Foundation salutes TV execs

It takes a lot to get any kid through college, let alone those in schools with high dropout rates. Since 1987, the I Have a Dream Foundation -- Los Angeles has "adopted" nearly 1,000 students in underprivileged schools, providing them with mentoring and tutoring programs from third to 12th grade and scholarship coin after graduation. On Sunday, the org will salute DreamWorks TV toppers Justin Falvey and Darryl Frank and ABC drama development exec Channing Dungey with its Dream Keeper Award for their support of its work. "Private Practice" star Amy Brenneman will emcee the 14th annual Dreamers Brunch at the Skirball Cultural Center. Contact Shalini Dore at shali.dore@variety.com

Salma Hayek Makes A Prophet

Producing Kahlil Gibran adaptationIt was first published in 1923 and remains one of the best-selling books of all time, so it seems extraordinary that nobody has attempted a film adaptation of Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet before. That's about to change, in an ambitious project being shepherded by Salma Hayek and producers Clark Peterson and Ron Senkowski.Gibran's book is a long-form poem (written in English, although Gibran generally wrote in Arabic), the narrative of which sees the prophet Al-Nabi about to embark on an ocean voyage, but waylayed on his way to the docks by a succession of people who prompt him into discussions of life, the universe and everything. It's a "spiritual classic", but adaptable to all faiths, whether deeply or casually held, since it doesn't adhere to any specific religion.As a film, the plan is an animated anthology delivered by multiple directors. Among the contributers are Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis), Tomm Moore (The Secret Of Kells), Nina Paley (Sita Sings The Blues), Joan Gratz (Mona Lisa Descending A Staircase), Mohammed Saeed Harib (Freej) and Bill Plympton (Guard Dog). Each will take a chapter, and the linking story will be courtesy of Roger Allers (The Lion King)."The Prophet has been an incredible source of wisdom and inspiration for millions of people all over the world," says Hayek. "Being of Lebanese descent, I'm particularly proud to be part of a project that will present this masterpiece to new generations, in a way never seen before."Harib says "It's an immense honor to be able to translate the works of one of the Arab world's most cherished writers into the visual realm. I am thrilled to be amongst such esteemed animation directors assigned to bring The Prophet to the big screen and to the 21st century."Pre-production begins later this month.

New Wrath Of The Titans trailer arrives

Wrath Of The Titans has released a new trailer giving audiences a closer look at some of the terrible Titans Sam Worthington's Perseus will be squaring off against, and it has to be said they look bigger and more fearsome than ever.The new teaser outlines the same plot points we saw in earlier teasers (Liam Neeson's Zeus informing Perseus that the Titans have broken free and Ralph Fiennes' Hades revelling in the ensuing mayhem), with a few added shots of the Titans in action.Take a look at the new trailer below, and revel in a whirlwind of CGI bluster... From the latest footage, we'd say that the flame-bodied Kronos looks the most impressive of the Titans, with the scene in which Perseus rides Pegasus into battle against him sure to be a standout.The two-headed Chimera also looks pretty badass, although we're not sure about Perseus' plan to use a wooden shield to protect himself against its fiery breath!Wrath Of The Titans opens in the UK on 30 March 2012. Winged horses wouldn't keep us away...

Adopt Films Acquires Silver Bear Winner Barbara: Berlin

Adopt Films is continuing its spending spree at the Berlin International Film Festival, landing U.S. rights to Christian Petzold’s drama Barbarajust before the film won the runner-up Silver Bear at the festival’s awards ceremony yesterday. The latest deal, announced today, comes after Adopt picked up the festival’s eventual Golden Bear winner, Paolo and Vittorio Tavianis semi-documentary Caesar Must Die. The distributor also nabbed rights in Berlin toUrsula Meiers Sister. Adopt plansa December theatrical release for Barbara– which is set in 1980 East Berlin and stars Nina Hoss as a doctor banished to a small country hospital far from freedom in the west — and said it will mount an Oscar campaign for Petzold and his lead actors. If so, it’s an aggressive move from Jeff Lipsky and Tim Grady’s Adopt, which hasn’t released its first film yet; its kickoff pic, The Ballad Of Genesis And Lady Jaye, bows March 8.

