A new competition is challenging Sub-Saharan African filmmakers to adapt folktales into films. Organised by Netflix and UNESCO, the six winners of African Folktales, Reimagined will be provided with a production budget of USD75,000 as well as USD25,000 in prize money. Finished projects will premiere on Netflix in 2022 under the title Anthology of African Folktales.
Hope United are releasing a series of educational films with football stars Marcus Rashford, Eniola Aluko, and Anton and Rio Ferdinand as part of BT’s Black History Month programming. Made in collaboration with Saatchi & Saatchi London, the first wave of short clips will explore the Windrush generation’s experiences, examining the ongoing impact that the migration of Caribbean diasporas has on today’s football scene and, more broadly, contemporary British culture.
The Liverpool Film Office has secured an additional GDP1 million for its Liverpool City Region (LCR) Production Fund. Drawing from the LCR Combined Authority’s Strategic Investment Fund, the boost is designed to attract more high-end productions to the city over the next 12 months.
Russia has embarked on a mission to shoot a new film at the International Space Station. Actor Yulia Peresild, director Klim Shipenko and veteran cosmonaut Anto Shkaplerov were sent into space for 12 days to make the world’s first feature-length movie in orbit, which seems likely to be finalised before a similar Hollywood project coordinated by Tom Cruise, NASA, and Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
A stage at Farnborough Film Studios has been named after the pioneering independent television production company Hartswood Films. Built and operated by Stage Fifty, the Hartswood Stage is one of two 22,000 square foot sound-stages built earlier this year to support the UK’s thriving film and television industry.
The New Mexico Film Office has announced that the feature film Rust is currently in production in Santa Fe, the state’s capital. Taking place throughout October and early November 2021, the project is expected to employ an estimated 75 crew members, 22 principal actors, and 230 background talent – all of whom will hail from the New Mexico region.
All studio space in Budapest has been rented out for the remainder of 2021 as the Hungarian film industry experiences a strong recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. Lionsgate and Disney’s Marvel Studios have chosen to shoot projects in the country, and the estimated amount of foreign investment in the region is excepted to near EUR488 million at the end of the year.
Multi award-winning producer Paul Webster will give the keynote interview at 2021’s Film London Production Finance Market (PFM). The PFM is an annual two-day financing event held during the BFI London Film Festival, and Webster is expected to provide real industry insight by drawing from his 46 years of business experience.