The Film Ledger

Dollhouse Pictures is developing a television adaptation of Bri Lee’s THE WORK, with Hannah Lehmann creating the series. The novel follows an ambitious New York gallerist and a junior antiques appraiser in Sydney as they pursue careers in the art world. Lee and Jessica Carrera executive produce, with Screen Australia supporting development.

Art Malik, Fred Loxley and Mirren Mack have joined ASCENSION as series regulars. They join Caitríona Balfe and Bill Nighy in Apple’s psychological horror thriller, inspired by Adam Nevill’s LAST DAYS. Balfe plays a documentary filmmaker investigating a mysterious cult. The new additions follow Amanda Plummer, Christopher Chung and T’Nia Miller’s previously announced casting.

Gianmarco Soresi’s GOD FORBID premieres globally on Netflix on December 3. Filmed at Chicago’s Thalia Hall, the special explores marriage, fatherhood, religion and mental health. Eric Abrams directs Soresi’s second full-length stand-up special, following his independently released THIEF OF JOY (2025).

Leighton Meester, Tyler Posey and Sherry Cola star in ADULTING, a romantic comedy directed by Maureen Bharoocha and written by Anna Rose Moore. After a head injury, a woman in her thirties encounters an imagined version of her 12-year-old self. Vaneast Pictures has acquired worldwide sales rights and will present the film at AFM.

Toni Collette will star in LENNI, Apple’s adaptation of the Norwegian series PERNILLE, also known as PØRNI. The dramedy follows a divorced child welfare worker balancing a demanding case with her own chaotic family. Sarah Scheller adapts the series, Dearbhla Walsh directs, and filming is underway in Sydney.

Isabella Pappas, Heidi Berger and Nico Greetham are the latest additions to SURVIVE: THE GAME. They join Olivia Holt, Jaimie Alexander and Rohan Campbell in Scout Taylor-Compton’s horror film, currently shooting in Gipuzkoa, Spain. Pappas has appeared in STRANGER THINGS: THE FIRST SHADOW, Berger in LUDWIG, and Greetham in AMERICAN HORROR STORY.

Dušan Hanák’s PICTURES OF THE OLD WORLD (1972) observes elderly people living in the Tatra mountains. The documentary finds individuality in their routines, pleasures and resilience. Despite its quiet focus on ordinary lives, it remained banned locally until 1988.

Eduard Grečner’s DRAGON’S RETURN (1968) follows a feared outsider’s arrival in a mountain community. Radovan Lukavský plays Dragon in a story of prejudice and buried history. Vincent Rosinec’s widescreen black-and-white photography and Ilja Zeljenka’s score shape its atmosphere.

Whit Stillman is filming A NIGHT AT CLARIDGE’S in Limerick, Ireland, his first feature since LOVE & FRIENDSHIP (2016). Adam Brody, Laura Carmichael, Tom Bennett and Susan Hampshire star in the 1943-set story of a displaced London woman whose boarding-house life becomes a psychological battle. Pictured: Stillman in an archival on-set photograph.

Maddie Phillips and Stephen Lang lead the ensemble of THE DREGS, a comedy-thriller about friends whose Italian Alps trip turns deadly after they drink cursed grappa. Connor Martin writes and directs his first feature. The film is in post-production after shooting in British Columbia, with WTFilms handling its sales launch.

Peter Solan’s THE BOXER AND DEATH (1963) centres on a concentration-camp prisoner spared because his commandant wants a boxing partner. Štefan Kvietik and Manfred Krug play a relationship in which physical strength offers survival, while each bout brings a new moral and psychological ordeal.

Štefan Uher’s THE SUN IN A NET (1963) follows a teenage photographer and his girlfriend as a rural work assignment tests their relationship. Cinematographer Stanislav Szomolányi turns Bratislava’s rooftops, sunlight and studies of hands into recurring images in a landmark of the Czechoslovak New Wave.

UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has asked Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority to scrutinise Sky’s proposed £1.6 billion acquisition of ITV. The regulators are due to report by January 27, after which she will decide whether to seek a more detailed investigation.

Pierfrancesco Favino appears as Sergio Marchionne in the first image from FALCON, Marco Bellocchio’s biographical drama. The photograph was taken at Turin’s historic Mirafiori plant, where production is under way. Louis Garrel plays Fiat heir John Elkann; the film follows Marchionne’s effort to rescue Fiat and merge it with Chrysler.

ELEMENTARY (2012–2019) relocates Sherlock Holmes to New York. Jonny Lee Miller’s detective works with Lucy Liu’s Joan Watson, initially his sober companion. Robert Doherty’s series ran for seven seasons and 154 episodes.

EX MACHINA (2014) marked Alex Garland’s directorial debut. Domhnall Gleeson’s programmer tests an android played by Alicia Vikander at a secluded retreat, where Oscar Isaac’s technology chief controls the experiment.

Audrey Reid made her screen debut in DANCEHALL QUEEN (1997), playing Kingston street vendor and single mother Marcia Green. Rick Elgood and Don Letts direct her transformation into a mysterious dance-contest contender, while a soundtrack featuring Beenie Man and Bounty Killer anchors the film in Jamaica’s dancehall scene.

Jean-Claude Van Damme will star in KATANA, a Japan-set action film written and directed by Jeremy Zag. He plays a former champion forced back into combat after the yakuza take his daughter. Filming is scheduled for April–June 2027 in Japan, France and Los Angeles. Pictured: Van Damme and Bolo Yeung in BLOODSPORT.

STEPPING RAZOR: RED X (1992) draws on Peter Tosh’s autobiographical recordings, made before his murder in 1987. Nicholas Campbell’s documentary combines those tapes with performance footage, interviews with family and friends, and dramatised scenes to explore the musician’s life, spirituality and political challenges to established power.

Keeley Hawes has joined Season 2 of GONE, George Kay’s ITV thriller. She will play Ruth Manning, a paediatric surgeon whose past comes under scrutiny from Eve Myles’s DS Annie Cassidy. The Bristol-set series is produced by Observatory Pictures and New Pictures, with Banijay Rights handling international sales.