DAILY NEWS: Egoyan in Toronto; Miramax/MGM Pact

by Eugene Hernandez/indieWIRE

>> Toronto Fest to Kick Off with Egoyan Film

The 24th Toronto International Film Festival will open September 9th with the
North American premiere of Atom Egoyan's new film, "Felicia's Journey." The
film was written by Egoyan, based on the novel by William Trevor and stars
Bob Hoskins, Elaine Cassidy, Peter McDonald, and Arsinee Khanjian.

"Felicia's Journey" is a production of ICON and Alliance Atlantis. Artisan
Entertainment is releasing the movie in the United States, while Alliance
Atlantis is distributing it in Canada.

The Toronto Film Festival runs through September 18th.

[For more information on the Festival, visit the official website at:
http://www.bell.ca/filmfest.]

>> Miramax and MGM Team for Multi-Pic Production Pact

Miramax Films and MGM have annouced plans for co-production deal that
would yield up to eight movies as part of a jointly financed production
and marketing arrangement. While Miramax indicated that both sides are
exploring third party financing to fund their slate of projects, the
companies plan to create two to three films per year under the deal.
First up are Anthony Minghella's adaptation of the best-selling novel,
"Cold Mountain," and a recently announced remake of "Harvey."

In announcing the deal, Miramax singled out MGM vice chairman Chris McGurk
as a key figure in the arrangement. McGurk is a former Disney exec who
later worked with Miramax when he landed at Universal and was involved
in the company's co-production of the Oscar-winning "Shakespeare in Love."

Commenting on the deal in a prepared statement, Miramax co-chairman Harvey
Weinstein emphasized the opportunity to merge his company's marketing,
production and development resources with MGM's famed library of 5,000
titles. He explained, "We have already been working with MGM to identify
a number of compelling projects from its library for development. This
is a fabulous beginning." As a part of the arrangement, each company intend
to distribute four films domestically and four films internationally.