Toronto To Fete Doc "Dixie Chicks - Shut Up and Sing" with Gala Screening

Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois.

Oscar-winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple ("American Dream") will screen her latest film, "Dixie Chicks - Shut Up and Sing" at the 31st Toronto International Film Festival. Co-directed by Cecilia Peck, the film will be presented as a Gala Presentation, and is the first time in 14 years that TIFF has screened a doc as a gala. On stage at a 2003 London concert Natalie Maines, lead singer of Texan trio the Dixie Chicks, spoke these 15 words to a small audience at the start of their sold-out international tour: "Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas." The comment was delivered on the eve of the American invasion of Iraq, and drew cheers from the decidedly anti-war and anti-Bush British crowd. According to TIFF, the film "travels with the Chicks, from their peak of popularity as the national-anthem-singing darlings of country music and top-selling female recording artists of all time, through the now infamous anti-Bush comment, and on through the days, months and years of mayhem." [Brian Brooks] 
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Aspen Filmfest to Fete Harrison Ford

Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois.

The Aspen Filmfest will honor actor Harrison Ford with its annual "Independent by Nature Award" at its 28th edition this fall, organizers revealed Thursday. The evening tribute will take place Saturday, September 30 at the Wheeler Opera House in Aspen and will be followed by a dinner. Harrison will be feted "in recognition of the tremendous contribution Ford has made to modern cinema," according to a fest release. Past recipients of the award include Anjelica Huston, Sydney Pollack, William H. Macy, Bob Rafelson, Michael Douglas and Rob Reiner. Aspen Filmfest runs September 26 - October 1 in the famed ski resort town. [Brian Brooks] 
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Stony Brook Film Festival to Welcome Alda; Close with Burke's "Aurora Borealis"

Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois.

The 2006 Stony Brook Film Festival is closing Saturday, July 29 with James Burke's "Aurora Borealis." The film, starring Joshua Jackson, who is expected to attend along with Burke, centers on a troubled man who attempts to change himself following the untimely death of his father. The festival opened July 20 with the East Coast debut of writer/director Terry Green's "Heavens Fall," starring Timothy Hutton and David Strathairn. Other fest highlights in the remaining days of the event include a talk with actor Alan Alda and the East Coast debut of James Keach's "Blind Dating." For more information, visit the festival's website. [Brian Brooks] 
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Selick's "Coraline" Welcomes McShane

Ian McShane, co-star of the upcoming "Scoop", has joined the cast of the Henry Selick's animated film, "Coraline". Focus Features has worldwide distribution rights to the LAIKA Entertainment project, adapted from Neil Gaiman's book of the same name. Already in the cast are Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, and the British comedy duo, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. The film is described as the story of "a young girl (voiced by Fanning) who unlocks a mysterious door in her new home, and enters into an adventure in a parallel reality." Selick directed the stop-motion/live-action "James and the Giant Peach" and "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas," as well as the animation sequences in Wes Anderson's "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou." [Eugene Hernandez]  
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"Saint of 9/11" and "Boy Culture" Take Top Prizes at 12th Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival

Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois.

The 12th Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival ended Monday (July 24) with closing night films "Will You..." (world premiere) by Erin Greenwall and the Philadelphia debut of "Quinceanera" by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland. "Saint of 9/11" won both the audience and juried prizes in the documentary section, and is the second in PIGLFF's history to win both awards in the category. The juried prize for best feature film went to "Boy Culture" by Q. Allan Brocka and the audience nod in the category went to "A Love to Hide" by Christian Faure. Other prizes went to "Eye on the Guy: Alan B. Stone & the Age of Beefcake" (jury award for best short film - male) and "Rape for Who I Am" (jury award for best short film - female). The fest's audience award for best first feature, meanwhile, went to Ned Farr's "The Gymnast." The festival took place July 13 - 25. [Brian Brooks] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Festivals, Queer Cinema ]

Fifteen Projects to Receive Money from the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund

