Cohen Media Group has scooped rights to “Kidnapped,” the latest movie by revered Italian master Marco Bellocchio, which world premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The drama reconstructs the true tale of Edgardo Mortara, a young Jewish boy who was kidnapped and forcibly raised as a Christian in 19th-century Italy. Described by Variety as a “handsomely mounted period drama,” “Kidnapped” opens in 1858, in the Jewish quarter of Bologna, where the Pope’s soldiers burst into the home of the Mortara family. By order of the cardinal, they have come to take Edgardo, their seven-year-old son. The child had been secretly baptized by his nurse as a baby, and the papal law is unquestionable: he must receive a Catholic education.

Cohen Media Group has acquired US rights to Martin Provost’s art world romance Bonnard, Pierre & Marthe following the biopic’s bow in Cannes Premiere. Sold by Memento International, the love story between French “painter of happiness” Pierre Bonnard and his companion and muse Marthe has also drawn buyers worldwide. The film has also sold to Canada (Sphere), Latin America (California), Australia & New Zealand (Palace), Germany (Prokino), Italy (I Wonder), Spain (Vercine), Switzerland (Frenetic), Austria (Panda), Sweden (Njuta), Denmark (Filmbazar), Portugal (Lusomundo), Israel (New Cinema), Greece (Cinobo), Poland (Hagi), Czech Republic (Cinemart), Hungary (Vertigo), former Yougoslavia (MCF), Bulgaria (Beta), South Korea (AUD), Taiwan (Flash Forward) and to airlines (Skeye).

In BPM (Beats Per Minute), Robin Campillo found in Nahuel Pérez Biscayart a face and voice to communicate the by turns ecstatic and wrenching role of being an activist for ACT UP Paris during the early 1990s. Now, in House of Sand and Fog director Vadim Perelman’s latest, Persian Lessons, the Argentine actor, who exudes an unwavering and mournful certainty whenever he’s on screen, has found another project worthy of his talent. Persian Lessons concerns a young Belgian Jew named Gilles (Biscayart) who’s arrested in occupied France in 1942 by SS soldiers. On the way to a concentration camp in Germany, he avoids execution by swearing that he’s Persian. Subsequently, he’s tasked with teaching Farsi to the head of Camp Koch, Klaus Koch (Lars Eidinger), who dreams of opening a restaurant in Iran after the war. What results is an intense game for survival, as Gilles pretends to know Farsi, inventing words that he then teaches to Koch. And while fighting to maintain his secret, he also copes with the guilt of enjoying privileges that aren’t shared by his fellow prisoners.

Russia invaded Ukraine nearly 14 months ago, and the bloody conflict it ignited shows no signs of ending any time soon. Bernard-Henri Levy, a French filmmaker and public intellectual, spent much of last year documenting the horrors of the Ukraine war for an upcoming film, from the early days of Russia's invasion in late February to Ukraine's liberation of massive chunks of territory during the final weeks of the year that's now ground into a war of attrition on mostly static front lines. Levy, 74, filmed on battlefields across the country — from Kharkiv in the northeast, Kherson in the south, and the capital city Kyiv. He captured the struggle of Ukrainian civilians under relentless attacks, embedded with Ukrainian special forces units, and even witnessed fighting in the war-torn city of Bakhmut — which is the longest and deadliest battle of the war so far. Levy's documentary, "Slava Ukraini," (which translates to "Glory to Ukraine") will premiere in select theaters on May 3 and on digital platforms across the country on May 5. Insider obtained an exclusive copy of the film's newest trailer, which features scenes from aboard navy ships and interviews with soldiers.

Cohen Media Group has picked up all U.S. rights to Slava Ukraini, a new documentary on the war in Ukraine by famed French philosopher, activist and filmmaker Bernard-Henri Lévy. Slava Ukraini will bow in select theaters on May 3 and go out nationwide on digital and VOD platforms May 5. Lévy will attend several screenings, including the May 3 premiere at the Quad Cinema in New York, a May 4 screening at the United Nations, and a May 6 screening at the Landmark Westwood in Los Angeles.

Cohen Media Group has dropped the trailer for Francois Ozon’s drama “Everything Went Fine” ahead of its theatrical release in New York on April 14 and Los Angeles on April 21, followed by a national expansion. “Everything Went Fine” is based on the autobiographical novel by author Emmanuèle Bernheim who previously collaborated on Ozon’s screenplays for “Under The Sand,” “Swimming Pool” and “Ricky.” The movie follows 85-year-old art collector André Bernheim (André Dussolier) who, after a debilitating stroke, demands that his daughter Emmanuèle (Sophie Marceau), help him end life on his own terms. Faced with a painful decision, Emmanuèle, with the grudging support of her younger sister Pascale (Géraldine Pailhas), begins sorting through the processes and bureaucratic hurdles necessary to fulfill her father’s final wish, as she is forced to reconcile her past with a complicated, stubborn, yet charismatic man.

Cohen Media Group has acquired US rights to British-Palestinian filmmaker Basil Khalil’s TIFF Discovery premiere A Gaza Weekend. Khalil’s made his feature directorial debut on the culture-clash comedy-drama about a couple stranded amid a deadly virus outbreak which has sealed off Israel and turned the Gaza Strip into the safest place in the region.

