Magnolia Pictures has acquired North American rights to “Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg,” which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The documentary, which was produced by Sk Global Entertainment, tells the story of Anita Pallenberg, the model and actress who rose to fame in the 1960s and ’70s after a chance encounter with the Rolling Stones.
Alexis Bloom and Svetlana Zill directed the docu, which features the voice of Scarlett Johansson as Anita, based on the words of her unpublished memoir. Keith Richards and his children with Pallenberg, Marlon and Angela Richards, make appearances in the film.
Magnolia plans to release “Catching Fire” next spring.
“Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg” tells the story of a woman who was described as a “rock n’ roll goddess,” a “voodoo priestess” and an “evil seductress.” She was also accused of trying to break up the Rolling Stones. But despite her tumultuous life,...
Alexis Bloom and Svetlana Zill directed the docu, which features the voice of Scarlett Johansson as Anita, based on the words of her unpublished memoir. Keith Richards and his children with Pallenberg, Marlon and Angela Richards, make appearances in the film.
Magnolia plans to release “Catching Fire” next spring.
“Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg” tells the story of a woman who was described as a “rock n’ roll goddess,” a “voodoo priestess” and an “evil seductress.” She was also accused of trying to break up the Rolling Stones. But despite her tumultuous life,...
- 10/2/2023
- by Pat Saperstein
- Variety Film + TV
Netflix has picked up worldwide rights to the documentary “Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa” out of the Toronto International Film Festival, TheWrap has learned. The sale comes on the heels of another high-profile pickup from Netflix, Anna Kendrick’s serial killer directorial debut “Woman of the Hour.”
The streamer will release the film in 2024.
Directed by Lucy Walker (“Of Night & Light”), the film tells the story of Lhakpa Sherpa, the first Nepali woman to summit and descend Mount Everest who is now a single mom working at a Connecticut Whole Foods.
“Lhakpa grew up in Nepal, illiterate and rejected by her family, and emigrated to the US without speaking English,” the official synopsis from TIFF reads. “When we meet her, she’s working as a dishwasher at Whole Foods in Connecticut, raising her teenage daughters, Sunny and Shiny, in a small apartment. She’s a single mom and spousal-abuse survivor.
The streamer will release the film in 2024.
Directed by Lucy Walker (“Of Night & Light”), the film tells the story of Lhakpa Sherpa, the first Nepali woman to summit and descend Mount Everest who is now a single mom working at a Connecticut Whole Foods.
“Lhakpa grew up in Nepal, illiterate and rejected by her family, and emigrated to the US without speaking English,” the official synopsis from TIFF reads. “When we meet her, she’s working as a dishwasher at Whole Foods in Connecticut, raising her teenage daughters, Sunny and Shiny, in a small apartment. She’s a single mom and spousal-abuse survivor.
- 9/12/2023
- by Adam Chitwood
- The Wrap
Exclusive: Netflix has acquired worldwide rights to the documentary Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa out of the Toronto Film Festival, Deadline can exclusively reveal.
The deal is the second in quick succession for the streamer, which less than 12 hours ago snapped up Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut, Woman of The Hour, for $11 million. No details as to the financial terms were disclosed.
Pic’s subject, Lhakpa Sherpa, was the first Nepali woman to completely summit and survive Mount Everest. For anyone else, that might be the greatest challenge and achievement of their life. But for the unforgettable Lhakpa — now a single mother of three, based in Connecticut — it was just the start.
Hailing from Sk Global Entertainment, Obb Pictures, and Avocados and Coconuts, the doc was directed by Lucy Walker, the 2x Oscar nominee previously at TIFF with another tale of a female Everest climber in 2006’s Cinema Eye Honors Award-nominated Blindsight.
The deal is the second in quick succession for the streamer, which less than 12 hours ago snapped up Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut, Woman of The Hour, for $11 million. No details as to the financial terms were disclosed.
Pic’s subject, Lhakpa Sherpa, was the first Nepali woman to completely summit and survive Mount Everest. For anyone else, that might be the greatest challenge and achievement of their life. But for the unforgettable Lhakpa — now a single mother of three, based in Connecticut — it was just the start.
Hailing from Sk Global Entertainment, Obb Pictures, and Avocados and Coconuts, the doc was directed by Lucy Walker, the 2x Oscar nominee previously at TIFF with another tale of a female Everest climber in 2006’s Cinema Eye Honors Award-nominated Blindsight.
- 9/12/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Synopsis
From the minds behind Searching comes Missing, a thrilling roller-coaster mystery that makes you wonder how well you know those closest to you. When her mother (Nia Long) disappears while on vacation in Colombia with her new boyfriend, June’s (Storm Reid) search for answers is hindered by international red tape. Stuck thousands of miles away in Los Angeles, June creatively uses all the latest technology at her fingertips to try and find her before it’s too late. But as she digs deeper, her digital sleuthing raises more questions than answers…and when June unravels secrets about her mom, she discovers that she never really knew her at all.
