Celluloid Dreams

French distribution company Celluloid Dreams has picked up the international sales rights to Keith Behrman’s feature drama Giant Little Ones (pictured). Produced by Allison Black of Euclid 431 Pictures, the project is the coming-of-age story of two boys, Franky and Ballas, whose lives are changed forever on Franky’s 17th birthday. United Talent Agency (UTA) is handling U.S. sales, while Mongrel Media is distributing the film in Canada. It stars Josh Wiggins, Darren Mann, Taylor Hickson, Kyle MacLachlan and Maria Bello. Giant Little Ones, which will make its world premiere in the Special Presentations program at TIFF ’18, is the second Canadian feature that Celluloid Dreams has acquired in 2018 after the Paris-based distributor in February picked up world sales rights to Matt Bissonnette’s Death of a Ladies’ Man.

Pacific Northwest Pictures

Vancouver-based producer/distributor Pacific Northwest Pictures (PNP) has acquired all Canadian rights to the Michael Caine-narrated doc My Generation. Directed by David Batty (Maggie and Me) and co-written by Ian La Frenais (Porridge) and Dick Clement (The Bank Job), the doc is based on Caine’s (The Dark Knight) personal accounts and follows the cultural changes that took place in 1960s London, U.K. The feature made its premiere at Venice Film Festival in 2017. PNP picked up the doc from U.S.-based Gravitas Ventures, a division of Red Arrow Studios. PNP will open the film in a number of theatres across the country including Toronto’s Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema (beginning Sept. 29), Vancouver’s Vancity Theatre (Sept. 11 to 15) and Ottawa’s Bytowne Theatre (Oct. 1 to 4). The Canadian distributor will also partner with TVA Films to distribute the film in Quebec. My Generation will be released by Gravitas in the U.S. on Aug. 14. Producers on the doc include Caine, Clement, La Frenais, Simon Fuller (American Idol) and Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly (Lady Macbeth). James Clayton (Closer) is an exec producer.

BroadbandTV

Vancouver’s BroadbandTV (BBTV) will be tasked with managing fan-uploaded PBS content on YouTube, after the company inked a deal with the U.S. pubcaster and its distribution division, PBS Distribution. Under the deal, BBTV will work to control the dissemination of PBS’ original IP, including series such as Frontline and Nova. PBS joins a number of the other companies and organizations (including the NBA, Viacom, Sony Pictures, Univision, Warner Bros., Turner and FremantleMedia) that are using BBTV to manage the uploading of its content on YouTube. “The entertainment industry is facing a lot of challenges – not the least of which is protecting our IP,” said Andrea Downing, co-president of PBS Distribution. “We need a suite of tools to be successful, and BroadbandTV will be a powerful ally in managing our content on YouTube.”