Venice Titles ‘Sun Children’ & ‘The Furnace’ Sales Deals; Locarno Opener & Jury – Global Briefs

After yesterday’s unveiling of the Venice line-up, the sales announcements have rolled in:

Celluloid Dreams has boarded international sales on Sun Children, which screens in competition. The company previously repped director Majid Majidi’s debut feature Baduk back in 1991. The new feature is the story of 12-year-old Ali and his three friends. When Ali is entrusted to find hidden treasure underground, he recruits his gang to help.

U.S. outfit Arclight will handle world rights on The Furnace, the directing debut of Australian writer Roderick MacKay. It stars Ahmed Malek, Jay Ryan and David Wenham in a story set in 1890s gold rush-era Australia. Umbrella Films will distribute the film in Australia and New Zealand. Pic plays in Venice’s Horizons strand.

Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival, which is taking place in a hybrid physical-online form this year, has set its opening night feature as Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow. Reichardt is also one of the jurors judging the international projects in the fest’s The Films After Tomorrow Section, alongside Nadav Lapid and Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese. The Swiss Selection jury is comprised of Alina Marazzi, Matías Piñeiro and Mohsen Makhmalbaf. The event runs August 5-15, though the majority of its activity is online due to the pandemic, which some physical film screenings taking place for local audiences in Locarno and Muralto.