BBC: Nominations Announced for Indian Academy Awards

Bollywood stars Aishwarya Rai and Shah Rukh Khan have been nominated for International Indian Film Academy Awards, to be held in Sheffield, England. The final winners will be voted for by fans of Indian cinema across the world. The nominations were announced by Bollywood's biggest star, Amitabh Bachchan, himself in line for an award. Rai, Bollywood's highest paid actress, has been nominated for the film "Dhoom 2," which is also up for best picture. Other films competing for best film include "Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna," "Krrish" and "Vivaah." BBC reports. 
[permalink]   [ filed under Awards Watch, Honors ]

The Guardian Interview: Gong Li

Gong Li's career has blossomed alongside China's rise to world-power status. She tells Jonathan Watts about her happy reunion with director Zhang Yimou, her days as a student dissident and her jealous fans. "Fans in China are very different from those overseas. In China, many people really love me and care about my life. But there is always some jealousy mixed up in this feeling of love. I think that is the big difference. Overseas, there is none of that." The Guardian interviews Gong ahead of the UK opening of "Curse of the Golden Flower." 
[permalink]   [ filed under People ]

Reuters: Italian filmmaker Luigi Comencini dies at 90

Filmmaker Luigi Comencini, one of the fathers of the popular comedy genre that marked the golden age of Italian postwar cinema, died on Friday aged 90, officials said. Comencini, who was also known as the "children's director" for his films about childhood, worked with some of Italy's most famous actors from Vittorio Gassman to Marcello Mastroianni and Alberto Sordi. Among his best-known famous films were the 1953 "Pane," "Amore e Fantasia" (Bread, Love and Dreams), which starred Gina Lollobrigida as an untamed peasant girl resisting the courtship of a middle-aged police chief, played by Vittorio De Sica. Reuters reports. 
[permalink]   [ filed under People ]

Buscemi Set for Sarasota Award

Steve Buscemi will join the list of other notable guests at the upcoming Sarasota Film Festival, taking place April 13 - 22. Buscemi will participate in a "Conversation With..." chat and will participate in a Q & A following a screening of "Paris, je t'aime." Buscemi appears in the Tuileries segment of the film, directed by Joel Coen, and will receive the festival's 'World Cinema Award.' As reported earlier, other Sarasota "Conversations With..." events will include Edward Norton and Brian Koppelman as well as Marcia Gay Harden and Joe Pantoliano. Also traveling to the Florida Gulf town is Dominic Chianese ("The Godfather II") who will attend the Filmmaker Tribute Dinner where Norman Jewison will receive the 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award. [Brian Brooks] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Festivals ]

Mumblecorps Trailers at SXSW

Cast and crew from "Hannah Takes The Stairs," including Andrew Bujalski, Kevin Bewersdorf, Mark Duplass, Greta Gerwig, Kent Osborne, Ry Russo-Young, Todd Rohal, and Joe Swanberg starred in a series of trailers they made for the recent SXSW Film Festival. One clip, dubbed "Mc Griddles" features Bujalski, Osborne and Bewersdorf talking about blogs and an apparently popular McDonalds breakfast item. Others, shot on the set of "Hannah" are available online (via YouTube).  
[permalink]   [ filed under Festivals, SXSW ]

"Black Irish" Wins Three at Method Fest

Brad Gann's "Black Irish" won best picture award at The Method Fest Independent Film Festival, which closed Wednesday night, while the audience prize for best pic went to "Destiny" by Vage Khacatryan. "Trade Routes" director Jim Loftus won the best director prize as well as best foreign film, while Australian film "Plum Role" by Zak Hilditch took the fest's award for "high quality in low budget filmmaking." Best actor went to Michael Angarano for his role in "Black Irish," while "Tomorrow is Today"'s Scout Taylor-Compton won the award for best actress. Best supporting actress went to Dagmara Dominczyk, ("Mentor") and Tom Guiry, ("Black Irish") took best supporting actor. "Across the Hall" by Alan Powell won best short and "Steel Toes" writer/co-director David Gow won best screenplay. The 9th annual the Method Fest screened 26 feature films and 46 shorts from U.S. and international filmmakers from March 29 - April 4. [Brian Brooks] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Festivals ]

