Global Bulletin: Will Smith’s Telepool Appoints Jan Frouman as Chief Executive

In today’s Global Bulletin, Telepool finds its new CEO in Jan Frouman, Edinburgh TV Festival recognizes freelance advocate Adeel Amini, Fantasia announces its winners, Spain’s Weird Market goes hybrid and Noah Media Group provides a first look at its upcoming documentary “Finding Jack Charlton.”

HIRING

German licensing, distribution and production company Telepool has appointed Jan Frouman as the company’s new CEO and managing director effective immediately, replacing André Druskeit, who stepped down to pursue other opportunities.

Working out of the company’s Munich offices, Frouman will head development, financing and production activities for the company, as well as overseeing Telepool’s subsidiary companies including Global Screen, video game publisher Wild River Games, EuroVideo Medien and Netleih.

In 2018, Telepool was acquired by Will Smith and Swiss investor Elysian Fields. In 2019, Smith, his wife Jada Pinkett Smith and partners Miguel Melendez and Ko Yada launched Westbrook Studios, where Frouman will also join as a senior advisor.

FESTIVALS

Edinburgh TV Festival has recognized the extraordinary efforts of writer Adeel Amini with the event’s first Industry Champion Award. An outspoken advocate for U.K. freelancers, Amini is organizer of Coalition for Change, a newly-launched initiative backed by the U.K.’s largest broadcasters and industry bodies in which they have pledged to hold quarterly discussions in search of solutions to problems that screen industry freelancers are facing in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amini came in at the top of a poll run by the festival where the entire U.K. screen industry was invited to nominate individuals who have made a significant impact on the sector over the last year.

Prior to Edinburgh, Amini headed the “Time for Action” sessions on YouTube, two roundtables in which freelancers and prominent indies discussed potential solutions to the most immediate issues facing out of work professionals. These sessions built to a centerpiece session held during the fest, “taking the issues to the very top of the chain in the hope of establishing a happier, healthier, and fairer industry for all.”

*****

Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival handed out, in a manner of speaking, prizes for this year’s digital edition on Wednesday night, with top honors going to director Daria Wosjek, her Polish comedy “Marygoround” and its lead actor Grazyna Misiorowska.

Other honors doled out included best screenplay to Brea Grant’s “12 Hour Shift,” best actor to “Chasing Dream” lead Jacky Heung, a jury special mention for Cho Jin-woong’s “Me and Me,” and Tran Thanh Huy’s “Rom” won this year’s best first feature.

According to the festival, more than 85,000 people visited the online event between Aug. 20 and Sept. 2, where more than 100 feature films, 200 shorts and 17 live streamed events were hosted, headlined by a masterclass from legendary filmmaker John Carpenter who was honored with the Cheval Noir Lifetime Achievement Award.

MARKETS

Spain’s Weird Market, formerly 3d Wire, one of the country’s and Spanish-speaking world’s key animation industry get-togethers, will look different this year, electing to go with a hybrid format in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and travel restrictions resulting from it when it runs Oct. 1-4.

Confirmed by director José Luis Farias, the event will feature in-person screenings and meetings at its traditional home in Segovia, while also offering up virtual activities for industry professionals around the world.

The event’s adjoining international short film festival will be held in-person in Segovia, running Sept. 28 to Oct. 4 and adhering to all suggested health and safety guidelines issued by the community of Castilla y Leon, including limited and distanced seating.

FIRST LOOK

Noah Media Group has shared a first look at its upcoming documentary “Finding Jack Charlton,” backed by BBC Two and Virgin Media Television Ireland, cataloging the final 18 months of the English soccer legend’s life.

Fitting into Noah’s successful slate of sports-themed programming which includes “Bobby Robson: More Than a Manager,” “The Edge” and “Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans,” the feature-length documentary is directed by Gabriel Clarke and Pete Thomas.

Charlton is a former World Cup winner who went on to become an Irish soccer legend when he coached Republic of Ireland national team from 1986 to 1996, reaching the World Cup and European Championships. Later in life, Charlton suffered from dementia, and the film promises to detail that previously undocumented part of his story as well, featuring letters and stories shared by his family, including brother Bobby Charlton, himself an English soccer legend.