Bonus Materials
Blu-ray™ And Digital
Deleted Scenes Hunting for the Missing Easter Eggs Behind-The-Scenes Featurettes: Storm Reid and the Challenge of Missing Misdirects, Online Crimes and the Social Media Mystery The Screens that Rule Our Lives Filmmaker Commentary
DVD...
From the minds behind Searching comes Missing, a thrilling roller-coaster mystery that makes you wonder how well you know those closest to you. When her mother (Nia Long) disappears while on vacation in Colombia with her new boyfriend, June’s (Storm Reid) search for answers is hindered by international red tape. Stuck thousands of miles away in Los Angeles, June creatively uses all the latest technology at her fingertips to try and find her before it’s too late. But as she digs deeper, her digital sleuthing raises more questions than answers…and when June unravels secrets about her mom, she discovers that she never really knew her at all.
Bonus Materials
Blu-ray™ And Digital
Deleted Scenes Hunting for the Missing Easter Eggs Behind-The-Scenes Featurettes: Storm Reid and the Challenge of Missing Misdirects, Online Crimes and the Social Media Mystery The Screens that Rule Our Lives Filmmaker Commentary
DVD...
- 3/2/2023
- by ComicMix Staff
- Comicmix.com
Just last week, Sony announced that they would be giving the “Searching sequel” Missing a theatrical release on January 20, 2023 – and now they have unveiled the trailer for the film! You can check it out in the embed above.
Made on a budget of less than 1 million, the mystery thriller Searching (read our review Here), which played out entirely on computer and smartphone screens, earned over 75 million at the global box office when it was released back in 2018. So the creative team behind that film have gotten back together to bring us the mystery thriller Missing, which will be presented in the same way as Searching was.
Details on the plot of Missing have been kept under wraps up to this point, but now we have a synopsis:
When her mother disappears while on vacation in Colombia with her new boyfriend, June’s search for answers is hindered by international red tape.
Made on a budget of less than 1 million, the mystery thriller Searching (read our review Here), which played out entirely on computer and smartphone screens, earned over 75 million at the global box office when it was released back in 2018. So the creative team behind that film have gotten back together to bring us the mystery thriller Missing, which will be presented in the same way as Searching was.
Details on the plot of Missing have been kept under wraps up to this point, but now we have a synopsis:
When her mother disappears while on vacation in Colombia with her new boyfriend, June’s search for answers is hindered by international red tape.
- 11/16/2022
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Made on a budget of less than 1 million, the mystery thriller Searching (read our review Here), which played out entirely on computer and smartphone screens, earned over 75 million at the global box office. So it’s no wonder a sequel was given the greenlight… but since this was going to be a sequel in name only, it’s also not very surprising that it received a title change along the way. The “Searching sequel” is called Missing, and it was set to reach theatres on February 24, 2023. Deadline reports that it has now been moved forward to the new release date of January 20, 2023.
Details on the plot of Missing are being kept under wraps. We do know the film stars Storm Reid (The Invisible Man) and Nia Long (NCIS: Los Angeles).
Missing was directed by Nicholas D. Johnson and Will Merrick, the editors of Searching, from a screenplay they wrote,...
Details on the plot of Missing are being kept under wraps. We do know the film stars Storm Reid (The Invisible Man) and Nia Long (NCIS: Los Angeles).
Missing was directed by Nicholas D. Johnson and Will Merrick, the editors of Searching, from a screenplay they wrote,...
- 11/10/2022
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Good news exhibition: Sony is moving up Missing from Feb. 24, 2023 to Jan. 20, 2023. That’s the weekend after the long MLK holiday frame and the only other wide release is an untitled Crunchy Roll film.
The movie is the next installment in the Searching franchise and stars Storm Reid and Nia Long.
Missing moves away from a weekend where Universal has Cocaine Bear and Lionsgate has Jesus Revolution. Over the MLK weekend there’s the wide expansion of Sony’s A Man Called Otto, and New Line’s House Party.
Will Merrick and Nick Johnson direct off a screenplay they wrote off a story by Sev Ohanian & Aneesh Chaganty. Natalie Qasabian, Sev Ohanian and Aneesh Chaganty are producers. EPs are Timur Bekmambetov, Adam Sidman and Jo Henriquez.
Joaquim de Almeida, Ken Leung, Amy Landecker and Daniel Henney round out the cast.
The first Searching in 2018 grossed over 75M worldwide off a...
The movie is the next installment in the Searching franchise and stars Storm Reid and Nia Long.
Missing moves away from a weekend where Universal has Cocaine Bear and Lionsgate has Jesus Revolution. Over the MLK weekend there’s the wide expansion of Sony’s A Man Called Otto, and New Line’s House Party.
Will Merrick and Nick Johnson direct off a screenplay they wrote off a story by Sev Ohanian & Aneesh Chaganty. Natalie Qasabian, Sev Ohanian and Aneesh Chaganty are producers. EPs are Timur Bekmambetov, Adam Sidman and Jo Henriquez.
Joaquim de Almeida, Ken Leung, Amy Landecker and Daniel Henney round out the cast.
The first Searching in 2018 grossed over 75M worldwide off a...
