Bad Boys, Old Pals
EFM, let the sales roll in! Some key projects at the Berlin market have sold internationally:
The Narrow Road to the Deep North
Cast: Jacob Elordi and Ciarán Hinds
Sales: Euro rights go to Sky and Max, NBC Universal takes Latin America
To a Land Unknown (Premiere Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, TIFF)
Sells to 40 territories (Brazil, Germany, Greece etc.)
US release: Watermelon Pictures
The Last Whale
Pre-sold to France, Australia, Portugal, Greece, Germany
Here’s a quick guide to the latest and greatest EFM projects:
Cast: Russell Crowe, Daniel MacPherson (Foundation)
Dir: Tyler Atkins (Ocean Boy)
Co-Writer: Crowe
Sales Rep: Solution Entertainment Group
Synopsis:
Patton James (MacPherson), who abandons his mixed martial arts dream to support his wife, Luciana (Gale), and son. When his brother, Malon (Aria), suffers a serious injury and faces financial strain to underworld figures, Patton sets out to avenge him in a ONE Championship fight with the help of veteran trainer Sammy (Crowe).
This is the first film that Crowe hasn’t directed and that he has a writing credit.
Silent
Cast: Selma Blair (Hellboy)
Dir: Doron and Yoaz Paz (The Golem).
Co-Writer: Crowe
Domestic sales rep: Architect + Roundtable
International Sales Rep: Architect
Synopsis:
Skylar (Blair), a sound designer hired anonymously to create the audio for a rare silent film. Disturbed by its contents, Skylar is nonetheless increasingly obsessed with her work, and unwittingly finds herself caught up in a dark ritual that unlocks an ancient evil, threatening to consume her and her young daughter.
The Weight
Cast: Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe
Dir: Padraic McKinley (EP: Crowe’s The Exorcism - 2024)
Domestic sales rep: WME + CAA
International Sales Rep: WME
Synopsis:
Samuel Murphy (Hawke), after the death of his wife, is imprisoned in a labor camp run by Clancy, an unscrupulous overseer (Crowe). Murphy only wants to escape and regain custody of his daughter, Penny, but becomes entangled in Clancy’s perilous gold smuggling scheme, facing threats from both the treacherous wilderness and potential betrayal within his own group.
It’ll be nice to see Crowe return to a prestige piece… although we’ve been having a lot of fun watching him in some of his more recent pulpy fare.
Cast: Emile Hirsch
Dir: Catherine Pirotta
Worldwide Sales rep: Luminosity Pictures
Synopsis:
A journalist takes an assignment to write about Casa Matusita, Peru's infamous haunted house. Moving in with his wife, they face supernatural events and seek help from a priest linked to the house's dark past.
Cast: Noomi Rapace
Dir: Lorraine Darrow (Pas Sages), mentee of The Wachowskis
Worldwide Sales rep: WestEnd Films
Synopsis:
The high-stake thriller follows Kate (Rapace), a former U.S. soldier leading a humanitarian mission through war-torn Chechnya with her Chechen ally Magomed. But their mission turns deadly as they unwittingly harbor a young rebel, who’s transporting a mysterious package.
Cast: Gabriel Byrne
Dir: Wayne Wang (Maid in Manhattan)
Worldwide Sales rep: Bankside Films (Sundance’s The Ballad of Wallis Island, Rabbit Trap).
Synopsis:
A professor grows obsessed after bonding with his best friend's daughter, who becomes his caretaker.
Cast: Javier Bardem
Dir/Writer: Rodrigo Sorogoyen, The Beasts (2022)
Worldwide sales rep: Goodfellas
Synopsis:
Acclaimed director reunites with estranged daughter, an unsuccessful actress, to shoot a film together, confronting their strained relationship and unresolved past issues that neither wants to address directly.
It’ll be nice to see Bardem return to a strong Spanish-language pic.