Watch two new clips from John Carter

Two new clips from Disney's sci-fi epic John Carter are for sale to watch online.The very first shows Martian princess Dejah Thoris (the gorgeous and scantily-clad Lynn Collins) telling John Carter (the handsome and scantily clad Taylor Kitsch) about his new location within the universe.[brightcove]1459036798001[/brightcove]The 2nd sees the happy couple running lower a martian canyon using a rickety boat (not everything on Mars is high-tech), like a swarm of ugly beasties (and Mark Strong) look on menacingly.[brightcove]1459036799001[/brightcove]The Edgar Grain Burroughs tales the film continues to be modified from are stated to possess inspired from The Exorcist to Avatar.Discover it the film lives as much as any one of individuals movies when it is launched within the United kingdom on 9 March 2012.

Celestial Tiger sets China VOD deals

Lionsgate and Saban Capital's new China venture Celestial Tiger Entertainment has inked content deals with local VOD platforms for film and TV content including "Mad Men," "Reservoir Dogs" and "Monster's Ball." Pacts announced Friday with iQIYI, Sohu, YOU on Demand and Youku will help CTE penetrate China's fast-growing VOD market and, said Wendy Reeds, CTE's exec VP for content sales and distribution, is "just a first step" for CTE. The partnership was created earlier this year by Lionsgate, Saban and Celestial Pictures to launch branded pay TV channels and to distribute content in Asia. CTE is the exclusive sales agent for all of Lionsgate's content in greater China and Southeast Asia. This deal also includes director David Lynch's sci-fi classic "Dune" and action franchise "Crank." IQIYI is an independent online video company founded by top Chinese search engine Baidu and Providence Equity. Sohu.com is a leading Internet company, and YOU on Demand is a major pay-per-view platform. Youku is an online video site featuring user-generated, self-produced and licensed content from more than 1,500 content partners. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

