YMU Group CEO; Directors UK Factual COVID Shoots Guide; ‘Unknown Man’ Australia Shoot – Global Film Briefs
YMU Names Group CEO
European talent firm YMU, which has clients across sports, music, drama and comedy, will appoint Mary Bekhait as its Group CEO on January 1, stepping up from her current role as UK CEO. She replaces Neil Rodford who, after 20 years with the group, will step down to become Chairman or the newly-founded subsidiary YMU Ventures. The company said discovering more diverse talent and investing in IP would be top of the agenda for Bekhait in her new role. “The power of music, art and sport is transformative, and inspires the organisation. We are so fortunate to represent our exceptional clients, and working alongside such talented colleagues is a privilege.”
Directors UK Gives COVID Advice To Factual Filmmakers
UK org Directors UK has launched Working Under COVID: Advice for Factual Directors, a guide to help directors of non-fiction ensure safety of their crew during a pandemic shoot. The org said the nature of factual shoots meant they could be more complicated and unpredictable than fiction, which required a separate set of rules. You can read them in full here.
‘The Unknown Man’ Underway In Aus
Principal photography is underway in South Australia on the Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris thriller The Unknown Man. The film is being helmed by Thomas M. Wright and produced by See-Saw Films, Anonymous Content and Blue-Tongue Films. The story depicts two strangers, Henry and Mark, who meet and strike up a friendship. But what Henry doesn’t know is that Mark is a seasoned undercover officer working to convict Henry for an unsolved murder committed years earlier. Rocket Science and Cross City Films are handling international sales for the film with CAA Media Finance acting as financing agent and co-representing sales in the US.
Filmzie Launches On Samsung
EXCLUSIVE: Filmzie, the free movie streaming and social platform, is launching on Samsung TV Plus in the UK. The launch sees the platform run as a linear channel, meaning viewers will not need to download any additional applications. The catalogue of 1,000 titles will be instantly available for free due to its advertising-supported model. Titles include Taika Waititi’s cult pic What We Do in The Shadows, Korean director Park Chan Wook’s Lady Vengeance and Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, and Deception starring Geoffrey Rush.
Curzon Short Film Prize Selects Winner
A UK campaign launched earlier this year which asked women to share a story of their experience during the lockdown in a 90 second film has selected its winner, with Daisy Moore’s Antidote taking the prize awarded by a jury topped by Josephine Decker and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. The winning film is a look at how a friend tries to support and distract her NHS front-line worker flat mate during the midst of the pandemic. The event was run by UK Curzon Home Cinema and received 60 submissions in total.
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