The Sundance Institute Documentary Fund announced its first round of grantss for 2006 with 15 feature-length documentary films receiving a total of $605,000. The fund supports U.S. and international docs that "focus on current human rights issues, freedom of expression, social justice, civil liberties, and exploring critical issues of the time." Films that are works in progress receiving grants are: "Bombhunters" by Skye Fitzgerald (US/Cambodia); "Made in L.A." by Almudena Carrecedo and Robert Bahar (US); "Miss Gulag" by Maria Yatskova, Irina Vodar and Raphaela Neihausen (US); "My American Dream" by Shari Robertson and Michael Camerini (US); "9 Star Hotel" by Ido Haar (Israel); "The Learning" by Ramona S. Diaz (US/Philippines); "The Visitors" by Melis Birder (US/Turkey); "Trouble the Waters" by Tia Lessin, Carl Deal and Amir Bar-Lev (US); and "The Tightrope" by Petr Lom (US). Development grants were awarded to: "The Baton Resistance" by Margarita Martinez Escallon and Miguel Salazar (Colombia); "Justice Must Be Seen" by Ra'anan Alexandrowicz (Israel); and "Chekpapi" by Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt. Supplemental grants were awarded to: "Greenboro: Closer to the Truth" by Adam Zucker (US); "Rebirth of a Nation" by Daniel Junge (US/Liberia); and "Wonders are Many" by Jon Else (US). Established by the Sundance Institute in 2002, grants are announced twice yearly, and has awarded $4 million to 113 projects since its inception. For more information, and complete project descriptions, visit the Sundance Institute's website. [Brian Brooks] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Documentary, Production ]

Mann's "Rat Fink" Set for U.S. Release

Abramorama has acquired Ron Mann's animated biopic "Tales of the Rat Fink," about Hot Rod Legend Ed "Big Daddy" Roth, creator of the anti-Mickey Mouse icon, Rat Fink. The film, featuring the voices of John Goodman, Jay Leno, Ann-Margret, and Brian Wilson, among others, had its world premiere earlier this year at SXSW and includes classic archival footage of the golden age of hot rods and the surf rock soundtrack of The Sadies. According to the announcement, Catherine Tait of Duopoly brokered the distribution deal between Ron Mann's Sphinx Productions and Abramorama, which released Mann's previous movies, "Grass" and "Go Further." "Tales of the Rat Fink" is set to screen in September at the Toronto International Film Festival, according to the announcement. [Eugene Hernandez] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Acquisitions, SXSW, Toronto ]

Museum of the Moving Image to Fete Will Smith at Fundraiser

Actor Will Smith will be honored by New York's Museum of the Moving Image at its annual black-tie Salute, the chairman of the museum's board of trustees, Herbert Schlosser announced Wednesday. The event will be held on Sunday, December 3rd in the grand ballroom at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. The event is held as a fundraiser for the museum and its educational programs, and includes highlights of the honoree's career. Past recipients include James Stewart, Sidney Poitier, Robert DeNiro, Barbara Walters, Steven Speilberg, Dustin Hoffman and Ron Howard. Tables for the event are going for $25,000 or $15,000 and individual tickets are set at $2,500 and $1,500. [Brian Brooks] 
[permalink]   [ filed under People ]

Microcinema Lands 3 Wegman Titles

Earlier this month, Microcinema International announced a three-picture deal with photographer William Wegman, gaining distribution rights to three of the artist's kids titles. The pact includes "Alphabet Soup", "Fay's 12 Days of Christmas", and "The Hardly Boys in Hardly Gold". Microcinema is planning a DVD release in October, alongside a retrospective at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. 
[permalink]   [ filed under Acquisitions ]

The Guardian: The Long Good bye (for France's Luc Besson)

A few years ago, France's most successful living director (Luc Besson) announced his intention to quit while he was ahead. He would, he said, make 10 films and then get out of the game. At the time few people took him seriously. But with "Angel-A" and "Arthur and the Minimoys," he has reached his limit. He says cinema is a young art form and he has now outgrown it. "Ten is a good number," he explains. "If you have 10 bullets you are much more careful about what you shoot. And I would rather stop too soon than too late. I've seen so many directors make a few too many films, and it's sad." Xan Brooks reports. 
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SF360: Screenwriter Guillermo Arriaga on the weight of words

