DATE
Netflix has revealed the launch date of its Elena Ferrante adaptation “The Lying Life of Adults” and released a provocative poster and teaser art for the show based on the “My Brilliant Friend” author’s latest novel.
“Lying Life,” which will drop debut on Netflix globally on Jan. 4, 2023, is directed by Neapolitan helmer Edoardo De Angelis (“Indivisible”) and stars Valeria Golino in the role of Neapolitan aunt of the story’s young protagonist named Giovanna, played by newcomer Giordana Marengo.
Alessandro Preziosi (“Medici”) plays Giovanna’s father, Andrea, while Pina Turco (“Gomorrah,” the series) plays her mother, Nella.
The Ferrante book depicts Giovanna’s transition from childhood to adolescence during the 1990s in a Naples that is actually two kindred cities that fear and loathe one another: the upper crust Naples of the high-quarters, where a mask of refinement is worn, and the Naples of its more vulgar and exciting low quarters where her intriguing aunt Vittoria lives.
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The hotly anticipated six-episode show is written by Ferrante, Laura Paolucci, Francesco Piccolo and Edoardo De Angelis, and produced by Fandango.
FESTIVALS
Indonesian filmmaker Makbul Mubarak‘s “Autobiography,” which won a major award at Venice and has played the Toronto, London and Busan film festivals, has won the Adelaide Film Festival‘s feature fiction award, which carries a cash prize of A$10,000 ($6,284). The film deals with the effects of military dictatorship on Indonesian youth. The winner of Adelaide’s feature documentary award is “The Hamlet Syndrome” with a A$10,000 cash prize awarded to Polish director Elwira Niewiera. The documentary, which depicts the young Ukrainian generation scarred by war, previously won an award at Krakow and has played at DOK Leipzig and Locarno.
Meanwhile, “January,” by Latvian director Viesturs Kairiss about his nation’s break from Soviet control three decades ago, was the big winner of the Rome Film Festival where the drama also scored prizes for best director and actor (Karlis Arnolds Avots).
The best actress award went to South Korea’s Kim Kum-soon for Korean indie pic “Jeong-Sun,” directed by Jeong Ji-hye, which scooped the fest’s Grand Jury Prize. “Jeong-Sun,” which is centered on a digital sex crime, won the Korean competition at the Jeonju Film Festival earlier this year.
BRANDING
Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) has rebranded all its network channels to be “more aligned with Sony’s global ethos,” the network said in a statement.
N.P Singh, MD and CEO, SPNI, said: “The power of the Sony brand and its values have driven our work ethics so far, and today, it reflects in our channel-brand architecture as well. The work that we started three years ago has now reached fruition. We are creating a powerful unified entertainment conglomerate with a broader appeal by refocusing our existing channel portfolio in its latest look and feel.”
SPNI and India’s Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited are in the process of merging.
PRODUCTION
Studio 100 Media will produce an animation film version of “Heidi,” another adaptation of Johanna Spyri‘s timeless novel about a little girl in the Swiss alps. Studio 100 is the rights holder of the 1974 anime series and producer of the CGI series from 2015, followed by a second season in 2019. Planned for completion in 2024, the film currently in pre-production stage, is a co-production between Studio 100 Media and Fabrique Fantastique and is written by Rob Sprackling (“Gnomeo & Juliet”) Studio 100 Film is handling international sales, with Leonine Studios on board as distribution partner for the German-speaking territories. Pre-sales with Adler in Italy, Kaleidoscope in the UK, NOS Lusomundo in Portugal, FilmHouse in Israel and Blitz for ex-Yugoslavian territories have been confirmed.
SERIES
Gordon Ramsay, Gino D’Acampo and Fred Sirieix are heading back on the road together in new adventure “Gordon, Gino and Fred: Viva España!,” which will return to ITV and ITVX in early 2023, with the food aficionados back behind the wheel of their RV for an odyssey across Andalusia and Galicia. The trio’s previous road trips have been across France, Italy, Scotland, Morocco, the U.S., Lapland and Greece. The series is produced by Studio Ramsay Global and OMG for ITV and ITVX. The production team includes executive producers Ramsay, Lisa Edwards and Charlotte Woolley, production executive Jess Holder and series producer Stuart Fennimore.