The Guardian: EU sex flick rubs right the wrong way

Conservative politicians have lined up to lambast a European Union promotional film that showcases a collection of classic sex scenes from European movies. Entitled "Film Lovers Will Love This," the 44-second montage features the sweaty antics of 18 couples, both heterosexual and homosexual, and climaxes with the slogan "Let's come together." The Guardian reports. 
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iW NEWS | Toronto Fest Adds to Slate

The Toronto International Film Festival has added five Special Presentations screenings to its 2007 lineup. Joining the previously announced "No Country For Old Men" by The Coen Brothers is Richard Roxburgh's "Romulus, My Father" from Australia, as well as David Auburn's directorial debut "The Girl in the Park," John Sayles' latest, "Honeydripper," Craig Gillespie's "Lars and the Real Girl," and actress Helen Hunt's directorial debut "Then She Found Me," all from the United States. The festival will run from September 6 - 15, 2007 in Canada. [Eugene Hernandez] 
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iW NEWS | Mumblefest Coming to IFC Center in August

Filmmakers Joe Swanberg, Andrew Bujalski, The Duplass Brothers, Aaron Katz, and Frank V. Ross will be in the spootlight for two weeks later this summer during an IFC Center series dubbed, "The New Talkies: Generation DIY." Running August 22 - Septmber 4, the festival of Mumblecore filmmakers will include a one-week run for Swanberg's latest, "Hannah Takes The Stairs" (August 22 - 28), which debuted earlier this year at SXSW and was recently acquired by IFC First Take. Swanberg's "Kissing On The Mouth" (2005) will screen on August 24th, while season one of his Nerve.com series "Young American Bodies" will screen the next day and last year's "LOL" will debut at IFC Center on September 2 - 3. Aaron Katz' "Quiet CIty," which like "Hannah" debuted at SXSW this year, will debut with a one-week run from August 29 - September 4 and his 2006 film "Dance Party USA" will screen August 28 - 29. Also on tap for the series are two-day runs for Andrew Bujalski's "Funny Ha Ha" (August 22 - 23) and "Mutual Appreciation" (August 31 - September 1). Other films screening will include The Duplass Brothers' "The Puffy Chair" (August 26 - 27), and two films by Frank V. Ross: "Hohokam" (August 30) and "Quietly On By" (September 4). Also on tap is "Mumbleshorts," a separate program of short films by Swanberg, Katz and the Duplass Brothers. For more information, please visit the IFC Center website. 
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The Guardian: Ahmadinejad turns down chance to star in Oliver Stone film

His thirst for the limelight has driven him to launch a multilingual blog and issue a string of headline-grabbing statements. But Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was surprisingly camera-shy when his extrovert persona drew the attention of Hollywood, turning down a request by Oliver Stone, the director of "JFK," "Nixon" and "Platoon," to make a documentary film about him. He dismissed the American filmmaker as "part of the Great Satan," the Iranian regime's standard term of abuse for the U.S. Robert Tait reports. 
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NYT: Werner Herzog Is Still Breaking the Rules

Werner Herzog's films tend to thrust man up against nature, and nature is not a particularly forgiving adversary. His latest film, "Rescue Dawn" (opening Wednesday), revisits these themes as it follows the ordeal of the German-American pilot Dieter Dengler in the jungles of Laos after he is shot down by the Vietcong in 1966 during a secret bombing raid. "Rescue Dawn," the first screenplay Mr. Herzog has written in English, is in many ways a mash note to America. Mekado Murphy reports. 
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iW NEWS | Finalists Named for 4th SXSWclick

Fifteen finalists in five categories have been named for the South by Southwest Film Conference & Festival's four-year-old online Summer short film event, SXSWclick. Selected in the Animate-It category are: AM Peters' "Corporate Whore," Dan Brown's "Pierre," and David Crumley's "Sloths on a Tank"; in the Old School Shorts section: Will Elliott's "Peterson's Savings and Loan," Johnny O'Hara's "Mac's First Time," and Adam Wingard's "1000 Year Sleep"; in the Really Old Shorts category: David Serota's "Ubuntu," Kent Osbourne's "Every Picture I Took Last Year," and Jenny Perlin's "Review"; in the Sounds Shots section: Jonathan Stearns' "Falling Up" by Rickie Lee Jones, Andrea Gianomini's "Always Near" by Socadia, and Aaron Castillo's "Not Until Now" by Mediums; and in the What the F*#! category: Tim Spellman's "Math Bus," Tipper Newtown's "The Timebox Twins," and Naveen Singh's "Orphans." Jurors for the competition include actor Kal Penn, comedian Bob Odenkirk, filmmakers Doug Pray, Michael Tully and AJ Schnack, and bloggers Agnes Varnum and Violet Blue. For more information, visit the SXSWclick website. [Eugene Hernandez] 
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iW NEWS | Participant Backing Live Earth Doc

