International Insider: TIFF’s Russia Problem; UK Spend Shrivels; Gaiman Projects On Pause
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TIFF’s Russia Doc Pulled
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War doc shelved: This year’s Toronto Film Festival had been surprisingly quiet until Thursday afternoon when the festival said it had paused upcoming screenings of Russian-Canadian director Anastasia Trofimova’s documentary Russians at War “effective immediately” after learning about “significant threats to festival operations and public safety.” The decision was made “in order to ensure the safety of all festival guests, staff, and volunteers,” TIFF said in a statement, adding, “This is an unprecedented move.” Russians at War provides a rare insight into life for Russian soldiers on the frontline in Ukraine. Trofimova embedded herself under the radar with Russian troops after making the connection via a soldier she met on a train, as he returned home briefly from the front to visit his family. Her aim, she said, was not to glorify the Russian troops, but rather to get to the bottom of what was happening on the frontline. Russians at War also played out of competition in Venice. The doc, playing in the festival’s TIFF Docs sidebar, had been scheduled to screen Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Toronto’s Scotiabank Theatre before the cancellation. TIFF had faced public pressure in Canada not to host the North American premiere of the movie, which was funded in part by federal and provincial Canadian agencies. It sparked criticism from politicians, including Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who claimed it was sympathetic to the Russian side and could be viewed as pro-Russian propaganda. Comments on Deadline likened Trofimova to Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl, highlighting the depth of feeling. The film is produced by respected documentary producers Sally Blake and Philippe Levasseur at Paris-based Capa Presse, and Canada’s Cornelia Principe, who scored an Oscar nomination last year for To Kill a Tiger.
Bibi doc block bid: Another politically charged moment at TIFF involved the screening of The Bibi Files, produced by Alex Gibney and directed by Alexis Bloom. The doc, which is a sharp critique of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, played after a last-ditch effort by Netanyahu to block it. The film contains never-before-seen footage of Netanyahu being interrogated by Israeli police on corruption allegations – an investigation that led to Netanyahu’s indictment in 2019. In footage leaked to Gibney late last year, Netanyahu is seen locking horns with interrogators, denying he improperly accepted expensive gifts from wealthy supporters, including Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan and late Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. Video of police questioning of Milchan, Adelson, and Netanyahu’s wife Sara and eldest son Yair also was leaked to Gibney and is featured prominently in the documentary. The Jerusalem District Court rejected an attempt by Netanyahu to yank the film from the TIFF lineup. The prime minister’s suit claimed investigative journalist Raviv Drucker, who appears in the film and is one of the documentary’s producers, violated Israeli law by leaking the video. But there is no evidence to suggest Drucker was behind the leak, and speaking after the premiere, Gibney made it clear he won’t identify the person who gave him the material.
Cracking deals: Away from controversy, the TIFF market has been moving. Hulu has bought David Gordon Green’s family drama Nutcrackers starring Ben Stiller in an eight-figure deal, in a typically excellent scoop from Deadline’s Co-Editor-In-Chief Mike Fleming Jr. The Leland Douglas-scripted comedy stars Stiller as a work-obsessed city slicker who is forced to move to rural Ohio to take care of his sister’s children after her sudden passing. Samuel Goldwyn Films acquired North American rights to writer-director Nick Hamm’s medieval action-drama William Tell. TIFF ends this weekend. Check back with us to see who grabs the coveted People’s Choice Award and head over to our Toronto Studio for video interviews with the directors and casts of new films The Wild Robot, The Assessment, I’m Still Here and Relay among others, plus singer-songwriter Paul Anka, and J.K. Simmons and Damien Chazelle on the tenth anniversary of Whiplash‘s release.
Pact Schedule
“Callous and cloth-eared”: The annual UK Pact Census this week crunched the 2023 numbers after what was a tumultuous year for the UK TV sector. As ever, CEO John McVay didn’t mince words and reserved ire for broadcasting bosses, who had, in his eyes, insensitively forecast the death of the mid-range programming market at Edinburgh last month. British telly’s big bosses behaved in a “callous” and “cloth-eared” manner, according to McVay, who said the mid-range, which we have covered plenty in recent weeks, is “where my members live.” Unsurprisingly, the UK production sector contracted by ￡400M ($520M) last year, but perhaps more surprisingly, spend from the streamers remained steady, with the majority of the decline coming from multichannel operations such as Sky and UKTV. Netflix was “a big part” of the consistent spend, said McVay, and you only have to cast your mind back to hits including Baby Reindeer to agree with his proclamation. The streamer has continued splashing the cash in the UK in 2024 and so, as indies fight to reach 2025, it feels as though these big players from across the pond could become an even more crucial part of the UK ecosystem.
