First Look At Thriller ‘Righteous Thieves’ – Global Briefs

‘Righteous Thieves’ First Look

EXCLUSIVE: Top of this post is a first look at Righteous Thieves, a thriller directed by Anthony Nardolillo. Lisa Vidal, Cam Gigandet, Jaina Lee Ortiz, Carlos Miranda and Sasha Merci star in the movie, which sees the head of a secret organization assemble a crew to steal back artwork from a neo-Nazi billionaire oligarch who plundered it during World War II. Jolene Rodriguez of Broken English Productions produced. Michael Corcoran wrote the screenplay.

Agnieszka Holland To Helm Kafka Pic

Charlatan filmmaker Agnieszka Holland will helm Kafka, a biopic of the legendary Czech author. The project sees Holland re-team with Prague-based producer Šárka Cimbalová, and London/Dublin-based producers Sam Taylor and Mike Downey. The screenplay, written by Marek Epstein, will chart Kafka’s life from his birth in pre-war Prague to his death in Berlin in 1924. The plan is to shoot in spring 2023. The project will take part in the Berlinale Co-Production Market this week during the virtual European Film Market. “Kafka was a man of great sensitivity and ill-suited to his time,” comments Holland, “We have a much better chance of understanding him today than his peers had a century ago. He was the soul of the third millennium. A man living mentally largely outside the reality of his body. Living the world in letters as intensely as today’s man is living his life on social networks. To understand Kafka, we want to carefully piece together fragments from Kafka’s past and creation to create a mosaic beyond not only his life toward the present, but also to create a comprehensive view of the dramatic world of Kafka’s imagination.”

Uncork’d Entertainment Buys Virus Thriller ‘After The Pandemic’

EXCLUSIVE: Uncork’d Entertainment has picked up the post-apocalyptic thriller After The Pandemic, from indie filmmaker Richard Lowry, and will release digitally in March. The film is a dark sci-fi thriller set around the Covid-19 pandemic, set in a post-apocalyptic world where a global airborne pandemic has wiped out 90% of the Earth’s population and only the young and immune have endured as scavengers. Eve James, Kannon Smith, Juniper Preacher, Derek Sneddon, Alec McCormick, Gu Sewen, Virginia Fivas, and Leslie Ldmaw star. The pic was produced by Francesca Zappitelli. The release will take place March 1 on digital and DVD. Separately, the company has also boarded Martyn Pick’s comedy-horror Heckle, starring Steve Guttenberg, for a digital release this March. The film, which premiered at FrightFest, follows a famous stand-up comedian who encounters a seemingly insane heckler, who starts stalking him obsessively. Airell Anthony Hayles wrote the screenplay. Uncork’d acquired the film from Evolutionary Films and the deal was negotiated by Keith Leopard and John Adams.

Cannes Directors’ Fortnight Head Leaving

Paolo Moretti, who has been overseeing the Cannes sidebar Directors’ Fortnight since he took up the position in 2018, will depart after the 2022 festival. Organizers La Société des réalisateurs de films said it wished to “rethink the Directors’ Fortnight, its name, its singularity and its strategic and militant position” and had made the decision to appoint a new general delegate. The recruitment process begins now and will last until April 2022. The appointed person will take up office in November 2022 to prepare for the 2023 edition.

Aniventure Hire

Aniventure, the studio set up in 2014 to create original animated features, has hired John Blas as its Chief Marketing Officer. Blas is a 25-year vet of the industry and has worked at Disney and Pixar. John is creative, strategic and ahead of the curve when it comes to innovation in marketing,” said Aniventure producer Adam Nagle. “We believe his experience as Senior Vice President & Creative Director for Worldwide Creative Services at Disney & Pixar will deliver tremendous value to our partners and our business as we continue to advance our slate of animated projects. We have a growing collection of brands and IP, and we can’t wait for John to make his mark on them and help us take Aniventure forward.”