Sign of the Times? Insiders React To Picturehouse, Warner Indie Closures

The tragedy was in plain sight, but nobody thought it would hit this hard. As word spread today that Warner Bros. planned to close its specialty divisions Picturehouse and Warner Independent Pictures, shifting all projects currently in development to the larger studio and its recently absorbed subdivision New Line, a mournful tone took hold of the independent film industry. "It is a sad day when any film company, large or small, bites the dust," said President of THINKfilm Mark Urman. "One had heard and one had even considered that this was a possible scenario. It's still surprising when you see it in print."
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BIZ | Cablevision Stretches its Rainbow to Sundance Channel

Rainbow Media announced today a plan to purchase the Sundance Channel for $496 million. Confirming reports that the network was seeking a buyer and Rainbow Media was the lead contender, the deal finds Rainbow Media Holdings, LLC, a programming subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation, buying the channel from its current owners NBC Universal, CBS, Showtime Networks and Robert Redford. The Sundance founder, meanwhile, will continue his role as the network's creative director, in addition to recieving just under $50 million from the deal, with the rest of the money divided up between the other owners.
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Nonprofit Marriage: Renewed Tribeca Film Institute Merging with Leading Filmmaker Funding Organization

In a time of persistent change for nonprofit organizations that seek to support independent filmmakers, two New York City based entities are merging, with the hopes of creating a more viable oufit for the field. Robert DeNiro and Jane Rosenthal's Tribeca Film Institute (a sibling of their for-profit Tribeca Film Festival) will join forces with Renew Media, the organization that has funneled millions of dollars in funding to indie filmmakers and artists over nearly twenty years. The news comes as arts funding for organizations and individual filmmakers seems to be in an increasing state of flux and as the changes have even sent some groups into extinction.
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Upstart Elephant Eye Releasing Venditti's "Kid" & Lee's "B-Boy"; New Outfit Unveils Slate at AFM

Newly announced production, sales and boutique distribution outfit Elephant Eye has set launch dates for a pair of acclaimed U.S. docs, including Jennifer Venditti's award-winning "Billy the Kid," which will open in New York December 5th and Benson Lee's "Planet B-Boy," which will be released in March of '08. Making the announcement from the American Film Market in Santa Monica, CA on Wednesday, Elephant Eye principles also unveiled a full slate of films that its taking to the market.
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Cuban and Wagner Change Course at HDNet Films as "Redacted" Stirs Venice, Telluride and Now, Toronto

Formed four years ago, HDNet Films has either reached the end of the road or hit a major intersection. Producers Jason Kliot and Joana Vicente will be leaving the digital production company that was formed by Mark Cuban as the unit marks four years of digital filmmaking. The move is stirring buzz just as the company's latest production, Brian DePalma's "Redacted," makes waves internationally this week after screenings in Venice, Telluride and now at the Toronto International Film Festival. Countering industry speculation that he has "pulled the plug" on the HDNet Films brand, Mark Cuban acknowledged the shift on Thursday saying that production and development at HDNet Films will be moved to 2929 Productions, his company with Todd Wagner. 2929's Marc Butan will run operations for the label, Cuban said.
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At IFC Films, "Penelope" Shift Points To A Change in Focus; Company Emphasizing First Take Slate

Less than a year ago, IFC Entertainment publicly touted a strategic change within the company, saying that IFC Films' preemptive acquisition of John Dahl's "You Kill Me" in Toronto marked a move to release bigger-budget movies. Now, the company is calling that move an experiment and instead pushing a different segment of their business. It has all but abandoned plans to acquire and distribute bigger movies. A theatrical release of Mark Palansky's "Penelope," the Toronto '06 premiere starring Reese Witherspoon which had been scheduled to open this Friday, was recently dropped. With no larger-budget releases on its longterm slate, IFC is instead focusing on its emerging IFC First Take label that simultaneously releases independent and foreign language films in theaters and via cable TV video-on-demand services.
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CANNES '07 | Cuaron, Del Toro, and Inarritu Form 'cha cha cha'; Trio Ink 5 Film Pact With Universal/Focus

