iW NEWS | "Earth" Added to LA Fest

Eric Brevig's "Journey to the Center of the Earth" will have its world premiere at the upcoming Los Angeles Film Festival, screening as part of the event's Family Day celebration on Sunday, June 29th. Also set for the day-long event is a screening of Disney's "Peter Pan," as a tribute to the late animator Ollie Johnston. 
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Sundance Film Festival Shorts at Apple

Sundance Film Festival programmer Trevor Groth will host a discussion and screening of clips from four short films featured at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival: FCU: Fact Checkers Unit, Man, Chonto, and Sick Sex. The short filmmakers will participate in a discussion about their work as well. The event takes place at Apple Store SoHo on Saturday, May 31 at 3:00pm.  
[permalink]   [ filed under Events ]

INDUSTRY MOVES | Kielbasa Leaving Sarasota Fest

After 10 years, Jody Kielbasa is leaving his post as executive director of the Sarasota Film Festival to pursue other interests. In the wake of the announcement, Mark Famiglio, executive board member and one of the founding members of the Sarasota Film Festival, was elected president of the board for the fest.   
[permalink]   [ filed under Industry Moves ]

iW NEW | Magnolia Acquires "Buck Howard"

Magnolia Pictures has announced the acquisition of the North American rights to Sean McGinley's "The Great Buck Howard." Howard, produced by Bristol Bay Productions and Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman's Playtone Pictures, stars John Malkovich, Colin Hanks, Emily Blunt, Steve Zahn, and Tom Hanks himself. "'The Great Buck Howard' is a rare find in the current marketplace - a charming, incredibly likeable film that has something for everyone," said Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles in a statement. The deal was negotiated by Magnolia Pictures Senior Vice President, Tom Quinn and Head of Business Affairs, Jason Janego, with Creative Artists Agency and Jim Meenaghan of Bristol Bay, Executive Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs. Magnolia plans a fall theatrical rollout for "Howard." [Peter Knegt]  
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iW NEWS | Mountainfilm Wraps 30th Fest

Mountainfilm, held in Telluride, Colorado, finished up its 30th annual festival by honoring some of the films and filmmakers that took part in it. The Festival Director's Award was given to Ben Knight and Travis Rummel's "Red Gold," Peter Mortimer's "King Lines" won the Charles Fowler Award, Sascha Paladino won the Aspiring Filmmakers' Award for "Throw Down Your Heart," and Mountainfilm Prize, given to a nonprofit organization whose mission was represented in the programming of the festival, was accepted by author and activist Ben Skinner. [Peter Knegt] 
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iW NEWS | "FLOW" Goes To Oscilloscope

Beastie Boy Adam Yauch's Oscilloscope Pictures, part of a recording studio, film production and distribution company Yauch recently founded, has announced Irena Salina's documentary, "FLOW: For Love Of Water" as their first acquisition. Oscilloscope acquired North American rights to the film, which premiered at Sundance earlier this year, and will release it late summer followed by a DVD release in the winter. The deal was brokered by Josh Braun of Submarine and Steven Starr for the filmmakers with David Fenkel for Oscilloscope. "This film is a wakeup call, and I'm glad for Oscilloscope to be involved in bringing it to a wider audience," said Yauch in a statement. "I was overwhelmed by the enormity of this crisis. The film stayed with me, and I still keep thinking back on it. It contains information that people need to know." [Peter Knegt] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Acquisitions ]

iW NEWS | "Kabluey" Coming to Theaters via Whitewater/Regent

Scott Prendergrast's "Kabluey," a hit at last year's Los Angeles Film Festival, is coming to theaters this summer via a partnership between production company Whitewater Films and distributor Regent Releasing. The film, co-starring writer/director Prendergrast, features Lisa Kudrow, Teri Garr, Christine Taylor, Conchata Ferrell, Chris Parnell, and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. It was produced by Rick Rosenthal, Gary Dean Simpson, Rhoades Rader, Jeff Balis, and Doug Sutherland. The film is the story of a slacker uncle (Prendergast) who moves in with his brother's family while the father is away fighting in Iraq. Mixing quirky humor (including an odd-looking big blue costumed character) with a more serious storyline, Prendergast calls his film a "melancho-medy." indieWIRE profiled Scott Prendergrast when the film debuted at last year's LA Film Fest. The film opens Kabluey opens July 4th in NYC & Los Angeles, followed by San Francisco a week later... [Eugene Hernandez] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Movies ]

GREENCINE | They didn't build their sales model for you.