As debuts go, Guillermo Arriaga's explosive screenplay for "Amores Perros" is hard to beat. "21 Grams," his follow-up with director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, provided more than enough emotional red meat for Benicio Del Toro and Naomi Watts to carve into Oscar nominations. For his next trick, Arriaga nabbed the prize for best screenplay at Cannes 2005 for "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada," a modern Western about friendship, responsibility and the unintended effects of violence. "Babel," which stars Brad Pitt and garnered the best director award for Inarritu this year at Cannes, opens in the fall. Michael Fox speaks with Arriaga for SF360. 
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NY Times: "Crash" Principals Still Await Payments for Their Work

When a movie costs $7.5 million to make and takes in $180 million around the world, it seems logical to think that the people who created the film would have become very rich. With "Crash," this year's Oscar winner for best picture and last year's sleeper hit at the box office, that has not been the case. The movie's co-writer and director, Paul Haggis, has so far made less than $300,000 on the film, a pittance by Hollywood standards. The eight principal actors in "Crash," including Sandra Bullock, Matt Dillon and Don Cheadle, have been expecting large checks for months, after deferring their usual fees in exchange for a percentage of the film's profits. Recently, their representatives say, they each received checks for $19,000. Sharon Waxman reports. 
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Is Mark Cuban The New Ted Turner?

In New York Magazine, John Heilemann considers the similarities between Mark Cuban and Ted Turner:

Cuban rolls into the lobby of the Royalton on the hottest day of the summer, looking chilled and crisp in dark slacks and a blue dress shirt. When I postulate that he's on his way to becoming the new Ted Turner--his generation's Mouth of the South--he initially demurs ("I'm not trying to copy him") but then warms to the theory. "Yeah, it's analogous," he says. "He's a guy I admire. He's done things on his own terms and had fun doing it."

 
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10 Films Set for Toronto's Midnight Madness Section

Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois.

The world premiere of Larry Charles' "Borat: Cultural Leanings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Zazakhstan," featuring Sacha Baron Cohen's infamous character will lead the list of new films screening in the Midnight Madness section at the Toronto International Film Festival. The program offers a mix of genre movies, including sci0fi, horror, comedy and docs. Organizers have unveiled a slate of ten midnight movies that will screen at the festival, including Jonathan King's "Black Sheep" from New Zealand, Jonathan Levine's "All The Boys Love Mandy Lane" from the U.S., the anthology "Trapped Ashes" by Joe Dante, Ken Russell, Sean Cunningham, Monte Hellman, and John Gaeta, Nacho Cerda's "The Abandoned" from Spain, Bong Joon-ho's "The Host" from South Korea, Christopher Smith's "Severance" from the U.K., Anders Morgenthaler's "Princess" from Denmark," JT Petty's "S&Man" from the U.S. and Kim Chaprion's "Sheitan" from France. [Eugene Hernandez] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Festivals, Toronto ]

Shyamaladenfreude

In his weekly LA Times column, Patrick Goldstein reports from Hollywood of on a bit of glee following the disappointing opening of M. Night Shyamalan's "The Lady in the Water" and Michael Bamberger's new book about the director, The Man Who Heard Voices:

Night has said that "Lady in the Water" began as a bedtime story he told his daughters. But it's Bamberger's book that has become a grim fairy tale, a bracing reminder of how many of our best filmmakers, having achieved success, wall themselves off from reality and succumb to childlike self-importance.

A sidebar piece looks at the "Top Ten All-Time Self-Promoting Directors".  
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Goldhirsh and Reason

What is Reason Pictures and who is Ben Goldhirsh? West Magazine explores:

Just a few weeks after his 26th birthday, [Ben Goldhirsh] is financing half a dozen films at his production company, Reason Pictures; getting ready to launch a national magazine, called Good; eyeing television, book publishing and the music business; and running a private foundation that gives millions a year to charity. That, and he just moved out of a small, bland studio apartment and into an airy farmhouse with a Guernica-sized TV, a stone fireplace that could double as a climbing wall, a guest cottage and hiking trails on five rugged acres in the middle of Beverly Hills.