Acclaimed filmmakers Alfonso Cuaron ("Children of Men"), Guillermo del Toro ("Pan's Labyrinth"), and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu ("Babel") are forming cha cha cha, a unique production partnership debuting with a Cannes market project. Cha cha cha is partnering with Universal Pictures and its Focus Features International unit for financing, international sales and distribution on an upcoming slate of five films. The new projects include directorial efforts for all three men, as well as new films from writer/directors Carlos Cuaron (Alfonso's brother) and Rodrigo Garcia.
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With Creation of Dreamachine, Foreign-Language Films Face Sleepless Nights Ahead

Foreign-language cinema got another vote of no confidence yesterday, with the announcement of Dreamachine, a new film company formed out of the merger of international sales outfit Celluloid Dreams with U.K.-based HanWay Films. While the fusion of the two entities creates a formidable global financing, producing and sales outfit, lead by two of the brightest cinephiles in the business (Celluloid Dream's Hengameh Panahi and HanWay's Jeremy Thomas, producer of "The Last Emperor," "Sexy Beast," and "Naked Lunch," among others), the union also signals a move away from the foreign art cinema that defined Celluloid, long a destination for both burgeoning and veteran auteurs, from Francois Ozon and Jia Zhang-Ke to Takeshi Kitano and Abbas Kiarostami.
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HanWay + Celluloid Dreams = Dreamachine; New Combined Company Launching in Cannes

A major new sales, production and financing firm with an eye on digital distribution -- dubbed Dreamachine -- has been formed by the merger of HanWay Films and Celluloid Dreams. Hanway's Jeremy Thomas and Celluloid's Hengameh Panahi announced the merger, indicating that the new London, Paris and Toronto based outfit will debut next month at the Marche du Film in Cannes. In an announcement on Tuesday, Dreamachine detailed a high-profile roster of projects and indicated that the combined company's library will include some 500 films. Panahi and Thomas will serve as co-chairs of the new company, with Tim Haslam as CEO.
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Film Interdependence: Killer/Think Deal Boosts Leading Indie Outfits

For indie film insiders on the party circuit in Los Angeles over the next few days, the newly announced partnership between THINKFilm and Killer Films is certainly a deal worth buzzing about. Saying the union will replicate "the structure of a specialty division," insiders at both companies are touting big upsides from the deal which quickly puts THINKFilm into the ballgame as a film producer and at the same time opens up international opportunities for Killer Films. The arrangement shifts THINK's strategy of relying on finished films from the festival circuit to fill its slate. "We decided that the next best thing to having our own production division was to closely align with a top notch production company," noted THINK EVP Randy Manis. Killer partner Christine Vachon noted today that the union will boost her company's production output and allow "access to worldwide distribution at a level that we have never had before."
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Sundance at 25: Celebrating the Institute and Examining its Future

While Paul Newman, 81, carried around a bucket full of beers, collecting tips amounting to $450, other actors, from Parker Posey to Uma Thurman to Stanley Tucci, served wine to attendees. It was their way of saying thanks to the Sundance Institute, which celebrated its 25th anniversary at a fundraiser Monday night. At the gala benefit at New York's Metropolitan Pavilion, with tables costing upwards of $25,000 a pop, Sundance co-founder Robert Redford suggested modestly that he had no idea what Sundance would become 25 years ago. "I didn't know where it was headed," he said. "Now I'm interested in the future and more opportunities," he continued. "Having said that, the purpose of Sundance will always remain the same: creating a safe environment for filmmakers."
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First Person: indieWIRE @ 10, And Counting...

When we launched indieWIRE ten years ago today, July 15, 1996 we immediately began to try to define the term "independent film." In the very first issue we wrote about the sale of the Angelika Film Center to a local New York movie circuit and we've debated the term 'independent' internally and on our web pages ever since. Of course, it's a discussion that predates iW. Back in 1974, as our former indieWIRE senior editor Anthony Kaufman noted on his blog this week, indie film insiders in New York (notably Amos Vogel) were questioning the future of independent cinema, even then in the pages of Film Comment. The often heated dialogue continues.
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New Outsider Pictures Unveils Slate

With the goal of releasing six to eight films per year, Paul Hudson and Peter Peterson recently unveiled the launch slate for their new distrution company, Outsider Pictures. The principles said in an announcement that they plan to release dramatic and documentary films in the U.S., Cananda and Latin America. First up for the conmpany is Spiro Taraviras' doc "Buzz," about screenwriter A.I. Bezzerides.
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AIVF To Close; Org Hopes to Keep Magazine Alive

