John Cleese is returning to a BBC sitcom for the first time since Fawlty Towers — after having previously lobbed criticism at the broadcaster. But, he says, the scripts for six-part comedy Edith are “the most enjoyable” he’s been sent “in the last 100 years.” Written by Charles McKeown (Brazil) and produced by BBC Studios for BBC One, Edith also stars Alison Steadman (Gavin & Stacey) and Jason Watkins (Line Of Duty). The story centers on Edith (Steadman) who’s been a widow for some years. But her children live locally and drop by regularly, and she enjoys daily visits from Phil (Cleese), an old boyfriend who now lives across the road. He dreams of them marrying and moving abroad, but after months of turning him down, on the happy day Edith finally says “yes,” there’s a knock on the door — and there on the step, with a large suitcase, is her 50-year-old son Roger (Watkins). There’s currently no timeline on the series.
The main Competition lineup and other films in Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival will be unveiled tomorrow in Paris. Today comes word of the short films running in Competition and the titles selected by the Cinéfondation from works submitted by film schools around the world. Romanian filmmaker and Palme d’Or winner Cristian Mungiu is president of the jury for both sections. On the short film roster are Katto from Finland’s Teppo Airaksinen; Pepe Le Morse from France’s Lucrèce Andreae; A Drowning Man by Madhi Fleifel (UK, Denmark, Greece); Lunch Time by Alireza Ghasemi (Iran); Across My Land by Fiona Godivier (U.S.); Time To Go by Poland’s Grzegorz Molda; China’s A Gentle Night by Yang Qiu; Damiana from Colombia’s Andres Ramirez Pulido; and Push It from Sweden’s Julia Thelin. Films in the Cinéfondation selection include works from Israel, Iran, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovakia, Brazil, Japan, India, France, Belgium, the UK, Argentina, Hungary and Taiwan. There is one U.S. entry, Marian Mathias’ Give Up The Ghost, from NYU’s Tisch School Of The Arts.
ARKA
Cinestaan AA Distributors has been set to release the highly-anticipated sequel to 2015 smash Baahubali: The Beginning in select overseas markets beginning April 28. The Hindi version of Baahubali 2: The Conclusion will go out via Cinestaan in key hubs for Indian fare that include the UK, the UAE, Australia and New Zealand. Directed by S.S. Rajamouli, Baahubali 2 reunites the director with star Prabhas, along with Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty and Tamannaah Bhatia. The first film went on to be the third-highest grossing Indian title globally with an estimated $97M. A period war epic, it hails from Tollywood (as the Telugu industry is known) and was released originally in four versions: Telugu, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam. The sequel will go out in IMAX theaters in India beginning April 28, to be followed by additional select international markets.