Seven Climate Shorts and Gore to Open Tribeca; "The Gates" to Close

The 2007 Tribeca Film Festival will open on April 25th with seven short films and launch the SOS Short Films Program aimed at spotlighting the world's climate crisis. TFF's opening event, hosted by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center, includes shorts that are part of the initiative backing the upcoming Live Earth global concert set for July 7, 2007. Sixty filmmakers are participating in the SOS project and closer to opening night, TFF organizers will announce the list of seven films that will screen at the festival. "The very concept of SOS -- entertainment effecting social change -- is at the roots of our festival and we can't think of a better way to open this year than by world premiering the SOS Short Film Program," said Jane Rosenthal, co-founder of the festival, in a statement. "Films have the ability to take an issue and galvanize people to act. We commend SOS for reaching out to filmmakers to use their medium to bring awareness to the climate crisis." Antonio Ferrera and Albert Maysles' "The Gates" will close the Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday, May 5th. The HBO-backed documentary looks at artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude and their decades-long plan to bring 7,500 fabric-paneled gates to Manhattan's Central Park. Also set for the upcoming festival is Curtis Hanson's "Lucky You," a new Warner Bros. romantic comedy by Curtis Hanson that stars Eric Bana, Drew Barrymore, Robert Duvall and Debra Messing. [Eugene Hernandez]  
[permalink]   [ filed under Festivals, New York ]

"Murder Party" and "When Adnan Comes Home" Take Top Vail Fest Prizes

Jeremy Saulnier's "Murder Party" won the best feature film award at the recent Vail Film Festival, while Andrew Berend's "When Adnan Comes Home" won best documentary at the festival's fourth edition, which screened 12 features and 51 docs. "The Knife Grinder's Tale" by R.L. Hooker took best short, while "Shelter from the Storm" by Roman Gackowski received the "best action sport award." "Somewhere in the City" by Ramsey Dension won the fest's best student film prize and best feature-length screenplay went to Adam Kline for "With Kind Regards from Kindergarten." "Shylock 35" by Jeffrey Rubin took best-short length screenplay. [Brian Brooks] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Festivals ]

7th Art and Warner Home Video Nab North American Rights to "Rock the Bells"

7th Art Releasing and Warner Home Video have jointly acquired North American rights to Casey Suchan and Denis Henry Hennelly's Tribeca and Slamdance Hip Hop doc "Rock The Bells." The deal was negotiated by 7th Art Releasing's Udy Epstein, WHV's Eva Davis and Felicia Bell, and Hennelly and Suchan of Open Road Films. The film will open in April in select cities across the US, while the DVD release is planned for mid to late July. The film is the story of the inaugural Rock The Bells festival in San Bernardino, California. "Personifying the fierce independence and Do-It-Yourself spirit of the Hip Hop generation, entrepreneur Chang Weisberg puts everything (his reputation, his sanity, his family, his mortgage) on the line for his impossible dream of reuniting genre superstars and notorious no-shows The Wu-Tang Clan. The film also features performers Redman, Dilated Peoples, MC Supernatural, Sage Francis and others. [Brian Brooks] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Acquisitions ]

Indie911 to Offer First Feature for DRM-free Download

Online social network and music store Indie911 announced that it will make a DRM-free version of Andrew Shapter and Joel Rasmussen's "Before the Music Dies" available for download, the service's first feature length film. Through a partnership with the film's distributor B-Side Entertainment, online audiences will have two options for purchasing the music documentary, free of copy-protection technology, from the film's hoooka player--a free, portable digital locker powered by indie911 that allows users to share, promote, sell and play their personal media favorites, via the Web. Narrated by Forest Whitaker with interviews and performances by Erykah Badu, Eric Clapton, Dave Matthews and more, the film is a troubling look at what drives today's music industry. [Brian Brooks] 
[permalink]   [ filed under New Media & Technology ]

Roadside Croons to US Rights for "Colma"

Roadside Attractions has picked up worldwide rights to Richard Wong's "Colma: The Musical," the company announced Wednesday afternoon. The film is a musical comedy about "three recent high school grads who find themselves at a crossroads in their hometown of Colma, California, a cemetery-suffused suburb of San Francisco renowned for having more dead residents than live ones." The three teens each rebel in their own ways against the moribund reality of their hometown while making their way into adulthood. Along the way they burst into song and dance around cemeteries, shopping malls and college keg parties during the film's thirteen musical numbers. Roadside Attractions plans a summer release in the U.S. for the film, which had its world debut at the recent San Francisco International Asian-American Film Festival. Roadside co-president Eric d'Arbeloff negotiated the deal with sales agent Nguyen "Wyn" Tran of The Institution, for the filmmakers. [Brian Brooks]  
[permalink]   [ filed under Acquisitions ]

AP: Scorsese to give film class at Cannes

Martin Scorsese will be busy at this year's Cannes Film Festival. The Oscar-winning director ("The Departed") will give a master class on moviemaking to students and film buffs May 24, the festival said Wednesday. Scorsese will present a prize for the festival's best film by a first-time director at the May 27 closing ceremony. Also at Cannes, he is to announce the creation of a new foundation "devoted to the preservation and restoration of the masterpieces of world cinema," the festival said. AP reports. 
[permalink]   [ filed under Cannes, Festivals ]

