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 April 12, 2008 HR | Sony gets some 'Sugar'
Park City coverage sponsored by BE KIND REWIND. Sony Pictures Classics has acquired Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's "Sugar," according to The Hollywood Reporter. The deal marks the fourth feature acquisition out of this year's Sundance Film Festival for SPC, after nabbing Jonathan Levine's "The Wackness," Courtney Hunt's "Frozen River" and The Duplass Brothers' "Baghead." [permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, Park City ] March 4, 2008iW NEWS | ThinkFilm Takes "Momma's Man"
Park City coverage sponsored by BE KIND REWIND. Azazel Jacob's "Momma's Man" has been acquired by ThinkFilm in a deal for North American rights, the company confirmed today. A Sundance Film Festival debut earlier this year, the film will screen this month at the New Directors/New Films series and then have an exclusive release later this year. It tells the story of Mikey, a young man who returns to the comfort of his parents and the home where he grew up instead of rejoining his own wife and newborn baby in Los Angeles. For the deal, ThinkFilm is reteaming with some of the backers of their 2006 release, "Half Nelson." The film was produced by Alex Orlovsky, Hunter Gray, and executive producer Paul Mezey. The pact, brokered by Cinetic Media, was negotiated by the company's Mark Urman, Randy Manis and Ben Stambler. Reviewing the film for indieWIRE during Sundance, Rob Nelson called "Momma's Man" an, "exceptionally tender, funny, and poignant New York indie." [Eugene Hernandez][permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, Park City ] February 4, 2008IFC Gets "Ballast" Ahead of Berlinale
Park City coverage sponsored by BE KIND REWIND. IFC Films today announced the acquisition of Lance Hammer's 2008 Sundance Film Festival dramatic competition debut, "Ballast." The company has acquired North American rights to the movie, which is set to screen in competition at the upcoming Berlinale. The deal was negotiated by VP of acquisitions Arianna Bocco and William Morris Independent's Cassian Elwes. Asked what prompted the idea for this film, in an interview with indieWIRE, director Hammer said recently, "The Mississippi Delta in winter is a cold and austere flatscape - almost lunar. Vast cotton acreages are fallow and devoid of human activity. The flatness is interrupted only by occasional hardwood outcroppings, which are grey and leafless. The skies are steel and saturated with rain. There is an energetic resonance in the Delta that moves me, especially in the winter. It is something that I cannot easily articulate but has to do with a sense of sorrow, and the dignity of endurance in the face of sorrow. It's quite palpable...I'm hopeful that some of this tone has been conveyed with this iteration."[permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, Berlin, Park City ] January 26, 2008PARK CITY '08, 6:19 p.m. | Sony Classics Closing "Wackness" Pact
Park City coverage sponsored by BE KIND REWIND. Buzz from the Awards ceremony... Sony Pictures Classics is closing a deal for North American rights to Jonathan Levine's 2008 Sundance Film Festival Dramatic Competition entry, "The Wackness," according to insiders. The deal, being brokered by CAA, is expected to be announced soon. Sony Classics has had a busy festival, acquiring Courtney Hunt's Dramatic Competition entry "Frozen River" and also nabbing The Duplass Brothers "Baghead" from the Spectrum section. [Eugene Hernandez][permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, Park City ] PARK CITY '08, 3:01 p.m. | "Man on Wire" Stir Audiences, Buyers
Park City coverage sponsored by BE KIND REWIND. Doc buzz continues... Buyers were drawn to a Noon time Sundance Film Festival screening of James Marsh's accaimed BBC Storyville/Discovery documentary "Man on Wire" at the Holiday Village theater today. Spotted in the audience were execs from Picturehouse, Warner Independent Pictures, and Sony Pictures Classics. The film, being sold at Sundance by Sumbarine, captures the dramatic tightrop walk of Philippe Petit atop a wire stretched 200 feet between the two World Trade Center towers in 1974. Enthusiastically received at Saturday's screening, Petit smiled and proclaimed to the crowd, "I am an artistic criminal." Insiders are weighing offers on the film, in the wake of recent fest screenings, projecting a deal to close in the coming days. [Eugene Hernandez][permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, Documentary, Park City ] iW NEWS | "Kicking It" Links Theatrical, DVD, Streaming, and TV Pacts with Liberation, Netflix/Red Envelope and ESPN
