Liev Schreiber will receive the Global Noir Icon Award as an actor and activist at a closing ceremony for the Lakes Noir International Film Festival.

The Sept. 27 gala in Luino, Italy, will also honor BlueCheck Ukraine, a humanitarian organization Schreiber co-founded, and give the Global Noir Visionary Award to Ukrainians in Exile director Janek Ambros.

In addition, the late Hayden Panettiere, who supported BlueCheck Ukraine, will receive a moment of silence at the festival’s Grand Finale Gala ceremony. Lakes Noir will screen the 2024 documentary Ukrainians in Exile, directed by Ambros and executive produced by Schreiber. Panettiere passed away on Aug. 17 at age 36. The circumstances of her death are currently under investigation.

Filmed on the Ukrainian border just weeks into the 2022 conflict, the film is executive produced by Oscar-winning cinematographer Janusz Kaminski (Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan) and has served as a fundraising vehicle for BlueCheck Ukraine.  

Panettiere will be honored at the Lakes Noir gala for her support of Ukraine, which stemmed in part from a nine-year relationship with Wladimir Klitschko, brother to Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko, with whom she had a daughter, Kaya.

In March 2022, Panettiere founded the charity Hoplon International to offer direct relief and life-saving body armor and medical kits to front-line Ukrainian soldiers. BlueCheck Ukraine was also launched in March 2022 to provide emergency support to populations in Ukraine impacted by the ongoing war with Russia.

The Lakes Noir Film Festival spotlights the “noir” aesthetic, including stylized crime dramas to dark and sobering documentaries.

EXCLUSIVE: Untitled has promoted six to partner: Annie Schmidt, Ashley Josephson, Faisal Kanaan, Harry Lengsfield, Sam Warren, and Scott Metzger.

This group of managers marks Untitled’s first new partner class since becoming part of Initial Group two years ago.

The Untitled Partners said, “Two years into this next chapter for Untitled, we’re excited by what we’re able to accomplish and the opportunities created by bringing our teams under one banner. Annie, Ashley, Faisal, Harry, Sam, and Scott have each played an important role in that progress, not only through the work they do for their clients, but in how they show up for their colleagues and contribute to our culture. They are trusted leaders, generous collaborators, and people we are proud to call partners. They’ve already helped make Untitled what it is today, and we’re excited to have their voices and leadership play an even greater role in what we’re building.”

With Untitled for 12 years, Schmidt has worked across the company’s New York and Los Angeles offices, taking on increasing leadership and strategic responsibility within the talent department, while mentoring the next generation of managers. Prior to Untitled, she spent nearly a decade in PR. She began that journey in 2007, working at ID PR in Los Angeles under mentor BeBe Lerner, before relocating to help grow the firm’s New York presence. A NorCal native, Schmidt got her start interning for producer Michael London during the production of Fox Searchlight’s Sideways before joining Sidney Kimmel Entertainment at its inception in 2004.

Josephson joined Untitled last year after 10 years at Mosaic. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she attended the University of Michigan before moving to New York to begin her career at the William Morris Agency. She quickly rose from assistant to talent agent before continuing at UTA, and then transitioning into management, where she’s continued working to champion women and amplify the voices of historically underrepresented talent.

A former football player at Bentley University who began his career as a Literary Agent Trainee at Paradigm, Kanaan joined Grandview in 2017 as an assistant to co-founder Jeff Silver, rising through the ranks before becoming a manager in 2019. He founded the company’s Manager Trainee Program, and when Grandview became part of Untitled, he continued at the company as a lit manager, further building his roster and taking on a larger role within the department.

A New York native who reps writers and directors working across film, television, and theater, Lengsfield began his career in the mailroom at WME, quickly moving onto a desk in the talent department before transitioning to MP Lit. He moved into management at LBI Entertainment in 2014, and in 2022, joined Grandview, continuing on at Untitled beginning in 2024.

A Los Angeles native and graduate of the University of Miami who reps creator and filmmaker talent across film and television, Warren also joined Grandview in 2022 before becoming part of Untitled. He began his career as an assistant at LBI in 2011 and elevated to manager there.

Based in Untitled’s New York office, Metzger brings decades of experience as a talent rep. He began his career in representation as an assistant at Paradigm, working his way up to become a managing partner and co-head of talent before joining CAA’s Motion Picture Talent Department. He transitioned to management at Untitled in 2024.

Untitled marked the foundational acquisition for Initial Group, the TPG-backed global entertainment company established in 2024. Grandview joined the platform in October 2024, with both companies now operating under the Untitled banner. Initial has since expanded with the acquisition of Silver Tribe Media — now Initial Digital — a strategic investment in music management company Good World Management, and the acquisition of Brookside Artist Management, whose Emily Gerson Saines joined Untitled as a partner.

The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) has unveiled the winners of its feature filmmaking and short filmmaking awards on Wednesday evening.

Skintown, directed by Kieron J. Walsh, was awarded the Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence, voted on by the audience and funded by the Connery Foundation. The winner receives £50,000 ($68,055) to fund future projects.

A portrait of Northern Ireland youth in the 1990s, Skintown sees best friends Vinny and Jonty party, cut deals and plan to escape small-town life in Northern Ireland during the 1994 ceasefire, a period known as the Troubles. The festival called the film a “humorous, poignant and terrifically acted period piece with a killer ‘90s soundtrack.”

In an interview about Skintown, Walsh and actor Jack Rowan told THR that making the film “was a bumpy ride!”

Meanwhile, the Edinburgh festival also revealed on Wednesday evening that the Thelma Schoonmaker Prize for Short Filmmaking Excellence was awarded to Grief Room, directed by Sinda Agha. The winner receives £15,000 ($20,416) to fund future projects.

“Emily Beecham, Daisy Bevan and Louisa Harland are on peak form in this film about estranged sisters who reunite at their mother’s deathbed,” the festival highlighted. And a synopsis teases: “Using experimental tech to interpret their mother’s thoughts, the youngest becomes convinced of an urgent, final message they must uncover.”

EIFF CEO and festival director Paul Ridd lauded this year’s film lineup. “The standard of films and filmmakers competing this year at EIFF has been exceedingly high,” he said. “We are so proud of being able to launch this terrific work into the world, and we wish all our filmmakers the very best as they continue their journeys with their films and with their careers. Grief Room is a contained gem of wit, warmth and sadness, and Skintown is a beautiful, funny and very moving film. We are delighted to see that audiences have responded so enthusiastically to both films. Cinema is alive and well in the hands of these immense talents.”