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Annecy Title ‘Winnipeg: Seeds of Hope’ Acquired For World Sales

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EXCLUSIVE: Paris-based MMM Film Sales has acquired the international rights to Winnipeg: Seeds of Hope ahead of its world premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June.

The feature by Spanish directors Beñat Beitia and Elio Quiroga is among 11 titles selected for the Contrechamp Competition at the French animation festival which unveiled its lineup on Tuesday.

It tells the story of Julia, a seven-year-old girl who, in 1939, travels with her father from Barcelona as they flee the Spanish Civil War. Their journey takes them through refugee camps in France and aboard the SS Winnipeg, the ship that carried 2,400 Spanish refugees to safety in Chile.

Pablo Neruda, then Chilean ambassador to France, had chartered the ship’s passage. Through Julia’s eyes, the film portrays a historical voyage of courage, hope, and resilience, brought to life with a visually striking 2D animated style.

Although set in 1939, the story is framed as a recollection narrated in the present day by Julia herself, now an elderly woman and survivor of the many atrocities of the 20th century. Through her memory, the film reflects not only on her childhood journey but also on the long shadow of history and survival.

The film features the voices of a number of feted Chilean actors including Paulina García, who won Berlinale’s Best Actress prize for her performance Sebastián Lelio’s Gloria, as well as in Alfredo Castro (Karnawal), and Luis Gnecco (Neruda).  

The Spanish voice of Julia is performed by 10-year-old actress Maia Zaitegi, who has already notched up half a dozen roles including Kraken:The Black Book of Hours (2026) and Cuerpos Locos (2025).

The project is inspired by Laura Martel’s graphic novel Winnipeg, el barco de Neruda, and its soundtrack is composed by Diego Navarro.

It is a Spanish production, produced by Dibulitoon Studio, Dibulitoon Factory AIE, and La Ballesta and coproduced by Chile’s El Otro Film and Argentina’s Malabar Prods.

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The Crying Boy Movie: Resident Evil’s Carter Swan Developing Adaptation

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EXCLUSIVE: As Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil prepares to cross $200M at the worldwide box office, the film’s producer Carter Swan has a new project to announce — a film adaptation of the Keenspot comic book series The Crying Boy by Niall O’Rourke & Rob Moran.

Published in 2024, The Crying Boy follows a grieving widow trying to rebuild her life in Queens after the violent death of her husband who must save her young son from an even more terrifying fate, when the haunting painting of a crying child that he eerily befriends proves to be the vessel for an ancient demon that has preyed on children for millennia.

Following a Ringo Award nomination for Best Single Issue or Short Story, The Crying Boy‘s first issue is currently in its third printing, with a deluxe collection of the series planned for 2027 via Keenspot’s book distribution deal with Simon & Schuster.

Rona Mark is scripting the big-screen adaptation.

Formerly senior producer at PlayStation Productions for nearly eight years, Swan during his time there worked on Cregger’s Resident Evil, as well as HBO’s The Last of Us, Uncharted, Gran Turismo, Twisted Metal and Until Dawn. As an executive producer on The Last of Us, he earned Emmy nominations in 2023 and ’25.

In a statement on the Crying Boy adaptation, co-creator O’Rourke said, “Super excited to work with Carter Swan and develop the project. He brings an incredible amount of experience and knowledge to this. We hit it off straight away after he read the script and he was a big fan of the Keenspot comic book series.”

Chris Crosby, comic book publisher Keenspot’s CEO, shared: “The Crying Boy has been one of Keenspot’s best-received titles and we’re ecstatic that a producer like Swan will be helping to bring it to the big screen. It’s a testament to the awesome creativity of writer Niall O’Rourke and artist Rob Moran that this adaptation is attracting talent of the highest caliber.”

For a time the world’s largest publisher of webcomics, Keenspot was founded in 2000. The company first broke into film with the Universal rom-com Marry Me — a 2022 adaptation of one of its webcomics starring Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson. The company’s first animated adaptation was Grubbs, based on the comics by Max Weaver, whose voice cast included Wil Wheaton, Jerry O’Connell, Jodie Sweetin and more.

Presently, Keenspot is also developing the animated adaptations Toy starring Kate Micucci and Kung Fu Legume starring Sherry Cola and Kheng Hua Tan, among other projects.

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Ben Hardy Will Lead ‘Stillwater’ Show At Prime Video

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Ben Hardy has been cast in the leading role of Daniel West in the upcoming Prime Video series Stillwater, from Berlanti Productions, Warner Bros. Television and Skybound Entertainment.

Stillwater is a mind-bending horror thriller that focuses on ex-con Daniel West. When Daniel receives a mysterious letter promising answers about his past and a substantial inheritance in the small town of Stillwater, he discovers a community where nothing ever ages, no one ever dies, and nobody ever gets out.

The one-hour drama hails from Executive Producers Greg Berlanti (You, The Flash) and Carly Wray (“Watchmen,” “Westworld”), based on the Skybound graphic novel by Chip Zdarsky and Ramón K Pérez. Wray & Berlanti co-wrote the pilot episode.

Stillwater is produced by Warner Bros. Television, Berlanti Productions, Skybound Entertainment and Amazon MGM Studios. The series was given an eight-episode series order ahead of San Diego Comic-Con in July 2026.

Hardy most recently starred in New Line’s The Conjuring: Last Rites, which debuted as the highest-grossing horror opening of all time. Other recent credits include Vanessa Caswell’s Love at First Sight and Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd’s Unicorns, which earned Hardy a British Independent Film Award nomination. Previously, he starred as Queen drummer Roger Taylor opposite Rami Malek in Bohemian Rhapsody. He also starred in the HBO Max/BBC limited series The Girl Before, Amazon
Studios’ The Voyeurs opposite Sydney Sweeney, X-Men: Apocalypse and Michael Bay’s 6 Underground. Hardy is repped by UTA, Principal Entertainment LA and Independent Talent Group..

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BBC Tech Teams Hit With Fresh Round Of Cuts, 110 Layoffs

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EXCLUSIVE: The cuts keep coming at the BBC.

BBC Media Tech, the division that powers the UK broadcaster’s online services like iPlayer, has today announced a fresh £37 million ($50M) round of savings after delivering £42M of cuts earlier this year.

Around 110 staff in the unit will face compulsory redundancy, while 35 vacancies will be closed. The BBC expects to make a further 180 Media Tech layoffs through voluntary redundancy, which includes the 150 Deadline reported on last week.

This will not be the last of the cuts, either. Kelly Kowal, the BBC chief operations and portfolio officer, told staff in an email that Media Tech will need to find an additional £23M of savings in early 2027.

The BBC Media Tech cuts follow similar savings announcements in BBC Sport and local radio. Deadline also revealed last week that channel closures are imminent, with insiders expecting BBC Three to be moved online for a second time in a decade.

BBC Media Tech will contribute £102M of savings to the corporation’s overall target of £500M, which the BBC must deliver because of the growing number of Brits who are refusing to pay for the licence fee.

The BBC tech division will embrace AI to reduce costs, according to Kowal. The unit is also expected to focus on fewer products and push more resource into boosting iPlayer. Matt Brittin, the BBC director general, has been candid about the need to improve iPlayer recommendations and user experience.

Kowal told employees: “I want to recognise the uncertainty and worry this news will create, particularly those potentially affected by redundancy or worried about their role. There is no easy way to make these choices, but we will be caring, respectful and considered in how we help people work through their options.”

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