- 11/10/2022
- by Anthony D'Alessandro
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Macro Film Studios, Confluential Films and No Label Productions are collaborating on the film Young. Wild. Free. Sanaa Lathan (The Perfect Guy), Algee Smith (Judas and the Black Messiah), Sierra Capri (On My Block) and Mike Epps (The Upshaws)star.
Directed by Thembi Banks (Insecure) and written by Juel Taylor (from a story created by Juel Taylor and Tony Rettenmaier), the film follows a hot-tempered high school senior who finds his claustrophobic life suddenly thrust into an enticing, dangerous direction after he is robbed at gunpoint by the girl of his dreams.
Producers include Macro Film Studios’ Charles D. King, James Lopez and Poppy Hanks, Tommy Oliver and Baron Davis. Executive producers include Codie Elaine Oliver, Prince Baggett and Charlotte Koh; Jenna Cavelle; Taylor, Rettenmaier, Mark R. Wright, Jo Henriquez, Thembi Banks and Lathan.
Production is underway in Los Angeles.
Directed by Thembi Banks (Insecure) and written by Juel Taylor (from a story created by Juel Taylor and Tony Rettenmaier), the film follows a hot-tempered high school senior who finds his claustrophobic life suddenly thrust into an enticing, dangerous direction after he is robbed at gunpoint by the girl of his dreams.
Producers include Macro Film Studios’ Charles D. King, James Lopez and Poppy Hanks, Tommy Oliver and Baron Davis. Executive producers include Codie Elaine Oliver, Prince Baggett and Charlotte Koh; Jenna Cavelle; Taylor, Rettenmaier, Mark R. Wright, Jo Henriquez, Thembi Banks and Lathan.
Production is underway in Los Angeles.
- 8/11/2022
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
MacRo Film Studios and Confluential Films has announced the start of production on the new film “Young. Wild. Free.”
Directed by Thembi Banks, the movie stars Sanaa Lathan, Algee Smith, Sierra Capri and Mike Epps. According to the official logline for the project, Smith plays a hot-tempered high school senior who finds his claustrophobic life suddenly thrust into an enticing, dangerous direction after he is robbed at gunpoint by the girl of his dreams. Production on the project is underway in Los Angeles.
The film’s script is written by Juel Taylor (“Creed II”), from a story by Taylor and his “They Cloned Tyrone” co-writer Tony Rettenmaier, with revisions by Banks. “Young. Wild. Free” is produced by Macro Film Studios’ Charles D. King, James Lopez and Poppy Hanks, Confluential Films’ Tommy Oliver and No Label Productions’ Baron Davis. Taylor, Rettenmair, Banks and Lathan will executive produce the project alongside Confluential Films’ Codie Elaine Oliver,...
Directed by Thembi Banks, the movie stars Sanaa Lathan, Algee Smith, Sierra Capri and Mike Epps. According to the official logline for the project, Smith plays a hot-tempered high school senior who finds his claustrophobic life suddenly thrust into an enticing, dangerous direction after he is robbed at gunpoint by the girl of his dreams. Production on the project is underway in Los Angeles.
The film’s script is written by Juel Taylor (“Creed II”), from a story by Taylor and his “They Cloned Tyrone” co-writer Tony Rettenmaier, with revisions by Banks. “Young. Wild. Free” is produced by Macro Film Studios’ Charles D. King, James Lopez and Poppy Hanks, Confluential Films’ Tommy Oliver and No Label Productions’ Baron Davis. Taylor, Rettenmair, Banks and Lathan will executive produce the project alongside Confluential Films’ Codie Elaine Oliver,...
- 8/11/2022
- by Angelique Jackson
- Variety Film + TV
A couple of major industry players are planning to put their spin on music documentaries and scripted content.
Warner Music Group and Sk Global announced a partnership Thursday that will see the companies co-produce and co-finance a slate of music-oriented nonfiction and fiction projects “mined from Wmg’s extraordinary roster of artists and songwriters, as well as its expansive global catalog.” The pact also calls for producing local language content.
“The partnership will pay special attention to Wmg’s vast array of celebrated international artists,” a release noted, “particularly across the U.S., Asia, and Latin America.”
The announcement came from Sk Global Chairman Sidney Kimmel, co-CEOs John Penotti and Charlie Corwin, and Charlie Cohen, president, Warner Music Entertainment, Wmg’s TV and Film Division.
“We could not be more pleased to join hands with our longtime friend Charlie Cohen and his immensely talented team around the globe,” Penotti and Corwin said in a statement.
Warner Music Group and Sk Global announced a partnership Thursday that will see the companies co-produce and co-finance a slate of music-oriented nonfiction and fiction projects “mined from Wmg’s extraordinary roster of artists and songwriters, as well as its expansive global catalog.” The pact also calls for producing local language content.
“The partnership will pay special attention to Wmg’s vast array of celebrated international artists,” a release noted, “particularly across the U.S., Asia, and Latin America.”
The announcement came from Sk Global Chairman Sidney Kimmel, co-CEOs John Penotti and Charlie Corwin, and Charlie Cohen, president, Warner Music Entertainment, Wmg’s TV and Film Division.
