Steve McQueen Doc Among Venice Market Lineup; ‘Three Musketeers’ Movie In Cannes Market; Ava DuVernay Execed Series Gets Deal — Global Briefs

A doc from Oscar-winner Steve McQueen and a VR experience about Banksy are two of the projects selected for this year’s Venice Film Festival Gap-Financing Market. The three-day event (September 4-6) is planning to take place in a physical form, as per the rest of the festival, despite the ongoing disruption from the coronavirus. McQueen’s project is Occupied City, which is based on the illustrated history book ‘Atlas of an Occupied City, Amsterdam 1940-1945’, written by his wife Bianca Stigter. The Banksy project is a VR experience about the artist’s Walled Off Hotel, which was built opposite the Israeli West Bank Barrier. In total, 22 fiction features will take part in the Venice market this year, alongside six docs and 12 VR projects.

Robert Schwartzman’s LA-based sales firm Utopia is launching sales at the Cannes virtual market on Ava DuVernay executive-produced mini-series And She Could Be Next. The multi-part documentary series directed by Grace Lee and Marjan Safinia follows women of color–as candidates and organizers–who are transforming U.S. politics from the ground up, including history-makers Stacey Abrams (Georgia) and Rashida Tlaib (Detroit). After being selected for its world premiere this year by the Tribeca Film Festival, PBS’s documentary showcase POV broadcasts will show the series on June 29 and 30 in the U.S.