US Briefs: Fire At Sea to screen at Morelia's Berlinale Spotlight 

Gianfranco Rosi’s Golden Bear winner Fire At Sea will screen under the umbrella of Berlinale Spotlight at the 14th Morelia International Film Festival in Mexico next month.

The initiative is part of a dedicated programme backed by the support of the Goethe-Institut that marks the Year Of Germany In Mexico 2016/2017,

The jointly curated selection includes films from all sections of this year’s Berlinale such as Mia Hansen-Løve’s Things To Come and Mahmoud Sabbagh’s Barakah Meets Barakah.

Programming covers a retrospective of filmmaker and actor Reinhold Schünzel, who directed Viktor Und Viktoria in 1933 before he emigrated to the US in 1937, and selections by special guest Sebastian Schipper

Morelia runs from October 21-30. Click here for full details.

• Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired North American rights from UTA Independent Film Group to Tribeca selection Nerdland and will screen at this weekend’s Beyond Fest this weekend when Patton Oswalt, director Chris Prynoski, and writer-producer Andrew Kevin Walker will take part in a Q&A.
• BOND/360 has picked up US rights to Shimon Dotan’s Israeli settlers documentary The Settlers, which premiered at Sundance and heads to the New York Film Festival later this month. The film will open theatrically in spring.
• The Academy has selected four individuals and one writing team as winners of the 2016 Academy Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting competition. Fellows will each receive a $35,000 prize and the winners are: Michele Atkins, Spencer Harvey and Lloyd Harvey, Geeta Malik, Elizabeth Oyebode, and Justin Piasecki.
• Lion will open the Middleburg Film Festival, set to run in from Spotlight selections include Moonlight, Manchester By The Sea and The Edge Of Seventeen.  Henry Jackman will receive the 2016 Distinguished Film Composer awards. As previously announced, the centrepiece selection is La La Land. The festival runs from October 20-23 in Virginia.