NY Times: Director Leaps From Shorts to Longing

Part thriller, part meditation on love and loss, "Red Road" galvanized audiences at the Cannes Film Festival last year with its suspense and its wrenching emotional payoff. As in cinematic puzzles like Atom Egoyan's "Exotica" and Michael Haneke's "Hidden," we have no idea until quite late in the game why Jackie is doing what she is or what will happen next. Laura Winters reports. 
[permalink]   [ filed under Movies ]

Davies Joins Overture in New EVP Post

Overture Films has named Kyle Davies to the new position of executive vice president, theatrical distribution, Overture president of marketing, distribution and new media Peter Adee announced Wednesday. Davies, who will report to Adee, will be responsible for all of Overture Films' domestic distribution strategies and execution. Overture, a new full-service studio, plans to release 8-12 features per year, comprised of original productions as well as acquisitions. Davies joins Overture Films from Paramount Pictures, where he was senior vice president, western division, for Paramount Pictures Motion Picture Distribution. "The changing environment in the theatrical distribution business presents many new challenges and just as many opportunities," commented Adee in a statement. "We think Kyle's combination of know-how and foresight makes him the perfect person for the job." [Brian Brooks] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Industry Moves ]

Tribeca to Debut "Spider-Man 3" in Queens

Director Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man 3" will have its U.S. debut at the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival, the event announced recently. The premiere will take place in Queens, NY (Peter Parker's hometown) on April 30. The event is one of several celebrating "Spider-Man Week in New York. In addition to the U.S. premiere in Queens, the Tribeca Film Festival will also present, with Columbia Pictures, simultaneous screenings in the other four boroughs. These free advance screenings will be open to the public and details about how these tickets can be secured will be released as the event approaches. [Brian Brooks] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Festivals, New York ]

The Guardian: Pollack to lead "Recount"

Sydney Pollack, the Oscar-winning director of "Three Days of the Condor" and "Out of Africa," is to direct a film about the 2000 US elections that controversially brought George W Bush to power. Entitled "Recount," the movie will chronicle the month-long storm that followed election day seven years ago, when the results of the poll--which made famous hanging chads and butterfly ballots--hung on a recount of votes in Florida. And the film is squarely aimed at being topical: it is to premiere in spring 2008 on the US TV channel HBO, just months before Americans go to the polls to choose their next leader. The Guardian reports. 
[permalink]   [ filed under Production ]

AP: Ebert plans to attend his film fest

Roger Ebert's recovery from cancer surgery has been a "long and unexpected ordeal" but he plans to attend his annual festival for overlooked movies. "I think of the festival as the first step on my return to action," Ebert wrote in a column celebrating his 40th anniversary as film critic at the Chicago Sun-Times. The column was posted Tuesday on his website. Ebert said he'll watch the ninth annual Overlooked Film Festival, which begins April 25 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, from the audience, with colleagues taking over onstage duties. He cannot speak due to a tracheostomy, a procedure that opens an airway through an incision in the windpipe. Megan Reichgott reports. 
[permalink]   [ filed under People ]

Overture and Echo Lake Unveil Amiel's "105 Degrees and Rising"

Overture Films is on board to produce Jon Amiel's "105 Degrees and Rising" with Echo Lake Productions, the companies announced today. The move into larger budget projects for Echo Lake is a film set against the backdrop of the fall of Saigon in 1975, according to an announcement. The film is based on a script by William M. Akers, with Echo Lake's Doug Mankoff, Mike Marcus and Andy Spaulding producing. Rob Cowan is also on board as a producer. The announcement noted that it is the first production to be developed by the new company under the leadership of Chris McGurk and Danny Rosett. Casting has yet to be announced for "105 Degrees and Rising" with the title referring to a secret code signaling U.S. citizens to evacuate Saigon. "'105 Degrees' is a fresh look at this key moment in our history," said Doug Mankoff, President of Echo Lake. "The script features an ensemble of amazing roles and Jon Amiel brings terrific vision to the material. Chris and Danny have exhibited great taste in making important films such as 'Hotel Rwanda,' and so we are especially pleased to be making this film with them." [Eugene Hernandez] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Movies ]

INDUSTRY MOVES: Lowe Leaving DDPR for Rubenstein

After five and a half years at Donna Daniels Public Relations, Emily Lowe is joining Rubenstein Associates as Associate Vice President at the company. She will conclude her DDPR duties this week and join Rubenstein on April 16th.  
[permalink]   [ filed under Industry Moves ]