Cast: Jason Statham, Bill Nighy, Naomi Ackie (Blink Twice)
Dir: Ric Roman Waugh (Greenland)
Prod Company/Worldwide Sales Rep: Black Bear (Sing Sing, Train Dreams)
Prod: Jon Berg (Wonder Woman)
Synopsis:
A recluse on a remote Scottish island rescues a girl from the sea, unleashing a perilous sequence of events that culminate in an attack on his home, compelling him to face his turbulent history.
A man dragged back to his violent past? Sounds like Statham’s The Beekeeper and A Working Man.
Cast: Dave Bautista
Dir: Jonathan Milott | Cary Murnion (Bautista’s Bushwick)
Worldwide Sales Rep: WME
Production Company: Thunder Road (John Wick franchise)
Synopsis:
After aliens crash-land and spread a lethal plague killing his wife and many others, Max struggles in a new world where humans live alongside the invaders. Mere survival isn't enough for him.
Cast: Aaron Paul, Jacob Tremblay
Dir: Jesper Ganslandt
International Sales Rep: Protagonist Pictures
Domestic Sales Rep: WME/UTA
Production Company: Thunder Road (John Wick franchise)
Synopsis:
Orphan Richard moves to Ballantyne where he witnesses a classmate disappear into a phone booth. Suspected by police, only Karen believes him as they race to solve the mystery and prove his innocence before sinister forces engulf them.
The cover for the book on which it is based looks amazing.
Cast: Miles Teller and Casey Affleck
Dir/Writer: Jason Hall (American Sniper)
Prod: Fred Berger (La La Land) and Brian Kavanaugh Jones (The Bikeriders)
Domestic Sales Rep: CAA, UTA and Range
Here’s the synopsis:
When Fish and Game officer Jack Irigaray (Affleck) joins a routine poacher arrest in the Black Rock Desert, a deadly encounter with renegade Claude Dallas (Teller) shatters his reality and propels him into a relentless quest for vengeance — one that blurs the line between justice and obsession.
Cast: Rupert Friend (Companion) and Lee Pace
Dir/Writer: Lucio Castro
Prod: David Hinojosa (Babygirl), Anita Gou (Honeyboy)
Domestic Sales Rep: CAA
Synopsis:
A woman's affair with an enigmatic underground musician throws her life into chaos when he disappears. Forced to fend off his obsessive fans, she also has to confront her fractured marriage, and reclaim her identity and her future.
Stitches (Couture)
Dir: Alice Winocour (Proxima) - first English language film
Distributor: Pathé Films (Emilia Perez)
US Sales rep/Financier: UTA
International sales rep: HanWay Films
Synopsis:
In the frenzy of Fashion Week, three women cross paths in Paris, grappling with the world’s tragedies and the questions of their lives: American film director Maxine Walker (Jolie), South Sudanese model Ada, and French makeup artist Angèle, working in the shadows of the catwalks.
Cast: Malcolm McDowell
Dir: James Marquand (Dead Man’s Cards)
Worldwide sales rep: Essential Film Group
Synopsis:
A dark, hard-boiled crime-thriller, with black comedy undertones, in which legendary actor McDowell stars as a fugitive criminal hiding out as a pub landlord who questions his identity when he gets discovered by a psychotic hitman (Alex Hassell), who is also his biggest fan.
Dir/Wri: Lena Dunham
Star: Natalie Portman
Domestic Sales Rep: CAA
International Sales Rep: Film Nation
Synopsis:
After spending a decade in a failed relationship, successful couples’ therapist Ally (Portman) is turning 40 and is pushed, kicking and screaming, by her best friend back into the hopeless New York dating scene. But Ally finds her life pulled in opposing directions as she falls into a steamy fling with a 20-something Brooklyn hipster just as she begins a promising, more conventional relationship with Alan, a successful 50-something in Manhattan. As a romantic crossroads blossoms into a full-blown identity crisis, Ally juggles to keep these two very different men separate and to make sense of her own conflicting desires before she risks losing them both.
Dir: Chris Foggin (Bank of Dave)
Prod Company: Sky Original Films
Star: Kiefer Sutherland and Rebel Wilson
Worldwide Sales Rep: Mister Smith Entertainment
Synopsis:
A washed-up Hollywood action hero takes a role in a small English village's quirky Christmas pantomime, where he finds unexpected inspiration through the show's straight-talking dance instructor.
