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A niche streaming service made for indie film lovers who crave something different.

Back when I was at USC Film School, I got a crash course in indie cinema. While everyone else was obsessing over the latest blockbusters, I was sitting in screenings of microbudget dramas, foreign gems, and documentaries that stuck with me way longer than any superhero movie ever could. That appreciation for indie films never left (“Run Lola Run” anyone?), which is why Magnolia Selects is such a great find. This niche streaming service is all about independent filmmaking, curating a lineup of award-winning dramas, interesting (and entertaining) documentaries, and under-the-radar gems you won’t find on the big streamers. If you love cinema that takes risks, tells bold stories, and champions unique voices, Magnolia Selects is worth checking out. Here’s everything you need to know.

Everything you need to know about Magnolia Selects

What is Magnolia Selects?...

Correction: An early version of this article indicated that Studiocanal had acquired global rights to 11 River Road Entertainment, but Searchlight holds domestic U.S. and Canada rights to “12 Years a Slave” and U.S. and U.K. rights to “The Tree of Life.”

Studiocanal and River Road Entertainment have announced an exclusive international distribution deal for 11 celebrated films, including Steve McQueen’s Oscar-winning “12 Years a Slave,” Terrence Malick’s Palme d’Or-winning “The Tree of Life” and Sean Penn’s critically acclaimed “Into the Wild.”

The partnership brings together Europe’s leading production and distribution house, Studiocanal, and the American independent film production giant, River Road Entertainment, in a multi-territory arrangement covering TV, SVOD, theatrical and other media platforms.

Under the agreement, Studiocanal will distribute nine feature films and two documentaries, a roster of prestigious titles that have collectively earned over $440 million at the global box office.

Juliette Hochart,...

Hulu’s hit series Only Murders in the Building returns for its fourth season this month as the crime-solving trio takes a trip from New York City to Los Angeles to solve yet another murder. But just because they’re moving coasts, doesn’t mean that Oliver (Martin Short), Mabel (Selena Gomez), and Charles (Steve Martin) can escape the deaths that keep plaguing their apartment building.

We also get to see what happens to the Solar Opposites in the aftermath of the series-changing finale when the full fifth season of the series drops this August.

Here’s everything that’s coming to (and leaving) Hulu in August.

Hulu New Releases – August 2024

August 1

Billion Dollar Wreck: Complete Season 1

Buddy Valastro’s Cake Dynasty: Complete Season 1

Interrogation Cam: Complete Season 1

Naruto Shippuden (Dubbed) Eps#450 – 461

The Banger Sisters (2002)

The Beach (2000)

Because I Said So (2007)

Brothers Mcmullen (1995)

Casino (1995)

Drumline (2002)

Eddie Murphy: Raw (1987)

Eragon...

If you’re like me, you spend a lot of August yelling “Summer is over!” to your nearest and dearest — and they don’t take kindly to that. Summer TV is in its twilight, while fall premieres loom on the horizon after the Emmy Awards on September 15.

But summer is not over, and there’s plenty of new titles to stream in the Disney bundle. Disney+ will premiere new Star Wars and “Winnie the Pooh” titles for kids, as well as the original series “Are You Sure?!” following BTS’s Jimin and Jung Kook. Hulu will become home to “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” “The Woman King,” “Smile,” and more movie titles, as well as the home for FX series — this month: “The New York Times Presents: Lie to Fly: Documentary Premiere.” Hulu originals “Solar Opposites” returns on August 12, and “Reasonable Doubt” for its second season starting August...

Whenever a documentary gets a sequel, you know that its subject matter is serious enough to warrant further investigation. Collider can reveal exclusively that sixteen years after the release of the revolutionary 2008 documentary Food, Inc. the movie's long overdue sequel is coming to our homes to catch viewers up on what's changed and what has worsened about what the American population feeds themselves. Food, Inc. 2 will further expose the food industry's secrets and is available on Blu-ray, DVD, and On Demand today. Collider can also share an exclusive sneak peek of the documentary with you below.