Weighty styles, fest veterinarians fill choices

'Sexy Sadie' helmer Matthias Glasner explores family tensions inside a remote Norwegian town in 'Mercy.'Though he's endured lots of critique of his programming options recently, especially in the German press, Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick seems to possess made couple of major course changes using the festival's 62nd annual edition. Contrary, the amount of Berlin alumni within this year's typically serious-minded competition selection indicates a deliberate, otherwise defiant, reaffirmation from the talent Kosslick has introduced towards the festival over his 11-year tenure.Three Berlinale regulars will deliver a powerful showing for Germany on its home turf. Christian Petzold ("Yella," last year's "Dreileben: Beats Being Dead") is coming back with "Barbara," his latest collaboration with "Yella" thesp Nina Hoss Hendes-Christian Schmid ("Distant Lights," "Requiem," "Storm") is getting his domestic drama "Home for that Weekend" and Matthias Glasner ("Die Mediocren," "Sexy Sadie," "The FreedomInch) explores family tensions inside a remote Norwegian town in "Whim."The roster of non-Teuton alums competing for that Golden Bear is every bit imposing. Though also known recently for stirring debate at Cannes, Filipino helmer Brillante Mendoza (whose "Slingshot" opened in Berlinale's 2008 Forum section) will deliver among the fest's most buzzed-about records, "Captive," a kidnapping drama starring Isabelle Huppert. Italy's Taviani siblings ("The Lark Farm") come in attendance with "Caesar Must Die," focused on a Shakespeare production mounted by maximum-security prison inmates in Rome, while Benedik Fliegauf ("Forest") makes his competition debut with "Only the Wind," a free account inspired through the killings of Romani families within the helmer's native Hungary.Coming back towards the festival that honored him having a Golden Bear for 2006's "Tuya's Marriage," Wang Quanan is in competition with "Whitened Deer Plain," a 188-minute Chinese epic concerning the Cultural Revolution. From competition, Wang's fellow mainlander Zhang Yimou (a frequent Berlin customer with your films as "Hero," "A Lady, a Gun along with a Noodle Shop," "Hero" and 1987 Golden Bear champion "Red-colored Sorghum") will premiere his local B.O. smash "The Flowers of War," concerning the 1937-38 Nanjing massacre.Overall, it is a fairly bleak-sounding selection according to subject material alone. It's componen for that course for many festivals and definitely for Berlin, that has never shied from challenging its audience (easily the biggest associated with a fest, with nearly 400 films screening to roughly 500,000 participants) with harsh, confrontational and politically billed fare.Partially from aesthetic pride, partially because of the growing impossibility of rivaling Cannes and Venice for auteur prestige or Hollywood luster, Berlin has frequently secured its status around the commitment of challenging but rewarding work from lesser-known worldwide filmmakers, for example Maren Ade's "Everybody Else" or Ulrich Koehler's "Sleeping Sickness." This season it'll make an effort to keep that advertise with your competition debutantes as Ursula Meier ("Sister"), Miguel Gomes ("Tabu"), Frederic Videau ("Returning HomeInch), Antonio Chavarrias ("Childish Games"), mono-monikered Edwin ("Postcards In the Zoo") and Kim Nguyen ("War Witch").Nevertheless, Kosslick arranged a splashy begin with the festival's opening-evening selection, "Farewell, My Full," a French Revolution costume drama starring Diane Kruger as Marie Antoinette. Helmer Benoit Jacquot's pic is just one of two monarchy-designed historic dramas competing, both occur roughly exactly the same era another is Nikolaj Arcel's "A Royal Affair," the storyline of the small-town physician who rose to energy in 16th-century Denmark.A really different period piece, and among the fest's greatest-profile choices, is Billy Bob Thornton's "Jayne Mansfield's Vehicle," an account of two rival families occur late-sixties Alabama that unexpectedly happens to function as the sole American-directed entry competing. The U.S./Hollywood presence is more powerful within the festival's noncompeting strands, that will present tests of Steven Soderbergh's "Haywire," Jason Reitman's "Youthful Adult" and Angelina Jolie's "Within the Land of Bloodstream and Honey."As always, the Berlinale will function as a European platform for Oscar challengers which have already performed Stateside, though when it comes to critical and commercial reception, picking a "Very Noisy & Incredibly Close" and "The Iron Lady" reps a substantial recession from last year's sterling options, "True Grit" and "The King's Speech." For red-colored-carpet wattage alone, the festival's most popular ticket may be Taylor Lautner starrer "Bel Ami," Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod's adaptation of Guy p Maupassant's oft-shot novel.Striking less frivolous notes would be the numerous documentaries designed through the fest's sidebars. Past Berlin jury leader Werner Herzog will show "Dying Row," a four-part, 188-minute companion-piece to his recent "In to the Abyss" within the Berlinale Special section. Portraits of artists abound, from such world premieres as Kevin Macdonald's "Marley" and Klaartje Quirijns' "Anton Corbijn ThoroughlyInch to Sundance-preemed game titles including Matthew Akers' "Marina Abramovic the Artist ExistsInch and Alison Klayman's "Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry."Roughly per month prior to the one-year anniversary of Japan's earthquake/tsunami disaster, the Forum will show three nonfiction efforts analyzing the fallout from the disaster: Shunji Iwai's "Buddies After 3.11," Toshi Fujiwara's "No Man's Zone" and Atsushi Funahashi's "Nuclear Nation." It is the kind of sober, topical programming that is appropriate for a festival clearly trying difficult to be studied seriously whether the standard lives as much as the promise, just the next ten days approximately will inform. Contact Justin Chang at justin.chang@variety.com