iW NEWS | "Nada," "Festa" Lead Rio Fest Honors

The 10th annual Rio de Janeiro Film Festival announced its awards last night as the fest came to a close. Jose Eduardo Belmonte's "Se Nada Mais der Certo" and Matheus Nachtergaele's "A Festa da Menina Morta" led with two awards each. "Nada" took best feature and best actress for its star Caroline Abras, while "Festa" won best director and best actor for its star Daniel de Oliveira. The best documentary award was given to Pedro Urano's "Estrada Real da Cachaca," while Helena Solberg won best director for a documentary for "Palavra (en) Cantada" ("The Enchanted Word"). The jury gave it's Special Prize though to first-time feature documentary director Marco Abujamra's "Jards Macale - Um Morcego na Porta Principal," a portrait of one of Brazil's most defiant artists and musicians, and the festival audience gave its choice award to Matheus Souza's "Apenas O Fim" ("That's It"). Finally, this year's FIPRESCI prize for Best Latin film, from an international jury headed by Argentinian critic Diego Brodersen was awarded to Lucrecia Martel's "Mujer sin Cabeza" ("The Headless Woman"). The festival ended last night after 15 days which have seen more than 350 films from 60 countries presented at over 30 cinemas across the city. [Peter Knegt]  
[permalink]   [ filed under Festivals, Honors ]

iW NEWS | "Sex" For Celluloid

The world rights to Bahman Motamedian's "Sex My Life" (Khastegi) have been acquired by Celluloid Dreams. The film, which premiered in Venice, uses a mix of documentary and fiction to depict seven transsexuals living in modern-day Tehran. "The film is fascinating not only because of its rare and extremely human subject matter, but also thanks to the way Motamedian uses dramatization within the framework of a documentary to create a real transgenre film," said Alessandro Raja of Celluloid Dreams in a statement. "This allows us to get very close to the characters and understand the tragedy and gravity of their situation. They are not just subjects but connect to the viewer in an emotional way which we found truly original." Celluloid Dreams will present the film at the upcoming MIPCOM. [Peter Knegt] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Acquisitions ]

iW ROUND UP | Friday, October 10th

indieWIRE's snapshot of news and views from around the web on Friday.

Rudin Drops "Reader"
Capping a continuing battle with Harvey Weinstein, producer Scott Rudin is leaving Stephen Daldry's "The Reader" and taking his name off of the project. [VAR]

More "Lola Montes"
"'Greatest film ever' or a cream cake?", asks Salon.com's Andrew O'Hehir. [Salon]

Netflix's Future
Despite lower than expected subscriber growth, Netflix "may actually be one of the companies best positioned to take advantage of online video." [NYT]

Jamie Stuart, Take 3
Jamie Stuart's latest short film from the New York Film Festival features Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and Clint Eastwood. [Filmmaker]

 
[permalink]   [ filed under Round up ]

iW ROUND UP | Thursday, October 9th

indieWIRE's snapshot of news and views from around the web on Thursday.

Critics take: "W"
After a screening in Los Angeles this week, surveying thoughts on Oliver Stone's latest. [LAT]

"The Windmill Movie" Round-Up
David D'Arcy offers his take on NYFF entry, "The Windmill Movie," and a look at other takes. [GreenCine]

Industry Eyes Bill
Insider are lobbying President Bush to sign intellectual property rights bill. [VAR]

Tapping Rourke
Tom Tapp chats up Mickey Rourke, star of "The Wrestler," for Tina Brown's new website. [Daily Beast]

Nobel Prize for Literature: Jean-Marie Gustave L Clezio
A snapshot of the French author as he is named Nobel winner. [NYT]

 
[permalink]   [ filed under Round up ]

iW NEWS | Academy Announces Doc Short Shortlist

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today that the field of Documentary Short Subject entries for the 81st Academy Awards has been narrowed to eight films, of which three to five will earn Oscar nominations. The eight films are: "The Conscience of Nhem En," "David McCullough: Painting with Words," "Downstream," "The Final Inch," "Smile Pinki," "Tongzhi in Love," "Viva La Causa," and "The Witness from the Balcony of Room 306." [Peter Knegt] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Awards Watch, Documentary, Honors ]

iW NEWS | Voltage Acquires "Moon"

