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Tokyo fest to fete Mamoru Hosoda and Shunji Iwai
1 hour ago
Hosoda will be the subject of the festival’s Animation Focus, while Iwai will be the Director In Focus.
This year’s Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff, Oct 25-Nov 3) will be celebrating the work of Japanese filmmakers Mamoru Hosoda and Shunji Iwai.
Hosoda’s work will be the subject of Tiff’s Animation Focus, while Iwai has been selected as the Director In Focus in the festival’s Japan Now section.
Tiff will be screening all of Hosoda’s major films, which include The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006), Summer Wars (2009) and Wolf Children (2012). His most recent film, The Boy And The Beast, became the highest-grossing local film in Japan in 2015 and was sold by France’s Gaumont to around 50 international territories.
Iwai is also internationally renowned with films such as Love Letter (1995), All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001), Hana And Alice (2004) and this year’s A Bride For Rip Van Winkle.
“In A Bride »
- lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
Dogwoof inks 'Mapplethorpe' deals
2 hours ago
Documentary about renowned photographer has gone to multiple territories.
UK documentary specialist Dogwoof has struck several deals on Mapplethorpe: Look At The Pictures as the Cannes Marché kicks off.
The documentary about the late photographer Robert Mapplethorpe has gone to Germany and Australia (Kool Films), Switzerland (Cineworx), Hong Kong (Edko), South Korea (Aud) and Hungary (Cinefil).
The company previously closed deals at Efm for Scandinavia, Baltics and Iceland (Non Stop Entertainment) and Italy (Wanted).
Directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, and produced by Katharina Otto-Bernstein, the film coincides with two landmark retrospectives of Mapplethorpe’s work.
Also on Dogwoof’s Cannes slate are Louise Osmond’s Ken Loach doc Versus: The Life And Films Of Ken Loach, and Alma Har’el’s fever-doc LoveTrue, which is executive produced by Shia Labeouf.
Read Screen’s Mapplethorpe: Look At The Pictures review. »
Isabel Coixet drama 'The Bookshop' readies for August shoot
2 hours ago
Exclusive: Emily Mortimer, Bill Nighy, Patricia Clarkson check in to The Bookshop.
Emily Mortimer (Hugo), Bill Nighy (Love Actually) and Patricia Clarkson (Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials) are due to star in writer-director Isabel Coixet’s (Endless Night) drama The Bookshop, which is due to get underway this August.
Coixet has adapted the story from Booker Prize-winning novelist Penelope Fitzgerald’s well-received novel of the same name.
Set in a small town in 1959 England, The Bookshop charts the story of a woman (Mortimer) who decides, against polite but ruthless local opposition, to open a bookshop, a decision which becomes a political minefield.
Celsius Entertainment will be cooking up deals in Cannes on the period project, which has pre-sold to Spain (A Contracorriente), Australia/Nz (Transmission), Greece (Odeon), Airlines (Jaguar) and Turkey (Filmarti).
Producers are Joan Bas and Jaume Banacolocha from Diagonal and Adolfo Blanco from A Contracorriente. Executive producers are Manuel Monzon, Albert Sagales and Fernando »
- andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
Vanessa Redgrave, Joely Richardson in talks to star in 'Aspern Papers'
2 hours ago
Julien Landais will direct the drama based on a Henry James story for Film House Germany and Carnaby International is introducing to Cannes buyers.
Cohen Media will distribute the adaptation of James’ The Aspern Papers in the Us. The story takes place in Venice in 1885 as a young writer who becomes obssessed with the letters the romance poet Jeffrey Aspern wrote to his mistress, who is still alive.
Jean Pavas, Julien Landais and Hannah Bhuiya adapted the screenplay. Film House Germany’s Gabriela Bacher will produce with Landais through his Princeps Films.
James Ivory, Charles S. Cohen, Richardson, Francois Sarkozy, and Film House Germany’s Christian Angermayer and Klemens Hallmann serve as executive producers.
