Sales activity at the Berlin Film Festival and European Film Market revved up on Saturday as Sony Pictures Classics struck a deal for North American rights to Rebecca Zlotowski’s murder mystery “Vie Privée,” starring Jodie Foster.
Variety‘s Elsa Keslassy had the scoop on SPC’s deal for the film, which also covers key territories in Latin America. “Shot in Paris and Normandy, ‘Vie Privée’ is currently in post-production and will likely world premiere in the festival circuit,” Keslassy writes.
Foster, who speaks fluent French, stars in the film as renowned psychiatrist Lilian Steiner, who mounts a private investigation into the death of one of her patients after she becomes convinced that there has been a murder. Foster last starred in a French-language film 20 years ago in Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Oscar-nominated “A Very Long Engagement.” Zlotowski ranks as one of France’s top filmmakers. “Vie Privée” marks her first deal with Sony Pictures Classics.
Earlier in the festival, Keslassy sat down with Plan B co-founder Dede Gardner for an on-stage European Film Market Industry Talk session in which she discussed the political and cultural climate in her native Los Angeles. She also detailed her experience producing the company’s latest films, Bong Joon Ho’s “Mickey 17” and RaMell Ross’ award season contender “Nickel Boys.”
“The truth of it is I feel conflicted,” Gardner admitted about living in Los Angeles after the devastation of the fires and myriad other urban problems. “There are days, especially recently, where you think, ‘This isn’t sustainable. What’s going to happen? This is completely nuts.’ Then there are other days where being in California, which is essentially the most progressive state, part of me thinks, ‘No, you know what? Stay here. Be on the front line. Be around. Be near the change.’”
On the documentary front, one of the Berlinale’s most searing competition titles is “Timestamp,” from filmmaker Kateryna Gornostai. The film follows Ukrainian students and teachers as they try to maintain normalcy despite constant danger and the world’s waning interest in their plight.
“We were afraid of [Donald] Trump winning the [U.S.] presidential seat again. But you know, the worst has already happened: we lost our people and our families. At this point, we’re a bit fatalistic. So now … We just observe,” Gornostai tells Variety‘s Marta Balaga. “Sometimes, when you meet a Ukrainian, they can overwhelm you. Our experience is stressful for others, and maybe so are our films. People are tired of ‘dealing’ with our problems and that might be why our films become less visible at festivals.”
Variety will be on the ground in Berlin through the duration of the festival, which runs Feb. 13-23. Follow our coverage and film reviews via Variety.com — all of our news coverage can be found here and reviews found here — and through our five show daily print editions published at the festival from Feb. 13-17. Each festival daily issue is available online for Variety subscribers. And please click here to subscribe to Variety‘s free Markets and Festivals newsletter.
Here are highlights from Day 4 of the Berlin Film Festival:
Analysts at Ampere declare Peak TV to be over, documenting the 25% slide in global series commissions since 2022.
Former Berlinale chief Dieter Kosslick, now head of Green Visions Potsdam Festival, discusses his memoir “Always Keep Your Feet on the Ground.”
Spain shows off its bustling TV production sector with a slew of titles screening at the Berlinale Series Market.
Berlin-based helmer Ameer Fakher Eldin on his competition title “Yunan” and how German film icon Hanna Schygulla enlivens the film.
Director Guillaume Ribot details his documentary “All I Had Was Nothingness” on the making of Claude Lanzmann’s landmark 1985 Holocaust documentary “Shoah.”
Romanian director Radu Jude explains why he described his competition title “Kontinental ’25” as “my answer to Roberto Rossellini.”
Spain’s RTVE unveils buzzy drama series “Internal Affairs” at the Berlinale’s Series Market Select.
Review: “The Best Mother in the World”
Review: “The Blue Trail”
Review: “The Ice Tower”
Review: “Islands”
Review: “The Old Woman With the Knife”
Review: “Reflection in a Dead Diamond”
Review: “Shadowbox”
(Pictured top: “Mickey 17” team on Feb. 15 at the Berlinale photo call. From left, Dooho Choi, Jeremy Kleiner, Dede Gardner, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Bong Joon Ho and Anamaria Vartolomei)
