David Fincher Set For Honorary Cesar Award; BFI & Film4 Launch £90,000 Short Film Fund; Liev Schreiber Boards Ukraine Doc; Mipdoc 2023 Expanded For 25th Anniversary; Mediawan & Atlantique Set Pegasus Scandal Series; Swixer Hires Giulio Musi — Global Briefs

Zac Ntim and Max Goldbart
·4 min read
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David Fincher To Receive Honorary Cesar Award
David Fincher is to receive an Honorary Award at this year’s Cesar Awards. The primary French awards show will fete the Gone Girl filmmaker at its 2023 ceremony on February 24 at the Olympia in Paris. The awards body described Fincher as an “outstanding technician” and “a true visionary.” Awarded since 1976, previous Honorary Cesar Award winners include Robert Redford, Penelope Cruz, and George Clooney. The nominees for the 48th César Awards will be announced on January 25.

BFI And Film4 Launch New £90,000 Short Film Fund
The BFI and Film4 have partnered on Future Takes, a new pilot short film fund. The open call is seeking applications for “ambitious and original” short-form work, awarding up to £90,000 each to up to seven projects. The deadline for applications is Monday, 13 February. The fund will be available to teams with a background in – but not limited to – filmmaking, theatre, TV, video gaming, commercials, music videos, and graphic novels, with a writer/director attached who has a demonstrably strong creative track record in their field. It will not fund directors making their first screen work. “This pilot is a direct response to the call we repeatedly heard through our consultation and my listening tour for more possibilities in the funding landscape for this area of talent development that were open to all,” Mia Bays, Director of BFI Film Fund, said. “Future Takes aims to offer emerging filmmakers the means to make work that has greater narrative and cinematic scope, and more space to enhance and develop their practice.”

More from Deadline

Liev Schreiber Boards Ukrainian War Doc
Liev Schreiber will narrate the Ukrainian war documentary Against All Odds: The Failure Of Russia’s Blitzkrieg. The film is set for a 2023 release. The Organization of Ukrainian Producers (OUP) and Gingers Media are completing the feature with the support of Andriy Zagorodnyuk’s Center for Defence Strategies. The doc is billed as an objective exploration of Russia’s attempted blitzkrieg. The filmmaking team traveled along the route of Russia’s advance and talked to the witnesses of the events.

Mipdoc 2023 Expanded For 25th Anniversary
Documentary spin-off market Mipdoc is to have its footprint expanded at this year’s Mip TV, signaling the impact premium documentary is having on the global marketplace. During the 60th April Mip TV market, which will take place in Cannes as per usual, the 25th Mipdoc will feature an International Buyers Screenings showcase, Canneseries documentary series selection, and a 2000 sqm producers’ hub dedicated solely to docs. The news was teased by Mip owner RX France at October’s Mipcom, as RX seeks to carve out Mip TV as a more business-focused event, and confirmed yesterday afternoon. “We embrace MIPTV’s leadership position as the biggest week in unscripted each April in Cannes,” said RX Director Lucy Smith.

Mediawan And Atlantique Creating Pegasus Scandal Series
Mediawan and Atlantique Productions are partnering to produce a TV adaptation of the book Pegasus: How a Spy in Our Pocket Threatens the End of Privacy, Dignity, and Democracy, written by journalists Laurent Richard and Sandrine Rigaud with Mark Zwonitzer. The book will be published on January 17, 2023, by Henry Holt and Co in the US. The story unveils the revelations of the Pegasus Scandal, where it was found that digital malware manufactured and sold by the Israeli company NSO had been abused by many governments to spy on prominent human rights activists, dissidents, and top political figures. Amongst the victims was Jamal Khashoggi, whose entourage’s phones were hacked in the weeks leading up to his gruesome murder. The journalists-authors are attached to the scripted project.

Swedish Production Company Swixer Hires Giulio Musi
Swedish production services company Swixer has hired film producer and commercial director Giulio Musi as Executive Producer of Drama & Commercials. At Swixer, Musi will work with production companies and agencies looking for production services throughout Europe. Musi graduated from the American Film Institute Conservatory in Los Angeles. His feature film debut Humanization had its world premiere at the International Film Festival of India and screened at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Swixer’s portfolio includes credits in TV and film, including the BBC drama series Normal People, Netflix’s architecture series Abstract: The Art of Design, and Prince William’s documentary Earthshot.

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