“We could not be more pleased to join hands with our longtime friend Charlie Cohen and his immensely talented team around the globe,” Penotti and Corwin said in a statement.
- 10/7/2021
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Nia Long is joining Storm Reid in the next installment of the box office hit film Searching, for Sony’s Stage 6 Films. Joaquim de Almeida, Ken Leung, Amy Landecker, Daniel Henney, Megan Suri and Tim Griffin are rounding out the cast.
Searching 2 will not be a direct sequel, but rather a next installment in the Searching franchise. The plot is still under wraps, but it will feature a new set of characters where the story plays out on the screens of the characters’ devices. It is starting production in the spring.
Will Merrick & Nick Johnson will make their directing debut on the film. The pic is being produced by Natalie Qasabian, Aneesh Chaganty and Sev Ohanian of Search Party, as well as by Bazelevs’ Adam Sidman and Timur Bekmambetov. Jo Henriquez is executive producing and Congyu E is co-producing.
Merrick and Johnson wrote the screenplay, which is based...
Searching 2 will not be a direct sequel, but rather a next installment in the Searching franchise. The plot is still under wraps, but it will feature a new set of characters where the story plays out on the screens of the characters’ devices. It is starting production in the spring.
Will Merrick & Nick Johnson will make their directing debut on the film. The pic is being produced by Natalie Qasabian, Aneesh Chaganty and Sev Ohanian of Search Party, as well as by Bazelevs’ Adam Sidman and Timur Bekmambetov. Jo Henriquez is executive producing and Congyu E is co-producing.
Merrick and Johnson wrote the screenplay, which is based...
- 4/7/2021
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Euphoria star Storm Reid is in negotiations to star in the sequel to the Sony Pictures’ Stage 6 Film box-office hit Searching. Will Merrick and Nick Johnson will direct the sequel, which will have a similar theme to the original that starred John Cho, but tell a different story.
Sony had no comment on Reid’s involvement.
Searching 2‘s plot is still under wraps, but it will feature a new set of characters and an evolved Screenlife thriller format where the story plays out on the screens of the characters’ devices. The original starred Cho as a dad who breaks into his daughter’s computer when she goes missing, in a desperate attempt to track her down.
The film is being produced by Natalie Qasabian, Aneesh Chaganty, Sev Ohanian of Search Party, Adam Sidman, and digital filmmaking guru Timur Bekmambetov who also produced the first movie. Jo Henriquez is...
Sony had no comment on Reid’s involvement.
Searching 2‘s plot is still under wraps, but it will feature a new set of characters and an evolved Screenlife thriller format where the story plays out on the screens of the characters’ devices. The original starred Cho as a dad who breaks into his daughter’s computer when she goes missing, in a desperate attempt to track her down.
The film is being produced by Natalie Qasabian, Aneesh Chaganty, Sev Ohanian of Search Party, Adam Sidman, and digital filmmaking guru Timur Bekmambetov who also produced the first movie. Jo Henriquez is...
- 3/4/2021
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Sony’s Stage 6 Films has closed a deal for Will Merrick & Nick Johnson to make their directing debut on the sequel to the Screenlife hit film Searching, a sequel that will tell a different story from the original that starred John Cho and Debra Messing. The filmmakers served as the editorial team on Aneesh Chaganty-directed Hulu thriller Run, as well as the original 2018 Searching, which Chaganty directed.
The hiring keeps the creative team intact, albeit in new capacities. The film is being produced by Natalie Qasabian, Chaganty, Sev Ohanian of Search Party, Adam Sidman and digital filmmaking guru Timur Bekmambetov, who also produced the first movie. Jo Henriquez is executive producing and Congyu E is co-producing. Merrick and Johnson are writing the screenplay, based on a story by Sev Ohanian and Chaganty. The goal is to start production in the spring.
Searching 2‘s plot is still under wraps,...
The hiring keeps the creative team intact, albeit in new capacities. The film is being produced by Natalie Qasabian, Chaganty, Sev Ohanian of Search Party, Adam Sidman and digital filmmaking guru Timur Bekmambetov, who also produced the first movie. Jo Henriquez is executive producing and Congyu E is co-producing. Merrick and Johnson are writing the screenplay, based on a story by Sev Ohanian and Chaganty. The goal is to start production in the spring.
Searching 2‘s plot is still under wraps,...
- 1/13/2021
- by Mike Fleming Jr
- Deadline Film + TV
Shoot has wrapped on Simon Pegg and Juno Temple starrer Lost Transmissions.
Writer-director Katharine O’Brien’s feature also stars Alexandra Daddario, Tao Okamoto, Rosanna Arquette, and Bria Vinaite.
Temple portrays Hannah, an aspiring singer/songwriter, whose mentor, a respected music producer Theo Ross, (Pegg) is struggling with schizophrenia. When Theo goes missing, she and her group of friends search for him throughout Los Angeles, hoping to get him the help he so desperately needs, while navigating the complexities of the mental health care system.
Cast is rounded out by Jamie Harris, Rebecca Hazelwood, Daisy Bishop, Danny Ramirez, Grant Harvey, Jacob Loeb, Nana Ghana and Robert Schwartzman.
