AFM Buzz Titles: Seth Rogen, Jason Statham, Hunter Schafer, Shailene Woodley and More Stars Pepper Pics for Sale at Market

The American Film Market returns to Los Angeles and sets up at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel from Nov. 11-16.

Nestled in the heart of the entertainment biz after 2024’s edition in Las Vegas, the AFM hosts buyers, sellers and producers from more than 60 countries. In addition, China, France, Germany, Italy and Thailand are among the countries to set up national umbrella stands featuring sales and production companies.

AMC Century City 15, in the Westfield Century City mall and just a short walk away from the hotel, will host screenings.

Variety looks at a selection of AFM sales titles — featuring stars, animation, comedy and thrills and chills:

Alone Together

Director: Ben Sharrock

Producers: Florian Zeller, Federica Sainte-Rose

Key cast: Callum Turner, Adria Arjona, Amir El-Masry

A British filmmaker faces a life crisis as he visits the Arabian desert for a job but he makes a powerful connection with two people during a freak rainstorm.

Sales: HanWay

The Arrival

Director: Bijan Sheibani

Producers: Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell, Theo Barrowclough (House Prods.), Michael Fassbender, Daniel Emmerson, Conor McCaughan (DMC Film), Nell Green

Key cast: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Archie Madekwe

Drama depicting identity, obsession and betrayal, charting the reunion of two long-lost brothers Raheem (Madekwe) and Tom (Ben-Adir) in adulthood.

Sales: Cornerstone

Babies

Film title: Babies

Director: Lauren Miller Rogen

Producers: Lylas Pictures, Monarch Media, AGC Studios

Producers: Lauren Miller Rogen, Jen W. Ray, Stuart Ford, Steve Barnett

Key cast: Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick

An ensemble comedy drama about the journey to parenthood … or not.

Sales: AGC, CAA Media Finance

Bad Bridgets

Director: Rich Peppiatt

Producers: LuckyChap

Key cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Emilia Jones

Set in the 19th century, the story focuses on two Irish sisters who make a treacherous journey to America to escape an abusive father, poverty and hunger. Once in New York, they join the ranks of Irish so-called “Bridgets” creating mayhem in the city.

Sales: FilmNation (international), WME Independent (U.S.)

Barry & Me

Director: Markus Welter

Producer: Marcel Wolfisberg

Key cast: Paco von Wyss, Mael Galatti, Alma Büchenbacher

On a mountain pass, a boy raises a St. Bernard puppy, but when others threaten to take his beloved dog away, he risks everything to protect their bond.

Sales: The Playmaker Munich

Brave Cat

Director: Gabriel Osorio

Producer: Pato Escala

Mixing stop-motion and CGI 3D, “Brave Cat” tells the story of Kona, a teenage forest cat, who decides to face her fears and search for her missing mother, who was kidnapped by dogs working for humans.

Sales: Indie Sales

Buzzkill

Director: Joe Lynch

Producers: Dane and Cole Eckerle, Jonathan Schwartz and Nick Shumaker (Anonymous Content), Billy Magnussen (HappyBad Bungalow)

Recently widowed and recovering alcoholic Sheriff Red launches an investigation as locals turn up dismembered, discovering that the monster feeds on the blood alcohol content of its victims.

Key cast: Billy Magnussen, Lulu Wilson

Sales: The Veterans (international territories), AC Independent, UTA Independent Film Group (U.S.)

Everybody Wants to F*ck Me

Director: Jonathan Schey

Producers: Studiocanal, Film4, Parkville Pictures, LuckyChap

Key cast: Taron Egerton, Jessica Henwick

A razor-sharp wild and original dark comedy thriller now shooting on locations across London.

Sales: Studiocanal

Father Joe

Director: Barthélémy Grossmann

Producers: LB Production, EuropaCorp

Key cast: Kiefer Sutherland, Al Pacino, Ever Anderson

Action thriller sees Sutherland as a man of faith who wages a violent war against the city’s criminal underworld. Pacino plays a powerful mob boss whose empire collides with Father Joe’s crusade.

Sales: Kinology

Fish

Director: Carlo Hintermann

Key cast: Tim Roth, Hunter Schafer

Producers: Indiana Production, Citrullo Intl.

In this genre-bending drama — now in pre-production — art history professor Fish Osborne discovers that he is turning into a fish, and his students begin to discover they too are mutating—physically, emotionally, or spiritually—as part of a greater evolution.

Sales: Minerva Pictures, TVCO

Halloween vs. Day of the Dead

Director: Celso García

Producers: Thorsten Wegener, Celso García, Gerry Cardoso

Animated feature of a boy from Halloween Ville who visits Day of the Dead Town to see his late grandfather, uncovering a magical adventure that could unite rival towns and save their beloved holidays.

Sales: Studio 100

Heartless

Director: Camille Delamare

Producers: Dean Altit, Richard Alan Reid

Key cast: Jeanne Goursaud, Colin Morgan

When her son’s transplanted heart is stolen during a hospital blackout, a former MMA fighter must use her skills and hacker husband to hunt a deadly organ-trafficking ring and save her son’s life.

