Israel & Brazil Elections: Deadline International Insider

Good afternoon, newsletter crew. Welcome back to another edition after a week of geopolitical intrigue plus all the usual news ‘n’ deep dives. Read on. And sign up for the full Insider experience here.

Election Double

“What is behind the door?” Two hugely defining elections saw ballots cast on different sides of the world this week, both of which amass tonnes of interest from the global entertainment industry. The Israeli and Brazilian elections could define a generation in their respective nations. In Brazil, the challenger Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair, a close Donald Trump ally who is currently in prison for plotting a coup, lost narrowly to the incumbent Lula, who landed a fourth term. In Israel, votes are now finally counted, but neither side has a majority. Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc does not have the requisite number of seats, while opposition parties have a majority, but to build a coalition would require challenger Gadi Eisenkot to join with Arab parties, which would represent a turning point in Israeli history. Neither Bolsonaro nor Netanyahu are going quietly. From the U.S., where he has just flown to, Bolsanoro insists he is “leader of Brazil,” while Netanyahu has tasked security services with investigating foreign interference in funding for Arab parties. As regular readers know, Israel and Brazil have always punched well above their weight in the TV and film industry. But in Israel at least, creatives have been stymied in recent years by a plethora of measures that have left them squeezed between censorship at home and international boycotts. On the whole, they are desperate for the Netanyahu era to finally end. “It’s like a horror film because I don’t know what is behind the door,” director Tom Shoval told Melanie just before polls opened in this fascinating deep dive, which is well worth your time. U.S mid-terms are coming (just ask Michael Douglas) and this week certainly got us election watchers in the mood.

Tokyo Drift

A week of announcements: To Tokyo, where the first week of this year’s Tokyo Film Festival was shaped by big announcements. At the opening ceremony, Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi pledged to boost exports of Japanese content to $127BN by 2033. Later in the week, Buddy Marini, Amazon MGM Studios’ new head of Japan, said the company has doubled its investment in original Japanese content. The Cannes Marché du Film and Tokyo Film Festival Content Market also revealed they will co-organize the Japan IP Market in Cannes for a second consecutive year, and the Association of Japanese Animations reported that Japan’s anime industry grew by 15.8% to $28.2BN (¥4.45TR) in 2025. So there’s a lot to be happy about in the local market. There will soon even be a new local arthouse distributor in play, thanks to Matt Kelson’s CineYama (pictured above). The ex-Netflix staffer’s interview with Zac is well worth a read. Visitors to the festival this week have included Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences CEO Bill Kramer, who told Deadline that AMPAS will expand the list of festivals that can serve as standalone qualifiers for the International Film Oscar category. Cate Blanchett also joined Shahrbanoo Sadat and Mohammad Rasoulof, two filmmakers who have produced short films under her Displacement Film Fund, for a screening at the festival. Next week, Rasoulof will receive the festival’s Kurosawa award for career achievement before the fest closes on November 4.

The Deadline Interview: Domingo Corral

It came as quite the shock to the international TV and film community when Domingo Corral exited Movistar after more than a decade last year, but Corral isn’t moping. Corral tells Deadline he now sees his production deal with HBO Max as the route to realizing an ambition to make independent TV and film that is both mainstream and premium in quality. “For me, HBO is not just a client; it’s a group of people who share the same vision and very similar sensibilities,” he said. >>>Read The Interview

Global Breakout: ‘Derek vs Derek‘

We took a rare trip to, drum roll, South West England this week to profile a documentary of warring neighbors that is on the rise. Derek vs Derek started life as a doc about rewilding, but became something quite different when EP Adam Wishart realized one of its protagonists had a rival stationed on the farm opposite him. Neatly for the storyline, they were both called Derek. “There aren’t many documentaries about people like them,” BAFTA-nominee Wishart told Deadline. Now, the movie is attracting more and more bums on seats and next month comes a U.S. festival premiere. >>>Read the Breakout

By the Numbers: 65% – proportion of Netflix acquisitions that are not in the English language, per Ampere.

The Essentials

🌶️ Hot One: Bollywood icons Saif Ali Khan and Vidya Balan will star with Mélanie Laurent in The Lunchbox filmmaker Ritesh Batra’s next film Long Years Ago.

🌶️ Another: A24’s fantasy epic Elden Ring will become the biggest-budget movie ever sold at a market next month when it heads to the American Film Market.

🧑‍⚖️ Latest from the courtroom: Russell Brand and his wife Laura gave evidence this week as the presenter’s high-profile London trial draws to a conclusion. All coverage here.

🏪 Setting up shop: Phil Hunt is opening a Head Gear Films U.S. hub, with plans to sink $120M into indie film and TV in year one.

🧩 Puzzle complete: The new Skydance international structure was set by JB Perrette, with Andrew Georgiou exiting.

🍳 What’s cooking, Meghan?: You won’t be seeing her in The Gentlemen (yet) but Meghan Markle is instead to co-host Junior MasterChef Australia.

👏 New gig: Ex-Netflix Germany film chief Sasha Bühler has moved to Prime Video to oversee originals in the nation that brought Maxton Hall to the world.

🤖 Robots are coming: Mayur More and Ashlesha Thakur will star in the first AI-driven feature film from the pact between India’s Abundantia Entertainment and InVideo.

⛺ Festival latest: Kyrgyzstan’s Kassandra will open the Asian World Film Festival in L.A.

🔄 Restructure: John le Carré’s sons Stephen and Simon Cornwell have taken on chairmen roles at their Night Manager indie The Ink Factory.

🍿 Box office: NAZA has now passed the $1M mark in the U.S.

🕯️ RIP: To Patrick Stewart, the iconic Star Trek and X-Men star who passed away aged 86.