Global Flicks: India’s High Court Sues BBC Over Modi Doc; Omar El Zohairy To Direct Familial Drama

Baloji - Mondadori Portfolio

Africa: Baloji, the Congolese rapper turned filmmaker, just made his directorial debut with Omen, a story which follows a Belgian man returning to his native country, The Congo, and attempts to reconnect with his family as well as his roots. The film debuted at the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival last week with its worldwide distribution being handled by Memento Intl.

Lee Sang-Yi and Woo Do-hwan - Han Myung-Gu / The Chosunilbo JNS

Asia: India’s Delhi High Court has issued a court summons to BBC in a defamation lawsuit over the network’s documentary, The Modi Question. The documentary, banned in India, examines the handling of the 2002 Gujarat riots, by the country’s current prime minister, Narendra Modi. The court claims that the documentary tarnishes India’s global image as well as that of Modi himself.

The first trailer Netflix’s latest action thriller series, Bloodhounds, has been released. Starring Woo Do-hwan and Lee Sang-yi, the show follows two rookie boxers who find themselves in the middle of a loan shark organization. The series is directed by Jason Kim and will make its way onto Netflix on June 9th.

Ananth Mahadevan - Prodip Guha

Europe: The Birmingham Indian Film Festival and the London Indian Film Festival will collaborate on a panoply of films and shorts and will begin next month with the Ananth Mahadevan-directed feature, The Storyteller. The film, starring Adil Hussain, examines the differences in the pursuit of material pleasure with that of a fulfilling sense of purpose. The main festival will take place in London and Birmingham from September 7-14.

Cannes Festival live streaming service

Latin America: This past week at Cannes, Dark Star Pictures, Manticora Distribution, and La Dalia Films unveiled a plan to develop and distribute at least four genre films within the next four years. Dark Star will handle the American rights, Manticora the Latin American rights, and La Dalia the Spanish. The genre label for this new venture will be called Antidoto Horror Factory.

Protestors organized a demonstration at the premiere of the film, The Pot au Feu, in support of land rights for indigenous peoples in Brazil. The protest was organized by the delegation of the film, The Buriti Flower, which was shown at Un Certain Regard and was directed by Joao Salaviza and Renee Nader Messora.

Omar El Zohairy - Khaled DESOUKI

Middle East: Egyptian director, Omar El Zohairy, who helmed the Cannes Critic’s Week winner in 2021, Feathers, is set to direct an English drama that examines the familial impact of capitalism titled Mammals. The film will feature actors from multiple different countries and will be co-written by Mohamed Adeeb.

Terrestrial Verses, the Iranian film by Alireza Khatami and Ali Asgari, has had its distribution rights picked up in territories throughout Europe. In France, the film will be distributed by ARP Selection, by Neue Visionen in Germany/Austria, and by September Films in Benelux. The film is being represented by Films Boutique and is the first directorial collaboration between Khatami and Asgari.