production company behind Bruce Lee documentary Be Water.
The partnership will see the Dorothy St Pictures team co-produce an exclusive slate of high-end series and feature documentaries.
The team includes Julia Nottingham – a Screen Future Leader 2018 who also founded Dorothy St Pictures in 2018 – and director and producer Becky Read, whose credits include producing Three Identical Strangers.
The projects are expected to target Sky’s factual channels across Europe with Sky’s sister company,...
Sky Studios has agreed a development deal with Dorothy St Pictures, the UK production company behind Bruce Lee documentary Be Water.
The partnership will see the Dorothy St Pictures team co-produce an exclusive slate of high-end series and feature documentaries.
The team includes Julia Nottingham – a Screen Future Leader 2018 who also founded Dorothy St Pictures in 2018 – and director and producer Becky Read, whose credits include producing Three Identical Strangers.
The projects are expected to target Sky’s factual channels across Europe with Sky’s sister company,...
- 12/23/2021
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Katerina Pshenitsyna is joining from Central Partnership in a big shake-up of the Russian scene.
Leading international producer Alexander Rodnyansky’s Russian production outfit Ar Content has appointed Central Partnership executive Katerina Pshenitsyna as director of international business development and co-productions, in what is a significant shake-up of the Russian film sales and production scene.
Pshenitsyna was formerly vice president, international distribution at Central Partnership.
Rodnyansky is Russia’s leading international-focused producer, with credits including Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Oscar-nominated Leviathan and Loveless.
“I have always been fascinated with the work of Alexander Rodnyansky and the global impact his projects make,...
Leading international producer Alexander Rodnyansky’s Russian production outfit Ar Content has appointed Central Partnership executive Katerina Pshenitsyna as director of international business development and co-productions, in what is a significant shake-up of the Russian film sales and production scene.
Pshenitsyna was formerly vice president, international distribution at Central Partnership.
Rodnyansky is Russia’s leading international-focused producer, with credits including Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Oscar-nominated Leviathan and Loveless.
“I have always been fascinated with the work of Alexander Rodnyansky and the global impact his projects make,...
- 12/23/2021
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Web-slinger on course to overtake China’s The Battle At Lake Changjin on Friday.
Update: Spider-Man: No Way Home has reached $876m at the global box office and is on course to cross $1bn on December 25 according to Sony sources, an astonishing feat in a little over a week given the Omicron surge that would make it the global box office champion of 2021 and the only film to reach the billion milestone during the pandemic.
The achievement means Spidey will have crossed the threshold in 11 days – the joint second fastest time in history behind Avengers: Endgame (five days), tying with Avengers: Infinity War.
Update: Spider-Man: No Way Home has reached $876m at the global box office and is on course to cross $1bn on December 25 according to Sony sources, an astonishing feat in a little over a week given the Omicron surge that would make it the global box office champion of 2021 and the only film to reach the billion milestone during the pandemic.
The achievement means Spidey will have crossed the threshold in 11 days – the joint second fastest time in history behind Avengers: Endgame (five days), tying with Avengers: Infinity War.
- 12/23/2021
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Apple TV Plus has ordered its first Russian-language original series, “Container,” Variety can exclusively reveal.
The series, which comes via a co-production deal with subscription-based streaming service Start, is a thriller starring “The Bourne Supremacy’s” Oksana Akinshina alongside Russian screen stars Filipp Yankovskiy (“The Three Musketeers”), Marusya Fomina (“Gold Diggers”) and Artem Bystrov (“Earthquake”).
Described as “bold” and “unflinching,” the series sees Akinshina play Sasha, a surrogate mother hiding a dangerous secret who reluctantly finds herself ensconced in the luxurious home of the rich family whose baby she is gestating. As Sasha navigates the privilege and politics of the super-rich, both her secrets and theirs threaten to collide.
The series was directed by Maksim Sveshnikov (“257 Reasons to Live”) from a screenplay written by Alexey Lyapichev (“257 Reasons to Live”). It is produced by Eduard Iloyan, Vitaly Shlyappo, Alexey Trotsyuk, Denis Zhalinsky and Mikhail Tkachenko.
“Container” premiered in Russia and Cis...
The series, which comes via a co-production deal with subscription-based streaming service Start, is a thriller starring “The Bourne Supremacy’s” Oksana Akinshina alongside Russian screen stars Filipp Yankovskiy (“The Three Musketeers”), Marusya Fomina (“Gold Diggers”) and Artem Bystrov (“Earthquake”).
Described as “bold” and “unflinching,” the series sees Akinshina play Sasha, a surrogate mother hiding a dangerous secret who reluctantly finds herself ensconced in the luxurious home of the rich family whose baby she is gestating. As Sasha navigates the privilege and politics of the super-rich, both her secrets and theirs threaten to collide.
The series was directed by Maksim Sveshnikov (“257 Reasons to Live”) from a screenplay written by Alexey Lyapichev (“257 Reasons to Live”). It is produced by Eduard Iloyan, Vitaly Shlyappo, Alexey Trotsyuk, Denis Zhalinsky and Mikhail Tkachenko.
“Container” premiered in Russia and Cis...
- 12/13/2021
- by K.J. Yossman
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Emmy-Award-winning director and cinematographer Andrij Parekh is set to direct Red Rainbow, a dramedy series produced by Alexander Rodnyansky via his Ar Content banner.
Based on true story, Red Rainbow is set in 1977 and follows a high-ranking Soviet politician who travels to West Berlin to address a socialist rally. There, he meets three young activists who impress him with their commitment to communism. On the spur of the moment, he invites them to visit Moscow to experience socialist utopia first hand and inspire young Soviets to come back home. However, what he didn’t realize was that instead of communists, he had actually invited a group of West German gay activists to the Soviet capital, where homosexuality was punishable by a lengthy prison sentence.