The Birthday Party
Dir: Miguel Ángel Jimenéz (Window to the Sea)
Star: Willem Dafoe
Worldwide Sales Rep: Bankside Films and Heretic
Synopsis:
Markos Timoleon, a wealthy Greek businessman, hosts his daughter's 25th birthday party on his private island. Unforeseen events unfold, jeopardizing his power and challenging his life's foundations.
Rose of Nevada
Dir: Mark Jenkin (Bait)
Cast: George MacKay, Callum Turner
Co-Financier: BFI/Film4
Sales Rep: Protagonist Pictures
Synopsis:
In a forgotten fishing village, a boat mysteriously appears in the old harbour. The Rose of Nevada, lost at sea with all hands 30 years ago, has returned. For the few who remember, it’s a sign. The Rose of Nevada must go out to sea again, maybe then the luck of the devastated village will turn. Nick (MacKay) takes a job aboard the boat in an attempt to provide for his young family. Alongside him, newly arrived Liam (Turner) joins the crew, desperate to escape his past. They head to sea and after a successful trip return to harbour. But something is amiss. They’ve slipped back in time and the villagers greet them as if they are the original crew.
Seems very much in the vein of a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.
MacKay has recently become the go-to time traveler; he was sensational in The Beast (2023).
The Butler
Dir: Tom Edmunds
Cast: Jean Reno
Sales Rep: K5
Synopsis:
Retired World War I commando who has traded a life of violence for the serene routine of a family butler. When mobsters arrive to collect on an unpaid debt, his tranquil world is torn apart, forcing him to confront his past in a pulse-pounding showdown.
Dir: Rachel Lang
Cast: Mélanie Laurent, Eye Haïdara
Sales Rep: Indie Sales
Distributer: Warner Bros. France
Synopsis:
Wounded in Niger, agent Mata loses her partner Antoine. She takes an Alps mission, suspecting links to Africa. Believing superiors withhold info about Antoine's capture, she launches a risky unauthorized search.
Dir: Jacob Chase (Come Play)
Star: Ke Huy Quan & Lili Reinhart
Prod: David Caplan (Longlegs)
Prod Company/international sales rep: Black Bear
Domestic Sales Rep: CAA and UTA
Synopsis:
Gary is a good boy who loves his new owner, Cameron (Ke Huy Quan). He gets treats and belly rubs and life is great. Gary isn’t allowed in the basement though. And even if he was, he can’t unlock doors. But there’s a girl (Reinhart) in the basement. And she can’t come out to play. Gary doesn’t know it, but he’s her only chance.
Dir: Wendey Stanzler (Dir: 3 eps Parks and Rec)
Star: Henry Winkler, Brian Cox, Emma Roberts and Evan Rachel Wood
International Sales Rep: Neon International Films and Videos
Domestic Sales Rep: CAA and Verve
Synopsis:
Two widowers with opposite personalities are pushed together by their matchmaking daughters. Their reluctant connection evolves into friendship, showing how family can unite the most unexpected people.
Dir: Antonia Campbell-Hughes (Cordelia)
Star: Eva Green and Ben Whishaw
International Sales Rep: Beta Cinema
Domestic Sales Rep: CAA and Verve
Synopsis:
In Geneva's wealthy international circles, privileged expatriates navigate their luxurious lives while dealing with personal dramas and hidden secrets.
Dir: Mark Gantt (Soul Mates)
Star: Marisa Tomei, Virginia Gardner
Distributor: Gravitas Ventures
International Sales Rep: Beta Cinema
Synopsis:
Gina (Gardner), born on the most celebrated day of love, Valentine’s Day, which she detests immensely. She is determined to stop her boyfriend from popping the question on a birthday getaway in Greece, home of her vivacious mother (Tomei).
