Sean Penn said he was happy to be a “propagandist” for the Ukrainian war effort and called Russian president Vladimir Putin a “creepy little bully” Saturday in Berlin, after the world premiere of his gonzo documentary “Superpower,” a gripping, courage-under-fire portrait of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “This is not an unbiased film because this is…

Tennis legends Serena and Venus Williams and Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook Studios have boarded the feature documentary “COPA 71,” about the 1971 Women’s World Cup of soccer. The Williams sisters will serve as executive producers on the film, which is a Dogwoof and New Black Films co-production. The project is executive produced…

Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos revealed a continued investment push in the Indian market on Saturday. In a freewheeling chat with Indian filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali in Mumbai to promote the latter’s upcoming Netflix series “Heeramandi,” Sarandos was bullish about India, repeating what he said on Friday to local media about the market’s growth. “India is…

Last November, in a gesture that the actor himself described as “a symbolic, silly thing,” Sean Penn gifted one of his two Academy Awards to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to mark his emotional investment in the country as they continue to fight Russia’s invasion — attracting widespread mockery from social media and the entertainment press…

Italy’s Kino Produzioni, the indie shingle that co-produced 2022 Berlin Golden Bear winner “Alcarràs,” is ramping up production with new films by emerging Italian filmmakers Carlo Sironi, Laura Luchetti and Irene Dionisio, as well as also Dutch director Michiel Van Erp and Argentine filmmakers María Alché and Benjamín Naishtat.  “We reached a turning point last year…

Madrid-based Buenapinta Media, a producer on Maite Alberdi’s Oscar-nominated “The Mole Agent” and Alauda Ruiz de Azúa’s “Lullaby,” has unveiled a development slate that includes new features by Ruiz de Azúa, Cinéfondation alum Guillermo García López, and Borja Cobeaga and Victor García León. The slate announcement comes one week after “Lullaby,” hailed by Pedro Almodovar…

India’s Platoon One Films, co-producers of Berlin Film Festival Panorama strand title “Ghaath” (“Ambush”), has seven films in the works. Four films are in advanced development. Police procedural “Bayan” by Bikas Mishra (“Chauranga”) was developed at Film Independent’s Global Media Makers program in Los Angeles and the film is supported by the International Film Festival…

Sundance standout film “Animalia,” by French-Moroccan filmmaker Sofia Alaoui, has been acquired for distribution across the Middle East and North Africa by Egypt’s Film Clinic, the shingle headed by producer Mohammed Hefzy. Film Clinic, a top film and TV production company that branched out into theatrical distribution in 2016, picked up “Animalia” from Paris-based sales…

U.K.-based MetFilm Sales has acquired worldwide sales rights, excluding the U.S., Germany and France, to Thomas von Steinaecker’s feature documentary “Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer” and is representing the project at Berlin’s European Film Market. With exclusive behind-the-scenes access into the legendary German film director’s everyday life, rare archive material and in-depth interviews with Herzog and…

A first trailer has been unveiled for Leandro Koch and Paloma Schachmann’s documentary “The Klezmer Project,” which will have its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival’s Encounters strand. The documentary follows Argentinian cameraman Leandro who makes a living from filming Jewish weddings. At one of his jobs, he falls in love with Paloma, the…