The 2008 documentary Food Inc. shone a light on troubling realities within America’s industrial food system. By following the path of our food from farms to processing plants to dinner tables, director Robert Kenner unveiled how a few powerful corporations grew to dominate agriculture. While some hoped increased awareness might spark change, the issues seemed deeply entrenched.

Then the Covid pandemic swept the world, and our food system was put under a microscope. Store shelves sat empty as supply chains faltered. Millions watched as crops were destroyed and animals culled, not due to a lack of supply but an inability to process and transport the bounty. It became clear that consolidating control among a select few left us all vulnerable.

So Kenner took up his camera once more. Along with co-director Melissa Robledo, he traveled across America and beyond, listening to all voices from the fields: farmers struggling under corporate control,...

His Oscar-nominated 2008 documentary Food, Inc exposed the horrors of industrial agriculture in the US. Now, a sequel shows that the corporate behemoths have no intention of loosening their grip

In the middle of Food, Inc 2 – the follow-up documentary to 2008’s Food, Inc, narrated by Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser – scientists share what they have recently discovered about ultra-processed foods (UPFs). They are not just bad for you in a trashy, empty-calories kind of way; they interfere with the brain and the body’s ability to process food; they mess with you on a cellular level. Whole populations are seeing health deteriorate, profoundly, for no purpose beyond profit. It must be annoying, I suggest to Pollan, 69, to hear scientists deliver this as a discovery. He been warning against processed food for decades.

Pollan’s mantra – “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants” – was immortalised in his 2008 book In Defence of Food.

Serving up morsels of good news amid platefuls of horrors regarding animal cruelty, ultra-processed diets and the environmental impact of dairy and meat production

Robert Kenner’s 2008 documentary Food, Inc was an angry wake-up call to the evils of industrialised food production. Now Kenner is back for another bite, co-directing with Melissa Robledo. In the ensuing 16 years, the food crisis hasn’t gone away – but what’s changed is that the message is out there. So, if you’re already that person in the supermarket looking on the back of the crumpet packet at the ingredients list, or you’re cutting down on meat, there’s perhaps not a lot here that you won’t already know.

Like the proverbial turd sandwich, the documentary feeds its audience thin slices of hope wrapped around the stomach-churning stuff. In positive news, Senator Cory Booker is on a mission in New Jersey to...

Real Time With Bill Maher continues Friday, May 10 (10:00-11:00 p.m. Et/7:00-8:00 p.m. Pt). Allowing Maher to offer his unique perspective on contemporary issues, the show continues with its opening monologue, one-on-one interviews with notable guests, roundtable discussions with panelists, and its signature “New Rules.” The series airs on HBO and is available to stream on Max. This week features a one-on-one interview with Eric Schlosser, investigative journalist, author of TheNew York Times Best Seller “Fast Food Nation,” and stars in the documentary film “Food, Inc.” This week’s panel discussion includes Frank Bruni, contributing writer at The New York Times and best-selling author, whose new book is called “The Age of ... Read more...

Food, Inc. 2 follows the golden rule of Hollywood sequels: The second time around, the villain must be scarier and the death count higher. Directors Melissa Robledo and Robert Kenner’s 2008 documentary Food, Inc. helped spark a national conversation about the devastating economic, environmental and health effects of our industrialized food system, and built momentum for serious reform. They never intended to direct a follow-up. But since then, Big Ag has fought back, and by some measures the problems caused by corporate consolidation have only gotten worse.

Journalists Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) and Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), who co-narrated the first film, became famous for exposing the deep dysfunction of America’s food industry. They’ve since followed their curiosity to other realms — psychedelics for Pollan, for example, and nuclear warfare for Schlosser. But 16 years after the release of Food Inc., they’ve reteamed with the directors for the sequel,...