Eduardo Sanchez's "Seventh Moon," which recently premiered at Fantastic Fest (as discussed here), has been acquired by Voltage Pictures. The thriller, starring Amy Smart and Tim Chiou, was produced by Haxan Films. It follows an American couple honeymooning in China who are subjected to a Chinese myth about the dead rising during the seventh full moon. Cinetic Media represents all domestic rights to "Moon," which will screen next at the Stiges Film Festival in Spain. [Peter Knegt] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Acquisitions ]

iW NEWS | "Episode 3" To Open IDFA

Renzo Martens' "Episode 3" will have its world premiere on November 20, 2008, as the opening film of the 21st International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). Dutch artist Martens' film details how suppliers of African export product themselves hardly profit at all from the huge amounts of money made from their poverty. The festival's programmers said that questions examined in the film coincide with a "striking" amount of films at IDFA that deal with Africa and its perceptions in the West. The film, included in the IDFA First Appearance Competition, was pitched as a project at the FORUM in 2007. Martens' first film, "Episode 1," screened at IDFA in 2004. During the ten days of the festival, more than 300 documentaries will be shown, alongside daily debates. The entire film selection will be revealed on October 15, 2008. [Peter Knegt]  
[permalink]   [ filed under Documentary, Festivals ]

iW NEWS | "Yeast" Set for DailyMotion

Dailymotion.com will host the free premiere of Mary Bronstein's "Yeast" this weekend. The online outlet announced the news at a party celebrating the movie last night in Manhattan. The film, which debuted at SXSW, follows a maddeningly oblivious, tyrannical and emotionally stunted young woman who tries her best to negotiate two toxic friendships. In an indieWIRE interview earlier this year, Bronstein said that the film was inspired by, "all the thinking I'd been doing about friendship, female friendships in particular." She continued, "I am the type of person who has never had a large group of close friends, usually I'll have one or two very intensely close friendships." The film stars Bronstein, Greta Gerwig, Amy Judd, Josh Safdie, and Benny Safdie. Cinetic Rights Management brokered the relationship with DailyMotion and will take the film to other digital portals down the line. Writing about the film at SXSW, Eric Kohn called the movie, "one of the most original titles at the festival." [Eugene Hernandez] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Acquisitions ]

iW NEWS | Overture Likes "Crazies"

Overture Films has announced that it will produce and distribute "The Crazies," a "reinvention" loosely based upon the George Romero film. Breck Eisner is set to direct the screenplay written by Ray Wright (from an earlier draft by Scott Kosar), about "the inhabitants of a small Kansas town beset by insanity and then death after a mysterious toxin contaminates their water supply." Overture's Sean Furst, EVP Production & Acquisitions, will oversee production for the studio. [Peter Knegt] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Production ]

iW ROUND UP | Wednesday, October 8th

indieWIRE's snapshot of news and views from around the web on Wednesday.

NYFF: "Chouga," "Four Nights With Anna," "Bullet In The Head," shorts
Vadim Rizov rounds up [House Next Door]

"Ashes of Time" Round-Up
A closer look at recent coverage of Wong Kar Wai's "Ashes of Time Redux," opening in U.S. theaters this week. [GreenCine]

Aiming at Bush
Patrick Goldstein takes aim at Oliver Ston's "W." [LAT]

Two from NYFF
A closer look at a pair from the fest, "The Wrestler" and "Changeling." "What does it say about our culture that “The Wrestler” and “Changeling,” the two most prominent American selections in this year’s film festival, are shameless Oscar bait?" [NYT]

 
[permalink]   [ filed under Round up ]

iW BOT UPDATE | "Rachel" Leads

Box Office coverage presented by Rentrak Theatrical

Jonathan Demme's "Rachel Getting Married" is atop the weekly iW BOT box office chart, which was published this afternoon. The film earned $293,369 from nine runs. Mitropoulos Films's "Ballast" and Paramount Vantage's "The Duchess" rounded out the top 3. More in this week's box office column, which was published last night.  
[permalink]   [ filed under Box Office ]

iW NEWS | Cinereach Announces Grantees

Cinereach, a New York City nonprofit grant-maker and film production house, has awarded five grants from $10,000 to $35,000. After considering nearly seventy letters of inquiry from more than a dozen countries, Cinereach invited twenty-six filmmakers to apply for grants this cycle. The five projects chosen from these are one narrative feature, "Entre Nos," and four documentaries, "Evolution of a Criminal," "High-Rise," "Rose and Nangabire" and "Sister Surfers." Since it's founding in 2006, Cinereach has given over $1.2 million in grants to film projects from both emerging and established filmmakers, as well as to film festivals and media initiatives. Additionally, Cinereach's recently developed productions arm will premiere its first film, the doc "The Road Ahead: The First Green Long March," at the 2008 Hamptons International Film Festival. [Peter Knegt]  
[permalink]   [ filed under Honors ]

iW NEWS | Visit Acquires "Baghead," "Half-Life"

