Imran Jaffery

Indie shingle ThinkFilm has picked up the domestic rights to Marina Zenovich’s polarizing documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired. The picture made quite a stir at Sundance this past January with its objective exploration of its mercurial subject.

A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, winner of 4 awards at the San Sebastian Film Fest, has been picked up by Magnolia Pictures. Directed by Wayne Wang, the film is a return to his indie roots following a succession of sappy commercial fair including the Queen Latifa starrer Last Holiday and J-Lo’s Maid in Manhattan.

Following the critical and commercial shortfall of his self-remake Funny Games, famed Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke will return to Europe for his next film Das Weisse Band (The White Tape). Shooting is set to begin in June and throughout the summer, with additional shooting in the winter.

IFC Films, who has been filling up their coffers with subtitled fair as of late, has acquired the US distribution rights to Abdellatif Kechiche's French drama La Graine et le mulet (The Secret of the Grain).

South American cinema comes in like a lion at the 61st Festival de Cannes, with three films competing for the Palme D’or. That’s not even counting Steven Soderbergh’s Che films (The Argentine and Guerilla) which also heavily represent the region.