Royal Road Entertainment and Underlying Tension are financing and producing the film with Pulse Films. UTA is repping domestic rights.
Producers are Filip Jan Rymsza and Olga Kagan for Royal Road Entertainment, Brigsby Bear producer Al Di for Underlying Tension and Tory Lenosky for Pulse Films.
Writer-director Katharine O’Brien’s feature also stars Alexandra Daddario, Tao Okamoto, Rosanna Arquette, and Bria Vinaite.
Temple portrays Hannah, an aspiring singer/songwriter, whose mentor, a respected music producer Theo Ross, (Pegg) is struggling with schizophrenia. When Theo goes missing, she and her group of friends search for him throughout Los Angeles, hoping to get him the help he so desperately needs, while navigating the complexities of the mental health care system.
Cast is rounded out by Jamie Harris, Rebecca Hazelwood, Daisy Bishop, Danny Ramirez, Grant Harvey, Jacob Loeb, Nana Ghana and Robert Schwartzman.
Royal Road Entertainment and Underlying Tension are financing and producing the film with Pulse Films. UTA is repping domestic rights.
Producers are Filip Jan Rymsza and Olga Kagan for Royal Road Entertainment, Brigsby Bear producer Al Di for Underlying Tension and Tory Lenosky for Pulse Films.
- 8/2/2018
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Concourse Film Trade, a division of Matthew Shreder and Andrew Felts’ freshly minted Concourse Media, has bulked up its slate heading into Cannes.
The partners arrive on the Croisette with worldwide sales rights to the biopic Eadweard, possession thriller The Evil Gene, drama Land Of Leopold, historical drama Orphans (Huerfanos) and the psychological thriller Prism.
All films make their market debuts.
Kyle Rideout directs Michael Eklund, Sara Canning and Jodi Balfour in Eadweard (pictured), which centres on turn-of-the-century photographer and ‘godfather of cinema’ Eadweard Muybridge whose life descended into betrayal and murder.
Josh Epstein and Rideout co-wrote the screenplay and produced the film.
Kathryn F Taylor wrote and directed The Evil Gene, about an FBI agent dispatched to solve a murder at a federal correctional facility for inmates with a rare genetic defect that leads to psychosis and violence. Cameron Richardson and Richard Speight Jr star.
Land Of Leopold stars Ray Wise, Scottie Thompson and [link...
The partners arrive on the Croisette with worldwide sales rights to the biopic Eadweard, possession thriller The Evil Gene, drama Land Of Leopold, historical drama Orphans (Huerfanos) and the psychological thriller Prism.
All films make their market debuts.
Kyle Rideout directs Michael Eklund, Sara Canning and Jodi Balfour in Eadweard (pictured), which centres on turn-of-the-century photographer and ‘godfather of cinema’ Eadweard Muybridge whose life descended into betrayal and murder.
Josh Epstein and Rideout co-wrote the screenplay and produced the film.
Kathryn F Taylor wrote and directed The Evil Gene, about an FBI agent dispatched to solve a murder at a federal correctional facility for inmates with a rare genetic defect that leads to psychosis and violence. Cameron Richardson and Richard Speight Jr star.
Land Of Leopold stars Ray Wise, Scottie Thompson and [link...
- 5/8/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Concourse Film Trade, a division of Matthew Shreder and Andrew Felts’ freshly minted Concourse Media, has bulked up its slate heading into Cannes.
The partners arrive on the Croisette with worldwide sales rights to the biopic Eadweard, possession thriller The Evil Gene, drama Land Of Leopold, historical drama Orphans (Huerfanos) and the psychological thriller Prism.
All films make their market debuts.
Kyle Rideout directs Michael Eklund, Sara Canning and Jodi Balfour in Eadweard (pictured), which centres on turn-of-the-century photographer and ‘godfather of cinema’ Eadweard Muybridge whose life descended into betrayal and murder.
Josh Epstein wrote the screenplay and produced the film.
Kathryn F Taylor wrote and directed The Evil Gene, about an FBI agent dispatched to solve a murder at a federal correctional facility for inmates with a rare genetic defect that leads to psychosis and violence. Cameron Richardson and Richard Speight Jr star.
Land Of Leopold stars Ray Wise, Scottie Thompson and [link...
The partners arrive on the Croisette with worldwide sales rights to the biopic Eadweard, possession thriller The Evil Gene, drama Land Of Leopold, historical drama Orphans (Huerfanos) and the psychological thriller Prism.
All films make their market debuts.
Kyle Rideout directs Michael Eklund, Sara Canning and Jodi Balfour in Eadweard (pictured), which centres on turn-of-the-century photographer and ‘godfather of cinema’ Eadweard Muybridge whose life descended into betrayal and murder.
Josh Epstein wrote the screenplay and produced the film.
Kathryn F Taylor wrote and directed The Evil Gene, about an FBI agent dispatched to solve a murder at a federal correctional facility for inmates with a rare genetic defect that leads to psychosis and violence. Cameron Richardson and Richard Speight Jr star.
Land Of Leopold stars Ray Wise, Scottie Thompson and [link...