The series, which won the Best Project Award at the Series Mania Forum earlier this year, is a dramedy of bureaucratic blunders and...
Based on true story, Red Rainbow is set in 1977 and follows a high-ranking Soviet politician who travels to West Berlin to address a socialist rally. There, he meets three young activists who impress him with their commitment to communism. On the spur of the moment, he invites them to visit Moscow to experience socialist utopia first hand and inspire young Soviets to come back home. However, what he didn’t realize was that instead of communists, he had actually invited a group of West German gay activists to the Soviet capital, where homosexuality was punishable by a lengthy prison sentence.
The series, which won the Best Project Award at the Series Mania Forum earlier this year, is a dramedy of bureaucratic blunders and...
- 12/8/2021
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
A small movement of young filmmakers in Russia’s remote, politically fraught North Caucasus Mountains is starting to make a big noise, first at the Cannes Film Festival and now in the Oscar’s best international feature race.
Remarkably, filmmakers Kantemir Balagov (with 2019’s Beanpole) and Kira Kovalenko (with her new drama, Unclenching the Fists) — both of whom studied with the great Russian director Alexander Sokurov in a North Caucasus filmmaking workshop — have won Cannes’ Un Certain Regard grand prize in consecutive editions. Now, Kovalenko’s movie is Russia’s official Oscar submission, the country’s striking acknowledgment of an artist who may be ...
Remarkably, filmmakers Kantemir Balagov (with 2019’s Beanpole) and Kira Kovalenko (with her new drama, Unclenching the Fists) — both of whom studied with the great Russian director Alexander Sokurov in a North Caucasus filmmaking workshop — have won Cannes’ Un Certain Regard grand prize in consecutive editions. Now, Kovalenko’s movie is Russia’s official Oscar submission, the country’s striking acknowledgment of an artist who may be ...
- 12/2/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Kira Kovalenko’s feature Unclenching the Fists was initially inspired by a line in William Faulkner’s novel Intruder in the Dust. Speaking at Deadline’s Contenders Film: International awards-season event, the Russian director said she thought a lot about Faulkner’s line, “While some people can endure slavery, nobody can stand freedom,” when she began co-writing her sophomore film, which is now Russia’s submission into this year’s International Feature Oscar race.
“While I was thinking about this line, I realized that I needed to find the place that I could tell this story about, and this place was a small mining town close to the place I was living,” Kovalenko said via her producer Alexander Rodnyansky, who was interpreting for on the panel.
Veteran producer Rodnyansky, who has long been a champion of unique and new voices hailing from Russia and the Ukraine, said he was compelled...
“While I was thinking about this line, I realized that I needed to find the place that I could tell this story about, and this place was a small mining town close to the place I was living,” Kovalenko said via her producer Alexander Rodnyansky, who was interpreting for on the panel.
Veteran producer Rodnyansky, who has long been a champion of unique and new voices hailing from Russia and the Ukraine, said he was compelled...
- 11/20/2021
- by Diana Lodderhose
- Deadline Film + TV
Deadline’s Contenders Film: International kicks off this morning, offering up the opportunity to hear from filmmakers who have been making waves around the world in 2021. The second annual event spotlighting international feature films begins at 9 a.m. Pt and will showcase the cream of the crop from this year’s festival awards winners, box office hits and International Feature Oscar hopefuls as the teams behind them discuss their work and inspirations.
Click here to register and watch the livestream.
For Contenders Film: International, we’ve again pivoted to a virtual event, which will boast a robust lineup. In total, talent will appear to discuss 26 titles that will represent their home countries as the official submissions for the International Feature Film category at the 94th Academy Awards. A total of 19 studios, streamers and distributors be on hand with presentations including clips and Q&As moderated by Deadline’s crack crew...
Click here to register and watch the livestream.
For Contenders Film: International, we’ve again pivoted to a virtual event, which will boast a robust lineup. In total, talent will appear to discuss 26 titles that will represent their home countries as the official submissions for the International Feature Film category at the 94th Academy Awards. A total of 19 studios, streamers and distributors be on hand with presentations including clips and Q&As moderated by Deadline’s crack crew...
- 11/20/2021
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Russian producer Alexander Rodnyansky brings a basket brimming with projects to this year’s AFM as he looks forward to easier international conditions as the Covid pandemic begins to recede.
Deals with two of Russia’s biggest platforms — Kinopoisk HD on local search engine giant Yandex, and Okko, part of leading bank Sber (which has a client base that numbers 90 million) — as well as a strategic partnership and first-look deal with Apple to produce Russian-language and multilingual international shows for Apple Plus TV allows the two-time Oscar nominee a breadth of material with which to work.
Top projects include “Red Rainbow,” the winner of this year’s co-production pitching competition at Series Mania. “Rainbow” is based on a true story set in 1979 about three young gay activists from West Berlin who are invited to Moscow on an official visit, not realizing that homosexuality is a crime in the Soviet Union.
Deals with two of Russia’s biggest platforms — Kinopoisk HD on local search engine giant Yandex, and Okko, part of leading bank Sber (which has a client base that numbers 90 million) — as well as a strategic partnership and first-look deal with Apple to produce Russian-language and multilingual international shows for Apple Plus TV allows the two-time Oscar nominee a breadth of material with which to work.
Top projects include “Red Rainbow,” the winner of this year’s co-production pitching competition at Series Mania. “Rainbow” is based on a true story set in 1979 about three young gay activists from West Berlin who are invited to Moscow on an official visit, not realizing that homosexuality is a crime in the Soviet Union.
- 10/31/2021
- by Nick Holdsworth
- Variety Film + TV
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