TIFF isn’t just ten days jam-packed with film screenings; it’s also a rendezvous point for development, funding, and distribution deals. Recent days have brought news of projects by and about women on all fronts. We’ve seen news about “Military Wives” finding a home and details about forthcoming projects by filmmakers Halina Reijn, Jennifer Kent, and producer Lee Magiday.
“Military Wives,” led by Kristin Scott Thomas and Sharon Horgan, was met with multiple distribution offers following its festival premiere last Friday. Per Deadline, Bleecker Street successfully snagged the rights.
Based on a true story, “Military Wives” follows a group of women who form a military base choir while their partners are deployed in Afghanistan. Rachel Tunnard (“Adult Life Skills”) and Rosanne Flynn garnered inspiration for its screenplay from “The Choir,” a BBC factual series that features the real-life group. Hana Canter, Emma Willis, and Liz Gallacher are among the co-production’s many exec producers.
Other films making their North American debut at TIFF include Halina Reijn’s (“Valkyrie”) directorial debut “Instinct,” the Netherland’s submission for the 2020 Academy Award in the International Film Feature category. The psychological thriller sees Carice van Houten (“Game of Thrones”) — who also serves as Reijn’s production partner — as a female psychologist working at a men’s rehab facility. Reijn and van Houten have now confirmed that their next project will be an adaptation of “The High Nest.”
Based on Roxane van Iperen’s novel of the same name, “The High Nest” will portray two Jewish sisters who operated a hideaway in central Holland during World War II.
Reijn anticipates that the film — or limited TV series — will be a female-driven production that will speak to contemporary audiences. “”Segregating people, discriminating against people that are different, it’s happening right now,” she said. “This is such an important time where we all need to look at ourselves.”
Reports out of Toronto suggest that “The Nightingale” and “Babadook’ director Jennifer Kent is currently negotiating with Amazon Studios to bring “Alice + Frida Forever” to the screen.
Based on the book by Alexis Coe and produced by Sarah Schechter, “Alice + Frida Forever” follows the true story of Alice Mitchell and Freda Ward, two Memphis teenage girls who fell in love during the late nineteenth century. Their forbidden romance quickly turned to dangerous obsession and murder.
Amazon will hold financial and worldwide distribution rights, and production is slated to begin next summer. As we previously reported, Kent has been tied to write and direct since 2015.
“The Favorite” producer Lee Magiday will also see a female protagonist’s real life brought to the screen. Magiday plans to kick off her newly launched banner Sleeper Films with “In the Shadows,” a fictional feature profile of female boxer Ramla Ali.
Ali began boxing in secret after fleeing Somalian civil war and seeking asylum in London as a young girl. She went on to become Britain’s first female Muslim boxing champion, and will be the first boxer to represent Somalia in next year’s Olympic Games. She recently appeared in British Vogue’s September cover issue guest-edited by Meghan Markle.
“In the Shadows” will be co-produced by Magiday and Curate Film’s Madeleine Sanderson. Film4’s senior commissioning executive Julia Oh is set to oversee development.
Magiday isn’t the only one bringing female boxers to the screen. Rachel Morrison, the first female DP to grab an Oscar nod thanks to her work on “Mudbound,” will make her feature directorial with “Flint Strong,” a drama based on Flint, Michigan boxer Claressa “T-Rex” Shields. In 2012 Shields became the first American female boxer to win an Olympic gold medal.
