Aronofsky Dimension Deal; "Angry Inch" Pact Looming; Juneteenth in the Air

Compiled by Mark Rabinowitz

>> Darren Aronofsky, director of the much-acclaimed Sundance Film Festival entrant "Pi", and winner of that festival's DGA award for directing, has been signed by Miramax-owned Dimension Films to direct "Proteus" from a script written by Aronofsky and Lucas Sussman. In a Miramax statement, the film is described as "a(n) historical science-fiction thriller that takes place on an American submarine during World War II." "Pi" is being released this summer by Artisan Entertainment.

>> Off-Broadway hit "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" is being primed for movie making, according to Daily Variety, and Danny De Vito's Jersey Shore, a recent venture with a first-look deal at October Films, appears to be the leading contender. The trade reported that at least two Indiewood companies are in the running for the project, and that all suitors have not yet been heard from.

>> In commemoration of Juneteenth, the day -- two and a half years after the fact -- that Texas slaves were finally told that they had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, Northwest Airlines' Independents in Flight program has programmed five African-American-themed films to air on selected flights throughout the month of June. The films scheduled are the documentaries Mark Daniels' "Melvin Van Peebles' Classified X"; Macky Alston's "Family Name," and Yvonne Welbon's short "The Cinematic Jazz of Julie Dash" along with the narrative shorts "Illusions" by Julie Dash and "Girlfriends" by Debra Pratt. The Independents in Flight program has been curated by the IFP/North since February, 1997.

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posted on June 9, 1998 |Share