Steve McQueen Doc Goes To Venice, Ava DuVernay Show Gets Deal: 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.

U.S. sales firm Film Mode Entertainment is teaming up with UK distributor-producer Signature Entertainment for a new feature version of The Three Musketeers. Pic will be produced by Picture Perfect’s Lucinda Rhodes Thakrar (Robin Hood: The Rebellion), Jeet Thakrar (Robin Hood: The Rebellion), and Signature’s Elizabeth Williams (Final Score) with Clay Epstein serving as executive producer. The classic tale follows three loyal swordsmen who are joined by an eager recruit to protect the King of France. Previously, Film Mode and Signature worked together on Arthur & Merlin: Knights of Camelot.