- 5/8/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The first day of the Havana Film Festival I was at the Hotel Nacional, registering for the festival, seeing familiar faces from Cuba and the Caribbean and old friends from the USA: Oleg Vidov and his wife Joan Borsten were there as Oleg who had starred in 3 Soviet films made in Cuba was an honored guest. Havana regulars were there: Marlene Dermer, director of Laliff and Laurie Anne Schag, VP of International Documentary Association. Laurie Anne not only gives tours of Cuba with her colleague Geo Darder, but this year she also screened her film at the festival, the documentary Oshun’s 11 about a tour of the Yoruba Orisha religion in Cuba.
Harlan Jacobson of Talk Cinema and Sarah Miller brought in tours as well and we went together to the Acapulco theater to see the Puerto Rican romantic heist movie Hope, Despair (La Espera Desespera) by writer/ director Coraly Santaliz Perez (♀) . Im Global’s Bonnie Voland the VP of Marketing was there with with Stuart Ford and his friend. Bonnie gave a great presentation on marketing which I will report on in these pages soon. Im Global and Mundial, their their new joint venture with Gael Garcia Bernal, showed The Butler and Bolivar: The Liberator. This new Mundial title was oddly programmed at the same time as the Venezuelan version of the exact same story, Bolivar, el hombre de las dificultades by Luis Alberto Lamata, a Venezuelan-Cuban-Spanish co-production. I wonder if both cinemas were packed or if one was more popular than the other. Publicity and marketing at this festival is a strange and unknown process, though I know Caroline Libresco-produced and Grace Lee-directed American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs brought in audience after a radio interview with Caroline and Grace had aired.
Ruby Rich was also here giving a very interesting presentation on Queer Cinema whose historical roots (Todd Haynes, Derek Jarman) were mostly unknown to the young Cuban audience. She is an old hand in Havana, having attended the festival in the heady days of the 1970s. The theme of homosexuality was prevalent in many of the films this year. A government Institute of Human Sexuality has been established under the leadership of the daughter of Raul Castro, and Cuba has apologized for its past treatment of homosexuality. This reversal has opened the doors of freedom. Filmmaker Enrique Pineda Barnet, the writer of Soy Cuba, the great Russian-Cuban epic, used to have to work underground with his personal homosexual films (After his fame was established with La Bella del Alhambra he was “allowed” to work underground). He is now able to be officially accepted with his works like Verde, Verde which showed in the Festival. Venezuelan Miguel Ferrari’s Azul y no tan rosa was feted for his treatment of this little-discussed issues in his home country.
Enrique Pineda Barnet’s meditation on what it means to be gay in Havana (Verde, Verde) marks his first film in years to be accepted into the official festival.
The U.S. invitees who give workshops here and at the international film school Eictv makes me wonder who is making the connections and how. Last year Hawk Koch and Annette Benning were here and created a support mechanism of AMPAS with the festival. This year, aside from Oleg Vidov Bonnie Voland and Ruby Rich, other American invitees giving workshops included Robert Kraft (Avatar, Titanic, Moulin Rouge) on film music was obviously brought in by the Academy. Mike S. Ryan, an independent filmmaker from New York was the big surprise as we never knew his role as producer of such films as Todd Solondz’s Palindromes and Life During Wartime, Kelly Reichardt’s Old Joy and Ira Sach’s Forty Shades of Blue, Hal Hartley’s Fay Grim and many more including Liberty Kid, the winner of HBO’s Latino Film Festival 2007 and Bela Tarr’s final film, The Turin Horse. His newly finished film is Last Weekend starring Patricia Clarkson and Zachary Booth. This Independent Spirit “Producer of the Year” winner was here working with filmmakers at Eictv, the international film school and also did a presentation in the festival conference series.
Im Global’s Stuart Ford and friend with Bonnie Voland at the Hotel Nacional
Oliver Stone, a favorite of Cuba since his HBO films Comandante and Persona Non Grata, brought in a History Channel doc series called The Untold History of the United States, made up basically of interviews with key people in the eras of World War II: Roosevelt, Truman and Wallace [sic],The Bomb, Cold War: Truman, Wallace [sic], Stalin, Churchill and the Bomb, The 1950s: Eisenhower, The Bomb and The Third World.
A fruit vendor on our walk to the Infanta Theater
Laurie Anne Schag secured radio promotion for Caroline Libresco of Sundance Institute and Grace Lee, here as a producer and director to show their new film: American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs. The audience at the Infanta Theater was mainly brought in by the radio show but also included us, the friends, and the Trinidad + Tobago delegation. The Q&A sessions were informed and informative as the Cubans and Americans discussed the notion of Revolution as put forward by Grace Lee Boggs a 90+ year old community organizer who came out of Barnard College in the 40s to Detroit and has never abandoned her Marxist Socialist standards but recognizes that social revolution can only succeed if the people themselves are revolutionized from grassroots action and within the individuals carrying out the action. Without transformation from within, action to change the government is only a rebellion. So what about the Cuban Revolution? The discussions were very enlightening and the audience felt that this film was new and interesting.
