New sales agent and financier Architect has come on board to represent international sales on writer-director Laurel Parmet’s Sundance-premiering “The Starling Girl.” The film was acquired for North America by Bleecker Street in a deal negotiated by UTA and WME, and will release in cinemas later this year. Architect will launch international sales at this…

If you ask Rebecca Miller, it’s getting harder and harder to make movies about people in a room talking. That particular brand of intimate, personal storytelling, the kind the director of “Maggie’s Plan” and “The Private Lives of Pippa Lee” is known for, is a challenging prospect for financiers weighing up a Darwinian landscape for…

Charades has secured a flurry of deals on Charlotte Regan’s British dramedy “Scrapper,” which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. Starring Harris Dickinson (“Triangle of Sadness”) as a downbeat dad, “Scrapper” has been sold to Spain (Caramel), Australia (Madman), Poland (Against Gravity), Baltics and CIS (Arthouse), Greece (Cinobo) and Airlines (Aardwolf). “Scrapper” has already…

Leonis Productions, the Newen Studios-owned French banner created by Jean-Benoit Gillig, is developing a raft of international shows on the heels of “Liaison,” Apple TV+’s first French original. The company reached a milestone with “Liaison,” a thriller series created and entirely penned by Virginie Brac (“Spiral”) and directed by Stephen Hopkins. Vincent Cassel and Eva Green…

“Avatar: The Way of Water” topped the 21st Annual VES Awards with nine wins, including for photoreal feature. Meanwhile, Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio” was named best animated feature and took home three awards total. On the TV side, Amazon’s “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” won three awards and was named best…

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…

Polish directorial duo Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert have set drama “Let Me Out” as their next film. Spanning 45 years, the film will focus on Adam, trying to be a good husband and father in a small town in Poland. But Adam starts to feel increasingly uncomfortable in his body, one that doesn’t reflect…

Saban Films has acquired the U.S., U.K. and other international rights to Jean-Claude Van Damme action-spy thriller “Darkness of Man.” Directed by James Cullen Bressack, the film sees Van Damme playing Interpol operative Russell Hatch, who witnesses the death of his last informant in a routine raid gone wrong. Years later, he takes on a…

What better way to celebrate Jamie Lee Curtis’ Oscar nomination for her work in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” then by slipping on a pair of hot dog finger gloves? That’s exactly what a star-studded crowd did Wednesday night during a party for the Hollywood icon at Dear Jane’s in Marina del Ray. Demi Lovato,…