Can life end on our own terms? A family’s journey through end-of-life care is explored in “Everything Went Fine.” The film sees a man ask for help ending his life after a devastating stroke, his appeal pushes a daughter to confront her complicated feelings as well as a bureaucratic nightmare. The project hails from celebrated filmmaker François Ozon; his recent works have become critically-acclaimed favorites, including “Peter von Kant.” “Everything Went Fine” is not the only Ozon project to hit theaters soon — the crime dramedy “Mon Crime” comes to French theaters on March 8.

EXCLUSIVE: Cohen Media Group has acquired all North American distribution rights to filmmaker Mark Cousins’ Alfred Hitchcock doc My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock. The film premiered at Telluride and examines the Psycho and Vertigo director’s vast body of work, exploring his techniques, themes and obsessions. The plan is for a theatrical release later this year. Cousins, who utilizes actor and impressionist Alistair McGowan to portray Hitch in voiceover, connects the stylistic dots running through the director’s 50-plus films, from revered classics like North by Northwest, Psycho and Rear Window to less frequently discussed but intriguing works such as The Paradine Case, Sabotage and more, stretching all the way back to his silent films. 

Cohen Media Group has announced the theatrical release date for internationally-acclaimed Israeli filmmaker Eran Kolirin's award-winning new film "LET IT BE MORNING" which is scheduled to open in theaters beginning Feb 3rd in New York at the QUAD Cinema (34 West 13th Street) and in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Royal (11523 Santa Monica Blvd.). The film will then expand into select major cities across the country on February 10th and nationwide on February 17th.

Cohen Media Group has set a February U.S. theatrical rollout for Eran Kolirin’s Let It Be Morning, which was Israel’s entry for the 94th Academy Awards. The picture will open on February 3 at the Quad Cinema in New York and at the Laemmle Royal in Los Angeles before expanding to select cities around the country on February 10 and nationwide on February 17. Let it Be Morning premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes in 2021 and went on to play myriad other festivals. It won nine Ophir Awards, Israel’s equivalent to the Oscars, including Best Film.

I’m a senior staff editor on the Culture desk. I work primarily on breaking news, but I’m always happy to replace reality with the moral qualms of alternate universes. Here are five things I’ve been playing, reading, watching and listening to lately → Movie: ‘Apples’ If satire and absurdism are your love languages and you’re pining for Yorgos Lanthimos (“The Lobster”), you may enjoy “Apples,” by Christos Nikou, a fellow Greek filmmaker. Quietly released in the U.S. this summer, the tart movie traces one victim’s efforts to reintegrate into society during an amnesia pandemic.

Fernando Trueba, director of the Oscar-winning Belle Époque and, more recently, The Queen of Spain, The Artist and the Model, and Chico & Rita, is back this year with the U.S. release of Memories of My Father. Set for a release on November 16—alongside the Quad Cinema’s retrospective “The Ages of Trueba: From Opera Prima to Memories of My Father,” taking place Nov. 14-17—we’re pleased to exclusively debut a new poster and clip from the acclaimed drama.

Cohen Media Group has acquired North American distribution rights to June Zero, writer-director Jake Paltrow’s historical drama about the last days of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. The distribution deal was negotiated by Robert Aaronson, Cohen Media Group Senior Vice President, and CAA Media Finance. Films Boutique is representing International rights for the film at the American Film Market.

Spanish auteur Fernando Trueba has wowed the cinema world over the years, and he has the accolades to prove it. He’s won three Goya Awards for Best Director, a Silver Bear for 1986’s “Year Of Enlightenment,” and the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1994 with “Belle Époque.” Now, Trueba’s 2020 drama “Memories Of My Father” finally gets its US theatrical release after the COVID-19 pandemic canceled its premieres at the 2020 Cannes Film Festival.

Cohen Film Collection is continuing its restorations of classic Merchant Ivory productions, among them 1963’s “The Householder,” the first film collaboration between Ismail Merchant and James Ivory. The classics label of Cohen Media Group, Cohen Film Collection is lining up the restorations of four titles that also include the 1977 episodic romantic drama “Roseland,” with Teresa Wright and Christopher Walken, and two films directed by Merchant, “In Custody” (1994), featuring Shashi Kapoor, and “The Proprietor” (1996), starring Jeanne Moreau.

Cohen Media Group has acquired U.S. domestic distribution rights to Toronto film “Driving Madeleine,” according to a report in Variety. The French language film was directed by Christian Carion (“Joyeux Noel”) and is playing in the Official Selection at the Toronto Film Festival.

Cohen Media Group has acquired U.S. distribution rights to “Driving Madeleine,” a stirring new drama directed Oscar-nominated filmmaker Christian Carion (“Joyeux Noel”), and starring Dany Boon (“Bienvenue chez les ch’tis”). The film is playing in the Official Selection at the Toronto Film Festival. Besides “Joyeux Noel,” Carion’s wide-ranging films include the Cold War spy thriller “Farewell,” the World War II tale “Come What May,” the mystery “My Son,” and the rural drama “The Girl from Paris.”

Cohen Media Group hopes a Spanish film can dent the tough market for foreign language fare, Bleecker Street is out with a hostage drama and A24 presents Owen Kline’s directorial debut about a teenage cartoonist as the arthouse market flexes more muscle than it has in weeks.

Cohen Media Group has acquired producer Jeremy Thomas’ prestigious international sales company HanWay Films in a major deal.