Park City coverage sponsored by BE KIND REWIND. Jay Boberg's Liberation Entertainment has acquired North American theatrical rights to Susan Koch's doc, "Kicking It" at the Sundance Film Festival, joining forces with Netflix's Red Envelope Entertainment and ESPN for the film's release. In a unique deal brokered by CAA and Submarine, immediately following the theatrical release Netflix will distribute the film to its subscribers on DVD and via online streaming simultaneous with the ESPN broadcast. The sports network, which announced its acquisition of worldwide broadcast rights at the start of this year's Sundance festival, will work closely with Netflix to cross promote the day-and-date release of the film. The story of seven players from six countries competing in the 4th Annual Homeless World Cup, the soccer story was produced by Ted Leonsis. [Eugene Hernandez][permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, Documentary, Park City ] January 25, 2008iW NEWS | "The New Year Parade," "Song Sung Blue" Lead Slamdance's Awards
Park City coverage sponsored by BE KIND REWIND. The 14th annual Slamdance Film Festival has announced 15 film and screenplay prize winners in three categories who will share more than $200,000 in cash and prizes, plus, for one winner, guaranteed production of a feature film. The just-concluded festival received over 3,500 submissions from 25 countries for less than 100 programming slots. Notable winners include Tom Quinn's "The New Year Parade," which was awarded the Grand Jury Award for best narrative feature, and Greg Kohs' "Song Sung Blue," which won the Grand Jury Award for best documentary feature. Audience awards were given to Ryan Piotrowicz's "The Project" in the narrative feature category, and "Song Sung Blue" in the documentary category. indieWIRE will be publish another dispatch from Slamdance on Saturday morning. [Peter Knegt][permalink] [ filed under Honors, Park City ] iW NEWS | "Sleep Dealer" Takes Sundance Prize
Park City coverage sponsored by BE KIND REWIND. The 2008 Sundance Film Festival announced that Alex Rivera's "Sleep Dealer" is the winner of this year's Alfred P. Sloan Prize. The prize carries a $20,000 cash award for the filmmakers, and is presented to "an outstanding feature film focusing on science or technology as a theme, or depicting a scientist, engineer or mathematician as a major character." indieWIRE reviewed the film and interviewed the director earlier this week. The prize will be presented during Sundance's awards ceremony Saturday, January 26, 2008. [Peter Knegt][permalink] [ filed under Honors, Park City ] iW NEWS | Anchor Bay Scares up Rights to Slamdance Horror "Jack Brooks"
Park City coverage sponsored by BE KIND REWIND. Writer/director Jon Knautz' Slamdance Film Festival horror/comedy "Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer" has been acquired by Anchor Bay Entertainment in a mid six-figure deal with a theatrical commitment, the festival announced Friday afternoon. The deal was negotiated by Shaun Redick and Nate Bolotin of the Collective with Anchor Bay's Mark Ward. Several distributors pursued the film, according to Slamdance. Starring Trevor Matthews and Robert Englund ("Nightmare on Elm Street"), the film is described as a "nostalgic throwback to the classic '80s horror-comedy creature features." [Brian Brooks][permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, Park City ] iW NEWS | Sony Classics Bags "Baghead" for North America
Park City coverage sponsored by BE KIND REWIND. In a late night deal concluded Thursday night, Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all North American rights to Sundance Film Festival Spectrum feature "Baghead" by Mark and Jay Duplass, an insider close to the deal confirmed. The deal, brokered by Submarine, is understood to be a mid to high six-figure pact. Others understood to be pursuing the horror/comedy hybrid include IFC, Netflix, Picturehouse, Samuel Goldwyn and Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisition Group. In "Baghead," four struggling actors head to a cabin in the woods to write a screenplay with roles for themselves and are thrust into a bizarre situation they could not have imagined. Sony Classics reps were not available for comment. [Brian Brooks][permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, Park City ] January 24, 2008iW NEWS | Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Awards Winners Announced
Park City coverage sponsored by BE KIND REWIND. The Sundance Institute and NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) announced the winners of the 2008 Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Awards. The four winners were selected from 12 finalists by an international jury which included Gregg Araki, Jeremy Pikser, Erin Cressida Wilson, Martin Rejtman, Andrucha Waddington, Shekhar Kapur and Anand Tucker. The winners were Alejandro Fernandez for "Huacho," Braden King for "Here," Aiko Nagastu for "Apoptosis" and Radu Jude for "The Happiest Girl in the World." These annual awards were created in 1996 to honor and support visionary film directors from four global regions (Europe, Latin America, the United States, and Japan) in realizing their next projects. The winning director from each region will receive a $10,000 award and a guarantee from NHK to purchase the Japanese television broadcast rights upon completion of their project. The four winners are presented with the award at the annual Sundance Film Festival Awards Ceremony on Saturday, January 26. [Peter Knegt][permalink] [ filed under Honors, Park City ] iW NEWS | NeoClassics Takes Slamdance Thriller "Crooked Lake"