Brian Hill's Century Films and Katie Bailiff will produce a feature-length documentary from Participant Productions inspired by the upcoming Live Earth concert event taking place July 7, 2007. Backed by producer Kevin Wall and Al Gore, the Live Earth concert will take place at venues around the world this Saturday. "Jeff Skoll and Participant always believed in the message of 'An Inconvenient Truth', long before it was fashionable to do so," said Gore in a statement, referencing his Oscar-winning doc that was produced by Participant. "I'm thrilled to be working with them again in this new effort to focus attention on climate crisis." Clarifying that the project is not a concert film, Brian Hill noted in a statement that the film will record what people around the world are doing to end global warming. [Eugene Hernandez] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Documentary, Movies ]

iW NEWS | Magnolia Sets Dates for "Cashback" and "Closing Escrow"

Magnolia Pictues has announced plans for Summer day-and-date releases of Sean Ellis' "Cashback" and Armen Kaprelian's "Closing Escrow." Ellis' "Cashback," which debuted at 2006 Toronto International Film Festival, will debut on HDNet on July 18 and in theaters two days later, hitting DVD on July 24th. "Closing Escrow," an award winner at last year's U.S. Comedy Arts Film Festival, will hit HDNet on August 22nd, debut in theaters two days later and receive a DVD release on August 28th. [Eugene Hernandez]  
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iW NEWS | "Owl" and "Resolved" Win Audience Prizes at LA Fest

The Los Angeles Film Festival came to a close on Sunday night in West L.A. with a screening of Danny Boyle's upcoming, "Sunshine." Prior to the showing, festival organizers announced that Stephane Gauger's "The Owl and the Sparrow" (narrative) and Greg Whiteley's "Resolved" (documentary) won the festival's top audience prizes. Stephen Walker's "Young @ Heart" won the audience award for the best international feature at the 2007 LAFF. indieWIRE will publish a festival wrap up on Monday; for more coverage, visit indieWIRE's special section from the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival. 
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iW NEWS | Korean Film Council Names Fellows for Hawaii Filmmaker Lab

The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) named its Fellows and Mentors for its KOFIC Filmmakers Development Lab at a ceremony hosted by the group's chairperson, Ms. An Cheong Sook, at the opening of the organization's representative office in Los Angeles Friday. The five Fellows include Nathan Adolfson ("Model American"), Christina Choe ("Guess Who's Coming for Kimchee?"), Jeyun Choi ("Grand Island"), Samuel Kiehoon Lee ("The Pleonsastic") and Gene Rhee ("The Outsider"). Mentors include producers Jonathan H Kim ("Silmido"), Jooick Lee ("The Battle of Wits"), Peggy Rajski ("American Beauty"), Brant Rose Agency founder Brant Rose, and the American Film Institute's Barry Sabath. The Fellows and Mentors spend a week in Hawaii in one-on-one sessions developing their scripts, and are then presented to producers, financiers, production companies at IFP's Independent Feature Film Market in New York in September, and at the Pusan International Film Festival in Korea, in October. "The first Filmmakers Development Lab held in 2006 was successful in encouraging and focusing the Fellows on developing their scripts and skills to help realize their projects and nurture their professional careers," said Chairperson An in a statement. "We are pleased to support and organize this second Lab to build on the success and experience of last year's effort. As a demonstration of our strong support of the Lab, and our wish to help filmmakers of Korean descent, we will also be awarding US$40,000 to the most meritorious Lab script or scripts later this year." [Brian Brooks] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Biz ]

iW NEWS | "2 Mums and a Dad" and "Katoomba" Take Top Sydney Prizes

The Sydney Film Festival concluded recently with director Miranda Wills' "2 Mums and a Dad" winning best documentary and "Katoomba" by Leon Ford taking best fiction. The festival's "Most Innovative Short" award went to Daniel Agdad's "Paper City Architects." Also taking home a prize was "Growing Up and Going Home" by Belinda Mason, which took the fest's "Dendy Award." Russian thriller "Day Watch" by Dnevnoy Dozor closed the event, which took place in Australia's largest city June 8 - 24. For more information, visit the festival's website. [Brian Brooks] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Festivals, World Cinema ]

NYT: A Leap Forward, or a Great Sellout?

Homegrown blockbusters were supposed to be China's answer to Hollywood. And, to some extent, the extravagant budgets and eye-popping special effects of "Curse of the Golden Flower," "The Promise" and "The Banquet" did their job. For the past two years Chinese films have shattered box-office records here, while outperforming Hollywood imports. Yet far from inspiring national pride, these films, from the well-known directors Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige and Feng Xiaogang, have sparked a heated, sometimes vituperative domestic debate about the future of Chinese cinema and whether the country's leading filmmakers are true artists or merely politically savvy hacks. David Barboza reports. 
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Reuters: ABC film critic Joel Siegel dead at age 63

Joel Siegel, the upbeat and often joyous film critic for ABC television's "Good Morning America" for 26 years, died on Friday at age 63 after a long battle against colon cancer, the network said. Arthur Spiegelman reports. 
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AP: Taiwanese director Yang dies at 59

Edward Yang, who won best director in 2000 at the Cannes Film Festival and was known for his realistic portrayals of modern Taiwan, has died of complications from colon cancer, a film industry consultant said Sunday. He was 59. Min Lee reports. 
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