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RiverRun to close with David Gordon Green's 'Manglehorn'
2 hours ago
17th edition of festival to open with Quentin Dupieux’s Reality and Sacha Jenkins’ Fresh Dressed.
RiverRun International Film Festival has unveiled the full lineup for its 17th edition, expanding from 10 to 11 days and running April 16-26.
The festival will open with Quentin Dupieux’s Reality and Sacha Jenkins’ hip-hop and fashion documentary Fresh Dressed, while David Gordon Green’s Manglehorn will close this year’s edition.
Overall, the festival will screen 165 films, 74 of which are features, from 35 countries.
Its narrative competition will screen 10 films, including Jessica Hausner’s Amour Fou, Keith Miller’s Five Star and Naomi Kawase’s Still the Water, while Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Look of Silence and Nick Broomfield’s Tales of the Grim Sleeper are among the 10 films screening in the documentary competition.
Along with its openiing and closing films, RiverRun will host special presentations of Benoit Jacquot’s 3 Hearts, Anne Fontaine’s Gemma Bovery and John Maclean’s Slow West, among »
- ian.sandwell@screendaily.com (Ian Sandwell)
'Gunned Down' starts London shoot
5 hours ago
Exclusive: Mark McQueen’s heist thriller is continuing its five-week shoot in London after wrapping on location filming in Marbella, Spain.
Gunned Down has started shooting in London after wrapping its location filming in Marbella, Spain.
Impact Entertainment’s action heist thriller is directed by Mark McQueen and stars Craig Fairbrass, James Cosmo, Steven Berkoff, Nick Moran and Mem Ferda.
Worldwide sales (excluding the UK) are being handled by Cinema Management Group, who will commence sales in Cannes with a promo reel for buyers.
Producer Luke Fairbrass commented: “It’s a very powerful and hard hitting revenge thriller with that perfect blend of gripping action, realistic violence and powerful drama delivering what international buyers and genre fans the world over are after.”
Co-written by Craig Fairbrass, Gunned Down centres on a career criminal who is battling to discover the truth behind his father’s murder and his stolen heist money, while being pursued »
- ian.sandwell@screendaily.com (Ian Sandwell)
Richard Gere to be honoured at San Francisco
5 hours ago
Actor will receive the Peter J. Owens Award for excellence in acting at upcoming festival.
Richard Gere will be the recipient of this year’s Peter J. Owens Award for excellence in acting at the San Francisco International Film Festival.
The award will be presented at the Film Society Awards Night on April 27, where the recipients of the Irving M. Levin Directing Award, the Kanbar Award for excellence in storytelling and the George Gund III Craft of Cinema Award will also be honoured.
Gere will be publicly honoured at An Evening with Richard Gere on the previous day [April 26] which will include an onstage interview and will be followed by a screening of his latest film, Oren Moverman’s Time Out of Mind.
San Francisco Film Society executive director Noah Cowan commented: “Richard Gere is one of cinema’s few unmistakable icons, a powerful connection to the heart of Hollywood history. But when we »
- ian.sandwell@screendaily.com (Ian Sandwell)
Focus Features acquires Us rights to 'Suffragette'
5 hours ago
Sarah Gavron’s drama is set for a Fall 2015 release; Focus also acquired distribution rights for Latin America, India, South Korea and most of Eastern Europe.
Focus Features has acquired North American distribution rights from Pathé for Suffragette.
Sarah Gavron’s drama stars Carey Mulligan, Helena Bonham Carter, Ben Whishaw, Anne-Marie Duff, Brendan Gleeson and Meryl Streep.
Focus has also acquired the distribution rights for Latin America, India, South Korea and most of Eastern Europe, including Russia. Universal Pictures International will release the film in those territories.
The deal was negotiated by Focus Features’ Beth Lemberger, executive vice president, Business Affairs, and Lia Buman, president of acquisitions, with Cameron McCracken, managing director, Pathé Productions, and Muriel Sauzay, head of sales, Pathé International.