The international rights to both Mark and Jay Duplass' "Baghead" and Jennifer Phang's "Half-Life" have been acquired by Visit Films. Both films premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Horror/comedy "Baghead" will have its international premiere at the upcoming Rome International Film Festival while sci-fi family drama "Half-Life" will premiere as the only US film in competition at the Tokyo International Film Festival. ""We have been following these films since their first screenings in Sundance as we were so impressed by their ability to bend genres and maintain a wonderful sense of integrity," Visit Films partner Ryan Kampe said in a statement. Visit Films will be commencing sales on both films at the upcoming American Film Market. [Peter Knegt]  
[permalink]   [ filed under Acquisitions ]

iW NEWS | "Crawford" on Hulu

David Modigliani's award-winning documentary "Crawford" is available for free online today (Tuesday) at Hulu. The film - about a small town in Texas that is placed in a serious political spotlight when George W. Bush moves into town. The film is also available on Amazon.com VOD, iTunes, and other platforms. [Peter Knegt]  
[permalink]   [ filed under Releases ]

iW NEWS | "Tulpan" Leads Zurich Fest Winners

The winners of the 4th Zurich Film Festival's Feature Film and Documentary Film Competition have been announced. This year's jury chose Sergey Dvortsevoy's "Tulpan" won Best Feature Film, while Arash T. Riahi's "For a Moment, Freedom" received the Golden Eye for Best Debut Feature, and "Blind Loves," by Slovak director Juraj Lehotsky won the category Best Documentary Film. The public chose "The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around The Corner," by Stephan Komanderev as its favourite film and Variety presented its New Talent Award to Christophe van Rompaey's "Moscow, Belgium." The festival ran September 25-October 5, 2008, and said it witnessed a third more visitors than last year. 160 films were screened. [Peter Knegt] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Festivals, Honors ]

iW ROUND UP | Wednesday, October 7th

indieWIRE's snapshot of news and views from around the web on Friday, opening day for the 2008 New York Film Festival.

First Look: "W"
An initial round of reviews and articles take a look at Oliver Stone's "W". Variety calls it a "rough draft," other writers praise Josh Brolin. [GreenCine]

Playing Politics?
With the U.S. presidential election day just a month away, a number of polarizing titles are in theaters or coming soon ("Religulous," "Fireproof," "American Carol," and the upcoming, "W"). [VAR]

Oscar Doc Rules Challenged (Again)
Spurred by the recent word that Sony Classics opted for a NYFF slot for "Waltz with Bashir," rather than Oscar qualification, another round of complaints about the Academy's Documentary qualifying rules. [HR]

Pena at NYFF
In the second full week of the New York Film Festival, a chat with the Film Society's Richard Pena. [NYT]

Review: "Lola Montes"
"Just over 50 years after his death, Max Ophuls may well be having his moment." The film opens in NYC this week. [ReverseShot]

 
[permalink]   [ filed under Round up ]

iW NEWS | "W" To Open Austin

The Austin Film Festival has announced that Oliver Stone's highly-anticipated "W." will open the 15th Annual Austin Film Festival on October 16, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. in the historic Paramount Theatre. "Right now, given the political landscape, there isn't a more talked-about film," said Kelly Williams, AFF Film Program Director, in a statement. "Oliver Stone has been a great friend to the Austin Film Festival and we are honored to screen 'W.' as our opening night film." The film stars stars Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Banks, Ellen Burstyn and James Cromwell, among others. Previously announced was the festival's Centerpiece Film, Kelly Reichardt's "Wendy and Lucy," and Closing Night Film, James Gray's "Two Lovers." The AFF will screen approximately 190 feature and short films in addition to hosting its annual screenwriters' conference. The Austin Film Festival and Conference runs October 16-23, 2008. 
[permalink]   [ filed under Festivals ]

iW NEWS | South Asian Fest Announces Slate

The 5th Annual South Asian International Film Festival(SAIFF) is set to take place October 22-28, 2008, in New York City. It's slated to kick off with writer/director Nandita Das' "Firaaq" as the opening night gala at the Ziegfeld Theatre. he film is set over a 24-hour period, one month after carnage that took place in Gujarat, India, in 2002. Closing the fest will be "Ramchand Pakistani," a true story, also taking place in 2002, that concerns the accidental crossing of the Pakistan-Indian border during a period of war-like tension between the two countries by two members of a Pakistani Hindu family. Other announced films include "Super 30," "The Pool," "Kissing Cousins," Doormat," "Mohandas," "Little Box of Sweets" and "Mahek." "I am extremely excited to add to the tremendous momentum SAIFF has gained over the past 5 years," says Shilen Amin, SAIFF President, in a statement. "We are looking forward to shining the spotlight on the best of the best in South Asian cinema again in 2008. The unique spectrum of films we are seeing this year from a variety of genres will provide our audiences with some of the most inspired and culturally innovative pieces of work to-date." For further information, check out the festival's website. [Peter Knegt]  
[permalink]   [ filed under Festivals ]

