image by Julie Delisle
Cineverse has acquired the horror-comedy comic book adaptation We Are Zombies.
The company has said it plans to release the pic this fall across all platforms, including its genre streaming platform Screambox, with a premiere date to be announced soon.
The deal was negotiated out of this year’s Berlin Film Festival by Brandon Hill, Director of Acquisitions, on behalf of Cineverse and Gregoire Melin at Paris-based Kinology on behalf of the filmmakers.
Sophia Bierend won for her writing the Degeto Impulse Award and was simultaneously working as an assistant director on the Netflix series Unorthodox and the film I’m Your Man. Both projects were realized by Maria Schrader, for whom she also works privately as an assistant. Inspired by this collaboration, Sophia applied for the talent lab at the War On Screen Film Festival in France. She won and got funding for her short film script The Taster. She wrote and directed the movie, which won the Student BAFTA in 2023 and is now successfully screening at various festivals all over the world. As a screenwriter she is part of various Writers Rooms, wrote among others several episodes for the youth series ECHT (KiKA, ZDF).
Here’s a quick synopsis for the Taster: In a near-future Romania, young Ozana (Silvana Mihai) is chosen to work as a food taster for the leader of forces occupying her country. The sole rule she must follow is that she must never look this man in the eye. Writer/director Sophia Bierend has made a captivating master class in slow-burn tension and world-building, phenomenally well-executed and performed according to Fantasia Film Festival’s Mitch Davis.
Fantasia Review: STAY ONLINE, the feature-film debut of Ukrainian filmmaker Eva Strelnikova, follows Katya (Liza Zaitseva), a volunteer from Kyiv who is fighting against the Russian invasion of Ukraine. While using a laptop donated to the resistance, she comes into contact with the original owner’s superhero-obsessed son, who is looking for his lost parents. In an effort to make a positive change in this boy’s life and pull herself out of a destructive cycle, Katya risks all that she holds dear to locate his parents.
As the first Ukrainian feature film to have been shot since the beginning of the ongoing Russian invasion, STAY ONLINE is a necessary piece of protest art that commands and deserves your attention. The focus on seeking and dispersing information through the internet is as pertinent as it has ever been. Considering the invasion has essentially lost its time in the limelight on North American news outlets, people have had to shift to alternative sources, such as TikTok, to procure information. Using the screenlife format to full effect, Strelnikova crafts a somber but honest story that will leave your heart in your throat and your eyes on the screen. Evoking the likes of Aneesh Chaganty’s SEARCHING and Mick Jackson’s THREADS, STAY ONLINE twists and turns through the war-torn streets of Ukraine, giving its audience a harrowing glimpse into life during wartime.
The good news keeps coming for Montreal cult collective RKSS.
Fresh from their successful closing of Fantasia Film Festival 2023 with “We Are Zombies” which won Gold Audience Award and Best Quebec feature, they will be premiering “Wake Up” at this year’s Fantastic Fest.
“Wake Up” comes from the team who gave us the “Rec” franchise. And RKSS were fortunate to be brought in to helm the new film.
“We Are Zombies” will also be presented at Fantastic Fest.
This means RKSS will have two films in the official selection of the world renowned genre festival.
Congratulations to Productions 1976’s Nicolas Comeau, director-writer Raymond St-Jean and Woolf+ Lapin’s Martin Girard!
Telefilm Canada announces production funding for seven French-language feature films
09 August 2023
Telefilm Canada announces seven French-language feature film titles receiving funding under the Production Program (second round of decisions in the big budget stream), for a total of $3.8 million.
Deux femmes en or (comedy)
Director: Chloé Robichaud
Screenwriter: Catherine Léger
Production: Vieille Amérique Inc.
Distribution: Maison4tiers
*coproduction Canada/France
Kaboul Montréal (drama)
Director: Bachir Bensaddek
Screenwriter: Marie Vien
Production: Caramel Film Inc.
Distribution: Maison4tiers
Le train (drama)
Director and screenwriter: Marie Brassard
Production: Microclimat Films Inc.
Distribution: Axia Films
Nervures (horror)
Director: Raymond St-Jean
Screenwriters: Martin Girard and Raymond St-Jean
Production: 1976 Productions Inc.
Distribution: Axia Films
Cap Farewell (drama)
Director and screenwriter: Vanja d’Alcantara
Production: Corporation de développement et de production ACPAV Inc.
Distribution: Maison4tiers
*coproduction Belgium/Canada/Netherlands
L’héritier des secrets (drama)
Director: Mohamed Nadif
Screenwriters: Mohamed Nadif and Olivier Coussemacq
Production: Objectif 9 Inc.
Distribution: Filmoption International
*coproduction Morocco/Canada
Ma mère, Dieu et Sylvie Vartan (drama)
Director and screenwriter: Ken Scott
Production: 9492-2663 Québec Inc (Christal Films Productions Inc.)
Distribution: Opale Films
*coproduction France/Canada