Produced by Ruby Films’ Alison Owen and Faye Ward, Suffragette is inspired by the early 20th century campaign for the right of women to vote and centres on Maud (Mulligan), a working wife and mother »
- ian.sandwell@screendaily.com (Ian Sandwell)
Film funders warn against copyright changes
11 hours ago
European film funders warn EU from making “big bang” policy changes to copyright, authors call for fair remuneration
European film funders from 31 countries including the UK’s BFI, Germany’s Ffa and France’s Cnc have warned the European Union (EU) to avoid making any “big bang” policy changes to copyright rules.
The Association of the European Film Agency Directors (EFADs) issued a resolution today (March 17) declaring that it considered the current EU copyright framework to be “fit for purpose” as “it provides a strong basis for current business models to evolve in response to people’s changing preferences as to how they access films and other audiovisual works.”
The film agency directors suggested that “the priority of the EU should be the establishment of a level playing field ensuring equel treatment between all operators, a commitment to economic sustainability and engagement in the creation of local works.”
However, they stressed that “improving online cross-border access to European »
- screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
Mikkelsen, Gråbøl reunite on 'The Day Will Come'
12 hours ago
Shoot begins in Denmark on $4.4m film which reunites the stars and creator of The Killing.
After several international assignments, Danish actors Lars Mikkelsen and Sofie Gråbøl return home to star in Zentropa’s $4.4m drama, The Day Will Come.
Shooting will continue for a total of nine weeks in Denmark.
Danish director Jesper W Nielsen, who last made Norwegian film Through a Glass, Darkly in 2009 and since has worked on television series such as Borgen, will shoot the script by Danish screenwriter Søren Sveistrup (The Killing).
After performing in BBC’s Sherlock, Netflix’s House of Cards (as the Russian president) and Nordisk Film’s European series The Team, Mikkelsen will renuite with Gråbøl, who has been in Sky Atlantic’s Fortitude and played Scottish Queen Margaret in James III on stage in Edinburgh and London.
The pair previously starred together in the first season of The Killing in 2007.
The Day Will Come is set in »
- jornrossing@aol.com (Jorn Rossing Jensen)
Signature signs six including 'Dear White People'
14 hours ago
Exclusive: Deals include The Trust and Dear White People.
UK distributor Signature Entertainment has added six titles to add to its slate for 2015, including action-thriller The Trust, starring Nicolas Cage and Elijah Wood, and Sundance 2014 comedy Dear White People.
Violent crime-caper The Trust, about two corrupt cops, was acquired from Highland Film Group.
Dear White People, about a group of African American students navigating campus life and racial politics at a predominantly white college, was acquired from The Exchange.
Also new to the slate is supernatural thriller Daughter of God from Fortitude International, starring Keanu Reeves as a detective investigating his partner’s mysterious death, and from 6 Sales and Moonrise Pictures, the Morgan Freeman, Olga Kurylenko and James Purefoy action-thriller Momentum, about a ruthless femme fatale on the run from a deadly assassin squad.
Rounding out the new acquisitions are Damascus Cover from Carnaby International, in which Jonathan Rhys Meyers stars alongside John Hurt and Olivia Thirlby, in the »
- andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
China's Huayi Brothers set to sign with Us firm
14 hours ago
China’s Huayi Brothers is planning to sign an 18-picture, three-year deal with an unnamed Us company, according to a filing with the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
Without naming the company, the filing says that Huayi Brothers’ Us division will co-finance, produce and distribute 18 films over the three years of the deal. The Us division was established in Los Angeles last year with financing of $130m.
Huayi Brothers will retain Greater China rights to the slate in addition to a share of global revenues.
“This is not only a step for Huayi Brothers’ internationalisation, but also the internationalisation of all Chinese film companies,” the filing said.
It’s understood that the Us partner is not one of the six major Us studios or indie powerhouse Im Global, which handles international distribution of Huayi Brothers titles.
Huayi Brothers has previously worked with Sony, Relativity Media and Qed International and was in talks to finance Jeff Robinov’s Studio 8 before »
- lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
Alchemy boards marijuana doc 'Rolling Papers'
16 March 2015 4:44 PM, PDT
Company acquires worldwide rights to Mitch Dickman’s SXSW world premiere, marking their second deal of the day at the festival.