iW NEWS | Stiller, Tomei, "Bees" Cast Among Hollywood Fest Honorees

The 12th Annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Awards have announced additional honorees who will be recognized at the Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony, which will take place on October 27, 2008, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. Ben Stiller will be honored with the "Hollywood Comedy of the Year Award," Marisa Tomei with the "Hollywood Supporting Actress of the Year Award," the cast of Fox Searchlight's "The Secret Life of Bees" with the "Hollywood Ensemble Acting of the Year Award" and newcomer Robert Pattinson with the "New Hollywood Award." [Peter Knegt] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Awards Watch, Honors ]

iW NEWS | "Slumdog" Moves Up

Fox Searchlight has announced that 2008 Toronto International Film Festival People's Choice Award winner, Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire," has moved its release date up a week. The film will now open Wednesday, November 12, 2008 in limited release. [Peter Knegt] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Releases ]

iW ROUND UP | Monday, October 6th

indieWIRE's snapshot of news and views from around the web on Monday morning.

Rio on the Road
Festival do Rio market hitting traveling with events in Europe and the U.S. [HR]

Buyers Eyeing NYFF Films?
With a changing market climate, is the New York fest emerging as a stronger place to scout movies? [HR]

Anticipating "Revolutionary Road"
Glenn Kenny wonders: Will the new Sam Mendes film be "a big, practically zeitgeist-defining, hit." [Some Came Running]

Dreamworks Settled
Steven Spielberg/Stacy Snider resoluton with Paramount paves the way for new company. [NYT]

"Che" Round Up
With "Che" set for its U.S. premiere at the New York Film Festival tomorrow, a look at coverage of the movie. [GreenCine]

 
[permalink]   [ filed under Round up ]

INDUSTRY MOVES | Martesko-Fenster Joins Babelgum

Karol Martesko-Fenster has joined Babelgum as General Manager & Publisher of the company's Film Division. Martesko-Fenster will oversee all aspects of the film side of Babelgum, expanding programming acquisitions and partnerships and global film industry and festival activities. He will also assume the role of Managing Director of the Babelgum Online Film Festival working closely with creator Stefania Valenti and Jury Chairman Spike Lee. "Babelgum's film programming is mainly focused on people who are passionate about indie film", said CEO Valerio Zingarelli, in a statement. "Karol's passion for this material is just what we need to build a vibrant independent film community on the Babelgum platform". Karol Martesko-Fenster previously served as the founder and publisher of FILMMAKER Magazine, founded and headed RES Media Group and Tomorrow Unlimited, was president & publisher of the SiliconAlley Reporter and Digital Coast Reporter, was involved with the launch of CINELAN and was a co-founder of indieWIRE. [Peter Knegt] 
[permalink]   [ filed under Industry Moves ]

iW NEWS | Weekend Estimates: "Rachel" Scores Massive PTA

Box Office coverage presented by Rentrak Theatrical

According to estimates from Rentrak this afternoon, Jonathan Demme's "Rachel Getting Married" led indieWIRE Box Office Tracking (iW BOT) - which ranks the per theater average of all reporting specialty films. The Sony Pictures Classics release averaged $33,659, grossing a stunning $302,934 from just 9 locations. Also opening quite well was Larry Charles' Bill Maher doc, "Religulous." The Lionsgate release grossed $3,500,000 from 502 screens, averaging $6,972 in a very crowded marketplace. Not managing as well was Miramax release "Blindness." Fernando Meirelles' film opened on a wide 1,690 screens and grossed $2,002,000, averaging $1,185. Holdovers included a successful expansion for Saul Dibb's "The Duchess," which added 72 screens to bring its total to 127 but maintained a $7,047 average and brought its 3 week cume to $1,889,728. Meanwhile IDP/Samuel Goldwyn Films' surprise Christian hit "Fireproof" fell a moderate 40%, grossing another $4,068,759 and taking its total to $12,491,466. indieWIRE will publish its weekly box office column Monday night and the full iW BOT Tuesday afternoon. Get the latest in the indieWIRE Box Office section. [Peter Knegt]  
[permalink]   [ filed under Box Office ]