Sales: K5 Intl.

Hello Betty

Director: Pierre Monnard

Producer: Peter Reichenbach

Key cast: Sarah Spale

The true story of Emmi Creola, the advertising pioneer who created the Swiss culinary icon Betty Bossi in 1956, much like Betty Crocker in the U.S., a fictional figure who became a household name.

Sales: Picture Tree Intl.

Ink

Director: Danny Boyle

Producers: Media Res, House Prods.

Key cast: Guy Pearce, Jack O’Connell, Claire Foy

An explosive cinematic rollercoaster about the rise of the Rupert Murdoch media empire.

Sales: Studiocanal

Life Is Life

Director: Riccardo Milani

Producers: Our Films, Wildside, PiperFilm, Medusa Film

Key cast: Diego Abatantuono, Aldo Baglio, Virginia Raffaele

This Italian box office hit follows the story of Efisio Mulas, a solitary shepherd and custodian of times seemingly long past, as he defends his land from Giacomo, a developer determined to turn it into a luxury resort.

Sales: PiperFilm

Love Language

Director: Joey Power

Producers: Bert Hamelinck and Allison Hironaka (Caviar), Ari Lubet (3 Arts Entertainment), Colin Jost and Jeff Grosvenor (No Notes Prods.)

Key cast: Chloë Grace Moretz, Anthony Ramos, Manny Jacinto, Isabel May, Lukas Gage, Billie Lourd

Following a failed engagement, a women discovers she has a talent for writing other people’s wedding vows. But everything changes when she’s asked to write vows for Olivia, who’s marrying Lou’s old college flame.

Sales: Protagonist

The Mark

Director: Justin Chadwick

Producers: Jessica Alba (Lady Metalmark Entertainment), Arianne Fraser, Delphine Perrier, Henry Winterstern (Highland Film Group), Kia Jam (K. Jam Media), Kosaku Yada (Westbrook Studios), Tracey Vieira (Hoodlum), Peter Jákl

Key cast: Jessica Alba, Tom Hopper, Angus Sampson

Thriller sees spy Eden on a covert and dangerous mission, who pulls single father Ben into her world of high-stakes espionage.

Sales: Highland Film Group

Moses the Black

Director: Yelena Popovic

Producers: Alexandros Potter and Popovic for Simeon Faith. Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and G-Unit Film and Television exec producing, alongside Wiz Khalifa for Taylor Gang Films, Omar Epps for BrooklynWorks Films.

Key cast: Omar Epps, Wiz Khalifa, Quavo, Chukwudi Iwuji

The story of gangster in modern day Chicago who is inspired by the repentance story of the fifth-century saint of the same name.

Sales: Stoic

Only What We Carry

Director: Jamie Adams

Producers: Charles Benoin, Liam Hellmann, Jouri Smit at Atlas Pictures and Easy of the Eye

Key cast: Simon Pegg, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Liam Hellmann, Sofia Boutella, Quentin Tarantino

A once-formidable instructor (Pegg) must face his former student (Boutella) who returns home to face the ghosts of her past.

Sales: International Film Trust

Reenactment

Director: Grant Singer

Producers: Molly Smith, Trent Luckinbill and Thad Luckinbill (Black Label), Patrick Wachsberger (193)

Stars: Benicio del Toro, Cameron Diaz

Plot is being kept under wraps.

Sales: 193

Queen of the Falls

Directors: Rania Attieh, Daniel Garcia

Producers: Mollye Asher, Shruti Ganguly

Key cast: Pamela Anderson, Guy Pearce

On the run and in love, a roadkill cleaner (Anderson) and a fugitive (Pearce) race toward Niagara Falls, chased by the law and haunted by the past.

Sales: Global Constellation

Ultra

Director: Victoria Negri

Producers: Allison Rose Carter, Jon Read (Savage Rose Films), Iris Torres

Key cast: Shailene Woodley

Following the tragic death of her twin sister, Eve (Shailene Woodley) enters into the most intense athletic endeavour on the planet: the Badwater 135 Ultramarathon, a 135-mile race through Death Valley. As Eve takes on the unforgiving elements and intense physical and psychological strain of the race, she finds herself pursued by an unknown runner in white, consistently closing the gap between them as they surge through the desert. Trying to outrun the ominous presence, Eve will face the darkest parts of herself and uncover what she is made of.

Sales: Mister Smith Entertainment (international), WME Independent (North America)

The Vile

Producers: Image Nation Abu Dhabi, Rami Yasin (Spooky Pictures), Mohamed Hefzy

Director: Majid Al Ansari

Key cast: Bdoor Mohammed, Sarah Taibah, Eman Tarik

A devoted wife and mother’s life starts to unravel when her husband returns home with a second wife.

Sales: AGC Intl.

Viva La Madness

Director: Guy Ritchie

Producer: Jason Statham, Thomas Benski, Toff Guy Films, Black Bear

Key cast: Jason Statham

Plot being kept under wraps.

Sales: Black Bear