AFP: "All About My Mother" comes to the London stage

A theatre adaptation of Spanish director Pedro Almodovar's 1999 film "All About My Mother" will receive its world premiere in London in August, the Old Vic company headed by US actor Kevin Spacey announced Friday. The show runs from August 25 to November 24 at the theatre and will be co-produced by Spacey and Sam Mendes, who directed him in the Oscar-winning 1999 movie "American Beauty." AFP reports. 
[permalink]   [ filed under People ]

AP: Cannes winner praises Romania's films

Cristian Mungiu, the first Romanian to win the Cannes Film Festival's top prize, says his country's recent movie output helped him win the award. He has said "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days" shows how people's choices are affected by the political system, indoctrination and stereotyping. The film had a budget of $671,000. AP reports. 
[permalink]   [ filed under Cannes, People ]

INDUSTRY MOVES | Heineman, Deutschman Promoted at Rogue

At Focus Features' Rogue Pictures division, Alex Heineman has been promoted to vice president, production and Andrew Deutschman has been promoted to creative executive. Deutschman is based on the West Coast and Heineman is located on the East Coast. The two worked at Dimension Films before joining Rogue. 
[permalink]   [ filed under Industry Moves ]

INDUSTRY MOVES | Witt Joins TWC

Renee Witt has joined The Weinstein Company as SVP of Production. She recently served as SVP at Laura Ziskin Productions and previously worked at New Line Cinema.  
[permalink]   [ filed under Industry Moves ]

iW NEWS | Fim Society to Celebrate 30 Years of Kino

The Film Society of Lincoln Center will celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Kino International with a special series running from June 29th - July 12th at the Walter Reade Theater. The series will open with the New York debut of a restoration of Fritz Lang's "Spies" (1928) and other screenings will include Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator," (1940), Sergei Paradjanov's "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" (1964), Fritz Lang's "M" (1931), and Wong Kar Wai's "Fallen Angels" (1995). New York's Film Forum will join the celebration by screening of Fritz Lang's "Metropolis." "More than a celebration of Kino's longstanding commitment to film culture, this summer's retrospective at the Walter Reade Theatre is a testament to the diverse and vibrant pulse of world filmmaking during the past 100 years," said Kent Jones, associate director of programming at the Film Society, in a statement. [Eugene Hernandez]  
[permalink]   [ filed under Events ]

iW NEWS | Magnolia and Red Envelope Take North American Rights to Sundance Winner, "No End in Sight"

All North American rights to Charles Ferguson's 2007 Sundance Film Festival doc "No End in Sight," have been jointly acquired by Red Envelope and Magnolia Pictures, the companies officially announced Thursday. Magnolia's head Eamonn Bowles and Head of Business Affairs, Jason Janego along with Bahman Naraghi, Head of Red Envelope Entertainment negotiated the deal with John Sloss from Cinetic Media. The film will open in New York and Washington, D.C. on July 27th and expand nationwide the following week. Written and directed by Ferguson, the film, which took the Sundance best doc prize, focuses on the policy informing the decisions behind the occupation. The film "unflinchingly paints a jaw-dropping picture of wholesale incompetence, recklessness and venality." "'No End in Sight' is remarkable, a stirring, perfectly assembled catalogue of the almost unimaginable short-sightedness that passed for strategy in Iraq," commented Bowles in a statement. "This film is a must see for anyone who cares about how American government has conducted itself and where we're going as a country." [Brian Brooks] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Acquisitions ]

The Guardian Interview: Out of the back room

The film world's collective jaw may have dropped on Sunday night when "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," a Romanian film about abortion with no stars and costing under half a million pounds, walked off with the Palme d'Or in Cannes. Less surprised, probably, was its director, Cristian Mungiu. He was confident enough of his chances when we met, 10 days before the prize-giving, to tell me that he wasn't going home when his free, festival-provided hotel room ran out: "I'm going to stick around for the awards." Nick Roddick reports. 
[permalink]   [ filed under Cannes, People ]

iW NEWS | Weinsteins Get Woody Allen Movie

Woody Allen's latest, "Cassandra's Dream," has been acquired in the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand by The Weinstein Company. The film stars Ewan McGregor, Colin Farrell, Tom Wilkinson, Sally Hawkins and Hayley Atwell. Written and directed by Allen, the film was produced by Letty Aronson, Stephen Tenenbaum, and Gareth Wiley. Wild Bunch is handling worldwide sales of the title. Set in present-day London, the film is described as, "the story of two brothers, and how their lives and loves gradually become entangled in circumstances that lead to tragedy." Michelle Krumm and Maeva Gatineau, EVP's and co-heads of acquisitions, and Laine Kline, SVP of business and legal affairs, negotiated the deal with Carole Baraton of Wild Bunch. [Eugene Hernandez] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Acquisitions ]

iW NEWS | Conget Joins Film Movement's New Theatrical Division

Film Movement has named ten-year New Yorker Films' veteran Rebeca Conget to head its newly created theatrical division, the company said today (Wednesday). As the new VP of theatrical distribution, Conget will report to Film Movement president Adley Gertenstein. According to the announcement, she will be responsible for running the company's expanded theatrical releasing unit. Upcoming releases include Pavel Lounguine's "The Island," Matthew Saville's "Noise," Andrea Staka's "Fraulein," and Francisco Vargas' "The Violin." "We are so pleased that Rebeca has decided to join our team," said company CEO Stuart Litman, in a statement. "Her experience will be invaluable to Film Movement during this period of intense growth. After many years of increasing interest and demand for theatrical releases of nearly our entire catalog of films, the time has finally come to formalize this division and bring on board an expert who can really maximize the theatrical potential of our current and future films." [Eugene Hernandez] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Industry Moves ]