Alchemy has acquired worldwide rights to Rolling Papers.
Mitch Dickman’s documentary about the legalisation of marijuana received its world premiere at SXSW yesterday [March 15].
The deal was negotiated by Alchemy vp of acquisitions Jeff Deutchman with Zac Bright and Kevin Iwashina of Preferred Content, CAA and Richard Turner of Artioti Media Consulting on behalf of the filmmakers.
It marks the second acquisition of the festival for the company, following their North American pick-up of Moonwalkers.
Alchemy CEO Bill Lee, who made the announcement, commented: “Rolling Papers is a must-see documentary about how the media and society deal with the rapid cultural shift to marijuana legalisation. The film couldn’t be more timely and we look forward to bringing it to a worldwide audience.”
Produced by Britta Erickson, Daniel Junge, Karl Kister, [link »
- ian.sandwell@screendaily.com (Ian Sandwell)
Alchemy boards marijuana documentary 'Rolling Papers'
16 March 2015 4:44 PM, PDT
Company acquires worldwide rights to Mitch Dickman’s SXSW world premiere, marking their second deal of the day at the festival.
Alchemy has acquired worldwide rights to Rolling Papers.
Mitch Dickman’s documentary about the legalisation of marijuana received its world premiere at SXSW yesterday [March 15].
The deal was negotiated by Alchemy vp of acquisitions Jeff Deutchman with Zac Bright and Kevin Iwashina of Preferred Content, CAA and Richard Turner of Artioti Media Consulting on behalf of the filmmakers.
It marks the second acquisition of the festival for the company, following their North American pick-up of Moonwalkers.
Alchemy CEO Bill Lee, who made the announcement, commented: “Rolling Papers is a must-see documentary about how the media and society deal with the rapid cultural shift to marijuana legalisation. The film couldn’t be more timely and we look forward to bringing it to a worldwide audience.”
Produced by Britta Erickson, Daniel Junge, Karl Kister, [link »
- ian.sandwell@screendaily.com (Ian Sandwell)
Teresa Palmer to star in 'Welcome to Willits' adaptation
16 March 2015 3:27 PM, PDT
Warm Bodies and Knight of Cups star will play the female lead in feature adaptation of horror sci-fi short, which premiered at SXSW.
Teresa Palmer will star in the feature adaptation of short Welcome to Willits: After Sundown.
The Warm Bodies and Knight of Cups star will play the female lead in the horror sci-fi, which follows a group of young campers who get lost in the woods near Willits, California and come across a man obsessed with aliens.
Trevor Ryan will direct the feature based on his own short, which he also wrote with his brother Tim Ryan.
The short premiered at SXSW in the festival’s Midnight Shorts competition.
Mark Webber, who is married to Palmer, will reprise his role from the short as the alien-obsessed man, while Palmer will play his niece. »
- ian.sandwell@screendaily.com (Ian Sandwell)
Shoot begins on 'Unless'
16 March 2015 2:59 PM, PDT
Film is based on the final novel from Canadian author Carol Shields and stars Catherine Keener.
Principal photography has commenced on Unless in Toronto.
Based on the award-winning and final novel from Canadian author Carol Shields, the film stars Catherine Keener and was adapted for the screen by Alan Gilsenan, who will also direct.
Unless is a Canada-Ireland co-production, produced by Jennifer Kawaja and Julia Sereny of Sienna Films and Tristan Orpen Lynch and Aoife O’Sullivan of Subotica.
Gilsenan commented: “Carol Shields’ Unless is her surprising, moving and angry swan-song, a book both for our time and very much of our time. It is a real honour and delight to be finally bringing it to the cinema screen with such an extraordinary cast.”
Matt Craven, Hannah Gross, Chloe Rose, Abigail Winter, Martha Henry and Hanna Schygulla also star.
Unless centres on writer and translator Reta Winters (Keener) whose life is rocked when her eldest daugher Norah (Gross »
- ian.sandwell@screendaily.com (Ian Sandwell)
Paramount to distribute 'Captive' worldwide
16 March 2015 2:48 PM, PDT
Jerry Jameson’s adaptation stars David Oyelowo and Kate Mara.
