‘Blonde’ Star Ana De Armas To Be Feted At Deauville
Andres Dominik’s buzzed about Marilyn Monroe picture Blonde will head to France’s Deauville American Film Festival (September 2-11) after its Venice world debut, where lead actress Ana de Armas will be feted with its Hollywood Rising Star Award. Cuban-born De Armas’s star has been steadily rising over the past few years on the back of performances in Blade Runner 2049, Knives Out, No Time To Die, and most recently The Gray Man. Past recipients of the Hollywood Rising Star Award include Ryan Gosling (2011), Jessica Chastain (2011), Paul Dano (2012), Robert Pattinson (2015), Elizabeth Olsen (2015), Chloé Grace Moretz (2016), Daniel Radcliffe (2016), Shailene Woodley (2018), Elle Fanning (2018), Sophie Turner (2019) and Dylan Penn (2021). Dominik is also set to attend the festival for the film’s French premiere.
Indie Horror ‘Camp Pleasant Lake’ Heads Into Production; Michael Pare & Devanny Pinn Among Leads
EXCLUSIVE: Indie horror title Camp Pleasant Lake is going into production in LA on August 28, with Michael Pare (It Crawls Beneath, The Shelter) just added to the cast. Bonnie Aaron (The Nun, The Conjuring 2), Devanny Pinn (The Dawn, House of Manson) and Michael Ferguson (Amityville Uprising) also star. Safier Entertainment has acquired worldwide rights to the film and is producing with PhilaDreams Films, Lux Angeles Studios and Mahal Empire. Jared Safier (Safier Entertainment) Jackson Everest, David M. Parks and Thomas Walton (PhilaDreams Films) are producing, with Walton, known for Lionsgate’s Room 9, writing and directing. Camp Pleasant Lake follows an enterprising couple, the Rutherfords, who decide to open a horror camp on the abandoned camp property where a young girl, Echo Meadows, and her parents were brutally murdered 20 years prior. They charge adults exorbitant sums to come and relive the events with the help of counsellors who were campers two decades before, while spreading the rumor Echo returns every year. However, the counsellors begin dying, and it isn’t clear if this is part of the act or if Echo has escaped her captors and is seeking revenge.
Edinburgh Film Festival Sets Competition Jury Members; Adds Two New Titles To Lineup
Industry veteran Gaylene Gould has been announced as the jury president for the main competition of the Edinburgh film festival, running from August 10-20. Gould will be joined by Glasgow-based producer Rosie Crerar as well as author Sarah Winman. The jury awards The Powell & Pressburger Award for Best Feature Film, the festival’s re-branded main competition featuring 11 films from UK, Irish and international filmmakers. Oscar-nominated filmmaker Bastien Dubois will head the jury for the festival’s animation prize alongside directors Jennifer Zheng and Sue Loughlin. Meanwhile, Sheffield Doc/Fest Head of Film Programs Raul Niño Zambrano will lead the short film jury alongside Raymah Tariq and Sean Dunn. The festival has also added Owen Kline’s Cannes breakout Funny Pages to its lineup, alongside the Annie Ernaux documentary My Super 8 Years, which also debuted on the Croisette.
Terror Films Acquires North American Rights To Horror Comedy ‘Mr Limbo’
EXCLUSIVE: Terror Films has acquired directed horror-comedy Mr. Limbo, starring Valley Girl’s Cameron Dye, for North American release. Hugo de Sousa and Vig Norris also star in the film, which tells the story of two strangers who wake up in the middle of the desert with no memory of anything — including their names. Are they dead or did they just party too hard at Burning Man? Writer-director Robert G. Putka, whose first feature MAD premiered at the 2016 Slamdance Film Festival and was distributed by The Orchard, was inspired to make the film after suffering a debilitating breakdown. Putka produces with Joseph Albert Battaglia, Norris and Benjamin Measor with de Sousa, Ern Gerardo, Frank Brown, Mark Reeb, and Jennifer Kennedy the executive producers. Terror Films negotiated the deal direct with the producers and it is now set for a September 2 digital bow.
Viaplay Visits ‘The Beach Hotel’ For Next Nordic Crime Drama Series
Another week, another Viaplay crime drama. Camilla Läckberg, the ‘queen of Nordic crime fiction,’ follow up her series Hammarvik and feature film Glacier with The Beach Hotel (Swedish title: Strandhotellet). Billed as a “thrilling blend of soap opera and crime drama,” the original series features a Swedish cast, with filming starting today in the idyllic Swedish coastal town of Varberg. The show will premiere exclusively on Viaplay in 2023. The plot begins at Werner Gyllenmark’s 60th birthday at his beach hotel. The event ends abruptly with an accident that shocks the entire town, and explosive secrets slowly begin to emerge. Lovisa Löwhagen and Jakob Vasell, both of whom worked on the soapy Hammarvik are lead writers, with Creative Society Production’s Kristoffer Graci and Viaplay’s Lotta Dolk the executive producers.
Canada’s Blue Ant Media Up Craig Junner And Andrea Harrick
Canadian producer, distributor and channel operator Blue Ant Media has promoted Craig Junner to SVP, Programming + Content Strategy, Global Media and Andrea Harrick to VP, Content Acquisitions, Global Media. The promotions come after both played key roles in Blue Ant’s FAST channels growth in a year when the company has launched four channels in the U.S and Canada, such as the recently announced HistoryTime. Junne, who’s been with Blue Ant since 2011, will continue to lead programming strategy for Blue Ant Media’s portfolio of pay TV and FAST channels. Harrick, who joined in the same year, is credited for securing thousands of hours of programming for Blue Ant’s global portfolio.