Indie Sales Boards ‘Gangstas’ By ‘Bad Boys’ Directorial Duo Adil & Bilall – EFM
Dir: Adil El Arbi & Bilall Fallah (Bad Boys for Life)
International Sales Rep: Indie Sales
Synopsis:
Adamo, the Moroccan-Italian drug-dealing protagonist of the original Gangsta, who uses his uncle’s pizzeria as cover, has worked his way up to become one of the most influential figures in the Antwerp drug trade and becomes increasingly entangled in a web of power and danger.
Dir/Wri: Ari Aster (Hereditary)
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Austin Butler, Pedro Pascal
Financier/Prod/Distribution: A24
Producer: Lars Knudsen (Hereditary, The Witch)
Premiere: Possibly Cannes
Searching for international buyers
Synopsis:
The film follows a small-town New Mexico sheriff (Phoenix) with higher aspirations.
Dir/Wri: Ulrike Ottinger (Berlin Lifetime Achievement Award)
Star: Isabelle Huppert
Co-writer: Elfriede Jelinek (author: The Piano Teacher)
International Sales: Magnify (Magnolia Pictures's international sales arm)
Synopsis:
Inspired by the life and legend of Countess Elizabeth Báthory, a 16th-century Hungarian serial killer as she awakens from her long beauty sleep and emerges from the underworld.
Huppert in a vampire movie will be astonishing. Luckily, we can rest assured knowing that her portrayal won’t be like anything we’ve ever seen before.
Untitled Hitman Thriller
Dir: Ernest Dickerson (DP: Do The Right Thing, Dir: 11 eps Walking Dead)
Cast: Samuel L. Jackson and Daveed Diggs (Nickel Boys)
International Sales: WME Independent
Domestic Sales: Fifth Season, CAA Media Finance and Contentious Media
Jackson Plays:
Morris Stokes, a recently retired and very opinionated hitman for mob boss Easy-A.
Ever since Pulp Fiction, viewers have hungered to see Jackson back in the philosophical hitman role.
For More:
James Franco is back for another “psychedelic stoner comedy” in Toad, also starring Tiffany Haddish and Craig Robinson. Architect (32 Sounds) is the sales rep.
Family Sci-Fi film, Xeno (prod company: Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat Productions) is about a teen who befriends an alien. Blue Fox Entertainment (Language Lessons) is the sales rep.
Special Ops Rent-A-Cop stars Billy Zane (Waltzing With Brando). VMI Worldwide (Adrien Brody’s Clean) is the sales rep.
Studiocanal’s The Desert Child first look. They’re also launching Sixth Dimension, a genre label. Their first project is Silent Night, Deadly Night, a reboot of the 1984 slasher film.
Goodfella’s new film by Claire Denis The Fence starring Matt Dillon and Tom Blyth.
Synopsis:
Dillon and Blyth as a construction supervisor and a young engineer, opposite Isaach de Bankole as a man who turns up at their construction site in the dead of night, demanding the body of his dead brother.
A Hip Hop Hoax: James McAvoy a prolific actor in his own right is making his directorial debut, California Schemin', based on the true story of a Scottish hip-hop hoax, has presold to StudioCanal for the U.K. and Ireland. The film, inspired by Gavin Bain's autobiography, follows two Scottish friends who conned the music industry by pretending to be an American rap duo. First look image. Studiocanal will release in UK/Ireland. UTA will handle domestic sales.
Armie Hammer will star in Frontier Crucible. Voltage Pictures is the worldwide sales rep.
Denver (Jaime Lorente) from Money Heist is starring in Reversion. Film Factory is repping this thriller.
Autlook Filmsales (Sales rep: No Other Land) has acquired Cutting Through Rocks, the Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning documentary by Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni. Following an Iranian councilwoman’s battle against patriarchy, the film will screen at Berlin’s EFM. Autlook CEO Stephanie Fuchs calls it “intimate and electrifying,” showcasing resilience and defiance with striking cinematic vision.
Steve Coogan’s The Good Life, a pilot about a PR guru reckoning with his greenwashing past, leads Climate Spring’s EFM slate. They are currently trying to fund over 40 projects, all pertaining to climate themes.