Paramount Pictures has acquired worldwide distribution rights to Captive.
Directed by Jerry Jameson, the film stars David Oyelowo and Kate Mara and is based on the book Unlikely Angel: The Untold Story of the Atlantic Hostage Hero by Ashley Smith with Stacy Mattingly. Brian Bird wrote the screenplay.
The studio will release the film on Sept 18, 2015.
Captive was produced by Terry Botwick, Jerry Jameson, David Oyelowo and Ken Wales in addition to Bn Films’ Alex Garcia, Lucas Akoskin and Katrina Wolfe. It was executive produced by Santiago Garcia Galvan, Bn’s Jonathan Gray, Elliott Lester, Ralph Winter and Bird.
Oyelowo commented: “I was drawn to this story because it beautifully illustrates how a broken spirit can be healed by an unexpected source of hope. I feel blessed to be continuing my very fruitful relationship with Paramount.”
Captive tells the true story of Ashley Smith, a single »
- ian.sandwell@screendaily.com (Ian Sandwell)
Mark Gordon, eOne partner on 'All the Old Knives'
16 March 2015 2:34 PM, PDT
Spy thriller is the first project from the companies’ recently launched independent studio.
The Mark Gordon Company and Entertainment One (eOne) are partnering on All the Old Knives.
Divergent’s Neil Burger is attached to direct the spy thriller, the first project from the companies’ recently launched independent studio which matches The Mark Gordon Company’s creative and production work with eOne’s global distribution and financing infrastructure.
Olen Steinhauer adapted the screenplay from his novel of the same name which sees two ex-lovers - one CIA spy and one ex-cia spy - meet up for a dinner that one of them may not survive.
Principal photography is expected to commence by the end of 2015.
The film will be produced by Nick Wechsler with Chockstone Pictures partners Steve Schwartz and Paula Mae Schwartz, along with Chockstone’s Roger Schwartz who will serve as a co-producer.
Mark Gordon, CEO, The Mark Gordon Company, commented: “Our independent »
- ian.sandwell@screendaily.com (Ian Sandwell)
Marc Evans promoted at Paramount
16 March 2015 2:09 PM, PDT
12-year veteran of the studio has been named as the replacement for Adam Goodman, who was let go earlier this month.
Marc Evans has been named president of Paramount’s Motion Picture Group.
The announcement was made today [March 16] by Brad Grey, chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures. Evans replaces Adam Goodman, who was let go earlier this month.
Evans has served as president of production since 2010 and has worked at the studio for 12 years. He assumes the position immediately and will report to Grey.
Grey commented: “Having evaluated the potential candidates for this role, it quickly became clear that Marc was the most qualified and that he has truly earned this position. He has immense talents, a strong creative vision, deep integrity and an unrivaled work ethic.”
He continued: “We take great pride in the fact that Marc has professionally grown up at Paramount, that he has overseen production of so many wonderful pictures here, and that he »
- ian.sandwell@screendaily.com (Ian Sandwell)
Emma Thompson, Kevin Kline join 'Beauty and the Beast'
16 March 2015 11:48 AM, PDT
Disney’s live-action remake will be released in 3D on March 17, 2017.
Emma Thompson and Kevin Kline have joined the cast of Beauty and the Beast.
Disney will release the live-action remake in 3D on March 17, 2017.
Thompson will play Mrs. Potts and Kline will play Belle’s father, Maurice. They join the already-cast Emma Watson (Belle), Dan Stevens (Beast/Prince) and Luke Evans (Gaston).
Production begins in May at Shepperton Studios in London.
Alan Menken, who won two Academy Awards for the 1991 animated version, will score the film, which will feature new recordings of the original songs in addition to several new songs written by Menken and Sir Tim Rice.
Bill Condon will direct from a script by Stephen Chbosky, and the film will be produced by Mandeville Films’ David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman.
Disney’s latest live-action remake of one of their beloved animations, Cinderella, debuted this weekend to $130m worldwide. »
- ian.sandwell@screendaily.com (Ian Sandwell)
Korea's Lotte launches $35m film fund
16 March 2015 9:43 AM, PDT
Fund forms part of a creative innovation drive in Busan.
