Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here back after a lengthy break to helm the weekly newsletter. Read on. And sign up here.
NAZA Saga
Israeli cinema & politics blur: As is often the case with Israeli cinema these days, that oh-so-blurry line between culture and politics has been crossed. A documentary feature of extreme urgency, NAZA, showcased at Venice last week and while so many around the world are yet to see the film, its filmmakers find themselves in peril. NAZA, so named after the Hebrew acronym used to signify collateral damage, is a devastating project from No Other Land directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor that unearths details of a program that has caused catastrophic destruction to residential areas in Gaza. It was mostly shot at night on rooftops in Tel Aviv to avoid Israeli eavesdropping and protect its subjects. Now, Abraham, who appears on screen as he did in Oscar-winner No Other Land, is potentially going to have his Israeli citizenship revoked by the highest figure in Israel‘s government, Benjamin Netanyahu, who has described the film as “global antisemitic incitement.” In slightly more measured but nevertheless action-oriented tones, the Israeli Film Council has also weighed on to say it will eliminate film festivals from its system used to set film fund budgets, as it criticized Venice for premiering NAZA. We have, of course, been here before where Netanyahu and critical culture is concerned, and with Israeli elections upcoming, the serious allegations contained in the movie mean this situation could spiral.
France Makes Its Oscar Choice
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‘Minotaur’ vs ‘De Gaulle’: One of the big questions this week in the world of the hotly-contested and high-volume Best International Feature Film Oscar race was who France would select. The French submission is often fraught with politics and debate, and, sacre bleu, so it came to pass this year when the race was widely considered to come down to a shootout between the critically lauded Russia-themed drama Minotaur, from Russian auteur Andrey Zyagintsev but with French producers, and the big-budget historical epic De Gaulle: Résistance, about the French leader’s resistance to the Nazis. Minotaur was the choice, making it two years in a row France has selected a non-French language film as its selection. Both times there has been discussion in the industry over whether that’s the right thing to do. The choice here is likely tactical… What are the voters in this chapter likely to respond to? The DeGaulle film has been well received and is meant to be a good ride, but a lauded anti-Putin Cannes Competition drama from an auteur filmmaker with Oscar pedigree probably felt like the safer bet.
In other Best International Film news this week, Spain selected Cannes darling La Bola Negra, the Netflix-acquired musical drama. The film is widely considered to be the frontrunner in the category. Spain had a strong lineup this year with fellow Cannes drama The Beloved also in the mix. Can Javier Bardem sneak into a very stacked Best Actor category for his turn in that film? We’ll see.
The Deadline Interview: Aimee Lou Wood at TIFF
It was nigh on impossible to select which interview from our TIFF Studio (for Cynthia Erivo, Michelle Yeoh and many more click here) to promote in this week’s newsletter so we went with a failsafe and opted for Aimee Lou Wood. The White Lotus star was in Toronto talking about Małgorzata Szumowska’s The Idiot(s), in which she plays Anna Dostoevskaya on her honeymoon with famed author Fyodor Dostoevsky. While Wood and the team were only too happy to dish on the the movie, it was The White Lotus which as per caught attention, with Wood pondering the intriguing question of whether her now-deceased character could somehow return in the Mike White epic. “We were saying maybe [in] Saxson’s (Patrick Schwarzenegger) conscience,” said Wood. “She could be in his mind, in the future.” All these musings and more make for quite the read and watch. >>>See The Interview
Diana Revelations
Right royal timing: It’s not a bad week for a documentary featuring previously unheard audio recordings of Princess Diana to announce its international launch. Cineflix Rights’ timing couldn’t be better as the distributor revealed it will be taking Diana Unheard to MIPCOM Cannes just as a huge row broke out between her brother, Earl Spencer, and the UK throne’s current incumbent. The tapes showcased by the doc were secretly recorded between Diana and her friend, James Colthurst, in 1991. They reveal the People’s Princess speaking candidly about the then-Prince Charles and Camilla, as well as the man who at the time was called Prince Andrew. The producers said the doc moves away from framing Diana’s story through a lens of vulnerability. It is notable, then, that Spencer’s tell-all book is about to come out and contains a bombshell allegation that Charles told him, “We’ll forget her soon enough”, during an angry phone call in the wake of Diana’s death. The allegation led to a rare riposte from Buckingham Palace, which was said with all the Britishness it could muster: “His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss.” Prince Harry and Meghan are very much back in the UK now and there has rarely been more spotlight on the royals. It looks like this chatter will be extending to the Croisette in Cannes in less than a month’s time.
By the Numbers: 4.64 billion – Hours of anime watched on Netflix during H1 2026, viewing that has risen at nine times the rate of other genres.
The Essentials
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🌶️ Hot One: Sam Worthington, Liam Hemsworth and Cara Delevingne will play the love triangle in Paul Schrader‘s upcoming erotic thriller Non Compos Mentis.
🌶️ Another: Stan is reviving iconic Australian series McLeod’s Daughters and adapting Angourice Rice’s Pride & Prejudice reimagining for TV.
🚪 Exiting: Eric Schrier, Disney’s international DTC boss, who will segue to a producer deal.
🏆 Awards latest: Welsh born star Matthew Rhys made Emmys history on a good night for international stars.
⛺ Fest latest: The United Arab Emirates’ Dubai Interntional Film Festival is being revived following a 10-year hiatus. Questions remain over the Red Sea Film Festival, scheduled to take place in December.
⛺ More festivals: San Sebastián boss José Luis Rebordinos reflected on his final year in a deep dive with Diana.
🖕 In trouble: The Jair Bolsonaro pic in Brazil is under investigation linked to illegal funding.
📖 Analysis: Channel 4 has ruled out reviewing top pay amid its dramatic job cuts as sources point fingers at the previous regime.
⏱️ To the Tardis: The race is on to be the next producer of Doctor Who as the BBC fires the starting gun on its regeneration with a tender.
🤖 Robots are coming: Adolescence scribe Jack Thorne claimed fellow writers are using AI to “cheat.”
🎭 On the boards: the Sunday in the Park with George West End revival has been delayed following the exits of Ariana Grande and Jonathan Bailey.
🚪 Winding down? Paramount and Comcast streamer SkyShowtime could close in the coming months following a board review.
📉 The charts: Mercedes Ron’s Drawn Together rocketed to the top of the Prime Video viewing charts.
🤝 Done deal: Disney and Kakao have struck a 10-project deal in Korea to unearth the next big K-pop hit.
🍿 Box office: Resident Evil to scorch the Earth with $80M global debut.
🎥 Trail: For Happily Ever After starring K-pop breakout Shuhua.
International Insider was written by Max Goldbart and edited by Jesse Whittock. Andreas Wiseman contributed. Send any tips, comments or ideas for international coverage to jwhittock@deadline.com and mgoldbart@deadline.com