Wise decisions: Sticking in Britain, Max sat down with Theresa Wise ahead of the Royal Television Society Convention next week. The RTS CEO addressed how a “new normal” in TV might be upon us and how she landed the likes of David Beckham, Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight and Ted Sarandos for the conference. Netflix topper Sarandos first spoke at the event in 2013, and Wise noted “an awful lot has happened” since then. All eyes on if he addresses the Baby Reindeer controversy. We’ll be in attendance and will report back as it happens. Max’s interview was conducted after it emerged former RTS leader Simon Albury had passed away, with Wise calling the diversity campaigner an “absolutely huge personality.“
Gaiman Projects Paused
Stalled: Neil Gaiman’s screen career is on pause right now amid allegations over his behavior. Four women have made sexual assault and abuse allegations against the Sandman creator since Tortoise Media dropped a podcast titled Master: The Allegations Against Neil Gaiman in August. Lynette Rice revealed Monday that pre-production on Amazon drama Good Omens had stopped. Just days later, Max broke the news that Gaiman is understood to have offered to step back from the third and final season of the fantasy series, so the Terry Pratchett adaptation can move into production. Our report noted this wasn’t an admission of guilt, and Gaiman denies the allegations. His reps didn’t respond to request for comment this time. His Disney+ film, The Graveyard Book, has also been paused, according to our stablemate publication IndieWire. The below-the-line comments have been popping off on our coverage, showing how deeply people are engaged with writer Gaiman’s productions.
Sporting Goods
View from the Summit: “The pace of change is the number one concern amongst leaders in sport and entertainment,” said IMG’s President of Media, Adam Kelly, on Tuesday. Kelly was introducing a very high-powered room to the main themes of the second IMG-RedBird Summit, which was held in Oxfordshire in the UK at the uber-luxurious Soho Farmhouse. “The largest risk occurs where we fail to keep up with external changes,” he added, pointing to the myriad challenges facing sport, such as French soccer’s problems securing a new broadcast deal, Warner Bros Discovery’s post-NBA loss writedown and increasing numbers of bankruptcies. However, the Endeavor-owned IMG and RedBird Capital Partners, owner of sports teams around the world, are relying on “industrial strength” from leaders to find the right route to a profitable future. “Rights holders controlling their destiny and output is vital,” said Kelly, whose company distributes various sports leagues and is producer of England’s world-beating Premier League. Later, Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel and RedBird founder Gerry Cardinale sat down to talk everything from the UFC to Kamala Harris’ Presidential debate performance, before major sports figures such as Javier Tebas, President of Spain’s La Liga, discussed the devastation of piracy. Then yesterday, Paramount Global Co-CEO George Cheeks and NBC Sports boss Jon Miller talked Venu Sports and the relationship between linear and streaming offers in attracting sports fans to television. Away from the stage, guests at the three-day event were entertained by a dinnertime appearance by tennis legend Andy Murray (who is, by his own admission, already turning into a monster golfer in his retirement) and magician Dynamo, whose close-hand tricks are truly stupefying to witness.
Diamond Shines Light On Diversity
Seventh Cut is the deepest: Back in the UK, the annual Diamond report into diversity in British television revealed a disappointingly familiar story. The Seventh Cut paper showed minor diversity gains in the industry amid the contracting landscape. Notably, off-screen disability contributions was up 1.5% to 8%, finally nearing the 9% target set all the way back in 2018. Representation of those from Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority backgrounds edged forwards, with off-screen contributions of 13.4% behind the national average and 23.5% on-screen well ahead. Most on-screen representation gains were made by those from Black, African, Caribbean and Black British backgrounds. South Asian representation was spotlighted following the recent UK race riots, with the Diamond data showing little improvement. Also announced with the report’s publication was news Diamond will begin collecting data on Jewish and Muslim identity for the first time, almost a year after the deadly October 7 attacks sparked the devastating Israel-Hamas conflict.
The Essentials
??? Hot One: Chris Messina and Damian Lewis have boarded World War I picture Pressure, which has gone into production in the UK.
??? Heating up: Streamer Walter Presents stocked up on international dramas including Seriencamp winner The Shadow from ZDF Studios, per Stewart’s exclusive.
??? Hotter: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice producer Tommy Harper has joined forces with Bridge of Spies‘ Matt Charman to adapt Alice Feeney’s book Sometimes I Lie for TV. Mel’s scoop.
?? New job: For former Keshet International exec Limor Gott Ronen, who has joined 5X Media as Producer/Partner. One from me.
?? Exiting: Fremantle’s unscripted sales boss Angela Neillis after more than a decade.
?? Splashing the cash: Filings show the BBC spent a combined total of nearly $10M on The Newsreader producer Werner Film Productions and Spain’s Brutal Media.
? Fest: The line up for the first Tribeca’s first European festival was unveiled.
?? Submissions: France unveiled its shortlist and Morocco and Georgia submitted their picks for its Best International Film pick for the Oscars.
? ‘It’s Called Soccer!’: Former England international players-turned-pundits Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher teamed with NBC Premier League host Rebecca Lowe to launch a weekly podcast.
?? It’s a deal: Richard Bacon’s Yes Yes Media struck a first-look formats deal with Keshet International’s German production company Tresor.
Zak Ntim and Max Goldbart contributed to this week’s Insider.
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