"The festival circuit has instead become an ersatz distribution system unto itself that, for the most part, keeps money away from the makers," writes Jonathan Marlow for GreenCine, as the busy month of June fests approaches. He continues later, "If the proverbial theatrical release is elusive and the video business is flat or in decline (depending on which statistic you tend to support), what else is there to expect out of the proverbial festival tour beyond the face-to-face that filmmakers get with their audience?"  
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HR | Loss of principals clouds Mirage slate

The Hollywood Reporter wonders about the future of Mirage Entertainment, noting, "Mirage finds itself in an unusual situation: [Sydney] Pollack was a principal in the company with Anthony Minghella, who died March 18, and few companies have faced the death of two partners in such a short period of time, leaving not only the question of what happens to their titles but also what becomes of the company." 
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iW NEWS | IFC Takes "Gomorrah"

IFC Films has acquired the U.S. rights to "Gomorrah," winner of the Grand Jury Prize at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Directed by Matteo Garrone, the film will be released through IFC in Theaters, its day and date distribution plan which makes independent films available to a national audience in theatres and on-demand, simultaneously. The film will also go through IFC Entertainment's exclusive deal with Blockbuster Video. "Just when we thought we had seen it all, Matteo Garrone has reinvented the Italian Mafia picture with such originality and invention that it seems entirely new," said IFC Entertainment President Jonathan Sehring in a statement. "We think that this completely fresh take on a well known genre that includes 'The Godfather Trilogy,' 'The Sopranos' and 'Goodfellas' will take American audiences by storm as it did in Cannes . We look forward to getting it out to the widest possible audience." The film has grossed almost $8 million since its release in Italy ten days ago. [Peter Knegt] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Acquisitions ]

iW NEWS | Provincetown Sets 10th Festival

The 10th annual Provincetown International Film Festival has announced its line-up as well as the launch of the John Schlesinger Memorial Award, which will be a juried prize handed out to the best first feature. Among the over sixty feature films at the festival include narratives such as Lance Hammer's "Ballast," Gael Garcia Bernal's "Deficit," Tom Kalin's "Savage Grace," Clark Gregg's "Choke," Madonna's "Filth and Wisdom," Catherine Breillat's "The Last Mistress," Alan Ball's "Towelhead," and Tom Gustafson's "Were The World Mine," and documentaries such as Guido Santii and Tina Marscara's "Chris & Don: A Love Story," Nanette Burstein's "American Teen," Guy Maddin's "My Winnipeg," Werner Herzog's "Encounters and the End of the World," James Marsh's "Man on Wire," and Ron Davis and Stewart Halpern-Fingerhut's "Pageant." The festival runs June 18-22, 2008. For the complete schedule, please visit the festival's website. [Peter Knegt] 
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iW NEWS | CineVegas To Honor Six Actors

In celebration of its 10th anniversary, the CineVegas Film Festival will honor six actors during its June 20th reception at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. The Marquee Award will be given to Anjelica Huston, James Caan will be honored with the Vegas Icon Award, given to an actor who "embodies the spirit of Las Vegas," while Don Cheadle, Rosario Dawson, Viggo Mortensen and Sam Rockwell will each be honored with the Half-Life Award for the work they done thus far in their careers. CineVegas will be held June 12-21. [Peter Knegt] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Honors ]

NYT: Sydney Pollack, Film Director, Dies at 73

Sydney Pollack, a Hollywood mainstay as director, producer and sometime actor whose star-laden movies like "The Way We Were," "Tootsie" and "Out of Africa" were among the most successful of the 1970s and '80s, died on Monday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 73. The cause was cancer, said a representative of the family. Michael Cielpy reports. 
[permalink]   [ filed under People ]

