Vanessa Redgrave To Be Feted At European Film Awards
Vanessa Redgrave will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 36th European Film Awards this December. Across six decades, the actress has ratcheted up more than 150 film and TV credits. Having first achieved fame as Rosalind in a 1961 a televized Royal Shakespeare Company performance of As You Like It, she broke out in cinema in Karel Reisz’s 1966 comedy Morgan: A Suitable Case For Treatment. Redgrave won Best Actress in Cannes for the role and was also Bafta and Oscar nominated. Other key early credits include Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow Up, Reisz’s Isadora, Charles Jarrott’s Mary, Queen Of Scots, for which she won a Special David at the Italian David di Donatello Awards; Fred Zinnemann’s Julia, for which she won an Oscar and James Ivory’s The Bostonians and Howards End and James Gray’s Little Odessa. More recent credits include Joe Wright’s Atonement (2008). Redgrave has won a slew of Lifetime Achievement Awards across her career including from the Venice and San Sebastian film festivals and Bafta. The European Film Awards will take place in Berlin on December 9.
Paramount+ Launches In Japan
Paramount+ just extended its reach in Asia, launching in Japan through partnerships with broadband operator J:Com and subscription TV service WOWOW. As of December 1, the Tulsa King and Mayor of Kingstown streamer will launch on J:Com and WOWOW’s on-demand services at no additional cost to their customers. Marco Nobili, Executive Vice President and International General Manager of Paramount+ International, called the deals “an important milestone for us and a critical step for the future of our streaming business.” This follows Paramount+’s launch in South Korea last year. Paramount+ currently has around 61 million subscribers in around 45 territories.
Netflix Drops ‘Ballerina’ Trailer As ‘Desert King’ Begins Shooting
Netflix has dropped the trailer for Ballerina, its revenge action thriller from Lee Chung-hyun, ahead of a world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF). The pic follows merciless ex-bodyguard Ok-ju (Jun Jong-seo) who hunts down Choi (Kim Ji-hun), a man responsible for the death of her dear ballerina friend Min-hee (Park Yu-rim). The trailer sets out the plot against a thumping soundtrack and fast action sequences. BIFF runs from 4-13 October. That’s not all the Netflix news out of Australasia today, as production has begun in Australia on the six-part neo-western drama Desert King (working title). Shooting is taking place in Darwin in the Northern Territory and Adelaide in South Australia. A joint production between Easy Tiger and Ronde, the series is created by Tim Lee (Mystery Road, Bump) and Ben Davies. When the world’s largest cattle station is left without a clear successor, generational clashes threaten to tear it owners, the Lawson family, apart, as the powerful factions from the outback sense the decline of the great dynasty and move in. It was announced last month as part of Netflix’s latest Australia slate.
Canada’s CBC and New Zealand’s RNZ Unveil MOU
Pubcasters in Canada and New Zealand have signed a partnership agreement. CBC/Radio Canada and RNZ will work together on three key areas: indigenous cultures and languages, podcasts and journalism training. “During a time where misinformation and disinformation are rife, the need for independent public media has never been more significant,” said Jim Mather, Chair, Board of Governors, RNZ. “Our partnership with CBC/Radio-Canada signifies exciting new opportunities for collaboration and a chance to leverage our strengths together.” The memorandum of understanding was signed in Prague, Czechia at the Embassy of Canada ahead of the Public Broadcasts International conference, which begins today.
Docsville Studios Names Managing Director
Nick Fraser’s Docsville Studios has named Last Song from Kabul producer Sophie Daniel as its MD. She will lead the London-based factual producer, focusing particularly on the empowerment of women and young people in the film industry. She has worked at the indie for the past two years and takes up her new role immediately. As well as working on Last Son from Kabul, which debuted at Telluride last month and will launch on Paramount+ this fall, she is working as a producer on Docsville’s currently untitled, upcoming feature doc on the life of Reverend Jesse Jackson. “We have had a huge amount of interest in our ideas recently and we are delighted to have Sophie on board to helpful our growth,” said Docsville CEO Lawrence Elman.