Cohen Media Group executive vice-president Gary Rubin is on board as an associate producer.
Cohen recently acquired the Merchant Ivory brand and the worldwide distribution and remake rights to 19 features along with nine shorts and documentaries, which includes »
- jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
Finecut inks 'The Wailing' deals
3 hours ago
Out of Competition Cannes title goes to France, French-speaking Benelux and Switzerland.
Seoul-based sales company Finecut has sold Na Hong Jin’s Out of Competition title The Wailing to Metropolitan Filmexport for France, French-speaking Benelux and Switzerland.
The film has also gone to China’s Infotainment Media and was previously sold to Well Go USA for North America. Well Go is planning to release the film on May 27.
Produced by Fox International Productions and co-produced by Side Mirror Co, The Wailing opened in Korea on May 11 and will screen in Cannes on May 18.
The Wailing is Na Hong Jin’s third film following The Chaser, which screened Out of Competition in Cannes in 2008, and The Yellow Sea, which screened in Un Certain Regard in 2010. »
- lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
Wanda to co-finance Paramount’s TMNT2
3 hours ago
China’s Wanda Cinema Line and its subsidiary Movie Media Group are co-financing Paramount Pictures upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out Of The Shadows.
The deal marks the first time that Wanda Cinema Line has invested in a Hollywood film as a global investor, which the company said represents a strategic step in its international plans. China’s Alibaba Pictures is also investing in the film.
Produced by Michael Bay’s Platinum Dunes and directed by Dave Green. TMNT2 is scheduled for Us release on June 3 and worldwide in the following weeks.
In a statement, Wanda said that Movie Media and Cmm Films – a marketing subsidiary specialising in movie investment, localised marketing and integrated advertising – would spearhead Wanda Cinema Line’s investment into Hollywood.
Cmm Films previously worked with Paramount on the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Interstellar, Terminator Genisys and Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation. It also worked on the marketing of Transformers: Age Of Extinction and Terminator Genisys »
- lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
Cannes: A24 swoops on Us rights to Lanthimos-Farrell buzz title
5 hours ago
Exclusive: A24 has pre-bought buzzy feature from Room producers; HanWay has launched sales at Cannes.
A24 has swooped on Us rights to prestige Cannes package The Killing Of A Sacred Deer from Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster).
HanWay launched the project in Cannes with the director’s The Lobster lead Colin Farrell (True Detective) set to star.
The script is written by Lanthimos and his writing partner Efthymis Filipou and is being produced by Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe of Element Pictures (Room, The Lobster).
Film4 and New Sparta Films are among backers. The producers inked the deal with A24.
A24 previously released Lanthimos’ 2015 Cannes hit The Lobster, which was also a collaboration between the in-demand Greek writer-director, Farrell, Element and Film4.
Inspired by a Euripides tragedy, The Killing Of A Sacred Deer centres on Steven, a charismatic surgeon, and a teenage boy who seeks to integrate him into his broken family.
When the boy »
- jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay) andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
Will Ferrell to star in Sebastian Silva’s 'Captain Dad'
6 hours ago
Catherine Keener and Michael Cera also star in the family holiday comedy.
Will Ferrell will star in Chilean writer-director Sebastian Silva’s Captain Dad alongside two-time Oscar-nominee Catherine Keener and Michael Cera.
The dark comedy sees Ferrell playing the patriarch of a wealthy American family who books a lavish Caribbean vacation for his wife’s (Keeners) birthday.
While there, infighting amongst the family (with Cera playing the daughter’s boyfriend) tests their relationships to the limit.
Cera previously starred in director Silva’s features Magic Magic, which played in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight in 2013 and The Crystal Fairy, which won the directing award at Sundance in 2013.
Anne Carey and Archer Gray (Mr Holmes) will produce the film. Christine Vachon and Killer Films will exec.
Protagonist Pictures is introducing Captain Dad to international buyers at Cannes. UTA Independent Film Group is packaging and will handle distribution in North America.