More than a decade after the first film, Magnolia Pictures has released the trailer for Food, Inc. 2, a sequel to their critically acclaimed 2008 documentary, Food, Inc.

The film “is a timely and urgent follow-up” to the original, according to a release. The first installment earned an Oscar nomination and still holds a 95 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes.

In the sequel, directors Robert Kenner and Melissa Robledo reunite with authors Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma) and Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) for another look at the country’s food system.

“There’s a lot at stake when you sit down to eat,” Pollan says in the trailer. “When the pandemic hit, the curtain was peeled back.”

Schlosser adds, “There were whole crops being buried, and at the same time there were shortages in the supermarket.”

In another scene, an activist asks: “How can I go to work for these...

It’s the most spookiest time of the year, and you’ll find a smorgasbord of creepy content on the Hulu streaming service in October! Not only has the streamer secured recent theatrical releases like Cobweb and Slotherhouse for you, but Huluween is here again to make sure things go bump in the night.

Huluween highlights this year include the first season of Living for the Dead, which comes from the creators of Netflix’s popular Queer Eye. Join five queer ghost hunters – Alex Le May, Juju Bae, Ken Boggle, Logan Taylor and Roz Hernandez – as they travel to a range of the world’s most haunted locations in an attempt to help the living by healing the dead.

Hulu will also premiere Monster Inside: America’s Most Extreme Haunted House from director Andrew Renzi. The new documentary follows the story of “Navy Veteran turned master of horror” Russ McKamey. His home,...

It’s the most wonderful time of the year for Hulu! Oct. 1 kicks off the streamer’s annual Huluween offerings with dozens of spine-tingling series and films added to the platform, from horror classics like Stephen King’s “It” to new Hulu Originals like “Appendage.”

If you on the squeamish side, Hulu hasn’t forgotten you and will be adding dozens more titles this month and streaming major season premieres the day after they air, including new season of “The Simpsons,” “Bob's Burgers,” and more.

30-Day Free Trial $7.99+ / month hulu.com What are the 5 Best Shows and Movies Coming to Hulu in October 2023? “Appendage” | Monday, Oct. 2

Hulu’s latest original horror film “Appendage” joins the platform on Oct. 2 after its SXSW debut earlier this year. In it, Hannah, a young fashion designer who seems fine on the surface but secretly struggles with debilitating self-doubt begins to see her health decline...

There’s an unintentionally surreal moment in “Food Inc. 2.” Eric Schlosser, the journalist who wrote “Fast Food Nation,” is talking about how the rise of our corporatized, centralized, industrialized food system stifles the very kind of competition that could pose a challenge to it. He reaches back, with a level-headed liberal boomer nostalgia comparable to that of Michael Moore, to talk about the growth of the middle class in the ’50s and ’60s, and how that was a period of rising wages for American workers, all of which has faded away.

Here’s the surreal part. To illustrate this postwar reverie, the movie accompanies it with a 60-year-old documentary film clip presenting the wonder of supermarkets, with the camera lingering on stacks of Campbell’s Soup cans and products like Minute Rice, Ritz Crackers, and Van Camp’s Original Baked Beans. Watching the clip, though, all I could think was:...

Films about Grammy Award winner Jon Batiste, Andy Kaufman and designer John Galliano are part of this year’s Telluride Film Festival documentary feature lineup.

In all, 22 feature and four short documentaries are heading to the 50th edition of Tff, where buzz for docs seeking Oscar consideration frequently takes hold.

The lineup, kept under wraps until the eve of the fest’s opening on Aug. 31, includes docs from novice and veteran documentarians, including Errol Morris (“The Pigeon Tunnel”), Madeleine Gavin (“Beyond Utopia”), Matthew Heineman (“American Symphony”) and Paul B. Preciado.

After premiering “Orlando, My Political Biography” in Berlinale last February, Preciado garnered four awards, including the Teddy award for best documentary. Sideshow and Janus Films acquired North American rights to the doc in March.

