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Global Bulletin: Sky Acquires ‘The Secret Garden,’ Starring Colin Firth, From Studiocanal

Sky has acquired “The Secret Garden” from Studiocanal and will release the film in U.K. and Ireland cinemas and Sky Cinema channels on Oct. 23.

Directed by three-time BAFTA winner Marc Munden (“National Treasure”) and produced by David Heyman (“Harry Potter” franchise) and Rosie Alison (“Paddington”), “The Secret Garden” is an adaptation of the classic children’s novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It stars Dixie Egerickx (“Summerland”), Oscar and BAFTA winner Colin Firth (“The King’s Speech”) and BAFTA winner Julie Walters (“Mamma Mia”).

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Set in 1940s England, “The Secret Garden” tells the story of a 10-year-old girl, sent to live with her uncle at a remote country estate deep in the Yorkshire moors, who begins to uncover many family secrets, particularly a wondrous garden with healing powers.

The film was originally due to release in April and then moved to August.

DISTRIBUTION

Picturehouse Entertainment and Element Distribution will distribute “The Iron Lady” director Phyllida Lloyd’s Sundance title “Herself” across U.K. and Ireland cinemas Oct. 30.

The film won the Human Rights Film award at the Dublin film festival where it also picked up the Michael Dwyer Discovery award for co-writer and star Clare Dunne, making her feature debut alongside Harriet Walter (“Killing Eve”).

The film follows a young mother who struggles to provide her daughters with a safe home and decides to build it herself from scratch. Malcolm Campbell (“What Richard Did”) co-wrote with Dunne. It was co-developed by Element Pictures and Merman and is produced by Ed Guiney (“The Favourite”) and Rory Gilmartin (“Rosie”) for Element, together with BAFTA-winning multi-hyphenate Sharon Horgan (“Catastrophe”). Clelia Mountford (“Motherland”) from Merman, Element Pictures’ Andrew Lowe, BBC Films’ Rose Garnett, Cornerstone Films’ Alison Thompson, Mary Burke from the BFI and Lesley McKimm from Screen Ireland are executive producers.

CHANNEL LAUNCH

NBCUniversal International Networks and African pay-TV operator StarTimes have launched 24-hour kids and family entertainment channel DreamWorks across Sub-Saharan Africa.

The channel is now live and series available include “Dragons: Race To The Edge,” “All Hail King Julien” “The Adventures Of Puss In Boots,” “Dinotrux” and “Noddy Toyland Detective.”

The DreamWorks channel launched in 2015 and is currently available in eight languages in 34 territories across Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific.

StarTimes operates a content platform that has more than 600 channels available in 30 African countries.

TORONTO SOUTH ASIAN FESTIVALS

Toronto is set for a South Asian summer as the Bank of Montreal International Film Festival of South Asia kicks off its ninth edition, the first one to go virtual, on Aug. 6 with an homage to late actor Irrfan Khan and a screening of Anup Singh’s “Qissa: The Tale of a Lonely Ghost,” starring Khan. The program, which features 250 features and shorts and 80 events, includes lauded festival favorites including “Bombay Rose,” “Aamis: Ravening,” “Nirvana Inn,” and “Made in Bangladesh.” It will close Aug. 16 with three films from Amit Dutta, shorts “To Be Continued” and “Chitrashala” and feature “The Man’s Woman and Other Stories.”

Meanwhile, the International Indian Film Festival Toronto opens Aug. 9 with the world premiere of Raj Krishna’s “Padmavyuha” and closes Aug. 15 with “Super 30,” with highlights including “Oh My Kadavule,” “Jersey” and “Trance.”

INTERNATIONAL SALES

Boutique co-producer and distributor About Premium Content has secured a number of international sales for BBC/S4C’s hit drama series “Keeping Faith,” as filming on the third season has resumed in Wales post COVID-19.

MTVA in Hungary and Antena TV Group SA in Romania have acquired rights to all three seasons, while ERR in Estonia and VRT in Dutch-speaking Belgium have picked up season 2. Yes-DBS in Israel, CANAL+ and Ale Kino+ Poland and RTP Portugal have taken rights for season 3.

The series is produced by Vox Pictures for S4C and BBC Wales and gap-financed by Nevision. It is expected to air on S4C later this year and on BBC One Wales in early 2021.

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