The production will shoot in September. »
Spc swoops on Paul Verhoeven's 'Elle'
7 hours ago
Early in the market, in one of the first major deals for a competition title, Sony Pictures Classics has swooped to acquire Paul Verhoeven’s Elle.
Spc has taken rights for North America, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe (excluding Russia) and Asia (excluding China and Japan) to the film.
Elle screens late in the festival but which is already generating considerable buzz and controversy, both for its rape scene and for a performance by Isabelle Huppert that is said to be remarkable.
The film stars Huppert, Laurent Lafitte, Charles Berling, Virginie Efira and Anne Consigny. It is produced by Saïd Ben Saïd of Sbs Productions, Michel Merkt and co-produced by France 2 Cinémas. Sbs International is handling sales.
Michèle (Huppert) seems indestructible. Head of a leading video game company, she brings the same ruthless attitude to her love life as to business. Being attacked in her home by an unknown assailant changes Michèle’s life »
- geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk (Geoffrey Macnab)
Amazon Studios, Stx team up on Nash Edgerton action comedy
7 hours ago
Amazon and Stx Entertainment have teamed up on world rights to Nash Edgerton’s all-star action comedy that Stx is introducing to international buyers in Cannes.
David Oyelowo, Charlize Theron, Joel Edgerton, Amanda Seyfried, Thandie Newton, Yul Vazquez and Sharlto Copley are shooting the film in Mexico City.
Nash Edgerton’s Untitled Film centres on a newly married executive with a stake in a pharmaceutical company about to go public, whose life is abruptly thrown into disarray.
When he becomes stranded south of the border as a wanted man, the mild-mannered businessman realises that his aspirational life was not all that it seemed.
Anthony Tambakis and Matt Stone wrote the screenplay and Amazon Studios produces with Nash Edgerton, Rebecca Yeldham, Tambakis, A.J. Dix, Beth Kono. Trish Hoffman is the executive producer.
Edgerton previously directed Australian thriller The Square and short films Spider and Bear. »
- jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
Cannes: HanWay launches Lanthimos, Farrell's 'Sacred Deer' for 'Room' producers
10 hours ago
Shoot due to get underway in August on Element Pictures-Film4 film inspired by Euripides tragedy.
HanWay has boarded international sales on Yorgos Lanthimos’ next film The Killing Of A Sacred Deer, which the director’s The Lobster lead Colin Farrell (True Detective) is in talks to star in.
The script is written by Lanthimos and his writing partner Efthymis Filipou and is being produced by Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe of Element Pictures (Room, The Lobster).
Film4 and New Sparta Films are among backers.
Inspired by a Euripides tragedy, The Killing Of A Sacred Deer centres on Steven, a charismatic surgeon, and a teenage boy who seeks to integrate him into his broken family.
When the boy’s actions become increasingly sinister, Steven’s ideal life starts to fall apart and he is forced to make an unthinkable sacrifice.
The film marks the second collaboration between Lanthimos, Farrell, Element and [link »
- andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
Xyz Films to commence sales on Paris Hilton doc
11 hours ago
9.14 Pictures and Xyz Films will produce Untitled Paris Hilton Documentary, to be directed by Don Argott and Sheena Joyce. Xyz commences sales in Cannes this week.
The authorised documentary will be produced by Hilton, Jamie Freed and 9.14 Pictures, with Xyz Films on board as executive producer and worldwide sales agent.
A production start has been earmarked for Ibiza at the end of summer.
The film will focus on Hilton’s life as socialite, entrepreneur and media icon. The subject will discuss her celebrity and examine her impact on young women.
“Paris Hilton is a modern day Marilyn Monroe – beautiful, iconised, world-famous, shaped by mass media, and misunderstood,” said Argott and Joyce.
“We are thrilled to work with Paris to explore her complicated relationship with the public, the press, and the politics that shape our perception of a modern celebrity.”