I attended the first of four screenings of Caribbean films hosted by ttff (Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival) at the Infanta Theater. My readers know from my blogs of last November how astonished and moved I was by the population makeup of Trinidad + Tobago and of the Caribbean in general. This area of small islands, formerly colonized by Spanish, French, German and Dutch has created a particular island culture society whose film culture is taking the next evolutionary step. Forming a marketplace and a place of cultural exchange among its constituents, ttff’s director Bruce Paddington is working with Cuba’s national film organization, Icaic’s Luis Notario to develop a real film market for Caribbean film. Apropos, Bruce was also showing his documentary on the Revolution in Grenada, called Foreward Ever: The Killing of a Revolution, which was the motto of Maurice Bishop the elected president who was forcefully removed and murdered by the opposition when the U.S. army under the Commander-in-Chief, President Ronald Reagan sent in forces presumably to protect the American medical students attending medical school there in 1983.
Twenty-five Cubans were also killed in the fighting which ensued on this otherwise always peaceful island where now a reconciliation among neighbors is still in process.
The other four screenings of ttff were varied and interesting in their unique Caribbean points of view. The opening film, Poetry is an Island: Derek Walcott was a portrait of the St. Lucia poet and Nobel Prize winner for literature. The short film, Passage, by Kareem Mortimer, a filmmaker I have known for many years from the Bahamas and Trinidad, was astounding in its recall of one of the most degrading aspects of the slave trade, as black Haitians huddled in the tiny hold of a decrepit fishing boat as they were smuggled into Florida from Haiti. Another short, Auntie, from the Barbados by Lisa Harewood told of a current social issue in which “Aunts” take care of young children while their single mothers go abroad to earn money for their care. As the child in this movie reaches her teen years, her mother sends for her which leaves a grieving single woman “Auntie” alone with no thanks and no child to care for in her older years. Other shorts included The Gardener by Jo Henriquez from Aruba and One Good Deed by Juliette McCawley from Trinidad + Tobago.
The window on Caribbean issues was opened wide. The Barbados comedy Payday in which two friends decide to leave their job as security guards and open their own business was made on a shoe string but gave a picture of how the youth are living today with ganga, grinding dancing, sexy encounters told with a sweet mischievous naughtiness. Songs of Redemption, by Miquel Galofre and Amanda Sans, winner of ttff’s Jury Prize and the Audience Award goes inside what had been Kingston Jamaica’s worst prison until the new prison director introduced classes to educate the prisoners, including a music rehabilition program which goes beyond all expectation… Truly redeeming.
Trinidad + Tobago filmmakers Karim Mortimer from Bahamas, Lisa Harewood from Barbaddos, Alex (Egyptian/ Austrian / Bahamanian business partner of Karim, Shakira Bourne
The film program was suspended for a full day in which all cultural and entertainment events throughout Cuba were cancelled to observe a national day of mourning for Nelson Mandela.
Harlan Jacobson of Talk Cinema and Sarah Miller brought in tours as well and we went together to the Acapulco theater to see the Puerto Rican romantic heist movie Hope, Despair (La Espera Desespera) by writer/ director Coraly Santaliz Perez (♀) . Im Global’s Bonnie Voland the VP of Marketing was there with with Stuart Ford and his friend. Bonnie gave a great presentation on marketing which I will report on in these pages soon. Im Global and Mundial, their their new joint venture with Gael Garcia Bernal, showed The Butler and Bolivar: The Liberator. This new Mundial title was oddly programmed at the same time as the Venezuelan version of the exact same story, Bolivar, el hombre de las dificultades by Luis Alberto Lamata, a Venezuelan-Cuban-Spanish co-production. I wonder if both cinemas were packed or if one was more popular than the other. Publicity and marketing at this festival is a strange and unknown process, though I know Caroline Libresco-produced and Grace Lee-directed American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs brought in audience after a radio interview with Caroline and Grace had aired.
Ruby Rich was also here giving a very interesting presentation on Queer Cinema whose historical roots (Todd Haynes, Derek Jarman) were mostly unknown to the young Cuban audience. She is an old hand in Havana, having attended the festival in the heady days of the 1970s. The theme of homosexuality was prevalent in many of the films this year. A government Institute of Human Sexuality has been established under the leadership of the daughter of Raul Castro, and Cuba has apologized for its past treatment of homosexuality. This reversal has opened the doors of freedom. Filmmaker Enrique Pineda Barnet, the writer of Soy Cuba, the great Russian-Cuban epic, used to have to work underground with his personal homosexual films (After his fame was established with La Bella del Alhambra he was “allowed” to work underground). He is now able to be officially accepted with his works like Verde, Verde which showed in the Festival. Venezuelan Miguel Ferrari’s Azul y no tan rosa was feted for his treatment of this little-discussed issues in his home country.
Enrique Pineda Barnet’s meditation on what it means to be gay in Havana (Verde, Verde) marks his first film in years to be accepted into the official festival.