The Box Office Top Ten So Far

Each week, indieWIRE receives the final weekend numbers for specialty releases in theaters. This is our top ten for the three day 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. "Journey From The Fall" (ImaginAsian) $99,080 wknd ($16,513 per scrn) 2. "Killer of Sheep" (Milestone) $26,155 wknd ($13,077 per scrn) 3. "After The Wedding" (IFC Films) $47,311 wknd ($9,462 per scrn) 4. "The Namesake" (Fox Searchlight) $1,545,971 wknd ($6,523 per scrn) 5. "Boy Culture" (TLA Releasing) $12,234 wknd ($6,117 per scrn) 6. "Summer In Berlin" (Self Distributed) $5,536 wknd ($4,536 per scrn) 7. "Sacco And Vanzetti" (First Run) $5,442 wknd ($5,442 per scrn) 8."Radiant City" (Odeon Films) $14,289 wknd ($4,763 per scrn) 9. "Into Great Silence" (Zeitgeist) $46,596 wknd ($3,883 per scrn) 10. "Avenue Montaigne" (ThinkFilm) $110,298 wknd ($3,677 per scrn) [Editors Note: This chart has been revised on 4/4/07 to correct a previous error. To view the entire chart, please visit here.  
[permalink]   [ filed under Biz ]

SF 360: Amanda Micheli and her wonder women

When Bay Area filmmaker Amanda Micheli approaches you can see that she is an athlete. She is sure of herself. She has a magnetic smile, great stories and has steadily built an impressive history of documentary and commercial filmmaking work. Her student thesis at Harvard won a Student Academy Award, and her feature length directorial debut "Double Dare" has screened worldwide, including at the San Francisco International Film Festival (2004). She shot and produced "Cat Dancers," which just premiered at the SXSW Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Prize. And, most recently, she has been to Colombia where she documented a beauty pageant taking place in a Bogota women's prison. This newest project currently entitled "El Reinado," is being co-directed with her old friend Isabel Vega. SF360 sat down with her for lessons in documentary and rugby lingo. Sean Uyehara reports. 
[permalink]   [ filed under People ]

AFP: Australian, Norwegian films get top prizes at Danish festival

A "magical" Australian film shot entirely in an aboriginal language and a Norwegian film inspired by the French new wave took the top prizes at Denmark's largest film festival, which closed Sunday. "Ten Canoes," from Australian director Rolf de Heers, took the NatFilm Festival's audience award, while Norwegian director Joachim Tier's "Reprise" won the TV5Monde Critics Award, sponsored by the French TV network. NatFilm featured 170 films from 50 countries and attracted 40,000 spectators during its 10-day run. AFP reports. 
[permalink]   [ filed under Festivals ]

"Shut Up And Shoot Me" & "New Year Baby" Win Top Awards at Inaugural AFI Dallas Fest

Steen Agro's "Shut Up And Shoot Me" won the $25,000 Target Filmmaker Award for Best Narrative Feature at the inaugural AFI Dallas International Film Festival and Socheata Poeuv's "New Year Baby" won the $25,000 Target Filmmaker Award for Best Documentary (with Grace Phan's "Where The Sun Rises" receiving a special mention) as the film festival came to a close in Texas this weekend. Rob Stewart's documentary "Sharkwater" won the HDNet Award for the best feature shot in HD, including a $10,000 cash prize. Eric Chaikin's "A Lawyer Walks Into A Bar" won the Texas Competition and Alyson Shelton's "Eye of Understanding" won a special jury award, Alex Weil's "One Rat Short" won the animation competition and Calvin Reeder's "Little Farm" won in the shorts category, with a special mention for Lilah Vandenburgh's "Bitch." The festival concluded on Saturday with the closing night gala screening of Sarah Polley's "Away From Her" and Polley received the Dallas Star Award. [Eugene Hernandez] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Festivals ]

Record-breaking Opening for "Killer of Sheep" at IFC Center

Charles Burnett's "Killer of Sheep" got off to a terrific start at IFC Center this weekend in New York City, breaking the 3 day single screen house record at the downtown Manhattan venue. The film earned an estimated 21,500.00 for the weekend at the theater. Along with grosses from its other opening weekend showing at the Jacob Burns Center in Westchester County, the film will have an estimated $12,000 per screen average. The restored film, made 30 years ago, never had a theatrical release due to music rights and is being released by Milestone Films, opening in Los Angeles next weekend followed by other cities around the country. "All of us at Milestone are overjoyed that Charles Burnett's beautiful film is getting its long-overdue accolades and that so many moviegoers are discovering its timeless honesty," said Milestone president Amy Heller, in a statement on Sunday. "It has been an honor to help bring Killer of Sheep back and we look forward to introducing it to audiences across the country and the world." indieWIRE's review of the film, from Reverse Shot, was published last week. [Eugene Hernandez] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Biz ]

HR: WIP and Volume One Eyeing Co-Financing Deal

Warner Independent Pictures and Volume One are signing a multiyear co-financing deal for about 30 feature films, according to an article in The Hollywood Reporter. While WIP said the deal is not complete, Volume One's Dean Leavitt and Gina Resnick are raising their company's portion of the funds, according to the Hollywood trade paper. 
[permalink]   [ filed under Biz ]