 
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The Top Ten So Far...

Each week, indieWIRE receives the final weekend numbers for specialty releases in theaters. This is our top ten for the past weekend so far, with most numbers already in. The top ten is subject to change before the final chart is published tomorrow and the weekly box office column is written. Weekend box office data provided by Rentrak as of Monday, 6:00 p.m. EST. 1. "Gabrielle" (IFC First Take) $38,342 wknd ($12,781 per scrn) 2. "Wondrous Oblivion" (Palm Pictures) $11,749 wknd ($11,749 per scrn) 3. "Been Rich All My Life" (First Run) $8,252 wknd ($8,252 per scrn) 4. "Excellent Cadavers" (First Run/Icarus Films) $7,215 wknd ($7,215 per scrn) 5. "Fanfare La Tulipe" (Rialto) $6,070 wknd ($6,070 per scrn) 6. "Changing Times" (Koch Lorber Films) $42,487 wknd ($6,070 per scrn) 7. "Edmond" (First Independent) $11,858 wknd ($5,929 per scrn) 8. "Boys Brief 4" (Picture This) $5,919 wknd ($5,919 per scrn) 9. "Mongolian Ping Pong" (First Run) $11,560 wknd ($5,780 per scrn) 10. "Heading South" (Shadow Distribution) $131,165 wknd ($5,728 per scrn) 
[permalink]   [ filed under Biz ]

Magnolia Hues Up for Animation "The Hero of Color City"

Magnolia Pictures has acquired North America distribution rights to its CG-animated feature "The Hero of Color City," Exodus Film Group announced Monday. The film is a tale chronicling the adventures of a colorful and diverse band of crayons as they strive to protect their magical, multi-hued homeland from an evil tyrant that threatens to rid their world of joy and color. The screenplay was written by J.P. McCormick and Rich Raczelowski and is targeted for a fall 2007 release. "We're excited to be partnering with Exodus on 'The Hero of Color City,'" commented Magnolia Pictures president Eamonn Bowles in a statement. "They've put together a great concept with a fantastic animation team for something that has the potential to be a children's classic." Magnolia is a New York-based independent distributor, while Exodus is primarily focused on "family-oriented" films with CG-animation content. [Brian Brooks] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Acquisitions ]

De Palma's "The Black Dahlia" to Open 63rd Venice International Film Festival

Festival coverage sponsored by Stella Artois.

"The Black Dahlia," directed by Brian De Palma, starring Scarlett Johansson, Hilary Swank and Josh Hartnett will be the opening film at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival, organizers revealed Monday. The film, adapted from the famous novel of the same name by James Ellroy, inspired by a crime in 1940s Los Angeles, will be presented in competition as a world premiere on August 30th in the Sala Grande of the Palazzo del Cinema. The 63rd Venice Film Festival will run at Lido di Venezia from August 30 to September 9, with Marco Muller serving as the fest's chief for the third year running, and organized by the Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Davide Croff. In the film, friends and former boxers, Bucky Bleichert (Hartnett) and Lee Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart) are in love with the same woman, the mysterious Kay Lake (Johansson), a former friend of a gangster. A call for the two to investigate a terrible crime changes their lives for ever - the murder of Elizabeth Short (Mia Kirshner), a girl with ambitions to be an actress, known as the Black Dahlia, who is found brutally murdered on the hillsides of Hollywood. "We are honored that Brian De Palma has chosen to open the 63rd Festival with his new and long-awaited thriller, thus confirming his strong links with Venice," commented Croff and Muller in a joint statement. [Brian Brooks] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Festivals ]

H'Wood Reporter: Senate approves filmed-sex bill

The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved legislation setting up a national registry for sex offenders that includes a new record-keeping requirement for Hollywood movies that have steamy love scenes. On a unanimous voice vote, the Senate approved the Adam Walsh Act setting up the registry and including a provision that would require Hollywood studios to ensure that they keep records of the ages of the actors who pretend to have sex in motion pictures and TV shows. Brooks Boliek reports. 
[permalink]   [ filed under Biz ]