In the docu, the first-time director, who is a trans writer and activist, uses Virginia Woolf’s 1928 book “Orlando,” the first novel in which the main...

Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers,” Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s “Nyad,” Emerald Fennell’s “Saltburn” and George C. Wolfe’s “Rustin” are among the films that will screen at the 2023 Telluride Film Festival, Telluride organizers announced on Wednesday.

The festival begins on Thursday, only one day after the announcement of the lineup. The late notice is a tradition at Telluride, which sells out its passes every year without revealing what films will be playing in the Colorado mountain town — although as the Toronto International Film Festival has gotten more detailed in announcing the premiere status of its bookings, it’s been increasingly easy to read between the lines of Toronto releases to figure out what’s headed to Telluride.

(This year, for example, Payne’s “The Holdovers,” which reunites the director with his “Sideways” star Paul Giamatti, was listed as an international premiere by TIFF, which meant that...

February is the shortest month of the year but Prime Video is paying that no mind with its jam-packed list of new releases for February 2023.

This really is an uncommonly stuffed month on the Amazon streamer and it all starts with a handful of Amazon Originals. Amazon’s original offerings kick off with the release of Dave Franco-directed romcom Somebody I Used to Know on Feb. 10. That is followed by Carnival Row season 2 – a gritty fantasy crime drama is set in a world of steampunky fairies. The show stars Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevigne and this batch of episodes will be its swan song. Meanwhile The Consultant on Feb. 24 is a dark comedy workplace thriller starring Christoph Waltz.

The biggest hits this month, however, might just be some recent cinema faves. If February is for lovers, Amazon didn’t get the memo as there are quite a few horror movies of note here.

The passing of documentary film champion and Participant Media executive Diane Weyermann has left a mark on the film community. The Participant chief content officer and former director of the Sundance Institute’s Documentary Film Program died on Thursday at the age of 66 after a battle with cancer.

Weyermann played a formative role in the documentary space, executive-producing Oscar-winning documentaries such as Davis Guggenheim’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” Laura Poitras’ “Citizenfour,” and Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar’s “American Factory.” While at Participant, she oversaw films including “Darfur Now” (2007), Robert Kenner’s “Food, Inc.” (2008), Errol Morris’ “Standard Operating Procedure” (2008), Joshua Oppenheimer’s “The Look of Silence” (2014), Morgan Neville’s “The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble” (2015), and Marc Silver’s “3 1/2 Minutes” (2015).

“Diane and I met while I was directing ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ and I immediately was struck by her creative brilliance,” said Davis Guggenheim in a statement.

Kew to handle TV and digital rights to some new projects from ‘Green Book’ producer.

Green Book producer Participant has struck a multi-year distribution tie-up with Kew Media Distribution (Kmd).

The deal hands Kmd global TV and digital rights to limited new projects from Participant, mainly across documentary and narrative feature films.

La-based Participant mainly produces big-budget features such as Spotlight, Green Book and Roma but recently moved into TV.

Jeff Skoll’s outfit is a co-producer on Mammoth Screen’s forthcoming BBC adaptation of Malorie Blackman’s Noughts and Crosses and was also behind Netflix’s Central Park Five...

Kew Media Distribution has signed a multi-year distribution agreement with Participant, the L.A.-based company behind “Spotlight,” “Green Book” and “Roma,” to start handling global television and digital rights on some new projects from Participant.

As part of the deal, Kew Media will distribute Participant’s socially and politically engaged documentaries and narrative feature films, as well as content from Participant’s library.

Some titles listed in the deal include the Sundance Award winners “3-1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets” and “Circumstance,” the Oscar-nominated documentary “Food, Inc.,” the Emmy-nominated “Pressure Cooker,” and the SXSW Festival winner “The Great Invisible” and “The World According to Sesame Street.”