"Paranoid" Set for IFC Release in U.S.; MK2 Sells Film in 72 Territories

Gus Van Sant's "Paranoid Park," which has been acquired by IFC First Take for a U.S. release, has been sold in some 72 territories according to Marin and Nathanael Karmitz's French company MK2, which fully finananced the movie. MK2 said Wednesday that the film, winner of the special 60th Anniversary Award at the recent Cannes Film Festival, has already sold the film in the United Kingdom, Italy, USA, Spain, India, Argentina, Australia, Greece, Portugal, Benelux, Switzerland, Scandinavia, Russia, Poland, Japan and Korea. [Eugene Hernandez] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Acquisitions, Cannes ]

iW NEWS | NonStop Makes "4 Months" Deal

In a deal with Wild Bunch, NonStop Entertainment has announced its acquisition of Cristian Mungiu's "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," winner of the Palme d'or at the recent Cannes Film Festival. The company will release the movie in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, while IFC First Take is handling the U.S. release after acquiring the film last week in France. Set in a small town in Romania, the film is the story of two university students dealing with an unwanted pregnancy during the last years of Communism. "We are very proud to bring home the critically acclaimed Palm d'Or winner '4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days'," said NonStop CEO Ignas Scheynius, "Together with the Golden Lion winner 'Still Life' and the Golden Bear winner 'Tuya's Marriage', NonStop Entertainment is doing a hat trick by adding the winners from the most recent film A-film festivals in Venice, Berlin and Cannes to its repertoir." [Eugene Hernandez] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Acquisitions, Cannes ]

AFP: Local Oscar-winning director snubbed by Hong Kong cinemas

A Hong Kong director has been snubbed in her home city where film distributors have shown no interest in her Oscar-winning documentary about AIDS in central China, a report said Monday. Filmmaker Ruby Yang complained that there was a lack of interest in "Blood of Yingzhou District," which won an Oscar earlier this year, even though it has been shown across the United States, the South China Morning Post reported. The article appears in AFP. 
[permalink]   [ filed under People ]

iW NEWS | CineVegas to Honor Hopkins, Kingsley, Newell and Theron

CineVegas, taking place June 6 - 16, will honor Sir Anthony Hopkins with its Marquee Award on June 15, while Sir Ben Kingsley will receive the festival's Vanguard Actor Award. Also set for CineVegas honors is Mike Newell who will be on hand to receive the event's Vanguard Director Award, and Charlize Theron will take the "Half-Life Award." "We are incredibly blessed to gather such talent in one spot for the purpose of recognizing their collective work," stated Artistic Director Trevor Groth in a statement. "The excitement of Sir Anthony Hopkins, Sir Ben Kingsley, Mike Newell and Charlize Theron coming together at this year's CineVegas will truly be a weekend, and a year, to remember." [Brian Brooks] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Festivals ]

SF360: Liane Yasumoto and Superfest

"Access" is a buzzword these days, but Superfest International Disability Film Festival does access on a whole different scale. Creating a film-viewing space for forty wheelchairs, offering captions for those who can't hear, American Sign Language interpreters as live narrators as well as audio describers for the visually impaired, Superfest serves an audience not exactly catered to by the traditional movie house. Susan Gerhard reports. 
[permalink]   [ filed under Festivals ]

SFC: Health reformers to piggyback on "Sicko"

Michael Moore couldn't have scheduled the release of his movie "Sicko" at a more opportune time. The film, which opens in theaters in the United States on June 29, arrives as many states, including California, have introduced health care reform proposals. In polls, health care routinely ranks among the public's top domestic concerns. Health care reform is also expected to be an important theme in the presidential campaign for 2008. Victoria Colliver reports. 
[permalink]   [ filed under Cannes, Festivals ]

AFP: East Europe calls to West at Cannes

While films from Eastern Europe made big on festival screens at Cannes, the region's cash-strapped industry looked West for the future. At the Cannes trade market, where thousands of film execs did business on the sidelines of the 12-day film festival ending Sunday, Eastern Europeans said co-productions were the path to the future for a new generation of talented filmmakers. Audrey Stuart reports. 
[permalink]   [ filed under Cannes, Festivals ]

AP: Cannes closes on light note with comedy

After a 12-day lineup of weighty films, the Cannes Film Festival came to a close Sunday with a movie called "Days of Darkness -- despite its title, a comedy. French-Canadian filmmaker Denys Arcand, who won best foreign language Oscar in 2004 for his funny, moving, "The Barbarian Invasions," has a thing for over-the-top titles. Angela Doland reports. 
[permalink]   [ filed under Cannes, Festivals ]