France and U.K.-based media sales, distribution and production company Alief has picked up international sales rights for Jerome Yoo’s FIPRESCI and Horizon Award-winning feature Mongrels (Musubi Arts, pictured) ahead of the European Film Market.

Mongrels is written and directed by Seoul and Vancouver-based Yoo and produced by Nach Dudsdeemaytha and Tesh Guttikonda. It is distributed in Canada by Game Theory Films.

The film will begin its theatrical run in Yoo’s hometown of Vancouver on Feb. 14 at the VIFF Centre. It will then screen in select theatres across North America in May for Asian Heritage Month.

Mongrels had its world premiere at the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) and its international premiere at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in Estonia. It follows a Korean family that immigrated to rural Canada in the 1990s.

Blue Ant Media

Toronto-headquartered Blue Ant Media has launched three of its FAST channels on the U.S. FAST streaming service My Free DirecTV, which launched in late 2024.

The channels Blue Ant launched on the service are Love Nature, Total Crime and Declassified.

Programming available on the channels include season three of Love Nature’s Orangutan Jungle School (6 x 60 minutes), the third season of Total Crime’s Cause of Death (10 x 60 minutes) and Declassified’s Top Secrets UFO Projects: Declassified (6 x 60 minutes).

Sphere Abacus

Sphere Abacus, the distribution arm of Montreal-headquartered Sphere Media, has acquired the worldwide rights to the true crime documentary series Making Manson.

The 3 x 60-minute series is produced by London and L.A.-based Renowned Films. Sphere Abacus has already secured sales for the series to Channel 5 and Paramount+ in the U.K. and Bell Media in Canada. It originally aired on NBC’s Peacock streaming service in the U.S. in November 2024.

Making Manson is executive produced by Renowned’s Max Welch, Kate Maddigan, Tim Withers and Duane Jones. It offers exclusive and unfiltered insights into cult leader Charles Manson.

Cineflix Rights

Cineflix Rights, the U.K.-based distribution arm of Montreal-headquartered Cineflix Media, has extended its partnership with U.S.-based Law&Crime Productions with a greenlight for 30 hours of true crime content.

Two new series, Most Likely to Murder and Kill Switch, have entered pre-production for Law&Crime Network in the U.S. with Cineflix Rights distributing globally.

Most Likely to Murder (10 x 60 minutes) explores when the most popular students in class turn out to be cold-blooded killers while Kill Switch (10 x 60 minutes) reveals how criminals take their crimes to next level.

Cineflix Rights’ previous deal with Law&Crime greenlit 50 hours of true crime content including series such as Cult Justice, Murder Uncut and Killer Cases.

Felicia Litovitz, VP acquisitions, North America, Cineflix Rights, brokered the partnership deal.

Photo by Jaryl Lim