“We do all we can to ensure that our programming combines the power of a good story, well-told, with opportunities for real world impact,” said David Linde, the CEO of Participant. “Reaching audiences around the world is central to the success of our work, and...

Participant Media has promoted longtime executive Diane Weyermann to the newly created post of chief content officer.

In her new role, Weyermann will focus on documentary film and TV, alongside department senior VPs Elise Pearlstein (film) and Miura Kite (TV), while working with CEO David Linde and the company’s newly announced heads of narrative film, Robert Kessel and Anikah McLaren, on future narrative content. She will continue reporting to Linde.

Weyerman joined Participant in 2005 and has been responsible for the company’s documentary feature film and television slate. She was promoted to president, handling film and TV documentaries, in 2017.

“Since 2005, I’ve been proud to call Participant my home and have had the great fortune to collaborate with seminal storytellers, whose powerful films have inspired audiences around the world,” Weyerman said in a statement.

“Diane has uniquely helped fulfill Participant’s mission over the last 15 years,” Participant founder Jeff Skoll said in a statement.

Diane Weyermann, a 14-year veteran at Participant Media, has been promoted to the role of chief content officer, the company’s CEO David Linde announced Thursday at the kickoff of the Toronto International Film Festival.

Weyermann, who previously oversaw Participant’s documentary film and television slate, including executive producing films such as “An Inconvenient Truth” and “Citizenfour,” will work closely with Linde in shaping Participant’s film and TV content in the newly created position.

Weyermann will continue to focus on documentary film and television, alongside department senior vice presidents, Elise Pearlstein (film) and Miura Kite (TV), while collaborating with Linde and the company’s newly announced heads of narrative film, Robert Kessel and Anikah McLaren, on future narrative content.

Also Read: Participant Media's Jonathan King Will Step Down to Segue Into Independent Production

The news comes as part of a restructuring after the departure of Jonathan King, the company...

PodcastOne CEO Jim Berk has left the top job at the podcast network, saying he is moving on after positioning the company for its next chapter.

Berk joined PodcastOne two years ago, reporting to longtime friend and founder, Norm Pattiz, who serves as the company’s executive chairman.

“Jim came in and has been very very helpful in positioning the company to do a number of things we weren’t able to do before hand,” Pattiz told Deadline. “Jim’s task has been pretty well completed. He wants to go on and examine some other things.”

PodcastOne is a producer and distributor of some 250 different podcasts, including shows from celebrities like Adam Carolla, Dan Patrick and Shaquille O’Neal. The company said it generated 2.8 billion podcast downloads over the last year.

“We’re a big fish in a small pond,” said Pattiz, who is best known as founder of the Westwood One radio network.

CBS topped the news and documentary Emmys, handed out in a ceremony tonight at the Frederick P. Rose Hall in New York. The network took home 10 awards, 7 of which were for 60 Minutes. National Geographic Channel followed with 7 total, and PBS won 6, with 2 of its Emmys going to the documentary Food Inc.

A list of winners follows:

Outstanding Coverage Of A Breaking News Story In A Regularly

Scheduled Newscast:

Anderson Cooper 360 (CNN), Haiti in Ruins

Outstanding Continuing Coverage Of A News Story In A Regularly Scheduled Newscast:

CBS Evening News with Katie Couric (CBS), Afghan Bomb Squad

Outstanding Feature Story In A Regularly Scheduled Newscast

BBC World News America (BBC America), Inside the North Korean Bubble

Outstanding Investigative Journalism In A Regularly Scheduled Newscast:

CBS Evening News with Katie Couric (CBS), Photocopiers Hidden Dangers

Outstanding Business And Economic Reporting In A Regulary Scheduled Newscast:

Sunday Morning (CBS)

Outstanding Coverage Of...

The editors of "The Hurt Locker," "The Hangover" and "Up" won feature film competitions Sunday at the 60th annual American Cinema Editors Eddie Awards at the Beverly Hilton.

