Busan Unveils Official Selection
The 30th Busan International Film Festival (BIFF)’s Asian Cinema Fund (ACF) has unveiled its 14 official selections after receiving 850 submissions, a record-setting 23% increase on the previous year. Three script development picks, from 478 submissions, are Black Star Angel from Armenia’s Christine Haroutounian, the Philippines’ Heaven Help Us! from Eve Baswell and New Life from China’s Yingtong Li. The Asian Network Documentary Fund took in four Korean projects. They were Hanna Cho’s Our Complex, Dayeon Yang’s Sprouted Potato Lives On, Sunhyeon Kwon’s Weathering Architect and Jeunghae Yim’s Sea, Star, Woman, a co-production with a French partner. Three overseas titles were selected – Neary Adeline Hay’s French-Cambodian co-pro Kampuchea; Armin Septiexan’s Oma, which has Indonesian, Philippino, French and Dutch partners on board; and Min Min Hein’s untitled project out of Myanmar. Korea’s Coming of Age and The Observer’s Journal, India’s If on a Winter’s Night and Hong Kong/China-Vietnam’s The River That Holds Our Hands were selected in the Post-Production Fund category. The ACF, part of BIFF’s industry platform Asian Contents & Film Market, is considered a flagship funding initiative at BIFF, which takes place around the Busan Cinema Center from September 17-26. The Asian Contents & Film Market runs from September 20-23 at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center.
Kate Laffey Exits Number 9 Films For Fifth Season
Fifth Season has tapped Number 9 Films for its Head of TV, Kate Laffey. She will join the L.A.- and London-based producer-distributor as SVP, Acquisitions. Effective today, she will be responsible for the global acquisitions strategy, including the London-based team led by Liz Tang. Laffey will report into Fifth Season EVP of Television, Jennifer Ebell, who recently succeeded Prentiss Fraser at the top of the sales tree. As we revealed last year, Laffey had been heading up Number 9 TV, a subsidiary of Living producer Number 9 Films. No word yet on how her exit impacts the Beta Film-backed Number 9. Prior to her most recent role, she spent four years leading Paramount International TV Studios in the UK, working on the likes of The Gold, A Gentleman in Moscow and Flatshare. Further back, she was VP of Acquisitions at Cineflix Rights and worked at ITV Studios. “Kate brings a formidable blend of commercial insight and creative instinct, with a track record for identifying the kind of global, talent-driven stories that define our slate,” said Ebell. “She’s trusted by producers, respected across the industry, and we’re thrilled to have her join the acquisitions team.” Fifth Season’s sales slate includes the Laura Linney and Kevin Kline MGM+ drama American Classic; Stan original series He Had It Coming, starring Lydia West; Made Up Stories’ The Good Daughter, starring Rose Byrne and Meghann Fahy and docuseries Death Cap which was a co-production with Dreamchaser and Den of Martians.
Paprika Studios To Sprinkle ITVS Formats In CEE
Budapest’s Paprika Studios will represent seven ITV Studios (ITVS) formats in six countries across the Central and Eastern European region. It has taken rights to high-stakes cooking competition Game of Chefs, culinary game show Rat in the Kitchen, heartwarming reality dating show My Mum Your Dad, nostalgia-themed A Year to Remember and family game show What Would Your Kid Do?. “This partnership enables us to offer broadcasters a powerful combination of creative content and streamlined production, perfectly suited to local audiences,” said ITVS Gisela Minnbergh, EVP of EMEA Global Partnerships. Martijn Plaizier, Content Brand Partnership Manager at ITVS brokered the deal.
Love Nature Docs Lead Blue Ant’s Sunny Side Slate
Blue Ant Studios is heading to this week’s Sunny Side of the Doc in La Rochelle, France, with a slate of original wildlife docs from its stablemate streamer Love Nature. Arte Co-pro Animal Crowds is a three-parter from Bonne Pioche about wildlife that gathers, lives and moves about in groups, while Terra Mater, Catkin Media Production and Doclights two-part series The Philippines journeys into the varied natural landscape of the Philippines. Shark Boss: Battle of the Sexes, from WildBear in co-production with Discovery, uses playful team-based competition spin on natural history to discover whether male or female great white sharks are more dominant. WildBear is also behind Season 2 of Planet Weird. “These newly announced greenlights reflect the wide spectrum of modern wildlife production that Love Nature has become known for over the last decade,” said Alison Barrat, SVP, Head of Content, Love Nature.