Park City coverage sponsored by BE KIND REWIND. Worldwide rights (excluding Canada) for Slamdance action/thriller "Crooked Lake aka Portage" have been acquired by Canadian-based distributor NeoClassics Films Ltd. The film, written and directed by Matthew Miller, Sascha Drews and Erzra Krybus. is described as "a coming of age story about four 14-year-old girls who encounter death and overcome extreme adversity on a Summertime canoe trip to the north woods, where everything that can go wrong does." NeoClassics plans a June theatrical release in the States in "key cities" in June. Based in Vancouver with operations run from the Culver City offices of its U.S. subsidiary, NeoClassics is initially distributing directly to theaters in the U.S. with plans to add direct theatrical distribution in Canada and the U.K. It sells all other rights worldwide. [Brian Brooks][permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, Park City ] PARK CITY '08 3:03 a.m. | Sony Classics Reportedly Gets "Frozen River" at Sundance
Park City coverage sponsored by BE KIND REWIND. Trade reports indicate that Sony Pictures Classics has acquired Courtney Hunt's "Frozen River." However, details differ with the Hollywood Reporter detailing that a pact for North American rights is valued at just under $1 million, and Variety reporting a U.S. rights deal valued in the low to mid six-figures.[permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, Park City ] January 23, 2008iW NEWS | Vantage Announces "Teen" Deal
Park City coverage sponsored by BE KIND REWIND. Calling "American Teen," "The most entertaining and uplifting film we saw at Sundance," Paramount Vantage president Nick Meyer announced the acquisition of Nanette Burstein's documentary today. The announcement confirmed that the company acquired worldwide distribution rights, excluding the U.K. for the film, about a group of teenagers in their senior year of high school in a small Indiana town. Produced by Nanette Burstein, Jordan Roberts, Eli Gonda and Chris Huddleston, the film is an A&E Indiefilms Presentation of a Firehouse Films and Quasiworld Entertainment production in association with 57th and Irving. Cinetic and CAA negotiated the deal with Jeffrey Freedman from Vantage. The company indicated that company EVP Amy Israel and director Ben Cotner will oversee the project for the company. [Eugene Hernandez][permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, Park City ] AFP: Festival film takes on water profiteers
Park City coverage sponsored by BE KIND REWIND. Documentary film "Flow," premiering at the Sundance Film Festival this week, condemns water profiteering, calling for a UN resolution to make access to clean drinking water a human right. The film by French-born director Irena Salina blasts Paris-based Suez and Vivendi Environment for commercializing water systems around the world, as well as Nestle, the world's largest bottled water seller, for draining watersheds. Michel Comte reports.[permalink] [ filed under Festivals, Park City ] iW NEWS | "Derek" Deal at Sundance
Park City coverage sponsored by BE KIND REWIND. Isaac Julien's "Derek" has been acquired by Andrew Herwitz's The Film Sales Company in a deal for U.S. distribution rights and worldwide sales rights (with the exception of the U.K.). Narrated and written by Tilda Swinton, the film is having its world premiere in the Sundance Film Festival's World Cinema Documentary Competition and will have a specialized theatrical release later this year. It is set to screen in the Panorama section at the upcoming Berlinale. The documentary, which looks at the life of artist and filmmaker Derek Jarman, was funded by Film London, Channel 4, MoMA and the Sundance Documentary Fund. It was produced by Eliza Mellor and Colin MacCabe and executive produced by Swinton and James Mackay. [Eugene Hernandez][permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, Park City ] PARK CITY '08 9:22 p.m. | "American Teen" Nearing Paramount Vantage Pact
Park City coverage sponsored by BE KIND REWIND. Inside sources indicate that Paramount Vantage is nearing a deal for Nanette Burstein's "American Teen" after protracted negotiations that began with a number of would-be buyers -- including Sony Pictures Classics and Fox Searchlight ---immediately following the Friday's Sundance Film Festival premiere on Friday. The deal, said to be valued at $2.5 million for the A&E Indie Films documentary, is being brokered by Cinetic and CAA. Last year A&E Indie Films sold its Sundance entry "My Kid Could Paint That" to Sony Classics. indieWIRE reported on the film's world premiere earlier this week. [Eugene Hernandez][permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, Park City ] January 22, 2008iW NEWS | Overture Takes Pellington's "Poole"