"The Hurt Locker" editors, husband-and-wife team Bob Murawski and Chris Innis, earned the trophy for a dramatic film, topping a category that included "Avatar," "District 9," "Star Trek" and "Up in the Air."

"It's a great way to spend Valentine's Day, to win an award with my wife," Murawski said onstage, adding with a smile, "she did most of the work."

"The Hangover" editor Debra Neil-Fisher, Ace, topped the category for comedy or musical, which included nominees "500 Days of Summer," "Julie & Julia," "A Serious Man" and "It's Complicated."

  Editor Kevin Nolting earned the award for best edited animated feature for "Up," leading a group that included "Coraline" and "Fantastic Mr. Fox." Additionally, "The Cove" editor Geoffrey Richman won best edited documentary, a...

Oscar won't be tacking a happy ending onto Capitalism: A Love Story. Michael Moore's latest diatribe against the powers that be, this one directed at Wall Street and the government that let it run amok, did not make the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences' short list of films that still have a shot at winning the Academy Award for Best Documentary. Instead, the eye-opening Food, Inc. is the top muckracker of the bunch, joining Facing Ali (but not Tyson) and Valentino: The Last Emperor (but not The September Issue) in the in-between stage of Oscar consideration. Of 89 feature-length docs submitted, 15 made the list, most of them focusing on international politics and global issues, such...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced the 15 films in the Documentary Feature category that will advance in the voting process for the 82nd Academy Awards. Eighty-nine pictures had originally qualified in the category.

The 15 films are listed below in alphabetical order by title, with their production company: The Beaches of Agnes, Agnes Varda, director (Cine-Tamaris) Burma VJ, Anders Østergaard, director (Magic Hour Films) The Cove, Louie Psihoyos, director (Oceanic Preservation Society) Every Little Step, James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo, directors (Endgame Entertainment) Facing Ali, Pete McCormack, director (Network Films Inc.) Food, Inc., Robert Kenner, director (Robert Kenner Films) Garbage Dreams, Mai Iskander, director (Iskander Films, Inc.) Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders, Mark N. Hopkins, director (Red Floor Pictures LLC) The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith, directors (Kovno Communications) Mugabe and the White African,...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has shortlisted 15 films that will advance in the race for the documentary feature category, culled down from 89 films that originally qualified.

  The titles include the work of veteran French director Agnes Varda, "The Beaches of Agnes"; "Every Little Step," James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo's doc about the making of a revival of "A Chorus Line"; Robert Kenner's expose of the food industry, "Food Inc."; and Matt Tyrnauer's fashion doc "Valentino, the Last Emperor."

Not listed were such prominent titles as Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story" and James Toback's "Tyson."

The 15 films are:

-- "The Beaches of Agnes," Agnes Varda, director (Cine-Tamaris)

-- "Burma VJ," Anders Østergaard, director (Magic Hour Films)

-- "The Cove," Louie Psihoyos, director (Oceanic Preservation Society)

-- "Every Little Step," James D. Stern and Adam Del Deo, directors (Endgame Entertainment)

-- "Facing Ali,...

Consumers can get a side of knowledge with their next burrito.

Chipotle Mexican Grill has partnered with Magnolia Pictures, Participant Media and River Road Entertainment to promote the documentary "Food, Inc."

Beginning Tuesday, the chain will sponsor free screenings of the film in 32 U.S. cities. It will also place promotional material in all of its more than 860 restaurants.

"Food, Inc.," now playing in theaters, examines unsavory practices within America's food industry. Directed by Robert Kenner, the film features the commentary of authors Michael Pollan ("The Omnivore's Dilemma" and "In Defense of Food") and Eric Schlosser ("Fast Food Nation"), who discuss the ills of modern food production practices and the influence of major agriculture companies in shaping government policy.

Bringing this message about America's food practices to consumers gives Chipotle an opportunity to showcase its eco-friendly "food with integrity" philosophy.

