Miramax Films

Miramax closed multi-picture deals with

• Buena Vista International (BVI) in Australia and Italy and is close to another one with BVI in the UK.
  
• RCV bought everything for Benelux,
  
• Nordisk/Egmont bought a package for Scandinavia, while also closing a separate deal for Kill Bill.
  
• Scanbox bought Tadpole, also for Scandinavia.
  
• Lauren Film took eight films for Spain and likewise did a separate pickup of Kill Bill.
  
• Ascot Elite and Monopole Pathe concluded separate deals for Switzerland,
  
• Amuse bought video and TV title My Name Is Modesty for Japan
  
• Village Roadshow bought 12 pictures for Singapore.

Miramax Films has acquired the Australian and New Zealand distribution rights to "You Can't Stop the Murders," the feature directing debut of Australian comedian Anthony Mir.

"You Can't Stop the Murders" concerns a tiny, neglected town where two constables team up with a big-city detective to solve a string of bizarre murders. Mir also co-wrote and starred in the film.

Sony Pictures Classics

Sony Pictures Classics has picked up North American rights and rights to a number of international territories on the French box-office hit "Winged Migration" (aka "Traveling Birds") from President Films.

Directed by "Microcosmos" producer Jacques Perrin with Jacques Cluzaud and Michel Debats as co-directors, the documentary details the global migration of wild birds.

It follows birds such as geese, pelicans, ducks, eagles, storks and condors that fly thousands of miles, switching climates to survive and, after a season, fly back to their place of origin.

The filmmakers devised ingenious ways to fly alongside their subjects, from ultra-light aircraft to hot-air balloons, with camera rigs modified to deal with air pockets and other occupational hazards.

Filming spanned some 40 countries, including Nepal, Peru, Kenya, Vietnam, India and Libya. Production kicked off in July 1998 in Iceland and wrapped in June 2001.

"Migration" screened out of competition at the Berlin Film Festival and unspooled in the market here.

Sony Pictures Classics, France's TF1 and Sweden's Svensk Filmindustri have teamed to handle worldwide distribution on "Beautiful Country," a drama that will star Nick Nolte and Harvey Keitel. Terrence Malick and Ed Pressman produce.

The picture delves into the consequences of American involvement in the Vietnam war. "Country" will be directed by Hans Petter Moland ("Aberdeen"). Shooting starts in September on location in Southeast Asia as well as the U.S.

Dreamworks

"Millennium Actress", an animated drama handled by distributor Klockworx, has become the first foreign-language animation to be acquired by Dreamworks SKG.

Dreamworks has picked up all rights outside Asia to the film, which won the best animation prize when it premiered at Fant-Asia last July and took the animation award at Sitges, Spain

Millennium Actress, directed by Satoshi Ko, is a sci-fi love story aimed at general audiences with a particular appeal for women. Interviewed by a young journalist, an elderly woman recounts her life and the two travel back in time together.

Dreamworks has not yet finalised its distribution plans for the picture, but Klockworx says that it is hoping for international theatrical release through UIP. Klockworx will itself handle the Japanese distribution in early autumn through a "mini-chain" release.

Deals With The Most Buzz

With two days to go before the close of the 11-day event, here are some of the projects that were being talked about in the French Riviera resort.

• Pop icon Michael Jackson reportedly will play a werewolf in "Wolfed," the first picture from his production company, Neverland Pictures. Jackson has already enlisted Oscar-winning make-up expert Rick Baker, who created the effects for "An American Werewolf in London" and the singer's classic 1984 video for the song "Thriller."
  
• James Bond star Pierce Brosnan plans to star in the romantic comedy "The Laws of Attraction" and the 11th-century epic "Legend of Lochenbar," due to start shooting in autumn and early 2003 respectively. Brosnan will jointly produce both movies.
  Anthony Hopkins is said to be finalizing a deal to play Pope Pious IX in
• FilmFour's "Edgardo Mortara." Spanish actor Javier Bardem is slated to co-star.
  
• Josh Hartnett, of "Pearl Harbor" and "Black Hawk Down" fame, will star in "Wicker Park," an English-language remake of the French film "L'Appartement" which starred Vincent Cassel. Hartnett will also star in the film version of Hunter S. Thompson's "The Rum Diary," with Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro and Nick Nolte.
  
• Michael Keaton is filming the Gulf War drama "Live from Baghdad," adapted from the memoirs of CNN senior executive Robert Weiner, which tells the story of a group of U.S. reporters who stayed in Baghdad to cover the conflict. The film co-stars Helena Bonham-Carter, Lily Taylor and David Suchet.
  
• Brazilian Walter Salles is to direct "The Motorcycle Diaries," a Spanish-language film about Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara, starring hot young Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal.
  
• Ewan McGregor and Christina Ricci are scheduled to start shooting in late September on Irish director Neil Jordan's "Borgia." John Malkovich is reportedly being courted to play the role of Machiavelli in the historical drama.