Park City coverage sponsored by BE KIND REWIND. Mark Pellington's "Henry Poole Is Here" has been acquired by Overture Films in a deal for U.S. rights brokered with Lakeshore Entertainment. The film, which debuted on Monday afternoon in Park City, stars Luke Wilson as, in the words of an announcement, "a disillusioned man who goes hiding in placid suburbia only to discover he cannot escape the forces of hope." Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi and Richard Wright along with Gary Gilbert and Tom Lassally produced the film for Lakeshore. It was written by Albert Torres and also stars Radha Mitchell, George Lopez, and newcomers Rachel Seiferth and Morgan Lily. "We were moved by Mark Pellington's poignant film and Luke Wilson's memorable performance - these discoveries are why we come to Sundance," noted Overture COO Danny Rosett, in a statement, who pursued the film with company CEO Chris McGurk. [Eugene Hernandez][permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, Park City ] iW NEWS | POV Lands "Traces of the Trade"
Park City coverage sponsored by BE KIND REWIND. Katrina Browne's "Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North" has scored a deal with PBS's "POV," she announced on Monday night at the film's first screening at the Sundance Film Festival. Screening in the documentary competition, the film is an exploration of the first-time filmmaker's family history. Browne's ancestors, the deWolfs, were the largest slave-trading family in United States history. From 1769 to 1820, three generations of De Wolfs brought over more than 10,000 Africans. Browne wrote to more than 200 family descendents, inviting them to join her in on a journey to trace the family's legacy in a trip from Ghana to Cuba. Nine accepted the invitation. She spoke about the film in a recent interview with indieWIRE. Other Sundance docs set for the'08 season of POV include Steven Sebring's "Patti Smith: Dream of Life " and Ellen Kuras' "Nerakhoon" (The Betrayal). [Eugene Hernandez][permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, Park City ] PARK CITY '08 2:25 a.m. | Pix Most LIkely to Click: "Hamlet 2," "Teen," "Henry Poole"
Park City coverage sponsored by BE KIND REWIND. Buzz from the annual Cinetic party... Cinetic's John Sloss, "American Teen" director Nanette Burstein, A&E Indie Film's Molly Thompson and others huddled upstairs at Zoom on Monday night. A deal for the doc, being brokered by Cinetic and CAA, is expected on Tuesday. Meanwhile, attendees buzzed about Andrew Fleming's late Sundance premiere section title, "Hamlet 2," which insiders agreed should score a deal quickly. It had what by all accounts was a good screening on Tuesday night. And, keep an eye on Mark Pellington's "Henry Poole is Here," which should sign a deal with Lakeshore soon. [Eugene Hernandez][permalink] [ filed under Park City ] Older Buzz/Rumors about Park CityJanuary 21, 2008 January 20, 2008 January 20, 2008 January 20, 2008 January 19, 2008 January 19, 2008 January 19, 2008 January 19, 2008 January 19, 2008 January 18, 2008 January 18, 2008 January 17, 2008 January 17, 2008 January 17, 2008 January 17, 2008 January 15, 2008 January 14, 2008 December 19, 2007 December 5, 2007 November 28, 2007 November 26, 2007 September 4, 2007 June 11, 2007 June 7, 2007 March 20, 2007 February 2, 2007 January 27, 2007 January 27, 2007 January 26, 2007 January 26, 2007 January 26, 2007 January 26, 2007 January 26, 2007 January 25, 2007 January 25, 2007 January 24, 2007 January 24, 2007 January 24, 2007 January 24, 2007 January 23, 2007 January 23, 2007 January 23, 2007 January 23, 2007 January 23, 2007 January 22, 2007 January 22, 2007 January 22, 2007 January 22, 2007 January 22, 2007 January 21, 2007 January 21, 2007 January 21, 2007 January 21, 2007 January 21, 2007 January 21, 2007 January 21, 2007 January 20, 2007 January 20, 2007 January 19, 2007 January 19, 2007 January 19, 2007 January 18, 2007 January 18, 2007 January 18, 2007 January 18, 2007 January 18, 2007 January 18, 2007 January 17, 2007 January 17, 2007 January 15, 2007 January 6, 2007 January 3, 2007 January 3, 2007 December 19, 2006 December 14, 2006 December 12, 2006 November 30, 2006 November 8, 2006 September 27, 2006 July 18, 2006 May 11, 2006 May 1, 2006 April 11, 2006 April 7, 2006 March 31, 2006 February 13, 2006 February 6, 2006 January 29, 2006 January 28, 2006 January 28, 2006 January 28, 2006 January 27, 2006 January 27, 2006 January 27, 2006 January 27, 2006 January 26, 2006 January 26, 2006 January 26, 2006 January 26, 2006 January 26, 2006 January 25, 2006 January 25, 2006 January 25, 2006 January 25, 2006 January 25, 2006 January 24, 2006 January 24, 2006 January 24, 2006 January 24, 2006 January 23, 2006 January 23, 2006 January 23, 2006 January 22, 2006 January 22, 2006 January 22, 2006 January 21, 2006 January 21, 2006 January 21, 2006 January 20, 2006 January 20, 2006 January 20, 2006 January 19, 2006 January 19, 2006 January 19, 2006 January 19, 2006 January 19, 2006 January 19, 2006 January 19, 2006 January 18, 2006 January 15, 2006 January 12, 2006 January 11, 2006 January 5, 2006 December 21, 2005 December 13, 2005 December 6, 2005 November 30, 2005 November 29, 2005 November 28, 2005 November 10, 2005 October 28, 2005 October 10, 2005 October 9, 2005 | |