iW NEWS | 4-Day Weekend Estimates: "War" Leads, "Reprise," "Visitor" Hold Strong

Joshua Seftel's "War, Inc." led the specialty-focused iW BOT this Memorial Day weekend, according to those films that submitted numbers to indieWIRE Box Office Tracking (iW BOT) estimates from Rentrak this afternoon. First Look's "War" averaged a potent $25,357 from 2 screens over the four days for a total of $50,714. The other reported opener was Roger Spottiswoode's "The Children Of Huang Shi," which grossed $42,254 from 7 screens for a $6,036 average. Among holdovers, last week's iW BOT leader, Joachim Trier's "Reprise," held on strong for Miramax. It grossed $110,600 from 14 screens for a $7,900 average. Two more aged holdovers, Helen Hunt's "Then She Found Me" and Tom McCarthy's "The Visitor," continued to show strength in the 5th and 7th weekends, respectively. Hunt's ThinkFilm release, which started off mildly, is expanding nicely, grossing $505,458 from 150 screens for an average of $3,370 and a total of $2,183,668. However, this fails in comparison to considerable specialty-breakout "The Visitor." The Overture release remained in the top ten this weekend, grossing $917,000 from 270 screens and taking its cume to $4,568,225. indieWIRE will publish its weekly box office column this Tuesday due to the holiday weekend and final weekend numbers for specialty and limited release films on Wednesday. Get the latest in the indieWIRE Box Office section. [Peter Knegt] 
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iW NEWS | Inside Out Announces Winners

The 18th Annual Inside Out Toronto Lesbian and Gay Film and Video Festival wrapped up Sunday, touting an impressive 5% boost in attendance over last year as it handed out awards in various categories. Juried awards were given to Tanaz Eshaghian's "Be Like Others," which won the best Canadian feature-length narrative or documentary award, Jim Verburg's "For a Relationship," which won the Colin Campbell Award for best Canadian short, and Barb Taylor won the best up-and-coming Toronto film or videomaker award for "Tomboy." Audience awards went to Tom Gustafson's "Were The World Mine" for best feature film or video, Gwen Haworth's "She's A Boy I Knew" won the Elle Flanders Documentary Award, and Dee Rees' "Pariah" won the Mikey/Schmikey Award for best short. "The 18th edition of Inside Out was a resounding success with increased audiences, overwhelmingly positive reviews and feedback on our programming and directors and guests," stated Scott Ferguson, Executive Director of Inside Out in a statement. "The Festival continues to be a rite of spring for the LGBT community." [Peter Knegt] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Festivals, Honors, Queer Cinema ]

iW NEWS | Sony Classics Gets Cannes' "Waltz With Bashir"

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired North American and Latin American rights to Ari Folman's Cannes Film Festival competition entry, "Waltz With Bashir," its fourth deal of the festival after nabbing North American rights to The Dardenne Brothers' "The Silence of Lorna," Bent Hamer's "O'Horten," and James Toback's "Tyson." Based on Folman's own story, the animated documentary follows the filmmaker's exploration of his lost memories from the Lebanon War of the mid-1980s. "It's about dreams and it's about hallucinations, it's about the sub-conscious," noted Folman, during a Cannes press conference earlier this month. "The basic statement of the film and the understanding of the film is prosaic: wars are usless, completely useless, any war," offered Folman," continuing, he noted, "Because it is animated, I hope that a sixteen year old boy watching 'Waltz With Bashir' in Israel will say, 'I don't want to take any part in this war again.'" But, Folman also emphasized the personal nature of the independent project. "In a way," he noted, "I think that the film is not a political film, it just deals with the personal stories of the Israeli soldiers." indieWIRE reported on the film early in the festival. [Eugene Hernandez]  
[permalink]   [ filed under Acquisitions, Cannes ]

iW NEWS | 3-Day Weekend Estimates: "War, Inc." Leads iW BOT

Joshua Seftel's "War, Inc." is off to a good start this holiday weekend, leading the specialty-focused iW BOT so far, according to those films that submitted numbers to indieWIRE Box Office Tracking (iW BOT) estimates from Rentrak this afternoon. First Look's "War" averaged $18,252 from 2 screens. 4-day weekend estimates will be published Monday afternoon. indieWIRE will publish its weekly box office column this Tuesday due to the holiday weekend and final weekend numbers for specialty and limited release films on Wednesday. Get the latest in the indieWIRE Box Office section. [Peter Knegt] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Biz ]

NYT | Indie Films, Coming to a Small Screen Near You

"More than 3,600 independent features were submitted to the Sundance Film Festival this year, a record driven by inexpensive digital equipment and an abundance of film financing. But only a couple hundred of those movies will ever be distributed in theaters. Does that mean that almost 90 percent of indies have zero value," wonders Brooks Barnes in The New York Times, taking a closer look at the emerging Cinetic Rights Management business. 
[permalink]   [ filed under New Media & Technology ]