Argott and Joyce are best known for such critically acclaimed documentary films as Rock School, Last Days Here and [link »
- jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
Morgan Freeman, Tommy Lee Jones board 'Villa Capri'
11 hours ago
The Sierra/Affinity Cannes slate continues to expand with Villa Capri, an action comedy to star Morgan Freeman and Tommy Lee Jones.
Ron Shelton will direct the story about an ex-fbi agent and a former mob lawyer in the witness protection programme who must work together to avoid a mob hit.
CAA packaged the project and represents Us rights.
eOne and Endurance Media are financing and eOne will distribute directly in its markets: the UK, Canada, Australia/New Zealand, Spain and Benelux.
Billy Gerber and Endurance’s Steve Richards are producing, while John Mass and Alan Simpson are executive producers on the film.
Principal photography is scheduled to begin in New Mexico this summer. »
- jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
Nikkatsu takes Japanese punk inspired 'The Blue Hearts'
15 hours ago
Exclusive: Omnibus film was inspired by a Japanese punk band.
Japanese studio Nikkatsu has picked up international rights to omnibus film The Blue Hearts, comprising six short films inspired by the music of the iconic Japanese punk band of the same name.
The six directors contributing shorts include Takashi Shimizu (The Grudge), Ken Iizuka, Shinichi Kudo, Ten Shimoyama, Noboru Iguchi and Lee Sang-il. Cast includes Masatoshi Nagase (Mystery Train) who stars in Kudo’s segment, Frozen Expectation.
Active from 1985 to 1995, The Blue Hearts have been compared to Western bands such as the Sex Pistols and the Ramones. Some of their songs were covered in Nobuhiro Yamashita’s 2005 indie hit Linda Linda Linda.
An incomplete version of The Blue Hearts omnibus film was screened at this year’s Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival.
Nikkastu’s Cannes slate also includes Roman Porno Reboot, a series of five features from leading Japanese directors inspired by the Roman Porno genre, and Kazuya Shiraishi »
- lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
S Korea's Showbox hails 'Taxi Driver'
15 hours ago
Exclusive: Song Kang-ho to star in story of a Korean taxi driver who accompanies a German journalist reporting on the 1980 Gwangju Massacre.
South Korea’s Showbox has picked up Taxi Driver (working title) starring top Korean actor Song Kang-ho (The Attorney, Snowpiercer) for local distribution and world sales.
Based on a true story that happened during the 1980 Gwangju Democratization Movement - a.k.a. the Gwangju Massacre, when the military regime declared martial law and slaughtered protestors in the Southern city, the film is directed by Jang Hun, whose credits include Secret Reunion, Rough Cut and The Front Line.
Song plays a Korean taxi driver who accompanies a German journalist who smuggles into the city to report on the scenes and relay the news to the world.
Thomas Kretschmann from The Pianist, King Kong and Wanted is set to feature alongside Song, who previously worked with Jang on Secret Reunion.
The film, in »
- hjnoh2007@gmail.com (Jean Noh)
Aaron Eckhart's 'Courage' leads Spotlight slate
15 hours ago
Exclusive: Founder and CEO Matt McCombs and his sales team at Spotlight Pictures head into Cannes with a roster led by Aaron Eckhart starrer Courage.
The film gets its market premiere screening today [May 11] and is based on Jim Dent’s novel Courage Beyond The Game: The Freddie Steinmark Story.
Angelo Pizzo, a sports specialist whose screenwriting credits include Hoosiers and Rudy, directed from his adapted screenplay.
Eckhart stars as the coach of the University Of Texas American Football team whose star player is diagnosed with bone cancer.
The film opened in the Us last November through Clarius Entertainment under the title My All American and Universal handles ancillary rights.
Spotlight is also talking up Bitter Harvest, an epic romance set against the backdrop of the Holodomor – Stalin’s persecution of Ukrainians during the 1930s – that stars Max Irons and Samantha Barks.