Korean conglomerate Lotte Group, parent to major film investor/distributor Lotte Entertainment and exhibitor Lotte Cinema, is set to create a $35m (KW40bn) fund for films and visual content.
South Korea’s president Park Geun-hye announced the fund today (March 16) as part of a creative innovation drive in Busan.
Often regionally identified with the professional baseball team that it owns – Busan-based Lotte Giants, the Korean family-run conglomerate is headquartered in Seoul and Tokyo. Its businesses include confectioneries, electronics, department stores, hotels, discount retailers, fast food restaurants and construction.
Lotte Group is set to contribute half the fund with Busan Bank and Busan City making up the other half.
Park said the fund will support “all stages from content planning to production, investment, distribution and exhibition, and sharply expand screening opportunities through specialized screening spaces in order to make the dreams of creative film industry people and creators »
- hjnoh2007@gmail.com (Jean Noh)
Lionsgate takes 'Eddie the Eagle' for UK
16 March 2015 9:19 AM, PDT
UK deal struck with Matthew Vaughn’s Marv Films.
Lionsgate UK has struck a deal with Matthew Vaughn’s Marv Films for rights to Eddie the Eagle, the biopic of British ski jumper Michael Edwards.
Hugh Jackman and Taron Egerton star in the biopic directed by Dexter Fletcher, which has just started production in the Alps and moves to the UK next month.
Lionsgate plans to release the film in the UK in Spring 2016. It will be distributed by 20th Century Fox in all other territories worldwide.
Edwards won the hearts of many sports fans by making a catastrophic showing at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary.
Kingsman: The Secret Service star Egerton plays Eddie the Eagle and Hugh Jackman plays a ski jumping expert from Lake Placid who helps him train for the Olympics.
Vaughn, Adam Bohling, David Reid, Rupert Maconick and Valerie Van Galder are producing the film from a screenplay by Sean Macaulay.
Lionsgate UK CEO »
- andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
Tribeca Talks to include Nolan, Lucas, Weinstein
16 March 2015 9:00 AM, PDT
Tribeca Film Festival also announces four additional documentaries to screen during the festival as part of the series.
Tribeca Film Festival has unveiled the lineup for this year’s Tribeca Talks series.
Its Director Series will feature Chistopher Nolan with Bennett Miller, George Lucas with Stephen Colbert, Cary Fukunaga with James Schamus and Brad Bird with Janeane Garofalo, while Tribeca Talks Conversations will feature the likes of Harvey Weinstein and Alex Gibney.
Meanwhile, the festival has announced it will screen four additional feature documentary films as part of the Tribeca Talks: After the Movie series.
David Holbrooke’s The Diplomat and Robin Hauser Reynolds’ Code: Debugging the Gender Gap will receive their world premieres, while the festival will host the New York premieres of Brett Morgen’s Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck and Kevin Pollak’s Misery Loves Comedy.
This year’s Sloan retrospectve salute will be Good Will Hunting, followed by a conversation »
- ian.sandwell@screendaily.com (Ian Sandwell)
Tribeca Talks to include Nolan, Lucas
16 March 2015 9:00 AM, PDT
Tribeca Film Festival also announces four additional documentaries to screen during the festival as part of the series.
Tribeca Film Festival has unveiled the lineup for this year’s Tribeca Talks series.
Its Director Series will feature Chistopher Nolan with Bennett Miller, George Lucas with Stephen Colbert, Cary Fukunaga with James Schamus and Brad Bird with Janeane Garofalo, while Tribeca Talks Conversations will feature the likes of Harvey Weinstein and Alex Gibney.
Meanwhile, the festival has announced it will screen four additional feature documentary films as part of the Tribeca Talks: After the Movie series.
David Holbrooke’s The Diplomat and Robin Hauser Reynolds’ Code: Debugging the Gender Gap will receive their world premieres, while the festival will host the New York premieres of Brett Morgen’s Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck and Kevin Pollak’s Misery Loves Comedy.
This year’s Sloan retrospectve salute will be Good Will Hunting, followed by a conversation »
- ian.sandwell@screendaily.com (Ian Sandwell)
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