The U.S. invitees who give workshops here and at the international film school Eictv makes me wonder who is making the connections and how. Last year Hawk Koch and Annette Benning were here and created a support mechanism of AMPAS with the festival. This year, aside from Oleg Vidov Bonnie Voland and Ruby Rich, other American invitees giving workshops included Robert Kraft (Avatar, Titanic, Moulin Rouge) on film music was obviously brought in by the Academy. Mike S. Ryan, an independent filmmaker from New York was the big surprise as we never knew his role as producer of such films as Todd Solondz’s Palindromes and Life During Wartime, Kelly Reichardt’s Old Joy and Ira Sach’s Forty Shades of Blue, Hal Hartley’s Fay Grim and many more including Liberty Kid, the winner of HBO’s Latino Film Festival 2007 and Bela Tarr’s final film, The Turin Horse. His newly finished film is Last Weekend starring Patricia Clarkson and Zachary Booth. This Independent Spirit “Producer of the Year” winner was here working with filmmakers at Eictv, the international film school and also did a presentation in the festival conference series.
Im Global’s Stuart Ford and friend with Bonnie Voland at the Hotel Nacional
Oliver Stone, a favorite of Cuba since his HBO films Comandante and Persona Non Grata, brought in a History Channel doc series called The Untold History of the United States, made up basically of interviews with key people in the eras of World War II: Roosevelt, Truman and Wallace [sic],The Bomb, Cold War: Truman, Wallace [sic], Stalin, Churchill and the Bomb, The 1950s: Eisenhower, The Bomb and The Third World.
A fruit vendor on our walk to the Infanta Theater
Laurie Anne Schag secured radio promotion for Caroline Libresco of Sundance Institute and Grace Lee, here as a producer and director to show their new film: American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs. The audience at the Infanta Theater was mainly brought in by the radio show but also included us, the friends, and the Trinidad + Tobago delegation. The Q&A sessions were informed and informative as the Cubans and Americans discussed the notion of Revolution as put forward by Grace Lee Boggs a 90+ year old community organizer who came out of Barnard College in the 40s to Detroit and has never abandoned her Marxist Socialist standards but recognizes that social revolution can only succeed if the people themselves are revolutionized from grassroots action and within the individuals carrying out the action. Without transformation from within, action to change the government is only a rebellion. So what about the Cuban Revolution? The discussions were very enlightening and the audience felt that this film was new and interesting.
I attended the first of four screenings of Caribbean films hosted by ttff (Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival) at the Infanta Theater. My readers know from my blogs of last November how astonished and moved I was by the population makeup of Trinidad + Tobago and of the Caribbean in general. This area of small islands, formerly colonized by Spanish, French, German and Dutch has created a particular island culture society whose film culture is taking the next evolutionary step. Forming a marketplace and a place of cultural exchange among its constituents, ttff’s director Bruce Paddington is working with Cuba’s national film organization, Icaic’s Luis Notario to develop a real film market for Caribbean film. Apropos, Bruce was also showing his documentary on the Revolution in Grenada, called Foreward Ever: The Killing of a Revolution, which was the motto of Maurice Bishop the elected president who was forcefully removed and murdered by the opposition when the U.S. army under the Commander-in-Chief, President Ronald Reagan sent in forces presumably to protect the American medical students attending medical school there in 1983.
Twenty-five Cubans were also killed in the fighting which ensued on this otherwise always peaceful island where now a reconciliation among neighbors is still in process.
The other four screenings of ttff were varied and interesting in their unique Caribbean points of view. The opening film, Poetry is an Island: Derek Walcott was a portrait of the St. Lucia poet and Nobel Prize winner for literature. The short film, Passage, by Kareem Mortimer, a filmmaker I have known for many years from the Bahamas and Trinidad, was astounding in its recall of one of the most degrading aspects of the slave trade, as black Haitians huddled in the tiny hold of a decrepit fishing boat as they were smuggled into Florida from Haiti. Another short, Auntie, from the Barbados by Lisa Harewood told of a current social issue in which “Aunts” take care of young children while their single mothers go abroad to earn money for their care. As the child in this movie reaches her teen years, her mother sends for her which leaves a grieving single woman “Auntie” alone with no thanks and no child to care for in her older years. Other shorts included The Gardener by Jo Henriquez from Aruba and One Good Deed by Juliette McCawley from Trinidad + Tobago.
The window on Caribbean issues was opened wide. The Barbados comedy Payday in which two friends decide to leave their job as security guards and open their own business was made on a shoe string but gave a picture of how the youth are living today with ganga, grinding dancing, sexy encounters told with a sweet mischievous naughtiness. Songs of Redemption, by Miquel Galofre and Amanda Sans, winner of ttff’s Jury Prize and the Audience Award goes inside what had been Kingston Jamaica’s worst prison until the new prison director introduced classes to educate the prisoners, including a music rehabilition program which goes beyond all expectation… Truly redeeming.
Trinidad + Tobago filmmakers Karim Mortimer from Bahamas, Lisa Harewood from Barbaddos, Alex (Egyptian/ Austrian / Bahamanian business partner of Karim, Shakira Bourne
The film program was suspended for a full day in which all cultural and entertainment events throughout Cuba were cancelled to observe a national day of mourning for Nelson Mandela.
- 1/9/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
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