Chipotle says that 35% of the beans it uses are organically...

If we are what we eat, we’re in big trouble according to Robert Kenner’s enlightening if not groundbreaking documentary “Food, Inc.” Following contemporary mainstream documentary filmmaking’s popular recipe of equal parts talking head interviews and field reporting, “Food, Inc.” engages in investigations and studies that have been around for a while now about the steroidal industrialization of American food production: it’s no surprise that authors Eric Schlosser (“Fast Food Nation”) and …...

Hoping to do more than just make meat-eaters feel guilty, angry or both - this film will explore the essence of a variety of different widely available foods, everything from vegetables and fruit to beef and bacon. The main focus of this film is not the food itself though - it is the corporate industry that controls the sourcing, processing, production and sale of food. Not only are animals being mistreated, abused and treated as slaves in the name of food production, but Humans are too.

Loosely based on Eric Schlosser’s non-fiction book Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, but different to the fictional feature film of the same name starring Greg Kinnear, “Food, Inc.” will hit screens on a limited release in June and will be available to buy on DVD shortly after. Check out the opening 3 minutes of the film below:

For...

Sales may be bad, but they're not that bad for Fortissimo. Wouter Barendrecht recognizes that business continues to be down since AFM last year, but rather than drive distributors out of business, he has sold six titles. Food, Inc. went to Golden Village for Singapore, Cafe Groove for Japan, A-Film for Benelux, United King Films for Israel and Deltamac for Hong Kong and Taiwan. Todd Solondz's Forgiveness went to Israel's Shani Films and Russia's Maywin Media. Paul Schrader's 1985 cult favorite Mishima went to NonStop Entertainment for Scandinavia, Wild Side for France, Avalon for Spain. The tipped for Cannes title Face went to Maywin Media for Russia and to Switzerland's Columbus Film. The Song of Sparrows was acquired by Taiwan's Cineplex Entertainment and Germany's ARD Degeto, which also acquired Son of a Lion.

Today, the first day of the European Film Market and the Berlin Film Festival itself has buzz around The International, the opening night film by favorite son Tom Tykwer. Festival head Dieter Kosslick says the fictional portrait of the financial world it portrays is mild compared to what's going on today. At the opening press conference yesterday for EFM, Kosslick also mentioned the Wall Street type scandal of China in 1899 depicted in Taiwan's Empire of Silver (Bai Yin Di Guo) by Christina Yao is a mirror of today's events. Kosslick, a vegetarian also touts Food, Inc. as a "must-see" of the festival. The halls of the Martin Gropius Bau are sparsely populated but compared to IFTA's venue, the Maritim Hotel, quite a schlep from the rest of the market, MGB is positively humming. This is in line with the turn down this year from Cannes, AFM and Toronto, and it's reported that attendance at NATPE was also very thin. Tom Ortenberg, recently of LionsGate, is here with his new company, The Weinstein Company and Chris Paton, formerly vice chairman of DDA PR, is now senior VP acquisitions and development with Fortissimo. Newly launched IMDb.de has a new way to highlight the Berlinale as does IMDb.com itself with a special mini site for the Berlinale featuring a new blog by Christian Gaines of Withoutabox. Sundance's opening night film Max and Mary has been picked up by Gaumont for France, Benelux and Switzerland and will show in the Generation 14plus sidebar. Wild Bunch has announced a new sales arm for 3D films called, what else, Wild Bunch 3D. Reliance Big Pictures who has a major stake in Dreamworks is in Berlin with a new international sales division headed by Jawahar Sharma with backup from former Miramax senior VP Colleen Seldin as a consultant. The slate is of Indian films which were previously self distributed in U.S., U.K. and the U.A.E. The four largest Egyptian production companies are uniting under one banner for international sales with backing of the Egyptian ministry of trade and industry (Expolink). Headed by Bassma Kandil, they are also looking for international coproductions.