In a letter to its approximately 4,000 members, the thirty-one year old Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers (AIVF) has formally announced that the organization will close at the end of this month. The movie was widely expected in light of recent news that an emergency fundraising initiative failed to raise enough money to support the entity's future planning goals. In the statement to members, the AIVF indicated that it hopes to find a way to continue publishing The Independent magazine, while at the same time exploring ways to relaunch the organization as a membership group.
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After Failing To Meet Fundraising Goal, AIVF's Future Is in Question

The Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers (AIVF) failed to meet its goal of raising $60,000 and the organization has moved into a holding pattern, according to the non-profit organization's interim executive director Lina Srivastava. In a conversation with indieWIRE she explained, "(The organization has) kind of gone into moth balls to a certain extent." Last week, AIVF membership director Priscilla Grim was the latest staff member laid off by the group, which seems to be facing an even more bleak future. The organization also recently notified subletting tenants at its Lower Manhattan office space that it will be moving out of the site at the end of June.
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New Production and Development Company Griot Pictures Entertainment Lauds Two Projects

CEO and founder Thomas Hopkins and producing partner Tony Dunoyer, announced today the formation of Griot Pictures Entertainment (GPE). The production and development company will co-produce and co-finance both studio and independent film and television projects "with mainstream appeal." Griot's first two projects are in pre-production, "Chevalier" and "Minion," the group announced Thursday.
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The New Warner Independent Pictures Emerges, With Cohen At The Helm

Aiming for a new philosophy at Warner Independent Pictures, studio production president Jeff Robinov officially announced Monday that Polly Cohen, one of his key production executives at the studio, will head Warner Bros. Pictures three-year-old Indiewood label. The move comes just a few days after the news that WIP's founding president Mark Gill announced his immediate departure. In a conversation with indieWIRE Monday, Robinov indicated that Warner Independent will be more closely integrated into the studio under leadership that will be more of a group effort.
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Six Months and One Oscar Later, Battsek and the New Miramax

"Meet the New Boss, Not as Nuts as the Old Boss," quipped a headline in the cheeky movie industry blog, Defamer, atop a recent posting about new Miramax Films president Daniel Battsek. Indeed, among the first comments voiced by those who talk about Battsek is the fact that he is no Harvey Weinstein. Later this week, Battsek will mark six months in his role as the head of Disney's Indiewood company, which was formed by Bob and Harvey Weinstein. He took over on October 1st of last year when the brothers left to launch their new company, moving to New York from the UK where he ran Buena Vista International for Disney. A former managing director at Palace Pictures, Battsek joined Disney fifteen years ago, working on the international releases of "Muriel's Wedding," "Shine," "Central Station," "Kolya," and "The Ice Storm," including some 35 films per year from Disney, Touchstone and Miramax. Soft-spoken and easy to talk with, Battsek chatted with indieWIRE recently.
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Attempting to Avoid Closure, Nonprofit AIVF Implements Emergency Fundraising Initiative

The more than 30 year-old Association of Independent Video and Filmmakers (AIVF), publisher of The Independent magazine and a leading membership organization for filmmakers, is facing a continuing financial crisis that is threatening the livelihood of the organization. Group board members and a new interim executive director have indicated that if the organization does not receive adequate resources from its current emergency fundraising campaign, the AIVF will not survive. The news comes at a time when a number of other non-profit film groups have faced similar challenges.
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Major Changes for Wellspring As Weinstein Controlled Genius Pulls Plug on Existing Theatrical Distribution Unit

The recent move by The Weinstein Company to own a DVD distribution company will result in the closing of the existing theatrical distribution divsion at Wellspring, the U.S. distributor of independent, foreign language, and documentary films. Wellspring is understood to be moving away from theatrical in favor of DVD distribution of independent, foreign, and documentary film, however, today The Weinstein Company confirmed that it would be the exclusive domestic distributor for any future Wellspring theatrical releases. As part of the decision, most of the existing Wellspring staff are expected to leave the company by the end of April and the Wellspring Home Entertainment divsion will move to Santa Monica, CA. Word of the Wellspring situation began to circulate last week at the European Film Market in Berlin and buzz has intensified as Wellspring prepares for this week's theatrical release of its controversial film "Unknown White Male."
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