The film screens today [May 11] and on Tuesday [16] in Cannes and the producers are in talks for a Us »
- jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
Berlin title 'The Tenth Man' scores sales
15 hours ago
Exclusive: FilmSharks has licensed further key territories on Daniel Burman’s recent Berlin Panorama opener The Tenth Man (El Rey Del Once).
Jiff has taken all rights for Australia and New Zealand and plans a fourth quarter theatrical release. Cinecolombia has picked up the Buenos Aires-set family story for Colombia.
The Tenth Man, which earned Alan Sabbagh the juried best actor award at the Tribeca Film Festival last month, previously sold to Kino Lorber for the Us.
Buena Vista International holds South American rights and Fox+ acquired pay-tv and Svod for Latin America.
FilmSharks chief Guido Rud said discussions were ongoing for France, Germany, Japan and Spain. »
- jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
M-Line sells 'Insane' to Japan, Taiwan, China.
15 hours ago
Exclusive: Remake rights to mystery thriller also secured in China.
South Korean sales company M-Line Distribution has sold mystery thriller Insane directed by Lee Cheol-ha (Hello?! Orchestra) to King Records for Japan, Long Shong for Taiwan and Yl Pictures for China. Yl also picked up Chinese remake rights.
Starring Kang Ye-won (Love Clinic) and Lee Sang-yun (Santa Barbara), the film has grossed $7.5m since its release April 7, according to the Korean Film Council (Kofic).
The story sees a discredited TV producer who looks to redeem himself by digging into an exclusive on a mental clinic where the sole survivor of a fire is a woman who has been forcefully imprisoned and abused.
M-Line is also selling female gangster action film A Special Lady (working title) starring Kim Hye-soo, Epitaph director Jung Sik’s thriller The Tooth And The Nail (working title) and sports drama Run-off, with Choi Min-ho (a.k.a. SHINee »
- hjnoh2007@gmail.com (Jean Noh)
Netflix acquires four from Dutch Features
15 hours ago
Exclusive: Acquisitions by Svod giant include Ivona Juka’s You Carry Me.
On the eve of Cannes, Pim van Collem’s Amsterdam-based sales outfit Dutch Features Global Entertainment has signed an eye-catching deal with Netflix for four of its titles.
The films that Netflix has grabbed are Ivona Juka’s You Carry Me (the Montenegrin entry to last year’s foreign language Oscar race), Benny Fredman’s Jerusalem-set action thriller Suicide, and the Dutch box office hits Bon Bini Holland and A Noble Intention (formerly known as Public Works).
“The deal that we have contracted with Netflix is the most significant Svod contract for Dutch Features since its foundation in 2012,” said Pim van Collem.
“We are delighted to see a global platform and major player like Netflix simultaneously commit to multiple movies, which confirms the global potential and high quality of our rapidly expanding slate.
“The exposure these movies will gain on the Netflix service is also »
- geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk (Geoffrey Macnab)
Wizart's 'Sheep And Wolves' secures China release
15 hours ago
Flame Node to handle Chinese release of animation.
Russian outfit Wizart has confirmed new Chinese partners on its animated film Sheep And Wolves. Flame Node Entertainment, which released Monkey King last year, is to handle the Chinese release.
Flame Node has also brought Chinese ecommerce group Alibaba as merchandising partner. Sheep And Wolves will be released in China later this summer.
“We are delighted to work with Alibaba team on Sheep And Wolves,” said Wizart producer Yuri Moskvin. “I believe Flame Node and Alibaba bring the powerful performances of Sheep And Wolves to as wide an audience as possible.”
Wizart has also confirmed several new European deals on the film including Italy (Barter Entertainment), Spain (European Dreams Factory) and Portugal (Lanterna de Pedra Filmes).
At this week’s Cannes Marché, Wizart will also be continuing sales on The Snow Queen 3, due for release in December.
Directed by Alexey Tsitsilin, the film is the sequel to the two »
- geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk (Geoffrey Macnab)
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