AP: "Super Size Me" filmmaker plugs reality TV

Morgan Spurlock, who created the documentary "Super Size Me" and the television show "30 Days," says the reality TV boom has been good for documentaries. "It's opened the door for people to be more accepting of documentaries," he says in the July 31 issue of Time. "I don't think 'Super Size Me' would have done as well as it did in theaters had it not been for reality TV." AP reports. 
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INDUSTRY MOVES: Wagenberg Joining Miami Fest

Monika Wagenberg has been named Senior Programmer, Ibero-American Programming at the Miami International Film Festival. She is joining the Miami fest from Cinema Tropical, which she co-founded and where she served as Director of Programming and Acquisitions. 
[permalink]   [ filed under Industry Moves ]

Universal Newlyweds

In the LA Times, Loretta Munoz profiles new Universal studio leaders Marc Shmuger and (former Focus Features co-president) David Linde. The two immediately hit it off, according to the article. At the "engagement dinner" prior to announcing their new jobs, "They got along so well that Shmuger pulled out a disposable camera. 'We were taking pictures like tourists on their first trip to New York', he said. 'I wanted to preserve the historic moment'. They moved on to a bar after dinner. 'We wanted to keep talking so we headed out for a few beers', Linde said." Now the two live near each other in Brentwood and even wore identical outfits to the interview with the LA Times. 
[permalink]   [ filed under Biz ]

The Passion of Kevin Smith

Over at Movie City News, Ray Pride offers a lengthy chat with Kevin Smith about "Clerks 2". At the conclusion of the conversation, Smith talks in detail about how the film relates to his own career:

For years, I've been fuckin' inundated with people saying, it's time for you to stretch as a filmmaker, it's time for you to grow as a filmmaker, whether visually or just narratively. People always want you to be better and to do more and go further and it's like... I, I don't want to. These are the stories that I want to tell. After twelve years, don't you get it, Harvey? This is what I do. I enjoy doing it and you guys turn a profit off of it, so why do I need to do a Green Hornet movie?

 
[permalink]   [ filed under People ]

Slate Set for IDA's DocuWeek Showcase

The IDA's DocuWeek, a documentary film showcase that helps new films qualify for Oscar consideration, has announced the list of films that will screen at this year's event, running August 18 - 24 in Los Angeles. Participating this year are a dozen features: Chris Sheridan and Patty Kim's "Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story", Henriette Mantel and Steve Skrovan's "An Unreasonable Man", Marc and Nick Francis' "Black Gold", Amy Berg's "Deliver Us from Evil", James Longley's "Iraq in Fragments", Patricia Foulkrod's "The Ground Truth", Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady's "Jesus Camp", Shaun Conrad and David Raccuglia's "Purvis of Overtown", Steven Ascher and Jeanne Jordan's "So Much So Fast", Kirby Dick's "This Film Is Not Yet Rated", Kristi Jacobson's "Toots", Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg's "The Trials of Darryl Hunt." In order to qualify for an Academy Award nomination, a documentary feature must be exhibited theatrically in Los Angeles County or Manhattan for at least seven consecutive days, as well as in eight other cities. [Eugene Hernandez] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Documentary, Events ]

Navigating Movies Online

In Sunday's New York Times, John Clark considers the increasing number of films and clips available on The Internet, via websites like YouTube. Will filmmakers defy the industry and create direct relationships with their audiences? Its a period of great change, according to Sundance's Geoff Gilmore. New websites are emerging to try to tap into the web video boom, witness the recent launch of iKlipz, with few notable industry-types involved, while tomorrow (Monday), will mark the official launch of The Daily Reel, another new site, one aimed at filtering the many online clips to find the best each day. Back in Clark's Times article, Sundance's John Cooper notes that it may be tough for the Net to spawn a blockbuster, "Culture is content driven, not medium driven." [Eugene Hernandez] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Biz ]

A "Shortbus" Teaser

ThinkFilm has unveiled the first look at John Cameron Mitchell's "Shortbus," with a brief teaser trailer hyping the October release of the film, which debuted at the Festival de Cannes back in May. 
[permalink]   [ filed under Trailers ]